(2018-09-06). Mounting turmoil in emerging markets. wsws.org The plunge in emerging market currencies is a product of the strengthening of the dollar and the increase in US interest rates, which is sucking capital back into American markets.
(2018-09-06). Idleb: Millions in Need of Protection. The World Must Act Now. amnesty.org …
(2018-09-05). Kavanaugh Refuses to Say Whether He'd Uphold Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions. alternet.org 
The nominee said he couldn't "give assurances on a hypothetical. " | While Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing is continuing, a court in Texas is hearing arguments to a challenge to the Affordable Care Act's basic constitutionality, and specifically its prot. . .
(2018-09-05). This Could Be the Moment World Governments Chart a Path Toward Tackling Climate Change. alternet.org 
It could also be the moment that global leaders condemn millions more to losing their lives and livelihoods. | Killer floods and heat waves have made 2018 another record-setting year as the climate crisis intensifies. The UN climate negotiations in Bangkok (September 4-8), followed by the (2018-09-05). Anti-Kavanaugh protesters say he'd push High Court farther to the right. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Sophia Marjanovic already knows something about unequal justice for women, minorities and people of color. And she declares Brett Kavanaugh would only make things worse. | And that's what brought her — and several hundred more people — to the U.S. Capitol lawn late in the afternoon on Sept. 4 to send U.S. senators a clear message: Don't put Kavanaugh, GOP President Donald Trump's pick for a vacant seat, on the U.S. Supreme Court. | "This won't be justice," says Marjanovic, who, belying her name, is a Lakota Sioux from the Fort Peck reservation in Montana. "We already know the Supreme Court is far to the right. Kavanaugh would push it further," she told People's World. | That threat to indigenous people — the subject of her handmade sign — women, minorities, undocumented people, workers' rights, civil rights, and freedom of reproductive choice…
(2018-09-05). Victory for indigenous nations as Canada halts Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. peoplesworld.org 
(2018-09-05). Crazy Rich Imperialists? counterpunch.org 
Spoiler alert for Crazy Rich Asians. Even as our culture becomes ever the more overtly pornographic, misogynistic, jingoistic and punitive, liberal identity politics movies continue to be made. I for one am pro-identity politics, just because I assume liberals will not change radically and therefore we should admit this is the best they're going to get. More
(2018-09-05). Footage of mother giving 3yo son a 'swirly' sparks death threats, police investigation (VIDEO). rt.com 
A mother of two is under investigation in Florida after a Facebook Live video of her dunking one of her children's heads in a toilet bowl was shared online, sparking a torrent of outrage and death threats.
(2018-09-04). Is the Government Planning to Surveil Keystone XL Protesters? aclu.org Memories of the government's use of force at Standing Rock, coupled with evidence of its plans for the Keystone protests, raise immense concerns. | In the aftermath of Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, leaked documents revealed that law enforcement agencies had collaborated with private security contractors to employ counterterrorism tactics against "pipeline insurgencies" and to manufacture a (2018-09-04). Battling Contamination: Erin Brockovich Down Under. counterpunch.org The Australian press have been in a state of drooling ecstasy. Part of it is because Australia can be relevant, however negative it might be, to their monster cousin, defender and protector known as the United States. This time, its cultural — in the legal sense. Erin Brockovich has found herself doing the media rounds on More
(2018-09-04). Culture and Behavior May Clue Climate Change Response. counterpunch.org 
Behavior acculturated to ancestral norms, originally necessitated by occupation, is the focus of a new study in China with interesting ramifications for climate change. In general, farming requires more stable relationships than, say, herding with the constant movement of animals. Now the authors have taken farming a step further: They observed that northerners were three times more likely More
(2018-09-04). There Is No Grassroots Energy Rallying for Brett Kavanaugh. None. theintercept.com 
Last Sunday, several hundred protesters rallied in Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh. Local reporters were on hand, and the protest earned a two-minute segment on that night's local CBS broadcast. The "Unite for Justice" rally in Denver was just one of dozens held across the country that same day, and viewers of that evening's news learned that the rally-goers were taking a stand against confirming a justice who would be the fifth vote to repeal Roe v. Wade. | The network's attempt at balance, however, was foiled by advocates of Kavanaugh — or, more precisely, the lack of them. The anchor, at the end of the segment, deadpanned to the Denver metro viewership and said, "A pro-life rally was scheduled to run in opposition to the protest, but no one attended.""A pro-life…
(2018-09-04). India Continues With Iran Oil Deliveries. iranian.com India is allowing state refiners to import Iranian oil with Tehran arranging tankers and insurance after firms including the country's top shipper Shipping Corp of India (SCI) halted voyages to Iran due to U.S. sanctions, Reuters cited sources as saying on August 3. According to Reuters, "New Delhi's attempt to keep Iranian oil flowing mirrors […]
(2018-09-04). Glider aircraft flies at highest-ever altitude — a blood-boiling 76,000ft (VIDEOS). rt.com 
Two pilots have soared to 76,124ft (23, 203 meters) in a groundbreaking flight that saw an engineless aircraft ride atmospheric waves to soar over Earth, where the altitude is so high that human blood boils unless protected.
(2018-09-03). California Climate Assessment: Heat Waves, Forest Fires, and Floods to Increase Dramatically due to Climate Change. therealnews.com 
The state of California released a climate assessment that points to "apocalyptic" conditions if climate change is not halted or mitigated in the next 30 years. We discuss the report with one of the co-authors and a California EPA deputy director
(2018-09-02). New Climate Study Warns of Dangerous 'Hothouse Earth' Scenario. therealnews.com 
Climate scientist Will Steffen explains that continued warming of the atmosphere could trigger a cascade of tipping points
(2018-08-31). Trump's FTC Releases Nearly 500 Pages of Material on Conflicts of Interest — and Redacts It All. theintercept.com 
There are a lot of questions to be asked about Andrew Smith, who was recently installed to head the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Given that Smith previously worked for four years at the law firm Covington & Burling, representing an enormous number of corporate clients, including companies under active investigation by the FTC — including Equifax, Uber, and Facebook — one of those questions is: How will the FTC ensure against conflicts of interest? | Smith's financial disclosure form, obtained by Public Citizen, lists his work on behalf of big banks, payday lenders, pawn shops, credit reporting companies, pharmaceutical firms, and perhaps worst of all, the Dallas Cowboys. | So Public Citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all documents related to Smith's financial disclosure and potential conflicts of interest, as well as how the…
(2018-08-31). Republican Candidates are Paying a Fossil Fuels Conglomerate for Voter Data Mining. counterpunch.org 
Koch Industries is a fossil fuels conglomerate with estimated revenues of more than $100 billion annually and 130,000 employees spread around the globe. It's one of the largest, private corporations in the world with a history of funding nonprofit front groups and political candidates who are climate change skeptics. Typically, political payments go in one direction from this behemoth: from the Koch Industries Super Pac (KochPac) to Republican political candidates or political committees. Now, quietly, political payments are going in both directions, effectively creating an Orwellian campaign finance model.
(2018-08-31). Pentagon seeking contractors to train Saudi pilots on US soil amid bloody Yemen air campaign. rt.com 
The Pentagon plans to hire private contractors to train Saudi military pilots on US soil, documents show. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the move disturbing amid outcry over US involvement in Saudi Arabia's air campaign in Yemen.
(2018-08-31). Want to know about new FTC head's conflicts of interest? Too bad, that's redacted. rt.com 
Corporate lawyer Andrew Smith's appointment to head the FTC's Bureau of Consumer protection raised some eyebrows earlier this summer. Now, a heavily redacted set of documents have done little to allay this concern. |
(2018-08-30). The Trump Administration's Spoiler Foreign Policy. consortiumnews.com U.S. strategy abroad is assuming a curious shape. Whether the president or his minders are running affairs, Patrick Lawrence sees the U.S. being reduced to playing a spoiler role in the Middle East and Northeast Asia. By Patrick Lawrence Special… Read more →
(2018-08-29). Top Student Loan Watchdog Resigns over Trump Admin Doing Bidding of Predatory Lenders. democracynow.org 
As the school year begins this week across the United States, the top student loan watchdog has resigned in protest, accusing the Trump administration of siding with powerful predatory lenders over student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman worked as student loan ombudsman under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, Mick Mulvaney. He wrote that under Mulvaney's leadership, "the Bureau has abandoned the very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting." This comes as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has proposed new rules that would cut an estimated $13 billion in federal student loan relief for peopl…
(2018-08-29). Hatewatch Headlines 8/30/18. splcenter.org A U.S. Senate candidate will speak alongside extremists; another Trump administration official has ties to white nationalists; climate change and systemic racism, and more.
(2018-08-29). Headlines for August 29, 2018. democracynow.org Puerto Rico Increases Hurricane Death Toll to 2,975, Andrew Gillum, a Black Progressive Backed by Bernie Sanders, Wins Florida Gubernatorial Primary, Trump-Backed Martha McSally Wins Arizona GOP Senate Primary, Trump Warns of "Violence" If Democrats Win Control of Congress, Texas Police Officer Convicted for Killing 15-Year-Old African-American Student, Teachers in Washington State Begin Strike, U.N. Secretary-General: Report on Genocide Targeting Rohingya Needs Serious Consideration, India Carries Out Raids Arresting Critics of Modi Government, France's Environment Minister Resigns On-Air over Climate Change, De…
(2018-08-27). NAACP Statement on Birmingham, Alabama's Right to Clean Soil and a Healthy Environment. naacp.org The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released the following statement in response to recent reports regarding environmental cleanup efforts in the Inglenook neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama. "NAACP maintains its commitment to uphold the rights of all people to pollution remediation and clean soil," said Jacqueline Patterson, Director, NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. "As […]
(2018-08-24). Foreign Correspondent: What Has Fifteen Years of U.S. Occupation Produced? Angry Iraqis. progressive.org As militant protests roil the city of Basra in Iraq, two summer films give a fuller sense of what U.S. occupation there has wrought.
(2018-08-22). Large Earthquake Off Northern Venezuelan Coast. venezuelanalysis.com According to the Venezuelan Foundation of Seismological Research, the quake registered at 6.9 on the Richter Scale and left parts of Trinidad and Tobago without electricity.
(2018-08-20). As Trump Favors Asbestos, People Die. progressive.org Donald Trump has been rolling back protections against exposure to asbestos, which kills an estimated 15,000 people each year in the United States alone.
(2018-08-14). What the 'Sensible Middle' Doesn't Get About Education. progressive.org There is no middle between facts and the story that the earth is flat.
(2018-08-05). Venezuela's President Maduro Survives Assassination Attack On Live TV. venezuelanalysis.com Six arrests have already been made in the dramatic foiled terrorist attack.
(2018-07-26). Venezuela: Maduro Announces Economic Reforms Including Monetary Reconversion, Tax Breaks & Currency Control Changes. venezuelanalysis.com The measures also transfer an entire oilfield from PDVSA to the Central Bank.