(2018-03-30). Teacher 'Rebellion' Spreads to Oklahoma. Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists OKLAHOMA CITY—A teacher rebellion that started in the hills of West Virginia spread like a prairie fire to Oklahoma this week and now threatens to reach the desert in Arizona. | In the deep red state of Oklahoma, the Republican-led Legislature approved money for teacher raises and more school funding, even hiking taxes on the vaunted oil and gas industry to do it. Republican Governor Mary Fallin rushed to sign the measures into law Thursday. | Oklahoma teachers were inspired by West Virginia, another red state where a 9-day strike led to 5-percent teacher raises. Oklahoma teachers haven't had a raise in a decade of Republican control and they won raises of between 15 and 18 percent. Now, teachers in Arizona thronged their GOP-run Capitol this week, demanding a 20 percent teacher pay hike. | "West Virginia woke us up," Arizona Educators Association…
(2018-03-29). Russia: Activist Attacked in Dagestan . Human Rights Watch News (Moscow) — An unidentified assailant viciously attacked a representative of Memorial, Russia's leading human rights group, on March 28, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. Sirazhutdin Datsiev after the attack, March 28, 2018. | © 2018 Memorial, Makhachkala | Sirazhutdin Datsiev, the head of the Memorial office in Dagestan was hospitalized with a head injury. Russian authorities should promptly and thoroughly investigate the attack and punish those responsible. | "This cowardly attack can only be regarded as part of the ongoing harassment campaign against Memorial's work in the North Caucasus region," said Yulia Gorbunova, Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Russian government needs to provide protection and put a stop to the violent campaign against activists who risk their lives to shed light on appalling human rights abuses in…
(2018-03-29). UN Independent Expert: Venezuela Should Take US to the International Court of Justice. MintPress News Alfred de Zayas, a UN Independent Expert for the promotion of an international democratic and equitable order, told Venezuela's newspaper àöltimas Noticias that "it is time" for Venezuela to ask the International Criminal Court "for an investigation into the crimes against humanity committed by the United States for imposing sanctions against it." | Why do you consider sanctions as crimes against humanity? | In 2000, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights published a study that described sanctions as a serious violation of international law and human rights. In 2015, the Human Rights Council in Geneva created the role of the Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures. In his reports Idriss Jazairy, the Rapporteur, has demonstrated the adverse impacts of sanctions and has negotiated with governments so that sanctions are eliminated, as they are contrary to the spirit and letter…
(2018-03-29). Trump's Nominee to Oversee Superfund Program Spent Decades Fighting EPA Cleanups on Behalf of Polluters. The Intercept Though he has openly disparaged much of his agency's mission, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has remained steadfastly enthusiastic about Superfund, the federal program responsible for cleaning up some of the country's most contaminated industrial sites. The EPA budget brief released in February said the agency would "accelerate the pace of cleanups" and make an additional 102 Superfund sites and 1,368 brownfield sites "ready for use" by September 30, 2019. That move follows Pruitt's creation of a " Superfund task force," which laid out the program's priorities in July and, in December, issued a list of 21 sites to be fast-tracked for cleanup. | Yet even as he's offered up these promises, some of Pruitt's budgetary and hiring decisions have threatened the possibility that he'll be able to fulfill them. The EPA's proposed 2019 budget would cut the…
(2018-03-29). Defendants Acquitted After Using a 'Climate Necessity' Defense. Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists The Massachusetts trial appears to be the first in which the defendants successfully argued that their civil disobedience was justified by the need to stop climate change. | The post Defendants Acquitted After Using a 'Climate Necessity' Defense appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
(2018-03-29). China's Gold Backed Petro-Yuan Challenges US Dollar Hegemony. Global Research Its introduction poses the first ever challenge to petro-dollar dominance. | China is the world's largest oil importing/consuming nation. Gold-backed petro-yuan futures trading began Monday on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, part of the Shanghai Futures Exchange — letting Chinese and …
(2018-03-29). Here's What Trump Reportedly Won't Let His Aides Say About Russia. AlterNet.org A new report suggests the president still hopes he can craft a good relationship with the foreign rival. | Discerning the true state of Russian-American relations is becoming increasingly complicated. While President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his fondness for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his desire to improve relations with the country, the current administration's policy toward its foreign rival has become increasingly tough. Under Trump, the United States has agreed to provide weapons to Ukraine to fend off Russian forces, expelled Russian diplomats in response to an apparent chemical attack on British soil, and implemented significant sanctions on Russian entities in response to meddling in the 2016 election. All the while, Trump has been quite obviously reluctant to criticize Russia in public, significantly diminishing the strength of the administration's otherwise considerable efforts to rein in Russian aggression. A new report from NBC. . .
(2018-03-29). Energy Independence Requires Steel Independence. AlterNet.org New tariffs and a deal with South Korea will help bring jobs back. | Shale oil and gas, now fracked from deep underground in two dozen states, is celebrated for delivering energy independence to the United States. But that goal can't truly be achieved if America depends on China, Korea, even Brazil for the steel vital to drilling. Sustaining steel independence is a big part of what President Trump's tariffs are about. They're intended to revive American steel production which has been hammered by illegal trade practices, particularly in China. Just this week, the tariffs helped secure a new trade deal with Korea that reduces by 30 percent the amount of steel and drilling pipe the Asian country can export to the United States. As fracking geared up across the United States, American steelmakers invested in their mills to meet drillers' needs, from. . .
(2018-03-28). German Beer Industry in Shock Over Glyphosate Contamination. Global Research The Munich Environmental Institute (Umweltinstitut Màºnchen) has released shocking results Thursday of laboratory testing it has completed on 14 of the most sold beers in Germany. The probable carcinogen and World's most used herbicide — glyphosate — was found in …
(2018-03-28). 6 Ways Trump's 2018 Budget Actually Helps Animals. AlterNet.org Though the final budget contains harmful provisions, it also has some big wins for wolves, bears, horses and other animals. | There's great news for animals in the final 2018 budget bill that President Trump signed into law last week. The bottom line is this: the budget bill includes language to restrict funds from being used to harm horses and to address a purge of key animal enforcement records, it increases federal resources to enforce significant animal protection laws, and it omits riders that would have been devastating for wildlife. The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the government affairs affiliate of the Humane Society of the United States, worked with animal protection champions in both chambers and with other stakeholders to secure victories on a number of fronts, including these key outcomes: 1. Maintaining the ban on horse slaughter. The bill includes language to prohibit government. . .
(2018-03-28). Israel and Palestinian Occupied Territories: Asylum-seekers risk deportation or detention. Amnesty International Thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers are at risk of either being forced to go to Rwanda or Uganda, where their protection is not guaranteed, or being indefinitely detained in Israel. While some are already detained, the Israeli authorities have given others until early April to leave the country or be detained.
(2018-03-28). The Gun Industry's Favorite Trick. AlterNet.org A major gun maker may have declared bankruptcy in order to avoid real change. | Remington, the weapons giant that produced the semi-automatic rifle used in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, declared bankruptcy in a Delaware court filing Sunday. Across social media, people applauded the company's demise following a very good run, if more than 200 years of profiteering off products with no explicit purpose other than murder can be summed up as good. Like so many gun manufacturers, Remington seems to have succumbed to a sales drop brought on by the election of the gun industry's self-declared " true friend in the White House," thus ending the panic-driven gun rush of the Obama era. Just days after the March for Our lives, Remington's fall appeared as a hopeful sign that the gun industry has real weak spots.
(2018-03-28). 2020 Census Citizenship Question Trump's Latest Move in War on Immigrants. MintPress News The Trump administration's decision to add a controversial question on citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire is its latest attack on immigrant communities—a far-reaching power grab disguised as a technicality. | Legal advocates for Latinos and communities of color are seeing it as a declaration of domestic political war. | "MALDEF calls for the immediate resignation of [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross," said Thomas A. Saenz, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund president and general counsel. "His acquiescence in this political maneuver demonstrates his thorough incompetence to serve as Commerce Secretary. His apparent lack of even basic integrity has created a constitutional violation of unprecedented potential impact." | "President Trump's latest attempt to suppress the political influence of people of color under the guise of voter protection is beyond the pale," said Cristóbal J. Alex, president of Latino Victory Project. "The inclusion of…
(2018-03-28). Major Gun Maker May Have Declared Bankruptcy to Avoid Real Change. Truthout Stories A Remington 700 hunting rifle, a Remington 1100 shotgun and a Remington R1 Enhanced model 1911 pistol are seen for sale at Atlantic Outdoors gun shop on March 26, 2018, in Stokesdale, North Carolina. Remington has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection partially due to an estimated $950 million in debt. (Photo: Brian Blanco / Getty Images) | Remington, the weapons giant that produced the semi-automatic rifle used in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, declared bankruptcy in a Delaware court filing Sunday. Across social media, people applauded the company's demise following a very good run, if more than 200 years of profiteering off products with no explicit purpose other than murder can be summed up as good. Like so many gun manufacturers, Remington seems to have succumbed to a sales drop brought on by the election of the gun…
(2018-03-28). Headlines for March 28, 2018. Democracy Now! In Historic Trip, Kim Jong-un Met with Xi in Beijing & Discussed Denuclearization, Louisiana Will Not Charge 2 White Officers for 2016 Killing of Alton Sterling, Protests over Stephon Clark's Killing Disrupt Sacramento City Council, 12 States to Sue Trump Admin over Plans to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census, "Repeal the Second Amendment" Says Retired Supreme Court Justice, Stephanie Clifford's Lawyer Seeks to Depose Trump over Nondisclosure Agreement, NYT: Trump Hoping to Bring Rob Porter Back to White House, All 22 Female Senators Demand Senate Pass Congressional Sexual Harassment Bill, Kushner Under Investigation over $500 Million Loans to Family Real Estate Company, Zuckerberg to Testify over Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Facebook Faces Lawsuit over Discrimination in Targeted Housing and Job Ads, White House Ending TPS Protections for 4,000 Liberians, Orange County to Defy California's New Sanctuary Law, William Strampel, Larry Nassar's Supervisor, Charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct, Report: Investments in Extreme Fossil Fuels Skyrocketed in Trump's 1st Year in Office, Judge Rules Anti-Pipeline Protesters Not Guilty Because of Necessity of Fighting Climate Change…
(2018-03-28). Citizenship Question on 2020 Census Is Trump's Latest Declaration of Domestic War on Immigrants. AlterNet.org "A naked attempt to politicize the census, with the goal of suppressing minority participation. " | The Trump administration's decision to add a controversial question on citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire is its latest attack on immigrant communities—a far-reaching power grab disguised as a technicality. Legal advocates for Latinos and communities of color are seeing it as a declaration of domestic political war. "MALDEF calls for the immediate resignation of [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross," said Thomas A. Saenz, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund president and general counsel. "His acquiescence in this political maneuver demonstrates his thorough incompetence to serve as Commerce Secretary. His apparent lack of even basic integrity has created a constitutional violation of unprecedented potential impact. ""President Trump's latest attempt to suppress the political influence of people of color under the guise of voter protection is beyond the pale," said Cristóbal. . .
(2018-03-28). Lebanon: Candidates Should Commit to Rights Agenda. Human Rights Watch News Candidates for Lebanon's parliamentary elections should commit to human rights reforms. | (Beirut) — Candidates for Lebanon's May 6, 2018 parliamentary elections should commit to reforms to strengthen human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch is sending letters to major Lebanese political parties and parliamentary candidates urging them to commit to human rights reforms in ten areas. | The areas Human Rights Watch identifies are: freedom of expression and assembly, torture, the waste crisis, military court trials of civilians, women's rights, disability rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, refugee rights, justice and accountability, and privacy. Human Rights Watch will issue a statement prior to the elections detailing the commitments candidates and parties have made to strengthen human rights protections. | Related Content: | Human Rights Watch Letter to…
(2018-03-28). China Meets Carbon Goals Early, but It Isn't Enough. Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists I am not a fundamentalist in any other area of life. But I am a carbon dioxide fundamentalist. | Well, you can add methane and some other gases. | The point is that CO2 emissions is the only issue that matters in speaking of climate change. It is a heat-trapping gas, and the more we put into the atmosphere, the hotter the planet will get over time. That means melting all land ice, massive rises in sea level over time, extreme weather (more intense hurricanes and cyclones, long-term drought in some places, increased flooding in others). Delta river valleys like that in Louisiana, or the delta in Egypt, or the country of Bangladesh, are doomed over time already. | We are driving gas-guzzling cars and burning coal to get electricity and eating a lot of beef; we are endangering our children and grandchildren.
(2018-03-28). Big Oil Already Netted $25 Billion From GOP Tax Cuts. MintPress News The oil and gas industry benefitted to the tune of billions of dollars from the Trump tax cut bill… And you didn't. That's how the Center for Biological Diversity responded to a new analysis published Tuesday, which shows how the fossil fuel industry has saved $25 billion so far—"with many more billionaires more to come"—from the Republican tax plan signed by President Donald Trump in December. | Antonia Juhasz at Pacific Standard reviewed 2017 Securities and Exchange Commission filings by 17 American oil and gas companies, "looking at the largest companies in production, refining, and pipelines that also clearly specified the impacts of the Tax Act in their result." | Confirming reports that the new tax code has "supercharged the oil industry," she found that "it is the oil and gas industry, including companies that backed the presidency of…
(2018-03-28). Russia: Protests against officials erupt in wake of Kemerovo fire. World Socialist Web Site The horrific fire at the Kemerovo "Winter Cherry" shopping mall and entertainment center on March 25 has brought social and political tensions in Russia to a boiling point.
(2018-03-28). While Workers Get Crumbs, GOP Tax Scam Analysis Details $25 Billion Bonanza for Big Oil. Truthout Stories (Photo: Haymarketrebel; Edited: LW / TO) | "The oil and gas industry benefitted to the tune of billions of dollars from the Trump tax cut bill… And you didn't." | That's how the Center for Biological Diversity responded to a new analysis published Tuesday, which shows how the fossil fuel industry has saved $25 billion so far — "with many more billionaires more to come" — from the Republican tax plan signed by President Donald Trump in December. | Antonia Juhasz at Pacific Standard reviewed 2017 Securities and Exchange Commission filings by 17 American oil and gas companies, "looking at the largest companies in production, refining, and pipelines that also clearly specified the impacts of the Tax Act in their result." | Confirming reports that the new tax code has "supercharged the oil industry," she found that "it…
(2018-03-27). Popular Beer and Wine Brands Contaminated With Monsanto's Weedkiller, Tests Reveal. AlterNet.org 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. . .
(2018-03-27). US Immigrants' Rights Groups Turn to Education to Protect Rights. Human Rights Watch News Screenshot from We Have Rights Immigrant Empowerment Campaign video. | © 2018 We Have Rights Team (NYCLU, ACLU, BDS, Media Tank) | The Trump administration's relentless pursuit of immigrants has prompted US immigrants' rights groups to turn to mass education to inform immigrant communities on how to protect their rights. | With arrests of immigrants in the United States interior up 40 percent over last year, immigration lawyers say they are stretched too thin to adequately prepare families at risk of deportation to defend their rights. A new series of know-your-rights videos and accompanying materials instead "aims to empower immigrants to protect themselves." | | The campaign, We Have Rights, consists of a series of four short, animated videos based on real life experiences of immigrant communities and is available in…
(2018-03-27). Proposed US Healthcare Changes Would Undermine Patient Rights. Human Rights Watch News Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar participates in a forum called Generation Next at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | The US should reject a proposed rule that would give healthcare providers sweeping discretion to refuse patients care for religious or moral reasons. | Human Rights Watch has urged the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to discard the proposed rule, which was issued for public comment in January. The rule purports to clarify existing legal protections for religious or moral objectors under federal law. In reality, it would dramatically expand healthcare providers' ability to turn away patients, without also protecting the rights of those who are refused care. | This would be particularly dangerous for women and lesbian,…
(2018-03-27). Proposed US Healthcare Changes Would Undermine Patient Rights. Human Rights Watch News Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar participates in a forum called Generation Next at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | The US should reject a proposed rule that would give healthcare providers sweeping discretion to refuse patients care for religious or moral reasons. | Human Rights Watch has urged the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, to discard the proposed rule, which was issued for public comment in January. The rule purports to clarify existing legal protections for religious or moral objectors under federal law. In reality, it would dramatically expand healthcare providers' ability to turn away patients, without also protecting the rights of those who are refused care. | This would be particularly dangerous for women…
(2018-03-27). Insect Decimation Upstages Global Warming. counterpunch.org Everybody's heard about global warming. It is one of the most advertised existential events of all time. Who isn't aware? However, there's a new kid on the block. An alarming loss of insects will likely take down humanity before global warming hits maximum velocity. For the immediate future, the Paris Accord is riding the wrong More
(2018-03-26). US: FOIA Suit on Border Guards' Rights Abuses. Human Rights Watch News 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…
(2018-03-26). Turkey Announces Military Incursion into Iraq, Threatens US Over Manbij. MintPress News 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…
(2018-03-26). US: FOIA Suit on Border Guards' Rights Abuses. Human Rights Watch News 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 asylum…
(2018-03-26). Climate, Science, and Budget-Politics. counterpunch.org 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 More
(2018-03-26). FBI Under Renewed Scrutiny After Pulse Gunman's Father Revealed as FBI Informant. MintPress News 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.
(2018-03-26). Trump's Cabinet Is the Most Volatile in a Century. Truthout Stories 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 (2018-03-26). Ecuador: Judicial Harassment of Amazonian Defenders . Human Rights Watch News 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…
(2018-03-26). Mike Pompeo Better for Big Oil Than Former Exxonmobil CEO Rex Tillerson. MintPress News 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…
(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). 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 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…
(2018-03-25). Gina Haspel is the wrong choice to head the CIA. Human Rights Watch News Gina Haspel, a veteran CIA clandestine officer picked by U.S. President Donald Trump to head the Central Intelligence Agency, is shown in this handout photograph released on March 13, 2018. © 2018 CIA handout | Much concern has been raised, for good reason, about President Trump's nomination of Gina Haspel to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Haspel allegedly was involved in reckless, illegal torture under the agency's "rendition, detention and interrogation" program. | Since records remain classified, the full extent of Haspel's involvement is not clear. The New York Times reports she ran the CIA's first "black site" in Thailand when one detainee, Abd al-Nashiri, was severely tortured there. She also appears to have played a key role in pressing for and ultimately destroying videotapes of the torture of another…
(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). 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). 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). 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). 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). 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…