_____ (2021-02-20). The Global South Faces A 'Vaccine Apartheid'. popularresistance.org The coronavirus crisis in South Africa is far from over despite falling case numbers in recent weeks. The virus has claimed more than of 50,000 lives, and many health experts predict a devastating third wave. Complicating matters is a new coronavirus mutation known as n501, which threatens to upend South Africa's vaccination plans. | Unprecedented scientific collaboration has expedited the development of the new vaccine candidates, but patents protecting the bottom lines of the pharmaceutical companies have hampered efforts to manufacture vaccines at scale. Meanwhile, the United States and Western Europe have hoa…

Margaret Flowers (2021-02-20). Urgent Solidarity with Haiti is Needed. dissidentvoice.org A long-brewing crisis in Haiti, created through intervention by the United States, United Nations and allied western imperialist countries, has now come to a head. The Biden administration is openly backing a violent, corrupt and fraudulent leader, Jovenel MoàØse, and maintaining the policies of previous presidents, including Donald Trump, in Haiti. Activists in Haiti have …

MEE and agencies (2021-02-20). Israel purchased Russian Covid vaccine for Syria in exchange for captive: Reports. middleeasteye.net Israel purchased Russian Covid vaccine for Syria in exchange for captive: Reports | Order said to be part of a deal which freed an Israeli woman who crossed into Syria through Quneitra a few weeks ago | Sat, 02/20/2021 – 13: 45 | The Ynet news site reported on Saturday that Israel purchased more than $1m worth of doses of the Sputnik V vaccine (AFP) | Israel is said to have agreed to purch…

Mike Walter (2021-02-20). The Heat: G7 leaders' pledge on COVID-19 vaccines. america.cgtn.com Leaders from the Group of Seven Nations vow to work together to improve global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Daniel Horowitz (2021-02-20). With No Compulsory Muzzling and Schools Open, Florida Ranks 11th Lowest in COVID Deaths per Capita Among Seniors. anti-empire.com There's a reason why the Biden regime is Dr. F…

Donald Canton (2021-02-20). Partners: China and Cuba. dissidentvoice.org In the 1960s, the main forms of the Chinese assistance offered to Cuba were preferential trade and interest-free loans. From 1961 to 1965, China gave Cuba an interest-free loan of 60 million U.S. dollars. The two sides signed the China-Cuba Economic Cooperation Agreement, Trade and Payment Agreement, and Technology Cooperation Protocol. According to the agreement, …

Juan Cole (2021-02-20). Number of residential solar batteries increases by 50% in Germany. juancole.com By Sà∂ren Amelang | — The number of battery storage systems linked to a residential solar pv array rose by around 50 percent in Germany in 2020 for the third year in a row. The country's solar association BSW estimates there were 88,000 new residential installations, taking the total number of solar batteries in Germany …

Fernando Buen Abad Domínguez (2021-02-20). Estados Unidos contra Cuba: El bloqueo es un crimen de lesa humanidad. globalizacion.ca Según la ONU, son crímenes contra la humanidad los que constituyen ataques generalizados o sistemáticos a la población civil. Son "crímenes de lesa humanidad" los exterminios, la esclavitud, la deportación o expulsión forzosa, la privación de la libertad física e…

Devin Cole (2021-02-20). Pensacola State College faculty demand protection. workers.org Occupied Muscogee Creek land On Feb. 16, over 30 drivers circled the Pensacola State College-Warrington Campus buildings for half an hour, laying on their horns. Signs saying "High Risk" and "Betrayal" were taped to their vehicles. This action was led by the Pensacola State College Faculty Association, a chapter of . . . |

Yanis Iqbal (2021-02-20). Madagascar: A Nation of Hunger. dissidentvoice.org Madagascar is in great pain. Theodore Mbainaissem, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) sub-office in Ambovombe, southern Madagascar, says: "Seeing the physical condition of people extremely affected by hunger who can no longer stand…children who are completely emaciated, the elderly who are skin and bone…these images are unbearable… People are eating white clay …

Godfree Roberts (2021-02-20). How Democratic is China? dissidentvoice.org Like America, China is a republic and, like America, says it is democratic, but how democratic is China? A glance at history is always a good starting point The People are supreme, the state is secondary and the Ruler is the least important: only those who please the people can rule. Mencius1 In Roman politics, …

Ali Salam (2021-02-20). Israeli Troops Attack Non-Violent Palestinian Rallies in Kufur Qaddoum, Beit Dajan. imemc.org Israeli forces attacked the weekly non-violent protest marches and rallies in several parts of the West Bank Friday, injuring three Palestinians with rubber-coated steel bullets and causing dozens to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation. In Kufur Qaddoum, in the northern West Bank, two Palestinian protesters were taken to the hospital with severe injuries …

A Guest Author (2021-02-20). Letter from an incarcerated worker on the struggle in Alabama. workers.org The following letter from an incarcerated worker in the Pennsylvania prison system was sent by email on Feb. 17 to Joe Piette, a member of the Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Workers World Party. From SCI Pine Grove: Nina Simone famously said: "Alabama got me so upset; Tennessee made me lose . . . |

MEE staff (2021-02-20). Mercenaries boss Erik Prince violated Libya weapons embargo: UN report. middleeasteye.net Mercenaries boss Erik Prince violated Libya weapons embargo: UN report | US media say the accusations against founder of security firm Blackwater could potentially lead to him facing sanctions | Sat, 02/20/2021 – 09: 39 | Erik Prince did not cooperate with the UN inquiry and his lawyer declined to comment to the New York Times (AFP) | Mercenaries boss Erik Prince pumped $80m in weapons and fighters into easter…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-20). Saudi Arabia to invest $20bn in domestic arms industry. middleeasteye.net Saudi Arabia to invest $20bn in domestic arms industry | Kingdom wants to shift towards manufacturing much of its own weapons over the next decade after US sales ban | Sat, 02/20/2021 – 15: 49 | Saudi Arabia wants to spend at least half of its military budget locally by 2030 (AFP) | Saudi Arabia has announced plans to pump $20bn into producing more of its own weapons and military systems o…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-20). Russian air strikes 'kill 21 Islamic State fighters' in Syrian desert. middleeasteye.net Russian air strikes 'kill 21 Islamic State fighters' in Syrian desert | Russian jets launched 130 air strikes over 24 hours according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights | Sat, 02/20/2021 – 11: 01 | Russian air power has backed Syrian forces clashing with Islamic State fighters (AFP) | Russia launched at least 130 air strikes in Syria over the past 24 hours, killing at least 21 Isla…

Aaliyah Harris (2021-02-20). Student loans continue to discriminate against Muslim students. thecanary.co To be Muslim in Britain means to be a part of a population of Interest is forbidden: | For young people venturing from college or sixth form into university, accepting a monstrous educational debt will always be a tricky decision. But for Muslims, deciding to take out a Student Finance Loan — or for that matter any loan which requires repayment with…

RT (2021-02-20). Biden declares 'major disaster' in Texas as state continues to battle power outages amid extreme cold. rt.com President Joe Biden has declared that "a major disaster" status is in effect in Texas, unlocking federal money for counties that have been suffering from an unusual and deadly cold wave. | His action allows for federal funding to dozens of Texan counties affected by the cold, the White House said. The money may be used for temporary housing, home repairs, low-cost loans and other assistance to residents and business owners. | Also on rt.com | | Bide…

RT (2021-02-20). Google fires ANOTHER AI ethics researcher amid row over 'censorship & racism,' as team member accuses company of 'smear campaign'. rt.com Google has terminated the head researcher on its AI ethics team over what the tech giant deemed a violation of its "code of conduct," as the company faces an internal revolt over a previous firing of a black data scientist. | Margaret Mitchell, who led Google's Ethical AI unit, announced her termination in a brief tweet on Friday, saying only "I'm fired" without offering further detail. | I'm fired.— MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) Google's own statement on the matter was also somewhat vague, confi…

RT (2021-02-20). 'DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY': Madonna lashes out at shadowy cabal of men attempting to 'cut off her life force'. rt.com Pop icon Madonna has complained that a conniving cadre of scheming men has prevented her from reaching her full potential, but some believe that the obscenely wealthy and successful entertainer may be overreacting. | "The Patriarchy continues to try to crush my neck with their heavy boots, cut off my life force and take away my voice—Even those who call themselves artists…………..You know who you are!!! DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY! Now and Forever," Madonna tweeted, including a photograph of herself wearing a glittering tiara. | #riskwhatyouvalue RT (2021-02-20). Not very PC? Chelsea Clinton-funded 'trans' app urges transitioning people to budget their money & be nice to cops. rt.com A mobile app marketed at trans people that received funding from former first daughter Chelsea Clinton has been slammed by the internet as overtly patronizing. Even worse, the app urges users to be polite to the police. | Created in 2019, Euphoria has been billed as an app designed to help individuals navigate gender transition, as well as provide people with support once they complete the procedure. | Read more | | The platform hos…

RT (2021-02-20). 'DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY': Madonna lashes out at shadowy cabal of men attempting to 'cut off her life force'. rt.com Pop icon Madonna has complained that a conniving cadre of scheming men has prevented her from reaching her full potential, but some believe that the obscenely wealthy and successful entertainer may be overreacting. | "The Patriarchy continues to try to crush my neck with their heavy boots, cut off my life force and take away my voice—Even those who call themselves artists…………..You know who you are!!! DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY! Now and Forever," Madonna tweeted, including a photograph of herself wearing a glittering tiara. | The Patriarchy continues to try to crush my neck with their heavy boots, cu…

RT (2021-02-20). Beleaguered Texans forced to flee burning hotel as sprinkler system fails due to frozen pipes (PHOTOS, VIDEOS). rt.com Guests at a four-story hotel in Texas were forced to flee into the freezing cold as a fire engulfed the entire building when the sprinkler system failed due to frozen pipes. | The fire broke out at the Hilton Garden Inn near Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas shortly before 9pm local time. The hotel had been serving as emergency accommodation for many stricken local residents, including several soldiers from the nearby Eyewitness footage from the scene purports to show the fire as it ripped through the hotel…

RT (2021-02-20). Outage outrage: Texans see power bills as high as $17,000 after brutal storm pummels grid & leaves millions without electricity. rt.com In the wake of a fierce winter storm that knocked out power for millions of Texans, some residents are reporting colossal spikes in their electricity bills, with some asked to pay more than $17,000 for just a few weeks of service.

RT (2021-02-20). Texas police looking for more than 100 illegal immigrants who fled smuggling truck amid winter freeze. rt.com Texas authorities are seeking a group of more than 100 illegal immigrants wandering through the freezing, storm-hammered state. They fled a packed smuggling truck, in which they were being transported in suffocating conditions. | Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters on Thursday that his department received a call from a truckload of illegal immigrants in San Antonio that evening. Their smugglers had sealed up the refrigerated truck and blocked air holes, and the migrants feared that they would suffocate inside. | Deputies in the area noticed movement around a truck parked at a gas station, and sa…

Gareth Porter (2021-02-20). US State Department Accusation of China "Genocide" Is Garbage Reliant on Data Abuse and Fraudulent Claims. anti-empire.com Both President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have endorsed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's last-minute accusation of The US government's accusation of genocide against China stems from a single sour…

_____ (2021-02-20). The Need for Accountability Over Impunity in Chile. strategic-culture.org With a new constitution, Chilean state actors should be held accountable to the people's demands for democratic changes in the country, otherwise Chile's long-standing democratic tradition risks being lost to the dynamics of state violence. | While Chileans are still awaiting the process of a new constitution to end Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship legacy in the country, police brutality is in the spotlight for two reasons — the increase in violence since the start of the protests in 2019, which turned into organised social demonstrations clamouring for change, and the calls to dissolve the Carabineros. | Ea…

Maureen Clare Murphy (2021-02-20). Fauci champions Israeli medical apartheid. zcomm.org Israel is refusing to distribute vaccines to millions of people living under its single system of unequal rule…

_____ (2021-02-20). What Isn't In Judas And The Black Messiah Is Just As Important As What Is. popularresistance.org A movie that centers a political giant such as Fred Hampton is inevitably going to generate a kind of public and political discussion that is wholly anathema to the Hollywood corporate environment. The masses of people, especially young Black Americans and activists of all races rallying under the banner Black Lives Matter, are hungry for political education. Unfortunately, Judas and the Black Messiah is largely devoid of the most critical political content that characterized Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party. | Of course, the definition of political content is itself subject to political struggle. A new w…

Pamela Das (2021-02-20). [Perspectives] Sharrelle Barber: at the intersection of place, race, and health. thelancet.com Sharrelle Barber's research focuses on the intersection of place, race, and health. As Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia, PA, USA, her work has been crucial in assessing the impact of structural racism on racial health inequities among Black people in the USA and Brazil. She sees segregation as a symbol of the economic, social, political, and racial divide in a city: "From Jackson, Mississippi, to Rio de Janeiro, segregation is one of the most visible manif…

yenisafak (2021-02-20). At least 13 YPG/PKK terror suspects remanded in custody in Turkey. yenisafak.com A total of 13 suspected members of the YPG/PKK terror group were remanded in custody in southeastern Turkey, police sources said on Saturday.They were among 17 individuals arrested on Feb. 12 in anti-terror operations in provinces of Sanliurfa, Siirt, Diyarbakir, Mardin, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adana, Corum, Usak, and Istanbul, according to the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.The remaining four suspects were released under judicial control, the sources added.In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turke…

Eve Ottenberg (2021-02-19). The Atrocious Prosecution of Julian Assange. counterpunch.org What do Biden and Trump have in common? (Aside from jerking Iran around over the nuclear treaty, proclaiming support for a phony, unelected pretender to the Venezuelan presidency, Juan Guaido, and posturing aggressively toward China?) Both Biden and Trump support the utterly baseless Espionage Act case against journalist and publisher Julian Assange. Make no mistake,

Vijay Prashad (2021-02-19). Sometimes Marx's Capital is a pillow, sometimes it obliges us to deepen our struggles. mronline.org In 1911, a young Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) arrived in France, which had colonised his homeland of Vietnam. Though he had been raised with a patriotic spirit committed to anti-colonialism, Ho Chi Minh's temperament did not allow him to retreat into a backward-looking romanticism.

Paul Street (2021-02-19). "Interesting" Times: Capitalism Kills Everything. counterpunch.org Yes, it's terrible that Joe Biden has refused to forgive more than a pittance of student debt. But do we not recall him telling a Los Angeles Times host that he had "no empathy, give me a break" for the plight of Millennials in the savagely unequal and environmentally unsustainable world he'd helped create over decades of Congressional service to corporate and financial America? No surprise.

IMEMC News (2021-02-19). Army Abducts Four Palestinians Playing In Snow In Hebron. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday evening, four young Palestinian men while playing in the snow in the Old City of Hebron, in southern West Bank. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers abducted the four young men while playing in snow, which covered most of occupied Palestine, and were building snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other. They …

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-19). 'Leaving Aside' International Law: Why Democrats are as Dangerous as Republicans to a Just Peace in Palestine. counterpunch.org Motivated by their justifiable aversion to former US President Donald Trump, many analysts have rashly painted a rosy picture of how Democrats could quickly erase the bleak trajectory of the previous Republican administration. This naivety is particularly pronounced in the current spin on the Palestinian-Israeli discourse, which is promoting, again, the illusion that Democrats will

Aseel Jundi (2021-02-19). For this Palestinian family, living next to Al-Aqsa Mosque comes with a heavy price. middleeasteye.net For this Palestinian family, living next to Al-Aqsa Mosque comes with a heavy price | For years, the Bashiti family has lived in a never-ending cycle of Israeli harassment for refusing to abandon their strategically located home | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 11: 22 | Mohammed Bashiti and his wife, Binar, look towards Al-Aqsa Mosque in the yard of their home in the Old City of Jerusalem (Assel Jundi) | Mohamm…

Ed Rampell (2021-02-19). 'This is the Way We Rise': Hawaiian poetry in motion. peoplesworld.org The Tidal Wave of Indigenous Cinema continues to swell with Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy's stirring This is the Way We Rise, a poetic short about Polynesian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio that recently screened as part of the Sundance Film Festival. Jamaica is the daughter of Jon Osorio, Dean of Hawai ªinuiƒÅkea School of Hawaiian Knowledge …

Editor (2021-02-19). Juan Cole on the Clearest Example of Israeli Apartheid Yet. scheerpost.com Israel Defense Forces / CC BY-NC 2.0] Click to subscribe on: Apple / Spotify / Google Play As Israel's COVID-19 vaccination program got underway in recent months, reports in Western media, including the New York Times, lauded the country's speedy inoculation efforts to vaccinate every Israeli over the age of 16. What many news reports failed to immediately note in detail, however, was that as the… |

_____ (2021-02-19). Scheer Intelligence: The Clearest Example Of Israeli Apartheid Yet. popularresistance.org As Israel's COVID-19 vaccination program got underway in recent months, reports in Western media, including the New York Times, lauded the country's speedy inoculation efforts to vaccinate every Israeli over the age of 16. What many news reports failed to immediately note in detail, however, was that as the Middle Eastern nation was rapidly vaccinating its citizens against the deadly virus that turned the whole world upside down, it showed no signs of inoculating the approximately 5 million Palestinians whose land Israel occupies in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. After a global outcry ensued over the immoralit…

Alan Macleod (2021-02-19). Biden's First Month Marked by Broken Promises. mintpressnews.com Biden kicked off his campaign by telling wealthy donors that "nothing would fundamentally change" under his presidency. After one month in office, it appears as if that is one campaign promise he is likely to keep.

Chauncey K. Robinson (2021-02-19). Man-made disaster: Capitalism and Republicans failed the people of Texas. peoplesworld.org Winter storms, freezing temperatures, and a failed power grid have left millions of Texans fighting for their lives this week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz being caught attempting a family vacation to the warmth of Cancun, Mexico, while his constituents faced a humanitarian disaster is the epitome of an unequal system at work. The tragedy in …

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2021-02-19). UN report slams U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela. peoplesworld.org Editor's Note: A group of 27 U.S. senators and representatives on Feb. 11 urged President Joe Biden to "consider the humanitarian impacts of sanctions." They did not name specific countries, but at the top of the list of countries currently on the receiving end of U.S. sanctions is Venezuela. The country was the target of …

OCHA (2021-02-19). OCHA: Protection of Civilians Report Feb. 2 — 15, 2021. imemc.org The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) | Protection of Civilians report. Summary from February 2 — 15, 2021 On 5 February, an Israeli settler shot and killed a 34-year-old Palestinian near a newly-constructed settlement outpost next to the village of Ras Karkar (Ramallah); Israeli military sources …

Mariah Denman and Caleb Kennedy (2021-02-19). Portland, OR power outages affect 300K residents after ice storm. liberationnews.org In a pandemic winter, when the risk of spreading COVID-19 between households is high, neighbors have had to take the risk to help each other by sharing generators, firewood, food, cooking equipment, clean water and more.

PAI (2021-02-19). New York sues Amazon for not protecting workers against COVID, firing whistleblowers. peoplesworld.org NEW YORK (PAI)—Donald Trump isn't Letitia "Tish" James's only big legal target. Neither is the notorious radical right-wing U.S. gun lobby. Now she's taking on Amazon. James, New York state's Attorney General, is probing Trump's financial crimes committed through his private foundation. Last year, she sued the National Rifle Association and its top officers for …

David Rosen (2021-02-19). The Culture Wars Continue: Biden Takes on Abortion. counterpunch.org Joe Biden is moving aggressively to redress many of the conditions left by Donald Trump's administration, notably the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic recession and white nationalism. However, the most intractable challenge that he will face may be the resistance of the culture wars, particularly a woman's right to an abortion. The culture wars long anchored

Staff (2021-02-19). Battleground Baltimore: The battle continues for more COVID-19 vaccine doses. therealnews.com In this week's round-up of Baltimore news: Leaders examine the way doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are being distributed, Mayor Brandon Scott releases his administration's transition report, remembering musician Jimmy Jones, and more.

a guest author (2021-02-19). COVID vaccines are big business and a political weapon. workers.org By Manuel Raposo Manuel Raposo is editor of jornalmudardevida.net in Portugal, where this article was published Feb. 14. Translation: John Catalinotto. It has often been said that so-called "natural" disasters, including unforeseeable catastrophes, lay bare the weaknesses of the societies they strike. The health, social and economic crisis the coronavirus . . . |

RT (2021-02-19). Pandemic will be with us until EVERYONE on earth given Covid-19 vaccine, says Merkel after G7 summit. rt.com The coronavirus pandemic can only be considered beaten once everyone in the world has been immunized against Covid-19, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said, after she'd met with the G7 leaders at a virtual summit on Friday. | Speaking to reporters, Merkel said she had stressed in her remarks to the group that the "pandemic is not over until all people in the world have been vaccinated," adding: "Everyone must participate." | "The [coronavirus] pandemic in particular has shown how much we are diverging from one another, worldwide." | On Friday the head of the EU's executive body, Ursula von der Leyen, said t…

RT (2021-02-19). Johnson & Johnson submits its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine to WHO for emergency use. rt.com Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson has submitted data on its coronavirus vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) as it seeks the agency's greenlight for emergency use. Unlike other shots, this one comes in a single dose. | The emergency-use approval is a prerequisite for the vaccine joining the WHO-led COVAX watchdog program, J&J said in a statement on Friday, revealing it had submitted its paperwork to the UN health body. | Unlike vaccine competitors already in the Covid-fighting market, the J&J offering comes in a single-dose form, which would make its distribution considerably easier. Moreover, it can be…

RT (2021-02-19). 'What is this, 1998?' Twitter users astonished that Tony Blair is opining on Covid roadmap… and MEDIA COVERS IT as 'news'. rt.com Brits may have wondered if they woke up in the right century after seeing ex-prime minister Tony Blair giving his policy prescription for the Covid-19 pandemic — and being cited as an authority on the topic by major media outlets. | The former Labour Party leader on Friday published his own "roadmap" out of the UK's Covid-19 lockdown, complete with a "traffic light system" dictating data-based parameters for opening and closing decisions. Mainstream media outlets jumped on the report as big news, with some portraying it as influential in setting the current government's policy. | We believe a credible lo…

RT (2021-02-19). Paris beefs up police patrols and Lyon bans booze as French authorities fear warm weather will spark Covid rule-breaking. rt.com The French government has announced it will strengthen its police patrols ahead of predicted warm weather this weekend in a bid to make sure the rise in temperatures isn't matched by a surge in Covid-19 cases. | Officials in numerous parts of the country fear a combination of pleasant spring weather and the break-up of some schools for holidays could encourage people to gather in groups, thus risking the increased spread of the virus. | Police chiefs in the capital will launch a "large-scale" operation involving 4,000 officers from Saturday to enforce the country's strict 6pm to 6am curfews, imposed to stem th…

RT (2021-02-19). Almost all Spanish nursing home residents have received two Covid doses as Madrid says state on track with vaccine rollout. rt.com Health authorities in Spain have said they are close to vaccinating all elderly nursing-home residents with the requisite two doses of Covid-19 vaccines as Madrid says it's on course to inoculate 20 million by the end of June. | The Federacion Empresarial de Asistencia a la Dependencia (FED), Spain's care home association, said 97 percent of elderly residents have received both jabs — positive news in a health sector that has suffered a high number of deaths in the pandemic. | Officials believe 20,000 people died of Covid-19 or suspected Covid-19 in nursing homes during the first wave alone, from March to…

RT (2021-02-19). Dutch curfew extended by emergency bill as government shuns court ruling of Covid lockdown 'illegality'. rt.com Dutch senators have voted overwhelmingly to pass an emergency act to continue a nationwide curfew, disregarding a judge's ruling this week that the restriction violates the law as well as the rights of citizens. | The emergency bill passed in a 45-13 vote on Friday evening, While a lower court

Staff (2021-02-19). Essential Farmworkers Deserve Protections From Pesticide Exposure. truthout.org COVID-19 is having

Staff (2021-02-19). Amid G7 Meeting, Pressure Mounts for Biden to Remove Global Barriers to Vaccines. truthout.org President Joe Biden is meeting with the G7 leaders of other wealthy nations Friday to discuss global plans to defeat COVID. Meanwhile, the United States is under growing international pressure to reverse course from the Trump administration and lead the world toward ending massive global disparities in vaccine and treatment access that threaten to stretch the deadly pandemic out for years. | Hanging in the balance are an untold number of human lives — and the profit margins of privat…

RT (2021-02-19). 'Idea of Sacrifice a complete nonstarter in US culture before Covid': Pandemic spurred major shift in American values, study finds. rt.com Researchers from UCLA and Harvard University analyzed internet activity, namely online searches and social media posts, and found a significant return to more traditional, rural American values emerged as the pandemic took hold. | The team In their analysis, they used Google searches as one metric to reflect societal mood and attitudes w…

RT (2021-02-19). UK govt acted 'unlawfully' by not disclosing lucrative Covid-19 contracts for PPE in time for public scrutiny, High Court rules. rt.com The UK government acted unlawfully by not being transparent about contracts it awarded for millions of pounds worth of PPE, face masks, and medical gowns to help fight Covid-19, a High Court judge ruled on Friday. | Health Secretary Matt Hancock was ruled to have breached his legal obligation to disclose details of contracts the government had awarded within 30 days of decisions being made. | The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which Hancock heads, argued that it could not publish its contract award notices on time, given the emergency nature of government actions during the pandemic. | The legal…

The Global Research Team (2021-02-19). Selected Articles: The Covid Deception Serves An Undeclared Agenda. globalresearch.ca By There is no scientific basis for the measures in place to deal with the alleged Covid Pandemic. Among experts the support for these measures …

Sam Gindin (2021-02-19). Living Socialism Today: Remembering Leo Panitch. socialistproject.ca Standing outside a conference with a group of devotees, a famous political scientist brags that there's only two people in the world he's afraid of: his mother and Leo Panitch. To anyone who knows Leo, this revelation elicits knowing smiles and an affirmative nodding of heads. But it also poses a question. Those with an …

Brian Cloughley (2021-02-19). Britain's Double Standards in International Affairs. counterpunch.org On February 12 it was announced by the UN that a British lawyer had been elected as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. No matter what one might think of the ICC, it is taking steps to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan and Yemen, so it can't be all bad. But a major point

Ed Rampell (2021-02-19). '41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers' to be screened Feb. 20. peoplesworld.org The 29th Pan African Film Festival has moved online, taking place Feb. 28—March 14. This year's PAFF is screening at least three Black Panther Party-related films: The documentary Truth to Power: Barbara Lee Speaks for Me and Judas and the Black Messiah, probably Hollywood's best political feature in years. The third is a reprise of …

Steven Krichbaum (2021-02-19). The 30 x 30 Protection Plan and the George Washington National Forest Ark. counterpunch.org The Biden administration's recent announcement of the 30 by 30 conservation initiative was a welcome ray of light in the dark of winter. The goal is to have 30% of America's lands "protected" by 2030. But what exactly is meant by and would qualify as "protected"? In this age of ecological meltdown and mass extinction/extermination,

The Conversation (2021-02-19). 40,000 BC: Earth's magnetic field flipped, causing massive sudden climate change and Extinction of Neanderthals. juancole.com By Chris Fogwill, Alan Hogg, Chris Turney, and Zoà´ Thomas | — The world experienced a few centuries of apocalyptic conditions 42,000 years ago, triggered by a reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles combined with changes in the Sun's behaviour. That's the key finding of our new multidisciplinary study, published in Science. This last major …

PAI (2021-02-19). Pandemic's 1-2 punch: Unemployment up, life expectancy down. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON (PAI)—The ongoing coronavirus pandemic packed a one-two punch against the nation's workers, federal agencies reported, as almost 1.38 million more people sought federal or state jobless aid in the week ending Feb. 13. Meanwhile, U.S. life expectancy dropped by a year in the first half of 2020, another federal report showed. And that second …

Anthony Cartalucci (2021-02-19). Israeli Provocations in Syria. thealtworld.com Continued airstrikes carried out by Israeli warplanes in Syria presents — at face value — an obvious and persistent threat to Syria. In a wider context, the threat runs much deeper and extends to Syria's allies in Tehran. | Israel has been an eager participant in the US-led proxy war on Syria beginning in 2011. It has provided safe-haven and support for Western-backed militants along and within its borders. It has also at various junctures carried out airstrikes in Syria in a bid to impede Damascus' ability to reestablish peace and stability within Syria's borders. | And according to US policy papers…

Ron Jacobs (2021-02-19). Go St. Pauli! Beat Fascism! counterpunch.org Most sports teams have a dedicated fan base. Most often, that fan base is mostly composed of people who live or lived in the region the team is located. Many of these fans grew up with their favorite team, watching players come and go, championships missed and won; they have opinions on the players, the

Tom Engelhardt (2021-02-19). America's Sick Metamorphosis: Have we Awoken to find our Country a Trump Roach Hotel? juancole.com ( Tomdispatch.com) — Like Gregor Samsa, the never-to-be-forgotten character in Franz Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis," we awoke on January 7th to discover that we, too, were "a giant insect" with "a domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments" and numerous "pitifully thin" legs that "waved helplessly" before our eyes. If you prefer, though, you …

C.J. Atkins (2021-02-19). Why the Alabama Amazon struggle matters to workers everywhere. peoplesworld.org Sometimes a fight at one particular workplace can be so important that workers and their allies everywhere need to take notice. The struggle going on right now at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, is one of those fights. From now until March 29, nearly 6,000 employees at the Amazon order fulfillment and processing center …

Staff (2021-02-19). And then there was X: Malcolm's life and legacy. therealnews.com Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, marks the 56th anniversary of the assassination of freedom fighter Malcolm X. To honor Malcolm's life and legacy, we revisit this powerful 2015 documentary, "X: Malcolm's Final Years," produced by The Real News Network.

Martin Billheimer (2021-02-19). Idiocy in Theory and Practice. counterpunch.org Idiocy is as complex as genius. In fact, we like to think them indistinguishable, joined by the ruthless common denominator of an innocence which makes both conditions holy. The lives of geniuses are bestsellers because everyone wants to see themselves in there, which nourishes our profound self-interest and even more profound masochism. Read about the

Anthony DiMaggio (2021-02-19). Limbaugh's Legacy: Normalizing Hate for Profit. counterpunch.org Rush Limbaugh's death represents a moment for reflection on the state of American politics. Limbaugh amassed a fortune of more than $600 million over 32 years in the talk radio business, in the process building up more than 15 million regular listeners. It was no exaggeration when CNN referred to him as a "pioneer of AM talk-radio." He made possible the rise of propagandistic partisan media, demonstrating that this format could be incredibly profitable for news channels looking for low-budget programming filled by pundits who tell audiences what they want to hear, while strengthening their prior beliefs and value…

PAI (2021-02-19). Trailblazing former Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis dies at 68. peoplesworld.org CHICAGO (PAI)—If you're looking for who started "Red for Ed," figuratively if not literally, you'll find Karen Lewis. Because it could arguably be said that Lewis, the former President of the Chicago Teachers Union/AFT Local 1, who died in early February at 68 after a long battle with cancer, originated the combination of teacher activism …

IMEMC News (2021-02-19). Israeli Colonists Break Into Stone-Cutting Factory, Burn A Truck, Near Ramallah. imemc.org A group of fanatic illegal Israeli colonists invaded, on Thursday evening, a stone-cutting factory in Kafr Malik village, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and burnt a truck. Eyad Abu Sheikha, the owner of the factory, said his facility is near the Ein Samia area, east of the village. He added that …

Marie Kelly (2021-02-19). 'Black Freedom Fighters in Steel' — a book review. workers.org Ruth Needleman's "Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism," tells of five Black union activists who took on the steel industry of Indiana's Calumet Region along Lake Michigan at Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Inland Steel and U.S. Steel. (Cornell University Press, 2003) Needleman's rich narrative contains interviews . . . |

Tim Wheeler (2021-02-19). Donation match: Will you meet my challenge for People's World? peoplesworld.org Dear readers, I recently posted on social media Marilyn Bechtel's story in People's World headlined, "U.S. and Russia Extend New START Nuclear Treaty for Five Years." Bechtel's article was the first I read about this hugely significant step by President Joe Biden reversing former President Trump's attempt to wreck the New START treaty. The people's …

Fred Gardner (2021-02-19). How the Drug War Succeeded: Dr. Carl Hart Comes Out… Swinging. counterpunch.org Dr. Carl Hart, a neuroscientist on the Columbia University faculty, is the most audaciously radical thinker in the drug-policy-reform field, and the bravest. His new book, 'Drug Use For Grown-Ups,' was praised in the New York Times Book Review January 17 by Casey Schwartz, who summarized one of his key points thus: "Hart argues the

Staff (2021-02-19). Illegal checkpoint arrest tied to a controversial shooting. therealnews.com In the small town of Talking Rock, Georgia, a man was supposedly stopped for avoiding a roadblock, had his car searched without consent, and was arrested for having balding tires. But residents say the story of gross overpolicing in their area goes much deeper.

Liberation Staff (2021-02-19). Haywood County, North Carolina car protest: 'Fund services, not jails'. liberationnews.org In North Carolina's Haywood County a car protest was organized on Feb. 1 by the Party for Socialism and Liberation to oppose Haywood County's plan to expand the existing jail in Waynesville, North Carolina.

Monica Moorehead (2021-02-19). George Jackson on the role of prisons, 50 years after his death. workers.org This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson, an African American prison leader sentenced to a life sentence as a teenager for "stealing" $40 from a gas station. His 11 years behind the walls were spent in California's Soledad and San Quentin prisons. Jackson became . . . |

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-19). Social movements and organizations condemn arrest of 21-year-old Indian climate activist. mronline.org 21-year-old Disha Ravi was arrested on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy for her involvement with a 'toolkit' which contained campaign material in support of the the ongoing farmers' agitation in the country. Two other activists also face arrest.

Matthew Stevenson (2021-02-19). Who Won the Impeachment? counterpunch.org If you're Donald Trump, watching the last act of your impeached presidency, you don't need a Weatherman to tell you which way the wind is blowing, which is in the direction of a District of Columbia courtroom, where you will either be convicted as an accessory to second-degree murder ("an extreme indifference to human life…") or a runaway jury will award plaintiffs (the Capitol police injured or killed in the riot) $1.8 billion in damages (which by the way Deutsche Bank will not cover with another overdraft).

Steve Sweeney (2021-02-19). Bogazici resistance is about more than liberal notions of academic freedom, it is a fight against the whole system of oppression. mronline.org TURKEY'S revolutionary forces said today that protests centered on Bogazici University must remain a fight against fascism and oppression—not for "liberal ideas of academic freedom."

Ted Rall (2021-02-19). Biden Offers Moderate Solutions to Radical Problems. counterpunch.org "Radical solutions require radical solutions," I wrote in my 2010 book "The Anti-American Manifesto," a polemic that calls upon us to save ourselves from imminent social, economic and political collapse by overthrowing the system and rebuilding society from the ground up. We currently face several radical problems. But we're not likely to rise to the

Richard Moser (2021-02-19). Organizing White Workers When the Klan is in the Shop. counterpunch.org With the rise of the extreme right, the Klan and its modern descendants are definitely "in the shop." Here's a story from a long time ago but it could have happened only yesterday. This is not a heroic tale just a memory of day-to-day struggle and the lessons learned. As a young organizer in the mid-1970s, I went to work for District 65, an independent radical union. Martin Luther King called District 65 "The Conscience of the Labor Movement" after their early and staunch support for the civil rights movement. Our dress pin was a black hand and a white hand working both ends of an old fashioned two-man tree- saw…

IMEMC News (2021-02-19). Soldiers Abduct Three Palestinians In Jenin. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday evening and Friday at dawn, three Palestinians in Jenin, in northern West Bank. Montaser Sammour, the head of the Jenin office of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said the soldiers invaded Jenin city, on Friday at dawn, searched a few homes, and abducted two Palestinians. Sammour said the abducted Palestinians …

Lisa Hajjar (2021-02-19). 'The Mauritanian' rekindles debate over Gitmo detainees' torture—with 40 still held there. mronline.org "The Mauritanian," directed by Kevin Macdonald, is the first feature film to dramatize how the war on terror became a war in court.

Staff (2021-02-19). And then there was X: Malcom's life and legacy. therealnews.com Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, marks the 56th anniversary of the assassination of freedom fighter Malcolm X. To honor Malcolm's life and legacy, we revisit this powerful 2015 documentary, "X: Malcolm's Final Years," produced by The Real News Network.

Dean Baker (2021-02-19). How Will Our Children Know They Face a Crushing Debt Burden? counterpunch.org That may seem like a silly question. Of course they will know because there are a number of well-funded policy shops that will be spewing out endless papers and columns telling them that they are facing a crushing debt burden. And, because these policy shops are well-funded and well-connected we can be sure that major

Staff (2021-02-19). The Guardian shuts down criticism of Israel. therealnews.com Nathan Robinson's column at The Guardian US was shut down after a tweet criticizing US-Israel relations. Then, Tamara Payne explains how Malcolm Little became Malcolm X.

People's World (2021-02-19). Communist Alphaeus Hunton drew together anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-colonial struggles. peoplesworld.org People's World is happy to reprint below an article from the Feb. 15, 1945 issue of the Daily Worker by W. Alphaeus Hunton, then the educational director of the Council on African Affairs (CAA). Hunton, considered "one of the most neglected African American intellectuals" in U.S. history, partly due to his membership in the Communist …

Bezaleel Jupiter and Satya Vatti (2021-02-19). Snowstorm + capitalism = disaster for more than 100K in Mississippi. liberationnews.org The unpreparedness of the utility giants, and the pathetic response of the capitalist government at the local and federal level, is nothing short of criminal neglect by those motivated solely by profit making.

A Guest Author (2021-02-19). Voice from behind the walls: 'I'm not imprisoned, I'm enslaved'. workers.org One of the main reasons I send this letter is because I have been reading Workers World for approximately the last four years, and I'm not sure if journalists at WW are aware that certain words/phrases may be misleading and/or unknowingly aid in keeping "prisoners" uninformed. Prime example: The overseers . . . |

MEE staff (2021-02-19). Key US lawmakers call for sanctions on killers of Hezbollah critic. middleeasteye.net Key US lawmakers call for sanctions on killers of Hezbollah critic | Top members of House Foreign Affairs Committee urge invoking Global Magnitsky Act to address murder of Lebanese activist Lokman Slim | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 16: 56 | A memorial ceremony for Lokman Slim in garden of family residence in Beirut, 11 February (AFP) | Two key US legislators are calling on President Joe Biden to invoke the Global Magnit…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-19). Israeli woman held in Syria lands in Tel Aviv following Russia-mediated deal. middleeasteye.net Israeli woman held in Syria lands in Tel Aviv following Russia-mediated deal | Woman who crossed into Syria through Quneitra a few weeks ago had been transferred to Russia over the past week | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 11: 10 | According to Syria's official Sana news agency, the woman had crossed over into Quneitra province by mistake (Reuters) | An Israeli woman who crossed into Syria a few weeks…

Mohammad Ayesh (2021-02-19). Arabic press review: Syrian refugees hit hardest by snowstorms. middleeasteye.net Arabic press review: Syrian refugees hit hardest by snowstorms | Elsewhere, Yemeni security forces arrest local TV reporters and Jordanian journalist imprisoned for years by the UAE dies | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 13: 46 | A woman clears the snow in front of a tent at a camp for displaced people in the northern Syrian town of Tal Abyad on 13 February 2020 (Bakr Alkasem/AFP) | Millions of Syrian ref…

Kareem Chehayeb (2021-02-19). Beirut explosion: Removal of judge sparks renewed fears that blast probe will go nowhere. middleeasteye.net Beirut explosion: Removal of judge sparks renewed fears that blast probe will go nowhere | Head of investigation dismissed over claims of bias because his home was hit in August blast | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 11: 11 | A relative of one of the victims of the 4 August explosion at Beirut port reacts during a protest outside the Justice Palace in Beirut on 18 February (Reuters) | Mahdi Zahrledine los…

MEE staff (2021-02-19). US says it is ready for direct talks with Iran over nuclear deal. middleeasteye.net US says it is ready for direct talks with Iran over nuclear deal | State Department says Washington is open to a possible meeting to 'discuss a diplomatic way forward' about Iran's nuclear programme | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 00: 43 | It is not clear whether Tehran will agree to the offer (AFP/File photo) | The United States has said it would accept a European invitation to engage in direct talks with Iran to revive…

Nadda Osman (2021-02-19). Western Sahara activists facing crackdown following Morocco-Israel deal. middleeasteye.net Western Sahara activists facing crackdown following Morocco-Israel deal | From torture to surveillance and house arrests, activists say they have faced unprecedented repression in recent weeks | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 11: 00 | People call for the independence of the Western Sahara in a protest (AFP/Illustration: Mohamad Elasaar/MEE) | Activists in Western Sahara say they are facing a brutal crackdown in the wa…

Alex MacDonald (2021-02-19). Turkey: Prosecutor requests lifting of immunity from pro-Kurdish MPs. middleeasteye.net Turkey: Prosecutor requests lifting of immunity from pro-Kurdish MPs | Nine members of the HDP, including its co-leader, have been accused of inciting violence during a 2014 protest | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 13: 38 | HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan (3rd R) and Mithat Sancar (2nd L) hold a press conference with MPs outside parliament in Ankara on 1 October 2020 (AFP) | Turkish prosecutors have requested th…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-19). Algeria frees first democracy activists after presidential pardons. middleeasteye.net Algeria frees first democracy activists after presidential pardons | The pardon's come on eve of Hirak's second anniversary, with calls on social media for demonstrations on 22 February | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 13: 38 | Relatives of prisoners and journalists gathered on Friday outside Kolea prison, west of the capital Algiers (AFP) | Algeria released a dozen pro-democrac…

MEE staff (2021-02-19). Exiled spy chief says MBS believes he's the CIA's source on Khashoggi murder. middleeasteye.net Exiled spy chief says MBS believes he's the CIA's source on Khashoggi murder | Saad al-Jabri says Saudi crown prince suspects he's the source in the CIA's report on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 16: 56 | Saad al-Jabri fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 and later sought refuge in Canada (AFP/File photo) | Former Saudi spy chief Saad al-Jabri has claimed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known a…

MEE staff (2021-02-19). Israeli press review: Report finds widespread racism among Israel's youth. middleeasteye.net Israeli press review: Report finds widespread racism among Israel's youth | Meanwhile, Netanyahu polling well but election stalemate still predicted, and Palestinian filmmaker excluded from Labor list | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 15: 00 | Isaeli supporters of the right-wing Organisation for Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land (LEHAVA) protest a marriage between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian in 2014 (AFP) | <...

Azad Essa (2021-02-19). 'Africa is returning to Israel': Equatorial Guinea to move embassy to Jerusalem, Netanyahu says. middleeasteye.net 'Africa is returning to Israel': Equatorial Guinea to move embassy to Jerusalem, Netanyahu says | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that 'Israel is returning to Africa and Africa is returning to Israel in a big way' | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 18: 03 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the embassy move was the latest sign of improving ties with African nations (AFP/File photo) | Equato…

Bruce E. Levine (2021-02-19). Politics & Science: Rahm Emanuel, Mike Pence, Homosexuality, Pandemics, Masks, Vaccines. counterpunch.org Aside from their icy-mobster visages, Rahm Emanuel and Mike Pence have something else in common. Both, as members of presidential administrations, tried to rewrite Centers for Disease Control (CDC) pandemic guidance for political purposes. The reason why one was successful and the other was not has nothing to do with courageous CDC scientists threatening to resign in protest; instead, the different outcomes had to do with politics.

RT (2021-02-19). Canada plans overhaul of language rights, making bilingualism mandatory for top judges and prioritizing French in Quebec. rt.com The Canadian government published plans on Friday to mandate more use of French, making companies in regulated industries communicate in the language in Quebec, and requiring its top judges to be bilingual. | While Canada is officially bilingual, with English and French on equal footing, the proposed changes are aimed at turning back the decline of French. Just over 20 percent of Canadians — about 7.2 million people in total — are French-speaking, with the majority of those based in Quebec and the smaller maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. | The daily use of French, however, has bee…

RT (2021-02-19). Chuck some borscht on the barbie? Amid Australian news row, Facebook 'accidentally' clamps down on RUSSIAN CULTURE SITE. rt.com Facebook's new algorithms targeting Aussie news websites evidently need some fine-tuning: citing "Australian government legislation," the social media behemoth has banned sharing links to a Russian culture site, Russia Beyond. | As of Wednesday, Australian Facebook users found themselves unable to share links to local and international news sites, a change that Facebook implemented as retaliation against the Australian government for legislation that would require Facebook and other companies to pay news creators for their content. Globally, all users are forbidden from sharing links to Australian news sources…

RT (2021-02-19). Lithuanian President worried Russia could 'swallow' troubled Belarus as part of embattled leader Lukashenko's eventual departure. rt.com Moscow and Minsk may already be joined as members of the Union State, but Lithuania's president claims Russia could ultimately take advantage of unrest in the protest-hit Eastern European nation to 'swallow' Belarus entirely. | In an interview with DW News on Thursday, President Gitanas Nauseda told journalists that he believes current efforts underway in Minsk to rewrite the country's constitution are an attempt to buy time for a controlled transfer of power. "I very much doubt that this will lead to free elections in Belarus," he said, voicing his belief that "people in the 21st century deserve the right to…

RT (2021-02-19). Pfizer-BioNTech tried to gouge the EU with 65-DOLLAR vaccine doses, German media report. rt.com Drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech wanted to charge the EU Commission €54.08 per dose of their Coronavirus vaccine, according to German media reports. The jab would have cost more than 20 times that of a rival shot from AstraZeneca. | The prospective price tag was revealed on Thursday by German broadcasters NDR and WDR, and the

RT (2021-02-19). This ain't no normal baby shower: Doting grandfather Floyd Mayweather gifts diamond-encrusted ROLEX to newborn grandson. rt.com If much of your public persona is built on a foundation of exactly how wealthy you are, you better not shirk your responsibilities when it comes to buying gifts – and Floyd Mayweather has spared no expense for his new grandson.

RT (2021-02-19). MMA fighter Leonardo Barbosa admits to 'throwing fight in Afghanistan after being pressured by gunman in locker room' (VIDEO). rt.com Brazilian featherweight Leonardo Barbosa says he 'took a dive' in a mixed martial arts bout earlier this month in Afghanistan after being pressured by an unknown gunman in the locker room prior to the fight. | Barbosa admitted to feigning injury as a result of a knee to the body in the fight against Ahmed Wali Hotak in Kabul on February 11, leading to the referee calling the bout in favor of the hometown fighter – but he claims that the fight's telling blow didn't come in the cage, but in minutes before he even made his walk into the arena. | The Brazilian fighter said on social media that he was threatened by…

RT (2021-02-19). New Russian team name and flag agreed for athletes at Tokyo and Beijing Olympic Games. rt.com Russian athletes appearing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing will do so using the branding 'ROC', the acronym which represents the Russian Olympic Committee. | The International Olympic Committee (IOC)

RT (2021-02-19). French refugee center manager stabbed to death by asylum seeker — police. rt.com The manager of a refugee center in the French city of Pau has died of his injuries, after allegedly being stabbed multiple times by a Sudanese asylum seeker, police said on Friday. | The suspect, a 38-year-old man from Sudan, was arrested following the attack. He was reportedly known to the authorities for acts of violence and has already been in prison, according to French media. | The knife attack took place at around 11am local time in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The suspect's motives for the attack remain unknown, although police sources told local media he had just been refused refugee…

RT (2021-02-19). 'I didn't look!' UFC star Woodley jokes with Paige VanZant's husband after bare-knuckle star's latest steamy Instagram video. rt.com Former UFC champion Tyron Woodley joked with Austin Vanderford, husband of Paige VanZant, that he "didn't look" at the bare-knuckle queen's latest risque Instagram video in which she transitions from a robe to a VERY small bikini. | Normal service seems to have resumed for VanZant after suffering defeat to Britain Hart in her recent Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut. | The 26-year-old Sports Illustrated stunner clearly hasn't let the result get her down after posting one of her most suggestive clips to date to her more than 2.7 million Instagram followers – drawing an hilarious reaction from former welt…

Staff (2021-02-19). Immigration Activists Welcome Reform Bill But Warn of Long Fight Ahead. truthout.org Migrant justice activists and organizations welcomed the introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 this week but are warning that the bill faces a long and uphill battle before becoming law. | At the center of the comprehensive bill, which was introduced by Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Linda Sánchez, is a path to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The bill also includes key provisions that migrant justice activists have been demanding for dec…

Staff (2021-02-19). Nearly 30 Police Officers Face Investigations for Actions During Capitol Attack. truthout.org Six officers have been suspended from the United States Capitol Police (USCP) department for their actions during the Capitol breach on January 6. | On that date, a mob of Trump loyalists,

Staff (2021-02-19). AOC Raised $1 Million for Struggling Texans as Cruz Handled Post-Cancún PR Mess. truthout.org While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was dealing with an embarrassing public relations disaster of his own making — flying to Cancún, Mexico, with his family while his home state was reeling from blackouts and water shutdowns amid frigid temperatures — his political adversary Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) was spearheading an effort to raise funds for those in dire need. |

RT (2021-02-19). 'De-occupy DC': Two GOP congressmen say 'QAnon threat' being hyped to justify permanent fence & troops in US capital. rt.com After US Capitol Police called for National Guard troops and razor wire to stay in place through March, citing online chatter by 'QAnon,' two Republican members of Congress accused them of drumming up excuses for the 'occupation.' | Several thousand troops and fencing topped with razor wire around the US Capitol — deployed after the January 6 riot — ought to stay in place at least through the end of March, lawmakers were told on Thursday. According to a report in Newsweek, Capitol Police were alarmed by online chatter by followers of the 'QAnon' conspiracy saying that former President Donald Trump wi…

RT (2021-02-19). Democracy must prevail over autocracy, Biden tells the world — even as he's accused of autocratic tendencies back home. rt.com Fresh from taking office with three-quarters of Republicans believing his election win was fraudulent, then signing executive orders at a record pace, Joe Biden evangelized about democracy at the Munich Security Conference. | "We must demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people," Biden said on Friday via video link at the the conference. | That is our galvanizing mission. Democracy doesn't happen by accident. We have to defend it, strengthen it, renew it. We have to prove that our model isn't a relic of our history. | Biden made his comments in the context of "democratic progress" being "unde…

RT (2021-02-19). Savage, tacky, or dangerous? Congresswoman's GUN SHELF causes stir during virtual hearing. rt.com Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert's fondness for firearms is once again making headlines, after she appeared at a virtual hearing in front of a bookshelf with two rifles and a shotgun, to cheers from the GOP and Democrats' alarm. | It was Rep. Katie Porter (D-California) who kicked off the whole thing on Thursday, reporting Boebert to the 'Room Rater' account on Twitter for having a "dangerous" background during the House Natural Resources Committee hearing via Zoom. | I always thought my dirty dishes piled up and accumulating bacteria were the most dangerous thing in a Zoom background… ü&ograv…

RT (2021-02-19). Lucasfilm president excoriated for talking of EMPOWERING WOMEN after firing Gina Carano, forcing Oscars to wipe comments. rt.com Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, fresh from firing actress Gina Carano from 'The Mandalorian' for political incorrectness, made the ironic decision to speak about empowering women and hearing their voices. It didn't end well. | The Oscars posted the video on Tuesday, featuring Kennedy speaking about its scientific and technical awards. Kennedy, who fired Carano last week over "abhorrent and unacceptable" social media posts, said in the video that "women are helping to redefine science and technology in the movies, and that means a brave, bold future without limits for each and every storyteller." | 'St…

RT (2021-02-19). PR disaster worsens for Ted Cruz as reports say senator left dog in freezing home after fleeing to Cancun during Texas blackout. rt.com It's been a bad week for Senator Ted Cruz. Castigated for leaving Texas for sunny Cancun amid a meltdown of the state's power grid and a fierce winter storm, the Republican's mea culpas have only earned him further condemnation. | Cruz returned home to Texas on Thursday after he was spotted boarding a plane to Mexico earlier this week, sparking instant outrage as critics accused him of abandoning his constituents during a crisis. At the time, a major blizzard had knocked out power for as many as 4 million Texans, forcing thousands to seek refuge in shelters and "warming centers" across the state. | So far, the…

RT (2021-02-19). Empty shelves & long lines outside stores as Texas runs out of food amid deadly cold snap (VIDEO). rt.com Grocery stores in Texas have become a sorry sight with empty shelves and people queuing outside after a freak winter storm caused massive power outages and completely disrupted food supply chains in the unprepared Southern state. | RT's Ruptly video agency visited one of the stores in Dallas, filming shelves and fridges that were bursting with produce not long ago but now stand completely empty. | After several days of the deep freeze and heavy snowfall, even common products like milk, cold meats, vegetables and many others became inaccessible to Texans. | Outside the Dallas store, people with shopping carts s…

RT (2021-02-19). US 'ready' for nuclear talks with Iran… with precondition of addressing 'regional issues'. rt.com The Joe Biden administration said it's willing to sit down with Iran to discuss renewing the 2015 nuclear pact, though a senior US official noted the talks must cover other "regional issues" — a potential deal-breaker for Tehran. | "The United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran's nuclear program," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a brief statement on Thursday, referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the US, Britain, France, Russia and Chin…

RT (2021-02-19). DISTURBING VIDEO shows cop punching alleged attacker in the head as assaults on transit police TRIPLE in NYC. rt.com The NYPD have been accused of using excessive force after a video showed a cop repeatedly punching a man in the subway. But police claim the officer was acting in self-defense after the suspect allegedly nearly ripped his ear off. | Graphic footage surfaced on Thursday showing three New York Police Department (NYPD) officers restraining a man on the floor of a subway station, while a fourth cop took swings at him, striking him numerous times in the head, face and upper body. The man is seen struggling to break free as the officers eventually turn him on his back and cuff him. | The person filming the video can…

RT (2021-02-19). Texas apartment block collapses as firefighters can't retrieve water from frozen hydrants (PHOTOS, VIDEO). rt.com Some 130 residents were evacuated from a Texas apartment complex which later collapsed due to a massive blaze. Responding fire crews were met by frozen fire hydrants which greatly hampered their efforts. | Firefighters with the San Antonio Fire Department and various volunteer crews battled the blaze amid water shortages, pressure issues and freezing conditions. | The fire began at roughly 1pm local time on Thursday and eventually spread to cars in the complex's adjacent parking lot. The fire reportedly broke out on the second floor of the complex shortly after residents received an alert to turn off their wat…

RT (2021-02-19). With 300k still without power, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launches probe into grid manager, says ERCOT lied about winter storm prep. rt.com Texas Governor Greg Abbott pulled no punches in condemning the firm in charge of the state's power grid, launching a probe after claiming the agency lied about its plans to cope with an ice storm that left millions without heat. | "What happened this week to our fellow Texans is unacceptable and cannot be replicated again," Abbott said at a Thursday press conference, days after a massive blizzard overwhelmed the Texas power grid and knocked out electricity across the state. The governor stepped up his criticism of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which oversees the flow of electricity for mos…

RT (2021-02-19). At least Joe Rogan is 'freezing': progressive pundit finds UPSIDE in deadly Texas storm. rt.com Texans may be suffering without electricity in bitter temperatures, but Young Turks host Cenk Uygur can see the bright side, as podcaster Joe Rogan and others who relocated to the state are "freezing their asses off." | Two dozen Texans are dead, food supplies can't reach supermarkets, and nearly

RT (2021-02-19). Left & right alike fume over Dems' bill to ban 'twice-impeached presidents' from burial at Arlington, any honoring of their names. rt.com House Democrats have apparently found time to plot more ways to punish Donald Trump — even as a pandemic and other troubles devastate their constituents — angering Americans of virtually all political persuasions. | The '

RT (2021-02-19). Pandemic put US back on track to meet Paris climate goals, report finds, but at huge human cost. rt.com In what researchers have dubbed a "remarkable" reversal of fortunes, pandemic-induced lockdowns across the US have brought the country back on track to meet targets in the Paris climate accord, but at a grim human cost. | According to an independent report released Thursday, US renewable energy capacity broke new deployment records in 2020, thanks to numerous tax incentives and initiatives, while coal consumption dropped concurrently. | The proportion of electricity generated by renewables hit a record 20 percent of overall capacity, eclipsing coal, which dipped to 19 percent. Emissions from electricity use al…

Mike Walter (2021-02-19). The Heat: Extreme weather pummels United States. america.cgtn.com Hundreds of thousands of Americans still without power in the state of Texas, as yet another storm bears down on the United States. How much is global warming to blame?

Christer Ericsson (2021-02-19). Council of Europe: No Compulsory Vaccinations and No Discrimination Against the Unvaccinated. anti-empire.com Many citizens have been worried about whether the untested vaccines will be mandatory, since it has already been proposed in several countries. In Sweden, however, it has not been, because of a law which prohibits involuntary medical interventions. But despite this law, governments could exert such strong pressure on their populations, that it could become almost impossible…

Rob Slane (2021-02-19). The Largest Experiment on Humans Ever Seen. anti-empire.com Which is the more reasonable approach a society might take in the outbreak of epidemic: To quarantine the sick, and take reasonable precautions to stop those who are identified as vulnerable from contracting the illness. | To attempt to "control the virus" by preventing millions of healthy people from having contact with other healthy people. | To any society prior to 2020, it would have been obvious that the first approach is not only logical and proportionate, but the one least likely to have other unintended and highly destructive consequences. However, to my continued astonishment, many in our society not only…

Dave DeCamp (2021-02-19). The Empire Is Back: NATO Increasing Troops in Iraq From 500 to 4,000. anti-empire.com On Thursday, "The size of our mission will increase from 500 personnel to around 4,000 and training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions and areas beyond Baghdad," Stoltenberg said after a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers. | NATO describes its presence in Iraq as a "security training mission." Stoltenberg said the alliance's presence "is conditions-base…

Aruna Das (2021-02-19). My Selective High School Looks Nothing Like America. thenation.com As the nation addresses systemic racism in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, it's time to ask: Who is being represented in selective high schools?

Paul Haeder (2021-02-19). The Eye of the Wolf: Measuring Myself through Death. dissidentvoice.org If I were asked what I want to accomplish as a writer, I would say it's to contribute to the literature of hope. — Barry Lopez, About This Life A passing. A death. Moving on. Back to earth. A new journey. He filled the air with lyrical words and ideas grafted to our role as …

RT (2021-02-19). Ex-MP Williamson slams University of Bristol for failure to defend anti-Zionist professor from 'lynch mob' demanding his firing. rt.com Former Derby North MP Chris Williamson has called out the University of Bristol for its "outrageous lack of solidarity" with sociology Professor David Miller, currently under attack by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. | The Board of Deputies of British Jews has been targeting Miller, a professor in the University of Bristol's sociology department, with a series of accusations, most recently blaming the academic on Friday for putting Jewish students at risk of "real physical harm" by sharing his view that the "Zionist movement" is the "enemy of world peace." The group's latest letter was addressed to Hugh…

RT (2021-02-19). Despite not meeting key criteria for European Union accession, Ukraine's President Zelensky says country will join bloc by 2030. rt.com Ukraine joining the European Union is not a matter of if, but when, according to its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who predicted Kiev would be welcomed into the 27-member bloc before the end of the decade. | Speaking to a meeting of officials on Thursday, Zelensky said Ukraine has now become a "credible and responsible member of the international community," making a significant contribution to global and regional security and stability. | According to a summary of conferences on the official presidential website, Ukrainian politicians have discussed how "membership in the European Union is no longer a hypoth…

Staff (2021-02-19). Democracy Now! Turns 25: Celebrating a Quarter-Century of Independent News on the Frontlines. democracynow.org Democracy Now! first aired on nine community radio stations on February 19, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary. In the 25 years since that initial broadcast, the program has greatly expanded, airing today on more than 1,500 television and radio stations around the globe and reaching millions of people online. We celebrate 25 years of the War and Peace Report with an hour-long retrospective, including highlights from the show's early years, some of the most controversial interviews, and groundbreaking reports from East Timor, Standing Rock, Western Sahara and more.

Steve Topple (2021-02-19). A report just slammed the Universal Credit £20 uplift as 'inadequate'. thecanary.co The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Universal Credit is under the microscope again. This time, a survey of claimants found the benefit left them in chaos. It called the £20 uplift "inadequate". But the problem is that this isn't exactly news to the countless people who've been struggling on it for years. | The DWP: here we go again: | The Canary has been

MEE and agencies (2021-02-19). Princess Latifa: Dubai emir's family says royal being 'cared for at home'. middleeasteye.net Princess Latifa: Dubai emir's family says royal being 'cared for at home' | In clips shown by the BBC, Latifa said she was being kept 'hostage' in a villa in the UAE | Fri, 02/19/2021 – 11: 30 | Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (L) with Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, at the Latifa's home in Dubai in 2018 (AFP) | The family of Sheikha Latifa, daughter of Dubai…

National Homelessness Law Center (2021-02-19). Settlement Reached in Groundbreaking Martin v. Boise case. indybay.org Parties reach historic agreement that prevents people experiencing homelessness from being cited or arrested for sleeping outdoors when no shelter is available…

Fight Back (2021-02-19). Commentary: Support Los Angles DA George Gascon's measures for criminal justice reform. fightbacknews.org Los Angeles, CA – On December 7, 2020, newly-elected Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon on his first day in office announced sweeping reforms to the LA criminal justice system. This system has a long history of mass incarceration of Brown and Black men and women, so much so that the Police Protective League (PPL) of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Association of Deputy District Attorneys have started to attack him and the progressive reforms. The pro-police Association went so far as to file a lawsuit to stop these much-needed changes. | Centro CSO Community Service Organization in Los Angeles…

Fight Back (2021-02-19). "Day of Remembrance" of one of America's most vile chapters. fightbacknews.org Los Angeles, CA – February 19 is known as the "Day of Remembrance" and 2021 marks its 79th anniversary. This day also commemorates the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed and issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 – a day when the U.S. government executed a legal act of racism. Executive Order 9066 forced the removal and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of who were born American citizens, to internment camps throughout the U.S. Half of them were children and many were from the Los Angeles community of Boyle Heights. | As a result of Executive Order 9066, which was bo…

commondreams (2021-02-19). G7 Vaccine Pledge Is 'Fig Leaf' for Global Apartheid. commondreams.org ______________________________…

yenisafak (2021-02-19). ANALYSIS — 'Quo Vadis, Aida?': Srebrenica survivors finally telling their own story. yenisafak.com The central focus of the film is on the events which took place within the confines of the Dutch compound, where thousands of refugees from Srebrenica sought shelter, including some of the family members of the UN and Dutchbat staff. It is a story of both betrayal and brutality. It could have happened to any one of us. The story is loosely based on what did happen to Hasan Nuhanovic, someone I know and deeply respect. But it is a fictional story that takes into account the factual framework of the events and projects the image of a large, premeditated genocidal operation on the orders of Radovan Karadzic and Ratk…

MEE staff (2021-02-18). US lawmakers press military over data purchases from Muslim apps. middleeasteye.net US lawmakers press military over data purchases from Muslim apps | Military and intelligence chiefs asked to disclose whether any US citizens were surveilled when military bought user information from popular apps | Thu, 02/18/2021 – 19: 08 | The effort was led by Congressman Mark Pocan, with representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna signing on to it (AFP) | US lawmakers…

Sara Flounders (2021-02-18). Alexei Navalny: Why is Biden supporting a Russian fascist? workers.org At the very time Democrats in Congress were attempting to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6 fascist rampage, President Joe Biden expressed support for a Russian political leader allied with a gang comparable to the Proud Boys. In his first contact with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as U.S. president, Biden . . . |

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-18). "Leaving Aside" International Law: Why Democrats are as Dangerous as Republicans to a Just Peace in Palestine. dissidentvoice.org Motivated by their justifiable aversion to former US President Donald Trump, many analysts have rashly painted a rosy picture of how Democrats could quickly erase the bleak trajectory of the previous Republican administration. This naivety is particularly pronounced in the current spin on the Palestinian-Israeli discourse, which is promoting, again, the illusion that Democrats will …

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-18). 'Leaving Aside' International Law: Democrats are as Dangerous as Republicans to Peace in Palestine. mintpressnews.com It's easy to discredit the foreign policy agenda of Trump, Pompeo, and other Republicans as their aggressive, dismissive language and action are unmistakably objectionable. The Democratic discourse, however, cannot be as easily censured,…

Akram Al-Waara (2021-02-18). Palestinian cancer patient on deathbed after release from Israeli prison. middleeasteye.net Palestinian cancer patient on deathbed after release from Israeli prison | Hussein Masalmeh lies in critical condition in hospital, as family accuses Israel of medical negligence | Thu, 02/18/2021 – 12: 01 | Hussein Masalmeh's family say he was gravely ill for two years before being released from Israeli prison (Twitter) | When Bilal Masalmeh, 34, dreamt of the day his older brother Hussein woul…

_____ (2021-02-18). Violence Against Indigenous Peoples Is Happening In Plain Sight. popularresistance.org It's been just over one year since the RCMP raided Wet'suwet'en camps along the route of the Coastal Gas Link (CGL) LNG pipeline in Northern B.C. Brandishing guns and tactical gear, the RCMP arrested dozens of Indigenous land defenders and supporters who defied an injunction obtained by CGL to not impede the construction right of way. | The raids evoked outrage that saw supporters across Canada erect railway blockades and highway shutdowns. Demonstrators gathered by the thousands in the streets demanding governments, police and industry to uphold Indigenous rights and stop construction of the pipeline.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2021-02-18). Video: The 2020 Worldwide Corona Crisis. globalresearch.ca We bring to the attention of our readers, the English version of this PANGEA TV program which was broadcast live in several regions of Italy. | Maya Nogradi of PANGEA TV interviews Prof. Michel Chossudovsky pertaining to his E-Book entitled: | |

Staff (2021-02-18). Stop blaming the Green New Deal for Texas blackouts. therealnews.com Republican politicians like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have cynically used overblown and patently false claims that renewable energy failures are responsible for millions losing power and heat during deadly Winter Storm Uri. Critics around the country are calling "BS."

RT (2021-02-18). Daily Beast editor apologizes after accusing Tucker Carlson show of adding 'googly eyes' to AOC, acknowledges image is real. rt.com Daily Beast editor Justin Baragona has apologized for accusing Fox News host Tucker Carlson of adding "googly eyes" to a photo of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The wide-eyed stare, it turned out, was all her own. | Carlson ripped into Ocasio-Cortez in a segment of his show on Wednesday night, slating the New York progressive for claiming earlier that day that her 'Green New Deal' environmental legislation would have stopped the blackouts currently affecting the state of Texas. Accompanying the segment was an unflattering screengrab of AOC staring wide-eyed into the middle distance. | Baragona assu…

Raul Diego (2021-02-18). Prisons Prime Testing Ground for Dehumanizing Hi-Tech "Advances" mintpressnews.com A new form of exploitation, known as "stakeholder capitalism," is already being tested in many places around the world and prisons are among the main targets for its implementation, as they provide an ideal and literally captive market for its proof of concept.

Kenya Elliott (2021-02-18). COVID + Capitalism: Life expectancy plunges and unemployment surges. liberationnews.org Data released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that following that report, life expectancy had dropped by a full year by June of 2020…

Norman Solomon (2021-02-18). Cuomo and Newsom Symbolize the Rot of Corporate Democrats and the Dire Need for Progressive Populism. counterpunch.org The governors of New York and California — the most populous states led by Democrats — now symbolize how slick liberal images are no substitute for genuinely progressive priorities. After 10 years as New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo is facing an uproar over revelations that his administration intentionally and drastically undercounted the deaths from COVID in nursing homes. Meanwhile,

_____ (2021-02-18). How the Gates Foundation seeded America's COVID-19 policy catastrophes. strategic-culture.org The nursing home death warrants were signed by panicked governors using Gates-funded forecasting. | By Jordan SCHACHTEL | New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is finally facing the heat for his botched and criminally negligent coronavirus response policies, yet no one seems to be asking why Cuomo and select governors made the fateful decisions that led to the excess deaths — and the coverup campaigns — of tens of thousands of senior citizens in New York and elsewhere across the United States. | After being awarded an Emmy and writing a book on his supposedly heroic response to the pandemic, Cuomo is finally…

MEE correspondent (2021-02-18). Iranian press review: Iran plans to export Covid-19 vaccine to the world. middleeasteye.net Iranian press review: Iran plans to export Covid-19 vaccine to the world | Meanwhile, Tehran indicates readiness for Qatar to play mediator role in nuclear talks, and, as the pandemic spreads, the number of Iranians working without a contract rises to seven million | Thu, 02/18/2021 – 10: 58 | A member of the Imam Khomeini Hospital medical personnel receives a dose of Russia's Sputnik V…

RT (2021-02-18). Iran grants emergency use of 3 foreign-made Covid jabs, including AstraZeneca shot supposedly banned by Supreme Leader. rt.com The Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA) has approved three foreign-made Covid-19 vaccines for use including AstraZeneca's, despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei previously banning British jabs. | Speaking on Wednesday evening, IFDA spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced that emergency use permits had been granted for India's COVAXIN shot, produced by Bharat Biotech, as well as two versions of the AstraZeneca vaccine — one manufactured by Russia's R-Pharm and the other by South Korea's SKBio Company. | The only Covid-19 vaccine previously approved in Iran was Russia's Sputnik V, after the two…

RT (2021-02-18). 'Dystopian nightmare': UK Home Office ridiculed for bizarre coronavirus ad with rave soundtrack (VIDEO). rt.com A new Home Office advert warning Brits that "meeting up is against the law" has been savaged online. The ad, a throwback to the anti-piracy ads of the 2000s, has been called "dystopian." | Readers of a certain age probably remember the "You wouldn't steal a car" anti-piracy The UK Home Office has now updated the format for 2021. An ad released by t…

RT (2021-02-18). Pfizer, BioNTech launch global trials of their Covid-19 vaccine in pregnant women. rt.com US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have kicked off an international study into the safety and effectiveness of their coronavirus vaccine in pregnant women, with 4,000 volunteers from nine countries taking part. | Healthy pregnant women in the US have already received their first shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab as part of the research, the companies announced on Thursday. They'll soon be joined by fellow test subjects in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mozambique, South Africa, the UK and Spain. | Women aged 18 and older are to be inoculated during weeks 24-34 of gestation, the later stag…

Staff (2021-02-18). COVID Deaths in the US Lead to Biggest Drop in Life Expectancy Since WWII. truthout.org Life expectancy in the United States has dropped by a full year, according to new figures released on Thursday. | The current life expectancy of an individual in the U.S. While there have been drops in life expectancy in recent years due to increases in drug overdoses, the decline over the past year, in large part due to the coronavirus pandemic, is the biggest drop i…

RT (2021-02-18). Asking Russia for Sputnik and getting ANAL SWABS in China: US diplomats vent over State Department's Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. rt.com Even though the State Department received almost enough US-made Covid-19 vaccines for every employee, some diplomats have had to ask host countries for jabs and suffered indignities such as anal tests in China, a new report says. | The State Department has received "roughly" 73,000 doses of the US-made Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but "declined to say" how many of its estimated 75,000 employees it has vaccinated, the Washington Post reported. | Some of the diplomats stationed in Moscow have asked Russia for its Sputnik V vaccine, after Foggy Bottom "could not promise delivery" of American vaccines "in the near…

RT (2021-02-18). Asking Russia for Sputnik and getting ANAL SWABS in China: US diplomats vent over State Department's Covid-19 vaccine rollout. rt.com Even though the State Department received almost enough US-made Covid-19 vaccines for every employee, some diplomats have had to ask host countries for jabs and suffered indignities such as anal tests in China, a new report says. | The State Department has received "roughly" 73,000 doses of the US-made Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but "declined to say" how many of its estimated 75,000 employees it has vaccinated, the Washington Post reported. | Some of the diplomats stationed in Moscow have asked Russia for its Sputnik V vaccine, after Foggy Bottom "could not promise delivery" of American vaccines "in the near…

RT (2021-02-18). Life expectancy in US drops most since WWII, Covid-19 said to be to blame. rt.com The impact of Covid in the first six months of 2020 cut a year off the life expectancy of Americans, according to data released on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — the biggest drop since WWII.

RT (2021-02-18). A lesson in supply & demand? 90-yo Seattle woman walks 6 miles in the snow to get Covid-19 vaccine. rt.com The marketing campaign for the Covid-19 vaccine can pat itself on the back: a 90-year-old Seattle woman was willing to brave one of the year's worst snowstorms to get her jab, walking a total of six miles to the hospital and back.

Anand Naidoo (2021-02-18). The Heat: South Africa's Challenges. america.cgtn.com As South Africa battles COVID-19, it is also dealing with a series of challenges on several fronts including the economy and jobs.

Arvind Dilawar (2021-02-18). More Than Half of All Inmates in Wisconsin Prisons Have Tested Positive for Covid. thenation.com More Than Half of All Inmates in Wisconsin Prisons Have Tested Positive for Covid…

Jonathan Cook (2021-02-18). Why Politicians and Doctors Keep Ignoring the Medical Research on Vitamin D and Covid. counterpunch.org It is probably not a good idea to write while in the grip of anger. But I am struggling to suppress my emotions about a wasted year, during which politicians and many doctors have ignored a growing body of evidence suggesting that Vitamin D can play a critically important role in the prevention and treatment

Staff (2021-02-18). How to Wear a Mask & When to Wear Two to Reduce COVID Transmission & Increase Vaccine Effectiveness. democracynow.org While COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations appear to be waning, the United States has a long way to go before people can safely return to everyday life without masks. Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says it's vital to stay vigilant even as vaccinations ramp up. "If we can get our transmission down as low as possible, that is actually going to make the vaccines more effective."

Sam Pizzigati (2021-02-18). Rising Inequality: the 'Pre-Existing Condition' That Doomed the U.S. COVID Response. counterpunch.org Back in April 2017, only a few months after Donald Trump's inauguration, one of world's most prestigious medical journals, the London-based Lancet, established a special commission to keep tabs on "Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era." The panel's 33 commissioners — medical professionals of all sorts, along with assorted notables in legal and

The Socialist Program (2021-02-18). Capitalism in Crisis: An Absurd & Deadly System. liberationnews.org This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss how deeply dependent big banks and corporations are on government assistance, the …

RT (2021-02-18). Israel figured out how to use 120,000 Moderna doses it doesn't need…vaccinate Palestinians with work permits. rt.com With Israel using the Pfizer jab in its vaccination campaign, the country's health ministry has finally found a way to utilize the 120,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine it holds. It'll be given to Palestinians who work in Israel. | Israel, which has already fully vaccinated 2.7 million of its citizens, has been facing a lot of criticism from Palestinian officials and human rights groups for refusing to expand its record immunization drive to the occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza. | But the country's authorities claimed that it wasn't their responsibility, saying that the Palestinians could only get…

IMEMC News (2021-02-18). Soldiers Abduct Two Palestinian In Jerusalem. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday night after midnight, two young Palestinian men in Shu'fat town, in the occupied Palestinian capital, Jerusalem. Local sources said the two young men were walking near the main road of Shu'fat when the soldiers stopped them and took them to an interrogation facility in Neve Yaakov illegal colony. They added …

The Conversation (2021-02-18). Nonviolent Noncooperation: Why Indian farmers' protests are being called a 'satyagraha' — which means 'embracing the truth'. juancole.com By Sumit Ganguly | — For the past few months, farmers protesting in India's capital, New Delhi, have been demanding the repeal of three farm laws that were passed last year. These largely peaceful protests have been referred to as a "satyagraha" by many in the Indian media, politicians and activists. As a political scientist …

Tim Wheeler (2021-02-18). Famed Black journalist Joe Walker's fateful meeting with Malcolm X. peoplesworld.org Joe Walker was already a widely admired African-American journalist when he got a surprising invitation and an offer to become the New York editor of Muhammad Speaks, the Nation of Islam's newspaper. He was summoned to the Harlem Mosque of the Black Muslims for a private meeting. And who was the meeting with? Malcolm X. …

tfaadmin (2021-02-18). Recent Latin American Repudiate Neoliberalism. taskforceamericas.org Alex Main will address the implications for the Americas of the recent elections in Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, as well as the coming elections in Chile and Peru. He will discuss how US policy towards Latin America may be affected by a new US president. Alex Main is Director Of International Policy at the Center

Judy Greenspan (2021-02-18). Leonard Peltier Defense Committee urgently needs support. workers.org The International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has launched an urgent appeal for funds to support legal efforts to free this Native political prisoner, who has been held in U.S. dungeons for nearly 45 years. Peltier is a leader of the American Indian Movement, who was framed and jailed for the . . . |

Jim Soliz, Antonio García (2021-02-18). California Republicans Kevin McCarthy and Mike Garcia face opposition. peoplesworld.org SANTA CLARITA, Calif.—From the 'burbs of Los Angeles County to the sandy hills of Antelope Valley to Bakersfield, the fightback against the Congressional Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of the 23rd Congressional District and his colleague Mike Garcia, Representative from California's 25th C.D., continues to escalate. Fed by the refusal of McCarthy and Garcia to meet …

Staff (2021-02-18). Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Pt.2) — The Black Church. therealnews.com In the second part of our conversation, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. further explores his new documentary "The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song." The new series reveals the broad history and culture of the Black church and explores African American faith communities on the front lines of hope and change.

Melvin Goodman (2021-02-18). George Schultz's Character Study of Robert Gates. counterpunch.org In January 1986, Shultz told Gates that he had no "confidence in the intelligence community" and that he "wouldn't trust anything you guys said about Iran no matter what." Shultz charged Gates with "trying to manipulate me" and accused him of trying to create an "alternate State Department with its own strong policy views." Shultz conceded that his department made mistakes, but that Gates' "assaults are almost joyful."

John Perry (2021-02-18). If It Were a Narco Lab, It Would be Working. counterpunch.org On the day he was inaugurated, Joe Biden halted the construction of Trump's Mexican border wall. A few days earlier, 1500 miles to the south, a new 'caravan' of at least eight thousand Honduran migrants had set off northwards, partly in the hope that by the time they tried to cross into Texas, Biden's promised softening of immigration policy might have taken effect.

Raúl Zibechi (2021-02-18). China avanza desde el mar de Sur hasta Medio Oriente y Europa. globalizacion.ca La disputa por el Mar del Sur de China se sigue intensificando, pero el Dragón va colocando sus fichas de forma gradual, implacable e incontenible, como lo muestran los recientes desarrollos de una estrategia largamente diseñada, que parece estar poniendo…

IMEMC News (2021-02-18). Palestinian Woman Dies Of Heart Attack After Soldiers Stormed Her Home. imemc.org A Palestinian woman suffered a fatal heart attack, on Wednesday at dawn, when Israeli soldiers stormed into her home in Abu Njeim village, east of Bethlehem, south of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank. Medical sources said the woman, identified as Rahma Khalil Abu 'Ahour, 67, suffered a heart attack when the soldiers invaded her …

Jim Soliz, Antonio García (2021-02-18). Proponen manifestaciones en Santa Clarita, Lancaster, Bakersfield contra Trumpistas en Congreso. peoplesworld.org Se escala la oposición contra el dirigente Republicano congresista Kevin McCarthy del Distrito Congressional 23 y su co-representante Mike Garcia en el Distrito 25. Esto viene a consecuencia en que estos representantes se oponen a denunciar a Donald Trump por el atentado golpe de estado contra el electo presidente Joe Biden y la violencia ocurrida …

Dennis Broe (2021-02-18). 'The Mandalorian' season two: Not cancel but carnivore culture. peoplesworld.org One of the surprise hits of the contemporary streaming era is The Mandalorian, the first original series on Disney+. A surprise not because it was a hit—any Star Wars spinoff is guaranteed to have a wide audience—but because of the magnitude of its popularity and the way it has penetrated the culture. This space Western …

Gloria La Riva (2021-02-18). In Texas disaster, low-income people hit hardest. liberationnews.org Eyewitness: In the midst of the massive Texas storm, last night I was fortunate to stay in a shelter in Sealy, Texas, one hour west of Houston.

Joe Piette (2021-02-18). 'Release Mumia NOW!' was the cry in Philadelphia. workers.org Pam Africa (right), speaking at rally, Feb. 15. Philadelphia On less than 24 hours' notice, more than 40 people came out on Feb. 15 to show their opposition to a Feb. 3 legal brief by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a so-called "progressive." It denies Mumia Abu-Jamal the right to . . . |

Eds. (2021-02-18). 'Only the strong will survive': Texas city mayor resigns for lashing out at residents asking for help during deadly storm. mronline.org The now former mayor of Colorado City, Texas, Tim Boyd, has resigned after two Facebook posts telling people needing help and without electricity that they are on their own.

Melvin Goodman (2021-02-18). George Shultz's Character Study of Robert Gates. counterpunch.org In January 1986, Shultz told Gates that he had no "confidence in the intelligence community" and that he "wouldn't trust anything you guys said about Iran no matter what." Shultz charged Gates with "trying to manipulate me" and accused him of trying to create an "alternate State Department with its own strong policy views." Shultz conceded that his department made mistakes, but that Gates' "assaults are almost joyful."

Eds. (2021-02-18). Role of NGOs in promoting neo-Colonialism. mronline.org There are literally thousands of NGOs, the better known being Oxfam, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International.

Media Lens (2021-02-18). "Our Indifference To Ourselves": Beyond The "Virtue" Of Self-Sacrifice (Part 2). dissidentvoice.org As we saw in Part 1, in 1914 and again in 1939, millions of men and women welcomed war. Arnold Ridley and his pals did make this choice, but in reality the choice had been made for them by decades and centuries of the relentless 'patriotic' propaganda described by Tolstoy, which most people were powerless …

Marilyn Bechtel (2021-02-18). Surge of Anti-Asian hate crimes spurs communities to action. peoplesworld.org OAKLAND, Calif.—As the start of the Lunar New Year approached last week, concern was growing over a surge in hate crimes being experienced by Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, including several victims who were over 60 years of age. One attack last month in San Francisco was widely publicized when a local …

PAI (2021-02-18). Fast food workers forced to walk out again for $15 and a union. peoplesworld.org ST. LOUIS (PAI)—For 40 years as a Black pastor in St. Louis, the Rev. Darryl Gray has seen the impact of low-wage jobs not just on his congregants, but on their kids. That's why he and a wide-ranging ministers' coalition support the Fight for $15 and a Union movement—and raising the federal minimum wage to …

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-18). Colombian students demand free higher-education for 2021. peoplesdispatch.org Students from different public universities of Colombia have been demonstrating to demand that the national and municipal governments guarantee free tuition for all students across the country this year…

Eds. (2021-02-18). Taxes on the rich: One-sixth of what they used to be. mronline.org A new IPS briefing paper highlights the unique role of tax policy in wealth concentration.

Monica Moorehead (2021-02-18). L.D. Barkley — A leader in the Attica uprising. workers.org L.D. Barkley, second from the right, and other Attica rebellion leaders negotiating with prison officials, Sept. 1971. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Attica Prison Uprising. The following slightly edited excerpt is from the book "A Time To Die: The Attica Prison Revolt" by the late New York . . . |