2019-11-11: News Headlines

WSWS (2019-11-11). US-backed Colombian military kills eight children in bombing, attempts cover-up. wsws.org The brazenness of military repression to defend the highest levels of inequality in the world is the result of over a century of imperialist oppression.

Andre Vltchek (2019-11-09). Qatar: Education as a Weapon. dissidentvoice.org There seems to be no limit to Qataris tossing around their wealth. This tiny kingdom with 2.6 million inhabitants is full of ridiculously lavish gold-plated palaces, most of them built with terrible taste. It is overflowing with Lamborghini racing cars and Rolls Royce limousines, and now, even with ludicrously wasteful air-conditioned sidewalks (cold air blows …

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2019-11-08). Neoliberalism's Children Rise Up to Demand Justice in Chile and the World. counterpunch.org Uprisings against the corrupt, generation-long dominance of neoliberal "center-right" and "center-left" governments that benefit the wealthy and multinational corporations at the expense of working people are sweeping country after country all over the world. In this Autumn of Discontent, people from Chile, Haiti and Honduras to Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are rising up against neoliberalism, More

Gary Engler (2019-11-08). Bank Report Reveals Where Ruling Class Lives. dissidentvoice.org While clearly not intended as a tool for the subversion of capitalism, the 2019 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report provides a fascinating glimpse at the inequality that the neoliberal era has produced, who has benefitted and those who have been left behind. According to the tenth edition of the report, recently released, "The bottom half …

RT (2019-11-07). Democrats turn on Bill Gates after billionaire hints he's not a fan of Warren's wealth tax. rt.com Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates was eviscerated on social media after balking at some Democratic candidates' wealth tax and hinting he'd vote for whoever is "more professional," which some took as a dog whistle for Trump. | Gates expressed some apprehension about the "wealth tax" proposed by Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, admitting he'd only be willing to fork over so much of his massive fortune. "I've paid over $10 billion in taxes, I've paid more than anyone in taxes! I'm glad to have—If I had to pay $20 billion, it's fine," he told the New York Times DealBook Conference on Wednesday.

Roger D. Harris (2019-11-07). Sierra Club Takes a Commendable Turn on Population, Climate Change, and Inequality. dissidentvoice.org The Sierra Club — long a retrograde proponent of saving the planet by driving a Tesla, eating wild caught salmon, and voting blue — took positive environmental leadership with their end of the year issue of the Sierra magazine. Stating it is "time to fix the population fixation," they examine the interactions of population, climate …

MBNJSD (2019-11-07). Neoliberalism's Children Rise Up to Demand Justice in Chile and the World. dissidentvoice.org Uprisings against the corrupt, generation-long dominance of neoliberal "center-right" and "center-left" governments that benefit the wealthy and multinational corporations at the expense of working people are sweeping country after country all over the world. In this Autumn of Discontent, people from Chile, Haiti and Honduras to Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are rising up against neoliberalism, …

Edward Curtin (2019-11-07). What's Joker's Joke? dissidentvoice.org Cause how many times can you wake up in this comic book and plant flowers? — Rodriguez, "Cause" It's not funny, that's for sure. When I went to see Joker, the new Todd Philips' film, there were five other people in the theater in the liberal, up-scale tourist town populated by wealthy second-home owners, exiles …

Fred_F (2019-11-07). Something in the air. greenleft.org.au international solidarity Peter BoyleIssue 1244 AustraliaNovember 7, 2019Looking through a collection of street art shared on social media from the Lebanese rebellion against corruption and inequality, I was reminded of the similar explosion in street art during the Sudanese rebellion, just a few months ago. | A quick online se…

Alan Macleod (2019-11-06). Multi-Millionaire Nancy Pelosi warns "Fellow Leftists": Medicare for All is a Very Bad Idea. mintpressnews.com Pelosi's objections to progressive legislation like a wealth tax or Medicare for All are based not on pragmatic concerns about losing votes (quite the opposite appears to be true) but have more to do with her position as one of America's richest people.

Fight Back (2019-11-05). Tallahassee public housing tenants face displacement due to redevelopment. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – November 5 marked the due date for 2019 applications to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. This year the city of Tallahassee has submitted two applications along with $1.3 million to secure funding for the redevelopment of Orange Avenue Apartments, currently the largest public housing community in Tallahassee, a 200-unit complex is on Tallahassee's Southside. | The redevelopment effort is being led in part by Purpose Built Communities, an Atlanta non-profit founded by billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Julian Robertson, along with the wealthy Atlanta real estate developer Tom Cousins…

Mnar Muhawesh (2019-11-04). Media Backs Billionaire President as Chileans Protest Privatization. mintpressnews.com Chile's right-wing President Sebastian Piñera recently declared war. He wasn't referring to a foreign government, but to his own people. He even ordered tanks and the military to the streets. | An estimated 20 protesters have been killed and over 500 injured. | Since October 14th, millions of Chileans have taken to the streets, rocking what is normally one of Latin America's most stable countries. | Chileans are in an uproar over rising taxes on public transportation, growing income inequality, and a broken pension system. | Many are demanding Piñera's resignation, even after he has tried to appease the protes…

Staff (2019-11-04). Pushed Out, Attacked & Criminalized: San Francisco's Unhoused People Speak Out Amid Housing Crisis. democracynow.org Amid skyrocketing housing prices and rising inequality, the number of unhoused people across California is booming. Homelessness in San Francisco has spiked at least 30% since 2017. In Oakland, it's grown by nearly 50%. As more people have been forced onto the streets, encampments have popped up from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and in other city centers. But while advocates push for more affordable housing solutions, instead city governments have been cracking down on unhoused people with increasingly punitive measures that criminalize homelessness. In a special report, Democracy Now! traveled to San Francisco to…

Matt Bruenig (2019-10-16). The Urban Institute Report Did Not Score Medicare for All. peoplespolicyproject.org The Urban Institute and The Commonwealth Fund put out a report today that provided cost estimates for 8 different health care reforms. One of those eight reforms, which is called "Single Payer Enhanced," describes a comprehensive, no-cost-sharing, national health plan similar to Medicare for All (M4A). However, the Urban plan uses hospital reimbursement rates that are 15 percent higher than the rates in the M4A legislation, meaning that its cost estimates are much…

CounterSpin (2019-09-27). Shailly Gupta Barnes, Frances Fox Piven on Defining and Ending Poverty. fair.org Media…