(2018-03-07). What Colorado's Informed People Want! counterpunch.org On Oil Operators' Exploration and Production (E&P) This activity has, historically, been permitted with little regard for either public health and safety, or protection of the environment. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has seen its role largely as a promoter of the industry. Recently, this position of the COGCC was challenged in More
(2018-03-07). Administration Sues California Over State Sanctuary Laws. Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists WASHINGTON—The Trump administration on Tuesday sued to block California laws that extend protections to people living in the U.S. illegally, the most aggressive move yet in its push to force so-called sanctuary cities and states to cooperate with immigration authorities. California officials remained characteristically defiant, vowing to defend their landmark legislation. | The Justice Department argued a trio of state laws that, among other things, bar police from asking people about their citizenship status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities are unconstitutional and have kept federal agents from doing their jobs. The lawsuit named as defendants the state of California, Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra. | "I say, bring it on," said California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat who wrote the sanctuary state bill. | It is the latest salvo in an escalating…
(2018-03-06). These Cities Saw the Most Immigration Raids During Trump's First Year in Office. AlterNet.org Despite the protection of sanctuary cities, the number of arrests is climbing. | Raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have increased drastically since Donald Trump moved into the White House. Across the country, 2017 saw 30 percent more ICE arrests than the previous year. A number of these high-profile arrests are particularly despicable, from news that ICE seized a woman after she reported her husband for domestic abuse, to the arrest of a handicapped girl just out of surgery. For the past year, AlterNet has reported on ICE's notable cruelty since Trump's inauguration. Now the numbers are in, and they confirm that the stories of ICE targeting non-criminal individuals aren't just one-off aberrations. ICE drastically increased arrests for undocumented individuals over the past year, many of whom posed no threat to their communities. Pew Research Center tracked the cities. . .
(2018-03-06). Lori Wallach and Michael Hudson Debate Trump's Plan to Impose Steel & Aluminum Tariffs. Democracy Now! "Trade wars are good, and easy to win." That's the message President Trump tweeted on Friday, sending shockwaves across the globe and sparking fear of impending economic volatility. On Thursday, world stock markets tumbled after Trump announced he plans to impose new tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum. The new tariffs—25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum—will benefit U.S. producers of the metals, while raising prices for companies that manufacture everything from cars to airplanes to high-rise apartments. Prominent Republicans and business leaders have denounced Trump's plan, saying the tariffs will hurt the manufacturing industry and U.S. competitiveness. Trump's announcement has also prompted concerns that other countries will impose retaliatory tariffs while challenging U.S. protectionism at the World Trade Organization. For more, we host a debate. Lori Wallach is the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch and author of "The Rise and Fall of Fast Track Trade Authority." Economist Michael Hudson is the author of "America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914."
(2018-03-06). Wall Street Just Sent Democrats and Republicans a 'Sweet Thank You Note' for Doing Its Bidding. AlterNet.org A new "Bank Lobbyist Act" is on the verge of sailing through Congress. | They don't call it the #BankLobbyistAct for nothing. Big bank lobbyists have worked tirelessly to shape the massive deregulatory bill currently making its way through the Senate, and on Monday 13 financial institutions delivered what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. ) derided as a " sweet thank-you note" to the Democrats and Republicans whose support has the measure's passage all but certain. Signed by American Express, KeyCorp, SunTrust, and ten other banks, the letter expresses "appreciation and support for S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act," which is scheduled for a procedural vote on Tuesday. "Bipartisan cooperation and compromise has led to the creation of legislation that would make sensible and incremental changes to existing regulation, support the extension of credit, and spur economic. . .
(2018-03-06). Greece: 13,000 Still Trapped on Islands. Human Rights Watch News Ali, a 22-year-old Afghan asylum seeker with a disability, living in Moria camp, on the beach in Lesbos, Greece. He told Human Rights Watch he can't access showers in the camp and sometimes tries to wash himself in the sea. | © 2017 ZALMAàè for Human Rights Watch | (Athens) — Thousands of asylum seekers are trapped on the Aegean islands in deplorable conditions and without access to adequate protection and basic services, nine human rights and humanitarian organizations said today as part of the #OpenTheIslands campaign. The Greek government should act immediately to end the "containment policy" that traps asylum seekers in these conditions on the islands and move them to safety on the mainland. | As the two-year anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal nears on March 18, 2018, more than 13,000…
(2018-03-06). Lori Wallach and Michael Hudson Debate Trump's Plan to Impose Steel and Aluminum Tariffs. Truthout Stories "Trade wars are good, and easy to win." That's the message President Trump tweeted on Friday, sending shockwaves across the globe and sparking fear of impending economic volatility. On Thursday, world stock markets tumbled after Trump announced he plans to impose new tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum. The new tariffs — 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum — will benefit US producers of the metals, while raising prices for companies that manufacture everything from cars to airplanes to high-rise apartments. Prominent Republicans and business leaders have denounced Trump's plan, saying the tariffs will hurt the manufacturing industry and US competitiveness. Trump's announcement has also prompted concerns that other countries will impose retaliatory tariffs while challenging US protectionism at the World Trade Organization. For more, we host a debate. Lori Wallach is the director of Public Citizen's…
(2018-03-06). Millennials Interrupt Fracking Lobbyist Meeting at Trump Hotel in D.C. (Video). AlterNet.org Young people are rising up to reject corporate influence. | Washington D. C. — A dozen young people interrupted the opening reception to an oil and gas lobbying event Monday at the International Trump Hotel in Washington, D. C. The annual 2018 "Congressional Call-Up" event, which focused on influencing federal officials in Congress and at the Environmental Protection Agency, was held by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a lobby group representing oil and gas companies. Before the opening reception, over a dozen young people—part of the Sunrise Movement, a millennial-led group looking to make climate change an urgent political priority in the 2018 midterm elections—stood in the reception entrance inside the Trump International Hotel. During the interruption, attendees displayed a banner that read "Oil Lobby Money Buys Climate Wrecking Politics," sang a song to the tune of "God Bless the USA," and spoke about the. . .
(2018-03-06). CBO Warns Bipartisan Bank Bill Heightens Risk of Financial Crisis. The Intercept The Congressional Budget Office confirmed on Monday that bank lobbyists had successfully altered language of the so-called Citigroup carve-out, potentially allowing mega-banks Citi and JPMorgan Chase to add leverage and put more debt-fueled risk on their balance sheets. CBO gave Citi and JPMorgan a 50 percent chance of convincing regulators to let them take the carve-out, and their lobbyists are still working to increase that probability to 100 percent. | Factoring in the reality that the major banks will be lobbying regulators in the Trump administration could plausibly increase the likelihood of their success. | CBO's cost estimate of S.2155, the bipartisan bank deregulation bill that faced its first test vote today, was obtained by the Washington Post on Monday and released publicly Tuesday morning. S.2155 would cost taxpayers $671 million over a 10-year period, CBO estimated, because of the…
(2018-03-06). Illinois Residents Say No More Coal Ash in Old Quarry. Truthout Stories Chicago-area residents worry a former stone quarry, lower right, will become a destination for coal ash now stored near four NRG power plants. (Photo: Google Earth) | Support from readers keeps Truthout 100 percent independent. If you like what you're reading, make a donation! | For months now, the Illinois Pollution Control Board has been considering the fate of coal ash stored near four power plants owned by the company NRG. In February, the board completed its second extended public hearing on the issue, with environmental advocates arguing the coal ash should be moved, and the company saying that the ash does not present a risk. | Meanwhile, residents of Chicago's southwestern suburbs are worried about a defunct quarry containing more than 2.5 million cubic yards of coal ash. It is not part of the hearings,…
(2018-03-06). The US Is Poised to Become World's Top Fossil Fuel Producer. Truthout Stories Thanks in part to the shale fracking boom, the US is poised to dominate fossil fuel production globally in the coming years. Wealth from oil and gas comes with the dangers posed by pollution, new pipelines and petrochemical infrastructure, pitting environmental activists and vulnerable communities against the world's wealthiest resource extractors.Booming oil production in the US will have an immediate impact on climate, public health and environment. (Image: Anton Watman / Shutterstock; Edited: JR / TO) | This story wasn't funded by corporate advertising, but by readers like you. Can you help sustain our work with a tax-deductible donation? | The United States is poised to become the world's top oil producer and may dominate fossil fuel production globally in the coming decades, thanks in part to the rise of fracking, which has unlocked deep reserves and sparked environmental controversies across the…
(2018-03-06). Headlines for March 6, 2018. Democracy Now! North Korea Would Stop Nuclear Tests to Hold Talks with United States, Syria: Monitors Say 70 Killed in 24 Hours Amid Ongoing Gov't Assault on Eastern Ghouta, Trump Says He's Not Backing Down from Tariffs Plan, Ex-Trump Campaign Aide Sam Nunberg Says He Won't Cooperate with Mueller Probe, NYT: State Dept. Spent None of $120 Million to Counter Russian Election Meddling, Embattled at Home, Netanyahu Receives Warm Welcome at Trump's White House, 87 Muslim Leaders & Immigration Activists Arrested in D.C. Protesting End of DACA, Trump Taps Dow Lawyer to Head EPA Unit; Data Shows Coal Ash Polluting Groundwater, NYT: Sen. Hatch's Emails Show Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears, Kashmir: Tens of Thousands Protest Killing of Civilians by Indian Soldiers, DRC: Dozens Killed & Hundreds Displaced in Recent Days Amid Fighting in Ituri Province, Trump Name Pried Off Panama…
(2018-03-06). Don't Look Now but the West Virginia Teacher Strike Is Spreading. AlterNet.org Oklahoma could be the next site of a statewide walkout. | What is happening in West Virginia may not necessarily stay in West Virginia. As thousands of teachers in the state occupied the state house on the eighth day of a walkout that has closed every public school in West Virginia, momentum is gathering among teachers in Oklahoma for a potential strike to protest their low pay and high healthcare costs. A Change. org petition has gathered more than 25,000 signatures of teachers and supporters who object to the state's low teacher salaries—the lowest average pay for educators in the nation, at $42,460—with hundreds of signatures being added on Monday. Talk of a potential strike grew last month after a proposal called Step Up Oklahoma was defeated in the state House of Representatives. The plan would have raised taxes on the oil. . .
(2018-03-05). Political Tribalism: Why the Right is So Successful. counterpunch.org In "How America's identity politics went from inclusion to division" (Guardian, March 1, 2018), Amy Chua argues that the U.S. left has given us the U.S. right, or at least has provided opportunities for the political right to rise to power. Chua makes the case that identity politics on the left and right makes the More
(2018-03-05). Bank Earnings Are Soaring, but Congress Wants to Gut Post-Crisis Safeguards. The Intercept Dick Bove, a high-profile banking analyst, was feeling contrite. For years, Bove, a regular on CNBC, has been arguing for the rollback of regulations imposed after the 2008 financial collapse. | "But lately I've been trying to figure how regulation has hurt the banking industry," Bove confessed in an interview last spring. "And I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with an answer." | This week, the Senate considers the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, a bill that represents the greatest threat to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law since its passage in 2010. The bill would relieve all but the country's largest dozen banks of increased scrutiny and ease mortgage rules imposed after the financial crisis. It would undermine fair lending rules designed to counteract race discrimination and weaken the Volcker rule, which limits a bank's ability to make…
(2018-03-05). New UN Report Examines Challenges to Sustainable Development in a | Warming World. The Real News Network Prof. Petra Tschakert, lead author of a new UN report, explains that climate change adaptation can undermine sustainable development…
(2018-03-05). Ignorance and Greed: Trump's War on the Environment. counterpunch.org Under Donald Trump, the environment has been the hardest hit of any sector of society, carried out by executive actions, the overturning of Obama-era regulations, and the enactment of new rules via cabinet review. This assault is occurring just as NASA reports that we've just had another near-record year of global warming. It's insanity, and More
(2018-03-03). Emergency declared after earthquake devastates Papua New Guinea. World Socialist Web Site More than 50 people are feared dead and anger is mounting over the lack of government assistance.
(2018-03-03). Dramatic takedown: $4mn bank heist prevented in highway intercept (VIDEO). RT US News A two-year plot to steal $4 million from armored vehicles in south Florida and murder the drivers was foiled by authorities in dramatic fashion, just hours before the deadly heist was due to be executed. |
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(2018-03-02). "Freakishly Warm" Arctic Weather Has Scientists Reconsidering Worst-Case Scenarios on Climate Change. counterpunch.org
(2018-03-02). Someone Tell a Reporter: the Rich are Destroying the Earth. counterpunch.org Let history record that on Wednesday, September 6th, 2017, 14 days after climate change-fueled Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and 4 days before Hurricane Irma hit southern Florida, the climate-denying President of the United States Donald Trump went to North Dakota to deliver a "tax reform" speech before hundreds of workers and managers at a major oil refinery. More
(2018-03-01). "Freakishly Warm" Arctic Weather Has Scientists Reconsidering Worst-Case Scenarios on Climate Change. Democracy Now! Scientists are expressing dismay over unprecedented warm temperatures in the Arctic. In recent days, temperatures at the North Pole have surged above freezing—even though the sun set last October and won't rise again until later this month. On the northern tip of Greenland, a meteorological site has logged an unprecedented 61 hours of temperatures above freezing so far in 2018. The record-breaking temperatures are connected to an unusual retreat of sea ice in the sunless Arctic winter. Scientists suggest warming temperatures are eroding the polar vortex, the powerful winds that once cushioned the frozen north. The alarming heat wave is causing scientists to reconsider even their bleakest forecasts of climate change. According to a leaked draft of a scientific report by a United Nations panel of scientists, "The risk of an ice-free Arctic in summer is about 50 per cent or higher," with warming of between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius. We speak with Jason Box, professor in glaciology at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen.
(2018-02-28). US: Freezing Cells for Detained Migrants. Human Rights Watch News Footage of women and children in immigration holding cells in Douglas, Arizona, September 2015, made public in 2016 after a group of migrants challenged detention conditions in the cells. | US Customs and Border Protection via American Immigration Council | (Washington, DC) — United States border agents routinely hold families, including infants, in freezing cells when it takes them into custody at or near the border, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. | The 44-page report, " In the Freezer: Abusive Conditions for Women and Children in US Immigration Holding Cells," is based on interviews with 110 women and children. Human Rights Watch found that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents routinely separate adult men and teenage boys from other family members. The practice runs counter to agency…
(2018-02-28). Afghanistan: Kabul Process conference must put the protection of civilians at its heart. Amnesty International The Kabul Process conference must put the protection of Afghan civilians and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the heart of its discussions this week, Amnesty International said. | Leaders and representatives of 23 governments, the United Nations, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are meeting in the Afghan capital for three days of talks centred on the themes of security and counter-terrorism. | "The greatest security issue in Afghanistan is the safety of Afghan civilians. In recent weeks, we have seen the horrors of previous years unfold on the streets of Kabul, with civilians ruthlessly targeted in attacks that amount to war crimes," said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International's Deputy South Asia Director. | "We keep hearing of the Afghan government and the international community's concern for the civilian lives, but there has been a failure to…
(2018-02-27). Atlantic Bravely Confronts Twitter Insults, Ignores Threat of Decades in Prison. FAIR An opinion piece in The Atlantic ( 2/17/19) takes issue with the phenomenon of people sharing their opinions: "Twitter's socially conscious denizens probably only realized they should be outraged at Weiss after they saw other people being outraged." | Which journalists need protecting and which are deemed expendable tells us a lot about media priorities. | New York Times editorial page deputy editor Bari Weiss—a boilerplate neocon warmonger, anti-Arab racist, and sexual abuse soft-peddler—got into hot water when she sent a tweet last week praising Asian-American Mirai Nagasu (born in California) for being "an immigrant" who "got things done." When several people noted not only that Nagasu was born in the US—and thus not an immigrant—but that the assumption that Asian-Americans are inherently foreign is a pervasive, deeply toxic trope that should be apologized for, Weiss had a classic…
(2018-02-26). Six Months After Harvey, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Absent from Houston's Recovery Plans. Democracy Now! This week marks six months since Hurricane Harvey caused historic flooding in Houston, Texas, the most diverse city in the nation and one of its largest. Houston is also home to the largest refining and petrochemical complex in the country. As federal money for rebuilding trickles in, Houston's chief "recovery czar" is the former president of Shell Oil, Marvin Odum, whose past experience includes rebuilding Shell's oil and gas facilities after Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, immigrants and fenceline communities who suffer from pollution along Houston's industrial corridor are still largely absent from much of the discussion about how the city plans to recover. For more, we host a roundtable discussion with Dr. Robert Bullard, the "father of environmental justice"; Bryan Parras of the Sierra Club; undocumented immigrant activist Cesar Espinosa; and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Hilton Kelley in Port Arthur, Texas.
(2018-02-26). Headlines for February 26, 2018. Democracy Now! U.N. Chief: "Stop This Hell on Earth" in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, Students Return to Stoneman Douglas HS for First Time Since Massacre, Broward Sheriff Faces Criticism over Failure to Probe Warnings About Gunman, Congress, NRA Face Pressure as Support for Stricter Gun Control Laws Grows, Ex-Trump Aide Pleads Guilty & Agrees to Cooperate with Mueller Probe, Democratic Memo Defends FBI Actions Surrounding Surveillance of Trump Aide, Weinstein Company to File for Bankruptcy, California Democrats Vote Not to Endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Report: Trump Speaks Privately About Executing Drug Dealers, U.S. Imposes New N. Korea Sanctions, Palestinians Condemn U.S. Plan to Move Embassy to Jerusalem on Nakba Day, 20,000 Protest Israeli Plan to Push Out African Migrants, Oakland Mayor Warns Residents of Possible ICE Raid, Louisiana Judge Revokes Permit for Energy Transfer Partners Pipeline, West Virginia Teachers Begin Third Day on Strike, Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Key Case About Future of Labor Unions…