This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of August 5 - 12. It is generally in order of the date of the article's release.
1) Planet at risk of heading towards irreversible 'hothouse' conditions, new report says
Thomson Reuters
The world is at risk of entering "hothouse" conditions with average temperatures 4-5 C higher even if emissions reduction targets under a global climate deal are met, scientists say in a new study.
Read the full article.
2) Temperature in Portuguese capital hits record 44 C as heatwave sears southern Europe
The Associated Press
Lisbon broke a 37-year-old record to notch its hottest temperature ever as an unrelenting heat wave baked Portugal and neighbouring Spain.
Read the full article.
3) Lion Numbers in Dramatic Decline, Habitats Under Threat
Telesur
Today, World Lion Day, comes amid the unforgiving hands of modernity. Habitat loss, prey base depletion, people killing lions in the name of defending livestock or protecting human life and the insidious canned lion and lion bone trade have dramatically decreased the species' population.
Read the full article.
4) Argentina's Senate Rejects Legalizing Abortion, Dashing Hopes Of Rights Advocates
Scott Neuman, NPR
The Senate in predominately Roman Catholic Argentina has rejected a law that would have legalized abortion, rebuffing a grass-roots abortion-rights movement.
Read the full article.
5) Brock Turner Has Lost His Appeal And Remains Guilty Of Sexual Assault
Claudia Koerner, BuzzFeed
The former Stanford University student who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party in 2015 lost his appeal Wednesday.
Read the full article.
6) What are the responsibilities of pro-feminist men in the Michael Kimmel case?
Robert Jensen, Feminist Current
Prominent sociologist and pro-feminist, Michael Kimmel, has been accused of unethical conduct. What should the response of academics and activists who identify as pro-feminist or feminist be?
Read the full article.
7) Baffled Experts Say Trump Is Completely Clueless On California Fire Policies
Jim Dalrymple II, BuzzFeed
As wildfires continue to burn hundreds of thousands of acres across California, President Donald Trump has decided to weigh in, seemingly blaming the state's water policies for the disaster, in tweets that have perplexed experts who say those policies have nothing to do with the fires.
Read the full article.
8) Doctors are furious at Italy’s populist government for approving a dangerous anti-vax law
Tim Hume, Vice News
Doctors in Italy reacted with outrage Monday after the country’s new populist government approved its first piece of anti-vax legislation late last week.
Read the full article.
9) In post-election Italy, violent racist attacks becoming routine
Ylenia Gostoli, Al Jazeera
Minorities including a one-year-old Roma child shot following far-right gains, but discrimination often unacknowledged.
Read the full article.
10) White cop who fatally shot unarmed Hispanic man five times will face manslaughter charges
Tess Owen, Vice News
A Pennsylvania police officer who shot an unarmed man five times in broad daylight outside an amusement park will face voluntary manslaughter charges, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Read the full article.
11) Judge: App User Accused In Planning Charlottesville Rally Can't Keep Identity Hidden
Camila Domonoske, NPR
A federal judge in California has ruled that a confidential messaging app must release the identity of a user who is accused of helping plan violence at a white nationalist rally last year in Charlottesville, Va.
Read the full article.
12) Ed Sadlowski – Remembrance of a life even bigger than the man
Paul S. Kaczocha, People's World
I was barely 21 when I first met Ed Sadlowski. Al Samter, a U.S. Steel coke oven worker with a long history of struggle in the mill and the union, asked me if he could bring Ed over to talk to me about his campaign to run for director of District 31 of the Steelworkers. At that time, there were over a million steelworkers in the union. The district which covered the Gary-Chicago area, District 31, was the largest.
Read the full article.
13) Leader of Alternative Program for Coca Crops Killed in Colombia
Telesur
Alfredo Alonso Ruiz Higuita was shot dead Saturday in Aguas Lindas in the town of Taraza, province of Bajo Cauca in Antioquia, reported human rights organizations, alleging he would have been assassinated after he refused to pay bribes.
Read the full article.
14) Three More Colombian Social Leaders Murdered in 48 Hours
Telesur
In just 48 hours, three more social leaders have been murdered in Colombia – including a 70-year-old youth education leader in Santander de Quilichao.
Read the full article.
15) Missouri Blocks Right-To-Work Law
Scott Neuman, NPR
Voters in Missouri have overwhelmingly rejected a right-to-work law passed by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature that would have banned compulsory union fees — a resounding victory for organized labor that spent millions of dollars to defeat the measure.
Read the full article.
16) How “right to work” went down on the ground in Missouri
Al Neal, People's World
Election Day, August 7, 4:30 a.m. Aside from the few city buses making their early morning stops, the streets were quiet. Daylight was still an hour away. Rainfall was expected most of the day. Across the city of St. Louis—and the entire state of Missouri—union and non-union households were stirring. Outside my third-floor window I saw bedroom lights flickering on and could almost smell the coffee brewing.
Read the full article.
17) Hamilton woman can't afford rent, stuck in lease after province scraps basic income
Laura Clementson · CBC News
Her income doubled. She signed her first lease. She was a step closer to having her children live with her and getting her life on track.
Read the full article.
18) Chicago has no “shortage of values,” what it lacks are resources
Michelle Zacarias, People's World
At least 72 people were shot in Chicago, 13 fatally, after a particularly violent weekend. Thirty people were reportedly shot within just a three-hour time frame, and police are still searching for suspects involved in the multiple shootings. Fatalities included a 17-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy who was gunned down while riding his bike, as well as number of people attending a block party in Lawndale.
Read the full article.
19) This Alberta First Nation community is the only one left in the province with an unaddressed long-term boil-water advisory
Ameya Charnalia, The Star Edmonton
A patchwork of transmission lines and trucks ferry water to around 250 households in Kehewin Cree Nation.
Read the full article.
20) Video Shows A Nashville Police Officer Fatally Shooting A Man Who Was Running Away From Him
Tasneem Nashrulla, BuzzFeed
Tennessee authorities are investigating the fatal police shooting of Daniel Hambrick, a 25-year-old black man, who was seen running away when he was shot and killed by a Nashville police officer, according to surveillance video.
Read the full article.
21) Puerto Rico acknowledges Hurricane Maria likely killed hundreds
Al Jazeera
Puerto Rican officials have quietly acknowledged that last year's devastating Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, far more than the official death toll of 64 that was previously reported.
Read the full article.
22) Judge orders government to turn around deportation plane
ACLU, People's World
A federal court has blocked the deportation of immigrants fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality who brought a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.
Read the full article.
23) NFL Players Renew Anthem Protests As Preseason Starts
Scott Neuman. NPR
Several NFL players knelt, raised fists or simply refused to take the field during the playing of the national anthem as a controversial protest against police brutality dragged into the 2018 preseason.
Read the full article.
24) Militarism marches on: Congress defense budget bigger than Trump requested
Martin Hart-Landsberg, People's World
Republicans and Democrats like to claim that they are on opposite sides of important issues. Of course, depending on which way the wind blows, they sometimes change sides, like over support for free trade and federal deficits. Tragically, however, there is no division when it comes to militarism.
Read the full article.
25) Brock to vote on stripping ex-prof of title after racist tweets
Grant LaFleche, The St. Catharines Standard
Brock University is distancing itself from a retired political science professor whose social media accounts shared racist and derogatory messages aimed at Indigenous people this week.
Read the full article.
26) Saudi Arabia's human rights nightmare continues with bombing of school bus in Yemen
Alex Lockie, Business Insider
Saudi Arabia's spokesman for the Gulf Arab coalition fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen had to defend the bombing of a school bus full of children.
Read the full article.
27) Time for Trudeau to call the Saudi bluff
Yves Engler
As every good poker player knows, sometimes the right move is to go all in.
Read the full article.
28) What the rich need now is hate, sweet hate
Humberto DaSilva, Rabble
In 2008 the Westworld economy crashed because for Wall Street moral hazard had become a board game. After blowing the biggest bubble ever enticing the guileless with mortgages they couldn't afford, stockbrokers sliced these loans into derivatives that sold like packaged bologna to guileless pension funds, RRSPs, mutual funds, and 401Ks. European banks bought this toilet paper because, though everyone knew it was a casino bet, if it kept going up, you made money. Then the bubble burst and the bailout began. After one little casino was allowed to symbolically collapse, the American usury houses got a trillion-dollar bailout as the last Bush left the building.
Read the full article.
29) Jeremy Corbyn for U.K. Prime Minister
Gideon Levy, Haaretz
Jeremy Corbyn is a paragon of a leftist, one who has fought his whole life for the values he believes in. Israelis regard him as a sort of alien – the left here has never been led by an Israeli Corbyn, nor by anyone who can hold a candle to him.
Read the full article.
30) John A. Macdonald statue removed from Victoria City Hall
CBC News
A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, has been removed from the front steps of Victoria City Hall.
Read the full article.
31) Monsanto ordered to pay $289m as jury rules weedkiller caused man's cancer
Sam Levin and Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian
Monsanto suffered a major blow with a jury ruling that the company was liable for a terminally ill man’s cancer, awarding him $289m in damages.
Read the full article.
32) Alberta A&W criticized after stopping customer from buying meal for Indigenous senior
Sarah Rieger · CBC News
An Alberta A&W came under heavy criticism on social media this week after a customer said he was told it was the restaurant's policy not to let him buy a meal for an elderly, disabled Indigenous woman.
Kathleen Harris · CBC News
The Liberal government is moving soon on its plan to give federally-regulated workers paid time off to deal with the trauma and turmoil of domestic violence.
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