2021-02-26: News Headlines

Ron Jacobs (2021-02-26). Health Care and Colonialism: A Sickness unto Death. counterpunch.org Nothing is immune from the stain of colonialism and its associated phenomena of racism. This includes the practice of medicine. Whether one is considering the inequality of medical care between the global north and south, the unevenness of medical care inside imperial nations stemming from those nations' colonial history, or the racist attitudes still endemic

Mike Walter (2021-02-26). The Heat: One scientist's fight against disease & Racism against Asian-Americans. america.cgtn.com As the pandemic continues to take its toll, we'll talk to one of America's leading science pioneers. Plus — what's behind the alarming rise in violence against Asian Americans?>

Deirdre Cooper Owens (2021-02-27). [Perspectives] Listening to Black women saves Black lives. thelancet.com I am one of two African American women who are endowed professors in the history of medicine in the USA. I am the only African American woman directing a traditional medical humanities programme in the USA. When I accepted my position in 2019 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I did not know I would step into a position that would make me a historical first. Since this time, I have become preoccupied with learning about Black women who are "firsts" within the annals of US histories of medicine.

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-26). Imagining Palestine: On Barghouti, Darwish, Kanafani and the Language of Exile. counterpunch.org For Palestinians, exile is not simply the physical act of being removed from their homes and their inability to return. It is not a casual topic pertaining to politics and international law, either. Nor is it an ethereal notion, a sentiment, a poetic verse. It is all of this, combined. The death in Amman of

UUSF (2021-02-26). Sunday 3/7: Not A Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure. indybay.org Join Zoom Meeting | zoom.us/j/2200241232?pwd=aCt1dWI0OGxUdUx… | Meeting ID: 220 024 1232 | Passcode: 328697 | Dial by your location | +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)…

Ahmed Abdulkareem (2021-02-26). Futile: Saudi's Decade-Long Attempt to Bottle Up Yemeni Youth Revolution is Failing. mintpressnews.com "Saudi Arabia has crushed our revolution, turned our lives into hell because our uprising was interpreted by the ruling family as a threat to [their] influence and because of their fear of the revolution spreading to the Saudi interior." — Yemeni artist Aisha Ali Saeed…

Vijay Prashad (2021-02-26). Your privileges are not Universal. mronline.org Stencilled in red on the walls of Santiago, Chile is a statement of fact: 'your privileges are not universal' (tus privilegios no son universales).

Diego Sanchez (2021-02-26). El Monte taco vendors and community: 'LA County Department of Public Health, stop harassing us!'. liberationnews.org Community members gathered on Feb. 13 in front of the El Monte Police Department in solidarity with local street vendors. This action comes a week after a violent attack by an LA County health inspector and EMPD on the Los Palomos taco stand. Community members and organizations such as ACAB El Monte, Revolutionary Socialists for …

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-26). US strike on several locations inside Syria draws global criticism. peoplesdispatch.org US president Joe Biden authorized the airstrikes as a response to the recent attacks on US military bases in Iraq. The move is being criticized by anti-war and progressive sections as a sign of continuation of Trump-era policies in the region…

John Bachtell (2021-02-26). Haaland on track to make history as first Native American cabinet secretary. peoplesworld.org "This is all of our country, this is our mother. You've heard the Earth referred to as Mother Earth. It's difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land, and I feel that every Indigenous person in this country understands that," said Rep. Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden's nominee to be Secretary of Interior. "It's …

Staff (2021-02-26). Battleground Baltimore: Maryland shows solidarity with unionizing Amazon workers. therealnews.com Amazon workers rally in Baltimore County, the LEOBR could survive attempts to weaken it, City Councilperson Ryan Dorsey feuds with the FOP, and more.

Greg Kearney (2021-02-26). When it comes to COVID, why aren't Republicans 'pro-life' anymore? peoplesworld.org Read:

Ted Kelly (2021-02-26). Biden sends B-1 bombers to Norway, threatens Russia. workers.org The U.S. Air Force announced during February that it is sending four B-1 bombers and at least 200 personnel to Orland Air Base on the central coast of Norway. Pentagon officials made no secret of the fact that the deployment is meant as a threat to Russia, which is well . . . |

Rob Urie (2021-02-26). Capitalism and Political Violence at Home and Abroad. counterpunch.org Question: why do both conservative and liberal governments in the U.S. install right-wing governments abroad if 'the U.S.' opposes right-wing political violence? While right and left politics may seem to have limited descriptive value in many current conflicts, the interests of capital, broadly considered, represent an unwavering motive for them. Why then would military conflict

Eds. (2021-02-26). Hundreds of law students announce boycott of Chevron law firm Seward & Kissel for "unethical" private prosecution of human rights attorney Steven Donziger. mronline.org Students from over 50 leading U.S. law schools—including Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and New York University—have announced a recruiting boycott of a prominent Chevron law firm to protest its "unethical" private prosecution of U.S. human rights lawyer Steven Donziger after he helped win a $9.5 billion pollution judgment against Chevron.

Tony Pecinovsky (2021-02-26). Alphaeus Hunton: A life devoted to equality, liberation, and internationalism. peoplesworld.org In a November 1950 article in Paul Robeson's newspaper Freedom, the scholar-activist Alphaeus Hunton noted that "the most reactionary minority of the American people," the U.S. ruling class, "has advanced from its role of silent partner of the Western European imperialist powers." No longer "content with arming and financing their wars against the colonial revolutionaries," …

David Yearsley (2021-02-26). Now He Sings, Now We Sob. counterpunch.org The title of Chick Corea's Now He Sings, Now He Sobs evokes both the bipolar energy of the album's birthyear of 1968 and the piano's function as an emotional sounding board for the pianist. From its invention in the eighteenth century, and increasingly across the century that followed, the piano was the beating heart of

National Committee for Justice in Denver (2021-02-26). Activists who forced Elijah McClain investigation facing retaliation, decades in prison. liberationnews.org This statement was issued by the newly-formed National Committee for Justice in Denver. To support their work, you can sign the petition demanding the charges be dropped or make an urgently-needed donation. An explosive new report finds Aurora, CO cops who tortured and killed Elijah McClain had no cause to detain or choke him; corrupt …

Eds. (2021-02-26). The Pandemic: Half a million lives lost in U.S., more than the two World Wars and Vietnam War combined. mronline.org Over half a million people have died of coronavirus in the U.S. Grasping the enormity—half a million people gone—is difficult to visualize.

Patricia Gorky (2021-02-26). Exposed: McDonald's surveillance operation spies on employees organizing for a living wage. liberationnews.org New reports show that McDonald's has spied on workers "for years" in their effort to combat the Fight for $15 movement that has been struggling for a living wage for nearly a decade. According to documents leaked to Motherboard, McDonald's hired a team of global intelligence analysts to identify and surveil workers and labor leaders …

Michael T. Klare (2021-02-26). Biden, Climate Change, and China: A New Cold War equals A Scalding Planet. juancole.com ( Tomdispatch.com ) — Slowing the pace of climate change and getting "tough" on China, especially over its human-rights abuses and unfair trade practices, are among the top priorities President Biden has announced for his new administration. Evidently, he believes that he can tame a rising China with harsh pressure tactics, while still gaining its …

Rob Urie (2021-02-26). Capitalism and Political Violence at Home and Abroad. counterpunch.org Question: why do both conservative and liberal governments in the U.S. install right-wing governments abroad if 'the U.S.' opposes right-wing political violence? While right and left politics may seem to have limited descriptive value in many current conflicts, the interests of capital, broadly considered, represent an unwavering motive for them. Why then would military conflict

Staff (2021-02-26). Biden's team won't end the forever wars. therealnews.com From Afghanistan to Niger, the "new normal" of American warfare shows no signs of changing course under President Biden and his hawkish national security team. In this episode of "The Marc Steiner Show," combat veteran and writer Danny Sjursen issues a dire warning about American military policy. Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner …

Staff (2021-02-26). Filming the police is legal, but that doesn't stop them from arresting people for it. therealnews.com Another Ohio resident has been arrested under the dubious charge of "misconduct during an emergency," which has been used again by Ohio police to incarcerate another person who filmed them in action.

Mark Gruenberg, C.J. Atkins (2021-02-26). Biden's economic rescue plan advances, but minimum wage hike more uncertain. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON (PAI)—Congressional supporters of a $15 minimum wage are not backing down, despite a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian Thursday night that the hike cannot be part of a reconciliation package in the upper chamber. The reconciliation procedure—which lets tax and budget legislation proceed with a simple majority—would have allowed the wage hike to pass …

Michael T. Klare (2021-02-26). A New Cold War on a Scalding Planet: Biden, Climate Change, and China. counterpunch.org Slowing the pace of climate change and getting "tough" on China, especially over its human-rights abuses and unfair trade practices, are among the top priorities President Biden has announced for his new administration. Evidently, he believes that he can tame a rising China with harsh pressure tactics, while still gaining its cooperation in areas of concern

Wayne Nealis (2021-02-26). George Floyd justice coalition puts officials on notice before Chauvin trial. peoplesworld.org MINNEAPOLIS—At a press conference held in Minneapolis on Feb. 25, a coalition of groups demanding justice for George Floyd reminded city and state officials that they will fill the streets March 8 on the opening day of the murder trial of former officer Derek Chauvin. They put the city on notice that no matter how …

Jeremy Levine (2021-02-26). Massive thousand-car caravan protests unsafe reopening of Montgomery County schools in Maryland. liberationnews.org Photo: Car that participated in the caravan On Feb. 23, the parking lot at the Montgomery County Public Schools central office in Maryland swarmed with car horns, brightly colored signs, and shouts as thousands rallied outside a closed session meeting of the Board of Education (BOE). Among the participants were residents, parents and teachers' union …

Jonah Raskin (2021-02-26). What Lawrence Ferlinghetti Means to Me. counterpunch.org The anarchist, pacifist poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whom I knew for forty years was shy and introverted, even while he was a public figure who wanted to be recognized and appreciated as an artist. A decade older than me, he cared deeply about his friends in the city, in Bolinas and in Big Sur. He also valued his own privacy. At events at the San Francisco public library, where he stood out from the crowd, he often meant to be witty, but his one liners would fall flat. He took many of the changes in San Francisco—the arrival of the dot comers, the Google buses, the influx of wealth, the price of real estate…

Andrew Levine (2021-02-26). "America is Back": Make the Best of It. counterpunch.org America is back; Joe Biden says so. Therefore, it must be true. He seems as pleased as can be about it too. So is the entire political class, except for the miscreants wedded to Donald Trump or to rightwing views, distinguished mainly by their vileness and stupidity. There are alarmingly many Americans who hold those

Eds. (2021-02-26). Catastrophe and Utopia: Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Ministry for the Future'. mronline.org We need no longer speculate about whether we live in a climate emergency. The scientific verdict has been out for some time now, each year's report grimmer than the last.

Cameron Orr (2021-02-26). 'We're not going back': N.Y. Black History event featuring Gerald Horne, Feb. 28. peoplesworld.org NEW YORK—In celebration of African-American culture and struggle, People's World will be supporting an online event broadcast from New York by the We're Not Going Back Host Committee this Sunday, Feb. 28th at 6: 30pm. This years' installment of the annual event will feature historian Gerald Horne as its keynote speaker. Dr. Horne, a prolific author …

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (2021-02-26). Mitch Jones on Texas Freeze-Outs, Joe Torres on News for All the People. fair.org New York Times ( This week on CounterSpin: As Texans continue to deal with impacts of a deadly combination of frigid weather and power outages, the New York Times

Jordan Woll (2021-02-26). Biden bombs Syria: "Self-defense" or an act of war? liberationnews.org President Joe Biden engaged in his first high-profile military operation yesterday, launching an airstrike on Syria that left as many as 22 dead. This attack appears to have targeted facilities, equipment and fighters of Iraqi resistance organizations affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, one of the main groups responsible for liberating much of Iraq from …

Kim Petersen (2021-02-26). North Korea Steadfastly Resisting US Hegemony. dissidentvoice.org I learned a while back to be especially skeptical of western mass media and their governments.1 My experience of life in China is nothing like how western demonization portrays it to be. Therefore, I looked forward to the chance to experience North Korea first hand. I traveled there with a Chinese group departing China. Starting …

The Conversation (2021-02-26). Facebook's news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web. juancole.com By Jennifer Grygiel | — When Facebook disabled Australians' access to news articles on its platform, and blocked sharing of articles from Australian news organizations, the company moved a step closer to killing the World Wide Web — the hyperlink-based system of freely connecting online sites created in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Though the …

Viviana Weinstein (2021-02-26). Denver protest: 'No war on Iran!'. workers.org Feb. 20, Denver.Denver Students for a Democratic Society, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Denver Peace Council held a demonstration Feb. 20 at the state capital, in cooperation with the national call to prevent Washington from instigating a war against Iran. Threats the U.S. warships would move into the Persian/Arabian . . . |

C.J. Atkins (2021-02-26). àÅlvaro Cunhal's prison novel 'The Six-Pointed Star'—A chat with the translator. peoplesworld.org Editor's note: Eric Gordon is translating several fictional works written by Portuguese Communist Party leader àÅlvaro Cunhal under the pseudonym Manuel Tiago. The Six-Pointed Star is the second in what is hoped to be a series of works put out in English for the first time by International Publishers. Below is an interview between People's …

Marilyn Bechtel (2021-02-26). Calif. essential workers and supporters call for extended COVID-related sick leave. peoplesworld.org Essential workers, labor advocates, and legislators are joining together to urge the California legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom to act immediately to expand emergency paid sick days and paid family and medical leave protection for workers in the state's 2021-2022 early action budget. Both federal and California emergency paid sick leave mandates on employers expired …

The Socialist Program (2021-02-26). Their Protest Forced Investigation on Elijah McClain Police Killing; Now They Face Decades in Prison. liberationnews.org A damning new independent investigation into the police murder of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado has been released, but the only people facing charges so far in this case are the activists who led the movement for justice for Elijah McClain.

Roger Harris (2021-02-26). Joe Biden's US Foreign Policy: Return to the Old Normal? counterpunch.org US President Biden bellicosely proclaimed, "American is back," in his major foreign policy priorities speech at the Munich Security Conference on February 19. Repeated twice for effect, Biden signaled the end of the Trump interregnum. No more assuring words could have been uttered for George W. Bush's former Defense Secretary Colin Powell and the 70 odd Republican national security officials, who wrote an open letter endorsing Biden out of fear that Trump would upset the bipartisan foreign policy consensus of regime change, forever wars, and the NATO alliance. Republican neo-cons now shelter in the Democrat's big…

C.J. Atkins (2021-02-26). Mismatch: Biden bombs Syria while pushing progressive economic bill at home. peoplesworld.org An old dichotomy that's haunted many Democratic administrations—pushing ostensibly progressive economic and social policies at home in the U.S. while pursuing imperialist aims abroad—has returned. In airstrikes characterized as "retaliatory action," the U.S. military on Feb. 25 bombed buildings in Syria near the Iraq border that were reportedly being used by Islamist militia groups for …

Workers World Party (2021-02-26). Tell Biden: Stop bombing Syria! workers.org It has taken only 36 days in office for the Biden administration to show the world, through a bombing attack on Syria, that it is belligerent, aggressive and hell-bent on war. There was only a short respite from Trump's vile words and actions. Now we have to face Biden's vile . . . |

Suadad al-Salhy (2021-02-26). Iran-backed Iraqi factions seeking de-escalation after US attack. middleeasteye.net Iran-backed Iraqi factions seeking de-escalation after US attack | Despite Kataeb Hezbollah's attempts to drum up outrage, most Shia armed groups want to move on from Syria strike as soon as possible | Fri, 02/26/2021 – 15: 57 | Iraqis attend a funeral procession in Baghdad of Hashed al-Shaabi fighters, who were killed in US air strikes on the border with Syria in 2019 (AFP) | Most Iran-backe…

MEE staff (2021-02-26). Biden launches deadly air strikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria. middleeasteye.net Biden launches deadly air strikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria | At least 17 pro-Iran fighters reported dead in strikes made in response to rocket attacks against US-led coalition forces in Iraq | Fri, 02/26/2021 – 02: 10 | Biden had vowed to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, but the two countries remain at a diplomatic impasse (AFP/File photo) | Deadly US air raids targeted the positions of Iran-backe…

MEE staff (2021-02-26). US launches air strikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria. middleeasteye.net US launches air strikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria | Pentagon says raids were authorised by President Biden in response to rocket attacks against US-led coalition forces in Iraq | Fri, 02/26/2021 – 02: 10 | President Biden had vowed to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, but the two countries remain at a diplomatic impasse (AFP/File photo) | US air raids targeted the positions of Iran-backed armed grou…

Azad Essa (2021-02-26). US lawmakers question legality of Biden's air strikes in Syria. middleeasteye.net US lawmakers question legality of Biden's air strikes in Syria | Prominent Democratic lawmakers seek justification from Biden administration over US air strikes, with some complaining of overreach | Fri, 02/26/2021 – 16: 17 | "> | US lawmakers have asked the administration of President Joe Biden to provide legal justification for its decision to launch air strikes on military targe…

Rayhan Uddin (2021-02-26). BeIN Sports takes Fenerbahce to court after months of tension. middleeasteye.net BeIN Sports takes Fenerbahce to court after months of tension | Qatari broadcaster launches legal action against Turkish football club for its protest campaign against the network | Fri, 02/26/2021 – 15: 00 | Mesut Ozil wears a "BeFair" training jersey on 21 February 2021, as part of Fenerbahce's campaign against the broadcaster BeIN Sports (Reuters) | Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports is taking legal ac…

RT (2021-02-27). NYT columnist faces conflict of interest accusations after singing praise for Facebook 'Groups' feature in tech giant's blog post. rt.com New York Times writer David Brooks has come under fire for a potential conflict of interest after penning a blog post for Facebook's corporate site while a project he helped to found accepted money from the social media giant. | A

Joe Glenton (2021-02-26). Tories investigating councillor for 'life time criminal, high on drugs' comments disparaging Black Lives Matter. thecanary.co A Tory councillor is being investigated by his party over his comments on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. | Portsmouth's The News Smith is said to have posted a comment in relations to athletes taking a knee during a recent England Vs Scotland Rugby match. The Conservative politician posted: Why are all the Scottish player…