Daily Archives: August 7, 2019

2019-08-07: Social Media Postees

“Toni Morrison Will Always Be with Us”: Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni & Sonia Sanchez Pay Tribute
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-07
Toni Morrison, one of the nation’s most influential writers, died this week at the age of 88 from complications of pneumonia. In 1993, Morrison became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her classic work “Beloved.” Much of Morrison’s writing focused on the Black female experience in America, and her writing style honored the rhythms of Black oral tradition. Her work was deeply concerned with race and history, especially the sin of transatlantic slavery and the potentially restorative power of community. In 2012, President Obama awar…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/7/rememberin…

EU Opposes Recent US Total Blockade Against Venezuela
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-07
The European Union said Wednesday it rejected new moves by the White House to impose a total blockade on Venezuela. Though the EU has also placed sanctions on the elected government of Venezuela, they oppose U.S. attempts to extend the sanctions ‘extraterritorially’. | RELATED: | Venezuela Denounces the ‘Imperialist’ Total Blockade by US | “We oppose the extraterritorial application of unilateral measures,” said EU spokesperson Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela, spokesperson for the…
telesurenglish.net/news/EU-Opposes-Recen…

Trump Regime “Maximum Pressure” High Crimes Against World Peace. Illegal Embargo against Venezuela
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Maximum pressure is a Trump regime euphemism for unlawful political, economic and financial collective punishment against a sovereign state, its leadership and population — for not bending to Washington’s will. | Binding international law Fourth Geneva’s Article 33 prohibits it, stating: …
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-maximum-p…

Don’t Let Mass Shooters and the New York Times Destroy Freedom of Speech
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
“Online communities like 4chan and 8chan have become hotbeds of white nationalist activity,” wrote the editors of the New York Times on August 4 in the wake of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. Then: “Law enforcement currently offers few answers as to how to contain these communities.” Wait, what? Is the Times really…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/dont-let-mas…

In the Face of McConnell’s Inaction, Progressives Call for Gun Reform
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-07
| As the nation calls for gun control in the wake of two mass shootings in 14 hours over the weekend, Democrats and activists are taking aim at Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to take action on the continuing gun violence crisis. | McConnell has refused to move forward on a number of bills from the Democratic Party-controlled House that currently sit on his desk awaiting a Senate vote. | “This is actually, literally in the hands of one person in terms of this legisl…
truthout.org/articles/in-the-face-of-mcc…

Trump Campaign Ran Over 2,000 Ads Warning of Immigrant “Invasion” Before El Paso
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-07
| Before a white gunman targeted dozens of Latinos in response to what he believed was an immigrant “invasion,” President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign ran more than 2,000 Facebook ads calling immigration an “invasion.” | Although Trump rejected white supremacy after the alleged gunman killed 22 people and injured dozens of others Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the gunman echoed the president’s own rhetoric w…
truthout.org/articles/trump-campaign-ran…

White Supremacy Goes Prime Time
Chandra Muzaffar | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
A number of commentators have linked the killing of 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso in the United States of America on Saturday 3rd August 2019 to the rising tide of White Supremacism. White Supremacism is a belief that whites are superior to others and therefore have a right to dominate them.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/white-suprem…

Is Justin Trudeau Pro-Nukes?
Yves Engler | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-07
Justin Trudeau presents himself as “progressive” on foreign affairs. The Liberals claim to have brought Canada “back” after the disastrous Harper Conservatives. But their nuclear weapons policy demonstrates the emptiness of this rhetoric. Reducing the chance nuclear weapons are used again should be a priority for any “progressive” government. But, powerful Canadian allies oppose nuclear …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/is-justin-tru…

This Iran War Vet Has Some Advice for Trump: Don’t Play Checkers with the Grandmasters of Chess
Habib Ahmadzadeh | mintpressnews.com | 2019-08-07
War is not our business, but negotiations and diplomacy are. War is not our purpose. Peace is our mission. Peace is our philosophy in life, and you are right, diplomacy is our art.
mintpressnews.com/iran-war-vet-advice-tr…

This Iranian War Vet Has Some Advice for Trump: Don’t Play Checkers with the Grandmasters of Chess
Habib Ahmadzadeh | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Dear President Trump, | In a recent Tweet, you claimed that “Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.” As a world citizen and a veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, I have firsthand experience with the bitterness of …
globalresearch.ca/iranian-war-vet-has-so…

Dossier 19: Iranians will not forget. The hybrid war against Iran
The Tricontinental | mronline.org | 2019-08-07
It is impossible to predict what will happen in West Asia. Impossible to know whether the United States will conduct a military strike against Iran, which has already faced the full brunt of a U.S.-driven hybrid war against it for the past seven decades. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/08/07/dossier-19-irani…

Wired’s Gee-Whiz High-Tech Militarism
Julianne Tveten | fair.org | 2019-08-07
by Julianne Tveten | A deluge of major Western publications stated last month that the US destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (e.g., New York Times, 7/18/19; NPR, 7/19/19; NBC News, 7/18/19). Citing unproven reports from Don…
fair.org/home/wireds-gee-whiz-high-tech-…

The Skripal Poisoning: Anonymous’ Revelations Point to UK Intelligence Motives
Karin Brothers | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Sergei Skripal was a former Russian double agent for Britain. After a high-profile spy swap in 2010, he lived in Salisbury, England, near his former MI6 handler, Pablo Miller, who he reportedly kept in touch with. | Late in the …
globalresearch.ca/skripal-poisoning-anon…

Hiroshima Unlearned: Time to Tell the Truth About US Relations with Russia
Alice Slater | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
August 6th and 9th mark 74 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where only one nuclear bomb dropped on each city caused the deaths of up to 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 people in Nagasaki. Today, …
globalresearch.ca/hiroshima-unlearned-ti…

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the spies who prevented a criminal US with a nuclear monopoly from making more of them
Dave Lindorff | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-07
Seventy-four years ago yesterday, the U.S. dropped the first-ever atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, a non-military target of several hundred thousand, instantly vaporizing some 70,000 people, mostly civilians, and causing the painful, slower death of another 70,000 who died of burns and radioactive damage to their bodies over the next four months. Another …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/07/hiroshima-…

The New Politics of the White (Supremacist) Evangelical Republican Party
David Schultz | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
No matter what Donald Trump does or says, most Republicans and white evangelicals are not going to criticize or break from him in 2020. It is a fantasy if Democrats think that they can sway them, hoping that perhaps talking about jobs, prescription drug prices, or immigration reform will move these voters. It is also…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/the-new-poli…

Will Mercenaries Fight America’s Wars? Private Mercenary Army on Behalf of Venezuela “Opposition”
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
President Donald Trump’s pre-election pledge to end America’s useless wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan just might turn out to be somewhat less than what was promised if some political allies of the president have their way. For …
globalresearch.ca/will-mercenaries-fight…

The Rise of the American Gestapo
John W. Whitehead | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
Despite the finger-pointing and outcries of dismay from those who are watching the government discard the rule of law at every turn, the question is not whether Donald Trump is the new Adolf Hitler but whether the American Police State is the new Third Reich. For those who can view the present and past political…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/the-rise-of-…

Britain’s Flagship Drone Projects: UK Government Spending Watchdog Highlights “Significant Issues”
Peter Burt | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
The Ministry of Defence’s two flagship drone projects — the ‘Protector’ programme to introduce the Certifiable Predator B drone into service with the Royal Air Force, and the Army’s Watchkeeper surveillance drone — continue to face ‘significant issues’ according to …
globalresearch.ca/government-spending-wa…

On Medicare’s 54 Birthday
Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare Act. Within a year, and without the aid of computers, the United States provided more than 19 million seniors with health coverage. Before the law existed, over half of the elderly in the United States did not have health insurance. Medicare, which now includes people with disabilities,…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/on-medicares…

Opponents Delay $1.25 Billion Plastic Complex in Louisiana
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-07
| “Look at what is coming into the Parish, instead of saying ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’– it is time to say ‘No,'” Pastor Harry Joseph told the St. James Parish Council on July 24. He implored councilmembers to consider freshly unveiled public health and economic concerns before they reaffirmed a permit allowing yet another petrochemical plant in a southern Louisiana community fed up with its already rapid industrialization. | Joseph, pastor of Mount Triumph Baptist Church in St. James, is one of the plaintif…
truthout.org/articles/opponents-delay-1-…

No Cause Has Achieved Combination of Deranged Views and Raw Power as the Modern American Right-Wing
Mike Lofgren | commondreams.org | 2019-08-07
Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush high five during the Republican Presidential Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California on September 16, 2015. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump stepped into a campaign hornet’s nest as his rivals collectively turned their sights on the billionaire in the party’s second debate of the 2016 presidential race. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/07/no-cau…

China Just Went Nuclear in the Trade War, and There Is No Turning Back Now
Michael Snyder | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
When will Americans start to wake up and realize what is happening? At the end of last week, President Trump announced that the U.S. would be imposing a 10 percent tariff on 300 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports, and …
globalresearch.ca/china-just-went-nuclea…

Future of Amazon Deforestation Data in Doubt as Research Head Sacked by Bolsonaro
Karla Mendes | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
After a month of intensifying criticism from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro concerning data revealing a spike in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over recent months, the Brazilian President has fired the head of the government agency in charge of tracking …
globalresearch.ca/future-amazon-deforest…

Brazil’s PT Warns Lula Prison Transfer Is Political Persecution
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-07
The substitute judge of the 12th Federal Court of Curitiba Carolina Lebbos decided Wednesday morning to transfer former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from a federal jail in Curitiba to a prison in the state of Sao Paulo. | RELATED: | ‘Resistance Caravan’ Travels Brazil in Support of Lula | A few minutes after this information was released, the Worker’s Party (PT) president Gleisi Hoffmann explained that such ruling did not respect the request made by Lula’s lawyers, who had asked…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazils-PT-Warns…

Cheering a New Arms Race: The End of the INF
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
US President Donald Trump is a master of the withdrawal method. That said, it is often forgotten that the United States remains that most fickle of creatures, joining, or abandoning international regimes that might be seen to jar with the national interest. Initial preparations for such global arrangements tend to be initially optimistic, even rosy.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/cheering-a-n…

Steve Bullock’s Attacks on Vitally-Needed Progressive Policies
George Ochenski | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
“Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” –Robert Kennedy Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock got his moment on the debate stage with the host of other Democratic presidential hopefuls last week and played his part of the “moderate” to the hilt. But…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/steve-bulloc…

More Money, Fewer Jobs: the Stubborn Truth About Employment and the Defense Industry
Nia Harris, Cassandra Stimpson and Ben Freeman | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
A Marilyn has once again seduced a president. This time, though, it’s not a movie star; it’s Marillyn Hewson, the head of Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top defense contractor and the largest weapons producer in the world. In the last month, Donald Trump and Hewson have seemed inseparable. They “saved” jobs at a helicopter plant.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/more-money-f…

The “Feel Better” President: Making Racism Fashionable Again
John G. Russell | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
Recently, after complaints from consumers, so-called “feel better” rag dolls reminiscent of sambo dolls and other picaninny kitsch were recalled. This has not been the first time that such products have been removed from the market. The list includes Pradamalia, Prada’s own line of kitschy blackface collectibles, Gucci’s blackface wool balaclavas, Burberry’s noose hoodie, and H&M’s “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie ad.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/the-feel-bet…

The Promise of Offshore Wind
Karl Grossman | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed off on the largest offshore wind agreement–so far–off the United States. What has been named the Empire Wind Project–to consist of 88 wind turbines if 10 megawatt turbines are used–would rise in the ocean south of New York City, adjacent Nassau County and western Suffolk County on…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/the-promise-…

One “Little” Legislative Crime that Keeps on Giving
Paul Haeder | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-07
NOVA: If this region–New Orleans, the wetlands, and all–were a patient in the hospital, how would you describe them? At what stage are they? IVOR VAN HEERDEN: Close to death. […] There is the potential for extremely high casualties–people not only killed by flying debris, drowning in the soup, but also just imagine, how do …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/one-little-le…

Explosions in three states highlight dangers of aging fossil fuel infrastructure
Sharon Kelly | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-07
On August 1, for the third time in as many years, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission gas pipeline exploded. This tragic incident in central Kentucky killed a 58-year-old woman, Lisa Denise Derringer, and injured at least five others. Flames towered 300 feet high when the 30-inch diameter pipe ruptured at 1 a.m. and forced at least 75 people to evacuate. “We …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/07/explosions…

Watch common sense get poured on Sky News as it tries to link Labour to US mass-shooting
John Shafthauer | thecanary.co | 2019-08-07
Novara editor Eleanor Penny appeared on Sky News on 6 August. During the segment, presenter Jayne Secker suggested the UK “far left” are “in no way innocent” in a discussion of the recent mass-shootings in America. Penny quickly dismantled this ridiculous claim. | I went on to Sky News to discuss the horrific shootings in the USA by far right terrorists. Presenter then implied that the ‘far left are in no way innocent here’. We need to combat these aston…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/08/07/watch-c…

Syrian Security Confiscates Armored Vehicles, Weapons, Captagon, Drugs
Arabi Souri | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Syrian security units and Syrian Arab Army units operating in Hama northern countryside, northwest of Syria, and Daraa countryside, south of Syria, had a busy day busting, discovering, and confiscating large stashes of weapons, munition, gears, armored vehicles, illicit drugs …
globalresearch.ca/syrian-security-confis…

Erdogan Announces Military Operation East of Euphrates River to Push Back Kurds, US Urges Him to Reconsider
Sarah Abed | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
In what would be Turkey’s third cross-border military operation in Syria since the war began, in as many years, Erdogan announced on Sunday that he would be launching a military operation east of the Euphrates river, to push back Kurdish …
globalresearch.ca/erdogan-announces-mili…

Video: Collapse of Ceasefire, Syrian Military Vows to Resume Operations Against Al Qaeda Militants
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
The new ceasefire agreement designed to cease hostilities in northwestern Hama and southern Idlib has just collapsed. | On August 3, the leader of Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Abu Mohammad al-Julani, announced that his group would not withdraw …
globalresearch.ca/video-collapse-of-ceas…

Will Germany Become the Military Power it Once Was?
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-07
Annette Groth discusses the three demands by the U.S to Germany to increase its military power and presence overseas, and the new right-wing minister of defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. For now Germany is loathe to send troops or ships to Syria or Hormuz, but Kramp-Karrenbauer has already announced her intention to increase military spending to 2%…
therealnews.com/stories/will-germany-bec…

U.K. Breakup? New Poll Sets the Scene for Scottish Independence Referendum
Johanna Ross | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has hailed as ‘phenomenal’ a new poll which shows majority support for Scottish Independence. The survey, which was carried out by Lord Ashcroft in the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to Scotland …
globalresearch.ca/new-poll-sets-scene-sc…

“On a Scale of 1-10, It’s an 11” — Wall Street Reacts to China’s Retaliation
Zero Hedge | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
One day after China finally snapped, and demonstratively refused to intervene and keep the CNH above 7.00 vs the dollar, escalating the trade war into a currency war, stocks are tumbling and Wall Street analysts — all of whom had …
globalresearch.ca/scale-1-10-its-11-wall…

Assessing President Diaz-Canel’s Commitment to the Ideals of the Cuban Revolution
Dr. Birsen Filip | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Fidel Castro was an unparalleled leader. Although some of his adversaries had hoped that the ideals and objectives of the Cuban Revolution would die with him, they have in fact persevered, thereby supporting Fidel’s view that ‘a combatant may die, …
globalresearch.ca/assessing-president-di…

We’re All Enemies of the State: Draconian Laws, Precrime and the Surveillance State
John W. Whitehead | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”–H.L. Mencken | We’ve been down this road many times before. | If …
globalresearch.ca/we-all-enemies-state-d…

Why Oliver Stone’s Latest Film on Ukraine Is Must-watch
Johanna Ross | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Oliver Stone is afraid. Afraid of war. That was the stark message conveyed by his latest film on the Ukraine crisis, ‘Revealing Ukraine’ which picked up the Grand Prix at the Taormina film festival in Italy last month. The documentary, …
globalresearch.ca/why-oliver-stones-late…

Trade War: China Suspends Purchases of US Agricultural Products
Telesur | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
China’s Commerce Ministry announced Tuesday that the Asian country will suspend the purchase of U.S. agricultural goods in response to the recent announcement that the President Donald Trump administration will increase tariffs to Chinese exports. | “It has been agreed that | …
globalresearch.ca/trade-war-china-suspen…

Can the Progressive-“Conspiracy” Divide be Bridged?
John Kirby | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
People from a variety of advocacy communities who tackle issues ranging from the assassinations of the 1960’s to vaccine safety are rightly upset by a recent NBC News.com op-ed authored by Lynn Parramore, a progressive journalist known for her …
globalresearch.ca/can-progressive-conspi…

India’s Tryst with Destiny: Freedom Struggle from Exploitation and Degradation Is Global
Colin Todhunter | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Today, we are in the grip of a globalised system of capitalism which drives narcissism, domination, ego, anthropocentrism, speciesism and plunder. A system that is using up oil, water and other resources much faster than they can ever be regenerated. …
globalresearch.ca/indias-tryst-destiny-f…

India’s Finding Out the Hard Way that It Isn’t “America’s Exclusive Ally”
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
India hitherto thought that the US needed it more than the reverse and that’s why took its nascent military-strategic alliance with it for granted by trying to play “hardball” in pressing for a better trade deal, yet it’s now finding …
globalresearch.ca/india-finding-out-hard…

Trump’s China Trade War Increases Risk of Recession
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-07
Trump accuses China of currency manipulation because their currency devalued in the wake of his tariffs. However, as Bill Black explains, this accusation has no basis in fact. Instead, Trump’s trade war only increases the likelihood of a recession…
therealnews.com/stories/trumps-china-tra…

Infant asylum seeker has no nappies or food, charity warns after touring housing
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-08-07
A charity which has undertaken a 90-day tour of Direct Provision Centres across Ireland says it found people living in appalling conditions. | Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), an NGO which supports asylum seekers, visited a number of sites and says it found a lack of appropriate accommodation and food. | During a visit to the Maldron Hotel in Limerick, MASI worker Donnah Vuma said she met a mother with a 20-day-old infant who had no nappies or baby formula. | Both asylum-seeking parents are not allowed to work, and thus cannot provide for their newborn. | MASI said it engaged with NGOs such as Doras…
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2019/08/0…

Uruguay Warns of US Interference in Elections
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-07
Uruguay’s foreign minister warned Wednesday that the U.S. is attempting to damage Uruguay’s economy as a means of interfering in the country’s upcoming presidential elections in support of the right-wing opposition. | RELATED: | Uruguay: Left-Wing Broad Front Ratifies Its Presidential Ticket | Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa, from the Broad Front, the party of progressive former President Jose Mujica, said the U.S. knows that security is a core issue in the country’s October election…
telesurenglish.net/news/Uruguay-Warns-of…

Caught in the Strait. Britain’s Confrontation with Iran
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
It is clear that the United Kingdom could not have thought this through. Was it a touch of the Suez jitters, the haunting syndrome of 1956 leaving a false impression that the Old Empire still had it? To taunt a …
globalresearch.ca/caught-strait/5685794

‘A Great Equalizer’: Warren Unveils Plan for $110 Billion Investment in Public Broadband Access and Healthcare for Rural America
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-07
As she traveled to Iowa on the campaign trail on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren outlined how a number of the proposals she’s released during her 2020 presidential campaign would support rural communities across the country—as well as releasing a brand-new plan to greatly expand healthcare and broadband access in places she says have gone without it for too long. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/07/great-e…

Trump’s Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards Could Cost Americans $460 Billion: Consumer Reports Study
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-07
A new analysis from the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Reports warns that American drivers could lose about $460 billion dollars in fuel savings if the Trump administration implements its proposal to gut federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for new passenger cars and light-duty trucks. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/07/trumps-…

Britain to join US naval blockade of Iran
wsws.org | 2019-08-07
The decision signifies a further intensification of the drive to war against Iran.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/07/iran…

Washington orders international embargo on Venezuela, threatens invasion
wsws.org | 2019-08-07
US envoy Elliott Abrams declared: “If you told George Bush Sr. in 1988 that he would invade Panama, he would have called it madness. But two or three years later, it happened.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/07/vene…

Bowing to House Democratic leadership, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez purges staff
wsws.org | 2019-08-07
The purge came after staff members criticized Democratic Party leaders over the passage of a bill funding Trump’s war on immigrants.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/07/cort…

French-backed Libyan militia airstrike kills 42 civilians
wsws.org | 2019-08-07
The bombing in the city of Murzuq was carried out by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which relies on support from Paris and Washington as well as Egypt.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/07/murz…

Boris Johnson’s Slash And Burn Brexit Cabinet
Kenneth Surin | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-07
Priti Patel (former lobbyist for the alcohol and tobacco industries), is Boris Johnson’s pick for Home Secretary/interior minister. A member of Theresa May’s cabinet, but was sacked when she held 12 undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials in an effort to channel UK aid to the Israeli military. Patel suggested the UK should use the potential of food shortages in Ireland as a bargaining chip against the hard-border backstop being introduced.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/07/boris-johnso…

Lorry drivers worried about lack of food and toilet provision in no-deal Brexit
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-08-07
Lorry drivers in Dover face the “absolutely outrageous” scenario of sitting in two-day long queues without food or toilets if the UK crashes out of the EU, hauliers have warned.A Road Haulage Association (RHA) spokesperson said a no-deal Brexit means thousands of drivers may end up waiting in queues of more than 48 hours with no welfare facilities.The RHA is among organisations meeting cabinet ministers in Dover later to discuss preparations for Brexit at the border.Duncan Buchanan, policy director for the RHA in England and Wales, will meet Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove, Home Secretary Priti…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/08/07/lorry-dr…

MPs fail to agree what to call proposed ‘government of national unity’
John Shafthauer | thecanary.co | 2019-08-07
A lot of ‘sensible’ people have called for a ‘government of national unity’. They claim it would help us solve Brexit — just like the last one helped us win World War II. | Can you see the difference between those two events? | While 99.99% of Britons wanted to win the world war, no such majority exists for Remain or Brexit. In fact, we know people are split roughly 50/50. To make matters worse, the MPs proposing the idea can’t even decide on a name. | Here we go again: | No Brexiteers want a government of national unity. They already have one on their issue, as the Johnson administration is Brexit…
thecanary.co/off-the-perch/2019/08/07/mp…

The War on Syria: Lightning Flashes in the Dark Night of War Propaganda
Mark Taliano | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
The war on Syria is a war against children, and men, and women. | It is a war against Christians, and Muslims, and civilization itself. | It is a war for terrorism and sectarianism and extremist ideologies. | It is a war for …
globalresearch.ca/lightning-flashes-dark…

Four in 10 indigenous languages at risk of disappearing, warn UN human rights experts
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-07
Of 7,000 indigenous languages spoken today, four in 10 are in danger of disappearing, rights experts said on Wednesday, in a call for a decade of action to reverse the “historic destruction” of age-old dialects.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1…

UN Afghan Mission ‘outraged’ by deadly Taliban attack in Kabul, as hardline group threatens election violence
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-07
The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed outrage at a Taliban attack in Kabul, that led to “scores” of civilians casualties on Wednesday. In a Tweet, the Mission said that such “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in heavily populated civilian areas must stop”.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1…

“Pre-Emptive Arrest”: An Open Invitation to Tyranny
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
The FBI has published a document that concludes that “conspiracy theories” can motivate believers to commit crimes. | Considering the growing acceptance of pre-emptive arrest, that is, arresting someone before they can commit a crime that they are suspected of planning …
globalresearch.ca/pre-emptive-arrest-an-…

‘Stay out of the lives of women’, NSW MPs implore in debate over the right to choose
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-07
“It is simple, straight forward: stay out of the lives of women”, implored one Liberal MLA as debate in the Legislative Assembly on a bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW entered its second day on August 7. | It is unclear when the bill drafted by Independent MLA Alex Greenwich, which has been broadly sponsored by a cross-party alliance, will go to a vote as some MPs are saying they want to move amendments to it. | A series of amendments have already been moved by state Attorney General Mark Speakman. Pro-choice Liberal MPs, among others, have described them as “red herrings” aimed at delaying and confusing matt…
greenleft.org.au/content/stay-out-lives-…

Selected Articles: The US-China Trade War
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-07
Online independent analysis of US-led wars, rampant corruption, corporate greed, civil rights and fraudulent monetary transactions is invariably relegated to the bottom rung of search engine results. | As a result we presently do not cover our monthly running costs which …
globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-what…

Russia Needs Its Own Bernie Sanders
Nadezhda Azhgikhina | thenation.com | 2019-08-07
Russia Needs Its Own Bernie Sanders…
thenation.com/article/russia-bernie-sand…

Ireland: British collusion with loyalist paramilitaries not forgotten
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-07
The single-most deadly terror attack on Irish soil took place on May 17, 1973. Four car bombs placed across the cities of Dublin and Monaghan and over the border into the Irish Free State exploded, killing 34 and injuring hundreds more. This attack, and many more like it, supposedly flew under the radar of British “Security Forces” sent to the north of Ireland to deal with paramilitarism. However, it flew under the radar, not by chance, but by design. | The UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force, a British loyalist paramilitary group) claimed responsibility for the attack. However, according to numerous reports regarding th…
greenleft.org.au/content/ireland-british…

Demonizing Immigrants and Mental Health Conditions is Not a Solution to Gun Violence
Amnesty International | indybay.org | 2019-08-07
Responding to President Donald Trump’s speech following a spate of mass shootings over the weekend, Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International USA’s End Gun Violence campaign manager said: “Gun violence reform cannot come at the expense of the human rights of any community. When President Trump links background checks for guns with immigration reform, he is once again demonizing immigrants and communities of color. The Trump administration will stop at nothing to shut down the border and limit safety to those who most need it. It is outrageous to denounce bigotry in one breath and terrorize the community that was tar…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/05/1882522…

Librarians Resist – Day 12: Month of Resistance to CLOSE THE CAMPS
Bay Area Librarians | indybay.org | 2019-08-07
Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 630 Sansome St. | San Francisco CA…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/05/1882523…

‘US Doesn’t Want Talks, They Want Violence:’ President Maduro
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
In an interview published Monday, Grayzone journalist Max Blumenthal sat down with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and discussed the state of the nations, touching on the effects of U.S. sanctions and the challenges being faced from the U.S. and within the Bolivarian ranks. The details are as follows. | RELATED: | Arreaza: US Total Blockade Will Make People Suffer But Won’t Break Venezuela | Breaking out of U.S.-imposed isolation: | During the interview…
telesurenglish.net/news/The-KKK-in-White…

Washington Escalates Venezuela Sanctions into Full-Fledged Embargo
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-06
The latest measures amount to a total trade embargo impacting both US and foreign entities.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14615

Trump announces total economic embargo on Venezuela, collectively punishing civilian population
John McEvoy | thecanary.co | 2019-08-06
On 5 August, Donald Trump used an executive order to announce a total economic embargo on Venezuela. The embargo comes after years of crippling and illegal US sanctions,…
thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/…

“Fascism Will Not Go Away by Itself”: George Ciccariello-Maher on Confronting White Supremacy
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-06
Just before the mass shooting at a crowded El Paso Walmart this weekend, the gunman wrote in a lengthy manifesto saying that the massacre was in response to what he described as a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He also prompted a white supremacist conspiracy theory known as “great replacement” that has been cited by other mass shooters. From Mexico City, we speak with George Ciccariello-Maher, visiting scholar at NYU’s Hemispheric Institute. In December 2017, Ciccariello-Maher resigned from Drexel University after a year of harassment and death threats from right-wing white supremacists. The threats stemmed from a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/6/george_cic…

Here is Exactly Why Congress Won’t Act on Gun Violence, Climate Change, Impeaching Trump or Anything Else
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
I’m from Dayton so I’m thinking about this today: Why hasn’t Congress done anything to address our national epidemic of mass shootings, namely reviving the assault weapons ban? People–Democrats and not a few Republicans–ask me that all the time. I bet all left-leaning pundits get that question. The answer is simple. But it’s not something most people want to…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/here-is-exac…

Parents of Parkland Victim Planned to Unveil a Mural in El Paso. Then Another Mass Shooting Happened
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-06
During this weekend’s deadly gun violence in El Paso, Texas, Manuel and Patricia Oliver were in the vicinity because they were planning on commemorating what would have been the 19th birthday of their son, Joaquin Oliver. Joaquin was one of the 17 people gunned down during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day last year. Manuel and Patricia had traveled to Ciudad Juárez, across the U.S. border into Mexico, to visit an immigrant shelter in honor of their deceased son, saying no child should ever be separated from their parents by either gunfire or immigration ag…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/6/joaquin_ol…

Advocates Call for Bold Action to Curb Gun Violence
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-06
| The death toll in Saturday’s anti-immigrant shooting rampage at a Walmart in El Paso has risen to 22, after two more injured victims died Monday. Just before the shooting, the gunman published a manifesto claiming his actions were being done in response to what he described as a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Most of the dead in El Paso were Latino, including eight Mexican nationals. Thirteen hours after the massacre in El Paso, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, killed nine people, including his own sister, after opening…
truthout.org/video/advocates-call-for-bo…

“We Can’t Wait for McConnell”: Advocates Call for Bold Action to Curb Gun Violence Epidemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-06
The death toll in Saturday’s anti-immigrant shooting rampage at a Walmart in El Paso has risen to 22, after two more injured victims died Monday. Just before the shooting, the gunman published a manifesto claiming his actions were being done in response to what he described as a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Most of the dead in El Paso were Latino, including eight Mexican nationals. Thirteen hours after the massacre in El Paso, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, killed nine people, including his own sister, after opening fire outside a bar. We speak with Kris Brown, president of Brady, formerly the Brady Campaign to Preve…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/6/mass_shoot…

White Nationalist Terror Attack in El Paso Was Not an Isolated Incident
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-06
Gerald Horne and Arun Gupta outline the history of white terror in America and what its modern manifestation means for our future.
therealnews.com/stories/white-nationalis…

Venezuelan Military Under Cyber Spies Attack: Report
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
A cyber-espionage group dubbed as Machete has been stealing files from the Venezuelan army, according to a report published Monday by IT security company, ESET. | RELATED: | Iran Says It Dismantled a US Cyber Espionage Network | ESET said it observed no less than 50 hacked computers between March and May within Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Colombia, but 75 percent of the computers infected by Machete servers were based in Venezuela. | The group has been active for nine years now a…
telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuelan-milit…

New Year’s Eve reminiscing with lifelong communist Mary Gosman Scarborough
Susan Gosman | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-06
My great-aunt Mary Gosman Scarborough was born in Russia “at the time of the Czar” and was sent by her parents to America with a man, a family friend, when she was only twelve. They neglected to tell her that he was to be her husband, which exacerbated an already difficult life. Mary was a …
peoplesworld.org/article/new-years-eve-r…

US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman submits resignation
rt.com | 2019-08-06
US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, has resigned from his post effective October 3. Huntsman has been ambassador since 2017. | …
rt.com/usa/465903-us-ambassador-russia-r…

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok suing government over firing for anti-Trump texts
rt.com | 2019-08-06
Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who worked on the Trump-Russia “collusion” probe and was dismissed after his personal anti-Trump texts were revealed, is suing the government over his firing. | …
rt.com/usa/465925-peter-strzok-suing-fbi…

The end of the INF treaty is a blow to global disarmament
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-08-06
On August 2, the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was formalized. The treaty signed in 1987 had led to the destruction of over 2,600 missiles by the U.S. and Russia | Source…
mronline.org/2019/08/06/the-end-of-the-i…

Jobs, the Environment, and a Planet in Crisis
Aviva Chomsky | commondreams.org | 2019-08-06
Despite challenges from parts of both the labor and the environmental movements, which its sponsors had undoubtedly hoped would be among its strongest supporters, Markey and Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution has gone a remarkably long way toward putting a genuine discussion of what an effective and just climate policy might look like in the public arena for the first time. (Photo: Emelia Gold) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/06/jobs-e…

US economic war on Venezuela an ‘attack on private property and threat to world order’
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-08-06
Venezuela’s vice president has said the latest US sanctions freezing the assets of Nicolás Maduro’s government are an attack on private property and a threat to world order. | Foreign companies which continue to do business with Venezuela’s government can face retaliation in the US under the asset freeze, which was announced on Monday night. | Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez said: “The US has to understand once and for all that they aren’t the owners of the world.” | She said that “every country that has investments in t…
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2019/08/0…

Pushing out the Border: How the U.S. is waging a global war on migration
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-08-06
A PRINCIPAL GOAL of the Trump administration’s policy at the U.S.-Mexico border –and in Central America, considered of late only in relation to that border-has been to get other governments to handle the increase in migrants seeking to enter the United States. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/08/06/pushing-out-the-…

Israel Approves 2,300 Settler Homes in Occupied West Bank
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
Israel’s Higher Planning Committee (HPC) approved Monday and Tuesday the construction of 2,304 illegal housing units for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now. | RELATED: | Israel Approves 6,000 New Illegal Settler Homes in West Bank | The organization reported that 838 housing units for validation (second and…
telesurenglish.net/news/Israel-Approves-…

‘John Bolton tried to assassinate me’: Interview with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
Max Blumenthal | thegrayzone.com | 2019-08-06
The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal sits down with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. We discuss the plots to kill him,…
thegrayzone.com/2019/08/06/interview-ven…

Venezuela derrota nuevo sabotaje de poder en horas
Gloria La Riva | liberationnews.org | 2019-08-06
Este es el tercer intento importante de los Estados Unidos y los contrarrevolucionarios internos para tratar de destruir el sistema de energía, el primero fue del 7 al 12 de marzo y el segundo del 23 de marzo al 4 de abril. Ha habido cientos de ataques terroristas en las líneas eléctricas.
liberationnews.org/venezuela-derrota-nue…

Watch Jewish scholar Norman Finkelstein take down the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn
Peter Bolton | thecanary.co | 2019-08-06
The Canary has been consistently exposing the shameless use of antisemitism as a political football to attack Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. In recent weeks, for example, ex-MP Clare Short and Jewish-Canadian psychol…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/08/06/watch-j…

‘Criminals Must Die Like Cockroaches:’ Brazil President
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, said in a Monday interview he is pushing for legislation that would protect police officers and citizens who shoot to kill alleged criminals, adding that the latter should die like “cockroaches.” | RELATED: | Brazilians Protest in Sao Paulo Against Bolsonaro over Comments Defending Dictatorship | “These guys are going to die in the streets like cockroaches, and that’s how it should be,” he said of any alleged crimina…
telesurenglish.net/news/Criminals-Must-D…

Sectarianism is Alive and Well in Northern Ireland — and Boris Johnson is Recklessly Picking at the Scabs
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
On 8 May 1987 a Provisional IRA unit of eight men attacked a police station in the village of Loughgall in county Armagh 15 miles from the Irish border. One man drove a digger with a bomb in its bucket towards the building, half of which was destroyed in the explosion. But British forces had…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/sectarianism…

Ecuador: Former FM Patiño is Another Victim of Persecution
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
The Executive Secretary of the Citizens’ Revolution, Virgilio Hernandez, warned of the ongoing political persecution Ecuador is currently suffering, highlighting Ricardo Patiño as another victim after the attempt to prosecute the former FM for the alleged offense of instigation. | RELATED: | Ecuador: Uber Eats Workers Protest Reduction in Payment Rates | ‘Political persecution through the judicial process – LAWFARE – is our daily bread,’ the Ecuadorian scholar and lawyer wrote in…
telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Former-F…

Fear and Loathing at the Pow-Wow
Eric Draitser | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
It’s summertime but the living feels too urgent. There’s something heavy about the air; humidity and fear, the sweat of not knowing. You can see the heat radiating from the rocks and loose gravel as you drive up the makeshift rows in the stony parking lot at Harriman State Park in New York’s Hudson Valley.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/fear-and-loa…

2020 elections and organizational questions dominate Democratic Socialists of America convention
Tony Pecinovsky | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-06
ATLANTA–Over 1,000 members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the fastest growing and largest socialist organization in the United States, convened their 2019 National Convention here over the weekend. Their goal: To forge a path forward for 2020 and beyond. DSA has seen dramatic growth since Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign to win the Democratic Party’s …
peoplesworld.org/article/2020-elections-…

$10bn enough? US giant drug distributors bargain in opioid epidemic settlement
rt.com | 2019-08-06
Three major drug distributors have proposed paying $10 billion to settle claims that they played a role in fuelling the US’ opioid epidemic by downplaying risks and flooding the market with pills — but plaintiffs want much more. | …
rt.com/usa/465927-opioid-epidemic-distri…

Twitter May Have Used User Data for Ads Without Permission
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
Twitter said on Tuesday that it may have used data for personalized ads without a user’s permission due to issues with the microblogging website’s settings. | The company said it recently discovered those issues and fixed them on Monday, although it hasn’t yet determined who may have been impacted. | RELATED: | Facebook to Pay US $5 Billion Fine Over Privacy Violations | Consumer data is a powerful tool that companies use to decide where to place…
telesurenglish.net/news/Twitter-May-Have…

Workers March in Brazil Against Government Pensions Reform
teleSUR, ao -EF | telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-06
Workers marched Tuesday through the streets of Sao Paulo against the pension reform proposed by the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. | RELATED: | ‘Criminals Must Die Like Cockroaches’: Brazil President | The demonstrations, organized by Brazilian unions and social organizations, seek to prevent the approval of the pension reform, as Congress gets set for a second round of debates regarding the controversial bill. | The unions affirm that the bill violates workers’ rights and, ther…
telesurenglish.net/news/Workers-March-in…

The GOP’s Sinister New Nationalism
John Feffer | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
The worst thing you could be in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s was a “rootless cosmopolitan.” The epithet sometimes came with a death sentence. The Soviet Communist Party, under the strong guiding hand of Joseph Stalin, had long turned its back on the internationalism of its founders and their commitment to world revolution.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/the-gops-sin…

Reparations and the Student Debt Wars
John O’Kane | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
The public college and university system in California was tuition-free during the sixties and into the seventies when the baby boomers were attending college in record numbers. Favorable budgets helped stoke the demand and new campuses were built to accommodate this explosion, propelled by an inclusive ethos special to this left-liberal era where a different…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/reparations-…