2018-11-29: Social Media Postees

Where Are the Politics in Michelle Obama's New Memoir?
Start Making Sense, Jon Wiener | thenation.com | 2018-11-29
Where Are the Politics in Michelle Obama's New Memoir?
thenation.com/article/michelle-obama-democrats-climate-podcast/

U.N. Chief: G-20 Leaders Need Bolder Action at Critical Time
Staff | truthdig.com | 2018-11-29
Citing a "crisis of confidence," he says countries must work together at the upcoming summit to tackle inequality and climate change. | The post U.N. Chief: G-20 Leaders Need Bolder Action at Critical Time appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
truthdig.com/articles/un-chief-g-20-leaders-need-bolder-action-at-critical-time/

Green paradoxes: How climate change policy preserves climate change causes
Eds. | mronline.org | 2018-11-29
Why are societies failing to effectively respond to climate change? Why is it that "environmental degradation increases amid the growth of environmental attention and concern," as Alexander Stoner and Andony Melathopoulos put it? | Source…
mronline.org/2018/11/29/green-paradoxes-how-climate-change-policy-preserves-climate-change-causes/

George Monbiot: Ending Meat & Dairy Consumption Is Needed to Prevent Worst Impacts of Climate Change
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-29
We look at the link between climate change and meat consumption on the heels of a series of damning reports that say if humans don't act now to halt climate change, the results will be catastrophic. A new study by the World Meteorological Organization shows the past four years have been the hottest on record. On Tuesday, the United Nations reported that carbon emissions reached record highs in 2017 and are on the rise for the first time in four years. Radical reductions are necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the level that would prevent the worst effects of catastrophic climate change. Livestock fo…
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/29/george_monbiot_ending_meat_dairy_consumption

An Excerpt from Green Earth
Eds. | mronline.org | 2018-11-29
Kim Stanley Robinson describes himself as "a patriot of the genre" of science fiction, writing at the intersection of science and politics for over three decades. His work is striking for its warmth and realism. | Source…
mronline.org/2018/11/29/an-excerpt-from-green-earth/

Microplastics Pollution in Falklands as High as UK
Anglia Ruskin University | globalresearch.ca | 2018-11-29
The first study to investigate microplastics around Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands — two of the most remote locations in the South Atlantic Ocean — has found levels of contamination comparable with the waters around the UK. | The research, | … | The post Microplastics Pollution in Falklands as High as UK appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/microplastics-pollution-in-falklands-as-high-as-uk/5661404

Counting the Drops: Climate Change and The Colorado River
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-11-29
In the midst of a prolonged drought, Arizona's cities have found ways to adapt to low water reserves and put tight water management programs in place, in order to ensure future reserves | The post Counting the Drops: Climate Change and The Colorado River appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/counting-the-drops-climate-change-and-the-colorado-river

Gov. Brown Was a Climate Leader, but His Vision Had a Fatal Flaw
Kate Aronoff | zcomm.org | 2018-11-29
So which is he? A global leader in combat against climate change? Or a fraud whose fear of big oil has exacerbated the crisis?>…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/gov-brown-was-a-climate-leader-but-his-vision-had-a-fatal-flaw/

California's Climate Refugees
Shared by Cherise | truthout.org | 2018-11-29
Hundreds of people, left with nothing, wracked by illness and threatened with further displacement as they try to rebuild their lives. | This could easily describe the refugees from Central America who have traveled for weeks in the migrant caravan and are now — after facing violence and incredible hardship — attempting to find refuge in the US | But it's also a description of the hundreds of survivors of Northern California's Camp Fire. | Of course, those displaced by the massive fire — the most destructive in the state's history, which claimed at least 88 lives, with 203 still missing as this…
truthout.org/articles/californias-climate-refugees/

Why A.S. Hamrah's Anti-Capitalist Film Criticism Is Essential Reading
Max Nelson | thenation.com | 2018-11-29
Why A.S. Hamrah's Anti-Capitalist Film Criticism Is Essential Reading…
thenation.com/article/as-hamrah-n-plus-1-film-earth-dies-streaming-review/

Hundreds Rally in San Diego in Defense of Migrant Caravan
VWSW | indybay.org | 2018-11-29
On Sunday morning [26 November 2018] over 200 people attended a rally in Larsen Field, San Ysidro, on the San Diego-Tijuana Border, to support the migrants in the Central American caravan, who are seeking to claim asylum in the United States. The protest occurred several hours before US Customs and Border Protection shut down the San Ysidro border crossing and fired tear gas at several hundred men, women and children seeking to cross into the United States.
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/11/25/18819363.php

Iran Suspends Gas Exports To Iraq After Earthquake
Oil Price | iranian.com | 2018-11-29
Iran halted late on Tuesday gas exports to neighboring Iraq for several days, in order to repair pipeline damages caused by an earthquake near the Iraqi border on Sunday night, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from Iraq's electricity ministry. Major Iraqi power plants are dependent on Iranian natural gas supply. On Sunday night, a 6.3-magnitude […] | The post Iran Suspends Gas Exports To Iraq After Earthquake appeared first on The Iranian.
iranian.com/2018/11/29/iran-suspends-gas-exports-to-iraq-after-earthquake/

The Forest is Our Heartbeat: The struggle to save Indigenous land in Malaysia
amnesty | amnesty.org | 2018-11-29
Across Malaysia, extensive land development is adversely affecting Indigenous peoples, posing a threat to ancestral lands, traditional ways of life and a wide spectrum of human rights. The Indigenous peoples of Malaysia comprise over 67 ethnic groups composing 14% of the country's population. They reside in almost every state and territory within the Federation and are afforded special recognition in the country's constitution. Despite this, they continue to suffer from disproportionate levels of poverty and ongoing social exclusion, in part due to an absence of formal recognition of their land as well as a lack…
amnesty.org/en/documents/asa28/9424/2018/en/

Two visions, one planet
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-29
As young people threw themselves into the Student Strike 4 Climate Action and made an impassioned plea to preserve life on Earth, one of Australia's most polluting industries was working behind the scenes to have the federal government hide the truth of its carbon emissions. | The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) has been lobbying to have emissions from liquefied natural gas plants kept out of the public realm and treated as a commercial secret. | These two approaches symbolise counterposed visions for humanity. | The petroleum industry has spruiked gas as a "transition fuel" th…
greenleft.org.au/content/two-visions-one-planet

Residents step up the pressure on Labor over Adani
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-29
Inaction on global warming is heating not only the planet, but also the mood of residents who visited Labor MPs offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. | Sydney residents concerned about climate change and the Adani coal mine in Queensland visited ALP deputy leader Tanya Plibersek on November 20 where, after queuing patiently, finally spoke to her office staff to ask them to pass a message on that the Labor Party must pledge to halt the proposed Adani coal mine. | If it goes ahead, the Adani Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin will be the largest in Australia. Burning the coal will add huge amounts of carbon…
greenleft.org.au/content/residents-step-pressure-labor-over-adani

NSW paves way for new stolen generation
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-29
Another stolen generation looks certain to be created in New South Wales after the state Coalition government passed an adoption law that makes it easier for foster parents to adopt a child who they have had under care for less than two years. | The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment Bill, which was passed on November 22, grants the Children's Court the power to decide whether a child should be restored to their family or that the child be adopted by…
greenleft.org.au/content/nsw-paves-way-new-stolen-generation

'The Weekend,' 'Roma,' 'The Favorite,' 'Stan & Ollie,' capsule reviews from AFI
Ed Rampell | peoplesworld.org | 2018-11-28
LOS ANGELES–The American Film Institute's annual film festival, which took place Nov. 8-15, is arguably Los Angeles's premier annual fete of cinema. Here are further capsule reviews of some of this year's offerings. Some are now in theaters. The Weekend Woody Allen's films have sometimes been criticized for their dearth of Black characters, even if …
peoplesworld.org/article/the-weekend-roma-the-favorite-stan-ollie-capsule-reviews-from-afi/

How Tear Gas Became a Favorite Weapon of U.S. Border Patrol, Despite Being Banned In Warfare
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-28
As the Trump administration continues to defend firing tear gas into crowds of asylum seekers, we look at the history of tear gas, which is banned in warfare but legal for federal authorities and police to turn on civilians. Border authorities' use of tear gas has spiked under the Trump administration, with the agency's own data revealing it has deployed tear gas over two dozen times this year alone. Customs and Border Protection told Newsweek Tuesday it began using tear gas under the Obama administration in 2010. The agency's use of tear gas has now reached a seven-year record high. We speak with Stuart Schrader…
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/28/how_tear_gas_became_a_favorite

How Trump Weaponized the Government's Refugee Resettlement Agency
aclu | aclu.org | 2018-11-28
The Office of Refugee Resettlement was supposed to protect vulnerable immigrant children. Now it's an arm of Trump's deportation force. | Back in April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, both under the Department of Homeland Security, entered into a memorandum of agreement with an obscure government agency known as the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. The office, known by its initials ORR, had traditionally served vulnerable immigrant youth coming to the United States without an adult. The agency took custody of those c…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/how-trump-weaponized-governments-refugee

What white supremacists know
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz | mronline.org | 2018-11-28
The violent theft of land and capital is at the core of the U.S. experiment: the U.S. military got its start in the wars against Native Americans. | Source…
mronline.org/2018/11/28/what-white-supremacists-know/

How Tear Gas Became a Favorite Weapon of US Border Patrol
Shared by Cherise | truthout.org | 2018-11-28
As the Trump administration continues to defend firing tear gas into crowds of asylum seekers, we look at the history of tear gas, which is banned in warfare but legal for federal authorities and police to turn on civilians. Border authorities' use of tear gas has spiked under the Trump administration, with the agency's own data revealing it has deployed tear gas over two dozen times this year alone. Customs and Border Protection told Newsweek Tuesday it began using tear gas under the Obama administration in 2010. The agency's use of tear gas has now reached a seven-year record high. We speak with Stuart Schra…
truthout.org/video/how-tear-gas-became-a-favorite-weapon-of-us-border-patrol/

We Need to Triple Cuts to Stand a Chance Against Climate Change
Staff | truthdig.com | 2018-11-28
The gap between the world's greenhouse gas emissions and countries' planned reductions is growing, and only multiplying climate cuts can reduce global warming enough. | The post We Need to Triple Cuts to Stand a Chance Against Climate Change appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
truthdig.com/articles/we-need-to-triple-cuts-to-stand-a-chance-against-climate-change/

Meat and Consequences: More Bad News for Climate Change
Arshad Khan | counterpunch.org | 2018-11-28
Thanksgiving is quite a holiday. In one day, we manage to eat and enjoy 44 million turkeys, twice the number consumed at Christmas. Yes, vegetarians may live longer and vegans even more so, but the smell of a roasting turkey in the kitchen lingering in the nostrils, titillating appetites as friends and relations gather, is synonymous with Thanksgiving — a meal where it is politic to keep politics away from the table.
counterpunch.org/2018/11/28/meat-and-consequences-more-bad-news-for-climate-change/

The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal
Naomi Klein | zcomm.org | 2018-11-28
It is a network of extraordinary groups and individuals who have held fast to their climate focus and commitments even when no media wanted to cover the crisis and no major political party wanted to do anything more than perform concern…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-game-changing-promise-of-a-green-new-deal/

NAACP Statement on Recent Criminal Justice Reform Compromise Introduced in Senate
Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet | naacp.org | 2018-11-28
NAACP released the following statement in support of the Crimianl Justice Reform Compromise: Our American criminal justice system is broken. Sentencing is disproportionately weighted against African Americans, and the current political climate continues to devalue black lives by reviving the same failed policies of the war on drugs that fueled mass incarceration," said NAACP President […] | The post NAACP Statement on Recent Criminal Justice Reform Compromise Introduced in Senate appeared fir…
naacp.org/latest/naacp-statement-recent-criminal-justice-reform-compromise-introduced-senate/

California Gov. Jerry Brown Was a Climate Leader, but His Vision Had a Fatal Flaw
Kate Aronoff | theintercept.com | 2018-11-28
Under Jerry Brown, California has become a leader on climate politics. But the state has done little to phase out fossil fuel emissions at their source. | The post California Gov. Jerry Brown Was a Climate Leader, but His Vision Had a Fatal Flaw appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/11/28/california-jerry-brown-climate-legacy/

Students tell MPs: 'The dinosaurs in parliament house need to open their eyes'
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-28
Hundreds of primary and secondary students went on strike and protested at Parliament House on November 28 calling for serious action on climate change. The action was the first in a national round of student strikes and protests happening across the country on November 30. | Solomon Vassarotti Brann, a student North Ainslie Primary School told the crowd: "If the government says it's committed to climate change, I want to know why it's still supporting coal mines like Adani which increase our greenhouse gas emissions. I want climate action." | Nia and Lolo Cornthwaite and Aisla Hardie from Chapman Primary School…
greenleft.org.au/content/student-tell-mps-dinosaurs-parliament-house-need-open-their-eyes

How a Climate Change-Fueled Drought & U.S.-Fed Violence Are Driving Thousands from Central America
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-27
President Trump is urging Mexico to deport the thousands of Central American migrants who are at or approaching the U.S. border in an attempt to seek asylum, days after U.S. border authorities fired tear gas into a crowd of asylum seekers as some tried to push their way through the heavily militarized border near San Diego. Trump tweeted, "Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!" T…
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/27/how_a_climate_change_fueled_drought

John Podesta styling himself as a climate change expert in Guardian article
RT | rt.com | 2018-11-27
John Podesta, the former chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign whose private emails were infamously published by WikiLeaks, seems to have pivoted into a new arena: Climate change punditry. | …
rt.com/usa/445010-john-podesta-climate-change/

EPA Plans to Roll Back Water Protections Despite Climate Change Warnings
Sharon Lerner | theintercept.com | 2018-11-27
While one branch of the U.S. government issued a report last week outlining the grave threats posed by climate change, another branch was preparing a rollback of water protections that will further exacerbate some of the climate-related problems laid out in the report. | "Water security in the United States is increasingly in jeopardy" warn the authors of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. Issued the day after Thanksgiving, the 1,656-page report was written by a team of more than 300 experts from the government and the private sector,…
theintercept.com/2018/11/27/epa-water-protection-climate-change/

The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal
Naomi Klein | theintercept.com | 2018-11-27
The "Green New Deal" is not a piecemeal approach that trains a water gun on a blazing fire, but a comprehensive plan to transform society for the better. | The post The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/11/27/green-new-deal-congress-climate-change/

#ExtinctionRebellion Launches Civil Disobedience Campaign Over Climate Change
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-11-26
A day after a new US Government report warned of imminent climate catastrophe, TRNN spoke to some of the protesters who marched and shutdown traffic in Manchester, England, to urge action over the climate crisis | The post #ExtinctionRebellion Launches Civil Disobedience Campaign Over Climate Change appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/extinctionrebellion-launches-civil-disobedience-campaign-over-climate-change

Bill McKibben: New Report Reconfirms Climate Change is Shrinking Inhabitable Parts of the Planet
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-26
On the heels of yet another alarming climate change report–this time released by a White House that openly denies global warming–we speak with 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben and public health scholar Kristie Ebi about President Trump's environmental policies, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal and what it will take to fight the growing threat of climate change.
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/26/bill_mckibben_new_report_reconfirms_climate

Trump Admin Tries to Bury 1,656-Page Climate Report Warning of Devastating Health Impacts of Warming
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-26
The White House released an alarming climate change report on Black Friday, attempting to bury a 1,656-page government assessment that directly contradicts President Trump's history of climate change denial. The damning report, known as the National Climate Assessment, says that the consequences of climate change will leave no part of the U.S. untouched and that the warming climate will increase wildfires, crumble infrastructure, worsen air quality, destroy crops and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks. It also finds that global warming could shrink the U.S. economy by as much as 10 percent by the end of the…
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/26/trump_admin_tries_to_bury_1

Americas: Stuck at the door: The Urgent Need for Protection of Central American Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants in the Caravans
amnesty | amnesty.org | 2018-11-26
The arrival in Mexico since 19 October 2018 of between 8,000 and 10,000 migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum from Honduras, as well as from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala as part of a series of so-called caravans is an urgent situation that requires States to respond in line with international human rights law and standards.
amnesty.org/en/documents/amr01/9447/2018/en/

Laura Flanders Show: Divest to Decolonize
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-11-25
At the traditional start of the holiday season, many in the US come together with family and friends to celebrate and give thanks. Though for indigenous peoples around the world perhaps apologies, even recompense, would be more in order. We hear from Native American activists Michelle Cook and Hartman Deetz about the ongoing struggle for… | The post Laura Flanders Show: Divest to Decolonize appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/laura-flanders-show-divest-to-decolonize

The Doomsday Machine and Nuclear Winter — Daniel Ellsberg on RAI (11/13)
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-11-23
An H Bomb first strike will create firestorms and smoke that ends most human life; this is a fact ignored by military planners and by the Trump administration which doesn't believe in climate science — says Daniel Ellsberg on Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay | The post The Doomsday Machine and Nuclear Winter — Daniel Ellsberg on RAI (11/13) appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/the-doomsday-machine-and-nuclear-winter-daniel-ellsberg-on-rai-11-12

'The Administration's Refusal to Consider the Reality of Climate Change Is Very Difficult'
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2018-11-23
Janine Jackson interviewed Jackie Prange about the Keystone XL re-review for the November 16, 2018, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/the-administrations-refusal-to-consider-the-reality-of-climate-change-is-very-difficult/

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/

Noam Chomsky: The Future of Organized Human Life Is At Risk Thanks to GOP's Climate Change Denial
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-22
As the death toll from the climate change-fueled Camp Fire in California continues to rise and hundreds remain missing, we rebroadcast our conversation about climate change with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky from October. He says Republican Party leaders are dedicated to "enriching themselves and their friends" at the cost of the planet, and warns: "We have to make decisions now which will literally determine whether organized human life can survive in any decent form."
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/22/noam_chomsky_the_future_of_organized

Minimal Media Attention Helped Sink Crucial Climate Initiatives
Justin Anderson | fair.org | 2018-11-21
Climate change took a backseat to other issues in this year's midterm elections, and humanity may end up paying the price. The majority of climate change-related ballot measures failed, many climate deniers in the Republican party won or kept their seats, and even Democratic winners were not pressed on their commitment to climate change legislation …
fair.org/home/minimal-media-attention-helped-sink-crucial-climate-initiatives/

Greece: Dire Conditions for Asylum Seekers on Lesbos
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-11-21
A boy holds a bicycle at a camp next to the Moria refugee camp in the island of Lesbos on August 5, 2018. | © 2018 Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images | (Brussels) — The already dire conditions in the overcrowded Moria camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos may deteriorate into a full-blown humanitarian disaster as winter approaches unless urgent action is taken, Human Rights Watch said today. | "Thousands of people seeking protection in E…
hrw.org/news/2018/11/21/greece-dire-conditions-asylum-seekers-lesbos

SPLC sues Trump administration for records detailing rollback of protections for transgender people in prison
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2018-11-20
The SPLC, along with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) today.
splcenter.org/news/2018/11/20/splc-sues-trump-administration-records-detailing-rollback-protections-transgender-people

National Exclusive: Former Sen. Barbara Boxer's Son and California Powerbroker Found Bilking Indian Tribe
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2018-11-16
Darius Anderson and his business partner, Douglas Boxer, preyed upon Native American clients who were too intimidated by their political connections to seek recourse, writes investigative reporter Peter Byrne. Judges Find Breach of Contract and Trust By Peter Byrne Darius… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/11/16/national-exclusive-former-sen-barbara-boxers-son-and-california-powerbroker-found-bilking-indian-tribe/

Out-of-control system burns California
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-16
A combination of real estate capitalism and climate change has unleashed murderous fires in California, writes Phil Hearse. | Things are getting serious. On November 15, at least are 56 were confirmed dead with hundreds missing. Thousands of homes and businesses have burned down. Two major fires, in the north and south of the state, were still not under control. | The scenes could be the aftermath of a US or Russian bombing raid in the Middle East — bodies littered on the ground, people burned to death in their cars, families devastated with grief at the loss of homes and loved ones. | United States Preside…
greenleft.org.au/content/out-control-system-burns-california

Maduro: Venezuela Sitting on 2nd Biggest Gold Reserve on Earth
TeleSur English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-11-05
President Nicolas Maduro described the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela as "crazy" and "criminal."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14133