Ventura, CA -- To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the California Coastal Act, Earth Alert has announced the online release of Heroes of the Coast: the Documentary. The free streaming film is available now at the Earth Alert home page, www.earthalert.org and can be seen below. -more-

Plans to destroy hundreds of thousands of trees in the East Bay Hills have caused a deep rift among members of the Sierra Club.

The local Sierra Club leadership not only supports the project to destroy non-native trees—eucalyptus, Monterey pine, and acacia—it has also sued the funding agency to demand 100% destruction of the trees instead of thinning as proposed by East Bay Regional Park District. However, many Sierra Club members oppose the plans.

Opponents plan a demonstration at noon on Monday, June 13, at the Sierra Club office in Oakland at 2100 Franklin Street at 21^st Street. -more-

The Opinion of Jagjit Singh, as expressed in the Daily Planet on 6/3/16 is biased and omits several important issues. He blames everything on Israel, leaving out the key fact that the Palestinian charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. To quote just one of the several anti-Israel paragraphs in its charter: "and the establishment of Israel are illegal and null and void, regardless of the loss of time… This is why the Palestinian leadership is dragging its feet on pursuing a two state solution. They want both states to be Palestinian, with no Jewish state. And that just isn't going to happen. -more-

Venezuela is nearing collapse, turning more violent by the second.

Last week President Nicolás Maduro decreed a state of emergency and suspended constitutional rights. He fears “the Empire” is set to strike soon. This measure comes abruptly as the opposition demands the Venezuelan Electoral Panel to ratify the 1.8 million signatures collected in just a few hours as a first step to constitutionally call for a referendum to remove Maduro from power. And Maduro is looking for ways to delay this process.

An article in Counterpunch by Eric Draitser, characterizes the referendum as a coup orchestrated by the opposition to oust Maduro and destroy the legacy of Chávez revolution. It further argues that Venezuela’s economic situation, already a humanitarian crisis, is the product of a plot between the Venezuelan right-wing elites that control the National Assembly and U.S. imperial interests, comparing the current crisis in Venezuela with the overthrow of Allende in the seventies by Nixon, Kissinger, the CIA and the Chilean elites.

What Draister and others do not mention is that the referendum is a constitutional right pursued by an opposition whose control of the National Assembly (Venezuela’s congress) comes from a landslide electoral victory in December 2015. The article identifies the opposition with the right-wing elite, when in reality the opposition is a coalition of parties and individuals that also includes left and left-to-center ideological orientations. The President of the Assembly, for instance, Henry Ramos Allup, has been the Vice-President of the Socialist International. The article also conveniently omits Maduro’s coup to the National Assembly. On December 30, 2015 he tempestuously appointed twelve Supreme Court Justices, all Chavistas, as a way of invalidating any law passed by Venezuela’s elected legislative body, thus undermining the will of the Venezuelans who elected the members to the National Assembly. -more-

You hear a lot of political talk about housing these days and what kinds of policies we need to fix the housing crisis. Nevermind that there's no widely agreed upon definition of what the crisis is, our politicians see a chance to fix something and fix they shall. That's why we call them fixers. And boy, the fix is in. -more-

I still miss Alexander Cockburn—his deep intelligence and broad erudition, his passionate engagement and devilish wit, but, most of all, I miss his bubbly, irrepressible optimism. Whenever, after still another horrible something had happened and every other leftist had put a pistol to his or her head, finger on the trigger, Alex inevitably wrote a piece about why we should all be gladdened because, for reasons x, y, and z, the “something” presented unparalleled opportunities for human advancement.

What would he be writing during this surreally horrific presidential election year? I keep trying to figure this out, given what I know about his opinions. Of course he loathed the Clintons. Not surprising, who doesn’t? But one of his many idiosyncratic pet peeves was the relatively obscure and harmless Vermont politico Bernie Sanders, whom Alex detested as an absolute phony, a man who called himself socialist while always voting as a moderate—that is, right-wing—Democrat. In fact, I might never have heard of Bernie Sanders if Alex hadn’t devoted so many column inches over the years to attacking him.

So would he now be cheerfully urging us to take a chance and vote for Donald Trump? Would he be crowing because this guy who thumbs his nose at Wall Street, refuses to take the pledge to destroy Social Security, and suggests we might be friends with Russia and that it’s time to wind up NATO came out on top in a field of 17 starters, and did it in large part because the mainstream media screwed itself, over the years turning politics into infotainment, creating instant celebrities via “reality,” blurring the lines between the real and unreal, the important and the trivial, deliberately mystifying and dumbing down the American public, already made supremely ignorant by American public schools? -more-

Two of Bernie Sanders appointees to the Democratic drafting committee, Cornel West and James Zogby, launched a scathing criticism of Israel’s long occupation signaling a possible shift in their party’s unconditional support for Israel. West commented, “Justice for Palestinians cannot be attained without lifting the occupation” and accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of “war crimes”. While U.S. policy has always focused exclusively on security for Israel, it has completely ignored the plight and security of the Palestinians who have been forced to endure dispossession of their land and decades of an increasing harsh occupation. -more-

After years of relentless pursuit for justice, President Hissène Habré, of Chad was found guilty of crimes against humanity. His reputation as a brutal warlord in Chad’s civil war did not appear to trouble the Reagan administration who offered massive U.S. military support to bring him to power in 1982. He was often described as "Africa’s Pinochet," for his brutal crackdown on civil dissent. In addition to military support, the U.S. trained his secret police, the DDS who was the main instrument of repression disappearing and torturing thousands of innocent civilians. Under the Freedom of Information Act, memos uncovered during the trial, show the U.S. was fully aware of the brutal crackdowns but did nothing to stop them. Habré was deposed in 1990 but lived a life of luxury in neighboring Senegal until his trial. It was only a precedent established by the British House of Lords which allowed former head of state Pinochet of Chile to be arrested and tried, that the noose finally closed around Habré. The Obama administration and Senegal deserve credit for finally pursuing the course of justice leading to Habré’s arrest and indictment. -more-

Well, Councilmember Susan Wengraf is running for re-election and her campaign website is now online. We can't describe it for you--you really have to see it yourself, and don't forget to click on everything, especially the videos. Click on susanwengraf.com -more-

When someone has substance abuse problems on top of a distinct (yet probably interweaved) psychiatric disorder, the term used to describe this is "dual diagnosis." Addiction to a substance is not uncommon for people with psychiatric problems. Also, when mental health practitioners or other authorities are initially trying to discern someone's problem, it can be hard for them to know whether the individual's symptoms come from narcotics versus having a psychiatric disorder. After an individual has more of a history with treatment professionals, those professionals have more data to work with. -more-

On one level, the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff seems like vintage commedia dell’arte: the Lower House speaker who brought the charges, Eduardo Cunha, had to step down because he has $16 million stashed in secret Swiss and U.S. bank accounts. The man who replaced Cunha, Waldir Maranhao, is implicated in corruption around the huge state-owned oil company, Petroblas. The former vice-president and now president, Michel Temer, has been convicted of election fraud, and has also been caught up in the Petroblas investigation. And the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, has also been implicated in the oil company scandal and is dodging tax evasion charges. In fact, over half the legislature is currently under investigation for corruption of some kind. -more-

On the cusp of securing the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton has a problem: a lot of Democrats are unhappy with her campaign.

They have three reasons to be unhappy. First, Clinton’s approval ratings continue to be abysmal. Second, Clinton’s handling of the State Department email flap has left even her most loyal advocates scratching their heads in dismay. And third, most sensible Americans are scared to death of Donald Trump and, therefore, appalled that many recent polls show Clinton and Trump in a statistical dead heat. -more-

A book release & film screenings for author, filmmaker and pioneer Civil Rights activist Allen Willis--aka John Alan--and his new book 'The Other America: A Black-Red View,' with screenings of his short films "Have You Sold Your Dozen Roses" (1960, with words by Lawrence Ferlinghetti) and 'The Psychedelic Experience (1965) 'will be held this Sunday, June 5 at the East Bay Media Center, 1939 Addison, between Milvia and MLK. There will be a discussion of the book and films. Admission is free. -more-

Around this time every year, the Spring performing arts season, instead of winding down, goes into a burst of activity for maybe a week or two past Memorial Day, then fades into summer productions and festivals both in and out of town ... -more-