In a more and more commonplace occurrence, a federal appeals court won its suit to keep Americans in the dark about conflict minerals and Congolese peasants bound to the warlords they are forced to serve. The National Association of Manufacturers won the case based their first amendment right to remain silent, despite clear and violent human rights abuses by warlords who are raking in huge profits.

The much-vaunted COP21 negotiations in Paris are, despite the claims of world leaders, dead on arrival. Emissions reductions targets are not up for discussion. Those pledges are already on the table, having been put forward voluntarily by each country. Government negotiators in Paris are instead looking at banal details of how and when countries should commit to improving their voluntary pledges...

Two things happened within 24 hours of each other that almost certainly caused GOP leaders even more nervous anxiety over GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. One was his very Trump like pronouncement that all Muslims should be banned from the country. This roused the furor of nearly everyone who had access to a microphone and reporter's note pad. That foremost included President Obama.

Republican presidential campaign rhetoric is red-hot regarding Islamic terrorism, with Sen. Cruz suggesting the use of nuclear weapons to see "if sand can glow in the dark," a threat even more troubling than Donald Trump's call to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S., writes Robert Parry.

The pipeline system already does what people are saying "Keystone XL" set out to do: move tar sands down to Gulf refineries and the Houston Ship Channel. So TransCanada, oil traders, hedge fund tycoons, refiners and all the other gamblers in this casino we call the oil and gas industry have already largely won this fight, even as activists have declared what Obama nixed to be a major victory.