UN chief issues “red alert” for the world – “We can settle conflicts, overcome hatred and defend shared values. But we can only do that together.”

By Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Amanda Coakley 1 January 2018 (CNN) – As the world began to ring in 2018, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for global unity to overcome growing challenges. In his New Year message on Sunday, Guterres said the world appeared to have “gone in reverse” before adding, “On New Year’s Day 2018 […]

As migrants flee for Canada, fears are rising over the perils of frigid illegal crossings – “They’re nice-dressed families — like they could be your neighbor — but they are scared and don’t know what else to do”

By Tim Craig 15 December 2017 NOYES, Minnesota (The Washington Post) – Chad Cosley tracks them as if they were deer. He looks for footprints and frequently checks his network of trail cameras, which had been documenting wildlife along the U.S.-Canada border but now also capture would-be refugees fleeing the United States under President Trump. […]

A record number of journalists worldwide are behind bars for doing their jobs

15 December 2017 (Los Angeles Times) – This last year has been a dangerous one for journalists around the globe — a record 262 men and women are imprisoned because of the nature of the work they do, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. It’s part of a disturbing trend of attacking and undermining […]

Far-right Freedom party enters Austrian government – Pro-Putin group takes defense, interior, and foreign posts in coalition deal

By Ralph Atkins and Mehreen Khan 17 December 2017 ZURICH (Financial Times) – Austria’s far-right nationalist Freedom party will control several powerful ministries when the country’s new government is sworn in on Monday, after it struck a coalition deal that will significantly toughen Vienna’s stance on immigration and asylum seekers. In a breakthrough for the […]

Trump does not publicly rebuke Duterte for death squads, calls press “spies” – “Trump seems very comfortable with strongmen. It’s not just that he won’t criticize Duterte. I wouldn’t be surprised if he patted him on the back.”

13 November 2017 (AP) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing. He called Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” This week, he boasted that he murdered a man with his own hands. All that went unmentioned in public by President Donald Trump when the leaders held […]

U.N. body criticizes U.S. “failure at the highest political level to unequivocally reject racist violent events”

GENEVA, 23 August 2017 (United Nations) – The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called on the Government of the United States of America, as well as high-level politicians and public officials, to unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country. In […]

Graph of the Day: Trump approval and disapproval trends, 26 August 2017

26 August 2017 (Desdemona Despair) – How low can Trump go, and how long will it take him to get there? One way to gauge public sentiment is to aggregate data from multiple polls and compute an estimate. Fortunately, the good people at FiveThirtyEight are doing this for us at their excellent site, How popular […]

Leaked documents reveal counterterrorism tactics used at Standing Rock to “defeat pipeline insurgencies”

By Alleen Brown, Will Parrish, and Alice Speri 27 May 2017 (The Intercept) – A shadowy international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. The […]

The antiscience assault on NASA: What it’s like on the inside

  15 May 2017 (Alt NASA) – Thank you for supporting us. We have not been able to post because of our hostile working conditions. If you have a friend or family member working for NASA, EPA, or NPS, the stories they tell are true, it is truly a hard time. Officials have been trying […]

White House issues corporate press release on behalf of ExxonMobil

By Josh Voorhees6 March 2017 (Slate) – […] The two statements had plenty more in common than simply the topic. A snippet from the Exxon release: ExxonMobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf expansion […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial