Fidel Castro y Mohamed Alí

Tulsi Gabbard launches petition to end Democratic Party superdelegate process

Source: Politico

The Democratic presidential primary process may be ending next Tuesday, but the fight among Bernie Sanders supporters to rid the party of superdelegates and install new leadership at the Democratic National Committee is not.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard encouraged her followers on Saturday to sign a petition ending the Democratic Party’s use of superdelegates.

“Whether you are a Bernie Sanders supporter or a Hillary Clinton supporter, we should all agree that unelected party officials and lobbyists should not have a say in who the presidential nominee of our party is,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “That should be left up to the voters.”

Gabbard resigned as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in February to publicly endorse the Vermont senator’s campaign.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/tulsi-gabbard-superdelegate-petition-224220

Adolph Reed Jr, full interview

from The Benjamin Dixon Show

This is a really outstanding interview. It deserves to have a lot more than 200 views on youtube.

Individually-shrinkwrapped potatoes are why we must destroy capitalism

Tens of Thousands Demand DNC Add National Fracking Ban to Party Platform

Climate activists on Wednesday delivered more than 90,000 petitions to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) demanding that the party's 2016 platform include a nationwide ban on fracking.

As the DNC convened in Washington, D.C. for its open forum on shaping the platform, activists with Food & Water Watch, 350.org, Honor the Earth, and other groups handed over the appeals and said officials must acknowledge the harm that fracking has caused the environment.

"The Democratic Party has been complicit in the U.S. fracking boom which is poisoning communities and our climate," said Emily Wurth, water program director at Food & Water Watch. "Any serious plan to combat climate change must include a ban on fracking, and as the committee develops the platform, they should heed the calls of the growing movement to ban fracking and keep fossil fuels in the ground."

The groups noted that more than 137,000 fracking wells have been opened in the U.S. since 2005 as part of President Barack Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy policy that included promoting the use of natural gas. By contrast, the 2016 presidential election has seen candidates backing away from the fossil fuel industry...

 Andrew Cuomo Would Have Blacklisted Muhammad Ali

by Dave Zirin

Governor Cuomo’s executive action to create a blacklist of those who stand with the Palestinian people would have undoubtedly caught Muhammad Ali in its web.

Israeli Minister Calls For Ethnic Cleansing of 300,000 'Arabs' from West Bank Area

Source: Telesur

An Israeli minister said he wants to expel the estimated 300,000 Palestinians from the largest area of the West Bank and annex it, since “there are no Arabs at all” and they “do not constitute a significant numerical factor.”

“This is not the first time that Israeli officials have indulged in demeaning, racist and dehumanizing rhetoric against Palestinians,” said the press director for Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in a statement on Wednesday, responding to Ariel’s Tuesday interview with the Times of Israel. “Palestinians must be treated as a people with rights and freedoms to be respected; not as an obstacle in the way of Israeli politicians' nationalistic ambition who seek to justify Israel's 'Jewish character' at the expense of the indigenous population,” Dajani added.

Several ministers have proposed annexing Area C, which includes 60 percent of the West Bank and is largely made up of Israeli settlements. Israel controls the area’s law enforcement, planning and construction, leading U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to say it "is effectively restricted for any Palestinian development.” Earlier, Israel’s Minister of Judiciary Affairs Ayelet Shaked said that Israeli law should be applied to the area.

Ariel did not mention what should happen after “transferring Arabs” besides pumping US$2.6 billion into the area in the next 10 years to “invest in economic projects that benefit" the Israeli settlers. He had previously said that the Palestinians living there should be granted permanent residence in what would then be Israel.



Read more: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Israeli-Minister-Expel-300000-Arabs-to-Annex-West-Bank-Area-20160608-0014.html

Israel approves new homes in East Jerusalem settlement

Source: aljazeera.com

Israeli authorities have approved building permits for 82 new homes in the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo, a neighbourhood near Shuafat in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli NGO has said.

"On Monday, June 6, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved two building permits for 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo," Ir Amim, a group that opposes settlement construction, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The settlement, which already houses more than 15,000 Israeli Jews, lies in close proximity to the Palestinian neighbourhood of Shuafat.

The 82 units in two buildings are part of a larger scheme for expansion announced in 2010 to build an additional 1,600 new settler homes in the neighbourhood.

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/israel-approves-homes-east-jerusalem-settlement-160608044507701.html