The Torch – 03.05.18

Greg Mello is director and co-founder of the Los Alamos Study Group. He’s an  engineer and regional planner. Greg led the first environmental enforcement at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Greg’s research, analysis, and opinions have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Issues in Science and Technology, and in the New Mexico …

Sarah Lazare – How Big Pharma Is Arm-Twisting U.S. Foreign Policy to Keep Cancer Drugs Prohibitively Expensive

The administration of President Barack Obama has so far refused to publicly respond to new revelations that U.S. officials, at the behest of Big Pharma, may have attempted to obstruct the Colombian government’s efforts to lower the price of a life-saving cancer medication. Amid this silence, civil society organizations [3], along with some lawmakers from the House [4] and Senate [5], are demanding answers. At issue is …

Matt Taibbi – Why the Banks Should Be Broken Up

Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed in the New York Times today called “Sanders Over the Edge.” He’s been doing a lot of shovel work for the Hillary Clinton campaign lately, which is his right of course. The piece eventually devolves into a criticism of the character of Bernie Sanders, but it’s his take on the causes of the ’08 crash that really …

Paul Buchheit – How Big Corporations Cheat Public Education

Corporations have reaped trillion-dollar benefits from 60 years of public education in the U.S., but they’re skipping out on the taxes meant to sustain the educational system. Children suffer from repeated school cutbacks. And parents subsidize the deadbeat corporations through increases in property taxes and sales taxes. Big Companies Pay about a Third of their Required State Taxes An earlier …

Obama, Republicans push anti-China trade pact – Patrick Martin

Both the US Senate and House of Representatives have begun action on legislation to grant President Obama Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “fast-track” authority, which would enable the US government to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 11 other countries in Asia and the Americas. The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, in a 20-6 vote, approved the …

With ‘Brave Tactic,’ Sanders Tries to Slam Brakes on Fast Track – Sarah Lazare

In what is being heralded as a “brave tactic,” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday temporarily blocked lawmakers from rushing through legislation that would allow the Obama administration to “Fast Track” the controversial and highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Sanders forcibly delayed the Senate Finance Committee from considering Fast Track legislation by using a rarely invoked senate scheduling rule, effectively preventing the …

TPP Opponents Mobilize as Powerful Forces Seek to Ram Through ‘Fast Track’ Trade Authority

With Congress “dangerously close” to ramming through trade promotion authority, or Fast Track, by mid-April—in turn smoothing the way for passage of corporate-friendly trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership—lawmakers and activists are scrambling to sway key figures in the debate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said last week that he wants the Senate Finance Committee to approve a Fast Track …