(2018-08-27). Publicly Subsidized Climate Change Insurance for Big Oil. counterpunch.org "Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad" — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow My 14 August 2018 article, "Climate Change Bites Big Business", described the now evident large financial impacts on Big Business caused by climate change, for example: + the bankrupting-level liabilities to one California electric utility company (PG&E) for causing massive wildfires in More
(2018-08-27). One Dead McCain, 2.5 Million Dead Iraqis. counterpunch.org The grossest thing in American society is the reactionary sentimentality that fill our gossip infected hearts with a chemical reaction every time one of our supposed war heroes moves on to a more peaceful place. The carefully rehearsed statements from useless political figures numb our minds as all those who are sane must collectively wonder what on earth has a fusty bag of bones like John McCain ever done for us? More
(2018-08-27). New Australian prime minister forms cabinet after endorsement from Washington. wsws.org The political turmoil is the outcome of mounting geostrategic tensions between the US and China, and immense popular disaffection with the parliamentary establishment.
(2018-08-27). Fundraiser for a Lakota Elder's Roof 6-25-2018. indybay.org The event was held at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz California on Saturday, August 25 from 5 PM to 8 PM. and hosted by Romero Institute, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Lakota People's Law Project…
(2018-08-27). Brown's Last Chance activists arrested at State Capitol – photo essay. indybay.org 17-year-old Nalleli Cobo, a Los Angeles resident who was sickened by toxic emissions from the oil drilling site, AllenCo., near her home, said the Governor has it in his power to issue an executive order to protect communities from oil extraction that state scientists identified as being toxic in 2015.
(2018-08-26). Funding Conservation by Killing Animals: An Ironic Partnership. truthout.org Conservation is in crisis, and it's not just because there is less and less of the natural world to conserve. Nor is it solely a result of the Trump administration's unprecedented war on 40-plus years of hard-won environmental protections. No, in a strange irony born of the US's high-powered history of rugged individualism, the already meager funding for conservation is drying up because American hunters are just not killing animals like they used to. It turns out that in the US's counterintuitive conservation funding system, hunters have to kill animals to fund the programs and agencies that work to save them. But now American hunters are becoming an endangered species. | A nationwide survey conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016 found that only 5 percent of Americans, or about 11.5 million adults, still hunt. That's down by…
(2018-08-26). Shell Took 16 Years to Warn Shareholders of Climate Risks. truthout.org 
It took oil company Shell more than 16 years to directly warn its shareholders that climate policy posed a financial risk to the company's business model despite knowing — in private and for decades — about the relationship between its products and climate change. | Shell started commissioning confidential work about the impact of burning fossil fuels on the global climate as early as 1981. However, analysis by DeSmog UK and DeSmog found that Shell did not start mentioning the possibility of climate change to shareholders in annual reports before 1991 — 10 years after the company started a research stream to study climate change. | Analysis of Shell's annual reports and financial records at the time show the company did not give a clear warning to its shareholders about the financial risks "related to the impact of climate change" and attached to…
(2018-08-26). Children Separated Under Trump's "Zero Tolerance" Policy Say Their Trauma Continues. theintercept.com 
On August 9, several reporters took a government-led tour through America's largest detention facility for immigrant parents and their children: the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Sprawling over 50 acres of a repurposed oilfield workers' camp, Dilley, as the center is colloquially known, has room for 2,400 detainees. It currently holds about 1,500 people — all mothers and their children, including babies. | No interviews with the detainees were allowed, so reporters were left to record random sounds and observations: phalanxes of baby strollers, a salad bar in the cafeteria, and, as the Wall Street Journal noted, "a speaker blasting a Jimmy Buffett song." But The Intercept has been in contact with some of the occupants of Dilley by phone — many of them children — and the circumstances they're enduring are decidedly less sanguine than Buffett's tunes. | Ninety…
(2018-08-25). How a DuPont Spinoff Lobbied the EPA to Stave Off the Use of Environmentally Friendly Coolants. theintercept.com 
Chemours asks in letter to the EPA for help promoting its HFO refrigerants, to stave off natural coolants that cause far less global warming.
(2018-08-25). New Trump coal regulations will kill as many as 1,400 Americans annually by 2030. wsws.org According a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the agency's recent rule change will lead to 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030.
(2018-08-25). Earth, fire & water: NASA maps atmospheric aerosols in psychedelic image. rt.com 
A new NASA image outlining the various types of aerosols in the air shows that we may be getting more than we bargained for with every intake of breath.
(2018-08-24). Some Call It Forest Management, I Call It Racketeering. counterpunch.org 
When government agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management produce the danger, the propaganda hyping the danger, and the protection against it at a price, that's racketeering. The definition of a racketeer is someone who creates a threat and then charges for its reduction. War is just a racket. A racket More
(2018-08-24). Egotopia. counterpunch.org 
Imagine Milton Friedman and Robinson Crusoe together, reminiscing about Burning Man, on a remodeled off-shore oil rig. Like the image? Welcome to seasteading. The latest in a long line of libertarian exit strategists, seasteaders aim to create self-governed, private floating platforms on the ocean. In an era of Silicon Valley excess, techno-libertarian optimism, and mainstream More
(2018-08-24). Foreign Correspondent: What Fifteen Years of U.S. Occupation Has Produced? Angry Iraqis. progressive.org As militant protests roil the city of Basra in Iraq, two summer films give a fuller sense of what U.S. occupation there has wrought.
(2018-08-24). Video: ISIS Attacks US-occupied Oil Fields in Euphrates Valley. globalresearch.ca On August 22, an IED blast hit a vehicle of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the village of al-Hawaji west of the Omar oil fields on the eastern bank …
(2018-08-24). Abandoned KFC served as front for drug-smuggling tunnel from Mexico to Arizona (VIDEO). rt.com 
US federal authorities have unearthed a secret drug-smuggling tunnel that stretched from a house in Mexico to an abandoned KFC restaurant in the state of Arizona.
(2018-08-23). Big oil asks government to save it from climate change. peoplesworld.org 
PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP)—As the nation plans new defenses against the more powerful storms and higher tides expected from climate change, one project stands out: an ambitious proposal to build a nearly 60-mile "spine" of concrete seawalls, earthen barriers, floating gates, and steel levees on the Texas Gulf Coast…
(2018-08-23). Debate: Who Is Behind Nicaragua's Turmoil? (Pt 2/3). therealnews.com 
Recent months of deadly unrest in Nicaragua have fractured splits in the Sandinista movement, with critics accusing President Daniel Ortega of autocratic rule, and supporters accusing the opposition of attempting a US-backed soft coup. We host a debate between Dr. Mary Ellsberg of George Washington University and Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone Project
(2018-08-23). Debate: Who Is Behind Nicaragua's Turmoil? (Pt 1/3). therealnews.com 
Recent months of deadly unrest in Nicaragua have fractured splits in the Sandinista movement, with critics accusing President Daniel Ortega of autocratic rule, and supporters accusing the opposition of attempting a US-backed soft coup. We host a debate between Dr. Mary Ellsberg of George Washington University and Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone Project
(2018-08-23). Debate: Who Is Behind Nicaragua's Turmoil? (Pt 3/3). therealnews.com 
Recent months of deadly unrest in Nicaragua have fractured splits in the Sandinista movement, with critics accusing President Daniel Ortega of autocratic rule, and supporters accusing the opposition of attempting a US-backed soft coup. We host a debate between Dr. Mary Ellsberg of George Washington University and Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone Project
(2018-08-22). Trump Administration Admits 1,400+ More People Will Die Each Year Following Coal Plant Deregulation. democracynow.org 
President Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night in West Virginia to announce a massive rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations on coal-fired power plants and carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. Trump's "Affordable Clean Energy" proposal would allow individual states to decide whether to curb emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency's own data shows the plan could cause up to 1,400 more premature deaths a year by 2030. The Washington Post reports the deregulation would also lead to the release of at least 12 times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next decade.
(2018-08-22). Large Earthquake Off Northern Venezuelan Coast. venezuelanalysis.com According to the Venezuelan Foundation of Seismological Research, the quake registered at 6.9 on the Richter Scale and left parts of Trinidad and Tobago without electricity.
(2018-08-22). Recent Arrests Under New Anti-Protest Law Spotlight Risks That Off-Duty Cops Pose to Pipeline Opponents. theintercept.com 
Law enforcement officers hired by a private security company are enforcing a new Louisiana law which makes trespassing near oil pipelines a felony.
(2018-08-21). Headlines for August 21, 2018. democracynow.org In Historic Letter, Pope Condemns Catholic Church Sex Abuse and Cover-Up, Trump to Announce Massive Rollback of Obama-Era Coal Regulations, In Racist Comment, Trump Says Hispanic Border Agent "Speaks Perfect English", Taliban Fires Rockets at Afghan Presidential Palace, India: Death Toll Rises to 400 in Kerala's Historic Flooding, French Oil Company Total Withdraws from Iran in Wake of U.S. Sanctions, Microsoft: Russian Hackers Targeting Conservative Think Tanks, Michigan Health Director Faces Involuntary Manslaughter Trial over Flint Water Crisis, NYT: #MeToo Leader Asia Argento Paid Off Her Sexual Assault Accus…
(2018-08-20). As Trump Favors Asbestos, People Die. progressive.org Donald Trump has been rolling back protections against exposure to asbestos, which kills an estimated 15,000 people each year in the United States alone.
(2018-08-16). Headlines for August 16, 2018. democracynow.org Violence Roils Afghanistan as Taliban Cracks Down on Red Cross, Trump Revokes Security Clearance of Ex-CIA Director, a Major Critic, Security Clearance Flap Comes Amid Mounting White House Scandals, Trump's Lawyer Prepared to "Unload" on Mueller "Like a Ton of Bricks", Hundreds of Media Outlets Condemn Trump's Attacks on the Free Press, Turkish Court Releases Jailed Amnesty International Chair, Brazil: Lula Registers from Prison as Presidential Candidate, Malta Allows Migrant Ship to Dock After 5 Days Stranded at Sea, ACLU Says ICE "Trapped" Immigrant Spouses at Green Card Interviews, CDC Says Record 72,000 Ameri…
(2018-08-14). AP Investigation: Behind the Scenes in Yemen, U.S.-Backed Saudi Coalition Is Working with al-Qaeda. democracynow.org 
The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has repeatedly cut secret deals with al-Qaeda, even paying its fighters to retreat from towns or join the coalition, a bombshell Associated Press investigation has revealed. The AP probe accuses the United States of being aligned with al-Qaeda in the fight against Yemen's Houthi rebels, despite claiming to be fighting the extremist group in the region. One senior tribal leader told the AP, "Al-Qaeda wasn't defeated. It didn't fight in the first place." We speak with Maggie Michael, one of the three reporters for the Associated Press who broke the story, headlined "U.S…
(2018-08-14). What the 'Sensible Middle' Doesn't Get About Education. progressive.org There is no middle between facts and the story that the earth is flat.
(2018-08-05). Venezuela's President Maduro Survives Assassination Attack On Live TV. venezuelanalysis.com Six arrests have already been made in the dramatic foiled terrorist attack.
(2018-08-04). Fighting for a Way of Life in the Arctic. progressive.org The coastal plain, opened for oil drilling by the Trump Administration, is the birthplace and nursery for the Porcupine caribou herd, and land that the Gwich'in call, "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."
(2018-07-26). Venezuela: Maduro Announces Economic Reforms Including Monetary Reconversion, Tax Breaks & Currency Control Changes. venezuelanalysis.com The measures also transfer an entire oilfield from PDVSA to the Central Bank.
(2018-07-20). Glimmers of Economic Recovery amid Mixed Reports about Venezuelan Oil Production. venezuelanalysis.com Lower levels of oil production have been reportedly offset by rising prices and reduced domestic consumption.
(2018-07-20). Trump Admin Closes Venezuela Sanctions Loophole in Favour of US Bondholders. venezuelanalysis.com The measure opens the way for seizures of Venezuela's US-based oil assets should the Maduro government default on PDVSA bond payments.
(2018-07-12). Venezuela's Defunct National Assembly Attempts to Privatise Oil Industry. venezuelanalysis.com Grassroots movements have frequently denounced de facto back-door privatisation in PDVSA.