(2021-02-19). Immigration Activists Welcome Reform Bill But Warn of Long Fight Ahead. truthout.org 
Migrant justice activists and organizations welcomed the introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 this week but are warning that the bill faces a long and uphill battle before becoming law. | At the center of the comprehensive bill, which was introduced by Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Linda Sánchez, is a path to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The bill also includes key provisions that migrant justice activists have been demanding for dec…
(2021-02-19). Britain's Double Standards in International Affairs. counterpunch.org 
On February 12 it was announced by the UN that a British lawyer had been elected as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. No matter what one might think of the ICC, it is taking steps to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan and Yemen, so it can't be all bad. But a major point
(2021-02-19). Juan Cole on the Clearest Example of Israeli Apartheid Yet. scheerpost.com Israel Defense Forces / CC BY-NC 2.0] Click to subscribe on: Apple / Spotify / Google Play As Israel's COVID-19 vaccination program got underway in recent months, reports in Western media, including the New York Times, lauded the country's speedy inoculation efforts to vaccinate every Israeli over the age of 16. What many news reports failed to immediately note in detail, however, was that as the… |
(2021-02-19). Killing Revolution in Bahrain, U.S.-UK Plotted Regime Change in Libya, Syria. strategic-culture.org The legacy from events a decade ago still reverberate to this day. Several members of the current Biden administration bear responsibility for the destruction, including the present Secretary of State Antony Blinken. | Ten years ago this month, the Middle East and North Africa were convulsed by uprisings and subterfuges. The Arab Spring is generally thought of as a single wave of pro-democracy movements that swept the vast region. Far from it, however, the events were a mixed bag in which Western powers were not on the right side of history, as Western media would portray. Indeed, these powers played a nefarious…
(2021-02-19). Scheer Intelligence: The Clearest Example Of Israeli Apartheid Yet. popularresistance.org As Israel's COVID-19 vaccination program got underway in recent months, reports in Western media, including the New York Times, lauded the country's speedy inoculation efforts to vaccinate every Israeli over the age of 16. What many news reports failed to immediately note in detail, however, was that as the Middle Eastern nation was rapidly vaccinating its citizens against the deadly virus that turned the whole world upside down, it showed no signs of inoculating the approximately 5 million Palestinians whose land Israel occupies in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. After a global outcry ensued over the immoralit…
(2021-02-19). 'Leaving Aside' International Law: Why Democrats are as Dangerous as Republicans to a Just Peace in Palestine. counterpunch.org 
Motivated by their justifiable aversion to former US President Donald Trump, many analysts have rashly painted a rosy picture of how Democrats could quickly erase the bleak trajectory of the previous Republican administration. This naivety is particularly pronounced in the current spin on the Palestinian-Israeli discourse, which is promoting, again, the illusion that Democrats will
(2021-02-19). "Interesting" Times: Capitalism Kills Everything. counterpunch.org 
Yes, it's terrible that Joe Biden has refused to forgive more than a pittance of student debt. But do we not recall him telling a Los Angeles Times host that he had "no empathy, give me a break" for the plight of Millennials in the savagely unequal and environmentally unsustainable world he'd helped create over decades of Congressional service to corporate and financial America? No surprise.
(2021-02-19). The Atrocious Prosecution of Julian Assange. counterpunch.org 
What do Biden and Trump have in common? (Aside from jerking Iran around over the nuclear treaty, proclaiming support for a phony, unelected pretender to the Venezuelan presidency, Juan Guaido, and posturing aggressively toward China?) Both Biden and Trump support the utterly baseless Espionage Act case against journalist and publisher Julian Assange. Make no mistake,
(2021-02-19). New York sues Amazon for not protecting workers against COVID, firing whistleblowers. peoplesworld.org 
NEW YORK (PAI)—Donald Trump isn't Letitia "Tish" James's only big legal target. Neither is the notorious radical right-wing U.S. gun lobby. Now she's taking on Amazon. James, New York state's Attorney General, is probing Trump's financial crimes committed through his private foundation. Last year, she sued the National Rifle Association and its top officers for …
(2021-02-19). Why the Alabama Amazon struggle matters to workers everywhere. peoplesworld.org 
Sometimes a fight at one particular workplace can be so important that workers and their allies everywhere need to take notice. The struggle going on right now at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, is one of those fights. From now until March 29, nearly 6,000 employees at the Amazon order fulfillment and processing center …
(2021-02-19). 'This is the Way We Rise': Hawaiian poetry in motion. peoplesworld.org 
The Tidal Wave of Indigenous Cinema continues to swell with Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy's stirring This is the Way We Rise, a poetic short about Polynesian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio that recently screened as part of the Sundance Film Festival. Jamaica is the daughter of Jon Osorio, Dean of Hawai ªinuiƒÅkea School of Hawaiian Knowledge …
(2021-02-19). Foreign Correspondent: What's Really Going on with China's Uighurs? progressive.org Experts say U.S. officials are seeking enemies, not the truth.
(2021-02-19). AOC Raised $1 Million for Struggling Texans as Cruz Handled Post-Cancún PR Mess. truthout.org 
While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was dealing with an embarrassing public relations disaster of his own making — flying to Cancún, Mexico, with his family while his home state was reeling from blackouts and water shutdowns amid frigid temperatures — his political adversary Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) was spearheading an effort to raise funds for those in dire need. |
(2021-02-19). Sometimes Marx's Capital is a pillow, sometimes it obliges us to deepen our struggles. mronline.org 
In 1911, a young Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) arrived in France, which had colonised his homeland of Vietnam. Though he had been raised with a patriotic spirit committed to anti-colonialism, Ho Chi Minh's temperament did not allow him to retreat into a backward-looking romanticism.
(2021-02-19). Syria Resurrects Proposed Pipeline for Iranian Gas to Reach European Markets. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | The Nord, Blue, Turk, Yamal and South Streams, as well as …
(2021-02-19). US State Department accusation of China 'genocide' relied on data abuse and baseless claims by far-right ideologue. thegrayzone.com The Trump and Biden administrations have relied on the work of a right-wing religious extremist, Adrian Zenz, for their "genocide" accusation against China. A close review of Zenz's research reveals flagrant data abuse and outright falsehoods. Both President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have endorsed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's last-minute accusation of "genocide" against the Muslim Uyghur population in China's Xinjiang province. But an investigation of published work by the researcher Pompeo relied on …
(2021-02-19). Sunday 2/21: The Western Campaign against Russian and Chinese Athletes. indybay.org Log-in info is posted on our website: ICSSMARX.ORG…
(2021-02-19). Pandemic's 1-2 punch: Unemployment up, life expectancy down. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The ongoing coronavirus pandemic packed a one-two punch against the nation's workers, federal agencies reported, as almost 1.38 million more people sought federal or state jobless aid in the week ending Feb. 13. Meanwhile, U.S. life expectancy dropped by a year in the first half of 2020, another federal report showed. And that second …
(2021-02-19). The Culture Wars Continue: Biden Takes on Abortion. counterpunch.org 
Joe Biden is moving aggressively to redress many of the conditions left by Donald Trump's administration, notably the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic recession and white nationalism. However, the most intractable challenge that he will face may be the resistance of the culture wars, particularly a woman's right to an abortion. The culture wars long anchored
(2021-02-19). Portland, OR power outages affect 300K residents after ice storm. liberationnews.org 
In a pandemic winter, when the risk of spreading COVID-19 between households is high, neighbors have had to take the risk to help each other by sharing generators, firewood, food, cooking equipment, clean water and more.
(2021-02-19). Politics & Science: Rahm Emanuel, Mike Pence, Homosexuality, Pandemics, Masks, Vaccines. counterpunch.org 
Aside from their icy-mobster visages, Rahm Emanuel and Mike Pence have something else in common. Both, as members of presidential administrations, tried to rewrite Centers for Disease Control (CDC) pandemic guidance for political purposes. The reason why one was successful and the other was not has nothing to do with courageous CDC scientists threatening to resign in protest; instead, the different outcomes had to do with politics.
(2021-02-19). Amid G7 Meeting, Pressure Mounts for Biden to Remove Global Barriers to Vaccines. truthout.org 
President Joe Biden is meeting with the G7 leaders of other wealthy nations Friday to discuss global plans to defeat COVID. Meanwhile, the United States is under growing international pressure to reverse course from the Trump administration and lead the world toward ending massive global disparities in vaccine and treatment access that threaten to stretch the deadly pandemic out for years. | Hanging in the balance are an untold number of human lives — and the profit margins of privat…
(2021-02-19). Selected Articles: The Covid Deception Serves An Undeclared Agenda. globalresearch.ca 
By There is no scientific basis for the measures in place to deal with the alleged Covid Pandemic. Among experts the support for these measures …
(2021-02-19). Pandemic put US back on track to meet Paris climate goals, report finds, but at huge human cost. rt.com 
In what researchers have dubbed a "remarkable" reversal of fortunes, pandemic-induced lockdowns across the US have brought the country back on track to meet targets in the Paris climate accord, but at a grim human cost. | According to an independent report released Thursday, US renewable energy capacity broke new deployment records in 2020, thanks to numerous tax incentives and initiatives, while coal consumption dropped concurrently. | The proportion of electricity generated by renewables hit a record 20 percent of overall capacity, eclipsing coal, which dipped to 19 percent. Emissions from electricity use al…
(2021-02-19). 'Idea of Sacrifice a complete nonstarter in US culture before Covid': Pandemic spurred major shift in American values, study finds. rt.com 
Researchers from UCLA and Harvard University analyzed internet activity, namely online searches and social media posts, and found a significant return to more traditional, rural American values emerged as the pandemic took hold. | The team In their analysis, they used Google searches as one metric to reflect societal mood and attitudes w…
(2021-02-19). Left & right alike fume over Dems' bill to ban 'twice-impeached presidents' from burial at Arlington, any honoring of their names. rt.com 
House Democrats have apparently found time to plot more ways to punish Donald Trump — even as a pandemic and other troubles devastate their constituents — angering Americans of virtually all political persuasions. | The '
(2021-02-19). Iran marks one year of pandemic amid fears over fourth wave. laprensalatina.com Tehran, Feb 19 (efe-epa).- One year after the first cases of Covid-19 were detected in Iran, authorities are concerned about the so-called British strain and the arrival of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, as the government tries to boost its vaccination campaign. The first official announcement of the presence of the new coronavirus …
(2021-02-19). Biden's First Month Marked by Broken Promises. mintpressnews.com 
Biden kicked off his campaign by telling wealthy donors that "nothing would fundamentally change" under his presidency. After one month in office, it appears as if that is one campaign promise he is likely to keep.
(2021-02-19). Shamima Begum to find out next week if she can potentially return to the UK. thecanary.co Shamima Begum will find out if she can potentially return to the UK to pursue an appeal against the removal of her British citizenship when the Supreme Court gives a ruling on her case next week. | Stateless: | Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group (IS) in February 2015. Her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019. | Begum, now 21, is challenging the Home Office's decision to remove her British citizenship and w…
(2021-02-19). Limbaugh's Legacy: Normalizing Hate for Profit. counterpunch.org 
Rush Limbaugh's death represents a moment for reflection on the state of American politics. Limbaugh amassed a fortune of more than $600 million over 32 years in the talk radio business, in the process building up more than 15 million regular listeners. It was no exaggeration when CNN referred to him as a "pioneer of AM talk-radio." He made possible the rise of propagandistic partisan media, demonstrating that this format could be incredibly profitable for news channels looking for low-budget programming filled by pundits who tell audiences what they want to hear, while strengthening their prior beliefs and value…
(2021-02-19). The Guardian shuts down criticism of Israel. therealnews.com 
Nathan Robinson's column at The Guardian US was shut down after a tweet criticizing US-Israel relations. Then, Tamara Payne explains how Malcolm Little became Malcolm X.
(2021-02-19). George Jackson on the role of prisons, 50 years after his death. workers.org 
This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson, an African American prison leader sentenced to a life sentence as a teenager for "stealing" $40 from a gas station. His 11 years behind the walls were spent in California's Soledad and San Quentin prisons. Jackson became . . . |
(2021-02-19). Organizing White Workers When the Klan is in the Shop. counterpunch.org 
With the rise of the extreme right, the Klan and its modern descendants are definitely "in the shop." Here's a story from a long time ago but it could have happened only yesterday. This is not a heroic tale just a memory of day-to-day struggle and the lessons learned. As a young organizer in the mid-1970s, I went to work for District 65, an independent radical union. Martin Luther King called District 65 "The Conscience of the Labor Movement" after their early and staunch support for the civil rights movement. Our dress pin was a black hand and a white hand working both ends of an old fashioned two-man tree- saw…
(2021-02-19). America's Sick Metamorphosis: Have we Awoken to find our Country a Trump Roach Hotel? juancole.com 
( Tomdispatch.com) — Like Gregor Samsa, the never-to-be-forgotten character in Franz Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis," we awoke on January 7th to discover that we, too, were "a giant insect" with "a domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments" and numerous "pitifully thin" legs that "waved helplessly" before our eyes. If you prefer, though, you …
(2021-02-19). George Jackson on the role of prisons, 50 years after his death. workers.org This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson, an African American prison leader sentenced to a life sentence as a teenager for "stealing" $40 from a gas station. His 11 years behind the walls were spent in California's Soledad and San Quentin prisons. Jackson became . . . |
(2021-02-19). Haywood County, North Carolina car protest: 'Fund services, not jails'. liberationnews.org 
In North Carolina's Haywood County a car protest was organized on Feb. 1 by the Party for Socialism and Liberation to oppose Haywood County's plan to expand the existing jail in Waynesville, North Carolina.
(2021-02-19). Man-made disaster: Capitalism and Republicans failed the people of Texas. peoplesworld.org 
Winter storms, freezing temperatures, and a failed power grid have left millions of Texans fighting for their lives this week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz being caught attempting a family vacation to the warmth of Cancun, Mexico, while his constituents faced a humanitarian disaster is the epitome of an unequal system at work. The tragedy in …
(2021-02-19). Idiocy in Theory and Practice. counterpunch.org 
Idiocy is as complex as genius. In fact, we like to think them indistinguishable, joined by the ruthless common denominator of an innocence which makes both conditions holy. The lives of geniuses are bestsellers because everyone wants to see themselves in there, which nourishes our profound self-interest and even more profound masochism. Read about the
(2021-02-19). 'Black Freedom Fighters in Steel' — a book review. workers.org 
Ruth Needleman's "Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism," tells of five Black union activists who took on the steel industry of Indiana's Calumet Region along Lake Michigan at Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Inland Steel and U.S. Steel. (Cornell University Press, 2003) Needleman's rich narrative contains interviews . . . |
(2021-02-19). And then there was X: Malcom's life and legacy. therealnews.com 
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, marks the 56th anniversary of the assassination of freedom fighter Malcolm X. To honor Malcolm's life and legacy, we revisit this powerful 2015 documentary, "X: Malcolm's Final Years," produced by The Real News Network.
(2021-02-19). Donation match: Will you meet my challenge for People's World? peoplesworld.org 
Dear readers, I recently posted on social media Marilyn Bechtel's story in People's World headlined, "U.S. and Russia Extend New START Nuclear Treaty for Five Years." Bechtel's article was the first I read about this hugely significant step by President Joe Biden reversing former President Trump's attempt to wreck the New START treaty. The people's …
(2021-02-19). And then there was X: Malcolm's life and legacy. therealnews.com Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, marks the 56th anniversary of the assassination of freedom fighter Malcolm X. To honor Malcolm's life and legacy, we revisit this powerful 2015 documentary, "X: Malcolm's Final Years," produced by The Real News Network.
(2021-02-19). Illegal checkpoint arrest tied to a controversial shooting. therealnews.com 
In the small town of Talking Rock, Georgia, a man was supposedly stopped for avoiding a roadblock, had his car searched without consent, and was arrested for having balding tires. But residents say the story of gross overpolicing in their area goes much deeper.
(2021-02-19). 40,000 BC: Earth's magnetic field flipped, causing massive sudden climate change and Extinction of Neanderthals. juancole.com 
By Chris Fogwill, Alan Hogg, Chris Turney, and Zoà´ Thomas | — The world experienced a few centuries of apocalyptic conditions 42,000 years ago, triggered by a reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles combined with changes in the Sun's behaviour. That's the key finding of our new multidisciplinary study, published in Science. This last major …
(2021-02-19). How Will Our Children Know They Face a Crushing Debt Burden? counterpunch.org 
That may seem like a silly question. Of course they will know because there are a number of well-funded policy shops that will be spewing out endless papers and columns telling them that they are facing a crushing debt burden. And, because these policy shops are well-funded and well-connected we can be sure that major
(2021-02-19). Who Won the Impeachment? counterpunch.org 
If you're Donald Trump, watching the last act of your impeached presidency, you don't need a Weatherman to tell you which way the wind is blowing, which is in the direction of a District of Columbia courtroom, where you will either be convicted as an accessory to second-degree murder ("an extreme indifference to human life…") or a runaway jury will award plaintiffs (the Capitol police injured or killed in the riot) $1.8 billion in damages (which by the way Deutsche Bank will not cover with another overdraft).
(2021-02-19). Trailblazing former Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis dies at 68. peoplesworld.org 
CHICAGO (PAI)—If you're looking for who started "Red for Ed," figuratively if not literally, you'll find Karen Lewis. Because it could arguably be said that Lewis, the former President of the Chicago Teachers Union/AFT Local 1, who died in early February at 68 after a long battle with cancer, originated the combination of teacher activism …
(2021-02-19). Snowstorm + capitalism = disaster for more than 100K in Mississippi. liberationnews.org 
The unpreparedness of the utility giants, and the pathetic response of the capitalist government at the local and federal level, is nothing short of criminal neglect by those motivated solely by profit making.
(2021-02-19). The 30 x 30 Protection Plan and the George Washington National Forest Ark. counterpunch.org 
The Biden administration's recent announcement of the 30 by 30 conservation initiative was a welcome ray of light in the dark of winter. The goal is to have 30% of America's lands "protected" by 2030. But what exactly is meant by and would qualify as "protected"? In this age of ecological meltdown and mass extinction/extermination,
(2021-02-19). Democracy Now! Turns 25: Celebrating a Quarter-Century of Independent News on the Frontlines. democracynow.org 
Democracy Now! first aired on nine community radio stations on February 19, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary. In the 25 years since that initial broadcast, the program has greatly expanded, airing today on more than 1,500 television and radio stations around the globe and reaching millions of people online. We celebrate 25 years of the War and Peace Report with an hour-long retrospective, including highlights from the show's early years, some of the most controversial interviews, and groundbreaking reports from East Timor, Standing Rock, Western Sahara and more.