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.
The Department of Defense is planning to create a rapid response force of National Guard troops to quickly deploy to American cities where protests or unrest are occurring.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that it obtained documents showing the Pentagon is creating a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force.”
“The plan calls for 600 troops to be on standby at all times so they can deploy in as little as one hour,” the outlet explained. “They would be split into two groups of 300 and stationed at military bases in Alabama and Arizona, with purview of regions east and west of the Mississippi River, respectively.”
One hundred troops at each base would be on standby to deploy within an hour, while the entire quick force would begin operations within 12 hours.
What Lies Behind Trump’s Attacks Against Venezuela?
August 13, 2025
Francisco Dominguez, Morning Star.
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Latin America, Nicolas Maduro, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Venezuela
As if President Trump intended to meet professional US mercenary Erik Prince half way, US Attorney General Pam Bondi increased the existing US bounty on President Nicolas Maduro — originally set at $15 million — from $25m to $50m for anyone providing “information leading to his arrest or conviction.”
In late 2024, Prince, a professional mercenary, alongside Venezuela’s far right, promoted a plan to deploy a private army to Venezuela. He suggested that if the US raised the bounty on Maduro’s head to $100 million, targeting not only the president but also Diosdado Cabello and the entire government, they could “just sit back and wait for the magic to happen.” Prince and Venezuela’s far right even launched a crowdfunding campaign, Ya Casi Venezuela (“Almost There, Venezuela”), to collect the $100 million.
Corporations Want To Prevent Workers From Leaving Their Jobs
A Texas nurse switched to a better-paying job at a nearby hospital only to wind up with debt collectors at her door demanding she pay her former employer back for a loan she didn’t know she owed.
A cargo pilot faced a $20,000 lawsuit over job-training expenses at a commercial airline that had just fired him for refusing to fly a plane under unsafe conditions.
After being promised college tuition relief paid for by Chipotle, fast-food workers can get stuck with the tuition bill.
These are all examples of how millions of workers across the country are increasingly finding themselves bound by Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs), a new form of “stay-or-pay” contract that indebts employees to their bosses.
Netanyahu’s Plan To Occupy Gaza Violates World Court Ruling
August 12, 2025
Marjorie Cohn, Scheer Post.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Illegal Occupation, International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel
As the death toll of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip surpasses 61,000 and Israel continues to starve Gazans to death, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that Israel plans to occupy all of Gaza. When asked in an August 7 appearance on Fox News whether Israel would “take control of all of Gaza,” Netanyahu replied, “We intend to.”
The Israeli Occupation Forces say they already control about 75 percent of Gaza. The remaining 25 percent includes Gaza City, Khan Younis, and many neighborhoods and refugee camps in central Gaza.
Israel’s occupation of Gaza flies in the face of the July 19 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court). I
Will The United States Invade Mexico?
August 12, 2025
Mel Gurtov, Counter Punch.
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Mexico, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism
Donald Trump is proving time and again to foreign leaders that counting on friendly relations is senseless. Most recently, India, Canada, Ukraine, and Brazil discovered that, contrary to expectations, Trump is not influenced by historical ties or long-term common interests. He will treat them like adversaries if there is immediate advantage to doing so. Now Mexico joins the list.
Trump has long had the idea of pursuing drug dealers into Mexico. The New York Times reports that he has signed a secret directive to the Pentagon that could lead to the dispatch of US air and ground forces into Mexico, or other countries, on the pretext of fighting terrorism, a designation the State Department began using once Trump took office.
Tariff Pressure Under Trump: A New Economic Colonialism
August 12, 2025
Shen Yi, People's Dispatch.
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Tariffs, Trade, Trump Administration, US Imperialism
The current US administration is determined to abandon multilateral frameworks, favoring instead the resolution of trade disputes through bilateral negotiations, one by one, in pursuit of maximizing US interests. It has openly declared its intention to replace multilateral agreements with bilateral pressure, believing that the US holds stronger leverage in one-on-one negotiations.
Under this approach, the US unilaterally launched a global tariff war on what it called “Liberation Day”, using threats of high tariffs as a bargaining chip to force its trade partners into submission. This strategy led to a series of bilateral trade agreements, in which individual economies – including the United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union – were pressured into making compromises and concessions to the US.
Union-Busting In The Guise Of ‘National Security’
August 12, 2025
Steve Wishnia, Work Bites.
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Collective bargaining, Federal Workers, Legal System, Trump Administration, Unions, Worker Rights
In a ruling the American Federation of Government Employees [AFGE] denounced as “a setback for fundamental rights in America,” a federal appeals court in California on August 1 lifted an injunction preventing the Trump regime from terminating collective-bargaining rights for an estimated two-thirds of the federal workforce.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the argument by six federal workers unions against Trump’s March 27 executive order nullifying their contracts—that it was retaliation for their exercising their right to dispute policies such as massive layoffs—was irrelevant, because “the President would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct.”
Rhode Island Becomes First State To Codify Student Unionization Rights
August 12, 2025
Ethan Schenker, Portside.
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Graduate Students, Higher Education, Rhode Island, State legislature, Unions, Worker Rights
A new law signed by Gov. Dan McKee has made Rhode Island the first state to explicitly protect graduate student workers’ right to unionize if the National Labor Relations Board declines to do so.
McKee signed House Bill 5187 on July 2, capping off a monthslong effort by Brown’s Graduate Labor Organization to codify federal labor organizing protections in state law. GLO leaders had worked with the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and state legislators to advocate for the bill’s passage since its introduction in January.
The law, which was sponsored by state Rep. Arthur Corvese (D-North Providence), extends collective bargaining rights and other existing organizing rights for public employees to student workers “when not already protected by the National Labor Relations Board.”
Iran Security Chief In Baghdad For Talks On ‘Next Phase’ Of Resistance Axis
August 11, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Axis of Resistance, Iran, Iraq, US Imperialism, West Asia
The Secretary-General of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, arrived in Baghdad for two days of meetings with Iraqi officials regarding the future of the Axis of Resistance and the political stability of Iraq and the region, Shafaq News Agency reported on 11 August.
An informed source told Shafaq that, “Gathering the so-called Axis of Resistance in the region and rearranging its cards, along with Iraq's political role in calming the situation in the region during the next phase, are among the most important files that Larijani brought with him to Baghdad.”
The secretary-general “stressed the need to employ tools and redistribute tasks after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq according to the agreed-upon withdrawal schedule, and to find an official and protocol-based formula for this,” the source added.
Zelensky Rejects Idea Of Ceding Territory To Russia
August 11, 2025
Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com.
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Donald Trump, Peace Negotiations, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the idea of ceding territory to Russia to end the war in Ukraine, as President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are preparing for a summit that will be held this Friday, August 15, in the US state of Alaska.
“Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Zelensky said in a video address on Saturday. “We will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated.
Zelensky’s comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff that he would agree to a full ceasefire if Ukraine withdrew its forces from Donetsk, one of the two oblasts in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Russia controls most of Donetsk and virtually all of Luhansk, the other half of the Donbas region.
A Quartet Of Nicaragua Critics Sings From Washington’s Songbook
August 11, 2025
John Perry and Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance.
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Media, Nicaragua, Propaganda, US Imperialism
In recent weeks, a motley crew of writers has found common cause in attacking Nicaragua’s Sandinista government: Jaden Hong, a high-school student from Sammamish, Washington, who has never visited the country; Jared O. Bell, a former USAID Foreign Service Officer; Barb Arland-Fye, editor of a Catholic newspaper in Iowa; and Gioconda Belli, a 76-year-old Nicaraguan novelist in self-exile. Writing in outlets ranging from The Teen Magazine to the New York Times, they have produced a string of biased, ill-informed pieces that repeat the same well-worn falsehoods about Nicaragua’s elected government.
Their attacks on Nicaragua’s revolution reflect Washington’s talking points as it pursues its regime-change agenda.
Trump Deploys National Guard, Takes Over Washington, DC Police
August 11, 2025
Brad Reed, Common Dreams.
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Donald Trump, Fascism, National Guard, Police, Washington D.C.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday moved to deploy the National Guard on the streets of Washington, D.C., while also officially taking over the city's police department.
What's more, Trump suggested that this could be a model for other American cities.
As reported by NBC News, Trump said during his announcement on plans to deploy the National Guard in the nation's capital that "other cities are hopefully watching this" and that he hoped it would make them "self-clean up, and maybe they'll self-do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused the problem."
Trump then named Baltimore, Oakland, New York, and Chicago as potential future targets for National Guard deployments and other measures.
Israel’s Government Issues ‘Death Sentence’ To Remaining Captives
August 10, 2025
Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone.
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Al-Qassam Brigades, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Hamas, Hannibal Directive, Hostages, Israel, Israeli Occupying Forces, Palestine
In June 2024, after Israel’s army slaughtered over 200 civilians in Gaza’s Nuseirat Refugee Camp, including several execution style killings to extricate a hostage, Noa Argamani, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced a new policy: if Israel soldiers came too close to areas where captives were held, the prisoners would lose their lives. Israel’s refusal to heed this policy led to the killing of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five others just over two months later.
Now, in a fit of desperation, after failing to force the hand of Hamas through imposed famine and previous campaigns of military pressure, Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans to ethnically cleanse the whole of Gaza City and occupy urban areas where captives might be located.
Israel’s Biggest US Donor Now Owns CBS
August 10, 2025
Alan MacLeod, MintPress News.
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CBS, Israel, Media, Press Freedom, Wealthy Class
After reaching an agreement with President Trump, David Ellison—the son of the second-richest man in the world, Larry Ellison—has acquired Paramount Global, the media giant that owns CBS News.
Larry Ellison, the largest private funder of the Israel Defense Forces, is deeply tied to the Israeli national security state and counts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among his closest friends.
David has already announced significant changes at CBS, promising “unbiased” news coverage and “varied ideological perspectives,” which are widely understood to signal a shift toward right-wing, pro-Trump coverage. Worse still, Bari Weiss, a journalist with a long history of zealous pro-Israel advocacy, is being considered as the network’s new ombudsman, shaping its political direction, precisely because of her “pro-Israel stance.”
Bringing Labor Stories To Conservative Communities
August 10, 2025
Tim Sheard and Len Shindel, Portside.
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Book Review, Conservatives, Labor Movement, Strikes, Unions
We often hear that working class folks in conservative communities are hopelessly drawn to the dominant storylines of the wealthy and powerful. That they don’t want to know about labor or “people’s” history.
Well, Len Shindel has proven the naysayers wrong, big time. He has taken his shoe-leather history of a 1970, 8-month-long strike of public sector workers to the people of Western Maryland, and they have embraced him and his book with open arms.
Here’s how he did it.
Moving to Garrett County, Md. after retiring from his union job, Len decided, upon the advice of a friend, to investigate an 8-month long strike by the county’s road workers that was the longest public worker strike in U.S. history.