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"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

-- Vice President Dan Quayle

News and Opinion

‘Pompeo has lost his mind’: China denies US claim it's prolonging Venezuela crisis

During a four-country tour of South America last week, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, pilloried Beijing for continuing to back Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro. “China’s bankrolling of the Maduro regime helped precipitate and prolong the crisis in that country,” said Pompeo, who described Maduro as “a power-hungry tyrant who has brought ruin to his country and to his people”.

"I think there’s a lesson … to be learned for all of us: China and others are being hypocritical calling for non-intervention in Venezuela’s affairs. Their own financial interventions have helped destroy that country,” Pompeo added, claiming Chinese money had been used to pay off Maduro’s cronies, crush pro-democracy activists and fund ineffective social programs.

China, which is Venezuela’s biggest foreign creditor and is estimated to have provided up to $62bn (£47bn) of loans since 2007, reacted angrily. The foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, slammed Pompeo’s “groundless allegations” and “attempts to slander China and sow discord between China and Latin American countries”.

“The US has long been treating Latin America as its backyard, where it would resort to willful use of pressure, threat or even subversion. People can tell right from wrong. I am sure Latin American countries are fully capable of telling a true friend from a false one who is ignoring rules and spreading chaos,” Lu told a press conference in Beijing on Monday, according to an official transcript.

China’s ambassador to Chile, Xu Bu, was even less diplomatic. “Mr Pompeo has lost his mind,” he told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera.

Attendees of Secret Meeting for 'US Military Assault' on Venezuela Revealed

A group dedicated to regime change in Venezuela held a secret meeting on overthrowing the country's government last week, according to reporting from The Grayzone Project. Journalist Max Blumenthal on Sunday revealed a list of meeting attendees he obtained over the weekend from a source.

The list (in which the meeting is misdated as being on April 20) shows that the event, held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., boasted as attendees members of the State Department, the Colombian and Brazilian embassies, members of the Venezuelan opposition, and other officials in the American national security state. ...

"The CSIS meeting on 'Assessing the Use of Military Force in Venezuela,'" wrote Blumenthal, "suggests that the Trump administration is exploring military options more seriously than before, possibly out of frustration with the fact that every other weapon in its arsenal has failed to bring down Maduro."

Secretive meeting on US ‘military option’ in Venezuela reveals key figures of invasion push – report https://t.co/jBPrHL1oUG@GrayzoneProject @MaxBlumenthal pic.twitter.com/QCBTlkW6LO

— RT (@RT_com) April 15, 2019

In the article, Blumenthal gave a brief overview of a number of the meeting's more prominent attendees, including Iran-Contra veteran Roger Noriega and David Smolansky, a Venezuelan national who works with the right wing Organization of American States (OAS), a regional organization for the Americas led in recent years by hardline Venezuela regime change advocates. ...

Also in attendance was opposition leader Juan Guaidó's envoy Carlos Vecchio. Vecchio's presence at the meeting prompted journalist Anya Parampil to muse as to whether it was standard operating procedure for "ambassadors" to solicit invasions of their own countries.

Economic Update: Venezuela

Pentagon developing military options to deter Russian, Chinese influence in Venezuela

The Pentagon is developing new military options for Venezuela aimed at deterring Russian, Cuban and Chinese influence inside the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, but stopping short of any kinetic military actions, according to a defense official familiar with the effort.

The deterrence options are being ordered following a White House meeting last week where national security adviser John Bolton told acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to develop ideas on the Venezuela crisis.

The official emphasized strongly that the initial work is being done by the Pentagon's Joint Staff, which conducts planning for future military operations along with the Southern Command, which oversees any US military involvement in the southern hemisphere.

And even though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said that "all options" remain on the table for dealing with Venezuela, several Pentagon officials continue to say there is no appetite at the Department of Defense for using US military force against the Venezuelan regime to try to force it from power.

Watch this:

Is Russian ‘Meddling’ an Attack on America? – RAI with Stephen Cohen

Democrats just subpoenaed Trump’s favorite bank

House Democrats may be waiting to see Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report like the rest of us, but that hasn’t stopped them from pursuing other investigations into President Trump’s finances.

Two House committees sent a subpoena for records on Monday to Trump’s longtime lender of choice, the German financial giant Deutsche Bank, along with multiple other financial institutions as part of an investigation into foreign influence on U.S. politics, Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who chairs the House Intel committee, told VICE News Tuesday morning.

Investigators are seeking documents related to possible money-laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe, The New York Times reported, citing three unidentified people with knowledge of the requests. ...

“We want to know if the president or anyone in his family is financially compromised,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN late Monday. “Not just to the Russians, because we shouldn’t assume he’s faithful to them. He has worked with the Saudis, with other countries, in ways that are certainly, I think, below the standard of conduct that we would accept.”

Assange’s Judge a Disgrace to the Bench, Former UK Ambassador Says

Both Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are now in jail, both over offenses related to the publication of materials specifying U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and both charged with nothing else at all. No matter what bullshit political and MSM liars try to feed you, that is the simple truth. Manning and Assange are true heroes of our time, and are suffering for it.

If a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours had been convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge with no jury, with a lengthy jail sentence to follow, can you imagine the Western media reaction to that kind of kangaroo court? Yet that is exactly what just happened in London.

District Judge Michael Snow is a disgrace to the bench who deserves to be infamous well beyond his death. He displayed the most plain and open prejudice against Assange in the 15 minutes it took for him to hear the case and declare Assange guilty last week, in a fashion which makes the dictators’ courts I had witnessed, in Ibrahim Babangida’s Nigeria or Islam Karimov’s Uzbekistan, look fair and reasonable, in comparison to the gross charade of justice conducted by Michael Snow.

One key fact gave away Snow’s enormous prejudice. Julian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one-sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial.” Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic.” There was nothing that happened in Snow’s brief court hearing that could conceivably have given rise to that opinion. It was plainly something he brought with him into the courtroom, and had read or heard in the mainstream media or picked up in his club. It was in short, the very definition of prejudice, and “Judge” Michael Snow and his summary judgement is a total disgrace.

Assange Exposes Democrat Fascists, Torturers & Warmongers

Secret Report Reveals Saudi Incompetence and Widespread Use of U.S. Weapons in Yemen

Since the brutal murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi last October, Congress has increasingly pressured the Trump administration to stop backing the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen and halt U.S. arms sales to Riyadh. In response, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that if the U.S. does not sell weapons to the Saudis, they will turn to U.S. adversaries to supply their arsenals. “I don’t like the concept of stopping an investment of $110 billion into the United States,” Trump told reporters in October, referring to a collection of intent letters signed with the Saudis in the early months of his presidency. “You know what they are going to do? They’re going to take that money and spend it in Russia or China or someplace else.”

But a highly classified document produced by the French Directorate of Military Intelligence shows that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are overwhelmingly dependent on Western-produced weapon systems to wage their devastating war in Yemen. Many of the systems listed are only compatible with munitions, spare parts, and communications systems produced in NATO countries, meaning that the Saudis and UAE would have to replace large portions of their arsenals to continue with Russian or Chinese weapons. “You can’t just swap out the missiles that are used in U.S. planes for suddenly using Chinese and Russian missiles,” said Rachel Stohl, managing director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. “It takes decades to build your air force. It’s not something you do in one fell swoop.” ...

The report also harshly criticizes Saudi military capabilities in Yemen, describing the Saudis as operating “ineffectively” and characterizing their efforts to secure their border with Yemen as “a failure.” And it suggests that U.S. assistance with Saudi targeting in Yemen may go beyond what has previously been acknowledged. Since the beginning of the war, the U.S. has backed the coalition bombing campaign with weapons sales and, until recently, midair refueling support for aircraft. But the French report suggests that U.S. drones may also be helping with Saudi munitions targeting.

“If the RSAF benefits from American support, in the form of advice in the field of targeting, the practice of Close Air Support (CAS) is recent and appears poorly understood by these crews,” the document says. A footnote after the word “targeting” specifies that the possible U.S. “advice” refers to “targeting effectuated by American drones.” Though the U.S. has denied engaging directly in hostilities against the Houthis, American MQ-9 Reaper drones – a reconnaissance drone with hunt-and-kill capabilities – have flown over Houthi occupied territory. After the Houthis shot down one of the drones in October 2017, it led to speculation that the U.S. could be using them to collect intelligence for the Saudis. Targeting being effectuated by American drones could mean that U.S. drones play a more active role in coalition targeting, like laser-sighting precision-guided munitions drops, for example.

Denied Entry to U.S., BDS Co-Founder Omar Barghouti Condemns McCarthyite Repression in U.S. & Israel

Ocasio-Cortez: Cutting U.S. Military, Economic Aid to Israel Is 'On the Table'

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday she viewed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection as part of “the ascent of authoritarianism across the world,” and that reducing military and economic aid to Israel as a way of signaling opposition to its policies is “on the table” and “can be discussed.”

Speaking on Yahoo’s Skullduggery podcast, Ocasio-Cortez called Netanyahu a “Trump-like figure” and responded in the affirmative when asked whether the Israeli premier’s campaign statements promising to pursue annexation of parts of the West Bank should affect U.S. policy toward the Jewish state.

Rep. @AOC thinks "Netanyahu is a Trump-like figure" and says the reelection of the Israeli prime minister is part of “the ascent of authoritarianism across the world" https://t.co/YerdSu30jF via @isikoff, @dklaidman, @skullduggerypod pic.twitter.com/TrpjYRQHUX

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) April 15, 2019

Macron set to reveal new measures to allay Yellow Vest anger

Still 'No Evidence' Trump Tax Cuts Are Trickling Down to Workers

"If you're curious where the promised $4,000 raise from the GOP tax cut went, look no further than the bank accounts of the wealthiest Americans."

Wall Street banks, pharmaceutical companies, and corporate CEOs have a lot to celebrate on Tax Day thanks to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. The vast majority of workers, not so much.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, most U.S. workers have seen little to no benefit from the GOP's $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

"It's Tax Day again, and there's still no reason to believe the Republicans' corporate tax cuts are doing anything for working people," Hunter Blair, a budget researcher with EPI, wrote in an analysis Monday. "With a year's worth of data in, the story remains the same—there's no evidence the corporate tax cuts in the TCJA have trickled down to workers."

Amazon faces new headache as Nashville deal enrages locals left and right

Nashville has a way of bringing people together – usually through music. This time it’s through a shared antipathy for the $100m-plus in subsidies this booming city has just handed to Amazon, the world’s most valuable retailer. The ink has barely dried on a deal that the state of Tennessee and the city awarded Amazon and there are now only a few small hurdles remaining before Amazon starts moving in to a downtown office complex planned for Nashville Yards.

But an unusual alliance of free-market libertarians and union-backed activists is determined to hold the politicians and executives responsible for the deal to account. Their hope is that it will serve as a warning to others looking to hand public money to profitable companies in return for the promise of new jobs. “This is one area where libertarians and socialists can agree on something: this is a bad idea,” said John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, a free market advocacy group and a self described libertarian.

Local activist Odessa Kelly agrees. A parks and recreations employee and member of the union-backed Stand Up Nashville coalition she says the deal is symptomatic of an approach that is failing the city while handing millions to a company that doesn’t need it. “We are being moved around like pawns on a chess board for the rich,” she says. “I hate to say it but we have become a playground for the rich.” ...

The fight in Nashville is far from over. Following pressure from Stand up Nashville and others, Amazon (and any other corporation receiving taxpayer funds) will have to publish accounts to prove it is living up to its promise to deliver high-paid jobs to locals. Amazon is not be the first company to promise big benefits in return for subsidies, but few will be as closely watched in the years ahead.

Louisiana church fires: prosecutors add hate crime charges against suspect

The white man suspected in the burnings of three African American churches in Louisiana will remain in jail after being denied bond on Monday, as state prosecutors added new charges declaring the arsons a hate crime.

Twenty-one-year-old Holden Matthews, the son of a sheriff’s deputy, entered his not guilty plea via video conference from the St Landry Parish jail. The judge set a September trial date.

In denying bail, state district judge James Doherty sided with law enforcement officials who said they worried Matthews would try to flee the area or set more fires. “We felt that he was an immediate risk to public safety,” said Louisiana fire marshal Butch Browning. “In my mind, I felt another fire was imminent.”

Facebook allowed violent posts by man charged with Ilhan Omar death threat

Facebook allowed a man charged with threatening to kill congresswoman Ilhan Omar to post violent and racist content for years, and took no action to remove his posts when he was arrested. Patrick Carlineo, of upstate New York, posted several entries to his Facebook page alluding to violence against Muslims and US officials including former president Barack Obama, a Guardian review found.

Carlineo, 55, frequently used the platform to taunt Muslims, attacking them with racist slurs and saying he wished he could confront a group of Muslim politicians with “a bucket of pig blood”. He also shared video clips of alarmist reports about American Muslims by Fox News.

Carlineo’s entire profile was removed by Facebook after the Guardian asked the company why the posts remained online, two weeks after Carlineo was arrested. ...

Facebook’s regulations say it allows content “threatening or calling for violence in facetious and non-serious ways” and removes posts only when there is “a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety”.

Rep. Ilhan Omar Faces Death Threats & “Dangerous Hate Campaign” as Right-Wing Attacks Continue

Trump continues attack on Ilhan Omar with 'hate statements' accusation

Donald Trump escalated his attack on congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Monday, saying she was “out of control” and criticizing Democrats for coming to her defense.

Omar, a Muslim American from Minnesota, has said she has received an increased number of death threats since the president tweeted a video in which she was accused of downplaying the September 11 terrorist attacks. Earlier this month, a New York man who said he supported Trump was charged with threatening to kill Omar. ...

In a statement released on Sunday night, Omar said: “Since the president’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life – many directly referencing or replying to the president’s video.”

Bernie in the Fox's den: Sanders takes anti-Trump pitch straight to 'state TV'

Bernie Sanders will finish a four-day tour of Trump Country on Monday, with a town hall on the president’s favorite network: Fox News. ... The event will be staged in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a state Trump won by less than 1%, and it will be moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Sanders is the first Democratic presidential candidate to appear on the network for such an event. He says it is a way to speak directly to Trump supporters, to make the case that the president is a “pathological liar” who has misled the working class. The booking is also important for Fox News, which was banned from hosting a Democratic primary debate.

Among Democrats, the booking has drawn criticism. Some progressive groups are urging presidential contenders to boycott the network whose stream of pro-Trump commentary has led critics to liken it to unofficial “state TV”.

“Fox News has turned into something, particularly in the last year, that is distinguishable and different from just being a conservative outlet,” said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog. “It’s functionally the same as political propaganda and going on does more harm than good.” Carusone distinguishes between brief appearances on news shows and the staging of events, such as town halls and debates, which require negotiation.

Town Hall with Bernie Sanders

Bernie’s victorious Fox News town hall

Bernie Sanders just got some of his best campaign press ever — on Fox News.

Sanders held a town hall on Fox News Monday evening, breaking with the Democratic National Committee to appear on the conservative network. The DNC has refused to partner with Fox News on debates, declaring the network unable to give Democratic 2020 candidates fair coverage. But the audience at Sanders’ Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, town hall seemed enthused by a lot of what the Vermont Democratic Socialist had to say.

Indeed, the audience even appeared to surprise Fox News host Bret Baier, frequently erupting into applause for Sanders and his ideas. Fox News described the crowd as a “mixed audience:” The conservative news channel selected attendees through outreach to political and local groups and by mining requests to attend. In the town hall’s most striking moment, Baier, perhaps inadvertently, revealed just how popular Sanders’ policy ideas were with Fox’s hand-picked crowd. Baier asked the audience to raise their hands if they get their insurance through their employer or a private insurer.

So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @FoxNews. Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the “audience” was so smiley and nice. Very strange, and now we have @donnabrazile?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2019

In another standout moment, the audience jeered Baier when he criticized Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism as a result of her criticism of the Israeli government. Over the weekend, right-wing politicians and media pundits attacked Omar over her use of the words “some people did something” to describe the New York City terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Trump tweeted a video that juxtaposed Omar’s words with footage of 9/11, which Omar said led to a spike in direct threats on her life.

Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage? Yes!
Should we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure? Yes!
Should we ensure veterans get health care they earned? Yes!
Should we protect Social Security and Medicare? Yes!

A majority of the American people agree. #BernieTownHall pic.twitter.com/qZmuBuA6MM

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 16, 2019

Sanders’ campaign staff — including his campaign manager Faiz Shakir and press secretary Briahna Joy Gray — both hailed the town hall as a triumph for Sanders.

Pro-Clinton think tank says Bernie was right about “overly harsh” coverage

On Saturday, Sanders accused ThinkProgress, a news site affiliated with the Center for American Progress (CAP), of “bad-faith smears” in a letter to the organization’s board. With strong ties to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment, CAP took an aggressive stance toward Sanders in the hotly contested 2016 primary.

Those intra-party tensions are still simmering.

Yet Neera Tanden, CEO of CAP and former Clinton aide, sided with Sanders on Monday. ThinkProgress went too far, she said, in suggesting that Sanders has toned down his rhetoric around income inequality as his personal wealth has grown. ...

Sanders criticized ThinkProgress after the site said in a blog post that Sanders’ millionaire status is “very off-brand and embarrassing.” His letter similarly cited negative articles about Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker as “hardly the way to build unity, or to win the general election.”

Pelosi Mocks AOC & Progressives On 60 Minutes

How a Christian Nonprofit Helped a Controversial Minnesota Mining Company Buy Gear for Local Police

Ely is one of a handful of small towns in lake-studded northeastern Minnesota where mining or oil pipeline proposals have divided communities. While other extractive industry projects have sparked anti-pipeline protests nearby, the effort to stop a proposed copper-nickel mine near Ely is provoking few if any police confrontations. But it is no less divisive. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean mining company Antofagasta, is pushing to mine the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of Minnesota’s most popular attractions for outdoorspeople, for which Ely serves as a major entry point. The mine’s ore processing facility would be near the shores of Birch Lake and the South Kawishiwi River, the waters of which flow into the wilderness area. The sulfuric acid released from its processes could leach into the water, harming aquatic life. Canoers and environmentalists are concerned.

In an effort to prove itself a worthy neighbor, Twin Metals is reaching deep into its pockets. In addition to donating to local governments directly, the mining company recently passed thousands of dollars’ worth of gear to the Ely police through a little-known Christian nonprofit called Shield616, whose mission centers on protecting officers against high-powered rifles. On February 19, seven Ely police officers stood behind a long table at the Ely City Council hall. On the table were seven sets of body armor, ballistic helmets, and first-aid kits. The officers and community members in the audience bowed their heads in prayer over the gear — an element of Shield616’s standard gear presentations. “Our thanks to Twin Metals Minnesota for your generous donation to equip them with Shield616 gear!” read a Shield616 Facebook post later that day. An accompanying photo depicts Twin Metals CEO Kelly Osborne posing with the officers.

Twin Metals’ donation is an example of a quiet alliance between police and extractive industries in communities across the U.S. With protests breaking out, local governments — leveraging their police forces — are steeling themselves to fight back, leading to cycles of recriminations. In Duluth, Minnesota, for example, the police department recently purchased $84,000 worth of riot gear; that move itself sparked a protest. Shield616 helps local governments defray the costs of heavy-duty police gear — with extractive industries that work in their areas sometimes footing the bill.

From Nebraska to Washington state to North Dakota and Minnesota, mining companies and fossil fuel transporters have donated vehicles, gear, and operations funding meant to fortify community goodwill as public officials respond to local opposition. The pattern is particularly evident in Midwestern states, where controversial oil pipeline companies are preparing for construction and public officials are developing contingency plans to manage potentially astronomical policing costs.

To Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces,” the ethical questions raised by the Twin Metals donation are more worrisome than the gear itself. “It all seems to be defensive gear,” he said of Shield616’s donations, noting that items like batons and tear gas launchers weren’t in the packages. “It’s hard to object to underfunded police departments getting stuff that makes individual officers safer.” However, the donations still raise questions about conflicts of interest. “If police are called out to a protest against the company and the company has bought them this gear, where do their loyalties lie?” Balko said. “You have to ask whether the gift impacts the policies.”

Warren Vows to Ban New Leases for Fossil Fuel Drilling Offshore and on Public Lands

Environmental activists and advocacy groups praised Sen. Elizabeth Warren Monday after she promised that if she is elected president in 2020, she will ban new fossil fuel extraction leases for federally controlled lands and waters.

"It is wrong to prioritize corporate profits over the health and safety of our local communities," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote on Medium. "That's why on my first day as president, I will sign an executive order that says no more drilling—a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases, including for drilling offshore and on public lands." ...

The unveiling of Warren's public lands policy follows a series of other bold proposals from the presidential hopeful. She also has put forward plans to offset tax loopholes exploited by large U.S. corporations; establish nationwide universal childcare; help family farmers compete with agricultural giants; and break up major technology companies.

While Warren's vow to impose a moratorium on drilling leases was highly praised, that wasn't the only promise she made Monday.

"As president," Warren wrote:

• I will set a goal of providing 10 percent of our overall electricity generation from renewable sources offshore or on public lands.
• I will use my authorities under the Antiquities Act to restore protections to both [Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah] and any other national monuments targeted by this administration.
• I will fully fund our public land management agencies and eliminate the infrastructure and maintenance backlog on our public lands in my first term.
• I will recruit 10,000 young people and veterans to jumpstart a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps — and increase the budget of AmeriCorps' one-year fellowship program to fund it. This will create job opportunities for thousands of young Americans caring for our natural resources and public lands, deepening their lifelong relationship with the great outdoors.

"The National Park Service is funded by taxpayers," she added, "and it's long past time to make entry into our parks free to ensure that visiting our nation's treasures is within reach for every American family."

Fukushima: removal of nuclear fuel rods from damaged reactor building begins

Workers at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pool near one of the three reactors that suffered meltdowns eight years ago. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said on Monday that work had begun to remove the first of 566 used and unused fuel assemblies in reactor building No 3.

The measure marks a milestone in efforts to decommission the plant, although the more critical removal of melted fuel from inside three damaged reactors will prove far more difficult. The fuel rods stored in unit No 3’s cooling pool were not damaged in the 2011 disaster, when a powerful earthquake and tsunami knocked out Fukushima Daiichi’s backup power supply and triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, 25 years earlier.

Tepco said the operation to remove the fuel rods, which are in uncovered pools, would take two years, adding that transferring them to safer ground would better protect them in the event of another catastrophic earthquake. Workers are remotely operating a crane to raise the fuel from a storage rack in the pool and place it into a protective cask. The whole process occurs underwater to prevent radiation leaks. The utility plans to repeat the procedure in the two other reactors that suffered meltdowns. ...

Preparations for the work that began on Monday underlined the challenges facing Tepco as it attempts to devise ways to remove melted fuel from inside the damaged reactors. The removal of the fuel rods was delayed by more than four years due to equipment malfunctions, high radiation levels in the reactor building and radioactive debris from a hydrogen explosion that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the triple meltdown. ...

Robotic probes have photographed and detected traces of melted nuclear fuel in all three reactors that suffered meltdowns, but experts have yet to develop robots capable of locating and removing the fuel while exposed to dangerously high radiation levels.

Winds carry microplastics ‘everywhere' - even on to remote mountaintops

Microplastic is raining down on even remote mountaintops, a new study has revealed, with winds having the capacity to carry the pollution “anywhere and everywhere”. The scientists were astounded by the quantities of microplastic falling from the sky in a supposedly pristine place such as the French stretch of the Pyrenees mountains. Researchers are now finding microplastics everywhere they look; in rivers, the deepest oceans and soils around the world. ... Humans and other animals are known to consume the tiny plastic particles via food and water, but the potential health effects on people and ecosystems are as yet unknown.

However the ubiquity of the pollution means it needs to be taken very seriously, said Steve Allen, at the EcoLab research institute near Toulouse and who led the new work in the Pyrenees: “If it is going to be a problem, it is going to be a very big problem. I don’t think there is an organism on Earth that is immune to this.” ...

The new study, published in Nature Communications, is the first to show microplastic is raining down just as hard in remote environments and that it can travel across significant distances through wind. The team collected samples from high altitudes in the Pyrenees that were far from sources of plastic waste – the nearest village was 6km away, the nearest town 25km, and the nearest city 120km. ...

Many scientists are concerned about the potential health impacts of microplastics, which easily absorb toxic chemicals and can host harmful bacteria, with some even suggesting people are breathing the particles. The new research shows microplastics can remain airborne. “When you get down to respiratory size particles, we don’t know what those do,” said Deonie Allen. “That is a really big unknown, and we don’t want it to end up something like asbestos.” Plastic fibres have been found in human lung tissue, with those researchers suggesting they are “candidate agents contributing to the risk of lung cancer”.

Bolsonaro presidency a threat to the Amazon?

Turtles' absence from Nicaraguan stronghold raises alarm for future

Every year, from November through March, leatherback sea turtles arrive to the secluded shores of the Río Escalante Chacocente wildlife reserve on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast to lay their eggs. Though leatherback nesting habits vary, Chacocente has been a reliable egg-laying site for as long as conservationists have collected nesting data.

But this year, not a single leatherback came to Chacocente, and conservation groups in Costa Rica and Mexico, have recorded declines in sightings of the huge turtles. “This is the first time it’s happened and the chances are that it will happen again,” said Alison Gunn, the Americas and Caribbean program manager for Fauna & Flora International, which tags all female leatherbacks that nest in Chacocente. “I do view it as an indicator that we should really sit up and take notice of.”

The largest of all sea turtles, leatherbacks can weigh up to 1,500lb (680kg) and reach over six feet in length (2 meters), placing them among the largest reptiles in the world. But despite their enormous size, leatherback populations face threats from human activity, and the eastern Pacific population of leatherbacks is classified as critically endangered.

Both legal and illegal fishing have helped drive the decline, as well as egg poaching. In Central America sea turtle eggs are considered a delicacy and in some communities are held to be an aphrodisiac.

Also of Interest

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

Calling Assange a ‘narcissist’ misses the point – without WikiLeaks we would live in darker, less informed times

Julian Assange Suffered Severe Psychological and Physical Harm in Ecuadorian Embassy, Doctors Say

Prosecutors Revive Long Discredited Narratives for Assange Trial

Sell Out: How Corruption, Voter Fraud and a Neoliberal Turn Led Ecuador’s Lenin to Give Up Assange

Bernie Sanders Removes the Gloves

Elizabeth Warren Presses Pentagon on Its Planning for Climate Change

'We're not a dump' – poor Alabama towns struggle under the stench of toxic landfills

A Little Night Music

The Tams - Standing In

The Tams - Unlove You

The Tams - Memory Lane

The Tams - It's All Right (You're Just in Love)

The Tams - What Kind Of Fool

The Tams - Got To Get Used To A Broken Heart

The Tams - Laugh It Off

The Tams - Untie Me

The Tams - Find Another Love

The Tams - Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy