RSN: Biden and Sanders Announce Task Forces to Find Party Unity Over Policy

17 May 20

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Biden and Sanders Announce Task Forces to Find Party Unity Over Policy

Barbara Sprunt, NPR
Sprunt writes: "Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his chief primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced on Wednesday the members of a joint task force meant to unify the party ahead of November's general election, bringing together figures from different wings of the party, ranging from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to former Secretary of State John Kerry."
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Joseph R. Biden Jr. campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa. (photo: Hilary Swift/NYT)

Biden Says He Won't Pardon Trump if Elected Like Ford Did for Nixon
Bill Barrow, Associated Press
Barrow writes: "Democratic candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that if he wins the presidency, he would not use his power to pardon Donald Trump or stop any investigations of Trump and his associates."
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Steve Linick, whom President Trump removed on Friday from his post as inspector general for the State Department, after a closed briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington last year. (photo: Erin Schaff/NYT)

Trump Ousted State Dept Watchdog at Pompeo's Urging; Democrats Open Inquiry
Catie Edmondson and Michael D. Shear, The New York Times
Excerpt: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged President Trump to fire the official responsible for fighting waste and fraud in his department, a White House official said Saturday, a recommendation certain to come under scrutiny after congressional Democrats opened an investigation into what they said 'may be an act of illegal retaliation.'"
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A protest against Reynaldo Guevara in Chicago. (photo: Melissa Segura/BuzzFeed News)

More Than 50 People Say This Chicago Cop Framed Them for Murder. Now Prosecutors Are Going to Review His Cases.
Melissa Segura, BuzzFeed News
Segura writes: "Prosecutors in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office are launching a 'comprehensive review' of retired detective Reynaldo Guevara's cases, which could lead to a mass exoneration."
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'The group uses ransomware - a type of malicious software - to break into a victim's networks and encrypt them, demanding a fee to unlock them.' (photo: Columbus Free Press)

Hackers Threaten to Release Trump Documents Stolen From Law Firm
Kevin Collier and Diana Dasrath, NBC News
Excerpt: "A cybercriminal gang that hacked a major entertainment law firm claims it will release information on President Donald Trump if it doesn't receive $42 million in ransom."

EXCERPT:

Ransomware gangs have become a persistent threat to the U.S. in recent years, and law enforcement has had difficulty stopping them. In many cases, these groups operate out of Russia, which doesn’t extradite its citizens.

“We’re pretty sure these guys operate in Russia’s ‘locus of control,’” said Allan Liska, who tracks the gang for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

But threatening to release files about Trump, who enjoys a cordial relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, might be a step too far, Liska said.

“If they release this stuff, it is possible they will have both U.S. Cyber Command and FSB targeting them,” Liska said, referring to Russia's Federal Security Service. “Most Russian leadership leaves them alone as long as they don’t target Russian citizens. This would probably be an exception.”

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Félicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide. (photo: EPA)

Businessman Accused of Rwandan Genocide Arrested After 26 Years
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) reported that Felicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted fugitives from the 1994 Rwandan genocide, was arrested in Paris on Saturday and is expected to be transferred to the Netherlands, where he will appear before the International Court of Justice in The Hague."
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Since 2017, car manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. switched to a different coolant for air conditioning called HFO-1234yf, which breaks down into forever chemicals. (photo: hiphotos35/iStock/Getty Images)

'Ozone Friendly' Chemicals Are Polluting the Environment
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "New research published in the journal Geographical Research Letters analyzed Arctic ice and found an unintended consequence of the Montreal Protocol. The compounds that replaced CFCs have been transported and transformed in the atmosphere, depositing far from their sources."

he Montreal Protocol of 1987 committed nations around the world to stop using the chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) that created a hole in the ozone layer. While it stands as one of the most effective environmental commitments the globe has seen, new research shows the side effects have been costly as chemicals dangerous to human health build up in the environment, as the BBC reported.

New research published in the journal Geographical Research Letters analyzed Arctic ice and found an unintended consequence of the Montreal Protocol. The compounds that replaced CFCs have been transported and transformed in the atmosphere, depositing far from their sources. The new generation of chemicals that replaced Freon, but are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and new cars have been accumulating since 1990.

"Our results suggest that global regulation and replacement of other environmentally harmful chemicals contributed to the increase of these compounds in the Arctic, illustrating that regulations can have important unanticipated consequences," said Cora Young, a professor at York University in Canada, and an author of the paper, in a York University statement.

Scientists first discovered ozone depletion in the 1970s when they detailed the deterioration of the stratospheric ozone layer around the earth's poles. As the hole over Antarctica opened and expanded, scientists found that the depletion of ozone was responsible for a greater intensity of ultraviolet radiation from the sun, causing an increase in the prevalence of skin cancer, eye cataract disease and other harmful effects on humans, as Courthouse News reported.

Scientists were soon able to pinpoint manufactured chemicals used in air conditioners and refrigerators, as well as solvents, propellants and chemical agents found in foam as the cause of the depleted ozone layer.

Now pollution from the chemicals that were created to replace the CFCs, known as short chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (scPFCAs), has proliferated around the world. The replacement chemicals are a class of PFAS, or forever chemicals, that have polluted waterways and made groundwater in certain areas toxic to drink.

"Our measurements provide the first long-term record of these chemicals, which have all increased dramatically over the past few decades," said Young in a statement. "Our work also showed how these industrial sources contribute to the levels in the ice caps."

The York University statement added that the chemicals are able to "travel long distances in the atmosphere and often end up in lakes, rivers and wetlands causing irreversible contamination and affecting the health of freshwater invertebrates, including insects, crustaceans and worms."

"We're seeing much, much larger levels, on the order of 10 times higher now than we saw before the Montreal Protocol," said Young, as the BBC reported. "We don't know a lot about them and their potential toxicity, but we do know that we are committing the environment to a great deal of contamination."

As the globe heats up, our desire for air conditioning increases. That has spelled trouble for new cars. When car manufacturers stopped using CFCs in a car's air-conditioner, they switched to a chemical called HFC-134a. While it did not destroy the ozone layer, it turned out to be a powerful greenhouse gas, around 1,400 times more warming than CO2, according to the BBC.

Since 2017, car manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. switched to a different coolant for air conditioning called HFO-1234yf, which breaks down into forever chemicals.

"It has a very low global warming potential, but has a much higher propensity to form these persistent products," said Young to the BBC. "It will be again another shift, where we see an even more dramatic increase."

"They've been found in the bodies of people in China, so it is likely to be found in the bodies of people around the world," added Young. "We have done a good job in trying to save the ozone layer but the unintended consequences are the release of these other chemicals, which have some concerns. They're toxic, and then they don't get filtered out in various ways."

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