Daily Archives: January 17, 2021

2021-01-17: News Headlines

Staff (2021-01-17). Bernie Sanders Is About to Become the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee. truthout.org The long-held Republican nightmare that a champion of working-class people and the common good — one who has dedicated his political career to curbing poverty and injustice while denouncing corporate greed, endless war, and the cruelty of a for-profit health system that leaves millions upon millions uninsured or without affordable access to care — would assume the powerful position of chairing the Senate Budget Committee is about to become reality. | "Time to face the harsh reality,…

Fight Back (2021-01-17). Unemployment insurance claims make biggest jump since March. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – The U.S. economy showed more signs of weakness as the COVID-19 pandemic rages and Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine rollout crashes and burns amid finger-pointing, lies and incompetence. New claims for regular state unemployment rose by more than 20% in the week ending January 9, the biggest gain since the dark days of March when the economy hit a brick wall. | The number of people actually collecting benefits also rose by 200,000 for the week ending January 2, despite more and more people being timed out of the regular state unemployment insurance programs which only pay out for six months. T…

_____ (2021-01-17). The FCC And States Must Ban Digital Redlining. popularresistance.org The rollout of fiber broadband will never make it to many communities in the US. That's because large, national ISPs are currently laying fiber primarily focused on high-income users to the detriment of the rest of their users. The absence of regulators has created a situation where wealthy end users are getting fiber, but predominantly low-income users are not being transitioned off legacy infrastructure. The result being "digital redlining" of broadband, where wealthy broadband users are getting the benefits of cheaper and faster Internet access through fiber, and low-income broadband users are being left behin…

INFORUM program at The Commonwealth Club (2021-01-17). Thursday 1/21: Black and White: The Double Standard in the Capitol Hill Siege w/ Alicia Garza & Rep. Lee. indybay.org Online event via livestream…

Shawgi Tell (2021-01-17). Cyber Charter Schools: Neoliberals Determined to Commodify More Students. dissidentvoice.org The parasitic seizure of social wealth by the rich has intensified in recent years and promises to increase in 2021. While the stock market soars to artificial new heights, the productive sector of the economy continues to steadily disintegrate, leaving the financial oligarchy with fewer options to maximize profit over time. This in turn is …

Mary Elizabeth Williams (2021-01-16). Andrew Yang "can't imagine" my New York City pandemic life. salon.com The mayoral candidate doesn't know that I'm the "lucky" one, though…

WSWS (2021-01-15). As COVID cases surge: Sharp rise in new US unemployment claims. wsws.org The adjusted number of new jobless claims rose to 965,000 for the week ending January 9 as the US Federal Reserve reports 20 percent of low-income workers are unemployed.

teleSUR (2021-01-15). U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Soar To Nearly 1 Million. telesurenglish.net The U.S. Labor Department on Thursday reported that initial jobless claims in the United States soared to 965,000 last week, showing severe disruption to the labor market recovery by COVID-19 spikes. | RELATED: | In the week ending Jan. 9, the number of citizens filing for unemployment benefits jumped by 181,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 784,000, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Honduras: 2nd Migrant Caravan of 2021 Heads to US-Mexico Border. telesurenglish.net Over 3,000 Hondurans Friday departed from San Pedro Sula to the border with Guatemala. It is the second migrant caravan to leave the country this week, hoping to reach the U.S. | RELATED: | The caravan left due to the extreme poverty and the crisis left by the pandemic and the passage of two hurricanes in November 2020. | In early Friday, the Hondurans started the walk towards the border with Guatemala, 100 kilomet…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-01-15). Sunrise Movement to Rally in NYC, Chicago, Calling on Senate Dems to Tackle Pandemic and Unemployment Crises. commondreams.org The youth-led climate action group called on Sens. Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin to use their new majority "to deliver on the needs of the people who backed their victory." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/dems_1.jpg

Martin Baur,Carsten Colombier & Sandra Daguet (2021-01-15). How should our economy grow? indybay.org If, on the other hand, the inequality distribution is reduced via increased spending on education, positive growth effects may result. In addition, too much inequality can destabilize the political system through social unrest, creating great uncertainty for investors, for example with regard to the protection of property rights.[12]…

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Paraguay Approves Emergency Use of Russian Vaccine. telesurenglish.net The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced on Friday that Paraguay's Ministry of Health authorized the Sputnik V vaccine's emergency use. | RELATED: | "Registration of Sputnik V vaccine in Paraguay proves the increasing interest of Latin American countries in a safe and effective Russian vaccine against coronavirus," said the CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev. | El anuncio de esta mañana del Fondo S…

RT (2021-01-14). Far-Eastern Russian island Sakhalin to introduce mask exemption for those inoculated against Covid-19, regional head reveals. rt.com People inoculated against Covid-19 in the Far East's Sakhalin Region will be given a badge to show they are exempt from wearing a face mask. That's according to Valery Limarenko, acting governor of the island, located near Japan. | Sakhalin, one of Russia's wealthiest places per capita, is home to a substantial oil and gas industry. On Thursday, Limarenko revealed that the island will soon receive 9,000 doses of Russia's domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine and will get over 10,000 every month after that. | "Everyone who gets vaccinated will receive a special badge," he said. "[The badge] will give the wear…

Jens Martens (2021-01-14). 8 points for a global agenda of structural change in the COVID-19 pandemic. indybay.org "We can have democracy or concentration of wealth, not both," said Justice Louis Brandeis, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice,…

WSWS (2021-01-14). Poorest UK schoolchildren sent meagre pandemic food parcels, as contractors reap massive profits. wsws.org Many expressed disgust and denounced the profiteering from poverty during the school closures necessitated by the pandemic…

F. William Engdahl (2021-01-14). Can China Lead a World Economic Recovery? globalresearch.ca At the beginning of December China's Xi Jinping officially declared that China had eliminated poverty entirely, part of his priority program. Western financial pundits have praised the remarkable economic recovery of China following the severe lockdowns a year go to …

Poor People's Campaign & Morehouse College (2021-01-14). Thursday 1/28: King 2021 Lecture & Conversation on Racism, Poverty, Militarism & More w/ Justice Leaders. indybay.org Online event…

Michael T. Hertz (2021-01-14). How to have a happy humanity. nationofchange.org I am sure that we could solve worldwide issues of poverty, climate change, and health. Our efforts involving happiness should be made with respect to all peoples everywhere.