Tag Archives: technology

Leak at First CO2 Injection Site in US Exposes Dangerous Folly of Carbon Capture

“This incident puts an exclamation point on concerns communities across the country have been raising for years about the dangers the CCS industry poses to public safety and drinking water,” said one climate group.

By Jake Johnson. Published 9-13-2024 by Common Dreams

Chevron refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah. Photo: arbyreed/flickr/CC

Environmental groups said Friday that a newly reported leak at the first CO2 injection site in the United States highlights the threat—and false promise—of carbon capture and storage efforts, which climate advocates have long criticized as a ploy by the fossil fuel industry to preserve its extractive business model.

E&E News reported Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has “issued a violation notice to the operator of the country’s first carbon dioxide injection wells for permanent storage, alleging that the company hasn’t complied with its federal permit.”

Continue reading
Share Button

Once Free, Covid-19 Vaccines Now Cost Up to $200 for Uninsured in US

“What’s at stake is we are reverting back to a system where a person’s financial ability to be able to pay will determine their ability to be healthy.”

By Edward Carver. Published 9-3-2024 by Common Dreams

Photo: U.S. Secretary of Defense/flickr

The latest coronavirus vaccine costs up to $200 for the roughly 25 million uninsured people in the U.S., due to the defunding of a federal program that previously covered the costs, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

It’s the “latest tear in the safety net as pandemic-era programs wind down, the newspaper reported. Covid-19 vaccines were free for everyone in the U.S. in 2021 and 2022, per federal policy. However, in January, congressional Republicans negotiated a deal that rescinded $6.1 billion in emergency coronavirus relief funding, which killed the Bridge Access Program, launched in April 2023, that covered the cost for the uninsured.

Continue reading
Share Button

Brazilian Judge Orders Total Suspension of Elon Musk’s X Social Network

“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary,” said Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-30-2024 by Common Dreams

Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Photo: TSE – Tribunal Superior Eleitoral/flickr/Public domain

Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday ordered the nationwide suspension of Elon Musk’s X social media platform in response to the billionaire’s failure to comply with the judge’s directive to appoint a legal representative in the South American country.

Moraes ordered the “immediate, complete, and total suspension of X’s operations” in the nation of 215 million people, “until the court’s judicial decisions are complied with and the fines applied are paid” and “until a representative of the company in the country is appointed.”

Continue reading
Share Button

US is unlikely to stop giving military aid to Israel − because it benefits from it

By Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles Published 8-22-2024 by The Conversation

Protesters step off for final permitted march of Chicago DNC. Screenshot: ABC 7 Chicago/YouTube

The Democratic National Convention has been packed with prominent speakers and musical interludes that all focus on unity and moving forward into a more hopeful future.

But this cheerfulness is shadowed by a split within the Democratic Party related to Israel’s war in Gaza. There have been calls by some delegates for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to support a halt in U.S. military aid to Israel.

Continue reading
Share Button

How Crypto Giants Are ‘Exploiting’ Citizens United to Buy 2024 Elections

A new analysis and call for a constitutional amendment comes as reporting sheds light on Sen. JD Vance’s ties to a right-wing group backed by tech and digital currency investors.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-21-2024 by Common Dreams

Image: QuoteInspector.com

report out Wednesday takes aim at how giants of the cryptocurrency industry are using the 2010 Citizens United ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which opened the floodgates for dark money in political campaigns, to make a massive deregulatory push ahead of this year’s pivotal election.

Based on Public Citizen research director Rick Claypool’s analysis of federal election data from OpenSecrets, the consumer advocacy group accused the crypto industry of “exploiting” the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling “to an unprecedented degree, dwarfing direct corporate spending by Big Oil and other corporate sectors in the 2024 elections.”

Continue reading
Share Button

US Among Nations ‘Brazenly’ Flouting Arms Trade Treaty, 10 Years On: Amnesty

As a treaty conference began, the human rights group called for an end to arms transfers to Israel and said that unlawful deals have led to “devastating loss of life” in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar.

By Edward Carver. Published 8-19-2024 by Common Dreams

Control Arms At Occupy Wall Street 2011. Photo: Control Arms/flickr/CC

Amnesty International on Monday called for an end to arms transfers to countries including Israel, Sudan, and Myanmar, saying they cause “devastating loss of life” and contravene the Arms Trade Treaty, the parties to which are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

The United Nations treaty was signed by well over 100 countries in 2013 and went into effect in 2014, though 27 signatories, including the United States, the world’s largest arms exporter, still haven’t ratified the deal, which regulates the trade of conventional weapons including non-nuclear bombs, shells, and missiles.

Continue reading
Share Button

On Eve of DNC, ‘Not Another Bomb’ Rallies Demand US Arms Embargo on Israel

“Palestinians in Gaza cannot wait until after the U.S. election while bombs are dropping and burning their loved ones alive,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-18-2024 by Common Dreams

Activists take part in a #NotAnotherBomb day of action calling for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 18, 2024.
 (Photo: Uncommitted National Movement/X)

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, proponents of a U.S. arms embargo on Israel—which is on trial for genocide at the World Court for its assault on Gaza that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians—took to the streets of cities in states from New York to Hawaii on Sunday to amplify their demand of “Not Another Bomb” for Israeli military forces.

“It is crystal clear: In order to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, the U.S. must immediately stop arming Israel,” the Not Another Bomb campaign—an initiative led by the Uncommitted National Movement—said in a statement ahead of this weekend’s demonstrations.

Continue reading
Share Button

‘Major Power Milestone’: US Green Groups Cheer Wind, Solar Overtaking Coal

“This historic milestone marks a significant win for clean energy advocates, for ratepayers, and for people and communities across the country,” said one climate leader.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-14-2024 by Common Dreams

Wind turbines in southern California Photo: Erik Wilde/Wikimedia Commons/CC

U.S. climate advocates this week are celebrating new federal data that show wind and solar have generated more power than coal during the first seven months of 2024 and are on track to do so for the entire calendar year.

“This is the kind of news we like to see!” Food & Water Watch said of the data on social media Tuesday. “Ensuring a livable climate for all depends on us making a swift and just transition to clean energy like wind and solar.”‘

Continue reading
Share Button

Hiroshima Survivors Warn Against Nuclear War 79 Years After US Bombing

“The world needs to stop nuclear war from ever happening again,” said one hibakusha. “But when I turn on the news, I see politicians talk about deploying more weapons, more tanks. How could they?”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-6-2024 by Common Dreams

The Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Photo: Balon Greyjoy/Wikimedia Commons/CC

As the number of people who survived the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki rapidly dwindles 79 years after the attacks, hibakusha—the Japanese word for the survivors—and others are imploring humanity to do everything possible to avert another nuclear war.

“People still don’t get it. The atomic bomb isn’t a simple weapon. I speak as someone who suffers until this day: The world needs to stop nuclear war from ever happening again,” Shigeaki Mori, who was an 8-year-old boy on his way to school on the morning of August 6, 1945, told The New York Times. “But when I turn on the news, I see politicians talk about deploying more weapons, more tanks. How could they? I wish for the day they stop that.”

Continue reading
Share Button

US Court Rules Google a Monopoly in ‘Biggest Antitrust Case of the 21st Century’

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” said a federal judge in the decision.

By Julia Conley. Published 8-5-2024 by Common Dreams

Google_headquarters. Photo: Anthony Quintano/flickr/CC

A federal judge left no room for ambiguity Monday in a landmark ruling in a case brought by the Justice Department and states against tech giant Google, in which the government argued the company had illegally monopolized the search engine and advertising market.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” said Judge Amit Mehta, who sits of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Continue reading
Share Button