Daily Archives: January 19, 2021

2021-01-19: News Headlines

Staff (2021-01-19). Headlines for January 19, 2021. democracynow.org WHO Warns of "Catastrophic Moral Failure" as Wealthy Nations Hoard Vaccines, U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 400,000, New York Seeks Vaccines Directly from Pfizer After HHS Fails on Promise to Distribute Doses, FBI to Vet 25,000 National Guard Troops Deploying to Washington, D.C., for Inauguration, FBI Arrests More Far-Right Militia Leaders, White Supremacists Over Capitol Attack, New Yorker Footage Shows How Insurrectionists Breached Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, Senate to Begin Confirmation Hearings for Joe Biden Cabinet Nominees, Biden Executive Orders on Day 1 to Reverse Many of Trump's Most Contentious Actions,…

Azeezah Kanji (2021-01-19). Homeless Encampment Evictions Highlight the Cruelty of Capitalism Amid COVID. zcomm.org The stifling inequality engendered by capitalism takes lives, sometimes quickly and often slowly. With encampment evictions, the state punishes those being suffocated for gasping to breathe…

_____ (2021-01-19). Martin Luther King's Vision Of An Interconnected World. popularresistance.org We are facing converging global crises — a horrific pandemic, worsening economic inequality both in the United States and globally, climate change and the continuing scourge of systemic racism around the world. What would Martin Luther King Jr. think or advise if he were alive today? What might he say in these days after the Capitol Building was attacked by a primarily white mob that was seeking to usurp the results of a free and fair election and implement an America First agenda through violent force? | To get to these answers, we need to consider one of King's most important and overlooked pieces of writ…

_____ (2021-01-19). Biden's 'American Rescue Plan' And Its Opponents. popularresistance.org New filings for unemployment benefits have been rising rapidly. From a 'low' of about 1 million/week in December last week's initial claims for benefits topped 1.4 million—when both benefit programs, State administered and the Federal PUA, are counted . Another red flag indicator is consumer spending (70% of the US economy) and retail sales, its largest component. The latter fell -1.4%% in November and another -0.7% in December, according to just released US Commerce data. These are typical months during which they rise the fastest. Another indicator of consumer spending in growing trouble, credit card spen…

Jasmine Norden (2021-01-18). Pressure is mounting on the government to 'do the right thing' and keep the Universal Credit uplift. thecanary.co Calls have According to new research by the Resolution Foundation, removing the uplift could push thousands of households into poverty as the UK continues to deal with the economic effects of coronavirus (Covid-19). | Karl Handscomb, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: The living standards outlook for 2021 looks bleak at present — but the G…

WSWS (2021-01-18). Massive rise in unemployment in Germany during the pandemic. wsws.org The German employment agency published the official unemployment figures for December 2020, reporting an increase to 2.7 million unemployed, 480,000 more than in the same month last year.

INFORUM program at The Commonwealth Club (2021-01-18). 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…

Wim Laven (2021-01-18). Misusing King's Message. counterpunch.org Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was profoundly moved by injustice and inequality ubiquitous throughout the US. The question he asked about injustice in 1967, "Where do we go from here?" was answered with two options: community or chaos. The question is profoundly important in 2021. On the holiday to celebrate King's birth the whitewashing of

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…

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…