Jefferson Morley, AlterNet (2018-03-04). What I Learned at a Big Fat Salvadoran Wedding. AlterNet.org Notes on the tragic country trashed by our big fat president. | I arrived in El Salvador to attend a family wedding last week, just days before President Trump tweeted about this " shithole country," depicting it as a danger to and a drain on American society. MS-13 gang members are being removed by our Great ICE and Border Patrol Agents by the thousands, but these killers come back in from El Salvador, and through Mexico, like water. El Salvador just takes our money, and Mexico must help MORE with this problem. We need The Wall! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2018In fact, El Salvador is a tragic country, a victim of American brutality and amnesia, as well as a beneficiary of and contributor to American prosperity. It is a beautiful, depressing, dangerous, and delightful place. The difference between. . .

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement (2018-03-03). Recordings Reveal the EPA Head's Strange Christian Beliefs about God, Guns and Gay Rights. AlterNet.org Pruitt condemned evolution as an unproven theory. | Environmental Protection chief Scott Pruitt believes the "most grievous threat" facing America are the courts, which he called the "imperialistic judiciary" and the "judicial monarchy," claiming their objective is to create "religious sterility. "Radio archives from Oklahoma also show Scott Pruitt warning of 'judicial monarchy' and advocating constitutional amendments to ban abortion and gay marriage. | t. co/uvJXJ6G3fc via @emilyhholden @alexcguillen pic. twitter. com/NcUCjdu9Ro— POLITICO (@politico) March 2, 2018Pruitt made those staggering remarks and others in a series of interviews with an Oklahoma talk radio station in 2005, according to Politico, which obtained the tapes from an anonymous source. In the interviews, Pruitt condemns evolution as an unproven "theory" that is at the base of humanism. "There aren't sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution, and it deals with the origins. . .

Truthout Stories (2018-03-03). Five Things the Trump Administration Is Removing From Federal Websites. Truthout Stories Help Truthout supply a counterpoint to the dangerous rhetoric and misinformation spewing forth from Washington DC. It takes less than thirty seconds to contribute via card or PayPal: Just click here! | Perhaps one of the best-remembered quotes from George Orwell's dystopian book 1984 is "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." Over the last year, the Trump administration has taken those words literally, using them as a blueprint to recreate a federal government focused on big business and socially conservative policy. | And nowhere has this been more apparent than on federal websites. Appointees have been scrubbing and rewriting text to erase climate change, sexual health care, civil rights — and even our nation's history. | Here are five things the Trump administration has removed from federal websites in an attempt…

Robin Scher, AlterNet (2018-03-03). Cape Town Is Set to Become the World's First Major City to Run Out of Water (Video). AlterNet.org The South African city is a test case for what happens when climate change and a dysfunctional government collide. | How will humanity respond to future crises caused by climate change? Some scenarios envision us rising to the occasion, tackling adaptation head-on and weathering the literal and metaphoric storms. Those with less faith in our fellow humans predict more pessimistic outcomes. The reality is that we won't need to wait too long for our first glimpse: In a few months, the South African coastal city of Cape Town is set to become the world's first major metropolis to run out of municipal water. At present, Cape Town's dams, which hold the city's entire water supply, are at around 24 percent capacity. Once that level drops below 13. 5 percent, the city will have to reroute its remaining water reserves to 200 emergency pickup. . .

WSWS (2018-03-03). Emergency declared after earthquake devastates Papua New Guinea. World Socialist Web Site More than 50 people are feared dead and anger is mounting over the lack of government assistance.

RT (2018-03-03). Dramatic takedown: $4mn bank heist prevented in highway intercept (VIDEO). RT US News A two-year plot to steal $4 million from armored vehicles in south Florida and murder the drivers was foiled by authorities in dramatic fashion, just hours before the deadly heist was due to be executed. |
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Lornet Turnbull, YES! Magazine (2018-03-02). High School Students Demanding Gun Reform Join Rich History of Teen Resistance. AlterNet.org Past social justice movements show how effective teens can be. | Since the Feb. 14 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the national spotlight has been on the courageous student survivors who have been too outraged to be cast only as victims of tragedy. Rather, they have been activated, calling out lawmakers and demanding gun reforms. This is not new. From civil rights to Standing Rock, high school students, many not yet old enough to vote, have raised their voices and become formidable allies to effect change. The killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has reignited the contentious debate over the nation's gun laws and inspired an explosive new movement among students. From Massachusetts to Washington state, high school students have staged walkouts, sit-ins and die-ins this week in solidarity with the Florida students, who have. . .

CPFLEF (2018-03-02). Water Fluoridation: Victory in Legal Case to Force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to End the Addition of Fluoride to the Public Water Supply. Global Research Lawsuit Update | More exciting news for the concerned citizens around the world working tirelessly to educate Municipal Councillors and Government officials on the dangers of ingested fluoride aka Hydrofluorosilicic Acid added to the drinking water supply. | FAN (Fluoride Action Network) …

Paul Street (2018-03-02). Someone Tell a Reporter: the Rich are Destroying the Earth. counterpunch.org Let history record that on Wednesday, September 6th, 2017, 14 days after climate change-fueled Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and 4 days before Hurricane Irma hit southern Florida, the climate-denying President of the United States Donald Trump went to North Dakota to deliver a "tax reform" speech before hundreds of workers and managers at a major oil refinery. More

Phil Doe (2018-03-02). The Colorado Gas Wars: Where Things Fall Apart, for There is No Center. counterpunch.org Things stay mostly the same in Colorado, where climate change doesn't exist in the minds of many politicians and some captains of industry. The marvels of fracking are a constant. Wells explode with regularity; each week thousands of barrels of toxic liquids from hydraulic fracturing are injected into the bowels of the earth for 'safe More

Robert Koehler (2018-03-02). Melting Ice of the Human Heart. counterpunch.org More>

CP Editor (2018-03-02). "Freakishly Warm" Arctic Weather Has Scientists Reconsidering Worst-Case Scenarios on Climate Change. counterpunch.org

TRNN (2018-03-02). Canadian Logger Intensifies Persecution of Greenpeace and Stand.Earth. The Real News Network "They have nothing to go on," says Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand.Earth, one of the defendants in the case filed by Resolute Forest Products, who had previously filed a case that was dismissed under anti-SLAPP legislation…

Robert C. Koehler (2018-03-02). Melting the Ice in the Human Heart. Global Research How close, how intimate, have you ever gotten with Greenland? | A new documentary called Stella Polaris, directed by Yatri Niehaus — part of Chicago's tenth annual Peace on Earth Film Festival — takes you on a meditative journey to this …

F. William Engdahl (2018-03-02). The Secret Stupid Saudi-US Deal on Syria. Oil Gas Pipeline War. Global Research Relevant article selected from the GR archive, first published by GR in October 2014 sheds light on the unfolding war in Syria, the crisis in the Gulf states and the confrontation between Russia and the US. | The details are emerging …

WSWS (2018-03-02). Presidential frontrunner López Obrador backs off threat to undo Mexican oil privatization. World Socialist Web Site It is now clear that AMLO's past campaigns against opening up Mexico's oil industry to foreign interests were little more than political showboating.

Mark Anderson, The Progressive Populist (2018-03-01). An Unprecedented Grassroots Effort Could Put a Stop to Fraudulent Debt Collections. AlterNet.org It could finally bring to heel the profoundly abusive banking system and its main collaborators. | Federal agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau might make headlines, but they don't always make progress. Sometimes solving problems is up to the people themselves. Well, there's an unprecedented grassroots effort to bring to heel the profoundly abusive banking system and its main collaborators in the courts and in debt-collection law firms. Longtime monetary-reform advocate Mickey Paoletta of Mortgage Defense Systems in Mechanicsburg, Pa. , ( hermitageway7@cs. com) has helped scores of individual homeowners being sued in foreclosure proceedings expose their mortgage "loans" as invalid in court. He's put in long hours researching and writing legal filings, helping embattled homeowners/consumers understand and fight the mortgage-banking (and credit card) racket. But now, due to a little-known but potentially powerful legal option called the "King's Bench" jurisdiction, he's taking things to the. . .

Mary Mazzoni, AlterNet (2018-03-01). 6 Major Findings From the U.S. Federal Climate Science Special Report That Trump Will Probably Deny. AlterNet.org When it comes to climate, it's the Trump administration against the world. | Climate change took center stage as business leaders and heads of state poured into Davos, Switzerland, recently for the World Economic Forum. The WEF Global Risks report, launched each year in advance of the Forum, cited "extreme weather events," "natural disasters," and "failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation" as the most dangerous challenges facing the global community. So it came as no surprise when world leaders used the event to sound the climate alarm yet again. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for global cooperation on climate action, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi characterized climate change as the "greatest threat to the survival of human civilization as we know it. " Even business moguls jumped into the fold, with the. . .

Democracy Now! (2018-03-01). "Freakishly Warm" Arctic Weather Has Scientists Reconsidering Worst-Case Scenarios on Climate Change. Democracy Now! Scientists are expressing dismay over unprecedented warm temperatures in the Arctic. In recent days, temperatures at the North Pole have surged above freezing—even though the sun set last October and won't rise again until later this month. On the northern tip of Greenland, a meteorological site has logged an unprecedented 61 hours of temperatures above freezing so far in 2018. The record-breaking temperatures are connected to an unusual retreat of sea ice in the sunless Arctic winter. Scientists suggest warming temperatures are eroding the polar vortex, the powerful winds that once cushioned the frozen north. The alarming heat wave is causing scientists to reconsider even their bleakest forecasts of climate change. According to a leaked draft of a scientific report by a United Nations panel of scientists, "The risk of an ice-free Arctic in summer is about 50 per cent or higher," with warming of between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius. We speak with Jason Box, professor in glaciology at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen.

TRNN (2018-03-01). Sanders Introduces Bill to End Catastrophic US War in Yemen. The Real News Network Three years of U.S.-Saudi war has turned Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth. Senators Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee introduced a bipartisan bill to end the U.S. role in the war.

TRNN (2018-03-01). Sanders Introduces Bill to End Catastrophic US War in Yemen. The Real News Network Three years of U.S.-Saudi war has turned Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth. Senators Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee introduced a bipartisan bill to end the U.S. role in the war – Ben Norton reports.

Quincy Saul (2018-03-01). The Core Trembles: New York City for Marichuy! counterpunch.org More>

Alleen Brown (2018-03-01). "The Scales Are Tipped": Emails Show Louisiana's Close Relationship With Oil Industry, Monitoring of Pipeline Opponents. The Intercept The state's relationship with Energy Transfer Partners stands in stark contrast to its lack of engagement with activists opposing the Bayou Bridge pipeline. | The post "The Scales Are Tipped": Emails Show Louisiana's Close Relationship With Oil Industry, Monitoring of Pipeline Opponents appeared first on The Intercept.

CP Editor (2018-03-01). Oil Pollution — Russia's Dirty Secret. counterpunch.org

TRNN (2018-03-01). US Efforts to Sabotage Venezuelan Elections Intensify. The Real News Network The presidential election in Venezuela is now being derailed by the threat of a U.S. oil embargo and the opposition coalition's call for a boycott. A strong opposition challenger to President Maduro is running anyway…

Truthout Stories (2018-02-28). Before the US Approves New Uranium Mining, Consider Its Toxic Legacy. Truthout Stories Support from readers keeps Truthout 100 percent independent. If you like what you're reading, make a donation! | Uranium — the raw material for nuclear power and nuclear weapons — is having a moment in the spotlight. | Companies such as Energy Fuels, Inc. have played well-publicized roles in lobbying the Trump administration to reduce federal protection for public lands with uranium deposits. The Defense Department's Nuclear Posture Review calls for new weapons production to expand the US nuclear arsenal, which could spur new domestic uranium mining. And the Interior Department is advocating more domestic uranium production, along with other materials identified as " critical minerals." | What would expanded uranium mining in the US mean at the local level? I have studied the legacies of past uranium mining and milling…

Amnesty International (2018-02-28). Afghanistan: Kabul Process conference must put the protection of civilians at its heart. Amnesty International The Kabul Process conference must put the protection of Afghan civilians and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the heart of its discussions this week, Amnesty International said. | Leaders and representatives of 23 governments, the United Nations, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are meeting in the Afghan capital for three days of talks centred on the themes of security and counter-terrorism. | "The greatest security issue in Afghanistan is the safety of Afghan civilians. In recent weeks, we have seen the horrors of previous years unfold on the streets of Kabul, with civilians ruthlessly targeted in attacks that amount to war crimes," said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International's Deputy South Asia Director. | "We keep hearing of the Afghan government and the international community's concern for the civilian lives, but there has been a failure to…

Human Rights Watch (2018-02-28). US: Freezing Cells for Detained Migrants. Human Rights Watch News Footage of women and children in immigration holding cells in Douglas, Arizona, September 2015, made public in 2016 after a group of migrants challenged detention conditions in the cells. | US Customs and Border Protection via American Immigration Council | (Washington, DC) — United States border agents routinely hold families, including infants, in freezing cells when it takes them into custody at or near the border, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. | The 44-page report, " In the Freezer: Abusive Conditions for Women and Children in US Immigration Holding Cells," is based on interviews with 110 women and children. Human Rights Watch found that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents routinely separate adult men and teenage boys from other family members. The practice runs counter to agency…

WSWS (2018-02-28). Johns Hopkins researchers find toxic levels of heavy metals in e-cigarette vapors. World Socialist Web Site Electronic cigarettes have high concentrations of heavy and toxic metals in their vapors caused by the release of these metals from the heating coils.

Ilana Novick, AlterNet (2018-02-28). Alaska's Republican Congressman Has Some Mind-Melting Thoughts About the Holocaust. AlterNet.org Don Young won't let history or basic decency get in the way of his gun rights advocacy. | Rep. Don Young enjoys drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, tax cuts for billionaires, and arming teachers in order to address school shootings. It's all fairly standard for a Republican in 2018. A Democratic challenger, however, caught Young on tape with a take on the Holocaust that stands out even in an age when the president has announced on national television that a clash between actual Nazis and anti-fascists protesters had "good people on both sides. " According to a recording made by Dimitri Shein, Young believes that the Holocaust would have turned out differently if only the Jews had been armed. "How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia," the congressman is. . .

Randy Shields (2018-02-27). Yahoomans in Paradise — Where the Weird Things Go. counterpunch.org Last week in "Yahoomans in Paradise" we went to the Channel Islands National Park. This week we trade the dolphins, the island foxes and the thrill of seeing the largest creature to ever live on Earth (the blue whale) for the scraggly place where the weird things go — the desert. Most of my friends More

Adam Johnson (2018-02-27). Atlantic Bravely Confronts Twitter Insults, Ignores Threat of Decades in Prison. FAIR An opinion piece in The Atlantic ( 2/17/19) takes issue with the phenomenon of people sharing their opinions: "Twitter's socially conscious denizens probably only realized they should be outraged at Weiss after they saw other people being outraged." | Which journalists need protecting and which are deemed expendable tells us a lot about media priorities. | New York Times editorial page deputy editor Bari Weiss—a boilerplate neocon warmonger, anti-Arab racist, and sexual abuse soft-peddler—got into hot water when she sent a tweet last week praising Asian-American Mirai Nagasu (born in California) for being "an immigrant" who "got things done." When several people noted not only that Nagasu was born in the US—and thus not an immigrant—but that the assumption that Asian-Americans are inherently foreign is a pervasive, deeply toxic trope that should be apologized for, Weiss had a classic…

Human Rights Watch (2018-02-26). Morocco: New Violence Against Women Law . Human Rights Watch News (Tunis) — Morocco's new law on violence against women provides protections for survivors but contains gaps that should be addressed, Human Rights Watch said today. | After more than a decade of advocacy by Moroccan women's rights organizations, Morocco has adopted Law no. 103-13 on combating violence against women. Morocco's government presented the revised bill no. 103-13 on March 17, 2016, to the House of Representatives (first Parliamentary chamber), which passed it with some minor improvements on July 26, 2016 and sent it to the House of Councillors, the second chamber. It made some minor improvements on January 30, 2018, and returned it to the first chamber. Despite women's rights groups' vigorous lobbying to improve protections, on February 14, 2018, the House of Representatives approved the law without further change. The law will come into effect six months after it…

Democracy Now! (2018-02-26). Six Months After Harvey, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Absent from Houston's Recovery Plans. Democracy Now! This week marks six months since Hurricane Harvey caused historic flooding in Houston, Texas, the most diverse city in the nation and one of its largest. Houston is also home to the largest refining and petrochemical complex in the country. As federal money for rebuilding trickles in, Houston's chief "recovery czar" is the former president of Shell Oil, Marvin Odum, whose past experience includes rebuilding Shell's oil and gas facilities after Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, immigrants and fenceline communities who suffer from pollution along Houston's industrial corridor are still largely absent from much of the discussion about how the city plans to recover. For more, we host a roundtable discussion with Dr. Robert Bullard, the "father of environmental justice"; Bryan Parras of the Sierra Club; undocumented immigrant activist Cesar Espinosa; and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Hilton Kelley in Port Arthur, Texas.

Robert J. Burrowes (2018-02-26). Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest Garbage Dump in the Universe? counterpunch.org Is Earth the largest garbage dump in the Universe? I don't know. But it's a safe bet that Earth would be a contender were such a competition to be held. Let me explain why. To start, just listing the types of rubbish generated by humans or the locations into which each of these is dumped More

Democracy Now! (2018-02-26). Headlines for February 26, 2018. Democracy Now! U.N. Chief: "Stop This Hell on Earth" in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, Students Return to Stoneman Douglas HS for First Time Since Massacre, Broward Sheriff Faces Criticism over Failure to Probe Warnings About Gunman, Congress, NRA Face Pressure as Support for Stricter Gun Control Laws Grows, Ex-Trump Aide Pleads Guilty & Agrees to Cooperate with Mueller Probe, Democratic Memo Defends FBI Actions Surrounding Surveillance of Trump Aide, Weinstein Company to File for Bankruptcy, California Democrats Vote Not to Endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Report: Trump Speaks Privately About Executing Drug Dealers, U.S. Imposes New N. Korea Sanctions, Palestinians Condemn U.S. Plan to Move Embassy to Jerusalem on Nakba Day, 20,000 Protest Israeli Plan to Push Out African Migrants, Oakland Mayor Warns Residents of Possible ICE Raid, Louisiana Judge Revokes Permit for Energy Transfer Partners Pipeline, West Virginia Teachers Begin Third Day on Strike, Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Key Case About Future of Labor Unions…

RT (2018-02-26). While Big Energy profits, US taxpayers pay for toxic clean up. RT US News Taxpayers could be liable for $6 billion in cleanup costs of toxic hazards left by oil and gas drilling. Outdated laws allow companies to pay only a small share of expenses as the number of abandoned wells rises. |
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WSWS (2018-02-26). Interview with Arang Keshavarzian, NYU professor barred from the UAE. World Socialist Web Site For years, the United States has forged an anti-Iranian alliance with reactionary Sunni Persian Gulf oil monarchies, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Amnesty International (2018-02-24). Syria: Security Council must ensure civilians in Eastern Ghouta get immediate humanitarian assistance. Amnesty International Responding to the news that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) finally voted today on a much-delayed resolution calling for humanitarian aid into Eastern Ghouta and a partial ceasefire, Sherine Tadros, Head of Amnesty International's UN Office said: | "It shouldn't require a Security Council resolution or a ceasefire for starving civilians to be allowed life-saving assistance and protection from being deliberately bombarded. These are the requirements of international humanitarian law. But now that the resolution has finally passed, the Security Council must follow through and ensure that attacks on civilians are ended and unfettered access to humanitarian assistance is provided without delay. | "For more than six years, Security Council members have abdicated their responsibility and relegated themselves to irrelevance in Syria. Even the resolutions that were belatedly adopted on ending violations and securing humanitarian access have not been enforced. They must…

Jeffrey St. Clair (2018-02-23). They Came, They Saw, They Tweeted. counterpunch.org My sense of anticipation was hyped. Robert Mueller had just indicted the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, along with several of the trolls who slaved away tirelessly in their cubicles in St. Petersburg in a plot to despoil American democracy. Having recently survived a hit-and-run collision with a suspected Russian troll, who had recklessly driven the internet highways with a false id (Alice Donovan), I was eager to see what the former FBI man had uncovered. More

Amnesty International (2018-02-23). Iran: De jeunes défenseurs des droits humains risquent la torture. Amnesty International La jeune défenseure des droits humains Shima Babaee, qui mène campagne contre le port obligatoire du voile, et son mari Dariush Zand risquent d'être torturés et soumis à d'autres mauvais traitements. Ils sont tous les deux détenus à la prison d'Evin, à Téhéran, et privés de contacts avec leur famille et leurs avocats, depuis leur arrestation, le 1er février. Ils ont été arrêtés par des agents du ministère du Renseignement en raison de leurs activités pacifiques de défense des droits humains. Ils sont des prisonniers d'opinion.