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Good day folks!

International Politics

Overall

– Gareth Porter: “Why Iran Must Remain a US Enemy”

– The United Nations envoy to Yemen will once again attempt peace talks involving Saudi Arabia and Yemen

– The Obama administration is committed to standing with a unified and democratic Iraq

Middle East

– At least two Saudi Arabian civilians died and five soldiers were captured due to of Yemeni rebels

– Palestinians do not trust the Palestinian Authority and believe corruption is increasing under PA rule

– Glenn Greenwald: “Samples of Israeli Horrific Brutality and War Criminality in Gaza”

Africa

– For South Africa, the “Rainbow Nation,” xenophobia is rising as a major issue in society and it is worth following what the consequences of this will be

Europe 

– The Irish are saying “enough” to the powers at the top in Ireland over the introduction of a water tax

– It is fair to say racism and ignorance fuel support for the UK Independence Party

Latin America, Caribbean and Canada

– As was found in Bolivia and Peru, communities will not accept privatization without a fight and it is one worth supporting

– The U.S. government approved of a new ferry system moving between Florida and Cuba

Surveillance Planet

– An interview with journalist Glenn Greenwald about the surveillance state and how events in Baltimore are connected to it

– Documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal the NSA uses software to convert text from phone calls and store such material

– Legislation designed to limit the surveillance state is still limited as it will keep essentials of the state’s tools

– It is likely France will expand its surveillance powers as lawmakers there gave the a-okay to a bill doing so

Financial Matters

– Gallup: Sixty-three percent of Americans say wealth should be more evenly distributed

– While hedge fund managers are worried they aren’t making even more money, they are still earning billions of dollars

– The European Union will investigate McDonald’s for apparently avoiding at least $1 billion in taxes

– If it wasn’t for a surge in services (although problematic in itself), the economy would have contracted in the first quarter

– Libya is spending its foreign reserves to offset a fall from oil revenues

– With the exemption of oil, Egyptian companies contracted for the fourth month in a row

– Yet, the International Monetary Fund said Egyptian economic policies are working

Labor’s a-Brewing

– Unions in Baltimore are calling for a change of economic policies for residents as it is clear the status quo is failure

Politics US

Washington USA

– There’s money in the presidential election system. In fact, there’s too much to the point where it’s the only thing that matters when running

– Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will introduce a bill to break up the big banks

– The Drug Enforcement Agency cannot answer questions from Senators on how a detained college student was forced to drink his urine during custody

– Turns out the husband of Sen. Dianne Feldstein (D-CA) is overcharging the U.S. Postal Service through his real estate company

– Hillary Clinton believed there should be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants

– Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee tossed his hat into the presidential campaign on the Republican ticket

– Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, while in Baltimore, she will work on ensuring police reform

– Daniel Donovan, the district attorney who failed to bring charges against the officer who killed Eric Garner, won a special election and will be a Representative from New York

– A watchdog report found the Internal Revenue Service issued $5.6 billion of potentially fake education tax credits

Anytown USA

– A police officer in Florida fired for saying black people are monkeys said what he said wasn’t racist

– Cities like Ferguson and Baltimore are not isolated cases of failed economic policies; rather, they are just examples of numerous cities also facing similar conditions

– One of the officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray tried to not only kill himself, but the husband of his ex-wife too

We Don’t Need No Education

– Traditional colleges and for-profit ones are standing side-by-side to stop strict rules by the government to prevent private colleges from taking advantage of an abundance of federal money

– Inspiration to see students wage a hunger strike to protest layoffs of janitors

– Corinthian Colleges, the for-profit college system that just closed down, secretly paid think tans and lobbying groups

Health, Hunger and Homelessness

– Panera Bread announced it would no longer use hundreds of artificial ingredients and will stick with natural ones

– Among Hispanics living in the U.S., Puerto Ricans have the worst health problems

– Meanwhile, Puerto Rico announced it would not allow medicinal marijuana to be smoked, although it can be consumed by other means

The Second Sex

– Jessica Valenti: “To make a 10-year-old give birth isn’t just horrifying – it’s life threatening”

– A new study found male workers at large firms are more likely to take shortcuts than women when it came to working and become successful as a result

– It’s not just a pay gap that affects women living in the U.S., it’s also poverty and graduation from schools as well as colleges

Planet Earth

– It was thanks to the generosity of ExxonMobil that two climate change deniers set up a think-tank to spread their vicious message

– Regulators in California say there is not enough water being conserved in the state

– Among the energy-rich states in the U.S., lawmakers are preventing local initiatives to block hydrofracking

Mixed Bag

– An investigation found the Germanwings pilot who intentionally crashed a plane in March previously tried the same maneuver on another flight

– Actually, says a new study, the Beatles really did not revolutionize music 

Break Time

– It’s All Been Done [Barenaked Ladies]