Vineyard Monocultures

The massive growth of the wine industry has led to a very real problem-wine monocultures that transform ecologically complex places such as the hills of Napa County into carefully manicured landscapes that leave no room for the wild. That a lot of wineries require hillsides makes this worse, as many species exist on a pretty strict elevation level.

Could Saudi plans for $100/ barrel oil hugely expand electric car market and save Tesla?

Nick Cunningham at Oilprice.com points to the dilemmas implicit in the rumored Saudi plan to engineer a return to $100 a barrel oil. That price level translates into an average gasoline price in the US of $3.57, though in California, with a population of about 40 million.

Puerto Rico Goes Back Door to Solartopia and the Corporate Media Blacks It Out

Puerto Rico has made history by becoming -- briefly -- the largest US territory or state to be powered almost entirely by renewable energy. The rising grassroots movement to totally rebuild Puerto Rico's electric supply system with renewable energy and locally owned micro-grids poses a serious threat to the centralized, fossil-based corporate elite.

Media Support US Violence Against Syria, But Long for More

Corporate media outlets were glad that the US, France and Britain bombed Syria in violation of international law , but lamented what they see as a dearth of US violence in the country. In The Atlantic , Thanassis Cambanis described the war crime as "undoubtedly a good thing," and called for "sustained attention and investment, of diplomatic, economic and military resources"-though the latter rubbed up against his assessment in the same paragraph that "a major regional war will only make things worse."

Top Six Reasons Pompeo should not be Secretary of State

NBC is reporting that Mike Pompeo lacks the votes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to have his nomination to be Secretary of State be favorably reported out of committee on Monday night. Democrats on the committee have expressed fears that Pompeo, a warmonger, will reinforce the worst tendencies of Trump.

American Woman Married to ISIS Sniper

A mother of four from Indiana is sharing how she became involved with ISIS -- and why she and her children are now being held in a Syrian-Kurdish jail. Samantha Sally spoke to CNN about how her "romantic" second marriage to Moroccan-born husband Moussa Elhassani resulted in an unexpected move to Syria in 2014.

Commenter Lizzie Has A Question About Dogs and Cats Living Together

As we wait for 3:00 PM EDT to roll around and begin the Friday afternoon news breakening, we could use a new thread. And since commenter Lizzie's question deserves some broader exposure than the few folks who've seen it buried in the comments to the previous thread , here it is: Since it's an open threada .sorry in advance for the long post, especially by a lurker who rarely posts! But there are a lot of knowledgeable animal lovers here and I'd love some advice about whether to pursue adopting two dogs.

Turkey’s president will win the country’s snap elections. Here’s why they still matter.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an authoritarian ruler who maintains the facade of democratic legitimacy. This week, Turkey's president announced the country would hold snap elections on June 24. The outcome of these elections is hardly in question: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will win.

Challenge Politicians Living Political Money on the Table in Primaries

Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed Wednesday to grant voting rights to tens of thousands of paroled felons, arguing that they've paid their debt to society and should have the ability to cast a ballot. Cuomo, a Democrat, signed an executive order that would provide conditional pardons to upward of 35,000 felons who have completed their jail sentence but remain out on parole supervision.