16 January 20
We are over half a million readers so far for January and we have fewer than 150 donations. We have never, ever see that level of funding neglect.
We must press for greater participation.
In earnest.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
Founder, Reader Supported News
If you would prefer to send a check:
Reader Supported News
PO Box 2043
Citrus Hts
CA 95611
Reader Supported News
PO Box 2043
Citrus Hts
CA 95611
15 January 20
Exclusive Poll: Just as Many African-Americans Say They'd Consider Voting for Bernie Sanders as Joe Biden
Cameron Joseph, VICE
Excerpt: "56% of African-Americans said they'd 'consider voting for' Sanders in 2020 - a statistical tie with the 54% who said the same about Biden."
READ MORE
Cameron Joseph, VICE
Excerpt: "56% of African-Americans said they'd 'consider voting for' Sanders in 2020 - a statistical tie with the 54% who said the same about Biden."
READ MORE
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, flanked by representatives Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff. (photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP)
Schiff, Nadler Lead Group of House Managers to Prosecute Trump in Senate Trial
Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post
DeBonis writes: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped two trusted committee chairmen to lead the team that will make the case in the Senate for President Trump's removal from office, supported by a relatively small cast of additional impeachment 'managers.'"
READ MORE
Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post
DeBonis writes: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped two trusted committee chairmen to lead the team that will make the case in the Senate for President Trump's removal from office, supported by a relatively small cast of additional impeachment 'managers.'"
READ MORE
Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser. (photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Flynn Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea in Case Stemming From Mueller Probe
Scott Neuman, NPR
Neuman writes: "Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., wants to withdraw his 2-year-old guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors reneged on a promise to not ask for jail time at his upcoming sentencing."
Scott Neuman, NPR
Neuman writes: "Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., wants to withdraw his 2-year-old guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors reneged on a promise to not ask for jail time at his upcoming sentencing."
EXCERPTS:
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, which took over the case from Mueller, recommended earlier this month that Flynn receive "0 to 6 months of incarceration."
In the sentencing memo, prosecutors said Flynn had been less than cooperative in an investigation of his former partner, Bijan Rafiekian, at Flynn Intel Group, a lobbying firm.
Rafiekian was found guilty in July of conspiring to act as an undisclosed agent of Turkey. However, Flynn was not called to testify in the trial. Prosecutors deemed him unreliable after he changed his account of events, they said. Flynn's attorneys have disputed that characterization.
Prosecutors said that since Flynn began cooperating with investigators, there had been "periods where the defendant has sought to assist and aid the government, and periods where the defendant has sought to thwart the efforts of the government to hold other individuals, principally Bijan Rafiekian, accountable for criminal wrongdoing," the sentencing memo says.
The case against Flynn
In December 2016, President Barack Obama placed sanctions on Russia in retaliation for Moscow's interference in the presidential election. In the same month, Flynn, a senior official on the Trump transition team, contacted then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, urging Moscow not to escalate the situation and offering the prospect of a better relationship under the new president, according to court documents.
Flynn then lied to the FBI about those conversations.
Texas governor Greg Abbott. (photo: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune)
Every Catholic Bishop in Texas Is Slamming Gov Abbott's Decision to Bar Refugees
Daniel Burke, CNN
Burke writes: "All 16 of Texas' Catholic bishops have issued a joint statement slamming Gov. Greg Abbott, who is Catholic, for announcing the state will bar refugees in 2020."
READ MORE
Daniel Burke, CNN
Burke writes: "All 16 of Texas' Catholic bishops have issued a joint statement slamming Gov. Greg Abbott, who is Catholic, for announcing the state will bar refugees in 2020."
READ MORE
Stephen Miller. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Stephen Miller Dismisses DACA in Emails, Mirroring Anti-Immigrant Extremists' Views
Michael Edison Hayden, The Southern Poverty Law Center
Excerpt: "White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller went against many Republicans when siding with white nationalists and other extremists on the issue of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, more commonly known as DACA, emails show."
READ MORE
Michael Edison Hayden, The Southern Poverty Law Center
Excerpt: "White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller went against many Republicans when siding with white nationalists and other extremists on the issue of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, more commonly known as DACA, emails show."
READ MORE
Russian president Vladimir Putin, right, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev meet with members of the government in Moscow on Jan. 15, 2020. (photo: Getty)
Russia's PM and Cabinet Quit After Putin Unveils Plan to Consolidate His Power
Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin appeared alongside each other on national television a few hours after Putin's address to say the government was stepping down."
READ MORE
Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin appeared alongside each other on national television a few hours after Putin's address to say the government was stepping down."
READ MORE
A pump jack and frac tanks stand in a field being developed for drilling next to a farm over the Monterey Shale formation on March 24, 2014 near Lost Hills, California. (photo: David McNew/Getty)
Green Groups Sue to Stop Trump Admin From Allowing Fracking on 1 Million+ Acres of California Public Lands
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "Environmental groups are suing to stop the Trump administration from fracking in California."
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "Environmental groups are suing to stop the Trump administration from fracking in California."
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Tuesday, comes in response to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) decision to open more than a million acres of public lands to oil and gas leasing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The decision was finalized in December and covers eight Central California counties as well as land bordering national parks.
"Trump's illegal, deeply unjust fracking plan would be a disaster for Central Valley communities, as well as our climate, wildlife and water," Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a press release received by EcoWatch. "We need to phase out fracking and oil drilling, not throw open our public lands to polluters. The future of our beautiful state and our children depends on it."
CBD is joined in the suit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Central California Environmental Justice Network, Los Padres ForestWatch, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, Patagonia Works and the Wilderness Society. Earthjustice is representing them. The groups contend that the plan is illegal because the BLM failed to consider the harm fracking in the region could do to public health, recreation, groundwater, air and the climate. They also warn of the potential for earthquakes caused by the extraction technique.
BLM spokeswoman Serena Baker told the San Francisco Chronicle that the agency's plan simply opened the lands to a variety of uses. Any specific plans to drill for oil or frack would have to be approved or denied based on their economic viability and environmental impact.
The plan would allow fracking in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties, as well as on parcels of land near the Carrizo Plain National Monument, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks and within 10 miles of Yosemite National Park.
Conservation groups are worried about how this could impact the region's already troubled air quality, USA Today pointed out. Three cities in the area, Fresno, Bakersfield and Visalia, were listed among the American Lung Association's latest tally of the five cities with the worst year-round particulate matter air pollution. The pollution could also impact national park visitors. Sequoia National Park already had 296 more unhealthy air days over a nine-year period than Los Angeles.
"Throughout this planning process, the Trump administration has ignored our warnings about the long-term impacts to nearby communities and national parks, in favor of short-term gains for oil and gas developers," Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in the press release. "This plan could allow drilling near several of our most cherished public lands, like Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, which already suffer from some of the worst air quality of any park units in the country."
The administration's plans also run counter to California's own desires for its state's energy policy. In November 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on fracking permits until they were reviewed by independent scientists. He also banned a new well-drilling technique linked to a leak that spilled 1.3 million gallons of oil and water in the Central Valley in the summer of 2019.
"BLM's ill-considered plan to fling wide the door to fracking on public lands is yet another assault on California's efforts to protect its environment and move away from dirty fossil fuels," Ann Alexander, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in the press release. "Gov. Newsom just announced curbs on oil drilling, but BLM is charging full speed ahead with it. California is trying to find a way to rationally address its limited water supply, and now BLM is greenlighting activities that can contaminate it with toxic chemicals. This federal war on California really needs to stop."
The federal government hasn't sold any oil and gas leases in the state since 2012, when a federal judge ruled that a plan to issue oil leases in Monterey County had not considered the environmental impacts of fracking. But the Trump administration is trying to change that, both with its Central California plan and with a separate push to open 725,500 acres along the Central Coast and in the Bay Area to fracking. The second plan is being challenged by a lawsuit filed in October.
No comments:
Post a Comment