U.S. Department of Interior buries communications policy after attempting to justify muzzling scientists

By Michael Halpern 22 June 2018 (Union of Concerned Scientists) – Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times broke the story about the new policy at the U.S. Geological Survey requiring scientists to get permission before speaking to reporters about science. In an attempt to justify the muzzling, a department spokesperson said they were just following an […]

Trial runs for fascism are in full flow – Immigrant babies in cages were no “mistake” by Trump, but test-marketing for barbarism – “The blooding process has begun within the democratic world”

By Fintan O’Toole 26 June 2018 (The Irish Times) – To grasp what is going on in the world right now, we need to reflect on two things. One is that we are in a phase of trial runs. The other is that what is being trialled is fascism – a word that should be […]

Graph of the Day: Journalists missing or killed globally, 1992-2018

7 July 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – Journalism has never been a safe profession, but in 2018, it’s more than three times as dangerous as it was 2001. According to data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), murders and disappearances of reporters worldwide have increased from a low of 34 in 2002 to a […]

The Annapolis shooting is another reminder: Globally, it’s getting more dangerous to be a journalist – “The climate of hatred is steadily more visible”

By Ruby Mellen 28 June 2018 (The Washington Post) – On Thursday, 28 June 2018, a gunman stormed the office of a local newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing at least five people and injuring two others. According to my colleagues, the attack “likely is the deadliest involving journalists in the United States in decades.” Police […]

Analysis finds geographic overlap in opioid use and Trump support – “The types of discussions around what drove the 2016 election, and the forces that were behind that, should also be included when people are talking about the opioid epidemic”

By Paul Chisholm 23 June 2018 (NPR) – The fact that rural, economically disadvantaged parts of the country broke heavily for the Republican candidate in the 2016 election is well known. But Medicare data indicate that voters in areas that went for Trump weren’t just hurting economically — many of them were receiving prescriptions for […]

Women’s rights face global pushback from conservativism, fundamentalism – “Polygamy, child marriage, female genital mutilation, so-called honour killings, and criminalizing women for sexual and reproductive behavior have no place in any society”

22 June 2018 (UN News) – Women’s rights are under threat from a “backlash” of conservatism and fundamentalism around the world, a United Nation panel warned on Friday.“Alarming pushbacks have been progressing across regions of the globe”, through what the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice described as “alliance of […]

Trump looking to erect tent cities to house unaccompanied children – “The prospect of detaining kids in tent cities is horrifying”

By Franco Ordonez 13 June 2018 WASHINGTON (McClatchy) – The Trump administration is looking to build tent cities at military posts around Texas to shelter the increasing number of unaccompanied migrant children being held in detention. The Department of Health and Human Services will visit Fort Bliss, a sprawling Army base near El Paso in […]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte tells U.N. human rights expert: “Go to hell”

By Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Edwina Gibbs 2 June 2018 (Reuters) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told a U.N human rights expert who said the country’s judicial independence was under threat to “go to hell”, warning against interference in domestic affairs. The Philippine Supreme Court voted last month to remove Chief Justice Maria […]

UN rights chief: Human rights under attack globally – World is headed “backwards, to an era when racists and xenophobes deliberately enflamed hatred and discrimination among the public”

22 May 2018 (UN News) – In a hard-hitting speech marking the 25th anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights that underscored the “universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated” nature of human rights, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said that a quarter century on, the world seemed instead to be […]

Press freedom continues global decline in 2018 – U.S. falls to 45th due to Trump hostility to reporters – “The unleashing of hatred toward journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies”

25 April 2018 (RSF) – The 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects growing animosity towards journalists. Hostility towards the media, openly encouraged by political leaders, and the efforts of authoritarian regimes to export their vision of journalism pose a threat to democracies. [Читать на русском / Read in Russian] […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial