Democrats Complain About Green Party "Spoilers," but Few in Congress Back a Solution: Ranked-Choice Voting
Zaid Jilani | theintercept.com | 2018-08-10
Recent Midwestern election results have generated criticism of so-called spoiler candidates. A bill in the House could help, but only five in Congress have signed on. | The post Democrats Complain About Green Party "Spoilers," but Few in Congress Back a Solution: Ranked-Choice Voting appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/08/10/ohio-special-election-ranked-choice-voting/

Laura Ingraham's 'Demographic Changes" Rant is Not a Matter of Law and Order — It's a Rallying Cry to Trump's Base
Heather Digby Parton, Salon | alternet.org | 2018-08-10
Laura Ingraham's racist rant: Fueling fears of a changing America is GOP's midterm strategy | The big earthquake of the 2018 primary season so far has been the unseating of powerful Democratic House leader Joe Crowley by 28-year-old democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez in New York. This isn't a common occurrence, needless to say, but it does happen from time to time, most recently four years ago when an obscure economics professor n. . .
alternet.org/laura-ingrahams-demographic-changes-rant-not-matter-law-and-order-its-rallying-cry-trumps-base

Fueling Fears of a Changing US Is the GOP's Midterm Strategy
Samantha Borek | truthout.org | 2018-08-10
The big earthquake of the 2018 primary season so far has been the unseating of powerful Democratic House leader Joe Crowley by 28-year-old democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez in New York. This isn't a common occurrence, needless to say, but it does happen from time to time, most recently four years ago when an obscure economics professor named David Brat unseated GOP House leader and "young gun" Eric Cantor in Virginia. At that time, much of the chattering class chalked the defeat up to "all politics is local," saying that Cantor had neglected his district. That analysis was wrong. Brat won because of one very hot issue that was boiling over in the right-wing media: immigration. | The right-wing star most responsible for pushing that issue into the GOP mainstream was talk radio host Laura Ingraham. | Before her promotion to Fox News primetime…
truthout.org/articles/fueling-fears-of-a-changing-us-is-the-gops-midterm-strategy/

Mexico's Ban Advances Broader Fight to End Fracking in North America
Merula Furtado | truthout.org | 2018-08-10
Mexico City — Those who have been fighting fracking describe hydraulic fracturing rigs as harbingers of death and destruction, and with good reason. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, has become synonymous with the contamination of the air, land and water, and for this reason, communities throughout the continent have persistently resisted, fighting by every means possible to stop the practice. The effort by grassroots activists to take on multinational oil and gas companies is a classic example of a battle between David and Goliath. | But opponents of fracking recently had cause to celebrate. On August 1, 2018, Mexican President-Elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that under his government the nonconventional extraction method would no longer be used, marking a major step in the fight to end fracking in North America. Although other jurisdictions have moved to ban…
truthout.org/articles/mexicos-ban-advances-broader-fight-to-end-fracking-in-north-america/

Guesstimating Our Own Gà∂tterdà§mmerung
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-10
Max Bràºckner's sketch for the set design of the final scene of Wagner's "Gà∂tterdà§mmerung." We humans are our own Gods, and advancing climate change is the prelude to our own Gà∂tterdà§mmerung. Here then is my speculation (wild ass guess) of a schedule for the possible catastrophic events leading to human (and other) extinction by the…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/guesstimating-our-own-gotterdammerung/

Here's How Climate Change Impacts the Risk of Wildfires
The Conversation | alternet.org | 2018-08-10
The connection is complex. | Once again, the summer of 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere has brought us an epidemic of major wildfires. These burn forests, houses and other structures, displace thousands of people and animals, and cause major disruptions in people's lives. The huge burden of simply firefighti. . .
alternet.org/news-amp-politics/heres-how-climate-change-impacts-risk-wildfires

Poverty, Violence and Spiritual Wildfires
Robert Koehler | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-10
"They take advantage of that opportunity and they shoot into a crowd, no matter who they hit." The news this past weekend emerging from my fair city, Chicago, felt like news about wildfires sweeping across California: the sudden, hellish karma of climate change, that is to say, the gradual collapse of life-sustaining conditions on Planet…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/poverty-violence-and-spiritual-wildfires/

Dying of Consumption While Guzzling Snake Oil: a Realist's Perspective on the Environmental Crisis
Kristine Mattis | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-10
We're an egoistical, delusional lot, us humans. We're the only species on the planet who despoils its own life support system and who does not live within biological limits. Does that make us the most intelligent or least intelligent species? Preservation of our environment remains well toward the bottom of our priorities. Personally and collectively,…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/dying-of-consumption-while-guzzling-snake-oil-a-realists-perspective-on-the-environmental-crisis/

Want to Create More Jobs? Reduce Fossil Fuel Use
Basav Sen | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-10
We've all heard claims that fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are major job creators. President Trump says so all the time. But it turns out that developing and installing the technology to reduce fossil fuel use — known in the industry as "energy efficiency" — creates many more jobs than fossil fuels. Energy efficiency…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/want-to-create-more-jobs-reduce-fossil-fuel-use/

Heat wave and climate change drive California fires, now largest in state history
wsws.org | wsws.org | 2018-08-10
Last month was the hottest July on record for California going back 124 years, contributing to the drying out of vegetation and setting the stage for a record fire season.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/10/fire-a10.html

Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2018-08-09
Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections appeared first on The Nation.
thenation.com/article/rashida-tlaib-running-congress-mission-expand-civil-rights-protections/

Wildlife Conservation: Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Trophy Hunting Council
FBD | globalresearch.ca | 2018-08-09
Conservation and animal protection groups sued the Trump administration today for illegally establishing the "International Wildlife Conservation Council," an advisory panel stacked with people who have personal or financial interests in …
globalresearch.ca/wildlife-conservation-lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-trophy-hunting-council/5650066

Experts: If We Don't Stop Climate Change, CA Fires "Will Seem Mild In Comparison to What's Coming"
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-09
The Mendocino Complex Fire in Northern California is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in California's history. It started burning in July–the state's hottest month on record. Of the 20 largest wildfires in California history, 15 have occurred since 2000. This year's fires have already burned nearly three times as many acres as the same time last year. Experts say climate change has increased the length of fire season. In Oakland, California, we speak with Michael Brune, the director of the Sierra Club. We also speak with Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State Univer…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/9/experts_if_we_don_t_stop

Want to create jobs? Reduce fossil fuel use
Basav Sen | peoplesworld.org | 2018-08-09
We've all heard claims that fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are major job creators. President Trump says so all the time. But it turns out that developing and installing the technology to reduce fossil fuel use–known in the industry as "energy efficiency"–creates many more jobs…
peoplesworld.org/article/want-to-create-jobs-reduce-fossil-fuel-use/

'Corrupted With Power': Democratic Lawmaker Smacks Down Devin Nunes Over Secret Recording
Matthew Chapman, AlterNet | alternet.org | 2018-08-09
Rep. Eric Swalwell has had enough of Devin Nunes' naked partisanship. | House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is once again embroiled in controversy following the release of a secret recording of his remarks at a fundraiser for GOP Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. In the recording, he stated that Republicans must keep the House in order to protect Trump from Special Counsel Robert Mueller — even while admitting collusion with a foreign power can be a criminal matter. And his Democratic committee colleague, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is furious. In conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday, Swalwell made his views on the matter quite clear: Nunes is abusing his authority and needs to be removed. "Paul Ryan should condemn this because this goes to the corruption that Donald Trump promised Americans he would clean up," said Swalwell. "And when I go. . .
alternet.org/eric-swalwell-smacks-down-devin-nunes-over-secret-recording

"Earth Will Be Annihilated": On 73rd Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, a Warning Against Nuclear War
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-06
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the United States' atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. In remembrance, we turn to the words of a Hiroshima survivor, or hibakusha. Koji Hosokawa was 17 years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His 13-year-old sister Yoko died in the bombing. He gave us a tour of the city when Democracy Now! was in Japan in 2014. He spoke to us near the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, one of the few structures in the city that survived the atomic blast.
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/6/earth_will_be_annihilated_on_73rd

Winning an Arms Race in Space Remains a Futile Fight
Consortiumnews.com | consortiumnews.com | 2018-08-06
Donald Trump is not the first U.S. president to want to militarize life beyond Earth. But that is a bankrupt approach, believes Jonathan Marshall. By Jonathan Marshall Special to Consortium News When Donald Trump declared it was time to Make… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/08/05/winning-an-arms-race-in-space-remains-a-futile-fight/

Venezuela's President Maduro Survives Assassination Attack On Live TV
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-08-05
Six arrests have already been made in the dramatic foiled terrorist attack.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13976

Fighting for a Way of Life in the Arctic
Debbie S. Miller | progressive.org | 2018-08-04
The coastal plain, opened for oil drilling by the Trump Administration, is the birthplace and nursery for the Porcupine caribou herd, and land that the Gwich'in call, "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."
progressive.org/dispatches/fighting-for-a-way-of-life-in-the-arctic-180804/

Body of Olivia Lone Bear Found in N. Dakota as Native Women Face Crisis of Murders, Disappearances
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-03
After an agonizing 9-month search, the body of Olivia Lone Bear was found Tuesday in a pickup truck submerged in a lake right by her house on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The mother of five went missing in late October in New Town, North Dakota. Her disappearance has sparked renewed attention to the disproportionately high rates of disappearance, rape and murder of Native American women across the United States. These already-alarming rates are particularly high in areas of oil extraction, like North Dakota's Bakken Shale, which is the origin point for the Dakota Access pipeline. We speak with Olivia Lone Bear'…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/3/body_of_olivia_lone_bear_found

Rob Nixon: Gov't Inaction on Climate Change Is "Slow Violence" That Hits World's Poor the Hardest
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-02
With unprecedented fires, floods and heat waves sweeping the globe, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year on record. The regions most affected by the disastrous effects of global warming are overwhelmingly not the countries that have contributed the most to climate change. According to the 2018 Global Climate Risk Index released by the public policy group Germanwatch, the nine countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years are developing nations, including Honduras, Haiti, Burma, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Indian government says more than 500 people have died as a result of flooding and…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/2/rob_nixon_govt_inaction_on_climate

"Losing Earth": How Humanity Came to Understand Climate Change & Failed to Act in Time
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-02
"Losing Earth." That's the title of The New York Times Magazine article by Nathaniel Rich published August 1 in a special edition of the magazine dedicated entirely to climate change. The story tracks the 10-year period from 1979 to 1989, the decade Rich claims that humankind first came to a comprehensive understanding of climate change but failed to address its extreme dangers while there was still time. The story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine.
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/2/losing_earth_how_humanity_came_to

Extreme Weather Is Exploding Around the World. Why Isn't the Media Talking About Climate Change?
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-02
Major corporate broadcast networks reported on July's 2-week global heat wave at least 127 times, but mentioned climate change only once. That's according to a report by Media Matters, which tracked coverage of the extreme weather by ABC, CBS and NBC. We host a panel discussion on the media's role in the climate change crisis, the fossil fuel industry and global warming-fueled extreme weather across the globe. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. His piece "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change" was published August 1 in a special edition of The New Yo…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/2/extreme_weather_is_exploding_around_the

Noam Chomsky: Survival of Organized Human Life Is At Risk Due to Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-07-30
At least eight people have died in California as climate change-fueled wildfires rage statewide. In total, firefighters are battling 17 wildfires blazing across California, engulfing more than 200,000 acres and forcing mass evacuations, including in Yosemite National Park. The fires come amid a surge of deadly extreme weather worldwide, including in India, where more than 500 people have died as a result of flooding and heavy rains in recent weeks. Scientists have linked increased flooding and rainfall to climate change. For more, we speak with world-renowned political dissident, author and linguist Noam Chomsky.
www.democracynow.org/2018/7/30/noam_chomsky_survival_of_organized_human

Venezuela: Maduro Announces Economic Reforms Including Monetary Reconversion, Tax Breaks & Currency Control Changes
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-26
The measures also transfer an entire oilfield from PDVSA to the Central Bank.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13967

Glimmers of Economic Recovery amid Mixed Reports about Venezuelan Oil Production
Cira Pascual Marquina | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-20
Lower levels of oil production have been reportedly offset by rising prices and reduced domestic consumption.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13958

Trump Admin Closes Venezuela Sanctions Loophole in Favour of US Bondholders
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-20
The measure opens the way for seizures of Venezuela's US-based oil assets should the Maduro government default on PDVSA bond payments.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13955

Venezuela's Defunct National Assembly Attempts to Privatise Oil Industry
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-12
Grassroots movements have frequently denounced de facto back-door privatisation in PDVSA.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13935

China Approves US$5Bn Loan for Venezuelan Oil Development
TEV | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-05
Venezuelan officials said Chinese cooperation opens up alternative networks outside the sanctions of the United States.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13918