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This evening's music features Chicago blues musician Maurice John Vaughn. Enjoy!

"Similar questions were posed to Allende as to me. Allende was told that he blamed everything on a conspiracy, on the economic crisis, that he blamed the high inflation that sabotaged him on the United States, and that he was frequently accusing the little lambs of Nixon and Kissinger of a coup. But everything became known later."

-- Nicolas Maduro

News and Opinion

Operation Condor conspiracy faces day of judgment in Argentina court

It was an organised programme of state-sponsored murder in which US-backed regimes conspired to hunt down, kidnap and kill political opponents across South America and beyond. Operation Condor [...] was devised to eliminate thousands of exiled leftwing activists who had dared confront the military dictators who ruled the continent in the 1970s and 80s. ...

Eighteen former military officers – including Argentina’s last dictator Reynaldo Bignone, 88 – will on Friday be sentenced on charges including kidnapping, torture and forced disappearance. Seven other defendants, including Jorge Videla – the general who headed Argentina’s junta during its bloodiest first three years – have died since the trial began in 2013.

The court has heard evidence on the deaths of more than 100 leftwing activists allegedly killed in Argentina, including 45 Uruguayans, 22 Chileans, 15 Paraguayans and 13 Bolivians.

The verdict is also likely to cast a fresh light on allegations that the operation was backed by the CIA – and at least tacitly approved by the then secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

The plaintiffs allege that Operation Condor received support from the US, especially in the form of its communications system, which they say operated through Condortel, a US telex system based in Panama.

Gastón Chillier, the executive director of Cels (Centre for Legal and Social Studies) in Argentina, said: “What we found among the large amount of documents we presented as evidence is that the US definitely had knowledge of the existence of the operation and even provided a communications station in Panama for the intelligence services of the six nations involved to communicate with each other via telex.”

Swedish Court Upholds Arrest Warrant for Julian Assange

A Swedish court on Wednesday rejected a request to overturn the arrest warrant of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because there were no new circumstances to consider.

The Stockholm District Court said it made the decision because Assange is still wanted for questioning in a case of suspected rape and that "there is still a risk that he will depart or in some other way evade prosecution or penalty."

The court said it saw no reason to hold another detention hearing saying he would remain "detained in absentia."

Thomas Olsson, Assange's lawyer in Sweden, says he would appeal the decision because "the passivity of the prosecutor had delayed the investigation in an unacceptable" way.

Former 9/11 Commissioner Won’t Rule Out Saudi Royal Family Foreknowledge of 9/11 Plot

A former member of the 9/11 Commission on Tuesday left open the possibility that the Saudi royal family knew about the 9/11 terror plot before it happened.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., asked members of the panel at a House Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing to raise their hands in response to this question:

“How many of you there believe that the royal family of Saudi Arabia did not know and was unaware that there was a terrorist plot being implemented that would result in a historic terrorist attack in the United States, in the lead-up to 9/11?”

Two of the four panelists raised their hands, but Tim Roemer, 9/11 Commission member and a former congressman from Indiana, did not. Neither did Simon Henderson, director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“Congressman, that is just too difficult a question for someone to raise their hand or put their hand down,” Roemer explained. He then suggested that Rohrabacher read 28 classified pages of a 2002 congressional report that describe overseas support for the 9/11 attackers.

The [28 pages were] initially classified by the George W. Bush White House, fearful of upsetting a U.S. ally. Despite twice promising to release the pages, President Obama has withheld them.

US prosecutors say businessman with 'close ties' to Turkey's Erdogan poses flight risk

Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish billionaire businessman who is accused of money laundering and sanctions violations poses an extraordinary flight risk and should not receive bail, US prosecutors said on Wednesday. ...

US prosecutors said Zarrab has "close ties" to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Zarrab was at the center of a 2013 gold corruption scandal in Turkey that ensnared then Prime Minister Erdogan's government. Prosecutors in Turkey alleged he bribed high-level officials to facilitate illicit transactions with Iran.

Three ministers were ultimately forced to resign even though they claimed their innocence.

The charges against Zarrab were ultimately dropped after Erdogan, who called the corruption allegations a coup orchestrated by political opponents, dismissed prosecutors and police working on the case.

US prosecutors said a Turkish prosecutor's report into corruption had been "corroborated by emails obtained through the FBI's investigation."

"There appear to be credible allegations that Zarrab has already secured his release from Turkish prison by causing the wholesale reorganization of the Turkish prosecutor's office and police department through bribery," US prosecutors said.

Erdogan – Our friend the autocrat?

Iraqis Are Bombarding Fallujah With 50,000 Civilians Trapped Inside

Iraqi government security forces and allied militias continued their assault on the Islamic State-held town of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing more civilians than militants in the process, according to sources inside the city.

At least 21 civilians have been killed in the three day-old offensive, compared with 14 Islamic State fighters, a Fallujah hospital source told Reuters. ...

Aid agencies have become alarmed about civilian suffering in a city that has been under siege for six months, and the United Nations has urged combatants to protect inhabitants trying to escape the fighting.

On Wednesday morning Iraqi troops concentrated artillery fire on Fallujah's northern and northeastern neighborhoods, according to a resident Reuters contacted via the Internet.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Tuesday that up to 50,000 people may still be trapped inside the town of 100,000.

Fearing Kurds, Many Raqqa Arabs Side With ISIS

Though they have, throughout US involvement in the Syrian War, been America’s go-to ally, the Kurdish YPG hasn’t had the rosiest of track records. Several times throughout the war, when offensives have put them in control of Sunni Arab territory, they have engaged in ethnic cleansing, killing Arabs they see as “pro-ISIS” and burning entire villages worth of homes.

This is informing the almost exclusively Sunni Arab population of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa as the YPG launches a major offensive just north of the city, and according to locals, is prompting many civilians to join the ISIS effort to defend the city.

This problem has been true in ISIS territory in both Iraq and Syria, where at times the “liberators” have been seen as unwelcome, and prone to violent outbursts against the locals.

Russia Halts Strikes on Syrian al-Qaeda, Citing Rebel Requests

Less than a week after Russia requested joint operations with the US to fight the growing al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, a call which the US rejected, Russia has announced they are putting their unilateral offensive against the group on hold indefinitely.

Russian officials cited requests from 10 rebel factions within Syria to put a halt to the strikes while they separate themselves from Nusra, which controls a major umbrella group in the Idlib Province and is believed to be on the verge of declaring an independent “emirate” in the area.

GOP senators propose sending ISIS fighters to Gitmo

A group of Republicans led by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) introduced legislation on Wednesday to send detained Islamic State in Iraq and Syria fighters to Guantanamo Bay.

“Instead of closing the prison, the Administration should transfer detained ISIS fighters to Guantanamo Bay," the senators said in a statement.

The legislation comes in the form of an amendment to the Senate's 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes Pentagon spending and activities. It's also backed by Sens. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Ted Cruz (Texas), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), and Tim Scott (S.C.).

It urges the transfer of captured ISIS fighters to the detention facility in Cuba, as the administration tries to shut the facility down before President Obama leaves office in January.

Holy crap! The State Department said something vaguely critical of Israel. I wonder how long it will be until the US apologizes and increases the amount of the military aid package.

US: New Far-Right Israeli Coalition Raises ‘Legitimate Questions’

While US officials had previously been reluctant to comment at all on the incoming “most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history,” today the State Department confirmed that this, including new Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman “raises legitimate questions” about the direction Israel is taking.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US is particularly concerned about the number of ministers in the new Israeli cabinet that have been publicly opposed to the two-state solution, though he added that the US will judge the coalition on actions, not rhetoric. ...

The US “concerns” are likely minimal, as Israel already had a far-right government before Lieberman’s addition, and Netanyahu campaigned last year explicitly on his opposition to Palestinian statehood.

EU Nations Ignore Egypt Arms Embargo, Fuel Junta Killings

In the immediate wake of the 2013 military coup d’etat in Egypt, the nation began carrying out bloody crackdowns on protesters loyal to the ousted elected government, leading the European Union to impose an arms embargo.

A new report from Amnesty International shows that the embargo has largely been meaningless, and that 12 of the 28 EU member nations continue to be major suppliers of weapons and other “policing equipment” to the military junta.

Egypt’s crackdown on dissent, of course, has continued throughout that period, and Amnesty said that in providing billions of dollars worth of weapons and other gear to the junta, the European Union nations are contributing significantly to that crackdown.

Obama's Historic Hiroshima Visit Underscores Nuclear Hypocrisy

President Barack Obama on Friday will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit to Hiroshima, Japan—a visit, according to anti-nuclear campaigners, that "rings hollow without far bolder efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons."

During his visit, Obama will reportedly offer no apology for the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on the Japanese city 71 years ago, which killed 140,000 people, though lingering effects, both physical and psychological, remain today.

At the start of his presidency, in 2009, Obama gave a speech in Prague during which he called for world without nuclear weapons and said, "the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same."

Yet that lofty goal "has been replaced by an administration plan to build a new generation of U.S. nuclear weapons and nuclear production facilities to last the nation well into the second half of the 21st century"—to the tune of $1 trillion over three decades, and in violation of the terms of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, historian Lawrence Wittner wrote.

Way to go Obama! Your neocon foreign policy is making the world a much safer place. I mean, gosh, I feel so secure in the knowledge of the superiority of American nuclear weapons as a deterrent. That's way better than a world without them!

China to send nuclear-armed submarines into Pacific amid tensions with US

The Chinese military is poised to send submarines armed with nuclear missiles into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, arguing that new US weapons systems have so undermined Beijing’s existing deterrent force that it has been left with no alternative.

Chinese military officials are not commenting on the timing of a maiden patrol, but insist the move is inevitable.

They point to plans unveiled in March to station the US Thaad anti-ballistic system in South Korea, and the development of hypersonic glide missiles potentially capable of hitting China less than an hour after launch, as huge threats to the effectiveness of its land-based deterrent force. ...

Until now, Beijing has pursued a cautious deterrence policy, declaring it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict and storing its warheads and its missiles separately, both strictly under the control of the top leadership.

Deploying nuclear-armed submarines would have far-reaching implications.

Warheads and missiles would be put together and handed over to the navy, allowing a nuclear weapon to be launched much faster if such a decision was taken. The start of Chinese missile patrols could further destabilise the already tense strategic standoff with the US in the South China Sea.

US nuclear arsenal controlled by 1970s computers with 8in floppy disks

The US military’s nuclear arsenal is controlled by computers built in the 1970s that still use 8in floppy disks.

A report into the state of the US government, released by congressional investigators, has revealed that the country is spending around $60bn (£40.8bn) to maintain museum-ready computers, which many do not even know how to operate any more, as their creators retire.

The Defense Department’s Strategic Automated Command and Control System (DDSACCS), which is used to send and receive emergency action messages to US nuclear forces, runs on a 1970s IBM computing platform. It still uses 8in floppy disks to store data.

Shockingly, the US Government Accountability Office said: “Replacement parts for the system are difficult to find because they are now obsolete.”

France Labour Law strike chaos: "We want more social rights for the workers"

French union dispute leaves newspaper stands empty save for leftwing daily

France’s CGT trade union has been accused of a “scandalous” attempt to lean on the press after it prevented almost all of Thursday’s French national newspapers from being printed, as part of escalating nationwide strike action against the government’s changes to labour laws.

The union’s strikers shut off printing presses and distribution and allowed only one newspaper, the leftwing daily L’Humanité, to be printed after it agreed to the union’s demands to publish an opinion piece by the CGT leader, Philippe Martinez. ...

It has emerged that CGT representatives contacted the French newspaper editors’ union on Wednesday, saying they insisted that every daily paper run a pre-written communique by Martinez, in which he called for the government proposals to be abandoned.

L’Humanité, which was formerly the official publication of the French Communist party and which, although it has long been independent, retains strong ties to its political roots, was the only paper to publish the release.

All other daily papers were prevented from publishing by the union, which shut off the printing presses on Wednesday night.

Baltimore officers charged in Freddie Gray death sue state's attorney

Two of the officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore last April filed a defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit against state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby

Officer William Porter – whose first trial ended with a hung jury in December – and Sgt Alicia White jointly filed suit against Mosby, the state, and other officials, alleging that the statements of charges “were made not for the purpose of prosecuting crimes that had allegedly been committed by White and Porter, but rather for purposes of quelling the riots in Baltimore”, according to court documents.

The plaintiffs attempted to keep the suit sealed but it was revealed on Wednesday, two days after Mosby’s office lost its case against officer Edward Nero, who was charged with assault for his role in Gray’s arrest. Porter and White are both charged with manslaughter for not getting medical attention for Gray, who died of a catastrophic spinal injury he suffered in the back of a police van. ...

The charges against the officers followed on high-profile failures of prosecutors to criminally charge officers in other police-involved deaths like that of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York.

But for many, the speed with which Mosby brought the charges – after promising to do a thorough investigation – was a problem and seems to be part of the basis of the suit, which also names a major in the sheriff’s department who assisted Mosby with the investigation. She brought charges less than 24 hours after receiving records of the police investigation.

Bill Would Require DNA Samples From Americans When Sponsoring Family Visas

A new immigration bill under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee would impose unprecedented restrictions on U.S. citizens seeking to sponsor the immigration of their family members, requiring that all parties submit to mandatory DNA testing as part of their visa applications.

H.R. 5203, the Visa Integrity and Security Act of 2016, would require that “a genetic test is conducted to confirm such biological relationship,” adding that, “any such genetic test shall be conducted at the expense of the petitioner or applicant.”

A public letter from the American Civil Liberties Union protesting the bill notes that its provisions would require “even a nursing mother [to] undergo DNA testing to prove the biological relationship with her infant,” and “would amount to population surveillance that subverts our notions of a free and autonomous citizenry.” It is unclear how the bill would account for adopted children, or those who for a variety of other reasons might not fully share the DNA characteristics of their parents. ...

In addition to the genetic testing requirements, which would be applicable across the globe, the bill also prohibits nationals and dual-nationals of seven specified countries –Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — from obtaining any type of U.S. visa without undergoing enhanced security screening procedures.

Canada Plans to Reject Chinese Telecom Workers on Suspicion They Could Be Spies

Canada's immigration department is planning to deny permanent resident visas to three Chinese citizens who work for Chinese telecom titan Huawei over concerns the applicants are involved in espionage, terrorism, and government subversion.

A fourth person previously employed by Huawei, but married to someone who currently works for the company, was also told their application would be rejected, the Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday.

Huawei is the third largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world, operating in 170 countries with more than 170,000 employees. It came under fire when a scathing 2012 US House Intelligence Committee report alleged it was spying on Americans, a claim that was characterized by Huawei as "little more than an exercise in China-bashing." The UK and Australia have also raised concerns that the company was being used to gather intel for the Chinese government.

'It needs more public-spirited pigs': TS Eliot's rejection of Orwell's Animal Farm

The letter in which TS Eliot rejects George Orwell’s allegory Animal Farm because “we have no conviction … that this is the right point of view from which to criticise the political situation” has been published online for the first time by the British Library, alongside a wealth of other material from 20th-century writers.

Addressing the author as “Dear Orwell”, Eliot, then a director at publishing firm Faber & Faber, writes on 13 July 1944 that the publisher will not be acquiring Animal Farm for publication. Eliot described its strengths: “We agree that it is a distinguished piece of writing; that the fable is very skilfully handled, and that the narrative keeps one’s interest on its own plane – and that is something very few authors have achieved since Gulliver.”

Animal Farm, a beast fable that satirised Stalinism and depicted Stalin as a traitor, was rejected by at least four publishers, with many, like Eliot, feeling it was too controversial at a time when Britain was allied with the Soviet Union against Germany.

“I think my own dissatisfaction with this apologue is that the effect is simply one of negation. It ought to excite some sympathy with what the author wants, as well as sympathy with his objections to something: and the positive point of view, which I take to be generally Trotskyite, is not convincing,” wrote Eliot to Orwell. “And after all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm – in fact, there couldn’t have been an Animal Farm at all without them: so that what was needed (someone might argue), was not more communism but more public-spirited pigs.”

Keep Oil in the Soil: Bill McKibben on Being Named by Sanders to DNC Platform Committee

This is a short article rich in information that will tick you off. Check it out to see the connections of these Clintonista lobbyists and who they are really working for.

Hillary Clinton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz Pick Influence Peddlers to Guide DNC Platform

Three professional influence peddlers, including a registered corporate lobbyist, have been chosen by Hillary Clinton and Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to serve on the committee responsible for drafting the party’s platform. ...

Wendy Sherman and Carol Browner, two of the representatives chosen by Clinton, work at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a “government affairs” firm that was created in 2009 through a merger with Madeleine Albright’s consulting company and Stonebridge International, a defense contractor lobbying shop. ...

Wasserman Schultz appointed Howard Berman, a former congressman who now works at Covington & Burling as a lobbyist. Disclosures show he currently represents the Motion Picture Association of America, the trade group for the movie industry, on “intellectual property issues in trade agreements, bilateral investment treaties, copyright, and related legislation.”

The picks stand in contrast to the slate chosen by the Bernie Sanders campaign, which included environmentalist Bill McKibben, philosopher Cornel West, and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

Wasserman Schultz fights to keep her job

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is fighting to stay on as head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) amid a roiling debate within her party about whether she should step aside before the Democratic National Convention in July.

Wasserman Schultz’s future as DNC chairwoman was called into question late Tuesday after The Hill reported that senators have privately discussed whether she should resign. Some argue such a move could mollify supporters of Bernie Sanders after a bitter primary fight against Hillary Clinton.

The issue reverberated across the Capitol on Wednesday, as Democrats in the House and Senate were bombarded with questions about whether a change in leadership is needed. ...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the DNC chairwoman has “the respect of her colleagues”; Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), head of the House Democratic Caucus, said she has “done phenomenal work”; and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), head of the Congressional Black Caucus’s campaign arm, praised her as having “done a great job in a difficult scenario.”

But the mood in the Senate was different; talk of replacing Wasserman Schultz received little pushback from Senate leaders.

Neck-and-Neck in California as Sanders Virtually Erases 50-Point Deficit

New poll shows Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in statistical tie less than two weeks before California's Democratic primary

Less than two weeks before California's critical Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are locked in a dead heat in that state, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), shows that among Democratic primary likely voters, 46 percent support Clinton and 44 percent support Sanders. Sanders leads Clinton among those who are very liberal (64% to 35%) as well as among younger voters (66% to 27%). Latino voters are slightly more likely to support Clinton (52% to 43%), while white voters are more divided (47% Clinton, 41% Sanders).

The San Jose Mercury News points out: "Sanders started the campaign a year ago trailing Clinton in California by more than 50 percentage points in early polls, but he had pared down her lead to single digits earlier this year. PPIC's last poll in March found Sanders trailing by seven percentage points."

As Politico notes, a Sanders victory on June 7 would create "an awkward situation for Clinton, who could be celebrating being dubbed the 'presumptive nominee' even as she loses the nation's largest state—and one of its most diverse."

Bernie Sanders up for debate against Donald Trump

Bernie Sanders has responded in the enthusiastic affirmative to an offer of unclear seriousness from Donald Trump to debate him before the 7 June California primary.

Appearing on late night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel’s show on Wednesday, Trump said he would be glad to debate Sanders mano a mano – for charity. At which Sanders, whose supporters routinely cheer his stump speech attacks on Trump, and who has failed to lure Hillary Clinton into a similar California showdown, tweeted that he was game:

Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7 primary.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 26, 2016

Sanders camp: Discussions underway for Trump debate

Bernie Sanders’s campaign manager says “back-channel conversations” are underway with Donald Trump’s staff about setting up a bipartisan debate between the two presidential candidates.

“I think it would benefit voters from across the country and I have to believe it would be one of the most-watched debates in presidential politics,” Jeff Weaver said Thursday on MSNBC.

“Let's see if he has the courage to go one-on-one with Bernie Sanders,” he added.

The Sanders campaign is seeking to ramp up pressure on Trump to follow through on his Wednesday night remarks to late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel.

"Significant Security Risks": State Department Says Clinton Broke Rules Using Private Email Server

Government Report on Clinton Email Scandal Much Worse Than Expected

As Politico's Rachael Bade, Josh Gerstein, and Nick Gass write:

The watchdog’s findings could exact further damage to Clinton’s campaign, and they provide fresh fodder for Trump, who has already said he will go after Clinton for the email scandal “bigly.” The Democratic frontrunner’s bid for the White House has already been hindered by high unfavorability ratings, with people saying they don’t trust her.

The report represents the latest pushback — in this case by a nonpartisan government entity — against her campaign’s claim that she did not break any rules and that her use of a private server was completely allowed.

In fact, technology staff in the Information Resource Management (S/ES-IRM) office who brought up concerns about Clinton's use of her private server were reportedly instructed not to question the arrangement.

"In one meeting, one staff member raised concerns that information sent and received on Secretary Clinton’s account could contain Federal records that needed to be preserved in order to satisfy Federal recordkeeping requirements," the report states. "According to the staff member, the Director [of S/ES-IRM] stated that the Secretary's personal system had been reviewed and approved by Department legal staff and that the matter was not to be discussed any further. As previously noted, OIG found no evidence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser reviewed or approved Secretary Clinton's personal system."

Other staff from different offices were also instructed "never to speak of the Secretary's personal email system again."

An excellent piece from Matt Taibbi, worth a full read:

Hillary Clinton's New Anti-Trump Ad Misses the Mark

A new attack ad put out by the Hillary Clinton campaign this week achieves the near-impossible, making Donald Trump look wronged and (almost) like a victim. More believably, it makes the Democrats look sleazy and disingenuous in comparison.

The ad begins with a picture of a grinning Trump and the words, "In 2006, Donald Trump was hoping for a real estate crash." ...

[Click link for full description. - js]

Then we hear Trump talking about how a bursting of the real-estate bubble would be an opportunity for rich folks like himself. ...

This ad is disingenuous in a dozen different ways. For one thing, the destruction that the Clinton campaign describes was not caused by people swooping in after the bubble burst, buying at the bottom of the market.

It was caused by the existence of a speculative bubble in the first place. And that bubble was inflated not by Donald Trump, but by the people who have at least in part bankrolled Hillary Clinton's career: namely, Wall Street banks. ...

By blaming Trump for a problem caused by their own political patrons, Hillary and the Democrats are walking face-first into Trump's rhetorical buzz-saw. Couldn't they find something else to hit him with?

Billion-Dollar Funds Tried, and Failed, to Force Oil Majors to Disclose Climate-Change Plans

On Wednesday, activist investors representing some of the world's biggest funds tried, and failed, to change how two of America's largest oil companies approach climate change. This time, the activists pushing for action on climate change from Exxon Mobil and Chevron weren't just in the street, as has happened often before. They had seats in the companies' shareholder meetings — and that's because they are some of the biggest money managers in the world.

Over the last year, Exxon Mobil and Chevron have faced mounting pressure from large shareholders about the risks posed to their business by a changing climate, and by increased regulation around carbon emissions. And at Wednesday's meetings, institutional investors with billions in company stock attempted to force the oil giants to disclose more about how they are preparing to operate in a world that's trying to burn less fossil fuel and forestall rising temperatures.

They failed, as 62 percent of Exxon shareholders and 59 percent of Chevron's went with the company's recommendation, and voted down resolutions to release climate impact reports. The companies had suggested that doing so would make them less competitive. ...

Institutional investors suggest the the recalcitrance of American oil majors is linked to corporate incentive structure and how the SEC manages the relationships between owners and company directors.

Anne Simpson, investment director for CalPERS said that because executive pay is tied to metrics like expanding proven oil reserves, companies are discouraged from shifting investment to renewable energy sources. One of the failed resolutions CalPERS supported would have change the measure of company output from barrels of oil to British thermal units, a source-neutral measure of energy, in the hope of spurring greater exploration of oil alternatives.

Bill McKibben on Exxon, the Power of Divestment, and Being Targeted by Shadowy Right-Wing Group

ExxonMobil CEO: ending oil production 'not acceptable for humanity'

Rex Tillerson, the boss of oil giant ExxonMobil, said cutting oil production was “not acceptable for humanity” as he fought off shareholders’ and activists’ attempts to force the company to fully acknowledge the impact of climate change on the environment and Exxon’s future profits.

During a long and fractious annual meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, Tillerson, who serves as Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, beat back several proposals to force the company to take more action on climate change.

However, dissident shareholders won a vote that could make it easier for them to propose board candidates concerned about climate change and remove incumbent directors.

Tillerson said Exxon had invested $7bn in green technology, but the science and technology had not yet achieved the breakthroughs needed to compete with fossil fuels. “Until we have those, just saying ‘turn the taps off’ is not acceptable to humanity,” he said. “The world is going to have to continue using fossil fuels, whether they like it or not.” ...

The Guardian was banned from reporting from inside the meeting, and instead listened to proceedings via webcast. “We are denying your request because of the Guardian’s lack of objectivity on climate change reporting, demonstrated by its partnership with anti-oil and gas activists and its campaign against companies that provide energy necessary for modern life, including newspapers,” a spokesman said.

Hundreds of Millions to Be Displaced by Climate Change, French Minister Warns

Calamitous global conflict as a result of climate change will produce hundreds of millions of refugees by 2100, said France's environmental minister Ségolène Royal to representatives from 170 countries at the UN environment assembly in Nairobi on Thursday.

"Climate change issues lead to conflict, and when we analyze wars and conflicts that have taken place over the last few years we see some are linked to an extent to climate change, drought is linked to food security crises," Royal said, according to the Guardian.

"The difficulty of having access to food resources leads to massive migration, south-south migration," she said, referring to migration between developing countries.

"The African continent is particularly hit by this south-south migration," Royal continued. "If nothing is done to combat the negative impact of climate change, we will have hundreds of millions of climate change migrants by the end of the century."

The minister's words echoed what humanitarian groups have argued: that climate change is among the root causes fueling the so-called "migrant crisis" created by world powers.

Also of Interest

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

The New York Times’s (and Clinton Campaign’s) Abject Cowardice on Israel

Israel is at war over nature of a Jewish state, and NYT spins it as ‘changing of the guard’

New WikiLeaks Trove Further Exposes TISA's Neoliberal Agenda

Democrats made assault weapons more popular, says gun historian

Bernie Sanders Easily Wins the Policy Debate

A Little Night Music

Maurice John Vaughn w/AC Reed - [Everything I Do] Got To Be Funky

Maurice John Vaughn - I Done Told You

Maurice John Vaughn - Generic Blues

Maurice John Vaughn, "Little Bobby" Neely, Abb Locke - I Wanna Hear Some Blues

Maurice John Vaughn - Mojo Hand

Maurice John Vaughn - I got money

Maurice John Vaughn - I Want To Be Your Spy