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“The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”

-- Article 5, Section 4 of the DNC Charter

News and Opinion

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange on Releasing DNC Emails That Ousted Debbie Wasserman Schultz

With DNC Leaks, Former ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Is Now True––and No Big Deal

For months, Bernie Sanders supporters and surrogates have complained about unfair treatment from the Democratic National Committee—only to have these concerns dismissed by media observers as petulance and conspiracy-mongering:

The Sanders campaign, by propagating these DNC conspiracy theories, doesn't encourage voters to be vigilant. They're encouraging paranoia.

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) December 26, 2015

This weekend, Wikileaksrevealed thousands of hacked emails from within the DNC that showed what the New York Times described as “hostility” and “derision” towards the Sanders campaign from top party officials.

While it’s impossible to know whether systemic pro-Hillary Clinton bias at the DNC was decisive in the 2016 Democratic primary race, we now know beyond any doubt that such a bias not only existed, but was endemic and widespread. DNC officials worked to plant pro-Clinton stories, floated the idea of using Sanders’ secular Judaism against him in the South, and  routinely ran PR spin for Clinton, even as the DNC claimed over and over it was neutral in the primary. The evidence in the leaks was so clear that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned her role as DNC chair—after her speaking role at the Democratic National Convention this week was scrapped—while DNC co-chair Donna Brazile, who is replacing Wasserman Schultz in the top role, has apologized to the Sanders camp.

Pro-Clinton pundits were quick to dismiss what was literally a conspiracy to railroad the Sanders campaign as nothing more than a yawn:

If you are shocked by the Wikileaks DNC emails, you probably have never worked in politics

Most surprising thing is how tame they are...

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 23, 2016

Whole thing seems a bit silly. Emails come from period where Sanders camp was attacking DNC daily. Surprising, no? https://t.co/Cz6c8GA6zq

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 23, 2016

This is a textbook PR spin pattern seen time and time again, what might be called the Snowden Cycle: X is a flaky conspiracy theory → X is revealed to be true → X is totally obvious and not newsworthy.

#DNCLeak: DNC instructs staff to covertly spread anti-@BernieSanders article https://t.co/zgjC2qLwTr #feelthebern pic.twitter.com/Mwf1oz2cQx

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 23, 2016

Leaked Docs Reveal DNC Determined to Undermine Sanders Campaign

WikiLeaks on Friday published roughly 20,000 leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The whistleblowing organization describes the trove, which includes over 8,000 attachments, as "part one of our new Hillary Leaks series," and is just the latest in a series of document dumps that show the DNC—which, as the The Intercept notes, "isn't supposed to favor one Democratic candidate over another until they receive a nomination"—seeking to bolster the candidacy of the former secretary of state and working against that of rival Bernie Sanders.

It is unclear at this point whether the hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, who claimed responsibility for two previous leaks from the DNC servers, provided the latest documents to WikiLeaks.

The new leaks span from January 2015 to May 2016, and come from what WikiLeaks describes as "the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC."

Top DNC Official Wanted to Use Bernie Sanders’s Religious Beliefs Against Him

The email was sent to DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda and Deputy Communications Director Mark Paustenbach. It’s unclear who the “someone” in this message could be — though a member of the press seems like a safe bet. ...

[UPDATE at 1:03 p.m. ET: Marshall emails to say “I do not recall this. I can say it would not have been Sanders. It would probably be about a surrogate.” We have asked him who that surrogate could possibly be.]

And although Sanders is not mentioned by name, he was the only Jewish candidate from either party — an apparent weakness that Marshall believed the party could exploit in favor of Hillary Clinton.

Oh Brad Marshall. This is when you ask urself if after 24 yrs ur about winning or being human. very unchristian, Boo https://t.co/W6KUDjFD9V

— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) July 22, 2016

Sanders Camp Says Someone Must Be 'Accountable' for What DNC Emails Show

Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said his team was "disappointed" by the emails from the Democratic National Committee leaked through WikiLeaks, which seemed to reveal staff in the party working to support Hillary Clinton.

"Someone does have to be held accountable," Weaver said during an interview with ABC News. "We spent 48 hours of public attention worrying about who in the [Donald] Trump campaign was going to be held responsible for the fact that some lines of Mrs. Obama's speech were taken by Mrs. Trump. Someone in the DNC needs to be held at least as accountable as the Trump campaign."

Weaver said the emails showed misconduct at the highest level of the staff within the party and that he believed there would be more emails leaked, which would "reinforce" that the party had "its fingers on the scale." ...

Another member of Sanders' staff, Rania Batrice put it this way: "Everything our fans have been saying -- and they were beaten down for and called conspiracy theorists -- and now it's in black and white."

#DNCLeak: DNC knew of Clinton 'paid troll factory' fighting Sanders supporters https://t.co/qwCck0nGdH #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/OAx6OyM6xn

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 24, 2016

Mission Accomplished at DNC, Clinton Hires Wasserman Schultz for Top Post

Though many progressives immediately responded by saying her ouster would not be enough to undo the damage her leadership has done, Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation on Sunday afternoon, saying she would relinquish her post immediately following the party's national convention which begins Monday.

Following Sunday's news, however, Clinton responded with a statement thanking her "longtime friend" for her service to the party and, seemingly without irony, announced that Wasserman Schultz would now serve as her campaign’s honorary chair.

[What's changed? Wasserman-Schultz was always Clinton's honorary campaign chair. - js]

"There's simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than Debbie," Clinton said, "which is why I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair of my campaign's 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states." ...

Meanwhile, the party's communications director announced that longtime political operative and pundit Donna Brazile, currently the DNC’s vice chair, will take over as interim chair through the election.

Hillary Clinton's showy rewarding of corruption by DWS is an ill wind for the corruption-overton-window of a future presidency.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 24, 2016

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Booed at Chaotic Florida Delegation Breakfast

Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was booed and jeered at a pre-convention delegation breakfast this morning in Philadelphia, a day after she announced she would resign from the post after the leak of embarrassing party emails.

Amid ugly scenes, an event organizer repeatedly tried to quiet the crowd, but the boos continued as Wasserman Schultz began speaking.

“Shame on you!” screamed some.

“You rigged the election!” was another repeated refrain.

Many of the vocal protesters were seen wearing shirts supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Will Sanders Delegates Disrupt the DNCC?

Establishment Wins Again as DNC Rules Committee Rejects Proposal to Abolish Superdelegates

After several rounds of voting Saturday afternoon, an effort by progressive Democrats to abolish what they see as the anti-democratic superdelegate process was defeated.

The amendment, co-sponsored by 52 members of the Democratic Party Rules Committee, was defeated when 108 members voted against and just 58 voted in favor. 

Though a stinging defeat for those who campaigned in favor of the rule change, spearheaded largely by Bernie Sanders delegates and progressive advocacy groups, supporters took solace that because more than one-quarter of the committee voted 'yes' they will able to introduce a minority report during the full convention next week and demand a floor vote.

Bernie Sanders says "we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," his supporters react with loud boos, jeers https://t.co/tIADhryHO3

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) July 25, 2016

Sanders booed by supporters after telling them to vote for Clinton

When Bernie Sanders took the stage before his delegates in Philadelphia on Monday, he must have known he had a tall order to deliver. After a long and unexpectedly close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he had to convince his most hardcore supporters to join him in rallying behind his former opponent.

Cheers turned to jeers when the Vermont senator finally declared his support for the party ticket.

"We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," he said to the room. The crowd recoiled immediately, as many booed and some pleaded for him to keep up the fight. ...

Most of the speech leading up to Sanders' call for party unity focused on his campaign's influence on convention rules and the Democratic platform. Among the victories he announced was a future reduction of party superdelegates from 715 to 250 — a 60 percent decrease — and the "most progressive platform" in party history.

After Chaotic Weekend for Democrats and Wasserman Schultz, A Class Action Lawsuit Lies Ahead

Three months before the Wikileaks dump of emails on Friday, which show a clear strategy by the DNC to undermine Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton, Wall Street On Parade had previously asked the question “Are Hillary Clinton and the DNC Skirting Election Law?” in regard to the clearly biased structure of the Hillary Clinton and DNC joint fundraising committee, which operated for the benefit of each other as if Senator Bernie Sanders didn’t exist. Wall Street On Parade also reported in April that the DNC’s direct marketing firm displayed overt bias in favor of Clinton over Sanders on its Facebook page. ...

The Wikileaks dump of the 20,000 emails will not be the end of disclosures about how the DNC under the tutelage of Wasserman Schultz orchestrated a campaign to coronate Hillary Clinton and undermine Sanders. A Federal class action lawsuit has been filed against the DNC and Wasserman Schultz alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, deceptive conduct, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. The suit, Wilding et al v DNC Services Corporation and Deborah ‘Debbie’ Wasserman Schultz (Case Number 16-cv-61511-WJZ) was originally filed by the law firm Beck & Lee on June 28, 2016. An amended complaint has subsequently been filed. Jared H. Beck of the law firm has indicated that over 1,000 plaintiffs have thus far signed retainer agreements with his firm in relation to the class action lawsuit.

Julian Assange: Choosing Between Trump or Clinton is Like Picking Between Cholera or Gonorrhea

Heh. Looks like Sanders' supporters want him to have the presidency more than he does.

Sanders seeks unity at Democratic national convention after chair resigns

Bernie Sanders will on Monday urge supporters to consider how “far superior” Hillary Clinton is to the alternative, as Democrats seek to defuse outbreaks of tension at the start of their four-day national convention in Philadelphia.

In a crucial opening night address to delegates, the Vermont senator will appear alongside first lady Michelle Obama as the party seeks a display of unity in contrast with Republican infighting in Cleveland last week.

The star-studded convention got off to a rocky start on Sunday, when Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to announce her resignation on the eve of proceedings, following revelations of bias against Sanders during the long and bitter primary contest with Clinton.

But the Sanders campaign seemed keen to put the fight behind it over the weekend, despite the leaked emails which showed DNC staff sought to exploit his religious beliefs and Wasserman Schultz openly dismissing the notion that he could ever win.

Group of Bernie Sanders Delegates Object to Tim Kaine VP Pick — May Protest on Floor

A group of Bernie Sanders delegates to the Democratic National Convention announced their discontent with the selection of Tim Kaine as the vice presidential nominee on Monday and signaled they might protest that decision on the convention floor.

Calling themselves the Independent Bernie Delegates Network, the group includes 1,250 Sanders delegates — about two-thirds of the total Sanders delegate count —  who have been organized by RootsAction.org and Progressive Democrats of America. The group is holding snap straw polls among its members to help inform options for its actions at the convention.

In a survey of the delegates taken 10 days ago, just 3 percent said that Tim Kaine was an “acceptable” vice presidential choice for presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. 9 percent were undecided, and 88.percent said the choice would not be acceptable.

Sanders delegates who spoke at the event cited the choice of Kaine as evidence that Clinton is not properly reaching out to their movement. Kaine has raised the ire of progressives by supporting moving the Trans-Pacific Partnership forward and backing the expansion of offshore drilling.

DNC Leaks Reveal Party Insiders Promising Access to President in Exchange for Cash

Wealthy potential donors to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were courted with promises of access to the president, a Washington Post analysis of internal DNC emails released by WikiLeaks has found. The party insiders' pitches appear to be in violation of White House policy, the newspaper notes.

On Monday, the Post reported:

The DNC emails show how the party has tried to leverage its greatest weapon—the president—as it entices wealthy backers to bankroll the convention and other needs. At times, DNC staffers used language in their pitches to donors that went beyond what lawyers said was permissible under a White House policy designed to prevent any perception that special interests have access to the president.

Top aides also get involved in wooing contributors, according to the emails. White House political director David Simas, for instance, met in May with a half-dozen top party financiers in Chicago, including Fred Eychaner, one of the top Democratic donors in the country, the documents show.

...

Not only does the DNC appear to be pitching access to the president in exchange for donations, a McClatchy investigation on Thursday also revealed that large-ticket donors often demand such special favors. It also found that DNC insiders attempted to find ways to appease such donors—occasionally arguing about which donor deserved a reward more.

McClatchy reports:

In one exchange, National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan and Mid-Atlantic Finance Director Alexandra Shapiro argue which contributor should be allowed to sit next to Obama at a DNC event.

Kaplan told Shapiro to move Maryland ophthalmologist Sreedhar Potarazu and give the seat to New York philanthropist Philip Munger because he is the largest donor to Organizing for America, a group that pushes Obama’s policies. "It would be nice to take care of him from the DNC side," Kaplan wrote.

But Shapiro explained that the Potarazu family had contributed $332,250 while Munger had only donated $100,600.

Munich Shooting Sparks Push to End Post-WW2 Limits on Using German Military Domestically

Once again underscoring how quickly security officials will look to parlay any incident into an increase of power, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann is pushing for a revision of the German Constitution after Friday’s mass shooting in Munich to remove limits on using the military domestically, limits that were put in place immediately after the destruction of the Nazi government.

The German Constitution currently limits the military’s domestic deployments, only allowing their use in cases of “national emergency.” Hermann insisted this was “absolute” and that Germany, as “an absolutely stable democracy,” should be perfectly comfortable with their military deployed on the streets. ...

The Social Democrats and Greens were particularly critical of the call, accusing the ruling Christian Democrats of trying to use Munich for political gain.

Turkey failed coup: Erdogan holds meeting with political party leaders

Turkey unity rally draws thousands as post-coup torture claims emerge

Many thousands of Turks massed on Sunday for the first cross-party rally to condemn the coup attempt against the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, amid a purge of suspected state enemies. ...

But in stark contrast to the broadly celebratory mood in Istanbul, human rights group Amnesty International in London claimed it had “credible evidence” of the beating and torture of post-coup detainees. ...

The mass event was called by the biggest opposition group, the secular and centre-left Republican People’s party (CHP), many of whose members carried pictures of modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Its leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, told the crowd that, amid all the turmoil, “the parliament stood proudly, Turkey stood proudly, lawmakers stood proudly, people in this square have stood proudly, and democracy won”.

But he also stressed that now “the state should not be governed by anger and revenge”.

“The culprits of the putsch should be tried lawfully,” he said, warning that torture and ill treatment would put the state on a par with the putschists.

In London, Amnesty alleged the government was already using such methods, citing interviews conducted with lawyers, doctors and one person on duty in a detention facility.

Amnesty claimed it had “credible evidence” some detainees were being “subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, in official and unofficial detention centres in the country”.

The group said it had received reports that detainees were being denied food, water and medical treatment and being held in “stress positions” for up to 48 hours.

Erdogan Orders 1,000 Schools Closed as Purge Grows

As post-coup Turkey enters its second week, the focus of the ever-growing purge seems to be increasingly centered on private schools and charities, which the Erdogan government has accused of secretly being in league with Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who was once a close ally to Erdogan, and is now accused of being behind the coup. ...

Over the weekend, Erdogan ordered some 1,000 private schools closed, accusing them all of being linked to Gulen. Under the current state of emergency powers that he has, there is no real recourse to the closures, nor any need for the government to provide evidence against the schools.

Erdogan seems to be in the process of redesigning much of the nation’s education system, with an eye on people loyal to him, as word has gone out that some 20,000 new teachers are to be hired to replace those who were “suspended” in the wake of the coup, suggesting those purged simply aren’t going to get their jobs back.

US Military, Intel Officials Pan Kerry’s Plan to Cooperate With Russia on Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry’s support for a plan to increase coordination with Russia on their respective wars in Syria, with an eye toward targeting al-Qaeda as well as ISIS, is bringing the plan closer to fruition, and as it gets there, more and more other US officials are blasting the idea.

It’s not so much specific problems with the design of the plan that has many US military and intelligence officials in opposition, so much as the general notion that Russia simply can’t be trusted on anything. ...

One specific is still producing some criticism though, and that’s the idea of expanding the strikes to include al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, with some US officials quoted as saying that’s a bad idea because Nusra fighters are “commingled” with the moderate rebels.

Which if anything reflects Russia’s long-standing gripe about the US arming “moderate” factions, that so much of their gear is ending up in the hands of al-Qaeda. ... The intelligence community only adds to that obstacle, because they’ve also openly opposed attacking ISIS for months, arguing the war should be against the Syrian government, and by extension against Russia, with ISIS simply to be ignored.

Congressmen Push Dueling Plans for US Nuke Arsenal

A potentially massive expense which rarely gets a lot of debate, the question of America’s nuclear weapons “modernization” scheme is the subject of a pair of rival letters from Congressmen to the White House, advocating different approaches.

The first letter, signed by a bipartisan group of senators including Tim Kaine (D – VA), argues for massive expenditures to ensure the “interlocking triad” of US nuclear capabilities remains in place for decades to come, irrespective of the cost. Sen. Kaine was named just days ago as Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential election.

The alternate letter, from a group of 10 Democrat senators including Edward Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, Patrick Leahy, and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, argues for a substantial scaling back of the program.

Though President Obama has styled himself as in favor of disarmament, he has mostly expressed support for the modernization plan.

Wall Street Vultures May Have Wrecked the Central States Pension Fund

Bowing to the demands of thousands of angry Teamsters, the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed to conduct an inquiry into the past investments of the Central States Pension Fund, the organization that manages the retirement benefits for more than 400,000 union members, both retired and active.

One goal of the inquiry is to determine whether Goldman Sachs and other investment advisors caused the Fund to lose money, endangering the future pensions of retired truck drivers and other Teamster union members. ...

“It’s astonishing to now read about how Wall Street firms hired by Central States invested retirees’ pension funds in Iraq in 2008, right in the middle of a full-scale war in Iraq. Or how they invested in unstable Russian banks, when the economy there is in shambles, or how they sunk $1.4 billion into risky Single A-rated mortgage-backed bonds in the middle of the housing meltdown. Something is simply wrong, and the GAO will get to the bottom of this,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said.

Behind the GAO review is the conviction by some of the retirees that investment advisors like Goldman Sachs and the Chicago-based Northern Trust Corporation profited off the Fund by pushing questionable investment strategies while raking in exorbitant management fees. If true, a full accounting might lead to a return of some of the money lost and partial repairs to the damaged finances of the Fund, pension activists say.

“The pension plan lost $11 billion in a 15-month period,” while Goldman was advising the plan, and Goldman should pay some of the money back, said Leroy Goans, a retired union truck driver in Cincinnati.

Sometimes Obama likes treaties, presumably so long as nobody uses them to inform him that he can't employ a flying death robot to assassinate anybody he damned well pleases - anytime, anywhere.

Hillary Surrogate Obama condemns Trump on Nato and says rhetoric 'helps do Isis's work'

Barack Obama has said Donald Trump’s suggestion that under his presidency the US might not defend Nato allies shows a “lack of preparedness” on foreign policy, particularly regarding “the most important alliance in the history of the world”.

In a forceful interview with CBS’s Face the Nation recorded on Friday for broadcast on Sunday, the president also said Trump’s remarks about Muslims and immigration were “ultimately helping do Isis’s work”.

Obama said Trump’s remarks were “an indication of the lack of preparedness that he has been displaying when it comes to foreign policy”.

“There is a big difference between challenging our European allies to keep up their defense spending,” the president said, “particularly at a time when Russia’s been more aggressive, and saying to them, ‘You know what? We might not abide by the central tenet of the most important alliance in the history of the world.’”

Race to the White House: Hillary Clinton's poll numbers decrease

Can't Win? Post-Convention Bump Sends Trump Surging in Polls

Donald Trump has surged in election polls, bolstered by post-convention support, to overtake Hillary Clinton in the latest CNN/ORC survey (pdf) that finds the Republican nominee at 44 percent to Clinton's 39.

The latest poll measures Trump against Clinton, the Green Party's Jill Stein (three percent) and Libertarian Gary Johnson (nine percent). In a hypothetical two-way matchup, Trump beats Clinton at a slightly closer 48 to 45 percent. ...

The results were enough to influence FiveThirtyEight's election forecast, which on Monday estimated that Trump has an overall 57.5 percent chance of winning, while Clinton has 42.5 percent.

A Tectonic Shift in Conservative World: Trump Accepts Nomination as Roger Ailes Ousted from Fox News

Oil Lobby Paid Washington Post and Atlantic to Host Climate-Change Deniers at RNC

At the award-winning seafood restaurant in downtown Cleveland that The Atlantic rented out for the entire four-day Republican National Convention, GOP Rep. Bill Johnson turned to me and explained that solar panels are not a viable energy source because “the sun goes down.”

Johnson had just stepped off the stage where he was one of the two featured guests speaking at The Atlantic’s “cocktail caucus,” where restaurant staff served complimentary wine, cocktails, and “seafood towers” of shrimp, crab cakes, oysters, and mussels to delegates, guests, reporters and, of course, the people paying the bills.

The event was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm of fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

Johnson, a climate denier and influential member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, spoke of a future when American scientists “solve these big problems” and “figure out how to harness the sun’s energy, and store it up, so that we can put it out over time.” His hypothetical invention, of course, is called a battery, and was invented over 200 years ago.

Instead of balancing Johnson with an environmentalist or a climate scientist, The Atlantic paired Johnson with another notorious climate denier: Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who is an energy adviser to Donald Trump. Cramer has called global warming “fraudulent science by the EPA,” and once told a radio audience in 2012 that “we know the globe is cooling.”

Both congressmen went nearly unchallenged by the moderator, The Atlantic’s Washington Editor Steve Clemons, who said he wasn’t able to find an opposing speaker, but went ahead with the event anyway.

[See article for information about Wapo and Politico-hosted climate change denial parties. -js]

Demonstrators Demand 'Clean Energy Revolution' on Eve of Dem Convention

Yesterday's 10,000 strong #CleanEnergyMarch in Philly on the front page of the @nytimes! #banfracking #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/s1ItSVecVK

— Frack Action (@FrackAction) July 25, 2016

With plenty of overlap between them, both climate justice campaigners and supporters of Bernie Sanders held marches and rallies in downtown Philadelphia on Sunday, making their presence and political demands heard a day before the Democratic National Convention officially kicks off.

Under a banner calling for a "Clean Energy Revolution," the climate march put a focus on key shortcomings when it comes to the Democratic Party's commitment to addressing an increasingly hot planet.

Those marching did so in the name of a host of climate-related demands, including:

• An immediate nationwide ban on fracking and offshore drilling;
• Support of polices to keep all fossil fuels in the ground, with priority on those beneath public lands;
• An end to funding and building of fossil fuel infrastructure project; and
• A rapid and just transition to 100 percent renewable energy by mid-century or earlier

As Major Parties Embrace Fracking, Report Shows Natural Gas 'Bridge to Climate Disaster'

As the Democratic Party comes under fire for not taking a strong enough stance on fracking, and Donald Trump considers drilling tycoon Harold Hamm for Energy Secretary in his hypothetical cabinet, a new report out Friday details how proposed natural gas expansion in the U.S. stands to undermine national climate goals as well as public and environmental health.

A Bridge Too Far: How Appalachian Basin Gas Pipeline Expansion Will Undermine U.S. Climate Goals (pdf), from Oil Change International (OCI) in partnership with 11 other organizations, "shows that current projections for U.S. natural gas production—fueled by a boom in the Appalachian basin—will lock in enough carbon to bust through agreed climate goals," according to a press statement from OCI. 

Echoing arguments made by environmentalist Bill McKibben and others, the report undercuts the specious argument that natural gas is a "bridge" fuel spanning the gap between dirty fossil fuels and clean renewable energy.

Indeed, said OCI executive director Stephen Kretzmann, "expanded natural gas production is a bridge to climate disaster. Our report shows that even if we entirely eliminated emissions from coal and oil, the emissions from the natural gas boom alone would still blow our climate budget. This should be a wake up call to anyone promoting natural gas as a bridge to a clean energy future. Put simply, it's not."

Also of Interest

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

Kaine pick and WikiLeaks revelations have riled up the Bernie brigade on the eve of Hillary Clinton’s coronation

DNC Staffers Mocked the Bernie Sanders Campaign, Leaked Emails Show

DNC emails: Behind the scenes look at care of big donors

U.S. Media Blames Putin Conspiracy for Homegrown Trump Phenomenon

Erdogan will be stronger after the failed coup, but Turkey could be the loser

‘The Public Is Viewed Not as Someone to Be Helped, but as an Enemy to Be Contained’

Killing with Robots Increases Militarization of Police

A Little Night Music

Tampa Red & Big Maceo Merriweather - Corrine Blues

Tampa Red - You Got To Reap What You Sow

Tampa Red - Don't Blame Shorty For That

Tampa Red - Things Bout Coming My Way

Tampa Red - Let Me Play With Your Poodle

Tampa Red - You Better Tighten Up on It

Tampa Red - She's Dynamite