25 July 20
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24 July 20
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith | The House Moves to Regulate Pardon Power Abuse
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare
Excerpt: "In a post in February, we explained why the president's Article II pardon power is not as 'absolute' as advertised, and argued that 'there are limits Congress may and should impose on at least some exercises of the pardon power.'"
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Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare
Excerpt: "In a post in February, we explained why the president's Article II pardon power is not as 'absolute' as advertised, and argued that 'there are limits Congress may and should impose on at least some exercises of the pardon power.'"
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Possible running mates for Joe Biden include, clockwise from top left: Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Karen Bass, Susan Rice, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Val Demings and Sen. Tammy Duckworth. (photo: LA Times)
Joint Statement From Progressive National Organizations: Vote on Pentagon Budget Shows Divide Between Top VP Contenders
Progressive National Organizations
Excerpt: "This week's congressional vote on an amendment to cut the bloated Pentagon budget by 10 percent and reallocate the money to poor and working-class Americans revealed the sharp divide between the centrist and progressive wings of Democratic Party, and between some of the top contenders who are reportedly on Joe Biden's short list to be his running mate."
hree prominent national progressive organizations -- Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction.org -- released the following joint statement Thursday evening.
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Progressive National Organizations
Excerpt: "This week's congressional vote on an amendment to cut the bloated Pentagon budget by 10 percent and reallocate the money to poor and working-class Americans revealed the sharp divide between the centrist and progressive wings of Democratic Party, and between some of the top contenders who are reportedly on Joe Biden's short list to be his running mate."
hree prominent national progressive organizations -- Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction.org -- released the following joint statement Thursday evening.
According to a poll by Data for Progress, 56 percent of Americans supported the measure while only 27 percent opposed. Among Democrats the result was even more of a landslide, with 69 percent support versus 19 percent opposing.
Yet four of the members of Congress being vetted by Joe Biden as a potential vice-presidential nominee voted against the wishes of the vast majority of Democrats: Senators Kamala Harris, Tammy Duckworth and Maggie Hassan, and Representative Val Demings.
In sharp contrast, the three progressives on Biden's short list stood up to the military industry and voted in harmony with the views of a strong majority of Americans. Those three were Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Karen Bass.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has the overwhelming support of Democrats on this issue -- and on many others as well, such as healthcare, environmental, economic and racial justice policies.
Clearly, Senators Harris, Duckworth or Hassan or Rep. Demings would be the wrong choice for vice president.
Senators Warren and Baldwin or Representative Bass would help unify the party, as well as attract swing voters who want a Democratic ticket committed to the interests of the American people.
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A Dornier Do-328 performs a fly-by as part of the 27th Special Operations Wing Capabilities Exercise on June 4, 2011, at Melrose Air Force Range, N.M. (photo: U.S. Air Force)
An Air Force Special Operations Surveillance Plane Is Lurking Near Portland During Federal Crackdown
Sam Biddle, The Intercept
Biddle writes: "While anonymous federal agents have thrown protesters into unmarked vans and fired tear gas at Portland's mayor in recent days, an Air Force surveillance plane designed to carry state-of-the-art sensors typically reserved for war zones has circled the Oregon city's outskirts from above."
Sam Biddle, The Intercept
Biddle writes: "While anonymous federal agents have thrown protesters into unmarked vans and fired tear gas at Portland's mayor in recent days, an Air Force surveillance plane designed to carry state-of-the-art sensors typically reserved for war zones has circled the Oregon city's outskirts from above."
EXCERPT:
The mere presence near Portland of a plane designed to stress test SOCOM’s aerial spy gear is enough to concern some observers. “The apparent use of military aircraft in a domestic operation should set off all kinds of alarm bells,” said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Government Secrecy Project. “What is their mission? Under what authority are they operating, and who authorized them? It seems like the administration is pushing right through what had been established norms of transparency and accountability.”
The vast array of power surveillance gear this plane potentially could be carrying on these flights is cause for concerns over privacy and political expression. “These aircraft are believed to carry SIGINT [signals intelligence] sensors; if that is the case, then circling at that distance would probably (depending on the altitude) allow the sensors to collect data,” David Cenciotti, a retired Italian Air Force officer and aerospace journalist, told The Intercept, though he noted that he could only speculate without knowing the Cougar’s actual payload.
Sen. Ron Wyden, who resides in Portland, told The Intercept, “It would be totally unacceptable for U.S. armed forces to take part in surveillance of protests in an American city,” adding, “I’ve asked the Air Force to explain these flights, including why this plane is circling Portland, what data it is collecting and who approved the mission.”
ICE detention center. (photo: Guardian UK)
Nearly 75% of Detainees at US Immigration Facility in Virginia Have Coronavirus
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
Alvarez writes: "Nearly 75% of detainees in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in a Virginia facility have contracted Covid-19, raising alarm among immigration lawyers and advocates who repeatedly warned of deteriorating conditions."
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Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
Alvarez writes: "Nearly 75% of detainees in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in a Virginia facility have contracted Covid-19, raising alarm among immigration lawyers and advocates who repeatedly warned of deteriorating conditions."
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Dr. Anthony Fauci. (photo: Getty)
Fauci Says He Has Been Assigned Personal Security After Receiving 'Serious Threats' to His Family
Tom Porter, Business Insider
Porter writes: "Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious-disease expert, who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, says he and his family have been assigned personal security after receiving 'serious threats.'"
Tom Porter, Business Insider
Porter writes: "Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious-disease expert, who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, says he and his family have been assigned personal security after receiving 'serious threats.'"
EXCERPTS"
"I've seen a side of society that I guess is understandable, but it's a little bit disturbing," he said. "Back in the days of HIV when I was being criticized with some hate mail, it was, you know, people calling me a gay-lover and 'What the hell are you wasting a lot of time on that?'"
"I mean, things that you would just push aside as stupid people saying stupid things," Fauci said.
But the criticism this year is "really a magnitude different now, because of the anger," he said.
"As much as people inappropriately, I think, make me somewhat of a hero — and I'm not a hero, I'm just doing my job — there are people who get really angry at thinking I'm interfering with their life because I'm pushing a public-health agenda," he continued.
He said he received "not only hate mail but also serious threats." He continued: "It's not good. I don't see how society does that. It's tough. Serious threats against me, against my family … my daughters, my wife — I mean, really? Is this the United States of America?"
He said the threats had caused him and his family to be assigned personal security.
Fauci was once a mainstay of the White House's coronavirus press briefings, where his measured assessments of the crisis helped him poll as one of the most trusted public-health officials in the US and even be hailed as a hero in some quarters.
But as measures designed to slow the virus — such as mask-wearing and lockdowns — have become points of partisan conflict, Fauci has also come under attack.
Fauci has also been targeted by followers of the far-right QAnon movement, who claim, groundlessly, that a "deep state" of partisan bureaucrats is seeking to end Trump's presidency and exploit the pandemic to seize power.
Earlier this week he told The New York Times that he had received emails and texts from people "that are pretty hostile about what I'm doing, as if I'm encroaching upon their individual liberties."
In response to the attacks and rumors about him, Fauci said: "I suppose what this reflects is the divisiveness of our society at a political level. I mean, this is a public-health issue, the fundamental principles of public health, and I don't see how people can have animosity to that."
He said that he could understand that lockdowns had negative consequences as well and that it was "why we're all trying to open up America again in a way that's safe, so we can do it in a measured fashion."
"But the hostility to public-health issues is difficult not only to understand, but difficult to process," he added.
Two U.S. Air Force F-15 Strike Eagles fly in formation over an undisclosed location on October 10, 2019. (photo: U.S. Air Force)
US Fighter Jets Harassed Iranian Civilian Airliner Over Syria, Forcing It to Descend Rapidly
Associated Press
Excerpt: "An Iranian passenger plane flying from Tehran to Beirut was 'harassed' by US fighter jets on Thursday before managing to safely land in the Lebanese capital, Iranian state TV reported."
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Associated Press
Excerpt: "An Iranian passenger plane flying from Tehran to Beirut was 'harassed' by US fighter jets on Thursday before managing to safely land in the Lebanese capital, Iranian state TV reported."
READ MORE
There could be a cumulative total of 600 million tonnes of plastic in the water by 2040, study says. (photo: Getty)
Ocean Plastic Could Triple by 2040, Report Finds
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "One of the most detailed studies of the plastic pollution crisis was released Thursday, and the picture it paints is not pretty."
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "One of the most detailed studies of the plastic pollution crisis was released Thursday, and the picture it paints is not pretty."
There are currently about 11 million metric tons of plastic entering the world's oceans every year, the report calculated. That's higher than the often-cited eight million figure, The Guardian pointed out. But that number will nearly triple to 29 million metric tons a year by 2040 if nothing is done to stem the flow of plastic. What's more, existing commitments from governments and businesses will only reduce that flow by seven percent by 2040.
"The biggest takeaway from our work is that if we don't do anything, the plastic pollution problem is going to become unmanageable. Doing nothing is not an option," Dr. Winnie Lau, study coauthor and senior manager for Pew's Preventing Ocean Plastics campaign, told CNN.
The study is the result of a two-year research project led by the Pew Charitable Trusts and environmental think thank SYSTEMIQ, Ltd, as National Geographic reported. Its findings were released Thursday in both a peer-reviewed Science article and a report called "Breaking the Plastic Wave."
The findings are not all doom and gloom. The researchers created a first-of-its-kind model of the global plastic system in order to determine the most effective means of solving the crisis. They found that a combination of already existing strategies and technologies could cut the amount of plastic entering the ocean by almost 80 percent by 2040.
One reason that current policies have done so little to reduce the overall amount of plastics entering the environment is that they tend to focus on single items, like straws or bags. Instead, the researchers recommended a set of solutions that target the entire plastics life cycle, from production to recycling.
"All the initiatives to date make very little difference," Pew Charitable Trusts international environment director Simon Reddy told The Guardian. "There is no silver bullet, there is no solution that can simply be applied — lots of policies are wanted. You need innovation and systems change."
To create systemic change, the report recommended:
- Reducing the production of new plastics
- Substituting non-plastic alternatives for plastic products
- Designing easy-to-recycle products
- Improving waste collection, especially in less wealthy countries
- Increasing recycling worldwide
- Developing methods of converting plastics into other plastics
- Building better plastic disposal facilities as a transition to a circular economy
- Cutting the export of plastic waste
However, even with all these solutions put into place, there will still be an estimated 710 million metric tons of plastic waste in the world's oceans by 2040, the report found.
"The key message from this paper is that even with huge changes to how plastics are produced, used, reused and disposed of, plastic pollution on land and in the ocean is here to stay," University of Portsmouth ocean policy professor Stephen Fletcher told The Guardian.
But that is not an excuse for inaction. Even a five-year delay in enacting the report's solutions would mean an additional 80 million metric tons of plastic in the seas, National Geographic found.
Ocean advocacy and anti-plastic groups generally welcomed the report's findings.
"If we're going to significantly reduce ocean plastic pollution, we need an innovative and rigorous approach to ensure that the strategies we design are set up to delivering results," World Wildlife Fund head of plastics and business Erin Simon said in the report's introduction. "This research does exactly that."
However, while they supported the project overall, Break Free from Plastic and Oceana disagreed with the inclusion of certain technologies like plastic incineration and chemical recycling.
"Because of the pollution released by incineration and chemical recycling, these waste-management 'solutions' should not be considered responsible pathways in curbing plastic waste," Oceana's plastics campaign director Christy Leavitt said in a press release.
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