Music: Erik Truffaz Quartet — ‘El Tiempo de la Revolución’
The climate change lawsuit that could stop the U.S. government from supporting fossil fuels
60 Minutes reports: Of all the cases working their way through the federal court system none is more interesting or potentially more life changing than Juliana v. United States. To quote one federal judge, “This is no ordinary lawsuit.” It was filed back in 2015 on behalf of a group of kids who are trying to get the courts to block the U.S. government from continuing the use of fossil fuels. They say it’s causing climate change, endangering their future…
Heatwaves sweeping oceans ‘like wildfires’, scientists reveal
The Guardian reports: The number of heatwaves affecting the planet’s oceans has increased sharply, scientists have revealed, killing swathes of sea-life like “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest”. The damage caused in these hotspots is also harmful for humanity, which relies on the oceans for oxygen, food, storm protection and the removal of climate-warming carbon dioxide the atmosphere, they say. Global warming is gradually increasing the average temperature of the oceans, but the new research is the first…
The engines of outrage
Arthur C. Brooks writes: Political scientists have found that our nation is more polarized than it has been at any time since the Civil War. One in six Americans has stopped talking to a family member or close friend because of the 2016 election. Millions of people organize their social lives and their news exposure along ideological lines to avoid people with opposing viewpoints. What’s our problem? A 2014 article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on…
The geography of partisan prejudice
The Atlantic reports: We know that americans have become more biased against one another based on partisan affiliation over the past several decades. Most of us now discriminate against members of the other political side explicitly and implicitly—in hiring, dating, and marriage, as well as judgments of patriotism, compassion, and even physical attractiveness, according to recent research. But we don’t know how this kind of stereotyping varies from place to place. Are there communities in America that are more or…
Fox News did their own ‘catch and kill’ on the Stormy Daniels story to help Trump win the election
Jane Mayer writes: When [Bill] Shine assumed command at Fox, the 2016 campaign was nearing its end, and Trump and Clinton were all but tied. That fall, a FoxNews.com reporter had a story that put the network’s journalistic integrity to the test. Diana Falzone, who often covered the entertainment industry, had obtained proof that Trump had engaged in a sexual relationship in 2006 with a pornographic film actress calling herself Stormy Daniels. Falzone had worked on the story since March,…
Syria: ‘The kingdom of fear is back’
Alex Simon writes: Until recently, some [Syrians] found solace in the notion that conflict would end and life would improve. Today that prospect feels increasingly remote. The war has purportedly been won, yet many of the country’s most acute problems endure: Conscription, disappearances, and executions persist; state-led theft of property is on the rise; and a longstanding crisis of public services is, if anything, deepening. The result is that many are still finding ways to flee, and those who choose…
Team Trump keeps pushing deal to send nuclear tech to Saudis
The Daily Beast reports: The Trump administration is still actively working to make a deal to send U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, according to two U.S. officials and two professional staffers at federal agencies with direct knowledge of those conversations. American energy businesses are still hoping to cash in on Riyadh’s push for energy diversification. “This could be a very big contract. This administration is all about contracts,” said Hussein Ibish, a resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States…
Music: Erik Truffaz — ‘Let Me Go’ ft. Sophie Hunger
Republican Party’s culture of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism extends from top to bottom
Donald Trump, grandson of a draft-dodging tax-evading immigrant, foments anti-immigrant hatred this weekend at CPAC 2019: Trump at #CPAC makes a racist comment targeting immigrant lawmakers. "We have people in Congress right now that hate our country… how did they do in their country? …Not so good. This is the POTUS speaking about US Reps. This IS their country. pic.twitter.com/TrVCD5eZ0K — Rantt Media (@RanttMedia) March 2, 2019 The Washington Post reports: Friday was a day meant to celebrate the Republican…
The nightmare of sexual violence on the border in the shadows of the #MeToo movement
The New York Times reports: It was dark in the stash house where they kept her, the windows covered so no one could see inside. At first, the smugglers had her cook for the other migrants who had recently crossed illegally into the United States. Then they took her to a room upstairs, locked the door and began taking turns with her. It was the summer of 2014, and Melvin, a 36-year-old mother of three, had just completed the journey…
The forgotten campaigns of racist terror targeting Latinos in the American West
The New York Times reports: Arlinda Valencia was at a funeral when an uncle told her a bewildering family secret: An Anglo lynch mob had killed her great-grandfather. “A mixture of grief and shock overwhelmed me since this was the first I heard of this,” said Ms. Valencia, 66, the leader of a teachers’ union in El Paso. “The more I looked into it, the more stunned I was at how many Mexicans were lynched in this country.” Ms. Valencia…
Trump administration remains silent about torture of U.S. citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia
The New York Times reports: A dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States had been imprisoned in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for about a week when he heard a knock on his door. Guards dragged Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained physician, to another room, according to a friend who took down the prisoner’s detailed account of his treatment. Dr. Fitaihi told the friend he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair. He was…
Experts predict more neo-Nazi violence while Trump remains in office
The Guardian reports: In the early summer of 2017, US coast guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson had an idea. He had been trying to figure out an effective way of killing billions of people – “almost every last person on Earth” – but found himself coming up against the daunting logistics of such a task. He suspected “a plague would be most successful”, but didn’t know how to get his hands on enough Spanish flu, botulism or anthrax. His idea, he…
Smaller countries are becoming the healthiest
Bloomberg reports: There’s more to life than money, and economists know it. As new assessments of global living standards proliferate, attempting to gauge how healthy, happy and successful humans are depending on where they live, a pattern is slowly emerging. While slight variations in data can throw up different winners, smaller countries are increasingly dominating the top of the lists while big countries with booming economies fall behind. A new analysis, the Global Wellness Index published by investment firm LetterOne,…
Music: Nils Petter Molvaer — ‘Kakonita’