Daily Archives: November 10, 2019

2019-11-10: News Headlines

Sam Pizzigati (2019-11-10). Inequality and the Iron Law of Decaying Public Services. commondreams.org Flames from the Carr Fire burn through trees and a road sign along a highway near Whiskeytown, California on July 27, 2018. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/crop-gettyimages-1006387434_0.jpg

Staff (2019-11-10). Trump Wants to Charge Asylum Fees for Refugees Fleeing Hardship. truthdig.com The Trump administration this coming week will formalize a proposal that could make it one of just four countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers for entry. | As the New York Times reported late Friday, the administration plans to publish in the Federal Register a proposal to require a $50 application fee for asylum-seekers as well as a $490 charge for work permits. | "It's an unprecedented weaponization of government fees," Doug Rand of the immigrant assistance company Boundless Immigration told the Times. | Currently, the only countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers—who are often fleeing…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-11-10). 'Simply Barbaric': Trump Administration Proposes Charging Asylum Fee for Refugees Fleeing Violence and Poverty. commondreams.org The Trump administration this coming week will formalize a proposal that could make it one of just four countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers for entry. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/asylum_seekers_barr_0_0.png

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

Norman Solomon (2019-11-08). The Crass Warfare of Billionaires Against Sanders and Warren. counterpunch.org For many decades, any politician daring to fight for economic justice was liable to be denounced for engaging in "class warfare." It was always a grimly laughable accusation, coming from wealthy elites as well as their functionaries in corporate media and elective office. In the real world, class warfare — or whatever you want to 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 …

Roger Harris (2019-11-08). Sierra Club Takes a Commendable Turn on Population, Climate Change, and Inequality. counterpunch.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 More

teleSUR (2019-11-08). Vietnamese Migrants Found Dead in UK Truck Were Fleeing Poverty. telesurenglish.net Vietnam is mourning on Friday, after it was confirmed that the 39 migrants who were recently found dead in a truck in the English county of Essex were Vietnamese, mostly from the Southeast Asian country's poor and rural areas. | RELATED: | Migrants Released Amid Fighting in Libya Seek Refuge With UN | The Vietnamese government confirmed the identity of the victims late on Thursday and expressed its condolences to the families and friends of the migrants, who had paid up to US$40,…

Jesse Lawrence Anderson (2019-11-07). Attacking the Messenger: Profile of Salvadoran political cartoonist Otto Meza. mronline.org Otto Meza, a calm, bespectacled 46-year-old Salvadoran political cartoonist deals with a whole spectrum of domestic issues. Many of the themes Meza uses to label his cartoons provide a stark overview of the issues facing contemporary El Salvador: "Migration," "Inequality," "Corruption," "Transparency," "Impunity," "Historical Memory." | Source

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 …

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 …

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, …

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.

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…

2019-11-10: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Trump Wants to Charge Asylum Fees for Refugees Fleeing Hardship
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-11-10
The Trump administration this coming week will formalize a proposal that could make it one of just four countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers for entry. | As the New York Times reported late Friday, the administration plans to publish in the Federal Register a proposal to require a $50 application fee for asylum-seekers as well as a $490 charge for work permits. | "It's an unprecedented weaponization of government fees," Doug Rand of the immigrant assistance company Boundless Immigration told the Times. | Currently, the only countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers–who are often fleeing…
truthdig.com/articles/trump-wants-to-charge-asylum-fee-for-refugees-fleeing-violence-and-poverty/

Inequality and the Iron Law of Decaying Public Services
Sam Pizzigati | commondreams.org | 2019-11-10
Flames from the Carr Fire burn through trees and a road sign along a highway near Whiskeytown, California on July 27, 2018. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/crop-gettyimages-1006387434_0.jpg
commondreams.org/views/2019/11/10/inequality-and-iron-law-decaying-public-services?cd-origin=rss

'Simply Barbaric': Trump Administration Proposes Charging Asylum Fee for Refugees Fleeing Violence and Poverty
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-11-10
The Trump administration this coming week will formalize a proposal that could make it one of just four countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers for entry. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/asylum_seekers_barr_0_0.png
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/10/simply-barbaric-trump-administration-proposes-charging-asylum-fee-refugees-fleeing?cd-origin=rss

Qatar: Education as a Weapon
Andre Vltchek | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-09
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 …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/qatar-education-as-a-weapon/

Neoliberalism's Children Rise Up to Demand Justice in Chile and the World
Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-08
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,…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/neoliberalisms-children-rise-up-to-demand-justice-in-chile-and-the-world/

The Crass Warfare of Billionaires Against Sanders and Warren
Norman Solomon | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-08
For many decades, any politician daring to fight for economic justice was liable to be denounced for engaging in "class warfare." It was always a grimly laughable accusation, coming from wealthy elites as well as their functionaries in corporate media and elective office. In the real world, class warfare — or whatever you want to…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/the-crass-warfare-of-billionaires-against-sanders-and-warren/

A Bold Plan to Strengthen and Improve Social Security Is What America Needs
Dean Baker | commondreams.org | 2019-11-08
The biggest item on the benefit side is that it guarantees a benefit of at least 125 percent of the poverty level for anyone who has worked for at least 30 years. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/expand.jpeg
commondreams.org/views/2019/11/08/bold-plan-strengthen-and-improve-social-security-what-america-needs?cd-origin=rss

Sierra Club Takes a Commendable Turn on Population, Climate Change, and Inequality
Roger Harris | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-08
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…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/sierra-club-takes-a-commendable-turn-on-population-climate-change-and-inequality/

Bank Report Reveals Where Ruling Class Lives
Gary Engler | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-08
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 …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/bank-report-reveals-where-ruling-class-lives/

Vietnamese Migrants Found Dead in UK Truck Were Fleeing Poverty
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-08
Vietnam is mourning on Friday, after it was confirmed that the 39 migrants who were recently found dead in a truck in the English county of Essex were Vietnamese, mostly from the Southeast Asian country's poor and rural areas. | RELATED: | Migrants Released Amid Fighting in Libya Seek Refuge With UN | The Vietnamese government confirmed the identity of the victims late on Thursday and expressed its condolences to the families and friends of the migrants, who had paid up to US$40,…
telesurenglish.net/news/Vietnamese-Migrants-Found-Dead-in-UK-Truck-Were-Fleeing-Poverty-20191108-0016.html

Sierra Club Takes a Commendable Turn on Population, Climate Change, and Inequality
Roger D. Harris | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-07
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 …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/sierra-club-takes-a-commendable-turn-on-population-climate-change-and-inequality/

Attacking the Messenger: Profile of Salvadoran political cartoonist Otto Meza
Jesse Lawrence Anderson | mronline.org | 2019-11-07
Otto Meza, a calm, bespectacled 46-year-old Salvadoran political cartoonist deals with a whole spectrum of domestic issues. Many of the themes Meza uses to label his cartoons provide a stark overview of the issues facing contemporary El Salvador: "Migration," "Inequality," "Corruption," "Transparency," "Impunity," "Historical Memory." | Source…
mronline.org/2019/11/07/attacking-the-messenger/

What's Joker's Joke?
Edward Curtin | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-07
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 …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/whats-jokers-joke/

Neoliberalism's Children Rise Up to Demand Justice in Chile and the World
MBNJSD | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-07
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, …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/neoliberalisms-children-rise-up-to-demand-justice-in-chile-and-the-world/

Democrats turn on Bill Gates after billionaire hints he's not a fan of Warren's wealth tax
rt.com | 2019-11-07
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.
rt.com/usa/472861-bill-gates-democrats-warren-wealth/

Something in the air
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-07
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…
greenleft.org.au/content/something-air

Multi-Millionaire Nancy Pelosi warns "Fellow Leftists": Medicare for All is a Very Bad Idea
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-11-06
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.
mintpressnews.com/millionaire-nancy-pelosi-leftists-medicare-for-all/262681/

Media Backs Billionaire President as Chileans Protest Privatization
Mnar Muhawesh | mintpressnews.com | 2019-11-04
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…
mintpressnews.com/chile-protests-battling-privatization-corporate-media/262647/

Pushed Out, Attacked & Criminalized: San Francisco's Unhoused People Speak Out Amid Housing Crisis
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-04
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…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/4/san_francisco_homelessness_crackdown_special_report

The Urban Institute Report Did Not Score Medicare for All
Matt Bruenig | peoplespolicyproject.org | 2019-10-16
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…
peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/10/16/the-urban-institute-report-did-not-score-medicare-for-all/