(2019-12-16). After UK government silence, over 100 medical doctors urge Australia to defend Assange. thecanary.co On 22 November, over 60 medical doctors signed an open letter to the UK government concerning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The letter, addressed to the UK home secretary Priti Patel and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, expressed concerns that Assange "could die in prison". Despite wide media coverag…
(2019-12-16). To occupy, Resist and Produce! — MST Fairs. peoplesdispatch.org The fairs of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement celebrate their struggle. After occupying and producing, they resist daily, sharing the culture of the MST and the production of healthy food with the people of the city. The MST states "We are still struggling because we believe that another model of production is the basis of a free and just society." | Eating is a political act.
(2019-12-16). 'The Bold Approach We Need': New Booker Ag Bill Includes First-Ever National Factory Farm Moratorium. commondreams.org Advocates for the environment, corporate accountability, and public health on Monday welcomed Sen. Cory Booker's new agricultural reform bill—which would impose a first-ever national moratorium on factory farms—as "the bold approach we need." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-12-16). Top Global Scientists Call for 'Profound Food System Transformation' to Combat Extreme Malnutrition. commondreams.org A multi-part World Health Organization report published Monday in the British medical journal The Lancet detailed the need to urgently transform the world's failing food systems to combat the coexistence of undernourishment and obesity—or the "double burden of malnutrition." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-12-15). Jeremy Corbyn apologises, thanks 'everyone who campaigned' and calls out 'ferocious' media attacks. thecanary.co 
Jeremy Corbyn has apologised to Labour supporters over the party's catastrophic performance in the General Election. In a message, he also thanked "everyone who campaigned and every single person" who voted Labour.In an open letter, the Labour leader acknowledged the party "came up short" in the poll on Thursday, adding: "I take my responsibility for it."Corbyn also said: The attacks on us from some in the media have been more ferocious than we've ever known. But I'm proud that no matter how low our opponents went, we refused to join them in the gutter.In his letter to the Sunday Mirror, Corbyn said: I will make no…
(2019-12-15). One third of poorer countries face both undernutrition and obesity: WHO report. news.un.org With one in three low and middle-income countries facing the two extremes of malnutrition — undernutrition and obesity — the UN's health agency WHO is calling for a new approach to deal with rapidly changing food systems.
(2019-12-14). Homeland Security memo exposes appalling medical mistreatment of immigrants in US custody. wsws.org Men, women and children have been subject to delayed treatment for medical and mental health conditions, unnecessary surgeries, forcible medication, and other mistreatment resulting in unnecessary suffering and death.
(2019-12-13). 10 ex-NFL players accused of defrauding healthcare program. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten former NFL players were charged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud the league's health care benefit program by submitting false claims for medical equipment, including devices used on horses, the Justice Department said Thursday. The players were charged in two separate indictments filed in federal court in Kentucky, accusing them of …
(2019-12-13). 'Air bridge' vaccination operation begins for Ebola-hit communities in DR Congo. news.un.org The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen an increase in the number of reported cases of the deadly haemorrhagic virus Ebola linked to ongoing violence by armed groups targeting remote communities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
(2019-12-13). The Science of Lethality. counterpunch.org 
While the Pentagon's preeminent mission is to increase lethality of the forces, DARPA notes that its cyborg technology is also used to "augment the loss of functionality from injury or disease," such as implants controlling the use of prosthetics. Nevertheless, it sees a great need for social research to dispel resistance to cyborgs or robots (synthetic autonomous agents) on ethical grounds. More
(2019-12-12). Teaching assistants in Decatur, Il. struggle for better healthcare. liberationnews.org 
"DFTA all the way!"
(2019-12-12). South Sudan famine threat: UN food security agency in 'race against time'. news.un.org The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning against potential famine in South Sudan as hunger deepens due to drought, floods and an uncertain political future.
(2019-12-11). Universal Health Coverage will 'drive progress' on 2030 Development Agenda. news.un.org Last September world leaders at the United Nations endorsed an ambitious political declaration on universal health coverage, "reaffirming that health is a human right", Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in his message for International Universal Health Coverage Day.
(2019-12-11). "Shame!" Indigenous Leaders & Delegates from Global South Stage Dramatic Protest at COP25 in Madrid. democracynow.org 
Democracy Now! was broadcasting live from the United Nations climate summit in Madrid, Spain, when hundreds of climate advocates and people's movements at the U.N. climate action summit staged a protest inside the conference venue. As the demonstration unfolds, we speak with Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network; Karin Nansen, chair of Friends of the Earth International; Nigerian climate activist Nnimmo Bassey with Health of Mother Earth Foundation; and indigenous climate activist Daiara Tukano from Brazil.
(2019-12-09). On Human Rights Day, Let's Abolish Nuclear Weapons. progressive.org A nuclear war would create one of the worst humanitarian crises imaginable, one for which no nation would have an adequate emergency or health response.
(2019-12-09). Three Ways the "Fairness for All Act" Doesn't Protect LGBTQ People from Discrimination. aclu.org On Friday, Congressman Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and | several of his Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives introduced | the so-called "Fairness for All Act." The bill is being described by its | supporters as a compromise that protects both LGBTQ people and religious | liberty. | In reality, the bill facilitates the Trump | administration's ongoing efforts to give a greenlight to those who would turn | LGBTQ people away from jobs, health care, housing, even taxpayer-funded | programs, simply because of who they are. The bill also weakens some | longstanding protections in federal and state laws…
(2019-12-04). Bronx speakout demands closure of fake abortion clinic. liberationnews.org 
Dozens stopped to listen and speak with the protesters about reproductive justice and the need for affordable public healthcare.
(2019-12-03). What the U.K. Election Tells Us About Universal Health Care. progressive.org Across the political spectrum, the British are clear: American-style health care is a terrible idea.
(2019-11-26). "No healthcare, no peace!": Philadelphia airline catering workers join nationwide actions. liberationnews.org 
Airport catering workers across the country protested on November 26, after American Airlines refusal to meet the workers' demands for health insurance.
(2019-11-17). Warren's Head Tax Is Not More Popular Than A Payroll Tax. peoplespolicyproject.org As we know by now, Elizabeth Warren's Medicare head tax proposal is a regressive mess ( I, II, III, IV). Warren's team knows this. The goal of the proposal i…
(2019-11-17). CAP's Topher Spiro Is Trying to Deceive Journalists By Lying. peoplespolicyproject.org 
It's been fun to see how the Center for American Progress (CAP) navigates this year's presidential election. For insider political reasons, they can't support Biden or Sanders. But for a long time, it was unclear who the alternative candidate they could support would be. | When Kamala Harris was rising, CAP's staff was doing overtime boosting her on Twitter and in the press, including boosting Harris's absurd health care proposal. But Harris's collapse put an end to that strategy. Recently Warren has risen as the alternative and so CAP has been working to promote her campaign, which puts CAP in the comical positi…
(2019-11-03). Warren's Medicare Head Tax Would Be About $9,500. peoplespolicyproject.org On Friday, I wrote a piece arguing that Elizabeth Warren's use of an employer head tax was not a good way to fund Medicare for All and that instead the more conventional choices of income and payroll taxes would be better. The reason they are better is because income and payroll taxes are based on how much income you receive while a head tax charges the same dollar amount for every worker regardless of their income, making it much more onerous on the lower and middle classes. | This point holds…
(2019-11-02). What Is a Middle Class Tax Hike? Am I Losing My Mind? peoplespolicyproject.org I have been swimming in the Medicare for All waters for over a decade now, going back to when I worked on the Ralph Nader presidential campaign that made Medicare for All its number one issue. And during this time, I developed a specific understanding of what we might call the M4A Financing Problem. | The Problem: | The M4A Financing Problem, in simple terms, is that even if you bring in existing federal spending on health care, existing state spending on health care, and a bunch of new rich-people taxes, you still fall short of financing the program. Thus to actually complete the financing, you have to u…
(2019-11-01). Warren's Perpetual Medicare Head Tax Is Unworkable and Bad. peoplespolicyproject.org 
Elizabeth Warren released her Medicare for All financing plan today. The main purpose of the proposal appears to be to find a plan that you can message as "not increasing middle class taxes," which is of course a nonsensical goal insofar, as Warren herself has said, what matters is middle class health care costs, not whether you categorize those costs as premiums, taxes, or out-of-pocket expenses. | Nonetheless, bowing to the stupid media discourse on this, Warren put forward a financing pro…
(2019-06-19). House Casts Historic Vote to Repeal Authorization for Endless War. peaceaction.org Washington, D.C. — June 19, 2019 — In response to the House of Representatives passing H.R. 2740 (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Legislative Branch, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2020), which includes language to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) eight months after …