34.9 - For the Record: UN death penalty vote, IRS no-bid contract, Warren torches Equifax executive, Yahoo data breach growing

For the Record: UN death penalty vote, IRS no-bid contract, Warren torches Equifax executive, Yahoo data breach growing

Next up, we have one of our occasional features. This one is called For the Record, where we cover a few things quickly just to make sure the don't get ignored.

So first, For the Record: On September 27, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the death penalty. It called on countries "that have not yet abolished the death penalty" not to use it for "crimes" such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, and consensual same-sex relations; to ensure that it is not applied in a discriminatory fashion; and not to apply it to persons with mental or intellectual disabilities or who are under 18 or to pregnant women.

That is, it didn't even call for an end to the death penalty but only that those nations that have it do not apply it unjustly. The resolution passed 27-13. The US voted no.

Note that homosexuality is illegal in over 70 countries. In 13 of them, the penalty is death.

For the record: On September 30, the IRS issued a $7.25 million no-bid contract for services to "verify taxpayer identity" and "assist in ongoing identity verification and validations" at the IRS.

The contract was given to Equifax.

For the record: As a natural follow-up that, at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on October 4. Sen. Elizabeth Warren scorched former Equifax CEO Richard Smith, who retired after the September disclosure of a massive security breach that exposed personal information of nearly 150 million Americans.

She forced Smith to admit that Equifax actually profits from data breaches because they create business opportunities for the company to sell services such as credit monitoring to people who now face increase risk of fraud and identity theft.

She was even able to quote Smith as calling fraud a "huge opportunity for us" and noted that Equifax's profits had gone up 80% since 2013 despite having admitted to four separate data breaches in that same time.

Smith didn't even try to refute Warren's argument, perhaps because he doesn't care: Despite being CEO at the time of the breach, he still will collect a $90-million retirement payout.

Finally, For the record: On the other hand, perhaps Smith could have tried to insist the breach was no big deal: After all, it only affected nearly 150 million people.

Meanwhile, the number determined to be affected by Yahoo's 2013 data breach keeps growing. It's now thought to encompass all user accounts, which brings the number of compromised accounts to something like three billion.

30.9 - For the Record: federal support for fossil fuels

For the Record: federal support for fossil fuels

For the Record: A new report released July 5, the result of a cooperative research effort by Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, and the World Wildlife Fund's European Policy Office, shows that the US government provided about $6 billion annually in financial support to the oil, gas, and coal industries between 2013 and 2015 - during the term, let it be noted, of the Amazing Mr. O.

That's over four times the amount that went to clean energy, which received just $1.3 billion.

30.8 - For the Record: biased media

For the Record: biased media

For the Record: a perfect example of how bad our media really is and how we are uninformed, malinformed, and misinformed.

On January 24, US News + World Report ran an article about the mass arrest of protesters at TheRumps' inauguration. The headline was, quoting,

"Inauguration Mass Arrest of Protesters, Journalists a Throwback With a Familiar Face, Attorneys Say"

with the subhead of

"The city’s interim police chief was found responsible in the past for violating protesters' rights, costing the city millions."

Even though the article was about the potential illegality of mass arrests without probable cause, it was illustrated with a picture of someone dressed in black throwing a trashcan through the window of a Starbucks. What that had to do with the story other than to prejudice readers against the arrested protesters was unclear.

On June 21, US News + World Report ran an article about a suit alleging serious police misconduct in dealing with those same wrongfully-arrested protesters. It was headlined

"Lawsuit: Police Laughed While Rectally Probing Inauguration Mass-Arrest Group, Didn't Change Gloves."

And it was illustrated with that same image of a trash can through a window. Again, how that was connected to the substance of the story went unexplained.

30.7 - For the Record: razed Negev village

For the Record: razed Negev village

For the Record: According to Albawaba, a news site out of Jordan, on August 1 Israeli forces demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev region of southern Israel. It was the 116th time since 2010 the village had been leveled and the eighth time this year.

Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered "unrecognized" by Israel. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, more than half of the approximately 160,000 Bedouins in the Negev reside in unrecognized villages.

A Bedouin village in the Negev

The villages were established in the wake of the 1948 war, with many Bedouins being forcibly transferred to the village sites in the ensuing 17 years. Now, more than 60 years after their founding, the villages remain "unrecognized," unable to connect to the national water and electricity grids and blocked from health and educational services.

One time when Israeli courts found that a Jewish "outpost" in the West Bank called Amona was illegally built on land owned by Palestinians, the government tried every way it could to avoid having to remove the settlers. It was finally evacuated on February 1 of this year - almost immediately after which the Israeli parliament passed a law retroactively legalizing other such "outposts," including those build on stolen Palestinian land.

30.6 - For the Record: State Dept. mission statement

For the Record: State Dept. mission statement

For the Record: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered up a new mission statement for the department.

The draft versions under review are similar to the old one - except for dropping any reference to promoting either democracy or a just world.

Former senior State Department officials from both parties said such a change is neither accidental nor inconsequential and would give comfort to dictators around the world.

Meanwhile, the State Department is closing the www.humanrights.gov website and moving its content to the easily-remembered URL of www.state.gov/j/drl.

30.5 - For the Record: teen pregnancy

For the Record: teen pregnancy

For the Record: The TheRump administration has cut nearly $214 million from teen pregnancy prevention programs across the country by ending grants two years earlier than they were originally supposed to.

Some of the organizations receiving the grants were told that it was at the instigation of Valerie Huber, new chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, who favors abstinence-only education.

This comes at a time when the teen birthrate is at an all-time low. It has been dropping steadily since about 1990 and is now half of what it was then. It also comes in the face of a study showing that the entire 28% drop in teen pregnancy between 2007 and 2012 could be accounted for by an increased use of contraception.

28.4 - For the Record: Yemen, GOPpers and education, Nevada marijuana, Belgium's niqab ban, and voter ID

For the Record: Yemen, GOPpers and education, Nevada marijuana, Belgium's niqab ban, and voter ID

Finally for this week, we have an occasional feature called For the Record, where we cover several items briefly just to make sure they do not pass unnoted.

So first up, For the Record: A quick follow-up on last week's Outrage of the Week about Yemen is that according to the Red Cross, the number of cholera cases there has surpassed 300,000.

For the Record: According to a new poll by Pew Research, a majority of GOPpers now maintain that colleges and universities are bad for America, that they, in the words of the poll question, are "having a negative effect on the way things are going in the country these days." 58% of those polled felt that way, an increase of 21 percentage points since 2015 as they adjust their brains to get in tune with the age of TheRump.

For the Record: On July 7, Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada issued a "statement of emergency." You see, recreational marijuana became legal in Nevada on July 1 and retailers already were running out of stock to sell.

Turns out the problem was a legal snafu because the places that are licensed to sell recreational marijuana don't have the authority to restock their inventory on their own but must obtain it through alcohol wholesalers licensed to be distributors - and no such licenses had been issued.

The statement of emergency allows for a wider range of applicants for the distribution licenses than just those alcohol retailers.

A quick sidebar: One of the objections to legalized marijuana is that the areas around retailers would be magnets for crime.

But according to a new study out of the University of California at Irvine, when Los Angeles used new regulations to close down 439 medical marijuana dispensaries in 2010, crime in the those immediate areas rose 12% while crime in the areas around the dispensaries allowed to remain open was unchanged. That echoed a finding from Denver, where the Police Department saw that through the first nine months of 2010, crime was down 8.2% from the previous year after a dispensary was opened in the neighborhood.

For the Record: In what I find a rather disturbing development, on July 11 the European Court of Human Rights upheld a ban imposed in Belgium on wearing the full-face niqab veil in public. The court ruled that the restriction was for "social cohesion," the "protection of the rights and freedoms of others," and was "necessary in a democratic society."

A woman wearing the niqab

While I realize the niqab has for many become a symbol of the oppression of women under Islam, I still admit to being very uncomfortable with the idea that we can define for others what they will find oppressive and that "social cohesion" is "necessary," particularly when you consider what sorts of oppression such terms have justified in the past.

Finally for this week, For the Record: ProPublica has an interview with a former member of the Wisconsin legislature who now regrets his support for the voter suppression goals of Gov. Scott Walkalloveryou. Better late than never, I suppose, although regrets don't change the laws imposed and a better way to express regret would be to actively campaign to get those laws overturned.

I bring this up because voter ID and voter suppression have again become headlines in the wake of the demands of TheRump's so-called Presidential Advisory Commission On Election Integrity for all sorts of information about every registered voter in the US. I didn't address that this week because there are some other things as well going on about voter suppression and I want to address them together, which I will next week.

25.5 - For the Record: a variety of short items

For the Record: a variety of short items

With our occasional feature called For the Record, we cover several topics briefly, not taking a lot of time on any of them, but we did want to make sure they at least got mentioned.

1. So For the Record: On June 12, TheRump had his first full cabinet meeting. It started with His High Orangeness praising himself and all he has supposedly accomplished and then it went around the room with everybody introducing themselves (which is reasonable) and then going on about how gloriosky it's just so double-fudge sundae with marshmallow and a cherry wonderful to be working for Donald J. TheRump, starting with Mike Pence saying it is "the greatest privilege of my life" to be TheRump's coat-holder and proceeding through Chief of Staff Reince Priebus thanking TheRump for "the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda." As all the while, His Orangeness sat there soaking it all up, totally and completely pleased with himself and nodding approvingly.

Chris Cillizza of CNN called it "the weirdest Cabinet meeting ever." New York Times reporter Julie Davis said on twitter "Never have seen a Cabinet meeting photo op quite like that one," an opinion echoed by CNN's Jake Tapper. TheWeek.com called it "bizarre."

The presidency of Donald TheRump increasingly looks less like a presidency and more like a personality cult. Which is probably why he gets along with dictators so well.

2. For the Record: In May, in that one month, three 15-year-old unarmed black boys were killed by police in separate incidents in Texas, Connecticut, and California. In at least two of those cases, initial police accounts of the incident proved to be outright lies.

Overall, as of June 14, at least 548 people have been killed by police in 2017.

3. For the Record: Last fall, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put in place a rule under which nursing homes that receive federal funding - which is most of them - could not include so-called mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. In other words, residents and their family members were given back the right to sue.

Now, under TheRump, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have a proposed rule that would rescind the previous rule and once again make forced arbitration, a method which almost never works to the benefit of consumers, the industry standard.

4. Next, I recently have referred to how we are instituting militarism as national policy, including TheRump's statement "We have given [the military] total authorization" and the push for a major shift in strategy in Afghanistan.

So For the Record: on June 14 Reuters reported that TheRump had given War Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, opening the door to a new "surge" - a resurgent surge, we could call it -  in US forces there.

5. You undoubtedly know about the gunman who shot up a group of Republican lawmakers who were practicing for an annual charity baseball game, wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise - who at last report is in critical condition - and at least four others before being killed.

You also have undoubtedly heard about how the shooter, one James Hodgkinson, was some real liberal and a Bernie Sanders supporter.

So I want this noted, For the Record: I predict that you will not find one single GOPper, one single wingnut, one single person on the entire right half of the US political spectrum who will describe this guy as what they always describe right-wing shooters as, "a lone wacko" and that instead they will claim he is "emblematic of the violence of the left."

6. For the Record: Two top Michigan health officials have been criminally charged for their roles in the handling of the Flint water crisis.

The state' Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to police and state Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Twelve people died of Legionnaires' disease as a result of the decision made by the unelected Emergency Manager of Flint, appointed by Governor Rick Snidelywhiplash, to switch the city's water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014.

By the way, the water in Flint still isn't fit to drink.

7. Finally, just a quick pretty much personal note. I grew up in New Jersey and in a lot of ways it still feels like home, so it is with genuine satisfaction that I can say this:

For the Record, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, Gov. Chris Christie has the lowest approval rating of any New Jersey governor in the 20-year history of the poll.

Eighty-one percent disapprove of the job Christie is doing; only 15 percent approve.

What's Left #25

What's Left
for the week of June 16-22, 2017

This week:

Good News: 9th Circuit upholds block of travel ban
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/12/second-us-appeals-court-rules-against-trumps-revised-travel-ban/22137999/
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/337535-trump-9th-circuit-did-it-again
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/16/trump-travel-ban-targeting-muslim-countries/99244568/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ninth-circuit-cites-trump-tweet-opinion-blocking-travel-ban-204319906.html

Good News: DC District judge rules against DAPL
http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/DAPL-order.pdf
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2017/in-victory-for-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-court-finds-that-approval-of-dakota-access-pipeline-violated-the-law

Everything You Need To Know: about how right-wingers view the US role in the world
http://www.newsmax.com/PatrickBuchanan/islam-terror-extremism-manchester/2017/06/05/id/794323/

What's wrong with Section 702 of FISA
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2017/06/244-not-good-news-congressional.html
https://www.justsecurity.org/41811/good-reasons-concerned-impact-section-702-criminal-justice-system/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805

For the Record: a variety of short items
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-meeting/index.html
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/12/president-donald-trump-cabinet-bizarre-jake-tapper-media-white-house/22138230/
https://twitter.com/juliehdavis/status/874297244152979456
http://theweek.com/speedreads/705180/president-trumps-first-cabinet-meeting-extraordinarily-bizarre
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-cops-kill-3-unarmed-teens-month-1-sees-coverage-article-1.3210259?cid=bitly
http://www.killedbypolice.net/
http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-nursing-home-arbitration-20170613-story.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2016/01/2358-outrage-of-week-forced-arbitration.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2016/11/31-good-news-pushback-against-forced.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2017/04/185-outrage-of-week-militarism.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2017/05/227-outrage-of-week-militarism-as.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-troops-idUSKBN19431H?feedType=RSS&feedName=newsOne&google_editors_picks=true
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/14/ranking-gop-rep-steve-scalise-among-wounded-shooting-congressional-baseball-practice/22192298/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/politics/alexandria-virginia-shooting/index.html
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/14/the-suspected-congressional-baseball-practice-shooter-was-a-fier/22223408/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/14/michigan-official-charged-for-his-role-in-flint-water-crisis/22199274/
http://time.com/4634937/flint-water-crisis-criminal-charges-bottled-water/
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/poll-chris-christie-lowest-approval/2017/06/14/id/796041/

Clown Award: Dana Rohrabacher
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/13/lawmaker-promotes-anti-abortion-bill-by-slaughtering-chicken/22140241/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-tehran-multiple-killed-wounded-in-parliament-khomeini-shrine-attacks/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-security-funeral-idUSKBN1900SI
https://thinkprogress.org/republican-congressman-calls-isis-attack-in-tehran-a-good-thing-says-maybe-we-should-back-isis-a7e9382dbe1b

Outrage of the Week: "gay panic" still a legal defense in 48 states
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/being-freaked-out-by-gay-and-trans-people-is-still-a-legal-murder-defense-in-48-states
http://lgbtbar.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/02/Gay-and-Trans-Panic-Defenses-Resolution.pdf

21.4 - For the Record

For the Record

Finally for this week, it's For the Record, where we cover a few things very quickly just to make sure they get mentioned.

So, For the Record: On May 10, the Vermont legislature approved a bill to legalize recreational use of marijuana. The governor hasn't said if he will sign it, although he has indicated he is generally in favor of it. If enacted, Vermont would become the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana and the first to do so by legislation rather than ballot initiative.

For the Record: Six states - Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas - mark a public holiday called Confederate Memorial Day, or in Texas, Confederate Heroes Day, to memorialize the soldiers who died in open rebellion against the United States in support of slavery. Georgia still has the holiday but they stopped calling it that, just calling it a "State Holiday."

For the Record: In a demonstration of the fact that the American public is not as dumb at it is sometimes portrayed, or as hopeless as I sometimes fear, when the latest Quinnipiac University National Poll asked voters "What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Donald Trump?" the top three answers, in increasing order, were number three, "liar," number two "incompetent," and the number one answer was "idiot."

Finally, For the Record: Some good news coming up the end of our week, which I expect I will comment on when it happens: Wednesday, May 17, Chelsea Manning is being released from prison.

What's Left #21

What's Left
for the week of May 11-17, 2017

This week:

The goal is universal health care
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/cbo-coverage-numbers
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/05/pre-existing-conditions-american-obamacare-repeal-american-health-care-act/22071483/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/676
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/04/26/medicare-all-bill-reaches-record-breaking-104-co-sponsors-congress
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/325814-sanders-says-he-will-introduce-medicare-for-all-bill

The USPS is under attack again
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/08/three-government-programs-that-are-dangerously-in-the-red/22076644/
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/search?q=usps

Bad news and some hope about global climate change
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/28/epa-website-removes-climate-science-site-from-public-view-after-two-decades/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/09/earth-could-break-through-a-major-climate-threshold-in-the-next-15-years-scientists-warn/?wpisrc=nl_p1most-partner-1&wpmm=1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/08/alaskas-tundra-is-filling-the-atmosphere-with-carbon-dioxide-worsening-climate-change/?utm_term=.1dea03a03b9d
http://thesolutionsproject.org/
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/fifty-states-renewables-022414.html
http://newatlas.com/united-states-renewable-energy-2050/37938/
http://www.ecowatch.com/100-renewable-energy-possible-by-2050-says-greenpeace-report-1882097113.html
https://thinkprogress.org/this-report-says-the-world-can-go-100-percent-renewable-by-2050-19062448be80
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
http://www.go100percent.org/cms/
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=99&nr=24&menu=1449
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paris-agreement_us_5908f524e4b05c397683d404
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/press-releases/merkley-sanders-markey-booker-introduce-landmark-legislation-to-transition-united-states-to-100-clean-and-renewable-energy
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-05-04/the-jersey-shore-would-rather-fight-flooding-with-walls-than-retreat
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/04/21/bloomberg-editors-new-climate-website-climate-change-fundamentally-economic-story/216145
https://www.c2es.org/docUploads/business-letter-white-house-paris-agreement-final-04-26-2017.pdf
http://www.glamour.com/story/tiffany-and-co-makes-a-strong-statement-against-president-donald-trump?mbid=synd_aollife

For the Record: Vermont legislature approves recreational pot
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/10/vermont-legislature-approves-marijuana-legalization-bill/22080534/

For the Record: Six states celebrate fighting for slavery
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/10/confederate-memorial-day-plane-flag-south-carolina/22080075/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Memorial_Day

For the Record: The most common description of TheRump in a national poll is "idiot"
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/10/poll-trump-idiot-buffoon-bigot-narcissist-unqualified-stupid-crazy-disaster/22080411/
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2456

For the Record: Chelsea Manning is being freed next week
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politics/chelsea-manning-release-from-prison/index.html

20.8 - For the Record: Desiree Fairooz convicted of laughing

For the Record: Desiree Fairooz convicted of laughing

[Note: Due to time constraints, of the following, only the one about Desiree Fairooz appeared on the show as broadcast.]

Next, it's For the Record, where we cover a few items very quickly just to make sure they get mentioned.

So, For the Record: You surely recall the flap over the size of the crowd for TheRump's inauguration, a crowd he claimed was just like you know the absolute bigliest ever - only to almost immediately have someone in the National Park Service send out on the agency's Twitter account a side-by-side comparison of TheRump 2017 versus Barack Obama 2009.

Through an FOIA request, CBS News was able to report on May 2 that TheRump was directly and personally involved in agency efforts to find out who did it, efforts which included tracing the IP addresses to an certain ISP and checking all National Park Service social media points of contact in that area. They never did find the person.

For the Record: That's not the only such example, either. Another, even worse case because it didn't even involve an agency account, involved the attempts by the US Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department for the Protection of The Fatherland, to unmask the owner of a private Twitter account run by someone claiming to be an employee of the agency who was critical of TheRump's harsh immigration policies. Customs and Border Protection actually served Twitter with a summons demanding to know the name of the account holder.

Twitter, to its credit, responded by suing the CBP and the Department, forcing them to back off.

And it now develops that the agency's conduct was so bad that the Department's Office of the Inspector General has launched an internal investigation into the attempt, citing the possibilities of improper actions and abuse of authority. Inspector General John Roth added that his office is "also reviewing potential broader misuse of summons authority" by the Department.

Desiree Fairooz being arrested

For the Record: Back in January, Desiree Fairooz, an activist with Code Pink, was in the rear of the audience for the confirmation hearing on Jeff Sessions for attorney general. When Sen. Richard Shelby claimed that Sessions has an "extensive record of treating all Americans equally under the law," Fairooz laughed. Which, considering how nonsensical that claim is, is a natural reaction.

She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct intended to "impede, disrupt, and disturb" congressional proceedings and with "parading" in the Capitol, evidently because she held up a sign while she was being dragged out.

The laugh was a one-off and indeed is barely audible on the C-SPAN video of the hearing; there are coughs that are louder. Shelby didn't even pause in his statement.

Despite that, on May 3 she was convicted by a jury on both charges and now faces a year in prison and a $2000 fine. For laughing. For spontaneously laughing at an absurdity. For failing to pretend that Jeff Sessions, who in 1986 was thought too racist to be a federal judge, has an "extensive record of treating all Americans equally under the law." For failing to be able to let the lie pass unnoticed. For laughing at the lies.

Finally, For the Record: Speaking of Code Pink, the group says that since April 17, over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been on a hunger strike to demand basic human rights and dignity, including proper medical care, family visits, an end to the use of solitary confinement, and an end to administrative detention, where Palestinian prisoners are held without charge or trial.

Since the strike began, others have joined, bringing the total number of hunger strikers to 1,700.

The Israeli response has not been to has not been to accede to this call for a level of treatment prisoners should expect in any civilized nation but to try to break the strike, putting the leaders in isolation, further restricting family visits, and threatening ongoing punishments.

There are calls for the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to urge the Israelis to give a positive response to the hunger strikers goals.

What's Left #20

What's Left
for the week of May 4 to 10, 2017

This week:

Good News: cities can sue banks for housing discrimination
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-housing-discrimination-miami_us_590745cde4b0bb2d086fba0b?mvfj&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Good News: Kim Davis can be sued for damages
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kim-davis-appeals-court_us_59090488e4b0bb2d0872eb1e?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/17a0098p-06.pdf

Footnote: Enzi gets tutu'ed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wyoming-senator-homophobia_us_59076bffe4b0bb2d08700799

Mass marches in April
https://thinkprogress.org/thousands-march-calling-for-trump-tax-returns-2c1a7ca275e4
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nationwide-tax-marches-donald-trump_us_58f22c49e4b0b9e9848c5bb4
https://taxmarch.org/local-marches/
http://fortune.com/2017/04/22/march-for-science-photos/
https://www.marchforscience.com/satellite-marches/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/thousands-across-the-us-march-for-science-in-defiance-of-trump_us_58fb5a62e4b018a9ce5bb1e2
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/march-science-demonstrators-say-they-re-real-patriots-n749686
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/To-oppose-budget-cuts-scientists-take-to-Center-City-streets.html
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sd-me-science-march-20170422-story.html
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/seattle-march-for-science-draws-thousands-on-earth-day-including-a-nobel-prize-winner/
http://fox40.com/2017/04/22/march-for-science-worldwide-protests-begin-to-support-evidence/
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/science/article/The-Latest-March-for-Science-attracts-thousands-11091330.php
https://350.org/press-release/peoples-climate-march-a-huge-success-200000-march-in-d-c-for-climate-jobs-and-justice/
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sd-me-climate-march-20170429-story,amp.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/climate-marches-today-were-huge-180918958.html
https://peoplesclimate.org/
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending-now/climate-protesters-march-to-edge-of-donald-trumps-maralago/517660955
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/denver/peoples-climate-march-snowy-weather-didnt-stop-hundreds-from-protesting-in-denver
http://cornellsun.com/2017/04/30/cornellians-protest-in-climate-march-in-ithaca-and-d-c/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/29/marchers-use-trumps-100th-day-protest-climate-policies/101070064/?platform=hootsuite

The little Thing: "Russian Wikileaks"
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/02/hillary-clinton-blames-james-comey-russian-involvement-for-2016-election-loss/22065769/

Outrage of the Week: "stealthing"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/inside-the-online-community-of-men-who-preach-removing-condoms-without-consent_us_58f75eb2e4b05b9d613eb997
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2954726
http://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/2017/04/24/men-removing-condoms-during-sex-in-disturbing-online-trend-stealthing.html

Everything You Need to Know: Teresa Manning
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teresa-manning-contraception-hhs_us_5907582ae4b05c397680d921

For the Record: Desiree Fairooz convicted of laughing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-laughter_us_5908c55ee4b0bb2d08726a91?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/laughing-congressional-hearing-jeff-sessions-code-pink_us_59076a93e4b05c3976810a3a?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/code-pink-sessions-laughter-trial.html?_r=0
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-attorney-general-jeff-sessions-racist-remarks_us_582cd73ae4b099512f80c0c2?cn5id4ygk5rf9lik9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB-BBVQLnxI

Clown Award: Mick Mulvaney
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mark-green-second-amendment_us_59077af8e4b02655f83f0ff6
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/2/1658245/-Trump-budget-director-bypasses-reality-gives-press-the-hard-sell-on-WH-wins-We-are-competent#read-more

Foreign policy and North Korea
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/28/north-koreas-army-1-2m-men-obsolete-equipment-and-nukes.html
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/01/japan-breaks-from-military-tradition-to-protect-american-ship/22063664/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/05/03/north-korea-media-china-nuclear-action-grave-consequences/22067632/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/19/asia/china-coal-north-korea-ban/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-north-korea-sanctions-20170504-story.html

18.4 - For the Record: various items

For the Record: various items

Next in line is an occasional feature which seems to becoming more regular: For the Record, where we cover some news or event very briefly, just a sentence or two, just to make sure it gets mentioned. This week's are actually about events from a couple of weeks ago but they are worth mentioning before they slip too far into the rearview mirror.

So, For the Record: An article about how the far right-wing organizations Club for Growth and Heritage Action were attacking some GOPpers for not being reactionary enough over health care legislation quoted David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth, as referring to "the left wing among House Republicans," which is now my new top example of "oxymoron."

For the Record: Daesh - that is, ISIS - released its first statement directly referencing President TheRump early this month, declaring that the US is "being run by an idiot." Which brings to mind the old saying "If it's true, what does it matter who said it?"

For the Record: German skin-care company Nivea got itself into trouble recently by posting an ad pushing the phrase "white is purity." The company pulled the ad in the face of the reaction, saying it was "not meant to be racially insensitive." Which would be easier to accept if in 2011 the company hadn't put out an ad featuring a black man being urged to "re-civilize yourself." Sometimes the excuse of "not thinking it through" just isn't good enough.

Finally, For the Record: David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt are the pair behind those bogus, deceitfully-edited videos falsely claiming that Planned Parenthood was profiting by selling body parts of aborted fetuses. A couple of weeks ago they were indicted in California on 15 felonies related to their illegal recordings.

The pair had previously been indicted on different charges related to the same videos in Texas, but those charges were dropped on a legal technicality.

As a quick reminder, officials in 13 states have investigated the claims made in the videos; none of them found any wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. Officials in eight other states didn't think an investigation was even warranted.

What's Left #18

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of April 13-19, 2017

This week:

Good News: NY advances free college tuition
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/new-york-becomes-first-state-offer-free-four-year-college-n744561
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/10/pf/college/suny-cuny-tuition-free-college/index.html
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/college-for-all-act-introduced

Clown Award: Minister Kenneth Adkins
http://www.inquisitr.com/4123093/amy-schumers-white-swimsuit-draws-harsh-criticism-does-dana-duggan-wish-she-had-a-bigger-size/
http://toofab.com/2017/04/09/amy-schumer-fires-back-at-designer-who-shes-too-fat-for-a-swimsuit/
http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/20170409/scituate-bathing-suit-designer-swimming-in-online-controversy
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/13/cnn-commentator-called-trump-the-martin-luther-king-of-healthca/22039137/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/jeffrey-lord-donald-trump-martin-luther-king-cnntv/index.html
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/04/03/mormon-leader-tells-followers-to-always-pay-their-tithes-even-if-it-means-their-families-starve/
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/13/13262285-mormon-church-earns-7-billion-a-year-from-tithing-analysis-indicates
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/12/this-pastor-called-gays-sinners-after-pulse-shooting-now-hes-convicted-of-child-molestation/
http://www.watermarkonline.com/2014/08/12/gender-identity-and-expression-added-to-orlandos-anti-discrimination-ordinance/
http://mobile.eurweb.com/2017/04/anti-gay-pastor-who-said-orlando-victims-got-what-they-deserved-found-guilty-of-molesting-teens/

The little Thing: US leads in cyberwar
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39553250

For the Record: various items
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/05/influential-conservative-groups-attack-republicans-amid-a-fight/22027641/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/04/isis-spokesman-says-the-us-is-being-run-by-an-idiot-in-first-s/22025790/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-islamic-state-idUSKBN17625H
https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2017/04/05/nivea-is-under-fire-for-an-ad-promoting-the-phrase-white-is-pur/22027158/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/29/pair-behind-fake-anti-abortion-videos-charged-with-15-felonies/22017199/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/last-charges-dropped-against-abortion-opponents-in-planned-parenthood-case.html?_r=0

Outrage of the Week: militarism unleashed as national policy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/04/13/u-s-military-drops-22000-pound-bomb-on-islamic-state-forces-in-afghanistan/?utm_term=.02e82c45add0
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/mother-of-all-bombs/522960/
http://fusion.net/theres-only-like-a-35-chance-trump-knew-about-the-giga-1794306777
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1652928
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/02/09/top-u-s-commander-in-afghanistan-opens-door-to-a-few-thousand-more-troops-deploying-there/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/04/trump-is-ordering-airstrikes-at-5-times-the-pace-obama-did/22025999/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/panic-spreads-in-iraq-syria-as-record-numbers-of-civilians-are-reported-killed-in-us-strikes/2017/03/28/3cbce7f8-13bb-11e7-bb16-269934184168_story.html?utm_term=.0548a0adbfbc
http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2016/01/07/how-many-bombs-did-the-united-states-drop-in-2015/
http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2017/01/05/bombs-dropped-in-2016/

17.7 - For the Record: a brief comment on the gas attack in Syria

For the Record: a brief comment on the gas attack in Syria

For the Record, two quick observations on a topic which I have shamefully neglected and even now am not going to give the attention it deserves: Syria, specifically, the gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, an opposition-held town in Idlib province in the north of that nation.

The death toll has risen to 89 at last report, with over 500 harmed and confidence is high not only from sources like the US government but more importantly from the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders that the weapon was a neurotoxin like sarin.

The first observation is that Russia's attempt to pin the blame on the Islamist forces in the town, claiming that a Syrian attack on a "terrorist warehouse" containing an "arsenal of chemical weapons" intended for fighters in Iraq doesn't pass the laugh test. It is utterly childish, one expert even calling it "infantile" and another "fanciful."

Approximate location of Khan Sheikhoun

What makes it especially nonsensical is that Russia claimed that the Syrian attack on this supposed warehouse took place at 4:30am Eastern Standard Time - but the first photos of victims were posted online at 2:28am EST, just over two hours before, if we believe Russia, the raid happened.

The other observation is that presidential mouthpiece and Melissa McCarthy impersonator Sean Spicer declared that we know who really is to blame for the attack: Barack Obama, because he was "weak and irresolute" after a chemical weapons attack in 2012.

So in other words, they are claiming that Bashar al-Assad felt he had a free hand to use gas on Khan Sheikhoun because of something Barack Obama did or didn't do five years ago - while the fact that just a few days before the attack Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, and Spicer himself all said that the US was no longer focused on getting Assad out of power had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Which goes to show that when it comes to infantile and laughable arguments, the Russians ain't got nothing on us.

What's Left #17

What's Left
for the week of April 6 to 12, 2017

This week:

Good News: Alabama limits power to impose death penalty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-judicial-override-ends_us_58c83063e4b09cd957673398?

Footnote: Arkansas to create "assembly line of death"
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/04/assembly-line-of-death-arkansas-is-going-to-execute-8-people-over-an-11-day-stretch/
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/jurisdictions-no-recent-executions
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/murder-rates-nationally-and-state#MRalpha
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty

Good News: celebrating resistance
http://www.alternet.org/activism/diverse-protest-groups-unite-majority-aiming-large-scale-demonstrations-may-1st
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/yourview/mc-martin-luther-king-vietnam-speech-50th-anniversary-lang-yv-0403-20170402-story.html

Good News: Appeals Court supports rights of transgender people
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/04/us-civil-rights-law-protects-lgbt-workers-from-workplace-bias/22026101/

Good News/Not Good News: Virginia repeals part of HB2
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/30/522009335/north-carolina-lawmakers-governor-announce-compromise-to-repeal-bathroom-bill
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/10/poll-americans-oppose-bathroom-laws-limiting-transgender-rights/21879293/
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Steven-Petrow-You-can-t-compromise-on-civil-11043391.php
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/NCAA-NC-back-in-running-to-host-events-after-law-11048783.php

RIP: Gilbert Baker
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/gilbert-baker-whose-rainbow-flag-flew-over-the-rise-of-gay-rights-dies-at-65/2017/04/01/07becbe8-16e5-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html?utm_term=.a0fc7e51e399

For the Record: a brief comment on the gas attack in Syria
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/04/days-after-tillerson-mouths-russian-line-on-syria-assad-uses-gas.html
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/05/an-infantile-argument-experts-pour-cold-water-on-russias-fanciful-explanation-syrian-gas-attack/22027154/
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/04/white-house-blames-obama-administration-assad-regime-chemical-attack-syria/22025672/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/tillerson-haley-syria-assad-turkey

Update: progress on implementing Colombian peace accord
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2017/01/86-good-news-of-year-2016-peace.html
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/31/colombias-farc-rebels-give-up-guns-in-disarmament-camps/22020673/
http://colombiareports.com/evidence-indicates-colombia-military-bribing-farc-rebels-abandon-peace-process/
https://panampost.com/julian-villabona/2017/03/22/colombian-armed-conflict-despite-farc-peace-deal/

Footnote: mudslides in Colombia kill hundreds
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39469033
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39478189
http://colombiareports.com/farc-caused-south-colombia-flooding-disaster-opposition-senator/

Clown Award: Pennsylvania state Senator Scott Wagner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/global-warming-report-sunday-shows_us_5884ca53e4b070d8cad322b3
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/09/politics/scott-pruitt-global-warming-human/
https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/03/28/wagner-keynotes-for-natural-gas-advocates-in-harrisburg/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17228-why-is-the-earth-moving-away-from-the-sun/
http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/89424/how-much-does-increased-world-population-contribute-to-global-warming

Outrage of the Week: new illegal Israeli settlement
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2004/11/yasser-arafat.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2004/10/and-this-is-why-in-lot-of-ways-it-wont.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2004/07/peas-in-pod.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-settlement-idUSKBN1711K6
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/middleeast/israel-approves-new-settlement/

16.8 - For the Record: items considered quickly

For the Record: items considered quickly

Next up, we have For the Record, our occasional feature where we cover some bits of news very quickly, just to make sure they gets mentioned. So:

For the Record, leaked documents show that Daniel Pantaleo, the New York cop who killed Eric Garner with a banned chokehold in July 2014, should have been fired long before that incident. Before he choked Garner to death over a claim of selling untaxed cigarettes, Pantaleo had seven disciplinary complaints lodged against him plus four individual allegations substantiated by an independent review board. None of them lead to any significant punishment.

For the Record, a couple of computer geeks have set up a website called MakeTweetsGreatAgain where people can sign up to donate anywhere from 10 cents up to the ACLU every time Donald TheRump sends out a tweet. So far over $1600 has been raised. They also let him know via Twitter how much each one of his tweets - which in his case really should be called twits - is worth.

Finally, For the Record, the annual African Global Economic and Development Summit, which is about trade between the US and African nations, was held in Los Angeles March 16-18. One thing was missing: Africans. Every one of the invited delegates from Africa, about 100 of them, had been denied a visa.

What's Left #16

What's Left
for the week of March 30 - April 5, 2017

This week:

Good News: victory on disability rights
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/22/high-court-bolsters-rights-learning-disabled-students.html
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-supreme-court-rules-for-children-with-1490202454-htmlstory.html

Good News: victory on the death penalty
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/28/supreme-court-rules-for-texas-death-row-inmate-over-iq-claim/22015198/

Good News: resistance to corruption in Russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nationwide-protests-bring-thousands-to-russias-streets/2017/03/26/7e3af598-128b-11e7-bb16-269934184168_story.html?utm_term=.dcb767264b97
https://www.rt.com/news/382381-russia-opposition-protests-detentions/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/26/521594477/russians-take-to-the-streets-in-nationwide-anti-government-protests
http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-russia-protests-20170326-story.html

Not Good News: $15 minimum wage vetoed in Baltimore
http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/26/dem-mayor-vetoes-15-min-wage-bill/
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/pass-the-buck.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-actually-earns-the-minimum-wage/

Right-wing trying to change rules on minimum wage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/11/minimum-wage-advocates-won-big-in-november-but-now-theyre-at-risk-of-losing-all-over-again/
http://www.thestand.org/2017/03/early-i-1433-results-are-in-raising-minimum-wage-boosts-jobs/
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/23/1645780/--SaveTheWage-Protect-Minimum-Wage-Raises-from-Corporate-Lobbyists-and-Lawyers
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/minimum-wage-supreme-court-backs-voters-over-business-interests-9163185
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2017/03/1511-update-repressing-protest.html

The love of profit is the root of all economic evil
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2015/10/2227-pursuit-of-profit-is-baseline.html
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1-Timothy-6-10/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-23/inside-alabama-s-auto-jobs-boom-cheap-wages-little-training-crushed-limbs
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/26/during-obamas-presidency-wealth-inequality-has-increased-and-poverty-levels-are-higher/
http://www.epi.org/publication/the-top-charts-of-2016-13-charts-that-show-the-difference-between-the-economy-we-have-now-and-the-economy-we-could-have/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N
http://fortune.com/2017/01/16/world-richest-men-income-equality/

Outrage of the Week: TheRump attacks the climate
https://thecorrespondent.com/6285/shell-made-a-film-about-climate-change-in-1991-then-neglected-to-heed-its-own-warning/692663565-875331f6
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/08/exxon-climate-change-1981-climate-denier-funding
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/7/8/1400557/-Former-Exxon-scientist-says-Exxon-knew-about-climate-change-and-fossil-fuels-in-1981
http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/3/27/14922516/trump-executive-order-climate
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/11/06/2013-26785/preparing-the-united-states-for-the-impacts-of-climate-change
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/16/press-briefing-press-secretary-sean-spicer-3162017-25
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trumps-war-on-the-climate-begins/519159/


For the Record: Daniel Pantaleo should have been fired long ago
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/22/1646219/-Leaked-documents-show-the-NYPD-officer-who-killed-Eric-Garner-should-have-been-fired-a-long-time-ago

For the Record: MakeTweetsGreatAgain
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/27/1647743/-Thanks-to-these-computer-developers-when-Trump-tweets-the-ACLU-gets-a-donation
https://maketweetsgreatagain.us/

For the Record: forum on trade with Africa included no Africans
https://www.indy100.com/article/africa-trade-meeting-african-visa-denied-us-travel-ban-global-economic-development-summit-7637666

Hero Award: Aramis Ayala
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/92813296-132.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-aramis-ayala-no-death-penalty-20170316-story.html
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/03/28/judge-backs-scotts-removal-of-prosecutor/amp/
http://www.wesh.com/article/florida-legislators-propose-cutting-budget-of-state-attorney-aramis-ayala/9196886

Clown Award: a majority of American men
https://www.scribd.com/document/342699692/PerryUndem-Gender-and-Birth-Control-Access-Report
https://thinkprogress.org/congress-is-more-regressive-on-womens-rights-than-most-voters-poll-finds-88efc93d7e59#.t6051vj6e

15.9 - For the Record: vibrator company tracks product use

For the Record: vibrator company tracks product use

For the Record, here's something just in case you hadn't heard about it.

A company called We-vibe sells a vibrator that can be remotely operated via a smart phone "so you can be together even when you're not," as they say in their ads.

What they didn't say either in the ads or when some customer bought the thing is that the app involved would send to the company's servers the date and time it was used, how and for how long it was used, and the registered users' email addresses.

The company has agreed to a nearly $4 million settlement in a class-action suit.