Monday, September 9, 2019 Independent journalism is key to exposing corporate and government wrongdoing. Want to support this work? Make a tax-deductible donation to Truthout.
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Populism Is Not the Answer to Neoliberal Fascism Henry A. Giroux, Truthout With populism growing on the far right, those attempting to defend liberal democracy are looking to a left-wing populism to save the day. But populism narrows the scope of power to the role of leaders and risks pitting groups against each other, which on the left often means pitting class against race. Populism also weakens the politics of resistance and undermines the building of a mass anti-capitalist movement.
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Post-Dorian Refugees Fleeing Bahamas Ordered Off Ferry Bound for U.S. Julia Conley, Common Dreams Hundreds of Bahamian refugees were ordered off a ferry headed for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, from Freeport in the Bahamas days after Hurricane Dorian pummeled the islands, leaving at least 44 people dead and tens of thousands without homes. However, under Customs and Border Protection protocol, Bahamians are regularly permitted to enter the U.S. with just a passport and a clean criminal record.
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Government-Granted Patent Monopolies Are Driving Up Drug Prices Dean Baker, Truthout We will spend roughly $460 billion in 2019 on prescription drugs because of government-granted patent monopolies. In a truly free market, where all patents were in the public domain, these drugs would likely sell for less than $80 billion. Plus, without the lure of big patent monopoly profits, manufacturers would have no incentive to lie about the benefits or harms of a drug, as they did with opioids.
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Puerto Rican Fight Lives On in People's Assemblies Locally and in Diaspora Jack Aponte, Truthout The years of political organizing that laid the groundwork for last summer's protests leading to Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation is giving strength to a new form of political engagement. The burgeoning people's assemblies are drawing Puerto Ricans from across the political spectrum, and throughout the archipelago and diaspora, into a movement that has the potential to transform Puerto Rican society and politics far beyond deposing any particular politician.
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Trump Calls Off Peace Talks With Taliban Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! This weekend, President Trump publicly called off a secret meeting at Camp David with the Taliban and the president of Afghanistan that supposedly aimed to end the 18-year war. However, activists note, the talks were likely a charade from the start.
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Betsy DeVos Is Abandoning Students Seeking Loan Forgiveness Lisa Needham, The American Independent Institute In 2007, Congress passed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program with bipartisan support. If students choose public service jobs, such as being a firefighter or teacher, and make 120 on-time payments against their student loans, the balance is supposed to be forgiven. The first group became eligible for forgiveness in 2017. However, very few applications have been approved.
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Consultants Are Biggest Winners in Latest Political Fundraising Scheme Jessica Piper, Center for Responsive Politics Joint fundraising committees are growing increasingly common as candidates and parties seek out big checks from wealthy donors. But while millions of dollars might flow into these committees on a single night, some of them fail to pass along much of this money to the campaigns for which they are supposedly fundraising.
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Political Maneuvering Derailed a Red State's Path to Medicaid Expansion Lauren Weber, Kaiser Health News Kansas remains one of the 14 states not to have expanded Medicaid, which helps disabled or lower-income people. It joined the ranks of Wisconsin and North Carolina, where fellow Democratic governors have not been able to overcome maneuvering by GOP-controlled legislatures to push through an expansion plan.
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The Future of U.S. Jobs Looks Bleak. Unions Are the Answer. Heidi Shierholz, In These Times Newly released numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics project that 6 of the 10 occupations expected to have the most total job growth over the next decade pay less than $27,000 a year. The low earnings in these fast-growing jobs provide a grim glimpse into what the future of work in the United States could look like if nothing changes.
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In Case You Missed It
Major U.S. Insurer Says It Will No Longer Underwrite and Invest in Coal Elana Sulakshana, Truthout We may not immediately consider insurance as a key driver of climate change, but insurance companies provide a crucial service to dangerous fossil fuel projects. But now, that may be changing. Earlier this summer, Chubb, the largest commercial insurance company in the U.S., became the first major U.S. insurer to adopt a policy restricting coal insurance.
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Marcus Deon Smith Was Killed 1 Year Ago by Police. His Life Still Matters. Flint Taylor, Truthout One year ago at midnight, a 38-year-old Black man named Marcus Deon Smith was restrained by eight Greensboro, North Carolina, police officers in a violent hogtying. Smith was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly thereafter, and officials launched a full-blown cover-up that continues to this day. Smith's family, along with several community organizations, is continuing to fight for accountability.
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