Daily Archives: March 16, 2021

2021-03-16: News Headlines

Jim Miles (2021-03-16). "Bible and Sword": England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour. globalresearch.ca Part of history is reading historical documents, and it is in …

MEE staff (2021-03-16). Israel sentences 14-year-old Palestinian boy to two months in prison. middleeasteye.net Israel sentences 14-year-old Palestinian boy to two months in prison | Abdullah Obaid handed himself to Israeli authorities after being accused of throwing stones at police | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 14: 19 | Abdullah Obaid, 14, hugs his mother farewell before handing himself to an Israeli detention centre in West Jerusalem, 16 March 2021 (Screengrab) | An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced a 14-year-old Palestinian…

The Palestinian Feminist Collective (2021-03-16). Press Release: Pledge that Palestine is a Feminist Issue. indybay.org Today the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC) launches a pledge and open letter asking US women and feminist organizations, social and racial justice organizations, and people of conscience to adopt Palestinian liberation as a critical feminist issue. The pledge lists six concrete steps and commitments the Collective proposes to advance a truly intersectional and decolonial feminist vision in Palestine. These include pledging support for Palestinian rights to free speech and political organizing, the rejection of the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, the endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, and…

Lexi McMenamin (2021-03-16). Protecting Pro-Palestine Activists Can Feel Almost Impossible—but These Students Succeeded. thenation.com Protecting Pro-Palestine Activists Can Feel Almost Impossible—but These Students Succeeded…

Online News Editor (2021-03-16). Israel displays fragments of newly discovered biblical scrolls. laprensalatina.com Jerusalem, Mar 16 (efe-epa).- Israel on Tuesday displayed fragments of a thousands-year-old biblical scroll discovered in a cave in the Judean Desert, the first to be found in archeological excavations since the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scroll, written in ancient Greek and containing portions of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, including the books …

Global Research News (2021-03-16). Selected Articles: Ten Years Ago: The US-NATO-Israel Sponsored Al Qaeda Insurgency in Syria. globalresearch.ca By It was not a protest movement,…

Steve Gillis (2021-03-16). Boston School Bus Drivers Union blasts bosses' reopening schemes. workers.org In direct confrontation with the U.S. ruling class' monolithic drive to "reopen" schools and businesses, even as the pandemic continues to rage, Boston School Bus Drivers picketed their employer, Transdev, March 9. They gave voice to the outrage of frontline workers over this dangerous gamble with the lives of both . . . |

Patrick Cockburn (2021-03-16). Test and Trace is the Dead Elephant in the Room. counterpunch.org As Britain enters a post-pandemic era, its struggle with Covid-19 reveals a country that is a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, Britain has developed, manufactured and distributed effective vaccines quicker than any other nation. On the other, it has constructed the biggest gravy train in British history, one that pays

A Guest Author (2021-03-16). New York Boricua Resistance: No International Working Women's Day without trans women. workers.org This statement was co-written by Alicia Rodriguez and Gabriela Malespin of New York Boricua Resistance and presented by Malespin during the March 13 webinar sponsored by New York City-based International Working Women's Day Coalition. The webinar was entitled "Women and oppressed-gender workers rise up: The real pandemic is capitalism. The . . . |

Michael K. Emerson (2021-03-16). Sanitized Tyranny: The Weaponization of Truth. dissidentvoice.org On Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol Hill "insurrection", the Parler social media app was the number #1 most downloaded app in the Apple App Store. On "January 10, 2021, Parler CEO John Matze announced the company had been 'dropped by virtually all of its business alliances after Amazon, Apple and Google ended …

Minnie Bruce Pratt (2021-03-16). °Los trabajadores no son robots! Racismo, aceleración de la alta tecnología y la campaña sindical de la Amazon. workers.org Una campaña de organización histórica está en marcha en Bessemer, Alabama, en el almacén de Amazon BHM1. Casi 6.000 trabajadores, en su mayoría negros, casi la mitad mujeres, están decidiendo si unirse al Sindicato de Minoristas, Mayoristas y Grandes Tiendas (RWDSU siglas en ingles). La votación continúa hasta el 29 . . . |

Angely Mercado, Naveena Sadasivam (2021-03-16). A record 6 Native Americans elected to Congress, here's where they stand on climate. peoplesworld.org Indigenous peoples have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change. Though they make up just 5 percent of the world's population, their lands encompass more than 80 percent of global biodiversity. Indigenous lands are also at greatest risk from the multiple threats posed by climate change: rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, …

Staff (2021-03-16). Immigrant Advocate: Unaccompanied Minors Are Not a "Border Crisis" But a Humanitarian Crisis. democracynow.org Thousands of migrant children seeking refuge are being held in crowded cells amid an increase in asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite claims by Republican lawmakers during a tour of the southern border aimed at warning against rollbacks of Trump's immigration policy, most adults at the border are still being turned away, while the Biden administration is allowing unaccompanied children to cross while their cases are processed. Thousands of the unaccompanied minors are being sent to cities across Texas to be housed and processed, including Dallas, where FEMA will hold as many as 3,000 unaccompanied te…

Ron Jacobs (2021-03-16). Washington in Afghanistan: How Long Must This Go On? counterpunch.org The United States military and mercenary forces need to leave Afghanistan now. Even Donald Trump understood this, at least in public. The US mission was a failure within a year of its 2001 invasion. It could not and cannot reshape the political landscape in that nation. It tried in the 1970s and the 1980s when it created and armed the mujaheddin to fight the Soviet-supported government. It couldn't mold the nation of Afghanistan into a willing client after the Taliban marched into Kabul. It has failed to do so since it invaded the country in 2001 under the pretense of going after Osama bin Laden. To repeat, the U…

Staff (2021-03-16). Vijay Prashad Warns Biden Is "Doubling Down" on Trump's Anti-China Cold War Policy. democracynow.org Beijing has accused the U.S. of perpetuating a Cold War mentality as President Joe Biden and senior administration officials shore up alliances in the Pacific region to counter China's growing influence and increasingly describe the country as a geopolitical threat. Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, says the "bellicose" tone out of Washington is not because the U.S. sees China as a military threat, but because China threatens U.S. dominance in the scientific, technological and diplomatic spheres. "It's very chilling what the U.S. government is doing in ramping up this cold…

Sameena Rahman (2021-03-16). Blood-drenched Bolivian coup leader in prison. liberationnews.org Photo: Demonstration in Fresno, California in solidarity with the Bolivian people's struggle against the coup Bolivian coup leader and former self-proclaimed president Jeanine àÅñez, was arrested on Saturday in the department of Beni, where she was found hiding in a box to avoid detection from authorities. Earlier today, àÅñez made her first appearance in front …

Areeb Ullah (2021-03-16). Yemen: Evidence mounts that Houthis started Sanaa migrant centre fire. middleeasteye.net Yemen: Evidence mounts that Houthis started Sanaa migrant centre fire | A new Human Rights Watch investigation confirms MEE findings that Houthis started a fire that killed scores of people | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 11: 02 | African migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, receive food and water inside a football stadium in the Red Sea port city of Aden, Yemen, on 23 April 2019. (AFP) | New details revealed by Human Ri…

RT (2021-03-16). Biden administration to house up to 3,000 migrant kids in Dallas convention center turned into 'decompression' facility — reports. rt.com The Biden administration reportedly plans to use a Dallas convention center to hold as many as 3,000 migrant teenagers, easing overcrowding in detention facilities as open-borders policies spur a surge in illegal immigration. | Federal agencies will use the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center for up to 90 days, starting as early as this week, to detain 15- to 17-year-old migrant boys, the Associated Press

RT (2021-03-16). US set to face more migrants on Mexico border than in 'last 20 years' — Homeland Security boss. rt.com The US is set to encounter more migrants on its southwestern border than it had over the past 20 years, warns Secretary of Homeland Security, defending Washington's handling of the ongoing influx of unaccompanied child migrants. | The prediction was "The situation we are currently facing at the southwest border is a difficult one. We are tackling it," Mayorka…

Staff (2021-03-16). NY State Senator Alessandra Biaggi Says Cuomo Has Abused His Power for Years & Must Resign. democracynow.org New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls for his resignation after multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Alessandra Biaggi, a New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester, says it's long past time for Cuomo to go and that the many scandals surrounding the governor reveal a consistent pattern. "The governor has not only abused his position of power, but he has used it in a way that is political and as a way to have the executive branch essentially protect himself…

RT (2021-03-16). Biden calls on local preachers & doctors to promote vaccines… dismissing Fauci's appeal for Trump to help get skeptics on board. rt.com President Joe Biden apparently doesn't share his chief Covid-19 adviser's view that Donald Trump would be a "game changer" in promoting vaccines, instead saying local church leaders and doctors would have the biggest impact. | "The thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, what the local preacher, what the local people in the community say," Biden said on Monday of the advice he's getting from staffers. "So I urge all local docs and ministers and priests to talk about why, why it's important to get that vaccine, and even after that until everyone is, i…

RT (2021-03-16). Vanity Fair accuses Trump of KILLING 400,000 people with Covid, Trump supporters want to see the mag sued. rt.com Vanity Fair is seemingly holding Donald Trump responsible for murdering 400,000 Americans with Covid-19. Needless to say, there's no mention of Andrew Cuomo or Joe Biden. Some suggested a libel suit might teach the mag a lesson. | The story begins with Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser to the former president, who on Monday

Qiao Collective (2021-03-16). Race reductionism: Neocolonialism and the ruse of "Chinese privilege" mronline.org MR Online

Evaggelos Vallianatos (2021-03-16). The Crushing Environmental Burden of Greek Tourism. counterpunch.org Tourism is the heavy industry of Greece. It annually earns a fourth of the country's income. The pestilence year 2020, however, was bad for Greek tourism. In 2020, some 70 percent fewer tourists visited the country. This drastic decline meant less money for debt trapped Greece. Compared to 2019, tourist receipts in 2020 dropped by 78.2 percent.

Justin Podur (2021-03-16). India's Right-Wing Government is So Hungry for Profit It Will Risk a Famine for the Country. counterpunch.org India's right-wing government has been deploying all the modern tools of repression against a historic farmers' protest. Much is at stake. For the people of India, their agricultural system is about to get far more precarious. For its farmers, ruin, and bankruptcy for millions, is all but guaranteed. For the government of Narendra Modi and

CounterPunch News Service (2021-03-16). Centennial Mountain Heli-Skiing. counterpunch.org On Friday, March 12th, Ashton/Island Park District Ranger Liz Davy withdrew the possibility of a permit to allow helicopter skiing in a portion of the Centennial Mountains on the Idaho side of the range for the following reasons: + Research indicates use of helicopters has significant negative impacts to denning grizzly bears, a threatened species.

Thomas Klikauer — Norman Simms (2021-03-16). University Spiralists and Aca-Zombies. counterpunch.org As in many places where the ideology of neoliberalism holds sway, universities have been contaminated with the self-invented business imperatives of neoliberalism. For the better part of the last forty years, the conversion of universities from places where academics and students wanted to go to learn because knowledge was good to have into places to

The Empire Files (2021-03-16). VIDEO: A Guide to US Empire in Africa: Neocolonial Order & AFRICOM. liberationnews.org Abby Martin speaks to Eugene Puryear to discuss the big picture of U.S. imperialism in Africa…

M. Chan, J. Leng (2021-03-16). Bay Area elites attempt to divide and conquer in aftermath of violence against Asian residents. liberationnews.org The violence oppressing both Black and Asian communities is a symptom of capitalism, a system that puts profits over people.

The Conversation (2021-03-16). After the insurrection, America's far-right groups get more extreme. juancole.com By Matthew Valasik and Shannon Reid | — As the U.S. grapples with domestic extremism in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, warnings about more violence are coming from the FBI Director Chris Wray and others. The Conversation asked Matthew Valasik, a sociologist at Louisiana State University, and Shannon E. …

teleSUR Desk (2021-03-16). Court rejects vote recount claimed by Yaku Perez. mronline.org MR Online

Wayne Nealis (2021-03-16). Defense argues Floyd family settlement prejudices potential jury in Chauvin trial. peoplesworld.org MINNEAPOLIS—As had been expected, Erik Nelson, Derek Chauvin's attorney raised questions Monday regarding the timing and impact of the city's $27 million civil settlement with the Floyd family that was announced Friday. Typically, such settlements are announced after the conclusion of a criminal trial. Nelson argued that such pretrial publicity can have prejudicial effect on …

Ted Kelly (2021-03-16). $1.9 Trillion stimulus bill: relief or ripoff? workers.org These slightly edited remarks were made during Workers World Party's March 11 webinar, "Stimulus Bill — Relief or Ripoff?" moderated by Ted Kelly, WWP-Philadelphia. Ted Kelly. Credit: WW PHOTO Ted Kelly: The U.S. Congress passed a bipartisan stimulus bill on March 6. Tonight's roundtable with young revolutionary workers from Workers . . . |

Eds. (2021-03-16). Biden's retaliatory cyberattacks against Russia are folly. mronline.org MR Online

Mark Gruenberg (2021-03-16). Poor People's Campaign takes voting rights drive to state capitals. peoplesworld.org &nbsp…

Anurag Deb (2021-03-16). Re B: soldiers and the criminal process in Northern Ireland. ukhumanrightsblog.com Re B's application [2020] NIQB 76 was a challenge to a decision to prosecute a soldier for offences going back to 1972. Part of the small but politically divisive cohort of prosecutions arising out of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Re B provides a classic example of how courts approach the issue of fairness in …

Sheila Malone RN (2021-03-16). Maine Medical Center nurses want a union, need support. peoplesworld.org PORTLAND, Me. — Nurses at Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland, the region's pre-eminent referral center, have taken steps to organize a union. On their behalf, the Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) in January petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a secret vote on forming a union for the hospital's 1600 nurses. Ballots …

Conn Hallinan (2021-03-16). Day of the Drone. counterpunch.org In the aftermath of the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, drone warfare is being touted as the latest breakthrough in military technology, a "magic bullet" that makes armored vehicles obsolete, defeats sophisticated anti-aircraft systems, and rout entrenched infantry. While there is some truth in the hype, one needs to be especially wary of military "game changers," since there is always a seller at the end of the pitch.

Eds. (2021-03-16). 8M: For a revolutionary feminism, which is not a cover photo but a struggle against all exploitation. mronline.org MR Online

Margaret Flowers (2021-03-16). Peace Delegation Visits Nicaragua To Explore Impact Of US Sanctions. dissidentvoice.org For the next two weeks, I am in Nicaragua on the first delegation organized by the Sanctions Kill coalition and the Friends of the ATC (Asociacion de Trabajadores del Campo — Association of Rural Workers) to study the impact of sanctions imposed by the United States on Nicaragua and learn about the Sandinista Revolution. The …

Cronkite News Arizona PBS (2021-03-16). Senate makes history with vote confirming Haaland as first Native American Interior secretary. juancole.com By Sarah Oven | — (Cronkite News) — (WASHINGTON — The Senate Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as the next Interior secretary, a historic vote that makes her the first Native American to head a Cabinet agency. The confirmation came over the objection of Senate Republicans, particularly those representing Western states dependent on …

Alexander Rubinstein (2021-03-16). Intersectional Imperialism: A Wholesome Menace. mintpressnews.com WASHINGTON (Substack // In order to identify where woke imperialism exists, we have to define it first. So what is it? It's certainly not the first iteration of hegemonic domination buttressed by moralism. | The doctrine of Responsibility t…

contributors (2021-03-16). What is Ramadan? Essential Information for Students and Teachers. juancole.com This FAQ was distributed by Samer Ali, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, but it is useful for any campus and any community with a Muslim minority. RAMADAN 2021 AT U-M This Winter Semester, around finals, many Muslims at U-M will abstain from food and …

Ralph Nader (2021-03-16). Perfidy Meets Putty — Congressional Democrats Betray Voters. counterpunch.org Do you remember the promises made by the Democratic Party's presidential and Congressional candidates on universal health insurance? You can forget their pledges and somber convictions now that your votes put the Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate. The Democrats' leaders are abandoning their promises and retreating into a cowardly corporatist future.

Al Neal (2021-03-16). Border influx slows Biden administration's effort to reverse Trump immigration policies. peoplesworld.org The coming of a spring season signifies new beginnings, quite like the transition from one presidential administration to another. And as with all things newly budding and beginning to bloom, some of the changes in Washington are gradual ones. President Joe Biden inherited a politically fractured nation and a Trump-sized mess, yet his first 50-plus …

Steve Topple (2021-03-16). Horrifying research shows two cops a month commit violent or sexual offences against women and children. thecanary.co THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS REFERENCES TO RAPE AND MURDER SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND DISTRESSING | Eight police officers have been convicted of murdering their wives or girlfriends in the past 11 years. This figure comes from

Mohammad Ayesh (2021-03-16). Egypt mobilises institutions to respond to UN statement on rights record. middleeasteye.net Egypt mobilises institutions to respond to UN statement on rights record | Meanwhile, Algeria threatens to withdraw France 24 accreditation over alleged bias, and Saudi Arabia detains hundreds suspected of fraud | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 12: 27 | An Egyptian police officer stands at the entrance of the Tora prison, Cairo, 11 February 2020 (AFP) | Cairo directs response to damning UN report:…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-16). Yemen: Protesters storm presidential palace demanding payment of wages. middleeasteye.net Yemen: Protesters storm presidential palace demanding payment of wages | Yemen's Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik and other officials remain holed up in the building in the port city of Aden | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 11: 22 | Security forces loyal to the separatist Southern Transitional Council stand next to vehicles as they are deployed in the southern port city of Aden (Reuters) | Yemeni public…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-16). Syria: Ambush of government forces in south kills dozens, says monitor. middleeasteye.net Syria: Ambush of government forces in south kills dozens, says monitor | At least 21 Syrian soldiers were killed in an attack by unknown gunmen in Daraa, according to Observatory | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 15: 51 | A Syrian man rides a motorcycle while carrying a gas cylinder as he drives past the Omari mosque in the southern Syrian city of Daraa (AFP) | A military convoy came under an ambush in…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-16). Lebanon currency hits new low on black market amid political crisis. middleeasteye.net Lebanon currency hits new low on black market amid political crisis | The Lebanese pound has lost 90 percent of its value on the black market over the last 18 months | Tue, 03/16/2021 – 13: 45 | A protester blocks a bridge with burning tyres on the Saida-Ghazieh highway, southern Lebanon, after demonstrations erupted following the sharp drop of the Lebanese pound, 16 March 2021 (AFP) | Leb…