2019-12-23: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these ‘POSTEES’ on social media!

India’s Discriminatory New Citizenship Law
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-24
India’s 2019 Citizenship Act expedites the process for persecuted minorities of Pakistani, Afghan and Bangladesh nationality who resided in India since 2014. | It applies only for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, and Parsis, Muslims excluded. | According to the UN Human …
globalresearch.ca/india-discriminatory-n…

House Committee Raises Prospect of More Impeachment Articles
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-12-24
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee held open the possibility Monday of recommending additional articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as it pressed anew for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn. | The committee wants a federal appeals court to order McGahn to testify as it examines potential obstruction of justice by the president during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The committee says McGahn’s testimony could also be useful for any Senate impeachment trial. | A judge last month directed McGahn to comply with the House Judiciary Committee su…
truthdig.com/articles/house-committee-ra…

MI5 Given the Go-ahead to Allow Informants to Commit Crimes
Ceren Sagir | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-24
Human rights campaigners today vowed to appeal against a “knife-edge” divided tribunal ruling which allowed MI5 to continue authorising informants to commit serious criminal offences. | Privacy International, Reprieve, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the Pat Finucane …
globalresearch.ca/mi5-given-go-ahead-all…

Disconnected at Christmas… Bah Humbug!
Philip A Farruggio | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-24
John and Yoko Lennon’s 1971 ‘Happy Christmas …’ song begins with “So this is Christmas and what have you done?….”. Well, this holiday season, replete with the usual suspects of mass consumer spending, massive traffic jams and accidents, mass pleas …
globalresearch.ca/disconnected-christmas…

Wrong kind of record: 2019 was year of most US mass murders ever — study
rt.com | 2019-12-24
Among the records the US set in 2019 was a sad and disturbing one. It was the year with the most incidents of mass killing since media and scholars started keeping track, according to a new study. | There were 211 victims in 41 mass killings this year, according to the database maintained by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University in Boston. By their definition, a mass murder is any incident in which four or more people die, excluding the perpetrator. | It is the largest number of mass killings since the two news organizations and the university started tracking them in 2006, when they reco…
rt.com/usa/476701-mass-killings-record-2…

Impeachment Indicts Both Parties and Clarifies Our Tasks for 2020
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-23
The Democratic Party’s electoral strategy of impeaching Donald Trump is backfiring. Before impeachment, Trump was losing to each of the leading Democrats, but the latest USA Today/Suffolk University poll finds for the first time Trump defeating all of the leading Democratic candidates. Gallup reports that Trump’s approval has risen by six points since the launch of the impeachment inquiry. …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/impeachment-i…

Impeachment Indicts Both Parties and Clarifies Our Tasks in 2020
Kevin Zeese | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Democratic Party’s electoral strategy of impeaching Donald Trump is backfiring. Before impeachment, Trump was losing to each of the leading Democrats, but the latest Impeachment Indicts Both Parties and Clarifies Our Tasks in 2020 appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/impeachment-indicts-bo…

Americans Are Ready for a Different Approach to Nuclear Weapons
Lawrence Wittner | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-23
Although today’s public protests against nuclear weapons can’t compare to the major antinuclear upheavals of past decades, there are clear indications that most Americans reject the Trump administration’s nuclear weapons policies. Since entering office in 2017, the Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear agreement with Iran, scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, and …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/americans-are…

Impeachment: The Road to Nowhere Leads to . . . Nowhere
Richard Becker | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Capping months of mind-numbingly repetitive “debates,” the Democrats in the House of Representatives voted on Dec. 17 to impeach President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The votes on each charge were nearly identical …
globalresearch.ca/impeachment-road-nowhe…

Iraq and Afghanistan: The Hidden Costs of Forever War
Daniel Larison | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Kelley Vlahos has done excellent reporting on the terrible effects of toxic burn pits on Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The illnesses and deaths caused by this toxic exposure are among the ongoing, mostly ignored costs of decades of …
globalresearch.ca/hidden-costs-forever-w…

The Spirit of Christmas: War Criminals George W. Bush and Tony Blair banned from the Birthplace of Jesus Christ
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
“Bush and his supporters have marred the teachings of Christ. Their entry into the church will tarnish it as [Bush’s] hands are covered in the blood of the innocent,”
globalresearch.ca/the-spirit-of-christma…

The Christmas Truce of 1914: Abolish All Wars. Indict Today’s War Criminals in High Office
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Christmas Truce of 1914 has become an enduring image of the triumph of man’s spirit over adversity which should send a strong message to the architects of today’s wars including Donald Trump, Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu.
globalresearch.ca/war-and-the-spirit-of-…

Trump EPA Proposes to Scrap Protections for Children from Pesticide Linked to Birth Defects, Cancer

| globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Trump administration proposed today to reapprove the pesticide atrazine, an endocrine-disrupting herbicide that castrates frogs and is linked to birth defects and cancer in people. It has been banned or is being phased out in more than 35 countries….
globalresearch.ca/trump-epa-proposes-to-…

BDS Movement: Boris Johnson’s BDS Ban Recalls Margaret Thatcher’s Support of Apartheid South Africa
Yumna Patel | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement hit back at UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to ban public authorities from participating in the international movement boycotting Israeli goods. | …
globalresearch.ca/bds-movement-boris-joh…

Is the UK Government Set to Define the Boycott of Israel as ‘Antisemitic’?
Ben White | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
One of the first bills to be introduced by Britain’s new Conservative government will reportedly stop “local authorities from boycotting individual companies”, a move described as targeting the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. | The Conservative Party election manifesto…
globalresearch.ca/uk-government-set-defi…

Baltasar Garzon to be Evo Morales’ Lawyer to Invalidate Warrant
Telesur | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Bolivia’s President in exile Evo Morales Thursday announced that Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzon will represent him in the efforts to invalidate the arrest warrant issued by the coup-born government. | “We formed an international team with Baltasar Garzon… We will act | …
globalresearch.ca/baltasar-garzon-evo-mo…

Mexico Accuses Bolivia of Intimidating Its Diplomats in La Paz
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Monday that it was “deeply concerned” about “excessive” surveillance of the Mexican ambassador’s residence and Mexican embassy in Bolivia by about 150 Bolivian intelligence and security service personnel. | RELATED: | Bolivia Joins US-Backed Lima Group Against Venezuela | Mexico said the Bolivians were “intimidating” diplomatic staff and attempted to “detain and inspect” the ambassador’s vehicle on Monday. While the Undersecretary for Latin America…
telesurenglish.net/news/mexico-accuses-b…

Panama: President Cortizo Removes Constitutional Reform Package
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen and his team of ministers will ask the National Assembly to withdraw the package of constitutional reforms Monday, and will announce a major national dialogue to draw up a new Constitution, official sources said. | RELATED: | Bolivia Joins US-Backed Lima Group Against Venezuela | This new dialogue will be coordin…
telesurenglish.net/news/panama-president…

Reuters Shields OAS over False Claims that Sparked Bolivia Coup
Joe Emersberger | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Organization of American States (OAS) election monitors published a “final report” on December 4– 22 days later than promised–on Bolivia’s October 20 presidential election, won by President Evo Morales. The tardy release of the final report contrasted sharply with …
globalresearch.ca/reuters-shields-oas-fa…

Fernandez Questions International Silence Over Chilean Protests
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Argentinian President, Alberto Fernández, questioned the international silence regarding the human rights violations committed by the security forces in Chile during the protests against the policies of Sebastián Piñera that began more than two months ago. | RELATED: | Opposition Party to Sue Santiago Mayor Over Human Rights Crimes | He also compared the international action regarding the situation in Venezuela and other countries in the region, pointing out how the world choo…
telesurenglish.net/news/Fernandez-Questi…

Chile Human Rights Abuses Worst Since Dictatorship: NHRI Warns
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
The repression of ongoing protests in Chile has resulted in the most serious human rights violations in 30 years since the country was ruled by the military dictatorship, the country’s National Institute of Human Rights (NHRI) warned Monday. | RELATED: | Fernandez Questions International Silence Over Chilean Protests | According to the director of the country’s official human rights body Sergio Micco, the state’s response to the mass protests “produced, as a whole, the most se…
telesurenglish.net/news/chile-nhri-repor…

Australian fires bring growing global climate crisis into stark relief
wsws.org | 2019-12-23
The catastrophic fires in Australia follow blazes that have engulfed large areas of California, Siberia, Borneo and the Amazon.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/23/fire…

CO2 and Climate Change, Old and New
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
How long has science known about CO2-induced climate change, and are we clever enough today to geo-engineer our way out of cooking ourselves to extinction? In brief: a long time, and most likely no. Clive Thompson has written engagingly about the 19th century scientists — Joseph Fourier (1768-1830), Eunice Newton Foote (1819-1888), John Tyndall (1820-1893),…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/co2-and-clim…

The Madrid Climate Disaster
Peter Koenig | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Does anyone know what COP25 stands for? Probably very few. Its unimportant. As unimportant as the whole roadshow itself. Just for the hell of it, for those who read this article, COP means Conference of the Parties (COP) to the …
globalresearch.ca/madrid-climate-disaste…

Colombia Holds National Strike, Concert & Marches in Medellin
teleSUR, jg | telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
After 30 days of a nationwide strike in Colombia due to the approval of the new tax law, the protests continued, although with less intensity, in Medellin, where the concert “Medellin Resiste Cantando” was also held. | RELATED: | Colombian Gov’t Responsible for Crimes Committed by ESMAD | Three types of marches took place in Medellin this week, including the…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombia-nationa…

The 2010 — 2020 UN News Decade in Review, part one
news.un.org | 2019-12-23
The teenage years of the Twenty-First Century are nearly over and, as we prepare to enter the 2020s, UN News takes a look back at some of the big stories on our global patch, that unfolded between 2010 and 2019: welcome to our three-part Decade in Review. | In part one, which takes in the period between 2010 and the end of 2013, we focus on the devastating Haiti earthquake, the beginning of the ongoing Syrian conflict, the inspiring work of Malala Yousafzai in favour of girls’ education, and the creation of what has now become “the world’s most dangerous UN mission”, in Mali.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

Trump Touts Weak Trade Deals That Likely Won’t Benefit US Workers
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
As he faced impeachment, Donald Trump touted his trade deals as evidence of the great success of his presidency. Specifically, he touted his revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the Democratic leadership agreed to, and a first-round trade agreement with China. In both cases, people are more likely to hear Trump’s boasts than to see any economic benefit from these deals. | In the case of the new NAFTA (called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), it is essentially the old NAFTA…
truthout.org/articles/trump-touts-weak-t…

The Politics of Trump’s Impeachment
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
Several features stand out in the impeachment quest against President Donald J. Trump. There is constitutional discourse as mythology and fetish. There is outrage that the executive office could have been used to actually investigate political opponents through foreign agents. There is cattiness over whether the conduct of the president veered into the territory of…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/the-politics…

Mitch McConnell Has No Interest in a Fair Impeachment Trial
Marjorie Cohn | truthdig.com | 2019-12-23
This piece originally appeared on Truthout. | In my decades as a criminal defense attorney, I have never seen a trial where the jurors admit they aren’t impartial, coordinate the trial process with the defendant and then, as promised, find the defendant not guilty. And yet, that is exactly what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell aims to do. | Negating any semblance of conducting a fair trial, McConnell has brazenly declared his intention to violate the senators’ oath of impartiality and deny the…
truthdig.com/articles/mitch-mcconnell-ha…

Email Shows Top Buttigieg Fundraiser Offering Campaign Influence for Donations
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
An email exchange reviewed by Axios showed a top fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg offering a rich prospective donor access to the South Bend, Indiana mayor’s presidential campaign in return for donations, an overture critics described as a particularly blatant example of how big money corrupts the American political system. | H.K. Park — who, according to Buttigieg’s
truthout.org/articles/email-shows-top-bu…

Millions Protest India’s Anti-Muslim Citizenship Laws As Gov’t Crackdown Intensifies
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-23
Millions of Indians have defied Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ban on protests to express their opposition to the government’s wave of anti-Muslim citizenship laws, especially the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registration Council (NRC). Around 140 million Muslims live in India and many see the new steps as a fresh attempt by the far-right Hindu nationalist government to oppress and marginalize them. At least 25 people have been killed, primarily in the country’s…
mintpressnews.com/millions-protest-india…

In the Footsteps of Xuanzang in Kyrgyzstan
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
At the start of the Tang dynasty, in the early 7th century, a young wandering monk embarked on a 16-year long voyage from the imperial capital Chang’an (today’s Xian) to India to collect Buddhist manuscripts. At the time Chang’an …
globalresearch.ca/footsteps-xuanzang-kyr…

Baba Ram Dass, Spiritual Guru and LSD Pioneer, Dies at 88
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-12-23
MAUI, Hawaii — Baba Ram Dass, the 1960s counterculture spiritual leader who experimented with LSD and traveled to India to find enlightenment, returning to share it with Americans, has died. He was 88. | Dass’ foundation, Love Serve Remember, announced late Sunday that the author and spiritual leader died peacefully at his home earlier in the day. No cause of death was given. | He had suffered a severe stroke in 1997 that left him paralyzed on the right side and, for a time, unable to speak. More recently, he underwent hip surgery after he was injured in a fall in November 2008, according to his website.
truthdig.com/articles/baba-ram-dass-spir…

The Revolution and the Land: Peruvian documentary about agrarian reform in the 1960s and ’70s attracts great interest
wsws.org | 2019-12-23
The documentary brings to life the centuries-long exploitation of the indigenous Peruvian peasantry, but fails to provide a coherent political analysis of the rise and fall of Gen. Velasco’s regime.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/23/vela…

#WouldYouShootMeToo Hashtag Trends After Reports Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Asked Snipers to Target Indigenous Protesters
Eoin Higgins | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Revelations from The Guardian’s reporting Friday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wanted snipers to train their weapons on Indigenous water protectors resisting the construction of a natural gas pipeline in unceded Wet’suwet’en territory sparked outrage across the country and …
globalresearch.ca/reports-canadian-mount…

Classic Orwellian Obfuscation: U.S. States Condemns DPRK, Syria, China, Zimbabwe, Iran, Venezuela, Russia for Human Rights Abuses
Carla Stea | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The gloves came off, revealing the iron fist in the velvet glove of U.S. obfuscation condemning innumerable countries for abuse of human rights; a recorded vote was required on December 18, exposing which countries actually vote in support of UN …
globalresearch.ca/classic-orwellian-obfu…

How the Pro-War “Left” Fell for the Kurds in Syria
Max Parry | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-23
The October decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northeastern Syria did not only precipitate the Turkish offensive, codenamed ‘Operation Peace Spring’, into Kurdish-held territory which followed. It also sparked an outcry of hysteria from much of the so-called “left” that has been deeply divided during the 8-year long conflict over …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/how-the-pro-w…

The Valley of Death: the Saudi Coalition is Creating a Living Nightmare for African Migrants in Yemen
Ahmed Abdulkareem | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-23
Ahmed AbdulKareem recounts the story of Heramala and thousands of African migrants like him who make the harrowing journey across wartorn Yemen in hopes of a better life in Saudi Arabia.
mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-creating-…

This Change to the ACA Could Affect Abortion Coverage for 3 Million People
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
The Trump administration issued a rule Friday designed to create administrative burdens for insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges that include abortion care, in a move that imperils coverage of abortion care for more than 3 million people. | A year after first proposing it, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule that wil…
truthout.org/articles/this-change-to-the…

This Christmas, Over Half a Million Americans Will Struggle with Homelessness
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-23
The government estimates ending homelessness would cost around $20 billion, less than Americans spend on Christmas decorations, yet there appears to be little appetite to address the growing problem.
mintpressnews.com/christmas-half-million…

Ban on Uranium Mining: Conservation Groups Applaud Senate Launch of Grand Canyon Protection Bill

| globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) yesterday introduced the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act. The bill will make permanent a ban on new uranium mining on about 1 million acres of public land adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park. | A companion bill …
globalresearch.ca/conservation-groups-ap…

Why Did Labour Win in My Hometown, But Lose Across the Rest of the UK?
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
I live in Canterbury, where the Labour MP Rosie Duffield increased her slim majority tenfold in the general election. Given Labour’s defeat in almost all of the rest of the UK, it’s worth considering why this happened,. A prime reason Duffield retained her seat is that that Labour had the support of a rickety but…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/why-did-labo…

Italy Needs to Accept the Changing Reality in Libya to Protect Its Energy Interests
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
In Rome, it is being argued that Italy is in a weak position in Libya, especially as the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar are in the midst of liberating the capital city of Tripoli from the …
globalresearch.ca/italy-needs-accept-cha…

Holiday Season Hypocrisy Revisited
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Tis the season for frenzied buying of stuff people don’t need, ignoring what’s most important. | What matters most is what most Americans, others in the West, and most elsewhere are denied — notably peace, equity and justice. | Instead they’re tormented …
globalresearch.ca/holiday-season-hypocri…

Tunisia’s PM Announces Formation of an ‘Independent’ Government
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Tunisia’s Prime Minister-designate Habib Jemli announced Monday at a press conference in the capital Tunis that he will form a government made up of technocrats and independents who do not represent any traditional political parties. | RELATED: | Tebboune Confirmed as Algeria’s New President Despite Protests | “I decided to form a national government made up of independents who do not belong to any political party because the country and its people are waiting,” the head of govern…
telesurenglish.net/news/Tunisias-PM-Anno…

Postcard From Paris
James Graham | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
The disappeared President, who many French regard as a King-in-waiting, is maybe not enamoured of the criticism he’s getting for his strategic blunder. Even the insiders are taking swipes: Julien Dray, an intimate from the Hollande days, writes that Macron “finds himself naked in the face of a social protest which he, if you ask me, imagined he could stifle without understanding either its scope or its depth.” With friends like that.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/postcard-fro…

Ralph Nader: Democrats Have No Excuse for Dealing With Trump
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-12-23
In its rush to prevent a government shutdown, the opposition has approved billions for a border wall and more. We all deserve better.
truthdig.com/articles/ralph-nader-democr…

The Russia-Germany Pipeline Nord Stream 2: Washington to “Free” Europe from Freedom to Decide for Itself
Tony Cartalucci | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline project extending from Russia to Germany that — when completed — will provide a secure means of exporting Russian natural gas to Western Europe — circumventing a now volatile Ukraine all while tying Russia …
globalresearch.ca/nord-stream-2-washingt…

German government condemns US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline
wsws.org | 2019-12-23
The temporary halt to construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has dramatically intensified tensions between the United States and the European powers.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/23/nord…

Exonerate the Innocent; Incarcerate the Guilty
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
The U.S. “justice” system, first and foremost, protects police and prosecutors. The Supreme Court has held that while cops have only limited immunity from lawsuits, prosecutors enjoy what’s known as absolute immunity for their conduct under most circumstances. Only in the most extreme cases of abuse — including killings and with bodycam videos as evidence — do police get arrested and prosecuted. Still less are prosecutors prosecuted for questionable, if not illegal, practices.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/exonerate-th…

Why the “Slash-Poison-Burn” Approach to Cancer Has Failed
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
Slash, poison, burn. That’s what a leading cancer doctor calls the protocol of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. We spend $150 billion each year treating cancer, yet a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it today — with a few exceptions — as one was 50 years ago. Today we spend the hour with renowned cancer doctor, Dr. Azra Raza, author of the new book, The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last. She argues that experiments and the funding for eradicating cancer look at…
truthout.org/video/why-the-slash-poison-…

Seventy Years of U.S. Destabilisation in China. U.S. Sponsored Uyghur Insurgency in Xinjiang
Shane Quinn | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
China’s exit in October 1949, from the sphere of US control, was perhaps the heaviest blow to strike American post-World War II global hegemony. China’s successful drive for independence had been anticipated in Washington for many months.
globalresearch.ca/u-s-sponsored-uyghur-i…

“The First Cell”: Dr. Azra Raza on Why the “Slash-Poison-Burn Approach” to Cancer Has Failed
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-23
Slash, poison, burn. That’s what a leading cancer doctor calls the protocol of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. We spend $150 billion each year treating cancer, yet a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it today — with a few exceptions — as one was 50 years ago. Today we spend the hour with renowned cancer doctor, Dr. Azra Raza, author of the new book, “The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last.” She argues that experiments and the funding for eradicating cancer look at the disease when it is in its later stages, when the cancer has grown and spread. Instead, she sa…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/23/the_firs…

Media Ignores Explosive Revelations About Chemical Weapons in Syria
Yves Engler | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Canadian media gets a failing grade when it comes to its coverage of chemical weapons in Syria. | Among the basic principles of reporting, as taught in every journalism school, are: Constantly strive for the truth; Give voice to all …
globalresearch.ca/media-ignores-explosiv…

Peru-Based Mercenaries Attacked Venezuelan Soldiers: Arreaza
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
The Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, stated that the group of mercenaries that woke up a military unit in the southern part of the country on Sunday morning has its base of operations in Peru . | RELATED: | Venezuela’s Armed Forces Denounce Attack on Military Base | “We denounce the group of mercenaries that have sought to generate violence and today, they assaulted the military unit in Gran Sabana; they have their base of operations in Peru,” Arreaza tweeted. | He sai…
telesurenglish.net/news/Peru-Based-Merce…

Peru-Based Mercenaries Attacked Venezuelan Soldiers: Arreaza
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
The Foreign Minister of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza stated that the group of mercenaries that attacked a military unit in the southern part of the country on Sunday morning has its base of operations in Peru. | RELATED: | Venezuela’s Armed Forces Denounce Attack on Military Base | “We denounce the group of mercenaries that have sought to generate violence and today, they assaulted the military unit in Gran Sabana; they have their base of operations in Peru,” Arreaza tweeted. | He said…
telesurenglish.net/news/Peru-Based-Merce…

Venezuela Urges Brazil to Arrest Attackers of Military Base
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged Monday for the government of Brazil to not support “terrorist actions” against the South American country and required its authorities to arrest those involved in Sunday’s attack to a military border outpost. | RELATED: | ‘There Is No Virtual Congress’ Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Says | “I ask the Brazilian gover…
telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Urges-…

Holiday Jewelry Presents Could Be Contributing to Deforestation in the Amazon
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
Many of us recently watched in horror as headlines showed images of fires in the Amazon, and revealed that deforestation practices had preceded the burning. Following such devastating news came a predictable question: “What can I do?” As a scholar who studies alternatives to deforestation, I offer an unconventional answer: This holiday season, let’s push for transparency in gold jewelry supply chains as a strategy to reduce Amazo…
truthout.org/articles/holiday-jewelry-pr…

In Praise of Home Delivery Culture
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
Writing at Reason magazine, Liz Wolfe lauds home delivery culture — the increasing tendency of Americans to Netflix and chill while relying on Amazon Prime, Instacart, Grubhub, and other services to drop the goods we consume off on our front porches. Wolfe nails some of the individual benefits, and beneficiaries, of this “late-stage capitalism” phenomenon.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/in-praise-of…

Betsy DeVos’s Vision for an Indebted Future? A Robotic Student Loan Chatbot
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
It’s almost 2020, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is still hellbent on keeping student borrowers in debt. | Earlier in December, DeVos gave the keynote presentation at the annual Federal Student Aid Training Conference in Reno, Nevada. Addressing financial aid professionals, she laid out her agenda for a future in which American students are “responsible consumers of education” and “free to learn” — but not with the right to a debt-free…
truthout.org/articles/betsy-devoss-visio…

Growing Movement Calls Out Elites at Prestigious Cultural Institutions
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
A host of recent campaigns aimed at board members of prestigious cultural institutions have exposed how major arts organizations take money from, and award prominent positions to, wealthy elites profiting from mass incarceration, pushing deadly and addictive drugs, poisoning the environment, and pillaging public resources. The most well known of these fights has been the effort that removed Warren Kanders, owner and CEO of the body armor and chemical weapons manufacturer Safariland, from the board…
truthout.org/articles/growing-movement-c…

Why Revolutionaries Should be Atheists
Bruce Lerro | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-23
Orientation As one of the co-founders of Planning Beyond Capitalism, you might ask why we would publish an article about atheism? Shouldn’t we just stick to political economy and leave people’s beliefs about the origin of the universe and our place in it for future generations to figure out? We have many reasons for thinking …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/why-revolutio…

China to Lower Import Tariffs on Over 850 Products by Jan. 1
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
China will lower tariffs on more than 850 products starting next year as Beijing looks to promote high-quality development of trade, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said Monday. | RELATED: | US-China Trade Deal’s Phase One ‘Totally Done’: Trump Admin | The tariff changes will be made to “increase imports of products facing a relative domestic shortage, or foreign specialty goods for everyday consumption,” the ministry said in a statement on its website. | The intro…
telesurenglish.net/news/China-to-Lower-I…

Israeli Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Compound on 2nd Day of Hanukkah
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
To mark the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, nearly 300 Israeli settlers stormed Monday Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, guarded by Israeli military police, according to local media. | RELATED: | Israeli Minister Calls for Elimination of Palestinian Authority‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã | The director of Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar al-Kiswani said more than 280 Israeli…
telesurenglish.net/news/Israeli-Settlers…

Canadian Muslim Convention Hosts Anti-Palestinian Politician
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
The Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) conference, one of the most important Muslim events in North America, decided for this year’s assembly to invite the controversial premier of Ontario province Doug Ford, and his Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, a decision seen by many as contradicting all the principles the event is supposed to endorse. | RELATED: | Kuala Lumpur Summit: Five Big Problems Facing The Muslim World | Several Muslim attendees who participated in the co…
telesurenglish.net/news/Canadian-Muslim-…

French Union Workers Agree to Halt Production at Oil Facility
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
French union workers from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) voted Monday to halt production at a key oil facility that supplies Paris and the surrounding region, joining other petroleum industry shutdowns in a nationwide strike against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms. | RELATED: | France: Workers Start 13th Day of Strike Against Pension Reform | “The decision has been taken to halt Grandpuits but with a slight majority. The management has asked for an hour of reflecti…
telesurenglish.net/news/French-Union-Wor…

Barbados Graduates Large Number of Cadets in the Advance Corps
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-23
Barbados announced last Friday that its First and Second Cohort of the Barbados Youth Advance Corps graduated after a six-week training period in which the cadets under went a grueling physical and mental test. | RELATED: | Barbados Celebrates the 53rd Anniversary of Its Independence | The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Community Empowerment, Yolande Howard, stated during the Passing Out Parade at the Barbados Cadet Camp Site that she was extremely pleased to wi…
telesurenglish.net/news/Barbados-Graduat…

As bombas Atómicas no Japà£o Foram Destinadas a Terminar a Guerra e a salvar vidas?
Larry Romanoff | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Há alguns anos, um escritor americano chamado Greg Mitchell escreveu um livro elucidativo sobre a enorme ocultaàßà£o forjada pelo governo dos Estados Unidos sobre o lanàßamento da primeira bomba atómica no Japà£o, e a censura a que foi sujeito o …
globalresearch.ca/as-bombas-atomicas-no-…

John Lennon, Celebrated in Havana
Prof Susan Babbitt | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The anniversary of John Lennon’s death (December 8) was marked in Cuba. Criticism followed on social media: Cuba repressed Beatles music forcing kids under the covers. Abel Prieto and Guille Vilar, youth in Cuba at the time, say it’s not …
globalresearch.ca/john-lennon-celebrated…

The Trudeau Government Joins the Global Majority on Israel-Palestinian Relations
Anthony Hall | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
The Chief Executive of B’nai Brith Canada has condemned as anti-democratic a vote in late 2019 by Canada’s Trudeau government. In one of its first major international acts, Trudeau’s minority government sided with 166 other member states of the United …
globalresearch.ca/trudeau-government-joi…

Video: Tropical Christmas. Noella Be Nice! by Nat Ya
Nat Ya | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Merry Christmas in the Tropics. | Christmas Greetings from Global Research | Noella… Be nice!: | Sung by Nat Ya, featuring Snowflake & Elizsabeth | Get the song here | Starring Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Snowflake, Paola Crisostomo as the Cool Angel. | Sandro Rizzo, Alberto …
globalresearch.ca/video-tropical-christm…

The Right to Healthy Food: Poisoned with Pesticides
Colin Todhunter | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written an open letter addressed to three senior officials in Britain: John Gardiner, Under Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the British government; Chris Whitty, …
globalresearch.ca/right-healthy-food-poi…

Indo-Pak Nuclear Confrontation: First Use Policy and the Race Towards Armageddon (Part Two)
N.D. Jayaprakash | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
Click here to read Part One. Quixotic Plans In the background of the persistent attempts to change the NFU policy, one may also focus attention on what may be termed as policies for facing…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/indo-pak-nuc…

Keep Your Head Down; Keep Your Passport Current
Howard Lisnoff | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
Maybe it’s the frontier ethos or lots of consumer goods to buoy our psyches for those who remain on the US left with still-functioning minds and who have learned to produce ever-new scenarios in which the systems we now live under will somehow be reformed and work for the betterment of the [all] species. In…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/keep-your-he…

Postcard From Paris
James Graham | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
That was the week that was.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/postcard-fro…

Trump, Brexit: Where’s the Backlash?
John Feffer | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
I dutifully got a shot this winter to inoculate myself against four different flu viruses. By exposing myself to weakened strains of these diseases, and preemptively suffering some mild flu symptoms, I can ward off the more serious consequences of a full-on infection and do my part to help stop the further spread of these…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/trump-brexit…

3,000 Billion Dollars into the Bottomless Well of Afghanistan
Manlio Dinucci | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
In the London Declaration, the 29 member countries of NATO reaffirmed “the engagement for the security and long-term stability of Afghanistan”. One week later, on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act, (used to empty a number of aging …
globalresearch.ca/3000-billion-dollars-b…

Strategie e costi nella guerra dei gasdotti
Manlio Dinucci | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-23
Mentre si affrontano in un duro scontro sull’impeachment del presidente Trump, Repubblicani e Democratici depongono le armi per votare al Senato quasi all’unanimità l’imposizione di pesanti sanzioni contro le società partecipanti alla realizzazione del North Stream 2, il raddoppio del …
globalresearch.ca/strategie-e-costi-nell…

The Impeachment’s Moral Hypocrisy
Chris Hedges | truthdig.com | 2019-12-23
The impeachment process was a nauseating display of mortal hypocrisy. The sound bites by Republicans and Democrats swiftly became predictable. The Democrats, despite applauding the announcement of the voting results before being quickly silenced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sought to cloak themselves in gravitas and solemnity. Pelosi’s calculated decision to open the impeachment proceedings with the 1954 “under God” version of the Pledge of Allegiance was an appropriate signal given the party’s New McCarthyism. The Democrats posited themselves as saviors, the last line of defense between a constitutional democr…
truthdig.com/articles/the-moral-hypocris…

A Low-Intensity War Is Underway in Northeast Asia
Tim Shorrock | thenation.com | 2019-12-23
A Low-Intensity War Is Underway in Northeast Asia…
thenation.com/article/korea-war-nuclear-…

What Never-Ending War Does to Kids
Andrea Mazzarino | thenation.com | 2019-12-23
| In expanding the reach of its military involvement, the United States has left a generation of children traumatized.
thenation.com/article/children-forever-w…

Public Housing Has Been Woefully Underfunded. That Could Change in 2020
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-23
Public housing has been utterly neglected, underfunded and politically demonized for decades. It’s faced attacks beginning with Richard Nixon and continuing through the Bill Clinton-era, with the creation of the draconian Faircloth Limit. | The Faircloth Limit effectively stopped any new public housing construction by legally capping the total number of public housing units that can exist at its 1999 level. Cl…
truthout.org/articles/public-housing-has…

2020 Citizens’ Climate Lobby Northern CA Regional Conference, Day 2
Citizens’ Climate Lobby | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

2020 Citizens’ Climate Lobby Northern California Regional Conference
Citizens’ Climate Lobby | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

Climate Strike: SF Bay Area Youth Strike in Oakland
Youth V Apocalypse, PlantingJustice, Mycelium | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Plaza outside Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

Everything You Wanted to Know about Climate Change, but Were Afraid to Ask
Citizens’ Climate Lobby San Mateo | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Half Moon Bay Library, 620 Correas Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

Buffy Sainte Marie Truthtelling Indigenous Genocide
Brenda Norrell | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Buffy Sainte Marie described the genocide, slavery, murder and rape of Indigenous Peoples, that the kings and queens, military, churches and banks are responsible for, speaking with AIM West’s Tony Gonzales, during the 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

In SF, Music Punctuates Enthusiastic Chanting at Rally and March on Eve of Historic Impeachment Vote
Text: RR Photos: Terry Scussel, Pro Bono Photo | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
In San Francisco, lyrics were rewritten to rock classics calling for impeachment and a crowd of thousands chanted for “Trump Pence Out Now!”
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/22/1882906…

Blood Memory Rising, Book Review of Standing with Standing Rock
Brenda Norrell | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
‘Standing with Standing Rock,’ is an encyclopedia of resistance, which chronicles the Water Protector movement from the first run to Washington, and on to the camps, and the surveillance by TigerSwan, to the ultimate international divestment campaign. In its 29 chapters are poetry, essays and discussions of Indigenous rights and Treaties.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/1882904…

Muhammad Ali an activist to help MIAs/POWs in Vietnam
Lynda Carson | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
Cathy A. Lundy was only around 4 years old when she was aboard the Yacht Sequoia as a guest of former disgraced President Richard Nixon (a.k.a. Tricky Dick). Unfortunately, her father was reported killed in action in Laos during the Vietnam War during 1970. The cruise certificate hangs on the wall of my apartment. Photo by Paulo Kesete…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/19/1882903…

President Trump Authorizes Somalia Debt Relief
Kate Zeller | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
President Trump signed a year-end spending bill which authorizes the first phase of debt relief for Somalia.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/21/1882905…

Michael L. Cantor mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates
Lynda Carson | indybay.org | 2019-12-23
In a shocking email further below, Michael L. Cantor, director of FE Partners LLC, the owner of the former Presidential Yacht Sequoia, mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates with condescension and derision towards the much coveted historical Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates!
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/22/1882906…

The vanguard of Chavism has a woman’s face: A chronicle of their resistance in 2019
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-12-23
In the middle of the year, we Venezuelans received a visit from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michel Bachelet, on the occasion of meeting with the different political actors in the country to “evaluate” the complex economic and social environment brought about by the White House’s decision. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/12/23/the-vanguard-of-…

SPECIAL REPORT: Iran’s leader ordered crackdown on unrest: ‘Do whatever it takes to end it’
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
After days of protests across Iran last month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared impatient. Gathering his top security and government officials together, he issued an order: Do whatever it takes to stop them.That order, confirmed by three sources close to the supreme leader’s inner circle and a fourth official, set in motion the bloodiest crackdown on protesters since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest that started on Nov. 15. The toll, provided to Reuters by three Iranian interior ministry officials, included at least 17 teenagers and a…
yenisafak.com/en/world/special-report-ir…

EU only supports peaceful solution in Libya
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
The EU on Monday called on all parties of the Libyan conflict to cease military actions and resume the political dialogue.”There is no military solution to the crisis in Libya. The only way to settle it must be a political one, negotiated on the basis of the proposals recently put forward by the United Nations,” Peter Stano, the lead spokesperson of the EU’s External Action Service pointed out in a statement responding to the recent growing tensions in the African country.Since September, several high-level meetings were held in the German capital to put an end to the conflict ongoing since 2011. The negotiations…
yenisafak.com/en/news/eu-only-supports-p…

Saudi sentences five to death, three to jail in Khashoggi case
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
Saudi Arabia on Monday sentenced five people to death and three more to jail terms totalling 24 years over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October last year.Saudi Deputy Public Prosecutor and spokesman Shalaan al-Shalaan, reading out the verdict in the trial, said the court dismissed charges against the remaining three of the 11 people that had been on trial, finding them not guilty.”The investigation showed that the killing was not premeditated … The decision was taken at the spur of the moment,” Shalaan said.Khashoggi was a U.S. resident and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed…
yenisafak.com/en/world/saudi-sentences-f…

Ankara and Moscow to discuss Syrian migrants, Libya conflict
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
A Turkish delegation will travel to Moscow on Monday to discuss Syria and Libya, areas where the nations have some opposing views, for talks that President Tayyip Erdogan said would determine Turkey’s course of action in the region.Erdogan said on Sunday more than 80,000 civilians were migrating from the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib to Turkey, after Russian and Syrian forces intensified their air strikes in the area. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture Idlib.The Turkish delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, visits Moscow weeks before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s p…
yenisafak.com/en/world/ankara-and-moscow…

Turkish aid group says 120,000 fleeing attacks in Syria’s Idlib
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
The number of Syrians fleeing attacks in the country’s northwestern Idlib province and heading towards Turkey has reached 120,000, a Turkish aid group said on Monday, adding it was setting up a camp for some of those uprooted.Syrian and Russian forces have recently intensified their bombardment of targets in Idlib, which Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture, prompting a wave of refugees towards Turkey.President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Turkey cannot handle a fresh wave of migrants, warning that European countries will feel the impact of such an influx if violence in Syria’s northwest is n…
yenisafak.com/en/world/turkish-aid-group…

Turkey’s Asyaport gets new $12M loan from European Bank
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
“Turkey’s key trans-shipment hub Asyaport will increase its capacity and improve efficiency with a new $12 million loan by the EBRD,” the statement said.It added that the funds will co-finance the acquisition and installation of energy-efficient electric ship-to-shore cranes, electric rubber-tired gantry cranes and terminal tractors.The new equipment will help raise the port’s berth and yard capacity during peak hours and drop vessel turnaround times, leading to more efficient handling of regional trans-shipment and domestic container traffic from industrial zones in Turkey’s northwestern Tekirdag area.The EBRD’s…
yenisafak.com/en/news/turkeys-asyaport-g…

US pipeline sanctions won’t go unanswered: Russia
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-23
Russia will respond in kind to U.S. sanctions against the TurkStream and NordStream II projects, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.Speaking at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament in Moscow, the Council of Federation, Lavrov said preparing a fitting response needs both time and analysis.”I assure you that such absolutely unacceptable, rough actions in violation of all norms of international law, all diplomatic and human decency will not remain without reaction,” Lavrov said, taking lawmakers’ questions.A defense budget passed by the U.S. Congress last week included sanctions on companies involv…
yenisafak.com/en/news/us-pipeline-sancti…