Anton Woronczuk (2018-05-26). Big Pay Gaps Are Bad for Business. truth-out.org Truthout doesn't take corporate money and we don't shy away from confronting the root causes of injustice. Can you help sustain our work with a tax-deductible donation? | Mattel is one of the largest toy-making companies on earth. Turns out it's one of the biggest manufacturers of income inequality, too. | Last year, the Barbie doll manufacturer paid its CEO nearly 5,000 times as much as its median worker. | This stunning revelation is the result of a new regulation that requires US publicly held corporations to report their CEO-worker pay ratios to the Securities and Exchange Commission. | Mattel's gap is the widest reported so far. But most other big US companies also have staggering divides. According to a new report by the staff of Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the first 225 large corporations to release their numbers had pay…

Staff (2018-05-26). Global Warming Grows Less Nutritious Rice. truthdig.com Global warming could bring a serious problem for the two billion people on the planet who depend on one grain for their staple diet: less nutritious rice to sustain them. Scientists have found that rice grown at higher levels of carbon dioxide has an overall lower nutritional value. | The grain contains lower levels of protein, and iron and zinc — metals vital for health in trace form — and also consistent declines in vitamin B. | This finding is not based on computer simulation of a plant's response to notionally higher atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas CO2, nor on laboratory studies under glass and in artificial conditions. It is based on open air field trials. | That is, extra carbon dioxide is piped to the plants to mimic the ratios expected at the end of the century as ever more…

Justin Anderson (2018-05-25). Media Quote Frank on Rolling Back Dodd/Frank—Not Disclosing He's Now a Bank Director. fair.org The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to roll back key provisions of the landmark Dodd/Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a 2010 law that increased regulatory scrutiny of banks following the 2008 financial crisis. | One of the many provisions of the original Dodd/Frank law subjected banks with over $50 billion in assets to annual economic "stress tests" to gauge their potential for collapse in the event of an economic crisis. The rollback bill raises that threshold to $250 billion, which would exempt at least two dozen "small" banks, including SunTrust, BB&T, Charles Schwab and American Express. By comparison, in 2008, key failed bank Countryside had only $172 billion in assets, and so would have avoided stress testing, while other financial dominos like Washington Mutual ($264 billion) and Bear Stearns ($289 billion) were close to the lower limit.

George Payne (2018-05-25). The NFL Moves to Silence Voices of Dissent. counterpunch.org Would women have the right to vote today if they were told by men to only protest inside their homes? Would African-Americans have equal protection under the law if the Civil Rights movement was confined to the churches? Would farmers and migrant workers have just working conditions in the fields if they were forced to More

Sarah Anderson (2018-05-25). When CEO's Earn 5,000 Times as Much as a Company's Workers. counterpunch.org Mattel is one of the largest toy-making companies on earth. Turns out it's one of the biggest manufacturers of income inequality, too. Last year, the Barbie doll manufacturer paid its CEO nearly 5,000 times as much as its median worker. This stunning revelation is the result of a new regulation that requires U.S. publicly held More

Binoy Kampmark (2018-05-25). Australia's China Syndrome. counterpunch.org Syndromes can make for cringe worthy, nervous laughter. To see the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, struggle with reconciling China the bully of influence with China the resource hungry friend supplied the press with one such spectacle on Tuesday morning. Larded with suffocating clichés, Turnbull could speak of the greatest multicultural society on earth (forget the More

Mark Gruenberg (2018-05-25). Workers Are Prepared to Shut Down Entire Las Vegas Strip. mintpressnews.com If 50,000 workers, who toil at 34 big hotels on the Las Vegas strip and downtown, must walk out, it would be the union's largest strike in decades.

truth-out.org (2018-05-25). New Challenges for the Disputed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. truth-out.org The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would carry fracked gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina and possibly points farther south, has been hit with setbacks in recent weeks that raise questions about its future. The pipeline also poses threats to several at-risk species as well as vulnerable communities in the South.(Photo: Edward Alexander; Edited: LW / TO) | The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would carry fracked gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina and possibly points farther south, has been hit with setbacks in recent weeks that raise questions about its future. Dominion Resources of Virginia, the pipeline's operator, holds a 48 percent stake in the pipeline, while North Carolina-based Duke Energy holds 47 percent and Georgia's Southern Company 5 percent. Dominion's and Duke's ratepayers would foot most of the bill for the

Human Rights Watch (2018-05-25). Qatar Joins Core Human Rights Treaties. hrw.org | (Beirut) — Qatar submitted documents to the United Nations on May 21, 2018, to join two core human rights treaties, following cabinet approval on March 14, Human Rights Watch said today. But Qatar's accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights includes formal reservations that will deprive women and migrant workers of the treaties' protections. | Qatar rejected gender equality provisions in marriage, divorce, and child custody on grounds that they contravene Sharia, or Islamic law. It also declared it would interpret several provisions in line with Sharia, including on defining cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment — avoiding bans on capital and corporal punishment — minimum marriage ages, and freedom of religion. And it said it would interpret the term "trade unions" in accordance…

Sharon Lerner (2018-05-25). House Bill Would Let Airports Stop Using Toxic Firefighting Foam. theintercept.com While the controversy over the Environmental Protection Agency's recent " leadership summit" on PFAS chemicals held in Washington earlier this week brought attention to the cancer-causing contaminants in the drinking water of millions of Americans, Congress has quietly made an important step toward getting rid of one of the products responsible for this widespread water pollution. On April 27, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would free the Federal Aviation Administration from longstanding requirements that commercial airports use firefighting foam that contains the chemicals. | For decades, FAA policy has been to require airports to use firefighting foam that meets specifications developed by the Navy. Those standards mandate the use of fluorinated chemicals, a term that includes PFAS, all of which persist indefinitely in nature. While most of the thousands of chemicals in this class have yet to be…

Human Rights Watch (2018-05-25). The GDPR Comes Into Force Today. hrw.org Today marks the entry into force of the European Union's General Data Privacy Regulation, a law that will advance your rights and improve privacy protections online. Human Rights Watch has a new privacy policy that you can read here.

Robert Mackey (2018-05-25). Ireland Asks Voters to Lift the Nation's Strict Ban on Abortion. theintercept.com Ireland has changed quite dramatically since 1983, when two-thirds of the electorate approved a constitutional amendment that imposed a near total ban on abortion by recognizing "the right to life of the unborn," which promised equal protection under the law to fetuses and pregnant women. | The contours of Ireland's gradual transformation into a more liberal country in the decades since can be traced in the results of a series of subsequent referendums that defied the teachings of the once-dominant Catholic Church. Divorce was legalized, narrowly, in 1995; same-sex marriage, overwhelmingly, in 2015. | On Friday, Irish voters go to the polls once again, this time to cast ballots in a referendum on their government's proposal to repeal the abortion ban enshrined in the Eighth Amendment to the constitution 35 years ago.Manifestation on O'Connell St. A few minutes ago.

Justin Anderson (2018-05-23). Focus on Pruitt's Scandals Obscures Environmental Degradation Under Trump. fair.org Focusing on a $43,000 phone booth (Washington Post, 4/16/18), not on the $60 trillion that unchecked climate change is projected to cost (Nature, 7/25/13). | Scott Pruitt sure is busy these days. The climate change-denying head of the Environmental Protection Agency has been renting out a DC condo on the cheap from an energy lobbyist; installing a $43,000 soundproof booth for his telephone calls; passing out improper pay raises to aides; jet-setting around the world on first-class flights; hitting up Disneyland and the Rose Bowl with his oversized $3 million, 20-person security detail; receiving police escorts to trendy DC restaurant Le Diplomate; and even having a fancy dinner in Rome with Vatican treasurer, climate denier and recently charged child sexual abuser George Pell. | What's more, Pruitt's staffers at the EPA have continued to…

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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Democracy Now! (2018-05-23). Headlines for May 23, 2018. democracynow.org President Trump Casts Doubt on June 12 Summit with North Korea's Leader, Congress Passes Sweeping Bill to Roll Back Dodd-Frank Act Regulations, Palestinian Authority Asks ICC to Investigate Israel for War Crimes, Stacey Abrams Is First Black Woman to Win Major Party's Nomination for Governor, The Guardian: Giuliani Helped OxyContin Maker Continue Drug Sales, Afghanistan: 16 Die in Explosion in Kandahar; Taliban Kill 22 Police Officers in Ghazni, Pakistan: Severe Heat Wave in Karachi Kills At Least 65 People, IACHR Condemns Nicaragua for Bloody April Crackdown Against Protesters, EPA Officials Bar Multiple Journalists from Summit on Water Contamination, 10 McDonald's Workers File Sexual Harassment Complaints, Virginia Judge Rules in Favor of Transgender Student Gavin Grimm…

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.

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.

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…

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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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 "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.

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…

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…

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.

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.