Nine of the 10 Most Expensive Senate Races in US History Happened in 2020
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-12-11
Elections are getting far more expensive. The 2016 election alone cost around $6.5 billion, and there is only one place to get money like that: super-wealthy donors with deep pockets and high expectations.
mintpressnews.com/nine-of-the-10-most-expensive-senate-races-in-us-history-happened-in-2020/273581/
New claims for unemployment insurance jump almost 20% in one week
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-12-11
San José, CA – On Thursday, December 10, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that new claims for regular state unemployment went up by 137,000, or 19.1% for the week ending December 5. This is the biggest increase in applications for unemployment since the first week of April. In addition, new claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA also increased by almost 140,000. The total of almost 280,000 applications by jobless Americans in a week was the second largest jump during the entire recession, raising the danger of a 'double-dip' recession, where the economy goes downhill a second time.
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/12/11/new-claims-unemployment-insurance-jump-almost-20-one-week
Dr. Paul Farmer: Centuries of Inequality in the U.S. Laid Groundwork for Pandemic Devastation
CP Editor | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-11
counterpunch.org/2020/12/11/dr-paul-farmer-centuries-of-inequality-in-the-u-s-laid-groundwork-for-pandemic-devastation/
What 100 Years of History Tells Us About Racism in Policing
aclu.org | 2020-12-11
In the middle of the 2020 pandemic, America was shaken by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the protests that erupted in the aftermath. But the disturbing trends we see today in police violence are the same patterns we've seen over the last 100 years. Again and again, commissions convened to examine why police brutality sparks unrest have come to the same conclusion: We must address the poverty and systemic racism that go hand in hand with policing communities of color., , This week, we launched a series of four short films taking a critical look at what we've learned from the last 100 years…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/what-100-years-of-history-tells-us-about-racism-in-policing
'Algerians are hurting': Dinar's dramatic fall deepens economic woes
Yasmina Allouche | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-11
'Algerians are hurting': Dinar's dramatic fall deepens economic woes | Coronavirus and sharp drop in oil prices have exposed decades of failure to diversify away from natural resources, experts tell MEE | Yasmina Allouche | Fri, 12/11/2020 – 09: 35 | Once boasting wealthy resources, the North African country has seen its foreign exchange reserves significantly depleted in the last few years (AFP/file photo)…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria-dinar-record-low-economic-collapse
"Elephants in the Room": Scary 'R' Us: The Exaggerated Threat of Terrorism
Rod Driver | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
This is the sixth in a series entitled Elephants In The Room, which attempts to provide a beginners guide to understanding what's really going on in relation to war, terrorism, economics and poverty, without the nonsense in the mainstream media….
globalresearch.ca/scary-r-us-2-exaggerated-threat-terrorism/5731904
New claims for unemployment insurance jump almost 20% in one week
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-12-11
San José, CA – On Thursday, December 10, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that new claims for regular state unemployment went up by 137,000, or 19.1% for the week ending December 5. This is the biggest increase in applications for unemployment since the first week of April. In addition, new claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA also increased by almost 140,000. The total of almost 280,000 applications by jobless Americans in a week was the second largest jump during the entire recession, raising the danger of a 'double-dip' recession, where the economy goes downhill a second time.
fightbacknews.org/2020/12/11/new-claims-unemployment-insurance-jump-almost-20-one-week
PW Podcast: Rev. Liz Theoharis talks voter suppression and poverty
Chauncey K. Robinson, Matt Bernico | peoplesworld.org | 2020-12-11
Beyond the Page is a companion podcast to the award-winning publication People's World. With every episode, we'll take you deeper into the topics covered at PeoplesWorld.org. Our program brings you in-depth interviews with journalists and activists on the most pressing stories in progressive politics, labor, and the struggle for socialism in the United States. As …
peoplesworld.org/article/pw-podcast-rev-liz-theoharis-talks-voter-suppression-and-poverty/
Public sector workers mount national strike across Italy
wsws.org | 2020-12-10
There is mass opposition in the working class to unsafe working conditions and the malignant social inequality fueled by decades of austerity and exacerbated by the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/10/ital-d10.html
Former Yeltsin-era oligarch Khodorkovsky denies he admitted guilt to Putin in exchange for 2013 presidential pardon
rt.com | 2020-12-10
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's wealthiest man, clashed with Vladimir Putin, on Thursday, over whether he had privately confessed he was guilty of fraud, as a $50 billion legal battle over his former oil empire rages on. | On Thursday, the president told reporters that the oligarch had "indirectly admitted [guilt], in a letter to me and asked for release ahead of schedule because his mother was sick and dying." The president added that "I might be wrong, but I think it's required by law that someone has to admit their guilt — because how else can you pardon them?" | However, in a statement to his MBK…
rt.com/russia/509268-oligarch-khodorkovsky-putin-jail/
Beating Up on Finance
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-10
When I do one of my diatribes about how our protectionist barriers allow U.S. doctors to earn twice as much as doctors in other wealthy countries, I invariably get complaints from doctors and their friends asking why I don't go after the really big bucks people on Wall Street. The answer of course is that…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/10/beating-up-on-finance/
Over 200 million workers and farmers protest against poverty and unemployment triggered by COVID Lockdown
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-12-10
The general strike occurred in the context of the devastation brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in India. Added to this are the millions of people who have lost income and who now face increased poverty and hunger, in a country where even before the pandemic 50 percent of all children suffered malnourishment.
mronline.org/2020/12/10/over-200-million-workers-and-farmers-protest-against-poverty-and-unemployment-triggered-by-covid-lockdown/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=over-200-million-workers-and-farmers-protest-against-poverty-and-unemployment-triggered-by-covid-lockdown
Rich countries' support for children 'totally inadequate': UN report
news.un.org | 2020-12-10
The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, slams the levels of financial support for children allocated by high-income countries during the pandemic as totally inadequate, in a child poverty report issued on Friday.