(2018-09-21). There's Nothing Natural About Puerto Rico's Disaster. theintercept.com 
Alma Morales Rosario poses for a portrait between the beams of her home being rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria one year ago in the San Lorenzo neighborhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 8, 2018. | textbook example. Before those fierce winds came, the debt — illegitimate and much of it illegal — was the excuse used to ram through a brutal program of economic suffering, what the great Argentine author Rodolfo Walsh, writing about four decades earlier, famously called miseria planificada, planned misery. | This program systematically attacked the very glue that holds a society together: all levels of education, health care, the electricity and water systems, transit systems, communication networks, and more. | It was a plan so widely rejected that no elected representatives could be trusted to carry it out. Which is…
(2018-09-21). Cuts to Cancer Research, Head Start, and Women's Shelters Among $226 Million Diverted to Pay for Child Detention. mintpressnews.com 
Yahoo News reported that in order to continue detaining more than 13,000 children currently in the custody of the ORR, the Health and Human Services Secretary is proposing that up to $266 million be taken from other government health programs.
(2018-09-21). Updated: "Israeli Army Kills One Palestinian, Injures 312, In Gaza" imemc.org Israeli soldiers killed, Friday, a young man, and injured 312 other Palestinians, including 54 with live fire, after the army attacked the Great Return March processions, in several parts of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has confirmed that the soldiers killed Karim Mohammad Kollab, 25, after […]…
(2018-09-21). Trump Is 'Unable to Tolerate Reality': Yale Psychiatrist Makes the Case That the President's Mental State Is Getting Worse. alternet.org 
The author of bestseller "Dangerous Case" says an urgent intervention "was indicated long ago. " | Two weeks ago, the New York Times published an anonymous op-ed by a senior Trump administration official who was deeply concerned about President Trump's mental health and his authoritarian tendencies. (Don Foster, a retired scholar who specializes in textual analysis — and correctly identified Joe Klein as the author of "Primary Colors" — thinks
(2018-09-21). Central Banks Have Gone Rogue, Putting Us All at Risk. truthout.org Excluding institutions such as Blackrock and Vanguard, which are composed of multiple investors, the largest single players in global equity markets are now thought to be central banks themselves. An estimated 30 to 40 central banks are invested in the stock market, either directly or through their investment vehicles (sovereign wealth funds). According to David Haggith on Zero Hedge: | Central banks buying stocks are effectively nationalizing US corporations just to maintain the illusion that their "recovery" plan is working . . . . At first, their novel entry into the stock market was only intended to rescue imperiled corporations, such as General Motors during the first plunge into the Great Recession, but recently their efforts have shifted to propping up the entire stock market via major purchases of the most healthy companies on the market. | The US Federal…
(2018-09-21). Department of Health and Human Services lost track of another 1,500 immigrant children. wsws.org In addition to the "lost" children, funds are being diverted from AIDS and cancer research to jail immigrant children and ICE held nearly 1,500 US citizens as "aliens."
(2018-09-21). Puerto Rico Has Not Recovered From Hurricane Maria. truthout.org Puerto Rico was in crisis long before Hurricane Maria hit on Sept. 20, 2017. | For years, this US territory had been struggling with debt, economic crisis and drought. In May 2017, the government defaulted on US$73 billion in loans and declared bankruptcy. | Then Hurricane Maria slammed the island with 155-mph winds and coastal flooding that rose to 6 feet within 30 minutes of landfall. The storm caused the longest power blackout in US history. | Sixty-four Puerto Ricans died during Maria and an estimated 2,975 Puerto Ricans perished from hurricane-related problems in the five months afterwards — many from treatable chronic illnesses because the power outage prevented them from getting antibiotics, insulin and other medical care. | To say that the island of 3.3 million has not yet recovered — from the damage or…
(2018-09-21). Proposal to List Chlorpyrifos as a Toxic Air Contaminant Opens for Public Comment. indybay.org The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) today announced a proposed regulation that would pave the way for increased restrictions on the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in California.It would designate chlorpyrifos as a "toxic air contaminant," which California law defines as an air pollutant that may cause or contribute to increases in serious illness or death, or that may pose a present or potential hazard to human health. The move comes after an extensive period of scientific and public review.
(2018-09-21). Department of Health and Human Services Lost Track of Another 1,500 Immigrant Children. globalresearch.ca HHS lost track of another 1,500 immigrant children | For the second time this year, the Department of Health and Human Services has notified Congress that it cannot locate about 1,500 children taken into custody by immigration authorities and transferred to …
(2018-09-20). South Carolina: Two Women from Mental Health Facility Drown in Flood During Transport by Deputies. democracynow.org 
Two women being transported by sheriff's deputies to a mental health facility drowned Tuesday in South Carolina when the van they were riding in was overcome by floodwaters. The two sheriff's deputies in the vehicle survived. Forty-five-year-old Windy Newton and 43-year-old Nicolette Green are two of at least 37 people killed by Hurricane Florence since the storm made landfall. Both women had gone to hospitals Tuesday morning when they were involuntarily committed and detained. Less than 24 hours later, they were dead. "There are a lot of questions remaining about why this had to occur then, why there couldn't ha…
(2018-09-20). Hurricane Florence Blows Open Harsh Realities of American Inequality. truthdig.com "We have two hurricanes," says the Rev. William Barber about the recent storm. "The hurricane of poverty and lack of health care and lack of living wages that existed prior to the storm, and then we have the storm."
(2018-09-20). Chicago Hotel Workers Strike for Decent Health Care. therealnews.com 
Chicago's UNITE HERE union is engaged in one of the largest labor actions in the city in decades, for a new contract for service workers at 30 hotels, with simultaneous strikes at 26 of these. We speak to the Local 1 strike captain |
(2018-09-19). Rev. William Barber: Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court Would Endanger Rights of Women, Workers & Voters. democracynow.org 
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh have cast doubt on whether President Trump's Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed by the Senate. "The process was bad from the beginning," says Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach. "We are poised to have two presidents that did not win the popular vote, now will have appointed four extreme members to the Supreme Court." Barber says Kavanaugh will be dangerous to voting rights, to labor rights, to healthcare and to women's rights.
(2018-09-19). New Bill Would Ensure No Woman Is Forced to Give Birth in Chains. aclu.org The practice of shackling pregnant women who are incarcerated is as shocking as it is widespread. | When a woman becomes pregnant, the nature of her health care by necessity becomes tailored to her being pregnant. This is no less true when a pregnant woman is incarcerated. But corrections officials across the nation would often rather ignore the fact and needs of incarcerated pregnant women than address their health care needs or even their basic rights. For example, pregnant prisoners are often shackled during childbirth in this country as well as put in solitary confinement, practices that are as shocking as th…
(2018-09-18). For Black College Students, Balancing Activism and Mental Health Takes Work. thenation.com For Black College Students, Balancing Activism and Mental Health Takes Work appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-09-18). SPLC: Alabama's prison system violated court order to increase mental health staffing. splcenter.org The SPLC will argue in court today that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) violated a federal court order to provide more mental health workers for people who are incarcerated in the state's prison system.
(2018-09-18). Make Nutrition an Issue in Food Drives. progressive.org How healthy is the food you donate?
(2018-09-17). Palm Oil Is Everywhere in India—and Public-Health Experts Are Concerned. thenation.com Palm Oil Is Everywhere in India—and Public-Health Experts Are Concerned appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-09-17). The Aftermath of Botham Jean's Killing Shows Why We Need to Cope With the Community Trauma of Police Brutality. theintercept.com 
The mental health effects of police brutality on whole communities needs to be something we talk about and reckon with.
(2018-09-14). The IMF's 'Large Brain, Unhealthy Ego, and Tiny Conscience'. thenation.com The IMF's 'Large Brain, Unhealthy Ego, and Tiny Conscience' appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-08-30). Venezuela Denounces Regional Anti-Migrant 'Xenophobia' as Brazil Militarises Border. venezuelanalysis.com The Maduro administration contrasted the recent attacks against Venezuelan migrants to its own open door policy which has seen foreigners benefit from free health, housing, education, and food programs.