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How Democrats Mixed Oil and Water, Killing Environmental Bill

Gary Cohn Capital and Main
Hopes were high among environmentalists when a bill designed to protect California’s drinking water was introduced in the state Assembly earlier this year. After all, California has passed some of the most far-reaching environmental laws and regulations in the nation, and the state legislature is dominated by the Democratic Party, whose members are generally inclined to vote for tougher environmental standards. It never had a chance.

Rectify Is Still Television’s Quiet Triumph

David Sims The Atlantic
SundanceTV’s Southern Gothic drama is entering its third season of critical acclaim and low ratings, but its against-the-odds existence bodes well for the industry.

Poster of the Week: When Greece Bailed-Out Germany

Center for the Study of Political Graphics
The LA-based Center for the Study of Political Graphics highlights weekly topical political graphic art as well as serves as an important archive of political graphics and organizer of traveling exhibits. "Reclaiming the Power of Art to Educate and Inspire People to Action."

Peace and Planet Summer 2015: Commemorate the 70th Anniveraries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-Bombings

maTT De Vlieger United for Peace & Justice
Since 2006, United for Peace & Justice has declared August Nuclear-Free Future Month: Time to Phase Out Nuclear Power and Start Negotiations on a Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons! As we approach the 70th anniversaries of the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we have opportunity to impact people’s thinking, educate them about the crime of the A-bombings and the continuing dangers of nuclear weapons, and build popular movement to eliminate them.

Anti-Abortion Extremists and Domestic Terrorism

David Cohen and Krysten Connon Al Jazeera
Anti-abortion extremism, which has created fear among providers that something violent can happen to them at any time, is domestic terrorism, according to the authors of the new book, “Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism.” Yet, anti-abortion terrorism has been almost completely absent from the renewed national conversation about domestic terrorism spurred by last month’s church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Benghazi and Hillary: Missing The Story in the Emails

Conn Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge
There is indeed a story embedded in the controversial emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that goes beyond Republican claims of “cover-up” and Democratic dismissals of the matter as nothing more than election year politics. And that story is deeply damning of American and French actions in the Libyan civil war, from secretly funding the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, to the willingness to use journalism as a cover for covert action.

Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexual Relationships

Milton Nkosi BBC
Mozambique has decriminalized homosexuality, making it one of a few African countries where same-sex relationships are legal. The revised penal code, which went into force July 1st, drops a colonial-era clause outlawing so-called "vices against nature". While there were no prosecutions under that clause, gay rights activists say this change is important, coming at a time when a number of African countries are introducing new draconian laws against homosexuals.

No Accident: The Campaign to Weaken Worker Protections

Jamie Smith Hopkins Center for Public Integrity
Who's to blame for thousands of work-related deaths and illnesses each year? Big Business, Congress, the White House and federal agencies. Decades of concerted efforts to weaken the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s authority have jammed the regulatory gears to the point that they hardly turn. Most of the agency’s exposure limits are more than 40 years old, and tens of thousands of chemicals, including many known to be hazardous, have no limits at all.