Progressive Breakfast: A New Benchmark for Measuring Progress Against Inequality
MORNING MESSAGE
A New Benchmark for Measuring Progress Against Inequality
Oxfam's eye-popping annual report on the growing gap between the world's richest and poorest offers not just laments, but some attainable strategies that can make societies fairer for all, if our leaders would only follow their advice.
Environmental Groups Challenge EPA With Dozens Of Suits
Big green readies dozens of lawsuits as only ‘antidote’ for Trump EPA. Washington Examiner:“‘EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wants to roll back the clock on environmental protections and drag us back decades,’ said Natural Resources Defense Council president Rhea Suh in a note to supporters Saturday. ‘The best antidote to Pruitt’s illegal attacks on our environment? Federal court,’ she said. The group is preparing to file a number of lawsuits against Trump’s EPA, and is asking supporters to increase their financial contributions to support the coming court effort. She claims that the group has already ‘scored’ legal victories over the Trump administration, ‘and we’re gearing up to file suits on dozens of fronts in the year ahead,’ Suh said. Suh mentions a few priorities in continuing to challenge Pruitt’s chemical and pesticide approval agenda, which includes compelling Pruitt to move forward with the agency’s planned ban on chlorpyrifos. The chemical is described as ‘a nerve gas pesticide’ shown to cause developmental damage in children.”
EPA Reverses Course On Alaska Watershed
EPA Suspends Alaska Mining Proposal for Bristol Bay. NPR:“The Environmental Protection Agency said in a surprise announcement Friday that it was suspending its effort to withdraw proposed protections for a southwest Alaska watershed to make room for a new mine. The proposed Pebble Mine is located about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage and roughly 100 miles upstream from the Bristol Bay watershed, one of the world’s most important sockeye salmon fisheries. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement that Bristol Bay fisheries deserve protection and that the proposed Pebble Mine may pose an ‘unacceptable’ risk. In the announcement, Pruitt said, ‘any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural resources that exist there.'”
Trump Considers Nationalizing Cell Phone Networks
Trump administration is considering nationalizing 5G mobile network. CNN:“The US government is considering a federal takeover of portions of the country’s mobile broadband networks, according to documents obtained by Axios. A National Security Council official presented senior members of the President Donald Trump’s administration and other agencies with information suggesting that the United States needs to centralize its 5G network by the end of President Donald Trump’s first term as a safeguard against Chinese cybersecurity and economic threats, according to the documents. Government control of 5G infrastructure would be unprecedented and highly controversial, as the industry has traditionally been privately controlled.”
Far-Right Pundits Escalate Threats Against Trump’s Opponents
Far-right pundits are now calling for the death of Trump’s opponents. Salon:“Given the many strictures the commander-in-chief has on his authority, it is unlikely that Trump could start imprisoning his political opponents even if he wanted to. But the president is far from the only person exposed to a constant diet of violent rhetoric against Democrats, journalists and law enforcement officers. Many disturbed people who voted for him are as well. Last week, a Michigan man named Brandon Griesemer was arrested for threatening to kill CNN’s ‘fake news’ anchors. In December of 2016, North Carolina resident Edgar Maddison Welch burst into a pizza restaurant near Washington with a rifle and fired off three rounds, largely because Jones and his staff had spent hours telling their followers the place was the center of a global child-sex ring. Following Welch’s guilty plea last March, Jones begrudgingly and partially retracted his support for the ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory. His actions since, however, suggest he has no legitimate intention of cleaning up his act. People have mocked the idea that Trump could become a dictator. What’s clear is that many people he likes are telling him to become one.”
Manafort’s Long Game To Undermine Democracy
Paul Manafort’s“Decades before he ran the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort’s pursuit of foreign cash and shady deals laid the groundwork for the corruption of Washington… One of his deputies, Rick Gates, once boasted to a group of Washington lobbyists, ‘You have to understand, we’ve been working in Ukraine a long time, and Paul has a whole separate shadow government structure … In every ministry, he has a guy.’ Only a small handful of Americans—oil executives, Cold War spymasters—could claim to have ever amassed such influence in a foreign regime.”
More from OurFuture.org:
America Needs Cops on the Trade Beat. Leo Gerard:“American manufacturers and workers aren’t looking for protectionism. They don’t need it. They can compete with any manufacturer in the world that abides by international trade law. They are seeking prosecution of trade law violators.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action. more »
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