USA - “It’s Pornography”: California is targeting children as young as Kindergarten with transgender propaganda in a revised sex education guide for teachers. Even more appalling, middle school students and high schoolers (minor pre-teens/teens) would be recommended to read obscene books describing graphic sex acts. The California State Board of Education was scheduled Wednesday to consider feedback on teaching about various health topics such as sex ed, tobacco, alcohol and nutrition. The overhauling of the sex ed curriculum, including gender identity and transgender propaganda to 5-year-olds didn’t go over so well with many parents. One parent accurately described the new sex education curriculum as pornography.

USA - It has been quite a year. In March, catastrophic flooding in the Midwest absolutely crippled thousands of farms and “as many as a million calves” were lost in Nebraska alone. Then in April we learned that African Swine Fever has wiped out “150-200 million pigs” in China. To put that in perspective, that is more pigs than the entire US pork industry produces in an entire year.

USA - As I was doing research for this story, something curious began to emerge glaringly from the social landscape. Last week, when Facebook started purging accounts it deems unworthy, I was unable to find any Liberal sites or blogs that had been banned. I thought I would do a quick Facebook search to see if Liberal hate groups were still active.

USA - At 12:01 AM eastern time on Friday, President Trump followed through on his threats and hit China with a massive tariff increase. China immediately pledged to retaliate. US and Chinese officials will continue to negotiate throughout the day on Friday, but if US officials were optimistic that a deal was imminent the trigger never would have been pulled on these tariffs. At this point the gap between the negotiating positions of the two sides is still enormous, and that does not seem likely to change.

USA - It sure looks like nothing can stop the trade war now, and that could potentially be absolutely disastrous for the global economy. The last major trade war began in 1930, and it turned an economic downturn into the Great Depression of the 1930s. But without a doubt something needed to be done about China.

GERMANY - Recent criticism of Germany hints at the larger truth that Germany must begin to understand the responsibility it bears in Europe and on the world stage in order to confront the challenges that face it, "…remember all that ordnance dropped by the Allies during the second world war now dormant in German soil? Think of Europe today as an unexploded bomb, its detonator intact and functional, its explosives still live.” It’s a troubling choice of metaphor, because it questions the reality of homegrown change and agency in postwar Europe. If America leaves, the jungle returns. And, with it, the undead ghosts of European and German history.

EUROPE - The European Union says it rejects any ultimatums issued by Iran, saying in a statement that it won't bend to threats that Tehran will break from the nuclear deal and begin enriching uranium unless European signatories uphold their commitments within 60 days. Citing frustration that the EU is not pulling its weight in the face of tightening US sanctions, Iran's leaders said Wednesday it would stop its disposal of excessive heavy water and uranium, a key compliance term under the JCPOA. “We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement its commitments under the JCPOA in full as it has done until now and to refrain from any escalatory steps,” the EU officials said in a statement. The EU, UK, France and Germany said they have "great concern" over Iran's move. Iran has still made clear that its “goal is to strengthen the JCPOA and bring it back on track,” according to Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization, on Wednesday.

USA - Microsoft has launched new software to suggest edits to writing that are politically correct. The US technology giant has included the new feature in its latest version of Word, the popular word processing software. It will apply artificial intelligence to recommend users to write in a way that does not discriminate against a particular gender. Users of the new Microsoft Word feature could see suggestions to change “policeman” to “police officer”, for example. The software will also use AI to recommend synonyms and ways to shorten sentences to ensure brevity. “Writing requires a dash of uniquely human creativity. Artificial intelligence alone cannot do it for us, at least not very well. But AI can – and already is – helping us do things like make sure we spell words correctly and use correct grammar,” the company said in a blogpost. "As the AI in these products is becoming more sophisticated, they are helping us do more than spot a misspelled word."

USA - If it seems like about half the country is on drugs, that is because it is actually true. According to a new survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, almost half of all Americans have taken a pharmaceutical drug within the past 30 days, and that officially makes us “the most medicated country in the world”. And needless to say, those dealing these drugs are becoming exceedingly wealthy at our expense. The average American spends $1,200 a year on prescription drugs, but of course many Americans spend far more than that and others spend nothing at all. In recent years there has been a tremendous backlash against the big pharmaceutical corporations, because many of them have become exceedingly greedy. Prices have been raised on 650 different drugs this year alone. Once they get their claws into you, the pharmaceutical giants want to get every last penny out of you that they possibly can.

USA - “Common diseases are becoming untreatable.” That’s the blunt warning issued on page one of a major new United Nations report on drug resistance. If we don’t make a radical change now, the report says, drug-resistant diseases could kill 10 million people a year by 2050. Drug resistance is what happens when we overuse antibiotics in the treatment of humans, animals, and plants. When a new antibiotic is introduced, it can have great, even life-saving results — for a while. But then the bacteria adapt. Gradually, the antibiotic becomes less effective, and we’re left with a disease that we don’t know how to treat. Already, 700,000 people around the world die of drug-resistant diseases each year, including 230,000 deaths from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Common problems like STDs and urinary tract infections are also becoming resistant to treatment. Routine hospital procedures like C-sections could become more dangerous as well as the risk associated with infection increases.

USA - The US has imposed sweeping new sanctions on anyone who trades with Iran in iron, steel, copper, aluminum and related products, escalating the economic blockade of Tehran as the nuclear deal continues to unravel. An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday says the property of anyone who owns or operates or engages in “significant” transactions with Iran’s metals sector will be seized by the US under sanctions laws. Likewise, anyone accused of materially assisting, sponsoring or supporting anyone who is sanctioned will have their property blocked as well.

USA - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned the UK that allowing Huawei to bid on 5G contracts could spell the end of the US-UK "special relationship" – and, apparently, the UK's membership in the Five Eyes. "With respect to 5G, the United States has an obligation to ensure that the places we will operate, the places where American information is, the places where we have our national security risks, that they operate inside trusted networks," Pompeo said in a speech to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Wednesday.

USA - A US official is warning investors, banks and businesses in Europe not to work with Iran in the wake of the United States’ unilateral pressure on Tehran. “If you’re a bank, an investor, an insurer or other business in Europe, you should know that getting involved in the INSTEX special purpose vehicle is a very poor business decision,” Tim Morrison, the National Security Council’s senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense,  said at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies on Wednesday. Morrison made the comments after Tehran informed the five remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal of its decision to suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the multinational agreement. Morrison described the measure as "nothing less than nuclear blackmail of Europe," further threatening that those not complying with US sanctions "will be found and held accountable."

USA - Financial markets across the globe plummeted on Monday following a re-escalation in US-China trade tensions as US President Donald Trump threatened to slap China with new tariffs. The worst losses in Asia were seen in China where the Shanghai composite fell 5.58 percent to close at 2,906.46. The Shenzhen component dropped 7.56 percent to finish at 8,943.52. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down more than 3 percent. Chinese currency, the yuan, has also declined, slumping more than 1.3 percent against the US dollar, which is its heaviest fall in more than three years. European stock markets also fell in early trading, with German DAX and France’s CAC 40 down more than two percent. The tariff warning also roiled US stocks, sending Dow futures down more than 500 points early Monday morning.

USA - The mounting cost of a US college degree has not only discouraged would-be students from pursuing a higher education; it has triggered mental health issues too. But is hyper-capitalist America ready for free education? In addition to the daily pressure of passing exams amid the partying, college students in the United States are now encumbered with another serious stress: finding enough money to pay for their education in the first place. And as tuition costs continue to explode, the lender of last resort is no longer cash-strapped Mom and Dad, but some savvy financial service – and at considerable interest. Last year, US student loan debt hit an all-time record of $1.465 trillion, more than double the $675 billion reported in June 2009 when the embers of the financial meltdown were still glowing.