The Sunday Night Edition
There’s new evidence to suggest a demand for something different than hyper-partisanship in the world of talk radio and political media.
 Army engineers prepared to slowly open the gates of an emergency spillway along the rising Mississippi River, diverting floodwaters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, yet inundating homes and farms in parts of Louisiana’s populated Cajun country. About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm’s way when the Morganza spillway is unlocked for the first time in 38 years. Sheriffs and National Guardsmen were warning people in a door-to-door sweep through the area, and shelters were ready to acc... Obama has found himself on the verge of another environmental scandal now that he has no choice but to redirect the Mississippi river via the Morganza spillway - either lose millions in barrels of daily refined production and potentially the impairment of the Colonial Pipeline, two events which would promptly cause gas prices to soar to new records, or redirect the river via the Spillway, and cause the flooding of millions of acres, and numerous towns and cities, and possibly another New Orelans bases... Obama, facing voter anger over high gasoline prices and complaints from Republicans and business leaders that his policies are restricting the development of domestic energy resources, announced on Saturday that he was taking several steps to speed oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters. It was at least a partial concession to his critics, who say he has shackled domestic energy development at a time when consumers are paying near-record prices at the gas pump. Administration officials said t... The majority of Americans appear resigned to the idea that they have no power over institutions that rule their lives. The elite who maintain a hold on power are few. Those of us who believe in genuine democracy—of, by, and for the people—far outnumber the elitists, but we are divided. The elite’s strategy of “divide and conquer” is one that routinely works, but not always. Their strategy fails when we recognize that the divides among us pale in significance compared with a common desire to have our f... The growing demands for democratic reforms spreading across the Middle East and North Africa - along with the dramatic rise of social media networks - have triggered "a human rights revolution on the threshold of a historic change", says Amnesty International (AI). "People are rejecting fear," as spontaneous political uprisings have ousted repressive regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and authoritarian governments in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria have been jolted by mass protests and street battles. "No... The austerity measures that are currently being pushed through the American congress, as well as many state legislatures, are part of a global thrust by shock-doctrine capitalists to consolidate wealth with the very few, at the expense of the middle class: the working class; the expendable class. Americans need to know what is being proposed, and know what those proposals are doing elsewhere. It’s the same scam being proposed here that has been advanced elsewhere. If you want to know your future, as i... Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said that heavy Wall Street trading has driven up the price of oil well beyond the level that normal supply and demand forces would suggest. Under questioning from Sen. Maria Cantwell during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, the Exxon chief said that if oil prices were being dictated by normal economic forces, it would cost between $60 and $70 a barrel. Oil is currently trading just below $100 a barrel and has fallen sharply in recent weeks after soaring fo... The proposed change would require corporate whistleblowers to report problems internally before going to financial regulators. The move, backed by the US Chamber of Commerce, is just the latest in a series of setbacks for those who favor strengthening whistleblower rules to encourage reporting of wrongdoing within government and businesses. Whistleblowers were dealt another blow last week when a federal court of appeals ruled that corporate whistleblower protections don’t cover leaks to the media. Ac... Humanity is pressing up against the limits of a finite planet to provide resources like water, oil, metals and food, according to a new report. Resources are being consumed at an even greater rate and are on pace to triple by 2050, the report calculates. Except there simply aren't enough resources left on the planet to manage that. North America's infrastructure, including transportation, sanitation, food production and so on, are all high-energy, high-material-use systems. They were designed with the... A double suicide bombing against a paramilitary security force claimed at least 80 lives in north west Pakistan, an attack that extremists declared was revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden in the country. The vicious bombing illustrated the violent backlash that Pakistan now faces following the American special forces raid on a compound in the north of the country on May 2nd, which killed the al Qaida leader. While elements of the Pakistani security apparatus are widely suspected of harboring ... Our wars are eerily like those pursued by European monarchs in the 17th and 18th centuries: conflicts carried out by professional militaries and bands of mercenaries, largely at the whim of what we might now call a unitary executive, funded by deficit spending, for the purposes of protecting or extending the interests of a ruling elite. Today’s ruling class no longer bothers to make a pretense of following the letter of our Constitution - and they sidestep its spirit as well, invoking hollow claims of... Experts have warned of a potentially dangerous radiation leak if Japan proceeds with plans to flood a damaged reactor containment vessel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and urged Tepco to abandon the plans, given the likelihood that melted fuel has damaged it. "Flooding a reactor that has fuel [that has fallen] through the pressure vessel is not a good idea." Very large amounts of cold water hitting the melted fuel could cause an explosion, trigger substantial damage to the reactor and create a... One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel. The situation could escalate rapidly if "the lava melts through the vessel". An initial plan to flood the entire reactor core with water to keep its temperature from rising has now been abandoned because it might exacerbate the leak. Tepco said there was enough water at ... As Hillary Clinton arrives in the Arctic ostensibly to discuss preserving its unique environment, a disturbing series of communications revealed by wikileaks tell another story. These cables confirm that several nations - including the US - appear ready to go to war over Arctic oil. For years now, the military forces of Arctic nations like Russia, the US, Norway, and even Canada and Denmark have been watching the ice melt in the far north and getting ready to assert claims to the oil and gas reso... The jury, which will decide if an indictment is brought, met in secret in Alexandria, Virginia. The subpoena indicated that the Department of Justice is seriously examining possible violations of the draconian 1917 Espionage Act. Prosecutors are keen to show that Mr Assange and his organization encouraged and abetted the leaking of a vast trove of American military and diplomatic documents, which has stunned and infuriated Washington. Bradley Manning, a US army intelligence analyst, is suspected of ... The cost of private health insurance in America continues to rise at an alarming rate. American families who are insured through their jobs average health care costs of $19,393 this year, up 7.3%, or $1,319 from last year. The rate increases have continued unabated. Of the $1,319 annual increase, workers’ out-of-pocket costs this year rose 9.2%. That was more than the 6.6% increase the prior year. [...] Of the $19,393 overall annual cost, employees’ share is inching closer to 50%, sai... Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial. They had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it. Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice... The following selection of pictures showing just how ugly the reality in an otherwise civilized European country has become. And since much of the proposed next round of austerity spending cuts would come from reducing wage costs in the public sector, cuts in operating expenses at state-owned enterprises, and reduced defense and health-care spending, the vicious cycle of ever more violent demonstrations will continue as even more cuts are implemented, and as the true depths of the Greek economic depre... With soaring gas and commodity prices and falling income, what are working Americans supposed to do? Median income fell by $5,261 in the past decade. The average price of gas is up 80 cents per gallon. One of the biggest reasons Americans carry $796.5 billion in revolving debt is that wages have stagnated while the cost of necessities rose. The ability to cover up our income inequality and wage stagnation with easy credit is coming to end. A new study came out recently that showed the level of renter... In criminology, we call these accounting-control frauds and we know that they destroy wealth at a prodigious rate. There’s no “if” about the losses -- the only questions are when they will hit, how big they will be, and who will bear them. The record income produced explains why those involved get away with it for years. Private markets don’t discipline firms reporting record profits. They compete to fund them. Fraudulent CEOs can control the hiring and firing and can create the perverse incentives th... |
| Arctic Nation Summit in Greenland Arctic nations held a summit in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on Thursday. Their discussions centered around responsible exploration of the Arctic as fast-melting ice and snow open access to rich mineral and petroleum resources. The Arctic Council, made up of eight countries that surround the Arctic and representatives of indigenous Arctic peoples, signed a deal to split up search-and-rescue responsibilities. The deal in Greenland is the council's first binding agreement. Officials say it could be a model for future pacts on more contentious issues, including energy exploration and development. The region is estimated to hold as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves. According to Sweden's Foreign Minister, the ministers face a number of challenges. [Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of Sweden]: "We see the effects of climate change of course, we see the increased attention given to the natural resources of the region and we need to also be aware of the necessity for nine million people up in this region to be able to live and prosper and have a better future. So there are quite a number of challenges." The Norwegian Foreign Minister says it is important for all the Arctic states to abide by existing laws as global warming sets off a race for oil, mineral, fishing and shipping opportunities. [Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norwegian Foreign Minister]: "Well I think in two categories - governance where these Arctic states agree on the basic fundamentals for how they will take their national responsibilities seriously basing themselves on the convention of the law of the sea, international laws, stability and peaceful cooperation. And then we have a number of issues which stems from increased activity. We have to deal with increased shipping traffic, search and rescue responsibilities and thirdly, dealing with climate change." The council also called for work to begin on an international deal to strengthen offshore oil spill prevention and response. The ministers got a personal view of climate change during the summit. Puttering in a small touring boat, the foreign ministers stopped to view a threatened glacier - a sign of retreating ice. Climate change is being felt most sharply in Arctic regions. There retreating ice opens up new sea routes and rising temperatures threaten polar bears and other native species as well as traditional livelihoods based on hunting. |
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