Light News Dump

Lib Dems pledge to cancel Brexit if they win general election
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49706643

Saudi stock market dives, oil price to jump after attack on Iranian-backed Islamic terrorists in Yemen use drone warfare to destroy Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/15/saudi-stock-market-dives-crude-to-jump-after-attack-on-oil-plants.html

Trump's long-term plan to destroy Obama's green legacy | The White House is not only overturning as many environmental protections as it can - it also wants to significantly change the legal landscape to make it harder to reinstate them
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-environment-obama-water-regulation-a9104966.html

Nobody Learns: Lessons Of Darkness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessons_of_Darkness

Lektionen In Finsternis (1992)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104706/

"I'm going to kill myself:" A veteran tells Sanders he's drowning in medical debt
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/im-going-to-kill-myself-a-veteran-tells-sanders-hes-drowning-in-medical-debt/2019/09/14/e9d7fe1e-d6fa-11e9-9343-40db57cf6abd_story.html

Coordinated drone strikes by Islamic terrorists in Yemen knock out half of Saudi oil capacity, more than 5 million barrels a day
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/14/business/saudi-oil-output-impacted-drone-attack/index.html

Last December, an innocuously named nonprofit, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), wined and dined Republican politicians and White House staffers at a Walt Disney World resort, according to a new report from the Center for Public Integrity. The pitch: make it harder for poor Americans to access government programs meant to help them get on secure financial ground, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, and Medicaid. The group has already achieved some victories, as states including Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and West Virginia have imposed work requirements on SNAP recipients, sometimes using FGA model legislation. A nationwide version of work requirements proposed by the Trump administration is expected to kick hundreds of thousands of poor Americans off of SNAP. A Sludge investigation has found that FGA is heavily financed by a powerful Wisconsin foundation birthed by the wealthy, conservative Bradley brothers, multiple nonprofits affiliated with rightwing billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, and two dark money vehicles funded by Koch and Bradley charitable nonprofits. A number of FGA executives and board members work or have worked for other connected Bradley- and Koch-funded think tanks and political groups. FGA and its connected lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, are employing a common tactic among conservative economists, policy writers, and free-market ideologues, recasting cuts to public welfare benefits as encouraging “the redeeming power of work.” | The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has donated nearly $2.3 million to FGA since 2013, according to its annual reports. Based in Wisconsin and named after two brothers, Lynde and Harry, whose factory automation business made them a fortune, the foundation is led in part by its president, Art Pope, a wealthy North Carolinian political donor and close Koch ally. On its board are current and former business executives including GOP megadonor Diane Hendricks, owner of building company ABC Supply. The Bradley Foundation was established in 1942, the year that Lynde Bradley died, and funded schools, hospitals, and other local initiatives in its early days. Harry Bradley, who was a “fierce anti-Communist” and supported the far-right John Birch Society, died in 1965. Twenty years later, the family business was sold to Rockwell International for nearly $1.7 billion, and with a huge influx of cash, the Bradley Foundation massively expanded its work to promote the conservative values of its namesakes. The foundation is deeply committed to state political efforts around the country, and hacked records show the extent of its powerful political operation. The foundation finances think tanks, bill-writing groups, legal centers, and conservative media in states such as Colorado, North Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin to promote stricter welfare work requirements, anti-union policies, school privatization, and climate change skepticism.
https://prospect.org/article/meet-oligarchs-funding-campaign-kill-anti-poverty-programs
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/01/707681965/more-than-750-000-could-lose-food-stamps-under-trump-administration-proposal
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6329944-Summit-Invite.html
https://www.bradleyfdn.org/grants/recent-grants
https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/06/16/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-art-pope-extreme-agenda-nc/
https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2017/5/5/hacked-records-show-bradley-foundation-taking-wisconsin-model-national.html
https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2017/5/5/hacked-records-show-bradley-foundation-taking-wisconsin-model-national.html

Boris Johnson is set to defy a new law designed to stop him forcing the U.K. out of the European Union with no deal next month, and is braced for a fight to settle Brexit in the British courts. | Instead, Johnson will ignore a new British law requiring him to ask the EU for Brexit to be postponed and prepare to fight his opponents -- including opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn -- in court.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-14/johnson-set-to-defy-ban-on-no-deal-brexit-and-fight-on-in-court

Kris Kobach sent names of Nebraska residents to ICE while running for Kansas governor | Kris Kobach was in the middle of running for Kansas governor in December 2017, but he had unfinished business in Nebraska. The former Kansas secretary of state helped write an ordinance in 2010 for Fremont, Neb., banning landlords from renting homes to immigrants living in the country illegally. Four years later, he successfully defended his handiwork on behalf of the town all the way to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. His legal victory attracted national attention. Still, enforcing the law had proven difficult because information collected on rental applications wasn’t enough for the federal government to determine whether someone was in the country legally. But Kobach wasn’t ready to give up. So in 2017, while still receiving a $10,000-a-year retainer from Fremont, he emailed the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a list of 289 people who had applied for an occupancy license in the eastern Nebraska city, where about 15 percent of its 26,000 residents are Hispanic. Kobach wanted to determine if any of the people on this list were in the country illegally, and asked ICE to “verify the immigration status” of each individual. He also went a step further, hinting that if the information he provided led to anyone being arrested or deported he’d be fine with that.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article235055257.html

Republicans On Energy Panel Push Giant Alaska Gas Pipeline 800-Mile, $43-Billion Project Is Intended to Send Liquified Natural Gas To China
https://www.dcreport.org/2019/09/12/radical-republicans-on-energy-panel-push-giant-alaska-gas-pipeline/

Trump administration bars access to immigration tent courts
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-09-11/trump-administration-bars-access-to-immigration-tent-courts

Trump administration allows US hunter to import lion he killed in Africa
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-lion-trophy-hunter-import-tanzania-us-safari-carl-atkinson-a9105916.html

Republicans accused of stifling sexual misconduct claim against Brett Kavanaugh during confirmation; Corroborating information about an accusation against Kavanaugh was not investigated prior to his 2018 confirmation
https://www.salon.com/2019/09/15/republicans-accused-of-stifling-sexual-misconduct-claim-against-brett-kavanaugh-during-confirmation/

Bernie Sanders reveals national rent control plan in Las Vegas | He proposed a national rent control standard that would cap rent increases at no more 1½ times the rate of inflation or 3 percent, whichever is higher. He promised to promote legal protections for fair housing and take steps to eliminate racial discrimination in loan practices. Sanders also said he would expand the National Housing Trust Fund, which allocates money to states to build and maintain affordable housing for low-income Americans. Trump’s budget proposal called for drastic cuts to that fund. Sanders said he will fully fund Section 8 rental assistance program — or the Housing Choice Voucher Program — which subsidizes private landlords to rent properties to low-income families at fair market value. He told those in attendance Saturday that his plan will eliminate some of the lengthy wait times that plague those seeking those vouchers. He also proposed $70 billion of investment to repair existing housing units and $50 billion in grants “for states, cities and towns to establish community land trusts that will enable over a million households to purchase affordable homes over the next 25 years.” Land trusts allows local jurisdictions to hold title to land, therefore keeping prices down for housing on that land. “It is unacceptable to me that over 18 million families in America today are paying more than 50 percent of their limited incomes on housing,” Sanders said. “It is unacceptable to me that there is virtually no place in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a decent two bedroom apartment, at a time when half of our people are living pay check to pay check.” Sanders proposed a federal investment of $32 billion over five years “to end homelessness in America and provide critical outreach services to those who are experiencing chronic homelessness.” His remarks did not include further detail on exactly how that money will be allocated.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/bernie-sanders-reveals-national-rent-control-plan-in-las-vegas-1848660/

Bernie Sanders lays out an ambitious plan on affordable housing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-lays-out-an-ambitious-plan-on-affordable-housing/2019/09/14/03c8eef2-d735-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html

[Josh Markle] Briscoe Cain will not keep his seat in the TX House. And when I win TX House District 128, it will be because I got effective help from lots of people, particularly today from Beto. Beto’s fundraising email this evening for our campaign has blown us away. Thanks, @BetoORourke
https://twitter.com/MarkleTX128/status/1173049258708209665

Danes raise millions of euros in first-ever climate telethon: Individuals and companies alike donated about €2.4 million to plant almost 1 million trees in the Scandinavian country. The fundraising event was described as the first of its kind to focus on the climate
https://www.dw.com/en/danes-raise-millions-of-euros-in-first-ever-climate-telethon/a-50436163

Beto was asked if it’s naive to advocate for a mandatory buyback of assault weapons. "The answer is no. It’s naive to maintain the status quo, where nearly 40,000 Americans lose their lives to gun violence every year."
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1172994834078031874?s=09

With the Astros' win tonight, Zack Greinke became the 19th pitcher to record a win against all 30 teams. The 30th win was against the team that drafted him the Kansas City Royals. If he had stayed in the NL, he would have soon been the first pitcher to homer against all 30 MLB teams. Greinke is now 143-56 since leaving the Royals. The .719 W-L% in this timeframe ranks second to Clayton Kershaw (141-51, .734)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_league_pitchers_beating_all_30_teams

Trump+Repblicans open protected Alaskan Arctic refuge to oil drillers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/12/trump-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-gas-drilling

Beto responds to Pete: Leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because Trump and McConnell are “at least pretending to be open to reforms”? That calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Let’s have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it.
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1173265866131234821

Trump poised to hit EU with billions in tariffs after victory in Airbus case
https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-poised-to-hit-eu-with-billions-in-tariffs-after-airbus-win/

Julian Castro calls for Kavanaugh impeachment after new accusation of sex misconduct
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-julian-castro-new-sex-misconduct-claim_n_5d7db7e1e4b00d690599f991

Brazil's Amazon chief Raoni Metuktire tapped for 2020 Nobel Peace Prize nomination for a lifetime of work protecting the Amazon rainforest.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment-raoni/brazils-amazon-chief-raoni-tapped-for-2020-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-idUSKBN1VZ0FH

The nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the United States Senate to override the 60-vote rule to close debate, by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the two-thirds supermajority normally required to amend the rules. The option is invoked when the majority leader raises a point of order that only a simple majority is needed to close debate on certain matters. The presiding officer denies the point of order based on Senate rules, but the ruling of the chair is then appealed and overturned by majority vote, establishing new precedent. This procedure effectively allows the Senate to decide any issue by simple majority vote, regardless of existing procedural rules such as Rule XXII which requires the consent of 60 senators (out of 100) to end a filibuster for legislation, and 67 for amending a Senate rule. The term "nuclear option" is an analogy to nuclear weapons being the most extreme option in warfare. In November 2013, Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid used the nuclear option to eliminate the 60-vote rule on executive branch nominations and federal judicial appointments, but not for the Supreme Court.[1] In April 2017, Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell extended the nuclear option to Supreme Court nominations in order to end debate on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch.[2][3][4] As of September 2019, a three-fifths majority vote is still required to end debates on legislation.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option