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This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist and singer Big Smokey Smothers. Enjoy!

“Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all,
means the freedom to criticize and oppose”

-- George Orwell

News and Opinion

The Gray Lady Thinks Twice About Assange’s Prosecution

A lawyer for The New York Times has figured out that prosecuting WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange might gore the ox of The Gray Lady herself. The Times’s deputy general counsel, David McCraw, told a group of judges on the West Coast on Tuesday that such prosecution would be a gut punch to free speech, according to Maria Dinzeo, writing for the Courthouse News Service.

Curiously, as of this writing, McCraw’s words have found no mention in the Times itself. In recent years, the newspaper has shown a marked proclivity to avoid printing anything that might risk its front row seat at the government trough.

Stating the obvious, McCraw noted that the “prosecution of him [Assange] would be a very, very bad precedent for publishers … he’s sort of in a classic publisher’s position and I think the law would have a very hard time drawing a distinction between The New York Times and WikiLeaks.” That’s because, for one thing, the Times itself published many stories based on classified information revealed by WikiLeaks and other sources. The paper decisively turned against Assange once WikiLeaks published the DNC and Podesta emails.

More broadly, no journalist in America since John Peter Zenger in Colonial days has been indicted or imprisoned for their work. Unless American prosecutors could prove that Assange personally took part in the theft of classified material or someone’s emails, rather than just receiving and publishing them, prosecuting him merely for his publications would be a first since the British Governor General of New York, William Cosby, imprisoned Zenger in 1734 for ten months for printing articles critical of Cosby. Zenger was acquitted by a jury because what he had printed was proven to be factual—a claim WikiLeaks can also make.

McCraw went on to emphasize that, “Assange should be afforded the same protections as a traditional journalist.” The Times lawyer avoided criticizing what the United Nations has branded — twice — the “arbitrary detention” of Assange and his incommunicado, solitary confinement-like situation in the Ecuador embassy in London since March.

Israeli cartoonist fired over 'Animal Farm' Netanyahu caricature

An Israeli magazine has fired its long-serving cartoonist after he portrayed Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies as pigs from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The illustration referenced the Israeli prime minister and members of his party taking a congratulatory selfie after passing a contentious law in parliament that has been decried as giving Jewish people more rights than the country’s minorities.

2) Here's Avi Katz's fantastic cartoon on the nation-state law, which got him fired from the Jerusalem Report.@LouYoungNY @ClydeHaberman @peterbakernyt @SarahAWildman @truahrabbis @LaraFriedmanDC pic.twitter.com/20kuOqRv3b

— Gershom Gorenberg (@GershomG) July 25, 2018

Avi Katz parodied the photo with a depiction of the politicians as characters from the 1945 novella in a cartoon for the Jerusalem Report, an Israeli English-language magazine owned by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.

3) Here's the pic on which he based the cartoon, a selfie of rightwing Knesset members incl #Netanyahu after the shameful law squeaked through the Knesset. pic.twitter.com/JM4uhnaO5l

— Gershom Gorenberg (@GershomG) July 25, 2018

“All animals are equal. But some are more equal than others,” the cartoon quoted from the book, which tells the story of farm animals revolting against their human owners but swiftly falling into authoritarianism. In Orwell’s work, inspired by the early 20th-century totalitarian Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, the pig leaders promise equality to all yet later declare themselves the privileged species.

Happy news?

Kings

As long as there have been humans, there have been humans trying to dominate and control other humans. As societies became larger and more complex it went from trying to become the alpha human in the tribe to the alpha human of the village to the alpha human of an entire country to the alpha human of an empire, but in each case the impulse to try and dominate as many other humans as possible was the same. When kings went out of style, that impulse didn’t leave with them; it simply found a different way of manifesting.

The new alpha dominators of the literate world couldn’t wear gold on their heads and couldn’t torture dissidents to death in the town square. ... They could no longer sit on thrones and make everyone grovel before them, but with a little bit of cleverness and a whole lot of money, they could have all the power of a king and more. All they had to do was keep the people from realizing they were being ruled. It took them a while to get that last part down and there were a few false starts, like in France where everyone started grabbing them and slicing off their heads with French head slicing contraptions. The new breed of kings which emerged from the chaos and upheaval were ones which understood how to control everyone from behind the scenes without drawing much attention to themselves.

They learned to give the people an official government to create the illusion of freedom and democracy, and they learned to use their money to dominate every important aspect of that government. ... Today’s kings rule not with brute force and claims of divine right, but with manipulation and with money. They rule from the shadows, never sticking their heads out into the light for fear they’ll start getting chopped off again. They weave happy stories into public consciousness of freedom and democracy while wielding far more military and economic might with far more control than the kings of old ever dreamed possible. They have used this power to turn humanity into a funnel which pours ever increasing amounts of wealth into their treasuries, and thus ever increasing amounts of power. The earth itself is being stripped bare to quench their insatiable lust for more and more control over more and more humans.

But the weakness of the new kings is the same as the kings of old: information. We can share ideas and information and point out what the kings have been doing to us, what they are doing to our planet, what they are doing to our minds. We can point to their lies, point to their hiding places in the shadows. All they have is lies and money, and we can see through lies and collectively change our minds about how money works. And then, our eyes freed from the lies and manipulation and delusion, we can all be kings. And we can heal our planet together, and we can place a crown upon its head, and a new humanity can be born.

The Brazil letter was spearheaded by @repmarkpocan. Its main argument is that democracy and human rights are being eroded by the attempt to prevent Lula from running, the failure to find Marielle's killers, and the imposition of a new ideology by the installed Temer government pic.twitter.com/HK60dtqF6T

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 26, 2018

John Kiriakou: The Case for Stripping Former Officials of their Security Clearances

Libertarian senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said on Monday that in a personal meeting with President Donald Trump, he urged the president to revoke the security clearances of a half dozen former Obama-era intelligence officials, including former CIA director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice. I couldn’t agree more with Paul’s position, not specifically regarding these three people, but for any former intelligence official. No former intelligence official should keep a security clearance, especially if he or she transitions to the media or to a corporate board.

The controversy specifically over Brennan’s clearance has been bubbling along for more than a year. He has been one of Trump’s most vocal and harshest critics. Last week he went so far as to accuse Trump of having committed “treason” during his meeting in Helsinki, Finland with Russian president Vladimir Putin. ... Other intelligence professionals weighed in negatively on Trump’s Helsinki performance, including Republicans like former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and former CIA director Mike Hayden.

Why are these people saying anything at all? And why do they have active Top Secret security clearances if they have no governmental positions? The first question is easier to answer than the second. Before answering, though, I want to say that I don’t think this issue is specific to Donald Trump. Former officials of every administration criticize those who have replaced them. That’s the way Washington works. It’s a way for those former officials to remain relevant.

.... Brennan and the others have cashed in on their government service. They’ve all become rich by sitting on corporate boards. Brennan is on the board of directors of a company called SecureAuth + CORE Security. He also serves on the board of The Analysis Corporation, which he helped found before joining the Obama Administration. Finally, and most importantly, Brennan is now the official talking head and “Intelligence Consultant” for NBC News and MSNBC. To me, this is the point that is the most obviously wrong. How is it that former officials who now have no role in government are able to keep their active security clearances? This has abuse written all over it. First, these officials run the risk of exposing classified information in a television interview, either inadvertently or not. Second, and more cynically, what is to keep them from propagandizing the American people by simply spouting the CIA line or allowing the CIA to use them to put out disinformation? What’s to keep them from propagandizing the American people by selectively leaking information known only to the intelligence agencies and Congress? Or to release information passed to them by the FBI?

No former intelligence officials should have a security clearance. There’s no purpose for it other than propaganda and personal enrichment. And if Brennan or Hayden or Clapper or any other former intelligence official becomes an employee of a media company, he or she should not have a security clearance. Period. Donald Trump ought to act right now.

Swedish Woman's Plane Protest Stops Deportation of Afghan Refugee

In an act of civil disobedience against her government's inhumane treatment of refugees that quickly went viral, 21-year-old Swedish student Elin Ersson prevented the immediate deportation of an Afghan asylum-seeker on Monday by refusing to sit down on a flight until the 52-year-old man was removed from the plane. "I'm not going to sit down until this person is off the plane," said Ersson, who streamed her protest live on Facebook. As of this writing, the Facebook video has over five million views.

If the man is deported, Ersson said, "he's going to get killed" by ongoing war, which the U.S. launched by invading Afghanistan in 2001.

"What is more important, a life, or your time?" Ersson asked as passangers implored her to sit. "I want him to get off the plane because he is not safe in Afghanistan. I am trying to change my country's rules, I don't like them. It is not right to send people to hell."

"I hope that people start questioning how their country treats refugees," Ersson told the Guardian in an interview on Wednesday. "We need to start seeing the people whose lives our immigration [policies] are destroying."

[See also: Swedish Woman Shows Quiet Power of Civil Disobedience as She Blocks a Deportation -js]

Despite Today’s Court-Ordered Deadline, More Than 900 Migrant Children Remain Separated from Parents

Trump administration says it's 'on track' to reunite 2,551 children amid concerns

The Trump administration on Thursday faces its court-imposed deadline to reunite 2,551 children it forcibly separated amid concerns from advocates and attorneys that parents were coerced into being deported without their children. The US homeland security department (DHS) secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the government was “on track” to meet the deadline, in a meeting on Wednesday with roughly 20 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Many of those present told the Associated Press that Nielsen’s comment was met with open disbelief and anger. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, tweeted that Nielsen had told the caucus: “I am not a racist. Nobody believes families should be separated.”

The Trump administration is due to update the court on Thursday with the latest figures for how many families have been reunited. The count on Tuesday was 879 parents reunited with their children. The government also said Tuesday that 463 parents were deported without their children, alarming attorneys who doubt immigration authorities clearly explained to parents what they were agreeing to do.

Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights and justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said: “We have no idea what choices those 463 parents made, and what information they were given and whether they had any choice. It’s clear from early on in this process parents were being deported with no reference and no attempt or no choice to be reunified with their children.”

Tech workers must unite to defeat America’s deportation machine

Today, tech workers and immigrant rights activists are flocking to Microsoft offices around the country, delivering petitions signed by 300,000 people urging the tech giant to drop its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Rallies will be held, meetings will be interrupted, and executives will be embarrassed by employees urging morality over profits.

But will it work? In early July, the same tech-immigrant alliance descended on San Francisco’s newest glass tower to protest Silicon Valley’s quintessential do-gooders, the cloud computing firm Salesforce. The company’s contract with Customs and Border Patrol inspired dozens to carry signs reading “Stop caging families!” and “Cancel the CBP contract”. But today, the contract is still in place and the Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, has declined to cancel it despite bad press and social media pressure. Last month, more than 100 Microsoft employees circulated a letter to the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, asking him to cancel the company’s contract with Ice. Nadella instead defended the Ice contract, claiming it did not specifically aid in family separations. And Jeff Bezos of Amazon – just declared the richest man in the world – has said nothing despite facing similar protests, declining to comment while the press moves on to the next story.

Yet, in June, a group of tech workers and activists did manage to stop their company’s amoral behavior. More than a dozen Google employees quit – and many more spoke openly and passionately – over the company’s contract with the Pentagon to use AI to help drones track targets. After 4,000 employees signed a petition urging the company to back away from its work on war, the executives stood down.

So what was different? Salesforce, Microsoft, Amazon, Google – all these companies faced similar external pressure. They’ve all seen the same negative headlines and viral tweets. But in Google’s case, it was the magnitude and consistency of internal pressure that finally got the company to abandon its amoral work. Thousands of employees stood together – including those whose work had nothing to do with weapons systems – to pressure the corporation to change course. Tech companies with record profits can weather a few negative news cycles. They can ignore press enquiries and dismiss protests. They can do all of this because the potential for future government payouts is massive (in fact, while Google executives publicly downplayed their role in the military’s drone program, they internally gushed at the chance to deepen their relationship with the government).

But when employees organize and apply pressure internally – when they challenge executives in person, jeopardize deadlines, and threaten to resign – companies take notice. It was only when enough of Google’s own employees said “not in my name”, combined with sustained external pressure, that the spell of future profits was broken.

Greece wildfires: government faces criticism over its handling of the rescue

Trump Medicare Chief Seema Verma's Attack on Medicare for All Full of Lies, Critics Say

After Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma launched a nonsensical broadside against Medicare for All on Wednesday in a speech in California—declaring that "Medicare for All would become Medicare for None"—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday joined the large chorus denouncing Verma's remarks as an attack not just on single-payer, but also on Medicare itself. ...

In a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Wednesday, Verma — who previously raked in millions as head of a major healthcare consulting firm—deployed familiar right-wing talking points to dismiss Medicare for All as "unaffordable" and "bad health policy." What Verma didn't say is that America's current for-profit system consistently ranks as the most expensive and least humane in the industrialized world. By contrast, numerous analyses show that implementing a single-payer system in the U.S. would drive down costs and drastically enhance health outcomes.

This is a lie. What does Verma think insurance companies do if not control the decisions pertaining to someone's coverage? In what world is the US providing anyone with "patient-centric care"? https://t.co/3mXSh98mQb

— Roqayah (@roqchams) July 26, 2018

The Nation's John Nichols added that Verma "has always placed the interests of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries ahead of those of patients. She is lying here on behalf of those industries."

Verizon and CWA cut a deal to shift healthcare costs to workers

Verizon, the second-largest telecom company in the US in terms of revenue, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) cut an unprecedented deal to extend current labor contracts, with modifications, for four years beyond their current expiration date in August 2019. What is unprecedented is the four-year length of the extension as well as the fact that the agreement was reached nearly one full year before expiration. While the deal is being called an extension, it is in fact a new contract.

In 2016, 36,000 Verizon workers conducted a courageous seven-week strike, which was isolated and betrayed by the CWA. The union imposed a deal brokered by Obama’s labor secretary that imposed substantial concessions, particularly regarding out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. With the telecom giants making huge profits and squandering billions on mergers, stock buybacks and dividend payments to their richest investors, the CWA fears a rebellion by rank-and-file workers and hopes to ram through the contract extension as a preemptive blow against workers. ...

One of the key provisions of the tentative agreement is the continued shifting of medical costs from the company onto the backs of its aging workforce. At the time of this writing, full details have yet to emerge. The company and union have issued statements confirming that there will be higher healthcare costs for employees and retirees.

It is unlikely, however, that the full extent of the burden will be known until workers and their families go to medical providers, hospitals and pharmacists and are confronted with higher and unexpected costs. After the signing of the 2016 agreement, members in New York City were not provided copies of the full contract until spring of 2018. One can expect that members will not know the full details of the current deal for a long time.

Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill to End Money Bail

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday introduced legislation to end money bail on the federal level and create incentives for states to follow suit. The No Money Bail Act is the latest example of the push from the left to tackle criminal justice reform. It would prohibit money bail in federal criminal cases, provide grants to states that wish to implement alternate pretrial systems, and withhold grant funding from states that continue using cash bail systems.

Additionally, the bail reform “requires a study three years after implementation to ensure the new alternate systems are also not leading to disparate detentions rates,” according to a summary of the bill provided by Sanders’s office.

“It has always been clear that we have separate criminal justice systems in this country for the poor and for the rich,” the summary reads. “A wealthy person charged with a serious crime may get an ankle monitor and told not to leave the country; a poor person charged with a misdemeanor may sit in a jail cell. And this disproportionately affects minorities — fifty percent of all pretrial detainees are Black or Latinx.”

In a statement accompanying the release of his bill, Sanders said, “Poverty is not a crime and hundreds of thousands of Americans, convicted of nothing, should not be in jail today because they cannot afford cash bail. In the year 2018, in the United States, we should not continue having a ‘debtor prison’ system. Our destructive and unjust cash bail process is part of our broken criminal justice system – and must be ended.”

Keiser Report: How much do Wall St. managers cost US taxpayers?

'Poverty Is Criminalized, Wealth Is Immunized': Report Shows Corporate Crime Enforcement Has Plummeted Under Trump

In addition to padding the bottom lines of America's largest corporations by cutting their taxes and eliminating scores of longstanding regulations, President Donald Trump is also protecting major companies' profits by refusing to punish them for ripping off consumers and trampling federal rules that safeguard the planet.

That is the central conclusion of a new Public Citizen analysis out Wednesday, which finds that corporate America has largely been exempt from Trump's so-called "law-and-order" agenda. Titled Corporate Impunity (pdf), the report shows that enforcement actions carried out by major government agencies declined drastically during Trump's first year in the White House.

"When it comes to large corporations, the supposedly 'tough-on-crime' Trump administration is undertaking an epic retreat from law enforcement—slashing fines, declining to bring cases against corporate wrongdoers, and cutting enforcement programs," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The message to big business couldn't be more clear," Weissman added. "Feel free to run roughshod over rules that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat, as well as ensure the safety of the cars we drive and protect us against bank rip-offs and consumer fraud."

Chicago police release footage of cop shooting black man as he scales a fence unarmed

Newly released body camera footage of a Chicago Police Officer fatally shooting a young black man as he tried to scale a fence doesn’t square with the Department’s version of events, according to the attorney representing the family.

Chicago officers had originally contended that they used lethal force on Maurice Granton, 24, because he’d turned around and pointed a gun at them during a foot chase on June 6 in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. But the gun was apparently 20 feet away from him when he was shot in what looks like his side or back as he climbed an iron fence. Lawyer Antonio Romanucci says the footage shows that Granton didn’t pose a threat when the officer shot him. ...

In a statement by Chicago Police Department at the time, officials said the encounter stemmed from a narcotics investigation nearby. Granton fled on foot, and officers chased him. “Responding officers commanded him to stop, at which point the man produced a weapon and an armed encounter between the offender and police ensued,” according to the statement.

Attorneys for Granton’s family say that the new body camera footage challenges that account.

In 'Watershed Moment,' Federal Judge Allows Emoluments Lawsuit, Challenging Trump's Refusal to Divest Assets, to Proceed

A government watchdog claimed its latest victory on Wednesday as a federal judge rejected President Donald Trump's bid to block a lawsuit challenging his continued involvement with his businesses—which ethics groups say amounts to a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Peter Missette did not accept the Trump administration's argument that a violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause—which states that a president cannot accept gifts or benefits from state officials or foreign governments—must involve a bribe that is explicitly offered to the president.

With Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) acting as co-counsel, the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia have argued in their lawsuit that the frequent use of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. by state governors and foreign officials constitutes illegal payments to the president. "The court determines that plaintiffs have convincingly argued that the term 'emolument' in both the foreign and domestic Emoluments Clauses, with slight refinements that the court will address, means any 'profit,' 'gain,' or 'advantage' and that accordingly they have stated claims to the effect that the president, in certain instances, has violated both theforeign and domestic Clauses," Missette wrote in his ruling.

The Trump International Hotel has rented space "to the embassies of Kuwait and the Philippines and hosted visiting leaders from Malaysia and Romania," since Trump took office, and has reported $150,000 in "foreign profits" in the last year, according to the Washington Post. Trump has not fully divested from the Trump Organization, which owns the hotel and his other properties. Instead, he handed over control of the business to his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald, Jr., but receives updates on the organization's finances and is able to withdraw funds from it at any time.

'Congress has never heard a voice like mine': Native American woman seeks to make history

Deb Haaland, the former New Mexico state Democratic party chair who is seeking to make history as the first Native American woman elected to Congress, had just one question before running: could she win? Yes, she thought, she absolutely could. “As a 35th-generation New Mexican, I felt I had a lot at stake,” Haaland said in an interview at a coffee shop near the US Capitol in Washington. “So I decided to run.”

Haaland is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe and one of a record number of Native American women running for office this year. None have served in Congress – and the possibility of a landmark election is galvanizing voters in New Mexico. “Congress has never heard a voice like mine,” Haaland says in a campaign ad that emphasizes her working-class background and progressive platform.

Last month, she soundly defeated five Democratic opponents to win the primary for an open congressional seat in a district that includes Albuquerque, the state’s largest city. In November, she will face the Republican Janice Arnold-Jones, a former state lawmaker, and Lloyd Princeton, a Libertarian candidate, in a general election race that is expected to center on immigration, healthcare – and Donald Trump.

“Trump has given many people the courage to be bold in their racism. He gives the white supremacists and the far-right folks cause to be,” she said. The president, Haaland says, is completely ignorant of Native Americans’ place in the country’s history. His repeated attacks on the Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he mockingly refers to as “Pocahontas”, are “disgusting and disgraceful”, she said. At a recent rally in Montana, Trump mused that he might “toss” a DNA test at the Massachusetts senator, challenging her claims to Native American ancestry. “First of all, he doesn’t get to decide who’s native,” Haaland said. “And it is extremely disrespectful for him to continue to use the name Pocahontas as a racial slur.”

But she said Trump’s policies, even more than his words, posed an urgent threat to Native American land and traditions. Haaland pointed to the administration’s plan to enforce Medicaid work requirements for Native Americans, a move that tribal leaders say would restrict access to healthcare and undermine their sovereignty. She is also alarmed by the administration’s decision to shrink national monuments and roll back federal land protections.

Excellent news!

North Dakota Attorney General Challenges Oil Company’s Land Rights at Standing Rock

The civil complaint could have a major effect on the 835 cases of demonstrators arrested at Standing Rock, where they protested the building of an oil pipeline.

Chase Iron Eyes was one of about 75 protesters arrested on a chilly February morning on land that belongs to his people, the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes. There was a group setting up seven tepees to perform a religious ceremony on top of a small hill when police officers showed up. “They said we are trespassing on Dakota Access Pipeline [DAPL] land and we need to get off of there or face arrest,” Iron Eyes told Rewire.News. “They told me if I didn’t get those people off the hill, they would hold me solely responsible for anything bad that happened.”

A Native activist and attorney, Iron Eyes said he told the police he didn’t have the authority to pull anyone off the short-lived encampment known as the Last Child Camp, but relayed the message and warned they could face arrest for criminal trespass. “Then we all got arrested,” he said. “We formed a circle and locked arms in prayer. Someone determined that that was an inappropriate way to show strength without instigating aggression or violence.” He reminded police that the Native people were on treaty land. “They told us that they believed that we were on Dakota Access Pipeline land that they had reportedly purchased a few months prior,” he said. ...

A lawsuit filed July 3 by North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem against Dakota Access LLC, the company formed by Energy Transfer Partners to build the $3.8 billion pipeline, brings that land ownership into question. North Dakota law prohibits corporations from owning or leasing land used for farming or ranching, except in certain partnerships. ... Stenehjem asks DAPL to divest from the land, pay $25,000 in civil penalties, and sell the land back within a year or face more fines, according to the complaint. ...

“Our position is that DAPL has nothing to divest—they never had the title,” Lanny Sinkin, an attorney for the Lakota People’s Law Project, told Rewire.News. “The Last Child Camp, which is where Chase Iron Eyes was arrested, was part of the Cannonball ranch that DAPL did not have good title to. So there was no basis to those arrests and there was no basis for charging anyone with trespassing.” The case could have a major effect on the 835 cases of protester arrests at Standing Rock, 165 of which are ongoing. Sinkin said all those charges should be vacated.

“The implication, legally, is they never had good title to the land because it was forbidden for them to acquire the land in the first place,” he said. “If they didn’t have title to the land they couldn’t complain about people coming on the land, calling them trespassers and convince law enforcement to go and arrest everybody—it wasn’t their land.” ... The way the tribes see it, the conversation around land ownership happens from the view of the white settler, Sinkin said. Native tribal land was never ceded and the U.S. government had no right to pass it on to future buyers—yet it has happened time and time again.

Climate: "Oil and gas companies have the ears of governments while those most impacted are silenced"

Almost all world’s oceans damaged by human impact, study finds

Just 13% of the world’s oceans remain untouched by the damaging impacts of humanity, the first systematic analysis has revealed. Outside the remotest areas of the Pacific and the poles, virtually no ocean is left harbouring naturally high levels of marine wildlife. Huge fishing fleets, global shipping and pollution running off the land are combining with climate change to degrade the oceans, the researchers found. Furthermore, just 5% of the remaining ocean wilderness is within existing marine protection areas.

“We were astonished by just how little marine wilderness remains,” says Kendall Jones, at the University of Queensland, Australia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, who led the new research. “The ocean is immense, covering over 70% of our planet, but we’ve managed to significantly impact almost all of this vast ecosystem.”

Jones said the last remnants of wilderness show how vibrant ocean life was before human activity came to dominate the planet. “They act as time machines,” he said. “They are home to unparalleled levels of marine biodiversity and some of the last places on Earth you find large populations of apex predators like sharks.”

Much of the wilderness is in the high seas, beyond the protected areas that nations can create. The scientists said a high seas conservation treaty is urgently needed, with negotiations beginning in September under the UN Law of the Sea convention. They also said the $4bn a year in government subsidies spent on high seas fishing must be cut. “Most fishing on the high seas would actually be unprofitable if it weren’t for big subsidies,” Jones said.

As Death Toll Rises in Flint, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on Her Fight to Expose Lead Poisoning in City

Report Finds Flint Water Crisis May Have Killed 119—Nearly 10 Times Official Death Toll

Less than a week after a federal watchdog blasted all levels of government for their failures to prevent and quickly respond to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, an ongoing investigation by PBS's "FRONTLINE" found that the death toll may be much higher than the official number reported by the state.

Officially, 12 people died from exposure to waterborne legionella bacteria during the 18 months that the city of Flint drew its water from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015. A FRONTLINE investigation found that the actual death toll might be much higher. https://t.co/OigUhx5Nrn pic.twitter.com/TxID0oF6La

— FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) July 26, 2018

The investigation—which centers on Legionnaires' disease, a form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria—comes from an extensive review of six years of death records, and interviews with families of the deceased as well as several epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists.

As "FRONTLINE" reports:

Officially, 90 people were sickened and 12 died from exposure to waterborne legionella bacteria during the 18 months that the city of Flint drew its water from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015. But FRONTLINE's investigation has found 119 deaths from pneumonia during that time, some of which scientists say could actually have been caused by legionella.

[...]

If the death toll is higher, as the records and interviews suggest, a 15-month delay by state officials in notifying the community about the legionella outbreak may have cost even more lives than the deaths state prosecutors have cited in an ongoing criminal case.

The findings were released just ahead of 67th District Court Judge David Goggins's Wednesday announcement that he was delaying a decision about whether Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon will stand trial for his handling of the crisis. He faces felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office as well as a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect.

REMINDER: It's been 1,550 days and Flint still doesn't have clean water.

— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) July 24, 2018

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Catalonian Quest for Independence is Undeterred

Billionaires in Space: Escapist Fantasies in the 'Age of the Refugee'

Seymour Hersh on America’s Capacity for Fascist Brutality

Cameroon Is a Close U.S. Ally — and Its Soldiers Carried Out a Shocking Execution of Women and Children

These six species are about to be sacrificed for the oil and gas industry

'No land for love or money': how gentrification hit the Mennonites

A Little Night Music

Smokey Smothers - Do Your Thing

Smokey Smothers - Come on Rock, Little Girl

Smokey Smothers - Smokey's Love Sick Blues

Smokey Smothers - Can't Hold on Much Longer

Smokey Smothers - I Got My Eyes On You

Smokey Smothers - I Can't Judge Nobody

Smokey Smothers - Black Cat Girl

Smokey Smothers - I'm Looking For You

Smokey Smothers - Hello Little School Girl

Big Smokey Smothers & Crowns - Take A Little Walk With Me

Smokey Smothers - I Ain't Gonna Be No Monkey Man No More