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“The 2016 election campaign is remarkable not only for the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders but also for the resilience of an enduring silence about a murderous self-bestowed divinity.”

-- John Pilger

News and Opinion

The war party just can't hide its eagerness for the coronation of Hillary Bloodyhands as War Criminal in Chief:

The ‘Dissent’ Memo That Isn’t

The memorandum by 51 State Department officials calling for U.S. military intervention in Syria has been treated in news media coverage as a case of “dissent” from existing Syria policy by individual officials involved in Syria policy.

But the memo has all the earmarks of an initiative that had the blessing of the most senior officials in the department – including Secretary of State John Kerry himself – rather than having been put together by individual officials entirely on their own. And it may mark the beginning of an effort to take advantage of the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

The memo called for a “more militarily assertive US role” in the Syrian conflict in the form of “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed US-led diplomatic process.“  That is precisely the policy option that Secretary of State Kerry has been widely reported to have championed privately for years. As the story in the New York Times, which published the supposedly confidential memo, noted, “[H]igher-level State Department officials are known to share their concerns.”

The submission of the memo through the State Department’s “dissent channel” appears to have been a device to make it appear entirely independent of senior officials in the department. According to the State Department regulation on the “dissent channel,” it is to be used only when dissenting views “cannot be communicated in a full and timely manner through regular operating channels or procedures” or “in a manner which protects the author from any penalty, reprisal, or recrimination.”

But there is no reason to believe that the officials in question had any problem in expressing their views on Obama’s Syria policy over the years. The names of the signatories were not included in the document published by the New York Times, but all 51 officials claimed to have been directly involved in the making or implementation of Syria policy, according to the report. That would certainly encompass the vast majority of those who have worked on Syria over the past five years. It is inconceivable that those officials have not participated in innumerable policy discussions on Syria in which their personal views were freely expressed.

Where Are The Drone Casualty Figures the White House Promised Months Ago?

Despite months of repeated promises, the White House has yet to release its estimate of civilian casualties from the administration’s drone program – a delayed disclosure the New York Times Editorial Board described as “too little, too late.”

In March, Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama chief counterterrorism adviser, announced that the White House would “in the coming weeks” release an “assessment of combatant and non-combatant casualties” from U.S. drone strikes since 2009. Monaco doubled down on the commitment in a second speech a few weeks later.

The figures are likely to show aggregate numbers of people killed by country in nations not recognized as battlefields – like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya – according to the Washington Post. Death tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be included. ...

A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council told The Intercept he had “no update on timing to offer.”

Former Chilean Army Officer Found Liable for 1973 Murder of Víctor Jara After U.S.-Backed Coup

Brexit Raises Doubts Over NATO-EU Military Cooperation

Britain Paid About 15% of EU Operation Costs

For two alliances with a largely identical membership list, NATO and the European Union have a long history of struggling with joint policy planning. 22 NATO members are also members of the EU, though with the Brexit, it’s soon to be 21.

That’s casting a rather big pall over the upcoming EU and NATO summits in the coming days, with NATO hopes of bolstering their ties to the EU bloc, particularly as it relates to their anti-Russia policy along the border, is looking a lot different with the prospect of Britain withholding involvement. ... Speculation that an independent Britain might start cutting military spending is throwing their long-term intervention in doubt. ...

The US, which has been leading the NATO charge against Russia, has also depended on Britain to be their proxy in the EU in pushing them toward a more aggressive strategy, with Britain pushing heavily for punitive sanctions against the Russians. With central European states already resisting those sanctions, Britain’s exit might well mean an end to the EU’s economic warfare.

E.U. leaders toughen line over British ‘divorce’

European leaders toughened their stance Tuesday against British efforts to leave the European Union amid political chaos in London and other capitals, as E.U. officials gathered in Brussels for the first time since Britons’ shocking vote last week to break from the union.

Seeking to prevent a further crackup of their 28-nation bloc, nervous heads of government are trying to discourage other countries from following Britain’s example, telling London that it cannot preserve access to the world’s largest consumer market if it does not also accept the exact obligation that British voters seemed to reject: open borders. Some leading British exit campaigners already appeared to rein in ambitions for the split.

The pressure increased amid mounting confusion about just what the British exit campaigners planned to demand, and domestic political turmoil only appeared to emphasize the lack of clarity. European leaders said the best deal they could offer would resemble Norway’s. A non-E.U. member, that country has to submit to most E.U. rules and regulations in exchange for free access to the bloc’s rich markets. But Norway allows free movement of labor with the E.U., which would be a bitter disappointment for the British voters who just rejected E.U. membership. ...

“Those who want free access to the European domestic market will have to accept the basic European freedoms and the other rules and duties which are linked to it,” Merkel told the German Parliament. “This applies to Great Britain just like to everyone else. Free access to the domestic market is granted to those who accept the four basic European freedoms — of people, of goods, of services, of capital.”

An excellent article worth reading in full:

European Unification Divides Europeans: How Forcing People Together Tears Them Apart

Unification of Europe has brought about radical new divisions within Europe. The most significant split is between the people and their political leaders.

The June 23 British majority vote to leave the European Union has made strikingly evident the division between the new ruling class that flourishes in the globalized world without borders and all the others who are on the receiving end of policies that destroy jobs, cut social benefits, lower wages and reject as obsolete national customs, not least the custom of democratic choice, all to make the world safe for international investment capital. ...

A chorus of Europists are screaming to high heaven that the world is about to come to an end thanks to lower class Brits too stupid and too racist to appreciate the glorious globalized world that the European elite is preparing for them. One of the fastest on the draw of his pen was the hysterical propagandist Bernard-Henri Levy, whose venom quickly spilled onto the pages of Le Monde and other obsequious journals. BHL trotted out his entire range of insults to decry the LEAVE vote as the victory of demagogy, xenophobia, the extreme right and the extreme left, hatred of immigrants, stupid nationalism, vicious hatred, the unleashed mob, idiot leftists, drunken hooligans, the forces of darkness against civilization, and even the victory of garden dwarfs over Michelangelo. Many others worked the same theme, with less verbiage.

The main theme of this wailing and gnashing of teeth is the allegation that the LEAVE vote was motivated solely by racism, racism being the only possible reason that people could object to mass unregulated immigration. But there are indeed other reasons.

In reality, for the majority of working class voters, opposition to unlimited immigration can be plainly a matter of economic self-interest. Since the EU’s eastward expansion ended immigration controls with the former communist countries, hundreds of thousands of workers from Poland, Lithuania, and other Eastern European nations have flooded into Britain, adding to the large established immigrant population from the British Commonwealth countries. It is simply a fact that mass immigration brings down wage levels in a country. A Glasgow University study shows statistically that as immigration rises, the level of wages in proportion to profits drops – not to mention the increase in unemployment. ...

The trouble is that the mainstream caricature of the Brexit voters as narrow-minded racists, if not protofascists, has not been balanced by any articulation of the strong underlying rejection of the EU as a denial of democracy, as the authoritarian rule by a self-satisfied globalizing elite with total contempt for what the people might really want.

French Labor Law, Brexit, and Greek Austerity: Class War Against European Workers

THe British elites are baying for Corbyn's blood:

David Cameron says Jeremy Corbyn should resign

David Cameron has told Jeremy Corbyn that he should resign as Labour leader for the sake of the country, telling him: “For heaven’s sake man, go.”

The prime minister’s seemingly unscripted intervention came during prime minister’s questions as the Labour leader, who lost a confidence vote among his own MPs on Tuesday, pressed Cameron about child poverty.

Cameron began by dismissing Corbyn’s apparent argument that austerity or poverty could have played a role in contributing to the loss by the remain side in the EU referendum.

“We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign,” Cameron told the opposition leader, taking aim at Corbyn for his perceived lacklustre support for staying in the EU. “I know the honourable gentleman says he put his back into it. All I’d say, I’d hate to see him when he’s not trying.”

Pressed again on child poverty, Cameron became visibly angry. He told Corbyn: “If he’s looking for excuses about why the side he and I were on [lost] the referendum, frankly he should look somewhere else. And I have to say to the honourable gentleman, he talks about job insecurity with my two months to go. It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there. It’s not in the national interest. I would say – for heaven’s sake, man, go.”

Ed Miliband calls for Jeremy Corbyn to resign as Labour leader over Brexit

Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, has called for Jeremy Corbyn to resign, saying he has lost the confidence of the party’s MPs in parliament and his position has become untenable. ...

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, is seeking urgent talks with Corbyn in an attempt to broker a compromise that would prevent the party plunging into a snap leadership contest, as Angela Eagle prepares to launch a challenge by the end of the day. ...

Eagle is gathering support among MPs and is expected to launch a fomal challenge if Corbyn does not resign. She and Watson are both regarded as contenders, but others, including the shadow work and pensions secretary, Owen Smith, could also run if a contest is triggered.

Corbyn’s allies have made clear that he has no intention of stepping aside, however, and members of his team are readying themselves for a contest.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has told MPs seeking to overthrow Corbyn that they must accept his leadership if he sees off the challenge. He also called for an end to “nastiness”.

A defiant Corbyn has vowed to fight on despite an overwhelming vote of no confidence by his own MPs, who declared their wish to see him gone by a margin of more than four to one.

But while his Westminster colleagues are lined up against him, the leader appears confident he still commands sufficient support among the wider membership to emerge victorious once again. Crucially, he also appears to enjoy the support of trade union chiefs.

I am told 13,000 people joined Labour last week, with 60% giving the reason they are "supporting Corbyn".... https://t.co/TGNzled4cA

— Robert Peston (@Peston) June 29, 2016

Blair 'misrepresented facts' over Iraq chemical weapons, claims Hans Blix

Tony Blair "misrepresented the facts" when he told MPs about Iraq's chemical weapon capabilities, former UN inspector Hans Blix has claimed.

The former prime minister is also accused of being "dishonest" in the lead up to the invasion in 2003, in a BBC Panorama programme to be aired on Wednesday night.

Iraq: The Final Judgement interviewed former weapons inspector Mr Blix and former Labour minister Claire Short - who stepped down as international development secretary in protest at the war in 2003.

The programme comes a week before the Chilcot Inquiry into the war, and the lead up to it, is due to release its findings. ...

Ms Short, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010, told Panorama that the invasion would be Mr Blair's "legacy".

She told the programme "what was known, which was very little indeed, was then exaggerated way beyond to give this imminent threat", adding; "I mean that's just dishonest. There's no question about it."

She went on: "I think he'd [Tony Blair] made up his mind to be with [George] Bush. And we were massaged and deceived to get us there when it was a manipulation of us - that is us, the parliament, the cabinet, British public opinion, American public opinion by people who were determined to take military action from the beginning."

Two years and $7 million later, the Benghazi report is finally out

After two years and $7 million, Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee have released their long-awaited report on the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya — a report that concludes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not directly at fault for the events that led to the deaths of four American citizens. ...

Among the revelations in the Committee's 800-page report is that the CIA missed real-time intelligence about the situation on the ground that led the agency to bungle its response to the incident. The government then misled the public about what had happened in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. ...

The report also includes evidence that goes against the official government narrative provided at the time. The US government initially thought the attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi was caused by a "spontaneous protest" over an anti-Islamic film that sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world after it was uploaded to YouTube earlier in 2011. But according to the report, that version of events was not reflected in any of the eyewitness accounts.

"Obama Administration officials, including the Secretary of State, learned almost in real time that the attack in Benghazi was a terrorist attack," Republican Representative Jim Jordan said in a statement upon the release of the report. "Rather than tell the American people the truth, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly."

GOP Senator Mark Kirk Immediately Politicizes Istanbul Terror Attack to Smear Syrian Refugees

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk immediately exploited Tuesday’s tragic attack at the Istanbul airport to tweet a tirade against Syrian refugees and his Democratic opponent, well before the facts emerged about who was responsible or even for the bodies of the slain to be counted.

In a series of tweets each one minute apart, Kirk offered condolences to Turks but quickly pivoted to attacking his opponent — Democratic congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who supports Syrian resettlement — and calling for freezing the refugee program.

Obama would like the Russians to not attack al-Qaeda. There must be some special strategery going on.

Pentagon Claims ‘Showdown’ With Russian Jets in Syrian Skies

Last week’s Russian bombings against a US-backed Syrian rebel factions saw what US officials are describing as a “dramatic showdown” between US F/A-18 fighters and Russian Su-34s, as the US planes scrambled to try to chase the Russians away from a rebel base.

No fighting actually took place between the two sides. The Russian planes moved out of the area when the US planes arrived, but returned after the US planes left to refuel, and bombing the rebel garrison that the US was trying to protect. ...

Both ISIS and the Nusra Front have been active in the area around Tanf, where the incident occurred, and Russian officials say they were under the impression that the rebels they struck were affiliated with the Nusra Front.

The US has disputed the Russian claims, but at the same time they have urged the Russians not to launch airstrikes against any Nusra targets anywhere in Syria, citing their close ties to the rebel factions the US are supporting.

Turkey Allows More NATO Air Patrols Along Syria Border

Turkey has loosened its rules of engagement for NATO warplanes along the border with northern Syria, according to officials. They were said to be under pressure from several NATO members, and made the change around three weeks ago.

Turkey has sought NATO support in defending their border from ISIS, but has tried to limit their crossing into Syria in the past, concerned that so much of the air support in northern Syria is supporting the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey considers terrorists.

"A Dark Day for the People of Puerto Rico": U.S. Senate Moves to OK "Colonial Control Board"

Senate Report Clears Rousseff of Budget Manipulation

Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff got a boost in her fight against impeachment on Monday as a report prepared by analysts in the Senate found that there is no evidence to suggest she was personally responsible for fiscal wrongdoing. It remains unclear, however, how the findings will impact the impeachment process that has hinged on such allegations.

The 223-page report by three auditors found Rousseff did not cook the books in the lead up to her 2014 presidential reelection, dealing a blow to accusations from her rivals that she manipulated government accounts to hide a budget shortfall and delayed payments to public banks.

The budget charges have been the key justification behind the impeachment process against Rousseff, painted as a bid to tackle government corruption despite rampant and massive fraud among high-level opposition figures and the ranks of the installed government. ...

The report, however, did find that Rousseff participated directly in signing three budget decrees, another charge she faces in the impeachment process. The experts said it would be up to the Senate to decide if the decrees amount to negligence or other serious wrongdoing.

Who Is Getting Rich Off the $1.3 Trillion Student Debt Crisis?

Clinton’s pledge to forgive student debt of entrepreneurs, not average workers, will benefit the elite

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has pledged to help forgive the student loans of entrepreneurs and small business owners, yet has not made similar promises to help forgive the student debt of average workers.

Clinton released her Initiative on Technology & Innovation on Tuesday. It reflects her neoliberal, technocratic vision of the economy.

In the initiative, Clinton outlines her plan to “support young entrepreneurs.” As president, she says she would allow entrepreneurs to forgo paying their student student loans for up to three years, “so they can get their ventures off the ground and help drive the innovation economy.”

Moreover, “innovators who start social enterprises or new businesses in distressed communities,” Clinton adds, can apply for forgiveness of up to $17,500 of their student loans after five years.

Clinton has not made similar promises to help average working-class Americans with crippling student debt. In the education platform on her campaign website, she says she will allow Americans to refinance their loans at current rates, but there is no serious discussion of forgiveness.

D.C. enacting $15 minimum wage indexed for inflation, in huge victory for labor rights

The growing Fight for 15 movement had a huge victory this week.

Washington, D.C. passed legislation on Monday night that will increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2020 and index it for inflation.

Mayor Muriel Bowser signed The Fair Shot Minimum Wage Act in D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. ...

The new legislation will incrementally increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2020. The minimum wage for tipped workers will rise from $2.77 now to $5 per hour before tips, although employers must pay the difference if the worker does not make more than $15 per hour with tips.

In an even bigger victory for labor rights, the new law will also increase the minimum wage annually based on an inflation index, so the real wage of workers will not diminish over time.

Abortion access still strained even after landmark US supreme court ruling

Moments after the supreme court struck down a law threatening to close half the abortion clinics in Texas, a banner appeared outside the Austin headquarters of the lead plaintiff, Whole Woman’s Health. “We won!” the sign boasted in big block letters. “Our clinics stay open.”

Only this clinic did not. ...

Amy Hagstrom-Miller, the Whole Woman’s Health CEO and founder, is not sure if the former clinic in Austin, which Whole Woman’s Health and local reproductive rights groups use as an office suite, can ever again serve as an abortion clinic.

“Just because you have a legal win doesn’t mean you can restore the infrastructure and rebuild immediately – or maybe ever,” she said. “It’s not just a matter of will or gumption or desire on my part. It breaks down to: how would we be able to afford this?” ...

In the three years that Whole Woman’s Health fought the Texas law to the supreme court, HB2 forced the group to shut down clinics in Beaumont, Austin, McAllen and Fort Worth. Only two of those, in McAllen and Fort Worth, reopened. And at each location, it cost several hundred thousand dollars to reopen, Miller said – to renegotiate contracts with vendors, turn on the utilities, restock the medical supplies, hire a security firm and new staff and buy new equipment. “You can’t just turn the lights back on,” she said. ...

Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee in the south, and states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio in the midwest have lost around 40 clinics to hostility and new restrictions in the past five years. Huge parts of Mississippi and Louisiana are also without providers.

“The impact of these laws could last for decades,” Miller said.

'Anti-Corruption Crusader' Zephyr Teachout Nabs NY Primary Win

Bold progressive and "anti-corruption crusader" Zephyr Teachout sailed to victory Tuesday night, nabbing the Democratic nomination for New York's 19th Congressional District.

"Together we’re going to take back our democracy from the powerful interests and lobbyists who want to keep us out," Teachout declared in a statement, just after the vote was called. With most precincts in the district reporting, Teachout emerged with a enormous 74-26 victory over rival Will Yandick.

"The best defense against big money is people," she continued, "and when we come together, we can have clean water, good jobs, strong communities and a government of, by and for the people."

Her victory was celebrated widely as a "huge win for progressives."

"Zephyr's win shows how bold progressive ideas like breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, expanding Social Security benefits instead of cutting them, and getting the corrupting influence of big money out of politics resonate with voters in purple swing districts," said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

"Zephyr is helping to show Democrats across the nation how to take back the House," Taylor continued, "by running on big ideas and challenging corporate power in a way that is popular with Democrats, Independents, and Republicans."

Trump Just Drove a Truck Through Hole DNC Platform Panel Left in Clinton's TPP Promise

Laying bare how dangerous it could be for Democrats to ignore populist opposition to corporate-friendly "free trade" deals, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked Hillary Clinton for her stance on trade in general and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in particular.

Speaking in Monessen, Pennsylvania, Trump said the "TPP would be the death blow for American manufacturing" and vowed to "withdraw" the U.S. from the agreement.

He said Clinton took "a leading part" in drafting the 12-nation deal, noting that the former secretary of state "praised or pushed the TPP on 45 separate occasions, and even called it the 'gold standard,'" according to prepared remarks. 

"Hillary Clinton was totally for the TPP just a short while ago, but when she saw my stance, which is totally against, she was shamed into saying she would be against it too," he said. "But have no doubt, she will immediately approve it if it is put before her, guaranteed. She will do this just as she has betrayed American workers for Wall Street throughout her career."

With this claim, MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald wrote on Twitter, Trump appeared to be "speaking directly to [Bernie] Sanders supporters." Sanders has made opposition to the TPP and other rights-trampling deals a cornerstone of his campaign. 

Trump also said he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—and placed partial blame for that deal also at Clinton's feet. "It was Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA in 1993, and Hillary Clinton who supported it," he said.

Apple’s Tim Cook Has Billions of Reasons to Raise Money for the GOP

Apple CEO Tim Cook's fundraising breakfast for House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday was the talk of Silicon Valley. ... Cook, after all, has been outspoken in his opposition to Republican-backed anti-LGBT measures and has refused to provide any support for the Republican convention on account of Donald Trump’s more virulent positions.

But the bottom line is the bottom line.

Apple has billions of dollars stored in subsidiaries in offshore tax havens — about $181 billion, in fact — more than any other U.S. corporation. And he needs Republican help to be allowed to bring it back to the U.S. without paying the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate.

Federal lobbying disclosures show that Apple lobbied Congress on a bill that would make it easier for U.S. businesses and corporations to repatriate their assets to the United States and pay a significantly discounted tax rate.

Millions exposed to dangerous lead levels in US drinking water, report finds

New report says Flint water crisis is not an anomaly, as analysis reveals 5,363 water systems – providing drinking water to 18 million – breached federal laws

More than 18 million Americans are served drinking water by providers that have violated federal laws concerning lead in water, with only a tiny proportion of offenses resulting in any penalty, a new report has found.

The toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is “not anomalous”, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report states, with widespread violations of national rules designed to protect people from lead, a known neurotoxin that is harmful even in small doses.

NRDC’s analysis of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data shows that 5,363 water systems, which provide water to more than 18 million people, breached the federal Lead and Copper Rule last year. These violations include the failure to properly test water for lead or inadequate treatment of water to prevent lead from leeching from old pipes into the drinking supply.

The violations occurred across virtually every US state last year. Most seriously, 1,110 community water utilities provided water that exceeded the EPA’s actionable limit for lead in water. This means that more than 3.9 million Americans were exposed to dangerously high levels of lead in 2015.

Despite the widespread failure of water suppliers across the US, very few were punished by the EPA last year. Of more than 8,000 violations of federal laws, enforcement action was only taken against 11% of cases. Penalties were sought for just 3% of violations, meaning there is “no cop on the beat”, according to the NRDC.

Repeat Oil Spills Turning Peruvian Amazon into 'Sacrifice Zone' for Big Oil

Less than six months after two horrific oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon devastated Indigenous communities and the local ecosystem, yet another spill in the region has been reported.

On Friday afternoon, a leak was discovered in the Nothern Peruvian Pipeline—the same pipeline responsible for the earlier spills—that eventually coated over 16,000 square meters of Amazon rainforest in Peru's northeast Loreto region with crude oil, according to OEFA, the country's environmental regulator.

The pipeline is operated by the state-run corporation PetroPeru.

"Upon initial reports of the spill on June 24th, PetroPeru went into crisis response mode, issuing statements via Twitter to national and international journalists. PetroPeru claimed that the Northern Peruvian Pipeline still isn't pumping oil following the disastrous spills in early 2016, but the OEFA report belies that, stating that they found 'indicators that PetroPeru is pumping hydrocarbons through the pipeline,'" said Andrew Miller, advocacy director of Amazon Watch, in an email to Common Dreams.

"So it appears that PetroPeru is currently pumping oil, though they publicly deny it," Miller added, "without having carried out the proper reparation and replacement of deteriorated pipeline sections ordered by the OEFA after the prior spills."

Judge's Ruling to Halt Fracking Regs Could Pose a Broader Threat to Federal Oversight

A federal judge in Wyoming recently struck down Bureau of Land Management rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public and tribal lands. But while the fate of the rules is far from final—with the Obama administration immediately indicating it would appeal—the implications of the controversial decision could extend far beyond fracking and the BLM, according to environmental, legal and policy experts.

In the decision, released last week, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl stated the BLM, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior, has no authority to regulate the most widely used process for extracting oil and gas resources on publicly owned land. Most of the approximately 100,000 active oil and gas wells on public and tribal lands are fracked. The rules are a mix of regulations for disclosing the chemicals used in fracking, well casing requirements and the handling of related waste.

"The Constitutional role of this Court is to ... determine whether Congress has delegated to the Department of Interior legal authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing. It has not," Skavdahl wrote in his ruling. Skavdahl, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011, cites an exemption in the Safe Drinking Water Act, known as the "Halliburton loophole," to support his decision.

"What the court is doing is taking a very narrow exemption of hydraulic fracturing from one act—the Safe Drinking Water Act—and suggesting that exemption applies to all other federal statutes," said Hannah Wiseman, an environmental law professor at Florida State University. "You could read the opinion to suggest that no federal agency has control over this activity...this is sort of an unprecedented decision."

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

White Supremacists Are Met With Rocks in Sacramento and Scorn in Newcastle

He Was a Hacker for the NSA and He Was Willing to Talk. I Was Willing to Listen.

The Jordanian Arms Theft Story

"Jordan Bad," Officials Tell NYT - Pressure For A New Southern Front Attack?

Bernie Sanders: Democrats Need to Wake Up

Don’t blame Brits for the Brexit: The EU strayed from its roots in post-war unity to become a neoliberal technocracy

Mexican Resistance to Neoliberal Social Cuts

Neither Corbyn Nor Labour Need the Rebel MPs

A Little Night Music

R. L. Burnside - Rollin and Tumblin

R.L. Burnside - Going Down South

R.L. Burnside - Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down

R.L. Burnside - Poor Black Mattie

R.L. Burnside - Long Haired Doney

RL Burnside - Someday baby feat Lyrics Born

RL Burnside - Shake'em On Down