Vote on Tax Deal is Imminent
House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said Monday that the House will likely vote this week on Obama’s tax package, according to Politico. “I believe that action is necessary and compromise inevitable,” Hoyer said at the National Press Club. He also said that House Democrats may insist that certain changes be implemented before they’re willing to pass the bill, including on estate tax rates.
Pot Legalization Effort Starts Again in DC
McClatchy Newspapers reports that a new trade group called the National Cannabis Industry Association has begun promoting pot on Capitol Hill. The organization is led by Aaron Smith, who previously served with the Marijuana Policy Project in California, which suffered a narrow defeat in its most recent legalization effort, Proposition 19. The National Cannabis Industry Association board includes 23 members representing dispensaries, operators, publications, and insurance providers.
New York Temporarily Bans Fracking
New York Gov. David Paterson ordered a seven-month moratorium on natural gas drilling in the state, which will stand until July 1, according to The Huffington Post. The ban only applies to high-volume hydraulic fracturing of horizontally drilled wells, like the ones that line the Marcellus Shale region; some environmental groups warned that the specifics of the moratorium leave a loophole for drilling companies to exploit, as it allows for drilling of vertical wells. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” involves blasting millions of gallons of chemically injected water underground to release natural gases. Opponents claim the practice contaminates drinking water, which the Environmental Protection Agency is currently looking into.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
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We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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