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The fact is that there is no way any politician can justify Keystone and still say it’s time to take stronger action on global warming. As Bill McKibbon’s 350.org puts it: “President Obama says that he will reject the pipeline if it poses a risk to the climate. That makes his decision simple: building an 800,000 barrel-per-day pipeline of the world’s dirtiest oil will mean more tar sands dug up and burned, and more carbon pollution.”
Unexpected jolts can quickly unravel authoritarian regimes. Maybe 2015 will see Cubans responding en masse to the more flexible policy adopted by the Obama Administration, massing in the streets and forcing a showdown with the Castro regime. If they succeed in breaking the back of the communist system, how might a new democratically elected government start to put things right?
Obama pointed to the obvious when he said the old policies, meaning containment and subversion, didn’t “make sense.” More Cubans are travelling to wherever they can get a visa, political dissent and expression is more open than ever, and there are more private-owned businesses and farms in Cuba. While Cuba is still officially a one party-state, Cuban leaders have repeatedly made clear they are committed to real reforms.
Their near sweep in the mid-term election has generated a lot of speculation about the impact of a Republican majority in the House and Senate for the first time since 2006. Will Mitch McConnell and John Boehner lead a unified, purposeful GOP and move major legislation smoothly through the legislative process? Could there even be attempts to work with Democrats and demonstrate to the American people that Congress is still functional?
Garner was begging for his life and repeatedly said, "I can't breathe" when Pantaleo held him in a chokehold that even New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton called "disturbing" and characterized as a violation of police procedure. And even with all of it caught on video, there was no indictment. Which has prompted some elected officials who spoke with The Root to pinpoint the question of whether cameras are the solution.
Data show that in 2010-2011, there were some 42 million internally displaced people in Asia alone, the majority victims of natural disasters including storms, droughts, and sea rise.But for cross-border migration driven by climate-related disasters, the legal landscape remains far murkier. Such migrants do not fall under the UN Convention for Refugees, for example, which only extends to those fleeing persecution on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.
With the Ferguson grand jury deciding not to bring charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the slaying of Michael Brown, President Obama now finds himself faced with the same decision Bush Sr. had to make 22 years ago. The call has repeatedly gone out for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to bring civil rights charges against Wilson. He would not have moved as quickly as he did to assign a phalanx of FBI agents to the case, secure an independent autopsy of Brown’s death, and personally travel to the city to review procedures with civil rights attorneys and investigators without the personal approval of Obama.
President Obama, who addressed the nation Monday evening shortly after a grand jury announced that it declined to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown, said that while, “the decision was the grand jury’s to make,” disappointment and anger about the announcement “is an understandable reaction.” Obama echoed the calls of Michael Brown’s family who in recent days have called for peaceful protests following the grand jury’s decision.