Trump’s genocidal comments cause alarm in Afghanistan

Trump’s genocidal comments cause alarm in Afghanistan

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The Washington Post reports: Afghans were startled to hear President Trump’s remarks that he could end the war in Afghanistan “in a week” but that it would cause the deaths of millions of people. The office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday immediately asked for “clarification” about Trump’s statement “via diplomatic means and channels.” “If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth,” Trump said Monday. “It would be over in…

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Israel destroys Palestinian homes in biggest demolition push since 1967

Israel destroys Palestinian homes in biggest demolition push since 1967

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Middle East Eye reports: Israeli bulldozers joined by hundreds of soldiers and police demolished Palestinian homes on the outskirts of East Jerusalem on Monday, in the face of local protests and international criticism. The Israeli forces moved into the Palestinian village of Sur Bahir in the early hours to demolish 11 buildings, including dozens of homes, in the Wadi Hummus neighbourhood close to the barrier which cuts the West Bank from Jerusalem. By late afternoon, at least one resident had…

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House Democrats plan to develop a plan to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century

House Democrats plan to develop a plan to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century

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Think Progress reports: House Democrats on Tuesday announced they plan to develop policies to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century, a sweeping target in the fight to address climate change. The goal marks a step forward on climate action for lawmakers, but falls short of the 2030 timeline championed by some progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and environmental groups like the youth-led Sunrise Movement. Moreover, the announced target does not amount to a formal plan and Democrats declined to give…

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Restoration of forested land at a global scale could help capture carbon and mitigate climate change

Restoration of forested land at a global scale could help capture carbon and mitigate climate change

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Science News reports: A whopping new estimate of the power of planting trees could rearrange to-do lists for fighting climate change. Planting trees on 0.9 billion hectares of land could trap about two-thirds the amount of carbon released by human activities since the start of the Industrial Revolution, a new study finds. The planet has that much tree-friendly land available for use. Without knocking down cities or taking over farms or natural grasslands, reforested pieces could add up to new…

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The coming economic crash — and how to stop it

The coming economic crash — and how to stop it

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Elizabeth Warren writes: I warned about an economic crash years before the 2008 crisis, but the people in power wouldn’t listen. Now I’m seeing serious warning signs in the economy again — and I’m calling on regulators and Congress to act before another crisis costs America’s families their homes, jobs, and savings. I’ve spent most of my career getting to the bottom of what’s happening to working families in America. And when I saw the seeds of the 2008 crisis…

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‘It’s a disaster over there’: Commerce reaches new heights of dysfunction

‘It’s a disaster over there’: Commerce reaches new heights of dysfunction

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Politico reports: Constant infighting among top officials. Sudden departures of senior staffers without explanation. A leader who is disengaged and prone to falling asleep in meetings. The Commerce Department has reached its apex of dysfunction under Wilbur Ross, according to four people with knowledge of the inner workings of the department. The 81-year-old Commerce secretary, who has for months endured whispers that he is on the outs, spends much of his time at the White House to try to retain…

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A close study of Jeffrey Epstein’s circle reveals a damning portrait of elite New York

A close study of Jeffrey Epstein’s circle reveals a damning portrait of elite New York

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The editors of New York Magazine write: Perhaps, at long last, a serial rapist and pedophile may be brought to justice, more than a dozen years after he was first charged with crimes that have brutalized countless girls and women. But what won’t change is this: the cesspool of elites, many of them in New York, who allowed Jeffrey Epstein to flourish with impunity. For decades, important, influential, “serious” people attended Epstein’s dinner parties, rode his private jet, and furthered…

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Donald ‘love it or leave it’ Trump: ‘The American dream is dead’

Donald ‘love it or leave it’ Trump: ‘The American dream is dead’

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Trump says if you don’t love America, leave it. He’s been bashing the US for years. pic.twitter.com/b7humVud7W — Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 21, 2019 If Trump’s electioneering mantra, “we’re like a Third World country,” ever sounded like a hyperbolic economic assessment of America, have no doubt it was simply and crudely a dog whistle to those of his white supporters who believe non-whites don’t belong here and should “go back” where they come from. Make America Great Again has always…

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How a fight against a Senate criminal investigation laid the groundwork for the Koch brothers’ playbook

How a fight against a Senate criminal investigation laid the groundwork for the Koch brothers’ playbook

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Christopher Leonard writes: In 1989, the newly built Koch network was focused on one tactical goal—derailing the criminal investigation into Koch’s oil gathering operations. Three decades later, the impact of the Koch network in politics has been enormous. It stoked the fire of anti-government animus that remade U.S. politics in the ‘90s and 2000s. It played a vital role in derailing the last best chance to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in 2010. Wal-Mart, General Electric and Boeing might all have…

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Is Jeremy Corbyn finally on the way out?

Is Jeremy Corbyn finally on the way out?

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Isabel Hardman writes: Ever since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party, many of his MPs have dreamed of deposing him. They’ve tried mass shadow ministerial resignations, a no-confidence motion, even a formal leadership contest — but to no avail. Some, like Chuka Umunna, left the party, hoping (in vain) that others would join their breakaway group. Other MPs gave up hope, resigned and found jobs outside of politics — concluding no plot would ever work. But…

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Letter to the future: ‘We know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.’

Letter to the future: ‘We know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.’

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Brian Kahn reports: We’ve reached the point in our wild planetary experiment where humans are memorializing the things we’re knowingly wiping out. Iceland has lost its first glacier to rising temperatures. Now, scientists from Rice University and Iceland are planning to install a plaque near the sad pile of ice and snow formerly known as Ok Glacier. The researchers say it’s the first memorial to a disappearing glacier, but climate change ensures it almost certainly will not be the last….

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The ‘intellectual leprosy’ afflicting party politics

The ‘intellectual leprosy’ afflicting party politics

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Robert Zaretsky writes: In 1943, an obscure staff member of the London-based Free French Forces completed a short proposal for a new way to do politics following her country’s liberation. The author, Simone Weil, passed away soon after, while her paper, quickly shelved, baffled her colleagues. For a resistance movement committed to salvaging a democratic and republican France, a paper titled “On the Abolition of All Political Parties” was something of an outrage. Little more than 75 years later, though…

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Trump drilling leases could create more climate pollution than EU does in a year

Trump drilling leases could create more climate pollution than EU does in a year

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The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s leases of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling could lead to the production of more climate-warming pollution than the entire European Union contributes in a year, according to a new report. The Wilderness Society estimates heat-trapping emissions from extracting and burning those fossil fuels could range between 854m and 4.7bn metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on how much development companies pursue. The 28 nations in the European Union produced about…

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Airplane contrails (not ‘chemtrails’) are changing the climate

Airplane contrails (not ‘chemtrails’) are changing the climate

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Dawn Stover writes: Those wispy stripes left behind by airplanes have a surprisingly forceful, albeit short-lived, effect on the climate. After accounting for factors such as aircraft improvements that are expected to reduce soot emissions, climate researchers at the German Aerospace Center recently estimated that the heat-trapping effects of cirrus cloudiness caused by contrails will “increase significantly over time” because of the large projected increases in air traffic—which is growing so fast that efforts to make airplanes less polluting won’t…

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