Ken Silverstein

Students are cutting class, and workers are striking worldwide.   At the UN, governments will be held accountable for promises made in the Paris Accords.

President Trump wonders in a tweet who is worse: Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, or Chairman Xi Jinping.

Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas and battered the Carolinas, but what dominated the news cycle?

Accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein apparently killed himself over the weekend. He was in the secure housing unit in a Manhattan jail.

“We can’t recycle our way out of this crisis.” That’s according to California’s Democratic State Senator Ben Allen-- just one of many politicians around the country proposing to ban all straws, bags and other single-use plastics. At the overwhelmed Recycling Center in Burbank, California, Kreigh Hample says, “Our packaging has gone up exponentially in just the last few decades… it’s a sad story in the way we eat, the way we dispose of things and the way that we’re living.” A throwaway culture may be convenient, but the costs include cleaning it up with taxpayer money--not to mention worldwide pollution. China now requires recycled products so pure that the bottom’s gone out of the market, but the plastics industry is bigger than ever. Former EPA official Judith Judith Enck says half the world’s plastics have been produced in the past 13 years. One new process has developed from coal fracking, and development is being encouraged by President Trump with support from the fossil fuel industry. But just 9% of the plastic produced is getting recycled. Some goes to landfills, but the rest turns into worldwide pollution. Images of plastic waste floating by the acre in the Pacific Ocean are all too familiar; microplastics are turning up from the depths of the seas to the remotest parts of the Arctic. In Texas and other states, it’s illegal to ban plastic products. But, in Sacramento, Allen says it’s time to hold the plastics industry accountable. California is big enough to influence the nation’s economy, so his efforts are being scrutinized by politicians and advocates around the country.

The communities of Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are recovering after attackers shot and killed at least 34 people and injured dozens more.  Erroll Southers, Director of Homegrown…

Orange County Democrats are celebrating a victory that seemed almost impossible 10 years ago.

The two international giants are linked in inextricable ways, and yet Americans’ understanding of China consistently lacks nuance.

... there's a lot to discuss after last night's Democratic presidential debate.