(2021-10-08). Immigration Cruelty Extends Far Beyond the Border. counterpunch.org Images of Border Patrol officers on horseback whipping Black migrants shocked many Americans. President Biden called them "outrageous" and "wrong" and promised an investigation. Many members of Congress also spoke out. Given this reaction, you could be forgiven for thinking that abuse like this isn't normal for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(2021-10-08). The American "System of Governance" is a Lethal Slaveowners' Monstrosity. counterpunch.org "No Change" Joe: "That Patience Has Been Rewarded for More Than 240 Years" Who can ever forget the brilliant oratory of Joe "Nothing Would Fundamentally Change" Biden two nights after Election Day last November? "Democracy is sometimes messy," Joe "No Empathy, Give Me a Break" Biden said two months before Donald Trump's wild-eyed marauders would
(2021-10-08). Why Does Congress Fight Over Childcare But Not F-35s? counterpunch.org President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic Senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema. But the very week before the Dems' $350 billion-per-year domestic package hit this wall of corporate
(2021-10-08). CrossTalk | Military accountability? warisacrime.org "The Biden administration's decision to leave Afghanistan was correct and long overdue. However, the way America's longest war ended is a different question. It was a botched affair. The generals will most likely never be held to account. But a lone Marine lieutenant colonel does face a court martial. Is this justice? CrossTalking with Medea …
(2021-10-08). Vice-President Harris: It's Your Turn to Step Up for Immigrant Rights. counterpunch.org Vice-President Kamala Harris has an opportunity. More than at any time in the recent past, Congress and the Biden administration have the means to open a path to citizenship to millions of undocumented residents who have been living in, and contributing to, this nation for many years. These residents include DACA recipients who were brought
(2021-10-08). Baker, Boettner: Manchin May Want to Stop Digging. cepr.net Charleston Gazette-Mail | There's an old line, that when you find yourself in a deep hole, stop digging. This is advice that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., might want to take to heart. | In the debate over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, Manchin is working hard to protect the interest of West Virginia's coal industry. On the one hand, this is understandable. | The coal industry has a long history in the st…
(2021-10-08). Manchin May Want to Stop Digging. counterpunch.org There's an old line, that when you find yourself in a deep hole, stop digging. This is advice that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., might want to take to heart. In the debate over President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, Manchin is working hard to protect the interest of West Virginia's coal industry. On the
(2021-10-08). The Care Movement Fights Back Against Cuts to Biden's Historic Home Care Plan. inequality.org
(2021-10-08). Legislation In Limbo. Dem Caucus In Disarray. southfront.org 
Illustrative Image | Written by William Stroock, observer, author of military fiction | With inflation rising, the border crisis worsening, and Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, President Biden's approval numbers are bad and getting worse. In a Quinnipiac poll released this week only 38% of those surveyed approved of the president's job performance. On the Economy Biden's approval rating is 39%, taxes 37%, immigration 25%, and foreign policy 34%. Of those polled only 42% believed the Biden Administration was competent. On the congressional front the Quinnipiac poll found that Americans favor Republicans ove…
(2021-10-08). German Parties After The Elections: SPD. southfront.org 
German Finance Minister, Vice-Chancellor and the Social Democrats (SPD) candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz | You can read this article in German: For years the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was low in the polls and bobbed around at 15%, far behind the leading alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) and also way behind the Greens. Another decline seemed likely and apparently it was only a matter of time before the SPD would also be overtaken by the Alternative for Germany (AfD)…
(2021-10-08). Headlines for October 8, 2021. democracynow.org Pfizer-BioNTech Requests Emergency Use Authorization for Vaccine for Children Aged 5-11, COVID Deaths in Russia Top 900/Day; Venezuela Accuses IMF of Withholding Pandemic Funds, Senate Cmte. Says Trump Repeatedly Asked DOJ for Help Overturning Election Loss, Senate Votes to Lift Debt Ceiling Until Early December, Minneapolis Police Joke About "Hunting Activists" During 2020 Racial Justice Uprising, Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, WSJ: U.S. Military Secretly Training Taiwanese Forces for Possible Conflict with China, Gunmen Kill 2 School Teachers in Kashmir Amid Mounting Attac…
(2021-10-08). Interim Senate Judiciary Report confirms Trump's repeated attempts to enlist Department of Justice into January 6 coup attempt. wsws.org The preliminary report details Trump's numerous attempts, working in concert with Republican lawmakers and sympathetic figures within the Department of Justice, to carry out a fascist coup.
(2021-10-08). Why Did the Democrats Take Single-Payer Off the Table? An Interview with Dr. Anne Scheetz. counterpunch.org Democrats in Congress and their supporters inside the beltway have taken single payer off the table. Instead of pursuing Medicare for All they are pursuing incremental improvements in Medicare — also known as Medicare for Some. They are also pursuing single payer at the state level. Long time national single payer advocates, like Dr. Anne
(2021-10-08). Want a Working Democracy? Try Democratizing Work. counterpunch.org Google's well-known motto, "Don't be Evil," might imply the company expects employees will use their moral compass. Then again, maybe not. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently reviewed a case regarding Google's termination of several employees for applying their conscience at work. What the NLRB decides will have major implications for workplace rights. But
(2021-10-08). Bolivian Workers Central Calls March To Defend Democracy. telesurenglish.net On Oct. 12, Bolivia's Indigenous movements and workers unions will hold rallies in La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz to defend President Luis Arce, the Indigenous flag ("The Whipala"), and democracy. | RELATED: | Called by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) Secretary Juan Huarachi on Thursday, these rallies are a response to the far-right movements that have threatened to implement destabilization actions. | The COB ask…
(2021-10-08). Liberal Democrats launch legal challenge to Australia's anti-democratic electoral laws. wsws.org Rather than preventing "confusion," the veto power over the use of political names is designed to keep voters in the dark as support plunges for the major capitalist parties.
(2021-10-08). Beware of Any War On Terror Fought by a Terrorist Nation. counterpunch.org January 6 was a day that will live on in infamy, an unparalleled assault on the precious vital organs of our exceptional democracy that this great nation is still reeling to recover from, or at least so I'm told. According to the mainstream media and heavy hitters in both parties, this thing was worse than
(2021-10-08). "Until I Am Free": Keisha Blain on the Enduring Legacy of Voting Rights Pioneer Fannie Lou Hamer. democracynow.org 
As Republican lawmakers attempt to make it harder to vote in states across the country, we look at the life and legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, the civil rights pioneer who helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Historian Keisha Blain writes about Hamer in her new book, "Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America." In addition to fighting for voting rights, Hamer challenged state-sanctioned violence and medical racism that Black women faced. Blain based the book's title on a frequent saying of Fannie Lou Hamer's: "Whether you are Black or white, you are not free until I am free…
(2021-10-08). Family of Henrietta Lacks Files Lawsuit over Use of Stolen Cells, Lambasts Racist Medical System. democracynow.org 
The family of Henrietta Lacks has filed a lawsuit against biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific for making billions in profit from the "HeLa" cell line. Henrietta Lacks was an African American patient at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Doctors kept her tissue samples without her consent for experimental studies while treating her for cervical cancer in 1951. Benjamin Crump, one of the lawyers for the case, filed 70 years after her death, calls Henrietta Lacks a "cornerstone of modern medicine," as her cells have since played a part in cancer research, the polio vaccine and even COVID-19 vaccines. Ron Lacks,…
(2021-10-08). Two Pro-Government Civilians Killed By SDF During Protests In Syria's Al-Hasakah (Videos). southfront.org 
Illustrative image, By: sdf-press.com | On October 7, security units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), known as Asayish, opened fire at a group of government supporters who gathered near the town of Tell Brak in the eastern countryside of al-Hasakah to protest against the US-backed group. | Government supporters were provoked by the SDF's local administration that attempted to move an electricity transformer out from their town. The group reportedly wanted to use the transformer to feed its positions. | Asayish perso…
(2021-10-08). Teamster Rank-and-File Reformers Are Making a Bid for Union Leadership. zcomm.org At the recent Teamsters for a Democratic Union convention, nearly 400 rank-and-file Teamsters convened to discuss taking power in their union and organizing Amazon…
(2021-10-08). Why Amit Shah's Versions of 'Patriotism' and 'Development' Are So Troubling. zcomm.org We need an educated and sincere tolerance of debate, an ideational contest which only a genuine democracy may furnish, not ministerial diktats…
(2021-10-08). Filipina Journalist Maria Ressa Wins Nobel Peace Prize After Facing Years of Threats & Arrests. democracynow.org 
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday morning to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa and Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov for their work to "safeguard freedom of expression." Ressa has repeatedly been arrested by the government of Rodrigo Duterte for the groundbreaking work of her news site Rappler, which has exposed Duterte's deadly war on drugs that has killed tens of thousands. "The Nobel Peace Prize committee realized a world without facts means a world without truth," said Ressa today after winning the prize. We reair a 2019 interview when Ressa came into the Democracy Now! studio.
(2021-10-07). Dispatches from The US: Biden continues Trump's violent deportation policies. peoplesdispatch.org Eugene Puryear from Breakthrough News spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the current Haitian migrant crisis and how the US administration under president Joe Biden has responded to this.
(2021-10-07). High Drug Prices and the Refusal to Talk Seriously About Debt and Deficits. counterpunch.org Reporters and politicians have been screaming about our debt and deficits in recent weeks, as the Democrats try to steer their public investment package through the senators from Arizona and West Virginia. The infuriating part of this story is that the whining about debt and deficits, and the reporting on it, literally makes no sense.
(2021-10-07). Iron Dome: Don't be deceived, US aid to Israel is not about saving lives. dissidentvoice.org Battles in the US Congress that erupted again this week, holding up an extra $1bn in military funding for Israel, underscored just how divorced from reality the conversation about US financial aid to Israel has become, even among many critics. For 48 hours last month, a small group of progressive Democrats in the US House of Representatives succeeded …
(2021-10-07). The Child Tax Credit Is a Proven Boost to American Families, So Why Are Conservative Democrats Trying to Stop It? counterpunch.org American families have struggled for decades to make ends meet with wages simply not rising as fast as the cost of living and a government social safety net that has been so deeply decimated that the U.S. now spends less on children than nearly any other wealthy nation. This year there was a small glimmer of hope that such
(2021-10-07). Headlines for October 7, 2021. democracynow.org Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Texas's Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Senate GOP Leader McConnell to Allow Debt Limit Extension into December, WHO Approves Use of First-Ever Vaccine Against Malaria, U.S. COVID Deaths in 2021 Surpass 2020's Total, U.N. to Pay Salaries of Aid Workers in Afghanistan, U.N. Appoints Envoy to Western Sahara After Two-Year Vacancy, Education Department to Expand Student Loan Forgiveness for Public Workers, Crude Oil Spills from Galveston Bay, TX Refinery, Biden Administration Restores Key Environmental Review Provisions to NEPA, Appeals Court Blocks California Law Banning Private Prisons…
(2021-10-07). Facebook: The New Evil Empire? strategic-culture.org By Tim GRAHAM | In the last few years, Facebook has become Public Enemy No. 1 in the media's imagination, and Mark Zuckerberg is suddenly the creepy James Bond villain. Celebrated PBS filmmaker Ken Burns even ranted on a podcast that Zuckerberg was an "enemy of the state" who should be in jail. | After Facebook went down for six hours on Oct. 4, CBS late-night "comedian" Stephen Colbert joked, "Facebook did not say what might be causing the outage. Now, I'm no computer expert, but my theory is: A just God?" | It does not matter one iota that Facebook employees donated 90% of their political money to the Democrats…
(2021-10-07). Whistleblower Warns Facebook a Threat to Children and Democracy. indybay.org
(2021-10-07). President Of Dillard Defends Biden Reducing HBCUs Budget Funding Promise By $30 Billion. moguldom.com The president of Dillard University, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, is coming to the defense of President Joe Biden after the POTUS was dragged for the latest version of his "Build Back Better" budget proposal, which significantly cuts the amount of funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Using his official Twitter account @HipHopPrez, Dr. …
(2021-10-07). Why Do so many in Congress resist funding Childcare But swoon over F-35s? juancole.com ( Code Pink) — President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic Senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema. But the very week before the Dems' $350 billion-per-year domestic package hit …
(2021-10-07). Abu Zubaydah Was Tortured for Years at CIA Black Sites. Biden Is Trying to Keep the Abuse Secret. democracynow.org 
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case brought by Abu Zubaydah, the Guantánamo prisoner who was the first subject of the CIA's torture program. Zubaydah's legal team has spent years trying to obtain testimony from two psychologists who helped the CIA design and implement his torture, and the Biden administration is continuing the Trump's administration strategy to keep key information about Zubaydah's torture in Poland classified despite the fact that the two psychologists are willing to testify. Several justices contradicted the Biden administration, suggesting Zubaydah, the only witness besi…
(2021-10-07). Accused war criminal's foundation forced to refund MAGA donors angered by anti-Trump posts. salon.com Eddie Gallagher's foundation embraced a Marine who criticized Biden's Afghan withdrawal. Then he criticized Trump…
(2021-10-07). Biden: The Interesting Debt Master-Slave Dialectic. counterpunch.org As a US Senator from Delaware Biden smoothed the way for his state to become a tax haven and a place that openly welcomed credit card companies. After graduating from Yale Law School, Hunter was offered the executive vice president position at MBNA, a rising credit card company, despite his lack of banking experience: "Hunter rejected concerns about the political ties between the firm and his father."
(2021-10-07). Biden administration defends CIA against torture victim. wsws.org The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal by Abu Zubaydah, held at Guantanamo Bay, for the disclosure of additional information about his torture, including being waterboarded 83 times in a month.
(2021-10-07). Judge Shoots Down Texas Abortion Ban in Legal Challenge by Biden Administration. truthout.org 
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of the near-total Texas abortion ban that went into effect last month, which has been condemned by reproductive rights advocates as dangerous and outright cruel. | In a 113-page decision, the U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman
(2021-10-07). Biden gives Democrats a green light to weaken the filibuster for debt ceiling votes. nationofchange.org "Do it, Democrats," said one progressive organizer.
(2021-10-07). Biden in Michigan: Infrastructure, social spending bills vital for waging economic warfare vs. China. wsws.org President Biden framed the push for his economic agenda as an existential struggle to halt America's global geo-political decline and counter the rise of China.
(2021-10-07). Venezuela's CNE: Carter Center to Witness Sunday's Mock Election — 21N Regional Elections. orinocotribune.com A delegation from the Carter Center which is already in Venezuela, will witness the mock election that the National Electoral Council (CNE) will carry out this Sunday, October 10, and will evaluate possible participation as an observer organization in the regional and municipal elections scheduled for November 21, announced on of the rectors of that electoral body, Roberto Picón. | "At this moment there is a team from the Carter Center visiting Venezuela," said Picón in an interview on the local radio station Unión Radio. "We have met with them on a couple of occasions, they will be there during the drill and the…
(2021-10-07). How Celebrities Are Reconnecting With Their Hometowns to Boost Progressive Local Candidates. independentmediainstitute.org For most Americans, the elections that have the greatest impact on their lives are not at the top of the ticket. The most impactful offices often are state legislators and county and local officials, which is where the Hometown Project resides. Since its inception, the project has helped 125 candidates for these offices by connecting …
(2021-10-07). Teamsters for a Democratic Union convention looks forward to defeat of old guard. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL — Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) held its annual convention from October 1-3 in Chicago. Rank-and-file union activists from around the country traveled there to plan out the next steps for the upcoming international union election. TDU is supporting the reformer O'Brien-Zuckerman slate against the other slate, which is backed by the Hoffa old guard within the Teamsters union. | The O'Brien-Zuckerman slate, also known as the OZ Teamsters United slate, has gained a lot of momentum since announcing their intent to run. Ballots for the international union election are being mailed out on Oc…
(2021-10-07). Why are Iraq's Communists Boycotting the Upcoming Parliamentary Elections? libya360.wordpress.com Peoples Dispatch(Photo: Tareeqashaab) The Iraqi Communist Party, which was part of the leading alliance in the last elections in 2018, announced in July that it will not participate in the upcoming national elections in October due to the lack of a conducive political atmosphere Parliamentary elections in Iraq are scheduled for October 10 but a…
(2021-10-07). Far Right Cable Channel Peddling Trump's Election Lies Is Funded by AT&T. truthout.org 
One America News Network (OANN), a far-right news network that continues to provide an unwavering platform for Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud — is overwhelmingly bankrolled by AT&T according to a bombshell Reuters The revelations stem from court documents, obtained by Reuters, that shed light how OANN was founded and has been maintained. Back in 2019, the company's…
(2021-10-07). Why are Iraq's communists boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections. peoplesdispatch.org The Iraqi Communist Party, which was part of the leading alliance in the last elections in 2018, announced in July that it will not participate in the upcoming national elections in October due to the lack of a conducive political atmosphere…
(2021-10-07). Trump Continues to Deny 2020 Election Results, Says 'Real Insurrection' Occurred on Nov 3. sputniknews.com Former US President Donald Trump has continued to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election, and in recent months has proclaimed that he "never admitted defeat" nor "conceded" the November election results.
(2021-10-07). Brazen disregard for Filipinos killed: movements condemn Marcos Jr.'s presidential bid. peoplesdispatch.org Progressive movements are ramping up their resistance against the presidential bid of Bongbong Marcos, son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in the upcoming 2022 election…
(2021-10-07). Trump had dinner with Mitt Romney to "torture the guy": book. salon.com A new book reveals Trump's infamous dinner with Mitt Romney was exactly what people thought…
(2021-10-07). Trump, Twitter and the Digital Town Hall. counterpunch.org The merits are hard to stomach for partisans long jaundiced by presumption and dislike, but the cheer at the deplatforming of Donald Trump by a range of social media platforms said as much about the nature of any sentiment about democracy as it did about those claiming to defend it. For one, it shut off
(2021-10-07). Ready for the mega-ugly 2024 rematch? The perennial optimist vs. the perma-troll. salon.com Whether or not Trump runs again, his entire operation is about undermining the guy who's actually trying to help…