Tribal Leaders, Lawmakers Push Bill to Ban Mining Near Grand Canyon

United States (Cronkite) – Tribal and environmental officials urged House lawmakers Wednesday to protect sacred land and natural resources by supporting a permanent ban on mining on just over 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon. The “Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act” would prohibit all mining in the affected area, but supporters were focused on the uranium mining that has a troubled history on tribal lands. “Uranium mining has already poisoned and will continue to poison the springs and waters of my Grand Canyon home,” said Havasupai Councilwoman Carletta Tilousi at…

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Who Are the 1 in 4 American Women Who Choose Abortion?

United States (Conversation) – The abortion debate is at the center of U.S. political dialogue. Voices from both sides flood social media feeds, newspapers, radio and television programs. In the last year, attacks on reproductive rights sharply increased. In 2019, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi successfully passed so-called “heartbeat” bans to prohibit abortion as early as 6 to 8 weeks. Alabama is the first state to pass a complete abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest. Due to ongoing legal challenges, these bans have yet to go into…

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Half of Transgender and Non-Binary People Hide Their Identity at Work in Fear of Discrimination – Here’s How You Can Help

United Kingdom (Conversation) – For people who identify as LGBT+, the workplace can be a difficult environment to manage. One in five lesbian, gay and bisexual employees say they have experienced verbal bullying. For those who are transgender and gender non-conforming things can be even more difficult. Gender non-conforming people who do not identify as either male or female (non-binary) are more likely to suffer abuse, violence and harassment. Research in the US and in the UK shows that transgender and gender non-conforming employees are more likely to be discriminated against…

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Scapegoating George Soros: How Media-Savvy Far-Right Activists Spread Lies

World Wide (Conversation) – Facebook recently banned several far-right extremists, including Canadian Faith Goldy, who made a failed bid for Toronto mayor last year. Far-right media darling Lauren Southern was denied admission to the United Kingdom last year because of her extremist political activities. Goldy now protests in the streets and rants on American extremist Alex Jones’s TV show. Southern, along with the conservative media, is crying censorship on the YouTube release of her documentary this week — likely to create publicity. These Canadian women are part of a new generation…

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How You Can Be 100% Certain That QAnon Is Bullshit

United States (CJ) – President Trump has yet again advanced an evil longstanding agenda of America’s depraved intelligence and defense agencies, so as usual the QAnon cult is out in force telling everyone not to worry because this is all part of the plan. Ever since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was slammed by Trump’s Justice Department with a mountain of espionage charges carrying a possible sentence of 175 years in prison, QAnon acolytes have been showing up in my social media mentions with screenshots of a new post from the mysterious 8chan anon…

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Sex Trafficking’s Tragic Paradox: When Victims Become Perpetrators

Australia (Conversation) – Born in rural Thailand, Watcharaporn Nantahkhum gave birth to her first child at the age of 17. Her father killed himself when she was young, to absolve the family of debt. Her mother later ran into debt, and arrangements were made for her to travel to Australia, to earn money to support her family. She knew she would be working in the sex industry, however, at 37 years of age, she had been sold. Details of the conditions she put up with in a Sydney brothel were…

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Too Much Love: Helicopter Parents Could Be Raising Anxious, Narcissistic Children

World Wide (Conversation) – The Age newspaper recently highlighted the issue of so-called “helicopter parenting” at universities. The report talked of parents contacting lecturers to ask about their adult children’s grades, sitting in on meetings with course coordinators and repeatedly phoning academics to inquire about students’ progress. Over-parenting involves parents using developmentally inappropriate tactics that far exceed the actual needs of their children. It involves excessive protection of children by their parents. Over-parenting is often called “helicopter parenting”, as these parents hover over their children to make sure nothing goes…

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There Is More Than One Religious View on Abortion – Here’s What Jewish Texts Say

United States (Conversation) – Alabama’s governor signed a bill this week that criminalizes nearly all abortions, threatening providers with a felony conviction and up to 99 years in prison. It is one of numerous efforts across the United States to restrict access to abortion and challenge the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide. Six states have recently passed legislation that limit abortions to approximately six weeks after the end of a woman’s last period, before many know they are pregnant. Although the laws have…

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The Brown v. Board of Education Case Didn’t Start How You Think It Did

United States (Conversation) – As the nation celebrates the 65th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, the case is often recalled as one that “forever changed the course of American history.” But the story behind the historic Supreme Court case, as I plan to show in my forthcoming book, “Blacks Against Brown: The Black Anti-Integration Movement in Topeka, Kansas, 1941-1954,” is much more complex than the highly inaccurate but often-repeated tale about how the lawsuit began. The story that often gets told is that – as…

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Charging Asylum Application Fees Is the Latest Way the US Could Make Immigrants Pay for Its Red Tape

United States (Conversation) – The Trump administration wants to make people fleeing persecution in their home countries pay for something they’ve long gotten for free: the right to apply for asylum in the United States. As an immigration attorney and a law professor who has represented people seeking asylum for over a decade, I believe this change, which could go into effect as soon as the summer of 2019, would be not just cruel but also unusual. At present, only Australia and Fiji charge fees to would-be asylum-seekers. But making…

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