(2019-12-24). Blood Memory Rising, Book Review of Standing with Standing Rock. indybay.org 'Standing with Standing Rock,' is an encyclopedia of resistance, which chronicles the Water Protector movement from the first run to Washington, and on to the camps, and the surveillance by TigerSwan, to the ultimate international divestment campaign. In its 29 chapters are poetry, essays and discussions of Indigenous rights and Treaties.
(2019-12-24). Peace on Earth . counterpunch.org Peace on Earth The laundry soap'll hardly pour When it's as cold as this it's thick And white as wax when — well It had to be a green cat Candle the last of the red ones Ears were smashed And peace on earth my friend won't come Until we stop worshipping Work and war, More
(2019-12-24). The Christmas Truce of 1914: Proof that Peace is Possible. counterpunch.org As 1914 drew to a close, Europe had been at war for months. On the Western Front, opposing armies faced each other across a stalemated front line running from the North Sea to the Swiss border. On December 24, 100,000 soldiers from both sides of that line decided to create some peace on Earth. They More
(2019-12-24). Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf orders mass arrest of Housing Justice protesters. indybay.org An inspirational day of solidarity with unhoused Oaklanders turned into a traumatic night after mayor Libby Schaaf directed a small army of police and DPW workers to smash a housing rights protest held on the doorstep of City Hall. For daring to challenge the Oakland's never ending war against the homeless — the city's encampment demolitions and evictions, the towing of residential vehicles, and a lack of earnestness and urgency in addressing the housing crisis — twenty-two people were arrested and sent to Santa Rita jail, some for over two days.
(2019-12-24). India's Discriminatory New Citizenship Law. globalresearch.ca India's 2019 Citizenship Act expedites the process for persecuted minorities of Pakistani, Afghan and Bangladesh nationality who resided in India since 2014. | It applies only for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, and Parsis, Muslims excluded. | According to the UN Human …
(2019-12-24). Tax Amazon: Strike While the Iron is Hot. counterpunch.org The history of American capitalism is full of corporate bullying, threats and even violence against working people when we stand up for our rights. | Yet in spite of Amazon's all-out, attempted hostile corporate takeover of Seattle City Hall this year, working people just beat the richest man in the world by running perhaps the strongest grassroots campaign ever in our city. When we fight, we can win. More
(2019-12-24). The Amazon at a Tipping Point. counterpunch.org The Amazon rainforest is a crucial life-support ecosystem. Without its wondrous strength and power to generate hydrologic systems across the sky (as far north as Iowa), absorb and store carbon (CO2), and its miraculous life-giving endless supply of oxygen, civilization would cease to exist beyond scattered tribes, here and there. More
(2019-12-24). After the Argentina Debacle, the IMF Endorses Weakening Capital Controls in Ecuador. counterpunch.org Over the past year, a rebranded International Monetary Fund (IMF) returned to Latin America with promises of loan agreements that would be different than the dreaded "structural adjustment programs" of the past. Behind statements about inclusive growth and protecting the most vulnerable, are policies similarto the structural adjustments of the Washington Consensus era. While the More
(2019-12-24). Climate Strike: SF Bay Area Youth Strike in Oakland. indybay.org Plaza outside Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612…
(2019-12-24). Everything You Wanted to Know about Climate Change, but Were Afraid to Ask. indybay.org Half Moon Bay Library, 620 Correas Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019…
(2019-12-24). 2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern California Regional Conference. indybay.org Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
(2019-12-24). 2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern CA Regional Conference, Day 2. indybay.org Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
(2019-12-24). In SF, Music Punctuates Enthusiastic Chanting at Rally and March on Eve of Historic Impeachment Vote. indybay.org In San Francisco, lyrics were rewritten to rock classics calling for impeachment and a crowd of thousands chanted for "Trump Pence Out Now!"
(2019-12-24). In Mountain View, Seasonal and Humorous Signs at Eve of Impeachment Demo on Four Corners. indybay.org Demonstrators leaned in toward passing traffic to show off their creative signs on Impeachment Eve at a major intersection in the heart of Silicon Valley.
(2019-12-24). House Committee Raises Prospect of More Impeachment Articles. truthdig.com WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee held open the possibility Monday of recommending additional articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as it pressed anew for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn. | The committee wants a federal appeals court to order McGahn to testify as it examines potential obstruction of justice by the president during special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The committee says McGahn's testimony could also be useful for any Senate impeachment trial. | A judge last month directed McGahn to comply with the House Judiciary Committee su…
(2019-12-24). Tweets About Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "Dying Like a Dog" are no Joking Matter. counterpunch.org The media has been overflowing with wisecracks about the absurdity of Trump's praise for the Belgian Malinois, Conan, one of several dogs used to hunt Isis founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on October 26. On the one hand, Trump tweeted that the "wonderful," "beautiful" and "talented" dog did a "GREAT JOB" and posted a More
(2019-12-24). Indo-Pak Nuclear Confrontation: First Use Policy & the Race towards Armageddon. counterpunch.org Click here to read Part Two. Head in the Sand Approach Information on the colossal destructive effects of use of nuclear weapons, based on the horrendous experiences of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been in the public domain for well over six decades. Yet, unmindful of the existing knowledge about the More
(2019-12-24). Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Right to Dump Sewage on Your Lawn. counterpunch.org In debates over protecting the environment, and especially global warming, it is standard practice to refer to the pro-protection side as being in favor of government regulation and the anti-protection side as being pro-free market. This is nonsense and it is nonsense in a way that strongly benefits the enemies of environmental protection. There is More
(2019-12-24). The Dream is Over: How Boris Johnson Won the UK Election. counterpunch.org After the shock and the grief comes reflection. After reflection comes renewed determination. But under Britain's sham of a democracy, the public won't get the chance to remove the vile creature put into No. 10 by 14 million or so voters for at least five years; and even then, a government has the legal right to seek a general election prior to the five-year period if it is doing well in the public opinion polls, effectively giving itself long-term reign. More
(2019-12-24). A Bell Cuts Through the Noise. counterpunch.org Dressed in full-on 18th-century-style tricorn hats and bonnets, Freedom Trail tour guides can look out of place amid Boston's skyscrapers and bumper-to-bumper traffic. They keep the city's Revolutionary past alive, but in 21st-century conditions. The costumes and official stops on the Freedom Trail—from Old North Church to Faneuil Hall—have basically stayed the same since the More
(2019-12-24). The US Approves Bill That May Legislate Hybrid Warfare on Venezuela. counterpunch.org On December 16 both houses in the US approved the appropriation bill to be signed by President Trump. Aside from the mind-boggling amount of $1.4 trillion that was approved in total our interest was in looking at the details concerning Venezuela. A press release issued by the organization Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is More
(2019-12-24). Greetings from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) on the CPP's 51th Anniversary. fightbacknews.org Dear Comrades: | We convey our warmest revolutionary greetings on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Your achievements are many and we stand with you in your struggle to liberate the Philippines from the yoke of U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. We are sure you will win many more victories in the coming period. | The Communist Party of the Philippines is in the leadership of a great people's war that is inspiration to working and oppressed people everywhere. The people's democratic revolution, with socialist orientation, will t…
(2019-12-24). Anti-war leader blasts Klobuchar for backing U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Amy Klobuchar, a 'centrist' who is trying to become the Democratic Party standard-bearer in the upcoming elections for president, states that she will not reverse Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. There has long been a consensus among most Republican and Democratic politicians to support the Zionist occupation of Palestine. | Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a leader of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee responded, "It doesn't surprise any of us in the anti-war movement that Klobuchar doesn't want to reverse Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy fr…
(2019-12-24). Michael L. Cantor mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates. indybay.org In a shocking email further below, Michael L. Cantor, director of FE Partners LLC, the owner of the former Presidential Yacht Sequoia, mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates with condescension and derision towards the much coveted historical Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates!
(2019-12-24). Journalist Peter Hartcher and the anti-China campaign in Australia. wsws.org Hartcher's essay in the Quarterly Essay is textbook propaganda for war. It seeks to cultivate nationalist fear and even paranoia about the intended enemy—China.
(2019-12-24). Buffy Sainte Marie Truthtelling Indigenous Genocide. indybay.org Buffy Sainte Marie described the genocide, slavery, murder and rape of Indigenous Peoples, that the kings and queens, military, churches and banks are responsible for, speaking with AIM West's Tony Gonzales, during the 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz.
(2019-12-24). Saudi Arabia sentences hit men to death, shields organizers of Jamal Khashoggi murder. wsws.org The announcement by Saudi Arabia of death sentences for five members of the death squad that brutally assassinated the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018 is part of a cover-up to protect the role of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
(2019-12-24). Far-right Spanish general demands ouster of Socialist Party government. wsws.org According to El País, this call from the former chief of staff of the Spanish army is circulating widely in the officer corps among WhatsApp groups.
(2019-12-24). Disconnected at Christmas… Bah Humbug! globalresearch.ca John and Yoko Lennon's 1971 'Happy Christmas …' song begins with "So this is Christmas and what have you done?….". Well, this holiday season, replete with the usual suspects of mass consumer spending, massive traffic jams and accidents, mass pleas …
(2019-12-24). MI5 Given the Go-ahead to Allow Informants to Commit Crimes. globalresearch.ca Human rights campaigners today vowed to appeal against a "knife-edge" divided tribunal ruling which allowed MI5 to continue authorising informants to commit serious criminal offences. | Privacy International, Reprieve, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the Pat Finucane …
(2019-12-24). President Trump Authorizes Somalia Debt Relief. indybay.org President Trump signed a year-end spending bill which authorizes the first phase of debt relief for Somalia.
(2019-12-24). Abe, Moon meet after worst period of tension between S. Korea & Japan in decades. rt.com 
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Tension over stalled denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States was the main issue on the agenda. | Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing "agreed to continue close communication and cooperation toward denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," Moon said. "We… decided to work together to ensure that denuclearization and peace continue through prompt North Korea-US dialogue," he added. | For Moon and Abe…
(2019-12-24). US allows Pakistan to resume military training after aid freeze. rt.com 
The US will allow Pakistan to rejoin a military training program suspended two years ago when President Donald Trump froze security aid to the country. Resuming the program, which represents only a part of the halted aid, is one sign of warming relations between Washington and Islamabad, AFP said. | Trump hosted Pakistani PM Imran Khan at the White House in July, and the US has several times welcomed Pakistani help in negotiations with the Afghan Taliban. In January 2018, prior to Khan's election, Trump froze the assistance, saying Pakistan was not doing enough to target bases of the Afghan Taliban and its aff…
(2019-12-24). Wrong kind of record: 2019 was year of most US mass murders ever — study. rt.com 
Among the records the US set in 2019 was a sad and disturbing one. It was the year with the most incidents of mass killing since media and scholars started keeping track, according to a new study. | There were 211 victims in 41 mass killings this year, according to the database maintained by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University in Boston. By their definition, a mass murder is any incident in which four or more people die, excluding the perpetrator. | It is the largest number of mass killings since the two news organizations and the university started tracking them in 2006, when they reco…
(2019-12-24). Russia's 5th-gen Su-57 fighter jet crashes during factory trials — pilot ejects. rt.com 
One of Russia's cutting-edge Su-57 fighter jets has crashed during routine factory test flights near the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft plant in the Far East. The pilot ejected safely and was picked up by a Mi-8 rescue helicopter. | The aircraft involved in the incident belonged to the manufacturer and was undergoing a series of flight tests some 110 kilometers off Dzyomgi air base in Russia's Khabarovsk region. | There were no casualties or major damage on the ground, the manufacturer confirmed, in a brief statement. The crashed jet's black boxes were in the process of being recovered. | Also on rt.com | | …
(2019-12-24). US steps up campaign to urge Europe to drop Huawei, says Chinese tech firm threatens British intelligence services. rt.com 
US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien has cautioned Britain against allowing Huawei to operate 5G networks in the UK, claiming that the move would endanger the country's intelligence services. | Inviting the Chinese firm to help develop 5G in the UK risks handing Beijing access to the "most intimate" details of British citizens, as well as sensitive intelligence and national secrets, the senior White House official told the Financial Times. | "They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets, whether they are the UK's nuclear secrets or secrets from MI6 or MI5," O'Brien claimed. He said that it was "
(2019-12-24). 'What's a foreign hand doing here?' Indians outraged over German students' protesting against citizenship bill. rt.com 
A German exchange student in India was deported from the country after participating in demonstrations against a new citizenship bill, local media reported. Indians have been raising alarm over foreigners joining the protests. | Jakob Lindenthal, a post-graduate student in physics at the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) in Chennai, was allegedly ordered by immigration officials to leave India after he had joined in on anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) rallies. | Photographs of Lindenthal show him hold placards reading "No democracy without dissent" and "1933-1945: We have been there" — apparently d…
(2019-12-24). 'Role play'? Swedish schoolkids made to kneel in gender-segregated MUSLIM prayer & told to listen to Koran in Arabic. rt.com 
A Swedish school decided to familiarize its fifth-graders with Islamic worshipping by having a teacher recite Koranic verse to them and having them pray facing Mecca, in a bizarre set-up the educators called "role play." | An offbeat "religion lesson" was taught at the Bjurbäck school situated in the south of Sweden, according to Samhallsnytt news outlet. An outraged parent said pupils were told to face the Kaaba and kneel on prayer mats, while the whole class was divided by gender, with girls forced to the back of the room. | His daughters "did not even want to be there because they could not understand…
(2019-12-24). German student says he's told to leave India after joining protests. yenisafak.com A German exchange student said on Tuesday that Indian authorities had ordered him to leave the country after he took part in protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new citizenship law.Jakob Lindenthal, a 24-year-old pursuing a master's degree in physics, said he took part in two rallies in the southern city of Chennai against the law, which critics say discriminates against India's minority Muslims.A photo circulated on Twitter shows Lindenthal holding a sign that reads: "1933-1945 We have been there," a reference to Nazi Germany.Lindenthal said he was summoned to a meeting with India's immigration autho…
(2019-12-24). YPG/PKK forcibly recruits orphan kids against soldiers. yenisafak.com Terror group YPG/PKK recruits foreign national orphan children held hostage in a camp in northern Syria and trains them to fight against Turkish and Syrian soldiers, according to security sources on Tuesday.A terrorist who surrendered to security forces in Turkey's southeastern Mardin province revealed the YPG/PKK's malice once again, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.Identified by initials H.A., the terrorist said the orphan children held hostage in al-Hol Camp in northern Syria's Hasakah city were being forcibly trained to use weapons.Over 100 children, age…
(2019-12-24). President Erdogan, UK's Johnson discuss bilateral, regional issues. yenisafak.com The Turkish president and British prime minister in a phone call discussed bilateral ties and regional issues, according to an official statement on Tuesday.Turkey's Directorate of Communications said Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Boris Johnson also discussed recent developments in Libya and Syria.
(2019-12-24). Russian airstrikes kill 8 civilians in Syria's Idlib. yenisafak.com Syrian opposition aircraft monitors said Russian warplanes struck the city of Saraqib and towns of Maar Shoreen, Babeela and Jawbas.The attacks on Jawbas left eight people, including five children, dead, sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency said.Over 1,300 civilians have been killed in the Idlib de-escalation zone despite a deal reached by Ankara and Moscow in September 2018.Over a million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border following intense attacks.Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in over 3.6 million Syrians who fled their country, making Turkey…
(2019-12-24). Syrian regime, allies capture 35 residential areas in Idlib. yenisafak.com Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime backed by Russia and Iran has captured 35 residential areas in the past four days in the northwestern Idlib province, which has been designated a de-escalation zone.Since the offensive began on Dec. 20, the regime and its allies have launched a military campaign mainly in the cities of Maarat Al-Numan and Saraqib as well as the surrounding rural areas.Despite being a de-escalation zone, the regime and its allies on Monday night took control of nine more areas, including Jarjnaz, Khirbet Marata, Abu Dafna, al-Hadisa, Kafr Yasin, al-Salihiyah, Dar al-Salam, al-Falul, and Babulin, bri…
(2019-12-24). YPG/PKK terrorist surrenders to Turkish forces. yenisafak.com A YPG/PKK terrorist surrendered to border security forces in southeastern Turkey, said a security source on Tuesday.Identified only with initials M.K., the terrorist, codenamed Diyar, surrendered in Nusaybin, a border district of Mardin province near Syria, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.The security forces' efforts to convince the terrorists to surrender bore fruit, and their investigation revealed that many terrorists have been active within the PKK for years.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organiz…
(2019-12-24). Japan PM asks South Korea to take steps to resolve bilateral row. yenisafak.com Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday it is South Korea's responsibility to come up with measures that would resolve bilateral disputes that have taken Tokyo's relationship with Seoul to the lowest in decades.Abe made the comment at a news conference on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with China and South Korea in Chengdu, China.Ties between Japan and South Korea, two of the United States' major Asian allies, have plunged to their lowest in decades after South Korea's top court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate some wartime forced labourers.Japan says the issue was settled under a 1…
(2019-12-24). Israel cancels Jordan Valley meeting amid ICC probe. yenisafak.com An Israeli ministerial team cancelled a scheduled meeting to discuss plans for annexing the Jordan Valley following a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.The meeting had been scheduled to take place last week, but was called off last minute once ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced intention on Friday to investigate alleged Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.During his election campaign in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said h…
(2019-12-24). US National Security Adviser warns UK about allowing Huawei in 5G. yenisafak.com U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien has warned UK about allowing China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd into its 5G telecommunications networks, saying such a move would pose a risk to UK's secret intelligence services, the Financial Times reported."They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets, whether they are the UK's nuclear secrets or secrets from MI6 or MI5," O'Brien told the FT in an interview on.ft.com/2Zm8PZ7 published on Tuesday."It is somewhat shocking to us that folks in the UK would look at Huawei as some sort of a commercial…
(2019-12-24). Turkey not given up on Khashoggi murder case: Experts. yenisafak.com Evaluating Monday verdict of a Saudi court over slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish experts said the decision does not bind Turkey and called for carrying out legal process in Istanbul, where the incident took place.Criminal lawyer Ersan Sen told Anadolu Agency that only Turkey has the judiciary rights on the Khashoggi case in the world.Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a U.S. resident, was murdered after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 of last year on a visit to pick up paperwork for his forthcoming marriage."The UN, U.S., or Saudi Arabia, no matter who says what, it doe…
(2019-12-24). Russian, Turkish diplomats discuss Libyan crisis. yenisafak.com Moscow hosted expert consultations of Russian and Turkish diplomats on Libya on Dec. 23, Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.The talks were held at the level of deputy foreign ministers, Russia's Mikhail Bogdanov and Turkey's Sedat Onal headed the delegations, the ministry said in a statement published on its official website.As a result of "mindful exchange of views," the two countries agreed to continue contacts on Libyan issues, including "possible assistance to the early settlement of the crisis in the country," the ministry said.On Nov. 27, Ankara and Tripoli signed two separate memorandums of understa…
(2019-12-24). Moroccan | NGO urges Muslim world to support Uighurs against China's 'genocide'. yenisafak.com A non-governmental organisation in Morocco urged the Arab world and Islamic organizations to stand against China's long-standing crackdown on Muslim Uighurs in the far western region of Xinjiang, calling the persecution a "genocide."The Support Committee for the Causes of the Ummah expressed its concerns in a written statement about the religious persecution, ethnic cleansing campaign, human rights violations and abuses targeting Uighur Muslim minorities in East Turkestan, the name that Uighur exiles use for Xinjiang.The NGO also called on human rights organizations to take action against racist and arbitrary det…