Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!

I of course think a trip to Puerto Rico is quite important but the whole uproar leading to the cancellation of the Womens Conference appearance actually having an effect is a pretty damn big shame. It was manufactured outrage and now the organizers look about as spineless as they are compared to corporate, anti Bernie interests

Regardless I’m glad Sanders will be in Puerto Rico with Mayor Cruz trying to help in a crisis instead, despite all the negative comments/tweets from the same people complaining he was going to the convention.

Bernie Sanders bows out of Women’s Convention to make trip to Puerto Rico

Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Thursday he will visit Puerto Rico in wake of Hurricane Maria, bowing out of his previously scheduled speaking gig at the Women’s Convention next week.

“I want to apologize to the organizers of the Women’s Convention for not being able to attend your conference next Friday in Detroit,” the Vermont lawmaker said in a statement. “Given the emergency situation in Puerto Rico, I will be traveling there to visit with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and other officials to determine the best way forward to deal with the devastation the island is experiencing.”

In Puerto Rico, about 1 million Americans remain without running water and 3 million without power, CNN reported Wednesday.

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In a statement provided to CNN Thursday, convention organizers expressed their understanding of Sanders’ trip.

“It is unfortunate that Senator Sanders will no longer be able to join us at the Women’s Convention next week,” the organizers said in an email statement to CNN. “But the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico – which is being exacerbated by the inaction of our federal government – is a critical matter. We understand his leadership is needed in Puerto Rico and, as always, we deeply appreciate his commitment to communities in need. We look forward to continuing to work with him on issues that impact women and all Americans.”

Sanders concluded his statement by applauding “their historic work in putting together the march in January and all that you have done since,” he said. “My best wishes for a very successful conference.”

51 GOP Senators Just Voted To Cut $1.5 Trillion from Medicare and Medicaid To Give Super-Rich and Corporations a Tax Cut

Along strict party lines, the Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday night voted to pass a sweeping budget measure—one criticized as both “despicable” and “horrific” for providing massive giveaways to corporations and the super-rich while eviscerating funding for social programs, healthcare, education, and affordable housing.

The measure passed by 51-49 vote, with only one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, joining every Democrat and the chamber’s two Independents who voted against it. Its approval now paves that way for massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations envisioned by President Donald Trump and the GOP in both the House and the Senate.

“51 Republican Senators just voted to cut Medicaid by $1 trillion and Medicare by $500 billion so that millionaires and corporations can get a tax cut. It’s immoral and despicable,” said TJ Helmstetter, a spokesperson for Americans for Tax Fairness, in a statement immediately following the vote.

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In the wake of its passage, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who earlier this week called the proposal “Robin Hood in reverse” for taking from the poor to give to the rich— said the “Republicans’ budget is not a bad bill. It’s a horrific bill.”

Republicans’ budget is not a bad bill. It’s a horrific bill.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 20, 2017

Bernie Sanders to Campaign with Local Candidates

Senator Bernie Sanders will join Somerville and Cambridge’s Our Revolution groups on Monday to support several candidates who are running for local office.

The two Our Revolution groups have endorsed 17 candidates running for Cambridge’s City Council and Somerville’s Board of Aldermen and School Committee.

“Local Our Revolution groups in Somerville and Cambridge have been organizing for months to continue the political revolution we started with the Sanders campaign,” Rand Wilson, union organizer and Our Revolution Somerville member, said in a statement. “The candidates—both incumbents and challengers—have embraced the political transformation needed to fix our broken political system and our rigged economy.”

Sanders will campaign the with slate of candidates at 9:30 Monday morning at ONCE Somerville. The event is sold out.

Bernie Sanders in Rollinsford Sunday

ROLLINSFORD — Former presidential primary hopeful and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, will be in town Sunday for the Strafford County Democratic Committee fall fundraiser.

According to the latest Granite State Poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and released Wednesday, while nearly all likely Democratic primary voters are still trying to make up their minds in the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are early front-runners. Interest in the 2020 primary is greater than at this point in the last two electoral cycles.

Sanders headlined the Strafford County Democratic Committee fall fundraiser in 2014 as well when his message was about the importance of voter turnout and more than 200 packed the American Legion Hall to hear from the independent senator as he traveled around the country.

According to a statement, the annual fall fundraiser is to support efforts to elect Democratic candidates in Strafford County.

“If you’ve been paying attention you know that it is of utmost importance to participate and support our actions at this time,” the statement reads. “Please join us for food and solidarity and to hear from the man with a unique voice, who attracted record breaking crowds across the country and started a movement.”

‘People Are Dying’ But Trump Gives Himself Perfect ’10’ for Puerto Rico Response

Despite an estimated one million people still living without drinking water, 80 percent of the island wihout electricity, and fresh reports that people are “dying” on the island, President Donald Trump stirred outrage on Thursday by giving himself a perfect “ten” on his response to the crisis in Puerto Rico.

“The people in Puerto Rico are dying,” said National Nurses United (NNU) vice president Cathy Kennedy, who returned Wednesday from a two-week relief trip with the union’s Registered Nurses Response Network (RNRN). “Nurses have been going out into communities, where all they ask for is water and food. And when you have to make a decision of who’s going to get the food today or the water — we shouldn’t have to do that. The United States is the richest country in the world; Puerto Rico is part of the United States.”

Yet Trump told a different story about the recovery in the Oval Office on Thursday, speaking to reporters as Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello looked on.

“I would give myself a ten,” he said. “We have provided so much, so fast.”

Brooklyn Political Roundup, October 18: Another challenger for Dan Donovan’s seat

Michael DeVito, Jr., a veteran of the U.S. Marines, is the latest candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the 2018 election for the Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island House seat currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan.

DeVito will officially announce on Saturday at a rally on Staten Island that he is running in the 11th Congressional District. He is currently an educator at the New York Center for Interpersonal Development.

“Like everyone who lives in this community, I want what is best for my family, both now and for the future. If we continue to work together, we can get the fair shake we all need and deserve. We can realistically solve our collective problems, be it jobs and economic development, the security of our nation, transportation and infrastructure issues or any problem facing us. The time for talk is done, and the time for action is now,” DeVito said in a statement.

Just for the record, from my interactions with them on internets, Michael and his wife are good people.

Bernie Sanders sides with SNP over ban on fracking

The SNP’s decision to ban fracking has been hailed as a “very significant step” by Bernie Sanders, the US senator and figurehead for the American left.

Mr Sanders, who rose to prominence after challenging Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination for the US presidency, posted a message on his Facebook page offering congratulations for the move, which has been hailed by environmentalists but criticised by many in the scientific community. He said: “Congratulations to Scotland for taking the very significant step to ban fracking following enormous public opposition to the practice.”

The Vermont senator went on to describe fracking as a “danger to the air we breathe and to our water supply” and claimed the technique, which is widespread in America, is “highly explosive”.

Ben Jealous brings his campaign for Maryland governor to Busboys & Poets

One of the reasons Ben Jealous is running for governor is to bring back “the Maryland dream.”

“The only thing more powerful than the American dream is the Maryland dream,” the former NAACP president said. “We’ve got to get back to Maryland being the Maryland that brought us here in the first place — the place that we knew where, if we put down roots here, our children could dream a little higher and our families could succeed a little more.”

More than 100 people came to Busboys & Poets in Hyattsville on Thursday to support Jealous’ campaign, according to event organizers, with some staying the whole time and others quickly dropping in to hear him speak. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was originally supposed to attend the event but was unable to come due to ongoing Senate votes.

Jealous, who announced his candidacy on May 31, has campaigned on adopting a Medicare-for-All system, raising the minimum wage to $15 and reforming the criminal justice system, among other issues.

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Jealous spoke about his plan to end mass incarceration and use the saved funds to end student debt.

Greenbelt resident Julie Phelps, a former comptroller at the University of Maryland, said this point particularly resonated with her.

“I thought he was right on … when he said our politicians never ask how much it costs to incarcerate our young people — our young men especially — but they always, always ask how much it’s going to cost to educate them,” she said.

Randall Woodfin: A son of Birmingham becomes mayor

The first line of Randall Woodfin’s official autobiography on his mayoral campaign website is: “I am a proud son of Birmingham.” In our nation’s history, Birmingham, Alabama will forever be tied to some of the most troubling and tragic imagery of the civil rights movement — from the bombing of a church that killed four innocent little girls to African Americans braving fire hoses, police batons and attack dogs in their struggle to end racial discrimination and secure basic rights. While we have yet to wipe out discrimination and its attendant consequences, our nation— including Birmingham — has made some progress. The proud son of a city once tarnished as regressive and hostile to the plight of its African-American residents, will lead its 23 communities and 99 neighborhoods on a progressive platform as its next mayor.

For many, Randall’s win was unlikely for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

Randall suffered a family tragedy during his campaign to unseat William Bell, the seven-year, two-term incumbent. He lost his nephew in a shooting death. And sadly, it was not his first brush with the gun violence plaguing Birmingham. Five years earlier he lost an older brother in a shooting death. Before running for mayor, Randall amassed an impressive resume as a public servant, but his first foray into politics proved unsuccessful, running for a seat on the Birmingham Board of Education in 2009 and losing. As he tells it, in losing, he ended up winning. He won the attention of the community and local stakeholders, and won time to prepare and hone his message for another run in 2013 that would prove successful.

When this former city attorney and board of education president decided to run for mayor, he chose to do so on a progressive platform in a region of our nation not synonymous with progressive politics. Our Revolution, a progressive political organization that works to organize and elect progressive candidates, backed his run, helping to turn out the vote with volunteers, text messages and calls, including calls recorded by Bernie Sanders endorsing Randall’s candidacy. As a Morehouse College alumnus, Randall relied on his close relationship and extensive ties to the Atlanta HBCU. Morehouse alumni held events and fundraisers on his campaign’s behalf and canvassed Birmingham, knocking on doors and getting out Randall’s message.

Democrats in 6th District race to debate Sunday in Palatine

All eight Democrats making primary bids for the 6th Congressional District are scheduled to debate Sunday in Palatine.

Officials from grass-roots organization People Over Party and The Coalition for a Better IL 6th say the 2 p.m. event at the Falcon Park Recreation Center, 2195 N. Hicks St., is the first time all declared candidates in the March 2018 primary will appear together in public.

They include Sean Casten, a scientist and clean energy entrepreneur from Downers Grove; Becky Anderson Wilkins, a Naperville City Council member and business owner; Carole Cheney, a congressional aide from Naperville; Amanda Howland, a Lake Zurich attorney and College of Lake County trustee; Kelly Mazeski, a Barrington Hills planning commission member; Jennifer Zordani, a Clarendon Hills lawyer; Grace Haaf, a small-business owner; and Palatine data analyst Ryan Huffman.

Organizers say topics include the economy, health care, immigration, education and the environment. The event is free and open to the public.

A month after Stockley verdict, demonstrators stay in the streets

“Governor Greitens, you said during your campaign that if you had been governor during Ferguson the protests would have been done in two days,” Wes Schnitker said through a bullhorn outside of the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis on Friday, October 12. He directed the 100 or so protestors to repeat after him.

“Today marks day 28,” Schnictker said, and they repeated. He said it again with such intensity that his voice cracked and his face turned red. The protestors repeated with the same fervency.

“Today marks day 28. You lied.”

There have been a few scattered self-care days, but more than a month after people took to the streets in response to the not-guilty verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial, a diverse, multi-generation coalition of people continued to stage direct actions.

“Y’all know I don’t say much because I want the young people to speak, but you all have to keep going,” said Reverend Darryl Gray as they stood in front of the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton waiting to march.

Kentucky legislators and state employees react to pension plan

Governor Matt Bevin proposed plan Wednesday to deal with a public pension shortfall. Though the plan doesn’t end the pension system, people still have concerns, some voicing them in Frankfort Thursday night.

Three Kentucky legislators talked to around one hundred people at Bondurant Middle School about the pension plan, saying, quite simply, they’re not happy with it.

Some say they feel as though they are being punished. That’s because, as Senator Reggie Thomas puts it, the new plan, that eventually moves current worker to a 401(K)-style plan, is like a bait-and-switch.

“I just don’t see how you can justify changing the rules in the middle of the game and affecting something as important as people’s retirement security,” said Thomas.

Concern of Progressive Purge as Bernie Wing ‘Left in the Cold’ at DNC

Sparking concerns that party leadership is making the same mistakes that have rendered them increasingly powerless and without an inspiring vision, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reportedly carrying out a massive staff shake-up in which veteran progressives are being purged and “left out in the cold.”

“This doesn’t bring the party together, it deepens the divide at a time we need all hands on deck,” James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and prominent Sanders supporter who was ousted from the DNC Executive Committee, wrote on Twitter Thursday.

According to Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News, Zogby is hardly alone.

“[S]everal key longtime officials have lost their posts” since the staff changes began,” Seitz-Wald writes, a fact that many have interpreted as “retaliation for their opposition to DNC Chairman Tom Perez.”

“The removal and demotion of a handful of veteran operatives stood out, as did what critics charge is the over-representation of Clinton-backed members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which helps set the terms for the party’s presidential primary, though other Sanders and Ellison backers remain represented,” Seitz-Wald added.

‘Ecological Armageddon’: Warnings From Scientists as Flying Insects Disappear

A new study published Wednesday, revealing populations of flying insects like bees and butterflies plunged more than 75 percent in German nature preserves over the past 27 years, has scientists calling for further research into probable causes such as climate change and pesticide use, and raising alarms about a potential “ecological Armageddon.”

“Insects make up about two thirds of all life on Earth,” noted report co-author Dave Goulson, a professor at Sussex University in the United Kingdom.

“We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon,” he said. “On current trajectory, our grandchildren will inherit a profoundly impoverished world.”

Goulson was part of a team of European scientists who studied population levels in 63 nature reserves across Germany from 1989 to 2016 by setting up malaise traps that captured more than 1,500 samples of flying insects.

They tracked the rapid decline across 96 unique location-year combinations in Germany, which is “representative of Western European low-altitude nature protection areas embedded in a human-dominated landscape,” as they wrote in the peer-reviewed study, published in the journal PLOS ONE.

#ProtectTheArctic: Senate Battle Underway to Stop GOP From ANWR Drilling

Conservation groups and Senate Democrats have come together in hopes of thwarting Congressional Republicans’ attempts to include a provision in the federal budget resolution that would allow drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska.

The legislation does not explicitly mention ANWR, but calls on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to pass additional legislation to raise $1 billion over the next decade—which environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers warn would likely come from drilling for oil in the refuge that has been federally protected for the past 40 years.

In recent weeks, environmental, wildlife, and natural resources groups have sounded alarms about the importance of preserving ANWR. Conservationists Martin Roberts and George Schaller wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Thursday:

The Arctic refuge must continue to be preserved as a symbol of America’s natural heritage. It remains a healthy ecosystem supporting wildlife, and native peoples as they adapt to profound climate-related changes. True wilderness holds a spiritual value that can nourish us. That is why the American public enjoys its national parks, monuments, and other protected areas.

There will always be pro-development forces and those with political agendas who are prepared to dismantle, cripple, gut, and destroy our natural heritage for short-term gain, heedless of the long-term cost to us as a civilization. In that effort they forget that everything we want, need and have comes from nature.

Congress should stop its headlong rush to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration and extraction. Surely patriotism encompasses the protection of the most pristine and beautiful representations of America.

Scientists Discover Sea Levels Rose in Sharp Bursts During Last Warming

Scientists from Rice University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies have discovered that Earth’s sea level did not rise steadily but rather in sharp, punctuated bursts when the planet’s glaciers melted during the period of global warming at the close of the last ice age. The researchers found fossil evidence in drowned reefs offshore Texas that showed sea level rose in several bursts ranging in length from a few decades to one century.

The findings appeared Wednesday in Nature Communications.

“What these fossil reefs show is that the last time Earth warmed like it is today, sea level did not rise steadily,” said Rice marine geologist André Droxler, a study co-author. “Instead, sea level rose quite fast, paused, and then shot up again in another burst and so on.”

Quitting Coal: New Global Survey Names the Companies, Countries and Cities

More than a quarter of the 1,675 companies that owned or developed coal-fired power capacity since 2010 have entirely left the coal power business, according to new research from CoalSwarm and Greenpeace. This represents nearly 370 large coal-fired power plants—enough to power around six United Kingdoms—and equivalent to nearly half a trillion dollars in assets retired or not developed.

While many generating companies go through this rapid makeover, the research also shows that a total of 23 countries, states and cities will have either phased out coal-fired power plants or set a timeline to do so by 2030.

“Before 2014, no major jurisdiction had completely phased out coal,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, energy analyst at Greenpeace East Asia. “What we are witnessing now is the beginning of a major overhaul of our energy system—one that can address climate change and air pollution. Governments now need to speed up the shift to 100 percent renewables and ensure a just transition for workers and communities affected by the coal industry’s downfall.”

To date, six countries, states, provinces or cities have completely phased out coal power since 2014, and an additional 17 have announced a coal power phase-out date of 2030 or sooner. Three of the G7 economies, and a total of eight EU countries, have decided to phase out coal—the Netherlands joining the list only this month. Indonesia, the third largest builder of new coal power plants after India and China in recent years, also said it would not start more coal projects in its main grid.

“Global investment in coal has crashed as a result of a dramatic fall in new projects in China and India, with money flowing increasingly toward lower-cost renewable energies,” said Myllyvirta.

Kids Harmed by Portugal Fires Reach Key Crowdfunding Goal for Climate Lawsuit

As Portugal reels from its worst wildfires on record, seven Portuguese children have met an important crowdfunding goal for their major climate lawsuit against 47 European nations.

More than £20,000 ($26,400) was pledged by 589 people, allowing the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)—the nonprofit coordinating the lawsuit—to identify and compile evidence to present to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. GLAN now has a new stretch target of £100,000.

As Climate Home News reports, Mariana (5), Leonor (8), André (9), Simão (11), Sofia (12), Martim (14) and Cláudia (18) are suing the countries over their failure to tackle climate change.

“In June of this year these children watched their district burn as a result of the worst forest fires in their country’s history. The fires, which have been linked to climate change, claimed the lives of over 60 people,” the crowdfunding page states.

“Tragedies like this are becoming the new norm because governments in Europe and beyond are failing to make the necessary cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions.”

Pushing Toxic Chemicals and Climate Denial: The Dark Money-Funded Independent Women’s Forum

The Independent Women’s Forum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has taken money from tobacco and oil companies, partners with Monsanto, defends toxic chemicals in food and consumer products, denies climate science and argues against laws that would curb the power of corporations.

IWF began in 1991 as an effort to defend now Supreme Court Justice (and former Monsanto attorney) Clarence Thomas as he faced sexual harassment charges. The group now says it seeks to “improve the lives of Americans by increasing the number of women who value free markets and personal liberty.”

A key message of IWF is to shift the blame for health or environmental problems away from corporations and toward personal responsibility—for example arguing that parents, not food companies, are to blame for America’s obesity problem.

According to data collected by Greenpeace USA, IWF has received more than $15 million in funding since 1998, largely from right-wing foundations that promote deregulation and corporate free reign.

IWF’s leading contributors, with donations topping $5.3 million, are Donors Trust and Donors Capital Funds, the “dark money ATM of the conservative movement” connected with Charles and David Koch. The funds channel money from anonymous donors, including corporations, to efforts that champion corporate agendas, as a Greenpeace investigation established.

UN condemns Australia on Indigenous detentions and asylum policies

Australia’s castigation before the UN has continued for a second day, with the human rights committee condemning Western Australia’s practice of jailing fine defaulters, and specifically highlighting the death of Indigenous woman Ms Dhu in custody.

The WA attorney general has promised to amend the laws by the end of the year.

Australia is currently before the committee for the periodic review of its human rights record, and the issues of Indigenous incarceration and asylum policy again dominated committee criticisms.

Dhu, a 22-year-old Yamatji woman, died in custody in Port Hedland on 4 August 2014, less than 48 hours after being arrested for $3,622 in unpaid fines. She had never been jailed before.

The committee criticised the Western Australian government for failing to comply with a coronial recommendation to scrap the law allowing people to be jailed for unpaid fines.

“The case of Ms Dhu once again calls for justice,” human rights committee member Duncan Muhumuza told the Australian delegation.

Native Americans Push for Indigenous Chapter of NAFTA

The National Congress of American Indians agreed this week to support the efforts of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations to add an indigenous chapter in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The proposed chapter would ensure indigenous representation from all three NAFTA parties, the United States, Canada and Mexico. The trade deal is currently being renegotiated, and talks are expected to go into next year.

The indigenous chapter would also cite the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and seek to prevent any deal from negatively impacting Native Americans.

The two groups met in Milwaukee on Tuesday at the five-day National Congress of American Indians 74th Annual Convention and Marketplace to begin working to establish the chapter request.

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde applauded the NCAI’s support in a statement.

“I thank the National Congress of American Indians for passing a unanimous motion supporting in principle an Indigenous Peoples Chapter in a renegotiated NAFTA and supporting our work to protect Indigenous rights,” he said. “This is a strong show of solidarity by the First Peoples of Turtle Island and a strong message to the nation-states involved in the negotiations. Our inherent rights, treaty rights and international rights in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples must be respected in the negotiations and in any final agreement.”

Canadian First Nations call for eviction of fish farms

Around a blazing fire in the ‘Namgis Nation Big House on Tuesday, British Columbia Premier John Horgan told members and hereditary chiefs from eight Indigenous nations that he would honor the provincial government’s campaign promise to protect wild salmon, and meet with a delegation from the nations to continue discussions. But Horgan did not commit to the nations’ main demand to revoke licenses from fish farms operating in their waters.

Six of the nations are six weeks into occupations and protests of two commercial fish farms off northern Vancouver Island. The nations say they’re not moving until the fish farms do.

Occupation leaders from the ‘Namgis, the Mamalilikulla, and the four nations of Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw say the fish farms — run by Norwegian aquaculture company Marine Harvest — do not have permission to operate in their territorial waters. They, and the hereditary chiefs of the Tlowitsis and Mumtagila nations standing in solidarity with them, are calling for the eviction of fish farms throughout the Broughton Archipelago.

The activists say farmed Atlantic salmon are causing harm to nearby native Pacific salmon and other animals on which they rely. More broadly, the stand is about who holds the legal rights to these waters.

First Nations-led renewable energy generation in B.C. offers promising path forward

These are exciting times in British Columbia for those interested in building sustainable, just and climate-friendly energy systems. The recent change in government could mean a shift away from a corporate agenda driven by the needs of a massively energy-intensive fracking and LNG industry towards one that prioritizes action on climate change, First Nations’ self-determination and community-scale economic development. Indeed, First Nations-led renewable energy generation offers a promising path forward for each of these.

The momentum that First Nations have already built in this area, combined with developments in renewable energy technology, means they are well-positioned to be leaders in B.C.’s transition to a sustainable energy system.

Tar Sands Pipeline that Could Rival Keystone XL Quietly Gets Trump Approval

You’ve probably heard of the Keystone XL pipeline. But what about Line 67, also known as the Alberta Clipper?

Nine years ago, both were controversial proposals to ship oil from Canada’s tar sands into the United States. But while Keystone XL is still awaiting approval and continues to draw protests, Line 67 quietly secured a federal permit last week to ship even more crude than Keystone would.

On Oct. 13, the State Department approved a long-awaited permit that allows Enbridge, which owns the pipeline, to pump up to 890,000 barrels per day across the border between Canada and North Dakota, en route to Superior, Wisconsin.

“Enbridge has built the equivalent of a Keystone XL pipeline without gaining the kind of attention that Keystone got,” said Kenneth Rumelt, a senior attorney and professor at Vermont Law School who represented several environmental and indigenous groups in a challenge to the project. “Other than our suit, it largely slipped under the radar. But really, this is a quiet Keystone XL pipeline.”

Nearly two dozen activists have been arrested where nuns are protesting a pipeline

Months ago, when the nuns and the activists built a chapel in the proposed path of a Pennsylvania pipeline, they said that if the bulldozers came to tear up the nuns’ land and put a pipe beneath it, they might stand in the way of the construction equipment to block it with their bodies and their prayers.

That day arrived on Monday.

In a dramatic showdown in a cornfield, owned by Catholic sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, 23 people stood holding hands and singing hymns until they were arrested and charged with defiant trespassing.

“I feel really frustrated with our courts and our government,” Barbara Vanhorn, a local resident who came to the nuns’ cornfield to join the protest, said to NPR. The oldest of the 23 people arrested at 86, Vanhorn said she worries that the natural gas pipeline, which will carry the products of fracking in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation, will damage the environment. “They’re giving in to these big, paying, lying companies that are trying to destroy not only our country but the world.”

According to the local Fox News station, 11 of the protesters who were arrested are in their 60s, 70s and 80s. NBC News reported that one protester, who suffered an apparent panic attack after his hands were zip-tied behind his back for more than an hour, was taken to a hospital.

Two in pipeline dispute found guilty by Calhoun County jury

Two people were found guilty of trespassing over their protest of the installation of a crude oil pipeline in a jury trial Thursday.

The trial for Emma Schmit, 23, of Rockwell City, and Tosun Mahmud Fitil, 36, of Omaha, began last week in Calhoun County. After one day of hearing from witnesses the jury recessed until Thursday at 1:40 p.m. when closing arguments were heard.

Schmit and Fitil were arrested while protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Oct. 29, 2016, on property where the pipeline was being constructed in Calhoun County.

The five women and one man of the jury took a long time, deliberating for more than two and a half hours before delivering their guilty verdict.

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Ricki Osborn Stubbs, assistant Calhoun County attorney, said the two planned on being arrested that day. She asked the jury not to help them spread their message regarding climate change.

“Did they have this planned? Yes,” Osborn Stubbs said. “Going to trial? I’m sure that’s what they knew when they were going to get arrested. They’d be here — media — trying to get their issue out. Trying to get you to help them. I’m asking you not to do that.”

Maine does not need a natural gas pipeline from Quebec

This past month, Gov. LePage again proposed constructing a natural gas pipeline, this time to carry fuel from Quebec to Maine. The stated goal of the pipeline would be to lower Maine energy prices through the use of cheap natural gas. While the governor did not provide a cost estimate, experts place the figure in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, this proposal ignores the energy shift currently underway across the United States. The development of cheap, green energy and its proliferation is happening and developing pipelines that carry “dirty” fuels is simply short-sighted. The costs of wind and solar have fallen to the point that they are competitive with traditional energy sources. Therefore, the development of these renewables should be a priority because of the significantly lower health and environmental costs associated with them.

Natural gas is often touted as a bridge fuel by the fossil fuel industry. But while proponents are correct that climate-changing emissions that result from the combustion of natural gas are 50 to 60 percent less than those emitted from a new coal plant, this thought process blatantly ignores the litany of health issues that are seen in areas where natural gas fracking is occurring.

‘A huge difference’: Next to Nestlé bottled water pipeline, a creek trickles

At the end of an unpaved road that snakes through the San Bernardino National Forest, you come to Strawberry Creek, which flows down from the mountains through a rocky canyon.

Head upstream and you’ll clamber over boulders and through the brush until you arrive at a fork in the creek.

On one side, the eastern branch is a free-flowing stream that pours over rocks and cascades into pools. On the other side, the creek’s western fork is just a trickle — a series of shallow puddles hidden in a thicket of trees and bushes.

The stark difference between the two creeks may be a result of Nestlé’s bottled water operation in the national forest. While the company doesn’t use any water from the eastern watershed, its steel pipeline runs alongside the creek’s west fork to a series of boreholes and water collection tunnels on the mountain slopes above.

The sound of flowing water fills the air along the eastern creek, but along the western creek, the canyon is quiet except for the sound of water gushing through the pipeline.

Amanda Frye, a local activist who opposes Nestlé’s use of water from the forest, said she was surprised when she reached the confluence of the creeks and saw such a contrast.

Hmmm… nothing to see here. Move along…

Pipeline Company Donates Thousands To Northwest Iowa Emergency Crews

The company that built the Dakota Access oil pipeline that runs diagonally across Iowa, from the northwest to the southeast, is making donations to emergency responders in Lyon, Sioux, and O’Brien counties. In fact, they’re making the donations in every county the pipeline crosses in Iowa and three other states.

Mike Futch, vice president of Energy Transfer Partners, explains the motive.

The pipeline crosses 18 counties in Iowa and also carves a path across Illinois and North and South Dakota. Futch says they want to be good corporate partners with every county the pipeline touches.

Oxford accused of ‘social apartheid’ as colleges admit no black students

Nearly one in three Oxford colleges failed to admit a single black British A-level student in 2015, with the university accused of “social apartheid” over its admissions policies by the former education minister David Lammy.

The data shows that 10 out of 32 Oxford colleges did not award a place to a black British pupil with A-levels in 2015, the first time the university has released such figures since 2010. Oriel College only offered one place to a black British A-level student in six years.

Similar data released by Cambridge revealed that six colleges there failed to admit any black British A-level students in the same year.

Canada faces battle for pharmacare scheme to make medicines free

In his campaign for universal publicly funded healthcare in the US, Bernie Sanders has repeatedly held up Canada’s system as an example, highlighting the pride Canadians take in the idea that medical care is a right for everyone.

But his legislation would aim to go further, addressing a critical shortcoming: that Canada is the only developed country in the world with a universal healthcare system that does not cover essential medications.

“It’s a big issue, a big problem,” Danielle Martin, a Toronto doctor, told Sanders in a recent podcast. “I have patients who take their pills every other day, or who take them for a few weeks and then have to wait until the cheque comes in to fill it again.”

The gap, said Martin, was partly because Canada’s system was designed in the 1960s, when prescription medication was less of a focus for care. Today Canadians, however, face the second-highest drug costs in the industrialised world, after Americans. And they are forced to cover those costs either out of their own pockets, or through a patchwork of provincial and private drug plans.

The result has left many in Canada choosing between meeting their basic needs or complying with the doctors’ orders, said Hassan Yussuff of the Canadian Labour Congress. “If you’re not fortunate enough to work for a sizeable employer that has the resources to provide you with benefits, you’re left on your own,” he said.

Land of milk and money: Qatar looks to farms to beat the Gulf boycott

“The boycott has been great thing for Qatar in a way,” Dore said. “It has been a wakeup call to the entire country. It has made them aware of all the opportunities that are there, and not just in farming. Nearly 80% of its food came from its neighbours. It sometimes takes war or the threat of war to make countries look at their food security. Look at the common agricultural policy in Europe.

“The people that have shot themselves in the foot are the Saudis. If the blockade was lifted, there is so much pro-Qatar sentiment and nationalist pride that the people will buy Qatar milk, not Saudi. I think the whole environment will completely change. Our challenge is to get enough milk. If we can make enough milk, the people in Qatar will buy it.”

Dore says his farm will be more productive than its Saudi counterparts, with a labour ratio of one person per 75 cows, as opposed to one per 45. His cows will also stand on rubber mattresses, and automated scrapers will remove their waste. “We are going to produce enough manure to turn Qatar green,” he said.

Self-sufficiency in food is only one test of whether Qatar can withstand the blockade and perhaps even emerge stronger, ready to receive tens of thousands of visitors to the 2022 World Cup.

Colin Kaepernick Was Mocked and Threatened for Taking a Knee. He’s Also Winning.

In the summer of 2016, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, respectively. Their deaths were videotaped, and the footage went viral. People mourned. People raged. People protested. And, starting with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, NFL players—in a historically unprecedented fashion—joined this fight. They took a knee or sat or raised a fist during the playing of the national anthem precisely to make people—fans, sponsors, media, team owners—uncomfortable and raise awareness. Now, after 14 months, what do we know?

Kaepernick might have sacrificed his career for this movement. The other players who either took a knee with Colin last year or started this year have received death threats. They’ve lost sponsors. They’ve been threatened with suspension by team owners. They were mocked by sports-media hucksters, who laughed at the thought that they were accomplishing anything. They’ve had their jobs imperiled and been cursed by a president who, despite his own behavior, has the nerve to lecture people about patriotism. Yet they still persevered. And what did it get them? This week we found out.

First, before the meetings had even started, Roger Goodell co-signed a letter on NFL stationery with Seattle Seahawk Doug Baldwin that was sent to the US Congress in support of a bill called the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017. The bill would reduce minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. The letter read, “Over the last two seasons, one particular issue that has come to the forefront for our players and our teams is the issue of justice for all.… These expressions of player advocacy aptly capture the challenges we currently face as a nation—ensuring that every American has equal rights and equal protection under the law.” It’s hardly radical legislation, but in the era of Jeff Sessions and his dreams of an extra-strength New Jim Crow, it matters.

Then, at the meeting between Goodell and a select group of team owners, no changes to the rules were made to coerce players to line up, helmet in hand, for the playing of the national anthem, much to Trump’s Twitter rage. NFL owners are now basically acknowledging that Trump’s call to “force players to stand for the anthem” would cause a full-scale rebellion. This was a victory: an affirmation both of what’s in their collective-bargaining agreement and of their First Amendment rights.

Jeremy Corbyn Could Be the Next British Prime Minister. Now Comes the Hard Part.

Having lost its majority following a snap election in June, the Conservative Party now limps from one self-inflicted disaster to the next. Ministers turn up to Brexit meetings without briefing papers or a clue, are laughed out of negotiations, and then come home with their tails between their legs, only to talk tough and hope nobody noticed. At home, inflation is set to reach a five-year high (in no small part thanks to Brexit) and growth has stalled, leaving much pain in the population and little room for maneuver in the polity.

All of this makes what was unthinkable just a few months ago now a distinct possibility: Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left leader of the Labour Party, could be the next prime minister. Labour now holds a three-point lead over the Conservatives, and Corbyn’s approval ratings are better than May’s. The September 23 cover of the libertarian Economist, no fan of the Labour leader, featured a cartoon of Corbyn coming out of 10 Downing Street with the headline The Likely Lad.

Given the immense effort it took to get to this stage, progressives should be delighted. But given the likely challenges of the next stage, that delight should, perhaps, be tempered with more levelheaded strategic thinking—the kind of thinking that could benefit from some input from the left in Greece and Brazil, who’ve been here before, and from the American left, who may get there yet.

The Labour manifesto was pretty much a boilerplate social-democratic program, calling for wealth distribution and increased public investment. Nonetheless, given the forces that made it possible, the prospect of a Corbyn government is bound to spark capital flight and a run on the pound. In 2015, the first time an anti-austerity government was elected, in Greece, capital (with the help of European Union hard-liners) effectively staged a coup—forcing the government to abandon its election promises and accept the agenda dictated to it.

This Year’s Crazy Fires, Freezes, and Floods Cost Farmers At Least $7 Billion

To Get Hurricane Rebuilding Money in Texas, Contractors Must Promise They Won’t Boycott Israel

If you’re a Texan looking to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, you’d better not boycott Israel.

That’s the message being sent by the state, which has banned any contractor who supports the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign from receiving state funds.

If you’re confused why the two things are related, look to a bill that Texas’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in July. House Bill 89 prohibits the state from entering into contract with a business unless it “does not boycott Israel; and will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract.” The law applies even to businesses that would refuse to buy products made in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land — as it defines Israel as both Israel proper and “Israeli-controlled territory.”

To see how this law works in practice, check out a sample application for a Harvey rebuilding contract from the city of Dickinson, Texas. The contract includes a section that requires the applicant to verify that they do not currently boycott Israel and will not do so during the duration of the contract:

In New Ruling, Federal Judge Refuses to Erase Joe Arpaio’s Conviction

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump’s pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio does not erase his conviction for criminal contempt of court, rejecting arguments from Arpaio and the Department of Justice to vacate all the rulings in his criminal case.

“The Court found Defendant guilty of criminal contempt. The President issued the pardon. Defendant accepted. The pardon undoubtedly spared Defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, ‘revise the historical facts’ of this case,” Bolton wrote in a four-page opinion.

Arpaio immediately filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Thursday night.

Bolton’s ruling is consistent with guidance on the Department of Justice website that “a pardoned offense would not be removed from your criminal record.” Notwithstanding that language, the Justice Department previously agreed with Arpaio’s lawyers that his conviction should be erased. It’s not yet clear whether the federal government will agree with Arpaio on appeal as well.

BofA downgrades Chipotle, says the chain is paying employees too much. https://t.co/Zt6foT1r2D

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) October 18, 2017