(2018-06-26). EPA Will Finally Strengthen Standards Protecting Children From Lead. truthout.org After working to systematically roll back environmental protections nationwide, the Trump administration has announced plans to strengthen Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards that protect children from hazardous lead dust in aging homes and public housing units — but only after being sued by environmentalists and ordered to do so by a federal appeals court. | The EPA announced on Monday a proposal to strengthen its standards for lead dust on floors and windowsills for the first time since 2001. The number of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood has declined over the past two decades, thanks in part to the dust standards and rules removing lead from gasoline. However, the science around lead exposure has also evolved to show that the heavy metal can impact human health at lower levels than previously thought. | Lead is a potent neurotoxin,…
(2018-06-26). American Deathwish. counterpunch.org The American people are the captives of and resources for the drive by its aristocracy, of super-wealth and corporate power, to fulfill its supreme desire for ultimate temporal power: to be the gods of the Earth. This beyond trillion dollar, fossil-fueled, multi-megaton nuclear-armed power-trip can only achieve its grandest capitalistic orgasm by causing a catastrophic More
(2018-06-26). Preventing Crimes Against Humanity in the US. truthout.org 
There are those who say that comparing President Donald Trump's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler is alarmist, unfair and counterproductive. | And yet, there has been no dearth of such comparisons nearly one and a half years into his term. | Many commentators have also drawn parallels between the conduct and language of Trump supporters and Holocaust-era Nazis. Recent news of ICE agents separating immigrant families and housing children in cages have generated further comparisons by world leaders, as well as Holocaust survivors and scholars. Trump's use of the word "infest" to refer to immigrants coming to the US is particularly striking. Nazis referred to infestations of Jewish vermin, and Rwandan Hutu's labeled Tutsi as cockroaches. | In August 2017, in the wake of the Charlottesville violence, the president used a familiar rhetorical…
(2018-06-26). 'Most Important Surveillance Story You Will See for Years': Report Reveals How AT&T Buildings Serve as Secret Hubs for NSA Spying. alternet.org 
"AT&T has bent over backwards to help the U. S. government spy on essentially all internet traffic. " | "The most important surveillance story you will see for years just went online, revealing how AT&T became the internet's biggest enemy, secretly collaborating against its customers and partners to destroy your privacy. "That was how whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden reacted to the publication of an explosive story by The Intercept on Monday, which reveals for the first time how "fortress-like" AT&T buildings located in eight major American cities have played a central role in a massive National Security Agency (NSA) spying program "that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U. S. territory. ""It's eye-opening and ominous the extent to which this is happening right here on American soil," Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National. . .
(2018-06-26). For WaPo, Subsidizing Bus Fare Is a Lot Like Giving the Rich $5 Trillion. fair.org 
Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador "bears more than a passing political resemblance to President Trump," according to the Washington Post editorial page ( 6/17/18). | According to the Washington Post ( 6/17/18), Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the frontrunner in Mexico's July 1 election, "bears more than a passing political resemblance" to US President Donald Trump. | Indeed, they are practically the same person: In the late 1970s, AMLO—as López Obrador is sometimes called— was "taking on Mexico's state-run oil company, Pemex, setting up protest camps outside its offices to force it to pay compensation to indigenous communities and campesinos whose lands it had polluted." | Around the same time, in 1975, Donald Trump was busy settling a lawsuit with the US Justice Department that accused the company he owned with his father of refusing to rent or…
(2018-06-26). Mexico Can be a Counterweight to US Foreign Policy in Latin America. counterpunch.org 
The candidate of the radical left Andrés Manuel Lépez Obrador, known in Mexico as 'AMLO' is set to win the presidential elections on July 1st, consistently over 20 points ahead of his nearest conservative rival. White House foreign policy analysts are frantically worried that he would reverse "one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world". What worries them most is AMLO's plans to reverse the privatisation of Mexico's oil and build refineries. More
(2018-06-26). Qatar: Fix Gaps in Domestic Worker Law. hrw.org 
(Beirut) — Qatar should enact further reforms on working hours, a safe working environment, inspections, and recruitment fees to protect migrant domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. | Law No. 15 on service workers in the home (" Domestic Workers Law"), ratified in August 2017, guarantees workers a maximum 10-hour workday, a weekly rest day, three weeks of annual leave, and an end-of-service payment. However, domestic workers still have fewer protections than other workers. | "Almost a year ago, Qatar passed a law providing legal protections for domestic workers' rights for the first time," said Rothna Begum, Middle East women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Qatar should now address the gaps in the domestic workers' law, and make sure that it is enforced." | Related Content: | Domestic Workers' Rights in…
(2018-06-26). Headlines for June 26, 2018. democracynow.org Mattis: U.S. Preparing to Imprison Immigrant Children on Two Texas Military Bases, Border Patrol to Stop Handing Immigrant Parents Over for Prosecution, In El Paso, Immigrant Parents Demand Return of Their Children, AP: Algeria Has Expelled 13,000 Migrants into Sahara Desert, Newly Released Scott Pruitt Emails Show More Ties to Lobbyist, Fossil Fuel Industry, NOAA Proposed Dropping "Climate" from Mission, Judge Dismisses Cities' Effort to Force Fossil Fuel Companies to Pay for Climate Change, Trump Attacks & Threatens Rep. Maxine Waters, PA: Family Holds Funeral for Antwon Rose, Unarmed Black Teen Killed by Police, Mexico: 2 More Political Candidates Assassinated in Lead-Up to Presidential Election, Brazilian Radio Journalist Jairo Sousa Assassinated in Pará, Argentina: Unions Launch 24-Hour General Strike to Protest Austerity, FDA Approves Cannabis-Based Drug for the First Time…
(2018-06-26). Trump Aims to Dismantle Protections for Immigrant Kids and Radically Expand the Family Detention System. theintercept.com An internal email makes clear that expanding family detention — done in the name of keeping families together — is at the heart of the Trump agenda.
(2018-06-26). The Most Important Surveillance Story You'll See for Years. mintpressnews.com 
"The most important surveillance story you will see for years just went online, revealing how AT&T became the internet's biggest enemy, secretly collaborating against its customers and partners to destroy your privacy." | That was how whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden reacted to the publication of an explosive story by The Intercept on Monday, which reveals for the first time how "fortress-like" AT&T buildings located in eight major American cities have played a central role in a massive National Security Agency (NSA) spying program "that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory." | "It's eye-opening and ominous the extent to which this is happening right here on American soil," Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told The Intercept in an interview.
(2018-06-25). Caught in a Trap of Our Own Making: Climate Change, Blame, and Denial. counterpunch.org 
Come morning, I throw my covers aside, throw my legs over the edge of the bed, turn on my bedside lamp, turn on my bedside radio for a first dose of the daily news, then pull on some clothes and head for the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. That done, it's time More
(2018-06-25). Neoliberal Globalization: Is There an Alternative to Plundering the Earth? globalresearch.ca Is there an alternative to making war? Is there an alternative to destroying the planet? No one asks these questions because they seem absurd…
(2018-06-25). A Long March of the Dispossessed to Delhi. counterpunch.org 
India's agrarian crisis has gone beyond the agrarian. It's a crisis of society. Maybe even a civilizational crisis, with perhaps the largest body of small farmers and labourers on earth fighting to save their livelihoods. The agrarian crisis is no longer just a measure of loss of land. Nor only a measure of loss of More
(2018-06-25). A Short List of Giant Failures Brought to America by Donald Trump. alternet.org 
The president's promise he "alone" could "fix it" was a clear lie. | The core concept that Donald Trump sold to his supporters was this: I alone. As in "I alone can do it. " Trump campaigned on the idea that any effort to conduct nuanced and detailed policy made for a "weak" position. Instead, everything should be trusted to Trump. Because, as stated by Trump and cataloged by the Washington Post, Trump knows more about just about everything than "anyone else on Earth" including trade, infrastructure, defense, immigration, and the economy. What better thing to do than anoint the guy who knows more about war than the generals and more about science than the scientists and more about money than the bankers to solve all America's issues? Trump has maintained this position since taking office, insisting that he doesn't need to. . .
(2018-06-25). The Defiance that Launched Gaza's Flaming Kites Cannot be Extinguished. globalresearch.ca First Israel built a sophisticated missile interception system named Iron Dome to neutralise the threat of homemade rockets fired out of Gaza. | Next it created technology that could detect and destroy tunnels Palestinians had cut through the parched earth deep …
(2018-06-25). How Virginia could benefit from the Millions of Jobs Campaign. peoplesworld.org Senator Bernie Sanders and others in recent years. | Representative Ted Lieu (D-California) has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives (H Con Res 63) which calls for a massive federally funded infrastructure program that would create a very large number of new jobs in the United States. One hundred fifty seven House members signed onto this resolution, all Democrats. This amounts to 81 percent of the House Democratic Caucus. Meanwhile, a large number of organizations are backing the " Millions of Jobs" campaign which dovetails with this congressional resolution. These include major labor unions and workers' organizations. Among them are the AFSCME, the Communications Workers of America, the National Domestic Workers' Alliance, the National Education Association, and the Service Employees' International Union. On board are also environmental organizations such as Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Food and Water Watch, Greenpeace,…
(2018-06-25). The Defiance that Launched Gaza's Flaming Kites Cannot be Extinguished. counterpunch.org 
First Israel built a sophisticated missile interception system named Iron Dome to neutralise the threat of homemade rockets fired out of Gaza. Next it created technology that could detect and destroy tunnels Palestinians had cut through the parched earth deep under the fences Israel erected to imprison Gaza on all sides. Israel's priority was to keep Gaza locked down with a blockade and its two million inhabitants invisible. More
(2018-06-25). America Created Al-Qaeda and the ISIS Terror Group. globalresearch.ca Incisive article originally published by GR in September 2014. | Much like Al Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) is made-in-the-USA, an instrument of terror designed to divide and conquer the oil-rich Middle East and to counter Iran's growing influence in the …
(2018-06-25). Why Families Flee Central America to the United States. hrw.org 
A Honduran mother and her 3-year-old daughter wait with fellow asylum seekers on the Mexican side of the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge after being denied entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers near Brownsville, Texas, U.S., June 24, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | Maria* and Carlos* never wanted to leave Honduras with their three children, they told me. But then gangs began threatening Carlos and their 13-year-old son Eddy*. The family moved houses, but one evening masked men came to their little shop. "They pulled out a pistol," Carlos told me, and said, "'Open up or we'll kill you.'" After that, "They took everything. They only left the refrigerator and the freezer. And they said if you go to the police, it will be the end of you. You will have no family, nothing.
(2018-06-25). FDA approves America's first marijuana-based medication. rt.com 
In a breakthrough for medical marijuana use, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the US' first drug made from cannabis oil, designed to treat two rare forms of epilepsy. |
(2018-06-25). The NSA's Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities. theintercept.com 
The secrets are hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not publicly known. They are an integral part of one of the world's largest telecommunications networks — and they are also linked to a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program. | Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, The Intercept has identified an AT&T facility containing networking equipment that transports large quantities of internet traffic across the United States and the world. A body of evidence — including classified NSA documents, public records, and interviews with several former AT&T employees…
(2018-06-25). Trump's Cruel Separation Policy Has Not Ended. hrw.org 
A view of inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facility shows children at Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., June 17, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters |
| During a June 15 visit to an immigration detention center in McAllen, Texas, I watched as hundreds of unaccompanied children—toddlers, teenagers, and all ages in between—sat in caged pens. I saw two boys, about 10 years old, improvise a game with their water bottles, tossing them back and forth. Most of the children huddled under foil blankets. Some looked bewildered and lost. | A few days later, I was in Montreal for a meeting on the mental health consequences of immigration detention. As President Donald Trump signed an executive order to replace his policy of forcible separation of…
(2018-06-22). My Friend Margot Kidder: Sharing a Love of Dogs, the Wild, and Speaking Truth to Power. counterpunch.org 
She could not be dead, I thought, she had survived so much — blizzards at the Standing Rock pipeline protest, her public breakdown, and even flying in the stratosphere as Lois Lane in the movie Superman. Yes, she was a celebrity — but I saw Margie simply as my friend. I had seen her just More
(2018-06-23). US Gov't Treats Dogs Better than Detained Immigrant Children. therealnews.com 
While the US Department of Homeland Security puts immigrant children in cages, Customs and Border Protection treats dogs to "plush double-sided sheepskin bedding" at a pet resort. TRNN's Ben Norton speaks with investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein
(2018-06-23). How Climate Change will Reduce Crop Yields and Spike Food Prices. therealnews.com 
A new study shows how climate change will impact global food security, particularly by reducing crop yields and increasing crop yield volatility. This, in turn, will have a strong effect on the prices of basic staples, particularly corn and rice. We speak Michelle Tigchelaar, one of the report's authors
(2018-06-23). Major oil spill spreads across Iowa floodwaters, forcing evacuations after train derails (VIDEO). rt.com 
Drone footage released by authorities in Iowa shows oil spreading across flooded fields following a devastating train derailment. Dozens of damaged cars are seen piled on the broken train tracks near the Rock River.
(2018-06-22). WaPo Can't Believe White Supremacist Senate Candidate Really Means It. fair.org 
Washington Post ( 6/15/18) takes on Corey Stewart and his "combative style." | A few things about Virginia Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart: | He described as "one of my personal heroes" Wisconsin congressional candidate and self-described "pro-White Christian" Paul Nehlen, who suggests deporting all Muslims, and whose overt and various hatreds have led Breitbart to break ties with him, along with a Twitter ban. | Stewart joined his endorser Jason Kessler at a rally for Kessler's group, Unity and Security for America, last year. Kessler, of course, was the organizer of the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, with the Nazi salutes and the "blood and soil" chanting, and the murder of counter-protester Heather Heyer. After the Charlottesville rally, Stewart declared there was "no reason to apologize." | A self-described "proud Southerner" who was born and raised in…
(2018-06-22). Czech Government Supports Marriage Equality Bill. hrw.org 
The Czech government expressed support on Friday for a same-sex marriage bill, sponsored by 46 members of parliament from various political parties. Campaigners for same-sex marriage during Prague Pride, Czech Republic, August 12, 2017. | © 2017 Boris Dittrich/Human Rights Watch | Czeslaw Walek, founder of the Czech marriage equality movement Jsme Fer (We are Fair), has been campaigning for marriage equality since 2016. He told Human Rights Watch that the government's move was important because 37 conservative members of Parliament had submitted a bill a few days earlier to change the Constitution to include a provision limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman. | Both bills and the government's opinion will be discussed in the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. If the majority votes for the…
(2018-06-21). Headlines for June 21, 2018. democracynow.org Trump Signs Executive Order to Jail Immigrant Families Together, Without Limit, House to Debate Anti-Immigrant Bills Providing $25B to Militarize Border, Migrant Children Secretly Transported to NYC Foster Care in Dead of Night, Reveal: Migrant Youths Sent to Detention Centers with Abuse Histories, Airlines Refuse to Transport Separated Migrant Children, Portland ICE Office Closes Amid 24/7 Protest over Family Separations, Scathing New Report Gives U.S. "F" Grade over Refugee Treatment, Hungary Approves Law Criminalizing Those Who Help Migrants, U.N. Investigators: Syrian Gov't Committed War Crimes in Eastern Ghouta, EPA Releases Long-Suppressed "Nightmare" Study on Water Contamination, Nearly 100 U.S. Meteorologists to Stage On-Air Climate Change Protest, Climate Change Fuels Floods in Texas, Ivory Coast, India, Bangladesh, Former Archbishop of D.C. Removed over Sexual Abuse Accusations, Disney Raises 21st Century Fox Takeover Bid to $71 Billion, UNC Student Faces Possible Expulsion over Confederate Statue Protest…
(2018-06-20). Time for the Big One? Research suggests risk of California earthquake higher than previously thought. rt.com 
Geophysicists are hypothesizing that the San Andreas fault line in California could be the central point of a massive earthquake after new research suggested that the fault may be at higher risk than previously thought.
(2018-06-19). "Trump Creates Crises & Preys on Fear": Rep. Jayapal on Policy of Separating Kids from Parents. democracynow.org 
Outrage is growing over the Trump administration's separation of children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border. On Monday, ProPublica released audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children estimated to be between the ages of 4 and 10 years old are heard crying "Mama" and "Papi" after being separated from their parents. In another part of the audio, a Border Patrol agent is heard joking, in Spanish, "Well, we have an orchestra here. What's missing is a conductor." Video footage released by the U.S. Border Patrol Monday shows migrant children in concrete-floored chain link cages in an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas. A new Quinnipiac poll shows roughly two-thirds of U.S. voters oppose separating children from their parents at the border. About 7 percent of Democratic voters support the Trump policy, while 55 percent of Republicans support…
(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). 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.
(2018-06-07). 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.
(2018-05-22). 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.