Staff (2021-03-17). With First Native Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, Hope Grows U.S. Will Confront Toxic Uranium Legacy. democracynow.org Deb Haaland, a tribal citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, is being sworn in as secretary of the interior and will be the first Native American ever to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet. Just four Republicans joined Democrats in voting to confirm Haaland, who will manage 500 million acres of federal and tribal land. Haaland will also oversee government relations with 574 federally recognized tribal nations and is expected to address the legacy of uranium mining on Indigenous land and other areas. Leona Morgan, a Diné anti-nuclear activist and community organizer, says that while it's "impossible to expect one person…

Ramzy Baroud (2021-03-17). The Ongoing Calamity: US Collective Punishment of the Venezuelan People Must End. dissidentvoice.org Recent statements made by US officials suggest that Washington will continue to pursue a hardline policy on Venezuela. The new Biden Administration, however, needs to urgently rethink its approach. US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, remarked on February 3 that he "certainly" does not "expect this administration to be engaging directly with (President) Maduro." Namely, …

Binoy Kampmark (2021-03-17). The University Deception: Rankings and Academic Freedom. counterpunch.org Forget the global university rankings of any list. The global university promotion exercise is filled with snake oil and perfumed refuse, an effort to corrupt the unknowing and steal from the gullible. The aim here is to convince parents, potential students and academics that their institutions of white collar crime are appealing enough to warrant

Martha Grevatt (2021-03-17). Bust the filibuster! Pass the PRO Act! workers.org On March 9 the House of Representatives passed the Protect the Right to Organize Act, the most sweeping amendment to the 1935 National Labor Relations Act since the notorious, union-busting Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Unions are now demanding the Senate pass the PRO Act, which undoes parts of Taft-Hartley and . . . |

RT (2021-03-17). False alarm or malicious rumor? Twitter account claiming to be Ecuadorian FM falsely announces death of Julian Assange. rt.com A Twitter account purporting to belong to Ecuador's newly promoted foreign minister has falsely reported Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's death, acknowledging the news is "unconfirmed." It's not clear who's behind the report. | A recently created Twitter account supposedly belonging to Ecuadorian FM Manuel Mejía Dalmau posted an "URGENT" message on Wednesday declaring "diplomatic sources in London" had reported "the news of the death of Julian Assange," the Wikileaks founder's partner Stella Moris revealed on Wednesday, posting a screenshot of the tweet that noted the report was "unconfirmed." | pic.t…

Staff (2021-03-17). Jackson Mayor Demands Help After Month-Long Water Crisis Amid Pandemic, Racism, Broken Infrastructure. democracynow.org Residents in Jackson, Mississippi, have been facing a water crisis over the last five weeks, with many people lacking reliable access to clean drinking water after deadly February winter storms caused pipes and water mains to burst. While water delivery has largely been restored, "boil water" orders remain in effect for most people. The city estimates it could cost $2 billion to fix the city's water system. The crisis in Jackson, which is 82% Black, highlights how climate catastrophe threatens much of the nation's aging infrastructure. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba says while the city "contributes millions of dollar…

Staff (2021-03-17). "Suave": New Podcast Follows One Man's Journey to Freedom After a Life Sentence Without Parole at 17. democracynow.org A new Futuro Media podcast, "Suave," tells the story of one person's journey to freedom after receiving a life sentence without parole at the age of 17. David Luis "Suave" Gonzalez met journalist Maria Hinojosa in 1993 during a talk at the prison in Pennsylvania where he was serving a sentence for first-degree homicide. For years, Gonzalez and Hinojosa stayed in touch through letters, visits and phone calls that Hinojosa recorded. The seven-part podcast series chronicles Gonzalez's experience as he is eventually given the opportunity to experience life on the outside for the first time, after the 2016 Supreme Cou…

Kathy Durkin (2021-03-17). Philippine activists demand: 'Stop the killings and arrests!'. workers.org "Kill them all!" ordered Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, addressing the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines on March 5. Two days later, state forces following the dictator's edict carried out a deadly attack on progressive activists in the Southern Tagalog region. Protest against the March 7 massacre . . . |

Staff (2021-03-17). Asian Americans Reel in Response to Gun Attack on Massage Parlors in Georgia. truthout.org A 21-year-old white man was taken into custody Tuesday night as the primary suspect in three metro Atlanta massage parlor shootings that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent. | While law enforcement officials have yet to determine suspected gunman Robert Aaron Long's motive, advocacy groups and lawmakers feared that the massacre was an anti-Asian hate crime given the establishments targeted and the victims, which also included a white man and woman. | Stop AAPI Hate, a…

RT (2021-03-17). Georgia mass shooting suspect may have 'SEX ADDICTION' and wanted to 'eliminate temptation' at massage parlors — police. rt.com The suspect behind a string of shootings at massage parlors in Georgia has told police he wanted to "eliminate" sexual temptation and the massacre was not racially motivated. | Robert Aaron Long, 21, told police he was trying to eliminate the temptation of the spas, which he allegedly visited, and claimed he had an addiction to sex. | "He gave indications that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction," Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds told reporters, adding that Long "may have frequented some of these places in the past" and could have been "lashing out." | Eight people were killed in the shootin…

Ellis Cose (2021-03-17). Racial Justice and Civil Liberties: An Inseparable History at the ACLU. aclu.org After World War I, it quickly became clear that the war to make the world "safe for democracy" had not made America safe for equality. Anti-Black race riots ripped through Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., and even Elaine, Arkansas. In October 1919, after Black sharecroppers in Elaine convened a union meeting, newspapers labeled the effort a "Negro uprising." The state mobilized troops and mobs to quell the rebellion. The result was "possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States," concluded the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. | The American Civil Liberties Union's origin…

Dianne Mathiowetz (2021-03-17). Killings of Korean women reflects U.S. misogyny and racism. workers.org Demonstrators at "Love Our Communities: Build Collective Power" rally to raise awareness of anti-Asian violence in Los Angeles, March 13. Atlanta Beginning at 5 p.m., March 16, the first horrific news of the murders of four people and the wounding of a fifth at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, a . . . |

Judy Greenspan (2021-03-17). California rally: 'Union busting is disgusting!'. workers.org San Francisco, March 12 San Francisco March 12 — Labor union and community members rallied today in front of the offices of Morgan Lewis, a law firm with offices in 31 cities around the world with a sordid history of union busting. Morgan Lewis was recently hired by Amazon to . . . |

Eds. (2021-03-17). The watchdogs of imperialism and the Uyghur genocide slander. mronline.org MR Online

Parth M.N. (2021-03-17). India's Farm Crisis: "How Long Will the Lies Work?" counterpunch.org If it weren't for the violent blows of police lathi s, the farmers protesting in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district would not have left their protest site on January 27. "The protest had been going on for 40 days," says Brijpal Singh, 52, a sugarcane farmer from Baraut town, where the sit-in was held. "It was not

The Conversation (2021-03-17). Every day is war' — a decade of slow suffering and destruction in Syria. juancole.com By Ammar Azzouz | — Abduljalil sent me a photo of his ruined home in Homs, Syria. "It is the third floor", he told me over WhatsApp. The building still stands but it looks like an empty skeleton. Most of its facade has been destroyed, while piles of debris surround it. Residents have not been …

Tomdispatch (2021-03-17). On January 6th, the U.S. Became a Foreign Country. juancole.com By Kevin Tillman | — ( Tomdispatch.com) — Just about everyone was shocked by what happened at the Capitol building on January 6th. But as a former soldier in America's forever wars, horrifying as the scenes were, I also found what happened strangely familiar, almost inevitable. I thought that, if only we had taken our …

Eds. (2021-03-17). Magellan, inquisition and globalisation. mronline.org MR Online

Eds. (2021-03-17). Trigger words and the duty of revolutionaries in the Internet era. mronline.org MR Online

John Wojcik, C.J. Atkins (2021-03-17). Biden administration 'tackling' difficult border situation, progressives say step up the pace. peoplesworld.org In its attempts to deal with rising numbers of immigrants at the southwest border, the Biden administration is facing strong criticism from many different sources, some of it legitimate but much of it outrageously hypocritical. The administration's head of Homeland Security insisted yesterday that the situation is "under control." He made that assertion during a …

Chauncey K. Robinson (2021-03-17). One year later: Don't forget about Breonna Taylor. peoplesworld.org Her death sparked a movement for change. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand accountability for months following the killing of Breonna Taylor and other African Americans at the hands of police. On the one-year anniversary of Taylor's death, there is still justice to be fought for. The fight goes beyond a trending …

Climate Nexus (2021-03-17). Environmentalists seek climate action in U.S. infrastructure bill. peoplesworld.org Environmental groups are launching a $10 million push for Congress to make climate change central to infrastructure legislation. "The Great American Build" campaign, a joint effort of Climate Power, the League of Conservation Voters and Potential Energy Coalition, will pressure lawmakers to include funding for climate action as part of the emerging infrastructure package. "Americans elected pro-climate …

Mark Gruenberg (2021-03-17). Columbia University forces TAs, RAs to strike, again. peoplesworld.org NEW YORK—For the second time in four years, Columbia University's intransigent bosses' refusal to meaningfully bargain for a contract with their more than 2,000 teaching assistants and resident assistants forced those workers to strike. The walkout began on March 16, even though a three-and-a-half-hour bargaining session was scheduled for that afternoon. The two sides are …

Alan Macleod (2021-03-17). Twitter Deletes QAnon to Protect US from Upheaval; Russia May Delete Twitter for the Same Reason. mintpressnews.com With American social media companies increasingly controlled by the national security state, Russia is considering bans on the likes of Twitter and YouTube.

M. G. Piety (2021-03-17). Diversity and False Dichotomies at Smith College. counterpunch.org Can exchanges between individuals always unproblematically be characterized as either racist or not racist? Bret Stephens appears to think so. Smith College hired an independent law firm to investigate what a student argued was a racist incident on campus back in 2018. The investigation ended with a finding of "no persuasive evidence of bias." This

Andrew Bankson (2021-03-17). Pittsburgh's city budget works for the police but not for the people. liberationnews.org The Pittsburgh city budget is a further entrenchment of the same capitalist status quo…

G. Dunkel (2021-03-17). Greek unions say 'No!' to police violence. workers.org The banner of the Federation of Construction Workers (member of the All Workers Militant Front — PAME) at an anti-police violence march in Greece, March 9. Behind the union banner of the Federation of Construction Workers of Greece bearing the slogan "Money for health and education! No to repression and . . . |

Walden Bello (2021-03-17). John Locke and the Roots of White Supremacy in the US. counterpunch.org Ideas count — sometimes, they are even stronger than material interests. This is the case with the legacy of 17th century philosopher John Locke in the United States, which is central to explaining why class solidarity is so weak while white racial solidarity is so strong. Recent events have confirmed the unfortunate fact that there

Media Lens (2021-03-17). The Impossible Peter Oborne. dissidentvoice.org On the face of it, Peter Oborne is impossible. It's not possible to be educated at Sherborne independent school, at Cambridge University, to work as political editor of the Spectator, as chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, as a journalist at the Evening Standard, as a commentator at the Express, to make nearly 30 …

Tina Ngo, Wai Lee Chin Feman, Bethie Wang (2021-03-17). Why are hate crimes against Asian Americans on the rise? liberationnews.org Over the past year, we have seen an alarming surge in racist violence directed toward Asian Americans.

Joel Wendland-Liu (2021-03-17). 'Making it' in America as pure fantasy: Ayad Akhtar's 'Homeland Elegies: A Novel'. peoplesworld.org The book jacket describes Homeland Elegies as "art family drama, part social essay, part picaresque novel." The decision to confuse these genres is both tantalizing and frustrating. Its subtitle identifies it as "a novel." This pre-pandemic text refers often to real-life events, such as to his own plays and to main actors in those plays …

Nomi Prins (2021-03-17). Infrastructure Should Be the Great Economic Equalizer. counterpunch.org During the Trump years, the phrase "Infrastructure Week" rang out as a sort of Groundhog Day-style punchline. What began in June 2017 as a failed effort by The Donald's White House and a Republican Senate to focus on the desperately needed rebuilding of American infrastructure morphed into a meme and a running joke in Washington.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-03-17). OSHA targets coronavirus inspections to health care, meatpacking firms. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—Carrying out Democratic President Joe Biden's executive order, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's inspectors will put health care firms—including hospitals and nursing homes—and meat and poultry packers at the top of its inspections and enforcement list in the war against the coronavirus. It's especially going to focus its ire on employers who retaliate against …

Editor (2021-03-17). °Que se abran las fronteras! workers.org Muertes de migrantes: øQuién es el VERDADERO culpable? No tenía por qué suceder. Pero, trágicamente, así pasó. Y lo más probable es que no sea la última vez. El 2 de marzo, 12 personas murieron instantáneamente cuando la camioneta en la que viajaban fue golpeada de costado por un camión . . . |

MEE staff (2021-03-17). Egypt's mass demolitions of Sinai homes 'likely war crimes'. middleeasteye.net Egypt's mass demolitions of Sinai homes 'likely war crimes' | Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 12,350 buildings have been demolished by the Egyptian military in the restive Sinai | Wed, 03/17/2021 – 11: 32 | Image grab, taken from a video released by the official Facebook page of Egypt's military spokesman on 8 December 2020, shows Egyptian army vehicles driving in the desert (Screengrab)
| The…

Umar A Farooq (2021-03-17). Pro-Palestinian groups urge Canada to cancel purchase of Israeli drone. middleeasteye.net Pro-Palestinian groups urge Canada to cancel purchase of Israeli drone | Canadian NGO says Ottawa's recent purchase of civilian version of military drone implicitly rewards Israel | Wed, 03/17/2021 – 14: 24 | Canada first announced its purchase of Israeli-made drone last December (AFP) | Pro-Palestinian groups are urging the Canadian government to cancel a $36m purchase of an Israeli-made civilian…

Staff (2021-03-17). Amazon Is Hiring Aggressive Firms to Bust Union Efforts. truthout.org Since the start of the year, Amazon has subjected its almost 6,000 warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, to a relentless and

Staff (2021-03-17). Spain Plans to Begin Experimenting With a Four-Day Workweek. truthout.org As the coronavirus pandemic changes the way societies around the world view work, Spain has announced it will begin a limited trial of a four-day workweek in a bid to boost productivity, mental health, and the environment. | The Guardian

Staff (2021-03-17). Sanders Pitches Bill to Close Wide Pay Gap Between CEOs and the Average Worker. truthout.org Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Wednesday unveiled legislation that would hike taxes on large corporations that pay their CEOs over 50 times more than the median worker, an effort to combat the decades-long trend of skyrocketing inequality in the United States. | Under the

Guest Contributor (2021-03-17). Pandemic NHS workers should be granted indefinite leave to remain — Aaron Gates-Lincoln. ukhumanrightsblog.com Migrant workers have been essential to the operations of the NHS ever since its inception in 1948. Over the decades, many programmes have been used to encourage and find overseas workers and help them migrate to the UK to be employed in the healthcare system, demonstrating our governments acknowledgment of how important they are. As …

Staff (2021-03-17). Wisconsin GOP Rejects Black History Month Resolution But Honors Rush Limbaugh. truthout.org The Wisconsin State Senate refused this week to take up a resolution that would honor a number of Black figures in recognition of Black History Month, but within the same session also voted in favor of a resolution giving honors to the late talk show host Rush Limbaugh. | Ostensibly, Republicans said they did not want to pass the Black History Month resolution, authored by Black lawmakers in the Wisconsin legislature, because it was too specific and included figures they deemed to be controv…

Staff (2021-03-17). Time to Call Mitch McConnell's Bluff on the Filibuster. truthout.org Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indulged himself on Tuesday in some

RT (2021-03-17). US road safety regulator sides with GM after widower's lawsuit over deadly car crash. rt.com The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has refused to open a formal investigation into GM after a lawsuit alleged that a defective steering sensor from the company had led to a car crash that killed his wife. | Lance Cooper's 42-year-old wife died after her 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV crashed, with the lawsuit alleging it was caused by a defective steering sensor issue that GM was aware of but failed to warn drivers about. | The NHTSA was informed of Cooper's concerns in February 2020, when he contacted the regulator, asking them to investigate the car company over the issue, to identify…

RT (2021-03-17). With US immigration crisis escalating, Biden administration attempts to ban Border Patrol agents from talking to media — reports. rt.com One of President Joe Biden's latest tactics in dealing with a growing flood of illegal aliens — especially unaccompanied child migrants — is reportedly to muzzle Border Patrol agents, banning them from speaking to reporters. | Biden's administration has verbally passed down an unofficial

RT (2021-03-17). US intel report claims Russia 'probably' tried to sway 2020 election (as well as Iran, Venezuela & Cuba… but not China). rt.com The Joe Biden administration is reportedly preparing new sanctions against Russia after an intelligence assessment claimed to find attempts at interference by Moscow, Tehran and other usual suspects in the 2020 presidential race. | A

RT (2021-03-17). 8 killed in string of shootings at THREE different spas across metro Atlanta, Georgia. rt.com A series of shootings at three different spas in the Atlanta, Georgia area has left at least eight people dead and several others injured. A 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody following an intense manhunt. | Police responded to reports of a shooting at Young's Asian Massage near Acworth, Georgia — a suburb of Atlanta — on Tuesday, finding five suffering from gunshot wounds when they arrived, Cherokee County Sheriff's spokesperson Howard Baker told local media. Two were pronounced dead at the scene, while two more victims succumbed to their injuries after being transported to a hospital for tr…

RT (2021-03-17). With Trump gone & despite 'BLAME RUSSIA' still MSM's favorite rallying cry, Americans perceive China as nation's top adversary. rt.com Russia is no longer the No. 1 geopolitical bogeyman in the eyes of Americans, falling from that spot for the first time in three years, as a new Gallup poll shows people are far more concerned about the threats posed by China.

RT (2021-03-17). With Trump gone & despite 'BLAME RUSSIA' remaining MSM's favorite rallying cry, Americans perceive China as nation's top adversary. rt.com Russia is no longer the No. 1 geopolitical bogeyman in the eyes of Americans, falling from that spot for the first time in three years, as a new Gallup poll shows people are far more concerned about the threat posed by China.

RT (2021-03-17). 'White supremacist' propaganda incidents nearly DOUBLED across US in 2020 — report. rt.com The US saw a major spike in white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ propaganda last year, hitting a record level, a report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has said. | Last year, the country saw a record number of incidents related to dissemination of such propaganda, with the group registering 5,125 cases. The new The figure turned out to be nearly two times higher than in 2019, when some 2,700 such incidents were registered. At the sa…

RT (2021-03-17). CNN ripped for article admitting anti-lockdown Florida is 'booming' but implying Gov. DeSantis shouldn't be 'taking credit'. rt.com Critics are accusing CNN of playing politics and spinning the success of 'booming' Florida, which defied typical Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, as having nothing to do with Gov. Ron DeSantis. | "Everyone told me I was wrong," DeSantis said this week at a fundraiser about pandemic lockdowns. "I faced continued pressure from radical Democrats and the liberal media, but I refused to back down. It's clear: Florida got it right." | While many states are just beginning the process of reopening businesses and rolling back pandemic-era restrictions, Florida has been open for the better part of the last year — an…

_____ (2021-03-16). Nicaragua Is Teaching Us How To Put People Over Profits. popularresistance.org Members of the Sanctions Kill coalition are currently in Nicaragua as guests of the Friends of the ATC (the Association of Rural Workers) to learn about the Sandinista Revolution and the impacts of the recent economic war being waged by the United States against it. The ATC is a member of the global Via Campesina movement. Nicaragua is putting concrete programs in place to uplift its people by focusing on eradicating poverty, providing basic necessities such as health care, education, retirement security and more and empowering sectors of society that are typically at a disadvantage. A major focus of the Nicaragu…

Margaret Flowers (2021-03-16). Peace Delegation Visits Nicaragua To Explore Impact Of US Sanctions. dissidentvoice.org For the next two weeks, I am in Nicaragua on the first delegation organized by the Sanctions Kill coalition and the Friends of the ATC (Asociacion de Trabajadores del Campo — Association of Rural Workers) to study the impact of sanctions imposed by the United States on Nicaragua and learn about the Sandinista Revolution. The …

RT (2021-03-16). Biden calls on local preachers & doctors to promote vaccines… dismissing Fauci's appeal for Trump to help get skeptics on board. rt.com President Joe Biden apparently doesn't share his chief Covid-19 adviser's view that Donald Trump would be a "game changer" in promoting vaccines, instead saying local church leaders and doctors would have the biggest impact. | "The thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, what the local preacher, what the local people in the community say," Biden said on Monday of the advice he's getting from staffers. "So I urge all local docs and ministers and priests to talk about why, why it's important to get that vaccine, and even after that until everyone is, i…

RT (2021-03-16). Vanity Fair accuses Trump of KILLING 400,000 people with Covid, Trump supporters want to see the mag sued. rt.com Vanity Fair is seemingly holding Donald Trump responsible for murdering 400,000 Americans with Covid-19. Needless to say, there's no mention of Andrew Cuomo or Joe Biden. Some suggested a libel suit might teach the mag a lesson. | The story begins with Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser to the former president, who on Monday

Staff (2021-03-16). NY State Senator Alessandra Biaggi Says Cuomo Has Abused His Power for Years & Must Resign. democracynow.org New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls for his resignation after multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Alessandra Biaggi, a New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester, says it's long past time for Cuomo to go and that the many scandals surrounding the governor reveal a consistent pattern. "The governor has not only abused his position of power, but he has used it in a way that is political and as a way to have the executive branch essentially protect himself…

RT (2021-03-16). US set to face more migrants on Mexico border than in 'last 20 years' — Homeland Security boss. rt.com The US is set to encounter more migrants on its southwestern border than it had over the past 20 years, warns Secretary of Homeland Security, defending Washington's handling of the ongoing influx of unaccompanied child migrants. | The prediction was "The situation we are currently facing at the southwest border is a difficult one. We are tackling it," Mayorka…

RT (2021-03-16). Biden administration to house up to 3,000 migrant kids in Dallas convention center turned into 'decompression' facility — reports. rt.com The Biden administration reportedly plans to use a Dallas convention center to hold as many as 3,000 migrant teenagers, easing overcrowding in detention facilities as open-borders policies spur a surge in illegal immigration. | Federal agencies will use the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center for up to 90 days, starting as early as this week, to detain 15- to 17-year-old migrant boys, the Associated Press

Areeb Ullah (2021-03-16). Yemen: Evidence mounts that Houthis started Sanaa migrant centre fire. middleeasteye.net Yemen: Evidence mounts that Houthis started Sanaa migrant centre fire | A new Human Rights Watch investigation confirms MEE findings that Houthis started a fire that killed scores of people | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 11: 02 | African migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, receive food and water inside a football stadium in the Red Sea port city of Aden, Yemen, on 23 April 2019. (AFP) | New details revealed by Human Ri…

Staff (2021-03-16). Immigrant Advocate: Unaccompanied Minors Are Not a "Border Crisis" But a Humanitarian Crisis. democracynow.org Thousands of migrant children seeking refuge are being held in crowded cells amid an increase in asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite claims by Republican lawmakers during a tour of the southern border aimed at warning against rollbacks of Trump's immigration policy, most adults at the border are still being turned away, while the Biden administration is allowing unaccompanied children to cross while their cases are processed. Thousands of the unaccompanied minors are being sent to cities across Texas to be housed and processed, including Dallas, where FEMA will hold as many as 3,000 unaccompanied te…

Eds. (2021-03-16). Biden's retaliatory cyberattacks against Russia are folly. mronline.org MR Online

Ted Kelly (2021-03-16). $1.9 Trillion stimulus bill: relief or ripoff? workers.org These slightly edited remarks were made during Workers World Party's March 11 webinar, "Stimulus Bill — Relief or Ripoff?" moderated by Ted Kelly, WWP-Philadelphia. Ted Kelly. Credit: WW PHOTO Ted Kelly: The U.S. Congress passed a bipartisan stimulus bill on March 6. Tonight's roundtable with young revolutionary workers from Workers . . . |

Qiao Collective (2021-03-16). Race reductionism: Neocolonialism and the ruse of "Chinese privilege" mronline.org MR Online

Mark Gruenberg (2021-03-16). Poor People's Campaign takes voting rights drive to state capitals. peoplesworld.org &nbsp…

Conn Hallinan (2021-03-16). Day of the Drone. counterpunch.org In the aftermath of the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, drone warfare is being touted as the latest breakthrough in military technology, a "magic bullet" that makes armored vehicles obsolete, defeats sophisticated anti-aircraft systems, and rout entrenched infantry. While there is some truth in the hype, one needs to be especially wary of military "game changers," since there is always a seller at the end of the pitch.

teleSUR Desk (2021-03-16). Court rejects vote recount claimed by Yaku Perez. mronline.org MR Online

Wayne Nealis (2021-03-16). Defense argues Floyd family settlement prejudices potential jury in Chauvin trial. peoplesworld.org MINNEAPOLIS—As had been expected, Erik Nelson, Derek Chauvin's attorney raised questions Monday regarding the timing and impact of the city's $27 million civil settlement with the Floyd family that was announced Friday. Typically, such settlements are announced after the conclusion of a criminal trial. Nelson argued that such pretrial publicity can have prejudicial effect on …

The Empire Files (2021-03-16). VIDEO: A Guide to US Empire in Africa: Neocolonial Order & AFRICOM. liberationnews.org Abby Martin speaks to Eugene Puryear to discuss the big picture of U.S. imperialism in Africa…

Anurag Deb (2021-03-16). Re B: soldiers and the criminal process in Northern Ireland. ukhumanrightsblog.com Re B's application [2020] NIQB 76 was a challenge to a decision to prosecute a soldier for offences going back to 1972. Part of the small but politically divisive cohort of prosecutions arising out of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Re B provides a classic example of how courts approach the issue of fairness in …

Eds. (2021-03-16). 8M: For a revolutionary feminism, which is not a cover photo but a struggle against all exploitation. mronline.org MR Online

Alexander Rubinstein (2021-03-16). Intersectional Imperialism: A Wholesome Menace. mintpressnews.com WASHINGTON (Substack // In order to identify where woke imperialism exists, we have to define it first. So what is it? It's certainly not the first iteration of hegemonic domination buttressed by moralism. | The doctrine of Responsibility t…

CounterPunch News Service (2021-03-16). Centennial Mountain Heli-Skiing. counterpunch.org On Friday, March 12th, Ashton/Island Park District Ranger Liz Davy withdrew the possibility of a permit to allow helicopter skiing in a portion of the Centennial Mountains on the Idaho side of the range for the following reasons: + Research indicates use of helicopters has significant negative impacts to denning grizzly bears, a threatened species.

Sheila Malone RN (2021-03-16). Maine Medical Center nurses want a union, need support. peoplesworld.org PORTLAND, Me. — Nurses at Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland, the region's pre-eminent referral center, have taken steps to organize a union. On their behalf, the Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) in January petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a secret vote on forming a union for the hospital's 1600 nurses. Ballots …

Steve Gillis (2021-03-16). Boston School Bus Drivers Union blasts bosses' reopening schemes. workers.org In direct confrontation with the U.S. ruling class' monolithic drive to "reopen" schools and businesses, even as the pandemic continues to rage, Boston School Bus Drivers picketed their employer, Transdev, March 9. They gave voice to the outrage of frontline workers over this dangerous gamble with the lives of both . . . |

Sameena Rahman (2021-03-16). Blood-drenched Bolivian coup leader in prison. liberationnews.org Photo: Demonstration in Fresno, California in solidarity with the Bolivian people's struggle against the coup Bolivian coup leader and former self-proclaimed president Jeanine àÅñez, was arrested on Saturday in the department of Beni, where she was found hiding in a box to avoid detection from authorities. Earlier today, àÅñez made her first appearance in front …

Michael K. Emerson (2021-03-16). Sanitized Tyranny: The Weaponization of Truth. dissidentvoice.org On Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol Hill "insurrection", the Parler social media app was the number #1 most downloaded app in the Apple App Store. On "January 10, 2021, Parler CEO John Matze announced the company had been 'dropped by virtually all of its business alliances after Amazon, Apple and Google ended …

The Conversation (2021-03-16). After the insurrection, America's far-right groups get more extreme. juancole.com By Matthew Valasik and Shannon Reid | — As the U.S. grapples with domestic extremism in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, warnings about more violence are coming from the FBI Director Chris Wray and others. The Conversation asked Matthew Valasik, a sociologist at Louisiana State University, and Shannon E. …

Angely Mercado, Naveena Sadasivam (2021-03-16). A record 6 Native Americans elected to Congress, here's where they stand on climate. peoplesworld.org Indigenous peoples have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change. Though they make up just 5 percent of the world's population, their lands encompass more than 80 percent of global biodiversity. Indigenous lands are also at greatest risk from the multiple threats posed by climate change: rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, …

M. Chan, J. Leng (2021-03-16). Bay Area elites attempt to divide and conquer in aftermath of violence against Asian residents. liberationnews.org The violence oppressing both Black and Asian communities is a symptom of capitalism, a system that puts profits over people.

Evaggelos Vallianatos (2021-03-16). The Crushing Environmental Burden of Greek Tourism. counterpunch.org Tourism is the heavy industry of Greece. It annually earns a fourth of the country's income. The pestilence year 2020, however, was bad for Greek tourism. In 2020, some 70 percent fewer tourists visited the country. This drastic decline meant less money for debt trapped Greece. Compared to 2019, tourist receipts in 2020 dropped by 78.2 percent.

contributors (2021-03-16). What is Ramadan? Essential Information for Students and Teachers. juancole.com This FAQ was distributed by Samer Ali, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, but it is useful for any campus and any community with a Muslim minority. RAMADAN 2021 AT U-M This Winter Semester, around finals, many Muslims at U-M will abstain from food and …

Cronkite News Arizona PBS (2021-03-16). Senate makes history with vote confirming Haaland as first Native American Interior secretary. juancole.com By Sarah Oven | — (Cronkite News) — (WASHINGTON — The Senate Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as the next Interior secretary, a historic vote that makes her the first Native American to head a Cabinet agency. The confirmation came over the objection of Senate Republicans, particularly those representing Western states dependent on …

Thomas Klikauer — Norman Simms (2021-03-16). University Spiralists and Aca-Zombies. counterpunch.org As in many places where the ideology of neoliberalism holds sway, universities have been contaminated with the self-invented business imperatives of neoliberalism. For the better part of the last forty years, the conversion of universities from places where academics and students wanted to go to learn because knowledge was good to have into places to

Justin Podur (2021-03-16). India's Right-Wing Government is So Hungry for Profit It Will Risk a Famine for the Country. counterpunch.org India's right-wing government has been deploying all the modern tools of repression against a historic farmers' protest. Much is at stake. For the people of India, their agricultural system is about to get far more precarious. For its farmers, ruin, and bankruptcy for millions, is all but guaranteed. For the government of Narendra Modi and

Ralph Nader (2021-03-16). Perfidy Meets Putty — Congressional Democrats Betray Voters. counterpunch.org Do you remember the promises made by the Democratic Party's presidential and Congressional candidates on universal health insurance? You can forget their pledges and somber convictions now that your votes put the Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate. The Democrats' leaders are abandoning their promises and retreating into a cowardly corporatist future.

Al Neal (2021-03-16). Border influx slows Biden administration's effort to reverse Trump immigration policies. peoplesworld.org The coming of a spring season signifies new beginnings, quite like the transition from one presidential administration to another. And as with all things newly budding and beginning to bloom, some of the changes in Washington are gradual ones. President Joe Biden inherited a politically fractured nation and a Trump-sized mess, yet his first 50-plus …

Ron Jacobs (2021-03-16). Washington in Afghanistan: How Long Must This Go On? counterpunch.org The United States military and mercenary forces need to leave Afghanistan now. Even Donald Trump understood this, at least in public. The US mission was a failure within a year of its 2001 invasion. It could not and cannot reshape the political landscape in that nation. It tried in the 1970s and the 1980s when it created and armed the mujaheddin to fight the Soviet-supported government. It couldn't mold the nation of Afghanistan into a willing client after the Taliban marched into Kabul. It has failed to do so since it invaded the country in 2001 under the pretense of going after Osama bin Laden. To repeat, the U…

Global Research News (2021-03-16). Selected Articles: Ten Years Ago: The US-NATO-Israel Sponsored Al Qaeda Insurgency in Syria. globalresearch.ca By It was not a protest movement,…

Steve Topple (2021-03-16). Horrifying research shows two cops a month commit violent or sexual offences against women and children. thecanary.co THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS REFERENCES TO RAPE AND MURDER SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND DISTRESSING | Eight police officers have been convicted of murdering their wives or girlfriends in the past 11 years. This figure comes from

Brian Willson (2021-03-16). Desnudando a los Padres Fundadores y la Constitución de Estados Unidos. globalizacion.ca Todos los artículos del Centro de Investigación Sobre Globalización (Global Research) se pueden leer en 27 idiomas activando el menú desplegable "Traducir sitio web" en el banner superior de nuestra página de inicio (versión de escritorio). | *** | Esencialmente la propiedad,…

Patrick Cockburn (2021-03-16). Test and Trace is the Dead Elephant in the Room. counterpunch.org As Britain enters a post-pandemic era, its struggle with Covid-19 reveals a country that is a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, Britain has developed, manufactured and distributed effective vaccines quicker than any other nation. On the other, it has constructed the biggest gravy train in British history, one that pays

Minnie Bruce Pratt (2021-03-16). °Los trabajadores no son robots! Racismo, aceleración de la alta tecnología y la campaña sindical de la Amazon. workers.org Una campaña de organización histórica está en marcha en Bessemer, Alabama, en el almacén de Amazon BHM1. Casi 6.000 trabajadores, en su mayoría negros, casi la mitad mujeres, están decidiendo si unirse al Sindicato de Minoristas, Mayoristas y Grandes Tiendas (RWDSU siglas en ingles). La votación continúa hasta el 29 . . . |

RT (2021-03-16). Trump chastises WaPo for 'hoax' report after paper corrects story alleging ex-president pressured Georgia election official. rt.com Donald Trump has hit back at the Washington Post after it corrected an article claiming that the former US president tried to strongarm a Georgia official, criticizing the report as an example of biased journalism. | The now-discredited story, published in January, alleged that Trump had instructed the state's top elections investigator to "find the fraud" that led to Democrat Joe Biden's election victory, and that she would be a "national hero" if she did. But on Monday, the paper issued a lengthy correction after an audio recording of the conversation showed that Trump said no such things.

RT (2021-03-16). Bill Burr's black wife is a 'minority sex servant'? Woke activist called out for 'worst tweet ever'. rt.com Comedian Bill Burr has angered the cancel crowd with offensive jokes. They're calling him racist, but the fact that he's married to a black woman isn't placating them. To one, it actually means he owns a "minority sex servant." | Burr hosted last weekend's Grammy Awards, and his jokes rubbed woke viewers up the wrong way. He jibed at feminists, mispronounced Latino names, and (imagine the horror) made fun of K-pop. | A torrent of outrage followed, with some commenters threatening Burr with violence and death. Amid the uproar, one Twitter user stepped in to defend Burr from the racism accusations, posting a pic…

RT (2021-03-16). Two killed after single-engine plane crashes into car with woman & child inside (GRAPHIC VIDEO). rt.com Two people were killed and two others injured after a small plane crashed in south Florida, erupting into flames as it smashed into a car carrying a mother and child, leaving them in a serious condition. | The single-engine plane crashed down outside North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Florida on Monday afternoon, killing the two people on board. The incident was captured in shocking footage, showing the craft as it careened into a vehicle and skidded across the ground, with its fuel igniting a sizable fire. | "We heard like a bomb, like a tremendous noise and everything was on fire and it dived into a car,…

RT (2021-03-16). Who needs solidarity? Columbia offering SIX niche graduation ceremonies to cater to students' race, sexuality & income. rt.com Ivy League Columbia University has joined the growing pool of colleges hosting identity-politics-based graduation ceremonies, offering students not one but six commencements in a baffling bid to scatter their sense of belonging. | The prestigious college plans to hold six separate graduation ceremonies for students based on race "and other aspects of how they identify," celebrating attributes including low-income/first-generation collegiate status as well as sexual orientation (with a "Lavender" event aimed at the "LGBTIAQ+ community"). | Columbia's website mentioned additional graduation ceremonies for Native…

CP Editor (2021-03-16). Fugazi: The Path of Most Resistance. counterpunch.org …

Ragip Soylu (2021-03-16). Saudi Arabia closes Turkish schools amid unofficial boycott. middleeasteye.net Saudi Arabia closes Turkish schools amid unofficial boycott | Eight Turkish schools in Mecca and Medina were shut down in 2020, as Riyadh reportedly continues unofficial sanctions against Ankara over Khashoggi probe | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 11: 52 | Students from the Mecca International Turkish School celebrate Turkey's Republic Day in 2019 (Screenshot) | Saudi Arabia reportedly closed eight Turkish schools i…

A Guest Author (2021-03-16). Mumia Abu-Jamal's health emergency: Interview with Dr. Ricardo Alvarez. workers.org Mumia Abu-Jamal, the internationally renowned journalist, Pennsylvania prison inmate and former Black Panther widely considered to be a political prisoner, is now experiencing a health emergency. A Feb. 27 call from Mumia alerted supporters who immediately began a campaign to telephone Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections John Wetzl, Philadelphia District Attorney . . . |

A Guest Author (2021-03-16). New York Boricua Resistance: No International Working Women's Day without trans women. workers.org This statement was co-written by Alicia Rodriguez and Gabriela Malespin of New York Boricua Resistance and presented by Malespin during the March 13 webinar sponsored by New York City-based International Working Women's Day Coalition. The webinar was entitled "Women and oppressed-gender workers rise up: The real pandemic is capitalism. The . . . |

Paul Haeder (2021-03-16). Shifty Shifters: Movers and Shapers like a Trillion Locusts. dissidentvoice.org The final report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concludes that the project has been 'the most successful anti-poverty movement in history'. Two key claims underpin this narrative: that global poverty has been cut in half, and global hunger nearly in half, since 1990. This good-news narrative has been touted by the United Nations and …

Staff (2021-03-15). Congress Urged to Stop Debt Collectors From Snatching Relief Checks. truthout.org Direct payments from the newly approved coronavirus relief package began landing in people's bank accounts with Unlike the Covid relief bi…

Éric Toussaint (2021-03-15). Thomas Piketty and Karl Marx: Two totally different visions of Capital. mronline.org MR Online

Staff (2021-03-15). U.S. Lawyer Steven Donziger Speaks from House Arrest in NYC After Suing Chevron for Amazon Oil Spills. democracynow.org Decades of reckless oil drilling by Chevron have destroyed 1,700 square miles of land in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but the company has refused to pay for the damage or clean up the land despite losing a lawsuit 10 years ago, when Ecuador's Supreme Court ordered the oil giant to pay $18 billion on behalf of 30,000 Amazonian Indigenous people. Instead of cleaning up the damage, Chevron has spent the past decade waging an unprecedented legal battle to avoid paying for the environmental destruction, while also trying to take down the environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who helped bring the landmark case. Donziger, who…

Lindsey Tanner (2021-03-15). Long-haulers struggle with symptoms as scientists work to solve coronavirus mystery. peoplesworld.org (AP) There was no reason to celebrate on Rachel Van Lear's anniversary. The same day a global pandemic was declared, she developed symptoms of COVID-19. A year later, she's still waiting for them to disappear. And for experts to come up with some answers. The Texas woman is one of thousands of self-described long-haulers, patients […] | In the aftermath of the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, drone warfare is being touted as the latest breakthrough in military technology, a "magic bullet" that makes armored vehicles obsolete, defeats sophisticated anti-aircraft systems,…

Staff (2021-03-15). Black Farmers Hail $5 Billion in COVID Relief to Redress Generations of Racism. truthout.org A major provision in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill aims to address decades of discrimination against Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American farmers who have historically been excluded from government agricultural programs. The American Rescue Plan sets aside $10.4 billion for agriculture support, with about half of that amount set aside for farmers of color, and allocates extra federal funds to farmers who were "subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice bec…

RT (2021-03-15). Zuckerberg unveils new Facebook feature aimed at helping people get their Covid vaccine. rt.com Facebook is rolling out a tool that will make it easier for people to find information about where and when they can receive a Covid-19 shot, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced, as the platform fights disinformation about the jab. | In a message posted to the social media platform, Zuckerberg said that Facebook was launching a feature that will show users places nearby that are offering the shot, and will also help them make an appointment for it. The tool, part of the platform's 'Covid Information Center,' could help "millions" of people make vaccination appointments, the CEO said. The tool will also be availa…

Ali Harb (2021-03-15). US lawmakers urge Israel to vaccinate Palestinians as 'occupying entity'. middleeasteye.net US lawmakers urge Israel to vaccinate Palestinians as 'occupying entity' | Seventeen House members call for 'continued pressure' on Israel to meet its obligations under international law | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 19: 12 | Israeli helicopter carrying PM Benjamin Netanyahu flies over demonstrators in the Palestinian village of Susya in the occupied West Bank, 14 March (AFP) | Progressive members of the US Congress renewe…

Staff (2021-03-15). "Huge Victory": Black Farmers Hail $5B in New COVID Relief Law to Redress Generations of Racism. democracynow.org A major provision in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill aims to address decades of discrimination against Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American farmers who have historically been excluded from government agricultural programs. The American Rescue Plan sets aside $10.4 billion for agriculture support, with about half of that amount set aside for farmers of color, and allocates extra federal funds to farmers who were "subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group." The U.S. Department of Agriculture has faced accusations of racism for dec…

Staff (2021-03-15). CDC Insisted Surgical Masks Were Enough. Caregivers of Color Suffered Most. truthout.org This story also ran on Since the start of the pandemic, the most terrifying task in health care was thought to be when a doctor put a breathing tube down the trachea of a crit…

Lorri Nandrea (2021-03-15). Amazon alienation: Alabama union drive isn't just about wages. peoplesworld.org In a recent interview with The Real News Network, Amazon worker Darryl Richardson described his job as a picker in the Bessemer, Ala., fulfillment center. He clocks in, and a video stream tells him where to go. He logs in at his station, then waits until the robot comes. A video stream tells him what …

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2021-03-15). Ten Problems With Biden's Foreign Policy — and One Solution. counterpunch.org The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it's not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed—or even infuriated. There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama's New START Treaty with Russia and Secretary of State Blinken's

John Wojcik (2021-03-15). GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin backs Jan. 6 insurrectionists. peoplesworld.org Over the past few days, we've seen yet again a major indication that top Republican lawmakers are defending and promoting the white supremacists who attempted to overthrow the government on Jan. 6. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has intensified his prior defense of the right-wing insurrectionists by saying that he had nothing to fear from them …

Tim Wheeler (2021-03-15). Pat Barile: A century of devotion to workers, equality, and socialism. peoplesworld.org Pat Barile learned the meaning of the word devotion from the rank-and-file workers at the Sonotone Corporation plant in White Plains, N.Y. in the mid-1940s and 1950s. Repeatedly, they elected him president of United Electrical Workers Local 428 for ten years—even after Cold Warriors had branded him a Communist and instigated a witch hunt and …

Eds. (2021-03-15). Women and nature: Towards an ecosocialist feminism. mronline.org MR Online

Huitzilopochtli Marron (2021-03-15). 'Immigrants are welcome here,' San Diego protesters in solidarity with migrant caravan. liberationnews.org All revolutionary and progressive people should defend the freedom of movement for all people fleeing the horrors of U.S. imperialism regardless of their documentation status.

Bezaleel Jupiter (2021-03-15). Why does Jackson, Mississippi have unsafe water? liberationnews.org The government—at the national, state, and city levels—is responsible for Jackson's water crisis and is also responsible for repairing the water system in its entirety.

The Conversation (2021-03-15). Sudan's Progressive, Secular Revolutionary Government faces Food Riots and Ethnic Violence. juancole.com By Andrew E. Yaw Tchie | — Sudan's political transition is in a precarious phase. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's government is facing a wide variety of challenges, including protests over the price of goods and commodities, and a resurgence of violence in the country's Darfur region. If the situation continues to unravel, the country could …

Julie Norris (2021-03-15). Bronx tenants to local politicians: 'Cancel the rents!'. liberationnews.org The tenant movement is growing more determined each day to expose and fight the injustice of housing under capitalism.

Erik Molvar (2021-03-15). Honor the Tribal Vision for Bears Ears National Monument. counterpunch.org President Obama's team lopped off more than half a million acres from the tribes' proposal in the final designation, including Wilson Mesa, lands between White Canyon and Red Canyon, and the eastern slopes of the Abajo Mountains. These changes were made to appease local concerns, following public meetings senior Obama administration officials held with area residents. In the end, the concessions were fruitless, and the political backlash was immediate.

Eds. (2021-03-15). Murdoch Paper gives away the game: Cuomo is on their side. mronline.org MR Online

Jeremy Ross (2021-03-15). How a Colombian Ex-President Went to Bat for Trump in Florida. counterpunch.org Latin Americans are used to the US government interfering in their politics. Over the years, the US has helped orchestrate a number of coups throughout the hemisphere, most notoriously the 1954 ouster of Guatemala's Jacobo àÅrbenz, and the 1973 military coup against Chile's Salvador Allende. But there are far more recent examples of meddling, including

Wayne Nealis (2021-03-15). Reflections on Chauvin jury selection: Can anyone really be impartial? peoplesworld.org The commitment and ability to maintain impartiality looms large in the jury selection process in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd. When the judge swears in a potential juror, he asks whether they can maintain impartiality and render judgment based on the facts, evidence, and the …

Stephen F. Eisenman (2021-03-15). The Invisible Professor. counterpunch.org Three years ago, I informed my colleagues I would retire in 2021. That's when I became invisible. I'd never been invisible before. As the youngest of three children growing up in Forest Hills, Queens, I received extra attention from my parents, or so my sister and brother regularly tell me. In college, at SUNY Albany,

John Clamp (2021-03-15). Myanmar: a Defiant Nation, Still Denied Justice. counterpunch.org Considering that the entire population of Myanmar, save the Tatmadaw and its shills, are now effectively prisoners to a politics anathema to all ordinary citizens, here's an update. The army are inveigling and paying villagers and retired military personnel to go and batter anti-coup protesters, in a darkly satirical take on astroturfing straight out of

Richard Rhames (2021-03-15). Farming: A Dirty Truth. counterpunch.org These days it's common for in-crowd folks to adopt trendy and overused lingo. Maybe you've noticed that we don't have towns or cities anymore. We have "communities." "Problems" have been banished in favor of "challenges." Once upon a time there was a notion of "truth." Now everybody apparently has "their truth." Perhaps related is the

Eds. (2021-03-15). Statement of Concern: The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria. mronline.org MR Online

Nomi Prins (2021-03-15). Making America more Equal . . . by Rebuilding the Country. juancole.com (Tomdispatch.com ) — During the Trump years, the phrase "Infrastructure Week" rang out as a sort of Groundhog Day-style punchline. What began in June 2017 as a failed effort by The Donald's White House and a Republican Senate to focus on the desperately needed rebuilding of American infrastructure morphed into a meme and a running …

RT (2021-03-15). WATCH: Jeffrey Epstein THANKED at Grammys in cringe-inducing nameswap. rt.com While accepting an award at the 63rd Grammys ceremony, one hapless producer inadvertently dropped one hell of a clanger, thanking disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. | While accepting the award for 'Best Music Film' for his documentary 'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice' on Sunday night, producer James Keach, 73, appearing via videolink, made the miserable mixup. | HE ACTUALLY SAID JEFFREY EPSTEIN OMG ?😭😭😭😭

Staff (2021-03-15). More Surveillance Won't Stop White Supremacy. It Will Target Activists of Color. truthout.org For mainstream lawmakers, the January 6 attack was a wake-up call to a simmering threat. No longer able to pretend white nationalist violence is a fringe remnant of a bygone era, some elected officials have drawn attention to law enforcement's negligence to prevent the violence at the capitol and are calling for new approaches. | However, some of their calls to action point toward old approaches that have only entrenched the forces of white supremacy: domestic terrorism laws. In the immediat…

Staff (2021-03-15). Stacey Abrams Calls GOP Voter Suppression Effort "Jim Crow in a Suit and Tie" truthout.org On Sunday, Stacey Abrams panned the slate of voter suppression laws being pushed by Republicans in Georgia, saying that the "racist" laws are "a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie." | "We know that the only thing that precipitated these changes — it's not that there was a question of security. In fact, the secretary of state and the governor went to great pains to assure America that Georgia's elections were secure," Abrams told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday. | Following their losses in t…

Staff (2021-03-15). Biden to Push for Higher Taxes on Wealthy, Most Ambitious Plan Since Early 1990s. truthout.org President Joe Biden is expected to push to raise taxes in the near future, primarily for corporations and for those earning higher incomes, in order to fund future high-spending priorities for the U.S. |

Staff (2021-03-15). Stimulus Aid and Child Tax Credit Should Be Made Permanent Say Senate Democrats. truthout.org After passing a stimulus package last week that is projected to raise Several Democrats are specifically focused on making the expanded child tax credit permanent; currently, the expansion only lasts for the next year. Some Democrats have pushed…

Staff (2021-03-15). Infrastructure Should Be the Great Economic Equalizer. truthout.org During the Trump years, the phrase "Infrastructure Week" rang out as a sort of Groundhog Day-style punchline. What began in June 2017 as a failed effort by The Donald's White House and a Republican Senate to focus on the desperately needed rebuilding of American infrastructure morphed into Despite the focus in rec…

RT (2021-03-15). US has 1,000 'off-the-books' troops in Afghanistan, some of whom work with the CIA — media. rt.com The US military's presence in Afghanistan is larger than the public has been led to believe, the New York Times has reported, as Washington mulls a full withdrawal from the country as part of a deal with the Taliban. | Citing US, European and Afghan officials, the Times

RT (2021-03-15). 'Capitol rioter' reportedly told colleagues Nazis 'should have finished the job,' sported 'Hitler mustache' at Navy base (PHOTO). rt.com Army reservist and former Navy contractor Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, charged in the US Capitol riot probe, has been described as a Nazi sympathizer and was reportedly reprimanded by a supervisor for having a "Hitler mustache." | Hale-Cusanelli was arrested on January 15 as part of an ever-expanding investigation into the Capitol riot, which is on course to become the largest investigation in the history of the country. | One contractor colleague said Timothy Hale-Cusanelli discussed his dislike for Jews every day. A supervisor told investigators she had to admonish him for sporting a "Hitler" mustache (images of…

RT (2021-03-15). Elon Musk declares himself 'Technoking' of Tesla, company's CFO now its 'Master of Coin' — SEC filing. rt.com According to a somewhat baffling filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, in addition to being electric carmaker Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk is now also the company's 'Technoking.' | Tesla's chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn also now holds a new position of "Master of Coin," in apparent reference to George RR Martin's 'Game of Thrones' series of books and TV shows. | "Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer," the

RT (2021-03-15). Biden's border crisis: Number of kids detained soars past record levels as Dems blame Donald Trump. rt.com The surge of unaccompanied children across the US' Mexican border continues unabated, with more than 4,200 kids held in makeshift facilities. Democrats, who accused Donald Trump of caging kids, have blamed the former president. | More than 4,200 minors were being held in "jail-like" holding facilities near the US' southern border as of Sunday morning, according to a

Yossi Melman (2021-03-15). Netanyahu UAE trip: Israel's PM uses Jordan as fall guy to cover up blunder. middleeasteye.net Netanyahu UAE trip: Israel's PM uses Jordan as fall guy to cover up blunder | Relations between the Israelis and Jordanians hits new low after the prime minister uses kingdom to escape embarrassment | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 14: 45 | A bird flies in front of a Likud Party election campaign banner depicting its leader, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Reuters) | An odd concoction of a cancelled mee…

MEE staff (2021-03-15). Palestinians lambast Netanyahu's visit to archaeological site near settler outpost. middleeasteye.net Palestinians lambast Netanyahu's visit to archaeological site near settler outpost | The PA's foreign ministry says the visit will embolden settlers to attack Palestinians | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 14: 38 | Palestinian women chant slogans as Israeli soldiers stand guard during a protest in the Palestinian village of Susya in the occupied West Bank, 14 March 2021 (AFP) | Palestine's foreign affairs ministry on Monday…

Beth Geglia (2021-03-15). Cuba Working on a 'People's Vaccine': the US and the world should get behind it. counterpunch.org From my hospital bed, as the global emergency around me escalated, I witnessed how the Cuban government swiftly mobilized resources to protect its citizens from Covid-19: at-home testing for anyone with symptoms, door to door preventative education in the most vulnerable neighborhoods, and coordinated isolation when necessary. While deaths soared toward 100,000 in the U.S., Cuba was able to get the average daily Covid-19 related deaths close to zero for most of May-August.

MEE, agencies (2021-03-15). Syria: UK announces new sanctions on Assad officials. middleeasteye.net Syria: UK announces new sanctions on Assad officials | British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab reveals new targeted sanctions against six members of the Syrian government, including Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 11: 20 | President Bashar al-Assad and wife Asma (R) look at apple-tree saplings in al-Drekish, western Syria, in a picture released by the official Syrian Arab…

Calla Randall (2021-03-15). The Weekly Round-Up: Women's Rights — a Long Way to Go. ukhumanrightsblog.com In the news: Women's rights and gender equality issues have been at the forefront of the news this week. The appalling murder of Sarah Everard, abducted when walking home in London, has elicited a huge social media response. In particular, it has highlighted the problematic phenomenon of victim-blaming directed at women, with advice focusing on …

Aaliyah Harris (2021-03-15). A new book is aiming to show how we can have 'life-changing' conversations about race. thecanary.co This fascinating read dives into a world of new vocabulary coined to initiate conversations around race. And it seeks to discuss "the race construct" which keeps "the di…

RT (2021-03-15). 'God cannot bless sin': Vatican firmly refuses to bless gay unions. rt.com The Vatican's orthodoxy office has ruled out any possibility of same-sex couples receiving an ecclesial blessing, maintaining that the Church does not approve such unions as God "cannot bless sin." | A detailed explanation delving into the Catholic Church's stance on same-sex unions was

MEE staff (2021-03-15). Saudi Arabia-Israel normalisaton is 'in sight', says Jared Kushner. middleeasteye.net Saudi Arabia-Israel normalisaton is 'in sight', says Jared Kushner | Former Trump adviser calls on President Biden to continue push for formal ties between Israel and Arab states | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 16: 16 | Jared Kushner at the Royal Palace in Rabat after the normalisation deal between Israel and Morocco on 22 December 2020 (AFP/File photo) | Jared Kusher, Donald Trump's son-in-law who served as an adviser in…

Ragip Soylu (2021-03-15). Syria: Turkey asks for western support amid Russia-backed attacks. middleeasteye.net Syria: Turkey asks for western support amid Russia-backed attacks | Erdogan calls for an 'investment in peace and stability', and says Turkey is the only actor that could resolve the Syria crisis | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 10: 20 | Members of the White Helmets extinguish a fire following a reported bombardment of makeshift oil refining installations in the Tarhin area, north of Aleppo province, on 5 March 2021…

Nur Ayoubi (2021-03-15). Online fury in Saudi Arabia after Dubai deputy police chief's Mecca tweet. middleeasteye.net Online fury in Saudi Arabia after Dubai deputy police chief's Mecca tweet | Saudi Twitter users criticise Dhahi Khalfan for calling for the mobilisation of Sunni Muslims to protect Mecca from Shia-led forces | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 11: 48 | Khalfan's tweets were in response to Yemen's Houthi movement expressing its loyalty to Iran (AFP) | Dubai's deputy chief of police, Dhahi Khalfan, has attracted backlash fro…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-15). Iraqi drug trafficker freed in ambush while travelling to court. middleeasteye.net Iraqi drug trafficker freed in ambush while travelling to court | Armed men posing as soldiers forced more than 100 police officers to hand over the suspected drug trafficker | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 14: 43 | Iraqi policemen who numbered about 100 had no choice but to surrender their prisoner to armed men, a police source said (AFP/file photo) | An Iraqi drug trafficker suspected of having ties…

MEE staff (2021-03-15). Iran warns Israel it will 'consider all options' in response to cargo ship attack. middleeasteye.net Iran warns Israel it will 'consider all options' in response to cargo ship attack | Iranian spokesman accuses Israel of purposefully attempting to 'create unrest' in the region, hinting at plans for retribution | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 14: 54 | Iranian-flagged container ship Shahr e Kord sails in Bosphorus on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey on 9 February 2020 (Reuters/File photo) | Iran's fore…

MEE staff (2021-03-15). Four-year-old Canadian girl released from Syrian detention camp. middleeasteye.net Four-year-old Canadian girl released from Syrian detention camp | The young child is on her way to Canada, but her mother has been left behind | Mon, 03/15/2021 – 15: 41 | More than 64,000 individuals, mostly women and children, are languishing in detention camps in Syria (AFP) | A four-year-old girl has been released from a detention camp in northeast Syria and is on her way to Canada without her mother, offi…

RT (2021-03-14). Biden administration directs FEMA to help shelter child migrants amid claims it denied lawyers access to cramped border facility. rt.com As the number of migrant children in border detention facilities has swelled to a record high, the Biden administration has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help house them. | FEMA will help "safely receive, shelter and transfer" children who cross the southwestern border on their own, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Saturday, saying the assistance will last 90 days. | Today

RT (2021-03-14). US could reach 'certain' post-Covid 'degree of normality' by mid-summer, 'no exact date' for events like indoor weddings. rt.com White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has expressed confidence in President Joe Biden's Covid-19 vaccination plan, but says he can give no timeline for a return to normal. | "There are two issues: getting enough doses, which we will have with the new contracts with the pharmaceutical companies. But once you get those doses, to get it into people's arms," Fauci told CNN on Sunday when discussing Covid-19 vaccine distribution plans. | Fauci expressed support for Biden's wish that the US would be able to mark "independence" from the pandemic by July 4 and gather without masks or social distancing for tradi…

RT (2021-03-14). Pelosi says Cuomo should 'look inside his heart' when asked whether he should resign over scandals. rt.com House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) came to fellow Democrat Andrew Cuomo's defense in a new interview, saying people should wait for the "results of the investigation" into an allegation he sexually assaulted a woman. | "I think we should see the results of the investigation," Pelosi told ABC's This Week when asked about the New York governor on Sunday. "Hopefully, this result will be soon." | Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, including former aides. The latest allegation found him accused of groping a woman. New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened an investigation…

The Socialist Program (2021-03-14). Socialist Debates & Political Struggles in the Anti-War Movement: From Gulf War to Today. liberationnews.org Brian Becker reviews the history of heated debate within the socialist movement over the necessity of taking a principled, anti-imperialist position in opposition to the U.S. war machine.

Ahmed Diaa Dardir (2021-03-14). Barack Obama and the Cunning of American Exceptionalism. counterpunch.org Barack Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, came out as the world was looking at the US with anticipation and mistrust. It was published as the world awaited the results of the US presidential elections, between the clownish Donald Trump and the visibly incompetent Joseph Biden. The book trumpets the American model as the "promised

The Conversation (2021-03-14). Against the odds, South Australia is a renewable energy powerhouse; and they're showing the world how to do it. juancole.com By Michael McGreevy and Fran Baum | — Less than two decades ago, South Australia generated all its electricity from fossil fuels. Last year, renewables provided a whopping 60% of the state's electricity supply. The remarkable progress came as national climate policy was gripped by paralysis — so how did it happen? Our research set …

Pete Dolack (2021-03-14). How the U.S. is Able to Dictate to the Rest of the World. counterpunch.org The United States government is able to impose its will on all the world's countries. The rest of the world, even some of the strongest imperialist countries of the Global North, lie prostrate at the feet of the U.S. What is the source of this seemingly impregnable power? Which of course leads to the next

Liberation Staff (2021-03-14). Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe wins against 'not in my backyard' racists. liberationnews.org The tribe's goal is to set a new precedent for the way our society deals with the problem of addiction with a clinic in Sequim, Washington.

Ben Debney (2021-03-14). Pathological Entitlement and the Supremacist Mindset. counterpunch.org In recent days, the CPAC conference has brought us a number of most unusual spectacles. It has brought us (1) the militantly tawdry respawning of Donald Trump, (2) the platform constructed using the serif odal rune shape of the SS, (3) the golden calf cult idol (and laughs for all eternity), and (4) the inclusion

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Palestinians condemn opening of Czech Jerusalem office. middleeasteye.net Palestinians condemn opening of Czech Jerusalem office | The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League accuse the Czech Republic of committing 'a flagrant violation of international law' | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 06: 30 | Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis hailed the new office as a "milestone in our co-operation" (AFP) | The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League on Saturday condemned the Cze…

Steve Topple (2021-03-14). Finally. The DWP £20 uplift is facing legal action. thecanary.co The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) £20 uplift to Universal Credit is facing a legal challenge. It's from people on so-called legacy benefits. And the case may open the floodgates for thousands of other claimants. | DWP uplift: one rule for workers: | The £20 uplift for Universal Credit from chancellor Rishi Sunak and the DWP has been

RT (2021-03-14). Portland police confiscate guns, hammers & other weapons after corralling 100 protesters during violent demonstration. rt.com Portland police seized numerous weapons, including firearms, after kettling dozens of protesters during a night of unrest in the Oregon city. | Law enforcement intervened in a march on Friday when a group of demonstrators began breaking windows in the downtown area. Officers responded by establishing a perimeter around the crowd and announcing that the protesters were being detained. | According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), some of the demonstrators refused to comply and locked arms in an attempt to prevent officers from carrying out their orders. Around 100 people were identified and photographed as p…

RT (2021-03-14). 'Get right before you get left, boomer': Marines backtrack after jumping into Fox host Tucker Carlson's row with Pentagon. rt.com The US Marine Corps is adjusting its aim after facing public backlash over suggesting that men critical of the Pentagon's mission creep towards wokeness should serve, get pregnant, and only then speak on the issue. | "What it looks like in today's armed forces [Tucker Carlson], Get right before you get left, boomer," the Marines tweeted on Friday, accompanying the tweet with an image of a smiling female officer carrying a fellow officer. | What it looks like in today's armed forces Get right before you get left, boomer | &sbqu…

RT (2021-03-14). 'Die-in' in NYC & vandalism in LA as protesters mark 1yr anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death (VIDEOS). rt.com Protesters took to the streets in America's two largest cities to mark the one-year anniversary of the police shooting that killed Breonna Taylor. Her death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. | Hundreds of people gathered in New York City's Times Square to participate in a 'die-in' to remember her killing. Footage from RT's video agency Ruptly shows people lying on the ground, with some holding signs reading "Black Lives Matter" and "Abolish the police." | Elsewhere in the city, demonstrators carrying signs and chanting Taylor's name shut down the Brooklyn Bridge. Similar protests were…

RT (2021-03-14). Woman arrested for creating NAKED 'deepfake' videos of daughter's cheerleading rivals. rt.com A Pennsylvania mother has been charged with multiple counts of cyber harassment after she was caught making and distributing deepfake videos and photos of her daughter's cheerleading rivals. | The deepfake photos and video, digitally manipulated media which superimposes one person's face on the body of another, depicted the teenage girls naked, drinking and smoking. | Also on rt.com | | Raffaela Spone, 50, reportedly sent the fake content t…

Benjamin Wehrmann (2021-03-14). German Scientists: Without Drastic Climate Action, World could be headed to Dangerous 7.2 ∞ F. extra Heating. juancole.com By Benjamin Wehrmann | — ( Clean Energy Wire ) — Current emissions reduction efforts around the world are insufficient to limit global warming to up to 2 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, Germany's Meteorological Service (DWD) has said. Despite globally reduced mobility and depressed industrial production due to the coronavirus …

David Rovics (2021-03-14). Days of '49: Remembering Peekskill. dissidentvoice.org Tayo Aluko ∑ Paul Robeson's Love Song (trailer) A new radio play by Tayo Aluko based on events surrounding Paul Robeson's concert in Peekskill, New York in 1949, and the racist, anti-communist riots that came before and after it, drops on Paul Robeson's birthday — April 9th — and it seems more timely than ever. …

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charges in Tehran court. middleeasteye.net British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charges in Tehran court | A week after the end of a five-year sentence, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe attended a hearing over accusations of 'propaganda against the system' | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 09: 56 | Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recently released from a five-year sentence for espionage, a charge she has consistently denied (MEE/family handout) | British-I…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Kosovo inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. middleeasteye.net Kosovo inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem | Kosovo joins US and Guatemala as only countries with embassies in city whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 16: 01 | Kosovo government officials stand in front of Kosovar and Israeli flags during a ceremony at the foreign ministry in Pristina on 1 February 2021 as the two countries establish…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Yemen: Houthi missile attack kills three children in Taiz. middleeasteye.net Yemen: Houthi missile attack kills three children in Taiz | A missile fired at a school where pro-government forces are based killed 15 soldiers and three children nearby | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 16: 04 | A Yemeni boy looks for bullet casings to sell as scrap metal in a Taiz street on 27 April 2019 (AFP) | Yemen's rebel Houthi forces fired a missile on Sunday at a school where pro-government fo…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Oman blocks Clubhouse, citing 'lack of proper authorisation'. middleeasteye.net Oman blocks Clubhouse, citing 'lack of proper authorisation' | Blocking the audio app has prompted a backlash by free-speech advocates online | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 10: 29 | The iOS-only app has been at the top of many national download lists in the Middle East (Illustration by Hossam Sarhan/MEE) | Oman blocked the audio app Clubhouse on Sunday, citing "lack of proper authorisation," accordin…

Sophian Aubin (2021-03-14). Syria war: Ten years on, Syrian Christians say Assad 'has taken us hostage'. middleeasteye.net Syria war: Ten years on, Syrian Christians say Assad 'has taken us hostage' | Members of Syria's Christian minority now in exile say president has manipulated the community while cracking down on dissent | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 14: 05 | An Assyrian Christian Syrian in the Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, destroyed by the Islamic State group, in the village of Tal Nasri, south of Tal Tamr in northeas…

MEE staff (2021-03-13). Israeli settlers attack Palestinian family in West Bank farmland. middleeasteye.net Israeli settlers attack Palestinian family in West Bank farmland | The parents of eight children have been hospitalised after settlers threw rocks at them | Sat, 03/13/2021 – 10: 33 | The father of the Alyan family carried by Israeli soldiers after being attacked by settlers (Courtesy of the Alyan family) | Israeli settlers, some masked and equipped with batons, attacked a Palestinian family in the South Hebro…

MEE staff (2021-03-13). Syria's first lady faces possible prosecution and loss of UK citizenship. middleeasteye.net Syria's first lady faces possible prosecution and loss of UK citizenship | Britain's Metropolitan police have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that Asma al-Assad incited war crimes | Sat, 03/13/2021 – 22: 19 | British-born Asma al-Assad has been under EU and US sanctions since 2012 (AFP) | London's Metropolitan police have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that Asma al-Assa…

Wayne Nealis (2021-03-13). Floyd family gets $27M settlement; activists say 'no substitute for change'. peoplesworld.org MINNEAPOLIS—By a unanimous vote of the Minneapolis City Council Friday, the city agreed to pay a $27 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the George Floyd family. According to media reports, it is the largest pre-trial settlement in U.S. history. The settlement was announced as the first week of jury selection was …

Martin Hart-Landsberg (2021-03-13). Black Lives Matter protests are saving lives. mronline.org MR Online

Juan Cole (2021-03-13). Celebrating our Declaration of Independence from Covid with Poetry of Omar Khayyam. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — President Biden on Thursday expressed the expectation that the vaccination of the US population will have proceeded to the extent by July 4 that we can look forward to small gatherings of friends and family then. The calculation is that when 70% of the population is inoculated, the virus will …

Deirdre Benavides (2021-03-13). Right-wing Texas college president assaults free speech, ignores COVID. liberationnews.org Matkin, who according to college records could receive a salary as high as $1 million, recently decided not to renew the contracts of three faculty members who have been vocal about unsafe work conditions during COVID-19.

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2021-03-13). Ten Problems With Biden's Foreign Policy and One Solution. dissidentvoice.org The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it's not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed — or even infuriated. There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama's New START Treaty with Russia and Secretary of …

Marie Kelly (2021-03-13). On the picket line. workers.org Bosses retaliate against Hunts Point workers Business retaliation against union organizing is nothing new. Weak laws and minimal fines embolden corporations like Amazon to hire strikebreaking law firms to intimidate workers into voting down attempts to unionize their workplace. Workers who strike or successfully organize face the threat of losing . . . |

Eds. (2021-03-13). Human rights report on the Lasalin massacre. mronline.org MR Online

Jeremy Kuzmarov (2021-03-13). What's behind the Biden Administration's new $100 billion nuclear missile system? mronline.org MR Online

Dave Welsh (2021-03-13). San Francisco: Haitian community denounces murderous coup regime. workers.org San Francisco — Waving Haitian flags, a crowd of 80 demonstrated March 1 to mark the anniversary of the bloody U.S.-backed coup d'etat in 2004 that overthrew the popular government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The beloved former president was kidnapped and flown to Africa on a U.S. military plane, beginning a . . . |

Nyan Aung (2021-03-13). February revolution in Burma. mronline.org MR Online

Shaheen Rahman (2021-03-13). Sarah Everard vigil cancelled. ukhumanrightsblog.com Reclaim These Streets v Metropolitan Police Sarah Everard, a 33 year old woman living in London, was walking home from a friend's house at around 9pm on Wednesday 3rd March 2021 when she disappeared without trace. In the days that followed, public appeals for information and press coverage ensured that the case was widely discussed. A …

Eds. (2021-03-13). Lula's right to run for president of Brazil restored in major victory for people's movemen. mronline.org MR Online

The Conversation (2021-03-13). Defeating Climate Denialism by showing People how they will Win by Greening Society. juancole.com By Sarah Sharma and Matthew Hoffmann | — Canada and the United States are suddenly steeped in policy proposals to aggressively cut carbon emissions. In the face of a climate emergency and on the heels of numerous climate disasters, this is welcome news indeed. In the U.S., the newly minted Biden administration has unleashed a …

G. Dunkel (2021-03-13). The governor of Texas, Neanderthals and COVID-19. workers.org The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, made a surprise announcement March 2 in Lubbock, a city of 200,000 people in West Texas. All state mandates to combat the spread of COVID-19 were being lifted. Counties and municipalities cannot require basic public health policies to limit the spread of disease after March . . . |

Shaheen Rahman (2021-03-13). Sarah Everard vigil cancelled. ukhumanrightsblog.com Reclaim These Streets v Metropolitan Police Sarah Everard, a 33 year old woman living in London, was walking home from a friend's house at around 9pm on Wednesday 3rd March 2021 when she disappeared without trace. In the days that followed, public appeals for information and press coverage ensured that the case was widely discussed. A …

Jupiter Brown (2021-03-13). Knoxville, TN, activists present 'award' to city's top evictor. liberationnews.org When activists arrived at the housing complex owned by Robert Greene, the residents who lived there came out of their homes and cheered the protesters on — a visible sign of how urgently these demands speak to working class people.

Birrion Sondahl (2021-03-13). Perilous Journey — My Experiences as a Delegate Inside the Democratic Party. realprogressives.org "I have lived inside the belly of the Monster and know him from within." Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti | I only spent a brief time inside the Democratic Party as an elected delegate for Bernie Sanders in 2020, but it was enough to determine that the monster is indeed irreformable. My delegate journey exposed me to the gross incompetence and corruption within the party. The following reflects my personal experience as a delegate from Colorado's Congressional District 2. My conclusion from these few months is there is no path forward inside the Democratic Party. This should be no surprise at all, as…

Manlio Dinucci (2021-03-13). U.S. calls Europe to arms against China, Russia. workers.org The author's Art of War column published in the Italian web daily, Il Manifesto, March 9. Translation: John Catalinotto. The EU-China Agreement on investments, signed Dec. 30 by the European Commission, may be rejected by members of the European Parliament on the grounds that Beijing violates human rights. This is . . . |

Dean Baker (2021-03-13). National Public Radio Makes Stuff Up to Tell a Story About Interest Rates and Budget Deficits. cepr.net A story on All Things Considered last night told listeners: "In the early '90s, President Bill Clinton's administration was troubled by this looming problem. Year after year, both government deficits and interest rates were going up. Here's one of his top economic advisers, Laura Tyson. "LAURA TYSON: 'And then he said, oh, my goodness, if …

Anand Naidoo (2021-03-13). The Heat: Biden pledges vaccines for all Americans by May. america.cgtn.com After a year of unimaginable loss, U.S. President Biden says every American will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine in the next two months.

RT (2021-03-13). Party's over: South Dakota's request for July 4th fireworks on Mount Rushmore DENIED over health & environment concerns. rt.com A repeat of last year's large-scale celebration at Mount Rushmore, headlined by then-President Donald Trump, is apparently not going to happen this year, after a federal agency refused a request for a fireworks display. | National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Herbert Frost said in a letter seen by the Hill that the agency was "unable to grant a request" to stage fireworks at the memorial due to "potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors." | Frost also cited opposition by "many tribal partners" of the park to the sight of fireworks, and noted that while th…

RT (2021-03-13). Key 'Oath Keeper' granted pretrial release as prosecutors find no evidence of wide-ranging conspiracy to storm Capitol. rt.com A US judge has ordered the release of retired Navy officer Kenneth Caldwell, accused of being part of an Oath Keepers militia plot to invade the Capitol, pending trial, as no evidence to back the conspiracy claims has turned up. | Judge Amit Mehta said that Caldwell did not enter the Capitol building, nor was there direct evidence of him trying to force his way in. | "There are no text messages, communications by him, that speak to entering a building or trying to enter the building. And ultimately, he did not enter the building," Mehta said, as he ordered the 65-year-old's release from jail. Because he did no…

RT (2021-03-13). Key 'Oath Keeper' granted pretrial release as prosecutors find no evidence of wide-ranging conspiracy to storm Capitol. rt.com A US judge has ordered the release of retired Navy officer Kenneth Caldwell, accused of being part of an Oath Keepers militia plot to invade the Capitol, pending trial, as no evidence to back the conspiracy claims has turned up. | Judge Amit Mehta said that Caldwell did not enter the Capitol building, nor was there direct evidence of him trying to force his way in. | "There are no text messages, communications by him, that speak to entering a building or trying to enter the building. And ultimately, he did not enter the building," Mehta said, as he ordered the 65-year-old's release from jail. Because he did no…

RT (2021-03-13). US judge temporarily removes China's Xiaomi from Trump-era blacklist. rt.com A US judge has temporarily removed Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi from a Trump-era blacklist prohibiting American investment in "Communist Chinese military companies." | The ruling was announced by US District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington on Friday. The judge argued that the US Departments of Defense and Treasury "have not made the case that the national security interests at stake here are compelling," issuing a preliminary injunction removing Xiaomi from the blacklist. | Xiaomi was hit with the ban as then-President Donald Trump took a fresh series of hostile moves against China during his last day…

RT (2021-03-13). 'Largest investigation in American history': 100+ people to be charged in storming of US Capitol, court filings say. rt.com At least another hundred people connected to the January 6 storming of the US Capitol are expected to be charged with a variety of crimes, according to prosecutors. | "The investigation continues and the government expects that at least one hundred additional individuals will be charged," claimed the prosecutors in court filings first

RT (2021-03-13). 'It could have been prevented': Relatives of NY nursing home victims tell RT they hold Cuomo responsible for their deaths. rt.com New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is at fault for the state's disastrous nursing home policies amid the Covid-19 crisis, relatives of care home patients who succumbed to the virus told RT, voicing hopes for accountability. | Grace Colucci, whose elderly father passed away following a 20-day stint in a New York nursing home for physical rehabilitation, told RT's Colon Bray that she and other family members were unable to contact her dad during his stay due to pandemic restrictions, and that he emerged from the home with "very severe symptoms" of what later was confirmed to be Covid-19. | "We were not able to have…

RT (2021-03-13). Scammer charged with money laundering & wire fraud after bilking $450k from donors for fake Black Lives Matter charity, DOJ says. rt.com A fraudster has been indicted on federal charges for his alleged role in swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors who thought they were giving to a Black Lives Matter group, instead pocketing the funds for himself. | Ohio man Sir Maejor Page, 32, was slapped with four federal counts this week, the DOJ announced in a

RT (2021-03-13). 'The Bachelor' host who was 'canceled' after defending contestant hounded by 'woke police' won't return for next season. rt.com Fans of Chris Harrison were saddened to learn that he will not be hosting the upcoming season of 'The Bachelorette'. Harrison stepped down from the show amid a controversy surrounding an allegedly racist contestant. | Harrison, who went on leave from 'The Bachelor' in mid-February after taking heat for defending one of the participants from accusations of racism, will not be part of the next season of 'The Bachelorette', the gender-swapped version of the show. ABC Entertainment and Warner Horizon confirmed earlier speculation that this would be the case in a statement, saying that former contestants Tayshia Ad…

RT (2021-03-13). Politically homeless? Sarah Silverman says she doesn't want to be associated with 'elitist' Democratic Party anymore. rt.com Comedian and cancel culture opponent Sarah Silverman has expressed uncertainty about her affiliation with the Democratic Party, eliciting cheers from pundits who hailed the breakup as long overdue. | In a video posted to Instagram, Silverman confessed that she found the Democrats to be too uncompromising and self-righteous for her liking. | "It's the absolutist-ness of the party I am in that is such a turnoff to me. It's so f****** elitist. You know, for something called 'progressive', it allows for zero progress." | She added that after reflecting on the issue, she feels like she doesn't want to be "associate…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-13). Jordan: Health minister submits resignation after Covid-19 patients die of oxygen shortage. middleeasteye.net Jordan: Health minister submits resignation after Covid-19 patients die of oxygen shortage | An investigation is underway to determine what led to shortage of oxygen in state-run hospital | Sat, 03/13/2021 – 12: 40 | Jordan's King Abdullah II visiting a room during the inauguration of the health ministry's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed field hospital for Covid-19 patients in Aqaba on 24 January…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-13). Morocco extradites Saudi-Australian national to Riyadh. middleeasteye.net Morocco extradites Saudi-Australian national to Riyadh | Relatives and rights groups had warned that Osama Hasani could face torture if sent to Saudi Arabia | Sat, 03/13/2021 – 14: 28 | Saudi-Australian dual national Osama al-Hasani was arrested on 8 February while visiting his newborn child in Morocco (Twitter) | Moroccan authorities have extradited Saudi-Australian dual national Osama al…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-13). Iran says Israel likely behind attack on container ship in Mediterranean. middleeasteye.net Iran says Israel likely behind attack on container ship in Mediterranean | Ship was hit by 'an explosive object' which caused a small fire, but no one on board was hurt in incident on 10 March | Sat, 03/13/2021 – 16: 01 | Iranian-flagged container ship Shahr e Kord at Haydarpasa port in Istanbul, Turkey on 13 December 2019 (Reuters) | Israel is highly likely to have been behind an attack i…

RT (2021-03-13). US declares Huawei threat to national security, pouring cold water on Beijing's hopes for reset with Washington. rt.com The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has deemed Chinese telecom giant Huawei a threat to US national security, maintaining pressure on Beijing that some believed could ease under the new Biden administration. | The FCC announced on Friday that the firm, as well as four other Chinese companies, pose "an unacceptable risk to US national security or the security and safety of US persons." | The regulator's acting chief, Jessica Rosenworcel, said that the move would help "restore trust" in US communications networks. She did not explain what specific actions would be taken against the Chinese companies. Hua…

Eds. (2021-03-12). Ecuadorian Indigenous Leader: "We must get out of the Correaism-Anticorreism polarization" mronline.org MR Online

Neve Gordon (2021-03-12). The ICC and Israel's Charge of Anti-Semitism. counterpunch.org We are at a critical historical juncture in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to criticize Israel without being branded an anti-Semite. You are an anti-Semite if you support the International Criminal Court's recent ruling that it has jurisdiction to open a war crimes investigation against Israel. But you are also likely to be called an anti-Semite if you reject the logic informing the court's decision.

Kollibri terre Sonnenblume (2021-03-12). The Necessity of Dismantling the U.S.—A conversation with Ajamu Baraka. counterpunch.org On February 26th, I interviewed Ajamu Baraka for my podcast. Baraka is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles. He is an internationally recognized leader of the emerging human rights movement in the U.S. and has been at the forefront of efforts to

Ramzy Baroud (2021-03-12). Elections under Fire: Palestine's Impossible Democracy Dilemma. dissidentvoice.org Many Palestinian intellectuals and political analysts find themselves in the unenviable position of having to declare a stance on whether they support or reject upcoming Palestinian elections which are scheduled for May 22 and July 30. But there are no easy answers. The long-awaited decree by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last January to hold …

Juan Cole (2021-03-12). Israel has Detained 13,000 Palestinian Children since 2000 and just took 5 more. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — Since the year 2000, the Israeli military in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank has "detained, interrogated, prosecuted, and imprisoned approximately 13,000 Palestinian children," according to Defense for Children International. Nowadays Israel typically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children annually in military courts. Even though they are civilians and children, they …

Jeffrey St. Clair (2021-03-12). Roaming Charges: Fear of a Black Prince. counterpunch.org The ravages of COVID and the narrow victories in the elections gave the Democrats a once in a generation chance to do something big without having to barter for the votes of grifter Republicans. Instead, the Democrats ended up negotiating amongst themselves in a strange dance of downward harmonization, where every intra-party compromise resulted in those who needed the most relief ending up with less and less. In the end, Biden, Schumer and Pelosi settled for a hefty spending package (bigger than most but similar in kind to past bills) that doled out $1.9 trillion across the political spectrum, but did little or…

The Conversation (2021-03-12). Why Tunisians are still out on the streets — a decade after the Arab Spring. juancole.com By Saerom Han, Andrea Teti, and Pamela Abbott | — It has been 10 years since nation-wide protests in Tunisia led to the ousting of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his regime. Ben Ali led Tunisia for 23 years. Tunisia's "Dignity Revolution" marked the first time a long-standing Arab autocrat was removed …

Marilyn Bechtel (2021-03-12). San Francisco: $5/hour COVID hazard pay for grocery, pharmacy workers. peoplesworld.org San Francisco this week joined the growing number of Bay Area cities mandating hazard pay for grocery workers, when its Board of Supervisors on March 9 unanimously passed an emergency ordinance requiring large grocers and pharmacies to pay their workers an additional $5 per hour during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city had earlier urged, but …

Lindsay Larris (2021-03-12). Wolf Killing and the Legacy of Conquest. counterpunch.org It had seemed for the past half century that perhaps the worst of wolf killing was finally over. After centuries of methodic extermination had nearly completely wiped the animals out of the lower forty-eight, government agencies, scientists, and the general public began to see wolves not primarily as threats to private property, but rather, as

Staff (2021-03-12). The white establishment rebels against community policing. therealnews.com This week, in lieu of a new episode of PAR, we have a special interview with Stephen Janis and Taya Graham about their new full-length documentary, "The Friendliest Town," which tells the story of Kelvin Sewell, the first African-American police chief of Pocomoke City, MD.

Matthew Stevenson (2021-03-12). Letters From Minsk: Leaving Home. counterpunch.org This is the first in a series about train and bicycle rides from Switzerland to Belarus, in those carefree days before pandemic lockdowns. Tired Tires Before boarding the train to Minsk, I first had to fix a flat tire on my Brompton bicycle. Mercifully, it lost its air just before I left home, although it

Vijay Prashad (2021-03-12). Neoliberalism was born in Chile; Neoliberalism will die in Chile. mronline.org MR Online

Staff (2021-03-12). Battleground Baltimore: House passes police reform legislation. therealnews.com In this week's round-up of Baltimore news: Maryland Republicans call police reform legislation "far left," a teen is accused of murder, the continued fight against a Johns Hopkins University private police force, and more.

David Yearsley (2021-03-12). Do Organists Dream of Electric Sheep? counterpunch.org In his encyclopedic cinderblock of a book Musurgia Universalis of 1650, the German polymath Athanasius Kircher imagined God as an organist pulling out a new stop on each new day of Creation and playing the world's beings into life. Kircher didn't mention any Pandemic Pipes in his World Organ, but they have been sounding for

Eds. (2021-03-12). We need to decolonize our understanding of antisemitism. mronline.org MR Online

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (2021-03-12). Ari Berman on the Attack on Voting Rights. fair.org USA Today ( This week on CounterSpin: A March 3 New York Times

John Laforge (2021-03-12). Fukushima at Ten: Aftershocks, Lies, and Failed Decontamination. counterpunch.org It's now 10 years since the catastrophic triple meltdowns of reactors at Fukushima in Japan. As Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health project put it three years ago, "Enormous amounts of radioactive chemicals, including cesium, strontium, plutonium, and iodine were emitted into the air, and releases of the same toxins into the Pacific have never stopped, as workers struggle to contain over 100 cancer-causing chemicals."

John Catalinotto (2021-03-12). Milošević trial exposed U.S.-NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. workers.org Few people in the United States, even those in the movement that opposes U.S. imperialist aggression, remember that March 11 is the 15th anniversary of the death of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. He had been unjustly incarcerated in Scheveningen prison in The Hague, Netherlands. For movement activists, a review of . . . |

Patricia Gorky (2021-03-12). Journalist acquitted: Covering protests against racism is not a crime. liberationnews.org After a three day trial an Iowa jury has found journalist Andrea Sahouri not guilty on misdemeanor charges stemming from her coverage of a June 2020 demonstration against racist police violence. Police pepper-sprayed the journalist in the face and arrested her as she covered a local protest against police brutality. Acquitted. (Photo credit: Ted Nieters/Polaris …

Aaron Morrison, Kat Stafford (2021-03-12). Data confirms what we already knew: Pandemic hit people of color harder. peoplesworld.org NEW YORK (AP)—A year ago, Elvia Banuelos' life was looking up. The 39-year-old mother of two young children said she felt confident about a new management-level job with the U.S. Census Bureau—she would earn money to supplement the child support she receives to keep her children healthy, happy, and in daycare. But when the coronavirus …

People's Voice (2021-03-12). Cuba's reforms raise public sector salaries, broaden self-employment options. peoplesworld.org Starting in January 2021, Cuba began to implement broad economic reforms designed to increase production and exports in an effort to mitigate the effects of the U.S. blockade and the coronavirus pandemic. The following article, republished from the Turkish media site Sol ("The Left"), analyzes the first month of the reforms and their impact on …

Howie Hawkins (2021-03-12). More on H.R.1/S.1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. counterpunch.org The "For the People Act" (H.R.1/S.1) passed the House on March 3 and is now under consideration by the Senate. The bill was also adopted by the House in 2019 but had no chance of passage in the Senate with the Republicans in control. But now that this voting and elections reform bill has become

Kathy Deacon (2021-03-12). No Matter How Bad, COVID Makes It Worse. counterpunch.org It's disquieting to see profit-incentivized entities turn into major vaccination hubs—many people now routinely go to drug stores to get their flu shots. Until such time as the American government catches up with the rest of the world–and creates the public health care system we so desperately need—it looks as if the large pharmacy chains will remain central to the patchwork, makeshift future of pandemic response

Michael Berkowitz (2021-03-12). Amy Poehler's new film 'Moxie': Growing up female in 2020. peoplesworld.org Amy Poehler's new Netflix film Moxie is not perfect. But it is very, very good. It's a smart, funny, entertaining look at how growing up female in 2020 is similar and different from growing up in the Sixties and Nineties, or any other time for that matter. Now we know what the prolific writer-director-actress Poehler …

Eve Ottenberg (2021-03-12). Leaving Afghanistan by May 1? Alas, Not Likely. counterpunch.org Will the U.S. military ever leave Afghanistan? The answer appears to be no. When the U.S. military comes it stays. It's been in Germany since the 1940s, and now has expanded, with its attack dog, NATO, from there throughout Eastern Europe to menace Russia. The Afghan adventure has so far lasted 20 years and cost two trillion dollars. Afghanistan provides a convenient, imperial base from which to threaten China. The U.S. military, realistically, will never want to give that up.

Corinne Benson (2021-03-12). To mine or not to mine? Alberta coal confusion puts water in danger. peoplesworld.org EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada—Conservative Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's government has been dancing all over the place lately when it comes to coal policy. First, they talk to Australian coal mining companies before letting Albertans know they are planning to rescind a 1976 coal policy that forbids mountaintop removal coal mining. When outrage mounted, they announced that …

G. Dunkel (2021-03-12). Haiti protests: 'MoàØse, U.S., UN out!'. workers.org Hundreds of thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Sunday, March 7, to demand the departure of President Jovenel MoàØse, whose term of office has expired. The protesters raised the corruption under MoàØse's PHTK (Haitian Party of Tèt Kale), which has stolen or squandered billions of dollars of . . . |

Rob Urie (2021-03-12). Police Violence, Racial Justice and Class. counterpunch.org The racial justice protests of the summer of 2020 tied to four years of #Resistance, but more precisely to the unresolved Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests of 2014 — 2015 that preceded it. What both BLM movements accomplished was to elevate racial justice as a talking point without altering the distribution of power. Broader questions

Erik Molvar (2021-03-12). Livestock and Deforestation in the American West. counterpunch.org The dawn breaks each morning on a hundred different mountain ranges in the Great Basin, with few human eyes to see it. Many of these mountain chains will be unfamiliar to most — the Toquimas, the Wah Wahs, the Goshutes, the Sheeprocks, the Fox Range — but the one thing they all have in common

Susan Abulhawa (2021-03-12). Free Khalida Jarrar! workers.org In advance of International Women's Day on March 8, Israel sentenced one of Palestine's most prominent women to two years in prison, in a military court wherein no evidence could be presented against her except her affiliation with an outlawed political organization. Khalida Jarrar, a senior leader in the Popular . . . |

The Socialist Program (2021-03-12). Why are Super-Rich Democrats Called "Moderates" When they Wage Class War vs. Low-Income Workers? liberationnews.org Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss the Biden administration's stimulus package.

Yves Engler (2021-03-12). B'nai B'rith Smear Doesn't Change Facts about University Funding. dissidentvoice.org B'nai B'rith is at it again. The racist group is smearing a pro-Palestinian voice for pointing out a simple truth about Canadian life. Last week the anti-Palestinian organization released a statement headlined "Carleton University Should Condemn Antisemitism, Take Action on Professor's Remarks". The alleged offence was that sociology professor Nahla Abdo stated that pro-Israel individuals …

Andrew J. Bacevich (2021-03-12). Has the DC Foreign Policy Blob swallowed Joe Biden? We don't need to be the World's Policeman. juancole.com ( Tomdispatch.com ) — You may have noticed: the Blob is back. Beneath a veneer of gender and racial diversity, the Biden national security team consists of seasoned operatives who earned their spurs in Washington long before Donald Trump showed up to spoil the party. So, if you're looking for fresh faces at the departments …

Sarah Roberts, Joe Bernick (2021-03-12). Salt of the Earth Labor College spotlights border militarization and death. peoplesworld.org TUCSON, Ariz.—For decades, the U.S.-Mexico border areas have experienced increased militarization, a surge in deportations, and an ever-more brutal border patrol. The Trump administration's policies of separating families, building walls, and racist demonizing of migrants made the situation even worse—and then came the pandemic. Some hope the Biden administration will ease things somewhat, but change is slow …

Andrew Bacevich (2021-03-12). Biden Defers to the Blob. counterpunch.org You may have noticed: the Blob is back. Beneath a veneer of gender and racial diversity, the Biden national security team consists of seasoned operatives who earned their spurs in Washington long before Donald Trump showed up to spoil the party. So, if you're looking for fresh faces at the departments of state or defense,

Paul Street (2021-03-12). Unless the Power of the People Asserts Itself. counterpunch.org The COVID-19 pandemic and recession and the political realignment in Washington after the defeat of the malignant fascist Trump and the two former Republican Senators in Georgia have opened the door for some welcome federal action. Among the improvements: the newly serious and aggressive federal response to the deadly virus and the passage of a

Global Research News (2021-03-12). Selected Articles: 7 European Nations and Thailand Halt AstraZeneca Vaccinations. globalresearch.ca By In October 2019, shortly before th…

Staff (2021-03-12). White Supremacist Christianity Drives Trump's Loyal Mob. We Must Scream It Down. truthout.org Two months have now passed since mobs of mostly white people descended on the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the results of November's election, but I am still haunted by images of the mob's racist violence such as the noose that they put on display and the shirt of a white man in the crowd that read, "Camp Auschwitz." | These details were more than symbolic — they point to historically materialized forms of horrific anti-Black and antisemitic racism that continue to be stoked by w…

Staff (2021-03-12). Share the Vaccines, Erase the Debt: Joseph Stiglitz on How the U.S. Can Help Developing Countries. democracynow.org Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says wealthy countries have a responsibility to help the developing world in overcoming the pandemic. He says the response must include vaccine equity as well as economic aid, including debt relief. "America won't be free from the pandemic until the world is," says Stiglitz.

Online News Editor (2021-03-12). Unicef warns of neglect in Nicaraguan Caribbean after hurricanes. laprensalatina.com Managua, Mar 11 (efe-epa).- Unicef's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jean Gough, has warned of institutional neglect of Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACN) that was hit four months ago by the powerful hurricanes Eta and Iota. During a six-day tour of Nicaragua, Honduran Gough visited four communities in the RACN …

Staff (2021-03-12). "Hell on Earth": Yemeni Children Starve to Death as U.S.-Backed Saudi Blockade Devastates Nation. democracynow.org The World Food Programme is warning Yemen is headed toward the biggest famine in modern history, with the U.N. agency projecting around 400,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 could die from acute malnutrition this year as the Saudi war and blockade continues. CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir says Yemen is accurately described as "hell on Earth." Her latest report from inside Yemen details the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians, including widespread fuel shortages affecting all aspects of life. "We were utterly unprepared for what we found when we got there," says Elbagir.

Staff (2021-03-12). Meghan Markle Racism Revelations Are "Shocking, But Not Surprising" to People of Color in U.K. democracynow.org The British royal family is facing intense criticism over its treatment of Meghan Markle, who revealed shocking details about life as a royal in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, including mistreatment and bullying from other royals, relentless harassment by the British press, and racist comments about Markle, who was born in the United States to a Black mother and a white father. One member of the royal family, according to Markle, even speculated how dark her child's skin would be. Markle and her husband Prince Harry stepped down as senior members of Britain's royal family last year. Pioneering British journalis…

Staff (2021-03-12). The End of Trickle-Down Economics? Joe Stiglitz on the "Transformational" $1.9T American Rescue Plan. democracynow.org President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which Democrats are hailing as the largest anti-poverty bill in a generation. It includes stimulus checks to most adults, expanded unemployment benefits and an overhaul of the child tax credit. One study projects the law will lift almost 14 million Americans out of poverty, including 5.7 million children. "This is transformational," says economist Joseph Stiglitz. "It says, 'We are actually going to live up — try to live up — to our aspirations.'"

RT (2021-03-12). Biden asks Americans to 'trust Fauci' after he draws criticism for saying the latest CDC recommendations are not science-based. rt.com US President Joe Biden's call to trust Dr. Anthony Fauci on the issue of vaccine safety while describing him "one of the most trusted voices in the world" has earned scorn from conservatives, accusing him of inconsistency. | In his first address as president on Thursday evening, Biden demanded Americans follow advice from scientists, who he said "have made clear that things may get worse again" as new strains of the virus spread. | "But to get there we can't let our guard down. This fight is far from over," he added, calling on those hesitant to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to take cues from Dr. Fauci, praisin…

The Canary (2021-03-12). Exports to EU plunged 41% in January as Brexit transition period ended. thecanary.co Exports of UK goods to the European Union dropped by more than two-fifths in January as the Brexit transition period came to an end. | The drop: | New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that overall exports from the UK fell by £5.6bn — 19.3%. It was driven by a £5.6bn, or 40.7%, plunge in exports of goods to the EU, the ONS said. | Imports also fell, by £8.9bn overall (21.6%), while imports from the EU dropped £6.6BN (28%), the figures show. | The underlying total trade deficit fell £3.7 billion to £1.9 billion in January: goods exports fe…

Steve Topple (2021-03-12). Dan Hodges sent the tw*t-o-meter nuclear on Question Time. thecanary.co A Mail on Sunday columnist was talking about racism in the UK media on BBC Question Time. Predictably, when it came to his own newspaper, he denied ever seeing any. Please pick your jaw up off the floor and continue reading. | Cuckoo on Question Time: |

Paul Haeder (2021-03-12). Washing Away One Trail of Tears After Another. dissidentvoice.org White Washing: According to one Merriam-Webster definition, to whitewash is to "gloss over or cover up," which, in a sense, is what the racial form of whitewashing does. It creates a White world where sins against people of color, including Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, Latinos, and other minority groups cease to matter because, in revisionist …

RT (2021-03-12). Return to normalcy? Vandalizing protesters target Portland courthouse days after its protective fence was removed (VIDEOS). rt.com Violent clashes were once again witnessed overnight in central Portland, where a federal courthouse — the focal point of last year's months-long violent protests — was stripped of its surrounding fence earlier this week. | Local media reported that around 50 to 60 black-clad demonstrators clashed with federal agents on Thursday night, breaking windows and setting on fire a section of plywood barring entry to parts of the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse in central Portland, Oregon. | #koin6news #pdx RT (2021-03-12). Return to normalcy? Vandalizing protesters target Portland courthouse days after its protective fence was removed (VIDEOS). rt.com Violent clashes were once again witnessed overnight in central Portland, where a federal courthouse — the focal point of last year's months-long violent protests — was stripped of its surrounding fence earlier this week. | Local media reported that around 50 to 60 black-clad demonstrators clashed with federal agents on Thursday night, breaking windows and setting on fire a section of plywood barring entry to parts of the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse in central Portland, Oregon. | Someone in the group set fire to the plywood on the building at the entrance to the courthouse. Federal officers are…

RT (2021-03-12). NY House speaker launches impeachment probe into Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations & Covid nursing home cover-up. rt.com The New York State Assembly has given the nod to an impeachment investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo, who faces a litany of sexual harassment charges from several accusers and intense criticism of his pandemic response. | Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie authorized a Judiciary Committee to probe the allegations on Thursday, tapping fellow Democrat Assemblyman Charles Lavine to spearhead the investigation. | "The reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious. The committee will have the authority to interview witnesses, subpoena documents and evaluate evidence, as is allowed by the New…