While No One's Looking, Republicans Are Waging a Guerrilla War on Your Healthcare
Terry Schwadron, DC Report | alternet.org | 2018-06-16
Trump doesn't have the votes to kill Obamacare so now he just won't enforce it. | While Trump preens in the afterglow of his questionable achievements at the negotiating table with North Korea, let's take a look elsewhere — at the Trump administration decision to abandon Obamacare requirements that health insurance cover pre-existing conditions. Late last week, the government said in filings in a federal court case that the requirement to cover those who need healthcare the most will become "unconstitutional" next year as well as protections forbidding insurers to deny coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions. Indeed, the Justice Department declined to defend the federal law in a suit brought by states against the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Just how that fits with an administration that seems fixated on "law and order" is a little hard to explain, but if. . .
www.alternet.org/while-no-ones-looking-republicans-are-waging-guerrilla-war-your-healthcare

Increased Deaths and Illnesses From Inhaling Airborne Dust: An Understudied Impact of Climate Change
Anton Woronczuk | truthout.org | 2018-06-16
The Dust Bowl in the 1930s was one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. Intense dust storms relentlessly pounded the southern Great Plains of the United States, wreaking severe ecological damage, forcing 2.5 million people to leave the region and claiming unnumbered lives, mainly from "dust pneumonia." | Research has shown that this disaster was fueled by a combination of severe droughts and over-cultivated lands. Today, climate change driven by human actions is enhancing the occurrence of droughts in multiple regions around the world. | As researchers working at the intersection of environmental health, air pollution and climate change, we wanted to know how increasing drought conditions and population growth in the U.S. Southwest could affect airborne dust levels and public health. | In a recently published study, we estimate that if the world stays…
truthout.org/articles/increased-deaths-and-illnesses-from-inhaling-airborne-dust-an-understudied-impact-of-climate-change/

Desperate Asylum Seekers Are Being Turned Away by U.S. Border Agents Claiming There's "No Room"
Debbie Nathan | theintercept.com | 2018-06-16
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are systematically violating U.S. and international law by blocking immigrants at international ports of entry on the southern border from entering the country so they can claim asylum. Immigration civil rights advocates have been documenting this illegal behavior since late 2016, from Texas to California. It was sporadic then, and appears to have been based at least in part on CBP's difficulties with handling large numbers of people. | Even so, the practice of turning immigrants away has suddenly become routine, creating chilling scenes of immigrants and children camped out near the bridges, exposed to sun, wind, and rain, amid make-do bedding, scattered clothing, and trash. A few times a day, the immigrants walk to the middle of the bridges and ask to be admitted to the port of entry building on the U.S. side so…
theintercept.com/2018/06/16/immigration-border-asylum-central-america/

Pruitt's Abuse of Our Environment is Far More Dangerous Than His Abuse of Taxpayer Money
Jill Richardson | counterpunch.org | 2018-06-15
Did you hear that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, is so corrupt that he spent $1,560 on 12 customized fountain pens? Or that he spent another $43,000 on a soundproof phone booth in violation of government spending laws? Pruitt's big spending on the taxpayer dime has earned him well-deserved scrutiny…
counterpunch.org/2018/06/15/pruitts-abuse-of-our-environment-is-far-more-dangerous-than-his-abuse-of-taxpayer-money/

New Information on 2017 Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Deaths Should Nix Trophy Hunting in Core Habitat
Louisa Willcox | counterpunch.org | 2018-06-15
Wyoming officials are barging ahead with a September hunt of Yellowstone grizzly bears despite new information about bear deaths that shows that no hunting should occur this year. This according to protocols adopted by the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho when 2017 federal endangered species protections were removed ("delisting"). The considerable confusion among state…
counterpunch.org/2018/06/15/new-information-on-2017-yellowstone-grizzly-bear-deaths-should-nix-trophy-hunting-in-core-habitat/

Trump Just Derailed the Latest Republican Immigration Hostage-Taking Scheme
Joan McCarter, Daily Kos | alternet.org | 2018-06-15
This is bad news for the GOP. | Popular vote loser Donald Trump, the mastermind of family separation and child gulags, blew up House Republican's latest legislative effort to blame it all on Democrats when he summarily dismissed a "compromise" poison-pill immigration bill leadership has been negotiating. House Speaker Paul Ryan had been planning on holding votes on two bills early next week, one that hard-line Republicans were demanding, a white supremacist wish list sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and one that was "negotiated" between hardliners and "moderates" who were threatening to force a vote on protections for Dreamers with a discharge petition. That negotiation was basically the moderates completely caving, and the resulting bill draft being another ransom demand from Republicans: Democrats could free the children in those gulags and get protections for Dreamers if. . .
www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-just-derailed-latest-republican-immigration-hostage-taking-scheme

Liberal Philanthropy is Dooming the Planet to Climate Disaster
Nafeez Ahmed | mintpressnews.com | 2018-06-15
The strategy document, published by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in January, represents the third renewal of the Climate Works initiative originally founded in 2008. The initiative was executed through the Climate Works Foundation in coordination with other big philanthropic foundations, the Packard and McKnight Foundations. | The Hewlett Foundation strategy document, titled Climate Initiative Strategy 2018–2023, reflects on the strategic thinking behind the process that led to the announcement last December that the foundation would commit $600 million to address climate change over the next five years — a 20 percent increase from previous funding. | The fifth largest foundation in the United States, the Hewlett Foundation is one of the most influential US funders on climate and energy, traditionally setting the agenda for other major foundations in these areas. Each year, climate…

Liberal Philanthropy is Dooming the Planet to Climate Disaster

We're the Wealthiest Country on Earth, But Over 40 Percent of Us Live in or Near Poverty
Mona Younis | counterpunch.org | 2018-06-15
Are we Americans unworthy? That's certainly the message we're getting from our government. Over 40 percent of us are poor or low-income. How is that possible in the wealthiest country in history? "The United States is alone among developed countries in insisting that while human rights are of fundamental importance," explains UN rapporteur on poverty…
counterpunch.org/2018/06/15/were-the-wealthiest-country-on-earth-but-over-40-percent-of-us-live-in-or-near-poverty/

The Misogynistic Logic of Jeff Sessions's Horrifying New Asylum Policy For Domestic Violence Victims
Natasha Lennard | theintercept.com | 2018-06-15
When the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1993, it gave long overdue recognition to the fact that gendered domestic violence is not a private issue, but a public health and human rights concern for the international community. Attorney General Jeff Sessions's decision this week to stop giving asylum protections for domestic violence victims stands in grim conflict with this principle. | On Monday, Sessions reversed an immigration court's ruling that granted asylum to a woman from El Salvador whose husband had repeatedly abused her physically, sexually, and emotionally. The court ruled in 2014 that domestic violence victims constitute a social group when it comes to asylum considerations. But in a 31-page ruling with profound implications for immigration policy, Sessions wrote that "generally" claims on domestic and gang violence will no longer qualify for asylum…
theintercept.com/2018/06/15/domestic-violence-asylum-jeff-sessions/

Trump administration supports lawsuit challenging Obamacare's pre-existing conditions protections
wsws.org | wsws.org | 2018-06-15
The action is the latest effort to chip away at the legislation after two failures to repeal it outright.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/06/15/care-j15.html

Lawyer: Jeff Sessions' Attacks on Migrant Domestic Violence Survivors Drags U.S. Back to "Dark Ages"
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-06-15
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.
www.democracynow.org/2018/6/15/lawyer_jeff_sessions_attacks_on_migrant

Pundits Worry Threat of Nuclear War Is Being Reduced
Gregory Shupak | fair.org | 2018-06-14
Media outlets don't want America to negotiate with North Korea; they want the US to hold North Korea for ransom. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (6/12/18) appears dismayed by the manifestation of a US president meeting with an Official Enemy. | On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, the host was aghast (6/12/18) that the US says it will halt the annual war games it conducts with South Korea on North Korea's doorstep, because doing so is "an absolute jackpot for the North Korean dictator," "one of the things he wants most on earth," and now Washington "has just given them that for free, for nothing." | Maddow implied that Trump has taken this step out of fealty to Russia, and complained that pausing war games that threaten North Korea benefits Russia and China. She twice called the Kim/Trump summit a "wedding," twice said that the…
fair.org/home/pundits-worry-threat-of-nuclear-war-is-being-reduced/

South Korean Women are Fed Up with Inequality
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-06-14
South Korean women march through the streets of Seoul. | © 2018 Courage to be Uncomfortable | On June 9, about 22,000 South Korean women marched through the streets of Seoul. The protest — reportedly the largest by women in South Korean history — focused on the proliferation of so-called "spy cams," tiny cameras used to invade women's privacy, filming them in toilets and up skirts, with images often posted online. Activists say the government is not taking the issue seriously — except in the rare case where a man is the victim. | Spy cam use is one of many rights violations women face in South Korea. The World Economic Forum recently ranked the country an abysmal 116 out of 144 countries in gender equality. In a…
www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/14/south-korean-women-are-fed-inequality

Slam dunk: Flat-Earther logic obliterated by Reddit basketball stunt (PHOTO)
RT | rt.com | 2018-06-14
A Reddit user has poked major holes in flat-Earther 'logic' with a clever — and easy-to-replicate — experiment deploying a digital camera with a macro lens, plenty of light… and a basketball. …
www.rt.com/usa/429775-flat-earth-basketball-experiment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Trauma at the Texas-Mexico Border: Families Separated, Children Detained & Residents Fighting Back
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-06-14
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.
www.democracynow.org/2018/6/14/trauma_at_the_texas_mexico_border

Volcanic eruptions may sap oxygen from oceans, lead to 'mass extinction' of life on Earth — study
RT | rt.com | 2018-06-13
Devastating volcanic eruptions, caused by excess carbon in the atmosphere, could one day lead to the mass extinction of all marine animals, and possibly all life on Earth — so says a new study. …
www.rt.com/usa/429588-volcano-study-mass-extinction/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Anti-LGBT, anti-Islam, anti-immigrant rhetoric featured alongside racist dog-whistles and Trump cabinet officials at WCS 2018
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2018-06-12
The ostensible headliners of the Western Conservative Summit in Denver on June 8 and 9 were embattled Trump cabinet members Attorney General Jeff Sessions (still under fire from the president for not recusing himself from the Russia investigation) and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (under fire from everyone but the president for having government aides and his Secret Service detail run embarrassing personal errands for him).
www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/06/12/anti-lgbt-anti-islam-anti-immigrant-rhetoric-featured-alongside-racist-dog-whistles-and

As EPA Scandals Mount, Scott Pruitt Is Radically Reshaping Agency to Aid Polluters and Big Business
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-06-08
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is again facing a slew of ethics and spending scandals amid mounting calls for his resignation. On Thursday, The Washington Post reported Pruitt enlisted members of his $3.5 million security detail to pick up his dry cleaning and search for his favorite skin moisturizing lotion, even though federal rules prohibit public officials from receiving gifts from subordinates, including unpaid services. Meanwhile, Pruitt is continuing to radically reshape the EPA. The New York Times reports today the EPA has given the chemical industry a big victory by scaling back the way the federal government determines health and safety risks associated with the most dangerous chemicals on the market. Pruitt has also been accused of radically reshaping the EPA rulemaking process and weakening Obama administration efforts to tighten fuel economy standards. We speak to Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.
www.democracynow.org/2018/6/8/as_epa_scandals_mount_scott_pruitt

Maduro & Workers Push to Stimulate Venezuela's Oil Industry amid Collapsing Production
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-06-07
It is alleged that PDVSA does not possess sufficient stocks to fulfill its June export orders.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13864

"A Source of Positivity All the Time": Remembering Palestinian Medic Razan al-Najjar, Killed by IDF
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-06-04
Witnesses say Israeli soldiers shot dead 21-year-old Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar as she ran toward the border fence to provide medical aid to a wounded protester. Since nonviolent protests began at the end of March, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 119 people, including 14 children. More than 13,000 have been wounded. "It was clear to everybody that she was a paramedic, that that was murder. I mean, that was a crime committed before cameras," said Dr. Medhat Abbas, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. We also speak with Najjar's cousin, Dalia al-Najjar, who says the response of the international community to the Gaza crisis has been "really disappointing," and notes the U.S. vetoed a draft U.N. resolution urging the protection of Palestinians on Friday, the same day Najjar was killed. "It's a shameful side that the United States decided to take."
www.democracynow.org/2018/6/4/a_source_of_positivity_all_the

Venezuela Slams New US Sanctions as Washington Hints at Oil Embargo
Cira Pascual Marquina | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-05-22
The latest measures fly in the face of international concern about the living conditions of Venezuelans.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13833