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.
Countries across the Global South are experiencing climate, poverty and development crises — all made worse by the unbearable costs of debt servicing. Indeed, according to Development Finance International, “Citizens of the Global South now face the worst debt crisis since global records began.” Low-income countries, which have seen the amount paid on foreign debt payment increase by 150 percent since 2011, are being hit especially hard.
In the exclusive interview for Truthout that follows, Ilene Grabel, a leading economist in global finance and global financial governance, sheds light on the roots of the Global South debt crisis and offers specific strategies for easing the debt burden of developing countries.
Who’s Funding ‘Newspaper’ Mailed To Potential Jurors In Greenpeace’s Trial?
December 16, 2024
Emily Sanders, DeSmog.
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Greenpeace, Legal System, Pipelines, Social Justice
In early September, fossil fuel executive and Donald Trump megadonor Kelcy Warren quietly made a large donation to a political action committee few people have ever heard of. Warren is CEO of Energy Transfer, the company behind the infamous Dakota Access Pipeline, which in 2016 faced thousands of protesters including members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other opponents.
The timing is potentially significant because Warren made his $5 million donation to the super PAC called Turnout for America while his company pushed forward with a lawsuit against the nonprofit Greenpeace related to the Standing Rock protests.
Pete Hegseth Is A Terrible Choice To Head The Pentagon
December 16, 2024
Veterans for Peace, Popular Resistance.
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Congress, Donald Trump, Pentagon, Secretary of Defense
Veterans For Peace is astounded that someone with the track record of Pete Hegseth would seriously be considered for the critically important role of US Secretary of Defense. His dubious and questionable qualifications are far overshadowed by the many reasons that should disqualify him. These include a well-documented record of misogyny, sexual assault, white supremacy, Islamophobia, financial malfeasance, alcoholism, and opposition to VA healthcare. Are these the qualities we want in our Secretary of Defense?
Trump Transition Team Considering Strikes On Iran
December 15, 2024
Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com.
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Donald Trump, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Energy, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism
Strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are being seriously considered within the Donald Trump transition team, according to the Wall Street Journal. While there is no proof Tehran is trying to make a nuclear weapon, Washington and Tel Aviv are threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear energy infrastructure.
“The military-strike option against nuclear facilities is now under more serious review by some members of his transition team,” the WSJ explained. “Iran’s weakened regional position and recent revelations of Tehran’s burgeoning nuclear work have turbocharged sensitive internal discussions, transition officials said.”
Iran’s Khamenei Blames US And Israel For Syrian Crisis
December 15, 2024
Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch.
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Bashar al-Assad, Gaza, Hamas, Hayat Tahrir al-sham (HTS), Hezbollah, Imperialism, Iran, ISIS, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Zionism
The US and Israel bear joint responsibility for the current situation in Syria, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said during a public event in Tehran on Wednesday, December 11. This was the first time Khamenei addressed the topic following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the establishment of a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-backed administration in Syria.
While acknowledging Turkey’s role in supporting HTS, a designated terrorist organization that seized power after President Assad left the country on Sunday, Khamenei said that “the main conspirator, the main planner and the command centre lie in America and the Zionist regime,” IRNA reported.
The White Settlers’ Bizarre Economic Strategy Of Terrorizing Black People
December 15, 2024
Jon Jeter, Black Agenda Report.
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Black America, Economic insecurity, Jordan Neely, Lynching, Murder, White Supremacy, White Vigilantism
That jurors on Monday exonerated an ex-Marine for strangling an African American panhandler who was in mental distress while aboard a New York city subway car was not entirely shocking but does signal to many Blacks a sharp escalation of whites’ historic campaign of racial terror.
Daniel Penny, who is white, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for applying a chokehold to the neck of 30-year-old Jordan Neely, a slightly built homeless man who had done nothing more than shout at passengers aboard an uptown F subway train on May 1, 2023.
University Of Rochester Students Face Seven Years In Jail
December 15, 2024
Michael Arria, Mondoweiss.
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Campus Movement, Israel, Legal System, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Rochester, Student Activism
Last month four students at the University of Rochester were charged with second-degree criminal mischief for their connection to “Wanted” posters that were put up around campus.
The posters accused a small number of faculty members of enabling genocide and supporting the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. Not all the faculty members identified are Jewish, but the university immediately sent out emails tagging the action as antisemitic. Pro-Israel campus groups condemned the posters, including the school’s Hillel chapter which claimed they “disproportionately singled out Jewish faculty and staff and used language that spreads harmful, antisemitic ideas about Jewish people.”
Insurance Firms Are Hiring Middlemen To Deny Medications
December 15, 2024
Mike Ludwig, Truthout.
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Health Care, Insurance, Medications, Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Amid an outpouring of frustration with for-profit health insurance sparked by the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4, much of the media coverage has focused on the alleged shooter, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, and the industry’s nasty habit of maximizing profits by denying claims and leaving sick and vulnerable patients with massive medical bills.
There’s plenty of data to back up the anger over private health plans expressed online since the shooting. Insurance costs are far outpacing inflation, leaving patients with soaring out-of-pocket costs.
Railroads And Unions Divide And Scramble
December 15, 2024
Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes.
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Contract Negotiations, Railroads, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs
As the Trump administration prepares to take power, the nation’s freight railroad companies are at the bargaining table with rail craft unions representing 115,000 freight workers who move essential goods across the country.
Already the bargaining looks very different from the last round of negotiations, which finished in 2022. For the first time since 1963, multiple railroads have gone rogue, breaking with the employer association in which they typically present a united front.
Under the Railway Labor Act, the Trump administration can affect both bargaining and the federal rules under which the railroads operate.
Climate Change Trial At The Hague
December 15, 2024
Robert Hunziker, Counter Punch.
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Antarctica, climate crisis, Climate Justice, The Hague
The stakes are extremely high as the impact of fossil fuels on climate change goes to The Hague for hearings December 2-13, 2024 to determine whether nations are obligated to phase out fossil fuels. Will the esteemed court issue an opinion that truly impacts climate change? Antarctica is experiencing a frightening collapse that has polar scientists fearful and speaking out like never before. A link to an interview with James Woodford, a New Scientists’ reporter, who attended a recent emergency session with 450 polar scientists is found at the end of this article. Woodford: “Nobody could have foreseen Antarctic sea ice dropping off a cliff in the way that it has.”
Guam Becomes An Even Bigger Military Target
December 14, 2024
Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, Popular Resistance.
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Asian Pivot, China, Guam, New Cold War, US military
Several times a year, the U.S. Defense Department launches ballistic missiles from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. These ballistic missiles are generally intercepted by missiles launched 4,200 miles away from the Ronald Reagan Missile test range located in the Marshall Islands.
U.S. officials said the recent U.S. missile test launch was just part of routine and periodic activities to reassure U.S. allies that its nuclear deterrent “is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter 21st-century threats.” However, several days ago, on December 10, 2024, Guam became an even bigger military target in the Pacific with the activation of a missile intercept site.
War Propaganda And The Fall Of Syria
December 14, 2024
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report.
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Al-Qaeda, Israel, Middle East, Propaganda, Syria, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism
The rapid fall of the Syrian Arab Republic government was both a shock and a catastrophe for that region and for the world. It was incomprehensible that the state which withstood a sustained attack since 2011 from the United States, Israel, Turkey and other NATO members, and gulf monarch states such as Saudi Arabia, would collapse so swiftly. The defeat was political, not military. There was surprisingly little actual fighting on the battlefield.
Russia, Syria’s most powerful ally, is engaged in Ukraine, while Turkey, Syria’s nemesis, played a two-sided game of working with its NATO allies while claiming to be negotiating in good faith with Russia.
Inside Israel’s Opportunistic Invasion Of Syria
December 14, 2024
Mitchell Plitnick, Mondoweiss.
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Iran, Israel, Middle East, Syria, Wars and Militarism
Even as Bashar al-Assad was scrambling to get out of Syria, Israel was mobilizing its military to take advantage of the power vacuum that Assad’s ouster had created. After five decades of a low-level conflict between the two countries, Israel saw an opportunity to change the calculus, and it seized it.
As of Wednesday, Israel had struck Syria nearly 500 times. Their goal with these attacks has been to essentially destroy Syria’s military capability, and they have already succeeded. Reports by Israeli media claim that well over 80% of Syria’s weaponry, ships, missiles, aircraft, and other military supplies have been damaged or destroyed.
Congress Revives Cold War Tactics With New Anti-Communism Curriculum
December 14, 2024
Alan MacLeod, MintPress News.
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China, Communism, Education, New McCarthyism, Propaganda
Congress has just passed a new bill that will see the U.S. spend huge sums of money redesigning much of the public school system around the ideology of anti-communism. The “Crucial Communism Teaching Act” is now being read in the Senate, where it is all but certain to pass. The move comes amid growing public anger at the economic system and increased public support for socialism.
The Crucial Communism Teaching Act, in its own words, is designed to teach children that “certain political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism…conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy that are essential to the founding of the United States.”
Cops Are Making Their Own Crack Cocaine!
December 14, 2024
Mike Pappas, Left Voice.
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Cocaine, Crack, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Drugs, Police, Police abuse
Florida’s Broward County is poised to erase the criminal convictions of thousands of people who were arrested for purchasing drugs, particularly crack cocaine. Why, you may ask? Did the holiday season lead Broward county’s Supreme Court to suddenly grow a heart, Grinch-style, realizing punitive measures to address drug use and addiction will never help people? No, it’s because it was found that those drugs were produced by the cops themselves in the Sheriff’s office. You sure did read that right. As reported by Democracy Now, “For years, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office produced crack cocaine to be sold by undercover police to the public.”