Going Native: To Move Forward, Indians Must Reclaim Values of the Past
Mark Anthony Rolo | The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good | 2018-04-21
Prior to colonization, American Indians had their own values of tolerance and acceptance. Forgetting those values not only threatens our tradition, but our right to tribal sovereignty.
progressive.org/dispatches/going-native-reclaiming-tribal-values-of-our-past-180420/

EPA Recommends Transitioning Away From Animal Testing
Truthout Stories | 2018-04-21
Thirty seconds: That's how long it takes to support the independent journalism at Truthout. We're counting on you. Click here to chip in! | Good news from federal agencies can feel like a rarity these days, but this dispatch from the Environmental Protection Agency is an excellent reminder that staffers deep in the government are hard at work to build a better world. In draft guidance on skin allergy testing for pesticides and industrial chemicals, the EPA is encouraging researchers to move away from the use of animal models. | Such testing is legally required to determine the level of hazard that various industrial products pose. Scientists aim to determine if chemicals cause skin irritation and, if so, the severity of their effects. This allows agencies to determine whether a product is safe enough to be sold to consumers, or…
www.truth-out.org/news/item/44239-epa-recommends-transitioning-away-from-animal-testing

US bank offers free identity protection… while admitting potential data breach of 1.5mn clients
RT | RT US News | 2018-04-21
While announcing details of free identity protection for clients, a US bank revealed that data belonging to up to 1.5 million customers may have been exposed and passed on to a criminal third party. …
www.rt.com/usa/424766-bank-data-breach-suntrust/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Threat assessment: NASA's asteroid hunter reveals scariest, Earth-bound objects (VIDEO)
RT | RT US News | 2018-04-21
Hundreds of cosmic objects swarming unnervingly close to Earth come to life in an intimidating new NASA visualization, based on the latest data from its asteroid-hunting mission. …
www.rt.com/usa/424782-threat-nasa-asteroid-hunter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Earth Day Is a Reminder That Humans Have the Power to Change Our Planet
Christopher Preston, The Conversation | AlterNet.org | 2018-04-20
We're entering a new epoch. | For nearly 50 years, Earth Day has provided an opportunity for people across the globe to come together and rally in support of the natural world. While the specific challenges have varied, the goal has remained more or less the same: to protect the rich, biological world that the current generation has inherited from being overwhelmed by the influences of humanity. While there have been many notable successes since this day of celebration began in 1970, the overall trajectory has not been uplifting. Today you can travel to the furthest part of the Arctic Ocean, to the highest point of the Caucasus Mountains, to the remotest spot in the Australian outback and find the unmistakable signs of human activity. Chemical and industrial traces are now present in every pinch of soil and every drop of water.
feeds.feedblitz.com/~/540649708/0/alternet

Media Support US Violence Against Syria, but Long for More
Gregory Shupak | FAIR | 2018-04-20
And by "reckoning," the Atlantic ( 4/14/18) appeared to mean "a war with Russia and its allies." | Corporate media outlets were glad that the US, France and Britain bombed Syria in violation of international law (FAIR.org, 4/18/18), but lamented what they see as a dearth of US violence in the country. | In The Atlantic ( 4/14/18), Thanassis Cambanis described the war crime as "undoubtedly a good thing," and called for "sustained attention and investment, of diplomatic, economic and military resources"–though the latter rubbed up against his assessment in the same paragraph that "a major regional war will only make things worse." Moreover, he described "the most realistic possibility" for the US and its partners in Syria as "an incomplete and possibly destabilizing policy of confrontation [and] containment. But a reckoning can't be deferred forever." | This…
fair.org/home/media-support-us-violence-against-syria-but-long-for-more/

Earth Day 2018
Norman Stockwell | The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good | 2018-04-20
This is what April 22 is all about. Treasures from our archives including Denis Hayes, Barry Commoner, Ralph Nader, and Gaylord Nelson.
progressive.org/dispatches/earth-day-treasures-2018/

Earth Day 2018: Ending Plastic Pollution in the Oceans, Land and Our Bodies
Truthout Stories | 2018-04-20
This Sunday more than a billion people will celebrate Earth Day. This year's theme: ending plastic pollution by Earth Day 2020. Of the nearly 300 million tons of plastic sold each year, about 90 percent ends up in landfills, in the oceans — and in our bodies. Part of the focus will be microplastics, those small bits of plastic that are seemingly everywhere. We speak to Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute, who has led 20 expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, and Priscilla Villa of the #BreakFreeFromPlastics movement. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMAN: This Sunday more than a billion people will celebrate Earth Day. This year's theme: ending plastic pollution by Earth Day 2020. Of the nearly 300 million tons of plastic sold each year, about 90 percent ends up in landfills, in the oceans — and…
www.truth-out.org/news/item/44229-earth-day-2018-ending-plastic-pollution-in-the-oceans-land-and-our-bodies

The Bayer-Monsanto Merger Is Bad News for the Planet
Truthout Stories | 2018-04-20
(Photo: Joe Brusky) | The current political climate is hostile to real accountability. Help us keep lawmakers and corporations in check — support the independent journalism at Truthout today! | Two new studies from Europe have found that the number of farm birds in France has crashed by a third in just 15 years, with some species being almost eradicated. The collapse in the bird population mirrors the discovery last October that over three quarters of all flying insects in Germany have vanished in just three decades. Insects are the staple food source of birds, the pollinators of fruits, and the aerators of the soil. | The chief suspect in this mass extinction is the aggressive use of neonicotinoid pesticides, particularly imidacloprid and clothianidin, both made by German-based chemical giant Bayer. These pesticides, along with toxic glyphosate…
www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/44234-the-bayer-monsanto-merger-is-bad-news-for-the-planet

Earth Day 2018: Ending Plastic Pollution in the Oceans, Land & Our Bodies
Democracy Now! | 2018-04-20
This Sunday more than a billion people will celebrate Earth Day. This year's theme: ending plastic pollution by Earth Day 2020. Of the nearly 300 million tons of plastic sold each year, about 90 percent ends up in landfills, in the oceans–and in our bodies. Part of the focus will be microplastics, those small bits of plastic that are seemingly everywhere. We speak to Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute, who has led 20 expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, and Priscilla Villa of the #BreakFreeFromPlastics movement.
www.democracynow.org/2018/4/20/earth_day_2018_ending_plastic_pollution

Republicans Have Found a Nuclear Option to Kill Regulations
Gary Rivlin | The Intercept | 2018-04-20
Mick Mulvaney, since November the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, could have killed an Obama-era directive cracking down on discriminatory lending on auto sales with a snap of his fingers. In 2013, the new bureau put auto dealers and the finance companies they work with on notice: We have found evidence that auto loans are often marked up for Latino and African-American customers, and will be monitoring your compliance with fair lending laws. Study after study had shown that people of color typically pay higher fees and higher interest rates on car loans than whites with similar credit profiles. The CFPB didn't wait to create a formal rule, instead issuing a "guidance" bulletin. Mulvaney could have undone that guidance simply by writing his own. But that wasn't enough for Mulvaney, who, as a member of Congress, had sponsored a bill…
theintercept.com/2018/04/20/republicans-have-found-a-nuclear-option-to-kill-regulations/

Global Warming's Impact on Ocean Currents to Amplify Sea Level Rise
TRNN | The Real News Network | 2018-04-19
A new study shows that the Atlantic's currents have weakened due to global warming and are closer to catastrophic collapse than any time in the last 1,600 years, which could cause rapid sea level rise on the East Coast of North America. One of the study's lead authors explains…
therealnews.com/idirect.php?i=21606

Justin Trudeau Vows to Bail Out Profitable Oil Company, Kinder Morgan
TRNN | The Real News Network | 2018-04-19
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sees the Kinder Morgan threat to abandon its pipeline project as a threat to the country's national interest and is now mobilizing local governments to maintain the project, says TRNN's Dimitri Lascaris…
therealnews.com/idirect.php?i=21600

Iraq: ISIS Suspects' Homes Confiscated
Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch News | 2018-04-19
(Beirut) — Iraqi security officers are denying immediate relatives of suspected Islamic State (also known as ISIS) members security clearance to reclaim homes being occupied or to seek compensation, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces have also destroyed or confiscated some property. Such acts, based only on family relationships to ISIS suspects rather than individual security determinations, are a form of collective punishment. | Graffiti that reads "Daesh (ISIS)," marks the home of relatives of an ISIS member in a west Mosul neighborhood, Iraq. | © 2018 Private | "These families deserve the same protections that Iraqi courts provide to all citizens," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Courts should be the guarantors against discrimination that will only further sectarian divisions in the country and delay needed…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/19/iraq-isis-suspects-homes-confiscated

#FreeSiwatu: Pregnant Black Detroit Activist Jailed for Standing Her Ground & Protecting Her Family
Democracy Now! | 2018-04-18
An environmental activist and young black mother in Detroit may be forced to give birth behind bars, after standing her ground during a frightening encounter. Since she was 15 years old, Siwatu-Salama Ra has fought for environmental justice. She campaigned against the Marathon oil refinery and the Detroit Renewable Power trash incinerator. She represented Detroit at the Paris climate summit. She's also worked to engage kids and educate young mothers about nutrition. Now, at age 26, Siwatu has been sentenced to a mandatory two years in prison, following an incident in which she brandished her unloaded–and legally registered–handgun while defending her mother and 2-year-old daughter. She was sentenced last month to two years in prison even though she is scheduled to give birth in June. We speak to two of her attorneys and Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter.
www.democracynow.org/2018/4/18/freesiwatu_pregnant_black_detroit_activist_jailed

Animals Deserve Protection From Abuse
Christopher Dale | The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good | 2018-04-16
In protecting animals, we also protect ourselves.
progressive.org/op-eds/animals-deserve-protection-from-abuse-180416/

A Standing Rock on the Border?
Tim Vanderpool | The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good | 2018-04-06
A desert tribe, tormented by border patrol, pushes back against Trump's wall.
progressive.org/dispatches/a-standing-rock-on-the-border-wall-180406/