(2019-08-28). Real People Will Lead the Way to #MedicareForAll. commondreams.org Seventy percent of Americans support universal health care as presented in the Medicare for All Act of 2019. (Photo: People's Action Blog) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-08-28). Health concerns rise in Brazil as Amazon fires rage. thecanary.co 
Lingering smoke in the Amazon is causing concern among Brazilians who say that respiratory problems — particularly among children and the elderly — have increased as fires in the region rage."The kids are affected the most. They're coughing a lot," said Elane Diaz, a nurse in the Rondonia state capital of Porto Velho, as she waited for a doctor's appointment at a hospital with her five-year-old-son Eduardo."They have problems breathing. I'm concerned because it affects their health." | The number of people treated for respiratory issues increased sharply in recent days at a local children's hospital."Th…
(2019-08-28). Close The Camps! Free The Children! SF Healthcare Workers Protest ICE. indybay.org Healthcare workers rallied at San Francisco ICE on August 25, 2019 to demand the closure of the camps and freeing of the children.
(2019-08-28). On David Koch's passing and the Koch network's ongoing war on clean energy. nationofchange.org Billionaire libertarian activist and oil industry tycoon David Koch died on Friday, leaving a toxic legacy that includes helping birth the climate denial movement, fighting against regulations that protect worker and public health, and — critical to our work here on DeSmog's KochvsClean project — helping fund and coordinate a decades-long attack on clean energy and low carbon …
(2019-08-28). The Small Freedom. indybay.org We talk about protecting our freedom, however we suffer from a lack of freedom in this country. Healthcare, education and housing have all become out of reach for some living in the U.S.
(2019-08-28). "This ruling is huge": Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $572 million for fueling opioid epidemic. nationofchange.org In a landmark ruling, an Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for contributing to the state's opioid crisis. It marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the opioid crisis, though it fell far short of the $17 billion judgment sought by the state. According to …
(2019-08-28). The Problem With Health Care Is 'The System'. commondreams.org Our country spends the most (more than $10,000 per year per person) on a system that often delivers the least. (Photo: Elvert Barnes/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-08-28). New Poll Shows 65% of Democrats More Likely to Back 2020 Candidate Who Supports Medicare for All Over Obamacare Tweaks. commondreams.org "In January, 57 percent of Democrats said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who backs a Medicare for All health system over expanding the Affordable Care Act. That number has now risen to 65 percent." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-08-27). Oklahoma judge finds Johnson & Johnson guilty in opioid epidemic. wsws.org While the $572 million judgment fell short of the $17 billion sought by the state, the court's ruling was an unambiguous finding that the giant corporation deliberately downplayed the dangers of the opioids it manufactured.
(2019-08-27). "This Ruling Is Huge": Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $572 Million for Fueling Opioid Epidemic. democracynow.org 
In a landmark ruling, an Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for contributing to the state's opioid crisis. It marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the opioid crisis, though it fell far short of the $17 billion judgment sought by the state. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 400,000 people died from an overdose involving opioids from 1999 to 2017, including from prescription and illicit opioids. Court documents say more than 6,000 people have died of painkiller overdoses in Oklahoma alone. The Oklahoma ruling sets the stage…
(2019-08-26). No Coal, No Gas: Climate activists remove coal from Merrimack generating station. liberationnews.org 
"…it is now a necessity to take matters into our own hands…"
(2019-08-26). St. Paul Teachers Union Picks the Health Care Battle. progressive.org Skyrocketing insurance costs generated a national wave of teacher strikes last year. Now, Minnesota educators head into a new school year ready to fight for affordable health care.
(2019-08-26). Before Kamala Harris Soured on Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All Bill, She Grew Her Email List From It. theintercept.com Kamala Harris distanced herself from Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All bill at an event with large-dollar donors two weeks after her campaign ran those ads.
(2019-08-25). Apple and Samsung sued over 'cancer risk' from cell phone radiation. rt.com 
Apple and Samsung have been hit with a class-action lawsuit over claims that their phones expose users to radio frequency emissions up to 500 percent beyond federal limits. Meanwhile the health debate around smartphones heats up. | Filed following an investigation by the Chicago Tribune, the lawsuit alleges that the Radio Frequency (RF) emissions of a number of Apple and Samsung phones — among them the iPhone 8, iPhone X, and Galaxy S8 — "far exceed federal guidelines." The risks of such radiati…
(2019-08-25). Newark's Water Crisis is One of Thousands That Are Worse Than Flint's. therealnews.com 
Lead poisoning is a public health emergency in poor working class communities across the United States, raising crime rates, causing school dropouts, filling our prisons and creating human tragedy…
(2019-08-24). National Democrats Endorse John Hickenlooper, a Proponent of Fracking, in Competitive Colorado Primary. theintercept.com In Colorado, nearly a dozen Democrats are vying for the opportunity to take on Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020 — a race widely seen as the party's most promising pick-up in the Senate. One of the leading contenders, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All and an aggressive plan to combat the climate crisis — and his campaign has already topped $1 million in fundraising. | But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has thrown its weight behind former Gov. John Hickenlooper, a pro-fracking moderate. After months of rejecting calls…
(2019-08-23). Sen. Merkley Condemns Trump's War Against Migrant Families as U.S. Moves to Indefinitely Jail Kids. democracynow.org 
The Trump administration is moving to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. We speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who made headlines last year when he was barred from entering an old Walmart where the government was detaining about 1,500 immigrant children in Brownsville, Texas.
(2019-08-22). Los Angeles County Votes to Stop Construction of New Jail-Like Facility, Adding Momentum to National Abolition Movement. theintercept.com 
"A jail is a jail is a jail. It is not enough to change the name of the facility," said LA Board of Supervisors member Heidi Solis.
(2019-08-21). Trump's Labor Pick Kept Workers in Pain. progressive.org The President has had poor luck with labor secretaries, and now he is poised to nominate Eugene Scalia, whose anti-regulatory advocacy two decades ago helped fuel today's opioid epidemic. That's not the best credential for a future labor secretary.
(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).
(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…
(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…
(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.
(2019-07-30). Venezuela: Six Chavista Militants Killed in Fresh Rural Violence. venezuelanalysis.com Landowner violence continues to plague the Venezuelan countryside.
(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 …