Corporatocracy and Kleptocracy Links: Q1 2020

PCR: "Monsanto / Bayer owns the EPA"

EPA Reapproves Glyphosate, Claims Pesticide Poses No Human Health Threat. Center for Biological Diversity, Global Research. Jan. 31, 2020. (hat tip: Paul Craig Roberts)

Decision Disregards Independent Science Linking Glyphosate to Cancer

The Playbook for Poisoning the Earth. Lee Fang, The Intercept. Jan. 18, 2020.

“Bees are the canary in the cornfield,” said Lisa Archer, the food and agriculture program director at Friends of the Earth. “The science linking pesticides to the extinction crisis has grown.”

“Generally, we see the U.S. waiting longer than the EU to take action on a variety of pesticides and other chemicals,” said Childress, the organizer with Pesticide Action Network North America. Part of the divergence, Childress continued, stems from a regulatory system in the U.S. that assumes chemical products are generally safe until proven hazardous. In contrast, the EU tends to use the “precautionary principle,” removing products that may cause harm, and requiring proof of safety before allowing them to return to market. 

Another major factor, Childress noted, is the widespread corporate capture of American regulatory institutions. The EPA, for instance, employs 11 former lobbyists — including its administrator, Andrew Wheeler, who previously worked for coal interests in opposition to climate regulations — in senior positions. 

The pesticide industry also maintains a long history of underhanded methods to discredit its critics.

Ozone Layer Recovery is Being Undermined by Pollution form U.S. Companies. Sharon Lerner, The Intercept. Jan. 18 2020.


Mike Bloomberg: Trojan Horse For Clintonista Revival. zerohedge. Feb. 18, 2020.

... Because, honestly, Bloomberg isn’t interested in being president anymore than I am. He’s 78. He’s not campaigning. What he’s doing is a pantomime of a campaign covering for a very sophisticated form of campaign finance evasion.

And he’s doing it to figure out what is necessary for a ‘centrist’ Democratic candidate to say (and where) to steal electoral college votes from Donald Trump in November.

Bloomberg is spending this money today knowing that a targeted campaign which can figure out how to undermine Trump where he is strong can shift the map enough to sneak out a victory.

So Mike will spend more than $1 billion as an in-kind contribution to the DNC in the form of campaign advertising to get this done.

Because, let’s get serious here for a second. None of the candidates, including Bernie Sanders, has a hope in hell of beating Trump this fall. Any mistakes Trump’s made dwarf the basic message that he believes in the U.S. in a way that is genuine, even that vision of America is flawed.

The wizards at the DNC know this. Impeachment was their last real hope. That’s why it was rushed through and so shoddily done, they didn’t have anything substantive. And all it did was cement Trump’s base to him more thoroughly than it was before.

Their best shot is running a moderate who can out-Trump Trump on the issues and raise a ton of money along the way for 2024 while retaining some control over the party proper.

The intention is to hoover up delegates, confound the map and throw up roadblocks to Bernie. This paves the way for Hillary’s emergence at a brokered convention to hand her the rematch she, Wall St. and the DNC want. ...

see also:
Forever Chemicals.


Op-Ed: Dems Should Do The Sensible Thing And Nominate A Moderate Rapacious Psychopath. CaitOz. Feb. 17, 2020.
Editor’s note: In order to circumvent internet censorship, today’s Caitlin Johnstone essay has been replaced with an op-ed by Snooty McCentrist of the National News Conglomerate. NNC: Obey.

... If you can’t take it from me, take it from the cold, hard numbers: if Democrats want to beat Trump, they need to nominate a centrist. Someone who rejects the extremes of Bernie’s far left and Trump’s far right and instead espouses sensible, middle-of-the-road values like endless war and military expansionism, rapacious ecocide, corrupt plutocracy, crushing domestic austerity measures, new cold war nuclear escalations, continued deregulation of sociopathic financial and commercial institutions, police militarization, unprecedented levels of imprisonment, Orwellian surveillance programs, internet censorship, and ever-mounting authoritarianism.

You know, the moderate position.

Because think about it, Bernie Bros: if you resist the DNC’s attempt to elevate a sensible candidate like Mike Bloomberg to your party’s nomination just because you don’t want a racist Republican billionaire oligarch authoritarian with dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct against women to be your president, then you’re stuck with Donald Trump.

Chew on that prospect for a minute.