Friday, January 31, 2020

Sanders Team Weighing Executive Orders to Legalize Marijuana, Stop Trump Border Wall, Declare Climate Emergency, and More

"We cannot accept delays from Congress on some of the most pressing issues, especially those like immigration where Trump has governed with racism and for his own corrupt benefit."

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, leaves a roundtable discussion early at the U.S. Capitol with actor Mark Ruffalo and Dr. Anna Reade, Natural Resources Defense Council Staff Scientist, on January 29, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Sen. Bernie Sanders' staff is reportedly preparing dozens of potential executive orders addressing an array of pressing issues the Vermont senator has made central to his 2020 presidential campaign, from confronting the climate crisis to lowering prescription drug prices to reversing President Donald Trump's racist immigration policies.
The Washington Post's Jeff Stein, citing two anonymous people familiar with the campaign's plans and an internal document, reported Thursday that Sanders aides have presented the senator with a list of possible executive orders that would allow him to unilaterally:
  • Declare a national climate emergency;
  • Ban U.S. exports of crude oil;
  • Import prescription drugs from Canada;
  • Cancel federal contracts for companies that pay their workers less than $15 an hour;
  • Direct the Department of Justice to legalize marijuana at the federal level;
  • Reverse existing rules that bar the U.S. from funding organizations that provide abortion services;
  • Immediately halt the construction of President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall;
  • Lift the cap on the number of refugees the U.S. accepts each year; and
  • Release billions in disaster aid to Puerto Rico that the Trump administration has withheld.
"The document reviewed by the Post shows how the Sanders campaign has already begun extensive planning for how the senator would lead the country in his first days as president if he won the Democratic nomination and defeated Trump in November," Stein reported. "Many of the proposals Sanders has floated on the campaign trail do not have support from congressional Republicans and are opposed by some Democrats, so a willingness to move forward without congressional approval could determine whether many of his policies are enacted."
According to Stein, Sanders is currently in the process of reviewing the list of executive orders but has not yet approved its official release.
"We cannot accept delays from Congress on some of the most pressing issues, especially those like immigration where Trump has governed with racism and for his own corrupt benefit," states the internal campaign document, according to the Post.
As Stein noted on Twitter, more than a dozen of the potential executive orders focus on reversing Trump's inhumane immigration policies as well as confronting longstanding problems with the U.S. immigration system, such as private detention facilities.
News of the list of potential executive orders comes just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses on February 3—Monday. As Common Dreams reported, two recent polls showed Sanders leading the Democratic primary field in Iowa as he continues to gain momentum in other key states and nationally.
Mike Casca, a spokesperson for the Sanders campaign, declined the Post's request to comment on the potential executive orders, saying, "We're focused on organizing a huge voter turnout in Iowa on Monday."
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Government Debts as Class Swindles
The same politicians who facilitate tax reductions for banks, big corporations, and the wealthiest individuals likewise then facilitate government borrowing money from them.

The organization and manipulation of government debts (to finance budget deficits and development projects) have been core components of world capitalism’s real history for centuries. (Photo: Juan Barahona / Flickr)

The organization and manipulation of government debts (to finance budget deficits and development projects) have been core components of world capitalism’s real history for centuries. (Photo: Juan Barahona / Flickr)
by Richard Wolff 

In modern capitalism, governments routinely borrow money. They do this to finance budget deficits that occur when governments raise less in taxes than they spend. Governments also borrow to invest in long-term projects of economic development. The swindling occurs when the lenders and borrowers—usually private financiers and career politicians—negotiate loans that serve their own particular interests at the expense of the taxpayers who eventually cover the costs of repaying the government’s loans plus interest on them.
If governments raised enough taxes to cover their desired levels of spending, they would not need to borrow. Taxes imposed on the wealthiest corporations and individuals would be the most equitable strategy. The corporate wealthy protest, of course, threatening that if taxed, they might reduce their contributions to the economy (investing less, etc.). Most government politicians sympathize with those protests. Many come from the ranks of the wealthiest corporations and individuals (or aspire to join them). They share similar ideologies and depend on campaign donations from them. Compliant politicians typically exaggerate the negative aspects of taxing corporations and the rich. They rarely compare them to the negative effects of the alternatives: taxing middle and lower income people more or cutting government spending. 
Government borrowing to cover budget deficits has its own negative effects on the economy. Many variables influence the impacts of taxes and deficit borrowing. Because those variables’ effects cannot be known or measured for years into the future, no one can know which is better or worse for the economy in the long run. When the corporate rich and their political allies stress the negative effects of taxes on the rich they usually carefully neglect the other side of the story as when advertisers mention only the positive side of whatever they are paid to promote. Their goals are simply more profits and less taxes. 
The class swindle embedded in government borrowing is the none-too-subtle mechanism whereby the richest sectors of modern capitalism avoid or replace taxes levied on them with interest-bearing loans to the same government.
The class swindle goes deeper than one-sided untruths about taxes. This becomes clear when we identify who lends to borrowing governments. Banks, big corporations, the 5% wealthiest individuals and other governments are the chief lenders. They are the same economic groups (excepting foreign governments) that press for and get tax cuts such as the Trump/GOP tax reduction of December 2017. That particular tax cut increased the federal budget deficit to over $ 1 trillion in 2019. The same politicians who facilitate tax reductions for banks, big corporations, and the wealthiest individuals likewise then facilitate government borrowing money from them. 
The class swindle embedded in government borrowing is the none-too-subtle mechanism whereby the richest sectors of modern capitalism avoid or replace taxes levied on them with interest-bearing loans to the same government. What a deal for the rich who thus exchange taxes (assets lost) for loans (assets and income gained)! And what a deal for their political servants: leaders who can spend more to buy votes and secure donations without having to tax anybody because they can borrow instead. And by the time the mass of taxpayers watching all this grasps the swindle perpetrated on them, those leaders have moved up their political ladders. Their replacements will then respond to popular anger by ostentatiously raising taxes less or maybe even cutting them in favor of, yet again, borrowing. As this can gets kicked down the road, its explosive potential builds.
Deficit finance—the polite veneer for this swindle—deepens inequality in the United States and everywhere else it is practiced. It redistributes wealth from the mass of people (taxpayers) to the richest who “save” by means of lower taxes and then “invest” those “savings” in government loans. In transferring money from the many to a few, deficit finance operates like a lottery. 
A different but parallel sort of swindle occurs when governments, especially in “emerging economies” (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and so on), borrow from banks and other lenders in the “advanced industrial economies.” Here the perpetrators are, on the one side, bankers and other lenders eager to make profitable loans to foreign governments. On the other side are government politicians eager to borrow. The latters’ eagerness flows from two sources. The first is the need to secure their political careers by funding economic development projects that could not otherwise occur because those politicians fear the electoral results of using taxes to pay for the projects. The second is their ability to divert, legally or otherwise, sizable portions of the loans they procure to finance themselves and their parties in addition to (or even instead of) their development projects. 
These lenders and borrowers gather easily in expensive hotels to negotiate wondrous “development loans” nicely serving both their needs. The loans are backed, of course, by the borrowing country’s ability to tax its citizens and/or sell its natural resources and/or sell its government operations to pay off the loans and the interest on them. Given such loans’ high profitability, they can and often do run for years before outraged local citizens revolt and refuse to keep paying. Then the country declares bankruptcy amid threats and lamentations on all sides. Eventually, what remains of the loan is partly or wholly forgiven. No problem: the lenders’ profits were already reaped, the career benefits achieved. Soon the whole process begins again. 
The organization and manipulation of government debts (to finance budget deficits and development projects) have been core components of world capitalism’s real history for centuries. The system fosters those swindles. The system also rejects or ignores the critics of those swindles including Modern Monetary Theorists, Marxists, and “populists” of varying persuasions. Change comes when finally the swindle’s critics and its victims merge to end it.
Richard Wolff
Richard D. Wolff is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs of the New School University, New York City. Richard also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan. His books include: Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown(2016); Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism (2012); Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism(2012); Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian (2012); and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It (2009). A full archive of Richard's work, including videos and podcasts, can be found on his site. Follow him on Twitter: @profwolff
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New Study Details Overlooked Link Between Climate Breakdown and Violence Against Women
Women are often the "first to be targeted" when environmental shocks threaten natural resources, international conservation group says.


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Women work in a field in Uganda. (Photo: Maggie Roth for IUCN)
Climate action leaders have warned for years that marginalized frontline communities in poor countries are already facing the most destructive impacts of the climate crisis, and a new study confirms those fears, detailing how women in those regions are at greater risk for violence and abuse as the environment is degraded.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its study (pdf) on Wednesday after conducting more than 80 case studies and speaking to more than 300 sources over the course of a two-year project.
"This study shows that the damage humanity is inflicting on nature is also fueling violence against women around the world—a link that has so far been largely overlooked."
—Grethel Aguilar, IUCN"This study adds to the urgency of halting environmental degradation alongside action to stop gender-based violence in all its forms, and demonstrates that the two issues often need to be addressed together," said Dr. Grethel Aguilar, IUCN's acting director-general.
The study is the largest and most comprehensive to ever examine the gender-specific effects of the climate crisis, IUCN says.
Of the more than 300 responses IUCN compiled from international organizations working in developing countries, six in 10 respondents said they had observed gender-based violence directed at female environmental defenders, climate refugees and migrants, and an increase in such violence in areas where the climate crisis and global heating has put a strain on resources.
Abuses the organizations uncovered include child marriage and forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual violence and assault, and human trafficking.
"As environmental degradation and stress on ecosystems increases, that in turn creates scarcity and stress for people, and the evidence shows that, where environmental pressures increase, gender-based violence increases," said Cate Owren, lead author of the report.
The publication was praised by women's rights advocates on social media.
"The fight against the climate crisis will have far more of an impact if represented by those most affected," tweeted the British Women's Equality Party.
The study found that both human trafficking and forced child marriage are becoming increasingly common in places where chronic drought, flooding, and heatwaves have caused crop yields to suffer and brought on a scarcity of resources.
"When families struggle to meet basic needs, marrying off young daughters is seen as a way to lighten financial burdens," the report reads. "There is growing concern around reports of an increase in child marriage associated with conflict and natural disasters and environmental shocks."
According to The Guardian, about 12 million more young girls are believed to have been married off after extreme weather events increased, while human trafficking increases by 20 to 30% after weather disasters.
"In most parts of the world, women are already disadvantaged and lack land rights and legal rights, so are vulnerable to exploitation," wrote Fiona Harvey in The Guardian. "When the additional stresses caused by the climate crises bite, they are the first to be targeted."
"Environmental crimes degrade ecosystems, and also often bring new, worsening patterns of violence against women, minorities, and marginalized communities."
—Jenny Springer, IUCN
The destruction of the environment by extractive industries has significant effects on women's safety, as an influx of male miners, construction workers, and security guards is linked to an increase in gender-based and sexual violence, often with Indigenous women as targets.
"Mining areas, many of which are in Indigenous territories, have seen heavy military presence, resulting in various human rights violations, such as torture, psychological disturbance, destruction and divestment of properties (livestock and crops), as well as violence against women, including rape," reads the study in a section about the Mindanao region of the Philippines.
Sexual violence is also used to suppress women who attempt to defend their homes and environments from extractive industries, and to intimidate others who may come forward in protest.
"Environmental crimes degrade ecosystems, and also often bring new, worsening patterns of violence against women, minorities, and marginalized communities," said Jenny Springer, director of IUCN's global program on governance and rights. "Many Indigenous women in particular face gender-based and other violence as their communities act to defend their territories, resources and rights from such illegal activities."
Since women in many parts of the world are responsible for gathering water and provisions for their families, they are often at an increasingly greater risk for gender-based violence as they have to travel farther from home, as resources shrink.
IUCN surveyed the Danish Refugee Council, which conducted a study at Doro Refugee Camp in South Sudan regarding dangers faced by residents there. Women in the study identified collecting firewood outside the camp as the biggest risk they regularly took.
"Food insecurity and the lack of firewood forces women and girls to go outside of the camps to collect firewood despite the risks of suffering violence by militias, private forest owners, rangers or other unknown perpetrators," the report reads.  "Many...survey respondents also raised these concerns as one of the major threats in refugee camps as related to emergency responses and protracted crises."
IUCN's study was released a day after CARE International published its report "Suffering in Silence," showing how the climate crisis has exacerbated conflicts and economic and political instability across Africa, making the continent home to nine of the 10 most-overlooked humanitarian crises in the world.
"Environmental degradation now affects our lives in ways that are becoming impossible to ignore, from food to jobs to security," said Aguilar. "This study shows that the damage humanity is inflicting on nature is also fueling violence against women around the world—a link that has so far been largely overlooked."
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'Get out of the country!' Mormons massacred by Mexican cartel face backlash from president’s supporters.

After a deadly November attack, Mormons who have spoken out against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have drawn the ire of his backers

NOT LDS MORMONS BUT HERETICS, APOSTATES, POLYGAMISTS KICKED OUT OF UTAH
Supporters of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shout slogans at people participating in a march for peace in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. - The march for peace, led by Mexican poet and activist Javier Sicilia and Mormon activist Julian LeBaron, reached the National Palace at Zocalo square to demand the government to modify its anti-crime strategy amid the wave of violent crimes that shakes Mexico.PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Reuters and National Post Staff January 27, 2020

They were the focus of global sympathy in the wake of a deadly November attack that saw many family members killed. Now, though, Mexico’s Mormon community is coming under pressure from supporters of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who accuse them of backing his enemies.

November’s gangland attack on a remote stretch of road in northern Sonora state killed three mothers and six children from the LeBaron and Langford families, who settled in the region decades ago. Their vehicles came under heavy gunfire and were torched, with security experts saying evidence suggests the massacre was carried out by a Juarez Cartel faction known as La Linea, and may have a been a case of mistaken identity. Factions of the Sinaloa and Juarez armed groups fight over lucrative cross-border smuggling routes in the area in question.

In the attack’s aftermath, many local Mormons fled back to the U.S., unconvinced that Mexican authorities could guarantee their safety. Others, though, stayed and became vocal critics of both the cartels and Lopez Obrador, who is under increasing pressure amidst a surge in nationwide violence. On Sunday, the AP reported that a pilgrimage by relatives of murdered Mexicans, led in part by Mormon families, was accosted by backers of the president, who loudly heckled marchers.
Mormons Julian (L) and Adrian LeBaron, relatives of victims of an ambush in northern Mexico in November, take part in a march for peace and honour Mackenzie, a girl who survived another massacre in which three women and six children were killed, by taking off a shoe, in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

“Leave the country!” they shouted at the Mormon contingent of the Caravan for Truth, Justice and Peace. The caravan had intended to leave a letter for Lopez Obrador at the National Palace in Mexico City. Instead, his supporters accused caravan members of being in the pocket of the president’s opponents.

The AP reported that near Zocalo plaza, in the city centre, hundreds of Lopez Obrador supporters shouted at the peaceful protestors: “It’s an honour to be with Obrador” and “Get out!”

Among the marchers was Adrián LeBaron, whose daughter perished in the attack, as did four of his grandchildren. In recent months LeBaron and a handful of Mormons have become strident critics of government policy. Julian LeBaron, Adrián’s cousin, told the Guardian recently that the Mormons who dared to remain feel a degree of protection because of their links to the U.S. Nearly all of the family members are both U.S. and Mexican citizens, meaning they can easily travel, or relocate, between both countries.

However, the family’s critics have now apparently grown tired of their increasingly outspoken views, which — as dual citizens with freedom of movement — come from a position of relative privilege.

 
A supporter of Mexican Oresident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shouts slogans at people participating in a march for peace in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. 
PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

“We have dual citizenship. We have the protection of the FBI and Donald Trump’s tweets that scare the bejesus out of some people. Who the hell else is going to say something?” LeBaron told the Guardian. In the aftermath of the Mormon killings, Trump had tweeted that it was time to declare war on the drug cartels.

“They kill four women yesterday in Ciudad Juárez and tomorrow it’s not going to be news. (But) they killed three women and some kids from our family and it’s international news,” LeBaron said.

Earlier this month, Lopez Obrador pledged that those behind the massacre will be punished and that the truth surrounding the crime will eventually come out. But his fledgling administration has floundered amidst a renewed cartel bloodbath.

Mexico suffered its worst year for homicides in 2019, with a record 34,582 victims, official data shows, underscoring the challenge Lopez Obrador faces. He assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued rising, with the number of homicide victims 2.5 per cent higher in 2019 than a year earlier, according to the security ministry data.
Adrian LeBaron (4-R), father of Rhonita Miller -one of the nine Mormon victims of an ambush the past November- speaks during a gathering after a march for peace at Zocalo square in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. 
PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Mexico has used its military in a war on drug cartels since late 2006. But, despite the arrest or killing of leading capos, the campaign has not succeeded in reducing drug violence and has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves. Already, Lopez Obrador has seen several spectacular security setbacks play out on his watch.

In a speech before extended Mormon family members near the U.S. border earlier this month, Lopez Obrador promised to keep relatives appraised of the investigation into the ambush.

“There will be justice,” he declared, addressing the small crowd from an outdoor stage set against the rugged mountains that surround the town of La Mora, home to the victims.

Lopez Obrador said the investigation was making progress, but did not give details. Earlier in the day, he met privately with relatives of the victims for about an hour, after traveling nearly four hours by car to the town.



Hundreds of mourners gather for the burial of a mother, her months-old twins and two other children on the fringes of a township founded by breakaway Mormons in Mexico, in a second funeral for the victims of a brazen armed ambush https://t.co/LPZBpNMozM pic.twitter.com/BI7WnSEqhg— Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) November 9, 2019

Founded

La Mora, like other northern Mexican settlements where relatives of the large families live, was founded decades ago by breakaway Mormon leaders who fled the U.S. seeking a safe haven for their polygamist beliefs. Lopez Obrador was warmly received during his visit.

“Thank you for being here at such a painful time,” said Margaret Langford in brief remarks in Spanish, describing her family as broken.

“I love this country,” she added, “and it hurts me to my soul that I can’t live here.”

Langford recently left La Mora, like many other relatives who have fled. Loretta Miller, grandmother to four of the children killed, estimates that 80 per cent of her brothers — and sisters-in-law and their families have left and do not plan to ever return.

Mexican authorities has so far arrested seven suspects in the case. At least two other arrests of suspects linked to La Linea have been made in the U.S., but it is unclear if they are connected to the massacre.

Two months after tragedy struck, beefed-up security has helped calm the holdout residents. Today, roads in and around La Mora are patrolled by hundreds of heavily-armed soldiers, helicopters buzzing overhead. But with only a few families staying put, at least one village is being hollowed out, with homes lying vacant. The ambush left a once-strong faith deeply shaken in the picturesque hamlets the families have called home for generations.

“La Mora will never be the same,” said 27-year-old Kendra Miller, whose brother Howard lost his wife Rhonita and their four children in the attack. “There are families that will come back to visit, but they’re not going to live here again because they don’t feel safe.”

Some locals complain that the police presence before November’s attack was almost non-existent, but since then army soldiers and National Guard troops have flooded in, along with FBI and Mexican investigators.
Members of the Lebaron family watch the burned car where some of the nine murdered members of the family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

The large families that have populated this part of northern Mexico, nestled among rolling hills and gurgling rivers, stem from breakaway Mormon communities that began fleeing the U.S. more than a century ago in search of safe havens for their polygamist beliefs.

They built ranch-style homes with orchards where the young children of growing families could ride their bikes and play all day outside.

Like Miller, many wax nostalgic about care-free childhoods, even if their own kids might be raised elsewhere.

“I was set to get married one week after the massacre,” she said, “and now my fiance wants us to live in the United States.”  
 
Members of the LeBaron family watch the burned car in which some of the nine murdered members of the family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

On an impromptu tour of the area, Miller points out the many homes that sit eerily empty, once tidy gardens overrun with weeds.

Other family members describe how kids suffer from recurring nightmares, and those relatives who have left fear coming back.

While they are a distinct minority, there are those among the families who argue against leaving.

“I’m not going anywhere,” said Mateo Langford, whose sister was killed in the attack.

“Bad things happen in every corner of the world, including in the United States. We just can’t run away,” he said.

As he sorted pecans from last year’s harvest, Mateo’s brother Steve Langford, whose sister Christine was killed, said he will stay put as well. He said his immediate plans are to help his cousin David with the harvest, and try to convince him to stay too.

David lost his wife Dawna and two of their children in the attack.

Another remains hospitalized with a gun shot wound to the jaw.

“I’ll never leave here,” said Langford.
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He was protecting the monarch butterfly from Mexico's illegal loggers, but he was the one in danger

As millions of monarchs made a 3,220-kilometre journey from Canada to Mexico each October, Homero Gómez González tried to protect them
Leading Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González
 has been found dead.Twitter
National Post Staff and Reuters January 30, 2020He was tasked with taking care of Mexico’s vulnerable monarch butterfly population. In the end, he was the one in grave danger.

Leading conservationist Homero Gómez González, 50, was found dead Wednesday, floating in a well in the municipality of Ocampo in the violent western Mexican state of Michoacán.

His presumed crime? Protecting migrating monarch butterflies from local industries, such as illegal logging, which threatened their winter habitat.

The BBC reports the dead activist managed a new sanctuary that had just opened in November, with the aim of combatting the effects of the local black market timber trade. After reportedly being threatened by a local gang, he was last seen alive at a meeting in an area called El Soldado on Jan. 13.

His disappearance kicked off a widespread search, and last week 53 regional police were taken in for questioning — the entire force of Ocampo and a neighbouring town. Phone calls seeking ransom money had been made to Gómez’s family, who are also reported to have received death threats of their own. Two weeks on, Michoacán’s attorney general has now confirmed Gómez’s death, with one source at the state attorney’s office telling Reuters the cause had not been determined. The official said an initial review had found no signs of torture.

En el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan “ El más grande del mundo “ pic.twitter.com/WlCJuOcG4Q— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 12, 2020

Gangs

Michoacán is home to many rival drug gangs who battle to control smuggling routes through often-arid terrain to the Pacific and Mexico’s interior. But its hills are also home to millions of monarchs, who settle in its pine forests and can be seen swarming there in their droves.

The monarchs make a 3,220-kilometre journey from Canada to winter in central Mexico’s warmer weather each October, but the insects are facing new challenges linked to extreme weather and changing habitat.

Gómez, though himself a former logger from a family of loggers, had fought tooth and nail to protect the species. Leading the El Rosario sanctuary in the world famous Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, he gained a degree of fame for posting mesmerizing videos and photos of the orange and black butterflies on social media. The region, a big draw for tourists, is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

En el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan miles de Monarcas buscando agua …..El más grande del mundo pic.twitter.com/hXgAYk1Ztb— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 13, 2020

In its online literature, UNESCO says that the, “millions of monarch butterflies that return to the property every year bend tree branches by their weight, fill the sky when they take flight, and make a sound like light rain with the beating of their wings. Witnessing this unique phenomenon is an exceptional experience of nature.”

But the exposure Gómez brought to the area is feared to have drawn the ire of illegal logging interests, who had grown tired of his efforts to highlight their shadow trade. Mayte Cardona of the Human Rights State Commission of Michoacán told Reuters that “he was probably hurting the interests of people illegally logging in the area.”

Gómez worked locally for decades on sustainability issues, Miguel Angel Cruz, a co-worker, told the Washington Post. Last month, Gómez had told the Post himself about the everyday challenges he had faced.

“It’s been a fight to maintain it,” he said of the sanctuary. “And it hasn’t been easy.” He said that although he grew up in a logging family, he realized that conservation was his calling.

“We were afraid that if we had to stop logging, it would send us all into poverty,” he said, adding that he later saw the monarchs needed minding, and found that their beauty could be a tourist draw.

Defenders

Global Witness — an NGO that tracks killings of environment and land defenders — said in a July 2019 report that at least 18 such activists were killed in Mexico in 2018 alone. Activists are often targeted for undertaking preservation efforts that are seen, by criminal groups, to be an obstacle to their enrichment.
Police officers guard a sawmill in Michoacan, Mexico on 
May 20, 2004. Luis Jimenez/The New York Times

Gran espectáculo en el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan pic.twitter.com/yIlMVM6Bgl— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 11, 2020

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday, according to the Guardian:

“This is a very regrettable act, very painful. It’s part of what makes us apply ourselves more to guarantee peace and tranquility in the country.”

As well as drugs and logging conflicts, in recent years Michoacán has seen increasingly violent clashes over the local avocado trade, which brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Mexico registered 34,582 homicide victims in the country in 2019, a record. The startling figures, and a series of audacious cartel attacks on state forces, have placed enormous pressure on the government of López Obrador.

He assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued rising, with the number of homicide victims 2.5 per cent higher in 2019 than a year earlier, according to security ministry data. Separate ministry figures, using an older methodology that refers to the number of homicide investigations, showed an increase to 29,401 last year from 29,100 in 2018.

Mexico has used its military in a war on cartels since late 2006. But, despite the arrest or killing of leading capos, the campaign has not succeeded in reducing drug violence and has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves.

Outpouring of Grief After Missing Mexican Monarch Butterfly Defender Homero Gómez González Found Dead

Human rights advocates and the conservationist's family raised concerns about threats from the illegal logging industry and organized crime.
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gomez
Two weeks after Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González was 
reported missing, authorities found his body in a well Wednesday. 

Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González was found dead Wednesday, about two weeks after he was reported missing, provoking a wave sorrow from allies and advocates worldwide as they honored his work running a butterfly sanctuary in the state of Michoacán.
"Authorities found Gómez González's body floating in a well in the community of El Soldado de Ocampo, not far from the butterfly sanctuary," according to the Washington Post. "Authorities told local media outlets that his body did not show any obvious signs of violence. But Gómez González's friends didn't have any details."
As Common Dreams reported last week, human rights advocates have expressed fears that Gómez González may have been targeted because of his activism by those involved in the local illegal logging industry, and the 50-year-old butterfly defender's family told the media that he had received threats from a criminal organization.
Gómez González was reported missing by his family on Jan. 14, a day after he attended a meeting in the village of El Soldado. BBC News noted Thursday that "more than 200 volunteers had joined the search for the environmentalist and, last week, the entire police forces of Ocampo and neighboring Angangueo were detained for questioning."
The conservationist often posted videos to Twitter from the El Rosario sanctuary, which is located in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Millions of monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles across North American to arrive each autumn in the mountainous region of Mexico, where they remain until spring. Local illegal logging has long threatened the butterflies.
A Global Witness report from last year named Mexico the world's sixth-deadliest country for eco-defenders, part of "a worrying global trend" of environmentalists risking their safety by facing off against "governments, companies, and criminal gangs [that] are routinely stealing land and trashing habitats in pursuit of profit."
Some responses to Gómez González's death on social media highlighted the rising threats to those involved in conservation work and environmental activism.
"Illegal logging is one of the most lucrative environmental crimes. It's also one of the biggest drivers of killings of #environmentdefenders," tweeted Ali Hines, a land campaigner at Global Witness. "Homero Gómez González's death must be independently investigated."

Mexican conservationist found dead two weeks after disappearance

AFP/File / Yuri CortezMonarch butterflies travel up to 
4,500 kilometers (3,000 miles) each year from Canada 
and the United States to establish their colonies in the 

temperate oyamel and pine forests of west-central Mexico

A Mexican conservationist known for championing the protection of monarch butterflies was found dead two weeks after his disappearance, authorities said.

Homero Gomez, 50, who ran a sanctuary for the iconic orange and black insects, had been missing since January 14. His body was found at the bottom of a well in the western state of Michoacan, where monarch butterflies often spend the winter.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Michoacan is home to several crime gangs and their presence has helped prompt the formation of self-defense groups in recent years.

Other conservationists in the region said Gomez's death could be linked to his opposition to illegal logging in the area.

Monarch butterflies travel up to 4,500 kilometers (3,000 miles) each year from Canada and the United States to establish colonies in the temperate oyamel and pine forests of west-central Mexico.

The butterfly (Danaus plexippus) faces threats from deforestation, the use of herbicides -- which targets the milkweed on which monarchs lay their eggs -- and climate change.

Mexican butterfly activist found dead

Chiara Giordano, The Independent•January 30, 2020
Environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez pictured at El Rosario butterfly sanctuary in Michoacan state, Mexico: Homero Gomez Gonzalez/Twitter

The body of an environmental activist who fought to protect the famed monarch butterfly has been found in a well two weeks after he went missing, officials say.

Homero Gomez Gonzalez, 50, was reported missing on 14 January amid fears he had been targeted by criminal gangs and illegal loggers in the central Mexican state of Michoacan.

The cause of death has not yet been determined, however an initial investigation found his body showed no apparent signs of violence.

Last week, prosecutors questioned 53 local police officers over Mr Gomez’s disappearance.

As the manager of El Rosario butterfly reserve and a former communal land officer, he led efforts to preserve the pine and fir mountaintop forests where the monarch butterfly spends the winter.

Millions of monarchs come to the forests of Michoacan and other areas after making the 3,400-mile migration from the United States and Canada.

They need healthy tree cover to protect them from rain and cold weather.

Mexico has clamped down on illegal logging, which was once a major threat to the reserves but which has fallen to about one-third of last year’s level.

But there have been reports of increased “salvage” logging of supposedly sick trees.

In an interview in November last year, Mr Gomez said the butterfly sanctuary had worked to eradicate the felling of trees and planted more than a million new firs and pines in four years.

Disputes over water from mountain springs have also occurred in the region, and avocado planters have long coveted the area, which has near-ideal growing conditions for the valuable fruit.

Mr Gomez was last seen at about 7pm on 13 January in the town of El Soldado, Ocampo, and was reported missing the next day.

More than 200 volunteers helped search for him, along with officials from the municipal police, land authority and security ministry.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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Mitsubishi Motors denies emissions test fraud after German raids

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM 
TWO OF THE BIGGEST CAR SCANDALS ARE THE AIR BAGS AND THIS

Mitsubishi Motors denies emissions test fraud after German raids

AFP/File / Behrouz MEHRIMitsubishi Motors has denied equipping engines with devices to make them appear less polluting during tests

Mitsubishi Motors denied Thursday equipping engines with devices to make them appear less polluting, after raids by prosecutors in Germany probing suspected diesel emissions cheating.

The probe focuses on Mitsubishi diesel vehicles with 1.6- and 2.2-litre engines that were given Germany's highest Euro 5 and Euro 6 ratings on emissions standards.

Prosecutors suspect they are equipped with a so-called "shutdown" or "defeat" device that makes engines appear less polluting in tests than they are on the road.

In a statement, Mitsubishi said the 1.6-litre diesel engines examined in the January 21 raid were manufactured by PSA Group, which owns brands such as Peugeot and Citroen.

It did not specify who was responsible for making the 2.2-litre engines, but said "no engines manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors are equipped with a so-called 'defeat device'".

The firm said it had been "fully disclosing" its engines and control systems to German authorities and "making improvements whenever any indications are made".

"We have found no reason to believe that there was any fraud as suspected by the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor authorities," the statement added.

The Mitsubishi probe is the latest twist in the "dieselgate" scandal that erupted in 2015 when the Volkswagen group admitted to installing software in 11 million vehicles worldwide to dupe pollution tests.

The "defeat devices" allowed the affected cars to spew out up to 40 times more harmful nitrogen oxide than legally allowed.

The scandal has since ensnared a string of car companies, although Mitsubishi Motors had so far avoided being dragged into the controversy.

But the Tokyo-based firm did in 2016 admit to falsifying fuel-economy tests for 25 years to make the cars seem more efficient than they were.
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12-foot-tall exoskeleton awarded Guinness record in Canada



Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A Vancouver man who spent more than 10 years designing a giant, four-legged robot has been awarded a Guinness World Record for the world's largest tetrapod exoskeleton.
Jonathan Tippett said his exoskeleton, which he dubbed Prosthesis, measures 12 feet, 11 inches tall; 16 feet, 18 inches long; and 18 feet, 1 inch wide.
The four-legged machine, which requires a pilot to operate, weighs in at 3,527 pounds.
Tippett said he constructed Prosthesis from Chromoly steel tubing, which is often used for aerospace and racing vehicles.
"The heart of the machine is a 96 vault 36 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, custom engineered," Tippett said. "That runs two AC electric motors which drive two hydraulic pumps and provide fluid flow to the hydraulic cylinders, which put out as much as 12,000 pounds of force each."
Tippett said he spent over a decade designing the exoskeleton and less than a year building the final design.

Pilot-strapped-in-and-ready.jpg
exo-skeleton-thumbnail-sunset.jpg
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