Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Another Crooked Democrat in the GOP Corporate Takeover

Storm is Coming

 

Did you know that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was a co-chair of Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign against Obama, and is now the chair of the DNC, earlier this year did away with all of the restrictions on lobbyists that President Obama put in place?

According to the Washington Post,

"The DNC's recent, more sweeping reversal of the previous ban on donations from lobbyists and political action committees was confirmed by three Democratic lobbyists who said they have already received solicitations from the committee. The lobbyists requested anonymity to speak freely about the committee's decision, which has been otherwise kept quiet."

On April 18, the Sanders campaign wrote an open letter declaring that Clinton's campaign was violating campaign finance laws through an unethical joint arrangement with the DNC. The Clinton campaign's response was that she was actually raising money for down-ticket Democrats. Two weeks later, though, Politico released an amazing investigative report which found that out of the $61 million the Clinton campaign was raising for state parties, the parties were only allowed to keep 1% of it. You read that correctly. I'll spell it out so that you know a digit wasn't missing. They got to keep one percent of the funds she claimed she raised for them.

It appears to be a money laundering scheme. Do you remember when George Clooney said that Bernie Sanders and his supporters were right to be disgusted by the fact that some seats at the fundraiser cost $353,400 per couple, but that he could live with it because the money was mainly going to help smaller candidates win local elections?

"The victory fund has transferred $3.8 million to the state parties, but almost all of that cash ($3.3 million, or 88%) was quickly transferred (back) to the DNC, usually within a day or two, by the Clinton staffer who controls the committee, POLITICO's analysis of the FEC records found."

Who really got the money? The Clinton campaign pocketed almost all of it and state parties were left with one penny on the dollar.

https://news.vice.com/article/in-photos-shells-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill

In Photos: Shell's Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

By VICE News and Reuters

May 16, 2016 |

A leak from an undersea pipeline network operated by Royal Dutch Shell spilled nearly 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last week. The leak occurred about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Glider Field near the company's Brutus Tension-Leg Platform.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) and Shell have recovered over 76,600 gallons of oily-water mixture, the company said. No coastal impacts are expected and there's been no reports of injury to wildlife. Gulf fisheries remain open.

"The Coast Guard and Shell jointly agreed that using on-water recovery vessels and skimming is the safest and most effective oil recovery option at this time," the USCG said in a statement Sunday. 

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is leading an investigation to determine the cause of the spill.

Shell's Brutus platform lies about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast.

The USCG said two 210-foot and two 95-foot vessels were conducting skimming operations. Shell and the Coast Guard have mobilized 130 personnel for the clean-up effort.

About 90,000 gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

While far less severe than the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and spilled 134 million gallons of oil before being capped after three months, Shell's leak has renewed criticism of offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to industry estimates, the Gulf accounts for 17 percent of US crude oil production and supports up to a quarter of a million jobs.

A skimmer with Clean Gulf Associates collects oil from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill occurred amidst a worldwide series of protests against fossil fuel interests, which organizers dubbed "Break Free from Fossil Fuels." In Washington state, 52 protesters were arrested on Sunday for occupying railroad tracks leading to a pair of oil refineries. And, in Albany, New York, 1,500 people protested against trains carrying crude oil into the Port of Albany. During the previous two weeks of protests, activists shut down coal operations in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Nigeria, Brazil, and the Philippines also saw anti-fossil fuel protests.

The Louisiana Responder uses a boom to collect oil from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Rallying in Washington DC on Sunday, protesters, including Anne Rolfes, founding director of Louisiana Bucket Brigade, called on President Barack Obama to halt offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico.

"Louisiana has been dominated by Big Oil for almost a century, and over that time the industry has clearly demonstrated that making money is its priority," she said. "I am here to help our country shift away from oil and fossil fuels and the industries' bankrupt values. It's time to value people and our planet.

Vessels skim oil from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Related: Shell Oil Spill Prompts Renewed Calls for a Moratorium on Oil and Gas Development in the Gulf of Mexico

Follow VICE News on Twitter: @vicenews

Photos by Derick E. Hingle/Greenpeace

Hillary Clinton Praises KKK Member Senator Robert C. Byrd

A Victory Over Nestle

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/18/people-power-just-trumped-corporate-power-oregon-county-rejects-nestle-water-grab

People Power Just Trumped Corporate Power: Oregon County Rejects Nestle Water-Grab

'This is really a resounding victory for everyone who cares about protecting not only our water supply, but water supplies around the world'

by

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Oxbow Springs water would have be bottled under Nestle's Arrowhead brand. (Photo: Nathan Rupert/flickr/cc)

Voters in one Oregon county on Tuesday approved a ban on commercial bottled water production, stopping a years-long effort by Swiss transnational Nestle to sell over 100 million gallons of water a year from the Columbia River Gorge.

"This is really a resounding victory for everyone who cares about protecting not only our water supply, but water supplies around the world," said Aurora del Val with Local Water Alliance, which filed the ballot measure petition.

Though opponents of the proposed plant in Cascade Locks in Hood River County werevastly outspent, Measure 14-55 easily passed—rougly 69 percent to 31 percent. 

According to Julia DeGraw, an organizer for national watchdog organization Food and Water Watch, which helped lead the opposition, voters were very aware of the risks of putting corporate control over the precious resource, despite the purported 50 jobs the plant would provide the job-scarce town. "When you talk to them about something as crucial as their water, which is necessary for an agricultural economy, right after they have a drought, there is not enough misinformation the opposition can throw at voters to make them buy it," she said.

Photo: Keep Nestle Out of the GorgeAs Hood River business owner Michael Barthmus previously explained, "most people understand that water is a resource and basic human need, and not a commodity to be exploited. Shipping water outside of our county seems like poor stewardship, especially during a time of shortage and droughts. Our families, farms and the fish in our rivers should be our top priority," he added.

Oregon Live offers background:

Nestlé for seven years has sought a way to bottle water from Oxbow Springs, which gurgles out of hillside just outside the Columbia River Gorge town of Cascade Locks.

The company hopes to build a $50 million bottling plant at the town's port, where 100 million gallons annually of Oxbow Springs water would be bottled under the Arrowhead brand. Additional Cascade Locks municipal water would be sold under the company's Pure Life brand.

As the Guardian reported ahead of the vote, some residents said

politicians did not hold full public hearings, accepted trips from Nestlé to California, and presented negotiations between Nestlé and the state authorities as a done deal that was now out of ordinary people’s hands.

Local Water Alliance is applauding the results as a "landslide victory," as the group had seenthe measure's implications beyond Nestle "dangerous precedent" proposal.  "Protecting our water supply is not about stopping just one project. It's about setting the precedent that our water and the future of our community are so important and so intertwined that we are not willing to sell them off," the group's website states. 

Nestle's attempted water-grab in Hood River County was the subject of a 7-minute doucmentary relased in March by the Story of Stuff Project, Food & Water Watch, and the Local Water Alliance