By Staff for Telesur. Starting in 1999, the United States has increasingly lost the ability it once had to determine policy in Latin America. The Bolivarian Revolution that began in Venezuela quickly grew throughout the region, and over the decade the idea of reclaiming national sovereignty through regional integration gained momentum. A decade later, organizations like ALBA, CELAC and Unasur were formed by countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, who came to consensus on the benefits of excluding the United States (and to a lesser extent, Canada). Also during this time, the United States government began putting an increasing amount of resources into organizations operating in Latin America. Under seemingly altruistic pretexts—including environmental promotion, defense of human rights, and strengthening democracy—these organizations received U.S. dollars often to intervene in the political affairs of country whose policies fall out of line with U.S. policies and objectives.
By Staff of Two Rivers Camp – Stop Trans Pecos Pipeline – All people coming to Two Rivers Camp, ONCE AGAIN there is “NO alcohol, weapons or DRUGS” allowed at camp and that means “Marijana” in case anyone does not understand that. PLEASE honor and respect the rules of the camp that are stated on the pined post on this page and on the sign as you drive in to camp that says no drugs allowed. The rules are to protect the camp, people at the camp, the elders requests, the teachings, and the sacred fire. If anyone DISRESPECTS the rules of the camp, you will be asked to leave the camp. Please dont be selfish, dont just think of your own wants or needs, and please dont be disrespectful. Please remember why we are coming together “we need you all” Please help to protect the camp and all the people that come to the camp, especially the children, it is the children and there future we are fighting for.
By Morris Pearl for Other Words. When Trump’s nominees are sworn in, they’ll need to unload any assets that pose a conflict of interest with their new positions. But due to an obscure tax provision that applies only to executive branch nominees, this “burden” may actually end up allowing them to avoid paying millions in taxes. In the late 1980s, Congress passed a law allowing nominees to indefinitely defer paying taxes on all capital gains. They still have to sell off their conflicting assets, but as long as they reinvest the money from those sales in low-risk assets like mutual funds or government bonds, they don’t have to immediately pay taxes on their profits. This means that many will get away without paying a cent. They can diversify their assets, reduce the level of risk in their portfolio, and live off the dividends of their newly acquired bonds or mutual funds for the rest of their lives.
By Staff for Agency France Press. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will agree to be extradited to the United States if President Barack Obama grants clemency to the former US soldier Chelsea Manning, jailed for leaking documents, the company said on Thursday. “If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case,” WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter. Assange has been living in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.
By Victor Grossman for The Left Berlin – Hit that old song again, loud and clear! “Over there, over there, Send the word, send the word, That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming…” Yes, sirree! Shades of 1918 and the Battle of the Marne! Shades of 1944 and the beaches of Normandy! But no, not just shades and not just words have already been sent. 2017 had hardly begun in Germany’s port of Bremerhaven when 4000 lads and lasses in Yankee uniform disembarked and unloaded three shiploads, over 2,500 tanks, trucks and other combat vehicles, and sent them on by rail, on ferries through the Baltic or clanking along those Autobahn highways through North Germany. So many memories!
By Gilbert Achcar for Jadaliyya. What started in the Arab region in 2011 actually is a long-term revolutionary process which, from the beginning it was possible to predict, would take many years, or even several decades, and would not reach a new period of sustained stability short of the emergence of progressive leaderships capable of bringing the Arab countries out of the insuperable crisis into which they have fallen after decades of rotting under despotism and corruption. This brings us to the second issue that it is necessary to emphasize on this anniversary of the uprisings. To say that the old Arab regime is better than the revolt against it is like saying that the accumulation of pus in a boil is better than incising the boil and letting the pus out. The tragedies that we are witnessing now are not the pro.duct of the uprising, but indeed the product of decades of accumulation of rot in the heart of the old regime. The “Arab Spring” provoked the explosion of this accumulation, which inevitably would have happened sooner or later. The truth is that the longer the explosion was delayed, the more rot accumulatedIf there is indeed one thing to be regretted in the Arab explosion, it is not that it happened but that it took so long to happen.
By Julia Craven for The Huffington Post – A damning report from the Justice Department found that the Baltimore Police Department routinely used excessive force, retaliated against citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights and committed other civil rights abuses. Baltimore police officers often stopped, frisked and arrested residents unconstitutionally. The report, formally released on Wednesday, also says officers within the department were purposefully careless in sexual assault cases, used slurs against LGBT people and, in some cases, were told by supervisors to target black residents and “lock up all the black hoodies.”
By Seth Gladstone for Food and Water Watch – Washington, D.C. – Today, more than 100 families personally affected by fracking sent a letter to President Obama asking for him to meet with them in advance of the Democratic National Convention, where impacted people from across the country will be coming to participate in a march calling for a ban on fracking and extreme fossil fuel extraction and a swift transition to renewables. “We are here to ask you and ranking EPA officials to meet with our families to hear the personal testimonies…
By Timothy Karr for Free Press – WASHINGTON — According to several news reports, the Federal Communications Commission has voted to approve Charter Communications’ $90 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The merger combines the nation’s second-, third- and sixth-largest cable-TV and Internet providers. After the merger closes, two Internet service providers, Charter and Comcast, will control nearly two-thirds of the nation’s high-speed Internet subscribers.
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga for Daily Kos – Sean Groubert, a former South Carolina state trooper, has pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for the shooting of Levar Jones at a Columbia gas station in September of 2014. Video from Groubert’s patrol car went viral at a time of heightened scrutiny and anxiety of police executions of unarmed African Americans—immediately after the murders of Mike Brown in Ferguson, John Crawford in Ohio and Eric Garner in New York and just prior to the murder of Tamir Rice in Cleveland and the non-indictment of Darren Wilson for Brown’s murder.
By Kelly Hayes for Truthout – With issues of mass incarceration and deportation hanging heavy over the current presidential race, both Black Lives Matter activists and immigration rights activists have had a great deal to say about the policies and commentaries of each potential commander in chief. But while hashtags like #SuperTuesday go viral and problematic award shows drag up questions about Black and Brown solidarity, some young people are forging ahead on the front lines, arm-in-arm with those whose issues many would divide from their own.
By Staff of The Electronic Antifada – On Wednesday, Israeli forces carried out a mass demolition in four areas of the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley — Jiftlik, Fasayil al-Wusta, Ein Kurzliya and al-Mkassar. Seven homes and six animal shelters were destroyed, leaving 71 people without a roof over their heads. For families in Fasayil al-Wusta and Ein Kurzliya, it was the fourth demolition in recent years. In al-Mkassar, Israeli forces demolished a tent provided to the family after their dwelling was demolished a week before. The only access road to Ein Kurzliya was blocked and in Jiftlik, a system of pipes providing water to 300 people was deliberately damaged.
By Joe Catron for Mint Press News – NEW YORK — As Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq reaches the 70th day of a hunger strike against his administrative detention by Israel on Tuesday, protests demanding his freedom are growing across the world as others continue in Palestine. “Mohammed is hanging between life and death,” Islam al-Qeeq, his brother, told MintPress News from Ramallah. “The coming hours could be very crucial in his battle for freedom and physical survival.” Supporters overseas echoed the family’s alarm.
By Mumia Abu-Jamal for CounterPunch. To those of us who were alive–and sentient, the name Huey P. Newton evokes an era of mass resistance, of Black popular protest and of the rise of revolutionary organizations across the land. To those of subsequent eras, youth in their 20s, the name is largely unknown, as is the name of its greatest creation: The Black Panther Party. To those of us now known as ‘old heads’ and elders, such a transition from then to now seems almost unimaginable, but alas, looking out into the present is proof positive that the old saying, “History is written by the victors” has more than a grain of truth to it. History, it seems, is many things, but kind to the oppressed, it is not. It never has been.
By Igor Volsky, Aviva Shen, Jack Jenkins, Victoria Ffleisher, and Tara Culp-Ressler for Think Progress – LGBT rights are still suppressed in Israeli society. In fact, Netanyahu’s government shot down a slew of bills this year intended to expand LGBT rights, including one that would have legalized same-sex marriage and another that would protect Israelis from being discriminated against on the basis of their identity or sexual orientation. A member of his own coalition, MK Bezalel Smotrich, organized an anti-gay rally in 2006, a year after several people were stabbed at a Pride parade. Smotrich’s rally was intended to protest the Pride parade in Jerusalem, which he called “the beast parade.”
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