South Korea says North Korea agrees to hold high-level talks

South Korea says North Korea agrees to hold high-level talks

'Vote them out!' - Thousands register to vote at U.S. gun-control marches | 24 March 2018 | Voter registration activists fanned out among young Americans who marched for tighter gun laws on Saturday, signing up thousands of first-time voters who vowed to eject lawmakers who oppose gun controls. With mid-term Congressional elections eight months away, the activists flocked to some 800 marches across the country to enroll young voters likely to back Democratic and independent candidates who tend to favour tougher firearms laws. In Washington, volunteers for the HeadCount voter-registration effort raised their fists and chanted "demonstration without registration leads to frustration" before heading out with clipboards to sign up some of the nation's newest voters.



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Mort Rosenblum | America's Next Referendumb Is for Keeps

Mort Rosenblum | America's Next Referendumb Is for Keeps

Screengrab of Gina Haspel leading a toast to Ambassador Hugh Montgomery at an awards dinner in October 2017. (photo: YouTube)

On Torture, War Crimes and Trump's Pick for CIA Director
Larry Beinhart, Al Jazeera
Beinhart writes: "Within the United States, there is a 'debate' over whether 'enhanced interrogation' was legitimate or illegitimate. Here's a test for Americans who can't figure it out."
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The Daily 202: Illinois primary results show angry bases in both parties demanding more purity

The Daily 202: Illinois primary results show angry bases in both parties demanding more purity

PAPER BALLOTS! YES!

-- Committee members also urged states to buy voting machines that produce paper ballots. “The senators said 14 states had used at least some machines in 2016 without a paper trail that could be audited. Five states used only those machines,” notes the New York Times’s Nicholas Fandos and Matthew Rosenberg.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN:

-- EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt spent more than $120,000 in taxpayer funds last summer for a trip to Italy, which included a private Vatican tour and a short stop at a G-7 meeting. The AP’s Michael Biesecker reports: “The known cost of Pruitt’s previously reported trip grew this week after the agency disclosed a heavily censored document showing expenses for Pruitt’s security detail cost more than $30,500. That’s on top of nearly $90,000 spend for food, hotels, commercial airfare and a military jet used by Pruitt and nine EPA staff. Last June, Pruitt flew to Bologna, Italy, for a meeting of environmental ministers from the world’s top seven economies. Pruitt attended only the first few hours of the summit before leaving early to jet back to Washington for a Cabinet meeting ... EPA’s Office of Inspector General is investigating Pruitt’s 2017 travel costs.”

-- The Koch network ramped up its campaign for an immigration deal that would include a DACA replacement as part of a funding deal. From Seung Min Kim: “In a letter Tuesday to congressional leadership, top officials from three Koch-backed groups — Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Partners and the LIBRE Initiative — pressed Congress to include $25 billion in border security cash paired with a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who came here as minors. That offer had been floated by congressional Democrats in recent days.”

STILL THE DUMBEST CONGRESSMAN!

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) introduced a controversial proposal:

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Jeremy Scahill and Matthew Cole | FBI Director Chris Wray Previously Oversaw an Investigation Into Erik Prince That Found He Illegally Exported US Weapons

Jeremy Scahill and Matthew Cole | FBI Director Chris Wray Previously Oversaw an Investigation Into Erik Prince That Found He Illegally Exported US Weapons

The statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down. (photo: Q. Sakamaki/Redux)

"It Was a Crime": 15 Years After US Invasion, Iraqis Still Face Trauma, Destruction & Violence
Zahra Ali, Sami Rasouli, Matt Howard, Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "It was 15 years ago today when the U.S. invaded Iraq on the false pretense that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. The attack came despite worldwide protest and a lack of authorization from the United Nations Security Council."
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Americans seek $1 bil. in damages over Fukushima nuclear disaster

Americans seek $1 bil. in damages over Fukushima nuclear disaster

Three Children in Pakistan Die After Getting Measles Vaccine | 16 March 2018 | Three children in Pakistan became critically ill and died a day after they were vaccinated with the measles vaccine in the city of Nawabshah. One the children died at home and the other two children died at the People's University Medical Hospital (PUMH) in Nawabshah. At least seven other Pakistani children who received the same vaccinations were reported to be in critical condition...The parents of the three dead children have reportedly said that a female health worker visited their homes in the Saeedabad area of Nawabshah on March 3 and administered the measles vaccines against their will.

 

Paul vows to filibuster Pompeo, Haspel --Sen. Paul slams Trump's 'dangerous' nominees | 18 March 2018 | Republican Sen. Rand Paul said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that he would take all necessary steps to oppose President Donald Trump's nominees for secretary of state and CIA director. "I'll do whatever it takes, and that includes filibuster," Paul said. Paul, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, previously indicated he would oppose Trump's decision to move CIA Director Mike Pompeo to the State Department and CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel to the top post at the agency. The Kentucky senator said Sunday his opposition came from Pompeo's support for regime change abroad and Haspel's history with CIA torture.

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Breaking: Suspect in Austin bombings is dead - reports

Breaking: Suspect in Austin bombings is dead - reports

Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes | What We Know, and Don't Know, About the Firing of Andrew McCabe

Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes | What We Know, and Don't Know, About the Firing of Andrew McCabe

The president has the ability to grant Jared Kushner a permanent clearance, but Donald Trump said that he was leaving the decision to his chief of staff. (photo: Alex Brandon/AP)

Kushner Company Accused of Falsifying Records to Harass Tenants, Earn Huge Profits
Bernard Condon, Associated Press
Condon writes: "While none of the documents during a three-year period when Kushner was CEO bore his personal signature, they provide a window into the ethics of the business empire he ran before he went on to become one of the most trusted advisers to the president of the United States."
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The Daily 202: Family of slain 18-year-old reminds us to remember all victims of gun violence

The Daily 202: Family of slain 18-year-old reminds us to remember all victims of gun violence

-- Jared Kushner’s real estate company routinely filed false paperwork to push vulnerable tenants out of its apartment buildings in New York City — clearing several properties and turning huge profits as a result, the Associated Press reports. Avi Selk has more: “[Kushner] was in charge of the company between 2013 and 2016, when the company allegedly filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits … The company stated on the paperwork that no tenants — in at least 34 buildings it owned ... were protected by special rules that would have prevented Kushner from raising rents or harassing residents to leave … [In reality], tax records showed that hundreds of tenants were protected by such rules. The AP cited three Queens buildings that the company bought in 2015 … inheriting as many as 94 rent-protected units. Most of those tenants had moved out two years later, when the company sold the three buildings for $60 million — ‘nearly 50 percent more than it paid,’ the AP wrote. By allegedly misleading the city, Kushner’s company was able to clear several buildings of tenants and resell the properties for huge profits.”


-- Koch-aligned groups are targeting Hispanic voters with positive messaging on conservative policies, including the GOP tax bill. The Boston Globe’s Annie Linskey reports: “[T]hey’re trying to prove that their key priority, the massive tax cut, should be popular with immigrant newcomers and the economically struggling. … They’re not just selling the tax cut, they’re providing a host of Spanish-language events infused with the free market, limited government philosophy the Kochs hope will appeal to Hispanics — and help them look past the many offensive comments made by the president. It’s a case, in other words, of the wealthiest GOP benefactors looking for ways to mop up after the GOP president.”


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Hawaii refuses to release internal records on January missile alert that left islanders fearing a nuclear blast

Hawaii refuses to release internal records on January missile alert that left islanders fearing a nuclear blast

7 Years on, Sailors Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Seek Their Day in Court --Special investigation: US military personnel are sick and dying, and want the nuclear plant's designers and owners to take responsibility. | 09 March 2018 | ...There are currently 99 operating civilian nuclear reactors in the United States, and 22 of those are General Electric Mark 1 boiling-water reactors--the make and model identical to the three that melted down and exploded at Fukushima Daiichi. Based on a 1955 design, all but four of the US reactors have now been online for more than 40 years. All of them have the same too-small primary containment vessel, the same questionable alloys, the same bolted-on lid, the same safety systems, and (with one exception) the same vent "upgrade" that failed to prevent the tragic failures at the Japanese nuclear plant. Large US cities, such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, are all closer to BWRs than Tokyo is to Fukushima Daiichi.