News & Comment

At Houston mob rally, Trump and Cruz hug, and embrace divisive policies built on a mountain of lies and demagoguery…..--Trump promises quick tax cuts for middle class, seemingly unaware that Congress is in recess
--new study shows sharp rise in Islamaphobic campaign themes, pushed by desperate Republicans
--Trump repeats false claims about “Middle Easterners” in migrant caravan, and Mike Pence gets caught in a whopper of a lie

With 15 days to midterms, Trump stokes fear of migrant caravan and renews attacks on transgender rights, sowing division, discord….--Massachusetts voters will decide on attempted repeal of law prohibiting discrimination against transgender persons
--despite all of the immigrant-bashing, immigrants and first generation Americans are wining local elections, new interview with author Sayu Bhojwani
--as Saudis admit they killed Khashoggi, Trump tries to keep up with shifting, laughable cover stories

Voters in California must navigate minefield of ballot measures, fueled by million$ in corporate money flooding airwaves with deceptive ads….--reformer Hiram Johnson wanted to empower people over oligarchs, but today’s initiatives are mostly corporate power grabs
--GOP-driven gas tax repeal and effort to end ban on local rent control top the list
--voter-approved Prop. 57 will enable nonviolent 3-strike convicts to seek parole
--Catholic bishops get caught in attempted limited-hangout on predator priests, petition demands they all resign

Treasury official who leaked to Jason Leopold may have flipped; African American FBI agent who challenged racist policies faces sentencing….--in Treasury leak, charging documents use metadata from encrypted text traffic to show path of leaks to Leopold; pro-Trump site Redstate has interesting take

American media and political leaders ramp up selective outrage over barbaric assassination of Khashoggi, ignoring our own ugly recent history….--in Turkey, state-controlled media release gruesome details of Khashoggi’s torture and beheading, based on audio recordings
--media have identified members of the 15-man kill squad, including top forensic doctor and members of MBS’ security detail

Rocker Neil Young, whose latest release is “Monsanto Years” and wife Darryl Hannah join jurors fighting for $289 million judgment….--judge who showed pro-Monsanto bias in Roundup case gets pushback from jurors to “honor our verdict”
--Neil Young and Darryl Hannah attended the trial, and support the verdict in this op-ed
--new study shows 93% of Americans have glyphosate in their urine

Corporate media and political leaders generally silent about Facebook’s brazen censorship of indy media outlets, as “PropOrNot” tweets its approval….--the pages and accounts purged were on the November, 2016 blacklist of “PropOrNot”, published uncritically by WashPost; WSWS has good coverage

In body blow to First Amendment, Facebook and Twitter arbitrarily took down hundreds of sites claiming “coordinated inauthentic activity” (WTF?)…--in front page story, NY Times focuses on “Right Wing News” platform, but many users now banned tilt to the left

Nancy Pelosi tells hometown paper she’d get Trump’s tax returns if Dems retake House, but opposes impeachment of Trump, Kavanaugh…--NY Times says both sides are ready to fight over Kavanaugh, as it dismisses impeachment prospects
--in op-ed, Sean McElwee urges Dems to impede the Court and undermine support for conservative justices
--new website at BrettKavanaugh.com is portal for sexual assault

In tawdry photo op with former Justice Kennedy, Trump apologizes to Kavanaugh and rewrites confirmation hearings as “hoax” by Democrats….--in fresh in-depth interview, John Bonifaz argues for impeachment of Kavanaugh for perjury in 2004, 2006 and 2018
--at The Intercept, Eoin Higgins makes a good point: Obama’s refusal to prosecute Bush-era war criminals enabled promotions of Kavanaugh and CIA’s Haspel
--in surprise move, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley resigns