Wednesday, September 11, 2019

To Confront Climate Change, We Need an Ecological Democracy

C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout

Climate change has resulted from the deliberate exploitation and marginalization of those with a weaker voice and confronting it at the structural level calls for a shift in whose voices are heard, says Marit Hammond, a lecturer in environmental politics at Keele University in the U.K. An ecological democracy is a society that's both ecologically sustainable and democratically legitimate because neither is possible without the other.
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It's Been 18 Years Since 9/11. It's Time to End the Wars.

William Rivers Pitt, Truthout

The September 11, 2001, terror attacks are old enough to vote now, to enlist and fight in one of the ongoing wars spawned by that woeful day. "Never Forget" has come to mean, "always be afraid" and "always be angry," because political opportunism and the profit motive are furnaces that always need feeding, and wrath makes for powerful fuel. That's the biography of the last 18 years. It's time to change direction.
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Charles Koch Is Funding a Campaign to Kill Food Stamps and Medicaid

Alex Kotch, Sludge

The nonprofit Foundation for Government Accountability has been responsible for making it harder for poor Americans to access government assistance programs. The foundation has lobbied successfully to impose work requirements for food stamps in several states and is heavily financed by wealthy right-wing political megadonors, including individuals affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council and the Charles Koch Foundation.
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Much "Foreign Aid" Is Taxpayer-Funded Plundering of the Global South

Barbara G. Ellis, Truthout

Since 1961 when USAID was established, so-called U.S. foreign aid has exploited the empathy and gullibility of Americans for the less fortunate abroad while functioning as a taxpayer-supported program for neocolonial exploiters of Global South countries' resources. From overseas development projects to military bases, foreign aid has enabled successive administrations to conceal how U.S. tax dollars have been used to earn billions, often in tax-free profits, for U.S. corporations.
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Bolton's Replacement Is Another Anti-Muslim Right-Wing Extremist, Charge Critics

Eoin Higgins, Common Dreams

While progressives celebrated the departure of John Bolton as President Trump's national security adviser, that joy is likely to be short-lived. Critics say acting adviser Charle Kupperman is a right-wing extremist with a decades-long relationship with Bolton and connections to the Center for Security Policy, a major peddler of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.
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Greta Thunberg Says It's Time to "Wake the Adults Up"

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Today we spend an hour with Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has inspired millions across the globe to join the climate justice movement since her strike began in 2018. Last year, she launched a school strike against the climate crisis, with hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren around the globe eventually joining her.
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Some Democrats' Rejection of Fossil Fuel Money Marks Shift From Previous Races

Yue Stella Yu, Center for Responsive Politics

As climate change takes center stage in recent political debates, some Democrats are pledging to break away from fossil fuel money for good. Despite differences between how Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 cycle aim to address the climate crisis, most of the candidates, except for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and former Rep. John Delaney, have sworn off fossil fuel contributions.
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NOAA Officials Defend Trump's Bogus Hurricane Dorian Alabama Claim

Olivia Paschal, Facing South

Last week, President Trump falsely tweeted a warning that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recently issued a statement that appeared to back Trump's tweets, sparking concerns that one of the most historically apolitical branches of the federal government is now compromising its scientific integrity.
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Some Seattle Residents Pay Rent to Duwamish Tribe, Recognizing Colonization

Sydney Worth, YES! Magazine

Despite filing numerous petitions and appeals for federal recognition, the Duwamish tribe still is not federally acknowledged by the U.S. government. Without federal recognition, tribal members cannot access the social services that are guaranteed to recognized tribes. Through a program called Real Rent Duwamish, Seattleites can now contribute to the Duwamish's fight for recognition by paying rent to the tribe as a form of restitution.
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In Case You Missed It


Yoel Alonso Leal Is Facing Deportation. Doctors Say He May Die on the Plane.

Mike Ludwig, Truthout

Yoel Alonso Leal, a Cuban political dissident and a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the indefinite detention of asylum seekers, has a lung tumor and has been struggling with gout and pneumonia while being shuffled through immigration jails, facing deportation. Doctors and advocates say Leal's health is quickly declining and he could die before the plane he is on lands in Cuba.
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Don't Be Fooled -- Kamala Harris's "Criminal Justice" Plan Is Not Progressive

Dan Berger, Truthout

Sen. Kamala Harris's plan for reforming the criminal legal system is more brand management than political vision. The plan is marketing Harris herself -- and her record as a prosecutor -- rather than offering substantive changes. In reality, Harris's prosecutorial record includes many repressive measures against incarcerated people and working-class parents of color.
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