(2018-06-15). After Flint Crisis, Michigan Sets a New Standard for Lead in Drinking Water. truthout.org Four years after the city of Flint began grappling with a drinking water crisis that brought national attention to environmental racism and lead contamination, Michigan state officials have unveiled new rules that will require drinking water utilities to eventually replace all lead service lines running to schools, homes and businesses. | Meanwhile, environmental groups say lead contamination in schools across the United States is more pervasive than previously thought, putting millions of children at risk. Environmentalists are calling on federal regulators to follow Michigan's example, but the Trump administration has done little besides pay lip service to the issue. | Lead is a potent neurotoxin, particularly in children. Even low levels of lead in the blood have been shown to affect a child's ability to pay attention and perform well on tests. Medical experts estimate that 24 million children nationwide will…
(2018-06-15). New Information on 2017 Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Deaths Should Nix Trophy Hunting in Core Habitat. counterpunch.org 
Wyoming officials are barging ahead with a September hunt of Yellowstone grizzly bears despite new information about bear deaths that shows that no hunting should occur this year. This according to protocols adopted by the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho when 2017 federal endangered species protections were removed ("delisting"). The considerable confusion among state More
(2018-06-15). Pruitt's Abuse of Our Environment is Far More Dangerous Than His Abuse of Taxpayer Money. counterpunch.org Did you hear that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, is so corrupt that he spent $1,560 on 12 customized fountain pens? Or that he spent another $43,000 on a soundproof phone booth in violation of government spending laws? Pruitt's big spending on the taxpayer dime has earned him well-deserved scrutiny More
(2018-06-15). Trump Just Derailed the Latest Republican Immigration Hostage-Taking Scheme. alternet.org 
This is bad news for the GOP. | Popular vote loser Donald Trump, the mastermind of family separation and child gulags, blew up House Republican's latest legislative effort to blame it all on Democrats when he summarily dismissed a "compromise" poison-pill immigration bill leadership has been negotiating. House Speaker Paul Ryan had been planning on holding votes on two bills early next week, one that hard-line Republicans were demanding, a white supremacist wish list sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and one that was "negotiated" between hardliners and "moderates" who were threatening to force a vote on protections for Dreamers with a discharge petition. That negotiation was basically the moderates completely caving, and the resulting bill draft being another ransom demand from Republicans: Democrats could free the children in those gulags and get protections for Dreamers if. . .
(2018-06-15). Liberal Philanthropy is Dooming the Planet to Climate Disaster. mintpressnews.com 
The strategy document, published by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in January, represents the third renewal of the Climate Works initiative originally founded in 2008. The initiative was executed through the Climate Works Foundation in coordination with other big philanthropic foundations, the Packard and McKnight Foundations. | The Hewlett Foundation strategy document, titled Climate Initiative Strategy 2018—2023, reflects on the strategic thinking behind the process that led to the announcement last December that the foundation would commit $600 million to address climate change over the next five years — a 20 percent increase from previous funding. | The fifth largest foundation in the United States, the Hewlett Foundation is one of the most influential US funders on climate and energy, traditionally setting the agenda for other major foundations in these areas. Each year, climate…
(2018-06-15). We're the Wealthiest Country on Earth, But Over 40 Percent of Us Live in or Near Poverty. counterpunch.org Are we Americans unworthy? That's certainly the message we're getting from our government. Over 40 percent of us are poor or low-income. How is that possible in the wealthiest country in history? "The United States is alone among developed countries in insisting that while human rights are of fundamental importance," explains UN rapporteur on poverty More
(2018-06-15). The Trump Administration's Plan to Hand a Coral Ecosystem to the Fishing Industry. truthout.org In April 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to produce a review, declaring that America's network of national monuments is the result of "an egregious abuse of power" and "a massive federal land grab." | Zinke's ensuing review proposes changes to 10 monuments: It recommends that the size of four be reduced, and that economic activity, such as commercial fishing, mining and logging, be reinstated in another six. Even before the final review was released Dec. 5, 2017, Trump began to take action on these recommendations, cutting Bear Ears National Monument by 85 percent and shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to half of its original size to pave the road for oil and gas exploration. | Zinke's recommendation also issues an equally dangerous attack on marine monuments in both the Pacific and…
(2018-06-15). The Misogynistic Logic of Jeff Sessions's Horrifying New Asylum Policy For Domestic Violence Victims. theintercept.com When the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1993, it gave long overdue recognition to the fact that gendered domestic violence is not a private issue, but a public health and human rights concern for the international community. Attorney General Jeff Sessions's decision this week to stop giving asylum protections for domestic violence victims stands in grim conflict with this principle. | On Monday, Sessions reversed an immigration court's ruling that granted asylum to a woman from El Salvador whose husband had repeatedly abused her physically, sexually, and emotionally. The court ruled in 2014 that domestic violence victims constitute a social group when it comes to asylum considerations. But in a 31-page ruling with profound implications for immigration policy, Sessions wrote that "generally" claims on domestic and gang violence will no longer qualify for asylum…
(2018-06-15). Trump administration supports lawsuit challenging Obamacare's pre-existing conditions protections. wsws.org The action is the latest effort to chip away at the legislation after two failures to repeal it outright.
(2018-06-15). Lawyer: Jeff Sessions' Attacks on Migrant Domestic Violence Survivors Drags U.S. Back to "Dark Ages" democracynow.org 
On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that domestic and gang-related violence will generally no longer be grounds for asylum, a far-reaching shift that could affect thousands of people, particularly women from Central America fleeing gender-based violence. This decision reverses the Board of Immigration Appeals' grant of asylum to a Salvadoran domestic violence survivor known as A.B., who fled to the U.S. for her life after surviving 15 years of beatings, rape and death threats from her husband. In ruling against A.B., Sessions also overturned a groundbreaking precedent from 2014 in which the immigration appeals court affirmed that domestic violence survivors are deserving of protection. We speak with Karen Musalo, professor of law and the director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She is of the attorneys representing Ms. A.B.
(2018-06-14). Pundits Worry Threat of Nuclear War Is Being Reduced. fair.org 
Media outlets don't want America to negotiate with North Korea; they want the US to hold North Korea for ransom. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (6/12/18) appears dismayed by the manifestation of a US president meeting with an Official Enemy. | On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, the host was aghast (6/12/18) that the US says it will halt the annual war games it conducts with South Korea on North Korea's doorstep, because doing so is "an absolute jackpot for the North Korean dictator," "one of the things he wants most on earth," and now Washington "has just given them that for free, for nothing." | Maddow implied that Trump has taken this step out of fealty to Russia, and complained that pausing war games that threaten North Korea benefits Russia and China. She twice called the Kim/Trump summit a "wedding," twice said that the…
(2018-06-14). Trauma at the Texas-Mexico Border: Families Separated, Children Detained & Residents Fighting Back. democracynow.org 
We look at growing outrage over the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant families who cross the U.S.-Mexico border, many fleeing dangerous conditions and seeking asylum. At least 600 immigrant children were removed from their parents last month, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new rule. On Wednesday, 10 members of Congress protested by blocking the entrance to the headquarters of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency tasked with carrying out the forced removal of children from their parents. More protests in at least 60 cities are planned today by the group Families Belong Together, which formed in response to the new policy. We go to the epicenter of this "zero tolerance" crackdown, the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, where more than half of all migrant families and children have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents since mid-May, for a special report by Democracy Now! correspondent Renée Feltz, who spoke with residents taking action in response to the widely condemned practice of separating families.
(2018-06-14). Slam dunk: Flat-Earther logic obliterated by Reddit basketball stunt (PHOTO). rt.com 
A Reddit user has poked major holes in flat-Earther 'logic' with a clever — and easy-to-replicate — experiment deploying a digital camera with a macro lens, plenty of light… and a basketball. |
RT.com
(2018-06-14). South Korean Women are Fed Up with Inequality. hrw.org 
South Korean women march through the streets of Seoul. | © 2018 Courage to be Uncomfortable | On June 9, about 22,000 South Korean women marched through the streets of Seoul. The protest — reportedly the largest by women in South Korean history — focused on the proliferation of so-called "spy cams," tiny cameras used to invade women's privacy, filming them in toilets and up skirts, with images often posted online. Activists say the government is not taking the issue seriously — except in the rare case where a man is the victim. | Spy cam use is one of many rights violations women face in South Korea. The World Economic Forum recently ranked the country an abysmal 116 out of 144 countries in gender equality. In a…
(2018-06-13). Volcanic eruptions may sap oxygen from oceans, lead to 'mass extinction' of life on Earth — study. rt.com 
Devastating volcanic eruptions, caused by excess carbon in the atmosphere, could one day lead to the mass extinction of all marine animals, and possibly all life on Earth — so says a new study.
RT.com
(2018-06-13). US Rolls Back Protections for Asylum Seekers, Again. hrw.org 
The Trump administration continues its no-holds-barred attack on asylum seekers. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stands during a news conference to discuss "efforts to reduce violent crime" at the Department of Justice in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2017. | © 2017 Reuters | This week, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions raised the bar to make asylum nearly impossible for people fleeing domestic abuse and gang violence who cannot be protected in their home countries. His decision undoes established US precedent and goes against international law, which clearly recognizes people fleeing persecution by groups or individuals as refugees when their governments fail to protect them. | Because of the nature of the US immigration and asylum system, the attorney general, as head of the Department of Justice, has the power to unilaterally change decisions made by…
(2018-06-12). Anti-LGBT, anti-Islam, anti-immigrant rhetoric featured alongside racist dog-whistles and Trump cabinet officials at WCS 2018. splcenter.org The ostensible headliners of the Western Conservative Summit in Denver on June 8 and 9 were embattled Trump cabinet members Attorney General Jeff Sessions (still under fire from the president for not recusing himself from the Russia investigation) and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (under fire from everyone but the president for having government aides and his Secret Service detail run embarrassing personal errands for him).
(2018-06-12). Pope Francis to Big Oil Executives: 'There is no time to lose'. therealnews.com 
Dan DiLeo, Justice and Peace Studies Director at Creighton University, discusses the Vatican's climate change conference
(2018-06-12). Left forum 2018: Making Real News in the Age of Trump. therealnews.com 
'The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!' Corporate news is consumed with covering the Trump/Russia affair, but it pales in comparison to the real threats in people's lives—climate change, underemployment, poverty, lack of health care, lack of clean water—just to name a few. How should independent news cover the most pressing issues of our…
(2018-06-11). Headlines for June 11, 2018. democracynow.org Trump and Kim Arrive in Singapore Ahead of Historic Summit, Trump Slams Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau After G7 Summit, Israeli Troops Kill 4 Palestinians & Wound 600 More in Crackdown on Nonviolent Protest, Pentagon: U.S. Special Operations Soldier Alexander Conrad Killed in Somalia, Reports: Dozens Killed in Russian and Syrian Gov't Bombing in Idlib Province, Red Cross Evacuates 71 Staff Members from Yemen, Honduran Asylum Seeker, Separated from His Wife & Child, Dies by Suicide in Texas Jail, Rep. Pramila Jayapal: Separating Immigrant Mothers and Children Is Horrific, Judge Halts Deportation of NYC Delivery Worker Pablo Villavicencio, Pope Francis Warns Oil Company Executives Climate Change Threatens Humanity, India Moves to Ban Single-Use Plastics by 2022, Women March Across United Kingdom to Celebrate 100 Years of Female Suffrage, Philippines: Journalist Dennis Denora Killed in Mindanao, Robert De Niro Slams President at Tony Awards…
(2018-06-09). A year of earthquakes in 1 month: Hawaii stricken by 12,000 tremblers since eruption. rt.com 
An astonishing 12,000 earthquakes have been recorded in Hawaii since the island nation's Kilauea volcano erupted in early May.
RT.com
(2018-06-08). As EPA Scandals Mount, Scott Pruitt Is Radically Reshaping Agency to Aid Polluters and Big Business. democracynow.org 
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is again facing a slew of ethics and spending scandals amid mounting calls for his resignation. On Thursday, The Washington Post reported Pruitt enlisted members of his $3.5 million security detail to pick up his dry cleaning and search for his favorite skin moisturizing lotion, even though federal rules prohibit public officials from receiving gifts from subordinates, including unpaid services. Meanwhile, Pruitt is continuing to radically reshape the EPA. The New York Times reports today the EPA has given the chemical industry a big victory by scaling back the way the federal government determines health and safety risks associated with the most dangerous chemicals on the market. Pruitt has also been accused of radically reshaping the EPA rulemaking process and weakening Obama administration efforts to tighten fuel economy standards. We speak to Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.
(2018-06-07). Maduro & Workers Push to Stimulate Venezuela's Oil Industry amid Collapsing Production. venezuelanalysis.com It is alleged that PDVSA does not possess sufficient stocks to fulfill its June export orders.
(2018-06-04). "A Source of Positivity All the Time": Remembering Palestinian Medic Razan al-Najjar, Killed by IDF. democracynow.org 
Witnesses say Israeli soldiers shot dead 21-year-old Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar as she ran toward the border fence to provide medical aid to a wounded protester. Since nonviolent protests began at the end of March, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 119 people, including 14 children. More than 13,000 have been wounded. "It was clear to everybody that she was a paramedic, that that was murder. I mean, that was a crime committed before cameras," said Dr. Medhat Abbas, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. We also speak with Najjar's cousin, Dalia al-Najjar, who says the response of the international community to the Gaza crisis has been "really disappointing," and notes the U.S. vetoed a draft U.N. resolution urging the protection of Palestinians on Friday, the same day Najjar was killed. "It's a shameful side that the United States decided to take."
(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.