Brad Reed, Raw Story (2018-06-01). Border Patrol Agents Seize 64-Year-Old American's Life Savings — And Won't Return It Despite Not Charging Him With a Crime. alternet.org 
Cleveland resident Rustem Kazazi was strip searched by customs officials at an airport last year. | U. S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being accused of seizing a 64-year-old man's life savings — and then refusing to give it back to him even after they declined to charge him with a crime. The Washington Post reports that Cleveland resident Rustem Kazazi was strip searched by customs officials at an airport last year because officials suspected he was involved in smuggling, drug trafficking or money laundering. As part of the search, officials seized $58,000 in cash that Kazazi was carrying on him — and they still haven't given it back even though they did not uncover enough evidence to charge him with a crime. Kazazi denies that he was involved in any nefarious activity, and he says that he was carrying that much. . .
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
Staff (2018-06-01). Ex-Chemical Industry Lawyer to Head EPA Task Force. truthdig.com Steven Cook is named to the Superfund Task Force, which Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt created to revamp the agency's oversight of cleanup at more than 1,300 toxic sites.
IMEMC News (2018-06-01). US Vetoes Resolution Calling For Providing Protection To The Palestinian People. imemc.org 
The United States has used its veto power, Friday, against a draft resolution at the United Nations, calling for providing protection to the Palestinian People, living under illegal Israeli occupation. The Veto came after the resolution was backed by 10 counties at the UN Security Council. The resolution was sponsored […]…
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 …
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,"
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.
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…
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,"
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…
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.
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…
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
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…
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.
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.