Israeli Siege of Gaza producing “Grotesque” Medical Crisis
Infformed Comment – Middle East Monitor – February 3, 2019
https://www.juancole.com/2019/02/producing-grotesque-european.html
Israeli restrictions… have produced chronic shortages of almost all essential medicines and hospital equipment, of fuel to run hospital generators, the cancellation of all elective surgery (affecting more than 6000 people), hospital closures, and many doctors and staff on reduced or no pay… The group of medical and health professionals described this as a “grotesque situation” and “a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention” that guarantees unfettered access to medical facilities for conflict-affected populations.
ICE confirms asylum-seekers on hunger strike over abusive conditions are being force-fed
The Daily Kos – February 1, 2019 – Gabe Ortiz
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/1/1831442/-ICE-confirms-detainees-on-hunger-strike-over-abusive-conditions-are-being-forced-fed
Some strikers also say they have been verbally abused, while others are undergoing “debilitating angst created by a total absence of information about their impending asylum cases.” They are striking because they are desperate, but someone is now finally listening. “I was deeply alarmed by this report,” tweeted Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas. “I immediately requested a visit, and was able to spend several hours this afternoon at the detention facility talking to personnel and to 6 detainees being force-fed, many of whom have been detained for 15-18 months.”… Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tweeted, “none of this should be happening in America.”
Bayer-Monsanto Merger: Endangering Our Health, Food, Farms & Planet
The Real News – February 1, 2019 – Marc Steiner interviews Tiffany Finck-Haynes, program manager for Pesticides and Pollinators at Friends of the Earth
https://therealnews.com/stories/bayer-monsanto-merger-endangering-our-health-food-farms-planet
The US Department of Justice finalized its approval of the Bayer and Monsanto merger. A new monopoly will be created over agricultural pesticides and industrial seed production, with farmers locked into industrial farming and of our health endangered.
Climate Change in 2019: What Have We Learned From 2018?
Truth Out – February 3, 2019 – Bruce Melton
https://truthout.org/articles/climate-change-in-2019-what-have-we-learned-from-2018/
The most significant development of 2018 on the climate front is arguably the Green New Deal. The plan’s goal is to drive “the transition of the United States economy to become greenhouse gas emissions neutral and to significantly draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans and to promote economic and environmental justice and equality.”… The plan would also provide training and education, including a living wage; diversify local economies, especially in fossil fuel-rich regions; uphold worker rights; ensure justice and equity in low-income and underprivileged sectors; protect and enforce sovereign rights; mitigate deeply entrenched inequalities in income and wealth; include universal health care; and deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment.
As Trump Spreads ‘Division’ and ‘Denial’ in SOTU Address, Sunrise Movement Will Present Plan to Achieve Green New Deal
Common Dreams – February 5, 2019 – Jake Johnson
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/05/trump-spreads-division-and-denial-sotu-address-sunrise-movement-will-present-plan
“As Trump gets ready to spread his message of fear, division, and denial,” Sunrise declared, “we’ll be laying out our plans for how to bring the Green New Deal to every corner of this country and elevate the crisis that our president and his fossil fuel billionaire friends want us to ignore.”… What if taking on climate change could create a better economy and millions of jobs?… The Green New Deal is a plan to slash inequality and rebuild our communities while tackling the biggest threat of our time.
UK & EU Continue Massive Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Claims Study
Clean Technica – January 25, 2019 – Steve Hanley
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/25/uk-eu-continue-massive-fossil-fuel-subsidies-claims-study/
The grip of fossil fuel companies on the purse strings of national governments throughout Europe and the world is as strong today as it ever was. They may try to disguise their activities by arguing about semantics, but the Earth has no time left for word games… Even today, as the polar ice caps disintegrate before our eyes, there is little sense of urgency about the rapidly approaching environmental calamity.
U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn Climate Change Is a Worldwide Threat
Inside Climate News – January 30, 2019 – Neela Banerjee
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30012019/worldwide-threat-assessment-climate-change-intelligence-agencies-national-security
Released Tuesday, the Worldwide Threat Assessment prepared by the Director of National Intelligence added to a swelling chorus of scientific and national security voices in pointing out the ways climate change fuels widespread insecurity and erodes America’s ability to respond to it.
Industrial Agriculture,an Extraction Industry like Fossil Fuels, a Growing Driver of Climate Change
Inside Climate News – January 25, 2019 – Georgina Gustin
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25012019/climate-change-agriculture-farming-consolidation-corn-soybeans-meat-crop-subsidies
For several decades, ever-bigger and less-varied farms have overtaken diversified operations … replacing them with industrialized row crops or gigantic impoundments of cattle, hogs and chickens. This trend is a central reason why American agriculture has failed to deal with climate change, a crisis that has been made worse by large-scale farming practices even as it afflicts farmers themselves.
The MLK Speech We Need Today Is Not the One We Remember Most
Time Magazine – January 17, 2019 – Viet Thanh Nguyen
http://time.com/5505453/martin-luther-king-beyond-vietnam/
His speech “Beyond Vietnam,” from 1967, is actually the more insightful one. It is also a much more dangerous and disturbing speech, which is why far fewer Americans have heard of it. And yet it is the speech that we needed to hear then–and need to hear today… What King understood was that the war was destroying not only the character of the U.S. but also the character of its soldiers… King’s prophecy connects the war in Vietnam with our forever wars today, spread across multiple countries and continents, waged without end from global military bases numbering around 800. Some of the strategy for our forever war comes directly from lessons that the American military learned in Vietnam: drone strikes instead of mass bombing; volunteer soldiers instead of draftees; censorship of gruesome images from the battlefronts; and encouraging the reverence of soldiers.
Makers of Nuclear Weapons Only Winners, Warn Critics, as Trump Ditches INF Treaty
Common Dreams – February 1, 2019 – Jessica Corbett
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/01/makers-nuclear-weapons-only-winners-warn-critics-trump-ditches-inf-treaty
Flipping over the negotiating table and storming out of the room may have worked in real estate, but when you’re dealing with nuclear treaties, the risk of misplaying your hand isn’t a failed business venture—it’s an arms race and possibly nuclear war… “The only ones applauding the decision to tear up the INF Treaty are the nuclear weapons manufacturers, eagerly anticipating the kickoff of Cold War II,” noted Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Sending the Military to Venezuela Would Make Things Worse
Time Magazine – January 31, 2019 – James Stavridis
http://time.com/5516698/nicolas-maduro-juan-guaido-venezuela-trump-military/
A full-blown invasion by the U.S. would foment rage in the region and internationally… Everywhere I went as a four-star Admiral in the region while commanding U.S. Southern Command, I would be reminded of America’s history of intervention… Our best set of options begin with working assiduously with our allies, partners and friends — especially those in the region — to resolve the instability and economic disaster in Venezuela peacefully.
Revealed: how big dairy pushed fattier milks into US schools
The Guardian – February 4, 2019 – Jessica Glenza
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/03/revealed-dairy-lobby-fat-milk-trump-sonny-perdue
The Trump administration has worked closely with the dairy lobby, allowing the drinks’ reintroduction despite opposition.
Poor students more likely to play football, despite brain injury concerns
NPR – February 4, 2019 – Michel Martin
https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/poor-students-more-likely-to-play-football-despite-brain-injury-concerns/
After years of publicity about how dangerous football can be, football enrollment has declined 6.6 percent in the past decade, according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations. Those who still play the sport are increasingly low-income students… Football offers a path to upward mobility that is not really available through any other extracurricular activity.
We Welcome Asylum Seekers and Defend Their Rights
Common Dreams – February 5, 2019 – Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Noam Chomsky, Noura Erakat and Tom Morello
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/05/we-welcome-asylum-seekers-and-defend-their-rights
We—activists, scholars, writers and artists—strongly condemn President Trump’s efforts to vilify, intimidate, and use force against refugees and asylum seekers at and approaching the U.S. border. We are deeply troubled by the government’s responses to current and recent asylum seekers, which include the deployment of military personnel to an already highly militarized border, and expansion of detention facilities meant to incarcerate people entering the U.S. rather than welcome them. We reject President Trump’s maligning of the refugees as an “invasion.” And we recognize the fact that U.S. political, economic, and military activities in Central America have contributed to the situation that so many people—including families with small children—are fleeing.
Finland basic income trial left people ‘happier but jobless’
BBC – February 8, 2019 – Ashitha Nagesh
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47169549
Supporters of basic income often believe an unconditional safety net can help people out of poverty, by giving them the time to apply for jobs or learn essential new skills. This is seen as increasingly important in the age of automation – that is, put very simply, as robots take people’s jobs… Economics writer Grace Blakely makes this point in the New Socialist: without fundamental structural reforms to our economic system, UBI will only be a sticking plaster papering over the cracks.
Trump Versus the Socialist Menace
The New York Times – February 7, 2019 – Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/trump-socialism-state-of-the-union.html
What Americans who support “socialism” actually want is what the rest of the world calls social democracy: A market economy, but with extreme hardship limited by a strong social safety net and extreme inequality limited by progressive taxation. They want us to look like Denmark or Norway, not Venezuela… voters overwhelmingly support most of the policies proposed by American “socialists,” including higher taxes on the wealthy and making Medicare available to everyone (although they don’t support plans that would force people to give up private insurance — a warning to Democrats not to make single-payer purity a litmus test).
Everybody In, Nobody Out
Portside – Common Dreams – February 9, 2019 – Benjamin Day and Mark Dudzic
https://portside.org/2019-02-09/everybody-nobody-out
What We Know So Far About the Medicare for All Act of 2019… Every resident of the United States would be eligible for coverage under the new health plan… Freedom to choose providers will be protected… Incorporate [input from] disability advocacy and senior citizen communities… Ensure women’s access to the full range of reproductive health services… The bill embraces the principle of a single standard of care for all Americans.
Capitalism vs. Socialism Is a False Choice
Yes! Magazine – February 7, 2019 – David Korten
https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/the-plutocracy-we-have-vs-the-democracy-most-americans-want-20190207
We stand at an epic choice point for our nation and for humanity. The plutocracy now in place has put us on a path to self-extinction—a future with no winners, rich or poor. We must now seek a path that restores the health of Earth’s regenerative systems while securing equity, material sufficiency, peace, and spiritual abundance for all—exactly the opposite of the plutocrats’ drive to secure the power, privilege, and material excess for themselves. This makes democracy far more than just a good idea; it is now an imperative… The political and economic democracy we seek cannot be easily characterized as either capitalist or socialist. It is a system of substantially self-reliant local economies composed of locally owned enterprises and community-secured safety nets with responsibilities shared by families, charities, and governments. Such a system facilitates self-organizing to create healthy, happy, and productive communities.