Judge tosses Trump-era Alaska oil drill permit that Biden defended – National & International News – THU 19Aug2021

Judge tosses massive Alaska drill permit. TX school puts masks in dress code to thwart Gov’s ban. Taliban hunts down US collaborators.

NATIONAL NEWS

Judge tosses Trump-era Alaska oil drill permit that Biden defended

Over a week ago, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report it described as a “red alert” for the planet and its leaders. President Biden responded to the report saying that, “we can’t wait to tackle the climate crisis. The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. And the cost of inaction keeps mounting”.

But it took a federal judge in Anchorage to block a massive drilling project in North Slope in Alaska. The Trump administration OK’d the permit, and the Biden administration recently defended it in court.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimated the ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska would yield to 160,000 barrels of oil a day, or about 590 million barrels over 30 years. That’s pushing right up to the point when the IPPC says we need to be carbon neutral globally in 2050.

“Arbitrary and capricious”

US district court judge Sharon Gleason issued a scathing 110-page ruling vacating the permits. Gleason’s ruling ultimately hinged on the Trump administration’s failure to properly assess the project’s impact on polar bear habitats. But Gleason had more to say, revealing a deeply flawed permitting and evaluation process under the previous administration.

Gleason described the bureau’s exclusion of greenhouse gas emissions in its environment review as “arbitrary and capricious”. She also said the bureau violated the law by basing its analysis “on the view that ConocoPhillips has the right to extract all possible oil and gas on its leases”.

Gleason also voided a US Fish and Wildlife review which concluded, based on nothing particularly scientific, that the Willow Project “was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of polar bears and not likely to result in the adverse modification of polar bear critical habitat”. 

But it may not be over yet. Gleason’s ruling will refer the case back to the relevant agencies for further review.

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Texas school puts mask in dress code to get around Abbot’s ban

The board of trustees of the Paris Independent School District says it will now include masks in its dress code. The board says it “believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues”. The mask requirement will not be permanent and will be reviewed monthly at board meetings. 

A statement from the board says, “The Texas Governor does not have the authority to usurp the Board of Trustees’ exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of the public schools of the district. Nothing in the Governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code. Therefore the Board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority”.

Tennessee mom: if you can opt out of masks, you can opt out of dress codes

The COVID policy of Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga requires students and teachers to wear masks. However,  parents can opt their kids out of this requirement by filling out a form. In response, one mom emailed administrators requesting an opt-out form to exempt her daughter from the district’s ‘misogynistic’ dress code.

The email says, “In light of the opt-out option related to the recently announced mask mandate, I can only assume that parents are now in a position to pick and choose the school policies to which their child should be subject”.

She continued, “As someone who holds a strong commitment to my feminist ideals and my desire to raise my daughter to be a strong and empowered woman able to make choices for herself, I find that the school’s dress code policy does not align with my belief system. I therefore intend to opt out of this policy and send my daughter to school in spaghetti straps, leggings, cut offs and anything else she feels comfortable wearing to school”.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Despite promises, Taliban hunting down US collaborators

The Taliban has promised there would be no reprisals against Afghans who worked with US and NATO forces. But a confidential UN report indicates that the Taliban is stepping up its efforts to hunt down collaborators. The report from the Norwegian Centre for Global Analyses says, “The Taliban are arresting and/or threatening to kill or arrest family members of target individuals unless they surrender themselves to the Taliban”. Furthermore, the Taliban “have been conducting advance mapping of individuals prior to take take-over of all major cities” to aid their search for collaborators.

The Taliban have also seized all roads to the Kabul airport and conducting patrols outside. The US military is controlling the airport, now one of the only viable exit points from Afghanistan. The Taliban says their patrols of the airport are “facilitating safe-exit passage not just for foreigners but also to Afghans”. However, there are many reports that the Taliban are only allowing foreigners through. Many Afghans have been turned away even if they had the proper paperwork.  

Left to die

About 80,000 Afghans should have received Special Immigrant Visas in return for services they or a close family member rendered to US forces.

President Biden is probably correct in saying that Taliban takeover was inevitable, whether the US pulled out now or in another 20 years. But leaving these people behind to die was not inevitable.

The US government had 20 years to fulfill its promises to Afghans who helped US forces and saved countless lives, at great risk to their own. The 14-step application process for the SIV is overly burdensome, taking over two years on average. That was not inevitable.

The Biden administration says it was hamstrung by Trump’s dismantling of the asylum system. That may be so, but Biden is the one overseeing this withdrawal. As Commander-in-Chief, he has the last word on getting ALL of our people out, however long it takes.

More than anything else that has happened or will happen in Afghanistan, a decision (and it is a decision) to abandon these people would be a stain on America’s moral character and its international reputation for years to come. 

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