British doctors are increasingly prescribing anti-depressants to children, a new trend which has been linked to cases of self-harm and suicide among minors.

The data obtained by BBC’s File on 4 showed that doctors had prescribed more anti-depressants to children in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland over the past three years.

In England, there was a 15 percent rise. Scotland saw a 10 percent increase. And in Northern Ireland the number rose by 6 percent.

The BBC said the steepest increase was seen in the youngest patients, those aged 12 and under.

The data is related to the prescription of powerful antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Experts say the rise in the use of anti-depressants for children, which should only under close supervision, is mainly due to long waits for specialist mental health services.

Authorities claim drugs have been prescribed based on some guidelines. However, some…

Former US President Jimmy Carter says America has lost its position as the so-called global leader for human rights under President Donald Trump.

“We should be the champion of human rights. We’re a superpower, not based solely on military power; part of that definition should be a commitment to human rights,” Carter said Tuesday at an event at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

“We have lost the long-term commitment to human rights,” he said.

“We should be a superpower because we espouse things that are important to everyone on earth and I think human rights are one of them,” he added.

Carter, 93, served as the 39th US president from 1977 to 1981.

The former Democratic president has been particularly critical of the nation’s direction under Trump’s leadership.

Tuesday’s event, part of an annual forum discussing human rights, brought together more than 60 “activists, peacemakers and community leaders,” according to a news…

Charles and David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity has announced a seven-figure campaign to get Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, confirmed to the bench. While this and the effort to get Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch seated on the nation’s highest court have received much attention, the Kochs’ campaign to influence state attorneys general and state courts has largely flown under the radar.

A careful search of state campaign finance databases and Koch Political Action Committee (KochPAC) filings reveal that the Koch network has identified and pumped money into candidates for state attorney general, state Supreme Court, and state Court of Appeals.

In the 2016 election cycle, the Kochs backed at least three candidates for attorney general in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and four candidates for state Supreme Court in Arkansas and Texas. Of these, only John Rafferty lost his bid for attorney general in Pennsylvania.

Koch Attorneys General

Team Koch has demonstrated a strong commitment to electing Republican attorneys general, mainly through its funding of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Koch Industries has given $250,000 to support its favored AG candidates so far this year, in addition to the $215,000 in 2017.

The Kochs are top-tier donors to RAGA, which gives them access to Republican AGs and their staff, as well as the ability to post on “a secret online bulletin board called the ‘Briefing Room’ that’s allowing big donors to help shape legal policy,” Maplight and The Intercept reported earlier this year.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel have all also received direct Koch cash contributions for their campaigns. Direct Koch contributions to attorney general…

Photo by Pete Souza | CC BY 2.0

Mark Twain famously wrote that “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” This insight is relevant to examining the apologetics of modern-day academics in the rising neoliberal assault on the public. This subservience to power is evident in efforts to rationalize governmental attacks on the most basic of human needs: access to clean water. In seeking to numb the public to basic facts and reality, the New York Times has published an op-ed analysis piece by Hernán Gómez and Kim Dietrich: “The Children of Flint Were Not Poisoned” (7/22/2018).

On the face of it, many might take the above piece seriously in light of its prestigious source. It was published in the most prominent, influential newspaper in the country – the national “paper of record.” Furthermore, the authors are trained experts in their fields, Gómez an “associate professor” of emergency medicine” at the University of Michigan, Dietrich a “professor of epidemiology and environmental health” at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Furthermore, Gómez’s research on Flint has gone through the peer review process, as seen in the publication of his article, “Blood Lead Levels of Children in Michigan: 2006-2016” in The Journal of Pediatrics. Scholarly peer review is designed to guarantee the highest possible quality of scholarly and medical research, although in this case it appears that the process badly broke…

Hospital workers go on strike in Rhode Island

By
John Marion

25 July 2018

More than 2,400 nurses, mental health workers, technicians and therapists at Rhode Island Hospital and its associated Hasbro Children’s Hospital have gone on strike this week, with hundreds picketing the hospital in Providence. Workers called the strike after rejecting a new contract by vote last week, along with demands made by management in a federal mediating session on Monday morning.

The workers are striking against attacks on their raises, pensions and working conditions. The three-year contract that recently expired guaranteed 3.5 percent yearly step increases for each worker. These steps cover the first 10 years of a worker’s tenure, and no additional cost of living increase has been given to them for the last eight years.

In the recent negotiations, management sought to “restructure”—that is, weaken—the steps, with raises as low as 2.25 percent per year over a four-year contract.

A striking nurse told WPRO, “I’m doing everybody else’s job with very little resources, poor equipment, and the people are getting sicker and sicker. I’m incapable of doing my job, at this point, safely.”

Lifespan is a hospital group composed of Rhode Island Hospital and four others, including the Brown University medical school. RIH by itself is the fourth largest employer in the state, and Lifespan, with 17,000 workers, is the largest.

On Monday Lifespan’s director of public relations boasted that the system is worth $2.2 billion, then complained to the press that last year it “showed an operating income of only $14.6 million.” The organization is paying $10 million to Huffmaster Strike Services to provide scabs during the strike. If this amount were paid out to the 2,400 striking…

Newsbusters
July 25, 2018

The New York Daily News announced on Tuesday that the tabloid-style newspaper — best known for its bizarre front pages slamming Republican President Donald Trump — to “fundamentally restructure” its focus on “its digital audience.”

A memo released by the newspaper’s executives stated: “We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50 percent and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news — especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility.”

“I know this is difficult news to hear and want to assure you we are working hard to treat each employee with respect and to make the transition as smooth as possible,” the memo added.

The tabloid’s human resources department promised to “reach out to all affected employees by the end of the day on Monday, and layoffs are effective immediately, but exiting staffers will be paid for the next 90 days.”

These decisions being announced today reflect the realities of our business and the need to adapt an ever-changing media environment,” the memo continued. “They are not a reflection on the significant talent that is leaving today.”

Read more

This article was posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2018 at 7:12 am

Hey, ol’ pal. Yeah, it’s me. We’re alone here. Nobody reads anything here. Google and Facebook bury it so nobody sees it but unpersons like me and a couple paranoiac deviants like you. This is the next best thing to high-latency messaging over the invisible internet. Virtually tête-à-tête.

You remember me. And as for you, oh, we remember you, all right. Not that you’re well known, but you’re best known for exulting over 9/11. The 3,000 deaths, the flailing victims falling for long seconds, the tens of thousands wasting, riddled with cancer, the torture, the crimes of aggression, put all that in a Big Bucket and you’re the Colonel Sanders of it, grinning on the label. We know what you meant: Oh boy, money for the beltway bandits, arms and legs and carte blanche for the spooks! You’re still teed up as the poster boy for ghoulish depravity, symbol of a criminal regime. A monster, hostis humani generis, headline perp of Nuremberg II.

Who better than you to take over when the USA collapses?

Now keep an open mind here. Did I ever shit you in those punchy late-night sessions of hurry-up-and-wait? Locked in those places, converted monasteries or robber-baron lairs or barrel vaults or founding-slaver homesteads, you say what you think, right? Let’s talk turkey now. Sure, your old bosses at NSA will suck this up into their server farms… and they will lose it. They’ll never find it till you’ve done your dirty work. Then it will be too late.

Your…

Reports of child abuse in the United States have increased following the tragic deaths of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins and 3-year-old Jaden Jordan in late 2016, a report says.

The Independent Budget Office (IBO) said Tuesday that reports of investigations of child abuse, and Family Court hearings have also gone up after the two widely-publicized abuse cases.

Perkins was bludgeoned to death with a broomstick allegedly by his mom’s boyfriend on Sept. 26 and Jordan died on Dec. 4, 2016 from injuries he allegedly suffered at the hands of his mother’s abusive boyfriend days after he had been beaten into a coma and left with a fractured skull.

The number of child abuse reports rose by 20 percent, from 19,980 in fiscal 2016 to 23,981 in fiscal 2017, although the number of cases increased by only 7 percent.

Spending at the Administration for Children’s Services  (ACS) also soared to $127.8 million in fiscal 2017 — up from $110.9 million a year…

Some people collect stamps, coins, or antique furniture. I collect stories of frivolous lawsuits. And some lawsuits definitely deserve that label, although they’ll feel anything but frivolous if you’re the one being sued:

• In New Jersey, Kyu Taik Chung sued the owners of an apartment complex after he stumbled over a Christmas tree left for trash pickup. His lawsuit claims the owner “recklessly, carelessly and/or negligently” allowed an unsafe hazard.
• In Florida, George H. Vallario, Jr., a lawyer, sued another lawyer over a violent handshake. It might sound like a joke, but Vallario seeks $100,000 in damages for his “pain and suffering.”
• At a Georgia shopping center, DeToya Moody walked under an orange bucket ladder surrounded by safety cones three times. But the fourth time she approached, the bucket had been lowered and she walked into it, suffering a minor concussion. Despite video footage clearly showing the woman staring into her cell phone when she injured herself, a jury awarded her $161,000 in damages.

More than a decade ago, a group of legal scholars at the Pacific Research Institute calculated the socio-economic costs of America’s lawsuit obsession. The results were stunning. In a report published in 2006, the researchers concluded that the total cost of the tort system was $865 billion annually – at that time, more than 6% of the total value of the US economy. According to the report, the annual price tag, or “tort tax,” for a family of four in terms of costs and foregone benefits was nearly $10,000.

The Lifeboat Strategy
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The unfortunate fact is that America has the world’s costliest legal system. In comparison to total…

Reuters
July 24, 2018

WASHINGTON – Satellite images indicate North Korea has begun dismantling key facilities at a site used to develop engines for ballistic missiles, in a first step toward fulfilling a pledge made to US President Donald Trump at a June summit, a Washington-based think tank said on Monday.

The images from July 20 showed work had been carried out at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station to dismantle a building used to assemble space-launch vehicles and a nearby rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles, the 38 North think tank said.

“Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence-building measure on the part of North Korea,” it said in a report.

Trump told a news conference after his unprecedented June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Kim had promised that a major missile engine testing site would be destroyed very soon.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 7:11 am

President Donald Trump says the United States and the European Union must drop all trade barriers and subsidies after his administration imposed tariffs on EU imports.

“I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday, addressing the UE’s trade chiefs who will meet him in a crunch meeting at the White House.

“That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready – but they won’t!”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom are expected to make…

In an interview with Consortium News, an independence leader and member of the Spanish parliament tells Attilio Moro that Catalonians are not finished seeking separation from Madrid.

By Attilio Moro
in Barcelona
Special to Consortium News

“Freedom for the political prisoners,” read banners hanging on hundreds of balconies from Placa Catalunya to La Ramblas, and from the Vila de Gracia to the Gothic Quarter. They were calling for freedom for the many grass roots activists demanding independence from Spain who were arrested and for the freedom of Charles Puigdemont, the ex-President of Generalitat de Catalunya, who was arrested in March by German authorities. A German judge rejected Spain’s extradition request on July 19 but he would face rebellion and sedition charges if he returned to Spain. 

Puigdemont had escaped to Belgium the day after the independence referendum on October 1, 2017 with Spanish police on his heels. Madrid’s secret service agents then hid a GPS tracker on the car he was traveling in from Helsinki, where he had attended a conference, back to Brussels. He is now in Hamburg, under surveillance by the German police.

Eight ministers of the dissolved Catalonian government (vice-president Junqueras, Joseph Rull, Dolores Bassa, Meri Borras, Joaquim Forn, Charles Mund, Jordi Torull, Raul Romeva) are all being held in a Madrid prison, under accusation of having threatened the integrity on Spain. Seven independence leaders and intellectuals escaped to Scotland and Holland to avoid  arrest.

No weapons or violence were used when these leaders organized the overwhelmingly successful independence referendum, which Madrid argued violated the Spanish constitution. The arrests were made to prevent the referendum from being implemented.

Puigdemont: Wanted in Spain.

Earlier this month at the headquarters of the Partit Democrata, one of the two big independence Catalan parties, I met Sergi Miquel, an independence leader and member of the national parliament.

“My generation had never seen these kind of measures being taken, we thought they belonged to the past, to the Franco era,” he told me. “But all of this is happening instead today in…

American Mirror
July 24, 2018

The Constitution is like a noxious fart to some liberals.

The House Minority Leader suffered a face spasm as she attempted to say the word.

Watch:

“Our oath to protect and defend our country from all en— and our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic,” she said.

Pelosi called on Trump to “stand up to Putin for his depa— attacks…”

“It’s a danger this president is propo— uh, putting forth,” she said seconds later. One sentence later, she suffered a brain freeze before saying “intelligence.”

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Talking about how Trump failed compared to other summits in Helsinki, Pelosi said a previous meeting “was about economy in eastern— in, uh, in, in, in Europe…”

The House Speaker wannabe suffered another brain freeze during her short remarks again as she attacked Trump.

“The urgency of us acting in a bi-partisan way to say to the president…” she said before stopping and staring at reporters, before continuing by using John McCain to slam Trump.

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 7:13 am

A federal appeals court has ruled that people can carry a gun in public for self-defense in line with the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.

The ruling by a three-judge panel on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday found that Hawaii overstepped its authority to regulate firearms possession outside the home.

In a 2-1 decision, the panel concluded that Hawaii violated the rights of plaintiff George Young when it twice denied him a permit to openly carry a gun in public.

“We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”

Meanwhile, State Attorney General Russell Suzuki said the ruling would “undermine Hawaii’s strong gun control law and our commitment to protect the public.”

Hawaii is among the 15 US states that requires a license or…

The pundits and politicians generally take it for granted that President Trump lacks a coherent foreign policy. They believe that he acts solely out of spite, caprice, and political opportunism — lashing out at US allies like Germany’s Angela Merkel and England’s Theresa May only to embrace authoritarian rulers like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. His instinctive rancor and impulsiveness seemed on full display during his recent trip to Europe, where he lambasted Merkel, undercut May, and then, in an extraordinary meeting with Putin, dismissed any concerns over Russian meddling in the 2016 American presidential election (before half-walking his own comments back).

“Nobody knows when Trump is doing international diplomacy and when he is doing election campaigning in Montana,” commented Danish defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen following the summit. “It is difficult to decode what policy the American president is promoting. There is a complete unpredictability in this.”

While that reaction may be typical, it’s a mistake to assume that Trump lacks a coherent foreign-policy blueprint. In fact, an examination of his campaign speeches and his actions since entering the Oval Office — including his appearance with Putin — reflect his adherence to a core strategic concept: the urge to establish a tripolar world order, one that was, curiously enough, first envisioned by Russian and Chinese leaders in 1997 and one that they have relentlessly pursued ever since.

Such a tripolar order — in which Russia, China, and the US would each assume responsibility for maintaining stability within their own respective spheres of influence while cooperating to resolve disputes wherever those spheres overlap — breaks radically with the end-of-the-Cold-War paradigm. During those heady years, the United States was the dominant world power and lorded it over most of the rest of the planet with the aid of its loyal NATO allies.

For Russian and…

Just when you thought economic commentary in the Washington Post couldn’t get any more insipid, Roger Lowenstein proves otherwise. In a business section “perspective” he tells readers:

“But what if inequality is the wrong metric. Herewith a modest proposition: economic inequality is not the best yardstick. What we should be paying attention to is social mobility.”

Wow, what a novel new idea, as though right-wingers have not been pushing this line since the dawn of time: “don’t worry that your standard of living is awful, the important thing is that your kids will be able to get rich.” (It doesn’t help his story that his poster child for the rich being good is Lloyd Blankfein, who made his fortune shuffling financial assets at Goldman Sachs and benefitted from a massive government bailout.)

But let’s be generous and try to take Lowenstein’s story seriously. He goes on:

“Rising inequality, although a fact, is also very hard to find a culprit for. Not that economists haven’t tried.”

Really? There are plenty of really good explanations for rising inequality, many of which are in my [free] book Rigged. I suppose in the Age of Trump it is appropriate that the Post has a business columnist determined to flaunt his ignorance.

But then we get the real payday:

“It’s also far from proved — to me, it’s not even intuitive — that high incomes on Wall Street and elsewhere are the reason for, say, flatter wages in manufacturing. The fact that Mark…

Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You: A “ladder-climber” in the corporate world

By
Matthew Brennan

25 July 2018

Written and directed by Boots Riley

Sorry To Bother You is a dark comedy written and directed by Boots Riley, the artist, political activist and rapper from Oakland, California. He is best-known as a longtime member of the music group The Coup.

The film, which reportedly took Riley eight years to get to theaters, is a satire about the oppressive work environment many people currently face and its connection to other aspects of their lives. The plot relies on “magical realist” touches, with the film taking place in a city that is both Oakland … and not-quite-Oakland. An intriguing and distinct score by the music group Tune-Yards permeates throughout.

Jermaine Fowler, Steven Yeun and Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You

Sorry to Bother You contains certain refreshing insights and sequences, and Riley at his sharpest captures some of the hypocrisy so rife in official American business and political life. The film makes no bones about its intention to skewer capitalism, as well as its sympathies for the working class. This is to Riley’s credit. However, these merits don’t make the various problems and limitations disappear.

The film centers around Cassius “Cash” Green, impressively played by actor Lakeith Stanfield ( Atlanta ). Cash is a young person struggling to make ends meet in Oakland. Living in his uncle’s garage and racked by anxiety, out of desperation he takes a telemarketing job at a company called RegalView.

Cash’s girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) is an artist also struggling to get by, working as a sign “twirler” for various companies. Outside of work, she creates performance art installations and takes part in a…

With everything happening it is hard to keep everything in your head all the time.  Yesterday, reading Pepe Escobar’s latest piece reminded me of a couple of themes I try to hit on regularly.

1. The U.S. only negotiates when it’s losing
2. Review the after-effects of major moments as turning points

Vladimir Putin’s speech on March 1st when he announced Russia’s new weapon systems were one such turning point.  The after-effects of their announcement has been an acceleration of Trump’s plans to wind down the U.S. empire around the world.

Trump and his advisors, most likely Secretary of Defense James Mattis, came to the conclusion that all of the U.S.’s forward deployments around the world are vulnerable in a way they weren’t before March 1st.

The Real Crash: Americ…
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This is why Trump pushed for a summit with Kim Jong-un.  Remember, Kim has nukes.  Once leverage disappears it’s now time to sue for some form of peace.  The Russians backed this up along with the Chinese while the Koreans pushed the agenda forward.

Next up would be Russia.  And Trump defied the establishment to talk to Putin.  They had to talk.  Trump had to know Putin’s real intentions in developing these weapons and pursuing the policies he did.

It was necessary.

So despite the venal, self-serving screeching from the Deep State, their quislings in the Media and their water-bearers on the Left, Trump talked with Putin to ensure that no ‘accidents’ occur between the two countries that control, as Trump pointed out during the #TreasonSummit, 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

And nuclear proliferation is Trump’s animating principle in foreign policy.  He states…

With everything happening it is hard to keep everything in your head all the time.  Yesterday, reading Pepe Escobar’s latest piece reminded me of a couple of themes I try to hit on regularly.

1. The U.S. only negotiates when it’s losing
2. Review the after-effects of major moments as turning points

Vladimir Putin’s speech on March 1st when he announced Russia’s new weapon systems were one such turning point.  The after-effects of their announcement has been an acceleration of Trump’s plans to wind down the U.S. empire around the world.

Trump and his advisors, most likely Secretary of Defense James Mattis, came to the conclusion that all of the U.S.’s forward deployments around the world are vulnerable in a way they weren’t before March 1st.

The Real Crash: Americ…
Peter D. Schiff
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This is why Trump pushed for a summit with Kim Jong-un.  Remember, Kim has nukes.  Once leverage disappears it’s now time to sue for some form of peace.  The Russians backed this up along with the Chinese while the Koreans pushed the agenda forward.

Next up would be Russia.  And Trump defied the establishment to talk to Putin.  They had to talk.  Trump had to know Putin’s real intentions in developing these weapons and pursuing the policies he did.

It was necessary.

So despite the venal, self-serving screeching from the Deep State, their quislings in the Media and their water-bearers on the Left, Trump talked with Putin to ensure that no ‘accidents’ occur between the two countries that control, as Trump pointed out during the #TreasonSummit, 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

And nuclear proliferation is Trump’s animating principle in foreign policy.  He states…

Daily Mail
July 24, 2018

Humans are gobbling up Earth’s resources at record-breaking rates, worrying new estimates show.

The so-called Earth Overshoot Day, first conceived back in 2006, marks the point at which our demand surpasses the resources Earth is able to regenerate in a given year.

And, we’re now just a week away from that date for 2018.

Due to over-fishing, over-harvesting, and excessive emissions, researchers say we’re using up a year’s worth of resources in just 212 days – or, demanding the resource equivalent of 1.7 Earths.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 7:21 am

Those familiar with the debate around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may be forgiven for thinking that science alone can solve the world’s food problems. The industry asserts that GMOs are vital if the world is to increase agricultural productivity and we are going to feed a growing global population. There is also the distinct impression that the GMO issue is all about ‘science’ and little else.

People who question the need for and efficacy of GM have been labelled anti-science elitists who are responsible for crimes against humanity as they supposedly deny GM food to the hungry. Critics stand accused of waging a campaign of fear about the dangers of GM. In doing so, the argument goes that, due to ideology, they are somehow denying a technological innovation to farmers.

Critics have valid concerns about GMOs and have put forward credible evidence to support their views. But instead of engaging in open and honest debate, we see some scientists hardening their positions, lashing out at critics and forwarding personal opinions (unrelated to their specific discipline) based on their perceived authority as scientists. There’s a fine line between science and industry-inspired lobbying and spin. Unfortunately, a number of scientists have difficulty locating it.

The problem: global food regime or GM technology itself

An accusation sometimes levelled at critics of GM is that they have trouble when it comes to differentiating between the…

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the United States will have no cooperation with the Russian military in Syria at least for now.

His remarks come after Moscow last week proposed plans to Washington to cooperate on the safe return of refugees to Syria following a meeting between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the issue had been discussed by the two presidents.

However, US defense officials are shocked at the prospect of coordinating with Russia in Syria, where the two countries are conducting two separate military campaigns.

Russia is in Syria at the request of the government of Bashar al-Assad to help fight Daesh, while Washington and its allies have been launching attacks on Syria since 2014, claiming they seek to root out the terrorist group, but they are also aiding militants fighting the government.

Now, the Pentagon, which blames…

Defense Secretary James Mattis says the United States will have no cooperation with the Russian military in Syria at least for now.

His remarks come after Moscow last week proposed plans to Washington to cooperate on the safe return of refugees to Syria following a meeting between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the issue had been discussed by the two presidents.

However, US defense officials are shocked at the prospect of coordinating with Russia in Syria, where the two countries are conducting two separate military campaigns.

Russia is in Syria at the request of the government of Bashar al-Assad to help fight Daesh, while Washington and its allies have been launching attacks on Syria since 2014, claiming they seek to root out the terrorist group, but they are also aiding militants fighting the government.

Now, the Pentagon, which blames…

Zero Hedge
July 24, 2018

Harley-Davidson is about to get some more angry tweets from Donald Trump.

This morning the iconic motorbike maker reported numbers that beat on the top and bottom line, with Q2 adj. EPS of $1.52, vs exp. $1.41, while motorcycle/related products revenue in the quarter was $1.53 billion, also above the 1.42 billion estimate.

More troubling was the news that 2Q motorcycle shipments of 72,593 declined 11.3% in the quarter.

But the big problem, and what will likely provoke Trump’s fury, is that HOG said its operating margin would drop to between 9 and 10% in 2018; the reason? Tariffs, to wit:

Motorcycles segment operating margin as a percent of revenue to be approximately 9 to 10 percent given the expected impact of tariffs in 2018

Previously, the company had been projecting a margin of as much as 10.5%.

As part of its outlook, the company also said that motorcycle shipments to be approximately 231,000 to 236,000 motorcycles. In the third quarter, the company expects to ship approximately 45,500 to 50,500 motorcycles

Even before it indirectly blamed Donald Trump’s policies for its woes, Harley got caught in the crossfire of Trump’s trade war last month when it announced plans to shift some U.S. production overseas to sidestep higher tariffs imposed by the European Union.

In response, Trump attacked the company, claiming it was using the levies as an excuse to send jobs overseas (Harley had previously announced plans to close a factory in Missouri and build one in Thailand). As Bloomberg notes, as a result of the EU’s retaliatory tariffs, it will cost about $2,200 extra per motorcycle shipped to Harley’s second-biggest market, the company disclosed in a June 25 filing. The manufacturer hasn’t specified which of its overseas plants will begin producing bikes for European riders.

Fast forward to today, when the company is telling its shareholders to blame Trump…

Click here to listen

At the recent event in New Orleans sponsored by the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party I spoke very bluntly about what a libertarian party should be doing and the good that it could accomplish, and contrasted that with the missed opportunities and self-sabotage that continues to plague it.

Listen to the podcast

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The Best of Tom Woods

Times Of Israel
July 24, 2018

The Israeli Air Force shot down a Syrian fighter jet that traveled two kilometers into Israeli airspace on Tuesday afternoon, the military said.

“Two Patriot missiles were fired at a Syrian Sukhoi-model fighter jet,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The IDF said the aircraft was monitored as it approached the border with the Golan Heights.

“It penetrated two kilometers into Israeli airspace and was shot down,” the army said.

The military would not comment on how the Syrian plane was able to penetrate two kilometers into Israeli airspace before being shot down. This was likely to ensure that the plane was not a Russian aircraft.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 7:25 am

In New York City, the new owner of the New York Daily News says it will fire half the staff of the longtime newspaper. Among those who were fired was editor in chief Jim Rich, who tweeted, “If you hate democracy and think local governments should operate unchecked and in the dark, then today is a good day for you.” In the 1980s, the New York Daily News employed 400 journalists. After the latest firings, the newspaper will have only 45 people in its newsroom staff. The New York Daily News’s owner, Tronc, is also the publisher of The Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. For more we speak with Democracy Now!’s Juan González, a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I’m Juan González. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world.

AMY GOODMAN: Juan, before we move on with our first story, this is kind of your alma mater. This is the place you worked for almost 30 years — the New York Daily News. Now the latest round of cuts, half the staff has been fired by the new owner, Tronc.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, Amy. Unfortunately, I expected that this was going to happen once Tronc took over. Tronc, of course, is the successor to the old Tribune company. That was the company that when I first got to the Daily News in 1987 was running the Daily News and provoked a strike of the 2,500 employees of the newspaper back then. And back then, I would say in the late 80s, early 1990s, there were about 450 people in the newsroom. I think there were more in the 50s, but by the late 80s and beginning of the 90s, we had about 450. So to go now to 45 — one tenth of the staff — you’ve got to think that New York City back then had maybe seven, seven and a half million people. Today, New York City has eight and a half million people. So you’re talking about a much bigger city, many fewer reporters….

Photo by MAPW Australia | CC BY 2.0

The United States and Russia remained at odds, continuing military exercises along the borders of NATO, undermining the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), upgrading their nuclear arsenals, and eschewing arms control negotiations.

—“It’s Two Minutes to Midnight,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

I, for one, was much disappointed by the Trump-Putin summit — but not for the reasons most others were. I was not hoping that Trump would punch Putin in the nose or insult him or declare new sanctions. Nor was I hoping he would cancel the meeting.

Although Trump’s performance was characteristically tawdry, I don’t share the views of those who thought the meeting was a disaster because Trump didn’t throw a tantrum over Putin’s alleged order to attack American democracy by allegedly “interfering” in the 2016 election by allegedly hacking into the email accounts of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Allegedly. There’s a word that’s gone from the establishment media’s lexicon.

That allegation has been the subject of many claims and indictments, but claims and indictments are not evidence — and that’s what some of us still await: evidence. Amazingly, some who regard themselves as liberals and progressives think that a demand for evidence is itself evidence that the demander is on Putin’s payroll. I’ve stated my lack of fondness for Putin, which may explain why I have yet to see…

The Guardian
July 24, 2018

The United Kingdom’s famous Trump baby blimp could soon appear in Australian skies as demonstrators plan a mass protest to coincide with the US president’s visit later this year.

The six-metre-high orange balloon – dubbed by the former Ukip leader and Trump ally Nigel Farage “the biggest insult to a sitting US president ever” – was flown over London this month as part of a countrywide protest against Trump’s visit to the UK.

Now, organisers in Australia say they are in talks to bring the blimp to Australia when Trump visits at the end of the year. While no date is set, Malcolm Turnbull invited the president to visit when they met in February, and it is expected Trump will visit after he attends the Apec summit in Papua New Guinea in November.

Organiser Simone White said the protest, currently titled United Against Trump, was directly inspired by the tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets in the UK.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 7:28 am

Toronto shooting kills three, injures thirteen

By
Jake Silver

24 July 2018

A horrific shooting on Sunday night on Danforth Avenue in Toronto has left three dead and 13 injured. The victims range from ages 10 to 59.

Video footage shows a man firing full rounds of a semi-automatic handgun into patron-filled restaurants. The fatal victims of the shooting include a 10-year-old girl, an 18-year-old nursing student, and the alleged perpetrator, who succumbed to gunshot wounds shortly after engaging in a firefight with police. Whether the suspect took his own life or received fatal gunshot wounds from police is still under investigation.

The Toronto police have identified the shooter as 29-year-old Faisal Hussain. His family has since released a statement that expresses their horror and devastation at the events and offers their condolences to those suffering from the tragedy. They also stressed that their son had been suffering from severe mental health issues including psychosis and depression.

Despite the family’s statement, the media has sought to whip up fears revolving around gang violence and terrorism with Toronto’s chief of police stating, “It’s way too early to rule out anything.”

The duplicitous response of conservative Mayor John Tory couched the shooting, which he called “an act of cowardly violence,” purely in terms of issues of gun control, saying “there are far too many people carrying around guns who should not have them.”

The newly elected Conservative Premier of Ontario, Rob Ford, issued a statement calling for Ontario residents to “step forward [and] let the appropriate authorities know” about their suspicions of gun violence.

Whatever the immediate cause and motivation behind the social tragedy, it will be seized upon by a political…

Deviant Art

Ecuador’s president Lenín Moreno is reportedly close to reneging on asylum granted to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange by Ecuador. Assange, who holds Ecuadorian citizenship and is entitled to protection as such by his country of citizenship, is expected to be turned over to the UK very soon.

And for what? WikiLeaks dared to expose the perfidy of the United States to the world’s public. The pro-transparency organization enraged the US military-industrial complex by publishing a slew of classified documents, emails, and graphic accounts like the “Collateral Murder” video that adduced US war crimes in Iraq.

In other words, Assange is being painted as a criminal for revealing the crimes of US empire. War is peace. And revealing crimes is criminal.

In mid-July, during president Donald Trump’s visit to England, one press headline reported: “Trump UK visit:’100,000′ take to London’s streets in astonishing show of opposition to ‘horrible’ president.”

And prior to the US-UK attack on Iraq (based on fixing the intelligence and facts around the policy), police estimated “at least 750,000” people turned out demonstrate against partaking in the war against Iraq.

Julian Assange, as a publisher, performed a massive service to humanity in allowing those who want to be informed about what acts their governments are involved in, support, or are silent about. WikiLeaks respects “our” right to know.

Clearly, Assange must be protected….

Israel has fired interceptor missiles at a Syrian Sukhoi warplane, the IDF said in a statement, adding that the aircraft had penetrated Israeli-controlled airspace.

“Two Patriot missiles were launched at a Sukhoi fighter plane. The plane was under [Israeli] surveillance, it penetrated about two kilometers into Israeli territory and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces wrote on Twitter.

Two Patriot missiles were launched at a Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet that infiltrated about 1 mile into Israeli airspace. The IDF monitored the fighter jet, which was then intercepted by the Patriot missiles. pic.twitter.com/owL4Pm7zER

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 24, 2018

Israeli Army Radio stated that the plane was shot down over the Golan Heights, but may have crashed on the Syrian-held side of the frontier, Reuters reports.

A video has appeared on Twitter, purporting to show the moment the Sukhoi jet was intercepted by Israeli missiles. RT hasn’t yet been able to verify the footage.

???? #Israel has launched 2 patriot surface-to-air missiles to intercept a Syrian fighter jet (reportedly a Sukhoi) that entered 2 kilometres inside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights’ airspace; the jet reportedly crashed inside #Syria.https://t.co/rpFoWdxYvm

— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) July 24, 2018

Neoconservatives like Max Boot are fooling themselves if they think imposing ‘values’ on the rest of the world isn’t a matter of empire.

Another Liberal broken promise. Before becoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau promised to re-engage with Iran. His government has failed to do so and is beginning to echo the warmongers in Washington and Tel Aviv.

“I would hope that Canada would be able to reopen its mission [in Tehran],” Trudeau told the CBC in June 2015. “I’m fairly certain that there are ways to re-engage [Iran],” he said.

Nearly three years into their mandate the Liberals haven’t restarted diplomatic relations with Iran. Nor has Trudeau removed that country from Canada’s state sponsor of terrorism list (Syria is the only other country on the list).

Numerous Canadian sanctions targeting Iran remain and Ottawa continues to present a yearly UN resolution critical of the human rights situation in Iran. Similarly, Liberal MPs participate in the annual “Iran Accountability Week” on Parliament Hill, which showcases individuals such as Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which helped kill the nuclear deal and is pushing harsh sanctions against any country doing business with Iran.

Dubowitz is a senior research fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. In 2015 Global Affairs Canada gave the Munk School’s Digital Public Square $9 million to expand an anti-Iranian initiative, which the Trudeau government appears to have maintained.

Trudeau has continued important components of the Stephen Harper government’s “low-level war against Iran”. One major exception had been on the rhetorical front, but that’s changing. In January foreign minister Chrystia Freeland put out a statement saying, “Canada is deeply troubled by the recent deaths and detentions of protesters in Iran” and two months ago tweeted, “Our government is committed to holding Iran to account for its violations of human and democratic rights.” Last month Liberal parliamentarians supported a Conservative MP’s private member’s motion that “strongly condemns the current regime in Iran for its ongoing sponsorship of terrorism around the world, including instigating violent attacks on the Gaza border.” In effect, the resolution makes Iran responsible for Israel killing Palestinians peacefully protesting the US Jerusalem embassy move, siege of Gaza and historic theft of their land. The motion also called on Canada to “immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations” and to make the highly provocative move of listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.

The Liberals hardline on Iran coincides with Trump withdrawing from the “p5+1 nuclear deal” with Iran and re-imposing tough new sanctions. Now, Washington is threatening to sanction any country that buys Iranian oil. (If the US succeeds Tehran says it will seek to block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.)

The US and Israel recently created a “working group” to foment internal protests in…

US President Donald Trump claims Washington is ready to make a “real deal” with Iran over the country’s nuclear program, a significant retreat from his blustery rhetoric just days after he threatened the Islamic Republic with incredible hardships.

“Iran is not the same country anymore, that I can say,” Trump said Tuesday during a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention in the US state of Missouri. “And we’ll see what happens, but we’re ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster.”

Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015, and that he planned to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on Tehran.

Trump on Monday threatened Iran…

The death toll is expected to rise; fires were still burning in several locations as the country requests international help

Wildfires raged through popular resort areas near Greece’s capital, leaving at least 74 dead and more than 100 injured, in the country’s deadliest fire season in more than a decade.

Fires fanned by strong winds broke out Monday afternoon on both sides of Athens, ripping through pine forests and towns. Tourists and residents were forced to quickly flee to beaches, where more than 800 people were picked up by coast guard and navy vessels and fishing boats.

The fires hit areas of widespread unregulated construction with narrow streets and houses mixed among tinder-dry forest, which likely contributed to the death toll. Greece’s Red Cross said the bodies of 26 people believed to be trying to escape were found near a beach, some of them hugging each other in their last moments.

Fires are common during Greece’s hot and dry summers, in part because of a lack of forest maintenance and weak zoning laws. Public spending cuts imposed during the country’s financial crisis have eaten into fire service funding and fire brigades struggle with aging equipment.

“This was a deadly mix: a mega fire, strong winds of more than 80 kilometers per hour [50 miles per hour] in an unregulated area at the peak of the tourist season,” says Yiannis Stamoulis, head of the Association of Greek Firefighters.

Even after the fires were contained, authorities said the…

Blames “mental illness,” ignores support for ISIS

Paul Joseph Watson
PrisonPlanet.com
July 24, 2018

While the media continues to repeat claims that Toronto shooter Faisel Hussain suffered from “mental illness,” police and intelligence sources are studying information which suggests Hussain’s rampage was an Islamic terrorist attack.

Hussain killed two girls aged 10 and 18 as well as injuring 14 others during the attack along the restaurant-lined streets of Greektown on Sunday night.

After an almost 24 hour delay in releasing his name, as soon as Hussain was publicly identified, his family immediately released a statement that sounded like it had been written by a lawyer asserting that the killer’s carnage was motivated by nothing other than mental illness and depression.

The mainstream media immediately ran with this narrative and pushed any speculation that the shooting was a terror attack to the fringes.

“How is it that this press release came out contemporaneously with naming the #TorontoStrong killer? Was timing of both orchestrated? If so by whom?” asked lawyer Manny Montenegrino.

Detailed expert press release from #TorontoShootings family.

How is it that this press release came out contemporaneously with naming the #TorontoStrong killer?

Was timing of both orchestrated?
If so by whom?

Is a family member lawyer or PR expert?
If not by who wrote PR? pic.twitter.com/DmeC1U1mEd

— Manny_Ottawa (@manny_ottawa) July 23, 2018

“What PR firm wrote this letter for the family? Because that’s not written by elderly Muslim migrants. That’s written by a political aide, or a journalist,” remarked Ezra Levant.

What PR firm wrote this letter for the family? Because that’s not written by elderly Muslim migrants. That’s written by a political aide, or a journalist. Surely you didn’t write it, Shanifa. So will you tell us who did — or should we just ignore that…

The incomes of the poorest households in the United Kingdom slumped again last year following a rising trend of poverty which has continued to spread across the country, new data released by a British think tank suggest.

The statistics provided by the Resolution Foundation showed that there are over eight million low and middle-income households in Britain, just under half of which have children.

It said UK households in the lower half of incomes typically earned around £14,900 in 2003, adding that figures had fallen to £14,800, according to a research conducted in 2016-17.

However, the report shows that it is not just poorer households which have been facing a pay squeeze.

On average, incomes for all households in 2017/18 increased by just 0.9%, the lowest rise for four years and less than half the average between 1994 and 2007, just before the financial crisis.

For the poorest third of households, incomes have actually fallen by up to…

A federal judge has delayed the start date for the trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who faces charges of tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent. His trial will now start on July 31; it had been slated to start on July 25. The judge also agreed to grant immunity to five witnesses who are expected to testify in Manafort’s trial. For more we speak with Greg Gordon, Washington correspondent for McClatchy.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Greg, how could the whole legal battles of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former — or lawyer, personal lawyer — affect this particular case as well, or tie into this case as well?

GREG GORDON: I’m not sure whether Michael Cohen ties into the NRA, but I would say that what investigators are looking for with respect to Michael Cohen ties back into the famous dossier that was assembled by the ex-British spy, Christopher Steele. And in that dossier, the biggest thing, the most explosive thing aside from activities that went on in a hotel room, was whether Cohen went over to Prague in late August or late summer of 2016 and met with a senior member of Russia’s parliament and hackers. And if that dossier is correct, well, that would be what some investigators call the holy grail, because it would carry strong suggestions of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

Now, let me just say that Bob Mueller has such a — and this is true in mob investigations also — you have to find a way, because many of the people that you’re looking at of course are not cooperating. In this case, Robert Mueller has indicted 25 Russians. They’re all in Russia. There’s no extradition treaty. They’re not coming here. So how’s he going to build this case other than through former Trump campaign aides? And that’s what he’s trying to do. He has brought enormous pressure to bear on Paul Manafort, and now he’s bringing pressure to bear on Michael Cohen. And we hear about leaks…

Oklahoma voters last month, during a midterm primary election, approved a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana. The measure, which passed by a vote of 57 to 43 percent, will allow doctors to recommend cannabis to treat any medical condition they see fit. Most other states that have legalized medical marijuana only provide a list of diseases and disorders for which physicians can authorize a cannabis treatment.

The ballot title reads as follows:

This measure amends the Oklahoma State Statutes. A yes vote legalizes the licensed use, sale, and growth of marijuana in Oklahoma for medicinal purposes. A license is required for use and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes and must be approved by an Oklahoma Board Certified Physician. The State Department of Health will issue medical marijuana licenses if the applicant is eighteen years or older and an Oklahoma resident. A special exception will be granted to an applicant under the age of eighteen, however these applications must be signed by two physicians and a parent or legal guardian. The Department will also issue seller, grower, packaging, transportation, research and caregiver licenses. Individual and retail businesses must meet minimal requirements to be licensed to sell marijuana to licensees. The punishment for unlicensed possession of permitted amounts of marijuana for individuals who can state a medical condition is a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars. Fees and zoning restrictions are established. A seven percent state tax is imposed on medical marijuana sales.

The Free Society
Laurence M. Vance
Best Price: $13.63
Buy New $18.62
(as of 08:05 EDT – Details)

According to section 1D of the new law “to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 420…

By 2050, 73% of population would be immigrants or their descendents

Paul Joseph Watson
PrisonPlanet.com
July 24, 2018

A 2001 UN strategy document is getting fresh attention in light of the migrant crisis because it outlines the need to flood America and Europe with hundreds of millions of migrants in order to maintain population levels.

Entitled Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?, the plan seeks to “offset population decline and population ageing resulting from low fertility and mortality rates.”

It contends that mass migration to the west is needed for governments to maintain “many established economic, social and political policies and programmes”.

The strategy document sets out six potential scenarios for each country or region of the world necessary to meet this goal.

Under the most severe scenario, large numbers of migrants will be required to “maintain the potential support ratio” (of a population) at the highest level.

In the case of the United States, under the most extreme scenario, the report states, “It would be necessary to have 593 million immigrants from 1995 to 2050, an average of 10.8 million per year.”

“By 2050, out of a United States total population of 1.1 billion, 775 million, or 73 per cent, would be post 1995 immigrants or their descendants,” adds the report.

In Europe’s case, the document asserts that at least 159 million migrant workers will need to enter by 2025 in order, “to maintain the current balance of 4 to 5 workers for a pensioner.”

Under the worst case scenario, 1.4 billion migrants would be needed by 2050, an average of 25.2 million a year. This means that by 2050, Europe’s population would be 2.3 billion, of which 1.7 billion, almost three quarters, would be migrants or their descendents.

Given that Europe is already having huge problems integrating significantly fewer numbers of…