 17 December 19 Today is a “Must Succeed” Fundraising Day
December, our most important month for fundraising has instead been a disaster so far. We are well behind where we should be and where we need to be.
We have to get moving now.
Marc Ash
Sure, I'll make a donation!Founder, Reader Supported News Update My Monthly Donation
If you would prefer to send a check:
Reader Supported News PO Box 2043 Citrus Hts CA 95611 |
17 December 19
The Remedy for Mitch McConnell
Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes, The Atlantic
Excerpt: "Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appear to need a brief remedial course on their constitutional obligations."
Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes, The Atlantic
Excerpt: "Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appear to need a brief remedial course on their constitutional obligations."
EXCERPT:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking to Fox News, was even more explicit. “Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can,” he said. “We have no choice but to take [the impeachment trial] up, but we will be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate.”
The two senators appear to need a brief remedial course on their constitutional obligations. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the Constitution declares that “the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” And when the Senate is sitting “for that Purpose, [senators] shall be on Oath or Affirmation.”
The requirement of a special oath for senators sitting as impeachment triers of fact is unique in the document. Senators don’t swear a special oath to engage in the appropriations process or to consider judicial nominations or to propose health-care legislation. They don’t even swear a special oath to consider a declaration of war or an authorization to use military force. But they do when the Senate sits as the trial forum for impeachment, at which point it becomes a non-legislative tribunal with a wholly different institutional purpose and face.
The field of global public health has been a boon to McKinsey - for new business, talent recruitment and retention, and public relations. (photo: Christina Animashaun/Vox/Getty Images)
How McKinsey and Company Infiltrated the World of Global Public Health
Julia Belluz and Marine Buissonniere, Vox
Excerpt: "The Gates Foundation brought billions of dollars to the sector - and a business-friendly ethos consultants could exploit."
READ MORE
Julia Belluz and Marine Buissonniere, Vox
Excerpt: "The Gates Foundation brought billions of dollars to the sector - and a business-friendly ethos consultants could exploit."
READ MORE
Migrants applying for asylum go through a processing area at a tent court facility in Laredo on September 17. (photo: Eric Gay/AP)
Immigration Tent Courts at Border Raise Due-Process Concerns
Michelle Hackman and Alicia A. Caldwell, The Wall Street Journal
Excerpt: "Each morning well before sunrise, dozens of immigrants line up on the international bridge in Brownsville, Texas to enter a recently erected tent facility at the U.S. border."
READ MORE
Michelle Hackman and Alicia A. Caldwell, The Wall Street Journal
Excerpt: "Each morning well before sunrise, dozens of immigrants line up on the international bridge in Brownsville, Texas to enter a recently erected tent facility at the U.S. border."
READ MORE
Ramiro Ramirez poses for a photo at the Jackson Ranch Chapel and Cemetery that could end up on the south side of Trump's border wall. (photo: Veronica G. Cardenas/Guardian UK)
'That's Genocide': Ancient Tribal Graves Threatened by Trump Border Wall
Nina Lakhani, Guardian UK
Lakhani writes: "A historic graveyard in Texas lies within the barrier's 150ft 'enforcement zone' the government has said it plans to raze."
READ MORE
Nina Lakhani, Guardian UK
Lakhani writes: "A historic graveyard in Texas lies within the barrier's 150ft 'enforcement zone' the government has said it plans to raze."
READ MORE
Prisoners of war were evacuated as part of the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. (photo: Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
'Vile and Disturbing': Army Unit Marks Battle of the Bulge With Pic of Nazi War Criminal Who Massacred Americans
Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post
Shepherd writes: "On the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's final major push in World War II, a U.S. Army unit shared a tribute to the 'greatest battle in American history' - a detailed portrait of a worried military commander fretting over the plan that would ultimately secure an Allied victory over the Nazis."
READ MORE
Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post
Shepherd writes: "On the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's final major push in World War II, a U.S. Army unit shared a tribute to the 'greatest battle in American history' - a detailed portrait of a worried military commander fretting over the plan that would ultimately secure an Allied victory over the Nazis."
READ MORE
Anti-government protesters in Iraq. (photo: Hussein Faleh/AFP)
'Campaign of Terror' Targeting Iraqi Protesters: Rights Group
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (Unami) said last week it had received 'credible allegations' that thousands of demonstrators have been kidnaped by 'unknown armed men,' since protests erupted in October against rampant political corruption in the country."
READ MORE
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (Unami) said last week it had received 'credible allegations' that thousands of demonstrators have been kidnaped by 'unknown armed men,' since protests erupted in October against rampant political corruption in the country."
READ MORE
Pollution from a factory. (photo: Science Focus)
Southern Cities' Renewable Energy Push Could Be Stifled as Utility Locks Them Into Longer Contracts
James Bruggers, InsideClimate News
Bruggers writes: "As cities in the South start exploring ways to expand renewable energy, some are running into an obstacle that could set those plans back decades."
James Bruggers, InsideClimate News
Bruggers writes: "As cities in the South start exploring ways to expand renewable energy, some are running into an obstacle that could set those plans back decades."
EXCERPT:
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a public utility owned by the federal government, serves a population of 10 million in seven southeastern states through a distribution network of local power companies. While it has a lower carbon footprint than many utilities right now, its plans envision only modest improvements over the next 20 years.
Since August, TVA has persuaded more than 80 percent of the power companies that distribute the electricity it generates to agree to 20-year contracts—a much longer timeframe than its past agreements.
Conspicuously absent from that list, however, are some of the largest local power companies in the TVA system, including those that serve Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Huntsville, Alabama. Together, the hold-outs account for nearly half of TVA's operating revenues.
"It's not an accident that most of the distributors that haven't signed up for this are the larger municipal utilities and co-ops," said Amanda Garcia, a Nashville based attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which sees the 20-year commitments as an impediment to renewable energy development within the TVA system.
The local power companies, and the communities they serve, are "feeling more pressure from their customers to have access to renewable energy," she said.
At issue are agreements that tether the local power companies to TVA on a rolling, 20-year basis, instead of what had been a more typical arrangement that allowed them to break free with either five or 10 years notice. The fear is that signing long-term deals now will limit their bargaining power over everything from electricity rates to significantly boosting renewable energy, which some customers are demanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment