Greed - Behind every story is a little greed.

U.S. Should Block Law Endangering Sex Workers

September 21, 2019September 20, 2019 Friends of Greed 3FOSTA, HRW, Sex Workers

United States (HRW) – Human Rights Watch and four other plaintiffs will present arguments on September 20, 2019 against the dismissal of their challenge to a 2017 United States law that imposes criminal liability for online speech about sex work. The hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 31 of the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse and William B. Bryant Annex in Washington, DC. Plaintiffs contend the law violates freedom of speech and makes sex work more dangerous for an already vulnerable and criminalized population, Human Rights Watch said. The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, commonly known Read More

Culture

This Migrant Mother and Her Child Couldn’t Wait for Their Asylum Court Date Anymore. They Drowned Trying to Enter the U.S.

September 20, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Asylum, immigration, Remain in Mexico, TeasTribune, Trump

United States (TexasTribune) – A Honduran mother and her 21-month-old son died near Del Rio earlier this month after trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson confirmed Friday. According to CNN, Idalia Yamileth Herrera Hernandez had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her son, Iker Gael Cordova Herrera, and requested asylum. But under the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” program, they were sent back to Matamoros, Mexico, to wait for an immigration court hearing. They grew more and more desperate while waiting for their hearing and died while it was still pending, CNN Read More

Justice

Want to Solve the Vape Crisis? End Marijuana Prohibition

September 20, 2019September 19, 2019 Friends of Greed 3cannabis reform, Drug War, FEE, Legalized Marijuana, Vaping

United States (FEE) – The “Great Vape Scare of 2019” is well underway, as more than 380 people have been diagnosed with a severe lung condition that has been traced back to the use of e-cigarettes and THC vaping devices. So far, seven people have died as a result. But governments rush to ban vape products that may or may not be responsible for causing the damage. Eager for a solution, President Trump was quick to propose banning flavored vape cartridges on the federal level, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that he was seeking an emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes within Read More

Justice

Children with a Parent Behind Bars Face Deeper Struggles with Mental Health

September 19, 2019September 18, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Cronkite, Family Seperation, Mental Health, Parenting, Prison

United States (Cronkite) – Moving boxes clutter the hallway, while family portraits rest unhung against a stark white wall. In the living room, two couches are positioned near one another; they’re some of the only furniture in the home. This little house in far west Phoenix is, in essence, a clean slate. It’s the beginning of a new chapter for a family that has been forced to navigate life without parental support over the last year. “We’ve barely moved in here, so it’s a mess,” Stacy Molina said. Molina, 20, is big sister to Daniel, 16, Jose, 10, and Guadalupe, Read More

Culture Featured

Will Americans Let Trump Start World War III for Saudi Arabia and Israel?

September 19, 2019September 18, 2019 Friends of Greed 3CD, iran, Israel, Medea Benjamin, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Trump, war, Yemen

United States (CD) – On Saturday, September 14th, two oil refineries and other oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia were hit and set ablaze by 18 drones and 7 cruise missiles, dramatically slashing Saudi Arabia’s oil production by half, from about ten million to five million barrels per day. On September 18, the Trump administration, blaming Iran, announced it was imposing more sanctions on Iran and voices close to Donald Trump are calling for military action. But this attack should lead to just the opposite response: urgent calls for an immediate end to the war in Yemen and an end to US economic warfare against Read More

Feminism & Women's Rights

US Abortion Rate Drops to Lowest Level Since 1973 Legalization

September 19, 2019September 18, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Abortion, Sputnik

United States (Sputnik) – The number of abortions in the US has dropped to the lowest level since the procedure was legalized by the Supreme Court in 1973, according to a new study by the Guttmacher Institute. The study used data collected by the institute, which defines itself on its website as a “leading research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States and globally.” Based on data of abortion incidence and rates between 2014 and 2017, the study found that in 2017, 862,320 abortions were conducted in clinical settings across the US. That represents a 7% Read More

Culture

Day After Trump Denigrates Homeless, Sanders Unveils $2.5 Trillion #HousingForAll Plan to Address Crisis

September 18, 2019 Friends of Greed 32020 Presidential election, Bernie Sanders, CD, Homelessness, Housing, Trump

United States (CD) – In the wake of “abhorrent” comments made by President Donald Trump about homeless people, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday unveiled his $2.5 trillion “Housing for All” plan, which calls for building millions of affordable housing units and providing billions of dollars in rental assistance over a decade. “In the richest country in the history of the world, every American must have a safe, decent, accessible, and affordable home as a fundamental right,” the Sanders campaign declares in the plan, which will be paid for by a wealth tax on the top one-tenth of the one Read More

Culture

A Perfect Texas Storm: Climate, Migration, and Eco-Fascism

September 18, 2019September 18, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Climate Change, Deceleration, eco-fascism, immigration, Texas

Texas, United States (Deceleration) – In one of my earliest memories, I am standing in front of my house on the coast of Mississippi watching the waves roil and swell, surging further and further up the beach toward me. The sky has already begun to bruise a purplish green and the wind is picking up. My father calls me by my nickname—“Herky!”—and I run to clamber into the back seat with my sister and our Siamese cat. My father pulls out of the driveway and heads north. It is 1969, just hours before Hurricane Camille makes landfall, and we are Read More

Environment Featured

New Report Details 10 ‘Critical Transitions’ to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Feed the World

September 18, 2019September 17, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Agriculture, CD, Climate Change, Food Supply

World Wide (CD) – The ways humanity produces and consumes food cause up to 30 percent of planet-warming emissions, generate widespread malnutrition, and perpetuate poverty and inequality—but a new report released Monday claims that 10 global transformations over the next decade could help the international community tackle the climate crisis and feed over nine billion people. The report, Growing Better: 10 Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use (pdf), comes from the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), which launched in 2017 to bring together organizations representing key actors—from business and civil society leaders to scientists and policymakers—to transform global food Read More

Scandal

Lack of Security Leaves Millions of Americans’ Medical Data Exposed Online

September 17, 2019 Friends of Greed 3Data, Medical records, Privacy, Sputnik

United States (Sputnik) – A new investigation by ProPublica and the German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk finds that the medical images and health data of millions of Americans can be accessed by anyone on the internet. The investigation revealed that there are 187 servers containing medical data in the US that are unprotected by passwords. The servers identified by ProPublica and Bayerischer Rundfunk were utilized in medical-imaging facilities, mobile X-ray services and doctors’ offices all across the US, from Florida to California. Examples of leaked data include names, birth dates and even social security numbers. “It’s not even hacking. It’s walking into Read More