At the age of 46, DeWayne Johnson is not ready to die. But with cancer spread through most of his body, doctors say he probably has just months to live. Now Johnson, a husband and father of three in California, hopes to survive long enough to make Monsanto take the blame for his fate.

On 18 June, Johnson will become the first person to take the global seed and chemical company to trial on allegations that it has spent decades hiding the cancer-causing dangers of its popular Roundup herbicide products – and his case has just received a major boost.

Last week Judge Curtis Karnow issued an order clearing the way for jurors to consider not just scientific evidence related to what caused Johnson’s cancer, but allegations that Monsanto suppressed evidence of the risks of its weed killing products. Karnow ruled that the trial will proceed and a jury would be allowed to consider possible punitive damages.

“The internal correspondence noted by Johnson could support a jury finding that Monsanto has long been aware of the risk that its glyphosate-based herbicides are carcinogenic … but has continuously sought to influence the scientific literature to prevent its internal concerns from reaching the public sphere and to bolster its defenses in products liability actions,” Karnow wrote. “Thus there are triable issues of material fact.”

Mrs. Trump’s close aides were also seen wearing blue scrubs. Hong said it was unclear why they were wearing scrubs since they are “unnecessary” for someone who underwent an “embolization procedure.”

Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director would not answer questions.

“When I have something to tell you …I will,” Grisham wrote in an email.

Rudy Samuel streamed video of the traffic stop Sunday evening on Facebook Live, after an officer pulled him over for failing to signal within 100 feet of a turn, reported The Wichita Eagle.

The video shows the Winfield police officer remove what he calls “vegetation stuff” from the driver’s side window seal, and Samuel says the debris is “tree stuff.”

The officer says he’s going to place the item in a bag, and Samuel denies that it’s drug-related.

“I don’t even smoke,” he says.

The officer orders Samuel out of his car, and he tells the driver that he doesn’t have to test the item before searching for drugs.

The former mayor of San Antonio said President Trump is taking the country in “the wrong direction.” He said he supports a foreign policy that is less forceful and not “necessarily” based on military power.

Castro, who was once considered as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016, said Trump is taking the U.S. “backward.”

“This the most corrupt administration that we have had in this country in a very long time,” Castro said.


Castro, who is also helping “young progressive Democrats” in this year's midterm elections, has not been shy about his political ambitions.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/387733-julian-castro-ill-announce-possible-presidential-run-by-end-of-the-year

Joy Reid laid out the problem of Republicans who are not seeing the forest for the trees. They see legions of Trump allies connected with Russia, but refuse to admit how that might imply Agent Orange has done anything impure at all. Perish the thought.

Kendzior puts it in perspective.

KENDZIOR: The people you just named are just the tip of the iceberg. We could do a "We Didn't Start the Fire" of Russian mob-connected goons of the Trump administration. And of course this is not coincidental. These ties go back decades, the ties to somebody like Michael Cohen. The sort of mobster multi-taskers, to take another one of these slime-coated barnacles stuck to the bottom of this teflon "Titanic" we call the Trump administration go back two decades, they're long in the making. People bring these issues to light individually. Look at these people individually. When you look at the network. When you look at where they collide, they collide around the Trump family. They collide around the Trump organization and none of these business practices or so-called business practices that very engage in have stopped now that Trump has become the president, and that's the problem. The problem is corruption, and the problem is kleptocracy, by a lack of accountability by the Republican party who itself is funded by these oligarchs, by these mafioso, by these characters who have entered the picture and are harming American democracy.

White House chief of staff John Kelly defended the Trump administration’s new "zero tolerance" policy on border-crossing immigrants, pushing back on accusations that separating immigrant families is “cruel.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions enacted the new “zero-tolerance” policy earlier this week, which calls for more prosecution of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, while acknowledging the policy would separate more families.

NPR’s John Burnett asked Kelly in a new interview about criticisms of the new policy, specifically that “people say that's cruel and heartless to take a mother away from her children.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way,” Kelly responded. “The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever. But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long.”