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Images of the Day:
When the rich rob the poor, it’s called business; when the poor fight back, it’s called violence. — Quotable Quotes
“Police are specialists in violence. They are armed, trained, and authorized to use force. With varying degrees of subtlety, this colors their every action. Like the possibility of arrest, the threat of violence is implicit in every police encounter. Violence, as well as the law, is what they represent.”— Author Kristian Williams (All theWays You Can Be Killed During An Encounter with Police)
Conservative Party leaders have sunk to a new low this week as they fan the flames of xenophobia and hatred in our communities and try to blame foreigners for their own failures. Drawing up lists of foreign workers won’t stop unscrupulous employers undercutting wages in Britain. Shutting the door to international students won’t pay young people’s tuition fee debts, and ditching doctors from abroad won’t cut NHS waiting lists. The Conservatives will instead foster division and discrimination in our workplaces and communities. Once again, they are making false promises on immigration they can’t deliver. Instead of turning people against each other, ministers should take action now to deal with the real impact of migration. They should stop the abuse of migrant labour to undercut pay and conditions, which would reduce numbers. They should support communities with high levels of migration and they should set out a positive agenda for fair migration rules as part of the Brexit negotiations for a new relationship with the European Union.” — Jeremy Corbyn has just obliterated the Tories in this extraordinary statement
In this preliminary assessment, we evaluated the list of chemicals reported as used in oil fields from which produced water is deployed for irrigation, for watering livestock, and for recharging groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley of California. We found a total of 173 different chemical additives were used in these oil and gas fields, of which more than one-third (38%) were not able to be sufficiently identified for preliminary hazard evaluation, largely due to the withholding of information under proprietary claims. Over 100 chemicals (62% of the total list) were identified by CASRN for acute toxicological properties, biodegradability, and environmental persistence using publically available data and toxicological screening software. The CASRN identified oil and gas field additives were also cross-referenced with a variety of lists used to identify or regulate chemicals suspected or known to cause negative environmental or health impacts if released into the environment. Of the chemicals that had a CASRN, we found that 46 (43%) of them can be classified as potential chemicals of concern from human health and/or environmental perspectives and require a more thorough investigation (Table 8). — Hazard Assessment of Chemical Additives Used in Oil ( Fields that Reuse Produced Water for agricultural Irrigation, Livestock Watering, and Groundwater Recharge in The San Joaquin Valley of California
Videos of the Day:
U.S
Washington Leads The World To War What must the world think watching the US presidential campaign? Over time US political campaigns have become more unreal and less related to voters’ concerns, but the current one is so unreal as to be absurd. The offshoring of American jobs by global corporations and the deregulation of the US financial system have resulted in American economic failure. One might think that this would be an issue in a presidential campaign. The neoconservative ideology of US world hegemony is driving the US and its vassals into conflict with Russia and China. The risks of nuclear war are higher than at any previous time in history. One might think that this also would be an issue in a presidential campaign. Instead, the issues are Trump’s legal use of tax laws and his non-hostile attitude toward President Putin of Russia. By Paul Craig Roberts
Hey California, Why Are You Allowing the Use of Oil Wastewater To Irrigate Our Food? There are times when science is obvious. This is one of those times. A new report by researchers at PSE Healthy Energy, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of the Pacific sheds light on a very troubling practice in the field of Big Ag — the use of oil industry wastewater for irrigating food crops. . . . “This disturbing scientific report identifies dozens of hazardous chemicals used in oilfields supplying waste fluid to water California food crops and recharge drinking water aquifers. People in the Central Valley could be drinking these oil industry chemicals right now, and current water-testing procedures wouldn’t detect these dangerous substances. Given these shocking findings, California regulators should immediately halt the use of oil-waste fluid in any procedure that could contaminate the water we drink or the food we eat,” said John Fleming, a staff scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. By Justin Mikulka
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
More Prisoners Proven To Be Wrongfully Convicted Than Ever Before There are more people being wrongly convicted of crimes they didn’t commit than ever before. That’s according to the University of Michigan’s National Registry of Exonerations which released a report Thursday that documented 2014 as the highest year for proven-wrongful convictions of innocent people. by Counter Current News Editorial Team
CBC Report Card 2016: Why the Congressional Black Caucus Can’t Lead Black America The 41 full-voting Black Democratic members of the U.S. House scored higher than last year on the new CBC Monitor Report Card, but that’s mostly because there were far fewer controversial bills crossing their desks in a presidential election season. However, some Caucus members’ names seem to forever live in infamy: Terri Sewell, Marc Veasey, Sanford Bishop and David Scott. None of the Caucus is excellent, but there’s plenty of good, bad and ugly. by Glen Ford with Patrice Johnson for CBC Monitor
Labor:
World:
Jeremy Corbyn has just obliterated the Tories in this extraordinary statement The Tories “have sunk to a new low as they fan the flames of xenophobia and hatred in our communities and try to blame foreigners for their own failures.” By Summer Winterbottom
After Corbyn’s victory: socialism the only way forward Having seen off the miserable challenge of Owen Smith and the Blairites, both Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell gave emboldened speeches to this year’s Labour Party conference. These were the speeches that the right wing did not want. Rather than trying to imitate the Tories, as previous Labour leaders have done, both Corbyn and McDonnell set out their vision for a Britain transformed. They even dared to use the “s” word – socialism. by James Kilby
Britain: Labour Right’s conference manoeuvres show need to organise Labour Party conferences have become very interesting all of a sudden. For years they have been notoriously stage-managed, and the few decisions that were taken were routinely ignored by the party leadership, which was in total control. Now things look very different. Without question, the left of the party have reason to celebrate, following the resounding second victory of Corbyn. But this year’s conference has served as a stark reminder and warning that the battle is very far from over and there remains a great deal of work to be done. by Daniel Morley
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Life and Death in Health Care’s Trenches-Nursing Homes and the Unions Is a nursing home a safe place? The question is not, is a nursing home a nice place? Not much room for argument there. The nursing home is not a popular place. The question here, though, is it is a safe place? It seems not, certainly not if the home is operated by Brius Healthcare, the largest chain of nursing homes in California, with 81 facilities statewide, and a handful in Nevada and Texas. This chain – increasingly the typical organizational form in the for profit nursing home industry – is owned by the southern California tycoon, Shomo Rechnitz; Brius controls 1 in 14 nursing home beds in California, an empire with facilities from San Diego to Eureka. by Cal Winslow
Quotes of the Day:
Reaping the Whirlwind: Kerry, al-Nusra, Russia and Syria by Gary Leupp 
Code of Silence Part 1: Operation Smoke and Mirrors In the Chicago Police Department, If the Bosses Say It Didn’t Happen, It Didn’t Happen By Jamie Kalven
Code of Silence Part 2: Operation Brass Tax Corrupt Chicago Police Were Taxing Drug Dealers and Targeting Their Rivals
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis: