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This evening's music features blues singer and guitarist James Davis. Enjoy!

"Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America - not on the battlefields of Vietnam."

-- Marshall McLuhan

News and Opinion

Pentagon: Special Ops Killing of Pregnant Afghan Women Was “Appropriate” Use of Force

An internal Defense Department investigation into one of the most notorious night raids conducted by special operations forces in Afghanistan — in which seven civilians were killed, including two pregnant women — determined that all the U.S. soldiers involved had followed the rules of engagement. As a result, the soldiers faced no disciplinary measures, according to hundreds of pages of Defense Department documents obtained by The Intercept through the Freedom of Information Act. In the aftermath of the raid, Adm. William McRaven, at the time the commander of the elite Joint Special Operations Command, took responsibility for the operation. The documents made no unredacted mention of JSOC.

Although two children were shot during the raid and multiple witnesses and Afghan investigators alleged that U.S. soldiers dug bullets out of the body of at least one of the dead pregnant women, Defense Department investigators concluded that “the amount of force utilized was necessary, proportional and applied at appropriate time.” The investigation did acknowledge that “tactical mistakes” were made. ...

The February 2010 night raid, which took place in a village near Gardez in Paktia province, was described by the U.S. military at the time as a heroic attack against Taliban militants. ... But the raid quickly gained international infamy after survivors and local Afghan investigators began offering a completely different narrative of the deadly events that night to a British reporter, Jerome Starkey, who began a serious investigation of the Gardez killings. ... When he traveled to Gardez and began assembling witnesses to meet him in the area, he immediately realized NATO’s story was likely false. Starkey’s reporting, which first uncovered the horrifying details of what happened that night, forced NATO and the U.S. military to abandon the honor killings cover story. A half-hearted official investigation ensued.

Fired for Speaking Out on Guantánamo, Former Prosecutor Settles With Library of Congress

In a small but significant victory for free speech, Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, announced a $100,000 settlement Tuesday in his lawsuit against the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research Service.

Davis was fired from the CRS in 2009 for authoring two opinion pieces (one in the Wall Street Journal, the other in the Washington Post) that criticized President Obama for prosecuting some terror suspects in federal courts and others in military commissions — what Davis called a “dangerous legal double standard.”

Davis became an assistant director at CRS after retiring from a 25-year career as an Air Force lawyer in 2008.

The ACLU sent a letter to CRS in 2009 asking for Davis’s reinstatement, noting that his work at CRS had nothing to do with Guantánamo Bay. When CRS refused, the ACLU sued on Davis’s behalf.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that government employees do not have First Amendment rights when speaking in an official capacity. But the taglines in Davis’s pieces made it clear that he was writing in a personal capacity and did not even mention the CRS.

Days of Revolt: The Return of the Radical

America’s Sinkhole Wars

We have it on highest authority: the recent killing of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan marks “an important milestone.” So the president of the United States has declared, with that claim duly echoed and implicitly endorsed by media commentary – the New York Times reporting, for example, that Mansour’s death leaves the Taliban leadership “shocked” and “shaken.”

But a question remains: A milestone toward what exactly?

Toward victory? Peace? Reconciliation? At the very least, toward the prospect of the violence abating? Merely posing the question is to imply that U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world serve some larger purpose.

Yet for years now that has not been the case. The assassination of Mansour instead joins a long list of previous milestones, turning points, and landmarks briefly heralded as significant achievements only to prove much less than advertised. ...

Like Bush, Obama will bequeath to his successor wars he failed to finish. Less remarked upon, he will also pass along to President Clinton or President Trump new wars that are his own handiwork. In Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and several other violence-wracked African nations, the Obama legacy is one of ever-deepening U.S. military involvement. The almost certain prospect of a further accumulation of briefly celebrated and quickly forgotten “milestones” beckons. ...

Try this thought experiment. Imagine the opposing candidates in a presidential campaign each refusing to accept war as the new normal. Imagine them actually taking stock of the broader fight that’s been ongoing for decades now. Imagine them offering alternatives to armed conflicts that just drag on and on. Now that would be a milestone.

Bombing Hiroshima changed the world, but it didn't end WWII

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima on Friday has rekindled public debate about the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan — one largely suppressed since the Smithsonian canceled its Enola Gay exhibit in 1995. Obama, aware that his critics are ready to pounce if he casts the slightest doubt on the rectitude of President Harry S. Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs, has opted to remain silent on the issue. This is unfortunate. A national reckoning is overdue.

Most Americans have been taught that using atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was justified because the bombings ended the war in the Pacific, thereby averting a costly U.S. invasion of Japan. This erroneous contention finds its way into high school history texts still today. More dangerously, it shapes the thinking of government officials and military planners working in a world that still contains more than 15,000 nuclear weapons.

Truman exulted in the obliteration of Hiroshima, calling it “the greatest thing in history.” America’s military leaders didn’t share his exuberance. Seven of America’s eight five-star officers in 1945 — Gens. Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and Henry Arnold, and Adms. William Leahy, Chester Nimitz, Ernest King and William Halsey — later called the atomic bombings either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible, or both. Nor did the bombs succeed in their collateral purpose: cowing the Soviets.

Leahy, who was Truman’s personal chief of staff, wrote in his memoir that the “Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender…. The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.” MacArthur went further. He told former President Hoover that if the United States had assured the Japanese that they could keep the emperor they would have gladly surrendered in late May.

It was not the atomic evisceration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the Pacific war. Instead, it was the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and other Japanese colonies that began at midnight on Aug. 8, 1945 — between the two bombings.

ISIS Halts Iraqi Offensive at Gates of Fallujah

A day after announcing their “final assault” on the ISIS-held city of Fallujah, Iraqi troops have been stalled at the southern gates, in the face of major resistance from ISIS forces. Unlike previous defenses, there was no word of ISIS using suicide attacks, and rather faced the Iraqi military heavily armed in a gun-battle.

The commander of the offensive, Lt. Gen. Abdelwahab al-Saadi, was as upbeat as ever, presenting the fight as the Iraqi forces “repelling” an ISIS attack on the outside of the city, and claiming to have killed 75 ISIS fighters in the process. He offered no details on casualties on the Iraqi military side.

Other Iraqi military officials told a different story, saying the ISIS forces are heavily dug-in in trenches and tunnels around the city outskirts, and keeping Iraqi troops and affiliated militias at a distance in the ongoing offensive.

Battle for Falluja: IS group blocks Iraqi army at city's southern gates

Isis faces likely defeat in battles across Iraq and Syria – but what happens next?

Isis is under attack in and around the last three big cities it holds in Iraq and Syria – Fallujah, Mosul and Raqqa. It is likely to lose these battles because its lightly armed if fanatical infantry, fighting from fixed positions, cannot withstand air strikes called in by specialised ground forces. They must choose between retreating and reverting to guerrilla war or suffering devastating losses. ...

Isis is not the all-conquering military force it once was, but the war in Iraq and Syria is as much about politics as military success. At issue for all involved in the conflict in its present phase is not only the breaking Isis control of territory, but determining who will rule there in place of Isis.

So, if the Shia paramilitaries of the Hashd al-Shaabi, whom the US says are under Iranian influence, play the leading role in capturing Fallujah, this will help secure their long-term power and prestige in Iraq. It will be seen as a success for Iran rather than the US and its allies. Equally important in shaping the future political geography of the Middle East will be the relative roles of the Kurdish Peshmerga, Iraqi army and the US in driving Isis from Mosul or, in Syria, of the Syrian Kurds, their Arab allies, the US and the Syrian Army in taking Raqqa from Isis.

“It all depends on who liberates Fallujah, how it is liberated and when it is liberated,” says Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to the Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, in an interview with The Independent. He believes that the balance of power has shifted decisively against Isis compared with a year ago, but warns that nobody should imagine that the fall of Isis will bring peace and stability to the region. ...

Mr Hussein says that if the caliphate falls, “Isis will transform from a terrorist state into a terrorist movement”. It will be weakened by not having secure bases for training but it will not evaporate or be replaced by moderate Arab Sunni politicians who claim great influence on their own community and are well-financed by foreign powers.

In Syria, a more likely successor to Isis would be the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been growing in popularity among Sunni Arabs. Though ideologically similar to Isis in its Salafi-jihadi fundamentalist beliefs, Nusra is presenting itself as a less maniacal alternative to Isis and one that can probably count on a measure of support from Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Israel Remaps West Bank for Massive Settlement Expansions

In a move which most analysts agree portends another massive expansion of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Civil Administration has brought in a special team to “remap” some 15,000 acres of “state-owned” land in the territory.

The remapping on the one hand is done to label territory as “military fire zones,” which is then used to justify the military expelling the Arabs living in those areas. The mapping is also a chance to declare Palestinian homes in those areas, even those built before the occupation, as “illegal” and give the land to settlements.

Even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested he’s willing to negotiate a peace deal with the Palestinians along the Arab initiative, there is a growing sense that as the settlements expand in strategic areas and the Palestinian territory shrinks, the endeavor is quickly becoming an irreversible roadblock to Palestinian statehood.

Israel’s Coalition Remains Unstable as Far-Right Confronts Netanyahu

The Israeli far-right government survived its first week after the installation of Avigdor Lieberman as Defense Minister, but there remains considerable internal conflict, which is only growing after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that he is willing to negotiate along the Arab Peace Initiative.

Naftali Bennett responded by accusing Netanyahu of “going left” in a plot to replace his Jewish Home Party with the center-left Zionist Union. Bennett’s key political ally, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, vowed that so long as they are in the government, there will be no Palestinian statehood under any terms.

The Land of Israel Caucus in the Israeli parliament has also publicly demanded that Netanyahu immediately annex the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, in the occupied West Bank, on the grounds that Israel never had any intention of giving the land back to the Palestinians anyhow.

Appeals Court Delivers Devastating Blow to Cellphone-Privacy Advocates

Courts across the country are grappling with a key question for the information age: When law enforcement asks a company for cellphone records to track location data in an investigation, is that a search under the Fourth Amendment?

By a 12-3 vote, appellate court judges in Richmond, Virginia, on Monday ruled that it is not — and therefore does not require a warrant.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld what is known as the third-party doctrine: a legal theory suggesting that consumers who knowingly and willingly surrender information to third parties therefore have “no reasonable expectation of privacy” in that information — regardless of how much information there is, or how revealing it is. ...

The 5th, 6th, and 11th circuits have reached the same conclusion. ...

For a while, it looked like there might be a split in the lower courts that would require the Supreme Court to reconsider the third-party doctrine.

But now that the 4th Circuit has ruled, that seems less likely.

All your disk image are belong to us, says US appeals court

The government can prosecute and imprison people for crimes based on evidence obtained from their computers—even evidence retained for years that was outside the scope of an original probable-cause search warrant, a US federal appeals court has said in a 100-page opinion paired with a blistering dissent.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there was no constitutional violation because the authorities acted in good faith when they initially obtained a search warrant, held on to the files for years, and built a case unrelated to the original search.

The case posed a vexing question—how long may the authorities keep somebody's computer files that were obtained during a search but were not germane to that search? The convicted accountant said that only the computer files pertaining to his client—who was being investigated as part of an Army overbilling scandal—should have been retained by the government during a 2003 search. All of his personal files, which eventually led to his own tax-evasion conviction, should have been purged, he argued.

But the appeals court said the authorities' behavior was acceptable and didn't reach the constitutional question of whether the Fourth Amendment rights were breached for accountant Stavros Ganias, who was sentenced to two years in prison. That's because three years after the original search of the accountant's files in connection to the Army scandal, Connecticut authorities got another search warrant for Ganias' own tax files that were already in the government's possession, the appeals court ruled in a 12-1 decision Friday written by Judges Debra Ann Livingston and Gerard Lynch. Ganias had subsequently deleted those files from his hard drives after the government had imaged them, according to court records.

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OAS Threatens to Suspend Venezuela While Ignoring Recent Ouster of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff

Oh my, global institutions are finding that neoliberalism is a bottomless pit of austerity and despair.

Why the global economy may need to get worse before it gets better

A wind of change is howling through the world’s economic institutions. Last week it was the International Monetary Fund saying that austerity could do more harm than good and that neoliberalism was not all it was cracked up to be. This week it is the turn of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to challenge the orthodoxy.

The OECD says governments around the world should consider banding together to spend more on public works, something it deems necessary because lasting recovery from the deep recession of 2008-09 remains elusive.

There is, of course, a word to describe action by the state to boost demand when private-sector activity is weak, and that word is Keynesianism. It was not a word that was used much in the three decades when neoliberalism reigned triumphant.

But times change and after five years in which its forecasts have proved persistently overoptimistic, the OECD is becoming increasingly fretful. It is concerned that weak growth will feed on itself. It is worried that central banks are being asked to do too much with low interest and quantitative easing. It fears that any one of a number of risks – a hard landing in China, a financial crisis in emerging markets or, most pressingly, Brexit, could lead to activity stalling altogether. It wants something done to break the cycle of low productivity, low wage growth and low investment.

Social unrest in France: A decisive week ahead

Gosh, it looks like all of that neoliberal austerity is causing social instability. Who would have imagined? I hope the investor class takes it in the shorts.

It’s not just Brexit — Greece, Spain, France are also on the brink

The hedge funds will have prepped their positions. The investment banks will have ordered in pizza and extra coffee ready for a long night of dealing. Exit polls will have been commissioned, and currency traders will be ready to buy or sell sterling as soon as they start getting a clear idea of whether Britain has voted to stay in or get out of the European Union on June 23.

But hold on. In fact, it is not just the risk of Brexit that the markets need to be worrying about. In truth, the real drama is going to come over a long and difficult weekend, leading up to potentially wild day in European assets on Monday, June 27.

Why? Over that weekend, Spanish voters will go back to the polls in another attempt to settle on a government, which may well see the far-left Podemos group make big gains. Greece will be struggling to find the money to pay back its latest debts. And if the strikes in France escalate, the country may be close to running out of its strategic fuel reserves — and approaching a total meltdown.

Brexit, Spexit, Grexit, and Frexit could all collide. The result? A car crash for the European markets.

Why the Verizon Worker's Victory is A Big Deal

Friday, May 27, the six-and-a-half-week Verizon strike came to an end with a tentative contract agreement.

The Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the unions that represent the Verizon workers, hailed the contract as a victory, citing its creation of 1300 new call center jobs along the East Coast, first-ever contracts for Verizon wireless store employees in Brooklyn and Everett, Massachusetts, and raises of nearly 11 percent over the life of the contract. The workers beat back demands from the company to cut pensions, transfer workers out of state for up to two months, and proposed cuts in disability and accident benefits.

Robert Master, co-chair of the New York State Working Families Party and political director for District 1 of CWA, said "By executing a pretty smart strike plan and staying on message in the media, we were able to inflict real damage on the company and protect the interests of members. In an era in which strikes have become so infrequent this really does demonstrate that workers can exercise the strike power in effective ways still.

We knew that public sentiment would be on our side. America is against big corporations right now and that's a good healthy thing for our society. Nobody goes out and says "Oh no, Lowell [McAdam, Verizon CEO] really deserves $18 million a year," that's just not something you feel on the street."

Illinois bill aims to take away Dennis Hastert’s taxpayer-funded pension

An Illinois lawmaker is pushing legislation to take away former US House speaker Dennis Hastert’s taxpayer-funded state pension following his conviction in a hush-money case.

Hastert receives a $28,000 annual pension from Illinois’ General Assembly Retirement System from his service in the legislature. ... Hastert pleaded guilty to violating banking laws while seeking to pay $3.5m to someone he sexually molested. ... Officials say they can’t revoke his pension because his conviction wasn’t related to his statehouse career.

After wave of anti-abortion laws, US sees signs of women taking drastic measures

Five years into a surge of anti-abortion legislation, experts say women are increasingly turning to dangerous methods to end their pregnancies

In the south, abortion providers frequently encounter women who have tried taking misoprostol, an abortifacient that is only available in abortion clinics in the US but is available and inexpensive in most Mexican pharmacies. Myths circulate online about the ability of herbal extracts or over-the-counter products, some of which pose a health risk, to cause a miscarriage.

A volunteer, Emily Rooke-Ley, who operates a hotline for minors seeking an abortion in Texas, recently spoke to a teenager who couldn’t pay for her abortion and tried drinking “loads of vitamin C” instead.

There are phone calls about substances that carry warning labels for pregnancy: “‘What if I drank a whole bottle of this-or-that?’” said Sue Postal, who recently closed her clinic in Toledo. Others take more drastic measures, such as the young woman in Postal’s clinic whose boyfriend had punched her in the stomach as hard as he could – at the woman’s insistence.

Until recently, abortion rights activists treated stories like these as harbingers of the future if states continued to erode abortion rights. Thirty-eight states have passed more than 300 new abortion restrictions since 2010, laws that have shuttered dozens of abortion clinics across the south, west and midwest.

But a growing number now reject the idea that these anecdotes represent the worst-case scenarios. And a small body of research has emerged to support them. Among the most eye-catching is a report, released in November, projecting that anywhere from 100,000 to 240,000 women of childbearing age in Texas – the site of the nation’s most bruising abortion fight – have at some point attempted to induce their own abortions.

Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Would Pardon Snowden

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson recently said as a president he would pardon Edward Snowden and called the fugitive a "real American patriot."

What Can Sanders' Five Representatives Achieve at the DNC?

This article has information about write-in voting and also about a constitutional amendment to correct a number of the inequities created by allowing the elites to control voting regulations in order to marginalize the voting power of the 99%. There's a lot more detail than can be fairly extracted and it's worth a full read.

Troubles of Anti-Trump/Clinton Write-ins

With the increasingly likelihood of a presidential contest between the generally despised Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, millions of angry voters are considering protesting the lineup by either sitting out the election or writing in alternatives. ...

The only problem is that — with the control of voting left up to the states by the Constitution and with tabulation taking place on the local and county level — most write-in votes would not be counted.

Under state laws, political parties must “qualify” for their candidates to be listed on the ballots and counted. The two major parties are qualified in every state, but the Libertarian Party candidates will appear on the ballots in only 33 states, the Green Party in 21, and the Constitution Party in 13.

By definition, the names of write-in candidates are not listed on ballots; however, interested candidates must still file various forms of paperwork in 35 states for their votes to be counted, and seven states do not allow write-in votes for presidential candidates. While permitted in the remaining eight states, votes for write-in candidates may not be counted or reported by local registrars.

Even after the end of this year’s political conventions and the statutory period to qualify for the ballots in individual states, steps could still be taken by alternative candidates, such as Bernie Sanders or an establishment Republican, to register a willingness to accept write-in votes in those states where they are permitted.

All of this could change with the enactment of the U.S. Voters’ Rights Amendment (USVRA), which would finally guarantee that every citizen has the right to cast effective votes in all elections. In addition, the USVRA mandates a national, hand-countable paper ballot in all federal elections, allows write-in candidates for all federal offices, and requires that all such votes be counted. ...

A national policy referendum, in conjunction with presidential elections, would create broad federal guidelines, rather than binding laws. Elected representatives would be expected to carry out the policies and direction of the People, and could be held accountable if they fail to do so.

Goldman Sachs Financed Hillary Clinton’s Son-in-Law to Make Bullish Greek Bets After It Structured Unseemly Greek Debt Deals that Hobbled that Country

On May 10, the New York Times gently dropped a bombshell on the hedge fund investing world of New York’s one-percenters. Hillary and Bill Clinton’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, who married their only child, Chelsea, in an opulent 2010 wedding, was shuttering the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity Fund after it had lost 90 percent of its value. That is a staggering loss for a hedge fund, which is, as its name implies, supposed to have hedges in place to prevent that kind of loss. ...

According to the account in the New York Times, the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity Fund imploded as a result of bullish bets on Greek bank stocks and Greek government debt. That’s raising even more eyebrows in investment circles since it was Goldman Sachs who secretly sold a complex and convoluted derivative deal to Greece in 2001 that hid the true state of its debt, then reworked the deal multiple times until Greece ended up owing Goldman a stunning 5.1 billion euros, almost twice Greece’s original obligation, thus making future bullish bets on Greece highly doubtful. Along the way, Goldman Sachs learned more about Greek debt than just about any player on the planet. ...

There is one last thing to remember about hedge fund losses. For every crushing trade, there is someone on the other side of that trade making a killing. As the public learned well from Goldman Sachs and John Paulson secretly creating a subprime debt investment designed to fail, while Goldman peddled it to their own clients as a good investment and Paulson shorted it to make a profit of $1 billion (the notorious  2007 Abacus deal), until we know whom the beneficiaries of this hedge funds’ losses were, we’re in the precise place that Goldman Sachs wants to keep us: in the dark.

More Than 300 People in First Nation Community Have Been Poisoned By Mercury, And Ontario Isn't Cleaning It Up

After eating fish from the river for years, Chief Simon Fobister can't walk in a straight line. Instead, his feet take him to the left.

In 2014, Japanese doctors diagnosed the chief with mercury poisoning when they visited Grassy Narrows First Nation to study astonishingly high levels of the neurotoxin in the northern Ontario community's water. The chief is one of more than 300 people poisoned by mercury after a pulp and paper mill dumped chemicals into the river system in the 1960s and '70s. ...

New research released Monday says mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon River system that flows past Grassy Narrows can be cleaned up, but it would cost $30 to $50 million.

John Rudd, the lead author of the study, told VICE News his team analyzed both old and new data, including data from Ontario's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and came to the conclusion that certain parts of the river system are still contaminated with high levels of mercury, and that the concentration of mercury in the fish was not decreasing with time. ...

Ontario has taken the approach that mercury will naturally flush out of the environment if given enough time. Since 1986, the province has compensated 311 residents for mercury poisoning through a Mercury Disability Board established following legal action by First Nations. ...

Between 1962 and 1970, Reed Paper mill in Dryden, Ontario dumped chemicals including mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system that runs past Grassy Narrows. The mercury settled into the sediment at the bottom of the river, contaminating the system at least 250 kilometers downstream. The mercury enters the food chain through bugs that live in the sediment and absorb the toxic chemical, and are eaten by small fish, which are eaten by larger fish. The mercury becomes more concentrated in larger fish, including Walleye, which are prized by locals.

North America far off from ocean preservation targets, report finds

Mexico, Canada and US collaborate on report that concludes the three nations will have to dramatically ramp up efforts to reach 10% protection goal

North America is far from reaching national and international targets for protecting oceans, according to a first-of-its-kind report released on Wednesday.

The Dare to Be Deep report, created by a coalition of NGOs in the US, Canada and Mexico, finds that less than 1% of these countries’ oceans are protected like national parks – with only four years left to reach the 10% protection goal set in the multilateral Biodiversity Convention.

The US is not a signatory to the agreement, but Barack Obama affirmed his commitment to reach the goal in a joint statement with Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, in March.

Michael Gravitz, director of policy and legislation at the Marine Conservation Institute, said if the countries fail to reach the 10% goal, “we would expect the sort of diversity of life that lives in some of these places to be thinned out, to become less biodiverse, less stable, and less able to resist the changes that warming and acidification bring”.

Of the 0.89% of North American waters that are protected, only 0.04% are fully protected, according to the report. ...

For a marine area to be considered fully protected, regulations must prohibit any activities that pull from the ecosystem’s natural resources. The limited protection areas are regulated, but allow some types of fishing, mining and oil and gas development.

Scientists say Flint's water safe enough for hand-washing and showering

Professor who first confirmed the contamination said sampling found lead levels are steadily declining and municipal water can be used for personal cleanliness

Municipal water in Flint, Michigan, has improved significantly and is suitable for personal cleanliness uses, scientists said Tuesday in a bid to calm fears raised by actor Mark Ruffalo and others who have questioned the safety of the supply that flows into the city’s bathtubs and showers.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech engineering professor whose testing last summer confirmed the lead contamination of Flint’s water, said sampling in recent months has found that lead levels are steadily declining, although they remain too high for people to drink from the tap without a filter. Also trending downward are bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease, while byproducts from disinfectant chemicals are at normal levels, he and other specialists said.

“We’re seeing some very, very encouraging results,” Edwards said at a news conference in Flint, adding that he was “pretty hopeful” the water would meet federal standards for lead content within the next six months.

The upbeat assessment contrasted with a grim portrayal by Ruffalo and Water Defense, an organization he founded, which said in February its testing had turned up lead and dangerous chemicals in sinks, tubs, showers and water heaters. Ruffalo, who starred in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, has continued sounding the alarm, while Edwards has accused him of fearmongering based on flawed testing that has frightened some people into forgoing basic hygiene. ...

In a statement to the Associated Press, Ruffalo said Water Defense has never advised against bathing or showering in Flint but believes more testing and “a proper epidemiological study” are needed before any conclusions can be drawn.

Elephants could vanish from one of Africa's key reserves within six years

Elephants could disappear from one of Africa’s most important wildlife reserves within six years unless industrial scale poaching is stopped and mining is brought under control, the WWF has said.

Selous national park, a world heritage site in southern Tanzania, has lost an average of almost 2,500 elephants a year since the 1970s. But it has now reached a crtitical stage with only about 15,000 left, according to the latest census.

“The population is at an historic low. and urgent measures are required to protect the remaining animals and return the population to a stable and sustainable size. If this trend continues, elephants could vanish from Selous by early 2022,” says the WWF in a new study.

But the park, which is also home to lions, leopards, wild dog, buffalo, hippo, crocodile and over 400 bird species, is also threatened by large scale mining. Nearly 75% of Selous is covered by oil and gas concessions, and 54 mining concessions have been awarded.

Mining could lead to water pollution and environmental degradation, says the report. “Extractive industries cause environmental degradation, including the destruction of wildlife habitats in the immediate area around exploration sites. In 2012, the boundary of the Selous World Heritage site was modified to enable the construction of a large scale uranium mine in the southern area of the reserve. Once operational, the mine is expected to produce about 60m tons of poisonous radioactive waste,” says the study.

Also of Interest

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

Forgetting the Crimes of War

When New York City tried to ban cars – the extraordinary story of 'Gridlock Sam'

America First, Planet be Damned: Trump Calls for Orgy of Extraction in North Dakota Energy Speech

Bernstein – The White House Is Terrified the Clinton Campaign “Is in Freefall”

Montreal grocery store vandals aimed to 'recalibrate' gentrified area

Washington, D.C., Teachers Union Wrestles with the Legacy of Michelle Rhee

A textbook on Mexican Americans that gets their history wrong? Oh, Texas

The Untold Story Behind Saudi Arabia’s 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret

Massive Protests in Brazil After a Girl Was Blamed for Being Gang-Raped in Rio

A Little Night Music

James 'Thunderbird' Davis & Ron Levy - Come By here

James Davis - Chains Around My Heart

James 'Thunderbird' Davis - Blue Monday Blues

James Davis - Old County Rock #1

James 'Thunderbird' Davis - Hello Sundown

James "Thunderbird" Davis - Instrumental #4

James "Thunderbird" Davis - The Dark End Of The Street

James "Thunderbird" Davis - Next Time You See Me

James "Thunderbird" Davis - Go Girl