(2019-12-17). Around 9,000 nurses to take strike action in the north of Ireland. thecanary.co 
A last-ditch meeting is aiming to prevent around 9,000 nurses from taking the UK's first 12-hour strike action over pay on Wednesday.The unprecedented walkout in the north of Ireland will see them leave wards with the solidarity of thousands of other healthcare workers.Stormont's political parties are expected to meet the head of the civil service at Stormont in an appeal for more cash.Unison union regional secretary Patricia McKeown said: "As we enter this significant period in the industrial struggle the consequences lay firmly on the shoulders of the UK government, our elected politicians and the leadership of…
(2019-12-17). Why Are Democrats So Afraid of Medicare for All? truthdig.com We might expect that corporate billionaires and Koch-funded Republican right-wingers would be howl-at-the-moon opponents of a wealth tax, Medicare-for-All, and other big progressive ideas to help improve the circumstances of America's workaday majority. | But Democrats, too? Unfortunately, yes. Not grassroots activists, but a gaggle of don't-rock-the-corporate-boat, fraidy-cat elected Democrats. | These naysayers are the party's old-line politicians, lobbyists, and other insider elites who are now screeching that Democratic candidates must back off those big proposals. | Why? Because, they squawk, being so bold,…
(2019-12-17). Don't Deny My Patients! 4,000 NUHW CA Kaiser Healthcare Workers Start 5 Day Strike. indybay.org 4,000 NUHW Kaiser mental healthcare workers launched a 5 day unfair labor practice strike to protest the deaths of patients, failure to properly treat patients and also the stress and high turnover of mental healthcare staff…
(2019-12-17). While the Northern Ireland health service is in crisis, a DUP MP wants Boris Johnson to build a bridge to Scotland. thecanary.co As the health crisis worsens in the north of Ireland, DUP MP Sammy Wilson has called on Boris Johnson to build a bridge between the north and Scotland. According to Wilson, this would help Johnson "win back the trust" of the DUP. But the response from people living in the north is clear — it's healthcare that matters, not bridges.Stormont talks: On 15 Dec…
(2019-12-17). Wisconsin: Medicaid to cover gender-confirming medical procedures. fightbacknews.org Kenosha, WI – As of December 10, Wisconsin is now one of the 20 states that cover medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries. People in need of these procedures will receive coverage under the state's Medicaid healthcare plan. This development comes after state officials allowed the time frame to lapse for an appeal of the 2018 lawsuit that initiated the whole process. | This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysp…
(2019-12-17). House Passes $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill. truthdig.com WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House voted Tuesday to pass a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package, handing President Donald Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence while giving Democrats spending increases across a swath of domestic programs. | The hard-fought legislation also funds a record Pentagon budget and is serving as a must-pass legislative locomotive to tow an unusually large haul of unrelated provisions into law, including an expensive repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans, help for retired coal miners, and an increase from 18 to 21 in nationwide legal age t…
(2019-12-17). Plastics Chemicals Are Disrupting Our Hormones, and the FDA Is Dragging Its Feet. truthout.org Bisphenol A is likely coursing through your body right now. Every day, you're inadvertently consuming and absorbing trace amounts as it migrates from can and bottle linings into your food and drink, and from thermal paper receipts onto your skin. | Scientists have found BPA in more than 90 percent of Americans tested. Yet whether exposures to such small amounts of the common chemical…
(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). Chilean NGO Detects Caustic Soda in Water Used by Riot Police. telesurenglish.net Chile's Association of Doctors, Pharmaceutical Chemists, and the 'Health Resistance Movement' (Movimiento Salud en Resistencia) reported Monday that traces of caustic soda and pepper spray compounds has been found in a sample of water launched by riot police against demonstrators. | RELATED: | Chilean President's Disapproval Rating Jumps to 79 Percent | The report says that the compound is "highly corrosive to direct contact" and is "outside any legal norm regarding the use of riot…
(2019-12-16). 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). 91 US Fortune 500 Companies Paid $0 in Income Tax in 2018: Report. telesurenglish.net More than 90 big, successful and lucrative United States corporations, listed on the Fortune 500 list paid zero dollars in federal income taxes in 2018, according to a report published Monday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). | RELATED: | UK Government Gives Health NHS Data to Amazon For Free | Among the more than 90 companies, ranked in the 500 of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years, are famous corporate giants such…
(2019-12-16). Argentina New Gov't Presents 1st Major Set of Economic Measures. telesurenglish.net Argentina's government will send its emergency economic bill to Congress Tuesday, which will include proposals to revise agriculture export, overseas transactions and personal property taxes, as new President Alberto Fernandez seeks funds to save a highly indebted and stalled economy. | RELATED: | Argentina to Declare Economic, Health, Social Emergencies | The '
(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.
(2019-12-13). '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.
(2019-12-12). 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.
(2019-12-04). 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.
(2019-11-17). 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 …