Pope Francis has taken on one of Italy’s most dangerous organised crime groups, calling the ‘Ndrangheta crime group an example of ‘the adoration of evil” and saying Mafiosi ‘are excommunicated”.

The pope, speaking during a mass in the southern Italy, issued the strongest attacks on organised crime since the late Pope John Paul lambasted the Sicilian Mafia in 1993.

‘Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” Pope Francis said in impromptu comments at a mass before tens of thousands of people.

He told the crowd: ‘This evil must be fought against, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it.”

He branded the ‘Ndrangheta as the ‘adoration of evil and contempt of the common good” and said the Church would exert its full force in efforts to combat organised crime.

‘Our children are asking for it, our young people are asking for it. They are in need of hope and faith can help respond to this need,” he said.

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The recent Cliven Bundy debacle in Nevada put a national spotlight on the long-running, and long-failing, effort by right-wing Western legislators to seize federal public lands and either turn them over to the states or sell them to the highest bidder.

While the renewal of this so-called ‘Sagebrush Rebellion” has thus far been carried out with limited resources by part-time legislators like State Rep. Ken Ivory (R-UT), new research shows that its leaders are now using taxpayer money from at least 42 counties in nine Western states to advance an aggressive and coordinated campaign to seize America’s public lands and national forests for drilling, mining, and logging.

According to a ThinkProgress analysis, the American Lands Council (ALC) – an organization created to help states to claim ownership of federal lands – has collected contributions of taxpayer money from government officials in 18 counties in Utah, 10 counties in Nevada, four counties in Washington, three counties in Arizona, two counties in Oregon, two counties in New Mexico, and one county in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. In total, county-level elected officials have already paid the ALC more than $200,000 in taxpayer money. A list of these counties and their ‘membership levels” can be seen […]

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The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to stop federal funding for high-speed rail in California.

The action is largely ceremonial, however, as the California High-Speed Rail Authority has not requested additional federal funding this year above the stimulus grants the agency is already spending.

That said, a rebuke by withdrawing additional federal money by the House certainly hurts the project’s future funding prospects.

‘I’m pleased to have the support of so many of my House colleagues who recognize that we shouldn’t be spending any more taxpayer money on a project without a future,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, said in a statement.

In response, the authority called the House action ‘just another ploy to delay the project.”

‘A project, which employees over 8,600 people in California. A project, which currently has 168 small businesses committed to do work on the program … a project which has 26 disabled veteran businesses committed for work … does Denham realize his actions hurt the very Veterans that he claims to assist?” authority spokeswoman Lisa Marie Alley wrote in an email.

Denham, who added the amendment to a transportation appropriation bill, chairs the House Transportation Committee’s Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Committee.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority continues to […]

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Much has been written about the nuclear agreements signed at the UK-China summit. Given the boost to low-carbon electricity, to energy security and to jobs, the Chinese interest in taking forward investment at Hinkley Point C, the UK’s first nuclear station in a generation – is hugely welcome.

But equally important is that both China and the UK recognise that climate change is one of the greatest global challenges we face. For the first time ever, the UK and China have released a joint statement, committing our governments to work even more closely together on a response to climate change.
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It’s important because it is only the second time China has done this. The only other country with which China has agreed a statement on climate change is the US. This statement reflects the strength of our cooperation with China on climate change and low carbon.

The science tells us that urgent action is needed. The recent flooding in the UK is testament to the devastation that climate change could bring to our daily lives. Climate change is putting pressures on the resources we need to survive: water; agricultural land; food. To combat this, we are investing in low carbon and energy […]

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