Daily Archives: December 15, 2019

2019-12-15: News Headlines

RT (2019-12-16). 'Effective discipline'!?! 8yo boy needs surgery on maimed knees after sadistic stepfather makes him kneel on buckwheat for HOURS. rt.com An 8-year-old boy had to undergo a surgery to remove the sharp grains, virtually ingrown into his knees, after his mother's boyfriend routinely forced him to stand on raw buckwheat as punishment for the tiniest 'misbehavior.' | The photos of the child's knees, looking as if they were mutilated by a mystery disease, sent shockwaves across Russia. Doctors had to use general anesthesia to remove the ingrown seeds, cutting cut off large fragments of skin. | The surgery and weeks of painful rehabilitation, however, were nothing compared to what the starved kid had to endure at home in the Siberian city of Omsk, whe…

The Canary (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…

Eileen (2019-12-15). Exporting Death: New Zealand confirmed as likely source of Samoa's measles outbreak. indybay.org "Infectious diseases de-populated many isolated Pacific islands when they were first exposed to global pathogen circulation from the 18th century," Professor G. Dennis Shanks of Australian Army Malaria Institute wrote. | "God alone will not send such an epidemic," he cited the Samoan chief in 1918 as saying.

Kristina Kristen (2019-12-15). Japan Leads the Way in Child Health: No Compulsory Vaccines. Banned Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) Vaccine. globalresearch.ca Important article first published by Children's Health Defense, posted on Global Research on April 28, 2019 | In the United States, many legislators and public health officials are busy trying to make vaccines de facto compulsory—either by removing parental/personal choice …

James Grundvig (2019-12-15). The Threat 5G Poses to Human Health. globalresearch.ca The crime scene was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. One hundred and fifty dead birds lay sprawled on the ground, fallen out of trees in a park in The Hague, Netherlands. | The second such occurrence last autumn made …

IMEMC & Agencies (2019-12-15). After 83 Days, Hunger Striker Loses 30 Kilograms, Stops Drinking Water. imemc.org Palestinian administrative detainee in Israel, Ahmad Zahran, who has been on hunger strike for 83 consecutive days today, has lost 30 kilograms of his weight and his health has seriously deteriorated, the Palestinian News and Info Agency reported. According to a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners' Commission, following a visit …

news.un (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.

WSWS (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.

Michael Schwalbe (2019-12-14). Medicare for All or Profits for a Few. commondreams.org For decades, tobacco companies conspired to sow doubt about the harms of smoking. It was a strategy designed to protect profits by fending off regulation. And it worked; while lawmakers dithered, profits soared and millions more tobacco users died.

Ashley Curtin (2019-12-14). Eight states and DC commit to electrifying trucks and buses to reduce carbon footprint, pollution. nationofchange.org "Zero-emission trucks and buses are better for the environment and health, while reducing fueling and maintenance costs."

Michael Balsamo (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 …

Andrew Levine (2019-12-13). A Plague on Both Their Houses, Plus a Dozen Poxes on Trump's. counterpunch.org Nancy Pelosi should thank Donald Trump for helping her get over a bad case of IAS, Impeachment Aversion Syndrome. We all should. Had she not come down with that malady years ago, after the 2006 midterm election made her Speaker of the House the first time, she could now be looking forward, when the time More

news.un (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.

Joan Roelofs (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

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2019-12-13). Outrage After South Carolina Gets Trump OK to Attack Medicaid With Work Requirement Policy. commondreams.org Instead of addressing the "alarming increase in the number of uninsured children across the country," the state chose to put up "more barriers to coverage that will worsen this trend." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Mark Gruenberg (2019-12-12). Nurses: Medicare For All means health won't depend on your wealth. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—When a baby in California named Evan became very ill 10 years ago, his single mother lacked the money to take him to the doctor and foot the bill for the needed co-pay. So she called her mother, Evan's grandmother, a registered nurse, for advice. The grandmother listened to the symptoms and told her daughter …

news.un (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.

news.un (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.

Staff (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.

news.un (2019-12-10). Samoa measles outbreak claims 70 lives, majority are children under five. news.un.org Seventy people have now died from Samoa's measles outbreak, UN humanitarians confirmed on Tuesday, as the organization released emergency funding to help the authorities step up efforts to eradicate the preventable disease.

Ian S. Thompson (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…

Matt Bruenig (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…

Matt Bruenig (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…

Matt Bruenig (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…

Matt Bruenig (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…

Matt Bruenig (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…

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 …

2019-12-15: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

'Effective discipline'!?! 8yo boy needs surgery on maimed knees after sadistic stepfather makes him kneel on buckwheat for HOURS
rt.com | 2019-12-16
An 8-year-old boy had to undergo a surgery to remove the sharp grains, virtually ingrown into his knees, after his mother's boyfriend routinely forced him to stand on raw buckwheat as punishment for the tiniest 'misbehavior.' | The photos of the child's knees, looking as if they were mutilated by a mystery disease, sent shockwaves across Russia. Doctors had to use general anesthesia to remove the ingrown seeds, cutting cut off large fragments of skin. | The surgery and weeks of painful rehabilitation, however, were nothing compared to what the starved kid had to endure at home in the Siberian city of Omsk, whe…
rt.com/russia/475964-buckwheat-child-tor…

Exporting Death: New Zealand confirmed as likely source of Samoa's measles outbreak
Eileen | indybay.org | 2019-12-15
"Infectious diseases de-populated many isolated Pacific islands when they were first exposed to global pathogen circulation from the 18th century," Professor G. Dennis Shanks of Australian Army Malaria Institute wrote. | "God alone will not send such an epidemic," he cited the Samoan chief in 1918 as saying.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/13/1882888…

Japan Leads the Way in Child Health: No Compulsory Vaccines. Banned Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) Vaccine
Kristina Kristen | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-15
Important article first published by Children's Health Defense, posted on Global Research on April 28, 2019 | In the United States, many legislators and public health officials are busy trying to make vaccines de facto compulsory–either by removing parental/personal choice …
globalresearch.ca/japan-no-vaccine-mandates-no-mmr-vaccine-healthier-children/5675901

The Threat 5G Poses to Human Health
James Grundvig | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-15
The crime scene was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. One hundred and fifty dead birds lay sprawled on the ground, fallen out of trees in a park in The Hague, Netherlands. | The second such occurrence last autumn made | …
globalresearch.ca/threat-5g-poses-human-health/5697735

After 83 Days, Hunger Striker Loses 30 Kilograms, Stops Drinking Water
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-12-15
Palestinian administrative detainee in Israel, Ahmad Zahran, who has been on hunger strike for 83 consecutive days today, has lost 30 kilograms of his weight and his health has seriously deteriorated, the Palestinian News and Info Agency reported. According to a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners' Commission, following a visit …
imemc.org/article/after-83-days-hunger-s…

One third of poorer countries face both undernutrition and obesity: WHO report
news.un.org | 2019-12-15
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.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

Medicare for All or Profits for a Few
Michael Schwalbe | commondreams.org | 2019-12-14
For decades, tobacco companies conspired to sow doubt about the harms of smoking. It was a strategy designed to protect profits by fending off regulation. And it worked; while lawmakers dithered, profits soared and millions more tobacco users died.
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/14/medica…

Homeland Security memo exposes appalling medical mistreatment of immigrants in US custody
wsws.org | 2019-12-14
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.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/14/imm2…

Eight states and DC commit to electrifying trucks and buses to reduce carbon footprint, pollution
Ashley Curtin | nationofchange.org | 2019-12-14
"Zero-emission trucks and buses are better for the environment and health, while reducing fueling and maintenance costs."
nationofchange.org/2019/12/14/eight-stat…

10 ex-NFL players accused of defrauding healthcare program
Michael Balsamo | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-13
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 …
peoplesworld.org/article/10-ex-nfl-playe…

A Plague on Both Their Houses, Plus a Dozen Poxes on Trump's
Andrew Levine | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-13
Nancy Pelosi should thank Donald Trump for helping her get over a bad case of IAS, Impeachment Aversion Syndrome. We all should. Had she not come down with that malady years ago, after the 2006 midterm election made her Speaker of the House the first time, she could now be looking forward, when the time…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/13/a-plague-on-…

'Air bridge' vaccination operation begins for Ebola-hit communities in DR Congo
news.un.org | 2019-12-13
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.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

The Science of Lethality
Joan Roelofs | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-13
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.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/13/the-science-…

Outrage After South Carolina Gets Trump OK to Attack Medicaid With Work Requirement Policy
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-12-13
Instead of addressing the "alarming increase in the number of uninsured children across the country," the state chose to put up "more barriers to coverage that will worsen this trend." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/12/13/outrage…

South Sudan famine threat: UN food security agency in 'race against time'
news.un.org | 2019-12-12
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.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

Nurses: Medicare For All means health won't depend on your wealth
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-12
WASHINGTON–When a baby in California named Evan became very ill 10 years ago, his single mother lacked the money to take him to the doctor and foot the bill for the needed co-pay. So she called her mother, Evan's grandmother, a registered nurse, for advice. The grandmother listened to the symptoms and told her daughter …
peoplesworld.org/article/nurses-medicare…

Universal Health Coverage will 'drive progress' on 2030 Development Agenda
news.un.org | 2019-12-11
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.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

"Shame!" Indigenous Leaders & Delegates from Global South Stage Dramatic Protest at COP25 in Madrid
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-11
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.
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/11/cop25_wa…

Samoa measles outbreak claims 70 lives, majority are children under five
news.un.org | 2019-12-10
Seventy people have now died from Samoa's measles outbreak, UN humanitarians confirmed on Tuesday, as the organization released emergency funding to help the authorities step up efforts to eradicate the preventable disease.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…

Three Ways the "Fairness for All Act" Doesn't Protect LGBTQ People from Discrimination
Ian S. Thompson | aclu.org | 2019-12-09
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…
aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/three-ways-the…

Warren's Head Tax Is Not More Popular Than A Payroll Tax
Matt Bruenig | peoplespolicyproject.org | 2019-11-17
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…
peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/11/17/warr…

CAP's Topher Spiro Is Trying to Deceive Journalists By Lying
Matt Bruenig | peoplespolicyproject.org | 2019-11-17
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…
peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/11/17/caps…