Full of exuberance and ingenuity, yesterday's San Francisco’s
Market Street was the site of a giant
stream of people marching for the climate. The day was punctuated by a 2.8
quake as some 30,000 climate marchers, lead by a contingent of indigenous
people from such far flung places as the Brazilian Amazon and Exxon-befouled
Ecuador, underscoring how First Nations People are spearheading the movement
for recognizing and respecting the rights of Mother Earth because the very survival
of their cultures is at stake. Later this week, they will participate in the
Climate Summit. The crowds converged at Civic Center where all surrounding
streets were painted in circular mandalas in clay, and water based non-toxic
paint.
The street was a place where, amidst the noise and chaos,
people got to embrace one another, disseminate information, and exchange ideas
and addresses. Contingents from labor, the sanctuary movement, the anti-nuclear
movement (led by Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, and Western States Legal
Foundation) Code Pink, Refuse Fascism, and many other organizations took part.
Some signs mimicked solar panels; some mimicked white dove-like wind
turbines. And one solitary man cupped a papier maché Earth nested in the petals
of a giant paper sunflower, balancing it precariously.
But the Market Street on which we marched is a palimpsest of
the historical record of a people existing at the limit: recently,
green-painted bike lanes to acknowledge that the time for riding vs. driving
has come at last, cratered sidewalks attesting to—as
Chris Hedges puts it—of a country being hollowed out from the top.
Where are the government regulations that issue license
plates allowing driving only on alternate days? Or which ban cars in the inner
cities? or subsidize public transportation, or better yet, offer it “free” to
all inner cities riders? If other countries can issue such regulations, why can’t
the United States? And if the U.S. government can’t do it, why can’t the people
of this country set up the parallel government needed to this country get
organized?
Without such regulations backing them, at best, climate
marches such as yesterday’s are feel good rituals lacking backbones.
You know what to do.
Now it’s up to you.
Environment
California
passes a historic bill for 100% clean energy by 2045.
California Gov. Jerry
Brown signs a pair of bills that would effectively prevent new drilling
projects off the state’s coasts.
DHUMA, a Peruvian cultural and human rights organization, forces
the Peruvian government to withdraw the Bear Creek permit to mine in their
area.
South Africa’s Energy Minister announces his government will drop
plans to boost electricity supply from nukes in favor of increasing renewable
energy as ZA reduces its reliance on coal.
Ugandan farmers emerge victorious after monthlong occupation of UN office.
Formerly polluted town, Vaxjo, Sweden is recognized by the EU as
the greenest city in Europe.
California bans drift gillnets.
Maine South Portland’s tar sands ban upheld in a 'david vs. goliath' pipeline battle.
New Caledonia votes to protect coral reef.
New York City
takes Historic Step Toward Cutting Its Top Source of Climate Pollution in big
buildings.
Thirty-eight environmental,
public-health and community groups called on the Senate to reject a bill
provision that would lift the ban on civilian supersonic flight over U.S. soil.
Fracking makes the Colorado ballot.
California State Senate
passes AJR-30 and -33, which now go to Governor, Jerry Brown for his signature.
When signed and passed on to Washington, California will go on record as a
supporter of nuclear disarmament and against first strike use of nuclear
weapons
A California bill that
would have created a new organization to run electricity
grids across the West dies in the legislature as Sacramento lawmakers fear sharing control
with coal-dependent states.
Politics Not as Usual
DNC strips superdelegates of first-ballot votes on presidential
candidates, meaning that the grassroots CAN win.
Senator Hirono cancels Kavanaugh nominee meeting citing
Trump as ‘unindicted co-conspirator.’
Center for
Constitution Rights joins 78 other civil rights, environmental, labor,
government reform, and other advocacy organizations in signing a letter urging
20 of the largest corporate funders of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to cut ties with the
organization.
January
Contreras win Arizona primary, bringing her one step closer to flipping attorney general seat blue.
Ayanna
wins the Democratic ticket for Massachusetts’ 7th District unseating 20-year
Democratic incumbent, Mike Capuano.
Former combat veteran
Martha McSally defeats Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio in Tuesday’s Republican
primary in Arizona,
Working
Families Party-endorsed David Garcia is declared the winner of his Democratic
primary for governor in Arizona.
A
federal court again sides with the Common Cause v. Rucho lawsuit, striking down North Carolina’s
blatantly gerrymandered congressional map as unconstitutional.
Raquel Teran wins bid for Arizona State
Representative.
Poverty
Ninth Circuit affirms right of homeless persons to sleep in
public.
Florida court rules as constitutionally protected the Ft.
Lauderdale activists who feed the homeless.
A waffling Obama now says he favors “medicare for all.”
Denver’s equity specialists, deal-makers, and
policy folks equity specialists, created a first-of-its-kind initiative with
$1.2 million in city funding brings hundreds of 21,000 brand-new, vacant
apartment units within financial reach of severely rent-burdened families..
Student loan watchdog resigns after
rebuking Trump Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for only serving the
nation’s most powerful financial companies.
San Francisco erases $32 million in criminal fees for 21,000 people.
Criminal Law
Crowd
blocks San Francisco Hall Of Justice to protest police brutality.
California
Legislature passes major police transparency measures on internal
investigations, body cameras.
Texas
police officer Roy Oliver was sentenced for murdering 15-year-old Jordan
Edwards, breaking a 45-year paradigm in Dallas County, which has not seen a
conviction against an officer in a police-perpetrated shooting death since
1973.
Abused Asylum-Seekers Launch Legal Battle Against ICE And Its “Concentration Camp” Prisons
Federal
judge orders Trump to restore DACA.
Engineers say "no thanks" to silicon valley recruiters, citing ethical concerns over immigration.
Federal judge in Seattle grants a nationwide injunction against
the Trump Administration, blocking efforts to give felons, domestic violence
abusers, and terrorists access to undetectable, 3-D-printed guns. The
injunction is in place as long as the case is ongoing.
Labor
NAACP
wins victory in landmark lawsuit
alongside Fight for $15 activists in Alabama, where fast-food workers filed a
case after the state legislature blocked the City of Birmingham from
implementing a law to increase the city’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an
hour.
Alarmed
over school privatization, educators in Los Angeles, the second largest school
district in the country, voted 98 percent to 2 percent to authorize their first
strike in nearly 30 years.
Farm Workers Union signs contract with
D’Arrigo Bros.
Privacy
California’s
state Assembly approves bill that would not just restore the net neutrality
protections enacted under President Obama, but go beyond them, potentially
creating the strictest rules in the country.
Resistance
FANG shuts down ICE, continues campaign of escalation
Angry French farmers sow Chinese-owned field in investor protest.
Peace activists in St. Charles, Missouri block the entrance to a
weapons facility run by arms manufacturer Boeing to protest of the joint
US-Saudi war on Yemen.
Peace
California State Senate
passes AJR-30 and -33, which now go to Governor, Jerry Brown for his signature.
When signed and passed on to Washington, California will go on record as a
supporter of nuclear disarmament and against first strike use of nuclear
weapons
Democratic lawmakers announce new
effort to revoke American support for the "catastrophic" Yemen
conflict that has produced the world's worst humanitarian
crisis.
International Court of
Justice (ICJ) hears Iran lawsuit to have U.S. sanctions lifted.
Spain
cancels $10.6 million arms sale to Saudi
Arabia.
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