Voices, The Peoples News
December 2, 2023
Published by Jedi Selman Since March 2000 to Inform and Educate
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This daily Voices, The Peoples News is posted through the blog function of www.MPEN-Ohio.net
# Indigenous / Global
“Carbon Cowboys” Chasing Emissions Offsets in the Amazon Keep Forest-Dwelling Communities in the Dark: Indigenous and traditional groups in the forest are rarely consulted about carbon credit projects they see as the latest gold rush on their lands, and question the community and climate benefits the projects promise.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112023/carbon-cowboys-keep-amazon-communities-dark/
# Border / Immigration / Migrants
Fifth Circuit panel denies Texas appeal on marine buoy barrier lawsuit, state to appeal: Two of three judges on a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel sided with a lower district court and required Texas to move back its marine barriers closer to its shoreline. Texas is appealing to the full court
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_849da56c-90aa-11ee-b458-cbfda0f27ad9.html
Another Border Crossing, This Time in Arizona, Shut Down Over Spike in Migrant Crossings: A second migrant crossing along the southern border with Mexico has been temporarily closed, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said. Officials said they are “temporarily suspending operations” in Lukeville, Arizona, because of an “increased levels of migrant encounters.
https://themessenger.com/news/another-border-crossing-this-time-in-arizona-shut-down-over-spike-in-migrant-crossings
Joe Biden wants to hoover in migrants even faster, so he’s closing LEGAL crossings: Taking these illegal migrants into “custody” mainly means doing some paperwork before releasing them into the interior with orders to show up somewhere else at some later time — with no effective way to ensure they’re ever heard from again. This strategy fits well with President Biden’s demand that his Ukraine-and-Israel-aid bill include $14 billion for “border operations” to ease this “processing.” That is, not to block migrants from entering, but to “accommodate” them even faster.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/01/opinion/joe-biden-wants-to-hoover-in-migrants-even-faster-so-hes-closing-legal-crossings/
Texas To Bus Another 70,000 Immigrants To Democrat-Run Cities: Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced Wednesday the state will bus another 70,000 immigrants to Democrat-run cities around the nation amid the Biden administration’s ongoing crisis at the Southern Border. “Texas will bus migrants to sanctuary cities until Biden secures the border,” Abbott said on X. “Our mission provides vital relief to border towns.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/gov-abbott-says-texas-will-bus-another-70000-immigrants-to-democrat-run-cities
# Covid / Pandemics / Biologicals
# Economy / Finance / Trade / Banks
Social Security will likely have a new boss soon. Here’s how he wants it to run better: Martin O’Malley, likely to take the helm at the Social Security Administration in the coming weeks, says his focus is customer service. The man who is expected to become the new boss of Social Security once aimed to expand the program. Now he just wants to fix its flaws.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/social-security-will-likely-have-a-new-boss-soon-heres-how-he-wants-it-to-run-better-151511410.html
# Education / Schools
Christopher Rufo’s Alarming and Deceptive Crusade Against Public Universities: “Public universities,” Christopher Rufo wrote on August 11 on X (formerly Twitter), “are not a ‘free marketplace of ideas.’”
This provocative statement doesn’t fully convey Rufo’s views on the subject; he’s noted elsewhere that universities should be an “environment of open, substantive debate.” But as a trustee at New College of Florida, Rufo has demonstrated the limits of his tolerance for ideas that differ from his own.
https://time.com/6309612/christopher-rufo-public-universities-deceptive-essay/
# Energy / Pipelines / Mining / Chemicals
Power prices are gonna rise, shame, they don’t have to: The US, like other developed nations, will see historic increases in electricity demand due to the electrification of vehicles and heating. The nation is also retiring conventional base-load power plants, which are slowly being replaced by less-reliable green-generations systems like wind turbines and solar panels. According to ISO New England, which regulates power across the Northeast, regional electricity demand will increase by around 70% by 2040.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/02/opinion/power-prices-are-gonna-rise-shame-they-dont-have-to/
‘Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter’ Denounced as Greenwashing Scheme by Fossil Fuel Arsonists: “Voluntary pledges cannot be a substitute for a formal negotiated outcome at COP28 for countries to address the root cause of the climate crisis fossil fuels.” Hundreds of civil society groups and frontline voices from around the world condemned a voluntary pledge heralded by government leaders and fossil fuel giants, calling the “Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter” unveiled at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai nothing but a cynical industry-backed smokescreen
https://truthout.org/articles/fossil-fuel-companies-back-toothless-decarbonization-charter-at-cop28-in-dubai/
# Environment / Climate / Infrastructure
COP28 Coverage: The UN climate conference, kicks off in Dubai this week with our journalists on the ground. Over 70,000 delegates have arrived in the UAE for the 12 day summit, with world leaders attempting to forge an agreement on how to restrict global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a rapidly diminishing window.
https://www.desmog.com/cop28-coverage/
The Great Simplification podcast: Pollution, population & purpose: Co-founder of GMO Financial Holdings, Jeremy Grantham, discuss how human population, ecology, and pollution (especially endocrine disrupting chemicals) interact to shape current trends and what they could tell us about the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTvN9iFJ0fY
England’s only resident population of bottlenose dolphins is under serious threat from a combination of human activity, environmental pollution and difficulties in rearing young that survive into adulthood, according to new research. The pod of 48 dolphins inhabits the coastline of the English Channel and is under threat from pollution and fishing
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/dolphins-england-pollution-sea-extinction-b2455259.html
North Atlantic orcas reveal the troubling persistence of toxic ocean pollutants: Scientists found that North Atlantic orcas feeding on marine mammals carry significantly higher levels of pollutants than orcas that eat fish. Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in the orcas’ blubber are ten times higher than the toxic threshold for these dangerous household chemicals.
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/north-atlantic-orcas-reveal-the-troubling-persistence-of-toxic-ocean-pollutants/
‘Forever chemicals’ are getting into ocean ecosystems: As these chemicals leach out of failing septic systems and landfills and wash off airport runways and farm fields, they can end up in streams that ultimately discharge into ocean ecosystems where fish, dolphins, manatees, sharks and other marine species live.
https://www.wuwf.org/florida-news/2023-11-26/forever-chemicals-are-getting-into-ocean-ecosystems-where-marine-life-dine
How ‘forever chemicals’ are using marine life to travel the world by sea
First it was PCBs, now it’s PFAS – harmful toxic pollutants that do not biodegrade are affecting ecosystems around the globe
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/14/forever-chemicals-pcb-pfas-use-marine-life-to-travel-world-by-sea
Microplastics found in D.C. rivers prompt funding for wider study: Some pollution was invisible to the naked eye, but with $90,000 in new grant money, a team of researchers was on hand to find it. The researchers weren’t looking for garbage bags or discarded bottles but hidden microplastics embedded in river sediment.
https://www.american.edu/media/news/20230920_microplastics-pollution.cfm
At COP28, the United States Will Stress an End to Fossil Emissions, Not Fuels: The Biden administration faces increasing international and domestic political pressure to endorse near-term cuts in coal, oil and natural gas. The United States, casting itself as a climate action leader despite its role as the world’s No. 1 oil and natural gas producer, will insist that any phase-down language be focused not on fossil fuels themselves, but on their emissions.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112023/at-cop28-the-united-states-will-stress-an-end-to-fossil-emissions-not-fuels/?utm_source=InsideClimate+News&utm_campaign=5a168770e8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_12_02_02_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-5a168770e8-327817917
US Pledge to Loss and Damage Fund Calling ‘Insulting… Paltry… Shameful’: “The United States refuses to acknowledge historic responsibility for the decades of damage that has been done to communities bearing the brunt of climate change and the fossil fuel industry,” said one advocate. Bineshi Albert of the Climate Justice Alliance called it “insulting.” “It is a paltry, shameful amount of money that shows the U.S. is completely uninterested in prioritizing or being accountable to the climate impacts frontline communities are facing,” she said. The United States have pledged $17.5 million.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-loss-and-damage
# Food / Farming / GMOs / Chemicals
In California, Farmers Test a Method to Sink More Water into Underground Stores: A novel program reimburses landowners for replenishing groundwater, in a bid to add regularity to the state’s boom and bust water system. Groundwater banking, where water is percolated underground and can then be pulled out by the same user later, has been in use in certain parts of California for decades, but new stores are being added. And some farmers in the Central Valley are letting their fields flood, allowing water to slowly sink underground.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112023/in-california-farmers-test-a-method-to-sink-more-water-into-underground-stores/#:~:text=Groundwater%20banking%2C%20where%20water%20is,water%20to%20slowly%20sink%20underground
# Food Recalls / Alerts
Another fruit company recalls cantaloupe products possibly linked to deadly outbreak: Cut Fruit Express Inc. of Inver Grove Heights, MN, is recalling Caribou Coffee Fruit Mix CHPG 6.5-ounce, and Cut Fruit Express Brand of 6.5-ounce, 15-ounce, 16-ounce and 32-ounce packages of fruit mix that contain cantaloupe and food service packages of 5-pound trays, 10-pound bags and 25-pound pails, because they have the potential to be contaminated. The FDA’s traceback investigation is ongoing but has identified Sofia Produce LLC dba TruFresh; Crown Jewels Produce; and Pacific Trellis Fruit dba Dulcinea as suppliers of the potentially contaminated whole “Malichita” or “Rudy” brand cantaloupes. All three companies have initiated recalls of their whole cantaloupes.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/12/another-fruit-company-recalls-cantaloupe-products-possibly-linked-to-deadly-outbreak/
# General News
Trump’s 48-Hour Manic Rant Had Immediate Consequences: The former president covered a lot of ground during his recent posting binge, most of it is insane. Kicking off the rapid-fire onslaught of posts late Tuesday, Trump called MSNBC’s coverage of the Republican Party “illegal activity,” adding that the “so-called ‘government’ should come down hard” on the news outlet and “make them pay.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/177220/trump-truth-social-engoron-gag
Trump Has Decided on a Crazy New Abortion Stance: The former president must think that voters haven’t been paying attention to what’s become a hot-button issue at the polls. Donald Trump, who has bragged about being the “most pro-life president in history,” now believes that he can convince voters that he’s actually a moderate on abortion rights.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-decided-crazy-abortion-stance-162815194.html
If Trump Wins Again, There May Be No Stopping Him: If a presidential candidate is telling you that he wants to end the republic, believe him. Trump all but promises authoritarian rule. Combined with his threats to use the Justice Department to round up leading Democrats, Trump is telegraphing his plans to govern as a dictator.
https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fnewrepublic.com%2Farticle%2F177149%2Ftrump-wins-again-may-no-stopping
Trump is an unprecedented danger to democracy. It’s time we see him for who he really is: Trump’s plan if elected in 2024 should frighten us all. Is this really the administration that so many Republicans, and apparently a lot of independents, want?
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-unprecedented-danger-democracy-time-100923014.html
# Gov / Politics / Global
North Korea warns any interference with spy satellite would be ‘declaration of war’: “Any attack on space asset of DPRK will be deemed declaration of war against it,” a statement by a spokesperson for North Korea’s defense ministry reads, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. The Biden administration “strongly condemned” the purported launch, arguing it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions because it used ballistic missile technology, which the U.N. has barred North Korea from using.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4339008-north-korea-warns-interference-spy-satellite-war/
A downed Russian Shahed drone was found with a Ukrainian SIM card, suggesting the technology was used to pilot the explosive drone: This suggests the tech was used to pilot the attack drone, war analysts said.
Last month, Russia launched its largest drone attack against Kyiv in the war so far.
https://www.businessinsider.com/downed-russian-shahed-drone-found-with-ukrainian-sim-card-2023-12#:~:text=A%20downed%20Russian%20Shahed%20drone%20was%20reportedly%20found%20with%20a,in%20the%20war%20so%20far
Revealed: Europe’s role in the making of Russia killer drones: Kyiv says Iranian drones used by Russia in Ukraine have various European components. Iranian kamikaze drones used in the latest attacks on Ukrainian cities are filled with European components, according to a secret document sent by Kyiv to its western allies in which it appeals for long-range missiles to attack production sites in Russia, Iran and Syria.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/27/revealed-europes-role-in-the-making-of-russia-killer-drones
# Gov / Politics
Democracy Is in Peril, Just Not the Way We Thought: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt explained “How Democracies Die.” Then they decided to look even deeper. A system-threatening genie had been let out of the bottle. And in a break from the normal patterns of punditry, academic scholars of democracy speak in more alarmed and perfervid terms than popular commentators. “This is no ordinary moment,” but one of “great peril and risk,” says one recent academic petition; “the crisis of American democracy is upon us,” states another.
https://newrepublic.com/article/176821/democracy-peril-just-not-way-thought
How Can We Possibly Be Sleepwalking into Another Trump Presidency? Here are six culprits who seem to think 2024 is just another election. “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.” They’re talking about it, I think, for two main reasons.
https://thenewrepublic.substack.com/p/how-can-we-possibly-be-sleepwalking?dicbo=v4-26vZG2U-1089107042
Mike Johnson Just Blew a Hole in the GOP’s Biden Impeachment Inquiry: An awkward exchange between the speaker and a Capitol Hill reporter highlighted the weakness of the case against the president. Although Republicans have been levying various accusations against Biden for the past few months, making multiple allegations of political corruption, they have yet to produce any actual evidence demonstrating that their charges have merit.
https://newrepublic.com/post/177176/mike-johnson-biden-impeachment-inquiry
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Republican Government Shutdown: Mere weeks after the House GOP tore themselves apart over their inability to pass a funding bill, they’re back at it again. Government shutdown is back on the menu. The House GOP has made some ominous omissions from this week’s agenda: the appropriations bills that are meant to forestall, say it with us, once again, the impending government shutdown that is now scheduled to occur in mid-January.
https://news.yahoo.com/beginning-look-lot-republican-government-163836645.html
Here’s How Biden Can Turn It Around
Top Democrats agree that the president needs more aggressiveness, more help from his friends and a few more friends. Liz Cheney, Rahm Emanuel and Mitt Romney can help.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/13/biden-2024-reelection-challenges-strategy-00126776
Biden sees hopeful signs for his reelection in Democrats’ 2023 wins. Others in his party are worried: Yet many Democrats are fearful there is a serious disconnect between the popularity of Biden’s agenda and the man himself, as the president’s approval ratings remain stubbornly low and voters continue to register concerns about his age.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-elections-democrats-republicans-1d7d39dc723817125d7e65a5e1e1b1a2
GOP AGs argue Colorado courts can’t remove Trump from primary ballot: A coalition of 19 attorneys general filed a brief with the Colorado Supreme Court arguing an appeal to keep former President Donald Trump off the primary ballot can’t be decided by the courts
https://www.kpvi.com/news/national_news/gop-ags-argue-colorado-courts-cant-remove-trump-from-primary-ballot/article_0172eabc-5726-5023-936b-411e83415669.html
# Military / DOD
The 15 wars you may not know the US is currently involved in: The ever-expanding American military footprint covers nearly every continent. The US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide and spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive#:~:text=173%2C000%20troops%20deployed
See also: How Many US Military Bases Are There in the World?
https://www.thesoldiersproject.org/how-many-us-military-bases-are-there-in-the-world/
# Military / Global
Israel’s AI-Aided Bomb Targeting Creates Massacre ‘Factory’ in Gaza: “This is the first AI-facilitated genocide in history,” said one observer. As Israel on Friday resumed bombarding Gaza following a weeklong pause, a joint investigation by a pair of progressive Israeli media outlets sheds new light on the Israel Defense Forces’ use of artificial intelligence to select targets, essentially creating what one former Israeli officer called a “mass assassination factory.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-civilian-casualties-2666414736
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