(2020-02-13). Living in Inequality, Dying in Despair. counterpunch.org The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some welcome news late last month: Americans are living a tiny bit longer. In 2018, the federal health agency reported, U.S. life expectancy at birth inched up about a month, from 78.6 to 78.7 years. The Trump administration, predictably, claimed credit for the increase, the first
(2020-02-13). Taxing Wealth Emperors in the Empire State. zcomm.org The Strong For All coalition is pressing for "budget justice," a package of higher taxes on the very rich rather than austerity budget cuts and new levies that hit the non-wealthy…
(2020-02-13). Scores of corporate executives, CEOs in India caught up in 'honey trap' blackmail operation on gay dating app. rt.com 
At least 50 Indian business executives based in New Delhi were tricked into an elaborate extortion set-up, 'honey trapped' on LGBT dating app Grindr and then blackmailed with their own intimate, and often embarrassing, photos. | Targeting wealthy individuals in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and Ghaziabad, a gang of extortionists sought to bilk everything from cash, laptops, and watches from the corporate bigwigs, among them CEOs. Some 150 people fell victim to the enterprise, not all of them businessmen. | "Around 50 executives of top multinational companies in Delhi-NCR have been duped and robbed," said Gurugram po…
(2020-02-12). LeBron James challenges key capitalist narrative Americans have been taught to love. peoplesworld.org 
Capitalist culture loves to celebrate how individuals, exceptions to the rule, rise out of the degradation capitalism itself has created while at the same time either justifying or ignoring the repressive and inhumane conditions upon which wealth production depends. One key to raising an anti-capitalist political consciousness entails changing this celebratory story. LeBron James is …
(2020-02-12). Venezuela: From Oil Proxy to the Bolivarian Movement and Sabotage. Abysmal Poverty under US Proxy Rule (1918-1998). globalresearch.ca More than 70 percent of the population did not meet minimum calorie and protein requirements. Child malnutrition and infant mortality was exceedingly high. 23 percent of the population was illiterate. One child in four was marginalized from the educational system.
(2020-02-12). 'I'm not one to accept donations in a race I can't win': Yang quits presidential bid as polls close in New Hampshire. rt.com 
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang has bowed out of the presidential race after early results suggested the Democratic candidate failed to win delegates in the New Hampshire primary. | As early results started pouring in from the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday night, the Democratic field lost yet another hopeful as sources close to the Yang campaign confirmed that the entrepreneur-turned-politician would be ending his presidential bid. | Commenting on his decision to pull the plug on his campaign, Yang said that he does not want to continue taking money from his supporters knowing that he will not deliver victory.
(2020-02-12). Baltic Republics' "De-Russification" Sees Increased Poverty and Depopulation. globalresearch.ca Pensioners in the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are more exposed to the risk of poverty than pensioners in other European Union (EU) countries, according to
(2020-02-11). Keep War, Environmental Degradation And Profit Out Of Space. dissidentvoice.org 
The 21st Century nuclear arms and developing outer space arms races, which began under Obama and are increasing under Trump, are going to be something the world has never seen before. They are a bonanza for weapons makers, the Pentagon budget and capitalists in space. They will create a less secure world, a greater wealth divide, …
(2020-02-09). Charter Schools Fail to Eradicate the Achievement Gap. dissidentvoice.org 
Numerous inequalities characterize societies in which the majority produce the wealth but only a handful own it. The so-called "achievement gap" is mainly an expression of the harsh social class divide in society that keeps growing. One of the conceited claims of charter school advocates is that privately-owned-operated non-profit and for-profit charter schools will close …