One of tankers attacked in Gulf of Oman sinks, media reports

2 tankers with Japan-related cargo attacked in Strait of Hormuz as Abe visits Iran

TOKYO

Lawmakers in New York introduced a first-of-its-kind bill to decriminalize sex work throughout the state on Monday.

The Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act is a legislative package that “decriminalizes and decarcerates” the sex trade in New York, according to a press release from organizers at the Decrim NY coalition. If passed, it would be the first measure in the country to legalize prostitution statewide.

“Sex work is work and should not be criminalized by the state,” state Sen. Julia Salazar (D) said at a Monday press conference.

“Our current policies only empower traffickers and others who benefit from keeping sex work in the shadows,” Salazar added. “New York state needs to listen to sex workers and make these common-sense reforms to keep sex workers safe and empower sex workers in their workplaces.” […]

via New York Lawmakers Introduce First Statewide Bill To Decriminalize Sex Work — Nappy News

“In some countries, including the United States, about 10% of the entire population is in treatment with depression pills. This is a tragedy. These drugs do not have relevant effects on depression; they increase the risk of suicide and violence; and they make it more difficult for patients to live normal lives. They should therefore be avoided. We have been fooled by the drug industry, corrupt doctors on industry payroll, and by our drug regulators.

Surely, many patients and doctors believe the pills are helpful, but they cannot know this, because people tend to become much better with time even if they are not treated. This is why we need placebo-controlled trials to find out what the drugs do to people. Unfortunately, virtually all trials are flawed, exaggerate the benefits of the drugs, and underestimate their harms.” […]

via The Depression Pill Epidemic — DES Daughter Network

The shale drillers are the Elon Musks of natural resources: they produce products at a loss, but intend to make it up on volume. From Tom Luongo at tomluongo.me:

All of President Trump’s foreign policy can be summed up by two themes, making the world safe for Israel and controlling the price of energy.

He calls the latter “Energy Dominance.” And to those who still believe Trump has a plan, these two things are the only ones consistently in evidence.

His reactions to things contrary to his plan, however, are purely limbic.

These two themes converge completely with Iran. Trump wants Iran neutered to force Jared Kushner’s now-delayed again, “Deal of the Century” onto the Palestinians while also taking Iran’s oil off the market to support surging U.S. domestic production in the hopes of taking market share permanently.

Everything Trump does is in support of these two themes while throwing some red meat at his base over China, Mexico and the border.

It was never his intention to leave Syria back in December, really. Look how easy was it for John Bolton and the Joint Chiefs to convince him to stay because how else would we cut Iran’s exports to zero if we didn’t stop the land route through Iraq?

This is why we’re still harboring ISIS cells in the desert crossing around Al-Tanf at the Jordan/Iraq/Syria border, to stop Iranian oil from coming into the country.

This feeds right into hurting all of Syria’s allies to strengthen Israel’s position.

To paraphrase the song from Aladdin, “It’s stupid, but hey, it’s home.”

If the average Trump voter truly understood the lengths we are going to starve the Syrian army from having enough energy to finish wiping out the Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Idlib and Homs provinces they would burn their MAGA hats and stay home next November.

But they don’t so Trump’s approval rating keeps climbing.

On the other hand, people mostly understand exactly what the “Bay of Fat Pigs” operation in Venezuela was all about, protecting domestic oil production and getting control of Venezuela’s.

The sad truth is that many Americans consider this comeuppance for being stupid enough to elect Nicolas Maduro President.

But this is the guts of Trump’s “Energy Dominance” policy. Use tariffs, sanctions, threats and hybrid warfare to destroy the competition and therefore MAGA.

It would be sad if it wasn’t so pathetic.

And the irony is that the whole plan is predicated on sustainable and nigh-exponential growth of U.S. domestic production.

There’s only one problem with that. It’s completely unsustainable.

The greatness of the U.S. production story is evident if you only look at the number of barrels produced. But that story turns into a nightmare the minute you look one inch deeper to see what the cost of those barrels are and what profit, if any, they produce […]

via Energy Dominance or Flatulence? Shale Drillers Bleed Cash, by Tom Luongo — STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC

RT’s video agency Ruptly has obtained footage showing WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange inside Belmarsh maximum security prison.

via Exclusive: First VIDEO of Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison — The New Dark Age

Record-breaking flooding of the Mississippi River left an Oklahoma beekeepers’ wildflower field under 10 feet of water and his beehives floating on top.

“I’ve never seen water in this field,” beekeeper Mark Rodden told the local TV news channel.

When he woke up to a newly formed lake in his backyard, he made a panicked call to fellow beekeeper Brian Royal of Royal Bee Supply.

“I said I`m gonna come over and look,” Royal said. “If we can, we’re gonna get ’em.”

The pair threw on beekeeper suits and got to work. Rodden waded around scooping up beehives from the shallow end, while Royal paddled around the deeper end in a kayak catchimg them before they drifted away.

Royal said Rodden “about dumped him in the water” as he “threw” hives heavy with honey onto the kayak.

After about two hours of work, they saved 6 out of 8 hives.

Rodden estimates about half a million bees drowned, but says he’s grateful that all was not lost […]

via Beekeepers Use Kayak to Rescue Hundreds of Thousands of Bees From Oklahoma Floods — Return to Now

If this actually goes all the way, it will be perhaps the most important thing President Trump has done and will do during his tenure. Megacorporations are killing free speech in this country right before our eyes and something must be done about it.

Wall Street seems to believe the Silicon Valley giants are in trouble:

“Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. tumbled as the companies appear set to undergo U.S. antitrust probes after the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to split up oversight of technology giants.

The DOJ’s preparations to investigate Google, first reported late Friday, mark the Trump administration’s first concrete step to scrutinize the potentially anti-competitive conduct of a large technology firm. On Monday, a person familiar with the matter said the FTC will oversee antitrust scrutiny into whether Facebook’s practices harm competition in the digital market. Reuters reported that the DOJ has been given jurisdiction over a potential probe of Apple.

Alphabet fell as much as 7.2% to $1,027.03 in New York, its lowest since January. Facebook tumbled as much as 9.3% to $161.01, the most since July. The news also sent shares of Amazon.com Inc. down as much as 5.4% and Apple as much as 2.7%.”

You probably noticed Amazon was among the companies that fell even though they were not one of the ones named as being under investigation. But Amazon looks likely to join the club:

“Amazon could also be scrutinized as a result of a new agreement between regulators that puts it under the jurisdiction of the FTC, the Washington Post reported over the weekend.”

All told, the tech giants lost a combined $137 billion in market cap on the news that they’re likely to come under antitrust investigation […]

via Huge News: Federal Government to Investigate Facebook, Google and Apple Under Antitrust Laws —

Noam Chomsky was booed at the 2019 California Democratic Party Convention for saying the state is “not ready” for “revolutionary Socialism.”

The mood wasn’t so bleak when Prof. Chomsky began his remarks.

“I can understand your mood,” Chomsky began, to cheers from the crowd. “There is a real mood of desperation, especially among young people feeling like we’ve tried everything, nothing’s worked, we’ve gotta go all out.”

“Take, for instance, the Bernie Sanders campaign of 2016 that broke dramatically with over a century of U.S. political history,” Chomsky continued, waving to Sen. Sanders seated nearby.

The mood turned ugly moments later.

“But California is not in a state where there’s going to be a revolution,” Chomsky said. “You’re living in a completely delusional world, of a kind that teenagers might live in, very desperate, very angry, and you’ve picked tactics that are harmful, you’ve caused yourselves a lot of harm as well.”

Before he could finish his next sentence, a chorus of boos along with a sea of waving “Bernie” signs overtook his speech, lasting for more than 30 seconds.

Chomsky attempted a smile and broke from his remarks to add, “You know, if we’re not careful, we’re going to end up helping to re-elect the worst president in history.”

The mood softened at the thought, and Chomsky continued.

“Your actions have been completely counterproductive for yourselves and for their effect on others,” he said. “I know a lot of you really think you’re bringing about revolutionary Socialism, but you’re living in a delusional world” […]

via Chomsky booed: State ‘not ready’ for Socialism, Dems ‘deluded’ — The Sacramento Brie

By B.N. Frank | Activist Post

More creepy “Surveillance Capitalism” courtesy of Amazon who isn’t hiding that it is putting millions of smart speakers in homes and hotels by “offering discounted hardware, customized software and new ways for property managers to harvest and use data.”

Are there actually people willing to pay for this type of arrangement?

From the Wall Street Journal, “Amazon’s Plan to Move In to Your Next Apartment Before You Do.”

For Amazon, the appeal is obvious: Adding millions of new users to its services and gaining access to data like their voice-based wish lists and Alexa-powered shopping habits will put it further ahead of the competition which, at the moment, doesn’t have a significant presence in rental properties and new-home construction.

‘We can predict if residents are happy based on their digital interactions.’

Here’s what they have to say about privacy:

And there’s a question of privacy: Renters, home buyers and hotel guests are all surrendering more data as a result of these innovations, and may not be aware of all the parties monitoring their smart-home interactions.

Consenting to this data-surrending may be hidden somewhere in the contract’s fine print that most don’t read or don’t understand.

According to the article, Google is also interested in doing this kind of thing in homes too.  Why the heck not, right?

In the meantime, Amazon is also planning to “push” its surveillance and data collection devices in other places too – including public places […]

via Amazon Installing Alexa in Apartments and Hotel Rooms. They Say 24/7 Data Collection Will Help Property Managers Better Manage and Serve Tenants. — A Sweet Dose of Reality | The Mad Truther