Popular Beer and Wine Brands Contaminated With Monsanto's Weedkiller, Tests Reveal.
Zen Honeycutt, AlterNet | AlterNet.org | 2018-03-27
Some brewers and vintners are taking steps to avoid contamination from glyphosate. | The past few years have revealed some disturbing news for the alcohol industry. In 2015, CBS news broke the announcement of a lawsuit against 31 brands of wines for high levels of inorganic arsenic. In 2016, beer testing in Germany also revealed residues of glyphosate in every single sample tested, even independent beers. Moms Across America released test results of 12 California wines that were all found to be positive for glyphosate in 2016. We tested further and released new findings last week of glyphosate in all of the most popular brands of wines in the world, the majority of which are from the U. S. , and in batch test results in American beer. What do these events all have in common? Monsanto's Roundup. French molecular. . .
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Turkey Announces Military Incursion into Iraq, Threatens US Over Manbij.
ZeroHedge.com | MintPress News | 2018-03-26
On Sunday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the beginning of Turkish military operations in Iraq's Sinjar region a week after Turkey and allied Syrian FSA groups captured Afrin from Kurdish fighters. During that prior victory speech immediately on the heels of the Syrian Kurdish retreat from Afrin, Erdogan had promised further "extensions" of his forces in the region, including into Eastern Syria and Iraq, while making repeat historical references to the Ottoman empire. | Erdogan warned at the time that Turkish troops would keep pushing east further into Syrian Kurdish YPG territory (Kurdish "People's Protection Units" which Turkey considers an extension of the terrorist PKK), which would eventually pit his forces against the U.S. armed and trained Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). | During Sunday's speech, he pledged to take Tal Rifaat (northwest of Aleppo) and Manbij: "the U.S. needs to transfer the…
Turkey Announces Military Incursion into Iraq, Threatens US Over Manbij
US: FOIA Suit on Border Guards' Rights Abuses.
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-26
A U.S. border patrol agent escorts men being detained after entering the United Statesby crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico, in Roma, Texas, U.S., May 11, 2017. © 2017 Reuters | (San Francisco) — Human Rights Watch has filed suit against the US Department of Homeland Security for its failure to respond adequately to a Freedom of Information request about human rights abuses by border agents. | Though heavily redacted, the records Human Rights Watch has received thus far demonstrate that asylum officers within the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have repeatedly provided internal reports on Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) problematic practices. The documents provide details about multiple cases of intimidation, verbal, and even physical abuse by CBP officers. One email from an asylum officer indicated that an…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/26/us-foia-suit-border-guards-rights-abuses
Climate, Science, and Budget-Politics.
Lance Olsen | counterpunch.org | 2018-03-26
Today's debunkers of climate change and evolution seem cut of the same cloth, and part of a long tradition traceable at least back to the days of Copernicus and Galileo. Whether it be the structure of the universe, human evolution, or the more recent reality of a climate changed by human combustion of fossil fuels…
counterpunch.org/2018/03/26/climate-science-and-budget-politics/
FBI Under Renewed Scrutiny After Pulse Gunman's Father Revealed as FBI Informant.
Whitney Webb | MintPress News | 2018-03-26
The revelations about Omar Mateen's father and his relationship to the FBI have brought the agency under new scrutiny, both for its role in foiling domestic plots it creates and it's connections to the alleged perpetrators of the worst mass killings in recent years. | The post FBI Under Renewed Scrutiny After Pulse Gunman's Father Revealed as FBI Informant appeared first on MintPress News.
FBI Under Renewed Scrutiny After Pulse Gunman’s Father Revealed as FBI Informant
Mike Pompeo Better for Big Oil Than Former Exxonmobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
Basav Sen | MintPress News | 2018-03-26
It's said that you can tell a lot about people by the company they keep. And the shady characters President Trump has surrounded himself with represent a new low even by Washington standards. | One thread that ties many of these people together is their deep connection with the fossil fuel industry — and their willingness to implement the industry's agenda, regardless of the impacts on people and planet. | The recent drama at the State Department encapsulates this neatly. Trump recently fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and tapped CIA chief Mike Pompeo, a former Congress member from Kansas, to replace him. | This may signal a number of disturbing changes. Unlike Tillerson, Pompeo has been a proponent of war with Iran, openly supported torture, and sent disturbing signals of approval to the…
Mike Pompeo Better for Big Oil Than Former Exxonmobil CEO Rex Tillerson
Ecuador: Judicial Harassment of Amazonian Defenders .
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-26
Indigenous people arrive in Quito after marching for 10 days to protest new mining and water law initiatives, as well as a constitutional reform project that would have allowed for indefinite re-election of the president. | © 2015 José Jácome/EFE | (New York) — The government of former President Rafael Correa abused the criminal justice system to target indigenous leaders and environmentalists who protested mining and oil exploration in the Amazon, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The groups are operating more freely under President Lenín Moreno, but the abusive prosecutions set in motion by his predecessor remain unaddressed. | The 30-page report, " Amazonians on Trial: Judicial Harassment of Indigenous Leaders and Environmentalists in Ecuador," shows that prosecutors in three prominent cases failed to produce sufficient evidence to support serious…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/26/ecuador-judicial-harassment-amazonian-defenders
Trump's Cabinet Is the Most Volatile in a Century.
Truthout Stories | 2018-03-26
Your support is crucial to keeping ethical journalism alive! Donate now to keep our writers on the streets, covering the most important issues and beats. | Do you feel like the White House Cabinet Room has turned into some kind of revolving door? It's not just your imagination. Trump has fired more cabinet members at the start of his term than any other president in the last 100 years, according to an NPR analysis. | And that's just looking at the Senate-confirmable positions in the presidential cabinet — not the overall turmoil within the Trump team at large. | In addition to Rex Tillerson — fired via Twitter this month — the administration has released former Health and Human Services Secretary
www.truth-out.org/news/item/43956-how-an-indigenous-woman-left-her-mark-on-a-tumultuous-presidential-campaign-in-mexico
Jordan: Step Forward, Step Back for Urban Refugees .
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-25
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…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/25/jordan-step-forward-step-back-urban-refugees
Jordan: Step Forward, Step Back for Urban Refugees .
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-25
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 many 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…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/25/jordan-step-forward-step-back-urban-refugees
'Like Falcon Space launch': Flat-Earther finally blasts off into California sky (VIDEO).
RT | RT US News | 2018-03-25
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. | RT.com…
www.rt.com/usa/422262-flat-earther-launches-rocket/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Responsibility Deflected, the CLOUD Act Passes. Will Erode Privacy Protections Worldwide.
David Ruiz | Global Research | 2018-03-24
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 …
globalresearch.ca/responsibility-deflected-the-cloud-act-passes-will-erode-privacy-protections-worldwide/5633337
The Betrayal of the Future. Tipping Points in the Earth's Climate.
Dr. Andrew Glickson | Global Research | 2018-03-24
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 …
globalresearch.ca/the-betrayal-of-the-future-tipping-points-in-the-earths-climate/5633343
Coal Baron Files Rambling, Self-Pitying Defamation Suit Against John Oliver for Making Jokes About Him.
Martin Cizmar, Raw Story | AlterNet.org | 2018-03-24
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. . .
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Denial of Climate Change is Not the Problem.
Daryan Rezazad | counterpunch.org | 2018-03-23
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…
counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/denial-of-climate-change-is-not-the-problem/
To Believe in Science, You Have to Know How It's Done.
Jill Richardson | counterpunch.org | 2018-03-23
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…
counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/to-believe-in-science-you-have-to-know-how-its-done/
Flashing for the Refugees on the Unarmed Road of Flight.
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2018-03-23
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:…
counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/flashing-for-the-refugees-on-the-unarmed-road-of-flight/
Russia and Britain: An Enduring But Fruitless Rivalry.
Adeyinka Makinde | Global Research | 2018-03-23
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 …
globalresearch.ca/russia-and-britain-an-enduring-but-fruitless-rivalry/5633250
In Seeing African Corruption as Landlocked, George Clooney Misses the Boat.
Jon Jeter | MintPress News | 2018-03-23
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.
In Seeing African Corruption as Landlocked, George Clooney Misses the Boat
Syria's Kids Are Still Being Killed at School .
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-22
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…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/22/syrias-kids-are-still-being-killed-school
Oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka, Hungary and Colombia (Item 2 General Debate, 37th regular session) .
Amnesty International | 2018-03-22
: 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.
Exonerating the Empire in Venezuela.
Gregory Shupak | FAIR | 2018-03-22
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…
fair.org/home/exonerating-the-empire-in-venezuela/
Holding Killers to Account for Hate Crimes in India.
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-03-21
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.
www.hrw.org/news/2018/03/21/holding-killers-account-hate-crimes-india
Guatemala: Amnesty International urges Guatemala to step up efforts to strengthen the judiciary and end to protect human rights defenders.
Amnesty International | 2018-03-21
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.
Facebook 'hypocrites' working against online privacy law — campaigner.
RT | RT US News | 2018-03-21
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. | RT.com…
www.rt.com/usa/421943-facebook-california-data-sharing-law/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
New Zealand: No end in sight for Christchurch earthquake rebuild.
WSWS | World Socialist Web Site | 2018-03-21
Seven years after the 2011 earthquake, thousands of houses are still damaged and insurance claims unresolved.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/21/chch-m21.html
'Next Deepwater Horizon disaster a matter of time': Critics slam record offshore oil lease sale.
RT | RT US News | 2018-03-21
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. | RT.com…
www.rt.com/usa/421960-deepwater-critics-slam-offshore-oil/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Exclusive: Brazilian Presidential Candidate Lula on Facing Jail as He Runs for President Again.
Democracy Now! | 2018-03-19
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.
www.democracynow.org/2018/3/19/exclusive_brazilian_presidential_candidate_lula_on
Critics of Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana Decry State & Company Surveillance of Protesters.
Democracy Now! | 2018-03-13
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.
www.democracynow.org/2018/3/13/critics_of_bayou_bridge_pipeline_in