Educate!
Education is the foundation of political change. In this section we provide news and analyses of current events that you won’t likely read or hear in the corporate media. Our sources are from organizations and independent media outlets free of corporate and government propaganda. We strongly encourage you to share these articles by email and social media so that together we create an echo chamber that overcomes the influence of the oligarchy. You will find large social media sharing buttons on the left side of each article when you open the article to read.
On October 21, Elevance Health (the rebrand of for-profit health insurer Anthem) announced its third quarter results. Operating revenue went up 12% from the same three-month period last year, and profits as measured by normal accounting rules rose 17%. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurer, went one better, raising its expectations for how much profit it will make this year, as it eased Wall Street’s worries by increasing the premiums it will charge for coverage in 2026.
Please let the anxious folks at the Wall Street Journal know. They’ve been so worried.
Over the past year, older Americans, low-income people who enroll in private Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans, and people covered by health insurance purchased from the Affordable Care Act exchanges have been doing something that private insurance companies and their Wall Street investors find disturbing: They’re actually going to the doctor and getting the healthcare they need.
Workers Could Lose Out On Disability Benefits
November 3, 2025
Eli Hager, Pro Publica.
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Disability Benefits, Disability Rights, Social Security, Trump Administration
It’s never been easy to qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Christopher Tincher knows this firsthand.
Tincher began his working life in a coal mine in Aflex, Kentucky, as a teenager in the 1980s. As mines across the region shuttered, he turned to scraping grills at a Hardee’s, then cleaning office buildings at night, then stocking shelves and changing tires at a Walmart in Arkansas. Later, he was hired by a nearby town’s wastewater department. Often, he had to wade into sewage to fix equipment and clean out feces, needles and tampons entering the treatment facility.
In 2017, some of that liquid got into his work boots, which didn’t fit properly and had caused blisters to form. It soaked into his flesh, infecting his right foot all the way to the bone. Doctors cut his leg off below the knee so the infection wouldn’t spread.
Peru’s Executive In Crisis
November 2, 2025
Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report.
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Constitution, coup, Dina Boluarte, Neocolonialism, Pedro Castillo, Peru
On October 9, 2025, the Peruvian Congress once again voted to vacate the executive; this time the usefulness of their puppet Dina Boluarte had run out. With more than 80 deaths under her belt during the 2022-23 uprisings predominantly in the Southern mineral rich regions of Peru, Dina Boluarte was sacrificed to the altar of a dictatorial right wing Congress. With 122 votes in favor of vacating the region’s most unpopular president for “permanent moral incapacity” amid growing crime and protests in the capitol city demanding action. Congress swiftly approved the new Interim President, president of the Congress, José Jerí. Within days of taking power, the new “president” (perhaps more accurately named Congressional coup figurehead), faced the same level of mass protests as had taken place during the Boluarte regime.
Indian Country Hit First, And Harshest, Amidst Federal Shutdown
November 2, 2025
Darren Thompson, Last Real Indians.
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Austerity, Government Shutdown, Humanitarian Crisis, Indigenous Peoples
Like climate change, the federal government shutdown affects Indigenous communities in the country first and harsher than other communities. There are several reasons why, including that federally recognized tribes have a political relationship with the federal government that is based on the laws that founded this country. In exchange for land, the federal government made provisions—consider them as promises—to tribes and their citizens in various legal processes such as treaties, executive orders, and legislation. In exchange for land, the federal government created unique programs only available to federally recognized tribes largely in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and law enforcement.
The Shutdown And Neverending Hostility To The Welfare State
November 1, 2025
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report.
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Austerity, Democrats, Government Shutdown, SNAP
Anyone who ponders whether or not the United States is a failed state operating at the behest of the ruling class and their corrupt political system need only observe that the federal government ceased operations after the fiscal year ended on September 30. Immediately, more than 2 million federal workers were furloughed and have not been paid since, while some categories of employees, such as air traffic controllers, must work without pay.
Having two million people suddenly out of work is not the end of the economic devastation. The federal government cannot expend any money. On November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will not be paid and the Trump administration refuses to use an available source of emergency funds. Some 42 million recipients are at risk of being unable to buy food.
Leaked US State Department Docs Unveil First Formal Acknowledgment Of Israeli Units Committing Gross Rights Abuses
November 1, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Accountability, Human Rights, Israeli Occupying Forces, US State Department, Whistleblowing
A classified US State Department report found that Israeli soldiers committed “many hundreds” of potential violations of US human rights law in the Gaza Strip that would require “multiple years” to review, the Washington Post reported on 31 October.
Details of the report prepared by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General were provided to The Post by two US officials.
The report has, for the first time, “acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws, the landmark legislation that bars US security assistance to foreign military units credibly accused of gross human rights abuses,” the newspaper wrote.
However, the Office of Inspector General report “raised doubts about the prospects for accountability for Israel’s actions given the large backlog of incidents and the nature of the review process, which is deferential to the Israel Defense Forces,” The Post added.
United States Scrambles To Put Pressure On Nicaragua
“We were already struggling with 18% tariffs this year, I don't know how we could export our coffee under 100% tariffs,” René Gaitan tells me as we watch the clouds clear out over a breathtaking expanse of Nicaraguan landscape. The view from the El Porvenir worker-owned coffee cooperative stretches from Lake Managua up toward the Honduran border, dominated by the smoking crater of the Telica volcano. Gaitán is the vice president of the 51-family cooperative.
The co-op is remote; its members hike eight kilometers to get the bus to the city of León, a three-hour ride away. But the news on 20 October that the U.S. may impose 100% tariffs on the Central American nation reached the co-op with the lightning speed of the internet on Gaitan's smart phone, charged by solar panels.
UN Human Rights Chief Condemns ‘Unacceptable’ US Strikes
November 1, 2025
Orinoco Tribune.
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extrajudicial killing, Human Rights, United Nations, Venezuela
On Friday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued the first clear United Nations (UN) condemnation of US military strikes against small boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, calling them unacceptable and demanding they stop.
“These attacks, and their mounting human cost, are unacceptable,” Turk said. “The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”
“Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law,” he stated.
Trump Is Moving Relentlessly Toward Illegal War In Venezuela
November 1, 2025
Marjorie Cohn, Truthout.
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International Law, Trump Administration, Venezuela, Wars and Militarism
As the Trump administration continues to murder people in small boats on the high seas and mounts the largest U.S. military buildup in decades in the Caribbean, it is moving inexorably toward an all-out, illegal attack and forcible regime change in Venezuela.
Despite Team Trump’s feeble attempts to legally justify its ocean strikes, which have now killed 57 people since early September, those extrajudicial killings are also unlawful.
Donald Trump’s murderous campaign came into focus on February 20, when the State Department designated eight drug trafficking organizations, including Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.
SNAP Axe Could Fall On Grocery Shoppers And Workers Alike
Beginning November 1, 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as “food stamps,” are set to go without benefits. Among them are union members in underpaid industries like grocery and retail.
SNAP keeps millions of Americans and their families from going hungry. Due to the government shutdown, new SNAP funding has not been allocated by Congress, and existing funding has run out. This would be the first time in the program’s 61-year history that SNAP benefits have not been paid.
For years Congress has appropriated a SNAP contingency fund to cover emergencies like a shutdown. UFCW Votes, the United Food and Commercial Workers’ political arm, has launched a petition calling for the release of these funds, something the AFL-CIO and 25 other unions are also calling for.
The World Economy’s Centre Of Gravity Shifts To Asia
October 31, 2025
Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
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APEC, Asia, China, Global Economy, History
On the last day of October 2025, leaders from the 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will meet in the city of Gyeongju in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) for the organisation’s 33rd summit. Since its founding in 1989 in Canberra, Australia, APEC has promoted building a zone of ‘free and open trade’ – a concept outlined by the Bogor Goals, which came out of the summit in Indonesia in 1994.
APEC is a creature of its times. First, it emerged as an instrument of Japan’s Pacific Economic Cooperation Council with the goal of building regional supply chains after the Plaza Accord (1985) appreciated the yen against the dollar.
The US And Israel: Tale Of Two Rogue Settler-Colonial States
October 31, 2025
By Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report.
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Donald Trump, Gaza, Genocide, Iran, Israel, Israeli Imperialism, Palestine, Settler colonialism, State Violence, US Imperialism, Venezuela
Over the last two weeks, images of starving Palestinians in a dystopian backdrop of bombed out buildings reflect the horrific reality of a terrain that has experienced the equivalent of six Hiroshima atomic bombs. It is a reminder that the genocide in Gaza continues even as the pathetic zealous characters surrounding the U.S. President spoke of a ceasefire, an end to the assault on Gaza, and Trump as the peace president.
That cynical game was finally brought to an end with the unsurprising announcement by Benjamin Netanyahu, the indicted war criminal and Prime Minister of the ethno-supremacist apartheid state of Israel, that Israel will resume the bombing of the occupied Palestinian people.
Family Of British Journalist Detained In US Say UK Has Failed To Help
October 31, 2025
Imran Mulla, Middle East Eye.
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Detention, ICE, ICE detention, Journalists, United Kingdom (UK)
The family of a British Muslim journalist detained by US authorities since the weekend have called for the UK government to support his immediate release from detention, criticising it for "lack of action".
Sami Hamdi was held by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency at San Francisco international airport during a speaking tour in the US.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) has described the detention as retaliation for Hamdi's criticism of Israel, calling it an "abduction".
Hamdi's wife Soumaya said on Wednesday that he was "abducted" over his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
Sudan Urges London Halt UAE Arms Sales Over RSF Atrocities
October 31, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Darfur, Genocide, Massacre, Militias, RSF, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), weapons
Sudan has urged the UK to end arms sales to the UAE, following reports that a Dubai-backed militia accused of genocide in Darfur has been equipped with British weapons.
Sudan said in a report provided to the UN Security Council that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an anti-government Sudanese militia, has received British small-arms targeting systems and engines for military vehicles.
Reports have surfaced in recent days of RSF militiamen massacring some 2,000 civilians in El-Fasher, after taking control of the city in the Darfur region in southwest Sudan.
Venezuela: Failed US Plot To Kidnap President Maduro Revealed
October 31, 2025
Orinoco Tribune.
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Coup Attempt, Department of Homeland Security, Nicolas Maduro, US Regime Change, Venezuela
An intelligence agent from the US empire has been caught attempting to co-opt an airplane pilot working for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in order to kidnap him, according to an Associated Press report.
The report details how a US Homeland Security Investigations agent, identified as Edwin Lopez, approached the Venezuelan pilot after learning in 2024 that two private jets frequently used by President Maduro were being repaired in the Dominican Republic. Lopez told the pilot to divert a flight carrying the Venezuelan president to a site where he could be kidnapped by US operatives, offering a multimillion-dollar reward and even threatening his children.