Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
Jessica Corbett, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
Stephan: This is a really discouraging story, because once again it shows that the neoliberal economics that dominates the U.S., in which greed is the only social priority, is going to leave our children and their children with an ongoing festering environmental wound.
A fuel truck carries fuel into a fracking site past the warning signs Jan. 27, 2016 near Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Credit: J Pat Carter/Getty
For more than three decades, the U.S. government has mismanaged toxic oil and gas waste containing carcinogens, heavy metals, and radioactive materials, according to a new Earthworks report—and with the country on track to continue drilling and fracking for fossil fuels, the advocacy group warns of growing threats to the planet and public health.
“Despite over 30 years of research about the toxic impacts of the industry’s waste, it is far from being handled properly.”
—Still Wasting Away
“Even if we stop all new drilling and fracking immediately, the flood of toxic waste streams will continue to grow for decades,” Melissa Troutman, the report’s lead author, said in a statement Tuesday. “In spite of industry claims of innovation, the risks from oil and gas waste are getting worse, not better.”
Building on a 2015 Earthworks analysis, Still Wasting Away (pdf) details congressional and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions as well as industry lobbying […]
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
Bob Brigham, Raw Story - Raw Story
Stephan: The evidence just keeps piling up; the Republican Party does not like democracy and is constantly trying to rig the system so that they remain in power. I don't think it is possible to deny this.
Donald Trump and Tim Moore
Republicans on Monday sought a court order to block damning documents from being used against them in a lawsuit.
“North Carolina Republican lawmakers on Monday asked a court to make sure the files of the now-deceased GOP strategist Tom Hofeller are destroyed, or at least kept secret, instead of being used in a high-profile gerrymandering lawsuit,” the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
“The filing comes after the groups behind the lawsuit, including Common Cause, accused Republican lawmakers of making false statements in court in a previous gerrymandering case, when the state’s 2011 maps were ruled unconstitutional,” the newspaper noted. “That blockbuster accusation made national headlines and was, it said, based on Hofeller’s files which had been secret until recently.”
That was not the only damning revelation from the documents, which have been described as the smoking gun documents proving the GOP’s white supremacy.
“On Monday, the lawyers for the legislative leaders responded by not only requesting that the files be kept secret, but also by suggesting […]
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
Sam Levin, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: This appalling report is about Los Angeles, California one of the most racially liberal counties in the United States, and it is still this racist.
The Los Angeles county district attorney, Jackie Lacey, has continued to pursue death penalty trials despite a state moratorium on the practice.
Credit: Rick Bowmer/AP
Los Angeles has sentenced more people to death than any other county in the US, and only people of color have received the death penalty under the region’s current prosecutor, a new report shows. (emphasis added)
LA county’s district attorney, Jackie Lacey, has won death sentences for a total of 22 defendants, all people of color, and eight of them were represented by lawyers with serious misconduct charges prior or after their cases, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Lacey’s office has also continued to pursue death penalty trials this year despite the fact that California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, issued a moratorium on capital punishment, with an executive order officially halting executions in the state.
In addition to severe racial disparities and ethical concerns around legal representation, LA’s system is costing taxpayers millions of dollars in pursuit of […]
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Stephan: Due to technical difficulties there will be no SR edition today.
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Stephan: If you haven't already noticed the American economy is entirely rigged to serve the interests of the rich and the corporations they control. It is so absurdly out of balance that wealth inequality in the United States is greater than in any other developed nation.
And, of course, you remember the Republican tax cut when Trump came into office; the one that was going to pay for itself. Well, its effects have been even worse than the worst case scenario advanced by Nobel Laureate economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, Here are the facts.
Republican Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who claimed that the Republican tax cuts would pay for themselves. He was wrong.
Credit: Getty
Federal tax payments by big businesses are falling much faster than anticipated in the wake of Republicans’ tax cuts, providing ammunition to Democrats who are calling for corporate tax increases.
The U.S. Treasury saw a 31 percent drop in corporate tax revenues last year, almost twice the decline official budget forecasters had predicted. Receipts were projected to rebound sharply this year, but so far they’ve only continued to fall, down by almost 9 percent or $11 billion.
Though business profits remain healthy and the economy is strong, total corporate taxes are at the lowest levels seen in more than 50 years.
At the same time, overall taxes paid by individuals under the new tax law are up so far this year by 3 percent, thanks to higher wages and salaries, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Last year tax payments by individuals went up 4 percent.
The drop comes even as some Republicans, […]
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