First Glitches Emerge in COVID-Vax Rollout; Alaska Health Worker Suffers ‘Serious Allergic Reaction’
Zero Hedge | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
A healthcare worker in Alaska was hospitalized on Tuesday with a ‘serious allergic reaction’ after receiving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to the New York Times. | The person, who had no known drug allergies, was still in the hospital on …
globalresearch.ca/first-glitches-emerge-…
Push Blue No Matter Who
Geoff Ginter | realprogressives.org | 2020-12-17
This sole focus on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is ridiculous. She’s not the only “progressive” in Congress. She can’t do anything on her own even if one operates under the woefully absurd assumption that all change must come from within the capital. “The squad” is up to, what, seven members now? I think we can start including other names in our critique. Having said that… | Everyone who defends AOC is guilty of a variety of sins. We don’t have any time left for a cult of personality. These people are not heroes. They’re not rock stars. We are not supposed to be fans. | We are suffering. | We are dying.
realprogressives.org/push-blue-no-matter…
Hoarding the Jabs: The Inequalities of Vaccine Distribution
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Public health is no excuse to keep business and patriotism at bay. Not a very humanitarian sentiment, but then again, healing the sick and preserving the healthy can become parochial, nationalist objectives. The least convincing language of the pandemic has …
globalresearch.ca/hoarding-jabs-inequali…
Do You Need A Vaccine? Efficacy and Safety of Ivermectin for Treatment and Prophylaxis of COVID-19 Pandemic
Ahmed Elgazzar | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Abstract | Background: Up-to-date, there is no recognized effective treatment or vaccine for the treatment of COVID-19 that emphasize urgency around distinctive effective therapies. This study aims to evaluate the anti-parasitic medication efficacy “Ivermectin” plus standard care (azithromycin, vitamin C, Zinc, …
globalresearch.ca/efficacy-safety-iverme…
Two corporate coverups: Amazon on coronavirus data, Uber on sexual assault
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-12-17
SACRAMENTO, Calif.–California officials aren’t pulling punches when it comes to going after big corporate capitalists who harm workers, even though it’s the holiday season. The state’s latest moves: Taking on Amazon for not providing coronavirus pandemic data, and fining notorious “gig economy” employer Uber $59 million for not dealing with sexual assault and sexual harassment …
peoplesworld.org/article/two-corporate-c…
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Insurgency Matters: Progressive DAs May Change Policing
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-17
The fateful year of 2020 is coming to an end. It was a year that saw the worse pandemic in the nation’s history devastate the country and an ongoing recession ruin many people’s lives. It was a year that saw, if only during the three-month period of May 26th (the day George Floyd was killed)…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/insurgency-m…
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“Planned Surveillance and Control by Global Technocrats: A Big-Picture Look at the Current Pandemic Beneficiaries,”
Children’s Health Defense | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
An article by Children’s Health Defense on how the pandemic facilitated a financial, tech, biopharmaceutical and military-intelligence push for centralized, technocratic control has been accepted by the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research. | *** | “Planned Surveillance and Control …
globalresearch.ca/chd-article-big-pictur…
Almost 1,000 daily COVID-19 deaths in Germany: The criminal outcome of keeping businesses and schools open
wsws.org | 2020-12-17
Despite the horrific number of deaths, all parties in the German parliament continue to put profit before lives and health.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/17/pers…
France: President Macron Tests Positive for COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-17
France’s President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and will isolate himself for seven days. As a result, his to Lebanon scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday is canceled. | RELATED: | France Fines Google $120M and Amazon $42M for Placing Cookie | First Lady Brigitte Macron, who tested negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday and does not present any symptoms, is also placed in self-isolation. | Prime Minister Jean Castex, who is considered “a contact case” of M…
telesurenglish.net/news/France-President…
Tennessee high school coach’s death underscores dangers of school reopenings and sports
wsws.org | 2020-12-17
David Picklesimer, a 55-year-old high school teacher and coach, is one of hundreds of educators that have died of COVID-19.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/17/tenn…
Uruguay To Close Borders From December 21st Until January 10th
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-17
Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle on Wednesday announced new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases before the festivities for the new year. | RELATED: | Uruguay: State of Emergency Over Severe Drought to Last 90 Days | He announced the closure of borders and the reduction of inter-departmental transportation between December 21 and January 10, 2021. Only Uruguayan citizens or residents, who have acquired their tickets by Dec. 16, will be allowed to enter the country in…
telesurenglish.net/news/Uruguay-To-Close…
Working mothers, children to hold car caravan for COVID childcare leave at full pay
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-12-17
Minneapolis, MN – Hennepin County AFSCME is calling on county commissioners to approve fully-paid COVID child care leave for county employees and to extend emergency COVID protections before provisions expire December 31. | As no action was taken at their final scheduled meeting of 2020 on December 15, Hennepin County AFSCME calls on Board Chair Marion Greene to schedule an emergency board meeting before the December 31 deadline. | Hennepin County AFSCME is also planning a car caravan, Saturday December 19, 1 p.m., starting at Painter Park Parking Lot, 620 W 34th Street, in Minneapolis, to press their demands.
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/12/17/working…
Hunger in America: Covid-19 and the Nightmare of Food Insecurity
Rajan Menon | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-17
As autumn fades and winter looms, the dire predictions public-health experts made about Covid-19 have, unfortunately, proven all-too-accurate. On October 27th, 74,379 people were infected in the United States; less than a month and a half later, on December 9th, that number had soared to 218,677, while the 2020 total has just surpassed 15 million,…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/hunger-in-am…
Accomplished Pharma Prof Thrown in Psych Hospital after Questioning Official COVID Narrative
Jeanne Smits | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Early on December 10, Jean-Bernard Fourtillan was taken from his home by a team of French law enforcement officers and forcibly placed in solitary confinement at the psychiatric hospital of Uzès. | *** | Early on December 10, Jean-Bernard Fourtillan, a …
globalresearch.ca/accomplished-pharma-pr…
Vaccine Passports and Health Passes: Is Showing Your “Papers” the “New Normal?”
Robert Wheeler | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Life cannot return to normal until there is a vaccine for COVID 19. | At least, that is what governments, corporations, and their mainstream propaganda media outlets have been incessantly arguing. Interestingly, the development of that vaccine was “warp speed,” allegedly …
globalresearch.ca/vaccine-passports-heal…
Panama: Students Reject Cuts to Food Solidarity Program
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-17
Panamanians protested over President Laurentino Cortizo’s decision to exclude people under 25 years of age from the “solidarity voucher”, which provides US$100 per month to alleviate the impacts of the COVID-19-triggered crisis. | RELATED: | Panama To Bring Cuban and Venezuelan Doctors to Fight Pandemic | On Wednesday, students gathered in front of the Parliament to reject what they claimed as a “mishandling” of the COVID-19 health crisis by the government. | Besides condemning the…
telesurenglish.net/news/Panama-Students-…
AOC: Nancy Pelosi Needs to Go, but There’s Nobody to Replace Her Yet
Aída Chávez | zcomm.org | 2020-12-17
“We are currently negotiating to get and work towards real material concessions for the left that can move things into place, to help build power for the next two years”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/aoc-nancy-pelosi-n…
UN releases emergency funding for civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray, as Africa’s battle against COVID-19 intensifies
news.un.org | 2020-12-17
The UN has released $36.6 million for civilians caught up in the conflict that has roiled Ethiopia’s Tigray region since early last month, in order to secure water, sanitation and lifesaving medical supplies.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
China, Christmas, and the Coronavirus
Dean Baker | cepr.net | 2020-12-17
As we hunker down this holiday season, waiting for our vaccines, or at least until the diffusion of the vaccines has slowed the spread of the pandemic, it’s worth thinking for a moment about an opportunity lost. Specifically, we lost an opportunity to have worldwide cooperation in the development of vaccines, bringing in not only …
cepr.net/china-christmas-and-the-coronav…
“Gold standard” COVID-19 tests free for students and staff
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-12-17
Imperial is providing COVID-19 testing to its community.
imperial.ac.uk/news/211093/gold-standard-covid-19-tests-free-students
The coronavirus has closed more than 60 local newsrooms across America
Kristen Hare | zcomm.org | 2020-12-17
At first, the pandemic cost newsrooms jobs and communities critical work. Now it’s starting to end entire newsrooms…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-coronavirus-ha…
As Wealthy Countries Hoard Vaccine Supply, Pandemic Could Rage in Poor Countries Until 2024
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-12-17
Health experts are raising concerns that wealthy countries have reserved enough coronavirus vaccine doses to immunize their populations multiple times over, while poorer countries may only have enough to vaccinate about 20%. Reuters reports the World Health Organization’s global plan for delivering COVID-19 vaccines to 91 poor and middle-income countries faces a “very high” risk of failure and could leave billions of people with no access to vaccines until 2024. “What we see is that something like 90% of all the vaccine doses that have been purchased have actually been done directly by countries, mostly middle-in…
www.democracynow.org/2020/12/17/global_v…
www.democracynow.org/images/story/55/558…
“No Reason to Let Up” on Masks as U.S. COVID-19 Deaths & Infections Skyrocket During Vaccine Rollout
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-12-17
As the “very exciting” rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution gets underway in the United States, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says the country is still experiencing “astronomical” numbers of new infections and deaths. “We’ve just had a federal government that has given up on any efforts to try and control the pandemic,” he says. “What we have to do is get through the next few months with basic public health measures until vaccines become widely available and widely adopted. Until that time, there is no reason to let up whatsoever.”
www.democracynow.org/2020/12/17/us_coron…
www.democracynow.org/images/story/58/558…
Bezos’ Earth Fund Is An Unnatural Disaster
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-17
Now is the time for undeniably powerful grassroots leadership. If we’ve learned anything this year from the brilliant, brave, bold, and beautiful Black, Brown, Indigenous and other frontline communities and workers fighting inequitable impacts of pandemics, pollution, poverty, climate disaster and emboldened racism, it’s that real change happens at the grassroots. | Yet, in a year when frontline leadership is clearly critical, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (through his newly launched Earth Fund) has doubled down on philanthropy’s inequitable modus operandi by funneling hundreds of millions into outdated, ineffective, top…
popularresistance.org/bezos-earth-fund-i…
US COVID-19 Deaths and Infections Shatter Records During Vaccine Rollout
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-17
As the “very exciting” rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution gets underway in the United States, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says the country is still experiencing “astronomical” numbers of new infections and deaths. “We’ve just had a federal government that has given up on any efforts to try and control the pandemic,” he says. “What we have to do is get through the next few months with basic public health measures until vaccines become widely availab…
truthout.org/video/us-covid-19-deaths-an…
truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
Coronavirus spread during dental procedures could be reduced with slower drills
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-12-17
Research from Imperial and King’s College London has found that careful operation of dental drills can minimise the aerosol spread of COVID-19.
imperial.ac.uk/news/211153/coronavirus-spread-during-dental-procedures-could
Mitch McConnell Wants to Let Corporations Kill You
Thom Hartmann | zcomm.org | 2020-12-17
The Senate GOP leader’s refusal to pass COVID-19 aid without corporate immunity should be the scandal of the year…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/mitch-mcconnell-wa…
Ilhan Omar Says Congress Is “Not Embarrassed Enough” for Failing on COVID Relief
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-17
With a coronavirus relief deal finally coming together after months of disastrous inaction from Congress and obstruction by the GOP, Rep. Ilhan Omar said late Wednesday that lawmakers should be “embarrassed” by the inadequacy of the emerging package given the scale of the public health and economic emergencies facing the country. | In an interview on “The Me…
truthout.org/articles/ilhan-omar-says-co…
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Frontline Warehouse Workers Are Worried They’ll Be Passed Over for COVID Vaccine
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-17
As Hal ≠loween approached, Ronald Jack ≠son spent his days at a Chica ≠go-area ware ≠house for the Mars can ≠dy com ≠pa ≠ny ‚Äã”get ≠ting Hal ≠loween can ≠dy to Amer ≠i ≠ca.” After co-work ≠ers got Covid-19, Jack ≠son com ≠plained to man ≠age ≠ment about a lack of safe ≠ty pre ≠cau ≠tions. Rather than improv ≠ing pre ≠cau ≠tions, he said, the com ≠pa ≠ny fired Jack ≠son for an alleged infrac &ne…
truthout.org/articles/frontline-warehous…
truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
No Flu this Year? Or Is Flu the Second Wave of Covid?
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Is there no flu this year or is flu “the second wave of Covid?” | Don’t expect any honest answer from health authorities. They have the fear running strong, so strong that people are submitting to needless lockdowns that are causing …
globalresearch.ca/no-flu-this-year-or-is…
From AIDS HIV To Covid-19: Lessons Today With UCSF Epidemiologist Dr.George Rutherford
Labor Video Project | indybay.org | 2020-12-17
Dr. George Rutherford a UCSF professor and world expert on HIV AIDS is interviewed about the lessons of HIV AIDS and fighting Covid-19.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/12/16/1883895…
Afghanistan: Dedicated support required for ‘bigger year’ ahead
news.un.org | 2020-12-17
Although Afghanistan is coming to the end of a monumental year, authorities will still require international support as they assume greater responsibility for national security while battling COVID-19 and other challenges, UN Special Representative Deborah Lyons told a virtual meeting of the Security Council on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
UNICEF supporting emergency food aid for UK children over holidays
news.un.org | 2020-12-17
Thousands of families in the United Kingdom impacted by COVID-19 are to receive “one-off…emergency” food assistance from UN Children’s Fund UNICEF over the upcoming holiday period and beyond, it has announced.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…
Who’s afraid of Glenn Greenwald?
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-12-17
Today, swarms of Corporate Media “self-limiting mosquitoes” are rejoicing–in their small buzzing ways–over the self-banishment of that notorious gadfly Glenn Greenwald from the Kingdom of Left-Liberal-“Woke!” orthodoxical rectitude.
mronline.org/2020/12/17/whos-afraid-of-g…
mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/…
US Embassy Caught Scrubbing Tweets Urging Venezuelans Not to Vote
Alan MacLeod | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
The United States embassy for Venezuela has been caught deleting tweets undermining the integrity of the December 6 National Assembly elections in the country and calling on Venezuelans not to participate in them. | “Tomorrow in Venezuela there will be | …
globalresearch.ca/us-embassy-caught-scru…
Economic Consequences of a 2nd Economic ‘Mitigation’ Bill
Jack Rasmus | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-17
As of mid-December 2020 the US economy has begun showing increasing signs of an exceptionally weak 4th quarter, October-December, growth. After having collapsed -10.5% in the March-June 2020 period, followed by a partial ‘rebound’ (not sustained recovery) in the 3rd quarter, July-September 2020, the economy is now slowing rapidly once again. Dismal reports of consumer and especially…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/economic-con…
PDF of December 17 issue
Workers World Party | workers.org | 2020-12-17
Download the 12-page PDF. ‘Red House on Mississippi Ave.’ Portland activists block eviction Fight for Mumia’s freedom; NYC cops & landlords, hand in hand; Boston solidarity with workers, farmers in India; Buffalo anti-racists face down fascists; Michigan: Confronting white supremacy; Justice for Casey Goodson! Attack on anti-ICE marchers; Indigenous land . . . | Continue reading PDF of December 17 issue at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53285/?utm_source=rs…
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When the People Rose: How the Intifada Changed the Political Discourse around Palestine
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-17
December 8 came and went as if it was an ordinary day. For Palestinian political groups, it was another anniversary to be commemorated, however hastily. It was on this day, thirty-three years ago, that the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising) broke out, and there was nothing ordinary about this historic event. Today, the uprising is merely…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/when-the-peo…
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‘Intentional lethal force’: UN experts slam Israel for killing Palestinian child
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-17
‘Intentional lethal force’: UN experts slam Israel for killing Palestinian child | Fatal shooting of 15-year-old Ali Abu Aliya a ‘grave violation of international law’, says UN Human Rights Office | MEE staff | Thu, 12/17/2020 – 19: 36 | Experts call for transparent investigation into killing of Ali Abu Aliya (Photo supplied) | United Nations experts condemned the Israeli military for killing a Palestinian child during a…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palest…
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Israel’s Benny Gantz gives interview to Saudi newspaper
Mustafa Abu Sneineh | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-17
Israel’s Benny Gantz gives interview to Saudi newspaper | The minister of defence told Asharq al-Awsat that Jerusalem should remain fully under Israeli control and pushed for annexation of parts of the West Bank | Mustafa Abu Sneineh | Thu, 12/17/2020 – 15: 14 | Benny Gantz speaks to the media near Kibbutz Ravid in the northern part of Israel, on 27 October 2020 (AFP) | Israeli Defence Minister Benny G…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-saudi-…
www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/file…
When the People Rose
Ramzy Baroud | zcomm.org | 2020-12-17
How the Intifada Changed the Political Discourse around Palestine…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/when-the-people-ro…
Video: Russian Forces Establish Presence on Syrian-Iraqi Border
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-17
Over the past weeks, the Syrian Army and its allies have intensified their operations against ISIS cells hiding in the Homs-Deir Ezzor desert. | According to pro-government sources, during the past few days, Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias carried out …
globalresearch.ca/video-russian-forces-e…
China’s Economy of Peace
Peter Koenig | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-12-17
In the context of China’s webinar on 14 December 2020, on the topic of “China’s New Development Paradigm and High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation”, organized by the China Center for Contemporary World Studies, International Department of CPC Central Committee and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, my presentation was on China’s …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/12/chinas-econom…
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Unemployment Skyrocketing? An Evolved Society Would Celebrate
Lee Camp | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-17
Leaf blowers are everything wrong with capitalism. . . . I’ll explain that in a minute. We all know times are irredeemably grim, and they’re only getting worse. The unemployment level in America seems to be setting the record books aflame, and for some bizarre reason those numbers correlate nicely with the number of Americans under 40…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/17/unemployment…
ICC Drops Inquiry Into British War Crimes In Iraq
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-17
The International Criminal Court (ICC) decided, on December 9, to abandon its inquiry into war crimes committed by British forces during the Iraq war, despite its investigation having concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were in fact committed. | Fatou Bensouda, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, announced in a public statement that she had decided to close the preliminary examination and not pursue an investigation into war crimes committed by the British Armed Forces in Iraq. The Chief Prosecutor also confirmed in her statement that despite closing the case, the report had found “…that…
popularresistance.org/icc-drops-inquiry-…
Communist-led coalition sweeps local body elections in the southern Indian State of Kerala
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-17
The alliance led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has won more seats in local government bodies than the opposition groups combined…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/17/communist…
The revolutionaries, when they rise, care for nothing but love
Vijay Prashad | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-17
A decade has now slipped by since a man named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on 17 December 2010. Bouazizi, a street vendor, took this extreme step after policemen harassed him for trying to survive. Not long after, thousands of people in this small Tunisian town gathered in the street to express their anger. Their outburst spread to the capital city, Tunis, where trade unions, social organisations, political parties, and civic groups marched into the avenues to overthrow the government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Demonstrations in Tunisia inspired similar outbreaks aroun…