TOP NEWS: UAW Rejects 'Insulting' Counteroffer Put Forth By GM

 

September 07, 2023 Top News Private Equity Exposed for Profiting From Fossil Fuels and Disasters They Cause "Firms like Blackstone should be ashamed of this sinister investment strategy that contributes to catastrophe and rebuilds after it strikes," a report author said. Olivia Rosane Ex-Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Guilty of Contempt of Congress for Defying Jan. 6 Panel "In an administration defined by lawlessness, Peter Navarro was one of the most lawless," said one ethics expert. "It is positive that he was convicted." Jessica Corbett Progressives Applaud Senate Confirmation of Anna Gomez to FCC "We've waited for far too long for a fully functional FCC, and there's so much crucial work before the agency," said Jessica González of Free Press Action. Julia Conley Cop City Protesters Arrested After Chaining Themselves to Construction Equipment "This movement cannot be won with a ballot alone; we must organize together for mass direct actions if we want to have a chance at protecting our community and saving our planet," said one of those arrested. Jessica Corbett UAW Rejects 'Insulting' Counteroffer Put Forth By General Motors "GM either doesn't care or isn't listening when we say we need economic justice at GM by 11:59 pm on September 14th," said UAW president Shawn Fain. "The clock is ticking." Jake Johnson Outrage Grows as Pentagon Confirms Depleted Uranium Rounds Headed to Ukraine "It wasn't enough for the U.S. to send cluster bombs," wrote the communications director for Just Foreign Policy. "Now, the Biden admin is sending depleted uranium—which will cause babies to be born with severe deformities and cancer." Jake Johnson

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Opinion Democrats Should Take Americans’ Negative Views of the Economy Seriously Bringing back the Covid-19-era safety net would bolster financial security and help defeat Trump and the Republicans next November. Nick French Biden Is Turning US Towns Into Test Subjects for Climate Scams Neither plastic burning nor carbon capture will help our climate change problem, but both are false solutions that threaten the health and safety of America’s rural communities. Michael Esealuka Thanks to Fossil Fuels, Every Breath People Take in Asia Is Killing Them New data last week from University of Chicago researchers showed that across South Asia, air pollution—mostly from burning fossil fuels—is robbing people of five years of life on average. Bill Mckibben

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7/21/2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

 

As renegade states flout its rulings, the illegitimate Roberts Court reaps the disastrous but predictable consequences of its assault on our Constitution.

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“On June 8, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of a lower court blocking the congressional districting map Alabama put into place after the 2020 census, agreeing that the map likely violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act and ordering Alabama to redraw the map to include two majority-Black congressional districts.

“Today the Alabama legislature passed a new congressional map that openly violates the Supreme Court’s order. By a vote of 75–28 in the House and 24–6 in the Senate, the legislature approved a map that includes only one Black-majority district.

“Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and many of the other members of Alabama’s congressional delegation had spoken to the Republicans in the state legislature about the map. Editor of the Alabama Reflector Brian Lyman reported that the map’s sponsor said he had spoken to House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) too: “It was quite simple,” the sponsor said. McCarthy “said ‘I’m interested in keeping my majority.’ That was basically his conversation.”

“Alabama governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the bill into law.

“Today, assistant U.S. attorney general Todd Kim and U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza wrote to Texas governor Greg Abbott and Texas interim attorney general Angela Colmenero warning that the actions of Texas in constructing a barrier in the Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico “violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties.”

“The floating barrier violates the Rivers and Harbors Act, which prohibits the construction of any obstructions to navigation in U.S. waters and requires permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before constructing any structure in such waters. Abbott ignored that law to construct a barrier that includes inflatable buoys and razor wire.

“Mexico has also noted that barrier buoys that block the flow of water violate treaties between the U.S. and Mexico dating from 1944 and 1970, and has asked for the barriers to be removed. So has the owner of a Texas canoe and kayaking company, who says the buoys prevent him from conducting his business. And so have more than 80 House Democrats, who have noted Abbott’s “complete disregard for federal authority over immigration enforcement.”

“Unless Texas promises by 2:00 Tuesday afternoon to remove the barrier immediately, the U.S. will sue.

“Abbott has made fear of immigration central to his political messaging. He is now faced with the reality that Biden’s parole process for migrants at the southern border has dropped unlawful entries by almost 70% since it went into effect in early May, meaning that border agents have more time to patrol and are making it harder to enter the U.S. unlawfully.

“Abbott’s barrier seems designed to keep his messaging amped up, accompanied as it is by allegations that troops from the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety have been ordered to push migrants, including children, back into the river and to withhold water from those suffering in the heat. There are also reports that migrants have been hurt by razor wire installed along the barrier.

“Abbott responded to the DOJ’s letter: “I’ll see you in court, Mr. President.”

“Yesterday, on the same day that Shawn Boburg, Emma Brown, and Ann E. Marimow added to all the recent stories of Supreme Court corruption an exclusive story showing how then-leader of the Federalist Society Leonard Leo funded a “a coordinated and sophisticated public relations campaign to defend and celebrate” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance a bill that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics.

“We wouldn’t tolerate this [behavior] from a city council member or an alderman," committee chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) said. “It falls short of ethical standards we expect of any public servant in America. And yet the Supreme Court won't even acknowledge it’s a problem.” “The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act,” Durbin said, “would bring the Supreme Court Justices’ ethics requirement in line with every other federal judge and restore confidence in the Court.”

“Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) disagreed that Congress could force the Supreme Court to adopt an ethics code. “This is an unseemly effort by the Democratic left to destroy the legitimacy of the Roberts court,” he said, although he agreed that the justices need “to get their house in order.”

“Today, Dahlia Lithwick and Anat Shenker-Osorio noted in Slate that voters of both parties strongly support cleaning up the Supreme Court.

“As signs of an indictment for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election grow stronger, Trump has taken to threats . When asked about incarceration, Trump said earlier this week: “I think it’s a very dangerous thing to even talk about, because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters, much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016. I think it would be very dangerous.”

“His loyalists are working to undermine the law enforcement agencies that are supporting the rule of law. On July 11, 2023, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to chair of the Committee on Appropriations Kay Granger (R-TX) asking her to defund Biden’s immigration policies as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which investigates crime.

“It is notable that, for all their talk about law and order, the Republican-dominated legislature of Alabama and the state’s Republican governor have just openly defied the U.S. Supreme Court, which is hardly an ideological enemy after Trump stacked it to swing to the far right.

“The Republican governor of Texas is defying both federal law and international treaties. After rampant scandals, the Republican-dominated Supreme Court refuses to adopt an ethics system that might restore some confidence in their decisions. And, aided by his loyalists, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination is threatening mob violence if he is held legally accountable for his behavior.

“The genius of the American rebels in 1776 was their belief that a nation could be based not in the hereditary rights of a king but in a body of laws. “Where…is the King of America?” Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense. “I'll tell you Friend…that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”

“Democracy is based on the rule of law. Undermining the rule of law destroys the central feature of democracy and replaces that system of government with something else.”

— Heather Cox Richardson, 7/21/2023.

'INHUMANE': Texas Troopers Reportedly Ordered To PUSH Migrant Kids Into Rio Grande

 

Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative is resulting in inhumane actions by Texas National Guard soldiers against migrants seeking asylum. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.