(2018-03-25). Jordan: Step Forward, Step Back for Urban Refugees . Human Rights Watch News Syrian children attend class in a school in the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, October 20, 2015. The school taught Syrian girls in the morning and boys in the afternoon, but lacked electricity, heating, and running water. | © 2016 Bill Van Esveld/Human Rights Watch | (Amman) — Jordan began on March 4, 2018 to regularize the status of refugees who have been living in towns and cities without permits, offering them greater protection, Human Rights Watch said today. However, on January 24, the government revoked the eligibility for subsidized health care for people living outside refugee camps. | The March 4 decision will protect thousands of vulnerable Syrian refugees from arrest for being outside refugee camps illegally and will increase their access to jobs, aid, and education. But the healthcare…
(2018-03-25). 'Like Falcon Space launch': Flat-Earther finally blasts off into California sky (VIDEO). RT US News Flat-Earth theorist and self-taught rocket scientist 'Mad' Mike Hughes has catapulted himself half a mile into the air aboard a homemade rocket in Californian desert town.
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(2018-03-24). Responsibility Deflected, the CLOUD Act Passes. Will Erode Privacy Protections Worldwide. Global Research UPDATE, March 23, 2018: President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion government spending bill—which includes the CLOUD Act—into law Friday morning. | "People deserve the right to a better process." | Those are the words of Jim McGovern, representative for Massachusetts …
(2018-03-24). Coal Baron Files Rambling, Self-Pitying Defamation Suit Against John Oliver for Making Jokes About Him. AlterNet.org The judge dismissed the defamation suit and warned him not to send another letter. | The West Virginia coal baron whose practices were mocked by John Oliver and a giant squirrel sent a hilarious letter of protest to the judge who dismissed his defamation suit, according to the ACLU of West Virginia. Bob Murray was labeled "a geriatric Dr. Evil" in an episode of Oliver's HBO show, which highlighted incidents like a 2007 collapse caused by unauthorized mining practices in Utah which killed six miners, and which Murray claimed at the time was caused by an "earthquake. ""The jobs of our 6,000 coal miners depend on me and my reputation," the letter said. "I am a dying old man, but our employees will suffer as a result of your decision. "Murray also complained of getting mocked by the show's fans in letters. . .
(2018-03-24). The Betrayal of the Future. Tipping Points in the Earth's Climate. Global Research A species which has invented combustion, electromagnetic radiation and nuclear energy orders of magnitude more powerful than its own physical potential, needs to be perfectly wise and in control lest it is overwhelmed by these powers. | As tipping points in …
(2018-03-23). Could the Fossil Fuel Industry Start Drilling for Oil in Your Local Park? AlterNet.org A fight between Big Oil and local residents in Kalamazoo serves as a cautionary tale. | After eight years on the Kalamazoo County Parks Commission board, board member and local activist Matt Lechel had never encountered an issue like the one that confronted the board last January: a proposal to drill for oil in one of Kalamazoo's community parks. The proposal came from a representative of Wolverine Gas and Oil, a Michigan corporation that had distinguished itself in 2004 with the largest continental U. S. oil discovery in 30 years. The representative provided handouts for his presentation, which proposed to lease land within Kalamazoo's Scott's Mill County Park for the purpose of drilling for oil. Lechel was flabbergasted that the parks commission was hearing the proposal at all. In 2010, the area suffered the biggest inland oil spill in U. S. history when Enbridge Line. . .
(2018-03-23). To Believe in Science, You Have to Know How It's Done. counterpunch.org I met a climate crisis denier today. It came out of nowhere. I was getting my camera repaired, and I was chatting with the repairman afterward. Just before I left, he dropped into our conversation that he didn't believe in manmade climate change. After all, the earth managed to produce an Ice Age all by More
(2018-03-23). Denial of Climate Change is Not the Problem. counterpunch.org A large majority of the public now agrees that climate catastrophe is the most important problem facing humanity. Over ninety percent of scientists are in agreement about the causes and dire projections of climate catastrophe. And the list goes on and on. However, we are still racing for the precipice. I mean just walk outside More
(2018-03-23). Flashing for the Refugees on the Unarmed Road of Flight. counterpunch.org Every once in a while a book is published wherein the text transcends the subject matter, lifting the stories between the covers into a place that is both revelatory and sublime; a place that renders the words involved to be more than mere representations of the subject matter. Ramzy Baroud's latest book The Last Earth: More
(2018-03-23). In Seeing African Corruption as Landlocked, George Clooney Misses the Boat. MintPress News Any forensic examination of African corruption would reveal Western fingerprints everywhere, from the financing of a ruinous civil war and exploitation of oil and diamond reserves in Angola, to the pillaging of mineral resources in Zambia. | The post In Seeing African Corruption as Landlocked, George Clooney Misses the Boat appeared first on MintPress News.
(2018-03-23). Russia and Britain: An Enduring But Fruitless Rivalry. Global Research The ongoing crisis between Britain and the Russian Federation over the poisoning of a former GRU colonel on British soil is the latest episode in what for a number of years has effectively been a 'Cold War' between Russia on …
(2018-03-22). The Indigenous Collective Using Tattoos to Rise Above Colonialism. Truthout Stories If you believe in the importance of a free and independent press, take a moment to support Truthout's news and analysis by making a donation now! | Thunderbird Woman was the image that caught my eye at the Standing Rock water protector camps. As an Ojibwe woman, I immediately realized that the depiction was an example of my ancestors' ancient spirit writings, or symbols, recorded on birch bark scrolls and on rock faces along the Great Lakes long before Europeans landed in America. Thunderbird Woman, with her winged arms outstretched, seemed to float on the canvases at Standing Rock, portraying a cosmology in which dynamic spiritual forces are depicted internally, as if through an X-ray. Water rained down from her wings and thunderbolts surrounded her head. Her shape was a simple outline, and her heart anchored her image. | Images like…
(2018-03-22). Syria's Kids Are Still Being Killed at School . Human Rights Watch News Children walk through the rubble of the Tamayuz ("Excellence") kindergarten in the town of Hamouriyeh after it was hit by a Syrian-Russian airstrike on November 8, 2017. | © 2017 Private | In areas of Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Syria's capital Damascus held by anti-government armed groups, schools have closed for fear that Syrian and Russian warplanes will bomb them. Instead, local residents have opened informal schools in basements, thinking they offer greater protection from attack. But these basement schools are now being bombed too. | This week, according to Syrian rights groups and local media in Eastern Ghouta, an airstrike in the town of Arbin killed at least 15 children and two adults as they sheltered in a basement school. A doctor who saw the bodies sent us a list of…
(2018-03-22). Headlines for March 22, 2018. Democracy Now! Trump National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to Resign; Replaced by Iran/N. Korea Hawk John Bolton, Austin Police Name Serial Bombing Suspect, Cite Video Confession, Congress to Vote on $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill Without DACA Protections, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Apologizes over Data Privacy Scandal, AG Sessions Tells Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty in Drug Cases, Israel: Palestinian Teenager Ahed Tamimi Sentenced to 8-Month Term, Journalists Who Covered Massacre of Rohingya Mark 100th Day in Burmese Jail, Nigeria: Most of Kidnapped Dapchi Schoolgirls Freed, Peru: President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Resigns Ahead of Trial, Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates Amid Rising Wages, Fox News Analyst Quits, Calls Network a Propaganda Machine for Trump, WaPo: 187,000 Exposed to Gun Violence at School Since Columbine, Arizona Police Release Video Showing Fatal Crash of Self-Driving Uber, NYC Cabbie Who Blamed Uber, Lyft for Financial Woes Commits Suicide, Sacramento, CA: Video Shows Officers Killing Stephon Clark in His Backyard, Mississippi Governor Names Cindy Hyde-Smith to Fill U.S. Senate Seat, New York to Probe Jared Kushner's Company over Falsified Documents…
(2018-03-22). Oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka, Hungary and Colombia (Item 2 General Debate, 37th regular session) . Amnesty International : In this oral statement, delivered at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on 22 March 2018, Amnesty International: calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to accelerate progress on, and provide a clear and definitive timeline for, the implementation of commitments made in HRC resolution 30/1; urges the Colombian authorities to introduce measures to guarantee the protection of civilians and to dismantle paramilitary groups; and calls on the Government of Hungary to withdraw draft laws which would contravene their obligation to protect the rights to freedom of association, expression and movement.
(2018-03-22). Syria's Kids Are Still Being Killed at School . Human Rights Watch News Children walk through the rubble of the Tamayuz ("Excellence") kindergarten in the town of Hamouriyeh after it was hit by a Syrian-Russian airstrike on November 8, 2017. | © 2017 Private | In areas of Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Syria's capital Damascus held by anti-government armed groups, schools have closed for fear that Syrian and Russian warplanes will bomb them. Instead, local residents have opened informal schools in basements, thinking they offer greater protection from attack. But these basement schools are now being bombed too. | This week, according to Syrian rights groups and local media in Eastern Ghouta, an airstrike in the town of Arbin killed at least 15 children and two adults as they sheltered in a basement school. A doctor who saw the bodies sent us a list of…
(2018-03-22). Chomsky: 'The Republican Party Is the Most Dangerous Organization in Human History' AlterNet.org The renowned linguist and cognitive scientist on where we stand as an economy, as a country, and as human beings. | * This interview originally appeared on the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. To help make sense of where we stand as an economy, as a country, and as human beings, Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Laureate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, shares his thoughts with Lynn Stuart Parramore on the Age of Trump, foreign policy, dissent in the internet age, public education, corporate predation, who's really messing with American elections, climate change, and more. Lynn Parramore: You've been looking at politics and international relations for quite a long time. Over the decades, what are the continuities in these areas that stand out in your view? Noam. . .
(2018-03-22). Four Ways Government Climate Information Has Changed Since Trump Took Office. Truthout Stories Truthout delivers trustworthy reporting and thought-provoking news analysis. If you share our passion for the truth, help strengthen independent media with a donation today! | After Donald Trump won the presidential election, hundreds of volunteers around the US came together to "rescue" federal data on climate change, thought to be at risk under the new administration. " Guerilla archivists," including ourselves, gathered to archive federal websites and preserve scientific data. | But what has happened since? Did the data vanish? | As of one year later, there has been no great purge. Federal data sets related to environmental and climate science are still accessible in the same ways they were before Trump took office. | However, in many other instances, federal agencies have tampered with information about climate change. Across agency websites, documents have disappeared, web pages have vanished…
(2018-03-22). Trump, the Crown Prince and the Whole Ugly Big Picture. counterpunch.org There are few countries on earth more oppressive than Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy shaped by Sunni theocracy. It stones adulterers and hurls gay men off buildings by judicial decision. The State Department routinely, matter of factly, reports widespread human rights abuses in the country. International human rights organizations use Saudi Arabia as the poster child of egregious violations. Everybody knows how Saudi women have been forbidden to even drive cars, although the ban will be lifted due to international pressure in June. More
(2018-03-22). Neoliberal Globalization: Is There an Alternative to Plundering the Earth? Global Research Is there an alternative to making war? Is there an alternative to destroying the planet? No one asks these questions because they seem absurd…
(2018-03-22). WATCH: #LessOilMoreWater, Amazon Communities Are Banding Together to Demand Clean Water. AlterNet.org An ambitious project to clean up what Big Oil ruined. | As Alexander Zaitchik reported earlier this week, Big Oil has been polluting the usually lush Amazon forests for decades. Oil companies, Zaitchik writes, "spilled billions of barrels of crude and related pollutants in the rivers and forests of the Upper Amazon. " It's particularly dire in Ecuador and Peru, where "traditionally abundant groundwater sources—rivers, streams, and lagoons—are contaminated beyond use. " Now, a newly created indigenous organization, the Ceibo Alliance, is partnering with NGO Amazon Frontlines to create new, clean water systems across the region. They just celebrated their 1,000th, which will "provide clean water to more than 1,000 families in 72 communities across five million acres of critically threatened primary forest. "Watch a short film on their progress below, and read Alexander Zaitchik's report here. #LessOilMoreWater in the Amazon
(2018-03-22). Exonerating the Empire in Venezuela. FAIR NBC ( 3/12/18) attributes Venezuela's crisis to President Hugo Chávez's "promise to share the country's oil wealth with the poor." | The United States has for years undermined the Venezuelan economy with economic sanctions, but US media coverage of Venezuela's financial crisis has gone out of its way to obscure this. | The intent of the sanctions is clear: to inflict maximum pain on Venezuela so as to encourage the people of the country to overthrow the democratically elected government. SUNY professor Gabriel Hetland (The Nation, 8/17/16) pointed out in 2016 that the Obama government "prevented Venezuela from obtaining much-needed foreign financing and investment." Such policies, Hetland notes,have had a considerable and highly detrimental impact at a time when Venezuela is in desperate need of dollars but is prevented from gaining access to them by Washington. | In August 2017, two…
(2018-03-21). Holding Killers to Account for Hate Crimes in India. Human Rights Watch News Members of a "cow protection" group try to take the cows from the back of a truck that the group stopped on November 8, 2015, in Ramgarh, Rajasthan state, India. | © 2015 Getty Images/Allison Joyce | A court in India yesterday sentenced 11 people to life in prison for beating to death Alimuddin Ansari, a Muslim, who his killers believed was trading in beef. Among those convicted was a local leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). | Many Hindus consider cows to be sacred, and in the past four years a violent vigilante campaign against beef trade and consumption has led to the killing of at least 29 people, mostly Muslims, across the country. Dalits, so-called untouchables, have also been targeted because they handle animal carcasses and leather.
(2018-03-21). Fictional Free Trade and Permanent Protectionism: Donald Trump's Economic Orthodoxy. counterpunch.org Let's put it out there with suitable portions of provocation: free trade has never actually taken place. There is an uncomfortable, skirmish-ridden middle ground, where states compete for primacy over surplus and deficits, where the notion of prosperity is language deferred, not to citizens, but corporations who are often backed for pursuing technological remits. The More
(2018-03-21). EPA Head Spends Over $100K in Taxpayer Money to Fly Around the World in First Class. AlterNet.org This administration continues to burn through money that isn't theirs for personal luxuries. | Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt spent over $105,000 on first-class flights during his first year as the department's secretary. Politico reported Tuesday night that the figure comes from records published by the EPA's internal watchdog and provided to the House Oversight Committee. The $105,000 does not include the previously-reported $58,000 Pruitt spent on taxpayer-funded charter fights and a military jet taken from Cincinnati to New York so that he and his staff could catch a connecting flight to Europe. Of the flights listed in the new House Oversight records, which were obtained by Politico, the single most expensive first-class trip took place in December, when Pruitt racked up $16,217 after missing a flight out of Morocco while promoting American natural gas exports. After missing the connecting flight,. . .
(2018-03-21). Amnesty International urges Guatemala to step up efforts to strengthen the judiciary and end to protect human rights defenders. Amnesty International Amnesty International welcomes Guatemala's support of 21 recommendations related to strengthening protection measures for human rights defenders. Defenders operate in an extremely hostile environment in Guatemala, with 483 attacks against them recorded in 2017 by local NGOs. The organization urges Guatemala to implement these recommendations and to adopt a public policy for their protection, in line with Guatemala's international obligations.
(2018-03-21). Libya: No Free Elections in Current Climate. Human Rights Watch News A woman votes at a polling station inside a school in Tripoli, Libya, June 25, 2014. | © 2014 Reuters | (Geneva) — The United Nations should urge the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and competing authorities in eastern Libya to create conditions conducive to a free and fair vote before rushing to hold general elections in 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. | For elections to be free and fair, they need to be held in an environment free of coercion, discrimination, or intimidation of voters, candidates, and political parties, Human Rights Watch said. Three key elements should be respected: protection of free speech and assembly; rules that are neither discriminatory nor arbitrary in excluding potential voters or candidates; and the rule of law, accompanied by a functioning judiciary that is able…
(2018-03-21). Facebook 'hypocrites' working against online privacy law — campaigner. RT US News Tech giants including Facebook and Google are pumping millions of dollars into halting new laws in California which would expand online privacy protections. Campaigners hope this week's revelations will force a Facebook climbdown.
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(2018-03-21). Climate Activist Who Shut Off Tar Sands Pipeline Won't Face Jail Time. AlterNet.org "Necessity defense" in climate cases is a rapidly evolving area of law. | Fort Benton, Montana — On Tuesday in Chouteau County District Court, Leonard Higgins, the 66-year-old retired Oregon state worker turned climate activist who shut off a tar sands pipeline to fight climate change, was sentenced to three years deferred imprisonment, meaning he will serve no jail time. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $3,755. 47. The prosecution sought $25,630 in restitution, but the sentence followed the recommendations of the defense. Higgins was convicted in November 2017 of criminal mischief and misdemeanor criminal trespass, charges which could have carried a sentence of up to 10 years in jail and fines of up to $50,000. As he openly admits, on October 11, 2016, Higgins cut two chains to enter a fenced enclosure around the Enbridge (formerly Spectra) tar sands pipeline in Coal. . .
(2018-03-21). Stumbling Blocks: Tim Kaine and the Bipartisan Abettors of Atrocity. counterpunch.org I've written a lot about Yemen over the past few years. And I knew the US Senate would never vote to end our direct participation in the Saudi war crime there that has led to the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII. I knew they — like 60 Minutes and the rest of the US — would kowtow to the extremist religious autocrats who rule over the most repressive regime on the face of the earth (with the possible exception of North Korea). I knew our leaders were bought and sold by Saudi money, which has also helped finance and arm violent extremists all over the world, for years. I knew they wouldn't vote against America's bipartisan participation in this genocide — and they didn't. More
(2018-03-21). New Zealand: No end in sight for Christchurch earthquake rebuild. World Socialist Web Site Seven years after the 2011 earthquake, thousands of houses are still damaged and insurance claims unresolved.
(2018-03-21). Do Trump's Voters Even Want to Live in a Democracy? AlterNet.org A new study reveals a staggering percentage would simply prefer a "strong leader. " | Donald Trump is a giant in the political forest: loud and destructive, incapable of subtlety, and utterly transparent in his intent. Trump is in fact a clumsy authoritarian, which is one of the things preventing him from implementing a full-on fascist regime. It certainly isn't our elected officials, the will of the American people or the news media that is stopping him. What has Donald Trump wrought over these last few days in his relentless assault on America's democratic norms, rules and institutions? To consolidate power Trump is continuing his purge. The most recent "victim" is former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was apparently fired on Twitter. (And then reportedly got a phone call from White House chief of staff John Kelly while on the toilet. ) It is now. . .
(2018-03-21). Trump Administration Is Now Auctioning Off Public Land in Utah for Oil and Gas. AlterNet.org The land is located near protected national monuments. | The Interior Department on Tuesday is auctioning off 32 parcels of public lands in southeastern Utah for oil and gas development. The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) lease sale includes more than 51,000 acres of land near Bears Ears—the national monument significantly scaled back by the Trump administration last year—as well as the Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients monuments. The Trump administration has aggressively pushed for fossil fuels. Even though Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has previously insisted "this is not about energy," Interior Department documents made public by the New York Times earlier this month showed that gaining access to the oil, gas and uranium deposits in Bears Ears and coal reserves in Grand Staircase-Escalante were key reasons behind. . .
(2018-03-21). Peru's President Offers Resignation Amid Political Turmoil. Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists If Peru's congress accepts Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's resignation, ahead of a vote on whether to impeach the former Wall Street investor on corruption charges, power would transfer to Vice President Martin Vizcarra. | The post Peru's President Offers Resignation Amid Political Turmoil appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
(2018-03-21). 'Next Deepwater Horizon disaster a matter of time': Critics slam record offshore oil lease sale. RT US News The Trump administration has held the biggest lease sale of oil and gas in US history. Environmentalists fear the auction will massively expand fossil fuel production and could lead to the next Deepwater disaster. |
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(2018-03-21). "Environmental Extremism" or Necessary Response to Climate Emergency? Pipeline Shutdown Trials Pit Activists Against the Oil Industry. The Intercept Climate activists turned the valve wheels on five tar sands pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Washington state to stop the flow of oil. | The post "Environmental Extremism" or Necessary Response to Climate Emergency? Pipeline Shutdown Trials Pit Activists Against the Oil Industry appeared first on The Intercept.
(2018-03-21). The Ease of Accusation: The Skripal Affair. Global Research The policy of responding to assassinations on British soil is a near non-existent one. Her Majesty's Government is certainly in the habit of huffing, and steam can issue from deliberations in the House of Commons. But substance is often absent….
(2018-03-21). Trump's Tariffs Throw US Workers Under the Bus, Yet Again. Truthout Stories Contrary to what Trump claims, his tariffs will not revive the aluminum industry. Instead they are certain to wreck diplomatic relations, invite retaliation and boost the profits of aluminum executives in the US, who will be able to charge higher prices. Most importantly, the tariffs will destroy jobs for some of the very people who voted Trump into office.John Rodriguez monitors the operation as a slab of steel is heated and rolled into a coil of steel at the NLMK Indiana steel mill on March 15, 2018, in Portage, Indiana. Steel producers in the US and worldwide are preparing for the impact of the recently-proposed 25 percent tariffs on imported steel by the Trump administration. (Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images) | The US and the world are hurtling toward a full-blown trade war over the tariffs imposed on imported steel and…
(2018-03-20). A Private Mercenary Firm Is Making Millions Off Tragedy in Houston, Puerto Rico and Standing Rock. AlterNet.org The company has bullied protesters and profited off recent hurricanes. | The practice of governments and security firms conducting wide-scale exploitation of major disasters, natural and otherwise, is nothing new. Last week, the Intercept reported on TigerSwan, a mercenary security firm that follows a similar disaster-capitalist model and has attacked the No Dakota Access Pipeline (NoDAPL) movement since 2016, at least. But that's not all: TigerSwan has also been preying on relief needs in hurricane-hit areas like Houston and Puerto Rico since 2017. So far, the mercenary firm keeps its media presence at a minimum level, attracting little attention from the press. This makes sense considering the depth and scale of its massive military-style operations, including suppressing anti-pipeline activists by infiltrating activist groups with informants, surveilling the movement and calling on law enforcement agencies to suppress activist organizing. In spite of. . .
(2018-03-19). Colombia: Killing of the son of a murdered human rights defender denotes a lack of comprehensive protection of rights defenders and their families. Amnesty International Amnesty International condemns the murder of Javier Bernardo Cuero Ortíz, son of Bernardo Cuero Bravo, on 19 March 2018 in the city of Tumaco, southern Colombia. His brother Silvio Dubán Ortíz was also killed during the events. The murder of Javier Bernardo took place just nine months after the murder of his father Bernardo Cuero, human rights defender and victims' leader of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) in June 2017. The murders occurred just weeks after the trial hearing set to press charges against the perpetrators of the crime.
(2018-03-19). Northern Ireland: Loyalist killer was a police agent. World Socialist Web Site Gary Haggarty was working as a British agent when he killed five people on what the government still insists is the "British soil" of Northern Ireland.
(2018-03-19). Petroleum Executives Visit Trump, Increasing Offshore Oil Drilling. The Real News Network The American Petroleum Industry (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) held meetings at the Trump Hotel in DC. At the same time, these associations are also lobbying the Trump administration for an expansion of offshore oil exploration…
(2018-03-19). Exclusive: Brazilian Presidential Candidate Lula on Facing Jail as He Runs for President Again. Democracy Now! We continue our conversation with former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the highly popular former union leader who is running for president in this year's election even as he is facing a possible prison term on what many believe to be trumped-up corruption charges tied to the sprawling probe known as "Operation Car Wash." Lula was convicted of accepting a beachside apartment from an engineering firm vying for contracts at the state oil company Petrobras. But many of Lula's supporters say the conviction was politically motivated. President Lula responds to the charges against him. "We're awaiting for the accusers to show at least some piece of evidence that indicates that I committed any crime," he notes.
(2018-03-15). Stephen Hawking: Fighter for Progressive Politics. The Real News Network Scientist Stephen Hawking spoke out against wars, called for action against climate change, and defended socialist programs – Ben Norton reports.
(2018-03-14). Anti-Pipeline Indigenous 'Mass Mobilization' Has Begun. The Real News Network In what may become the 'Standing Rock of the North', thousands protest Kinder Morgan's Trans-Mountain Pipeline expansion, which would carry more toxic tar sands through First Nation territories…
(2018-03-14). Humanity's Meat and Dairy Intake Must Be Cut in Half by 2050 to Avoid Dangerous Climate Change. AlterNet.org Going vegan will help reduce animal suffering, protect your health and halve your carbon footprint. So what are you waiting for? | In a recent press release on its website, Greenpeace called for a reduction in meat, dairy, and egg consumption. A new report by the organization states that "global meat and dairy production and consumption must be cut in half by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change. " The report also confirms what many health professionals have said for years: Eating meat and dairy raises various health risks, including risk of cancer, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Indeed, calling for such a reduction is vital to the fight against global warming, as animal agriculture is the number-one driver of climate change. Why are meat, dairy and eggs so harmful to the environment? Every year we raise and. . .
(2018-03-13). Critics of Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana Decry State & Company Surveillance of Protesters. Democracy Now! In Louisiana, newly disclosed documents reveal a state intelligence agency regularly spied on activists opposing construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which would carry nearly a half-million barrels of oil per day across Louisiana's wetlands. The documents show the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness regularly drafted intelligence memos on anti-pipeline activists, including a gathering of indigenous-led water protectors who've set up a protest encampment along the pipeline's route. Other newly revealed documents show close coordination between Louisiana regulators and the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners. This comes just one week after a U.S. district judge in Baton Rouge ordered a temporary injunction against construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline in order to "prevent further irreparable harm" to the region's delicate ecosystems, while court challenges proceed. For more, we speak with Pastor Harry Joseph of the Mount Triumph Baptist Church. We also speak with Pamela Spees of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Anne Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.
(2018-03-09). Toxic Coal Ash Being Dumped in Puerto Rico, Which Already Suffers Worst Drinking Water in the Nation. Democracy Now! Even before Hurricane Maria struck the island nearly six months ago, the majority of Puerto Rico's residents lived with water that violated health standards set by the U.S. law. Since the storm, residents say the situation has only gotten worse. Among the sources of potential water contamination are mountains of coal ash generated by a coal-fired power plant owned by a private company called AES. For years, residents have demanded the company stop dumping toxic coal ash into their community, saying the waste is poisonous to their health and the environment. We speak with Mekela Panditharatne, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council who just returned from the island and wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post headlined "FEMA says most of Puerto Rico has potable water. That can't be true."