As if in compensation for a historic drought, California is being deluged by expressions of grim satisfaction that it is finally getting its comeuppance for environmental sins. Judgement was especially swift after California Gov. Jerry Brown imposed a 25 percent reduction in water usage for urban areas. The media asked if this is “The End of California?”, as well as declaring “So …
Crazyland – Dmitry Orlov
A long time ago—almost a quarter of a century—I worked in a research lab, designing measurement and data acquisition electronics for high energy physics experiments. In the interest of providing motivation for what follows, I will say a few words about the job. It was interesting work, and it gave me a chance to rub shoulders (and drink beer) with …
*Wanted* Dead or Alive: $100,000 for Full Text of Trans-Pacific Partnership – Jon Queally
There is now a bounty on the head of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the “monster” international treaty negotiated behind closed doors by government officials and corporate executives but kept secret from the global public. The media outlet Wikileaks on Tuesday announced a campaign to raise a $100,000 cash reward for the complete text of the agreement in order to end the mystery …
Cotton Isn’t as Innocent as You Think By Kelly Bryant
On the surface, cotton just doesn’t have a very threatening ring to it. Associations with fluffy cumulus clouds and storybook characters like Peter Cottontail have probably contributed to its cuddly reputation. Its industry touts it as the fabric of our lives. But cotton isn’t so one-dimensional, and underneath the conventional variety lies a darker side. For instance, while fabric made of …
40 Reasons Our Jails and Prisons Are Full of Black and Poor People – Bill Quigley
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reports 2.2 million people are in our nation’s jails and prisons and another 4.5 million people are on probation or parole in the US, totaling 6.8 million people, one of every 35 adults. We are far and away the world leader in putting our own people in jail. Most of the people inside are poor and Black. …
Israel and the New European Colonialism By Garry Leech
The creation of a Jewish state in the middle of the Arab world represents the continuation of European colonialism in Palestine under an apartheid system that has consisted of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by a rogue nation that has repeatedly violated international law. Given this reality, and the fact that Palestine is the Holy Land of three religions, the …
Is Lyme the Next Infectious Disease Disaster? By Elayne Clift
In 1995, a young woman discovered a rash that looked strangely like a bull’s eye on her stomach but she ignored it. A few years later she began having pain in her knees, irregular heart beats, then neck pain. When her feet hurt, fatigue set in, and she experienced “brain fog,” she requested a Lyme disease test. The results were …
Food, Water, Health, Life: UN Experts Warn of Threats Posed by Secret ‘Trade’ Deals by Sarah Lazare
Echoing the protests of civil society organizations and social movements around the world, a panel of United Nations experts on Tuesday issued a stark warning about the threats that secret international “trade” agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pose to the most fundamental human rights. “Our concerns relate to the rights to life, food, water and sanitation, health, housing, education, science …
Government Removes Vaccine Injury Data By Anne Dachel
May 31, 2015, SharylAttkisson.com: Recent Rise in Vaccine Victims’ Court Decisions and Concessions Not Reflected in Revised Government Chart In March, the federal government removed the latest vaccine injury court statistics-more than a year’s worth of data-from one of its publicly reported charts. It was an abrupt departure from the normal practice of updating the figures monthly. Wiping the latest data means the “adjudication” …
Danish Authority Calls Glyphosate a Human Carcinogen – Christine Sarich
A Danish authority has now declared glyphosate a human carcinogen and says “don’t use it.” Will this declaration begin a rash of warnings from around the world? Monsanto may have asked the World Health Organization for a retraction when one of their agencies declared glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s best selling herbicide, Roundup, ‘probably carcinogenic,’ but they are going to have …