How the US helped push Lebanon to the brink of collapse, and now threatens more sanctions
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-08-13
While the media blames the crisis in Lebanon solely on corruption, the US government unleashed a “maximum pressure” campaign to…
thegrayzone.com/2020/08/13/us-lebanon-sa…

Bolivia’s perfect storm: Pandemic, economic crisis, repressive coup regime
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-08-13
The rising toll of diseased and deceased from the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Bolivia particularly hard, in a continent that is now in the lead in global contagion rates.
mronline.org/2020/08/13/bolivias-perfect…

Bolivia’s Perfect Storm: Pandemic, Economic Crisis, Repressive Coup Regime
Richard Fidler | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Introduction | The rising toll of diseased and deceased from the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Bolivia particularly hard, in a continent that is now in the lead in global contagion rates. As of August 8, more than 100,000 cases were officially …
globalresearch.ca/bolivia-perfect-storm-…

Belarus — A Color Revolution of a Different Shade?
Peter Koenig | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Belarus in turmoil, after an election where the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko — 25 years already in power (in office since 1994) — has won with 80% of the popular vote. That’s what the official stats and media say. True …
globalresearch.ca/belarus-color-revoluti…

US Supreme Court rules ballot access petitioning must proceed during coronavirus pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-08-13
In a one paragraph order with no legal explanation provided, the US Supreme Court overturned a decision by a trial judge in Oregon relaxing ballot access requirements in consideration of the restrictions imposed on public interaction during the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/13/cour…

America Doesn’t Have Real Presidential Debates, But It Should
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
On August 6, the Commission on Presidential Debates denied US president Donald Trump’s request to increase the number of debates between himself and Democratic nominee Joe Biden from three to four. Trump’s case: The expansion of voting by mail means that many ballots will have been cast before the first scheduled fake debate on September…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/america-does…

Freedom Rider: TikTok and the War on China
Margaret Kimberley | mronline.org | 2020-08-13
Every charge that Trump and his minions make against Chinese companies is true for US corporations, which have been spying on Americans and the rest of the world for decades.
mronline.org/2020/08/13/freedom-rider-ti…

The Stimulus Deal Should Include Free College
Margot Rathke | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
The Covid-19 crisis bill currently under negotiation should both extend student loan relief and offer free college for young people facing limited job opportunities. Hayat Rahmeto is one recent college graduate who has decided to go back to school while the economy is in shambles. After graduating from college last year, she moved back in…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/the-stimulus…

Progressives’ problems with Kamala Harris
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-08-13
Liberals praised Harris, Republicans attacked her as a “radical leftist,” but progressives say the selection underscores the need for sustained grassroots pressure.
therealnews.com/stories/progressives-pro…

Why a Growing Force in Brazil Is Charging That President Jair Bolsonaro Has Committed Crimes Against Humanity
Vijay Prashad | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
Jhuliana Rodrigues works as a nurse technician at the Hospital Sà£o Vicente in Jundiaí, Brazil. “It is very difficult,” she says of her job these days. Brazil has just passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, with 3 million Brazilians infected with the virus.
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/why-a-growin…

Haitian teachers protest school reopening
Haitian Popular News Agency | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
Several dozen teachers and activists organized a rally on Monday August 10 outside of the Haitian Ministry of National Education and Professional Training. They were protesting against the decision taken unilaterally by the Minister Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet to reopen schools, which was done without consulting other actors that are crucial to the proper functioning of the Haitian education system. They also demanded better working conditions for teachers in Haiti. | “We do not have a problem with reopening schools, it is normal that it happen, but it would be necessary for it to be planned in complete collaborati…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/haitian-t…

Repaying the debt owed to Black people requires a democratic and reparative economy
Ron Daniels | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
The entire racial capitalist system that extracts labor and blood from Black lives must go…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/repaying-the-debt-…

US Military Presence: Special Forces Active in 22 African Countries
Alan MacLeod | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
A new report published in South African newspaper The Mail and Guardian has shed light on the opaque world of the American military presence in Africa. Last year, elite U.S. Special Operations forces were active in 22 African countries. This …
globalresearch.ca/new-report-reveals-us-…

Hong Kong Elections Postponed: And where aren’t they?
Andre Vltchek | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
Today, the Western press went absolutely mental again, radically schizophrenic. Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, declared that the September 6 elections in SAR would be postponed by one year. Right away, she offered a rational explanation: “We have 3 million voters going out in one day across Hong Kong, such flow of people would cause …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/hong-kong-ele…

Lukashenko Has No One To Blame But Himself For Belarus’ Color Revolution Unrest
Andrew Korybko | thealtworld.com | 2020-08-13
It was entirely predictable that the Color Revolution unrest that Lukashenko himself earlier kindled by partially laying the blame for this regime change attempt on Russia, which he did in a misguided attempt to co-opt this movement and use it as a post-election pretext for accelerating his pro-Western pivot, would ultimately end up backfiring after the rioters’ real Western patrons thought that they could intensify their pressure upon him in order to squeeze more concessions out of the geopolitically confused Belarusian leader. | Maidan In Minsk: | Belarusian President Lukashenko is being portrayed in po…
thealtworld.com/andrew_korybko/lukashenk…

Ilhan Omar defeats Corporate Democrat, Israel Lobbies in Overwhelming Primary Victory
Juan Cole | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
Although the Israel lobbies put a lot of money into defeating Omar, the issues on which she won, of progressive policing and health care, were largely disconnected from the geopolitical ones where her straight talk had attracted so much vitriol to her…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/ilhan-omar-defeats…

The organic intellectual: Remembering Samir Amin two years on
Samir Amin | mronline.org | 2020-08-13
‘In our era, when we consider the destructive (ecological and military) might at the disposal of the powers-that-be, the risk, denounced by Marx in his time, that war will end up destroying all the opposing camps, is real. The alternate path demands the lucid and organized intervention of the internationalist front of workers and peoples.’…
mronline.org/2020/08/13/the-organic-inte…

PDF of Aug. 13 issue
A. Majumdar | workers.org | 2020-08-13
Download the 12-page PDF. Political strike shuts down Bolivia UNIONS PUSH BACK: No school reopening; On the picket line; Unions say: ‘Cops out!’ Student-athletes organize; Honoring Negro National Leagues; A profitable disaster; Editorial Anti-racist vote for class unity; Terror against im/migrants; Mumia: A matter of history. Editorial: Anti-racist vote for . . . | Continue reading PDF of Aug. 13 issue at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50559/?utm_source=rs…

General Strike & Blockade in Bolivia Enter Day 11 as Protesters Condemn Delayed Vote by Coup Gov’t
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-08-13
We go to Bolivia, where opponents of the coup government have entered day 11 of a general strike and nationwide highway blockade to protest the repeated postponement of Bolivia’s first presidential election since last year’s ouster of Evo Morales by the right-wing coup government of Jeanine àÅñez, which was followed by an economic collapse and oppression. “Almost all of the key highways have roadblocks … bringing the country to a standstill,” says Ollie Vargas, Cochabamba-based reporter with Kawsachun News. “People feel impoverished. They feel persecuted. There’s a climate of authoritarianism in the count…
www.democracynow.org/2020/8/13/bolivia_g…

Was Kamala Harris a Progressive Prosecutor? A Look at Her Time as a DA & California Attorney General
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-08-13
As Senator Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket, we host a debate on her record as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, when she proudly billed herself as “top cop” and called for more cops on the street. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis says Harris was the state’s most progressive DA and advocated for “so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration.” Law professor Lara Bazelon says Harris was on the wrong side of history for often opposing criminal justice reform, though her record did change as a senator. “Her o…
www.democracynow.org/2020/8/13/kamala_ha…

The Case Against Trump Is “Open and Shut”: Kamala Harris Slams President’s Handling of Pandemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-08-13
As Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major presidential ticket, hits the campaign trail with Joe Biden for the first time, we play an extended excerpt of her address, in which she blasts President Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration, racial justice and the coronavirus pandemic. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,” Harris says.
www.democracynow.org/2020/8/13/kamala_ha…

Wednesday 8/12: Action: Demand Congress Include All Immigrants in the Next COVID Stimulus Bill
United We Dream | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online action…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Bolivia: Political Strike Shuts Down Country
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
Once again, a scenario of multiple crises that began with the November coup defines Bolivia’s future. De facto President Jeanine àÅñez’s main achievement was to unleash a shameless wave of racist repression against Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) and the Aymara and Quechua Indigenous peoples. | àÅñez kept none of the promises she made to pacify the people after the November coup, nor did she offer any assistance to the poor during the twin crises of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic collapse.
popularresistance.org/bolivia-political-…

Trump suggests he’s withholding post office funds to stop ‘universal mail-in voting’
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Donald Trump is being accused of “trying to steal” the election after claiming talks with Democrats on Covid-19 economic relief was stalled when the president refused post office funding for “universal mail-in voting.” | Asked by Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo what led to the standstill between the White House and Democrats on a coronavirus stimulus package, the president said one of the main points the left will not budge on is extra funding for the US postal service to handle universal mail-in voting, something he is staunchly against. | “They want three-and-a-half billion dollars for the mail-in votes. Unive…
rt.com/usa/497962-donald-trump-mail-in-v…

Racism revoked: Georgia shop apologizes for saying it would charge only white customers $20 to book appointments
rt.com | 2020-08-13
A vintage clothing store in Savannah, Georgia has backed down from a plan to charge only white customers a $20 fee to book appointments to shop, saying it had been slammed with both negative feedback and threats of lawsuits. | Civvies on Broughton announced the new fee on Monday, as it was reopening by appointment only, after being shut down because of Covid-19. The refundable whites-only $20 deposit was introduced because the shop’s mostly white staff and owners didn’t feel comfortable “upholding a digital financial barrier which could prohibit BIPOC [black, indigenous and other people of color] from shopping…
rt.com/usa/497971-georgia-shop-white-dis…

Why a Growing Force in Brazil Is Charging That President Jair Bolsonaro Has Committed Crimes Against Humanity
Vijay Prashad | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
Jhuliana Rodrigues works as a nurse technician at the Hospital Sà£o Vicente in Jundiaí, Brazil. “It is very difficult,” she says of her job these days. Brazil has just passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, with 3 million Brazilians infected with the virus. “We meet colleagues and feel a heavy energy, a lot of pressure, a block,” Rodrigues says. She is the vice president of Sinsaúde Campinas, a trade union of health workers. | …
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/why-a-growin…

Is Joe Biden Cognitively Impaired? President Kamala Harris?
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
If elected president in November, Joe Biden will be age-78 when entering office in January. | His political career since 1972 as US senator, vice president, and presidential aspirant elevated him to national prominence with high public name recognition. | He’s only …
globalresearch.ca/joe-biden-cognitively-…

The Ongoing Torture and Medical Neglect of Julian Assange
William Hogan | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Published by The Lancet on June 25, 2020. | **** | On Feb 17, 2020, Doctors for Assange demanded an end to the torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange.1 Yet no responsible authority has acted. Nils Melzer, the UN …
globalresearch.ca/ongoing-torture-medica…

“Real politics is constant activism”
Noam Chomsky | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
Interview on the pandemic, the election, the word Bernie Sanders needs to stop using, the Harper’s letter, the 1619 Project, patriotism, and the greatest social movement in U.S. history…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/real-politics-is-c…

The Democratic Convention Is Shaping Up to Be a Centrist Hoedown
Elie Mystal | thenation.com | 2020-08-13
The Democratic Convention Is Shaping Up to Be a Centrist Hoedown…
thenation.com/article/politics/democrati…

Belarus: A Color Revolution of a Different Shade?
Peter Koenig | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
Belarus is in turmoil, after an election where the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko — 25 years already in power (in office since 1994) — has won with 80% of the popular vote. That’s what the official stats and media say. True or false? Does it matter? The margin is large enough that it cannot be …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/belarus-a-col…

Making Excuses for Trump: Where Does the Buck Stop?
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
One might make the case that Donald Trump was elected president on the antiwar vote. Running against Hillary the Hawk it was, of course, relatively easy to position oneself as a critic of the endless wars started and sustained under …
globalresearch.ca/making-excuses-trump/5…

The Politics of War: What is Israel’s Endgame in Lebanon and Syria?
Ramzy Baroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
On August 4, hours before a massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued an ominous warning to Lebanon. “We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers. I suggest to all of them, including Hezbollah, to consider this,” Netanyahu said during an official tour of a military facility …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/the-politics-…

Testing and medical insurance: a profitable disaster
Sara Flounders | workers.org | 2020-08-13
Drive-through COVID-19 testing in Bergen County, N.J. These tests were a “partnership” of state government with Quest Diagnostics and Walmart stores hosting the sites. In the midst of a capitalist crash and an out-of-control health crisis, two mega-industries that bear a heavy burden of responsibility for the health disaster are . . . | Continue reading Testing and medical insurance: a profitable disaster at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50577/?utm_source=rs…

A voice from New Orleans schools: ‘Are we gonna be alive?’
| workers.org | 2020-08-13
Big-E By Big E New Orleans This slightly edited talk was given at the Aug. 6 Workers World Party webinar, “War on the Working Class: the Socialist Response,” which featured education workers. Big E is an activist with New Orleans Workers Group. Thank you, everybody out there, and much love . . . | Continue reading A voice from New Orleans schools: ‘Are we gonna be alive?’ at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50582/?utm_source=rs…

Why Cuba is winning the fight against COVID-19
Nathaniel Chase | workers.org | 2020-08-13
Nathaniel Chase This article is a lightly edited version of a talk given Aug. 6 during the Workers World webinar entitled, “War on the Working Class: a Socialist Response.” I’d like to talk about another country’s response to the new coronavirus. The steps it has taken to protect its workers’ . . . | Continue reading Why Cuba is winning the fight against COVID-19 at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50561/?utm_source=rs…

Video: Ukraine Is Hovering Between New War and Economic Collapse
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
On July 27, a next “complete and all-encompassing ceasefire” between Kiev troops and self-defense forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) started in eastern Ukraine. This is the most recent in a series of attempts to …
globalresearch.ca/video-ukraine-hovering…

What if the Beirut Explosion Was an Attack?
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
On August 11, 3 Israeli battle tanks crossed a technical fence on the Israeli-Lebanese contact line, the official Lebanese News Agency reported. | According to the Lebanese side, Israeli forces broke through the technical fence in the town of Mays al-Jabal …
globalresearch.ca/what-beirut-explosion-…

Landmine blast kills 5 from single family in Afghanistan
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
A landmine blast in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province on Thursday killed at least five civilians and injured six others, all members of a single family, officials confirmed.Jamal Nasir, spokesman for the local police command, told Anadolu Agency the incident took place in the province’s Panjwai district. He said women and children are among the dead and wounded.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, apparently aimed at the family members of a local police commander.Condemning the attack, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani urged the Taliban to respond positively to calls for peace and to stop pl…
yenisafak.com/en/world/landmine-blast-ki…

Venezuelan Oil Output Remains at Historic Lows as Sanctions Continue to Bite
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-08-13
US sanctions have caused the Caribbean nation to lose three oil supertankers.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14967

Fed-up women health workers lead strike of 3.5 million across India
Kathy Durkin | workers.org | 2020-08-13
Workers around the world are demonstrating against their governments’ policies in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. From South America to Asia, political protests and strikes are taking place. In many countries, health workers are in the lead, as they are on the front lines in this massive medical crisis. They . . . | Continue reading Fed-up women health workers lead strike of 3.5 million across India at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50567/?utm_source=rs…

Watch: “Woke” Corporations Supporting Black Lives Matter Quietly Funding Police
MintPress News Desk | mintpressnews.com | 2020-08-13
A report from the Public Accountability Initiative exposes how corporate America is bankrolling police departments across the country, including many of the same ones facing scrutiny over racist practices.
mintpressnews.com/watch-woke-corporation…

Black People Confront Racist Violence
Abayomi Azikiwe | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Since the May 25 police execution of George Floyd in Minneapolis, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest racist violence. | Cities across the United States were impacted by the blocking of streets and highways along …
globalresearch.ca/black-people-arming-co…

US Color Revolutions: From Eastern Europe to Egypt, Iran, Now Lebanon
Karsten Riise | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
It is necessary to study, how US color-techniques are applied for regime-change in Egypt (Tahrir) — Iran (Green Movement) and now Lebanon (Cedar Revolution + “Day of Rage”). | The US engineering of these all-but-spontaneous undercover “Color …
globalresearch.ca/us-color-revolutions-e…

Lebanon’s Gov’t Resigns, But Protesters Demand Structural Change
Ziad Abu-Rish | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
“The fall of cabinets and even the holding of early parliamentary elections are not necessarily signs that fundamental transformation is underway in Lebanon”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/lebanons-govt-resi…

New strategy builds a multiracial coalition in Trump country
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-08-13
Deep canvassing can connect rural white voters to issues of racial justice to build a multiracial coalition we need.
therealnews.com/stories/dly072920_azemun…

Extractivism and Exploitation in Peru
Yanis Iqbal | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Martin Vizcarra, Peru’s president, has announced that “[t]his government has taken up the challenge and has been working on the approval of a new regulation for mining procedures in order to streamline those procedures.” The regulation “aims to provide …
globalresearch.ca/extractivism-exploitat…

Blight and Revelation: Coronavirus, Austerity and the UK
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Epidemiologist Michael Marmot begins his August 10 piece in The Guardian on a sombre note. It is drawn from The Plague by Albert Camus. “The pestilence is at once blight and revelation; it brings the hidden truth of a corrupt …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-austerity-…

Deaths of children in northeast Syria ‘could have been averted’: UNICEF
news.un.org | 2020-08-13
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed “deep alarm” over reports that eight children — all under the age of five — have died in Syria’s Al Hol camp, where several thousand children are languishing in dire conditions.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/08/1…

October Surprise: Will War with Iran be Trump’s Election Eve Shocker?
Bob Dreyfuss | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Was Donald Trump’s January 3rd drone assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani the first step in turning the simmering Cold War between the United States and Iran into a hot war in the weeks before an American presidential election? …
globalresearch.ca/october-surprise-will-…

Spying on Journalists
Judge Andrew Napolitano | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Last week, this column argued that the only constitutional role for armed federal forces in Portland, Oregon, was to assist U.S. marshals in protecting federal property and personnel there — in this case, the federal courthouse and those who come …
globalresearch.ca/spying-journalists/572…

Both Parties Honor the Dark Side
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-08-13
Stir Crazy! Episode 77: Today we are joined by journalist Justine Barron and TRNN visual producer Andrew Corkery. Hosted by Kim Brown. Email us your questions/comments/suggestions at stircrazy@therealnews.com…
therealnews.com/stories/both-parties-hon…

Lukashenko Wins the Election, but His Biggest Fight May be Yet to Come
Johanna Ross | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko may have won a solid victory with 80.23% of the vote, according to the election commission, but the ground on which he is standing is not as firm as it once was. The President of Belarus says …
globalresearch.ca/lukashenko-wins-electi…

Climate Activists Push Biden to Cut Ties With Industry-Friendly Energy Advisers
Candice Bernd | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
“We must work to get in climate hawks who understand that every fossil fuel permitting decision is a potential step away from 1.5 degrees.”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/climate-activists-…

Disbelief and Denial in the West as Russia Produces First COVID Vaccine
Johanna Ross | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
‘Startling and confusing’ proclaimed Science magazine. ‘Reckless and foolish’ said US vaccine scientist Peter Hotez. ‘Dangerously rushed’ said the journal Nature. Western scientists are in denial. The first vaccine against the disease which has dominated all our lives for …
globalresearch.ca/disbelief-denial-west-…

Time to Face — and Plan for — Our Very Different Future
George Ochenski | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
Most animals on the planet have no ability to conceive of the future. While some, such as squirrels, ants and pikas put away seeds, and grizzly bears lay on the fat for winter hibernation, most animals resemble grasshoppers, living in the present with no concept of the coming frost. Humans, however, have the ability to…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/time-to-face…

Review: ‘Crip Camp,’ an inspiring flick on the struggles of the disabled
John Bachtell | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act is celebrating its 30th birthday. But the moment also calls for celebrating the movement that birthed it. Winning the ADA, legislation on par with the Civil Rights Act of 1965, was the culmination of years of struggle, extraordinary courage, and perseverance of the disability community and its allies. However, …
peoplesworld.org/article/review-crip-cam…

Rally marks 42nd anniversary of police attack on MOVE
Ted Kelly | workers.org | 2020-08-13
Mike Africa Jr. addresses rally at location of the old Powelton Village MOVE headquarters as supporters hold portraits of MOVE 9 members. Hundreds rallied at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Aug. 8 to mark the 42 years since the police riot at the MOVE house in Powelton Village. Demonstrators . . . | Continue reading Rally marks 42nd anniversary of police attack on MOVE at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50572/?utm_source=rs…

Teaching Torture: The Death and Legacy of Dan Mitrione
Brett Wilkins | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
In the pre-dawn darkness of Monday, August 10, 1970, Dan Mitrione’s bullet-ridden body was discovered in the back seat of a stolen Buick convertible in a quiet residential neighborhood of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. He had just turned 50, and he had recently started a new dream job, although it was thousands of miles from…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/teaching-tor…

Real Life Heroes: on a journey towards quality healthcare
news.un.org | 2020-08-13
In the remote Lamu region, on the northeast coast of Kenya, quality healthcare is hard to come by. Every month, medical staff from Safari Doctors, an NGO founded by Umra Omar, set sail on a boat filled with medicines, to provide free basic medicines to hundreds of marginalized inhabitants in several coastal villages.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/08/1…

On Right-Wing Violence in Texas, Media’s Silence Sends Message
Henry Brannan | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
The end result of national media’s neglect and local media’s muddling is the erasure of right-wing political violence, sending a message to would-be future attackers that there will be no consequences for their actions.
zcomm.org/znetarticle/on-right-wing-viol…

U.S. the world leader in both health and economic disaster
John Wojcik, Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
With more than 5 million cases, the U.S. is the world leader in the numbers of people infected with the deadly coronavirus. To top that off, jobless figures released today show that at least 30 million are unemployed, with the actual number estimated to be well over 50 million. The percentage of people who are …
peoplesworld.org/article/u-s-the-world-l…

Beirute, Arena de Guerra: colà¥nia ocidental ou retorno ao oriente?
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Assim como os 0,001% instrumentalizaram a Covid-19 para engendrar o Grande Recomeàßo ( Great Reset), os suspeitos de sempre já està£o instrumentalizando a tragédia de Beirute para manter o Líbano escravizado. | O atual governo libanês liderado pelo Primeiro Ministro …
globalresearch.ca/beirute-arena-de-guerr…

A second Manifesto for the World Social Forum? From an Open Space to a Space for Action
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-08-13
Is the World Social Forum (WSF), which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021, just an open space or can it (should it) also be a space for action? This question has been discussed for years in the WSF International Council, and so far, it has not been possible to reach a conclusion.
mronline.org/2020/08/13/a-second-manifes…

How These Rural Canvassers Disrupt Racist Narratives
Jordan Green | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
“We believe that organizing in rural spaces with progressive, multiracial solidarity messaging is the future”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/how-these-rural-ca…

Report charges US-Saudi arms sale ignored civilian casualties
wsws.org | 2020-08-13
The report on the $8.1 billion arms deal came amid fresh reports from Yemen of atrocities caused by US-supplied Saudi warplanes and munitions.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/13/arms…

Our fight is with capitalists, not with higher-paid workers
Laurent Ross | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
This submission was received as a response to the article Is Black Lives Matter a tipping point on class inequality?, by Tim Libretti, which appeared in People’s World on Aug. 4, 2020. It also engages with the long-running topic of meritocracy which has appeared in previous articles by Libretti. Author Tim Libretti once again, for …
peoplesworld.org/article/our-fight-is-wi…

VIDEO: The “Lock Step” Simulation Scenario: “A Coronavirus-like Pandemic that Becomes Trigger for Police State Controls”
Helen Buyniski | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
First published on February 5, 2020. In-depth analysis of the Simulation of a pandemic conducted in 2010 under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation. | By now, those following the novel coronavirus epidemic are familiar with Event 201, the pandemic simulation…
globalresearch.ca/all-sectors-us-establi…

Bolivian movements and trade unions propose to hold elections on October 11
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
On August 12, Bolivian social movements and trade unions, which have been mobilizing against postponement of general elections for the past ten days, issued an official statement and proposed to hold elections on October 11. | The main organizers of the national strike and the nationwide road blockades, the Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB) and the Pact of Unity (a national alliance of social movements and grassroots organizations), said that they are ready to lift blockades and end the…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/bolivian-…

Latest wave of NBA activism aims at getting out the vote
Kyle Hightower | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
peoplesworld.org/article/latest-wave-of-…

Self-Help in the Coronavirus Depression
Jeremy Brecher | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
Self-help strategies like rent strikes and mutual aid may develop in response simply as a means of survival. But that doesn’t mean they can’t also be the starting point for collective action for something…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/self-help-in-the-c…

From Juneteenth in Minneapolis to Jawnteenth in Philadelphia
Unicorn Riot | unicornriot.ninja | 2020-08-13
Minneapolis, MN — The historic movement for Black lives that has recently permeated the globe reinvigorated 2020’s Juneteenth celebrations. On June 19, 2020, Unicorn Riot reporters documented from two of these celebrations; ‘Jawnteenth’ in West Philadelphia and a celebration in North Minneapolis at a Cub…
unicornriot.ninja/2020/from-juneteenth-in-minneapolis-to-jawnteenth-in-philadelphia/

‘He was a militant till his last breath’
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-08-13
Samir Amin’s works are not the only things he left behind. His legacy was a guide to those who want to change the world.
mronline.org/2020/08/13/he-was-a-militan…

Don’t Stigmatise the Nuke! Opponents of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
It would seem a logical step, at least from an existential perspective: to ban something so utterly horrendous to life; to forbid its use in any circumstances, whatever rationale employed to justify its use. But the nuclear weapon has its admirers. There are those who continue to worship its sovereign properties, and those who leave…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/dont-stigmat…

Growing wave of protests across the US against school openings
wsws.org | 2020-08-13
Across the US, thousands of teachers, education workers, parents and students are mobilizing to oppose the unsafe reopening of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/13/scho…

Protest against COVID Disinformation and Social Engineering
John C. A. Manley | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
This month, the revolution against COVID-19(84) totalitarianism has been rising up with about a million protestors in Berlin and somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 in Montreal. While these are positive signs, I also am concerned that we are fighting …
globalresearch.ca/how-awaken-others-covi…

Will Trump-MBS Shore Up Iraq’s Corrupt Ruling Families in Return for Keeping US Troops? Iraq-Iran Relationship in Crisis?
Zayd Alisa | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mustafa al Khadimi’s, decision to make Saudi Arabia rather than Iran his first destination abroad contradicted with what all his predecessors had done. It was designed to send a clear message indicating that he has …
globalresearch.ca/will-trump-mbs-shore-u…

Teaching Torture: The Death and Legacy of Dan Mitrione
Brett Wilkins | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
In the pre-dawn darkness of Monday, August 10, 1970, Dan Mitrione’s bullet-ridden body was discovered in the back seat of a stolen Buick convertible in a quiet residential neighborhood of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. He had just turned 50, and he had recently started a new dream job, although it was thousands of miles from his home in Richmond, Indiana. Who was Dan Mitrione, and what work was he doing in Uruguay that led him to such an early and violent end? | …
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/teaching-tor…

Post-election protests leave Belarus at a crossroads
Abdul Rahman | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election for a sixth consecutive presidential term on August 9 has sparked major protests, dividing political groups and citizens in Belarus like never before. At least two people have lost their lives and over 200 have been wounded in police violence against the protesters calling for Lukashenko’s removal. A large number of protesters have taken to the streets seeking political change, despite massive state repression. At the same time, significant sections are worried about the outcome of the protests and the changes sought by the demonstrators, and are still on guard. The protests are…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/post-elec…

Diversions, posturing as school board votes to reopen school in small-town Massachusetts
wsws.org | 2020-08-13
Scituate, a small coastal town south of Boston, is one example of broader situation in the state, where Governor Baker has pushed for schools to fully reopen in the fall.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/13/mass…

Police set fire to MST camp during eviction
Brasil de Fato | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
Military police set fire to the Quilombo Grande camp of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, with the objective of evicting the families that have been resisting a land repossession order for more than 35 hours. On the morning of Thursday August 13, the Eduardo Galeano Popular School was destroyed with a tractor. In addition to the school, on Wednesday morning, the police evicted dormitories where three families lived. | Despite the declarations from the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Partido Novo), on social media that affirmed that his government defend…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/police-se…

The explosion in Beirut
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
(Tricontinental: Institute of Social Research has published a Red Alert on the recent explosion in Beirut. You can also view the Red Alert here) | In the early evening of August 4, a fire broke out in Warehouse 12 at the Port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon (population 6.8 million, including over a million refugees). An enormous plume of smoke rose from the fire, which was then overshadowed by an explosion whose powerful force tore outwards and shattered parts of Beirut. The port was immediately leveled; the pressure wave reached around 15 kilo…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/the-explo…

PM Keith Rowley claims victory in general elections in Trinidad and Tobago
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
According to Trinidadian trade unionist Ozzi Warwick, Rowley’s neoliberal policies remain a matter of concern but his competitor towed a dangerous anti-integration, pro-Trump line…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/pm-keith-…

“We face a system incapable of solving the problems of the youth and the people
Muhammed Shabeer | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
Aritz Rodríguez Galán, president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, talks about the centrality of youth in anti-racism protests, COVID-19 relief work and the building of a better world…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/we-face-a…

Wall Street continues to feed on death and economic devastation
wsws.org | 2020-08-13
Since the crisis of mid-March when the market plunged and the financial system froze, Wall Street’s S&P 500 index has risen by 50 percent on the back of government corporate bailouts and the pumping out of trillions of dollars by the Fed.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/13/wall…

This Is Amerika: Where Fascism, Totalitarianism and Militarism Go Hand In Hand
John W. Whitehead | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem. — Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981 There’s a pattern emerging if you pay close enough attention. Civil discontent leads to civil unrest, which leads to protests and counterprotests. Without fail, what should be an exercise in how …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/this-is-ameri…

What If Trump Won’t Leave?
Frances Fox Piven | zcomm.org | 2020-08-13
Trump is prepared to do whatever it takes to keep power. Can he be stopped?>…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/what-if-trump-wont…

The daily life of those fighting for $15 and a union: Bettie Douglas
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
The rank and file workers that came before us said a union was not the union hall nor the labor temple, nor was it the elected union officials that come and go. The union was its people–the honest, hardworking membership. Comrades of sweat and toil pushed and prodded too far for the sake of an …
peoplesworld.org/article/the-daily-life-…

The Heat: U.S. congress investigates Big Tech companies
Anand Naidoo | america.cgtn.com | 2020-08-13
Are America’s big tech companies TOO big? So much so that they violate antitrust laws? We will take a look at the U.S. Congressional inquiry that could force Silicon Valley giants to break up.
america.cgtn.com/2020/08/13/the-heat-u-s…

Transition to Zero Pollution launches series to inform research and policy
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-08-13
Imperial’s Transition to Zero Pollution initiative has launched an online series to bring together experts from across College and industry.
imperial.ac.uk/news/201353/transition-zero-pollution-launches-series-inform

Self-test kits can monitor the spread of COVID-19 in communities
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-08-13
Antibody home testing kits could be used to help monitor the rate of COVID-19 infections in communities, says an Imperial researcher.
imperial.ac.uk/news/201234/self-test-kits-monitor-spread-covid-19-communities

Thursday 9/10: 16th Annual 9/11 Truth Film Festival
Carol Brouillet | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Due to Covid19, the annual Film Festival will not take place at The Grand Lake Theater, in Oakland, California. The event will be live-streamed, however, on Thursday, September 10, 2020 noon to 8: 00 pm.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

16th Annual 9/11 Truth Film Festival
Carol Brouillet | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Due to Covid19, the annual Film Festival will not take place at The Grand Lake Theater, in Oakland, California. The event will be live-streamed, however, on Thursday, September 10, 2020 noon to 8: 00 pm.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Police Off Campus: Defund Police & End Police & ICE Presence at UCSC
John Malkin | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Interview with University of California at Santa Cruz professors on Defunding Police and Ending Police / ICE Presence on Campus…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Thursday 8/13: Sacramento Caravan: #SayTheirNames & Bring Our Loved Ones Home
Families United to End LWOP, FUEL | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
California State Capitol | 1315 10th St | Sacramento, CA 95814…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883589…

Employing and feeding people at Millcreek Manor in Batavia, Illinois
Lynda Carson | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
The Empire Room, A Dining Room At Millcreek Manor In The Late 1960s:…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883586…

Tuesday 8/18: City Hall Action: Cut SCPD Budget
Faisal Fazilat — DSA | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Starts at Santa Cruz City Hall 809 Center St | Details and exact times TBA…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883589…

Wednesday 8/19: www.facebook.com/events/2651741481710615…
Direct Action Everywhere | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883589…

2020 Sequoia National Park ~ Buffalo Soldiers Day Celebration
Khubaka, Michael Harris | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
California US Senator Kamala Harris, a native daughter of Oakland, California, has an special connection with Buffalo Soldiers as she continues to lead the way helping quantify and qualify the merits of our California Buffalo Soldiers Project.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883587…

When Wealth Destroys Wealth: Inverse Capitalism and its Limits
Norbert Trenkle | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Ever-increasing real estate prices was an illusion. The boom that the US stock markets have experienced in recent years deserves the name fracking boom. Fictitious capital put the US economy back on the growth track. Inverse capitalism describes contemporary capitalism determined by dynamics of the financial market.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883586…

Wednesday 8/12: United We Dream: Panel Discussion on the Documentary Series “Immigration Nation”
United We Dream | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Wednesday 8/19: How to Change the World in One Generation – DxE Intro Workshop
Direct Action Everywhere | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883589…

Perù: Lucha Indà¨gena Agosto2020
reenvia Red Latina sin fronteras | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Perù: Lucha Indà¨gena | Agosto 2020 | Director: Hugo Blanco…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883587…

Stimulus spending to promote clean energy as a vehicle for environmental justice
Olivia Baaten | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Issues of environmental justice have been highlited in recent events, and it is high time that the nation take action. Minorities are disproportionately affected by Coronavirus, an issue which is exacerbated by environmental injustice. Low interest rates make the current hour opportune for clean energy stimulus spending, which would serve the state where fossil fuels have failed.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883589…

Saturday 8/15: SF Chinatown Walkway Weekends
Eva Lee | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Chinatown, Grant Avenue from California to Washington Streets…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883590…

ENLACES de Red Latina sin fronteras 13.08.2020
Red Latina sin fronteras | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
ENLACES de Red Latina sin fronteras 13.08.2020 | comunicaciones e información para la liberación…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883589…

Friday 8/21: Rally & March to Slash SFPD’s Stash
Slash SFPD’s Stash | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Gather at Civic Center Plaza in front of SF City Hall | March to 850 Bryant…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Monday 8/17: Revolutionize The Vote: The Climate Emergency, Racial Justice and Your Voting Power
Future Coalition | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883587…

Fired UCSC Grad Students Win Their Jobs Back
Direct Action | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
The COLA movement shows that when we fight we win! Our wildcat strike has made concrete gains for grad student-workers, including a $2,500 annual housing stipend and 5 years of guaranteed TAships or other funding. | Let this win motivate us in our fight for justice in higher education!
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883589…

Europe needs an effective guarantee of youth solidarity
Johann Bacher, Dennis Tamesberger&awblog.at. | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
The Youth Guarantee could create an entry-level job market in the public or non-profit sector – in other words, jobs that serve the common good. It is the austerity policy in the wake of the finnacial and economic crisis that has delayed the socio- and ecological transformation in European countries and opened up gaps in services which now need to be closed.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883590…

Friday 8/28: “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” Film Screening & Discussion
Mechanics’ Institute Library of San Francisco | indybay.org | 2020-08-13
Online via Zoom…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/13/1883590…

Xinjiang And Uyghurs — What You’re Not Being Told
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
Like a few other provinces, Xinjiang is an “autonomous” region, which means it is run by Uyghurs for the most part. For example, the current “governor” is Shohrat Zakir, an Uyghur man who’s been in charge since 2014. | Also to remember are two nuggets of information: Xinjiang is a really vast region — it’s four times as large as California(!); and Uyghurs make up only about 40% of Xinjiang’s population. Overall, Uyghurs account for only 0.7% of China’s population. That’s about the same percentage as the Native American population in the U.S. now.
popularresistance.org/xinjiang-and-uyghu…

Analysis: COVID-19 Deaths Likely Undercounted By Over 50,000
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
More than 165,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The US passed the grim statistic of 5 million cases of COVID-19 earlier this month. As horrifying as these figures are, a new analysis shows that the number of deaths from the coronavirus likely has been significantly undercounted. | Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed by the New York Times have revealed that 200,700 people died from March 15, when the pandemic took hold, to July 25. This is 54,000 higher than the confirmed death toll, averaged, for the same time period i…
popularresistance.org/analysis-covid-19-…

Deaths In Immigration Detention Are At A Record High
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
Two men died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on August 5. One of the men died in a hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, while the other died in his cell of a massive intercranial hemorrhage. These tragedies increased the total deaths in ICE custody this fiscal year to 17, the highest number since 2006. Many–if not all–of the deaths that occur in ICE custody are avoidable. | More than twice as many people have died in ICE custody this year than last year. Unfortunately, with 1,065 active COVID-19 cases in ICE detention, that number will likely increase before the fisc…
popularresistance.org/deaths-in-immigrat…

New York City’s Newest Neighborhood: Abolition Park
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall Park lies in a cold-stone land where law and order rule. The area is defined by French Renaissance-style courthouses and municipal buildings. The NYPD’s headquarters is across the street and the Manhattan Detention Complex, colloquially referred to as “the Tombs” by many, is a short walk away. | While the park provides one of the only green spaces in the concrete-scape of Lower Manhattan, it does not have a laid-back, community ambiance the way that many smaller New York parks do.
popularresistance.org/new-york-citys-new…

‘Western’ Media Falsely Claim Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Is Ready
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
After President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate had gained an approval from its regulator, ‘western’ media went into a anti-Russian frenzy to sow fear and doubt about it. Russia has not approved a vaccine against Covid-19 and it is not skipping large-scale clinical trials. | The Russia regulator gave a preliminary approval for a vaccine candidate to start the large-scale clinical trial. This is similar to an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
popularresistance.org/western-media-fals…

Street Artists Rise To The Occasion
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
The massive protests in Los Angeles in response to the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many others organized through the Black Lives Matter movement generated an outpouring of engaging and provocative visual artworks. Open-air installations, murals, posters, “street art” works, and similar efforts abound, many in my Venice/Mar Vista neighborhood where I regularly jog. | I participated in many of those protests and saw some of these efforts personally. Cumulatively, these, and similar works throughout the United States and the world, have added to the burgeoning tradition of politica…
popularresistance.org/street-artists-ris…

Youth Are Leading The Movement For Police-Free Schools
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
In this moment of transformative possibility, amid activists’ growing calls to defund and abolish the police, young people across the country are leading a movement to remove police officers from schools. They are demanding that city and school district leaders reallocate funding for police into services and resources for students, including counseling, social workers and restorative justice programming. | The movement for police-free schools has a long history of Black youth leading this fight as a key strategy to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, a process of funneling predominately Black and Latinx st…
popularresistance.org/youth-are-leading-…

Lebanon: Bellwether, Battleground, And Bastard Child Of The Mideast
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
When I was a kid, “Beirut” became a cultural shorthand for any chaotic and violent urban setting. In the 1990s, my hometown rappers — the Wu Tang Clan — repeatedly shouted out the Lebanese city (plus one of its civil war antagonists, the P.L.O. — Palestinian Liberation Organization); but so did Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, and the Dead Kennedys. In the 2001 Hollywood blockbuster Spy Game, CIA agents played by Brad Pitt and Robert Redford sprint through rubble and gunfire along the Green Line dividing war-torn 1980s Beirut’s Christian East and Musl…
popularresistance.org/lebanon-bellwether…

Seattle Just Defunded Its Police — Sort Of
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-13
After a summer of explosive demonstrations that saw protesters take over several city blocks for weeks, the Seattle City Council approved a budget “revision” package on Monday that will cut $3 million from the police budget and eliminate up to 100 positions from the department. The move both fell far short of the demands of activists, and was so forcefully opposed by the city’s establishment that the police chief resigned almost immediately. | Seattle police chief Carmen Best wrote a letter to members of the department announcing her retirement late Monday, effective September 2.
popularresistance.org/seattle-just-defun…

Over 500,000 California ride-share drivers face uncertainty after Uber & Lyft threaten to PULL OUT of state over Dem-sponsored law
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Both Uber and Lyft have warned that a recent court decision in California may force them out of the state for good, after the companies were ordered to provide their combined 500,000-plus drivers with employment benefits. | “If the court doesn’t reconsider, then in California, it’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told MSNBC on Wednesday, two days after a judge granted an injunction requiring the two ride-sharing giants to reclassify their drivers from independent contractors to full-fledged employees. | While Uber and Lyft have vowe…
rt.com/usa/497872-uber-lyft-shut-down-ca…

‘The Great Senior Short Sale’: Boomers’ retirement plans to be scuppered as millennials can’t (or won’t) buy their homes
rt.com | 2020-08-13
The dream of selling their home for a retirement nest egg will hatch into an albatross around the neck of many Americans, according to new research forecasting that millions of homes will become unsellable in the coming years. | A study from the University of Arizona predicts that baby boomers and Gen Xers will not be able to sell the home they’ve spent decades paying for because millennials and Gen Zers aren’t interested in, or can’t afford, the properties. | The research predicts that the shift in home-buying patterns will result in a glut of houses that could climb to as high as 15 million by 2040. This wil…
rt.com/usa/497903-us-housing-market-cras…

‘Big problem’: Bill Gates rejects ‘strange’ Covid-19 vaccine conspiracies about him, says he wants to save lives
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has revealed his thoughts about when the world will move on from the Covid-19 pandemic, and addressed the “strange” conspiracy theories surrounding his interest in funding a vaccine. | Despite investing $350 million in the search for a vaccine to Covid-19, Gates said in a new interview with Bloomberg that he doesn’t believe the current pandemic will be over until “the end of 2021.” He also doesn’t have much faith in an initial vaccine pushed to the public. | “Well, the initial vaccine won’t be ideal in terms of its effectiveness against sickness and transmission. It may not have a…
rt.com/usa/497942-bill-gates-coronavirus…

‘Get the f**k out!’: WATCH Chicago residents confront BLM protesters in tense standoff
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Residents of Chicago’s Englewood community angrily accosted a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who showed up to demonstrate at a police station, where hostilities between locals and activists nearly boiled over into a brawl. | A BLM protest march from Englewood to Chicago’s 7th District police station on Tuesday ended in a showdown with community members, at times devolving into shouting matches as locals insisted the demonstrators were giving their neighborhood a bad name. | “If you ain’t from Englewood, get the f**k out of here!” longtime south side resident Darryl Smith was heard shouting at the prote…
rt.com/usa/497870-chicago-residents-blm-…

Apple, Disney, Ford and Walmart among corporate giants pushing back against Trump’s WeChat ban — report
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Major US companies have reportedly told the White House they are worried about losing access to the lucrative Chinese market after Trump signed an order targeting the popular Chinese WeChat app. | Citing sources familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that “more than a dozen” US corporations had raised concerns in a recent call with White House staff about the “the potentially broad scope and impact” of the WeChat ban. According to the paper, Apple, Intel, Walmart, Disney, and Ford were among the companies that participated in the call. The companies declined to comment on the issue…
rt.com/usa/497926-wechat-ban-companies-r…

Black protector of Confederate statues dubbed a Dave Chappelle ‘skit come to life’ by Twitter users
rt.com | 2020-08-13
A black Alabama man vowing to defend symbols of the pro-slavery Confederate States of America went viral as his atypical persona reminded Internet community of a character from a sketch on comedian Dave Chappelle’s show. | “Regardless of how the next person feels, I’m not going to take my flag down,” Daniel Sims said on Wednesday to the local WHNT news in Alabama’s Marshal county. He aims to protect the monuments to the US Civil War Confederacy from being taken down by vandals or any local authorities that may be pressured by the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. “If I’ve got anything to do with it, ain’t n…
rt.com/usa/497953-black-protector-of-con…

DOJ accuses Yale of racial discrimination against WHITE and ASIAN applicants after 2-year-long probe
rt.com | 2020-08-13
A Department of Justice investigation has found that Yale University is discriminating against white and Asian applicants, in violation of federal civil rights law, but the school calls the accusation “meritless.” | “Yale’s race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including in particular Asian-American and White applicants,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband wrote to Yale’s attorneys on Thur…
rt.com/usa/497975-justice-department-yal…

‘Americans must have their freedoms’: Trump rejects Biden’s call for MASK MANDATE, says states should decide
rt.com | 2020-08-13
President Donald Trump rejected his rival Joe Biden’s call for a nationwide face mask mandate, saying he trusted elected governors to make science-based decisions about the Covid-19 pandemic that best fit their states. | Biden’s approach is “regressive, anti-scientific and very defeatist,” Trump said on Thursday during a White House press briefing, accusing the Democrat presidential candidate of hiding in his Delaware basement and wanting the same fate inflicted on all Americans. | The Trump administration is strongly recommending people to wear face masks when social distancing is not practical, but “American…
rt.com/usa/497976-trump-biden-mask-manda…

Pompeo says US may impose sanctions & suspend oil deliveries for Belarus amid post-election crackdown
rt.com | 2020-08-13
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that sanctions may be in store for Belarus following the state’s heavy-handed response to opposition protesters, who have disputed the result of the recent presidential election. | Asked how Washington would respond to the opposition crackdown during an interview with Radio Free Europe on Wednesday, Pompeo said that both sanctions and trade penalties were on the table, suggesting the US could also halt oil shipments to the east European nation. | “What is it that we believe that we can do, not just the United States unilaterally, but in a multilateral way to deliver goo…
rt.com/usa/497873-pompeo-sanctions-belar…

Newsweek forced to deny promoting ‘birther’ theory against Kamala after ‘RACIST’ op-ed takes deep dive into 14th Amendment
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Newsweek was pushed into defending an op-ed questioning Kamala Harris’ eligibility for the position of vice president based on the 14th amendment after numerous critics slammed it as “racist birtherism.” | In a Wednesday op-ed titled ‘Some Questions for Kamala Harris Eligibility,’ Chapman University law professor John C. Eastman questioned Harris’ ancestry and whether it clashed with the language of the 12th amendment, which states in part: “no person constitutionally ineligible to th…
rt.com/usa/497964-kamala-harris-newsweek…

Vote Democrat to wear a mask? Biden says Americans must mask up for AT LEAST 3 months as CDC warns of ‘worst fall ever’
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has urged all Americans to ‘mask up’ outdoors for the next three months – at the same time as health officials warned disobeying their Covid-19 orders will cause unprecedented suffering. | “Every single American should be wearing a mask when they are outside for the next three months at a minimum,” Biden said during a press briefing on Thursday, adding in his characteristic awkward cadence that “every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing.” | A nationwide mask mandate would save “over 40,000 lives,” according to the experts, Biden claimed. | Also on rt.com…
rt.com/usa/497974-biden-mask-cdc-doom-pr…

Unconvinced by virtue signaling: Poll shows 8 in 10 Americans think corporate anti-racism statements in BLM era are disingenuous
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Efforts by corporations to kowtow to the woke crowd may avail little because few Americans see sincerity in the anti-racism messages pouring out of PR departments amid Black Lives Matter protests, a poll has revealed. | Only 19 percent of Americans believe genuine concern over the treatment of black people in the US was a major contributing factor behind companies speaking out about race, according to a Pew Research Center…
rt.com/usa/497869-blm-fake-corporations-…

Biden praises ‘historic step’ of Israel-UAE deal, but claims credit goes to Obama admin and doesn’t mention Trump AT ALL
rt.com | 2020-08-13
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden praised the “historic” decision by the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel, claiming part of the credit for himself and not mentioning President Donald Trump even once. | “Today, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have taken a historic step to bridge the deep divides of the Middle East,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday. “The UAE’s offer to publicly recognize the State of Israel is a welcome, brave, and badly needed act of statesmanship.” | | Biden statement on the Isra…
rt.com/usa/497961-biden-uae-israel-trump…

Moral Panic Over Refugees in the English Channel Is the Ugly Face of Brexit
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-13
John WIGHT | Then imagine that no matter the hostility that awaits you at the end of this perilous voyage, it pales when compared to the horrors you managed to escape in your country of origin, horrors borne of the conflict, chaos and societal collapse underwritten at least in part by the foreign policy of the very country you are trying to reach for asylum and sanctuary. | To witness news crews from the BBC and Sky News sailing around some of those trying to reach British shores in these dinghies is to witness the funeral of the UK as the beacon of decency, human rights and civilisation it’s proponents have long…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/13/mo…

Kamala Harris? Really?
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-13
Riva ENTEEN | Kamala Harris might be the perfect lens to reveal who the Democrats really are. A good run-down on her track record highlights her assertion that “It is not progressive to be soft on crime.” As a San Francisco social worker, I sat on the school district committee that met with families of chronically truant students. Once, when we asked a student why he didn’t go to school, he said there was too much police tape and shootings at his school bus stop. Harris, as CA Attorney General, was putting parents…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/13/ka…

CIA-Sponsored Propaganda Has Been Around for 75 Years
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-13
The release a report by the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), billed as the Donald Trump administration’s “dedicated center for countering foreign disinformation and propaganda, cites the Strategic Culture Foundation in Russia, Canada’s Global Research Center, and other on-line publications as “proxy sites” for Russian intelligence and the Russian Foreign Ministry. The State Department’s report is titled, “Pillars of Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem” and it is not much different than the series of reports issued by the State Department’s “International Information Progr…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/13/ci…

Making Excuses for Trump: Where Does the Buck Stop?
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-13
One might make the case that Donald Trump was elected president on the antiwar vote. Running against Hillary the Hawk it was, of course, relatively easy to position oneself as a critic of the endless wars started and sustained under the Bush and Obama administrations. Even though we Americans had heard similar noises from those very same gentlemen when they were running for office, many socially conservative voters like myself were nevertheless attracted by yet another a presidential candidate who pledged to bring home the troops and might actually have meant what he said. | Well, the bloom is off the rose after…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/13/ma…

Number of people waiting over 18 weeks for hospital treatment at highest level since records began
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
The number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment in England is at the highest level since records began.New figures show numbers rose to more than 1.85 million in June, topping the 1.79 million recorded in August 2007.Data from NHS England also showed urgent cancer referrals dropped by a fifth on the same month last year, rising to 43% for breast cancer. | A total of 153,134 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in June, down from 194,047 in June last year — a drop of 21%.Urgent breast cancer referrals decreased from 14,885 to 8,495.The figures are “worryingly lo…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

Lebanon parliament grants sweeping powers to military in Beirut
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
Lebanon’s parliament has approved a state of emergency in Beirut in its first session since the explosion in the city last week.It has granted the military sweeping powers amid rising anger and political uncertainty in the capital.The blast that killed more than 170 people and injured at least 6,000 others changed the face of the city and forced the government to resign.People walk past debris from destroyed buildings in Beirut (Felipe Dana/AP)Before resigning, the government declared a state of emergency in Beirut that granted the military sweeping powers including the power to declare curfews, prevent public ga…
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2020/08/1…

‘Ludicrous’ testing system needs to be more localised, says health official
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
A public health official suggested making Test and Trace more localised to help reach more people, as he described the centralised system as “ludicrous”.Ivan Browne, director of public health for Leicester, also said the government needs to change its narrative when it comes to easing restrictions, as he expressed his concerns over schemes such as Eat Out To Help Out.His comments came as the latest weekly NHS Test and Trace figures showed a drop in the 24-hour turnaround target for coronavirus (Covid-19) “in-person” test results to just two-thirds, despite prime minister Boris Johnson pledging that all such tests…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

Hundreds of thousands of A-level results downgraded in UK exam fiasco
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
Hundreds of thousands of pupils’ results have been downgraded after this year’s summer exams were cancelled because of coronavirus (Covid-19).The proportion of A-level entries awarded an A grade or higher has risen to an all-time high, with 27.9% securing the top grades this year, figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show.But exam boards downgraded nearly two in five (39.1%) pupils’ grades in England, according to data from Ofqual — which amounts to around 280,000 entries being adjusted down after moderation.Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if t…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/08/13/hundreds…

Turnover slides at majority of UK businesses, ONS survey finds
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
More than half of UK firms have reported a fall in turnover, with more than a tenth saying it has at least halved, according to new figures. | The latest Office for National Statistics survey of the impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) revealed that 54% of firms said they saw a decrease in turnover for the two weeks to 26 July. | Firms in the North East of England were the worst-affected, with 61% of companies in the region saying that turnover has decreased. | Companies in Scotland were also particularly affected, with the new figures revealing that 57% of surveyed firms in the country saw turnover fall. | Meanwhile…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/08/13/turnover…

‘Incensed’ school head accuses Gavin Williamson of ignoring teachers’ judgment
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been angrily accused by a school head of ignoring the professional judgment of teachers over their students’ A-level results. | Williamson was confronted by Christine Cunniffe, the principal of LVS Ascot, during an uncomfortable appearance on ITV’s This Morning. | Cunniffe said she had seen some of her top students downgraded by two grades as a result of the system put in place by the government for moderating exam results in England. | She urged the education secretary to follow the example of Scotland and abandon the system, saying students had “been through enough”. | H…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/08/13/incensed…

Trump: If I Lose to Biden, Get Ready to ‘Have to Learn to Speak Chinese’
Justin Baragona | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Ramping up his incendiary rhetoric towards his 2020 opponent, President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that China would be in control of the United States if former Vice President Joe Biden wins this November. Better get ready to speak Chinese, …
globalresearch.ca/trump-lose-biden-get-r…

Critic of Wildlife Department Removed Day Before Scheduled Meetings on Revisions to Wolf-killing Protocols
CounterPunch News Service | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
SEATTLE Environmental groups called on Gov. Jay Inslee today to reform wolf management in Washington after the sudden removal of conservationist Tim Coleman from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advisory Group. Today’s letter urges Inslee to reject the Department’s resistance to reform and calls for the crafting of a new state wolf…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/critic-of-wi…

Freakish Arctic Fires Alarmingly Intensify
Robert Hunziker | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
NASA satellite images of fires in eastern Siberia depict an inferno of monstrous proportions, nothing in modern history compares. And, as of July, it’s intensifying. Should people be concerned? Answer: Yes, and double yes. According to Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/freakish-arct…

The environmental legacy of Kamala Harris, Biden’s newly-announced running mate
Olivia Rosane | peoplesworld.org | 2020-08-13
Former Vice President Joe Biden made a historic announcement Tuesday when he named California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate in the 2020 presidential election. Harris is now the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to run for national office for a major political party in the U.S., the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) …
peoplesworld.org/article/the-environment…

Kamala Harris: Where Does Biden’s Running Mate Stand on Middle East Issues?
Ali Harb | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
The American constitution does not grant the vice president much power. Other than the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, the VP’s main responsibility is to assume the presidency in case of a sudden vacancy in the …
globalresearch.ca/kamala-harris-where-do…

At least 3 terrorists neutralized in Turkey’s southeast
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
At least three terrorists were neutralized in an air-backed domestic anti-terror operation in southeastern Turkey, authorities announced Thursday.The Interior Ministry said in a statement that as part of domestic security operations, Provincial Gendarmerie Command units conducted operation in rural areas of Bitlis province.”Thus, six terrorists were killed in the last two days, including three in Hakkari [province] and three in Bitlis,” the statement said.Operations are ongoing in the region, it added.Turkish authorities generally use the word “neutralized” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were…
yenisafak.com/en/news/at-least-3-terrori…

China says US’ Pompeo spreading ‘political viruses’
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
China on Thursday slammed top US diplomat Mike Pompeo for spreading “political viruses and disinformation” as tensions between the two economic powers show no signs of abating.At a news conference in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the US secretary of state’s persistent criticism of China and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) stemmed from “a Cold War mentality and selfishness.””Wherever Pompeo goes, he brings political viruses and disinformation,” he was quoted as saying by the daily Global Times.The reaction was in response to Pompeo’s remarks on‚ÄØWednesday that…
yenisafak.com/en/world/china-says-us-pom…

Israeli police indicted for assaulting Palestinians
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
Israel’s Justice Ministry on Thursday filed indictments against five border police officers for assaulting and robbing Palestinians, said state media. | “Today, the Police Internal Investigations Department at the Ministry of Justice submitted indictments to the Beersheba District Court against five border guards,” reported the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. | The indictments included “crimes related to armed robbery, assault, conspiracy, assault in dangerous conditions, abuse, and other crimes against Palestinians.” | The attacks were carried out against Palestinians seeking to go through Israeli milit…
yenisafak.com/en/world/israeli-police-in…

Top Muslim Brotherhood figure dies in government custody in Egpyt
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
Abdel-Mon’em Abdel-Maqsoud, a lawyer for Muslim Brotherhood leaders, told Anadolu Agency: “Security officials informed me of the death of Essam Al-Aryan without giving any reasons for his death.” | “I don’t know whether he died in prison or in hospital… I informed his family of his death and started procedures after his death,” Abdel-Maqsoud added. | Egyptian pro-government media sources, including Al-Masri Al-Youm, said Al-Aryan’s death was from natural causes or a sudden heart attack. | Egypt’s Interior Ministry has yet to comment on Al-Aryan’s death. | Al-Aryan, 66, was arrested following the ouster of Egyp…
yenisafak.com/en/world/top-muslim-brothe…

Iran briefly seized oil tanker in Persian Gulf, says US
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
Iranian naval forces briefly seized and boarded a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, according to the US military.The US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a black-and-white video on Thursday showing special forces getting down from a helicopter and boarding the ship named MV Wila.”Today in international waters, Iranian forces, including two ships and an Iranian “Sea King” helicopter, overtook and boarded a ship called the ‘Wila’,” CENTCOM said in a statement.The video was shot from a US warship some five kilometers (about three miles) away, according to Americ…
yenisafak.com/en/world/iran-briefly-seiz…

EU eyes Belarus sanctions over disputed election, protests crackdown
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
The European Union will likely impose new sanctions on Belarus as soon as later this month, diplomats and officials said, after strongman President Alexander Lukashenko cracked down on protests triggered by a disputed vote.Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden have spoken publicly in favour of sanctions and Austria was another hawk, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Friday.With any EU decision on sanctions requiring unanimity of all 27 member states, Hungary was the main sceptic, according to the sources.
yenisafak.com/en/world/eu-eyes-belarus-s…

India rights groups seek independent probe into killings of Kashmiris
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
Human rights groups and rights activists in India have called for a “transparent” and “independent” probe into the case of three missing Kashmiris in Jammu and Kashmir, whom their family members say the Indian army killed in a fake gunfight.”Amnesty International India calls for the extrajudicial execution to be investigated and prosecuted by independent civilian authorities. Civilian investigations and trials offer a degree of transparency and independence that is missing from the military justice system,” Avinash Kumar, executive director of Amnesty International India, said in a statement on Wednesday.The stat…
yenisafak.com/en/world/india-rights-grou…

Priest who shared stage with Modi tests positive; India sees record number of cases
yenisafak.com | 2020-08-13
India reported another record jump in its surging coronavirus cases on Thursday with nearly 67,000 new infections, among them a religious leader who shared a stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a ceremony to launch construction of a grand temple.Nritya Gopal Das, an 82-year-old Hindu priest, was the latest public figure to test positive after a string of Modi’s top cabinet colleagues were stricken with COVID-19, including interior minister Amit Shah.With Thursday’s jump of 66,999 cases India now has nearly 2.4 million infections, according to the Health Ministry, behind only the United States and Brazi…
yenisafak.com/en/world/priest-who-shared…

Galilee Blockade takes action on Adani
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-08-13
Environment Coral WynterIssue 1276 Australia Galilee Blockade Stop Adani SydneyAugust 13, 2020On August 7, 15 of us met for an early cof…
greenleft.org.au/content/galilee-blockad…

COVID-19 provides more proof of corporate bloodsucking
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-08-13
Economy Peter BoyleIssue 1276 Australia National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board Green Left Fighting FundAugust 13, 2020Every day the stress of the COVID-19 pandem…
greenleft.org.au/content/covid-19-provid…

Yellowstone Imperiled by Compromise
Joseph Scalia III | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-13
From Ramshorn Peak on the Gallatin Crest, the Buffalo Horn Creek drainage stretched majestically before us. Two colleagues of the Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance and I had hiked there to reflect from that vantage point on the threat of loss of Wilderness protections for this crucial part of the Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/yellowstone-…

Leaked: “Deadly” Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to treat Covid 19: How the World’s Top Medical Journals, The Lancet and NEJM, Were Cynically Exploited by Big Pharma
Elizabeth Woodworth | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-13
Article first published by Gr on June 14, 2020 | Abstract and Background | A publishing scandal recently erupted around the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to treat Covid 19. It is also known as quinine and chloroquine, and is …
globalresearch.ca/leaked-deadly-hcq-worl…

Who Gets to Tell the Story of Wuhan’s Lockdown?
Jaime Chu | thenation.com | 2020-08-13
Who Gets to Tell the Story of Wuhan’s Lockdown?
thenation.com/article/culture/fang-fang-…

The Brookings Hand Behind Russiagate Points Back to Rhodes Trust Coup on America
Matthew J.L. Ehret | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-08-13
An incredible report on Real Clear Politics by Paul Sperry on July 24 has revealed a new dimension to the Russiagate frenzy that contaminated American politics for the last four years. While all claims of Russian collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin have been thoroughly debunked over recent months, it was believed that …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/08/the-brookings…

Making sense of the ongoing anti-corruption protests in Israel
Abdul Rahman | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-08-13
Protests in Israel which began with the demand for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation over corruption charges are gradually changing in nature. Anti-occupation and pro-Palestinian groups are entering the space as well…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/08/13/making-se…

Until you’ve drifted a mile in their tiny dinghy, don’t even think about criticising the Channel crossers
John Ranson | thecanary.co | 2020-08-13
I can still remember the first bit of political graffiti I ever saw. It was in the 70s. I can’t have been more than about four or five. Daubed scruffily on a bridge in Norwich were the words: “NO MORE BOAT PEOPLE”. | Boat People: | Having no idea what on earth this meant, I asked my mum, who explained that it referred to people from countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia who were escaping war and trying to get into the UK. Well fair play to them I thought, dimly aware that those countries were somewhere near China and therefore a hell of a long way away. If they can make it all the way in a little boat (I…
thecanary.co/opinion/2020/08/13/until-yo…

Disparaging Stokely Carmichael, Bill Clinton attacks the black freedom struggle
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2020-08-12
During a historic upsurge of black activism, Bill Clinton attacked the late Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Ture, a leading black power revolutionary….
thegrayzone.com/2020/08/12/disparaging-s…

Democratic Establishment Commits to Status Quo with Kamala Harris VP Pick
Alan MacLeod | thealtworld.com | 2020-08-12
Just as America seemed to be in the midst of reckoning over-policing and racial justice, the Democratic establishment threw its support behind a hawkish former prosecutor with a questionable record. | MPN– There were mixed reactions to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate last night. Many at the top of the party hailed the pick as a strong choice. “I’m thrilled to welcome Kamala Harris to a historic Democratic ticket,” said Biden’s predecessor Hillary Clinton…
thealtworld.com/alan_macleod/democratic-…

Democratic Establishment Commits to Status Quo with Kamala Harris VP Pick
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-08-12
Just as America seemed to be in the midst of reckoning over-policing and racial justice, the Democratic establishment threw its support behind a hawkish former prosecutor with a questionable record.
mintpressnews.com/democratic-establishme…

Former McCain Advisor and Iraq War Advocate Niall Ferguson Warns TikTok Is a Chinese Imperial Plot
Alan MacLeod | thealtworld.com | 2020-08-12
Ferguson argued that Tiktok is brainwashing 100 million mostly Generation Z Americans who use the platform into “becoming soldiers of Beijing’s new revolution.” | MPN– Writing in Bloomberg, Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential…
thealtworld.com/alan_macleod/former-mcca…

Former McCain Advisor and Iraq War Advocate Niall Ferguson Warns TikTok Is a Chinese Imperial Plot
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-08-12
Ferguson argued that Tiktok is brainwashing 100 million mostly Generation Z Americans who use the platform into “becoming soldiers of Beijing’s new revolution.”
mintpressnews.com/niall-ferguson-warns-t…

The Deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon
Jenny Gonzales | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
The latest INPE (National Institute for Space Research) deforestation data for the Brazilian Amazon, released last Friday, comes as the result of the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, say critics. According to DETER, INPE’s real-time forest monitoring system, …
globalresearch.ca/amazon-tree-loss-worse…

‘Emergency Was a Sham’: Top Democrat Says IG Report on Saudi Arms Deal ‘Deeply Damning’ for Pompeo
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-08-12
“What sort of emergency makes itself known a few months in advance and can be resolved with weapons delivered years later?” | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2020/08/12/emergen…

Twitter Spreads Paid U.S. Gov’t Propaganda While Falsely Claiming It Bans State Media Ads
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-12
Twitter says it bans ads from state-affiliated media outlets. However, US government propaganda organs like Voice of America’s VOA Persian pay the social media corporation huge sums of money to spread disinformation against Iran and other foreign adversaries. | Ben NORTON | Twitter has demonstrated a clear, consistent bias in favor of the US government and its geopolitical interests. The social media giant has also repeatedly lied about its policies on state-backed media outlets. | Twitter unveiled a new feature on August 6 that labels government-affiliated media on the platform. Users immediately pointed out…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/12/tw…

As Kamala Harris Makes History as VP Pick, Her “Top Cop” Record Faces New Scrutiny Amid BLM Protests
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-08-12
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s selection of California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate for the November election makes her the first Black woman and the first Indian American on a major party presidential ticket. “It’s hard to overstate how historic, how monumental this is,” says Aimee Allison, president of She the People, which works to elevate the political voice and leadership of women of color. But in the midst of the largest protest movement in American history against racist policing, Briahna Joy Gray, the former national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders pres…
www.democracynow.org/2020/8/12/joe_biden…

What the Nazis Learned from Jim Crow: Author Isabel Wilkerson on the U.S. Racial Caste System
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-08-12
In her extensively researched new book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson argues the United States’ racial hierarchy should be thought of as a caste system, similar to that in India. In a wide-ranging interview, she describes how she also looks at the ways Nazi Germany borrowed from U.S. Jim Crow laws. “The Nazis needed no one to teach them how to hate,” Wilkerson says. “But what they did was they sent researchers to the United States to study Jim Crow laws here in the United States, to study and to research how the United States had managed to subordinate…
www.democracynow.org/2020/8/12/caste_isa…

Videos: IDF Bombards Hamas ‘Infrastructure’ in Gaza Strip in Retaliation for Incendiary Balloons
sputniknews.com | 2020-08-12
Israeli airstrikes were launched in Gaza early on Thursday local time, hitting people’s homes, after incendiary balloons were launched into Israel and sparked fires.
sputniknews.com/middleeast/2020081210801…

With Biden-Harris Ticket Set, Climate Groups Demand ‘Transformative Action From Day One’ If Elected
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-08-12
“Let’s do our part to end this era of chaos and defeat Republicans up and down the ballot. Then, let’s turn up to make a Biden-Harris administration lay the groundwork for a Green New Deal.” | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2020/08/12/biden-h…

The Other Americans: Indigenous Activists Are Being Targeted in Honduras
Jeff Abbott | progressive.org | 2020-08-12
As attacks on the Garifuna, an Afro-Indigenous community, increase, Trump ignores the violence.
progressive.org/dispatches/indigenous-ac…

Chile’s Militarisation of the Araucania Influences Racism Against the Mapuche Population
_____ | strategic-culture.org | 2020-08-12
As Chile shifted its attention to the coronavirus pandemic, which brought out the country’s widespread social inequalities, the state’s aggression towards the Mapuche people went on unhindered. In June, President Sebastian Piñera dispatched 80 members of its special forces to Temuco in the Araucania region, as resistance to state violence against the indigenous populations increased. Earlier in the same month, a Mapuche leader, Alejandro Alberto Treuquil, was murdered by “individuals outside the community”, as…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/12/ch…

Lebanon’s Leaders Resign over deaths of 200, but Trump refuses Accountability for 163,462 Deaths
Juan Cole | zcomm.org | 2020-08-12
Trump by his peculiar combination of narcissism, contrarianism, irrationality, and political guile, has polished off more Americans than died in the entire Vietnam War…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/lebanons-leaders-r…

Federal Judge Sets Out to Bring Down Law Shielding Police From Legal Liability
Marjorie Cohn | zcomm.org | 2020-08-12
As the Massachusetts legislature debates whether to water down its qualified immunity defense, a federal judge in Mississippi filed a stunning 72-page opinion blasting the doctrine…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/federal-judge-sets…

UN human rights chief condemns use of violence in Belarus against protesters, after ‘6,000 people detained in 3 days’
rt.com | 2020-08-12
The United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, on Wednesday condemned the use of violence by the Belarusian authorities to quash peaceful protests. | After President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, Bachelet said police were reported to have used excessive force, firing rubber bullets, using water cannon, and throwing stun grenades, Reuters reports. | “Reports suggest that [approximately] 6,000 people have been detained in the last three days, including bystanders, as well as minors, suggesting a trend of massive arrests in clear violation of international human…
rt.com/newsline/497844-belarus-human-rig…

Illegal terror against im/migrants continues
| workers.org | 2020-08-12
By B.L.S. San Antonio, Texas “They told me not to tell my family where I was,” a Haitian asylum-seeker recounted. “I heard people being taken away in the hall [of the hotel] screaming, ‘I’m not going! I’m not going!'” An im/migrant Haitian mother and her daughter are incarcerated by ICE . . . | Continue reading Illegal terror against im/migrants continues at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/08/50530/?utm_source=rs…

Wednesday 8/12: Action: Demand Congress Include All Immigrants in the Next COVID Stimulus Bill
United We Dream | indybay.org | 2020-08-12
Online action…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/12/1883588…

Meatpacking Workers Continue To Struggle During The Pandemic
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-08-12
Five thousand plant workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nebraska, representing nearly 20 percent of cases statewide, and at least 21 of those workers have died. Plants predominantly employ immigrants and refugees, consisting mostly of Latinos, but also Sudanese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and other groups. Even though workers’ pay increased at the plants, so too did their workload. With many still out sick, workers have been expected to keep up with line speeds operating at full capacity. Many workers live in multigenerational homes, and the coronavirus case and death figures cited by Sen. Vargas do not acco…
popularresistance.org/meatpacking-worker…

Using Royal Navy to tackle refugee crossings ‘declaration of maritime war’ — Calais mayor
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-08-12
Sending the Royal Navy into the English Channel to deal with migrant crossings is a “declaration of maritime war”, the mayor of Calais has said. | Natacha Bouchart told France 3 that the British government must take responsibility. She called on Priti Patel’s French counterpart to push them on the issue. Her fierce words came as more refugees arrived in the UK on Wednesday 12 August. | Meanwhile, at least 19 refugees who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats, and were due to be deported on Wednesday 12 August, have had their removals paused, the PA news agency has learned. | Unwanted ref…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/08/12/using-ro…

A Message to the Left About Kamala Harris—And Us
Richard Eskow | commondreams.org | 2020-08-12
Kamala Harris addresses the media about migrant children in front of a detention center in Homestead, Florida on June 28, 2019. (Photo: Rhona Wise / AFP / Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2020/08/12/messag…

Trump Is Quite Capable of an “October Surprise”
Noam Chomsky | zcomm.org | 2020-08-12
Popular support for autocracy runs disturbingly high. Almost one-fourth of Republicans agree “President Trump should close down mainstream news outlets, like CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/trump-is-quite-cap…

Turkey Marks 100 Years Since Treaty of Sèvres. Renewed Hostilities with Greece
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
Yesterday marked the 100-year anniversary from when the Treaty of Sèvres was signed. The Treaty of Sèvres saw the Ottoman Empire dismembered, with Greece, Syria and Armenia gaining old lost lands, an independent Kurdistan established, and France, Britain and Italy …
globalresearch.ca/turkey-marks-100-years…

Serbia’s Intention to Buy Chinese Weapons. US Concerns
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
Belgrade’s announcement that it may purchase the Chinese FK-3 anti-aircraft missile system was enough for the U.S. to express concern about Serbia’s future, not only with Europe, but with the entire world. | The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade said that | “procuring | …
globalresearch.ca/us-concerned-about-ser…

The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is “Agenda ID2020”
Peter Koenig | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
WHO has most likely received orders from “above”, from those people who also manage Trump and the “leaders” (sic) of the EU, European Union. The final decision to go ahead NOW with COVID-19 pandemic, was taken in January 2020 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos – behind very much closed doors.
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-causes-eff…

TG5 Biden picks Kamala Harris — More Dem business as usual
Philip Giraldi | thealtworld.com | 2020-08-12
Peter Lavelle is joined by Philip Giraldi — former CIA counter-terrorism specialist. We discuss what she brings to the ticket and importantly what a Biden-Harris foreign policy would look like.
thealtworld.com/philip_giraldi/tg5-biden…

The Politics of War: What is Israel’s Endgame in Lebanon and Syria?
Ramzy Baroud | mintpressnews.com | 2020-08-12
Israel’s strategic interests in the Syria conflict go beyond Netanyahu’s need for a cheap victory. The outcome of the Syria war has the potential of yielding a nightmare scenario for Israel.
mintpressnews.com/the-politics-of-israel…

The Likud Conspiracy: Israel in the Throes of a Major Political Crisis
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-12
Protests against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have raged on for weeks, turning violent sometimes. Israelis are furious at their government’s mediocre response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially as COVID-19 disease is experiencing a massive surge throughout the country. Netanyahu warned protesters, thousands of whom have been rallying outside his residence in Jerusalem, against…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/12/the-likud-co…

The US Contracts Out Its Regime Change Operation in Nicaragua
John Perry | counterpunch.org | 2020-08-12
Masaya, Nicaragua. An extraordinary leaked document gives a glimpse of the breadth and complexity of the US government’s plan to interfere in Nicaragua’s internal affairs up to and after its presidential election in 2021. The plan,[1] a 14-page extract from a much longer document, dates from March-April this year and sets the terms for a…
counterpunch.org/2020/08/12/the-us-contr…

Video: Crisis in Belarus as Sign of Global Division
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
Over the past days, Belarus, an eastern European state bordering with Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, has become a scene of a new regime change attempt on the territory of the former USSR. | On August 9, the country held presidential …
globalresearch.ca/video-crisis-belarus-g…

Who is Democratic Senator Kamala Harris?
wsws.org | 2020-08-12
In this political profile of Harris, published in July 2019, the World Socialist Web Site summed up her career as a representative of the US criminal justice system and a reliable defender of corporate and intelligence state interests.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/12/intr…

The Fourth International and the Perspective of World Socialist Revolution: 1986–1995
wsws.org | 2020-08-12
The paperback edition of this critical book on the history of the Fourth International is now available.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/12/mehr…

Video: Lights, Camera, Action: Staging of Protests in Belarus
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
In Belarus presidential elections were held. According to the Central Election Committee, the turnout was quite high and amounted to about 84% of the population. The results of the exit poll confirm the victory of the current President of Belarus, …
globalresearch.ca/video-lights-camera-ac…

Mass Looting in Chicago, My Neighborhood Under Siege
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
I awoke Monday morning to distressing news, alerted me by pre-dawn email from my residential building’s management. | I and other building residents were told about overnight vandalism and mass looting of retail shops along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in our neighborhood …
globalresearch.ca/mass-looting-chicago-n…

Joe Biden Picks Kamala Harris as Running Mate. Biden-Harris vs. Trump-Pence. Who is Kamala Harris?
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-08-12
Whenever US presidential and congressional elections are held, voters get to choose between two pro-war, pro-corporate empowerment, anti-progressive right wings of the one-party state. | Names and faces change, results always the same. Dirty business as usual wins every time — …
globalresearch.ca/biden-picks-anti-progr…