Daily Archives: July 11, 2019

2019-07-11: News Headlines

Conn Hallinan (2019-07-11). Water wars: As climate change escalates, South Asia's already fighting over water. peoplesworld.org During the faceoff earlier this year between India and Pakistan over a terrorist attack that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries in Kashmir, New Delhi made an existential threat to Islamabad. The weapon was not India's considerable nuclear arsenal, but one still capable of inflicting ruinous destruction: water. "Our government has decided to stop our …

Alexandra Jacobo (2019-07-11). Monsanto seeks to reverse jury verdict in cancer case they lost. nationofchange.org Monsanto is fighting back against the $2 billion verdict awarded to a couple that claimed the company's infamous herbicide, Roundup, caused their cancer. | Claiming that the plaintiffs' counsel misconduct was "egregious and rampant," the mega-corporation is calling for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding verdict. | Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a couple in their 70s, used Roundup for 30 years until 2016 when they stopped after being made aware the glyphosate was possibly linked to cancer. | After the ruling Bayer, which recently purchased Monsanto, released the following statement: "Bayer is disappointed with t…

Chris Gelardi (2019-07-11). America's Colonial Climate Crisis. thenation.com America's Colonial Climate Crisis…

United Nations (2019-07-11). In Mozambique, it's 'a matter of the heart' says Guterres, lauding the cyclone-struck nation's 'undeniable moral authority'. un.org Arriving in Mozambique to express solidarity and see for himself the damage wrought by two back-to-back cyclones earlier this year, UN chief António Guterres on Thursday said "undeniable moral authority" lay with its people, who had borne the brunt of a disaster linked inexorably to climate change, and a warming world.

Staff (2019-07-11). Why Did the California Assembly Table Oil Setbacks Bill? therealnews.com Frontline communities in California have clamored for 2500 feet between oil drilling and homes and schools. California oil drilling impacts working-class Latino communities most directly, but Assembly Latino Caucus Chairwoman Lorena Gonzalez tabled AB 345 after taking thousands in industry campaign dollars…

pip.hinman (2019-07-11). We need everyone to strike on September 20. greenleft.org.au School Strike 4 Climate released the following statement on July 3. | * * * | On Friday September 20, three days before world leaders meet in New York for the United Nations Emergency Climate Summit, school strikers, together with our friends, communities and families, are holding our biggest Global Climate Strike yet. | Everyone is invited and everyone is needed as we build the biggest social movement the world has ever seen to tackle the climate crisis. | We often get asked by adults if it's OK f…

susan_p (2019-07-11). Five new books for ecosocialists. greenleft.org.au Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus looks at five new books of interest to ecosocialists. | Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines & the Future of Global Fisheries | By Daniel Pauly
| Greystone Books, 2019 | Award-winning biologist Daniel Pauly examines the parlous state of today's global fisheries. Starting with the rapid expansion that followed World War II, he traces the arc of the fishing industry's ensuing demise, offering insights into how and why it has failed. His practical recommendations for a way forward incorporate a vision of a vib…

Dan Bacher (2019-07-11). California's Biggest Secret? How Big Oil Has Expanded Drilling Under Brown & Newsom. indybay.org Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance today released data showing a major increase in permits for new oil and gas wells this year under Governor Newsom. From January 1 to June 3, DOGGR approved 2,365 new oil and gas well permits and 191 fracking permits. | The data reveals that this year regulators have considerably increased the number of permits granted for drilling new wells (by 35.3%), well reworks (by 28.3%), and hydraulic fracturing (by 103.2%) as compared to the permitting rate during the final year of the Brown administration in 2018. Of the 2,365 well permits issued, 1064 or 45% of them benefitt…

pip.hinman (2019-07-11). We're invited to support student strikers. greenleft.org.au The Socialist Alliance National Council voted on June 30 to encourage its members and supporters to support of the September 20 climate strike and put motions along the following lines to their trade unions and other community-based organisations. | * * * | The School Strike 4 Climate has asked adults worldwide to come out onto the streets alongside them and make our voices heard. | To do that we too must strike for climate action. We must break with business as usual, leave our workplaces and rally with the students. | Yes, we will then cross a line. The rules do not let us strike when we want, for what we need…

susan_p (2019-07-11). Mexico: The devious ways one water company is profiting from the poor. greenleft.org.au Water is becoming a coveted currency. As a basic need that is increasingly scarce in some regions due to climate disruption and abusive industrial and agricultural practices, it is the new gold that the wealthy want to get their hands on. | Companies like Nestlé and even drug gangs in Mexico are harnessing the profit and power potential of water, with trails of violence and corruption left in their wake. | In Puebla, two hours to the south of Mexico City, a private water company has plans to break up the streets…

pip.hinman (2019-07-11). Maritime Union backs student-led climate strike. greenleft.org.au The following motion was passed unanimously at the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney Branch monthly member's meeting on June 25. | * * * | The MUA Sydney Branch welcomes the call from the School Strike 4 Climate movement for workers to join their next global strike. We will build for the widest possible stoppage of work to join demonstrations on September 20. We call on our national union to support this action and campaign for stoppages across the global union movement. | We note with anger that the climate crisis is already affecting millions in Australia and around the world. We reaffirm MUA policy that…

Andy Rowell (2019-07-11). Humanity Sleep-Walking Toward 'Mass Extinction'. commondreams.org "Today's oceans are absorbing carbon about an order of magnitude faster than the worst case in the geologic record." (Photo: Onny Carr/Flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/oceans.png

Mallika Khanna (2019-07-10). Climate change is a working-class and poor people's issue. peoplesworld.org If you've read anything about climate change over the past year, you've probably heard about the IPCC report that gives a 12-year deadline for limiting climate change catastrophe. But for many parts of the world, climate change already is a catastrophe. Recently in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, more than 40 people were killed by a severe heat …

Staff (2019-07-10). How the Climate Crisis Is Pushing Central Americans Out of Their Homes Toward the U.S. democracynow.org As the U.S. continues to crack down on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, we look at one of the underreported driving factors leading people to flee their home countries: the climate crisis. John Carlos Frey, author of "Sand and Blood: America's Stealth War on the Mexico Border," spent time with Central American climate refugees traveling in a caravan toward the United States. He says, "If this drought continues, we're looking at all-out famine from Central America. …That's one of the major reasons why they're coming. … The government doesn't even acknowledge the fact that there is a climate c…

Robert J. Burrowes (2019-07-10). The Limited Mind: Why Fear is Driving Humanity to Extinction. dissidentvoice.org I have previously written many articles describing one or more aspects of the dysfunctional nature of the typical human mind, together with an explanation of how this came about and what we can do about it. I have also explained that it is this dysfunctional psychological foundation that generated the behaviors, as well as the …

WSWS (2019-07-10). Chicago water meter program halted after testing reveals lead contamination. wsws.org Officials have known for many years that the city has a serious issue related to lead in its drinking water.

Kenneth Surin (2019-07-10). London's Burning: Brexit and Climate Change. counterpunch.org The Brexit farce continues, this time compounded by the pantomime that is the Tory-party leadership election. Both candidates are from the monied elite (of course), and will be disastrous as prime minister. The choice between them will be made by the largely male, white, and geriatric Tory party membership– it is a standing joke in social media that the meeting of the Young Conservatives at their annual conference has an average age of over 40. More

Staff (2019-07-09). Alberta Government Declares War On Environmentalists. therealnews.com Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is a "climate change denier"

Staff (2019-07-07). Future Resource Wars. therealnews.com The fantasy of the USA becoming the first global empire in history quickly dissolved in the wake of the Iraq war. Pepe Escobar and Eddie Conway discuss the coming nexus of global competition and climate change…

Staff (2019-07-07). As Activists Push Democratic Climate Debate, DNC Donors Profit from Oil, Gas. therealnews.com For Democrats, the presidential primaries will end in Milwaukee at its convention in July 2020. It will be heavily funded by fossil fuel investors, Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, who also own the Milwaukee Bucks.

Staff (2019-07-05). An Hour with Noam Chomsky on Fascism, Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change, Julian Assange & More. democracynow.org In April, hundreds of people packed into the Old South Church in Boston to hear the world-renowned dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speak. In this hour-long special, we air an excerpt of Chomsky's speech and his on-stage interview with Amy Goodman.

pip.hinman (2019-07-04). City of Sydney joins 600 others declaring a climate emergency. greenleft.org.au On June 24, Lord Mayor Clover Moore called on the City of Sydney council to declare a climate emergency. The motion passed unanimously, and Sydney joined a snowballing list of councils globally that have made similar declarations. | But as the dust of the federal election settles and a sleepy giant begins to stir in the Galilee Basin, what will be the significance of Sydney council's words? | The language surrounding climate has changed over the last year or so. "Emergency", "crisis" and "breakdown" are now being used by activists, politicians and even the media. While it might seem like the "emergency" has came…

PSL Albuquerque (2019-07-03). Eco-Socialism Conference to be held in Albuquerque: For the Earth to Live, Capitalism Must End! liberationnews.org Climate change and ecological devastation must be reversed as a matter of survival.

Harrison Malkin (2019-07-02). NBC News Whitewashes Colombia's Right-Wing President. fair.org Colombian President Iván Duque gave a talk on June 21 at the "Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity" on his book Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity. Duque wasn't alone—Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, singer John Legend and former NBA star Dwyane Wade also made appearances at the French Riviera event. | Claire Atkinson, the senior media editor at NBC News ( 6/27/19), i…

unitedEditor (2019-07-01). G20, Democratic debates, a pause in the trade war. uwidata.com G20 The two-day G20 summit ended in Osaka, Japan. Leaders of major powers discussed security, climate, trade, etc. The summit was marked by the United States' disagreement with other countries on a number of issues. For example, on the Paris climate agreement, on the China trade-war issue (despite the fact that a small "reconciliation" between …

2019-07-11: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Monsanto seeks to reverse jury verdict in cancer case they lost
Alexandra Jacobo | nationofchange.org | 2019-07-11
Monsanto is fighting back against the $2 billion verdict awarded to a couple that claimed the company's infamous herbicide, Roundup, caused their cancer. | Claiming that the plaintiffs' counsel misconduct was "egregious and rampant," the mega-corporation is calling for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding verdict. | Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a couple in their 70s, used Roundup for 30 years until 2016 when they stopped after being made aware the glyphosate was possibly linked to cancer. | After the ruling Bayer, which recently purchased Monsanto, released the following statement: "Bayer is disappointed with t…
nationofchange.org/2019/07/11/monsanto-seeks-to-reverse-jury-verdict-in-cancer-case-they-lost/

America's Colonial Climate Crisis
Chris Gelardi | thenation.com | 2019-07-11
America's Colonial Climate Crisis…
thenation.com/article/marshall-islands-climate-puerto-rico/

In Mozambique, it's 'a matter of the heart' says Guterres, lauding the cyclone-struck nation's 'undeniable moral authority'
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-11
Arriving in Mozambique to express solidarity and see for himself the damage wrought by two back-to-back cyclones earlier this year, UN chief António Guterres on Thursday said "undeniable moral authority" lay with its people, who had borne the brunt of a disaster linked inexorably to climate change, and a warming world.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1042281

Water wars: As climate change escalates, South Asia's already fighting over water
Conn Hallinan | peoplesworld.org | 2019-07-11
During the faceoff earlier this year between India and Pakistan over a terrorist attack that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries in Kashmir, New Delhi made an existential threat to Islamabad. The weapon was not India's considerable nuclear arsenal, but one still capable of inflicting ruinous destruction: water. "Our government has decided to stop our …
peoplesworld.org/article/water-wars-as-climate-change-escalates-south-asias-already-fighting-over-water/

Humanity Sleep-Walking Toward 'Mass Extinction'
Andy Rowell | commondreams.org | 2019-07-11
"Today's oceans are absorbing carbon about an order of magnitude faster than the worst case in the geologic record." (Photo: Onny Carr/Flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/oceans.png
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/11/humanity-sleep-walking-toward-mass-extinction?cd-origin=rss

Mexico: The devious ways one water company is profiting from the poor
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-11
Water is becoming a coveted currency. As a basic need that is increasingly scarce in some regions due to climate disruption and abusive industrial and agricultural practices, it is the new gold that the wealthy want to get their hands on. | Companies like Nestlé and even drug gangs in Mexico are harnessing the profit and power potential of water, with trails of violence and corruption left in their wake. | In Puebla, two hours to the south of Mexico City, a private water company has plans to break up the streets…
greenleft.org.au/content/mexico-devious-ways-one-water-company-profiting-poor

Five new books for ecosocialists
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-11
Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus looks at five new books of interest to ecosocialists. | Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines & the Future of Global Fisheries | By Daniel Pauly | Greystone Books, 2019 | Award-winning biologist Daniel Pauly examines the parlous state of today's global fisheries. Starting with the rapid expansion that followed World War II, he traces the arc of the fishing industry's ensuing demise, offering insights into how and why it has failed. His practical recommendations for a way forward incorporate a vision of a vib…
greenleft.org.au/content/five-new-books-ecosocialists-6

We're invited to support student strikers
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-11
The Socialist Alliance National Council voted on June 30 to encourage its members and supporters to support of the September 20 climate strike and put motions along the following lines to their trade unions and other community-based organisations. | * * * | The School Strike 4 Climate has asked adults worldwide to come out onto the streets alongside them and make our voices heard. | To do that we too must strike for climate action. We must break with business as usual, leave our workplaces and rally with the students. | Yes, we will then cross a line. The rules do not let us strike when we want, for what we need…
greenleft.org.au/content/were-invited-support-student-strikers

We need everyone to strike on September 20
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-11
School Strike 4 Climate released the following statement on July 3. | * * * | On Friday September 20, three days before world leaders meet in New York for the United Nations Emergency Climate Summit, school strikers, together with our friends, communities and families, are holding our biggest Global Climate Strike yet. | Everyone is invited and everyone is needed as we build the biggest social movement the world has ever seen to tackle the climate crisis. | We often get asked by adults if it's OK f…
greenleft.org.au/content/we-need-everyone-strike-september-20

Maritime Union backs student-led climate strike
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-11
The following motion was passed unanimously at the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney Branch monthly member's meeting on June 25. | * * * | The MUA Sydney Branch welcomes the call from the School Strike 4 Climate movement for workers to join their next global strike. We will build for the widest possible stoppage of work to join demonstrations on September 20. We call on our national union to support this action and campaign for stoppages across the global union movement. | We note with anger that the climate crisis is already affecting millions in Australia and around the world. We reaffirm MUA policy that…
greenleft.org.au/content/maritime-union-backs-student-led-climate-strike

California's Biggest Secret? How Big Oil Has Expanded Drilling Under Brown & Newsom
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2019-07-11
Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance today released data showing a major increase in permits for new oil and gas wells this year under Governor Newsom. From January 1 to June 3, DOGGR approved 2,365 new oil and gas well permits and 191 fracking permits. | The data reveals that this year regulators have considerably increased the number of permits granted for drilling new wells (by 35.3%), well reworks (by 28.3%), and hydraulic fracturing (by 103.2%) as compared to the permitting rate during the final year of the Brown administration in 2018. Of the 2,365 well permits issued, 1064 or 45% of them benefitt…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/11/18824589.php

How the Climate Crisis Is Pushing Central Americans Out of Their Homes Toward the U.S
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-10
As the U.S. continues to crack down on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, we look at one of the underreported driving factors leading people to flee their home countries: the climate crisis. John Carlos Frey, author of "Sand and Blood: America's Stealth War on the Mexico Border," spent time with Central American climate refugees traveling in a caravan toward the United States. He says, "If this drought continues, we're looking at all-out famine from Central America. …That's one of the major reasons why they're coming. … The government doesn't even acknowledge the fact that there is a climate c…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/10/john_carlos_frey_immigration_us_mexico

Climate change is a working-class and poor people's issue
Mallika Khanna | peoplesworld.org | 2019-07-10
If you've read anything about climate change over the past year, you've probably heard about the IPCC report that gives a 12-year deadline for limiting climate change catastrophe. But for many parts of the world, climate change already is a catastrophe. Recently in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, more than 40 people were killed by a severe heat …
peoplesworld.org/article/climate-change-is-a-working-class-and-poor-peoples-issue/

The Limited Mind: Why Fear is Driving Humanity to Extinction
Robert J. Burrowes | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-10
I have previously written many articles describing one or more aspects of the dysfunctional nature of the typical human mind, together with an explanation of how this came about and what we can do about it. I have also explained that it is this dysfunctional psychological foundation that generated the behaviors, as well as the …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/the-limited-mind-why-fear-is-driving-humanity-to-extinction/

London's Burning: Brexit and Climate Change
Kenneth Surin | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-10
The Brexit farce continues, this time compounded by the pantomime that is the Tory-party leadership election. Both candidates are from the monied elite (of course), and will be disastrous as prime minister. The choice between them will be made by the largely male, white, and geriatric Tory party membership– it is a standing joke in social media that the meeting of the Young Conservatives at their annual conference has an average age of over 40.
counterpunch.org/2019/07/10/londons-burning-brexit-and-climate-change/

Chicago water meter program halted after testing reveals lead contamination
wsws.org | 2019-07-10
Officials have known for many years that the city has a serious issue related to lead in its drinking water.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/10/lead-j10.html

Alberta Government Declares War On Environmentalists
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-09
Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is a "climate change denier"
therealnews.com/stories/alberta-government-declares-war-on-environmentalists

As Activists Push Democratic Climate Debate, DNC Donors Profit from Oil, Gas
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-07
For Democrats, the presidential primaries will end in Milwaukee at its convention in July 2020. It will be heavily funded by fossil fuel investors, Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, who also own the Milwaukee Bucks.
therealnews.com/columns/as-activists-push-democratic-climate-debate-dnc-donors-profit-from-oil-gas

Future Resource Wars
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-07
The fantasy of the USA becoming the first global empire in history quickly dissolved in the wake of the Iraq war. Pepe Escobar and Eddie Conway discuss the coming nexus of global competition and climate change…
therealnews.com/stories/future-resource-wars

An Hour with Noam Chomsky on Fascism, Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change, Julian Assange & More
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-05
In April, hundreds of people packed into the Old South Church in Boston to hear the world-renowned dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speak. In this hour-long special, we air an excerpt of Chomsky's speech and his on-stage interview with Amy Goodman.
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/5/an_hour_with_noam_chomsky_on

City of Sydney joins 600 others declaring a climate emergency
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-04
On June 24, Lord Mayor Clover Moore called on the City of Sydney council to declare a climate emergency. The motion passed unanimously, and Sydney joined a snowballing list of councils globally that have made similar declarations. | But as the dust of the federal election settles and a sleepy giant begins to stir in the Galilee Basin, what will be the significance of Sydney council's words? | The language surrounding climate has changed over the last year or so. "Emergency", "crisis" and "breakdown" are now being used by activists, politicians and even the media. While it might seem like the "emergency" has came…
greenleft.org.au/content/city-sydney-joins-600-others-declaring-climate-emergency

Eco-Socialism Conference to be held in Albuquerque: For the Earth to Live, Capitalism Must End!
PSL Albuquerque | liberationnews.org | 2019-07-03
Climate change and ecological devastation must be reversed as a matter of survival.
liberationnews.org/eco-socialism-conference-to-be-held-in-albuquerque-for-the-earth-to-live-capitalism-must-end/

G20, Democratic debates, a pause in the trade war
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-07-01
G20 The two-day G20 summit ended in Osaka, Japan. Leaders of major powers discussed security, climate, trade, etc. The summit was marked by the United States' disagreement with other countries on a number of issues. For example, on the Paris climate agreement, on the China trade-war issue (despite the fact that a small "reconciliation" between …
uwidata.com/4109-g20-democratic-debates-a-pause-in-the-trade-war/