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New Israeli Administrator for the Occupied Territories Says Palestinians Are Sub-Human

John Brown +972 Magazine
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the coalition agreement with the right-wing extremist settler party, Jewish Home, he also agreed to appoint Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan as Israel’s deputy defense minister, responsible for the army’s “Civil Administration” of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Member of the Knesset (MK) Rabbi Ben-Dahan has publicly declared Palestinians “are not human.”

Five More Years of Tory Government: What Fresh Hell Is This?

Roisin Davis Truthdig
Amid the highest voter turnout since 1997, Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party trounced the opposition to return with a majority 331 seats (out of 650). The Tory victory has annihilated multiparty coalition politics, provided Conservatives a free rein to advance their brutal politics of inequality, and emboldened Cameron to lead Britain further down the path of austerity, privatization, increased surveillance and jingoism.

Walmart Selling Water from Drought-Stricken California

Amanda Holpuch The Guardian
Walmart is the latest company found to be sourcing its bottled water from drought-stricken California, as state residents push for greater regulation of the bottling industry. Last week a local television station revealed Walmart’s bottled water comes from Sacramento’s municipal water supply. There is little oversight or monitoring of water bottling plants in the state, which are operated by major corporations including Starbucks, Nestle, Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

B. B. King, Defining Bluesman

Tim Weiner The New York Times
“I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions,” Mr. King said in his autobiography, “Blues All Around Me.” Many of the songs he sang — like his biggest hit, “The Thrill Is Gone” (“I’ll still live on/But so lonely I’ll be”) — were poems of pain and perseverance.

Friday Nite Videos -- May 15, 2015

Portside
BB King - 'The Thrill Is Gone'. BB King 'Swaps Some Blues' With a Prison Audience. Southern Rites (HBO Documentary). Jeb Bush’s ‘Weird’ Iraq Answers. Bernie Sanders: "Call Me a Democratic Socialist"!

Third Party Builders Meet in Chicago - Two Reports

By Dan La Botz; Ethan Young Portside
Two weeks ago in Chicago, 200 political activists from a variety of independent political organizations, as well as individual activists, carried out a rich discussion and an amicable debate about how to collaborate in the work of building a large political alternative to the left of the Democratic Party. Just days before, Bernie Sanders, declared his candidacy, running within the Democratic Party as a socialist. Here are two views on left electoral politics.