(2018-07-12). The Sinister Underbelly of Climate Change Denial. counterpunch.org The last few days of June 2018 saw most people in the United States sweltering in an epic heat wave. High temperatures were uniformly between 90 and 110 degrees in a mind-boggling 17 states. Heat indices in parts of the East and Midwest approached 120 degrees. Heat Advisories or Excessive Heat Warning were issued by the National Weather Service for all or parts of 21 states. Hazardously poor air quality arising from the reaction of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides with sunlight and heat compounded the agony in 9 states. More
(2018-07-12). When Doing Good Becomes Doing Bad. truthdig.com Oxfam wasn't the only nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Haiti where the so-called protectors turned into predators. After the 2010 earthquake, thousands of foreign aid workers arrived in the country. In Port-au-Prince, women on the streets reported that foreigners would give them more than five times the price a local would pay for sex. | Recent revelations of sexual abuse implicating specific NGOs and other agencies that provide relief to some of the world's most vulnerable people are more widespread than initially reported. The most-publicized depredation involves the former Oxfam country director in Haiti, Belgian Roland van Hauwermeiren, who acknowledged paying for sexual encounters with Haitian earthquake survivors in a villa at odds with a disaster-ridden landscape. | Taina Bien-Aimé, director of the international Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) and a first-generation Haitian-American and colleague, told me, "To understand the scandal of…
(2018-07-12). International Criminal Court's 20th Anniversary. hrw.org 
Supporters of international justice will mark the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on July 17, 2018. In this video, students from universities around the world discuss the court's importance. | (The Hague) — Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released a short video today in which students from universities around the world discuss the importance of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Supporters of international justice will mark the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute, the court's founding treaty, on July 17, 2018. | The ICC is the first permanent international criminal court set up to provide justice for the victims of the world's worst crimes, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It has opened investigations in 10 countries since it began operations in 2003.
| rt.com 
Toilet seat covers that cost $10,000? Coffee mugs for $1,200 apiece? No wonder NATO countries aren't too keen to follow US military spending benchmarks. Even the Pentagon is looking for better deals and 3D printing for savings.
(2018-07-11). Building for a Socialist Brexit. counterpunch.org In recent years the Tories have been carrying through a veritable bonfire of workers' rights, environmental protections and human rights. This is really nothing new, and few on the left would disagree that the Tories have plans to ignite further bonfires in the near future. The matter of what to do with regards the results More
(2018-07-11). China opens to world as Trump erects protectionist walls. peoplesworld.org 
BEIJING—The Trump administration's declaration of a trade war with China has implications for that country's latest round of ambitious economic reforms as well as for global economic development generally. China refuses to be bullied by Trump's imposition of $34 billion in tariffs and the threat to impose $500 billion more. China has swiftly retaliated with […]…
(2018-07-11). Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh Is Precisely the Pro-Corporate Right-Wing Hack Progressives Fear. mintpressnews.com 
A run-down of Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh's positions on various social issues and the danger his appointment could pose to everything from the Department of Labor to the Environmental Protection Agency and even Roe v. Wade.
(2018-07-11). L.A.'s Dodger dogs now union made. peoplesworld.org 
VERNON, Calif.—In a remarkable return to union power, Farmer John workers voted overwhelmingly on Monday, July 9, on a hard-fought historic agreement returning the union to the workplace and ratifying a new contract. Wage increases, affordable healthcare, union security, and preservation of protections are among the highlights of their secured benefits. Hundreds of Farmer John […]…
(2018-07-11). Scott Pruitt Got Off Easy: Ecocide Is No Small Matter. truthdig.com The former EPA chief's career has been dedicated to two things: filling his family bank account and bending energy policy toward the extraction and burning of every last hydrocarbon on earth.
(2018-07-11). Court Reaffirms Bayou Bridge Pipeline to Cut Through Atchafalaya Basin. truthout.org 
A day before a federal court reaffirmed Bayou Bridge LLC could keep building an oil pipeline through Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin, I stood on a cypress tree stump there, viewing the destroyed trees which pipeline opponents were trying to save. | On both sides of the Bayou Bridge pipeline's right-of-way, a path of shredded trees cut through the massive river swamp — the nation's largest — home to abundant wildlife and fishing grounds for wild crawfish. | On July 6, a three-judge panel of the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers properly granted a permit for the 162.5 mile pipeline that cuts through the basin, a National Heritage Area. The decision reverses a lower court's ruling that temporarily blocked the pipeline's construction ahead of a hearing challenging…
(2018-07-11). Behind the Blockades: Intersectional Organizing to Abolish ICE. truthout.org 
Each summer, the radical environmentalists behind the decades-old (and notoriously rowdy) Earth First! movement wrap up their annual campout with a protest action. Over the years, typical targets have included logging operations and, more recently, fossil fuel infrastructure. This year, things were different. | On Monday, July 9, dozens of Earth First! activists emerged from the Appalachian woods to join Native American, LGBTQ and Latinx activists in temporarily shutting down a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The action resulted in 12 arrests. | The demonstration was the latest in a series of protests and direct actions in cities across the US aimed at one of the major federal agencies responsible for carrying out the mass raids, deportations and family separations that have defined the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants and migrant families seeking asylum. It…
(2018-07-11). Russia and Saudi Arabia to Form an Alternative to OPEC? therealnews.com 
The world is in a slow energy transition to renewables, which has made it difficult for OPEC to maintain price stability. This transition lies at the heart of Saudi Arabia and Russia's efforts to find new ways for stabilizing oil prices, says Prof. Timothy Mitchell
(2018-07-11). Trump Card: Brett Kavanaugh and the "Unitary Executive" Theory. truthout.org Newly minted Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was the kid who took down the names of misbehaving classmates while teacher was out of the room. I do not know this for a fact, but I know it. I know that kid. He's been polishing apples since God was a baby, and look how far it has taken him. | In mainstream Republican circles, Kavanaugh's pedigree is the equivalent of being born on Plymouth Rock with a recommendation letter from John Winthrop stuffed in your diaper. Within the realm of post-Reagan Clinton-hating GOP society, he is a product of the rage-flecked devolution that took place in the Olduvai Gorge of Republican politics after the 1992 presidential election. They came out of their crevice different, radicalized, spoiling for war to the knife, and Kavanaugh has been their loyal soldier from the start. | If…
(2018-07-11). U.S. Soon to Leapfrog Saudis, Russia as Top Oil Producer. truthdig.com Output is predicted to grow next year to 11.8 million barrels a day, making the U.S. the world's leading oil producer for the first time since the 1970s.
(2018-07-11). More inconsistencies in account of second UK novichok poisoning. wsws.org The theory advanced by the government is that "Russia has committed an attack on British soil which has seen the death of a British citizen."
(2018-07-11). Ex-UCLA basketball star Knight found dead days after posting heartbreaking video online. rt.com 
The body of former UCLA basketball player William 'Billy' Knight has been found on a roadway in Phoenix, Arizona just days after he posted a video online saying "this is probably my last message on Earth."
(2018-07-11). Water Is a Human Right — in Flint, in Michigan, and the US. hrw.org 
The top of a water tower is seen at the Flint Water Plant in Flint, Michigan January 13, 2016. | © 2016 Reuters | Choices by Flint and Michigan's government officials led to massive contamination of drinking water — some tests showed water had more than 100 times the legal level of lead. The poisoning of Flint's water was an unmitigated disaster. | Now, as government attorneys argue in court to dismiss the massive lawsuit leveled against these officials, the state of Michigan and city of Flint want to argue that clean water is not a constitutional right. This would mean they would not be liable for the lead-poisoned water, when they decided in 2014 to draw the city's water supply from the Flint River without having the water propertly treated. It would also…
(2018-07-11). Pre-Existing Conditions: The Age Group Most Vulnerable if Coverage Goes Away. truthout.org 
A widely shared New Yorker cartoon heralded "70 as the new 50" with the implications that being 50 was a joyous and healthy age. More than 10 years later, we are seeing that being in one's 50s may have its drawbacks, at least in terms of current American political debates around repealing key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. | Coverage for pre-existing conditions, which has reduced the uninsured rate by an estimated 22 percent, has been a cornerstone of the ACA. It is generally viewed as the most popular element of ACA by proponents and opponents alike. | But now, that coverage is imperiled by proposed challenges to mandated health insurance coverage. The Justice Department in June supported lawsuits filed by attorneys generals in 20 states that claim that coverage for pre-existing conditions was eliminated when the…
(2018-07-10). How Serious Is Iran About Closing The Strait Of Hormuz? iranian.com As Iran and the United States move toward a confrontation that is looking increasingly inevitable, Iranian political and military leaders have once again raised the prospect of closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil "artery" through which 30 per cent of the world's oil supply passes. Therefore, its closure, even for a brief period, […]
(2018-07-10). What a Foiled Plot to Execute Muslims Reveals About Islamophobia in France. thenation.com What a Foiled Plot to Execute Muslims Reveals About Islamophobia in France appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-07-10). Trump Trade War: China Refiner Dumps US Crude, Seeks Iranian Oil. iranian.com Irina Slav at Oilprice.com notes that China's Dongming Petrochemical Group is dropping imports of US crude for its refineries and replacing them with oil from Iran, according to Iran's IRNA news service and Japan Today. Moreover, China is said to be preparing to slap 25% tariffs on imports of American crude, which will likely halt such imports […]
(2018-07-10). Trump's Energy Offensive Against Iran: An Expert Analysis. iranian.com The Trump administration has "gone nuclear" in reportedly demanding that all of Iran's current oil consumers completely eliminate imports of Iranian imports by November 4. This comes in the wake of the OPEC meeting in which, apparently under pressure from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, in particular, its members agreed […]
(2018-07-10). Former Navy sailor pardoned by Trump files lawsuit against Obama administration. rt.com 
A former US Navy submariner has filed a lawsuit alleging that Obama administration officials denied him equal protection under the law, and went easy on Hillary Clinton for the same offenses. |
(2018-07-10). Floods and landslides in Japan leave more than 100 dead. wsws.org Natural disasters in Japan are increasing as a result of climate change, but nothing is being done to address this crisis.
(2018-07-09). Can Iran Legally Close the Strait of Hormuz? globalresearch.ca Note to readers: please click the share buttons above | On Tuesday, July 3, President Hassan Rouhani implicitly threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz and prevent countries from exporting their oil through it if Iran was not allowed to …
(2018-07-09). As Brexit Throws UK Gov't in Turmoil, 'We See Only the Shadows' of What is Really Happening. therealnews.com 
Prof. John Weeks talks about what is behind the Brexit maneuvering that has led to Boris Johnson's and David Davis's resignations from Theresa May's cabinet and how this will affect the process by which the UK plans to leave the European Union
(2018-07-09). NATO: Bolster Inquiries Into Afghan Civilian Deaths. hrw.org 
NATO helicopters land at an Afghan and US Special Forces base in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, July 7, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | (Brussels) — NATO has failed to fully investigate alleged unlawful airstrikes in Afghanistan, which may contribute to rising civilian casualties, Human Rights Watch said today. Member countries attending the NATO Summit in Brussels on July 10-11, 2018, should call for impartial NATO investigations into airstrikes causing civilian loss in order to minimize civilian harm in future attacks. NATO members should also press the Afghan government to hold its forces accountable for serious violations of the laws of war. | At the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw, member states endorsed a new policy on the protection of civilians that included measures "to prevent, deter, pre-empt, and respond to situations in which…
(2018-07-09). CIA-Linked Military Contractor Used Arizona "Black Site" to Secretly Jail Dozens of Migrant Children. democracynow.org 
A major U.S. military and CIA contractor has been detaining dozens of migrant children inside a vacant Phoenix office building with dark windows, no kitchen and only a few toilets, according to a new investigation by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Reveal learned about what some are calling the "black site" for migrant children after one local resident filmed children in sweatsuits being led into the building. The building was leased in March by MVM, a defense contractor that Reveal reports has received nearly $250 million in contracts to transport immigrant children since 2014. We speak with the lead reporter on this story, Aura Bogado, in Oakland, California. She is the immigration reporter for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
(2018-07-08). Report reveals outdated NASA policy poses contamination risk for Earth, universe. rt.com 
As humans boldly go where no one has been before, the guidelines on how to prevent contamination of these destinations with earthly microbes and vice versa do not meet the reality, according to a new report.
(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). 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). 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. |
(2018-07-05). 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.
(2018-07-03). 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…