Nick Pemberton (2018-05-23). Maduro's Win: A Bright Spot in Dark Times. counterpunch.org The U.S. backing of Israel's massacre of Palestinians and Donald Trump's death threats to Kim Jong-Un prove that the United States' imperialism is alive and well. The government has been taken over by sadistic Republicans and useless Democrats. Corruption abounds when it comes to the United States foreign policy, as oil giants have their hands all over the Trump administration. Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil ran the whole state department. Trump is obvious, we will give him that. | More

wsws.org (2018-05-23). Scientists reveal global warming's impact on Great Barrier Reef. wsws.org Warming events are becoming more frequent, giving coral insufficient time to recover.

RT (2018-05-23). Work of Satan? Sinkhole opens on White House lawn, Twitter in turmoil over its meaning (PHOTOS). rt.com A sinkhole has opened up near the White House press briefing room on the north lawn, prompting a wave of derision online as social media users revelled in the unique karma of the event.
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Mark Maxey (2018-05-22). Indigenous and female: Idaho gubernatorial candidate Paulette Jordan making history. peoplesworld.org A fierce sense of urgency prompted Paulette Jordan to run for governor of Idaho. Her brazen approach worked with her Democratic primary run last Tuesday, May 15th. It will be a first on two levels if she wins in November—as a female governor and as an Indigenous tribal member. Jordan belongs to the Schitsu'umsh, Coeur […]…

Mark Maxey (2018-05-22). Indigenous and Female: A New Gubernatorial Candidate is Making History. mintpressnews.com Five months ago, when she announced her candidacy, many did not know who she was outside Northern Idaho, tribal, and political circles. Today, she is the fresh face of a tidal wave as Americans are dumping Trump Republicans for a progressive change.

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement (2018-05-22). Gavin Grimm Wins Unequivocal Court Victory for Transgender Students in Bathroom Rights Case. alternet.org Constitutional protections are clear. | A federal judge has ruled that both the U. S. Constitution and Title IX of the federal civil rights statutes protect transgender students. U. S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that transgender students must be allowed to use facilities that correspond with their gender identity, and cannot be forced to use separate facilities, including restrooms and other gender-specific facilities, like locker rooms. In its 31-page ruling, the court, siding with the ACLU, ruled against the Gloucester County School Board's request to dismiss the case. Instead, it ordered the school board to settle with Gavin Grimm, formerly a student at the school when he brought the suit nearly three years ago. Grimm has since graduated. "I feel an incredible sense of relief," Grimm, 19, said via a statement.

Valerie Vande Panne, Independent Media Institute (2018-05-22). Here's What to Know Before Voting in the 2018 Midterm Elections. alternet.org How to follow the money and see if your politicians are working for you—or lobbyists. | Most Americans, it seems, have absolutely no idea who their elected representatives really are. It's easy to like a politician who is friendly and can talk a good game. It's also easy to hear about their scandals, usually of the salacious sexual variety. But what do they vote for? Who gives them money? And who do they give your tax dollars to? That's a different story. Last month, Mick Mulvaney—a former congressman from South Carolina— admitted that "If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. "Today Mulvaney is the interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—the government agency that makes sure "banks, lenders, and. . .

Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet (2018-05-22). Security Guards 'Forcibly' Prevent Reporters From Attending EPA Hearing — And Shove One Out of The Building. alternet.org An EPA spokesman claimed the room had reached capacity. | The Environmental Protection Agency "forcibly" blocked reporters form attending a Tuesday summit with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, at one point grabbing a "reporter by the shoulders" and shoving her out of the building. As the Associated Press reports, the EPA blocked news organizations including the AP and CNN from attending the heading on contaminated drinking water. "Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building," the AP reports. "When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA public-affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the EPA building. "In a statement, EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox said the reporters weren't invited because there wasn't enough space. "This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior. . .

Walter Einenkel, Daily Kos (2018-05-22). Betsy DeVos to Investigate Yale University for Discrimination — Against Men. alternet.org Yes, you read that right. | Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's relationship to the Title IX is not good. She has attacked it in order to take away support and protections to survivors of rape, sexual assault, and harassment. Inside Higher Ed has a report of a Title IX complaint, filed by Kursat Christoff Pekgoz, a doctoral student at the University of Southern California. Pekgoz wants to end the brutal oppression of men in higher education. Pekgoz argues that women no longer are an underrepresented group in higher education, given that they make up the majority of students. As of fall 2017, more than 56 percent of college students were women. Because of this, certain Yale programs and scholarships that exclusively advantage women are against the federal statute, he asserts. (Yale itself has an undergraduate student ratio of 51 percent. . .

truth-out.org (2018-05-22). Deforestation in the US South Is Four Times Greater Than Logging in South American Rainforests. truth-out.org Mahatma Gandhi said, "What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another." He also said, "The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed." | In no place do these statements resonate more than in one of the world's largest wood-producing regions, the Southern US — where in recent years forest cover loss from large-scale industrial logging has been four times that of South American rainforests. | Healthy, intact forests provide critical life-supporting services. They ensure a steady and clean supply of drinking water, purify the air, provide natural flood control and create a space of beauty for spiritual renewal — services estimated to be 15 times greater than forests valued for…

truth-out.org (2018-05-22). Bayou Bridge Pipeline Construction Proceeds in Louisiana Community Despite Invalid Permit Ruling. truth-out.org Workers proceed with construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in St. James, Louisiana. (Photo: Julie Dermansky ©2018) | Truthout can only survive through reader support. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation toward journalism with real integrity and independence! | Construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline has continued in and around the Louisiana town of St. James despite a judge's ruling that a state agency wrongly issued a permit allowing this oil pipeline to be built without an emergency and evacuation plan for the vulnerable town. A follow-up judgment formalizing the initial ruling came on May 15. | Judge Alvin Turner, Jr.'s decision, first made on April 30, pertains only to the final 18 miles of pipeline, which in full stretches across southern Louisiana, from Lake Charles, near the Texas border, to a railway terminal in St. James, a…

Cira Pascual Marquina (2018-05-22). Venezuela Slams New US Sanctions as Washington Hints at Oil Embargo. venezuelanalysis.com The latest measures fly in the face of international concern about the living conditions of Venezuelans.

Human Rights Watch (2018-05-22). After Typhoon, Who Is Responsible for Climate Change? hrw.org A fisherman paddles his banca amidst ruins of house stilts destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan on a coastal village in Tacloban city in central Philippines November 2, 2015. | © 2015 Reuters | "Will this be our fate — just to count the victims of climate change or be counted among them?" | Those words open a petition filed with the Philippine Commission on Human Rights after one of the most powerful typhoons on record — Super Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda — devastated the Philippine archipelago in 2013. | The petition, drafted and signed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and other groups, requests that the commission conduct an "investigation of the responsibility of the carbon majors" — the largest companies producing crude oil, natural gas, coal, and cement, who are also the world's…

Staff (2018-05-21). National Parks Report on Climate Change Finally Released, Uncensored. truthdig.com This story was originally published by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast. | Backing away from attempts at censorship, the National Park Service on Friday released a report charting the risks to national parks from sea level rise and storms. | Drafts of the report obtained earlier this year by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting showed park service officials had deleted every mention of humans causing climate change. But the long-delayed report, published Friday without fanfare on the agency's website, restored those references. | The scientific report is designed to help 118 coastal parks plan for protecting natural resources and historic treasures from the changing climate. | Maria Caffrey, the…

Adam Johnson (2018-05-21). Media Ignore Government Influence on Facebook's Plan to Fight Government Influence. fair.org Medium ( 5/17/18) | Facebook announced Thursday it was partnering with DC think tank the Atlantic Council to "monitor for misinformation and foreign interference." The details of the plan are vague, but Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab wrote in a non-bylined Medium post ( 5/17/18) that the goal was to design tools "to bring us closer together" instead of "driving us further apart." Whatever that means, exactly. | Behind its generic-sounding name and "nonpartisan" label, the Atlantic Council is associated with very particular interests. It's funded by the US Department of State and the US Navy, Army and Air Force, along with NATO, various foreign powers and major Western corporations, including weapons contractors and oil companies. The Atlantic Council is dead center in what former President Obama's deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes called "the blob"—Washington's bipartisan foreign-policy…

Durrati, Daily Kos (2018-05-21). Here's What Jared Kushner's Harvard Class Had to Say About Him in Its 15th Anniversary Report. alternet.org Spoiler alert: the comments aren't flattering. | Jared Kushner's Harvard Class of '03 recently issued its 15th anniversary Report, kinda of a who's who of who's climbing which corporate ladder and who's selling out their country to the highest bidder, I suppose. Jared declined to contribute himself but three of his classmates had some interesting things to say about Mr. Most likely to commit treason. First, from someone who's name also starts with K. . . Jared Kushner didn't send in a note for Harvard's 15th Anniversary Report. But flip to the page where his entry would go and you'll find this, the end of a note from an alphabetically adjacent classmate. pic. twitter. com/HgN7wbPl9p— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) May 19, 2018. . . opened with a Nazi. . . ouch. My personal favorite, obviously from the class snark-meister. . . . Another one of Jared Kushner's college classmates in the 15th Anniversary Report: | "I, for one, am. . .

RT (2018-05-20). NASA's new exoplanet hunter TESS snaps 200,000+ stars in its 1st PHOTO. rt.com After passing the moon's orbit, NASA's planet-hunting satellite has snapped its first picture from one of four cameras on board, relaying the footage of some 200,000 stars back to astronomers on Earth.
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RT (2018-05-19). DAPL-style protesters could face jail under new 'critical infrastructure' protection laws. rt.com New laws introducing harsher penalties against protesters who target "critical infrastructure" such as oil and gas pipelines are now pending in half a dozen states in the US.
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Jon Queally (2018-05-18). 'Uphill Battle,' but Net Neutrality Defenders Say Victory in House Possible. globalresearch.ca Celebrating the 'historic win' in the Senate on Wednesday for only the briefest of moments, advocates for the open Internet who have worked relentlessly to reverse an effort by the telecommunications industry and Trump's FCC to kill net neutrality protections …

Human Rights Watch (2018-05-18). Afghan President Offers Airstrike Victims Apology, Not Justice. hrw.org Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during during a peace and security cooperation conference in Kabul, Afghanistan February 28, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | Afghan President Ashraf Ghani apologized Thursday to the families of civilians killed and injured in Dasht-e Archi, Kunduz province, on April 2, 2018, when Afghan air force helicopters fired heavy machineguns and launched unguided rockets at an outdoor religious ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Thirty of the 36 people killed were children, some under age 10 — in an attack the government claimed was targeting senior Taliban leaders. | A report on the airstrike by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that the attack "rais[ed] questions as to the Government's respect of the rules of precaution and proportionality" under the laws of war. UNAMA concluded…

Mike Small (2018-05-18). Back to the Future with Empire Oil. globalresearch.ca PM Theresa …

Human Rights Watch (2018-05-18). Afghan President Offers Airstrike Victims Apology, Not Justice. hrw.org Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during during a peace and security cooperation conference in Kabul, Afghanistan February 28, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | Afghan President Ashraf Ghani apologized Thursday to the families of civilians killed and injured in Dasht-e Archi, Kunduz province, on April 2, 2018, when Afghan air force helicopters fired heavy machineguns and launched unguided rockets at an outdoor religious ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Thirty of the 36 people killed were children, some under age 10 — in an attack the government claimed was targeting senior Taliban leaders. | A report on the airstrike by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that the attack "rais[ed] questions as to the Government's respect of the rules of precaution and proportionality" under the laws of war. UNAMA concluded…

Sharon Lerner (2018-05-18). The EPA's "Leadership Summit" on PFOA Pollution Will Exclude Victims and Community Groups. theintercept.com Kristen Mello wasn't invited to the Environmental Protection Agency's upcoming " National Leadership Summit" on PFOA, PFOS, and other PFAS chemicals. For most of her life, Mello, a member of Westfield Residents Advocating For Themselves, drank water contaminated with the chemicals that are going to be discussed at the meeting. At least six compounds in this class seeped into local drinking water from firefighting foam used at the Air National Guard base in her hometown of Westfield, Massachusetts. Mello and several of her immediate family members have developed some of the health problems associated with the chemicals, including thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and liver problems. While most people in the United States have been exposed to PFAS, Westfield is one of the growing number of communities to learn they've had an especially high dose of the chemicals as the…

Democracy Now! (2018-05-18). Headlines for May 18, 2018. democracynow.org Gina Haspel Confirmed as CIA Director, Despite Her Record on Torture, Trump Says North Korea's Kim Jong-un Could Suffer Same Fate as Gaddafi, Trump to Cut Funds to Women's Clinics, Reinstitute Abortion Gag Rule, House Farm Bill Would End Food Assistance to Over 2 Million People, Senate Intel Committee Republicans Cite Russian Interference in 2016, China Denies Trump Admin Claims of $200 Billion Trade Deal, Egypt to Reopen Gaza Border Crossing Until End of Ramadan, Congo: WHO Warns of "Urban Ebola" as Virus Spreads to Mbandaka City, Colombia Orders Thousands to Evacuate Amid Fears that Dam May Burst, In Reversal, NASA Administrator Says Humans Cause Climate Change, Republican Rep. Mo Brooks Blames Coastal Erosion for Rising Seas, New York Court Greenlights Summer Zervos Defamation Suit Against Trump, Fox News Names Longtime Roger Ailes Protégé Suzanne Scott as CEO, Hawaii: Geologists Warn Worst Could be Yet to Come as Kilauea Erupts, New York: Calls Grow for Disbarment of Lawyer Filmed in Racist Tirade…

Democracy Now! (2018-05-18). Trump's EPA Doesn't Want You to Know Chemicals in Teflon Are Poisoning Waterways & Firefighters. democracynow.org The Environmental Protection Agency is facing a major new scandal after it worked with the White House to bury an alarming federal study detailing widespread chemical contamination of the nation's water supply. One Trump administration official warned release of the study would create a "public relations nightmare." The study found chemicals commonly present in Teflon and firefighting foam are a threat to human health at levels the EPA had previously called safe. We speak with Robert Bilott, the attorney the New York Times calls the the "worst nightmare of DuPont," the manufacturer of Teflon. He successfully won compensation for his clients whose drinking water had been contaminated by toxic chemicals used to make Teflon. He is a recipient of the 2017 Right Livelihood Award.

Janine Jackson (2018-05-17). 'Most Americans Say They Want Protections for the Open Internet'. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Tim Karr about the fight for net neutrality for the May 11, 2018, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

David Dayen (2018-05-17). An Equifax and Facebook Lawyer Will Now Run the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. theintercept.com In a rare party-line vote, the FTC appointed a corporate lawyer who has represented Uber, Equifax, Facebook, and a jailed payday lender to a top job.

Democracy Now! (2018-05-17). Headlines for May 17, 2018. democracynow.org Trump on North Korean Threats to Cancel Summit: "We'll See", U.N. Human Rights Council to Review Israel's Massacre in Gaza, Under Trump, Refugee Admissions to U.S. at Lowest Level in Decades, President Trump Calls Undocumented Immigrants "Animals", DHS Sought Negative Info on Haitians Ahead of Canceling Protections, Senate Approves Bill to Restore Net Neutrality Rules, Trump Financial Disclosure Reveals Stormy Daniels Payment, WHO Ships Experimental Vaccine to Congo as Ebola Outbreak Kills 23, Chile: Thousands March Against Campus Sexual Violence, Michigan State to Settle Larry Nassar Sexual Abuse Lawsuit for $500M, EPA Chief Pruitt & White House Sought to Block Chemical Release Study, Whistleblower Says Steve Bannon Sought to Suppress Black Vote, CIA Cites Hacker Joshua Schulte as Suspect in WikiLeaks Release, North Carolina: Thousands of Teachers March for School Funding, Brooklyn Man Exonerated 27 Years After Murder Conviction…

Adam Johnson (2018-05-16). NYT Edit Board Are Last Humans on Earth Who Believe US Neutral in Israel/Palestine Conflict. fair.org The fact that the United States favors Israel in its decades-long "conflict" with the Palestinians is not a subjective or abstract question; it's a well-established empirical fact. The US gives over $3 billion a year in military aid to Israel (more than the US spends on aid for the last seven countries it's bombed combined), and defends it from sanction almost uniformly at the UN Security Council. Israel's support from the US Congress borders on sycophantic. The US, on the other hand, gives no military aid to Palestine, and opposes resolutions that even acknowledge Palestine exists—much less support its resistance to Israeli occupation. The US gives some aid to the Israeli-approved and corrupt Palestinian Authority, but this largely serves to buy off the docile and unpopular PA. New York Times editorial ( 5/14/18): "For generations…

Democracy Now! (2018-05-16). Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians Have the Right to Break Free of the "Unlivable" Cage That Is Gaza. democracynow.org This spring's mass nonviolent protests in Gaza come as the human rights conditions in the "open-air prison" have even further deteriorated. Last year, the United Nations issued a report warning Gaza is already "unlivable." The majority of its water is contaminated, and electricity is limited to only a few hours a day. About half the population is children. Almost all are refugees who are prevented from ever leaving the tiny Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated places on Earth. For more, we speak with Norman Finkelstein, author and scholar whose most recent book is titled "Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom."

Democracy Now! (2018-05-14). Headlines for May 14, 2018. democracynow.org Israeli Soldiers Kill Dozens of Palestinians as U.S. Opens Embassy in Jerusalem, Trump Admin Threatens to Sanction European Firms Doing Business with Iran, In Reversal, Trump Trying to Save Chinese Company Hit by U.S. Sanctions, Report: Trump Admin Eliminates NASA Program to Monitor Carbon & Methane, Afghanistan: Taliban Kill More Than 100 Afghan Soldiers & Police in Last Week, Pakistan Prevents U.S. Diplomat from Leaving, After He Killed 1 in Car Crash, Burundi: 26 Killed in Attack on Village, Days Before Controversial Referendum, Iraq: Early Election Results Show Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Lead, Indonesia: ISIS Claims Responsibility for String of Attacks on Churches, 1974 CIA Memo: Brazil's Former Dictator Personally Approved Summary Executions, White House Refuses to Apologize for Aide's Comments Mocking John McCain, American Bishop Michael Curry to Deliver Sermon at British Royal Wedding, Trump Admin Rolls Back Protections for Transgender Prisoners…

Democracy Now! (2018-05-11). Immigration Officials Are Using Pseudoscience to Justify Jailing Teenage Asylum Seekers with Adults. democracynow.org 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.

Paul Dobson (2018-05-09). ConocoPhillips Moves to Seize Venezuelan Oil Assets as PDVSA Maneuvers to Safeguard Tankers. venezuelanalysis.com In response to the threat, PDVSA has allegedly ordered its fleet of tankers stationed in the Caribbean to return to Venezuelan waters.

Democracy Now! (2018-05-09). Primary Day: Blankenship Out in WV; Consumer Watchdog Wins in Ohio; Pence's Brother Wins in Indiana. democracynow.org 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…

Paul Dobson (2018-05-07). Venezuela: Zulia Governor Blames Illegal Crypto Mining for Continuing Regional Power Shortages. venezuelanalysis.com Sabotage, lack of maintenance, and climate change have also been offered to explain the crippling blackouts.

Paul Dobson (2018-05-03). Venezuela Offers Petro-Based Oil Discount, Denounces "Kidnapping" of Funds. venezuelanalysis.com Maduro has accused Euroclear of withholding USD$1.2bn as part of international financial sanctions against Caracas.

Paul Dobson (2018-04-26). ConocoPhillips Awarded US$2bn for 2007 Oil Field Expropriation, Venezuela Claims Victory. venezuelanalysis.com Venezuela claims the award ordered by the ICC is lower than the amount originally offered by Chavez as compensation and is only 10% of what the oil giant filed for.

Cira Pascual Marquina (2018-04-18). Venezuela Arrests Two Chevron Executives in Ongoing Anti-Corruption Probe. venezuelanalysis.com The Public Prosecution's anti-graft initiative widens its scope to include private sector oil industry employees.