(2018-07-06). Who Is Andrew Wheeler? Scott Pruitt's Replacement at the EPA Is Even Scarier. alternet.org 
Washington insiders describe Wheeler as poised to take the reins of the EPA and to pursue Trump's agenda | Following the resignation of Scott Pruitt, the embattled former administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), President Donald Trump announced that the federal agency would be run for the intervening period by Andrew Wheeler — a former coal lobbyist who shares a similar enthusiasm for his administration's deregulatory agenda. On Thursday afternoon, Trump tweeted that he had accepted Pruitt's resignation. "Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this," the president wrote. Trump then announced that Wheeler, who served as Pruitt's No. 2 at the agency, would serve as acting administrator of the EPA until a new Cabinet member is confirmed by the Senate. "I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with. . .
(2018-07-06). Former EPA Officials Warn Pruitt's Anti-Science Agenda Already Harmed Nation. truthout.org Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, amid an onslaught of financial and ethics scandals and widespread opposition to his campaign to roll back key environmental protections. President Trump announced Pruitt's resignation via Twitter. Trump later told reporters, "Scott Pruitt did an outstanding job inside of the EPA. We've gotten rid of record-breaking regulations, and it's been really good." At the time of his resignation, Pruitt was facing more than a dozen federal investigations into ethical misconduct, ranging from lavish spending to asking subordinates to help his wife find a job. Just earlier this week, CNN reported Pruitt kept a secret calendar and schedule in an attempt to hide his meetings with many industry executives. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMAN: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, amidst an onslaught of financial and ethics scandals and widespread opposition to his…
(2018-07-06). World Bank Solution for Lack of Jobs: Cut Worker Protections. counterpunch.org The World Bank is in the process of completing its "World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work" and, surprisingly, the latest draft version opens with quotes from Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. Has the World Bank suddenly lost sight of its purpose and will now take up the cause of working people? More
(2018-07-06). First as Tragedy, Then as Tragedy. Ecological Imperialism and the Destruction of Families. counterpunch.org In recent years, critical journalists and scholars of climate change and society have urged academics and activists to understand climate change through the lens of class power. [1][2] Such a lens would force recognition of the real, material meaning of the existential threat that climate change poses to humanity; a threat strongly mediated by the More
(2018-07-06). The Wifi Alliance, Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood: 5G Wireless. globalresearch.ca The Alliance, which makes no pretense of potential health or environmental concerns, further proclaimed (and they may be correct) that there are "more wifi devices than people on earth". It is that inescapable exposure to ubiquitous wireless technologies wherein lies the problem.
(2018-07-06). Iran Looks to Barter Oil as U.S. Sanctions Bite. globalresearch.ca Faced with the return of U.S. sanctions, Iran is studying a revival of a plan to barter crude oil for goods, possibly resuming the scheme that it used to try to blunt the impact of the previous round of sanctions …
(2018-07-06). Roaming Charges: America, Unchecked and Unbalanced. counterpunch.org 
+ Someone should put together a volume of Trump's lectures on natural resources. It will rival John Wesley Powell. This week's lesson was delivered in West Virginia is on how coal is more vital to US national security than oil & gas because you bomb pipelines but coal is "indestructible." Read closely, there will be More
(2018-07-06). Headlines for July 6, 2018. democracynow.org EPA Head Scott Pruitt Resigns Amid Mounting Corruption Scandals, Former Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Named Acting EPA Administrator, HHS Administrator Says "Under 3,000" Separated Children in U.S. Custody, Guatemalan Immigrant Mother Reunites with Daughter After 55 Days, U.S. Army Discharges Immigrants Promised a Path to Citizenship, Statue of Liberty Climber on Protest: "I Went as High as I Could", Bill Shine Named WH Comms Director Despite Fox News Sex Harassment Record, Trump Mocks Sen. Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas," Attacks #MeToo, China Retaliates as U.S. Imposes $34 Billion in Tariffs on Chinese Goods, South Korean Peace Activists Call for Removal of THAAD Missiles, U.N. Envoy to Yemen Hopeful over Peace Talks, Trump Administration Extends TPS for Yemenis But Won't End Travel Ban, Thai Diver Dies Amid Effort to Rescue Boys Trapped in Cave, Fourth Ohio State Wrestler Says Rep. Jim Jordan Failed to Stop Sexual Abuse, Ed Schultz, Longtime Liberal TV News Host, Dies at 64, British Columbia: Greenpeace Ends 35-Hour Blockade of Oil Tanker, London Mayor Approves "Trump Baby" Blimp at July 13 Protest…
(2018-07-06). As Scott Pruitt Resigns, Former EPA Officials Warn His Radical, Anti-Science Agenda Harmed Nation. democracynow.org 
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, amid an onslaught of financial and ethics scandals and widespread opposition to his campaign to roll back key environmental protections. President Trump announced Pruitt's resignation via Twitter. Trump later told reporters, "Scott Pruitt did an outstanding job inside of the EPA. We've gotten rid of record-breaking regulations, and it's been really good." At the time of his resignation, Pruitt was facing more than a dozen federal investigations into ethical misconduct, ranging from lavish spending to asking subordinates to help his wife find a job. Just earlier this week, CNN reported Pruitt kept a secret calendar and schedule in an attempt to hide his meetings with many industry executives.
(2018-07-06). New EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, Former Coal Lobbyist, Aims to Continue to Dismantle EPA from Inside. democracynow.org 
Following Scott Pruitt's resignation, EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will become the agency's acting administrator. Wheeler is a former lobbyist for Murray Energy, the nation's largest underground coal mining company. He's also the former chief of staff for Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, who is known as the most notorious climate-denying lawmaker in Washington. In one of his most famous stunts, Inhofe brought a snowball onto the Senate floor in 2015 in order to prove that global warming was a hoax.
(2018-07-06). EPA accused of 'suppressing' hazardous formaldehyde report. rt.com 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials have accused staff appointed by departing agency head Scott Pruitt of suppressing a report warning that most Americans are exposed to hazardous levels of formaldehyde. |
(2018-07-06). So Long, Scott Pruitt. We Knew You All Too Well. theintercept.com What finally pushed Scott Pruitt over the edge? Was it the woman with the baby who let him have it in a fast food restaurant? Or his use of Environmental Protection Agency staff to try to snag his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise? The secret calendar? The tactical pants? | The EPA administrator generated headlines with a stream of bizarre, inappropriate, and self-serving actions in his 16 months in office. At last count, there were more than a dozen investigations into his ethical lapses. | Pruitt, who served as Oklahoma's attorney general before being confirmed to lead the EPA last February, had a taste for the finer things — nice cars with flashing lights and sirens, biometric locks, extremely secure phone booths, and big houses. The combination of this expensive taste — the big house in Tulsa…
(2018-07-06). Pentagon and Iran trade threats over renewed oil sanctions. wsws.org US imperialism is preparing for a military confrontation with Iran that could quickly eclipse the bloodbaths in those countries and precipitate a regional and even world war.
(2018-07-05). Scandal-Plagued EPA Administrator Pruitt Resigns. truthdig.com Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned Thursday amid ethics investigations of outsized security spending, first-class flights and a sweetheart condo lease. | With Pruitt's departure, President Trump loses an administrator many conservatives regarded as one of the more effective members of his Cabinet. But Pruitt had also been dogged for months by a seemingly unending string of ethics scandals that spawned more than a dozen federal and congressional investigations. | Pruitt had appeared Wednesday at a White House picnic for Independence Day, wearing a red-checked shirt and loafers with gold trim. Trump gave him and other officials a brief shout-out, offering no sign of any immediate change in his job. | Trump said in a tweet Thursday that Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry executive, will assume the acting administrator position Monday. | A former Oklahoma attorney general close to…
(2018-07-05). China Approves US$5Bn Loan for Venezuelan Oil Development. venezuelanalysis.com Venezuelan officials said Chinese cooperation opens up alternative networks outside the sanctions of the United States.
(2018-07-05). Twitter accuses Republican senators of defiling America after spending July 4 in Moscow. rt.com 
A group of Republican senators have been accused of treason after spending July 4 in Moscow. Real patriots spend Independence Day eating potato salad on US soil, according to astute Twitter users.
(2018-07-04). Cosmic radiation from giant star system heading towards Earth — NASA (VIDEO, PHOTO). rt.com 
A star system containing two gigantic suns is blasting cosmic rays into space and NASA scientists have found that the radiation is making its way towards Earth on intergalactic winds.
(2018-07-04). France: Child Migrants Left Adrift in Paris. hrw.org 
Child protection authorities in Paris are using flawed age assessment procedures for unaccompanied migrant youths, excluding many from care they need and are entitled to. Hundreds of unaccompanied children sleep on the streets of Paris each night, according to estimates from lawyers and nongovernmental organizations. | (Paris) — Child protection authorities in Paris are using flawed age assessment procedures for unaccompanied migrant children, excluding many from care they need and are entitled to, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Hundreds of these young migrants find themselves homeless, often condemned to sleep on the streets of Paris. |
| The…
(2018-07-04). Americans ask Russians to fix their space-toilet. rt.com 
When you want a job done right, send in the Russians. NASA has renewed a contract with Russian firm Energia to maintain and repair toilets on board the US segment of the International Space Station. |
(2018-07-04). An American Century of Brutal Overseas Conquest Began at Guantánamo Bay. theintercept.com It is a testament to the Washington establishment's rhetorical dexterity that it labeled Guantánamo Bay home of the world's most dangerous terrorists. U.S. leaders meant, of course, to refer to the hundreds of non-Americans detained at the base over the past 16 years. But a closer look at the history of Guantánamo tells a different story — one in which the United States, beginning 120 years ago this June, used the enclave in southeastern Cuba to launch decades upon decades of terroristic overseas conquest. | Cuba was the intended target of many such terror plots. Long before Donald Rumsfeld homed in on the country to imprison "enemy combatants" in the aftermath of 9/11, then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sought to visit " the terrors of the earth" on Cuba as part of Operation Mongoose, a covert CIA effort to overthrow leader Fidel…
(2018-07-03). Heat Waves and Climate Change: Mass Media Fails to Make the Connection. therealnews.com 
The failure to link the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves means that the general population remains relatively unaware of the urgency of climate change, says Jennifer Marlon of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
(2018-07-03). Afghanistan's Ceasefires Expire; Attacks on Civilians Resume. hrw.org 
Afghan Sikh men carry the coffin of a bombing victim in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, July 2, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | The two headlines could not have been more jarring. | "Casualties drop by half last month compared to June 2017," the nongovernmental Afghan Civilian Protection Advocacy Group reported on July 1, a decline attributed to overlapping unilateral ceasefires by the Afghan government and the Taliban. | "Suicide Attack Targets Sikhs in Jalalabad," screamed a headline just hours later, a story that documented a devastating suicide bombing that killed 19 people. Among the dead was Avtar Singh, the only Sikh candidate for the October parliamentary elections; another prominent Sikh civil society activist; and other Hindus and Sikhs from among Afghanistan's smallest minority communities. | Although Sikhs and Hindus have lived in Afghanistan for…
(2018-07-03). US: Undocumented Crime Fighters Deserve Protection. hrw.org 
Undocumented immigrants brave enough to come forward to report crime, need to know they can safely approach police without fear of deportation. Congress should preserve and expand provisions in the Violence Against Women Act that allow courageous undocumented immigrants to safely report crime. | (New York) — Undocumented immigrants brave enough to come forward to report crime, need to know they can safely approach police without fear of deportation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Congress should preserve and expand provisions in the Violence Against Women Act that allow courageous undocumented immigrants to safely report crime. | The U visa, created with strong bi-partisan support as part of the 2000 Violence Against Women Act, creates a path for crime victims who cooperate in investigations of serious crimes to apply for legal status in the US. The program…
(2018-07-03). Europe is Losing its Moral Compass in the Mediterranean. hrw.org 
Migrants are seen onboard the charity ship Lifeline at Boiler Wharf in Senglea, in Valletta's Grand Harbour, Malta June 27, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | As an American living in Italy, I feel almost choked by despair. The country of my parents ripped young children from their parents and put them in cages. The country of my children is condemning people to drown in the Mediterranean. | Over 200 people have drowned or gone missing off the Libyan coast in the last three days, including young babies, bringing the death toll so far this year to over 1,000. | The new Italian government closed its ports to rescue boats in June. After years of laudable efforts to save lives in the Central Mediterranean, the Italian state-run Maritime Rescue Coordination Center is denying any…
(2018-07-03). US: Renew 'Temporary Protection' for Yemenis. hrw.org 
Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck three apartment buildings in Faj Attan, a densely populated neighborhood in Sanaa, on August 25, 2017. Two of the buildings were completely destroyed and the third suffered extensive damage. | © 2017 Mohammed al-Mekhlafi | (Washington, DC) — The United States government should renew its grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Yemenis living in the US, Human Rights Watch said today. Anyone forcibly returned to Yemen faces serious risks to their personal safety from the ongoing armed conflict and laws of war violations by the warring parties. | The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to announce a decision on July 5, 2018, about whether to extend existing Temporary Protected Status for Yemenis. Since the department's last decision to continue the program for Yemenis in…
(2018-07-03). Headlines for July 3, 2018. democracynow.org Pompeo to Head to North Korea for Third Time, U.N. Urges Jordan to Open Border as 270,000 Syrians Flee Fighting in Daraa, Federal Judge: U.S. Can't Arbitrarily Detain Asylum Seekers, HHS Refuses to Say How Many Separated Children Remain in Custody, 18 Arrested in Los Angeles at ICE Protest, 3-Year-Old Ethiopian Refugee Dies After Stabbing at Birthday Party in Idaho, Trump Refuses to Lower Flags for Victims of Capital Gazette Shooting, Rhode Island Files Landmark Lawsuit Against 21 Oil Companies, EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Keeps Secret Calendar to Hide Meetings with Industry Figures, "I Urge You to Resign": A Mother Confronts Pruitt at Restaurant, Trump Meets with Four Possible Supreme Court Nominees, Michael Cohen Indicates He Will Work with Prosecutors, Trump Urges NATO Allies to Increase Military Spending, New Charges Against Harvey Weinstein Could Result in Life Sentence, Thailand Races to Rescue Youth Soccer Team Trapped in Cave, Report: Melania Trump Made Over $100K in Royalties from Photos Licensed to Media…
(2018-07-02). Poland's New Surveillance Law Targets Personal Data of Environmental Advocates, Threatening U.N. Climate Talks. theintercept.com 
A new Polish law with sweeping surveillance measures threatens free speech and the success of an important climate conference scheduled to take place in Katowice, Poland, later this year. | The conference, COP24, is billed as "Paris 2.0" — a crucial follow-up the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, where the Paris Climate Agreement was negotiated. Around 40,000 people from all over the world are expected flock to the industrial city in December, where participating countries will decide on the rulebook for implementing the historic climate accord. | In advance of the conference, a growing number of international NGOs and United Nations agencies have raised concerns about a law passed by Poland's parliament — a bill "on specific solutions related to the organization of sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the Republic…
(2018-07-02). Uganda's Troubling Social Media Tax. hrw.org 
Ugandan lawmakers arrive at the parliament, in Kampala, Uganda September 21, 2017. | © 2018 Reuters | This weekend the Ugandan government began to implement a troubling new set of tax rules requiring social media users — including of popular apps like WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook – to pay a daily fee of 200 Ugandan Shilling (US$0.05). The levy will be collected through mobile money services run by local telecom companies, for which the new law — passed by Uganda's parliament back in May — also imposes a 1 percent tax for every transaction. | The government claims the taxes will raise revenue for the benefit of everyone in the country, but the new fees actually appear to be just another way for authorities to stifle free speech. Both government critics and the…
(2018-06-27). US Pushing Allies To Halt Iran Oil Imports, No Exceptions. iranian.com The United States is pushing countries to halt imports of Iranian oil from November, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, and it will not grant any waivers to sanctions, a hardline position the Trump administration says is meant to cut off funding to Iran. US President Donald Trump in May said his administration […]
(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…
(2018-06-07). 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.