2018-10-28: News Headlines

Shared by Anton Woronczuk (2018-10-28). New Green Strategy: Change the Electorate, Not the Election. truthout.org How little do elected officials care about climate change? Look no further than a recent US Senate hearing about the biggest threats facing the country, where lawmakers asked a single question about global warming during the entire three-hour event. | Sadly, this hearing occurred just days after the world's leading scientific body on climate change warned that the world has a mere dozen years to avoid catastrophic impacts. | Despite the urgenc…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2018-10-27). Weather Warfare: Beware the US Military's Experiments with Climatic Warfare. globalresearch.ca 'Climatic warfare' has been excluded from the agenda on climate change.

Jake Johnson (2018-10-27). Billionaires Made More Money in 2017 Than Any Other Year in History. mintpressnews.com During a year in which so much of the world faced deep poverty, the corrosive effects of austerity, and extreme weather caused by the worsening human-caused climate crisis — from devastating hurricanes to Nick Pinto (2018-10-27). Can ICE Legally Force Immigrants to Cheer for Donald Trump? theintercept.com Do the First Amendment's protections prevent the government from targeting its most vocal critics for deportation? That's the central question that three judges for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals will be considering Monday, when lawyers for Ravi Ragbir, a New York City immigration activist, will argue for a preliminary injunction to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from deporting him before he can press his First Amendment claim in court. | In the case, which comes before judges Christopher Droney, Pierre Leval, and John Walker Jr., the government contends that Ragbir's situation is straightfo…

Eds. (2018-10-27). Yes, ExxonMobil and Chevron are still distorting climate science. mronline.org If you look at headlines from the last year, ExxonMobil, Chevron and other major fossil fuel companies have seemingly turned a new page on climate change. | Source

stuart_m (2018-10-26). New York sues Exxon over climate denial. greenleft.org.au After a three-year probe and amid mounting demands that the fossil fuel industry be held accountable for driving the climate crisis, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed suit on October 24 against ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil and gas company. | The suit accuses the oil giant of defrauding investors by downplaying the financial threat of regulations crafted to mitigate human-caused global warming. | "Big oil may finally face some consequences for its role in wreck…

David Rosen (2018-10-26). Trump's HHS and the Renewed Culture Wars. counterpunch.org The New York Times recently reported on a secret memo circulating within the Trump bureaucracy seeking to narrow the definition of gender to "a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth." The Times considers this "the most drastic move yet in a government wide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law." More

Kristine Mattis (2018-10-26). Eco Crises: Doom & Gloom, Truth & Consequences. counterpunch.org We can't save the world by playing by the rules because the rules have to change. Everything needs to change and it has to start today….To all the politicians that pretend to take the climate question seriously, to all of you who know but choose to look the other way every day because you seem More

Robert Hunziker (2018-10-26). The Great Drought. counterpunch.org The most hazardous global warming risk for society at large is widespread loss of grain production because of a synchronized worldwide drought. It would be a colossal killer. It's happened before, known as The Great Drought 142 years ago. Unmistakably, droughts feed off global warming and world temps are heading up, not down. Thus, droughts More

Democracy Now! (2018-10-26). While Trump Calls Climate Change a Hoax, Hurricane Michael Damaged US Fighter Jets Worth $6 Billion. democracynow.org On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, just over a week after the base was largely destroyed during Hurricane Michael. The base is home to a fleet of 55 F-22 stealth fighters. Before Hurricane Michael leveled the base, at least 33 of these jets were flown to safety. But at least 17 of the planes, costing $339 million each, were likely left behind and possibly destroyed. There are several air bases located right on the coast in storm-prone areas in states in the South where scientists anticipate that climate change-induced hurricanes will grow more intense and mor…

Fight Back (2018-10-25). Tampa students stand against attacks on trans rights. fightbacknews.org Tampa, FL — More than 50 Tampa area students and community activists gathered at the University of South Florida's MLK Plaza, October 24, for a rally against Trump's attacks on transgender rights. The protest was organized by Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). | Earlier this week it was announced that Trump administration officials were moving to alter Title IX rules to exclude trans people from basic services and protection from discrimination. This is only the latest attack on the LGBTQ+ community from the Trump administration. | "We need to organize against Trump's attacks on trans righ…

Eds. (2018-10-25). In 'Historic Moment' for climate action, Wales pledges to leave its remaining coal in the ground. mronline.org "More countries must rapidly follow the path of Wales in leaving fossil fuels in the ground and transitioning to renewables." | Source

Sharon Lerner (2018-10-25). EPA Continues to Approve Toxic PFAS Chemicals Despite Widespread Contamination. theintercept.com Even as the Environmental Protection Agency has been trumpeting its efforts to find and clean up contamination from industrial chemicals known as PFAS, it has been allowing new chemicals in this class to enter into commerce, according to data from the agency. The EPA has allowed more than 100 new PFAS compounds to be made and imported in large quantities in the U.S. after it became aware of the health risks associated with them, and many more have entered commerce t…

Fight Back (2018-10-22). FRSO leader condemns Trump administration's attacks on transgender rights. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Steff Yorek, the Political Secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, sharply condemned the Trump administration, October 22, for orchestrating attacks on the democratic rights of transgender people. | According to widespread media reports, officials in the Trump admiration are moving to alter Title IX rules to exclude transgender people for any legal protections. | "The reactionary and right-wing bigots of the Trump administration are preparing an attack on the democratic rights of transgender people. They are attempting to erase people's existence, and roll back the framework fo…

aclu (2018-10-22). The Trump Administration Is Trying to Erase Trans People, but the Law Clearly Protects Them. aclu.org A recently leaked memo is attempting to undermine decades of court decisions saying federal law protects transgender and nonbinary people. | Over the weekend, The New York Times revealed that officials within the Trump administration are pushing for a definition of the term "sex" in federal civil rights laws that would eliminate non-discrimination protections for transgender people. Transgender people and their families understandably panicked at that news. | The reality, though, is that transgender pe…

splcenter (2018-10-22). SPLC statement on Trump administration's efforts to remove civil rights protections from transgender Americans. splcenter.org The Trump administration has apparently redoubled its efforts to exclude transgender Americans from the protection of federal civil rights laws.

Jim Naureckas (2018-10-21). Action Alert: USA Today Says Climate Apocalypse Promises a Balmy Winter. fair.org USA Today (10/19/18) presents the upside of temperatures not seen since the Pleistocene Epoch. | The federal Climate Prediction Center foresees an El Niño system, a band of warm water that periodically appears in the Pacific Ocean, developing in time for this upcoming winter. This in turn means that 2019 will likely be the hottest year for the planet in recorded history, since we're already at near-record temperatures (2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year) and El Niño gives a

Don Fitz (2018-10-18). Nuclear Power & Climate. zcomm.org The great environmental challenge of our time is to understand that the many sources of biodestruction are interconnected and must be confronted simultaneously, rather than disparaging one danger to focus on another…

Alexandra Tempus (2018-10-14). Five Questions For: Author Suzanne Gordon on the VA as a 'Model for American Health Care'. progressive.org "Many liberals and progressives who don't buy the propaganda about climate, or about education, buy the propaganda about the VA."

TeleSur English (2018-10-04). Venezuela to Donate US$10m to Indonesia Earthquake Victims. venezuelanalysis.com President Maduro confirms they will use funds from the "solidarity fund" to aid victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the island of Celebes in late September.