Light News Dump

'Punch in the gut' as scientists find microplastics in Arctic ice | Scientists' dismay is reminiscent of the consternation felt by explorers who found plastic waste in the Marianas Trench, the deepest place on Earth, during submarine dives earlier this year
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/arctic-ice-microplastics-1.5246980

"We’re struggling": US farmers are hurting from Trump’s trade war with China but fully intend to vote for Trump and Republicans no matter what | "The man calls a spade a spade," Tenneger says. "If he says, 'this is how I’m gonna do it', he does it. I don’t see him waffling on stuff. So, I really appreciate that."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-trade-war-iowa-state-fair-china-pork-soybeans-a9058916.html

Peter Fonda, the tall, lanky actor who became a star and a counterculture sex symbol in the film “Easy Rider,” carrying on the Hollywood dynasty begun by his father, Henry Fonda, died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 79.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/arts/peter-fonda-dead.html

Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who became the state's first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by Hurricane Katrina, has died. Gov. John Bel Edwards' office confirmed Blanco had died Sunday in hospice care in Lafayette. She was 76. Blanco had a rare eye cancer that she battled successfully in 2011, but that later returned and spread to her liver. Her death came more than a year after the Democrat who served in state government offices for more than two decades announced in December 2017 that she was being treated for the incurable melanoma. Blanco described being in a "fight for my own life, one that will be difficult to win."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/kathleen-blanco-louisiana-governor-during-katrina-dies-n1043766

Leaked Documents Show UK Faces Food, Fuel And Drugs Shortages In No-Deal Brexit
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/uk-food-drug-fuel-shortage-risk-brexit_n_5d589a5fe4b0eb875f24d5f9

GOOD. DO IT NOW.: Governments around the world are considering taxing red meat like tobacco in an effort to curb climate change
https://www.businessinsider.com/red-meat-could-be-taxed-to-help-curb-climate-change-2019-8

Environmentalists renew bid to overturn EPA policy barring scientists from advisory panels: “Trump administration is simply trying to payback its polluter cronies by gutting sound science that our health and environmental protections rely on" - Neil Gormley, an attorney with Earthjustice
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/457631-environmentalists-renew-bid-to-overturn-epa-policy-keeping-scientists-off-advisory-committees

Beto O’Rourke Visits Gun Show Unannounced To Talk Gun Policy | The presidential hopeful talked to Republican gun owners and Trump supporters on Saturday after proposing an assault weapon ban earlier this week. | The Democrat talked about his newly announced gun policy proposal and listened to gun owners and vendors at the event, many of whom were Republicans and Trump supporters, according to O’Rourke’s team. “In order to make progress, Beto believes we have to meet people where they are, and not be afraid to have hard conversations with people who may not always agree,” his campaign said in a statement.

We won’t solve the challenges we face with half steps, half measures, or half the country. That’s why we’re going everywhere, including to gun shows, to meet Americans where they are—and bring them into our campaign.
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1162786179927949312

In Arkansas, I listened to gun owners and sellers—and appreciated hearing their perspectives. But as the plan we released yesterday says, if I’m president, you wouldn’t be able to buy weapons of war for $395. You wouldn’t be able to buy them at all.
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1162786179927949312

"Their differences aside, Beaver told Beto, 'I respect you for talking to me.' I saw him walk by & said 'wow what's he doing here?' Beaver said recounting their conversation. He even said he might be willing to support Beto's assault weapons buy-back plan
https://twitter.com/LaurenHitt/status/1162862210248581120

Some top aides to President Donald Trump sought for months for a way to give states the power to block undocumented immigrant children from enrolling in public schools -- all part of the administration’s efforts to stem illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller had been a driving force behind the effort as early as 2017, pressing cabinet officials and members of the White House Domestic Policy Council repeatedly to devise a way to limit enrollment, according to several people familiar with the matter. The push was part of a menu of ideas on immigration that could be carried out without congressional approval. Ultimately, they abandoned the idea after being told repeatedly that any such effort ran afoul of a 1982 Supreme Court case guaranteeing access to public schools. But the consideration of denying hundreds of thousands of children access to education illustrates the breadth of the White House’s push to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-17/white-house-mulled-ways-to-block-migrant-children-from-schools

American mom, 32, forced to live in Saudi Arabia loses custody of her four-year-old daughter after a judge in the kingdom ruled she is 'too Western to raise the child' because she went to Burning Man and has social media accounts 'full of nudity'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7367719/Mother-32-loses-custody-battle-daughter-Saudi-Arabia-new-Islam.html

Joseph Kennedy III Said to Be Eying Edward Markey’s Massachusetts Senate Seat | Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III of Massachusetts is considering a primary challenge next year against Senator Edward J. Markey, according to a senior Democratic official. Such a race could substantially alter the state’s political landscape and has the potential to elevate a fourth member of a Democratic dynasty to the Senate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/17/us/politics/joseph-kennedy-edward-markey-senate.html

Amazon executives gave campaign contributions to the head of Congressional antitrust probe two months before July hearing
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/18/amazon-executives-donated-to-rep-cicilline-antitrust-probe-leader.html

1619 Project: American Slavery
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf

Organisers say 1.7 million joined Hong Kong pro-democracy rally against police use of force, as protesters reiterate 5 demands
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/08/18/breaking-organisers-say-1-7-million-joined-hong-kong-pro-democracy-rally-police-use-force-protesters-reiterate-5-demands/

GamerGate (Alt-Left, Alt-Right, Incels.....): I Wish I Could Tell You It’s Gotten Better. It Hasn’t.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/15/opinion/brianna-wu-gamergate.html

A federal judge has upheld California’s ban on owning, manufacturing or selling semiautomatic rifles and the “bullet buttons” that convert a conventional rifle into a rapid-fire weapon.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Second-Amendment-doesn-t-allow-semiautomatic-14152233.php