How the rich are cashing in on pandemic pain
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-12-15
Millions of day labourers in India lost their jobs overnight earlier this year when Narendra Modi’s central government hastily announced a national lockdown.
mronline.org/2020/12/15/how-the-rich-are…
mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
Iraq to Sue US over Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons: Official
Tasnim News Agency | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-15
An adviser to the Iraqi parliament’s foreign affairs committee said the Baghdad government is planning to lodge an international lawsuit against the US for using internationally-banned munitions in civilian areas. | Hatif al-Rikabi told Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency in an interview | …
globalresearch.ca/iraq-sue-us-use-deplet…
Holiday gifts and the yet-to-be-won shorter work week
Martha Grevatt | workers.org | 2020-12-15
This article was originally published in Workers World in 2012. Since then, job-destroying technology is even more advanced and the eventual switch to electric vehicles could eliminate thousands of union jobs in auto. Millions are unemployed since the pandemic hit, and there is no plan or comprehensive assistance from the . . . | Continue reading Holiday gifts and the yet-to-be-won shorter work week at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53218/?utm_source=rs…
www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/woolw…
Australian Trotskyist Barry Jobson dies aged 78
wsws.org | 2020-12-15
From the time he joined the Socialist Labour League, predecessor of the SEP, in 1974 Comrade Barry was a tireless fighter for the program of Trotskyism in the working class, particularly in the Elcar railway workshops in the Sydney suburb of Chullora where he worked for many years.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/15/bjob…
US Sanctions Directed against Turkey For Its Acquisition of Russia’s S-400 Air Defense System
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-15
The recently imposed targeted sanctions against Turkey and the impending National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2021 ones mandating similar measures against it for its acquisition of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems, while illegal in terms of international law and a …
globalresearch.ca/us-anti-turkish-sancti…
Trump Still Contesting Stolen Election 2020
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-15
“We wuz robbed” applies to US Election 2020 — decided by brazen fraud for losers Biden/Harris over winner Trump. | An illegitimate process prevailed over an open, free and fair one — the latter prohibited in all US federal elections for …
globalresearch.ca/trump-still-contesting…
The Most Lethal Virus Is Not COVID. It Is War
John Pilger | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-15
John Pilger describes the invisible weapon of past and current wars, and the threat of nuclear war, under cover of the Covid pandemic. This is propaganda, aided by censorship by omission. | Watch Pilger’s 2010 film The War You Don’t See…
globalresearch.ca/most-lethal-virus-not-…
Socialist election win masks deeper problems
Federico Fuentes | mronline.org | 2020-12-15
With a majority of the opposition boycotting and an abstention rate of almost 70%, the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) obtained 69% of the vote in the country’s December 6 National Assembly (AN) elections.
mronline.org/2020/12/15/socialist-electi…
mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
A look at Venezuela’s National Assembly election
John Catalinotto | workers.org | 2020-12-15
Venezuela’s December 6 National Assembly (AN) elections overcame the prior pro-imperialist majority in that body and catapulted the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) into an overwhelming majority. President Nicolás Maduro, also of the PSUV, won big. Voting is smooth and fair in Venezuela. The imperialist politicians and corporate media, especially . . . | Continue reading A look at Venezuela’s National Assembly election at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53236/?utm_source=rs…
www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/venez…
Rouhani Tells Biden How to Get the Iran Deal Back on Track
Editor | scheerpost.com | 2020-12-15
Asia Society / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was asked Tuesday in an interview with a state-owned news outlet under what conditions Iran would return to the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5), including the U.S., plus Germany (+1) He replied, “A thing we are saying today is that if tomorrow morning the… | Source…
scheerpost.com/2020/12/15/rouhani-tells-…
Tigray crisis: Humanitarian aid for children must be a priority, UNICEF says
news.un.org | 2020-12-15
Providing aid to millions of children uprooted by the ongoing crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia must be a priority, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
Lessons To Be Learned From Washington’s Lethal War Against The World
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-15
The latest book from Indian Marxist Vijay Prashad is a passionate critique of the “US-led liberal international order,” in which Washington has fired — and still fires — its bullets at the peoples of the Global South and the socialist world. | In Guatemala, Congo, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Haiti, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Yemen, Sudan, Grenada, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Angola and so many other countries, Washington’s bullets have been deployed in the pursuance of regime change, the protection of US hegemony and opposition to the emergence of truly sovereign post-colonial nations, all in fl…
popularresistance.org/lessons-to-be-lear…
World Is “Speeding in the Wrong Direction” on Climate
Greta Thunberg | zcomm.org | 2020-12-15
“The gap between what we need to do and what is actually being done is widening by the minute”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/world-is-speeding-…
‘Grossly insufficient’: ExxonMobil lambasted over emissions reduction plan that pledges no reduction in absolute emissions
Andrea Germanos | nationofchange.org | 2020-12-15
“Any company that fails to keep pace with what science demands threatens its future while endangering the rest of us with escalating climate impacts and systemic risks to the global economy.”
nationofchange.org/2020/12/15/grossly-in…
The Border Patrol Is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid
Jessica Suriano | thenation.com | 2020-12-15
The Border Patrol Is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid…
thenation.com/article/society/no-more-de…
Border Patrol is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid
Jessica Suriano | thenation.com | 2020-12-15
Border Patrol is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid…
thenation.com/article/society/no-more-de…
Chile: President Piñera Has No Intention To Pardon Protesters
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-15
Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera on Monday announced he will reject a bill to pardon citizens who are in police custody due to their participation in the protests that took place in October 2019. | RELATED: | Chile: Deal on Indigenous People’s Seats To Write Constitution | Claiming that the bill threatens public order, citizen security, and the rule of law, Piñera announced that if necessary, he will use his veto prerogatives to prevent the pardon’s approval by the Senate. | S…
telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-President-…
Defend Chich’il Bildagoteel!
Minnie Bruce Pratt | workers.org | 2020-12-15
Apache clans and over 300 Indigenous nations are organizing to protect Chich’il Bildagoteel, the Oak Flat site in southeastern Arizona, from devastating copper mining extraction. Apache clan members and supporters rally to defend Chich’il Bildagoteel (Oak Flat) in December 2019.Credit: Sandra Rambler/Censored News The mining was given a federal go-ahead . . . | Continue reading Defend Chich’il Bildagoteel! at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53232/?utm_source=rs…
www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/oakfl…
United Nations Sounds Alarms About Rising Violence in Colombia
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-15
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday condemned the increase in violence in Colombia, urging President Ivan Duque’s administration to take concrete actions to effectively protect the population. | RELATED: | Antioquia: Colombia Counts 83rd Massacre of 2020 | Bachelet noted that the Indigenous Nasa community has been one of the most affected by the violence in 2020, with 66 of its members reported having been killed in the northern Cauca regi…
telesurenglish.net/news/United-Nations-S…
Provinces Crackdown On Indigenous Land Defenders
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-15
Toronto – Months after a group of Haudenosaunee people set up camp on a construction site near Caledonia, Ontario, a provincial court granted Haldimand County an order permanently forbidding people from “interfering” with any public road. | A lawyer for the county argued that the injunction was the “only remedy” to keep roads open in the event of future blockades over disputed land. | “I kind of jokingly–but not jokingly–say, if you get a flat tire and are impeding traffic with that flat tire in any kind of way, you are now breaching that injunction,” Skyler Williams, a spokesperson for the 1492 Land…
popularresistance.org/provinces-crackdow…
UN experts raise concern over charges against US indigenous leader and rights defender
news.un.org | 2020-12-15
Independent UN human rights experts expressed serious concern on Friday over the arrest and charges brought against an indigenous leader, for peacefully protesting a political rally held last July at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, located on treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
New documents reveal a ‘high-level, coordinated and sustained’ plot by British forces to ‘deceive parliament’
Peadar O’Cearnaigh | thecanary.co | 2020-12-15
In August 2020, The Canary revealed new files, uncovered by author and activist Ciarán MacAirt of Paper Trail, about the McGurk’s bar massacre in Belfast on 4 December 1971. The British loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) blew up McGurk’s, killing 15 innocent people and injuring more than 16. At the time, the…
thecanary.co/uk/2020/12/15/new-documents…
www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2020…
UN documents 375 killings in Colombia in 2020, urges Government action
news.un.org | 2020-12-15
The United Nations has recorded the deaths of 255 people in 66 massacres in Colombia this year, as well as the killing of 120 human rights defenders, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
For U.S.-Mexico Relations, The Real Hope Lies with Energized Social Movements
Laura Carlsen | zcomm.org | 2020-12-15
The real hope doesn’t lie with the governments but in recognizing the power and vision of progressive grassroots organizing…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/for-u-s-mexico-rel…
As COVID Surges Behind Bars in California, Why Is San Quentin Transferring Hundreds of Prisoners?
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-12-15
Prisons across the U.S. are facing their greatest swell in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million incarcerated people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Marshall Project, and advocates are pushing for incarcerated people to be prioritized in the country’s vaccine rollout. All of California’s state prisons have active coronavirus cases, but the California Department of Corrections is continuing to transfer incarcerated people between institutions. San Quentin State Prison has begun the transfer of nearly 300 incarcerated people to other institutions…
www.democracynow.org/2020/12/15/san_quen…
www.democracynow.org/images/story/17/558…
As Johnson threatens UK’s neighbours with gunboats, we revisit the lies underpinning the entire Brexit project
Tom Coburg | thecanary.co | 2020-12-15
Prime minister Boris Johnson has reverted to 19th century gunboat diplomacy, threatening UK’s nearest neighbours and allies over fishing rights. In doing so, he threatens the entire European Union.But we may not have arrived at this sorry state of affairs had it not been for the blatant lies that underpin the entire Brexit project. Let’s remind ourselves of some of those many falsehoods and…
thecanary.co/uk/2020/12/15/as-johnson-th…
www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2020…
Starmer’s purge turns against Palestine solidarity
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-12-15
The ongoing attack on the left in Labour is increasingly targeting those who are vocal in support for Palestine, writes Sybil Cock.
mronline.org/2020/12/15/starmers-purge-t…
mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
Nature under settler colonialism in Palestine
| workers.org | 2020-12-15
By Rana Baker This slightly edited presentation was given by Rana Baker, a Palestinian PhD student at Columbia University, during the online Palestine Writes Festival, Dec. 5. Baker’s research focuses on infrastructure and environmental resources as micro-sites of political struggle in colonial and anti-colonial contexts. A Palestinian incendiary kite crosses . . . | Continue reading Nature under settler colonialism in Palestine at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53226/?utm_source=rs…
www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/gazak…
Moroccan authorities use force to prevent pro-Palestine rally
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-15
The protesters were trying to take out a march opposing Morocco’s deal to normalize its ties with Israel. In exchange for the deal, the US has agreed to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied Western Sahara…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/15/moroccan-…
Brexit Bluster Exposes the Waning of English Power
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-15
I met pleased and gloomy people in the first half of last year when I travelled around the UK writing about the potential impact of Brexit. But by far the happiest of those I interviewed were veteran Irish republicans in Belfast, mostly present or past members of Sinn Fein, who had devoted their lives to…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/15/brexit-blust…
www.counterpunch.org/wp-content/dropzone…
Soleimani entered Gaza to repel Israeli attacks, blockade
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-15
TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (MNA) — Firas Al Najim, a Canada-based human rights activist, points to the role of Martyred Lieutenant General Ghasem Soleimani in the fight against terrorism in West Asia, and his support for Palestinian resistance.
en.mehrnews.com/news/167213/Soleimani-en…
The pandemic of capitalist profiteers
Editor | workers.org | 2020-12-15
There is a new term to describe the super-rich: “centi-billionaires.” They are individuals whose net worth comes to over $100 billion. Having added $67.2 billion to his net worth in 2020, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos tops the list of global centi-billionaires: $182.2 billion as of Dec. 13, according to the . . . | Continue reading The pandemic of capitalist profiteers at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53223/?utm_source=rs…
www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/WWP-E…
Aleppo’s Liberation Three Years Ago Today: Anybody Ashamed?
Jan Oberg | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-15
December 12, 2017, marks the anniversary of the liberation — the West called it fall — of Aleppo in Syria. What happened is conveniently forgotten today by the West. | Some of us can’t and won’t forget what was both world, …
globalresearch.ca/aleppo-liberation-one-…
How Vilsack Should Use His Second Chance
Anthony Pahnke | progressive.org | 2020-12-15
The problems he struggled with during his first stint as agriculture secretary, from corporate concentration to racism, have not gone away.
progressive.org/op-eds/vilsack-use-secon…
How NPR Divides and Conquers
David Rovics | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-15
I listen to NPR a lot. I’m not going to go into all the reasons I do this, but there are many, and they are contradictory. Generally it’s a combination of a desire to know what’s going on from a news source that has actual reporters on the ground, and wanting to know how the liberal elite is spinning everything. Depending on the stories they’re covering, my nickname for the news outlet changes — Nationalist Petroleum Radio, Nationalist Pentagon Radio, Nationalist Privilege Radio.
counterpunch.org/2020/12/15/how-npr-divi…
www.counterpunch.org/wp-content/dropzone…
Workers Struggles: The Americas
wsws.org | 2020-12-15
Health care workers in Ontario, Alberta and other provinces have protested inadequate COVID-19 safety measures while the disease is once again infecting hundreds at meatpacking plants.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/15/wrks…
Jacksonville rallies for justice for Devon Gregory and community control of the police
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-12-15
Jacksonville, FL – On December 11, activists both locally and nationally joined the family of Devon Gregory, an 18-year-old Black man shot 35 times by four Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers, in a day of action for Devon. | Earlier that day at around 11 a.m., Gregory’s family was joined by their attorney, Kevin O’Conner, and organizers from various groups for a press conference on the steps of city hall. | The demands were for a federal investigation of the case, as well as an end to protections for killer cops that are currently in the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, so that evidence such as the remaining body ca…
fightbacknews.org/2020/12/14/jacksonvill…
Biden Urges To ‘Turn the Page’ After Electoral College Victory
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-15
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday night urged the nation to “turn the page” to unite and heal after the Electoral College vote made his victory official. | RELATED: | Biden Administration To Face China’s Presence in Latin America | The electors cast 306 votes for Biden and 232 for Donald Trump based on the 2020 election results in their respective states. To clinch the White House, a candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes of the 538 in total. | “I will be a president…
telesurenglish.net/news/Biden-Urges-To-T…
Concern in Peru over the increase in number of missing women and girls
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-15
According to a recent report by the ombudsman’s office, more than 5,000 women, girls and adolescents have been reported missing in Peru between January and November 2020…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/15/concern-i…
s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.0/72×72/1…
Top grocery chain eliminates 20 million individual pieces of holiday single-use plastic
Amanda Mills | nationofchange.org | 2020-12-15
“It is an absolute priority of ours to remove and reduce the amount of plastic in our stores.”
nationofchange.org/2020/12/15/top-grocer…
Experts Discuss COVID-19: Vaccine Allocation, Placebo Groups, and More
jamanetwork.com | 2020-12-15
This JAMA Live Highlights feature provides comments about the coronavirus 2019 pandemic from experts in clinical medicine, public health, and health policy expressed during livestream interviews with JAMA Network Editor in Chief Howard Bauchner, MD.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticl…
Frederick Wiseman’s ‘City Hall’: Let us now praise democracy
Michael Berkowitz | peoplesworld.org | 2020-12-15
Director Frederick Wiseman has gifted us with a movie for our times. City Hall is all about democracy–how it works, who does it, and why it is so vital. In a time of authoritarian challenges, it could not be more important. Wiseman’s documentary is a brilliant mosaic. He pieces together the work of civil servants …
peoplesworld.org/article/frederick-wisem…
www.peoplesworld.org/wp-content/uploads/…
Russia Begins COVID-19 Vaccination Throughout Its Territory
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-15
Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on Tuesday announced the start of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, adding that his institution has settled a national network for the transportation of the Sputnik V vaccine. | RELATED: | Russian Vaccine Sputnik V Has Over 90 Percent Effectiveness | Besides announcing that President Vladimir Putin’s administration will seek to attract new companies for the production of the vaccine, he explained that the conservation of Sputnik V will b…
telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-Begins-CO…
Changes in Outpatient Buprenorphine Dispensing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Cance J, Doyle E. | jamanetwork.com | 2020-12-15
This study examined outpatient buprenorphine dispensing patterns in Texas before vs after the Drug Enforcement Administration temporarily relaxed outpatient buprenorphine prescribing regulations in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticl…
Germany goes for a stricter semi-lockdown amid alarming COVID-19 spike
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-15
According to the new regulations, schools and non-essential shops will remain closed across Germany from December 16 till January 10. As of December 14, around 1,348,851 COVID-19 cases had been reported in Germany, with 22,607 deaths…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/15/germany-g…
Occupied Palestinian territories struggle to deal with COVID-19 cases
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-15
Latest statistics from Tuesday, December 15, stated that a total of 126,205 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the occupied Palestinian territories, with the death toll currently at 1,107.
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/15/occupied-…
The Enduring Importance of Trust in Leadership of Health Care Organizations