Collapse of US charges against journalist raises serious questions about politically motivated prosecutions
Mohamed Elmaazi | thecanary.co | 2019-12-12
Washington DC police have dropped criminal charges against award-winning journalist Max Blumenthal, in a press-freedom story which has received scant media attention. | Blumenthal: The police "threatened to break down my door": | On 25 October 2019, Blumenthal was arrested in a morning raid by police who threatened to "break down" his door. Blumenthal, who co-founded independent media outlet t…
thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/12/12/collapse-of-us-charges-against-journalist-raises-serious-questions-about-politically-motivated-prosecutions/
MN withstands -10 windchill to demand human rights at home and abroad
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-12
Minneapolis, MN – On December 10, 25 protesters rallied outside of Senator Amy Klobuchar's office to mark International Human Rights Day. After chanting outside the senator's office, Brad Sigal from the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee addressed the crowd to draw attention to Trump's record of human rights abuses against immigrants. The protesters then marched in -10 degrees windchill to the legendary May Day Books in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. | Tracy Molm of the Anti-War Committee spoke at the closing rally inside the bookstore. "On Human Rights Day we come together to call attention to human rights…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/12/11/mn-withstands-10-windchill-demand-human-rights-home-and-abroad
Will the Democratic Presidential Nomination Be Bought?
Norman Solomon | indybay.org | 2019-12-12
Billionaires on a shopping spree…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/11/18828801.php
Uganda's First Fridays for Future Climate Striker Joins COP25 Protests in Madrid
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
As we broadcast from the U.N. climate summit in Madrid, Spain, we speak with climate activist Vanessa Nakate, who was Uganda's first Fridays for Future climate striker. "I wanted to do something that would cause change to the lives of the people in my community and my country," she says. "My country heavily depends on agriculture, therefore most of the people depend on agriculture. If our farms are destroyed by floods, if the farms are destroyed by droughts and crop production is less, that m…
truthout.org/video/ugandas-first-fridays-for-future-climate-striker-joins-cop25-protests-in-madrid/
Polluting Companies Are Sponsoring COP25 Talks in Exchange for Tax Breaks
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
Big polluters are to blame for slow progress in the annual UN climate negotiations in Madrid, Spain, according to activists — with several companies sponsoring the talks in exchange for tax breaks. | Sponsors of the talks, known as COP25, include the electrical utilities company Iberdrola, which produced 24.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 20…
truthout.org/articles/polluting-companies-are-sponsoring-cop25-talks-in-exchange-for-tax-breaks/
Greta Thunberg Slams Response to Climate Crisis at COP25 as "Creative PR"
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
At the U.N. climate summit in Madrid, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed world leaders Wednesday, hours after she was named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Thunberg came to the talks after a trip to meet with climate leaders across North America in anticipation of the scheduled climate conference in Santiago, Chile, before the talks were abruptly moved to the Spanish capital. In her address, Thunberg warned that the planet's carbon budget is down to just eight years, an…
truthout.org/video/greta-thunberg-slams-response-to-climate-crisis-at-cop25-as-creative-pr/
Award-Winning Journalist Vanessa Beeley Faces "Deplatforming" at Six Canadian Venues
Michael Welch | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Vanessa Beeley, the award-winning journalist who has gained notoriety for her on the ground reporting on the Syrian conflict has faced opposition in her efforts to speak to Canadian audiences at the invitation of local anti war activists. | According …
globalresearch.ca/award-winning-journalist-vanessa-beeley-faces-deplatforming-at-six-canadian-venues/5697546
Trump attacks climate activist Thunberg after Time honor
Associated Press | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-12
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out at 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday, a day after she was named by Time as its Person of the Year, calling her selection "ridiculous." The Swedish teenager has become a symbol of a growing movement of young climate activists after leading weekly school strikes in her country …
peoplesworld.org/article/trump-attacks-climate-activist-thunberg-after-time-honor/
Environmental Activists Target Exxon's Lead Attorney in Climate Liability Case, a Prominent Democratic Donor
Rachel M. Cohen | theintercept.com | 2019-12-12
Ted Wells Jr., who defended Exxon against a lawsuit by New York's attorney general, has given half a million dollars to Democrats in recent decades.
theintercept.com/2019/12/12/exxon-climate-lawsuit-democratic-donor/
No Israeli Peace, Joy or Goodwill at Christmastime for Palestinians
Jerome Irwin | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
Peace, Good Will and Joy on Earth at Christmas! But what does that mean for Palestine and Palestinians? Every year, on the 11th day of the 11th hour of the 11th month, the human spirit pauses to pay tribute to world peace, good will and joy towards all and commemorate that dark moment in modern…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/no-israeli-peace-joy-or-goodwill-at-christmastime-for-palestinians/
Colombia's Peace Deal Paved the Way for Its Historic Protests
Miguel Salazar | thenation.com | 2019-12-12
Colombia's Peace Deal Paved the Way for Its Historic Protests…
thenation.com/article/colombia-strikes-duque/
Ukraine Might Finally See Peace, Unless the US 'Deep State' Sabotages It First
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
The intense diplomatic efforts undertaken by Presidents Putin and Zelensky finally yielded credible hope that peace might eventually return to Ukraine following their first-ever face-to-face meeting during this week's Normandy Summit in Paris, but the greatest obstacle that both leaders …
globalresearch.ca/ukraine-might-finally-see-peace-unless-us-deep-state-sabotages-it-first/5697531
From London to Beirut, From Santiago to New Delhi: Protesters Need to Build Solidarity Networks
Catherine Rottenberg — Neve Gordon | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
On Friday, December 1, two protest marches met in central London in what felt like a magical moment. A few thousand striking university lecturers had just reached the British Parliament at Westminster after marching from the Bloomsbury neighbourhood, when close to a thousand Extinction Rebellion teenagers came pouring down a parallel street and the two protests united. The…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/from-london-to-beirut-from-santiago-to-new-delhi-protesters-need-to-build-solidarity-networks/
Indian Government Strips Naturalization Rights From Muslims, Sparking Protests
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
Critics condemned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government Tuesday after the Lok Sabha, the lower chamber of the country's parliament, passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, stripping naturalization rights granted to other groups from the nation's 200 million Muslims living in the world's largest democracy. | "We are now moving closer to Modi's dream of an India where a Muslim will have to walk the streets of his country with his gaze lowered, where democracy will be a privilege some…
truthout.org/articles/indian-government-strips-naturalization-rights-from-muslims-sparking-protests/
Algeria: Presidential Elections Close With Very Low Attendance
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-12
Algeria's presidential elections, which the opposition has billed as a farce, were marked by massive protests and empty polling stations on Thursday. | RELATED: | Algerian Gov't Paves the Way for Foreign Financial Institutions | Polling stations closed their doors with little attendance from citizens after a day marked by massive demonstrations and the boycott of elections, especially in the northern region of Kabylia. | In Algiers, polls closed at 7: 00 p.m. (local time) with…
telesurenglish.net/news/Algeria-Presidential-Elections-Close-With-Very-Low-Attendance-20191212-0006.html
Video: Militants Push Syrian Army Back in Southern Idlib
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
On December 11, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Army and the special forces unit, known as the "Red Bands", attacked and captured the area of al-Katibat al-Mahjura in southeastern Idlib. Units of the Syrian Army deployed there were caught …
globalresearch.ca/video-militants-push-syrian-army-back-southern-idlib/5697540
Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
It is hardly surprising to see Middle Eastern countries at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index, as the worst violators of freedom of the press. But equally alarming is the complete polarization of public opinion as a result of self-serving media and, bankrolled by rich Arab countries, whose only goal is to serve their specific, often sinister, agendas.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/money-power-and-turf-winning-the-middle-east-media-war-at-any-cost/
When You Follow the Gun Trail, You Can End Up in Expected Places
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
I've always wanted to find out where the guns came from. Who were the 'willing accomplices' to the wars I witnessed? In 1996, I traced to its Boeing makers in the deep south of the US a missile fired by the Israelis at a Lebanese ambulance. It killed two women and four children. I even…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/when-you-follow-the-gun-trail-you-can-end-up-in-expected-places/
The U.S. Government Lied about the Afghanistan War, They Couldn't Have Done It Without Media Lapdogs
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
"In ten years or so, we'll leak the truth," the Dead Kennedys sang. "But by then it's only so much paper." But it might just score you a Pulitzer Prize. Award bait and bragging rights are no doubt the principal goals of The Washington Post's self-congratulatory data dump, "The Afghanistan Papers." As the headline implies,…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/the-u-s-government-lied-about-the-afghanistan-war-they-couldnt-have-done-it-without-media-lapdogs/
Libya Is Likely to Become a Proxy Battlefront Between Greece and Turkey
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoƒüan has certainly opened up pandora's box in Libya that is now difficult for him to close after he made a series of gross miscalculations and aggression against Greece. This has triggered a crisis all across …
globalresearch.ca/libya-likely-become-proxy-battlefront-between-greece-turkey/5697536
Donald Trump's Big Abuses of Power Demand a Big Impeachment
Ralph Nader, Bruce Fein | thenation.com | 2019-12-12
Donald Trump's Big Abuses of Power Demand a Big Impeachment…
thenation.com/article/impeachment-constitution-abuse-power/
Bolivia: The 21st Century Coup d'État and Its Crimes Against Humanity
Alex Anfruns | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
After the coup d'état, repression is advancing by leaps and bounds in Bolivia. The dictatorship persecutes the "narco-traffickers", "vandals" and "terrorists", that is to say: the social movements, former members of the government, peasants and indigenous people who demonstrate and …
globalresearch.ca/bolivia-21st-century-coup-crimes-against-humanity/5697518
Army Abducts A Woman, Invade Many Homes, Near Jerusalem
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-12-12
Israeli soldiers abducted, Wednesday, a Palestinian woman from Beit Doqqo village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem; her detention comes just a few days after the soldiers abducted her husband. Local sources in Beit Doqqo said the soldiers abducted Zakiyya Ali Hussein, 30, when she headed to an interrogation center after …
imemc.org/article/army-abducts-a-woman-invade-many-homes-near-jerusalem/
Soldiers Shoot A Medic, Abduct Thirteen Palestinians In West Bank
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-12-12
Israeli soldiers shot, on Thursday at dawn, a medic and abducted thirteen other Palestinians, including a university student, in several parts of the occupied West Bank. In Ramallah, in central West Bank, the soldiers invaded Ein Misbah neighborhood and Surda Junction, and resorted to the excessive use of force against …
imemc.org/article/soldiers-shoot-a-medic-abduct-thirteen-palestinians-in-west-bank/
Anti-Arab Spraypainted on Mosque in Northern Israel
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-12-12
In the village of Manshiet Zibdeh, located in what is now Israel, a mosque was defaced with racist graffiti on Thursday morning, and cars parked at the mosque had their tires punctured. Israeli police were called in by the Imam of the Mosque when the graffiti was found, but they …
imemc.org/article/anti-muslim-spraypainted-on-mosque-in-northern-israel/
Evo Morales Arrived in Argentina to Request Political Asylum
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-12
Bolivia's former President Evo Morales, who was forced to resign after the mutiny of his country's security forces, arrived in Argentina as a refugee. | RELATED: | Bolivia One Month After the Coup: A Recount of Pivotal Events | "He comes to stay in Argentina because he arrives as an asylee and then he will have refugee status," Argentina's Foreign Affairs Minister F…
telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Arrived-in-Argentina-to-Request-Political-Asylum-20191212-0005.html
Renouncing Israel on Principle
Steven Salaita | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
When anti-Zionists discuss the Middle East, the topic of Israel's existence rarely arises. It's almost exclusively a pro-Israel talking point. We're focused on national liberation, on surviving repression, on strategies of resistance, on recovering subjugated histories, on the complex (and sometimes touchy) relationships among an Indigenous population disaggregated by decades of aggression. That a colonial state–or any state, really–possesses no ontological rights is an unspoken assumption.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/renouncing-israel-on-principle/
How Does One of the Most Hated Industries Stay Profitable?
Martha Rosenberg | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
Pharma promotes fake patient advocacy groups to lobby for its interests. These front groups often push the FDA to approve an expensive drug that has acceptable, cheaper alternatives. Or, they'll try to prevent Medicaid from switching to the less pricey drug. One of the largest faux groups, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), was investigated by Sen. Charles Grassley for undisclosed Pharma links. He found that three fourths of the group's donation came from Pharma.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/how-does-one-of-the-most-hated-industries-stay-profitable/
A Boss is a Boss: Nurses Battle for Their First Union Contract at Albany Medical Center
Lawrence Wittner | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
A nonprofit employer is not necessarily a better boss than a profit-making one. That sad truth is reinforced by the experience of some 2,200 nurses at Albany Medical Center, who have been fighting for a contract since April 2018, when they voted for union representation. Even that union recognition struggle proved exceptionally difficult. The management…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/a-boss-is-a-boss-nurses-battle-for-their-first-union-contract-at-albany-medical-center/
Zealots in High Office
James A Haught | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
Back in 2003, in a top-secret international phone call, President George W. Bush urged French President Jacques Chirac to join America in invading Iraq on grounds that Christian nations must thwart the Satanic forces of Gog and Magog. Chirac was baffled by such crackpottery. A few French newspapers wrote derisive sneers about the born-again U.S.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/zealots-in-high-office/
Goat Grazing is No Solution to Wildfires
George Wuerthner | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
The recent commentary by Mark Nelson in the San Francisco Chronicle, who works for the Ag industry, suggesting that grazing by goats and other livestock can help reduce wildfire losses in California deserves qualification. As a landscape response to large fires, grazing is no solution. In many ecosystems, particularly in the parts of the state…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/goat-grazing-is-no-solution-to-wildfires/
Most Americans Support Phasing-Out Fossil Fuels…Isn't That Worth a Headline?
Basav Sen | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
Last month, The Washington Post reported on the results of a poll it conducted with the Kaiser Family Foundation earlier this year. The poll had remarkable finding: nearly half — 46 percent — of American adults believe the U.S. needs to "drastically reduce" fossil fuel use in the near future to address the climate crisis, while another 41…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/most-americans-support-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-isnt-that-worth-a-headline/
We Can't Do It Ourselves
Kris De Decker | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
How to live a more sustainable life? This question generates a lot of debate that is focused on what individuals can do in order to address problems like climate change. For example, people are encouraged to shop locally, to buy organic food, to install home insulation, or to cycle more often. But how effective is individual…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/we-cant-do-it-ourselves/
How Working Class Atomization and the Mohawk Valley Formula Gave Us Centrist Democrats
Daniel Falcone | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
The Mohawk Valley Formula, the propaganda model of "scientific strikebreaking" originated in 1937. Since that time, forms of non-violent worker control have been updated into much more sophisticated measures of strike-breaking. At this stage in American history, strike breaking is a major profession and by destroying unions and atomizing people, the business-run class war continues…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/how-working-class-atomization-and-the-mohawk-valley-formula-gave-us-centrist-democrats/
Pride Goeth Before the Fall
George Ochenski | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-12
The hammer of impeachment is finally falling on Donald Trump's occupancy of the White House. For many, it's taken far too long to get to the point where an obviously corrupt individual with a very long record of shady dealings, illicit financial transactions and bankruptcies now faces a process in which he has no control.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/pride-goeth-before-the-fall/
Paper Genocide: The Barriers to an Accurate Count of Native People in 2020
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
As the country prepares for the 2020 census, many tribal governments and communities are still awaiting an accurate count of the most undercounted group in the United States: American Indians (AI) and Alaska Natives (AN). Though the 2020 census is the first to offer an online response form, that will have little impact in increasing AI and AN participation given existing barriers. At the same time, the undercounting of AI and AN people wreaks havoc on tribal communities today, and it will for ge…
truthout.org/articles/paper-genocide-the-barriers-to-an-accurate-count-of-native-people-in-2020/
A Rising Movement Is Challenging Mexico's Corporatized Unions
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
After lying dormant for decades, in January this year the Mexican labor movement erupted. A presidential decree in December raising the minimum wage to 102 pesos (US$5) per day and 176 pesos (US$9) in zones close to the US, was the spark that led to tens of thousands of workers undertaking the most important industrial action Mexico has witnessed in the entire 21st century. | It all began in early January in the town of Matamoros, in the border state of Tamaulipas, when tens of thousands of workers from the…
truthout.org/articles/a-rising-movement-is-challenging-mexicos-corporatized-unions/
Betsy DeVos Forced Students Defrauded by For-Profit Colleges to Repay Loans
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos overruled career staff at the department's Borrower Defense Unit, deciding to force student borrowers to partially pay back their loans even though they had been defrauded by for-profit colleges, according to documents obtained by NPR. | More than 200,000 borrowers called for the U.S. Department of Educatio…
truthout.org/articles/betsy-devos-forced-students-defrauded-by-for-profit-colleges-to-repay-loans/
Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
The House voted 377-48 to advance a $738 billion military spending authorization package on Wednesday despite a rebellion among progressive Democrats angered by the loss of provisions that would have curtailed endless wars and put President Trump's most violent foreign policy ambitions in check. | The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is often described by the dominant media as a "must-pass" piece of legislation glowing with bipartisanship, but this year negotiations were different. Democrats clashed…
truthout.org/articles/progressives-rebel-as-house-hands-trump-war-spending-package/
In California Care Homes, Residents Are Neglected and Workers Are Exploited
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
This story was produced by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization. Get their investigations emailed to you directly by signing up at revealnews.org/newsletter. | In her final months, Elaine Geslicki, a bedridden dementia resident at a home for seniors in the Los Angeles area, had difficulty communicating. But by the time the owner of Court Yard Estates sent her to the hospital in an ambulance, the severe pressure so…
truthout.org/articles/in-california-care-homes-residents-are-neglected-and-workers-are-exploited/
Trump's Executive Order Is No Favor to US Jews. Just Look at Algeria
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-12
This week President Trump signed an executive order explicitly naming Jews as a protected class under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VI does not currently include religion status as a protected identity. This significant change carves out the protection of Jews as separate and different from the protection of all other religious groups in the Uni…
truthout.org/articles/trumps-executive-order-is-no-favor-to-u-s-jews-just-look-at-algeria/
Glyphosate and Roundup Proven to Disrupt Gut Microbiome by Inhibiting Shikimate Pathway
GMWatch | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Fatty liver disease and death of liver tissue were also confirmed in rats fed regulatory permitted and thus presumed safe doses of the weedkiller | The primary mechanism of how glyphosate herbicides kill plants is by inhibiting an enzyme called EPSPS, …
globalresearch.ca/glyphosate-roundup-proven-disrupt-gut-microbiome-inhibiting-shikimate-pathway/5697512
The Warfare State Lied About Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. They Will Lie Again
Tho Bishop | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Today the Washington Post published a bombshell report titled "The Afghanistan Papers," highlighting the degree to which the American government lied to the public about the ongoing status of the war in Afghanistan. Within the thousands of pages, consisting …
globalresearch.ca/warfare-state-lied-about-afghanistan-iraq-syria-they-will-lie-again/5697528
NATO Summit — and 2020 Planned Aggression
Peter Koenig | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
A recent article " NATO is Brain Dead" described the obsolescence Of NATO and NATO's defense mechanisms against non-existence enemies. Amazing — with pretense of protection and security in Europe and the world, against Russia and China and fighting | …
globalresearch.ca/nato-summit-2020-planned-aggression/5697496
"Booming" US Economy Means More Bad Jobs and Faster Race to the Bottom
Glen Ford | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
For the past 30 years, no matter which party has been in power, the US economy has produced more and more "bad" jobs — because the Race to the Bottom is ruling class policy. | "Whole sectors have become precarity zones."…
globalresearch.ca/booming-economy-means-more-bad-jobs-faster-race-bottom/5697500
Sudanese Transitional Government Faces Profound Challenges
Abayomi Azikiwe | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Interim Prime Abdallah Hamdok of the Republic of Sudan visited the United States during early December seeking to have sanctions lifted against his newly-created administration. | In meetings with members of Congress and the National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, who …
globalresearch.ca/sudanese-transitional-government-faces-profound-challenges/5697498
NATO Secretary General Targets 'Rising China': Why Cold War Newspeak Never Went Away
Cynthia Chung | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
On December 3rd, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that NATO must address the "security implications" of China's rise as a "military power", and in true Orwellian doublespeak, insisted that he did not want to make an adversary …
globalresearch.ca/nato-secretary-general-targets-rising-china/5697526
British Elections: The Cause of Labour is the Hope of the World
Dilma Rousseff | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Former presidents, ministers, members of parliament, trade unionists, and political leaders from four continents sign an open letter explaining why the world needs a Labour government. | *** | We, the undersigned, express our solidarity with the Labour Party for today's election …
globalresearch.ca/british-elections-cause-labour-hope-world/5697511
The Bloomberg Factor: Authoritarianism, Money and US Presidential Politics
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
Political rottenness may be bottomless. Consider the following description of a political aspirant for the White House, this person being from the Democratic Party. His "liabilities as a political candidate are so glaringly obvious that it's easy to dismiss his …
globalresearch.ca/bloomberg-factor-authoritarianism-money-us-presidential-politics/5697494
The Art of Doublespeak: Bellingcat and Mind Control
Edward Curtin | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-12
In the 1920s, the influential American intellectual Walter Lippman argued that the average person was incapable of seeing or understanding the world clearly and needed to be guided by experts behind the social curtain. In a number of books he …
globalresearch.ca/art-doublespeak-bellingcat-mind-control/5697388