Nia Harris, Cassandra Stimpson and Ben Freeman (2019-08-07). More Money, Fewer Jobs: the Stubborn Truth About Employment and the Defense Industry. counterpunch.org A Marilyn has once again seduced a president. This time, though, it\'s not a movie star; it\'s Marillyn Hewson, the head of Lockheed Martin, the nation\'s top defense contractor and the largest weapons producer in the world. In the last month, Donald Trump and Hewson have seemed inseparable. They \"saved\" jobs at a helicopter plant. More

David Schultz (2019-08-07). The New Politics of the White (Supremacist) Evangelical Republican Party. counterpunch.org No matter what Donald Trump does or says, most Republicans and white evangelicals are not going to criticize or break from him in 2020. It is a fantasy if Democrats think that they can sway them, hoping that perhaps talking about jobs, prescription drug prices, or immigration reform will move these voters. It is also More

John G. Russell (2019-08-07). The \"Feel Better\" President: Making Racism Fashionable Again. counterpunch.org Recently, after complaints from consumers, so-called \"feel better\" rag dolls reminiscent of sambo dolls and other picaninny kitsch were recalled. This has not been the first time that such products have been removed from the market. The list includes Pradamalia, Prada\'s own line of kitschy blackface collectibles, Gucci\'s blackface wool balaclavas, Burberry\'s noose hoodie, and H&M\'s \"coolest monkey in the jungle\" hoodie ad. More

Binoy Kampmark (2019-08-07). Cheering a New Arms Race: The End of the INF. counterpunch.org US President Donald Trump is a master of the withdrawal method. That said, it is often forgotten that the United States remains that most fickle of creatures, joining, or abandoning international regimes that might be seen to jar with the national interest. Initial preparations for such global arrangements tend to be initially optimistic, even rosy. More

John W. Whitehead (2019-08-07). The Rise of the American Gestapo. counterpunch.org Despite the finger-pointing and outcries of dismay from those who are watching the government discard the rule of law at every turn, the question is not whether Donald Trump is the new Adolf Hitler but whether the American Police State is the new Third Reich. For those who can view the present and past political More

Karl Grossman (2019-08-07). The Promise of Offshore Wind. counterpunch.org New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed off on the largest offshore wind agreement—so far—off the United States. What has been named the Empire Wind Project—to consist of 88 wind turbines if 10 megawatt turbines are used—would rise in the ocean south of New York City, adjacent Nassau County and western Suffolk County on More

George Ochenski (2019-08-07). Steve Bullock\'s Attacks on Vitally-Needed Progressive Policies. counterpunch.org \"Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.\" —Robert Kennedy Montana\'s Gov. Steve Bullock got his moment on the debate stage with the host of other Democratic presidential hopefuls last week and played his part of the \"moderate\" to the hilt. But More

Staff (2019-08-07). Will Germany Become the Military Power it Once Was? therealnews.com Annette Groth discusses the three demands by the U.S to Germany to increase its military power and presence overseas, and the new right-wing minister of defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. For now Germany is loathe to send troops or ships to Syria or Hormuz, but Kramp-Karrenbauer has already announced her intention to increase military spending to 2%…

Paul Haeder (2019-08-07). One \"Little\" Legislative Crime that Keeps on Giving. dissidentvoice.org NOVA: If this region—New Orleans, the wetlands, and all—were a patient in the hospital, how would you describe them? At what stage are they? IVOR VAN HEERDEN: Close to death. […] There is the potential for extremely high casualties—people not only killed by flying debris, drowning in the soup, but also just imagine, how do …

Yves Engler (2019-08-07). Is Justin Trudeau Pro-Nukes? dissidentvoice.org Justin Trudeau presents himself as \"progressive\" on foreign affairs. The Liberals claim to have brought Canada \"back\" after the disastrous Harper Conservatives. But their nuclear weapons policy demonstrates the emptiness of this rhetoric. Reducing the chance nuclear weapons are used again should be a priority for any \"progressive\" government. But, powerful Canadian allies oppose nuclear …

Staff (2019-08-07). Trump\'s China Trade War Increases Risk of Recession. therealnews.com Trump accuses China of currency manipulation because their currency devalued in the wake of his tariffs. However, as Bill Black explains, this accusation has no basis in fact. Instead, Trump\'s trade war only increases the likelihood of a recession…

Staff (2019-08-07). \"Toni Morrison Will Always Be with Us\": Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni & Sonia Sanchez Pay Tribute. democracynow.org Toni Morrison, one of the nation\'s most influential writers, died this week at the age of 88 from complications of pneumonia. In 1993, Morrison became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her classic work \"Beloved.\" Much of Morrison\'s writing focused on the Black female experience in America, and her writing style honored the rhythms of Black oral tradition. Her work was deeply concerned with race and history, especially the sin of transatlantic slavery and the potentially restorative power of community. In 2012, President Obama awar…

Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers (2019-08-07). On Medicare\'s 54 Birthday. counterpunch.org In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare Act. Within a year, and without the aid of computers, the United States provided more than 19 million seniors with health coverage. Before the law existed, over half of the elderly in the United States did not have health insurance. Medicare, which now includes people with disabilities, More

Staff (2019-08-07). Trump Campaign Ran Over 2,000 Ads Warning of Immigrant \"Invasion\" Before El Paso. truthout.org | | Before a white gunman targeted dozens of Latinos in response to what he believed was an immigrant \"invasion,\" President Donald Trump\'s 2020 re-election campaign ran more than 2,000 Facebook ads calling immigration an \"invasion.\" | Although Trump rejected white supremacy after the alleged gunman killed 22 people and injured dozens of others Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the gunman echoed the president\'s own rhetoric w…

Staff (2019-08-07). Headlines for August 7, 2019. democracynow.org Dems and Grieving Communities Voice Resistance to Trump Visits to El Paso and Dayton, FBI Investigating Gilroy Mass Shooting as Domestic Terror, Dems Call on Congressional Leaders to Pass Bills Addressing White Supremacy, Civil Rights Groups Rally Against Gun Violence and White Supremacy at White House, Walmart Workers Plan Walkout to Protest Gun Sales, Toni Morrison, Visionary Author and Nobel Laureate, Dies at 88, Nigerian Journalist and Political Activist Omoyele Sowore Arrested After Calling for Revolution, U.S Warns Turkey Against Syria Attacking Kurdish Forces in Syria, 25% of World\'s Population Under \"Extr…

Staff (2019-08-07). In the Face of McConnell\'s Inaction, Progressives Call for Gun Reform. truthout.org | | As the nation calls for gun control in the wake of two mass shootings in 14 hours over the weekend, Democrats and activists are taking aim at Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to take action on the continuing gun violence crisis. | McConnell has refused to move forward on a number of bills from the Democratic Party-controlled House that currently sit on his desk awaiting a Senate vote. | \"This is actually, literally in the hands of one person in terms of this legisl…

Stephen Lendman (2019-08-07). Trump Regime \"Maximum Pressure\" High Crimes Against World Peace. Illegal Embargo against Venezuela. globalresearch.ca Maximum pressure is a Trump regime euphemism for unlawful political, economic and financial collective punishment against a sovereign state, its leadership and population — for not bending to Washington\'s will. | Binding international law Fourth Geneva\'s Article 33 prohibits it, stating: …

Habib Ahmadzadeh (2019-08-07). This Iran War Vet Has Some Advice for Trump: Don\'t Play Checkers with the Grandmasters of Chess. mintpressnews.com War is not our business, but negotiations and diplomacy are. War is not our purpose. Peace is our mission. Peace is our philosophy in life, and you are right, diplomacy is our art.

Philip Giraldi (2019-08-07). Will Mercenaries Fight America\'s Wars? Private Mercenary Army on Behalf of Venezuela \"Opposition\" globalresearch.ca President Donald Trump\'s pre-election pledge to end America\'s useless wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan just might turn out to be somewhat less than what was promised if some political allies of the president have their way. For …

Dave Lindorff (2019-08-07). Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the spies who prevented a criminal US with a nuclear monopoly from making more of them. nationofchange.org Seventy-four years ago yesterday, the U.S. dropped the first-ever atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, a non-military target of several hundred thousand, instantly vaporizing some 70,000 people, mostly civilians, and causing the painful, slower death of another 70,000 who died of burns and radioactive damage to their bodies over the next four months. Another …

Michael Snyder (2019-08-07). China Just Went Nuclear in the Trade War, and There Is No Turning Back Now. globalresearch.ca When will Americans start to wake up and realize what is happening? At the end of last week, President Trump announced that the U.S. would be imposing a 10 percent tariff on 300 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports, and …

Staff (2019-08-07). Opponents Delay $1.25 Billion Plastic Complex in Louisiana. truthout.org | | \"Look at what is coming into the Parish, instead of saying \'Yeah, yeah, yeah\'— it is time to say \'No,\'\" Pastor Harry Joseph told the St. James Parish Council on July 24. He implored councilmembers to consider freshly unveiled public health and economic concerns before they reaffirmed a permit allowing yet another petrochemical plant in a southern Louisiana community fed up with its already rapid industrialization. | Joseph, pastor of Mount Triumph Baptist Church in St. James, is one of the plaintif…

Mike Lofgren (2019-08-07). No Cause Has Achieved Combination of Deranged Views and Raw Power as the Modern American Right-Wing. commondreams.org Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump (L) and Jeb Bush high five during the Republican Presidential Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California on September 16, 2015. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump stepped into a campaign hornet's nest as his rivals collectively turned their sights on the billionaire in the party's second debate of the 2016 presidential race. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/donald_trump_jeb_bush_deranged_gop.jp…

Thomas Knapp (2019-08-07). Don\'t Let Mass Shooters and the New York Times Destroy Freedom of Speech. counterpunch.org \"Online communities like 4chan and 8chan have become hotbeds of white nationalist activity,\" wrote the editors of the New York Times on August 4 in the wake of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. Then: \"Law enforcement currently offers few answers as to how to contain these communities.\" Wait, what? Is the Times really More

Chandra Muzaffar (2019-08-07). White Supremacy Goes Prime Time. counterpunch.org A number of commentators have linked the killing of 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso in the United States of America on Saturday 3rd August 2019 to the rising tide of White Supremacism. White Supremacism is a belief that whites are superior to others and therefore have a right to dominate them. More

South Front (2019-08-07). Video: Collapse of Ceasefire, Syrian Military Vows to Resume Operations Against Al Qaeda Militants. globalresearch.ca The new ceasefire agreement designed to cease hostilities in northwestern Hama and southern Idlib has just collapsed. | On August 3, the leader of Hay\'at Tahir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Abu Mohammad al-Julani, announced that his group would not withdraw …

Arabi Souri (2019-08-07). Syrian Security Confiscates Armored Vehicles, Weapons, Captagon, Drugs. globalresearch.ca Syrian security units and Syrian Arab Army units operating in Hama northern countryside, northwest of Syria, and Daraa countryside, south of Syria, had a busy day busting, discovering, and confiscating large stashes of weapons, munition, gears, armored vehicles, illicit drugs …

Sarah Abed (2019-08-07). Erdogan Announces Military Operation East of Euphrates River to Push Back Kurds, US Urges Him to Reconsider. globalresearch.ca In what would be Turkey\'s third cross-border military operation in Syria since the war began, in as many years, Erdogan announced on Sunday that he would be launching a military operation east of the Euphrates river, to push back Kurdish …

Karla Mendes (2019-08-07). Future of Amazon Deforestation Data in Doubt as Research Head Sacked by Bolsonaro. globalresearch.ca After a month of intensifying criticism from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro concerning data revealing a spike in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over recent months, the Brazilian President has fired the head of the government agency in charge of tracking …

teleSUR (2019-08-07). EU Opposes Recent US Total Blockade Against Venezuela. telesurenglish.net The European Union said Wednesday it rejected new moves by the White House to impose a total blockade on Venezuela. Though the EU has also placed sanctions on the elected government of Venezuela, they oppose U.S. attempts to extend the sanctions \'extraterritorially\'. | RELATED: | Venezuela Denounces the \'Imperialist\' Total Blockade by US | \"We oppose the extraterritorial application of unilateral measures,\" said EU spokesperson Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela, spokesperson for the…

Habib Ahmadzadeh (2019-08-07). This Iranian War Vet Has Some Advice for Trump: Don\'t Play Checkers with the Grandmasters of Chess. globalresearch.ca Dear President Trump, | In a recent Tweet, you claimed that \"Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.\" As a world citizen and a veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, I have firsthand experience with the bitterness of …

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2019-08-07). Caught in the Strait. Britain\'s Confrontation with Iran. globalresearch.ca It is clear that the United Kingdom could not have thought this through. Was it a touch of the Suez jitters, the haunting syndrome of 1956 leaving a false impression that the Old Empire still had it? To taunt a …

United Nations (2019-08-07). UN Afghan Mission \'outraged\' by deadly Taliban attack in Kabul, as hardline group threatens election violence. un.org The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed outrage at a Taliban attack in Kabul, that led to \"scores\" of civilians casualties on Wednesday. In a Tweet, the Mission said that such \"indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in heavily populated civilian areas must stop\".

Peter Burt (2019-08-07). Britain\'s Flagship Drone Projects: UK Government Spending Watchdog Highlights \"Significant Issues\" globalresearch.ca The Ministry of Defence\'s two flagship drone projects — the \'Protector\' programme to introduce the Certifiable Predator B drone into service with the Royal Air Force, and the Army\'s Watchkeeper surveillance drone — continue to face \'significant issues\' according to …

Dr. Birsen Filip (2019-08-07). Assessing President Diaz-Canel\'s Commitment to the Ideals of the Cuban Revolution. globalresearch.ca Fidel Castro was an unparalleled leader. Although some of his adversaries had hoped that the ideals and objectives of the Cuban Revolution would die with him, they have in fact persevered, thereby supporting Fidel\'s view that \'a combatant may die, …

Zero Hedge (2019-08-07). \"On a Scale of 1-10, It\'s an 11\" — Wall Street Reacts to China\'s Retaliation. globalresearch.ca One day after China finally snapped, and demonstratively refused to intervene and keep the CNH above 7.00 vs the dollar, escalating the trade war into a currency war, stocks are tumbling and Wall Street analysts — all of whom had …

John W. Whitehead (2019-08-07). We\'re All Enemies of the State: Draconian Laws, Precrime and the Surveillance State. globalresearch.ca \"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.\"—H.L. Mencken | We\'ve been down this road many times before. | If …

Johanna Ross (2019-08-07). Why Oliver Stone\'s Latest Film on Ukraine Is Must-watch. globalresearch.ca Oliver Stone is afraid. Afraid of war. That was the stark message conveyed by his latest film on the Ukraine crisis, \'Revealing Ukraine\' which picked up the Grand Prix at the Taormina film festival in Italy last month. The documentary, …

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts (2019-08-07). \"Pre-Emptive Arrest\": An Open Invitation to Tyranny. globalresearch.ca The FBI has published a document that concludes that \"conspiracy theories\" can motivate believers to commit crimes. | Considering the growing acceptance of pre-emptive arrest, that is, arresting someone before they can commit a crime that they are suspected of planning …

Karin Brothers (2019-08-07). The Skripal Poisoning: Anonymous\' Revelations Point to UK Intelligence Motives. globalresearch.ca Sergei Skripal was a former Russian double agent for Britain. After a high-profile spy swap in 2010, he lived in Salisbury, England, near his former MI6 handler, Pablo Miller, who he reportedly kept in touch with. | Late in the …

Johanna Ross (2019-08-07). U.K. Breakup? New Poll Sets the Scene for Scottish Independence Referendum. globalresearch.ca Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has hailed as \'phenomenal\' a new poll which shows majority support for Scottish Independence. The survey, which was carried out by Lord Ashcroft in the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson\'s visit to Scotland …

Telesur (2019-08-07). Trade War: China Suspends Purchases of US Agricultural Products. globalresearch.ca China\'s Commerce Ministry announced Tuesday that the Asian country will suspend the purchase of U.S. agricultural goods in response to the recent announcement that the President Donald Trump administration will increase tariffs to Chinese exports. | \"It has been agreed that …

Colin Todhunter (2019-08-07). India\'s Tryst with Destiny: Freedom Struggle from Exploitation and Degradation Is Global. globalresearch.ca Today, we are in the grip of a globalised system of capitalism which drives narcissism, domination, ego, anthropocentrism, speciesism and plunder. A system that is using up oil, water and other resources much faster than they can ever be regenerated. …

John Kirby (2019-08-07). Can the Progressive-\"Conspiracy\" Divide be Bridged? globalresearch.ca People from a variety of advocacy communities who tackle issues ranging from the assassinations of the 1960\'s to vaccine safety are rightly upset by a recent NBC News.com op-ed authored by Lynn Parramore, a progressive journalist known for her …

Alice Slater (2019-08-07). Hiroshima Unlearned: Time to Tell the Truth About US Relations with Russia. globalresearch.ca August 6th and 9th mark 74 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where only one nuclear bomb dropped on each city caused the deaths of up to 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 people in Nagasaki. Today, …

Andrew Korybko (2019-08-07). India\'s Finding Out the Hard Way that It Isn\'t \"America\'s Exclusive Ally\" globalresearch.ca India hitherto thought that the US needed it more than the reverse and that\'s why took its nascent military-strategic alliance with it for granted by trying to play \"hardball\" in pressing for a better trade deal, yet it\'s now finding …

Sharon Kelly (2019-08-07). Explosions in three states highlight dangers of aging fossil fuel infrastructure. nationofchange.org On August 1, for the third time in as many years, Enbridge\'s Texas Eastern Transmission gas pipeline exploded. This tragic incident in central Kentucky killed a 58-year-old woman, Lisa Denise Derringer, and injured at least five others. Flames towered 300 feet high when the 30-inch diameter pipe ruptured at 1 a.m. and forced at least 75 people to evacuate. \"We …

Nadezhda Azhgikhina (2019-08-07). Russia Needs Its Own Bernie Sanders. thenation.com Russia Needs Its Own Bernie Sanders…

teleSUR (2019-08-07). Brazil\'s PT Warns Lula Prison Transfer Is Political Persecution. telesurenglish.net The substitute judge of the 12th Federal Court of Curitiba Carolina Lebbos decided Wednesday morning to transfer former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from a federal jail in Curitiba to a prison in the state of Sao Paulo. | RELATED: | \'Resistance Caravan\' Travels Brazil in Support of Lula | A few minutes after this information was released, the Worker\'s Party (PT) president Gleisi Hoffmann explained that such ruling did not respect the request made by Lula\'s lawyers, who had asked…

United Nations (2019-08-07). Four in 10 indigenous languages at risk of disappearing, warn UN human rights experts. un.org Of 7,000 indigenous languages spoken today, four in 10 are in danger of disappearing, rights experts said on Wednesday, in a call for a decade of action to reverse the \"historic destruction\" of age-old dialects.