Colombian Human Rights Defenders Need Protection
amnesty.org | amnesty.org | 2018-05-13

Colombian Human Rights Defenders Need Protection

Reactionary Nostalgia for Yesterday's Empire
truth-out.org | truth-out.org | 2018-05-12
After a yearlong chaotic faction fight in his administration, Trump has purged the White House of most of its establishment representatives and replaced them with advocates of his "America First" nationalism and militarism. | The new "cabinet of horrors" has thrown the establishment into a paroxysm of nostalgia for what they consider the sacrosanct assumptions of yesteryear — or at least 18 months ago. | A growing collection of mainstream commentators has denounced Trump's protectionism, reckless threats of unilateral military action and transactional approach to both allies and antagonists. They have contrasted all this with previous administrations and their imperial policies, which tended to stress "stability" above all else. | In place of Trump's assertion of naked American interests, they yearn for the "multilateralism" that served as the prevailing orthodoxy of US foreign policy in recent decades. While Trump throws their cherished…
www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/44454-reactionary-nostalgia-for-yesterday-s-empire

A Psychologist Explains the Thinking Error at the Root of Science Denial
The Conversation | alternet.org | 2018-05-12
This widespread rejection of scientific findings presents a perplexing puzzle to those of us who value an evidence-based approach to knowledge and policy. | Currently, there are three important issues on which there is scientific consensus but controversy among laypeople: climate change, biological evolution and childhood vaccination. On all three issues, prominent members of the Trump administration, including the president, have lined up against the conclusions of research. This widespread rejection of scientific findings presents a perplexing puzzle to those of us who value an evidence-based approach to knowledge and policy. Yet many science deniers do cite empirical evidence. The problem is that they do so in invalid, misleading ways. Psychological research illuminates these ways. No shades of grayAs a psychotherapist, I see a striking parallel between a type of thinking involved in many mental health disturbances and the reasoning behind science. . .
www.alternet.org/psychologist-explains-thinking-error-root-science-denial

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Find Alien Intelligence?
The Conversation | alternet.org | 2018-05-12
Scientists are considering whether artificial intelligence (AI) could help us search for alien intelligence in ways we haven't even thought of yet. | In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), we've often looked for signs of intelligence, technology and communication that are similar to our own. But as astronomer and SETI trailblazer Jill Tarter points out, that approach means searching for detectable technosignatures, like radio transmissions, not searching for intelligence. Now scientists are considering whether artificial intelligence (AI) could help us search for alien intelligence in ways we haven't even thought of yet. 'Decoding' intelligenceAs we think about extraterrestrial intelligence it's helpful to remember humans are not the only intelligent life on Earth. Chimpanzees have culture and use tools, spiders process information with webs, cetaceans have dialects, crows understand analogies and beavers are great engineers. Non-human intelligence,. . .
www.alternet.org/can-artificial-intelligence-help-find-alien-intelligence

Here's the Real Reason Tech Billionaires are Prepping for Doomsday
Jason Rhode, Salon | alternet.org | 2018-05-12
A misanthropic view of humanity guides the tech aristocracy — and it's trickled into their vision of the future. | If you pay attention to what Silicon Valley's best and brightest are up to, you know about tech survivalism. The digital elite are preparing for the Apocalypse, and have been for a while. As Evan Osnos wrote in his New Yorker feature, "Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich,"Survivalism, the practice of preparing for a crackup of civilization, tends to evoke a certain picture: the woodsman in the tinfoil hat, the hysteric with the hoard of beans, the religious doomsayer. But in recent years survivalism has expanded to more affluent quarters, taking root in Silicon Valley and New York City, among technology executives, hedge-fund managers, and others in their economic cohort. The Guardian noted that the end-of-days obsession could be traced back to a. . .
www.alternet.org/heres-real-reason-tech-billionaires-are-prepping-doomsday

Eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano continues into second week
wsws.org | wsws.org | 2018-05-12
At least 1,700 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes as the island has been rocked by a series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions over the past week.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/12/volc-m12.html

Raising the Flag on the Corruption of Ryan Zinke
Lena Moffitt | counterpunch.org | 2018-05-11
The media's been swirling around the many scandals involving Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, and rightfully so. But there's another scandalous member of Trump's cabinet who's bending ethical standards and attacking our environment: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Like Pruitt, Ryan Zinke is misusing taxpayer dollars, promoting industries he's supposed to regulate, and remaining completely…
counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/the-corruption-of-ryan-zinke/

An Ideology of Self-Righteousness
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2018-05-11
Rolf Petri begins his introduction to his new book A Short History of Western Ideology by quoting Samuel Huntington from his too-often-quoted essay titled "The Clash of Civilizations." The essence of that essay was simple: the future of history will be the struggle between different earthly civilizations. More to the point, the likely conflict would…
counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/an-ideology-of-self-righteousness/

Conservative Writers Have Found a Weird New Argument to Claim that They're Oppressed
Cody Fenwick, AlterNet | alternet.org | 2018-05-11
What on earth is the "Intellectual Dark Web? " | Despite the fact that Republican politicians are in charge of Congress and the White House while a conservative-leaning majority reigns in the Supreme Court, conservatives are nevertheless convinced that "the Left" is using political correctness to quash their ideas. This pattern of thought is nowhere more evident than in the writings of National Review writer David French, who Friday published a story defending a recent article — written by the New York Times' Bari Weiss — about the "Intellectual Dark Web. "The web is a "network" of iconoclastic thinkers who include people like Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and Ayan Hirsi Ali. Despite these individuals' relative success, the idea of the Intellectual Dark Web is that they are somehow kept down by oppressive political correctness and excluded from legacy media outlets. French argues,. . .
www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/conservative-writers-have-found-weird-new-argument-claim-theyre-oppressed

If Europe Wants to Remain on the World Stage, It Must Resist Trump on Iran
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2018-05-11
"Iraq is at the muzzle of the gun," says Ali Allawi, Iraqi historian and former minister, speaking of the increased turmoil expected to follow the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. It is not only Iraq which is in danger: an escalating confrontation between the US and Iran will affect the whole region, but…
counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/if-europe-wants-to-remain-on-the-world-stage-it-must-resist-trump-on-iran/

Kinder Morgan pipeline: Who will fight Big Oil in Canada's tarsands?
Elizabeth Rowley | peoplesworld.org | 2018-05-11
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley walk together after a meeting in Edmonton, Alberta, Feb. 3, 2016. | Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP | That raises the question of the federal NDP's position on the pipeline. Federal leader Jagmeet Singh speaks about 'democracy' being a wonderful thing, with two NDP Premiers each keeping their promises to constituents. Singh has not spoken out against the pipeline, and avoided the recent protests when in Vancouver. What will his position be in the federal election? What will it be in Parliament? | In point of fact, nobody speaks for the public interest in Parliament today, with the possible exception of Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who was arrested at the pipeline protests in Burnaby that Singh didn't attend. The problem with May is that working people can't count on…

Kinder Morgan pipeline: Who will fight Big Oil in Canada’s tarsands?

Trump's environment czar Pruitt in trouble over ethics
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-11
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, who is under scrutiny for his lavish spending habits at taxpayers' expense, must answer to ethics concerns, the White House has said. …
www.rt.com/usa/426424-pruitt-environment-ethics-spending-concerns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Philippine Chief Justice Ouster an Assault on Rights, Democracy
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-05-11
Ousted Philippine Supreme Court Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno speaks to supporters at a rally outside the Supreme Court building on Taft Avenue, metro Manila, Philippines May 11, 2018. | The Philippine Supreme Court's unprecedented and nefarious removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno constitutes a frontal assault on human rights protections and democratic rule. | The court, by an 8 to 6 vote, approved a government-filed petition questioning the validity of Sereno's appointment. But Sereno's ouster was about much more. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte declared Sereno an " enemy" and called for her impeachment for her criticism of his murderous "war on drugs" and other abusive policies. | Sereno, 57, is just the latest in a growing list of institutions and individuals — including Philippine media outlets and
www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/11/philippine-chief-justice-ouster-assault-rights-democracy

Japan, China and South Korea hold talks on North Korea and trade
wsws.org | wsws.org | 2018-05-11
While North Korea dominated the summit, concerns over US protectionist measures may result in improved relations between the three Asian neighbors.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/11/asia-m11.html

Immigration Officials Are Using Pseudoscience to Justify Jailing Teenage Asylum Seekers with Adults
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-05-11
This week, the Trump administration announced it will detain asylum seekers and separate them from their children at the border. A case in California shows how some minors who arrived alone to seek asylum have been put in adult detention. Immigration authorities in California are refusing to release an Afghan asylum seeker from an adult detention center, even though a federal court had determined he is a child. His lawyers say the teenager, who has been held in adult detention for five months, is 17 years old. But ICE used a disputed "pseudoscience" age test based on a dental exam to insist he is over 18. The teen, who uses the name Hamid for privacy and protection, says he fled Afghanistan using a forged passport after the Taliban murdered his father. On Tuesday, Hamid spoke to Democracy Now! in his first phone interview from the Mesa Verde detention center in Bakersfield, California. We speak to his attorney Mariel Villarreal in New York.
www.democracynow.org/2018/5/11/immigration_officials_are_using_pseudoscience_to

'Paper Genocide': Trump's Political Maneuvers Could Rob Native America of Tribal Sovereignty, Culture, Health Care
Courtney Parker | globalresearch.ca | 2018-05-10
Native Americans have long existed in a legal and cultural limbo, surviving the devastating impacts of a trail of broken treaties by the U.S. government with staunch determination to maintain their unique cultures and legal federally recognized tribal sovereignty. | In …
globalresearch.ca/paper-genocide-trumps-political-maneuvers-could-rob-native-america-of-tribal-sovereignty-culture-health-care/5639945

Red Alert for Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know
Tim Karr | globalresearch.ca | 2018-05-10

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globalresearch.ca/red-alert-for-net-neutrality-what-you-need-to-know/5639951

'Time to Melt Some Phones' on Capitol Hill as Red Alert for Net Neutrality Hits Internet
Julia Conley | globalresearch.ca | 2018-05-10
As internet freedom supporters in the Senate attempt to force a vote to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) unpopular repeal of net neutrality rules, dozens of prominent websites went on "red alert" in support of the protections on Wednesday, …
globalresearch.ca/time-to-melt-some-phones-on-capitol-hill-as-red-alert-for-net-neutrality-hits-internet/5639952

When You Are in a Hole… Fossil Fuel and the Climate Crisis
Hannah McKinnon | globalresearch.ca | 2018-05-10
Today, a pair of declarations representing close to 500 organizations and 140 leading economists respectively were submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) calling on countries and the process to address fossil fuel production and financing …
globalresearch.ca/when-you-are-in-a-hole-fossil-fuel-and-the-climate-crisis/5639956

#NappingWhileBlack: Yale embroiled in race row after bizarre dorm incident
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-10
The dean of Yale says the prestigious university needs to make efforts to be more inclusive after a white graduate student called the police on a black student who fell asleep on a couch in a common area of their campus residence. …
www.rt.com/usa/426335-yale-black-student-police/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Latest Sudanese Attacks on Darfur Show Protection Needs
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-05-10
United Nations Mission in Darfur peacekeepers stand guard in Shagra village, North Darfur, October 18, 2012. | © 2012 Reuters | Today, the United Nations Security Council will get a briefing on the situation in Sudan's Darfur region. Since March, government-led attacks have surged against dozens of villages in Jebel Mara, a restive mountainous rebel stronghold in central Darfur, resulting in killings, widespread destruction, looting, and mass displacement. | The latest report of UNAMID, the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission, calls the situation in Darfur "generally stable" with some "low scale skirmishes." With such a gloss-over assessment from peacekeepers, there's a real risk the dire protection needs of civilians will be ignored or forgotten. | In April the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies reported that between mid-March and mid-April government forces,…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/10/latest-sudanese-attacks-darfur-show-protection-needs

Americans released by North Korea land on US soil
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-09
Donald Trump is receiving US citizens at the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington DC after they were freed from North Korean captivity with the help of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who negotiated their release. …
www.rt.com/usa/426304-north-korea-prisoners-alaska/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Primary Day: Blankenship Out in WV; Consumer Watchdog Wins in Ohio; Pence's Brother Wins in Indiana
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-05-09
Voters in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina headed to the polls Tuesday to decide a number of key primaries. In West Virginia, the state's Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won a closely watched U.S. Senate primary, defeating U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins and former coal baron Don Blankenship. Blankenship had served a year in prison after 29 miners died in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. He faced intense criticism after releasing an ad attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his "China family." Patrick Morrisey will now face the conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November. In Ohio, Richard Cordray defeated former Congressmember Dennis Kucinich in the state's Democratic primary for governor. Cordray served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He will now face Mike DeWine in November to determine who will replace outgoing Ohio Governor…
www.democracynow.org/2018/5/9/primary_day_blankenship_out_in_wv

Christian Petzold's Transit: The condition of refugees as hell on earth
wsws.org | wsws.org | 2018-05-09
The fate of refugees is the subject of Transit, the latest film by prominent German director Christian Petzold, which featured at the 2018 Berlinale and is now on public release in Germany.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/09/revi-m09.html

'Heinous acts': US Olympic committee accused of sex trafficking in new lawsuit
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-08
The US Olympic Committee is embroiled in a fresh misconduct controversy as a new lawsuit alleges that it knowingly allowed the sex trafficking and abuse of Taekwondo athletes for more than 20 years. …
www.rt.com/usa/426127-olympic-sex-us-taekwondo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Nearly 90,000 Hondurans May Be Deported to Danger and Poverty as Trump Ends Their Protected Status
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-05-07
The Trump administration announced Friday it is ending temporary protected status for nearly 90,000 Hondurans now living in the United States, saying they must return home. TPS is an immigration status granted to foreign nationals who can't safely return to their home countries, and allows them to legally live and work in the United States. Hondurans were first given TPS in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch devastated the country. Critics note Honduras remains the one of the world's most violent countries. The Trump administration has also ended protections for El Salvador, Haiti, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan. Only South Sudan and Syria were renewed. An estimated 300,000 people will be impacted overall. We get response from Patricia Montes, an immigrant from Honduras and executive director of Centro Presente in Boston, Massachusetts, which has worked with members from Honduras and Central America since the 1980s. She also has family members who will lose their temporary protected status.
www.democracynow.org/2018/5/7/nearly_90_000_hondurans_may_be

Alyssa Milano branded a hypocrite for 'armed security' at anti-NRA rally (VIDEO)
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-07
US actress Alyssa Milano has been branded a hypocrite by NRA activists for allegedly attending an anti-NRA protest with armed guards as personal protection. …
www.rt.com/usa/426024-milano-nra-armed-hypocrite/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Lava fountains spew aggressively from Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano (VIDEO)
RT | rt.com | 2018-05-06
Lava flows continue to persist from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii after the eruption and hundreds of earthquakes forced locals to flee the area. New footage shows molten rock surging relentlessly into the air in huge splatters. …
www.rt.com/usa/425974-lava-volcano-hawaii-kilauea/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS