Global

”Environment Canada reported that the metallic contaminants that had been dumped in the tailings pond included these hazardous metals:Lead, Arsenic, Nickel, Zinc, Cadmium, Vanadium, Antimony, Manganese and Mercury.”

“ALL tailings "ponds" are problems. If they don't breach and spill massive amounts of toxic sludge into the environment like at Mount Polley, they leach that contamination slowly, poisoning the waters and lands around them.” -- From:  http://canadians.org/blog/update-mount-polley-mine-disaster-imperial-metals-and-government-focus-covering-instead;

Hearings in the Ohio Legislature this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) will underscore opposition to the proposed mega-bailout meant to keep the decrepit Davis-Besse and Perry nukes operating to ultimate failure.

PLEASE go there to testify.

Here are some key talking points (in progress).  Please insert your own:

Physical status of the plants:

1)         These two Nukes are literally crumbling (see work by Kevin Kamps/Beyond Nuclear, Mike Keegan, and more)

Iran’s retention of archives related to its past covert nuclear weapons program (the Amad Plan), as well as its efforts to keep many scientists and technicians from that former weapons program working together under the continued leadership of the former head of that program, raise serious questions regarding whether Iran intended to preserve the option to resume elements of a nuclear weapons program in the future….

– US Department of State report, “Adherence to and compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments,” April 2019

ith absolutely zero good reasons for waging war on Iran, the Trump administration goes on making stuff up to lie the country into yet another war. The template looks like the Bush administration’s successful effort to lie the US into the Iraq War, the catastrophic effects of which keep unfolding.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's army chief has warned a state of emergency will be declared if post-election violence degenerates into "civil war".

The military-led government is meanwhile trying to imprison a new, wildly popular, anti-army politician for "sedition" while the junta enjoys legal immunity for their 2014 coup and subsequent acts.

Officials are also deciding how to count the votes from last month's election amid allegations of manipulated ballots, "ghost voters," and a baffling, complex system invented by the regime. Critics say it is biased against pro-democracy candidates. 

The junta filed the sedition charge -- punishable by nine years in jail -- plus other cases against Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 40, on April 6. 

The case dates back to 2015 when Mr. Thanathorn allegedly "provided assistance" to an anti-coup protest leader. Mr. Thanathorn reportedly gave a walking protester a ride in his car.

A new film, Corporate Coup, (trailer at link https://vimeo.com/292721963 ) is premiering in the coming days in Washington, D.C., (April 26-27 at Filmfest DC) and Toronto (April 29, 30, and May 3 at Hot Docs Festival).

The film is vague about when the corporate takeover of the U.S. government began, probably because it actually predates the U.S. government and wasn’t entirely new in the 1970s or the 1980s but did see, at that time, a major acceleration that in some ways was a leap backward and in other ways a leap into something unseen before.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A U.S. retired defense contractor with wartime
experience in Iraq and Afghanistan was on the run April 19 with his
bitcoin-savvy girlfriend, fearing Bangkok's military government will
execute them for living on a floating platform off Thailand's Phuket
island.

"The Bangkok Post reported that Nadia and I were being accused of
breaking a Thai law that carries a life sentence or the death
penalty," Chad Elwartowski said in an interview conducted online.

"What is reported in the press in Thailand is usually what the
military wants reported. Even though the allegations are far off base,
we have to take seriously their intention to kill us."

The Thai navy reportedly demolished their floating residential pod
"without following any legal process," Mr. Elwartowski said.

"We have no reason to believe we would face any sort of fair trial."

He denied violating Thai laws including its territorial rights in the
Andaman Sea or "commercially extracting natural resources."

He offered to donate the anchored platform -- if it has not been

Monty Python collaborator Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote falls into an interesting motion picture category. Cinematic lore includes a sort of subgenre of “difficult” films often made by powerful directors seeking to impose their exacting, iconic, auteurish visions on studios, audiences, critics, etc. During the silent screen era the original uncut versions of D.W. Griffith’s 1916 Intolerance and Erich von Stroheim’s 1924 Greed reportedly unspooled with hours of endless footage. Sometimes these demanding directors’ dreamt-of masterpieces went unfulfilled - von Stroheim never completed his 1932 Queen Kelly starring Gloria Swanson (although, strangely, scenes from it are glimpsed in Billy Wilder’s 1950 Sunset Boulevard, where a washed up von Stroheim portrays the chauffeur Max, ex-star Swanson’s onetime helmer).

Bernie Sanders wrapped up a weekend campaign swing through California with a Sunday afternoon speech to 16,000 of us a few miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. News coverage seemed unlikely to convey much about the event. The multiracial crowd reflected the latest polling that shows great diversity of support for Bernie, contrary to corporate media spin. High energy for basic social change was in the air.

Speaking from the podium, Bernie 2020 co-chair Nina Turner asked and answered a question about the campaign: “What’s love got to do with it? Everything.”

Letting a ruler get away with power grabs and abuses guarantees that worse will come, from him or from his successors. This is the lesson of the failure to impeach recent U.S. presidents. For those who haven’t understood this yet, here’s a helpful FAQ.

Now, here are the 20 surest ways to impeach Trump:

1. Violation of Constitution on Domestic Emoluments
In his conduct while President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution “to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” has illegally received emoluments from the United States government and from individual state governments.