Mexico: 'We Will Not Break Diplomatic Relations with Venezuela'
teleSUR | telesurenglish.net | 2018-12-20
During a Lima Group meeting held Wednesday in Bogota, Colombia, the Mexican government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ratified they will respect every nation's sovereignty and maintain a policy of non-interference. | ANALYSIS: | How Lima Group Undermines Unasur's Regional Sovereignty Mission | "Self-determination of peoples, peaceful resolution of disputes, non-intervention, international cooperation and respect, protection and promotion of huma…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-We-Will-Not-Break-Diplomatic-Relations-with-Venezuela-20181220-0026.html
Agreed Rules, COP24 and Climate Change Protest
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2018-12-20
"If children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we can alldo together if we really wanted to." Greta Thunberg at COP24, Dec. 2018 | The world, if it goes off in … | The post Agreed Rules, COP24 and Climate Change Protest appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/agreed-rules-cop24-and-climate-change-protest/5663450
Killing Fields of Colombia and Brazil
Eric Draitser | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-20
In Colombia, the last week has been a particularly bloody one for indigenous leaders. In the state of Cauca, just south of the major city of Calí, the indigenous governor Edwin Dagua Ipia was assassinated after having received numerous death threats from paramilitaries in the area. He is one of at least ten indigenous people murdered in the country just in the last week.
counterpunch.org/2018/12/20/colombias-killing-fields/
The People's Christmas: Art, Tradition and Climate Change
Caoimhghin àì Croidheáin | globalresearch.ca | 2018-12-20
COME, bring with a noise, | My merry, merry boys, | The Christmas log to the firing ; | While my good dame, she | Bids ye all be free ; | And drink to your heart's desiring. | With the last year's brand | Light the … | The post The People's Christmas: Art, Tradition and Climate Change appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/the-peoples-christmas-art-tradition-and-climate-change/5662737
Russophobia and the Specter of War
Carl Boggs | mintpressnews.com | 2018-12-20
Could global warming pose the greatest threat to the future of life on the planet? Quite possibly, if we believe the international (and scientific) consensus, despite a widening stratum of debunkers, deniers, and skeptics. What about the prospects of thermonuclear war between the United States and Russia, two countries armed to the max and seemingly moving toward the brink of military conflict? Where does that rate? If the question is asked of most any Beltway denizen, the response might be something along lines of "sounds frightening, but right now we have other priorities, and we can't lose sight of the Russian…
mintpressnews.com/russophobia-specter-of-russia-united-states-war/253199/
Scientists: World's Oldest Large-Predator Dinosaur Was Italian
teleSUR | telesurenglish.net | 2018-12-20
Wednesday Italian paleontologists presented evidence that the world's oldest large-predator dinosaur inhabited the European country some 200 million years ago. | RELATED: | New 13-Ton Dinosaur Species Unearthed in South Africa | "Saltriovenator predates th…
telesurenglish.net/news/Scientists-Worlds-Oldest-Large-Predator-Dinosaur-Was-Italian–20181220-0003.html
Rohingya Refugees Pushed to a Frontline of Climate Change
teleSUR | telesurenglish.net | 2018-12-20
Bangladesh, and its environment, has been struggling to accommodate over 1 million Rohingya refugees who have fled state violence in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist-majority country. | RELATED: | Bangladesh Creating Island 'Prison Camps' for Rohingya Refugees | More than 900,000 Rohingya live in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, mostly in camps, according to the United Nations. For decades, Cox's Bazar, a strip of land between Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal, has sheltered refuge…
telesurenglish.net/news/Rohingya-Refugees-Pushed-to-a-Frontline-of-Climate-Change-20181220-0019.html
Earth justice for Gaias and dals: A veggie roundtable on doing the right thing
David Giesen | indybay.org | 2018-12-20
Notable House | 189 Ellsworth St. | San Francisco…
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/20/18819895.php
Jubilee USA Urges Congress to Pass Puerto Rico Aid and Debt Relief Protections
Kate Zeller | indybay.org | 2018-12-20
"Before Congress goes on recess, Congress must approve funding so that poor kids, the elderly, disabled and the most vulnerable can access food in Puerto Rico," stated Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte.
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/19/18819853.php
Trump Administration Recommends Slashing Civil Rights Protections for Students of Color
ACLU | aclu.org | 2018-12-19
A federal commission's post-Parkland recommendations include reversing an Obama-era guidance on racial disparities in school discipline. | On Tuesday, the Federal Commission on School Safety issued recommendations that it claims will help makes schools safer following the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. But at the center of the report is a proposal that will endanger millions of public school students, especially students of color and students with disabilities, by reversing federal guidance intended to address racial disparities in school discipline. Doing away with the guidance will weaken federal civil rig…
aclu.org/blog/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/trump-administration-recommends-slashing-civil-rights
We Have Entered A Dangerous Moral Universe
Patricia J. Williams | thenation.com | 2018-12-19
We Have Entered A Dangerous Moral Universe…
thenation.com/article/climate-change-truth-lies/
Developing Country Issues at COP24 … and a Bit of Good News for Solar Power and Carbon Capture
Arshad Khan | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-19
We humans are an interesting species … instead of seeing eye-to-eye, we are inclined to see eye-to-nose. We focus on the present and ourselves, particularly where our comfort is concerned, no matter how dire the predictions for the future. Although these are now over, such has been evident at the climate change talks in Katowice, Poland.
counterpunch.org/2018/12/19/developing-country-issues-at-cop24-and-a-bit-of-good-news-for-solar-power-and-carbon-capture/
Strategy for democratic, green socialism and global transformation
John Bachtell | peoplesworld.org | 2018-12-19
The warning signs of a planetary emergency abound: Record heat, massive wildfires, extreme weather events, declining agricultural yields, sea level rise, spreading diseases, mass species extinction, and a climate refugee crisis. The latest report by the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ominously warns the Earth's inhabitants have 12 years to avert the worst …
peoplesworld.org/article/new-marxist-book-envisions-green-strategy-for-global-transformation/
Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Policy Gutting Asylum for People Fleeing Domestic and Gang Violence
ACLU | aclu.org | 2018-12-19
Once again, the Trump administration's attacks on asylum are held unlawful. | The Trump administration's campaign to dismantle our asylum system just suffered another major setback. | A federal judge in Washington, D.C., permanently blocked a June 2018 "expedited removal" policy that gutted asylum protections for immigrants fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality. Holding that "there is no legal basis for an effective categorical ban on domestic violence and gang-related claims," Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down the policy for being c…
aclu.org/blog/federal-judge-blocks-trumps-policy-gutting-asylum-people-fleeing-domestic-and-gang-violence
Russophobia and the Specter of War
Carl Boggs | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-19
Could global warming pose the greatest threat to the future of life on the planet? Quite possibly, if we believe the international (and scientific) consensus, despite a widening stratum of debunkers, deniers, and skeptics. What about the prospects of thermonuclear war between the United States and Russia, two countries armed to the max and seemingly…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/19/russophobia-and-the-specter-of-war/
CEO buys right to name blind worm species after Trump
RT | rt.com | 2018-12-19
A blind, wormlike, dirt-burrowing amphibian has been named after US President Donald Trump in a dig at his climate change policies (or lack thereof) after the CEO of a sustainable building company won an auction for the privilege. | …
rt.com/news/446816-trump-worm-climate-change/
The working class and the environmental crisis
WSWS | wsws.org | 2018-12-19
It is not "humanity" that is guilty of contributing to climate change or the destruction of the ecosystem. It is the capitalist class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/19/pers-d19.html
How to Feel Good about the Climate in 2019
Mrill Ingram | progressive.org | 2018-12-18
Despite national schizophrenia on the issue, a growing number of Americans are on board with accepting human-caused climate change–and doing something about it.
progressive.org/dispatches/how-to-feel-good-climate-change-181218/
People Should Be Allowed to Sue Facebook If It Violates Law on Face Recognition Privacy
ACLU | aclu.org | 2018-12-18
We filed a court brief opposing Facebook's effort to make it harder to enforce a pro-privacy law. | Ten years ago, Illinois enacted a law that imposes important protections against companies collecting and storing our biometric information — including using facial recognition– without our knowledge and consent. The law is called the Biometric Information Privacy Act. Although facial recognition was relatively crude when it was passed, the wisdom of Illinois' decision has been borne out over the last decade, as facial recognition and other biometric collection has developed and spread. | On Monday, the…
aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/people-should-be-allowed-sue-facebook-if-it
Maldives: New Government Should Promote Rights
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-12-18
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih interacts with supporters during a gathering in Malé, Maldives, September 24, 2018. | © 2018 Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo | (New York) — The Maldives' new government should make human rights protections a top priority, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih made public today. Solih, who was elected p…
hrw.org/news/2018/12/18/maldives-new-government-should-promote-rights
South Sudan: Spate of Sexual Violence
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-12-18
Women line up for food rations at a distribution site in Bentiu, South Sudan, on December 8, 2018. | © 2018 Nyagoah Tut Pur/Human Rights Watch | (New York) — South Sudan's government should urgently investigate rape and other sexual violence against women and girls traveling in the former Unity state and provide protection and services to survivors. Investigations should focus not only on the individual crimes, but also on whether the crimes were coordinate…
hrw.org/news/2018/12/18/south-sudan-spate-sexual-violence
Ralph Nader on Single Payer, Climate Devastation, Impeachment & Why Mulvaney Is a "Massive Outlaw"
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-17
As President Trump threatens to shut down the federal government over border wall funding, there have been some shake-ups in the White House. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will resign as he faces at least 17 federal investigations into suspected ethics violations. A former fossil fuel industry lobbyist, David Bernhardt, will become the interim interior secretary. Meanwhile, Trump has tapped Mick Mulvaney to become acting chief of staff to replace Gen. John Kelly. Mulvaney already holds two posts in the administration: White House budget director and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/17/ralph_nader_on_single_payer_climate
Can Canada's Tar Sands Industry Be Profitable Without Government Subsidies?
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-12-17
Todd Paglia of Stand Earth says Canadians taxpayers increasingly foot the bill for Canada's fossil fuels industry | The post Can Canada's Tar Sands Industry Be Profitable Without Government Subsidies? appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/can-canadas-tar-sands-industry-be-profitable-without-government-subsidies
How US-Saudi War Turned Yemen into the Biggest Crisis on Earth
Shared by Jocelyn Dombroski | therealnews.com | 2018-12-16
Medea Benjamin discusses the US-Saudi war on Yemen and attempts by peace activists and Congress to stop the conflict | The post How US-Saudi War Turned Yemen into the Biggest Crisis on Earth appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/how-us-saudi-war-turned-yemen-into-the-biggest-crisis-on-earth
The 10 Most Appalling Articles in the Weekly Standard's Short and Dreadful Life
Jon Schwarz | theintercept.com | 2018-12-16
From its coverage of Iraq and gay marriage to Syria and climate change, here are plenty of reasons for everyone to dance on the Weekly Standard's grave. | The post The 10 Most Appalling Articles in the Weekly Standard's Short and Dreadful Life appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/12/16/the-10-most-appalling-articles-in-the-weekly-standards-short-and-dreadful-life/
Extinction Rebellion: UK Protesters Are Supergluing Themselves to Buildings to Fight Climate Crisis
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-14
As protests erupt at the U.N. climate summit in Katowice, Poland, we speak with Liam Geary Baulch, part of the new movement called Extinction Rebellion that began six months ago in the United Kingdom and has now spread to 35 countries. Members are taking extreme action to fight the climate crisis, including supergluing themselves to government buildings, shutting down London Bridge and taking to the streets to sound the alarm about the impending catastrophe of global warming. They are demanding governments commit to legally binding measures to slash consumption and reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/extinction_rebellion_uk_protesters_are_supergluing
"We Are Not Prepared to Die": Ex-Maldives President Warns of Catastrophic Climate Change
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-14
"We are not prepared to die." Those are the words that Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the low-lying island country of Maldives, delivered at the U.N. climate summit in Katowice, Poland, this week. In an impassioned plea for nations to overcome their differences, he urged world leaders to take decisive action to tackle climate change. Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed returned home to his island nation in November after two years in exile. Just a month later, Nasheed is now leading the Maldives delegation at the U.N. climate summit. We speak with him from the U.N. climate talks.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/we_are_not_prepared_to_die
Hundreds of Activists Stage Sit-in Against Big Polluters on Final Day of COP24 U.N. Climate Talks
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-14
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the U.N. climate summit in Katowice, Poland, on Friday, demanding bolder action from world leaders on climate change. The action was organized by the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice. Demonstrators filled the staircase inside the conference center holding banners reading "Which side are you on?" and "People Not Polluters" and "System change not climate change." As protesters marched out of U.N. climate talks, Democracy Now! spoke with Maya Menezes, Canadian climate activist and member of the Canadian Youth Delegation with the climate justice organization The Leap. Sh…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/hundreds_of_activists_stage_sit_in
Climate Strike: Heeding Call of Greta Thunberg, Polish Students Walk Out of Class
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-14
Fifteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has called for a global climate strike today to protest inaction at the U.N. climate summit. Greta made international headlines after she refused to go to school in August and began a School Strike for Climate. Greta made the call for today's strike in a video posted on Twitter.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/climate_strike_heeding_call_of_greta
Bangladeshi Scientist: World Leaders Must Take Urgent Action to Prevent Climate Crisis Rise
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-14
At the U.N. Climate talks in Katowice, Poland, we speak with climate scientist Saleemul Huq, who is advising the bloc of least developed countries in the climate negotiations, about their demands. He is director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/14/bangladeshi_scientist_world_leaders_must_take
Fossil-Free Costa Rica: How One Country Is Pursuing Decarbonization Despite Global Inaction
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-13
As world leaders struggle to agree on a plan to curb global emissions at the U.N. climate talks in Katowice, Poland, we look at Costa Rica's plan to go fossil-free beginning next year. It will be the first country in the world to decarbonize its economy. Costa Rica generates more than 90 percent of its electricity using renewable energy. Costa Rican officials have announced they want to host U.N. climate talks in 2019, since Brazil rescinded its offer to host the summit following the election of right-wing climate change denier President-elect Jair Bolsonaro. We speak with Mónica Araya, a Costa Rican climate acti…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/fossil_free_costa_rica_how_one
You Are Stealing Our Future: Greta Thunberg, 15, Condemns the World's Inaction on Climate Change
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-13
Fifteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N. plenary last night in Katowice, Poland, condemning global inaction in the face of catastrophic climate change.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/you_are_stealing_our_future_greta
Congress Must Take Action on Toxins
Jill Ryan | progressive.org | 2018-12-11
Why is the Environmental Protection Agency refusing to study PFAS? The toxic chemicals are found in drinking water around the country.
progressive.org/op-eds/congress-must-take-action-on-toxins-181211/
Climate movement attracts new generation of activists
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-10
The latter part of 2018 will be remembered for the re-emergence of climate action on the national agenda. | Independent Kerryn Phelps' win in the Wentworth byelection promising "meaningful environmental action" and Labor's subsequent adoption of a 50% renewable energy policy by 2030 has come in the midst of researcher Rebecca Huntley's findings that "climate and environmental concerns" have increasingly become "a test of leadership" for voters. | These centrist platforms, however, have been rightly superseded by the newest base of the climate movement: high school students. | Tired of the "dinosaurs in parliament…
greenleft.org.au/content/climate-movement-attracts-new-generation-activists
Reviving the Nuclear Disarmament Movement: A Practical Proposal
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2018-12-08
In late November 2018, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned public intellectual, remarked that "humanity faces two imminent existential threats: environmental catastrophe and nuclear war." Curiously, although a widespread environmental movement has developed to save the planet from accelerating climate change, no counterpart has emerged to take on the rising danger of nuclear disaster. Indeed, this danger‚Äïexemplified Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/reviving-the-nuclear-disarmament-movement-a-practical-proposal/
The fightback against Adani and Aurizon steps up
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-06
Adani CEO Lucas Dow's November 29 declaration that work on a scaled-down coalmine in Queensland's Galilee Basin would begin before Christmas was met with one of the most powerful nationwide protests against it so far as primary and high school students walking out of class the next day for the Student Strike 4 Climate Action. | A reported 20,000 students, many of them with their parents and grandparents in tow, took to the streets with a powerful message to Adani and policymakers: ignore us at your peril. | This was followed by a sit-in at Parliament House in Canberra on December 5. | Another round of #StopA…
greenleft.org.au/content/fightback-against-adani-and-aurizon-steps
Sorry To Bother You offers rich lessons in seeking radical social change
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-04
Sorry to Bother You | Written & directed by Boots Riley | In cinemas now | This review includes mild spoilers. | As an Australian living abroad, incidents of Australians being racist and/or misogynistisic that attract attention from international media outlets are frequently forwarded to me in anticipation of a seething refrain. | My response is typically motivated by a mix of rage and embarrassment, as well as a deep concern for how racial capitalism has been almost completely normalised. I am deeply concerned by the fact that not only is our social and political climate ill-equipped to address racism, i…
greenleft.org.au/content/sorry-bother-you-offers-rich-lessons-seeking-radical-social-change
NSW law will 'lead to a new stolen generation'
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-03
Another stolen generation appears certain to be created in NSW, after the Coalition government passed a new adoption law making it easier for a child to be adopted by a foster family without parental consent. | The new adoption law, Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment Bill, passed on November 22 despite fierce opposition, imposes a two-year limit on fostering a child. The Children's Court now has the power to decide whether a birth parent should be rei…
greenleft.org.au/content/nsw-law-will-lead-new-stolen-generation
Eight new books for ecosocialists
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-01
Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus offers up eight new books as recommended reading for ecosocialists. Inclusion does not imply agreement with a book's contents. | *** | 1. The Biofuels Deception: Going Hungry on the Green Carbon Diet | By Okbazghi Yohannes | Monthly Review Press, 2018 | Eliminating fossil fuels is essential, but biofuels have far more to do with sating profit-hungry corporations than saving the Earth. Combining meticulous scientific narrative with devastating economic analy…
greenleft.org.au/content/eight-new-books-ecosocialists
A true people's artist
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-01
Rock & Roll Harbour | Exhibition by The Shop Gallery | 112 Glebe Point Road, Glebe | Thurs January 3 — Wed Jan 9 | Peter Gow is the people's artist. | His ouvre is driven by his down-to-earth, inner-city environment such as boathouses and the heritage-listed Sydney Harbour Bridge in various attitudes, all of which feature prominently in this exhibition. | Gow is a qualified electrician and builder as well, very handy for making the frames in his spare time that embrace his art. | His deep, rich, contrasting colours leap from his palette onto the canvas. His short brush strokes create a palindrom…
greenleft.org.au/content/true-people%E2%80%99s-artist
US condemned for tear-gassing refugees, children
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-30
Legal experts and human rights advocates have denounced the tear gassing of children and other asylum seekers by US forces at the Mexico border on November 25. | "The migrants at our southern border include mothers and small children exercising their legal, human right to seek asylum," declared the ACLU in a tweet on November 26. It told the US Customs and Border Protection agency: "Tear gassing children is out…
greenleft.org.au/content/us-condemned-tear-gassing-refugees-children
"No Deal" Brexit predictions, GDP, average incomes, austerity and the CLIMATE CRISIS
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2018-11-30
If Bill Gates walks into a room full of factory workers then the average income of everybody in the room skyrockets. It would skyrocket even if everybody else in the room were going bankrupt as Gates entered. Similarly, the average income of the people in the room would plummet as Gates walked out the door even Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/no-deal-brexit-predictions-gdp-average-incomes-austerity-and-the-climate-crisis/
Elected Constituent Assembly in Venezuela provoked International Outrage, not the illegal handpicked one in Ecuador
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2018-11-22
"CONAIE and CREO direct the new National Electoral Council" announces a headline yesterday in the rightwing Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo. CONAIE is a self-declared "left" federation representing indigenous peoples in Ecuador. CREO is the party of the "defeated" right wing presidential candidate in 2017. I put "defeated" in quotes because CREO's electoral defeat — which they stupidly Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/elected-constituent-assembly-in-venezuela-provoked-international-outrage-not-the-illegal-handpicked-one-in-ecuador/