Erik Molvar (2018-06-01). Not So Fast With That Wyoming Grizzly Hunt. counterpunch.org The Wyoming Game and Fish Department just authorized a plan to open a grizzly bear hunting season this September. Not so fast. A federal judge in Missoula could place the Yellowstone grizzly population back under Endangered Species Act protection before then, with a hearing on several lawsuits (full disclosure: including one by Western Watersheds Project More
IMEMC News (2018-06-01). P.A. Refuses "Modified" U.S. Version Of International Protection Proposal. imemc.org 
Permanent Palestinian Envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said the Palestinians reject the American-modified proposal for providing international protection to the Palestinian people, adding that the American revision is utterly hostile to the Palestinians. On Friday at dawn, Mansour told the Palestinian TV that the United States is […]…
Reverend Aaron (2018-06-01). Jordon Peterson's Public Tantrum of Inner-Turmoil. counterpunch.org Jordon B. Peterson: The little known Canadian college professor who made his entre into the broader public perception by throwing down a public freak out over the use of pronouns and how to avoid being a complete piece of shit when you use them. That is to say, no one had ever heard of this More
Andrea Germanos (2018-05-31). 'Major Win': California Senate Passes Bill Restoring Net Neutrality. globalresearch.ca Featured image: The California state Senate votes Wednesday on SB 822, which would restore net neutrality protections. (Photo: Free Press/ Free Press Action Fund/flickr/cc) | Update: The California state Senate on Wednesday voted to pass a bill restoring net …
Staff (2018-05-31). Tariffs on EU, Mexico, Canada Rattle Markets. truthdig.com WASHINGTON—The Trump administration said Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies. Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions. Financial markets fell amid fears of a trade war. | Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the tariffs would be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, and go into effect on Friday, as the administration followed through on the penalties after earlier granting exemptions to buy time for negotiations. President Donald Trump had announced the tariffs in March, citing national security concerns. | The European Commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Trump's decision amounted to trade protectionism and that Europe would respond with countermeasures. "This is protectionism, pure and simple," Juncker said. Mexico said it would penalize U.S. imports including…
Human Rights Watch (2018-05-31). Hungary: Bill Makes Aiding Migrants a Crime. hrw.org 
An anti-immigration poster by Victor Orban's Fidesz party during Hungary's April 2018 elections, April 8, 2018, Gyongyos, Hungary. | © 2018 REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger | (Budapest) — A revised draft bill published by the Hungarian government on May 29, 2018, would criminalize efforts to help migrants and asylum seekers and curb their access to protection, Human Rights Watch said today. | The bill the government presented to parliament proposes amending nine existing laws related to asylum, the national border, and the police. It creates a new criminal offense in the Criminal Code of "enabling illegal immigration," which is defined to include helping asylum seekers who are "not eligible for protection," as well as to include border monitoring, producing and disseminating information, or "network building." If committed "regularly," or with the aim of "help[ing] several persons,"
Adam Johnson, FAIR (2018-05-31). Is Barney Frank Really a Reliable Source on Rolling Back Dodd-Frank Bank Reform? He Works for a Bank. alternet.org 
Former Massachusetts congressman is a liberal icon whose name is on the bill. He's also a well-paid bank director. | The House of Representatives voted last week 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. President Trump signed the new bill executing the partial rollback into law last Thursday. This article originally appeared at FAIR. org. One of the many provisions of the original Dodd-Frank law subjected banks with more than $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.
truth-out.org (2018-05-31). The Fed Wants to Weaken Volcker Rule Designed to Prevent Another Financial Crisis. truth-out.org Deep within the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, one of many post-recession reforms designed to prevent future financial crises, you'll find the much-vaunted "Volcker Rule," widely credited as a core reform that helps stop banks from making the kinds of risky investments that put consumers at risk. Named for Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, nonprofit policy think tank Demos describes the rule as a means to stop banks "from taking 'proprietary' bets for their own profit, with taxpayer-backed deposit funds," as well as "ban[ning] firms from packaging risky securities for customers and then betting that they will fail," as Goldman Sachs did in the late-2000s. | Now, Federal bank regulators are trying to sap the Volcker rule of its remaining regulatory power. The move seems suspiciously like an instance of Trump-appointed regulators enacting the will of…
John Davis (2018-05-31). Life Will Not Spare Them: Graduating White in a Black City. counterpunch.org 
The doubling of the earth's human population in the four decades between 1960 and 2000, from three to six billion, a population now on its inexorable way to an expected ten billion by 2050, is the proximate cause of the cataclysmic environmental changes that are upon us and which have marginalized geopolitical maneuverings, nationalistic grandstanding, More
truth-out.org (2018-05-31). Radium Has Been Widely Spread on Roadways Without Regulation. truth-out.org No ads, no subscription fees — instead, Truthout is fueled by generous donations from readers. Want to support our work? Click here to donate. | Wastewater from the oil and gas industry that's being spread on roadways to control dust and ice in at least 13 states, including Pennsylvania, poses a threat to the environment and to human health, according to a study released this week. | The wastewater, commonly referred to as "brine," contains high levels of salt along with lead, radium, organic contaminants and other heavy metals in concentrations above safe levels for drinking water. Researchers have found that nearly all of the metals from brine leach out from roadways when it rains, and they speculate that the pollutants could wind up in nearby bodies of water and find their way into local drinking water sources. | "Even though the…
Democracy Now! (2018-05-31). Headlines for May 31, 2018. democracynow.org Pompeo Meets North Korea's Ex-Spy Chief in NYC, In Victory for Big Banks, Federal Reserve Votes to Loosen Volcker Rule, Report: U.S. Killed 50 Taliban Leaders in Helmand Province, Russian Journalist Admits Faking His Own Death, Trump Makes No Comment on Roseanne's Racist Tweets But Criticizes ABC for Not Apologizing to Him, Cable News Largely Ignores Deaths of 4,645 in Puerto Rico to Focus on Roseanne, Civil Rights Groups Urge DHS to Release Secret "Race Paper" Memo, Theology Student Studying Daniel Berrigan's Life Arrested for Protesting White Supremacist in Charlottesville, EPA Taps Chemical Industry Lawyer to Oversee Superfund Sites, Illinois Ratifies Equal Rights Amendment, Harvey Weinstein Indicted on Rape Charges in New York, 13-Year-Old Student Questions White House Inaction on School Shootings, Republican Congresswoman Says Pornography Is a "Root Cause" of School Shootings, Standing Rock Water Protector Sentenced to Three Years in Prison, U.N.: Mexican Security Forces Likely Involved in Recent Disappearances, Mexican Journalist Héctor González Killed in Tamaulipas, Report: U.S.-Backed Salvadoran Police Forces Involved in Extrajudicial Killings, Brazilian Oil Workers Stage Strike to Protest Plans to Privatize Petrobras, Florida Jury Awards Four Cents to Family of African-American Man Shot by Sheriff's Deputy…
Human Rights Watch (2018-05-31). Lawsuit Against Greenpeace Raises Freedom of Speech Concerns. hrw.org 
A workers unloads a truckload of logs in Howe Sound near Squamish, British Columbia, Canada April 25, 2017. | © 2017 Reuters | Today, a US federal court heard arguments in a lawsuit against Greenpeace that raises serious concerns about freedom of expression. | In May 2016, Resolute Forest Products, a Canada-based logging company, filed a CAD$300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace and Stand.earth, as well as five staff members, under a US racketeering law enacted in 1970 and used to prosecute the mafia. This legal strategy has lead nongovernmental organizations and others to accuse Resolute of trying to silence environmental activists. | The lawsuit was apparently filed in response to one of its campaigns aimed at stopping what it considers is unsustainable logging in the Boreal forest, one of the world's largest…
Alleen Brown (2018-05-31). Indigenous Women Have Been Disappearing for Generations. Politicians Are Finally Starting to Notice. theintercept.com 
Women on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state didn't have any particular term for the way the violent deaths and sudden disappearances of their sisters, mothers, friends, and neighbors had become woven into everyday life. | "I didn't know, like many, that there was a title, that there was a word for it," said Roxanne White, who is Yakama and Nez Perce and grew up on the reservation. White has become a leader in the movement to address the disproportionate rates of homicide and missing persons cases among American Indian women, but the first time she heard the term "missing and murdered Indigenous women" was less than two years ago, at a Dakota Access pipeline resistance camp at Standing Rock. There, she met women who had traveled from Canada to speak about disappearances in First Nations to the north, where Prime Minister…
Human Rights Watch (2018-05-31). New York City: Don't Exclude Certain Immigrants from Legal Services. hrw.org 
Natalia Aristizabal speaks at a press conference organized by Make the Road New York demanding due process for all at City Hall Park on May 23, 2018 © 2018 Rebecca Chowdhury/Human Rights Watch | | (New York) — A New York City limit on legal services for immigrants will do far more harm than the Mayor's office claims and undercut the city's larger push to bolster immigrant rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today. | The policy, referred to as the criminal carveout, excludes immigrants with certain criminal convictions from city-funded immigrant legal services. It has been added to city contracts with organizations that provide immigrant legal services. Organizations that rely exclusively on city-funding will need to turn away clients with disqualifying felony convictions. Providers say this will increase the amount of misinformation and fear…
Democracy Now! (2018-05-31). Indigenous Activist: Trudeau's Purchase of Kinder Morgan Pipeline Is "Huge Step Backward" for Canada. democracynow.org 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the Canadian government will purchase Kinder Morgan's highly contested Trans Mountain pipeline, vowing to commit taxpayer money to expanding the pipeline despite widespread indigenous-led protests and a slew of lawsuits. If built, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will triple the amount of oil flowing from Alberta's tar sands to the coast of British Columbia. The Canadian government purchased the pipeline for 4.5 billion Canadian dollars—around 3.5 billion American dollars. The decision has sparked widespread condemnation from First Nations and environmental activists, who say that expanding the pipeline will increase pollution in Alberta's tar sands region, endanger indigenous communities and increase greenhouse gas emissions. We go to Edmonton, Canada, where we speak with Eriel Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action. She is a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
Human Rights Watch (2018-05-31). Hungary: Bill Makes Aiding Migrants a Crime. hrw.org An anti-immigration poster by Victor Orban's Fidesz party during Hungary's April 2018 elections, April 8, 2018, Gyongyos, Hungary. | © 2018 REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger | (Budapest) — A revised draft bill published by the Hungarian government on May 29, 2018, would criminalize efforts to help migrants and asylum seekers and curb their access to protection, Human Rights Watch said today. | The bill the government presented to parliament proposes amending nine existing laws related to asylum, the national border, and the police. It creates a new criminal offense in the Criminal Code of "enabling illegal immigration," which is defined to include helping asylum seekers who are "not eligible for protection," as well as to include border monitoring, producing and disseminating information, or "network building." If committed "regularly," or with the aim of "help[ing] several persons,"
Adam Scott (2018-05-30). Trudeau's Reckless Support for Kinder-Morgan. Billions of Tax Dollars to Buy an Unbuildable, Financially Doomed Pipeline. globalresearch.ca With his reckless support for Kinder Morgan and other oil pipelines, Trudeau has willingly compromised his own commitments to address climate change and pursue reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous peoples. Now he's willing to risk billions of public tax dollars as …
Democracy Now! (2018-05-30). Headlines for May 30, 2018. democracynow.org Study: Hurricane Maria Deaths 70 Times Higher Than Official Count, Israel Launches Airstrikes in Gaza, Blocks Flotilla Seeking to Break Blockade, Poor People's Campaign: Hundreds Arrested Across U.S. in Nonviolent Protests, NYT: Trump Ordered Sessions to Un-Recuse Himself from Russia Investigation, GOP House Oversight Chair Says FBI "Acted Properly" Using Trump Campaign Informant, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens to Resign Amid Sexual Misconduct & Corruption Scandal, ABC Cancels "Roseanne" Amid Outcry Over Roseanne Barr's Racist Tweets, Arkansas Left with One Clinic for Medication Abortions as Supreme Court OKs Anti-Choice Law, French Police Evict 1,000 Migrants as Macron Welcomes Malian "Spiderman" Rescuer to Élysée Palace, Hungary: Offering Food, Water, Legal Advice to Migrants to Become Criminal Offense, Russian Journalist Arkady Babchenko Admits Faking His Own Death | , Justice Dept. Approves $66B Takeover of Monsanto by German Pharma Giant Bayer, Canada to Buy, Expand Trans Mountain Tar Sands Oil Pipeline, New Mexico: Trans Woman Seeking Asylum in U.S. Dies in ICE Custody…
wsws.org (2018-05-30). Brazilian truck drivers reject union-government attempt to shut down strike. wsws.org The government has sought to block the spread of social unrest with a ruling Tuesday that a planned strike by oil workers is illegal.
RT (2018-05-30). Stolen sperm & cheese injustice: The most bizarre lawsuits in US history. rt.com 
The United States is known for being the most litigious country on Earth, and home to 80 percent of the world's lawyers. Some of the most bizarre and frivolous lawsuits in the world have taken place in the US.
RT.com
Intercepted (2018-05-30). White Fear: As the GOP Veers Toward Fascism, Establishment Democrats Face a Grassroots Insurgency. theintercept.com Subscribe to the Intercepted podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Radio Public, and other platforms. New to podcasting? Click here. | ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have become authoritarian shock forces, operating with impunity, ripping children from their parents' arms, and enforcing the anti-immigrant edicts of Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions. But the horrors did not start with Trump. This week on Intercepted: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old former waitress, is challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the country for his congressional seat. She is running on a platform of social and economic justice and she has called for ICE to be abolished. Ocasio-Cortez explains why she wants to unseat the "King of Queens," Rep. Joseph Crowley, who portrays himself as Nancy Pelosi's rightful successor. Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr. joins Intercepted…
Democracy Now! (2018-05-29). Headlines for May 29, 2018. democracynow.org In Historic Referendum, Ireland Votes to Repeal Abortion Ban, Top North Korean General Heads to U.S. as Officials Try to Salvage June 12 Summit, Israeli Military Jets Bomb Gaza After Mortar Rounds Fired Toward Israel, Family of Claudia González, Guatemalan Woman Killed by Border Agent, Demands Justice, Ellicott City, Maryland, Hit by Second "Once-in-a-Thousand-Year" Flood in 2 Years, Colombia: Presidential Election Heads to Runoff as Peace Deal Hangs in Balance, Mexican Journalist Alicia Díaz González Killed, Brazil: Nationwide Truckers' Strike Shuts Down Businesses, Transportation, Schools, Pakistan Passes Historic Protections for Transgender People & Residents of Tribal Areas, European Commission Seeks to Ban Plastic Plates, Cutlery and Straws, Starbucks Closing 8,000 Stores Today for Anti-Racial Bias Training, "I'm Never Plugging That Device In Again": Alexa Records & Sends Private Conversation by Accident, NYC Taxi Drivers Mourn Apparent Suicide of Driver Yu Mein Chow…
Whitney Webb (2018-05-28). Trump Set To Recognize Israel's Claim To Occupied Golan Heights And Its Sizable Oil Reserves. iranian.com Exporting Golan oil is problematic under international law but, were the U.S. to unilaterally recognize the Golan as Israel's, that oil could potentially be exported to the U.S. Major U.S. oil investors and lobbyists are therefore pushing hard for Trump to make that move. While President Trump has reneged on many of his campaign promises […]
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.
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.