truth-out.org (2018-05-19). How Weakened US Fossil Fuel Regulations Threaten Environmental Justice in Colorado. truth-out.org The news and analysis at Truthout go way beyond the talking points. You can contribute to the creation of independent, insightful journalism by making a donation today! | From the start, President Donald Trump's administration has made dismantling regulations, especially for the oil, gas and coal industries, a top priority. | And though his claims of rolling back more regulations than any other administration are exaggerated, Trump's team has tried hard to erase many environmental and energy-related rules. | Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Trump have teamed up with the Republican-led Congress to get federal agencies on the case, by streamlining environmental permitting and attempting other sweeping changes. | As an environmental sociologist who has spent hundreds of hours researching communities directly affected by…

Staff (2018-05-19). Record Heat Means Hurricanes Gain Ferocity Faster. truthdig.com Hurricanes are becoming more violent, more rapidly, than they did 30 years ago. The cause may be entirely natural, scientists say. | But Hurricane Harvey, which in 2017 assaulted the Gulf of Mexico and dumped unprecedented quantities of rain to cause devastating floods in Texas, happened because the waters of the Gulf were warmer than at any time on record. And they were warmer because of human-driven climate change, according to a second study. | Both studies examine the intricate machinery of a natural phenomenon, the tropical cyclone. Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory looked at how fast four of 2017's hurricanes — Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria — intensified: episodes in which maximum wind speed rose by at least 25 knots, which is more than 46 kilometres, per hour within a 24-hour period. They report in Geophysical Research…

truth-out.org (2018-05-19). Donald Trump Really Shouldn't Have Run for President. truth-out.org US President Donald Trump speaks at the East Room of the White House May 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images) | Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's shady dealings is slowly reaching a fever pitch, and the administration has gone on the attack against its own Justice Department. One must wonder how on Earth Trump could ever have believed his lifetime of corrupt business practices would stay secret under the bright lights of the White House.U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the East Room of the White House May 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images) | This Truthout original was only possible because of our readers' ongoing support. Can you make a monthly donation to ensure we can publish more like it? Click here to give. | After such a wild…

truth-out.org (2018-05-19). Subway Woes? Don't Blame Workers. truth-out.org 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! | "Dirty, delayed, and dangerous." That's the slogan of a new ad campaign that blames New York City's subway woes on construction unions. | The campaign plays on New Yorkers' mounting frustrations with a system roiled by delays and overcrowding. It's part of a volley of attacks on the city's building trades unions by powerful developers and corporate mouthpieces. | The "Subway Scam" ads are the latest baloney from the Center for Union Facts, a corporate-backed nonprofit devoted to attacking unions. According to recent tax filings, its funders include Long Island hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major backer of the Trump presidential campaign and right-wing media outlet Breitbart News. | Subway delays have more than…

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…

truth-out.org (2018-05-18). Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Payday Loan Rule Survives GOP Repeal — for Now. truth-out.org There was rare good news for regulatory safeguards this week: The window closed for Congress to pass legislation repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule on payday loans, according to advocates of the initiative. | Stop the Debt Trap, a coalition of labor unions and non-profits, said Wednesday evening that the "legislative clock has expired" on efforts to annul the rule under the Congressional Review Act. | "Consumer and civil rights advocates are urging the consumer bureau to keep intact the rule, which is set to go into effect summer 2019, and to fulfill the bureau's responsibility to enforce the law," the organization said in a statement. | The rule is centered around the idea short-term, high-interest lenders must try to ensure that borrowers can afford to make payment on their products. It was finalized last October by then-CFPB Director Richard Cordray,…

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 …

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

Colin Todhunter (2018-05-18). Dangerous Liaison: Industrial Agriculture and the Reductionist Mindset. counterpunch.org Food and agriculture across the world is in crisis. Food is becoming denutrified and unhealthy and diets less diverse. There is a loss of biodiversity, which threatens food security, soils are being degraded, water sources polluted and depleted and smallholder farmers, so vital to global food production, are being squeezed off their land and out of farming. A minority of the global population has access to so much More

truth-out.org (2018-05-18). Trump's EPA Doesn't Want You to Know Chemicals in Teflon Are Poisoning Waterways and Firefighters. truth-out.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 "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. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

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). 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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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."

Ryan Grim (2018-05-16). Qatari Investor: Michael Cohen Asked Me for a Million Dollars. theintercept.com In the blink of a Michael Avenatti tweet, Ahmed al-Rumaihi has suddenly found himself internet-famous. It began on Sunday evening, when the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels posted a screenshot of video footage from Trump Tower's lobby, recorded on December 12, 2016. | Viral speculation followed, with online detectives identifying al-Rumaihi, the former head of a $100 billion wing of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, in the image and linking him to a Russia-Qatar deal to sell a portion of the oil company Rosneft, which had been referenced in the Steele dossier, a set of raw intelligence reports compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. | From there, Slate took over, headlining a piece late Monday night: "Michael Cohen's Meetings With Michael Flynn and a Qatari Diplomat Might Be the Key to Unlocking the Steele Dossier."

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…

wsws.org (2018-05-14). US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal drives Ankara into a corner. wsws.org Washington's reimposition of punishing economic sanctions on Iran, and its plans to force other countries to follow suit, threatens to roil the already crisis-ridden Turkish economy.

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.

Democracy Now! (2018-05-07). Nearly 90,000 Hondurans May Be Deported to Danger and Poverty as Trump Ends Their Protected Status. democracynow.org 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.

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.