Daily Archives: August 20, 2019

2019-08-20: News Headlines

Al Neal (2019-08-20). Elections 2020: Warren and Klobuchar address Native American presidential candidate forum. peoplesworld.org SIOUX CITY, Iowa—"Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to get to know Elizabeth. We have spoken often of the needs of Indian Country, and she has taken action to address them, helped me get elected to Congress, and we've worked together to introduce legislation on affordable healthcare, pre-k education, and housing," …

WSWS (2019-08-20). Julian Assange's father warns WikiLeaks' publisher's health is "declining rapidly" in Belmarsh Prison. wsws.org "The government will willingly sacrifice Julian's well-being to the demands of the US and the UK."

Michael T. Hertz (2019-08-20). Routing the two-tier system: Part II — raising the lower tier. nationofchange.org There are two tiers to our economy: the upper for the wealthy, and the lower for the middle class and the poor. (I don't know where I put myself. Supposedly, I'm in the upper 10%. But why do I feel so poor? Because my wealth could disappear in the blink of an eye, that's why). | If we were going to try to raise the lower tier, what would we do? Essentially, we would inject money into it, concentrating on all of the necessary things. Like what? | Education — Should be provided on an even playing field, basically eliminating any difference between public and private schools. | Healthcare — Everyone s…

Julia Conley (2019-08-20). Trump's domestic gag rule forces planned parenthood to withdraw from Title X funding, threatening healthcare of 1.5 million women. nationofchange.org Reproductive rights advocates slammed the Trump administration on Monday after Planned Parenthood announced that the White House had forced it to decline funding used to provide healthcare to more than a million low-income women. | The organization said it was withdrawing from Title X funding, citing the Trump administration's "domestic gag rule," which prohibits health centers receiving the funds from counseling patients about where and how to obtain abortion care. | #IStandWithPP WSWS (2019-08-20). Bolivia's biggest mine and public health sector go on strike. wsws.org Miners in San Cristobal, striking doctors and the entire, restive working class in Bolivia are coming into conflict with the Morales government, MAS and the trade unions.

IFPE Local 21, SEIU. 1021 (2019-08-20). SFGH Rally To Stop the DPH from displacing the mentally ill from Behavioral Health Center. indybay.org SFGH Behavioral Health Center at 887 Potrero St. between 21st. & Potrero at 12: 30 PM.

teleSUR (2019-08-20). Boris Johnson is 'Britain's Trump': Corbyn. telesurenglish.net In a major speech outlining his policy on Brexit, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson as 'Britain's Trump' and argued that Johnson will allow the US to destroy jobs and the health service if a post-Brexit 'sweetheart deal' is signed with Trump. | RELATED: | US Trade Deal Could Drag Britain Into More Wars, Austerity | Corbyn made the speech on Monday during a visit to the marginal constituency of Corby. At the event, he said, "Boris Johnson's governm…

The Canary (2019-08-20). Brussels rejects Boris Johnson's call for Irish backstop to be scrapped. thecanary.co Boris Johnson has been rebuffed by Brussels after demanding major changes in a new Brexit deal. | The prime minister set out his call for the backstop — the contingency plan to avoid a hard border with Ireland — to be scrapped from the divorce deal ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline. | But European Council president Donald Tusk defended the measure and warned that those seeking to replace it would risk a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland. | The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backst…

susan_p (2019-08-20). Anti-choice MPs line up to derail abortion law reform in NSW. greenleft.org.au abortion rights Pip HinmanIssue 1234 Australia NSW abortion law reform SydneyThose opposing the move to treat abortion as a health matter rather than a crime have made their views known —…

Maj. Danny Sjursen (2019-08-19). What Fareed Zakaria Gets Wrong About Afghanistan: Everything. truthdig.com Since when does a (mostly) respected press pundit sound just like an army general? Well, for a while now, in fact. Politicians and reporters will argue viciously about all kinds of issues: immigration, healthcare, race, et al. There's only one sacred cow that mainstream insiders — both "left" and right — dare not challenge: the runaway Pentagon budget and America's forever wars. | So it was, this Sunday morning, lounging in my hotel room in Spokane — I was in town for the national Vet…

splcenter (2019-08-19). SPLC, allies sue ICE for ignoring medical, mental health and disability needs of detained immigrants. splcenter.org Faour Abdallah Fraihat, who ran a successful construction business for years in California, is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Thomas Knapp (2019-08-19). Lung Disease Outbreak: First Casualties of the War on Vaping? counterpunch.org On August 15, Wisconsin's Department of Health Services announced "a cluster of people with severe lung disease who all reported recent vaping or dabbing (vaping marijuana oils, extracts, or concentrates)." CNN reports more than 120 similar cases nationwide based on a survey of state health departments. "Vaping" has been a thing for a decade or More

David Penner (2019-08-19). Health Care Imperialism: Looting the World's Doctors. dissidentvoice.org To poach and rely on highly skilled foreign workers from poor countries in the public sector is akin to the crime of theft. — "Migration of Health Workers: An Unmanaged Crisis," The Lancet, May 28, 2005 What is striking about the tyranny of the medical industrial complex is not only its unconscionable oppression of the …

NationofChange Staff (2019-08-19). Bernie Sanders: 'We will go to war with White Nationalism'. nationofchange.org Senator Bernie Sanders announced to a Black Church PAC Presidential Forum in Atlanta this week that, if elected, his administration "go to war against white nationalism and racism." | "When we combat white nationalism and when we combat racism," Sanders told the crowd. "We are gonna use all of the laws in our power, including executive orders in every area, to make certain that we end the discrimination which now exists in healthcare, where black women are dying three times the rate of white women when they give birth." | Referring to white nationalism as "domestic terrorism", Sanders also said that "Too many…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-08-19). Trump's Domestic Gag Rule Forces Planned Parenthood to Withdraw From Title X Funding, Threatening Healthcare of 1.5 Million Women. commondreams.org Reproductive rights advocates slammed the Trump administration on Monday as Planned Parenthood announced that the White House had forced it to decline funding that it's used to provide healthcare to more than a million low-income women. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2019-08-19). Kamala Harris, Who Just Clarified Her Rejection of Real Medicare for All, to Snub Climate Forum in Favor of Big Donors. commondreams.org "We need a leader who prioritizes the future of humanity over rubbing elbows with millionaires and billionaires." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Staff (2019-08-18). How The Mainstream Media Fuels America's Income Inequality Machine. therealnews.com From medicare for all to neoliberal tax subsidies for major corporations the mainstream media often bolsters the notion that a more fair and equitable society is not possible…

Fight Back (2019-08-17). Milwaukee VA workers fight union busting. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration. | The rally was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3 and supported by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Veterans for Peace and elected leaders including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. | AFGE members and representatives detailed shocking accounts of the ex…

Fight Back (2019-08-17). Milwaukee VA workers fight union busting. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration. | The rally was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3 and supported by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Veterans for Peace and elected leaders including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. | AFGE members and representatives detailed shocking accounts of the ex…

RT (2019-08-16). US Customs and Border Protection systems down, airports affected nationwide. rt.com Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours at Los Angeles, New York and Washington international airports, as US Customs and Border Protection systems were plagued by 'technical 'issues.' | Around two hours after the technical issues were first reported, the CBP said that the crippled systems were "coming back online." The agency added that there was "no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at the time." | The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at thi…

Sam Biddle (2019-08-16). Trauma Counselors Were Pressured to Divulge Confidential Information About Facebook Moderators, Internal Letter Claims. theintercept.com Nearly 1,500 miles from the Menlo Park headquarters of Facebook, at a company outpost in Austin, Texas, moderators toil around the clock to screen and scrub some the most gruesome, hateful, and heinous posts that make their way onto the social network and its photo-sharing subsidiary, Instagram. They are required to view as many as 800 pieces of disturbing content in a single shift, and routinely turn to on-site counselors to help cope with the procession of stomach-turning images, videos, and text. But some members of this invisible army have complained, in a statement widely circulated within Facebook, that the…

ACLU (2019-08-15). The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person. aclu.org How our workplaces and healthcare system create barriers to breastfeeding. | The fight to protect individual choices about reproductive care, including breastfeeding, is an ongoing battle. The central lesson of the reproductive justice movement is that choice means little without access. That lesson applies equally to breastfeeding. | Though laws, in the workplace and other contexts, are in place to protect the right to breastfeed, many low-income women and w…

United Nations (2019-08-15). Thursday's Daily Brief: Harrowing terrorist survivors' stories, children first in Mediterranean rescues, Yemen and Switzerland updates, new SDG Advocates speak out. un.org Our main stories today: Boko Haram terrorist survivors tell their stories; UNICEF speaks out for children adrift on the Mediterranean; UN health agency pushes to stem dengue fever in Yemen; Switzerland declines sponsorship deal with tobacco firm; new SDG Advocates on the job.

United Nations (2019-08-14). Wednesday's Daily Brief: Help for Venezuelans, Burundi Ebola vaccine drive, Paraguay poison probe urged, talking disarmament in Geneva, Libya violence down. un.org Our main stories today cover: Scaled-up assistance for Venezuelans; Ebola vaccinations for Burundi health workers; reports of civilian deaths following an Afghan-sponsored security operation; agrochemical spray probe urged in Paraguay; Libya violence abates during truce, and disarmament conference's first woman chief urges Governments to "overcome their differences".

United Nations (2019-08-14). Winnie Byanyima 'honoured to be joining UNAIDS' as next Executive Director. un.org The UN programme dedicated to the elimination of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, has warmly welcomed the appointment of Winnie Byanyima as its new Executive Director.

ACLU (2019-08-13). Expanding Involuntary Confinement is Not the Answer to Solve Gun Violence. aclu.org Institutionalizing people against their will is usually a mistake. | In the wake of last weekend's tragic shootings, President Trump did what he does best: stoked fear and cast blame. He proclaimed that "we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people, not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement." | There are two things wrong with the idea of involuntary commitment as a solution to gun violence. First, focusing on people with identifiable mental disabilities won't help. The data is clear: men…

Staff (2019-08-13). How to Be an Antiracist: Ibram X. Kendi on Why We Need to Fight Racism the Way We Fight Cancer. democracynow.org In his new book, "How to Be an Antiracist," professor Ibram X. Kendi urges readers to break out of the false framework of "racist" and "not racist," instead laying out what it means to be antiracist: viewing racial groups as equals and pushing for policies that create racial equity. Kendi says, "We can't just talk about racism as an original sin. We have to talk about racism as the original cancer, as this original disease that has been killing America."

ACLU (2019-08-09). Over 132,400 Opposed Trump's Anti-Trans Health Care Plan. aclu.org A proposed rule would undermine protections for transgender people and others facing discriminatory denials of health care and insurance coverage. | The Trump Administration has shown it will stop at nothing to undermine access to health care for marginalized communities. Most recently, the Administration has proposed to undermine critical protections against sex discrimination in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Rights Law. Instead of combatting discrimination in accessing health care a…

Esteban Guevara (2019-08-09). Blood money: How big pharma created the opioid crisis. liberationnews.org The opioid epidemic could only have occurred in a society where profit is king.

Ed Rampell (2019-08-07). A Modest Proposal: Taking Aim at Firearm Violence with Gun Insurance. progressive.org It's no panacea, but it can help heal our wounded nation.

Bill Lueders (2019-08-05). Take Away My Employer-Based Health Insurance. Please. progressive.org Centrist Democrats like Joe Biden still aim to gin up mass fear over the prospect of leaving behind predatory insurers and the dizzying array of deductibles, co-pays, exclusions, humiliations, and rationing of care that characterizes our current syst…

Ricardo Vaz (2019-07-30). Venezuela: Six Chavista Militants Killed in Fresh Rural Violence. venezuelanalysis.com Landowner violence continues to plague the Venezuelan countryside.

Paul Kawika Martin (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 …

2019-08-20: Social Media Postees

Julian Assange's father warns WikiLeaks' publisher's health is "declining rapidly" in Belmarsh Prison
wsws.org | 2019-08-20
"The government will willingly sacrifice Julian's well-being to the demands of the US and the UK."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/20/ship…

Routing the two-tier system: Part II — raising the lower tier
Michael T. Hertz | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-20
There are two tiers to our economy: the upper for the wealthy, and the lower for the middle class and the poor. (I don't know where I put myself. Supposedly, I'm in the upper 10%. But why do I feel so poor? Because my wealth could disappear in the blink of an eye, that's why). | If we were going to try to raise the lower tier, what would we do? Essentially, we would inject money into it, concentrating on all of the necessary things. Like what? | Education — Should be provided on an even playing field, basically eliminating any difference between public and private schools. | Healthcare — Everyone s…
nationofchange.org/2019/08/20/routing-th…

Elections 2020: Warren and Klobuchar address Native American presidential candidate forum
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-20
SIOUX CITY, Iowa–"Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to get to know Elizabeth. We have spoken often of the needs of Indian Country, and she has taken action to address them, helped me get elected to Congress, and we've worked together to introduce legislation on affordable healthcare, pre-k education, and housing," …
peoplesworld.org/article/elections-2020-…

SFGH Rally To Stop the DPH from displacing the mentally ill from Behavioral Health Center
IFPE Local 21, SEIU. 1021 | indybay.org | 2019-08-20
SFGH Behavioral Health Center at 887 Potrero St. between 21st. & Potrero at 12: 30 PM.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/19/1882555…

Bolivia's biggest mine and public health sector go on strike
wsws.org | 2019-08-20
Miners in San Cristobal, striking doctors and the entire, restive working class in Bolivia are coming into conflict with the Morales government, MAS and the trade unions.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/20/boli…

Boris Johnson is 'Britain's Trump': Corbyn
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-20
In a major speech outlining his policy on Brexit, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson as 'Britain's Trump' and argued that Johnson will allow the US to destroy jobs and the health service if a post-Brexit 'sweetheart deal' is signed with Trump. | RELATED: | US Trade Deal Could Drag Britain Into More Wars, Austerity | Corbyn made the speech on Monday during a visit to the marginal constituency of Corby. At the event, he said, "Boris Johnson's governm…
telesurenglish.net/news/Boris-Johnson-is…

Brussels rejects Boris Johnson's call for Irish backstop to be scrapped
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-08-20
Boris Johnson has been rebuffed by Brussels after demanding major changes in a new Brexit deal. | The prime minister set out his call for the backstop — the contingency plan to avoid a hard border with Ireland — to be scrapped from the divorce deal ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline. | But European Council president Donald Tusk defended the measure and warned that those seeking to replace it would risk a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland. | The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backst…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/08/20/brussels-rejects-boris-johnsons-call-for-irish-backstop-to-be-scrapped/

Anti-choice MPs line up to derail abortion law reform in NSW
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-20
abortion rights Pip HinmanIssue 1234 Australia NSW abortion law reform SydneyThose opposing the move to treat abortion as a health matter rather than a crime have made their views known –…
greenleft.org.au/content/anti-choice-mps-line-derail-abortion-law-reform-nsw

What Fareed Zakaria Gets Wrong About Afghanistan: Everything
Maj. Danny Sjursen | truthdig.com | 2019-08-19
Since when does a (mostly) respected press pundit sound just like an army general? Well, for a while now, in fact. Politicians and reporters will argue viciously about all kinds of issues: immigration, healthcare, race, et al. There's only one sacred cow that mainstream insiders — both "left" and right — dare not challenge: the runaway Pentagon budget and America's forever wars. | So it was, this Sunday morning, lounging in my hotel room in Spokane — I was in town for the national Vet…
truthdig.com/articles/what-fareed-zakari…

SPLC, allies sue ICE for ignoring medical, mental health and disability needs of detained immigrants
splcenter.org | 2019-08-19
Faour Abdallah Fraihat, who ran a successful construction business for years in California, is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/19/splc-allie…

Lung Disease Outbreak: First Casualties of the War on Vaping?
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-19
On August 15, Wisconsin's Department of Health Services announced "a cluster of people with severe lung disease who all reported recent vaping or dabbing (vaping marijuana oils, extracts, or concentrates)." CNN reports more than 120 similar cases nationwide based on a survey of state health departments. "Vaping" has been a thing for a decade or…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/19/lung-disease…

Health Care Imperialism: Looting the World's Doctors
David Penner | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-19
To poach and rely on highly skilled foreign workers from poor countries in the public sector is akin to the crime of theft. — "Migration of Health Workers: An Unmanaged Crisis," The Lancet, May 28, 2005 What is striking about the tyranny of the medical industrial complex is not only its unconscionable oppression of the …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/health-care-i…

Bernie Sanders: 'We will go to war with White Nationalism'
NationofChange Staff | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-19
Senator Bernie Sanders announced to a Black Church PAC Presidential Forum in Atlanta this week that, if elected, his administration "go to war against white nationalism and racism." | "When we combat white nationalism and when we combat racism," Sanders told the crowd. "We are gonna use all of the laws in our power, including executive orders in every area, to make certain that we end the discrimination which now exists in healthcare, where black women are dying three times the rate of white women when they give birth." | Referring to white nationalism as "domestic terrorism", Sanders also said that "Too many…
nationofchange.org/2019/08/19/bernie-san…

Trump's Domestic Gag Rule Forces Planned Parenthood to Withdraw From Title X Funding, Threatening Healthcare of 1.5 Million Women
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-19
Reproductive rights advocates slammed the Trump administration on Monday as Planned Parenthood announced that the White House had forced it to decline funding that it's used to provide healthcare to more than a million low-income women. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/19/trumps-…

Kamala Harris, Who Just Clarified Her Rejection of Real Medicare for All, to Snub Climate Forum in Favor of Big Donors
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-19
"We need a leader who prioritizes the future of humanity over rubbing elbows with millionaires and billionaires." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/19/kamala-…

How The Mainstream Media Fuels America's Income Inequality Machine
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-18
From medicare for all to neoliberal tax subsidies for major corporations the mainstream media often bolsters the notion that a more fair and equitable society is not possible…
therealnews.com/stories/how-the-mainstre…

Milwaukee VA workers fight union busting
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-17
Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration. | The rally was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3 and supported by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Veterans for Peace and elected leaders including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. | AFGE members and representatives detailed shocking accounts of the ex…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/17/milwauke…

Milwaukee VA workers fight union busting
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-17
Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration. | The rally was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3 and supported by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Veterans for Peace and elected leaders including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. | AFGE members and representatives detailed shocking accounts of the ex…
fightbacknews.org/2019/8/17/milwaukee-va…

US Customs and Border Protection systems down, airports affected nationwide
rt.com | 2019-08-16
Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours at Los Angeles, New York and Washington international airports, as US Customs and Border Protection systems were plagued by 'technical 'issues.' | Around two hours after the technical issues were first reported, the CBP said that the crippled systems were "coming back online." The agency added that there was "no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at the time." | The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at thi…
rt.com/usa/466678-customs-border-protect…

Trauma Counselors Were Pressured to Divulge Confidential Information About Facebook Moderators, Internal Letter Claims
Sam Biddle | theintercept.com | 2019-08-16
Nearly 1,500 miles from the Menlo Park headquarters of Facebook, at a company outpost in Austin, Texas, moderators toil around the clock to screen and scrub some the most gruesome, hateful, and heinous posts that make their way onto the social network and its photo-sharing subsidiary, Instagram. They are required to view as many as 800 pieces of disturbing content in a single shift, and routinely turn to on-site counselors to help cope with the procession of stomach-turning images, videos, and text. But some members of this invisible army have complained, in a statement widely circulated within Facebook, that the…
theintercept.com/2019/08/16/facebook-mod…

The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person
aclu.org | 2019-08-15
How our workplaces and healthcare system create barriers to breastfeeding. | The fight to protect individual choices about reproductive care, including breastfeeding, is an ongoing battle. The central lesson of the reproductive justice movement is that choice means little without access. That lesson applies equally to breastfeeding. | Though laws, in the workplace and other contexts, are in place to protect the right to breastfeed, many low-income women and w…
aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/pregnancy-an…

Thursday's Daily Brief: Harrowing terrorist survivors' stories, children first in Mediterranean rescues, Yemen and Switzerland updates, new SDG Advocates speak out
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-15
Our main stories today: Boko Haram terrorist survivors tell their stories; UNICEF speaks out for children adrift on the Mediterranean; UN health agency pushes to stem dengue fever in Yemen; Switzerland declines sponsorship deal with tobacco firm; new SDG Advocates on the job.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1…

Wednesday's Daily Brief: Help for Venezuelans, Burundi Ebola vaccine drive, Paraguay poison probe urged, talking disarmament in Geneva, Libya violence down
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-14
Our main stories today cover: Scaled-up assistance for Venezuelans; Ebola vaccinations for Burundi health workers; reports of civilian deaths following an Afghan-sponsored security operation; agrochemical spray probe urged in Paraguay; Libya violence abates during truce, and disarmament conference's first woman chief urges Governments to "overcome their differences".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1…

Winnie Byanyima 'honoured to be joining UNAIDS' as next Executive Director
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-14
The UN programme dedicated to the elimination of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, has warmly welcomed the appointment of Winnie Byanyima as its new Executive Director.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1…

Expanding Involuntary Confinement is Not the Answer to Solve Gun Violence
aclu.org | 2019-08-13
Institutionalizing people against their will is usually a mistake. | In the wake of last weekend's tragic shootings, President Trump did what he does best: stoked fear and cast blame. He proclaimed that "we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people, not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement." | There are two things wrong with the idea of involuntary commitment as a solution to gun violence. First, focusing on people with identifiable mental disabilities won't help. The data is clear: men…
aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/integrat…

How to Be an Antiracist: Ibram X. Kendi on Why We Need to Fight Racism the Way We Fight Cancer
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-13
In his new book, "How to Be an Antiracist," professor Ibram X. Kendi urges readers to break out of the false framework of "racist" and "not racist," instead laying out what it means to be antiracist: viewing racial groups as equals and pushing for policies that create racial equity. Kendi says, "We can't just talk about racism as an original sin. We have to talk about racism as the original cancer, as this original disease that has been killing America."
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/13/ibram_x_k…

Blood money: How big pharma created the opioid crisis
Esteban Guevara | liberationnews.org | 2019-08-09
The opioid epidemic could only have occurred in a society where profit is king.
liberationnews.org/blood-money-how-big-p…

Over 132,400 Opposed Trump's Anti-Trans Health Care Plan
aclu.org | 2019-08-09
A proposed rule would undermine protections for transgender people and others facing discriminatory denials of health care and insurance coverage. | The Trump Administration has shown it will stop at nothing to undermine access to health care for marginalized communities. Most recently, the Administration has proposed to undermine critical protections against sex discrimination in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Rights Law. Instead of combatting discrimination in accessing health care a…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/transgender-ri…

A Modest Proposal: Taking Aim at Firearm Violence with Gun Insurance
Ed Rampell | progressive.org | 2019-08-07
It's no panacea, but it can help heal our wounded nation.
progressive.org/dispatches/modest-propos…

Take Away My Employer-Based Health Insurance. Please
Bill Lueders | progressive.org | 2019-08-05
Centrist Democrats like Joe Biden still aim to gin up mass fear over the prospect of leaving behind predatory insurers and the dizzying array of deductibles, co-pays, exclusions, humiliations, and rationing of care that characterizes our current syst…
progressive.org/dispatches/take-away-my-…

Venezuela: Six Chavista Militants Killed in Fresh Rural Violence
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-07-30
Landowner violence continues to plague the Venezuelan countryside.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14607