Texts And Balances
July 19, 2022
Some Good News
- Capitol statue collection gets first Black American, replacing Confederate (WaPo, $)
- 4,000 beagles to be rescued from Virginia breeding facility (CNN)
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” – Frederick Douglass
Double, Double, Oil, And Trouble
The name of the play is: “How a conservative U.S.-based network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada.” The actors are: (1) The Atlas Network, a libertarian coalition with deep ties to conservative politicians and oil and gas producers; (2) Ottawa-based thinktank Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI); and (3) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The plot is: Trudeau’s liberal government works for years to align Canadian laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a declaration Canada first endorsed in 2010. That same year MLI, Atlas’ newest Canadian partner, enlists pro-fossil fuel industry Indigenous representatives to help conduct a successful campaign to derail UNDRIP.
The Atlas Network calls itself a “worldwide freedom movement.” It has nearly 500 partners, including conservative thinktanks like the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute (founded by Charles Koch), and the Heritage Foundation, which hosted a keynote speech by Donald Trump in April. Oil companies like Exxon Mobil are among its largest donors. Atlas members have worked to influence the views of Republican politicians like George W. Bush, and have exerted significant influence on conservative politics in the UK and Latin America. One of their leading U.S. campaigns has been to make Americans doubt if human-caused climate change is real.
MLI created a campaign to discourage the Canadian government from implementing UNDRIP, which contains clauses affirming Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty over territories they’ve lived on for thousands of years. Atlas and MLI feared that implementing UNDRIP would mean codifying Indigenous rights to reject pipelines or drilling, potentially making it harder for extraction companies to operate on those territories. Indigenous groups linked to MLI’s campaign appeared at conferences, testified to federal committees and were quoted in major media outlets pushing the view that Indigenous prosperity is impossible without oil and gas.
An Atlas report in 2018 set out the MLI campaign’s successes, including court decisions on rights for Indigenous folks, best practices in natural resource sharing, and how Indigenous communities benefited from what extraction companies were doing. Opponents of the campaign, however, called it “a contemporary expression of the type of imperialism that Indigenous peoples have been dealing with here for many, many years.” In June 2021, Trudeau’s government passed legislation to start implementing UNDRIP. But observers say since then, it’s been “bogged down in administrative morass.” (Guardian, Atlas Network)
An Urgent Warming
- Record-setting temperatures and massive wildfires are all too familiar in the U.S., but the U.K. Health Security Agency has announced its first “level 4” heat warning, the highest possible, which it describes as a “national emergency.” Last week, Meteorological Office boss Penny Endersby described the extreme heat being forecast as “absolutely unprecedented.”
- “Here in the U.K., we are used to treating a hot spell as a chance to go and play in the sun – this is not that sort of weather. Our lifestyles and infrastructure are not adapted to what is coming.” On Monday, Britain descended into that dangerous heat wave, with forecasts of 105 degrees – hotter than 98% of the planet’s surface.
- Residents were told not to go outside, salt trucks sprayed sand on roads to stop them from melting, and rail authorities warned tracks could buckle. Experts say hundreds or thousands could die in the heat. Meanwhile, wildfires continued raging across France, Greece, and Italy, and in Spain and Portugal, more than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to their brutal, weeklong heat wave. (NBC News)
Maternal Care Falters Under Taliban Rule
- Afghanistan has long suffered some of the world’s highest maternal and neonatal mortality rates, but billions invested by the U.S. and its allies in the health system brought improvements to the lives of mothers and babies during the 20-year war. Now, in less than a year under Taliban rule, hunger, curbs on women’s freedom, and fleeing hospital staff are eroding that progress.
- At Kabul’s busiest maternity hospital, incubators and cribs hold up to three newborns at a time due to a shortage of space. A lack of equipment and medication means the weakest patients die and doctors say hunger is behind a rise in complications like premature delivery and low birth weight.
- One doctor standing by an incubator with a tiny baby born nine weeks early and weighing less than a pound said his mother had gone hungry during the pregnancy. In the West, the baby might have lived, the doctor said, but in Kabul, he had no chance of survival. (WSJ, $)
Additional World News
- North Macedonia votes to resolve dispute with Bulgaria (Al Jazeera)
- Experts comb cargo plane crash site in north Greece; 8 dead (AP)
- Ghana confirms its first outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus (CNN)
- China floods leave at least 12 dead, with thousands evacuated (Guardian)
- Extradition process begins for Mexico drug lord wanted in US (AP)
- India hits 2 billion Covid-19 vaccinations as infections hit four-month high (CNN)
- EXCLUSIVE Russia’s Gazprom declares force majeure on some gas supplies to Europe (Reuters)
No School Pride
- A federal judge in Tennessee has temporarily blocked enforcement of two Biden administration directives protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in schools and workplaces. The two directives followed a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that upheld a civil rights provision called Title VII, which prohibits job discrimination because of sex, among other categories, and includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
- The Biden administration directives applied to educational institutions receiving federal funding and most employers, and would have extended protections for transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in schools and at work and to join sports teams that correspond to their gender identity. Last Friday’s ruling was in favor of 20 state attorneys general who sued the government, claiming the directives infringed on an authority that properly belongs to Congress and the states.
- 19 of the plaintiff states have Republican-controlled legislatures that have passed anti-LGBTQ legislation. Through July 1 of this year, at least 162 bills have been introduced across 35 states targeting LGTBQ people. (WaPo, $)
Texts And Balances
- Last Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General traveled to Capitol Hill and briefed all nine members of the House January 6 committee about the Secret Service erasing text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, called allegations that the agency deleted messages categorically false.
- During a “pre-planned, three-month system migration,” he said, data on some phones was lost but that none of the text messages being sought were permanently deleted. On Friday, committee members issued a subpoena to the Secret Service, giving the agency until Tuesday to turn over the documents. Guglielmi insisted the agency would respond “swiftly to the Committee’s subpoena.” The committee’s next public hearing is Thursday, and testimony from new witnesses will be presented. (NBC)
Additional USA News
- West Virginia to resume abortions after judge blocks enforcement of ban (Guardian)
- Moms for Liberty’s conservative activists are planning their next move: Taking over school boards (NBC)
- ‘Nobody is coming to save us’: Florida Dems struggle ahead of August primary (Politico)
- Florida amusement park where teen died after falling from ride cancels sniper-like laser shooting game (NBC)
- UC Irvine will enforce indoor mask mandate beginning Monday (CBS)
- Pence endorses in Arizona governor’s race, putting him at odds with Trump (WaPo, $)
- Family of man shot by Minneapolis police wants more details released (Axios)
All Shark And Mo’ Bites
- Lifeguards are setting up shark patrols at beaches up and down the Atlantic in the wake of increased attacks on swimmers. In Massachusetts, visits from sharks, specifically great whites, have been mostly a Cape Cod phenomenon the last several years thanks to an exploding seal population. Beaches in the Westport area were shut down Wednesday after a lifeguard reported spotting a shark near Horseneck Beach. Seeing the shark flags up was so unusual to the regulars that they found it hard to believe. “I thought someone was kidding,” one guy said. Nope. And this sighting comes on the heels of a confirmed great white sighting in nearby Buzzards Bay on Sunday.
- After a sharp increase in sightings last summer, new and improved shark patrols have been set up along more than 100 miles of Long Island’s beaches. On Wednesday, a man on a paddleboard at Smith Point Beach was bitten by a four-foot tiger shark, resulting in a four-inch gash in his leg. Later that day, another attack was reported at Seaview Beach on Fire Island, where an Arizona man was bitten on the wrist and backside. Friday at Point Lookout Beach, while beachgoers frolicked in the frothy waves and basked under the sunny skies, a lifeguard on a Jet Ski circled continuously while Nassau County police officers surveyed the waters by boat and helicopter. It was a scene straight out of Jaws.
- Fortunately, SHARKTIVITY has arrived. It’s the new shark tracking app from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. App users are being asked to report shark sightings and upload photos for confirmation. Hopefully, by effectively crowd-sourcing critical data points on where sharks are spotted, it will reduce encounters and promote safety. Those definitely not going near the water don’t have to miss out on the thrills. Shark Week shows start July 24 on Discovery. (CBS, NYT ($), Atlantic White Shark)
Additional Reads
- A West Virginia woman woke up from two-year coma — and identifies brother as attacker who nearly killed her, police say (CNN)
- As AI language skills grow, so do scientists’ concerns (AP)
- At least 30 endangered green sea turtles found with ‘bleeding’ neck wounds in Japan (CNN)
- Mountain gorillas of Rwanda making a comeback (CBS)
- Jewelry and Gems Worth Millions Stolen From Brink’s Truck in California (NYT, $)
- Documenta 15: Germany art exhibition chief resigns amid outrage over anti-Semitic works (Guardian)