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Images of the Day:
Despite his well-known aversion to dictatorship, Tony(Benn) is a well-paid “adviser” to a whole number of unsavoury regimes, such as Saudi Arabia and to Nursultan Nazarbayev, the autocratic president of Kazakhstan. If Saddam had not fallen out with the Americans, he would no doubt be advising him too. At the end of the day this is not about just one individual – despicable as he may be – but about the whole rotten system that he represents. Foreign policy is the continuation of home policy. Blair’s anti-working class policies abroad were simply a continuation of his pro-market, pro-privatisation policies at home. Labour’s right-wing Blairite tendency merely represents one wing of the ruling class and faithfully carries out policies in the interests of that class at home and abroad. There can be no place for such people in the Labour movement. This catalogue of crimes of the ruling class and its right-wing Labour stooges add up to a crushing condemnation of a system that is sick, with all its corruption scandals, economic crises and draconian austerity. All this will lead to a growing consciousness that what is required is an end to dictatorship of the banks and monopolies and the reconstruction of society from top to bottom. — Britain: Chilcot report rocks the Establishment
If you eat avocados, oranges and grapes, you’ve eaten crops grown in California. When you bite into our state’s fruits and vegetables, what comes to mind? Freshness, sunshine, good health? Add toxic oil wastewater to the list, because that’s what is being used to irrigate our crops. Big Oil has taken advantage of our farmers’ desperate need for water and is selling them oil wastewater—the water that’s been used in oil operations—at a cheap rate for irrigation. Hundreds of chemicals are used in oil operations, and some of these are known to cause cancer, kidney failure and liver damage —and they could be in the oil wastewater that is being used on our fruits and vegetables. No comprehensive and independent testing has been undertaken to ensure that our food and health is protected. And no action has been taken to protect the farmworkers who are potentially exposed to these toxins daily. Now, as California braces for a hot, dry summer, plans are underway to expand the use of oil wastewater for crop irrigation in the state. — Toxic Fruits and Vegetables
Videos of the Day:
U.S.
The US needs its own Chilcot report!: Tony Blair wasn’t the principal architect of this catastrophic war. The US should investigate George W Bush for his decision to invade Iraq By Trevor Timm
Environment:
There Might Be Fracking Wastewater on Your Organic Fruits and Veggies: The US Department of Agriculture’s organics standards, written 15 years ago, strictly ban petroleum-derived fertilizers commonly used in conventional agriculture. But the same rules do not prohibit farmers from irrigating their crops with petroleum-laced wastewater obtained from oil and gas wells—a practice that is increasingly common in drought-stricken Southern California. By Josh Harkinson 
Big Energy Frackers Keep on Fracking With Their Own Private Water Supplies During Drought: As there is now a shortage of drinking water in the Western United States There Is no shortage of water for fracking. By Roland Sheppard (2014)
Made Man in a Blue Vest: Deray McKesson Is Debutante At Aspen One-Percenters Coming Out Party: Deray McKesson, a Teach For America trojan horse who inserted himself into the Black Lives Matter Movement was one of the panelists at the Aspen Institutes’s annual “ideas festival,” a social event where one percenters showcase their current crop of “thought leaders.” For the dude in the blue vest it was a kind of debutante ball, one of the official coming out parties that mark him as one of corporate America’s made men.
Bakari Sellers: Hitman for Israel, Hillary and Wall Street: CNN talking head Bakari Sellers is a mercenary for the rich and powerful, a veteran operative of the Israel lobby, and a receptacle for whatever words kings and queens of corruption like Hillary Clinton put in his mouth. It’s all part of Sellers’ upward mobility strategy. “He has eagerly deployed himself as one of Zionism’s Black up-and-coming political stars. In return, AIPAC has helped bankroll his political career.” by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Labor:
Economy:
The Banks’ Big Squeeze: You’re Overdrafted, They’re Overpaid: Almost two-thirds of Americans today — 63 percent — don’t have enough savings to cover an unexpected $500 expense. Anything from an emergency brake job to a refrigerator on the fritz could zero out their bank accounts. by Sam Pizzigati
World:
Tony Benn Could Face Trial for Illegal Iraq War
Tariq Ali on Chilcot Iraq Report — Tony Blair Is a War Criminal for Pushing Us Into Illegal War: The findings of the report, quite honestly, are not very remarkable or original, as Sami has already said. These were things that were being said by all of us before this war started. It was what virtually every speaker said at the million-strong Stop the War demonstration in London. Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn, in particular, have been saying all this. So, to have official confirmation that what we were all saying was right is nice, but it’s too little and too late. By Amy Goodman and Juan González 
Britain: Chilcot report rocks the Establishment: The Chilcot report into the 2003 Iraq war and how Britain was dragged into it has finally been published after a delay of seven years. It fell like a bombshell on the British political scene that was already reeling from the effects of the EU referendum. by Rob Sewell
Seeking False Security at Fortress Europe’s Gates: Faced with turmoil from within and without, Europe’s political leaders are hardening policies against migrants. They forget that true security lies not in widening the “Fortress Europe” moat but in valuing migrant lives — and human rights more broadly — above all. By Michelle Chen
Indonesia: Anti-communist Terror and the Meaning Behind It: Those who rule through deceit, hypocrisy and violence always look over their shoulder for the creeping spectre of truth. They do so more restlessly as they begin to feel the march of history catching up to them and the antiquated system they rest their privileges on. And such is the epoch that we are entering today as capitalism has dug itself into the deepest crisis in its history. The crisis is so deep that it is no longer in the realm of absurdity for the ruling class to think that the only way out is to keep digging until they come out of the other side. by Ted Sprague
Health, Education, and Welfare:
High Tech Gentrification: ‘Largest-Ever’ Silicon Valley Eviction to Force Hundreds of People From Their Homes: The 216-unit complex called the Reserve Apartments that is being demolished to make way for a development of market-rate housing — located five miles away from Apple’s headquarters, 14 miles away from Google and 20 miles away from Facebook — is the latest example of rising income inequality in a region home to many of the world’s wealthiest technology companies. By Sam Levin
The Results of U.S. Bombing to ‘Democratize’ Syria: Photo #1 Aleppo in Syria. A place in desperate need of “Democracy” Photo #2 Aleppo in Syria today. “Democracy” almost achieved. 
Quotes of the Day:
Iraq War — The Democrats Were in ‘Lock Step’ with Bush: Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction: Who Said What When by Jeffrey St. Clair – Alexander Cockburn
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters:
Black Liberation/Civil Rights: