Daily Archives: March 10, 2021

2021-03-10: News Headlines

Online News Editor (2021-03-10). Mexico working to develop own Covid-19 vaccine by year's end. laprensalatina.com By Juan Manuel Ramirez G. Mexico City, Mar 9 (efe-epa) .- Mexico not only has multiple agreements in place with international pharmaceutical companies but also is working on its own Covid-19 vaccine projects, a task being carried out by several different universities. Authorities want any successful Mexican-developed vaccine candidate to be christened "Patria" (Fatherland). Using …

Greta Anderson (2021-03-10). Wolves Will be Wolves, So Let's Manage the Humans. counterpunch.org Let's start with some facts: 1) The majority of New Mexicans want to see Mexican wolves recovered. 2) Public lands livestock are a leading source of conflict for the wolf recovery program. 3) Livestock on public lands displace native wildlife through competition for food and driving them out of preferred habitats. 4) Public lands livestock

Staff (2021-03-10). Brazil: Lula strikes back. therealnews.com In a huge win for the left and for democracy, Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled corruption convictions against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, making it possible for Lula to challenge Jair Bolsonaro for the presidency in the next election.

RT (2021-03-10). Senate confirms Merrick Garland, once snubbed for Supreme Court, as Biden's attorney general. rt.com Merrick Garland, a federal judge whose nomination for the US Supreme Court was blocked by Republicans in 2016, was easily confirmed as President Joe Biden's attorney general in a 70-30 Senate vote. | Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who led the effort to ignore President Barack Obama's nomination of Garland following the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, was one of the votes in favor of confirming him as the new head of the Justice Department on Wednesday. | "I'm voting to confirm Judge Garland because of his long reputation as a straight shooter and a legal expert," McConnell said…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2021-03-10). Joe Biden y los idus de marzo del Pentágono: øEl mejor mes para lanzarse a la guerra? globalizacion.ca Una versión anterior de este artículo se publicó el 13 de marzo de 2013 | Actualizado el 5 de marzo de 2020 y febrero de 2021 | *** | Nota del autor: | Actualmente existen amenazas militares de Estados Unidos y la Organización del…

Ariel Bentes (2021-03-10). Abandoned by governments, Indigenous people create their own health post in Manaus. peoplesworld.org Manaus, Brazil (Feb. 26, updated March 4) — With the public health system collapsing and the oxygen crisis, Amazonas has had more than 290,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the second and worst wave of the pandemic. The crisis has dramatically affected the inhabitants of Park of Tribes, located in the urban zone of Manaus, …

Raul Diego (2021-03-10). Digital Health Pass: IBM and Moderna Hook Up to Capitalize on COVID Reset. mintpressnews.com Using what have already become clichéd industry buzzwords like "transparency," "trust," and even "privacy," IBM's Digital Health Pass marketing describes the mass tracking app as a "smart way to return to society" that allows people to "return to the activities and things they love."

MEE staff (2021-03-10). Yahya Sinwar re-elected as Hamas chief in Gaza. middleeasteye.net Yahya Sinwar re-elected as Hamas chief in Gaza | Sinwar beat four other challengers to lead Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip | Wed, 03/10/2021 – 16: 00 | Yahya Sinwar has run the Gaza Strip since 2017 (AFP) | Yahya Sinwar was re-elected as the leader of Hamas's political wing in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, fending off a challenge from one of the groups' founders, the movement said in a statement. | "Yahya Sin…

MEE staff (2021-03-10). Yahya Sinwar re-elected as Hamas chief in Gaza. middleeasteye.net Yahya Sinwar re-elected as Hamas chief in Gaza | Sinwar beat four other challengers to lead Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip | Wed, 03/10/2021 – 16: 00 | Yahya Sinwar (right) has run the Gaza Strip since 2017 (AFP) | Yahya Sinwar was re-elected as the leader of Hamas's political wing in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, fending off a challenge from one of the groups' founders, the movement said in a statement. | "Y…

Jason Tschantre (2021-03-10). Detroit workers rally in support of Amazon unionization efforts. liberationnews.org In addition to their support for the Alabama Amazon workers, the protesters called attention to unsafe working conditions inside Detroit Whole Foods, where 24 workers contracted COVID-19 in late February.

Jerry Goldberg (2021-03-10). Amazon pays little in taxes, makes record profits. liberationnews.org The union drive of Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon workers has shed the light on the oppressive, unsafe working conditions and low wages for Amazon workers at its warehouses, fulfillment centers and Whole Foods markets.

The Socialist Program (2021-03-10). In the News: The Role of Slave Labor in American Capitalism Before and After the Civil War. 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. On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Nicole Roussell, Esther Iverem and Walter Smolarek discuss the …

MEE staff (2021-03-10). Israel arrests imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque Ekrima Sabri. middleeasteye.net Israel arrests imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque Ekrima Sabri | Former grand mufti detained as he prepared his Friday sermon, says his wife | Wed, 03/10/2021 – 14: 34 | Ekrima Sabri is the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, and the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Twitter)
| Israeli authorities on Wednesday arrested the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Shiekh Ekrima Sabri, at his home in occupied East Jerusalem, his fa…

Rayhan Uddin (2021-03-10). Khashoggi documentary and Palestinian film nominated for BAFTAs. middleeasteye.net Khashoggi documentary and Palestinian film nominated for BAFTAs | Mauritanian Guantanamo detainee film also recognised, among surprisingly diverse shortlist for British award ceremony | Wed, 03/10/2021 – 14: 02 | Khashoggi murder documentary 'The Dissident', and British-Palestinian film about checkpoints earn BAFTA nominations (The Dissident/The Present) | A documentary about the murder of Saudi journ…

Deirdre Griswold (2021-03-10). Remembrances of a warehouse order picker. workers.org Think 1956. That's 65 years ago — the year this writer dropped out of college and took a full-time job in a warehouse to get a more important education: learning what it was to be a worker. Warehouse pickers. In these intervening years, millionaires have gone on to . . . |

Eds. (2021-03-10). On Covid and the plague of Capital. mronline.org Industrial agriculture, habitat destruction, global commodity chains and the travel network have set up this perfect storm of conditions, not just for COVID, but also for future pandemics.

Derek Ford (2021-03-10). "Coronacare Hawai'i" continues despite private security team's harassment. liberationnews.org Coronacare is a mutual aid network organizing to address the unmet needs of their community, whose conditions have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their efforts this past year have focused on delivering food and household supplies to thousands of community members, including expecting mothers, elders, immunocompromised people, and other working families across the entire …

Eds. (2021-03-10). 100 days of revolt, & still raring to go. mronline.org As the farmers' protest against farm laws enters the summer season, they brave high temperatures and the paucity of basic necessities…

Michael Berkowitz (2021-03-10). 'Blinding of Isaac Woodard': 1946 racist police violence case gets fresh attention. peoplesworld.org Writer-director Jamila Ephron's new PBS film The Blinding of Isaac Woodard shows how great consequences can be ignited by smaller acts. In this case, the small act was one of a history of cruel injustices. The consequence was a sea change in public opinion and a movement which shaped the future of a country. On …

W. T. Whitney, Jr. (2021-03-10). Recurring political crisis in Haiti connects with U.S. racism. mronline.org Haiti faces serious political crisis. The country has experienced great political difficulties ever since gaining independent nationhood in 1804. Impaired governance stems in large measure from U.S. meddling over many years. We examine the current crisis and the basis for U.S. zeal to curtail Haiti's future.

Dan Corjescu (2021-03-10). Reason, Sociability, and Ethics. dissidentvoice.org Aristotle famously said that man was a social animal: Œ∂·ø∑ŒøŒΩ œÄŒøŒªŒπœÑŒπŒ∫œåŒΩ. He also strongly implied that what distinguished man from all other animals was his rationality. Today this description seems to make more sense than ever. Human beings, contrary to the contract theorists such as Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, were never lone beings in search …

PSL Birmingham, Alabama (2021-03-10). A revolutionary driven by love for the people, Zack Patterson (1987-2021). liberationnews.org Zachary "Zack" A. Patterson, age 33, a three time war veteran, member of the Birmingham Branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and our newest representative of the local Education Committee, died on Feb. 9, 2021. His life was taken as a result of the mental traumas inflicted on him by the U.S. imperialist …

Dean Baker (2021-03-10). The Environment Versus How Many Jobs? counterpunch.org The Washington Post had an article on concerns among unions about job loss due to various measures from the Biden administration to promote clean energy. The article noted concerns that Biden's agenda may lead to the loss of good-paying jobs in the fossil fuel sector. It would have been helpful to point out how many

Editor (2021-03-10). Migrant deaths: Who's the REAL culprit? workers.org It didn't have to happen. But, tragically, it did. And most likely, it may not be the last time. On March 2, 12 people were killed instantly when the SUV they traveled in was hit broadside by a tractor-trailer truck on a California highway. The accident happened on the outskirts . . . |

John Wojcik (2021-03-10). Portugal's Communists know how to party—and how to govern. peoplesworld.org When I was 19 and went to the Woodstock music festival in upstate New York, I thought I was at the ultimate festival—there had never been anything like it and never would be again, I was sure. Three years ago, however, I attended what had to be the greatest Communist festival in the world, the …

Deirdre Griswold (2021-03-10). Remembrances of a warehouse order picker. workers.org Think 1956. That's 65 years ago — the year this writer dropped out of college and took a full-time job in a warehouse to get a more important education: learning what it was to be a worker. Warehouse pickers. In these intervening years, millionaires have gone on to become multimillionaires . . . |

Eugene Puryear (2021-03-10). Stimulus and struggle: Congress short-changes the working class. liberationnews.org The amended version of the Biden administration's stimulus plan was passed by the House of Representatives today, the last step before it goes to the president's desk to be signed into law. It took over two months to approve the bill which, by any measure, does not meet the scale of the grave economic and …

B. R. Gowani (2021-03-10). Sahir at 100: Raising Socio-Political Awareness Through Poetry. counterpunch.org Sahir was a brilliant poet who devoted his poetry to raise awareness of the common folks to the reality of the prevailing social and political issues. His poignant and often heart wrenching words also echoed the intense love and loss of humans in relationships. His great and undying love for his mother created in him

Eds. (2021-03-10). Report: U.S. preparing cyberattack against Russia over SolarWinds hack. mronline.org Sources told The New York Times that the first major actions are expected sometime in the next three weeks.

Ted Kelly (2021-03-10). Could depletion of fertile soil trigger a bigger U.S. food crisis? workers.org U.S. farmland in the Midwest has lost over one-third of the soil necessary to sustain crop production, according to scientists at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The study concluded that fertile soil has been destroyed — not as a result of natural wind and water erosion, but by a century of . . . |

Ian Angus (2021-03-10). Intensive fishing and the birth of capitalism, Part 2. mronline.org While treasure fleets carried silver to Spain, far more ships were carrying men, fish and whale oil across the North Atlantic.

Rebecca Gordon (2021-03-10). Can Biden-Harris make a Counter-Revolution against Reaganism and Restore Dignity to Work? juancole.com ( Tomdispatch.com ) — A year ago, just a few weeks before San Francisco locked itself down for the pandemic, I fell deeply in love with a 50-year-old. The object of my desire was a wooden floor loom in the window of my local thrift shop. Friends knowledgeable on such matters examined photos I took …

Kenneth Surin (2021-03-10). The Future of Gerrymandering in Virginia. counterpunch.org Indexes, such as the Democracy Index published by The Economist's Intelligence Unit, have to be taken with a grain of salt— one suspects that neoliberal western countries get a somewhat easier ride from The Economist. In any event, the Democracy Index is fraught with anomalies. In the 2020 Index, the US is ranked 25thout of

Monica Moorehead (2021-03-10). One year after her death — Remembering Breonna Taylor. workers.org At first, few people knew of the heinous crime carried out by three white Louisville, Ky., police officers responsible for the murder of a 26-year-old African American emergency medical technician, Breonna Taylor, on March 13, 2020. Breonna Taylor was honored with a 7,000-square-foot mural in Annapolis, Md. Taylor was shot . . . |

Leila Rafei (2021-03-10). Meet the Activists Fighting to Free People from LA Jails. aclu.org Over the last year, the criminal legal system's many injustices dominated mainstream discourse as people took to the streets to grieve and protest the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police, and COVID-19 took a devastating toll on people in jails and prisons. These events galvanized many people into action — in the streets, at statehouses, and online — inspiring them to join activists who have challenged the criminal legal system's disproportionate and often tragic impact on communities of color.
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| One of the organizations at the forefront of this movement is the Youth Justic…

Prensa Latina (2021-03-10). Lula afirmó ser víctima de mayor mentira jurídica en Brasil. peoplesworld.org Brasilia, 10 mar (Prensa Latina) El expresidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva afirmó hoy que resultó víctima de la mayor mentira jurídica en 500 años de historia de Brasil, en su primer pronunciamiento tras la anulación de sus condenas. 'Sé que fui víctima de la mayor mentira jurídica contada en 500 años de historia (de …

Staff (2021-03-10). Bloody Sunday in the Philippines: 9 dead, 6 arrested in crackdown on activists. therealnews.com The killings came two days after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered police and soldiers to kill communist insurgents in all encounters.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram (2021-03-10). Prioritise pandemic relief, recovery: No time for debt buybacks. mronline.org Developing country governments are being wrongly advised to use their modest fiscal resources to pay down accumulated debt instead of strengthening pandemic relief and recovery. Thus, debt phobia risks deepening and extending COVID-19 recessions by prioritizing buybacks.

Monica Moorehead (2021-03-10). One year after her death — Remembering Breonna Taylor. workers.org At first, few people knew of the heinous crime carried out by three white Louisville, Ky., police officers responsible for the murder of a 26-year-old African American emergency medical technician, Breonna Taylor, on March 13, 2020. Breonna Taylor was honored with a 7,000-square-foot mural in Annapolis, Md. Taylor . . . |

Online News Editor (2021-03-10). Mexico City awakens to light damage after Women's Day march. laprensalatina.com Mexico City, Mar 9 (efe-epa).- Downtown Mexico City awoke on Tuesday to slight damage and clean-up brigades wiping away the feminist slogans painted here and there by female protesters during the International Women's Day demonstration the day before. The National Palace, the official residence and office complex for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, remained protected …

Ruby Peacock (2021-03-10). 'Revenge porn' is a misnomer. ukhumanrightsblog.com Why we should replace 'revenge porn' with 'image based sexual abuse' and reform the mens rea of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 The digital world is becoming an increasingly dominant part of daily life. This has been thrown into sharp relief by the current public health crisis, which has seen almost every facet …

Elic Weitzel (2021-03-10). History Shows Privatized Space Colonization Will Be Disastrous. dissidentvoice.org Elon Musk and his company SpaceX have become a regular feature in news cycles. SpaceX succeeded in landing a team of astronauts on the International Space Station in November 2020, in partnership with NASA. The next month, the company lost a rocket in an explosion while attempting to land after a test flight. Another rocket …

Berry Craig (2021-03-10). Rep. Tim Ryan's PRO Act speech goes viral: "Help the damn workers" peoplesworld.org I'd been hoping some Democrat would cut loose on Republican union-busters for claiming the GOP is the "working class" party. Rep. Tim Ryan just came through. "Now stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers," the Ohioan challenged Republicans on the House floor Tuesday. Ryan was sticking up for …

PAI (2021-03-10). PRO Act passes House, Senate Republicans plan to kill it. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON (PAI)—After another boost from Democratic President Joe Biden, the Democratic-run House passed the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, the most wide-ranging, pro-worker rewrite of labor law since the original National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Debate lasted into the evening of March 9. The 225-206 vote ended at 8: 56 pm EST. Only …

Staff (2021-03-10). Mumia has COVID-19, supporters demand his release. therealnews.com Mumia Abu-Jamal has been in prison since 1982. Already plagued by health issues, including hepatitis C, Mumia was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, and supporters are demanding he be released.

_____ (2021-03-10). NATO Expanding Its‚ÄØDoorstep‚ÄØto the Edge of Russia. strategic-culture.org Through the 1990s, during the terms of US President Bill Clinton, NATO relentlessly and inexorably expanded through Central Europe. Today, the expansion of that alliance eastward — encircling Russia with fiercely Russo-phobic regimes in one tiny country after another and in Ukraine, which is not tiny at all — continues.

Staff (2021-03-10). "A Big Deal": Bill McKibben on Rutgers Fossil Fuel Divestment & the Future of Climate Justice. democracynow.org Rutgers University has voted to begin divesting from fossil fuels, following a campaign by the student-organized Endowment Justice Collective that grew out of the Global Climate Strike in 2019. The organizing efforts led to a referendum vote in 2020 in which 90% of students supported divestment. About 5% of Rutgers's $1.6 billion endowment is invested in fossil fuels, and under the terms of the agreement, it will now cease new fossil fuel investment and divest from passive index funds with fossil fuel investments. It said it also plans to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency and that the school's inve…

Staff (2021-03-10). Too Radical for Harvard? Cornel West on Failed Fight for Tenure, Biden's First 50 Days & More. democracynow.org The prominent scholar and activist Cornel West has announced he is leaving Harvard Divinity School after he was denied consideration for tenure, and will rejoin the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he started his teaching career more than 40 years ago. West had left Harvard once before in 2002 and returned to a nontenured position at Harvard in 2017. The news about the denial of West's request for tenure has led to an outpouring of support and incited conversation about diversity in academia. "There's too much Harvard dishonesty, too much Harvard hypocrisy, in terms of mistreating too…

Staff (2021-03-10). In Rejection of Austerity, Democrats Push Forward Landmark $1.9 Trillion Relief Package. democracynow.org As President Joe Biden prepares to sign the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief package into law, we speak with economist Stephanie Kelton, author of "The Deficit Myth," about how the bill could help cut child poverty in half and provide a historic economic boost to the poorest people in the United States. "This is a piece of legislation that recognizes the immense pain that exists all across this country, and it delivers help," says Kelton, a professor at Stony Brook University and former adviser to Bernie Sanders.

Binoy Kampmark (2021-03-10). COVID-19 Vaccines, Access and the Intellectual Property Wars. counterpunch.org By now, anybody speaking about vaccine equality and equity of access must surely be coming across as slightly deranged. In the field of COVID-19, traditional proprietorial instincts remain. Add to this the disparity in terms of manufacture, bureaucracy and the nasty flavour of politics, and we would all be entitled to long draughts of cynicism.