The Climate Crisis is Back in the News
Lawrence Davidson | counterpunch.org | 2018-10-30
The prospect of drastic climate change is back in the news. But, for all too many people it is just that, a news item. It is like other eye-grabbing stories: a bit scary, but also happening somewhere else and at some other time. Of course, if you happen to be at that other place or…
counterpunch.org/2018/10/30/the-climate-crisis-is-back-in-the-news/

Collapsing Rainforest Ecosystems
Robert Hunziker | counterpunch.org | 2018-10-30
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report on the status of arthropods in rainforests (Bradford C. Lister and Andres Garcia, Climate-Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018 doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1722477115). The report's shocking analysis discovered a collapsing food web in tropical rainforests. Oh please!
counterpunch.org/2018/10/30/collapsing-rainforest-ecosystems/

Labor Has a Role in Defending Trans People Against Trump's Attacks
Shared by Samantha Borek | truthout.org | 2018-10-30
A New York Times report this week revealed that the Trump administration's assault on transgender, non-binary and intersex people has escalated. According to a memo circulating since last spring and recently obtained by the Times, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is at the helm of an effort to define gender as either male or female, immutable and determined by the sex assigned at birth — a move that would dramatically roll back protections and recognition of people who fall o…
truthout.org/articles/labor-has-a-role-in-defending-trans-people-against-trumps-attacks/

'Fake News made me do it': Would-be terrorist's lawyers deploy 'Trump defense' in court
RT | rt.com | 2018-10-30
Attorneys for wannabe bomber Patrick Stein are asking a judge to consider the toxic political climate when sentencing their client, who called himself "Orkin Man" and wanted to exterminate Muslim "cockroaches." | …
rt.com/usa/442590-trump-defense-terror-charges/

Trump deploys military to confront "immigrant invasion"
wsws | wsws.org | 2018-10-30
The White House, deploying thousands of troops to the border, is seeking to to whip up a climate of right-wing chauvinist hysteria on the eve of the November 6 midterm elections.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/30/pers-o30.html

Privatization of Water as an Owned Commodity Rather Than a Universal Human Right
Joachim Hagopian | globalresearch.ca | 2018-10-29
There is no greater natural resource on this earth than water. As the sustenance of all life, water keeps every living and breathing organism, every plant, every animal and every human being on this planet alive. | The post Privatization of Water as an Owned Commodity Rather Than a Universal Human Right appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/privatization-of-water-as-an-owned-commodity-rather-than-a-universal-human-right/5378483

Trump Plays Pocahontas Card Again. . . And Takes the Trick!
Mark Anthony Rolo | progressive.org | 2018-10-29
When I hear people like the Cherokee Nation's Hoskins Jr. bashing Warren for her claim, it occurs to me that Trump's racism has found a footing in tribal politics.
progressive.org/dispatches/trump-plays-the-pocahontas-card-181029/

Fascism Denial Ignores Some Inconvenient Truths
Zoltan Grossman | zcomm.org | 2018-10-29
Learning the inconvenient truths about fascism, like learning about the climate crisis, could lead us to actually shift our beliefs and lives, in order for our society to survive and recover…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/fascism-denial-ignores-some-inconvenient-truths/

NYT's Thomas Friedman reminded about his fancy mansion after sobbing about carbon footprints
RT | rt.com | 2018-10-29
America isn't doing enough to reduce its carbon footprint, NYT columnist Thomas Friedman has warned, apparently forgetting that he lives in an 11,400-square foot palace. The internet quickly reminded him of this slight oversight. | …
rt.com/usa/442558-friedman-nyt-climate-change-mansion/

Can ICE Legally Force Immigrants to Cheer for Donald Trump?
Nick Pinto | theintercept.com | 2018-10-27
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…
theintercept.com/2018/10/27/ice-first-amendment-rights-ravi-ragbir/

Yes, ExxonMobil and Chevron are still distorting climate science
Eds. | mronline.org | 2018-10-27
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…
mronline.org/2018/10/27/yes-exxonmobil-and-chevron-are-still-distorting-climate-science/

New York sues Exxon over climate denial
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-10-26
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…
greenleft.org.au/content/new-york-sues-exxon-over-climate-denial

While Trump Calls Climate Change a Hoax, Hurricane Michael Damaged US Fighter Jets Worth $6 Billion
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-10-26
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…
www.democracynow.org/2018/10/26/while_trump_calls_climate_change_a

SPLC statement on Trump administration's efforts to remove civil rights protections from transgender Americans
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2018-10-22
The Trump administration has apparently redoubled its efforts to exclude transgender Americans from the protection of federal civil rights laws.
splcenter.org/news/2018/10/22/splc-statement-trump-administration%25E2%2580%2599s-efforts-remove-civil-rights-protections-transgender

The Trump Administration Is Trying to Erase Trans People, but the Law Clearly Protects Them
aclu | aclu.org | 2018-10-22
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…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/transgender-rights/trump-administration-trying-erase-trans-people-law-clearly

Action Alert: USA Today Says Climate Apocalypse Promises a Balmy Winter
Jim Naureckas | fair.org | 2018-10-21
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
fair.org/home/action-alert-usa-today-says-climate-apocalypse-promises-a-balmy-winter/

Nuclear Power & Climate
Don Fitz | zcomm.org | 2018-10-18
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…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/nuclear-power-climate/

Venezuela to Donate US$10m to Indonesia Earthquake Victims
TeleSur English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-10-04
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.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14083