Tuesday, May 07, 2019

GOOD RIDDANCE TO DINOS
"We cannot support oppression, even if they have a D next to their name."

(Democrats In Name Only)

COMMONDREAMS.ORG
"Dan Lipinski is dangerously out of touch, and has time and time again refused to stand up for basic values like reproductive freedom, LGBTQ equality, and economic opportunity for every family."

Teachers from West Virginia to California have gone on strike this year to protest low pay and large class sizes.

SO OUT OF TOUCH SO CLUELESS SO CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
OF SOUTH AFRICA 
BLOOMBERG.COM
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she thinks recent teacher strikes "ultimately hurt kids" and that labor disputes should be handled outside the classroom.

Labour group Momentum joins activists to target branches in Germany, US and Canada
THEGUARDIAN.COM
Labour group Momentum joins activists to target branches in Germany, US and Canada

GANGES PHOTO ESSAY LONG READ VIDEOS AND PHOTOS
Modi's first pledge was to clean up India's sacred Ganges River. So what went wrong? https://bloom.bg/2PWPIk1 

Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, an engineer and professor at the city’s Banaras Hindu University, is also a Brahman and high priest at the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple, one of the most revered in Varanasi. The temple foundation runs a laboratory that tests for fecal coliform bacteria, science that Vishwambhar Mishra, like his father before him, uses to press for a cleaner Ganges.
At his sprawling home on the banks of the Ganges, Mishra cited data showing that 85 percent to 90 percent of the river’s problems are caused by raw sewage disposal. City sewers along the river’s course are the chief culprit, with “uncontrolled development” also a concern. “People now say that the Ganga is cleaner,” he said. “I say her condition has further worsened.” In reality, “all that’s needed is that we not treat Ganga as a dustbin.” Modi’s supporters are vocal, said Mishra, but there’s a silent majority that has turned against him.
Progress in Varanasi, as in Prayagraj, means clearing the way to temples. Outside one of the houses scheduled for demolition, Nirmala Gupta, 60, stood on a heap of rubble trying to come to terms with the demise of the home she was married into 40 years before. She is no longer a Modi supporter. “We never thought such a thing could happen, that the government goes out of its way to destroy such an ancient neighborhood,” she said. “One day they spoke about it, the next they turned up with bulldozers. We’ve been living without sewage or water connections for the last 10 days now. But they say it will make life easier for worshippers.”
While the country has 100 billionaires, over a third of Russians can’t afford two pairs of shoes a year.

BLOOMBERG.COM
But pockets of disquiet are putting the Russian hinterland on the political radar.

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A nationalist party is now Finland’s most popular political movement, according to a new poll.
BLOOMBERG.COM
The nationalist Finns Party is now Finland’s most popular political movement, according to the first poll published since last month’s parliamentary election, which saw the opposition Social Democrats emerge on top.

The Trump scrapped an IRS rule requiring some tax-exempt organizations to disclose their donors.
BLOOMBERG.COM
New York and New Jersey have sued to find out why President Donald Trump’s administration scrapped an Internal Revenue Service rule requiring some tax-exempt organizations to disclose their donors.

"I am sick and tired of hearing thoughts and prayers for the communities that have been shattered by gun violence."

BLOOMBERG.COM
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is proposing that all gun owners be licensed by the federal government, a process that would include an interview and safety training.


Jobs are now growing at a faster rate in Trump country than in the Democratic-leaning urban and coastal areas.


BLOOMBERG.COM
Jobs are now growing at a faster rate in Trump country than they are in the Democratic-leaning urban and coastal areas that long had been a main driver of the U.S. economic expansion.

"Unless workers have more power to negotiate for their fair share of economic awards, even a real economic boom will have limited benefit for those who need it most."

COMMONDREAMS.ORG
A tiny uptick in wages won't do much to help Americans squeezed by debt and facing rising prices for medicine, child care, housing, and other essentials.. Recent economic reports have President Donald Trump crowing.The big headline numbers do sound encouraging. The unemployment rate is down to 3.6%,...

"Skyrocketing stocks benefit only the top 10 percent of wealthy Americans who own 84 percent of stocks. And while more people are employed now than during the Great Recession, the vast majority of Americans haven’t had a real raise since 1979."
COMMONDREAMS.ORG
The American system (the Supreme Court, Congress, and the president) has conspired to crush workers.. Americans are not happy. And for good reason: They continue to suffer financial stress caused by decades of flat income. And every time they make the slightest peep of complaint about a system rigge...

TRUMP PARDONS WAR CRIMINAL
Trump pardons a former solider who was convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone.

BLOOMBERG.COM
President Donald Trump has pardoned a former U.S. soldier convicted in 2009 of killing an Iraqi prisoner, the White House announced Monday.

Critics say the president is sending a sinister message by pardoning an American that tortured and murdered an Iraqi prisoner.
COMMONDREAMS.ORG
"This pardon from Trump is just another part of his white supremacy tour."