Today’s comic by Jen Sorensen is The refugee cycle:
• Having continued to make gains, Taliban in no hurry for peace talks: With the U.S. war in Afghanistan now at the beginning of its 18th year: Leaders of the United States, Russia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan itself are eager to have peace talks. But not the Taliban. Since June, they’ve stepped up their attacks, hitting schools, election offices, military bases, a provincial capital, and Kabul itself. When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani put forth a blueprint for peace in Geneva late last month, the Taliban sneered at it, and labeled him a “foreign puppet” of U.S. invaders, adding that they would only negotiate any peace deals directly with Washington. And when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said recently that the Trump regime seeks to end the war without agreeing to withdraw troops, Taliban officers responded with an online message: “The valiant Afghan Muslim nation is absolutely determined to force the occupying American forces out of Afghanistan. We will not tire.” That kind of bravado is nothing new for the ultra-fundamentalist insurgents, but it resonates more sharply given the Taliban’s recent gains.
• Two groups team up to expose the gun lobby’sd influence in the legislation of nine states:
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed 35 public records requests today to uncover efforts from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other special interests to use their influence to push legislation in nine states. The requests are for communications between gun lobby groups and state legislators in California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The requests seek to provide insight into how and to what extent these gun groups are influencing state policy-makers to pass laws that eliminate training and background check requirements for concealed carry and force guns onto college campuses and into K-12 schools.
• Big pile of beef added to October recall because of salmonella fears:
JBS Tolleson Inc. is recalling more than 5.1 million pounds of raw beef products that may be tainted with salmonella, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Tuesday.
The recalled beef was produced and packaged between July 26 and September 7, according to the service. The products have been distributed nationwide and
include the brands Kroger, Cedar River Farms, Grass Run Farms and JBS generic.
MIDDAY TWEET
• Open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act ends in most states on December 15: If you’ve been delaying, there are less than two weeks left if you need insurance! Free help is available. Answers to your questions about signing up and trained professionals who can talk your through your options are just a phone call or click away. Call 1-800-318-2596 or visit localhelp.healthcare.gov to make a one-on-one appointment now.
• A million electric vehicles now traveling on U.S. streets: Getting more will require an expanded infrastructure and greater customer awareness, said participants at a one-day conference hosted by the Edison Electric Institute. EEI, an association of investor-owned electric utilities, has generally taken a conservative, even hostile stance on the transformation of the nation’s energy system, not least because many of its members benefit from their monopoly status. For instance, EEI has been very supportive of efforts opposing state incentives for rooftop solar.
• In Katowice, Poland at the COP24/Paris 2.0 climate conference, U.N. chief issues warning of dire consequences: Leaders at the two-week conference that began Monday in the heart of Poland’s Silesian coal country, called for a “just transition” for workers in industries that have no future “if humanity is to have one,” the AP reports:
“We are trying to save the world from annihilation, but we must do this in a way that those who live with us today in the world have the best possible living conditions,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said. “Otherwise they will say, ‘We don’t want such policy.’”
The issue of a “just transition” isn’t restricted to workers in energy industries who might lose their jobs. Many economists argue that ambitious curbs on greenhouse emissions require raising the cost of carbon fuels — one of the measures that triggered large-scale protests in France by motorists feeling the squeeze at the pump.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: MD and DC emoluments suits greenlighted for discovery. NC-09 is blowing up. Post-election GOP thievery in WI and MI explained, even as the NYT papers over it. The Saud family feud that led to the Khashoggi murder, continued. Motives? Yes. Reason? Not yet.
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