(2021-11-21). Socialist draws biggest applause at mayoral candidate meeting. greenleft.org.au The Supercar race, council transparency and Stockton's sand erosion problems were key discussion topics at a lord mayoral candidates' forum organised by Hunter Community Forum. Kathy Fairfax reports.
(2021-11-21). The Choking of the Global Minotaur. zcomm.org The supply disruptions plaguing the US economy are the result of a logistics ecosystem that was developed to feed the beast of American consumption was not designed for a pandemic…
(2021-11-21). Climate Change and Nicaragua: Who Will Pay for the Damage? orinocotribune.com By Rick Kohn — Nov 18, 2021 | To people in developing countries, it seems clear, the wealthy countries that caused most of the problem of climate change should pay the most to adapt to it and to solve the problem. But instead, countries like the United States lecture low low-emitting countries to do more while they extract their resources and destroy their forests. | For example, Nicaragua was an outspoken critic of the 2015 Paris climate talks because they did not go far enough. It is one of the countries most impacted by climate change, yet its own greenhouse gas footprint is one of the smallest. Nicaragua…
(2021-11-21). Biden wants an 'autonomous' Europe that spends more on defense. rt.com 
NATO members in Europe should "absolutely" become more autonomous from the US, meaning they should spend more on military and buy American weapons systems, a senior State Department official has said. | The continued failure by the Europeans to allocate a bigger share of their GDP on defense means that the gap between their combined military capability and that of the US only grows, State Department Counselor Derek Chollet
(2021-11-21). General explains why US lags behind China & Russia in hypersonic missiles. rt.com 
The US is behind China and Russia when it comes to hypersonic weapons, a top Space Force general has said, citing bureaucracy and concerns over spending as some of the reasons for the lag. | "We're not as advanced as the Chinese or the Russians in terms of hypersonic programs," General David Thompson, the vice chief of space operations, told an audience at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. "We have catching up to do very quickly." | Read more | | Thompson mentioned bureaucrac…
(2021-11-20). John Deere strikers vote on third contract offer. themilitant.com Over 10,000 striking members of the United Auto Workers union at John Deere are voting Nov. 17 on a third company contract offer recommended by union officials. Workers struck the company's 12 plants Oct. 14, rejecting a contract that expanded to three the different tiers of pay and benefits. The divisive two-tier setup was first forced on workers at the company in 1997. | Union officials said this third contract offer contains only "modest modifications" to the one striking workers rejected by 55% Nov. 2. It had included higher wages and other concessions by the bosses, but nothing new on the key issue of tiers…
(2021-11-20). Democratic Socialists of America congressman Jamaal Bowman votes for Israel's Iron Dome, visits with right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. wsws.org The DSA's congressional support for Israel's Iron Dome armament program is further confirmation that the organization is a faction of the Democratic Party, a supporter of imperialism and a facilitator of war crimes against the population of Palestine.
(2021-11-20). Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. fightbacknews.org FRSO strongly condemns the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. This verdict is another example of how the police and courts work hand in hand with racist vigilantes to kill and injure African Americans, other oppressed nationalities, and all who try to fight to end police crimes. | In August of 2020, Jacob Blake, a young African American man, was shot in the back four times and three times in the side in by a white police officer Kenosha, Wisconsin. Coming less than two months after the killing of George Floyd, another uprising took place, with the African American community and supporters battling poli…
(2021-11-20). New Union-Busting Tracker Debuts Online. popularresistance.org Helena, MT. – On Nov. 6, a group of volunteers launched a Web page called the Union-Busting Tracker to post examples of union-busting. Eleven days later, they'd listed 180 separate cases, naming the employers and the union-busting outfits they'd hired. | The project is intended to "embolden" workers, says Bob Funk, who founded the LaborLab.us Website, which opened on May 1. | "A shocking amount of young workers think unions are illegal and don't know their rights," says Funk, who by day is communications director for a Montana union. "The union-busting industry takes advantage of people's lack of knowledge." | Th…
(2021-11-20). [Correspondence] CoronaVac efficacy data from Turkey. thelancet.com Mine Tanriover and colleagues1 report that the efficacy of CoronaVac against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 in a trial in Turkey is 83 ∑5% (95% CI 65 ∑4—92 ∑1). By contrast, the efficacy of CoronaVac against symptomatic COVID-19 has been estimated at 50 ∑7% (36 ∑0—62 ∑0) in a Brazilian trial and at 65 ∑3% (20 ∑0—85 ∑1) in an Indonesian trial.2,3 Noting that post-vaccination neutralising antibody titres are quite strongly associated with vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection,4,5 the efficacy estimated from the Turkish dataset is much higher…
(2021-11-20). Alabama miners fight court injunction by Warrior Met. themilitant.com ATLANTA — "This is a serious attack on the union," Bryan Butler, a United Mine Workers of America member on strike at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama, told the Militant by phone Nov. 16. He was referring to the restraining order, now extended twice, by Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge James Roberts. | The order, first enacted Oct. 27 at the mine operator's request, and now extended until Dec. 5, bans union activity of any kind, including picketing, within 300 yards of the mines. | It is an assault on the constitutional rights of free assembly and free speech and on the entire labor movement. | T…
(2021-11-20). Australian state Labor government accelerates "reopening" amid fascistic anti-lockdown protests. wsws.org Trumpian protesters in Victoria, backed by key sections of the corporate elite, are setting an agenda that is in large part being implemented by the state Labor government.
(2021-11-20). Thailand's Sufficiency Economy: Eliminating Poverty by Building Sustainable Wealth. newatlas.report 
Forward: This is an in-depth English language explanation of Thailand's New Theory and Sufficiency Economy principles, developed and promoted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama 9) across the nation to eliminate poverty and create local, sustainable wealth. These principles live on under his son, King Vajiralongkorn (King Rama 10), who continues to promote these principles …
(2021-11-20). Video: #Yes, It's a "Killer Vaccine": Michel Chossudovsky. globalresearch.ca The unspoken truth is that the novel coronavirus provides a pretext to powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians to precipitate the entire World into a spiral of mass unemployment, bankruptcy, extreme poverty and despair.
(2021-11-20). COVID-19: Big Pharma's 'Obscene' Profits. orinocotribune.com By Jake Johnson — Nov 18, 2021 | Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech rake in millions an hour while refusing to share manufacturing recipes with low-income countries. | Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech — the makers of the two most successful coronavirus vaccines — are raking in a combined $65,000 in profits every minute as they refuse to share their manufacturing recipes with According to a new People's Vaccine All…
(2021-11-20). [Editorial] Afghanistan: the international community must act. thelancet.com "It is going to be hell on Earth." Afghanistan is set to become the world's worst humanitarian crisis according to David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme. Nearly half of Afghans need humanitarian aid. 22 ∑8 million people could face acute hunger this winter, with 8 ∑7 million at emergency levels of food insecurity. A resulting refugee crisis is likely to affect Afghanistan, the region, and the rest of the world. In desperation, people are selling their assets, and some are resorting to child labour and child marriage.
(2021-11-20). New Zealand's Daily Blog seeks to legitimise anti-lockdown, anti-vaccination protests. wsws.org The Daily Blog, which supports the Labour Party-led government, published an article praising a recent rally organised by the far-right Destiny Church for raising "genuine, valid concerns" about COVID-19 vaccines.
(2021-11-20). Climate Justice Committee-MN: Statement on the COP 26 Summit. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Climate Justice Committee-MN. | The climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland ended with an agreement that leaves the earth on a disastrous track toward catastrophic warming and crisis. Once again, the interests of the fossil fuel companies, and wealthy countries were protected at the expense of most of the countries of the world. All the world, but particularly the Global South and island nations are already experiencing the most horrendous effects of climate change including floods, hurricanes, life threatening heat waves, food shortages and fire…
(2021-11-20). House Democrats pass stripped-down social welfare bill with massive tax cut for the rich. wsws.org The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the tax windfall for the wealthy will cost the federal government $285 billion over the 10-year span covered by the bill, making it the second most costly item in the legislation.
(2021-11-20). SWP pushes to go over 100% in books, fund 'Militant' drive. themilitant.com 
Less than a week is left in the drive to expand the readership of the Militant and With no end in sight to the dire impact of rising prices and with a number of strikes continuing against bosses' assaults on our wages and conditions, more wor…
(2021-11-20). Our new art 'appreciation,' billionaire-style. nationofchange.org Fine art has never been more financially lucrative — or less central to our culture.
(2021-11-20). "Skimpflation," the Latest Effort to Hype Inflation Fears. cepr.net Yesterday I head a piece on NPR in which they highlighted "skimpflation." This is where there is a deterioration in service quality, like long waits for service at a restaurant, which are not picked up in our standard measures of inflation. The implication is that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is understating the true rate …
(2021-11-20). COP26: greenwashing and Plutocratic misadventures. mronline.org 
COP26 reaffirmed what has been obvious from the beginning: the Northern colonial and capitalist states most responsible for creating the climate crisis are unwilling to place people before profits in order to address the planet's looming ecological collapse and humanitarian catastrophe.
(2021-11-20). Moderna fights US gov't over patent and profits. themilitant.com Profit-driven bosses at Moderna have iced out of the main patent for its COVID-19 vaccine the scientists from the federal government's National Institutes of Health, which helped pay for and develop it. The fight over this patent exposes the dog-eat-dog morality of capitalism, where all so-called health care is a business organized primarily to maximize profits, not save lives. | Moderna filed for the patent in July, claiming the company invented the mRNA technology used in its vaccine. It entirely excluded the scientists from the federal agency's Vaccine Research Center who helped develop the genetic sequence th…
(2021-11-20). Philosophers with no clothes: A Review of 'The War Against Marxism'. mronline.org 
Tony McKenna's new book is an important defence of Marxism, against thinkers who have confused and obscured its revolutionary core, argues Chris Nineham…
(2021-11-20). Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People At Climate Conference. popularresistance.org The cataclysms of the interlinked crises of COVID and climate change were elucidated this past year in ways that cannot be repudiated. Following the release of the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPPC) most recent report on the state of global warming, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres characterized it as, "a code red for humanity ." In short, the report found that absent immediate and decisive measures to address planetary warming, the worst-case scenarios of climate change will be soon realized for both the physical environment and the social systems that depend on it. These admonishments should h…
(2021-11-20). Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People at Global Climate Conference. popularresistance.org When considering the need to end government subsidies for fossil fuels, especially coal, the language of the agreement was switched from "phase out," to "phase down." And while this language change was publicly attributed to India, the United States, which provides an estimated $22 billion annually in fossil fuel subsidies is culpable and certainly not beyond reproach. The tentacles of U.S. influence and coercion was present in every decision made at the COP.
(2021-11-20). [Correspondence] Long-term effects on survivors with COVID-19 — Authors' reply. thelancet.com Yan-Jie Zhao and colleagues and Chengliang Yang and colleagues all recommend specific questionnaires to evaluate depression and anxiety symptoms in hospital survivors with COVID-19 1 year after onset.1 We agree that the professional questionnaires could provide the actual prevalence of psychiatric symptoms. However, these questionnaires are somewhat complex and time-consuming. It is challenging to integrate all these assessments into our follow-up study.1 The EuroQol five-dimension five-level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire is commonly used to assess the quality of life from five domains in clinical studies.
(2021-11-20). Why Seed Companies Fear México. popularresistance.org Orange, California – Last month México's Supreme Court provided hope for biodiversity, especially in the Global South, while flaming fear for seed companies. In a historic step, it ruled for corn advocates and against genetically modified (GMO) corn. The decision was a momentous act in country where maíz (corn) carries daily and sacred significance. | This promises a way out of stale GMO debates that plague us. One side argues that genetic changes to seeds increase harvests. Seed companies and industrial agriculture make up this side. Another side says GMOs damage plant DNA. | Small-scale farmers and environmenta…
(2021-11-20). What role does the military play in climate change? peoplesdispatch.org A gaping hole in the COP26 official agenda was the oversized role of the military industrial complex in environmental devastation. The US is a global leader on this front with the Pentagon being a bigger polluter than 140 countries combined…
(2021-11-20). US-organized provocation against Cuba 'fizzles out'. themilitant.com U.S.-government-organized provocations planned in Cuba for Nov. 15 were a failure, as were "sympathy" actions denouncing Cuba's socialist revolution around the world. Opponents of the revolution had hoped to create incidents on the island that would disrupt the reopening of schools and businesses and expanded tourism scheduled that day. | Striking a blow to the U.S. rulers' plans, Cubans celebrated the tremendous progress the country has made in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic despite Washington's stepped-up sanctions, which make it difficult to purchase raw materials and even syringes. Tens of thousands of ele…
(2021-11-20). No Trans Liberation without Socialism and No Socialism without Trans Liberation! workers.org 
Statement by the LGBTQ+ Caucus of Workers World Party Second Annual Boston Trans Resistance March, June 12. The LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer+) Caucus of Workers World Party condemns the ongoing murders of transgender, Two-Spirit and gender-variant people. We reaffirm our solidarity with transgender, Two-Spirit and gender-variant people, as . . . |
(2021-11-20). 'Cuban socialist revolution's example is due to its working people's strength'. themilitant.com The remarks below by Mary-Alice Waters, on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party, were made at a Nov. 10 meeting of opponents of the U.S. government embargo of Cuba held at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Pedro Pedroso, Cuba's ambassador to the U.N., addressed the event, followed by Waters and several other participants. | First of all, I'd like to thank Ambassador Pedroso, Ambassador [Yuri] Gala, and all the compañeros here at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations. | To thank you for this opportunity to share our determination to stand together in face of this phase of Washington's mo…
(2021-11-20). NAM and Nehru's Principled Stand. libya360.wordpress.com ND Jayaprakash One development that had a significant bearing on shaping a non-aligned policy was Nehru's visit to the United States in October 1949. The US administration timed the visit to coincide with the ascendancy of the Communist Party to power in China. According to Prof HW Brands of the University of Texas at Austin,…