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April 2019

Venezuela Is An Epoch Struggle For The Future

April 30, 2019 Gerry Condon, Popular Resistance. , ,
I am watching the cable news coverage of the latest escalation of the U.S.-orchestrated attempted coup in Venezuela. And I am disgusted. As far as I can tell from checking out a broader variety of news sources, the violent protests called by self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido are relatively small and pathetic. A more robust war is being waged, however, on the cable networks themselves.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “we only care about the welfare of the Venezuelan people.” Which makes Venezuela pretty darn special.  Since when do Trump, Pence, Bolton, Pompeo, Abrams and Rubio care about anybody but the billionaires whom they serve?

US Judge Strikes Down Texas Anti-BDS Law

April 30, 2019 Middle East Eye. , ,
A US federal judge has struck down a controversial Texas anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) law, saying it violates freedom of speech under the country’s first amendment of the constitution. The judge, Robert Pitman, delivered an injunction to strike down Texas’ law late on Thursday, saying in his opinion that it forces “public debate through coercion rather than persuasion”. The law ran into legal trouble when Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist, was not allowed to sign a contract extension with Pflugerville independent school district...

6,000 Amazon Employees, Including A VP And Directors, Are Now Calling On Jeff Bezos To Stop Automating Oil Extraction

April 30, 2019 Brian Merchant, Gizmodo.com , , , ,
On Monday, a group of Amazon employees began circulating an open letter that calls on CEO Jeff Bezos and the board of directors to adopt a companywide plan to address climate change. By Wednesday, over 3,500 Amazoners had signed on. By Friday, that number had surpassed 6,000—meaning a number equivalent to about 1/10th of the company’s entire corporate workforce had publicly added their names. And those names are still rolling in. One of the latest names belongs to Tim Bray, a VP and Distinguished Engineer who, per his LinkedIn profile, is “an AWS geek at Amazon.com.”

Afrofuturism, Indigenous People And Intersectional Spaces: These Jackson Artists Hope Their Creations Inspire A Community

April 30, 2019 Eric J. Shelton, Mississippitoday.org , ,
Empty spray paint cans lie on the pavement, paint rollers and brushes with vibrant colors resting at his feet, Kwame Braxton, a 29-year-old artist and Jackson native, takes a moment to look at his nearly completed mural. Wearing paint splattered clothes, Braxton analyzes his approach in appropriately conveying the meaning of his piece. “What is inside of you, you can create, and what you create is also inside of you,” Braxton said of his piece covering part of the Center for Community Production building near downtown Jackson.

What Happened After The Panama Papers?

April 30, 2019 By Amy Wilson-Chapman, Antonio Cucho and Will Fitzgibbon, Icij.org , , ,
The unprecedented investigation into the rogue offshore industry was published on April 3, 2016. Here’s what happened next. Within days of publication, protesters hit the streets, politicians resigned, police raided offices and prosecutors launched investigations.

Demanding Medicare For All, Nurses Use Band-Aids To Plaster GoFundMe Pages To Big Pharma Headquarters

April 30, 2019 By Jake Johnson, Commondreams.org , , ,
"Nobody should have a GoFundMe account to pay for their healthcare, and we're here to make sure that that stops." Hundreds of nurses and their allies from across the country rallied Monday outside the headquarters of the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbying group and plastered the GoFundMe pages of Americans "suffering in an immoral healthcare system" to the building's walls and windows. "The people inside this building spent $28 million on lobbying last year to keep prescription drug prices so unaffordable that some of our patients needlessly die." 

Librarian Rushes To Archive Alberta’s Climate Change Data Before Change In Government

April 30, 2019 Sarah Lawrynuik, Thenarwhal.ca , ,
University of Alberta librarian Katie Cuyler says industry experts and academics have requested she begin ‘guerrilla archiving’ critical information they fear could disappear under a new United Conservative government. The election of the United Conservative Party government in Alberta has kept one Edmonton-based librarian very busy. In what has come to be known as “guerrilla archiving,” Katie Cuyler, a public services and government information librarian at the University of Alberta, has gone about saving all data and information hosted on the Government of Alberta web pages before it is turned over from the NDP to the UCP.

The Strike Returns To New Zealand

April 30, 2019 Ross Webb, Jacobinmag.com , , ,
Over the last year, New Zealand has seen tens of thousands of workers walk off the job, challenging the Labour government’s self-imposed austerity. In early 2018, a New Zealand nurse and union member Elizabeth Alice wrote an open Facebook post that went viral. “Here’s the thing,” Alice wrote. Nurses were fighting for pay, staffing levels, and “the future of our public health system.” “Our communities deserve investment in public health,” Alice continued. ‘If we don’t fight for it now then it will be gone, and we will have a situation like the USA where the rich get premium care and the poor die on the streets from curable diseases.”

Secretive Fossil Fuel Lobby Group Manipulated UN Climate Programs

April 30, 2019 By Mat Hope and Karen Savage, Truthout.org , , ,
A fossil fuel-backed industry group was able to influence the process behind the United Nations climate assessments for decades, using lobbyists and industry-funded scientists to manipulate international negotiations, a cache of recently discovered documents reveals. The documents include hundreds of briefings, meeting minutes, notes, and correspondence from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). They were released Thursday by the Climate Investigations Center in collaboration with DeSmog and Climate Liability News.

Activists Deliver Giant Trash Monsters To Nestlé Headquarters To Protest Plastic Pollution

April 30, 2019 Maddie Stone, Earther.gizmodo.com , , ,
Plastic pollution in the oceans is a huge, disgusting problem. Which is why it’s pretty fitting that Greenpeace decided to raise awareness of one company’s contributions with huge, disgusting trash monsters. On Tuesday, Greenpeace activists hauled a 15-foot-tall heap of garbage, artfully crafted to resemble one of those deep sea fish that’s about 90 percent jowl, out in front of the Nestlé’s U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. An even bigger trash monster was delivered earlier in the day to the company’s global headquarters in Switzerland, while similar leviathans cropped up in Italy, Kenya, and the Philippines, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Kate Melges told Earther in a phone interview.

New York Museum Cancels Gala To Honor Far-Right Brazilian Leader

April 30, 2019 Merrit Kennedy, Npr.org , ,
The American Museum of Natural History in New York has announced that it will no longer host an event honoring Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is outspoken about his desire to roll back environmental protections. Environmental organizations had pushed for the event to be moved. "The decision echoes the museum's institutional values and its tireless quest for truth through science and education, which is the exact opposite of all the Brazilian President stands for," said the Brazilian environmental organization Observatório do Clima.

The Complete History Of Monsanto, The World’s Most Evil Corporation

April 30, 2019 Hanzai E, Wakingtimes.com , , ,
Of all the mega-corps running amok, Monsanto has consistently outperformed its rivals, earning the crown as “most evil corporation on Earth!” Not content to simply rest upon its throne of death, atop a mountain of rotting corpses, it remains focused on newer, more scientifically innovative ways to harm the planet and its people. As true champions of evil, they won’t stop until…well, until they’re stopped! But what is Monsanto and how did they get to be so obscenely evil in the first place? I think that’s the best place to start this journey, so grab a few non-GMO snacks or beverages and let’s go for a ride into the deep, murky sewers of their dark past.

Judge Determines Flint Residents Can Sue US Government For Water Crisis

April 29, 2019 Andrew Emett, Nationofchange.org , ,
A federal judge recently determined that residents of Flint, Michigan have the right to file lawsuits against the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to immediately intervene on their behalf. Although U.S. Judge Linda Parker stated that the EPA was aware of the lead from corrosive pipes and that Michigan regulators were lying to Flint residents, Judge Parker did not rule on the EPA’s negligence. Agreeing to temporarily switch from Detroit’s water supply to the Flint River in April 2014, residents in the city of Flint immediately noticed their tap water appeared cloudy while emitting a pungent odor.

U.S. Activists Defend Venezuelan Sovereignty: Inside Report From An Embassy Protector

April 29, 2019 Leon Koufax with Gian Sison, Struggle-la-lucha.org , , ,
Washington, D.C. — In early April, a coalition of anti-war activists called for a civilian defense of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. This call was made in response to the attempted coup against Venezuela’s democratically elected president, Nicolás Maduro. Since late February, the U.S. and its allies have attempted to install a right-wing puppet government in Venezuela, headed by pretender Juan Guiadó. The Trump administration had supported the takeover of several Venezuelan diplomatic buildings in the U.S. by pro-Guaidó forces.

What’s Really Behind Julian Assange’s Arrest

April 29, 2019 Robert Scheer, Truthdig.com , ,
The recent arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has provoked a wide spectrum of responses in the media, but many journalists seem to recognize the Trump administration’s attack on the publisher as setting a dangerous precedent for freedom of the press. Many reports have focused on what Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer deems a mischaracterization of Assange’s character that is used to justify a heinous persecution and bury the fact that Assange, in his publishing of news, has acted much like any newspaper.
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