American Anomie
Chris Hedges | truthdig.com | 2018-09-24
The French sociologist Emile Durkheim in his classic book " On Suicide" examined the disintegration of social bonds that drive individuals and societies to personal and collective acts of self-destruction. He found that when social bonds are strong, individuals achieve a healthy balance between individual initiative and communal solidarity, which he called a "life-sustaining equilibrium." These individuals and communities have the lowest rates of suicide. The individuals and societies most susceptible to self-destruction, he wrote, are those for whom these bonds, this equilibrium, have been shattered. | Societies are held together by a web of social bonds that give individuals a sense of being part of a collective and engaged in a project larger than the self. This collective expresses itself through rituals, such as elections and democratic participation or an appeal to patriotism, and shared national beliefs. The bonds…
truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/
China's Arch of Peace Vessel Docks in Venezuela for Health Mission
TeleSur English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-09-24
A Chinese hospital ship has arrived in Venezuela as part of the recently signed agreements between the nations.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14063
Koch-Funded Think Tank at Public University Uses Private Email Server, Because Of Course It Does
David Dayen | theintercept.com | 2018-09-22
We asked for records related to its "Medicare for All" study, and learned that the university doesn't have access to the Mercatus Center email server. | The post Koch-Funded Think Tank at Public University Uses Private Email Server, Because Of Course It Does appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/09/22/mercatus-cen…
There's Nothing Natural About Puerto Rico's Disaster
Naomi Klein | theintercept.com | 2018-09-21
Alma Morales Rosario poses for a portrait between the beams of her home being rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria one year ago in the San Lorenzo neighborhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 8, 2018. | textbook example. Before those fierce winds came, the debt — illegitimate and much of it illegal — was the excuse used to ram through a brutal program of economic suffering, what the great Argentine author Rodolfo Walsh, writing about four decades earlier, famously called miseria planificada, planned misery. | This program systematically attacked the very glue that holds a society together: all levels of education, health care, the electricity and water systems, transit systems, communication networks, and more. | It was a plan so widely rejected that no elected representatives could be trusted to carry it out. Which is…
theintercept.com/2018/09/21/puerto-rico-…
Department of Health and Human Services lost track of another 1,500 immigrant children
wsws | wsws.org | 2018-09-21
In addition to the "lost" children, funds are being diverted from AIDS and cancer research to jail immigrant children and ICE held nearly 1,500 US citizens as "aliens."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/09/21/immi…
South Carolina: Two Women from Mental Health Facility Drown in Flood During Transport by Deputies
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-09-20
Two women being transported by sheriff's deputies to a mental health facility drowned Tuesday in South Carolina when the van they were riding in was overcome by floodwaters. The two sheriff's deputies in the vehicle survived. Forty-five-year-old Windy Newton and 43-year-old Nicolette Green are two of at least 37 people killed by Hurricane Florence since the storm made landfall. Both women had gone to hospitals Tuesday morning when they were involuntarily committed and detained. Less than 24 hours later, they were dead. "There are a lot of questions remaining about why this had to occur then, why there couldn't ha…
www.democracynow.org/2018/9/20/south_car…
Rev. William Barber: Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court Would Endanger Rights of Women, Workers & Voters
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-09-19
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh have cast doubt on whether President Trump's Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed by the Senate. "The process was bad from the beginning," says Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach. "We are poised to have two presidents that did not win the popular vote, now will have appointed four extreme members to the Supreme Court." Barber says Kavanaugh will be dangerous to voting rights, to labor rights, to healthcare and to women's rights.
www.democracynow.org/2018/9/19/rev_willi…
New Bill Would Ensure No Woman Is Forced to Give Birth in Chains
aclu | aclu.org | 2018-09-19
The practice of shackling pregnant women who are incarcerated is as shocking as it is widespread. | When a woman becomes pregnant, the nature of her health care by necessity becomes tailored to her being pregnant. This is no less true when a pregnant woman is incarcerated. But corrections officials across the nation would often rather ignore the fact and needs of incarcerated pregnant women than address their health care needs or even their basic rights. For example, pregnant prisoners are often shackled during childbirth in this country as well as put in solitary confinement, practices that are as shocking as th…
aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/women-pri…
For Black College Students, Balancing Activism and Mental Health Takes Work
Brianna Reddick | thenation.com | 2018-09-18
For Black College Students, Balancing Activism and Mental Health Takes Work appeared first on The Nation.
thenation.com/article/for-black-college-…
Make Nutrition an Issue in Food Drives
Dean Cottrill | progressive.org | 2018-09-18
How healthy is the food you donate?
progressive.org/op-eds/make-nutrition-an…
SPLC: Alabama's prison system violated court order to increase mental health staffing
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2018-09-18
The SPLC will argue in court today that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) violated a federal court order to provide more mental health workers for people who are incarcerated in the state's prison system.
splcenter.org/news/2018/09/18/splc-alaba…
Venezuela Denounces Regional Anti-Migrant 'Xenophobia' as Brazil Militarises Border
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-08-30
The Maduro administration contrasted the recent attacks against Venezuelan migrants to its own open door policy which has seen foreigners benefit from free health, housing, education, and food programs.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14023