RT – A new US intelligence report portraying Moscow and Beijing as trying to bring warfare into the heavens has drawn the ire of China, which insists that space is not Washington’s “private property.”
Category: Big Picture
From Premature Deaths to Planet-Heating Emissions, Analysis Reveals Costs of Trump’s Fossil Fuel Giveaways
JESSICA CORBETT – “Trump is letting his corporate friends wreck the planet and our health.”
‘An Insult to the American People’: Outrage After Pentagon Fails First-Ever Audit
JESSICA CORBETT – After years of empty promises and demands from frustrated members of Congress, the Pentagon finally conducted its first-ever comprehensive audit—and unsurprisingly failed it, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan revealed.
Guide to the Climate Change Policies That Actually Work
DAVID ROBERTS – Climate change policy can be overwhelming. Here’s a guide to the policies that work. A new book from veteran energy analyst Hal Harvey simplifies decarbonization.
Keep Your Eye on HR1 – the Most Consequential Pro-Democracy Legislation in Half a Century
ROBERT WEISSMAN – Our democracy is in a double crisis. We face the immediate threat posed every day by Donald Trump, with his combination of unprecedented corruption, disdain for the rule of law and autocratic governance. We also face the deeper rooted problems of Big Money dominance of our elections, shocking voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering and outrageous corporate influence over the policymaking process. After the 2018 election, we have the chance to do something about this double crisis
New Energy Development: Emissions-Free Energy System Saves Heat from the Summer Sun for Winter
CHEMESTRY AND ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY – A research group from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has made great, rapid strides towards the development of a specially designed molecule which can store solar energy for later use.
‘A Staggeringly Bad Idea’: Outrage as Pelosi Pushes Tax Rule That Would ‘Kneecap the Progressive Agenda’
JAKE JOHNSON – “It would be a profound mistake for House Democrats to retake Congress with dozens of candidates who ran on Medicare for All and then pass an absurd, right-wing framed rule that would actively prevent us from taking action on it.” -Democracy for America
US to Stop Refueling of Saudi Aircraft in Yemen War
LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE – The United States will stop refueling Saudi Arabian aircraft fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Pentagon and the Saudi kingdom said late Friday.
Trust with US must be Built before Korean Peninsula can be Reunited, DPRK Insists at UN
UN NEWS – Despite taking goodwill measures over the past year, including dismantling a nuclear test site, there was “no way” the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would unilaterally disarm itself without rebuilding trust with the United States, DPRK’s Foreign Minister told the United Nations in September.
Facebook’s New Propaganda Partners
FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN REPORTING (FAIR) — That a single corporation — Facebook — has a monopoly over the flow of worldwide news is already problematic, but the increasing meshing of corporate and US government control over the means of communication is particularly worrying. All those who believe in free and open exchange of information should oppose Facebook becoming a tool of US foreign policy.
‘We’re moving to higher ground’: America’s Era of Climate Mass Migration is Here
OLIVERE MILMAN – By the end of this century, sea level rises alone could displace 13m people. Many states will have to grapple with hordes of residents seeking dry ground. But, as one expert says, ‘No state is unaffected by this’
Jordan Cove LNG Campaign Contributions Raise Questions
TED SICKINGER – Controversy over foreign meddling in the 2016 Election has been swirling around Washington D.C. since the day Donald Trump was elected president. But some southern Oregon residents are convinced they’ve got their own case of foreign interference. And if it’s not OK for the Russians, they say, why would it be OK for Canadians?
Second Hanford Radioactive Tunnel Collapse Expected, And it could be More Severe
ANNETTE CARY – The possible collapse of a second Hanford tunnel storing radioactive waste is both more likely than thought a year ago and the effects potentially more severe, according to Hanford officials.
Trump is Breaking the Environment Beyond Repair
LINDA J. BILMES – Humpty Dumpty famously cannot be “put back together” again. For those who care about the environment, every day since Donald Trump took office is a Humpty Dumpty day — with something being broken beyond repair.
In an internal memo, the White House considered whether to simply ‘ignore’ federal climate research
CHRIS MOONEY and JULIET EILPERIN – White House officials last year weighed whether to simply “ignore” climate studies produced by government scientists or to instead develop “a coherent, fact-based message about climate science,” according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. The document, drafted Sept. 18 by Michael Catanzaro, President Trump’s special assistant for domestic energy and environmental policy at the time, highlights the dilemma the administration has faced over climate change since Trump took office. Even as Trump’s deputies have worked methodically to uproot policies aimed at curbing the nation’s carbon output, the administration’s agencies continue to produce reports showing that climate change is happening, is human-driven and is a threat to the United States.
Putin Takes Ax to Military Spending
FRED WEIR – Amid the current worries in the West over Russia, the idea that Russia would be cutting its military spending seems counterintuitive to us. But that’s just what Vladimir Putin is doing with his new budget, in which plans for a major infrastructure boost are coming at the expense of some of the Kremlin’s more ambitious defense projects.
Courtroom Science Lab: Federal Judge Tutored in Climate Change
DAVID DEBOLT – Opponents in a lawsuit rarely find themselves in the same corner of a legal boxing match. In federal court here on March 21, though, the gloves stayed on: Leading climate change experts and oil industry representatives largely agreed our planet is warming, our seas rising.
Federal Judge’s Unprecedented Order on Climate Science ‘Could Open Floodgates’ for Big Oil Lawsuits
JESSICA CORBETT – With a decision that could have far-reaching implications, a federal judge in California has ordered the first ever U.S. court hearing on climate science for a “public nuisance” lawsuit, meaning that major oil and gas companies for the first time may have to go on the record regarding what they knew about the planetary impacts of their products—and when.
Four Senators Request Negotiations with Russia
WASHINGTON POST – Amid heightened tension with Russia, U.S. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today urged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to begin a new round of strategic talks with Russia without delay.
Meet the Well-Funded Players Working Hard to Thwart Oregon’s Climate Progress
ERIC DE PLACE and PAELINA DESTEPHANO -Oregon is on the cusp of a climate protection breakthrough in 2018. The state legislature is weighing the Clean Energy Jobs bill, a remarkable opportunity to join its West Coast neighbors in lowering carbon pollution while raising money to invest in clean energy and transportation. The money raised would also provide assistance for low-income state residents. (Sightline’s Kristin Eberhard wrote an excellent summary of the legislation.) Nevertheless, Oregon’s climate proposal has garnered backlash from a range of shadowy conservative groups determined to halt the bill’s progress. Many of these organizations are linked to anti-tax and anti-union politics, and many seem specifically designed to obscure their backers and operations from public view. It’s a rogues’ gallery of climate-protection opponents in Oregon, and Sightline takes a hard look at who’s who in this movement and casts some light into the shadows.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Solidifies the Right to a Healthy Environment
CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW – On February 8th, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights released a precedent-setting opinion which recognizes the right to a healthy environment as fundamental to human existence and enumerates key duties of States in protecting that and other environment-related rights.
Plastics Found in Stomachs of Deepest Sea Creatures
MATTHEW TAYLOR – Animals from the deepest places on Earth have been found with plastic in their stomachs, confirming fears that manmade fibres have contaminated the most remote places on the planet.
Trump “Nuclear Posture” Approves New Warheads & Factories; Opens the Door to Testing
TRI-VALLEY CARES – On January 10th, the Huffington Post leaked a draft of the Trump Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, a Pentagon document that dictates the overall strategy for United States nuclear forces. The leaked document, which is rumored to be the final draft, demonstrates an aggressive shift from the Obama posture review by mandating “more usable” low-yield nuclear weapons, doubling down on building new bomb plants, and lowering the threshold to resume nuclear weapons testing.
This is How An Arms Race Starts: Russian Senator Wants More Nuclear Weapons if US Violates START-3
INTERFAX – Russia will have justification for a symmetrical response if the US boosts its nuclear forces in violation of the START-3 treaty, the chairman of the Defence Committee of the Federation Council (parliament’s upper house), Viktor Bondarev, has said.
Poll: Public Overwhelmingly Opposed to Military Interventions
JAMES CARDEN – Last week, the Committee for a Responsible Foreign Policy—a bipartisan advocacy group calling for congressional oversight of America’s lengthy list of military interventions abroad—released the results of a survey that show broad public support for Congress to reclaim its constitutional prerogatives in the exercise of foreign policy (see Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution) and for fewer U.S. military interventions generally. Undertaken last November by J. Wallin Opinion Research, the new survey revealed “a national voter population that is largely skeptical of the practicality or benefits of military intervention overseas, including both the physical involvement of the U.S. military and also extending to military aid in the form of funds or equipment as well.
Portland Fossil Fuel Ordinance Ruled Constitutional
PRESS RELEASE – January 4, 2017 (Salem, OR)—Today, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed, in large part, a Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) decision that invalidated Portland’s landmark Fossil Fuel Terminal Zoning Amendments, passed unanimously in December 2016. The Court ruled that Portland did not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Court’s decision opens the door for local governments to continue to take meaningful action to combat climate change.
Big Banks and Major Investors are Distancing Themselves from Tar Sands Projects
DIANA BEST – More and more banks and major investors are distancing themselves from tar sands.
Rising Seas Release Radiation from Pacific Island Bomb Crater
MARK WILLACY – Rising seas caused by climate change are seeping inside a United States nuclear waste dump on a remote and low-lying Pacific atoll, flushing out radioactive substances left behind from some of the world’s largest atomic weapons tests.
Climate-Change Risks May Lower Municipal Credit Ratings
THE REAL DEAL (South Florida Real Estate News) – Credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Services Inc. warns that it may downgrade the ratings of U.S. states and cities that fail to prepare for the impact of climate change.
Trump’s Hatchet Man and the Plot to Loot America’s Wilderness
ADAM FEDERMAN – A little-known bureaucrat named James Cason is reshaping the Department of the Interior.