Tuesday, August 27, 2019  Trump's Rule Attacking Disabled and Low-Income Migrants Has Violent History Talila A. Lewis, Truthout The Trump administration's new "public charge" rule -- which denies visas to people who rely on or are likely to rely on public benefits like food, housing and medical assistance -- is the latest iteration of a cruel law first applied centuries ago to enslaved Black people seeking freedom. Like its precedent, the current rule is racist, ableist and classist and harms people already victimized by U.S. government policies.
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19 States File Lawsuit to Block Indefinite Detention of Migrant Families Mike Ludwig, Truthout Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson used his state's licensing authority over group homes for unaccompanied migrant youth to investigate conditions at the Trump administration's border jails. Now Washington and 18 other states are asking a federal court in California to block new Trump administration rules that would reinstate the indefinite detention of migrant families and reduce state oversight of migrant children.
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The DNC Nixed a Climate Debate Because That's What Chairman Perez Wanted William Rivers Pitt, Truthout The Arctic and the Amazon are burning. A Democratic debate on climate would seem a no-brainer right now, but Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez helped nix the idea last Thursday. His motives are political. But the pressing issue of climate disruption isn't going anywhere, and it is not just unfair to avoid a substantive conversation about climate issues among the candidates -- it is dangerous.
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Beyond Brazil, Unprecedented Fires Are Engulfing Bolivian Forests Claire F.R. Wordley, The Conversation Last week in Bolivia, more forest burned to the ground than is usually destroyed across the country in two years. The fires may have been started deliberately to clear the land for farming, just a month after President Evo Morales announced a "supreme decree" aimed at increasing beef production for export. Twenty-one civil society organizations are calling for the repeal of the decree, arguing that it has created an environmental crisis.
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Arrest, Release, Repeat: New Report Exposes Vicious Cycle of Imprisonment Victoria Law, Truthout Across the U.S., police arrest nearly 10.6 million people each year and send nearly half of them to jail. A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative reveals that one quarter of those sent to jail are jailed more than once in the same year. Those arrested are overwhelmingly poor, unemployed and have less than a high school education, confirming that race and class are prominent factors in who gets targeted.
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New Mexico Law Gives Private Utilities Unchecked Power Over Shift to Renewables Frances Madeson, Truthout New Mexico's Energy Transition Act, marketed as a template for the Green New Deal by its proponents, also grants carte blanche to private utility companies to foist all costs associated with transitioning away from dirty energy to consumers without meaningful input from public regulators, says a lawsuit filed with the state supreme court. Watchdog organizations behind the complaint want the power-grabbing provisions jettisoned from the Act.
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Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay Millions for Role in Oklahoma's Opioid Crisis Matthew Rozsa, Salon Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson lost a major legal battle Monday, when an Oklahoma judge ordered the corporation to pay more than $572 million for downplaying the risks of opioid addiction as it promoted its products to doctors. This is the first time a pharmaceutical company has been held accountable in court for the opioid crisis.
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Fired for Being Trans or for Violating Dress Code? Supreme Court Will Decide. Jessica Mason Pieklo, Rewire.News Recently, the Trump administration told the Supreme Court that federal employment anti-discrimination laws do not protect LGBTQ workers, asking it to reverse the Obama-era inclusion of gender identity as a form of sex-based discrimination banned under Title VII. This fall, the court will hear a trio of cases on the matter and decide whether it agrees. The stakes couldn't be higher for trans employees.
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How David Koch's Empire Helped Shape U.S. Politics and Thwart Climate Action Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Billionaire conservative donor David Koch died Friday at the age of 79. David and his brother Charles poured massive amounts of money into supporting conservative think tanks and politicians that led climate change denial efforts. Christopher Leonard, author of the new book, Kochland, discusses the Koch brothers' massive influence on U.S. policies.
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In Case You Missed It
Wendy's Billionaire Owner Spurns Farmworkers While Profiting Off Pension Funds Derek Seidman, Truthout Wendy's billionaire owner Nelson Peltz has made most of his fortune managing the pension funds of union workers. Yet, when it comes to the low-wage farmworkers who keep Wendy's supplied, he has refused to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Fair Food Program, which ensures them better wages and safer working conditions.
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The Economy Looks Grim for Workers, But Might Not Bring Recession Dean Baker, Truthout While the economy looks grim for workers as companies put off investment amid the uncertainty over Trump's tariffs, it seems unlikely that we will have a recession. This is because, over the last four decades, there has been a huge shift in the economy away from areas highly sensitive to the business cycle. Sectors such as housing construction are no longer large enough to lead a recession now.
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