Music: Nduduzo Makhathini — ‘Mama’
Big Oil shuts the door on Ukraine’s foremost energy campaigner
Bill McKibben writes: đ´BREAKING:Just found out I've been banned from #CERAWeek,the world's most influential energy conference đ˘ď¸.Are they afraid of a strong advocate for ending #War and #FossilFuels? I will not be quiet; we need #ClimateJustice now, and together the energy majors won't stop us! pic.twitter.com/97iHBlUsGN — Svitlana Romanko (@SvitlanaRomanko) March 6, 2023 You may recall that last year, days after the invasion of Ukraine, this newsletter launched the (ultimately successful) campaign to get the Biden administration to invoke the…
Biden admin paradox: Boost oil â and cut CO2?
E&E News reports: The Biden administrationâs seemingly contradictory energy and climate strategy was on full display here Wednesday: Try to pivot away from fossil fuels, but promote them for now. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm faced that paradox as she addressed energy leaders and insiders gathered in a hotel ballroom, praising the uptick in U.S. oil and gas exports during Russiaâs war in Ukraine while touting a clean energy shift. âEurope is poised to reach the spring without major outages or…
Russia-linked individuals working to trigger insurrection against Moldovan government, U.S. believes
CNN reports: The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday. The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government which is seeking closer ties with the European Union, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said,…
Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore ties, in talks hosted by China
The New York Times reports: After years of open hostility and proxy conflicts across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, they announced on Friday, in a significant pivot for the two regional rivals that was facilitated by China. China hosted the talks that led to the breakthrough, highlighting Beijingâs growing role as a global economic and political power, and counterbalance to Washington â particularly in the Middle East, a region that was long…
Can Georgia Republicans really fire a prosecutor for indicting Trump?
Norman L. Eisen and Fred Wertheimer write: Under the Georgia Constitution, district attorneys are elected to four-year terms from the electorate in local judicial circuits, and they have immunity from private suits for actions arising from their performance of their duties. Powers of review and oversight of attorneys for allegations of misconduct is, in Georgia, like throughout the country, exclusively reserved for judges. This separation of powers works the same way in many other state constitutional frameworks. For example, when…
Trump is losing his grip on the grassroots
Seth Masket writes: Republican grassroots leaders are increasingly losing interest in former President Donald Trump â and eyeing Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential campaign. Thatâs according to a new survey I conducted with GOP county chairs across the country, the first survey in an ongoing project that will be featured in POLITICO Magazine over the next year. Itâs designed to track the shifting state of whatâs often called the âinvisible primary,â that lengthy, and critical, period between now and…
Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language â bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills
A honeybee is performing the waggle dance in the center of this photo to communicate the location of a rich nectar source to its nestmates. Heather Broccard-Bell, CC BY-ND By James C. Nieh, University of California, San Diego The Greek historian Herodotus reported over 2,000 years ago on a misguided forbidden experiment in which two children were prevented from hearing human speech so that a king could discover the true, unlearned language of human beings. Scientists now know that human…
Music: Miquel Ălvarez — ‘Tangos de la Distancia’
Global freedom has declined for the 17th consecutive year
The 2023 edition of Freedom in the World from Freedom House reports: The global struggle for democracy approached a possible turning point in 2022. The gap between the number of countries that registered overall improvements in political rights and civil liberties and those that registered overall declines was the narrowest it has ever been through 17 consecutive years of deterioration. The most serious setbacks for freedom and democracy were the result of war, coups, and attacks on democratic institutions by…
Prosecutors signal criminal charges for Trump are likely
The New York Times reports: The Manhattan district attorneyâs office recently signaled to Donald J. Trumpâs lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in…
Inside the ‘private and confidential’ conservative group that promises to ‘crush liberal dominance’
ProPublica reports: A few months ago, Leonard Leo laid out his next audacious project. Ever since the longtime Federalist Society leader helped create a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court, and then received more than a billion dollars from a wealthy Chicago business owner to disburse to conservative causes, Leoâs next moves had been the subject of speculation. Now, Leo declared in a slick but private video to potential donors, he planned to âcrush liberal dominanceâ across American life. The…
Massive protests prompt Georgia to withdraw Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ law
Kato Kopaleishvili reports: Tens of thousands of Georgians occupied the main thoroughfare of the capital, Tbilisi, for the second night in a row Wednesday, holding EU flags and posters protesting a Russian-style draft law that would label some nongovernmental groups and media outlets âforeign agents.â The law is seen as an attempt to suppress civil society and amplify the governmentâs propaganda that Western partners are not acting in the interests of Georgians. Some protesters stormed the barricades in front of…
A mass wave of Israeli army refusal could be a transformative moment
Shimri Zameret writes: During the Second Intifada, as the Israeli army was killing thousands of Palestinians in its effort to suppress the uprising, I was part of a movement of Israeli youth and soldiers who refused to serve in the army. From the age of 18 to 20, I spent 21 months under arrest and in prison, alongside many others, in protest of the occupation and its brutal policies. It was one of the largest campaigns of conscientious objection seen…
Plastic entering oceans could nearly triple by 2040 if left unchecked, research indicates
Reuters reports: Plastics entering the world’s oceans have surged by an “unprecedented” amount since 2005 and could nearly triple by 2040 if no further action is taken, according to research published on Wednesday. An estimated 171 trillion plastic particles were afloat in the oceans by 2019, according to peer-reviewed research led by the 5 Gyres Institute, a U.S. organisation that campaigns to reduce plastic pollution. Marine plastic pollution could rise 2.6 fold by 2040 if legally binding global policies are…
The evolutionary importance of slime
Susanne Wedlich writes: The weather in Morro Bay, California is too good, the coastline too picturesque, and the wildlife seem to have waltzed straight out of a Disney film. Sea otters play in the waves with their young, herons bask on the beach, and seals stretch their plump bellies in the sun. And yet amid the tranquility of Morro Bay lurks a monster straight from H.P. Lovecraftâs playbook, as slimy as a creature from Sartreâs nightmares. It doesnât get much…