(2021-12-10). Super serious news reporting: notes from the Edge of The Narrative Matrix. mronline.org 
Hi I'm a very serious news reporter. The Russians are controlling our thoughts with Facebook memes and scrambling our brains with invisible ray gun attacks. In other news, capitalism is working fine and our wars defend freedom and democracy. The government never lies. Here's Bob with the weather.
(2021-12-10). Inside The Secretive World Of Union Busting. popularresistance.org While union membership has risen slightly since 2018 thanks to some major organizing wins, and public approval of unions is at its highest level since 1965, labor has a lot of ground to make up. Union membership plummeted from 20.1% of American wage and salary workers in 1983 to just 10.8% in 2020. One of the biggest reasons for that decline is the use of well-funded, aggressive campaigns by employers to fight off unions, conducted largely through expensive union avoidance consultants and lawyers. In 2019, it was estimated that companies spend at least $340 million per year on such consultants and often engage in…
(2021-12-10). Starbucks Workers United scores first-ever union win at big coffee chain. peoplesworld.org 
BUFFALO, N.Y.—Starbucks Workers United broke a significant barrier on December 9 with the first-ever worker win at the big retail coffee chain. Workers at the Elmwood store in Buffalo voted 19-8 to unionize with Starbucks Workers United, the National Labor Relations Board officer announced. The union also won 15-9 at a second store, but there …
(2021-12-10). Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez Celebrate Starbucks Workers' Historic Union Victory. truthout.org 
Progressive lawmakers are celebrating after Starbucks workers in Buffalo triumphed over nearly insurmountable odds to form the company's first-ever union on Thursday, a sign that the reawakening U.S. labor movement is growing stronger. | Workers at
(2021-12-10). Australian Labor Party helps government ram through another anti-democratic electoral law. wsws.org The latest bipartisan bill deepens the attack on basic democratic rights made when the two ruling parties joined hands in August to rush through party deregistration laws.
(2021-12-10). Illegal bets add up to 1.7 trillion dollars each year. moderndiplomacy.eu Up to $1.7 trillion is estimated to be wagered on illicit betting markets each year, according to a new report released on Thursday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The publication, the first-ever Global Report on Corruption in Sport, asks for an urgent, unified and international response to fight malpractice and fraud across the sector. The ground-breaking new report was issued to coincide with …
(2021-12-10). Washington, DC transit system announces it will keep defective train cars out of service for the rest of 2021. wsws.org The emergency removal of over half the transit authority's rail cars in October has exposed the dangers which the region's political establishment had been willing to expose the public to in order to keep the economy running.
(2021-12-10). Corporate monopoly, other factors hamper workers economically. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Why can't workers get ahead? Economically, that is. Median wages for the broad U.S. middle class have been virtually stagnant for at least 40 years, adjusted for inflation, even as productivity has galloped ahead. The median for the bottom 20% has actually dropped. Meanwhile, the rich, especially the top tenth, have reaped the rewards. That …
(2021-12-10). Africa Free Trade Area, likely spur for growth and development. moderndiplomacy.eu With productivity-boosting measures, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement could reduce poverty and inequality while spurring sustainable and inclusive growth, according to a report launched on Wednesday by the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2021, underscores the importance of infrastructure financing that helps link up urban …
(2021-12-10). Cambodia Is Now Living with COVID-19: World Bank. moderndiplomacy.eu Cambodia's real GDP growth is projected to reach 2.2% this year, impeded by slow growth in services including tourism, and in construction, and real estate. While, other traditional growth drivers, especially the garment, travel goods, footwear, and bicycle manufacturing industries, as well as agriculture, are underpinning the economic recovery, according to Living with COVID-19, the …
(2021-12-10). Minister Plasencia: Capitalism is in Crisis and We are Called to Change Course. orinocotribune.com 
This Thursday, December 9, Venezuela's Minister for Foreign Affairs Félix Plasencia inaugurated the World People's Congress for Peace, which was organized to present proposals that can counteract the current challenges facing humanity and the planet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. | "We met to discuss the need to deepen the guarantee of political, economic and social rights of humanity, for the welfare of the peoples," said Venezuela's top diplomat at the beginning of the conference, which is held online. | Plasencia stated that it is necessary to "change course" in the face of the new challenges arising i…
(2021-12-10). 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.
(2021-12-10). Hundreds facing removal in Huntsville public housing complex. liberationnews.org 
Butler Terrace, a low-income public housing complex in Huntsville, Alabama will be demolished to make way for middle-income apartments.
(2021-12-10). Labour brands investigation a 'mockery' as standards adviser demands clarification from PM. thecanary.co 
Lord Geidt demanded clarification from No 10 after an Electoral Commission investigation into the refurbishment of Boris Johnson's flat raised concerns the prime minister may have misled the standards adviser. Downing Street did not deny suggestions Geidt had been angered by the watchdog's report raising doubts about Johnson's denial that he knew a Tory peer was behind donations for the works costing more than £112,500. | Labour has called for the ministerial standards adviser to reopen his investigation into the funding of the lavish renovations over "inconsistencies" between his report and a damning ru…
(2021-12-10). "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset": Calls Grow to Keep Student Loan Moratorium. truthout.org 
Image Credit: The Intercept | As calls grow for Biden to extend the moratorium on student debt, we speak with the Debt Collective's Astra Taylor and feature her new film for The Intercept, "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset," animated by artist Molly Crabapple. The $15 trillion in U.S. household debt is "a form of wealth transfer" from the poor to the rich, Taylor says. "People are in debt by design." | TRANSCRIPT: | This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. | AMY GOOD…
(2021-12-10). Reopening Issues Are Still a Big Factor Driving Inflation In November. cepr.net Overall, reopening issues are still a big factor in inflation. Energy prices in the CPI are lagging world prices, and are almost certain to be sharply negative (lowering inflation) in December.
(2021-12-10). Why Thousands Of Serbians Have Been Rallying Against Rio Tinto And The Government. popularresistance.org For two weekends in a row, thousands of demonstrators across Serbia have blocked major roads and brought the country to a standstill, concerned their land, water and air risk being exploited. They're angry over what they're calling a looming ecological disaster, and accusing the government of attempting to pass laws that would allow foreign investors to seize land, and disregard environmental regulations.
(2021-12-10). Organizing isn't Just Some Romantic Idea, it's Practical Steps and Action! anchor.fm In this episode I talk about the fact that what we need today across the world has already been tried, built, and able to grow in many places around the world; we need to only learn. Communists, socialists, and Marxists all over the world have been building revolutions and mass organizations for centuries. Our objective? Organize the people. But that's not just some slogan, that is a necessary step towards building a New World. If the people are an educated as to what's oppressing them, that they're exploited and HOW, and if they don't learn who their comrades in that fight are, then they lose time and time again…
(2021-12-10). Growth of the class struggle in Australia highlights need for rank-and-file committees. wsws.org A small but significant increase in industrial action points to mounting social and political opposition in the working class.
(2021-12-10). La cumbre de democracia de Biden es un buen momento para debatir la 'Bill of Rights Socialism'. peoplesworld.org 
La democracia estadounidense está en peligro. Solo hay que seguir las noticias de los últimos años para darse cuenta de la peligrosa situación en la que se encuentra este país. El ejemplo más obvio y dramático fue la insurrección del 6 de enero, cuando una turba de partidarios de Donald Trump irrumpió en el Capitolio …
(2021-12-10). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union — Lessons for Socialists. liberationnews.org 
The Russian Revolution in 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power. For the first time in history the working class seized and held state power. What was the experience of the Soviet Union? How did it change global politics in the 20th century? What did socialism achieve and what caused the Soviet Union to fall in 1991?>
(2021-12-10). The Kathleen Stock affair: Identity politics versus socialist politics and democratic rights. wsws.org After dominating life on campus for years, identity politics has produced two results: the machinery for anti-democratic crackdowns which can now be taken over by the government and the right, and a growing resentment against what calls itself "progressive" politics that greases the right's wheels.
(2021-12-09). Ukraine: The Danger is NATO. libya360.wordpress.com Fabrizio Casari Putin-Biden summit focuses on Ukraine. Image: TASS The West had better abandon the war it has opened against Russia, China, India, Iran and others for absolute domination of the planet by a superpower that loses wars, markets and leadership every day. To think that the world will stand by while a decadent empire…
(2021-12-09). AFT takes lead on push to increase state and local tax deduction. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON (PAI)—With Democratic President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act still hung up in the Senate, the Teachers (AFT) took the lead in pushing one element: A larger itemized personal income tax deduction for state and local tax (SALT) payments. "We're fighting for it," AFT President Randi Weingarten told an outdoor press conference December 8, …
(2021-12-09). AFGE gets legal win vs. ex-Pres. Trump's Education Department. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON —Union-hating former GOP Oval Office occupant Donald Trump and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, may both be gone, but workers keep racking up wins against them. The latest came December 3, when David Welch, the administrative law judge for the Federal Labor Relations Authority, found DeVos's agency guilty of 14 counts of unfair labor …
(2021-12-09). People's World takes home wins at 2021 Labor Media Awards. peoplesworld.org 
The International Labor Communications Association has announced the winners for the 2021 Labor Media Awards. People's World was honored this year with six awards. The articles below took home prizes in various categories. ILCA will present the awards at its convention on Dec. 9, 2021. Seeking justice for Breonna Taylor: Essential health worker killed …
(2021-12-09). "We Are Chun Tae-il!": the South Korean workers struggle continues. peoplesdispatch.org It is a cloudy afternoon on November 13. | A young man steps out into the streets of Seoul, holding a copy of the South Korean labor laws. Gasoline fire consumes his body with every step. With labor movements suffocated by the regime, this is his last declaration against inhuman exploitation. | "We are not machines," he cries through the flames. "Do not let my death be in vain!" | His name is Chun Tae-il. | Fifty-one years later, clouds once again fill the sky on November 13. | The shrill sound of whistles pierce the air. The police have already cordoned off the site of Chun's immolation to prevent the workers fr…
(2021-12-09). Buffalo Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Form First-Ever Starbucks Union. truthout.org 
In a historic victory for the labor movement, workers at one of Starbucks's 9,000 corporate-owned locations have voted to form the first-ever Starbucks union in the country, after facing Workers at the Elmwood location in Buffalo voted 19 to 8 in favor of unionizing under Starbucks Workers United, which is under the Service…
(2021-12-09). Robots could help mitigate the Great Resignation. america.cgtn.com 
There is a short supply of labor for certain positions in the U.S. amid COVID-19 outbreak. Some restaurants are turning to technology to do jobs they are having trouble hiring for. See how robots help mitigate the Great Resignation.
(2021-12-09). The Farce and Diabolical Agenda of A "Universal Lockdown" globalresearch.ca First published on May 1, 2020 | First comes the farce, an (almost) universal government lie around the globe about a deadly virus, WHO named COVID-19. The decision for a global lockdown — literally for the collapse of the world economy …
(2021-12-09). Does the Deepening Crisis in Turkey Manifest an End to the Erdogan Era? journal-neo.org 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is experiencing his worst moments as head of state today. Social and political tensions in the country are becoming increasingly evident. The economy is collapsing, the value of the national currency is relentlessly falling, and the number of poor people is skyrocketing. According to recently published data, the nation's citizens …
(2021-12-09). China Plays a Crucial Role Supporting Progress and Sovereignty in Latin America. orinocotribune.com By Carlos Martinez — Dec 6, 2021 | In the last two decades, economic links between Latin America and the People's Republic of China have been expanding at a dizzying rate. | Bilateral trade in 2000 was just $12 billion (1 per cent of Latin American's total trade); now it stands at $315bn. In the same time period, China's foreign direct investment in Latin America has increased by a factor of five. | Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, 19 of the 33 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have signed up to the China-led global infrastructure development strategy. | Infrastruc…
(2021-12-09). People's Congress for World Peace Kicks Off in Venezuela. telesurenglish.net The World People's Congress for Peace began Thursday in Venezuela with the participation of Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia, who highlighted the struggle to guarantee political, economic and social rights to counteract the current multidimensional crisis. | "We are meeting to discuss the need to deepen the guarantee of political, economic and social rights of humanity for the welfare of the peoples," he said. | RELATED: |
(2021-12-09). Sri Lankan public section workers stage strike seeking salary hike. peoplesdispatch.org After teachers and health workers, public sector workers in Sri Lanka struck working demanding higher wages in the face of repeated price hikes and an economic crisis…
(2021-12-09). "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset": Calls Mount to Cancel Debt & Halt Wealth Transfer to the Rich. democracynow.org 
As calls grow for Biden to extend the moratorium on student debt, we speak with the Debt Collective's Astra Taylor and feature her new film for The Intercept, "Your Debt Is Someone Else's Asset," animated by artist Molly Crabapple. The $15 trillion in U.S. household debt is "a form of wealth transfer" from the poor to the rich, Taylor says. "People are in debt by design."
(2021-12-09). Cuba Extends Tax-Free Importation of Food, Toiletries, Medicine. telesurenglish.net On July 16, 2021, the Ministry of Finance and Prices issued Resolution 309 published in the Official Gazette No. 62, which makes the import of foodstuffs, toiletries and medicines in luggage accompanied by passengers arriving in the country more flexible until December 31, 2021, a measure that has had a favorable impact on the population. | Cuban customs authorities have extended until June 30, 2022 the non-commercial import of medicines, foodstuffs and toiletries free of payment. These products will have no value limits and will enter through the passenger route as accompanied baggage.
(2021-12-09). New BIS Research Paper: DeFi Is 'Decentralization Illusion', Favors Concentration of Power. moguldom.com Decentralized finance (DeFi) could be an illusion with a centralized problem that could make it susceptible to regulation, according to a quarterly review by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). DeFi is an umbrella term for a financial system that functions without third-party intermediaries like banks — one that is geared toward disrupting the traditional finance …
(2021-12-09). US college bars trauma services for Palestinians. electronicintifada.net George Washington University forced mental health office to revoke support during Gaza attacks after Israel lobby group complained.
(2021-12-09). After America Pissed Away Over $2 Trillion In Afghanistan, Biden, Pelosi And Democrats Approve $768 Billion Military Budget. moguldom.com The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $768 billion military budget on Tuesday, Dec. 7, with overwhelming bipartisan support. Officially named the National Defense Authorization Act, the compromise bill passed 363-70, with 169 Democrats joining 194 Republicans in approving the 2,000 page legislation. The bill — which increases military spending at a historic rate — …
(2021-12-09). "An Outrage": House Passes Largest Military Budget in Generations Despite End of Afghanistan War. democracynow.org 
President Biden may soon approve the largest military spending bill since World War II, which ramps up spending to counter China and Russia. Separately, the Senate voted down a bipartisan bid by Senators Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Mike Lee to halt $650 million in U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid the devastating ongoing war in Yemen. "The last thing we need to do is be throwing more money at the Pentagon," says William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. "This whole idea that China and Russia are military threats to the United States has primarily been…
(2021-12-09). South Korea's Green New Deal: Myths versus Realities. fpif.org The Green New Deal is a progressive wish list that combines the reduction of carbon emissions with investments in Green technologies and Green jobs. In the United States, the Green New Deal has largely remained aspirational: a non-binding resolution that has not yet come to a vote in Congress. | In South Korea, on the other hand, the Green New Deal is a policy reality. | In 2020, the ruling Democratic Party put its version of a Green New Deal at the center of its platform. When South Korea held its parliamentary election that April in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, that platform helped propel the liberal Dem…
(2021-12-09). COVID Omicron: The case for vaccine justice. mronline.org 
Britain is one of the main countries to have blocked the global dropping of patents for coronavirus vaccines. If there is a major outbreak of the new Omicron variant in Britain, it will be directly due to the racist and profiteering policy of the Tory government, writes rs21 member Graham Checkley.
(2021-12-09). 'Why are you acting the Marxist?' Frédéric Lordon on Thomas Piketty's 'Capital and Ideology'. mronline.org 
On 31 January, at the Bourse du travail in Paris, Frédéric Lordon debated with Thomas Piketty on his book 'Capital and Ideology', at the invitation of Les Amis de L'Humanité. The following text is Frédéric Lordon's opening speech, with minimal revisions.
(2021-12-09). Xenophobia, Narrow Nationalism, & Capitalism. libya360.wordpress.com Ahjamu Umi There is a devastating and unfortunate manifestation to the ruthless oppression African people have faced for over 500 years that we must discuss. Capitalism, built and maintained through its barbaric and horrific exploitation of cheap African human and material resources, has always utilized systemic white supremacy as its chief weapon to perpetuate its…
(2021-12-09). Computer Scientist Craig Wright Claiming to Be Creator of Bitcoin Wins Court Battle Over $50 Billion of Bitcoin. moguldom.com An Australian computer scientist claiming to be bitcoin's creator has won a dispute over $50 billion in bitcoin. On Dec. 6, Craig Wright was victorious in a civil trial. In the Florida lawsuit, Wright was accused of interfering with the now-deceased David Kleiman's bitcoin assets and intellectual property, Bitcoin.com reported. The family of Kleiman, Wright's former business partner, alleged it was …
(2021-12-09). Are the Candidacies of Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín Legal? orinocotribune.com As the January 9 elections in the state of Barinas approach, the temperature of the political debate in Venezuela is heating up between the four opposition candidates and the candidate for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)/Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), Jorge Arreaza. | Within both the right-wing groups and the Chavistas, a debate was opened regarding the various options that are on the table. This political landscape was formed after the inconclusive elections of November 21 in Barinas, and the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement of a re-election process. | The present candidates now includ…
(2021-12-09). Building a socialist-green-progressive electoral slate. zcomm.org 'Fielding candidates for top posts is a bold and daring move for Left groups. It has never been done before.'