News Dump

House Judiciary Committee votes to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt over Mueller report after Trump asserts executive privilege
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/08/house-judiciary-committee-votes-to-hold-ag-barr-in-contempt-over-mueller-report.html

Instead of a Border Wall, Why Not a ‘Clean Energy Corridor’?
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/05/border-crisis-wall-green-new-deal-clean-energy-solar-power/588946/

US suspends effort to retrieve war dead from North Korea
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48208686?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Data defies Trump's claims that refugees and asylees burden taxpayers
https://publicintegrity.org/immigration/data-defies-trump-claims-that-refugees-and-asylees-are-a-taxpayer-burden/

Teen who sued over school ban for refusing vaccine now has chickenpox
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-teen-who-sued-over-school-ban-refusing-chickenpox-vaccination-n1003271

Selfridges becomes first major UK retailer to remove palm oil from all own-brand products: Department store makes 300 items free of the substance - nine months ahead of schedule
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/selfridges-removes-palm-oil-own-brand-products-a8903611.html

Britain, the birth place of coal power, is set to go seven days without electricity from coal-fired stations for the first time since its 19th century industrial revolution, the National Grid operator said on Wednesday
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-coal/britain-set-for-first-coal-power-free-week-in-over-a-century-idUKKCN1SE160

Coca-Cola Uses Lucrative Contracts to Kill University Research
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/05/07/coca-cola-research-agreements-contracts

Florida governor to sign bill making it more difficult for ex-felons to vote
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/ron-desantis-florida-felons-voting-rights-bill/index.html

DC-area radio station told to register as Russian agent
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dc-area-radio-station-told-register-russian-agent-6289758

Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction' "Land use now appears as the major driver of the biodiversity collapse, with 70% of agriculture related to meat production"
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48169783

E.P.A. Leaders Disregarded Agency’s Experts in Issuing Asbestos Rule, Memos Show
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/climate/epa-asbestos-rule-scientists.html

A former corn-syrup lobbyist is drafting new federal dietary rules (seriously)
https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-food-industry-shapes-dietary-guidelines-20190507-story.html

Vegan Burger Food Truck Produces Black Multi-Millionaire In 6 Months
https://www.spreadlovelife.com/post/vegan-burger-food-truck-produces-black-multi-millionaire-in-6-months

Proposal to spend 25% of European Union budget on climate change
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48198646

Never forget: THIS is what party unity looks like after a tough primary. I will never forgive Bernie or his base for the way they acted in 2016. I'll likely not vote if he is the nominee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57JaSDPJjo8

Republicans can keep sending Latin Americans seeking asylum in America to Mexico
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-can-keep-sending-asylum-seekers-wait-mexico-appeals-court-n1003386

Schiff Introduces Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/442697-schiff-introduces-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united

(Took long enough) Danish prosecutors have charged Thomas Borgen, former CEO of Danske Bank, over his involvement in one of the world’s biggest money laundering scandals
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-danske-bank-moneylaundering-idUSKCN1SD1P3

Schumer Announces Traced Act To Fight Robocalls
https://www.wamc.org/post/schumer-announces-traced-act-fight-robocalls

Rep. Schiff Introduces Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/rep-schiff-introduces-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united

Each Word of Trump's Tariff Tweets Wiped $13 Billion Off Stocks
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-08/each-word-of-trump-s-tariff-tweets-wiped-13-billion-off-stocks

GOOD (government needs to get back to cracking down on gambling.....): Video game ‘loot boxes’ would be outlawed in many games under forthcoming federal bill
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/08/video-game-loot-boxes-would-be-outlawed-many-games-under-forthcoming-federal-bill/

Trump economists quit en masse after reports showing farmers hurt by tariffs | At least six USDA economists quit after Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue seeks to move and defund their agency
https://www.salon.com/2019/05/07/trump-economists-quit-en-masse-after-reports-showing-farmers-hurt-by-tariffs/

Plant-based meat, dairy, and egg companies raised $13 billion in capital funding in 2017 and 2018, and show no sign of slowing down.
https://vegnews.com/2019/5/plant-based-food-industry-raises-16-billion-in-investments-since-2009

"Donald Trump paid no income taxes in 8 of the 10 years we examined. His losses were so big that in 1991 they accounted for fully 1% of all business losses declared that year by individual American taxpayers" -Susanne Craig, the article's co-author. A different kind of 1% he belongs to.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns.html

Here are the kleptocrats and crooked foreign politicians who’ve invested in Trump properties. From Azerbaijan to Indonesia, Kazakhstan to the Republic of Congo, allegedly corrupt foreign officials have parked their money in Trump buildings time and again.
https://thinkprogress.org/here-are-the-kleptocrats-and-crooked-foreign-politicians-whove-invested-in-trump-properties/

North Korea's Newest Missile Appears Similar To Advanced Russian Design
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721135496/north-koreas-newest-missile-appears-similar-to-advanced-russian-design

An investigation into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz will proceed, the Florida Bar said Wednesday, meaning the Panhandle Republican could face discipline for allegedly intimidating President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.    A grand jury-like panel called the Grievance Committee will next decide whether there is probable cause that Gaetz’s tweet violated Florida rules for lawyers. Gaetz is licensed to practice law in Florida.    If the Florida Bar had determined in its initial review that discipline was not warranted, then the case would have stopped. But it has not, meaning the Bar has decided that further investigation is needed..    In moving the case against Gaetz to this step, the Florida Bar is also signaling that its initial review determined that the allegations against Gaetz would, if proven true, be a violation of the state’s rules for lawyers.
https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/05/08/further-investigation-into-matt-gaetz-is-needed-for-tweet-at-michael-cohen-florida-bar-determines/

Instant karma: Octopus sucks onto woman's face and wouldn't let go as she tries to eat it alive
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7001757/Octopus-sucks-bloggers-face-wouldnt-let-tries-eat-alive.html

Nearly half of white Republicans say it bothers them to hear people speaking foreign languages
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/08/nearly-half-white-republicans-say-it-bothers-them-hear-people-speaking-foreign-languages/