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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>April 19, 2021</b></font><br>
</i></p>
[video - MSNBC rediscovers Noam Chomsky and revives climate change
coverage]<br>
MEHDI ON MSNBC<br>
<b>Legendary activist Noam Chomsky on Biden’s presidency and the
modern GOP</b><br>
When it comes to climate change, there is always more to be done.
President Biden has signed an array of executive orders combating
the crisis, but the modern GOP’s stance makes it difficult to get
long-term legislation passed. Legendary political activist Noam
Chomsky joins NBC’s Mehdi Hasan to discuss the threat this position
will have on the future of our environment.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/legendary-activist-noam-chomsky-on-biden-s-presidency-and-the-modern-gop-110429765669">https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/legendary-activist-noam-chomsky-on-biden-s-presidency-and-the-modern-gop-110429765669</a><br>
[most mainstream media has been ignoring Noam Chomsky]<br>
<br>
<br>
[well, duh]<br>
<b>Researchers see links between renewable energy and improved
health</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/548594-researchers-see-links-between-renewable-energy-and-improved-health?rl=1">https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/548594-researchers-see-links-between-renewable-energy-and-improved-health?rl=1</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[vertical axis wind energy could be put along our freeways- video]<br>
<b>A vertical axis wind turbine without the wind! How do they do
that?</b><br>
Apr 18, 2021<br>
Just Have a Think<br>
Wind turbines are everywhere nowadays, and they do a great job of
harnessing all that free energy. But as a restless species
constantly on the move, we humans also cause many other air flows
through our activities. And most of it just goes to waste. What if
we could scoop that air up and do something useful with it?<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSnwW5v3f8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSnwW5v3f8</a><br>
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</p>
<p><br>
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[Wildfires]<br>
<b>What the megadrought in the West means for wildfire season</b><br>
Get your air filter ready — wildfire season is likely to start early
this year.<br>
By Lili Pikelili - Apr 15, 2021<br>
- -<br>
The warning signs are written in the parched landscape from New
Mexico to California. This time last year, 27 percent of the West
was in drought — now that has risen to 76 percent, turning forests
into matchsticks.<br>
<br>
With the pandemic dominating headlines, the severe drought has
gotten little attention. “This one threatens to catch people by
surprise who are exhausted by the events of the past year,” said
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California
Los Angeles...<br>
- -<br>
It’s time to get your air filter out and keep those masks handy...<br>
- -<br>
The Fire Center projects that the Southwest will see above-average
fire potential through June until the monsoon (hopefully) arrives.
But the region might still get relief from summer monsoon rains,
whereas the coming months tend to be dry in central and northern
California.<br>
<br>
Starting in June, they project that parts of the Pacific Northwest
will see heightened fire risk and then the fire season will pick up
in California in July...<br>
- -<br>
However, Swain also cautioned that the number of acres burned
shouldn’t be the sole criterion for how severe a fire season is.
Western states actually have a major backlog of land that needs to
be burned, due to the history of limiting the use of fire to manage
forests (“prescribed burning”) — an approach that American Indians
have historically practiced.<br>
<br>
“The goal is not to vanquish fire from the landscape. The goal
really should be to decouple wildfire from catastrophe,” he said.
Therefore, he suggests we judge our management of fires by their
impact on structures and human health, rather than just acres
burned.<br>
<b><br>
</b><b>We must burn the West to save it</b><br>
Just two weeks ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal to
allocate $536 million to help the state manage wildfires by staffing
up fire crews, thinning forests, and hardening homes to withstand
fires. Newsom has proposed a total of $1 billion in spending on fire
management this year.<br>
<br>
“This is a good start, but this is only Year One,” Michael Wara, the
director of the climate and energy policy program at Stanford’s
Woods Institute for the Environment, told the Los Angeles Times. “We
need sustained funding at this scale and maybe even larger for a
decade.”<br>
<br>
With the fire season rapidly approaching, residents of Western
states can get ahead of the smoke by dusting off their air filters,
stocking up on N95 respirator masks, and consulting this preparation
checklist from the Environmental Protection Agency. In the meantime,
it’s a good time to get outside before the fire season truly
descends upon us again...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22382445/california-wildfires-2021-drought-megadrought-climate-change-gavin-newsom-new-mexico">https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22382445/california-wildfires-2021-drought-megadrought-climate-change-gavin-newsom-new-mexico</a><br>
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<br>
[fun to view how it makes the planet feel smaller, faster changing]<br>
<b>A planetary-scale platform for Earth science data & analysis</b><br>
Powered by Google's cloud infrastructure<br>
Ready-To-Use Datasets<br>
The public data archive includes more than thirty years of
historical imagery and scientific datasets, updated and expanded
daily. It contains over twenty petabytes of geospatial data
instantly available for analysis.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/">https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/</a>
<p>- -</p>
[high geek factor]<br>
<b>A planetary-scale platform for Earth science data & analysis</b><br>
Earth Engine's public data archive includes more than forty years of
historical imagery and scientific datasets, updated and expanded
daily.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/">https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/</a><br>
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<p><br>
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[who are those people?]<br>
<b>Private Security Firm Accused of Working Illegally to Protect Oil
and Gas Pipelines in Five States</b><br>
While pipeline protesters risk harsh new penalties enacted in
various states, security companies hired to police fossil fuel
projects are operating with little oversight.<br>
Karen Savageon - Apr 16, 2021<br>
Leighton Security Services, a private security company accused of
working without a license during construction of the controversial
Dakota Access pipeline, is facing similar allegations in Virginia.<br>
<br>
The complaint against Leighton is one of two recently filed against
private companies providing security for the Mountain Valley
pipeline, a planned 300-mile pipeline that would carry fracked gas
from northwestern West Virginia, through pristine mountain streams
and Appalachian forests, to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline
Company’s (Transco) compressor station in southern Virginia.<br>
<br>
The complaints were filed anonymously in January with the state’s
Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and shared with
DeSmog. Virginia officials have confirmed to DeSmog that
investigations are ongoing.<br>
<br>
According to one complaint, Leighton has subcontracted MVP security
work to another unlicensed firm, The North Group, Inc., as well as
to two unlicensed individuals. A second complaint seeks to hold The
North Group directly responsible for operating without a license.<br>
<br>
Leighton owner James Kevin Mayberry denied the allegations to
DeSmog, but acknowledged that the company was hired to provide
security by Precision Pipeline, a business subcontracted by MVP to
build the pipeline, and in turn subcontracted the work to The North
Group.<br>
<br>
“In most cases, a security license is required to subcontract with
another company,” Leon D. Baker, Jr., the director of Virginia’s
licensing agency, said in email. “If they do, the subcontractor must
also be licensed by DCJS.”<br>
<br>
The North Group co-owner Steven Hernandez has acknowledged to DeSmog
that TNG and Leighton “have a relationship minimally.” But he denies
that TNG has worked unlicensed in Virginia. “The North Group uses
licensed subcontract vendors and performs work within accordance
with all state and federal regulations,” said Hernandez, who
declined to name the subcontractors used by TNG.<br>
<br>
A recent posting to the online job board Indeed.com appears to be
from The North Group. The opening is for an unarmed protection agent
in Roanoke, Virginia. Jobs in Michigan and Minnesota, where TNG is
licensed to provide security services, are also listed. Hernandez
did not respond to questions regarding the postings.<br>
The Mountain Valley pipeline has drawn fierce opposition from
landowners and environmental activists in both West Virginia and
Virginia, where police recently forcibly extracted and arrested two
protesters from a tree sit after they blocked construction for two
and a half years.<br>
<br>
Emily Satterwhite, a vocal pipeline opponent who says she has drawn
the attention of private security agents at rallies and protests
against the pipeline, finds the allegations against Leighton and TNG
alarming. “To know that there are people like that who feel like
they’re operating — and are operating — under the radar, it’s
infuriating, but it’s also frightening,” she said.<br>
<br>
Satterwhite, an associate professor of Appalachian studies and
popular culture at Virginia Tech, says men in unmarked white trucks
have used “intimidation tactics” by following her and other pipeline
opponents around town at all hours.<br>
<br>
Satterwhite doesn’t know who the men are. But the situation gives
her pause. “If we don’t even know who they are and who they’re
working for, and they have no licensing concerns, what might they
do?” she said. “If I had a complaint about my treatment, where would
I go and who would respond?”<br>
<b>Little Accountability for Pipeline Security Firms, New Crackdowns
for Protesters</b><br>
The Virginia allegations against Leighton highlight how
inconsistently states regulate and monitor private security firms
that cater to the fossil fuel industry. Potential penalties are
seldom hefty enough to deter companies that have been caught
violating licensing regulations in one state from skirting licensing
requirements in another. Many substantiated complaints are never
prosecuted by state authorities. <br>
<br>
“Presently, there is no universal manner in which security companies
and their individual security practitioners are handled from state
to state,” said Fabian Blache III, the director of Louisiana’s
private security licensing board, and president of the International
Association of Security and Investigative Regulators (IASIR). “When
you have the ones that just blatantly work without a license and
you’re constantly chasing them around from place to place to place,
it’s very frustrating.”<br>
While some states require both the firm and its individual employees
to be licensed, others limit the requirement to the company only. A
handful allow any private security firm with a general business
license to operate with no further oversight. The lack of
consistency between states can be confusing to firms, said Blache,
but he contended that most companies do their best to adhere to the
law.<br>
<br>
The penalties for operating without a license vary from state to
state, but tend to be relatively light. While it’s a felony in
Michigan, punishable by up to four years in prison, fines of up to
$1,000, or both, Virginia considers it a misdemeanor punishable by
up to a year in prison, a fine of up to $2,500, or both. Licensing
violations are also misdemeanors in North Dakota, punishable by up
to 30 days in prison, a fine of up to $1,500, or both.<br>
<br>
While state licensing rules for private security companies seem to
have changed little in the years since the violent attacks by police
and private security on Dakota Access pipeline opponents in 2016-17,
multiple states have decided to criminalize anti-pipeline protests.
At least 20 states have passed or introduced harsh new laws that
make it a felony to protest at pipeline construction sites and other
critical infrastructure. Individuals found guilty face felony
convictions, long prison sentences, and fines running into the
thousands of dollars. Critics of these laws, which have often been
based on model legislation developed by the fossil fuel-friendly
American Legislative Exchange Council, say they infringe on the
First Amendment right to protest.<br>
Blache believes that the key to forcing companies to comply with
licensing laws is to ensure there are criminal penalties for
offenders, and to empower state regulatory agencies to conduct
active enforcement. “If you have criminal penalties in your statute,
and your individual inspectors have the authority to arrest, it’s a
game-changer,” he said, “because you can now show up through the
inspection, determine [a company’s] unlicensed, and cuff them and
take them.”<br>
<br>
The information that private security firms file with state
regulators is not regularly shared across states. While some states
have easily searchable databases, others do not, making it difficult
for licensing agencies in other states or the public to research a
company’s history. Regulators considering license applications are
often forced to conduct time — and resource — intensive
investigations, piecing together a company’s history one state at a
time.<br>
<br>
Firms trying to shirk a dubious history sometimes change names,
owners, or registered agents.<br>
<br>
“If a regulator gets an application from somebody, you have to
really work it backwards,” Blache said. “You have to start with the
individual and do your research on the person … you’ve got to scrub
social media, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, all these different
tools that are out there to find the connectivity points between the
individuals in the previous companies.”<br>
<b><br>
</b><b>Leighton Licensing Questions Span Five States</b><br>
Leighton, which is based in Texas, has also been accused of
operating without a license in North Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, and
Ohio.<br>
<br>
It was a Leighton employee who pointed an AR-15 rifle at Indigenous
water protectors blocking construction of the Dakota Access pipeline
in 2016. The scene, captured on a widely circulated video, was one
of hundreds of brutal assaults that militarized private security
forces used against the activists and their supporters.<br>
<br>
In the wake of those protests, North Dakota licensing regulators
investigated and filed separate administrative complaints against
Leighton and another private security firm named TigerSwan for
operating without state licenses. Although Leighton never admitted
to any wrongdoing, in 2019 the firm agreed to pay the state $43,500
in administrative fees and costs. In exchange, the state agreed to
drop the complaint. The agreement stipulates that if Leighton
applies in the future for a private security license in North
Dakota, the board can consider “all available information, including
actions taken as part of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction and
protests as part of its licensure determination.”<br>
<br>
In Iowa, Leighton subcontracted with Precision Pipeline to provide
“armed security by mobile, roving patrols,” despite not being
licensed in the state, according to internal situation reports
compiled by TigerSwan. Leighton was “basically coordinating with
multiple law enforcement agencies to provide off-duty law
enforcement personnel through the various departments,” stated one
of the reports.<br>
<br>
Iowa regulators confirmed to DeSmog that Leighton is not licensed to
provide security in that state.<br>
<br>
“Private security guards are used by a lot — by far the majority —
of the critical infrastructure in this country,” said Laurel Rudd,
executive director of IASIR, the association of state regulators.
“Do you really not want to know the background of the person who
you’re hiring, whether it be criminal background or whether it be
terrorist affiliation?”<br>
<br>
<b>Michigan: A Lesson in Bureaucracy</b><br>
Sometimes it takes doggedly persistent citizens to force states to
investigate.<br>
<br>
In 2017, Michigan resident John Machowicz filed a complaint against
Leighton with state regulators, alleging that the company was
providing security services for the Rover pipeline project. Now
completed, the pipeline carries fracked gas more than 700 miles
through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.<br>
<br>
“There have been several times when a security guard has gotten out
of the car and approached us about our legal right to document the
pipeline project,” Machowicz, a pipeline opponent, told state
officials at the time. “We are concerned that Leighton Security
Services will get more aggressive like the security firm Tiger Swan
from the Dakota Access pipeline.”<br>
<br>
Leighton denied it was doing the work itself and told investigators
it had subcontracted with Professional Solutions Group (PSG) to
provide security personnel. In 2020 PSG merged with The North Group,
the company named with Leighton in the Virginia complaints. Both PSG
and TNG are licensed to provide security services in Michigan.<br>
<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Rubik, sans-serif;
font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial; display: inline !important; float: none;"></span><br>
Initially, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory
Affairs (LARA) found the complaints<span> </span><a
href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20616341-mi-investigation_76-77"
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">unsubstantiated</a>, because the
state does not require firms that subcontract work to be licensed.<br>
Machowicz was undeterred. He next sent regulators photographs
showing Rover pipeline security personnel with “Leighton Security”
emblazoned on their vests, along with other information that he said
proved Leighton didn’t just subcontract, but directly employed
individuals to provide private security.<br>
Machowicz also sent LARA troubling body camera footage, obtained
through a public records request. In<span> </span><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNFBTSg0SrM"
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">one recording</a>, two security men
at a Rover pipeline site in 2017 told a county sheriff’s deputy that
they worked for private companies, naming PSG and Leighton. “My boss
is a state trooper in Illinois,” the Leighton employee added,
referring to Gary Washburn, a full-time<span> </span><a
href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-washburn-b9810444/"
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">lieutenant</a><span> </span>with
the<span> </span><a
href="https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-data/state-expenditures/employee-salary-database/employee-history/?Issue_Year=2020&EmpId=h2ADwPFOu1mZpXglH9WpoQ%3D%3D&Agency=SECRETARY%2520OF%2520STATE&Last_Name=WASHBURN&First_Name=GARY&Position="
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">Illinois Secretary of State Police</a><span> </span>who
was also employed by Leighton as an<span> </span><a
href="https://napipelines.com/pipeline-protectors-physical-security-a-growing-necessity-for-jobsites/"
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">operations manager</a>.<br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GawlH8uWQbM"
data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener
noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color:
transparent; text-decoration: none; color: var(
--e-global-color-accent ); box-shadow: none; font-family: Rubik,
sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">Another showed</a><span> </span>a
sheriff’s deputy responding to a call from a local resident in
Washtenaw County, Michigan, about a suspicious vehicle parked for
hours in front of their house. The man inside the vehicle identified
himself as “part of the Rover pipeline, with Leighton Security.”
Such situations were not uncommon at the time, Machowicz told LARA.
“Residents commonly found themselves scared away from public spaces
by security personnel” and treated like criminals,” even though they
“limited their activities to peaceful documentation.”<br>
<br>
In 2019, state regulators re-opened their investigation and this
time substantiated the allegations. But instead of justice,
Machowicz says, he’s gotten a lesson in bureaucracy.<br>
<br>
Under Michigan law, providing private security service while
unlicensed is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison,
fines of up to $1,000, or both. But like agencies in many states,
LARA isn’t authorized to pursue criminal charges. So state officials
handed the Leighton case off to officials in Washtenaw and
Livingston counties, where the work had occurred.<br>
<br>
The prosecutor in Livingston County — where the sheriff’s office was
on Leighton’s payroll — shipped the case back to the state licensing
agency, insisting that LARA’s investigation was incomplete and
provided insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed. In
Washtenaw County, the prosecutors’ office told LARA it didn’t have
the personnel to investigate and suggested the agency forward the
case to the sheriff’s office.<br>
<br>
A detective with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office told
Machowicz in late 2019 that it was “not in a position to investigate
this matter appropriately.” He suggested that Machowicz ask the
state attorney general’s office or state police to step in.<br>
<br>
A spokesperson with the Michigan attorney general’s office confirmed
that it is investigating Leighton’s operations in the state, but
could not provide further information because the matter is ongoing.<br>
<br>
In the process of defending itself against the Michigan allegations,
an attorney for Leighton attempted to discredit a second complainant
by telling state investigators that the individual knew nothing
about what had happened in Michigan because he had only worked for
Leighton in Ohio. However, Leighton has never held a private
security license in Ohio, according to Jay Carey, a spokesman for
the Ohio Department of Public Safety. <br>
<br>
Unlike Michigan, Ohio prohibits unlicensed firms from bidding on or
accepting a contract to provide security services regardless of
whether it subcontracts to another company.<br>
<br>
“They’re soliciting business in this field, so they must be
licensed,” Carey said.<br>
<br>
<b>Security and Insecurities</b><br>
Back in Virginia, Satterwhite said surveillance by MVP security left
her feeling unsafe in her own community.<br>
<br>
“For at least a year, probably more, maybe two, I was just on edge
all the time, tense, looking to see is that white vehicle driving
past my house a security vehicle? Is that white vehicle that passed
me on my walk from my house to campus where I work a security
vehicle?” Satterwhite said.<br>
<br>
While there is no guarantee that licensed security companies will
operate ethically, Satterwhite said companies that don’t bother to
obtain licensure pose a much bigger danger to the public.<br>
<br>
“What’s somebody going to do if they don’t even have a license at
risk?”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmog.com/2021/04/16/dakota-access-rover-mvp-pipelines-leighton-security-license/">https://www.desmog.com/2021/04/16/dakota-access-rover-mvp-pipelines-leighton-security-license/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[5 min video on MSNBC]<br>
<b>Greta Thunberg urges Biden to address the climate crisis</b><br>
Climate change activist Greta Thunburg joined MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan to
share her thoughts on President Biden’s climate policy and what she
would like to see the President do when it comes to the environment.
“Treat the climate crisis like a crisis,” Thunberg said.<br>
March 7, 2021<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/greta-thunberg-urges-biden-to-address-the-climate-crisis-102246469977">https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/greta-thunberg-urges-biden-to-address-the-climate-crisis-102246469977</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[how Koch is killing democracy]<br>
<b>Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest
Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century</b><br>
On a leaked conference call, leaders of dark-money groups and an
aide to Mitch McConnell expressed frustration with the popularity of
the legislation—even among Republican voters.<br>
<br>
By Jane Mayer - March 29, 2021<br>
Audio: The presentation by Kyle McKenzie, the research director for
the Koch-run advocacy group Stand Together, on a January 8th call
among conservative opponents of House Resolution 1.<br>
In public, Republicans have denounced Democrats’ ambitious
electoral-reform bill, the For the People Act, as an unpopular
partisan ploy. In a contentious Senate committee hearing last week,
Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, slammed the proposal, which aims to
expand voting rights and curb the influence of money in politics, as
“a brazen and shameless power grab by Democrats.” But behind closed
doors Republicans speak differently about the legislation, which is
also known as House Resolution 1 and Senate Bill 1. They admit the
lesser-known provisions in the bill that limit secret campaign
spending are overwhelmingly popular across the political spectrum.
In private, they concede their own polling shows that no message
they can devise effectively counters the argument that billionaires
should be prevented from buying elections.<br>
<br>
A recording obtained by The New Yorker of a private conference call
on January 8th, between a policy adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell
and the leaders of several prominent conservative groups—including
one run by the Koch brothers’ network—reveals the participants’
worry that the proposed election reforms garner wide support not
just from liberals but from conservative voters, too. The speakers
on the call expressed alarm at the broad popularity of the bill’s
provision calling for more public disclosure about secret political
donors. The participants conceded that the bill, which would stem
the flow of dark money from such political donors as the billionaire
oil magnate Charles Koch, was so popular that it wasn’t worth trying
to mount a public-advocacy campaign to shift opinion. Instead, a
senior Koch operative said that opponents would be better off
ignoring the will of American voters and trying to kill the bill in
Congress...<br>
- -<br>
With so little public support, the bill’s opponents have already
begun pressuring individual senators. On March 20th, several major
conservative groups, including Heritage Action, Tea Party Patriots
Action, Freedom Works, and the local and national branches of the
Family Research Council, organized a rally in West Virginia to get
Senator Joe Manchin, the conservative Democrat, to come out against
the legislation. They also pushed Manchin to oppose any efforts by
Democrats to abolish the Senate’s filibuster rule, a tactical step
that the Party would probably need to take in order to pass the
bill. “The filibuster is really the only thing standing in the way
of progressive far-left policies like H.R. 1, which is Pelosi’s
campaign to take over America’s elections,” Noah Weinrich, the press
secretary at Heritage Action, declared during a West Virginia radio
interview. On Thursday, Manchin issued a statement warning Democrats
that forcing the measure through the Senate would “only exacerbate
the distrust that millions of Americans harbor against the U.S.
government.”<br>
<br>
Pressure tactics from dark-money groups may work on individual
lawmakers. The legislation faces an uphill fight in the Senate. But,
as the January 8th conference call shows, opponents of the
legislation have resorted to “under-the-dome-type strategies”
because the broad public is against them when it comes to
billionaires buying elections.<br>
<br>
Jane Mayer, The New Yorker’s chief Washington correspondent, is the
author of “Dark Money.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-koch-backed-effort-to-block-the-largest-election-reform-bill-in-half-a-century">https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-koch-backed-effort-to-block-the-largest-election-reform-bill-in-half-a-century</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[information battleground]<br>
<b>WE’VE GOT A REAL TRUE CRIME ON OUR HANDS.</b><b><br>
</b><b>APPLE HAS NO CLIMATE CATEGORY.</b><b><br>
</b><b>BUT THIS OPEN LETTER CHANGES EVERYTHING.</b><br>
THIS CAMPAIGN IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT BETTER ACCESS TO CLIMATE
CONTENT, PODCAST MAKERS AND PODCAST LISTENERS.<br>
That means you either make, listen to, or support climate podcasts.<br>
<br>
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?<br>
Apple doesn’t have a climate category, which makes it too damn hard
for listeners to find what they're looking for.<br>
<br>
WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?<br>
A climate category will mean easier access to critical information
on climate — all you need to do is sign.<br>
<br>
SIGN THE OPEN LETTER <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/#letter">https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/#letter</a><br>
THE DEADLINE: APRIL 22, EARTH DAY.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/">https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/</a><br>
- -<br>
[too much to listen to]<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/#deadline">https://www.podcastersdeclare.com/#deadline</a><br>
<p>[right now, climate change and global warming destabilization is
the most important story to cover -- very soon, it will be the
only story]<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
April 19, 1990 </b></font><br>
The New York Times reports:<br>
<blockquote>"President Bush, responding to criticism that the United
States had delayed taking concrete steps to address the threat of
global warming linked to pollution, said today, 'We have never
considered research a substitute for action.'<br>
<br>
"Closing a two-day White House conference on the issue, Mr. Bush
said: 'To those who suggest we're only trying to balance economic
growth and environmental protection, I say they miss the point. We
are calling for an entirely new way of thinking, to achieve both
while compromising neither, by applying the power of the
marketplace in the service of the environment.'<br>
<br>
"Mr. Bush also proposed a series of steps for integrating
international responses to the issue of global climate change.
They included an international 'charter' for cooperation in
science and economics related to global change, a statement of
principles to guide such research, the creation of international
research institutes and a communications network to monitor global
changes."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/19/us/bush-denies-putting-off-action-on-averting-global-climate-shift.html">http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/19/us/bush-denies-putting-off-action-on-averting-global-climate-shift.html</a><br>
<br>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
<br>
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