>Don Curtis, president of United Black Caucus, which organized people living in the neighborhood to fight the development, said: “Nobody talks about poor people. We want at least 60% of the apartments to be affordable to those who already live in Harlem. We want union jobs for this project to go to those who already live in the community. We want a community recreation center for our youth. We want small businesses here that will hire our people.”

This was perfect timing lol, my parents are liberal Democrats and they instinctively watch CNN and local news. Nothing too wrong with that overall, but I try putting on Democracy Now! as a way for them to be exposed to world events outside of Europe and US and also every once in a while, we get a Jeffrey Sachs guest spot (yes he had problems in his own right,that being his work in Russia and Poland in the early 1990s, but when talking about the Ukraine war, I actually really agree with the vast majority of his comments)or in this case Richard Wolff. It’s nice to have someone who was on the Deprogram pod before on a national news show that I can show my lib parents, idk maybe yall can share it to any libs(overall Democracy Now! is SocDem, so they’re kinda liberal too buy they don’t shy away from anti-capitalist ideas and speakers)

>A small group broke off from the march of hundreds and smashed glass windows, lit fireworks, sprayed anti-Cop City slogans on the buildings’ walls and set an empty police cruiser on fire. They were immediately arrested, charged with multiple offenses and accused of being domestic terrorists.

John R. Allen, a retired four-star Marine general who was the president of the Brookings Institution, had been accused of secretly lobbying for the government of Qatar. federal prosecutors have closed an investigation into whether he secretly lobbied for the government of Qatar and that no criminal charges will be brought against him in the case The F.B.I. agent’s application provided a detailed account of a period in June 2017, when General Allen met frequently with Richard G. Olson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and Imaad Zuberi, a businessman with ties in the Middle East. General Allen traveled to Doha, Qatar, during that period. Federal prosecutors have signaled a particular interest in potential violations involving Persian Gulf nations, which have developed close ties to business and political figures in the United States. According to the F.B.I. agent’s application, General Allen was recruited by Mr. Olson and Mr. Zuberi to help defuse a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Persian Gulf neighbors — and the former general saw the moneymaking potential for his involvement. The F.B.I. agent’s application said that General Allen had agreed to travel to Doha at Mr. Zuberi’s expense and negotiated a payment of $20,000, which he referred to as a “speaker’s fee.” “General Allen has never acted as an agent of the Qatari government,” Mr. Phillips said. “He never had an agreement — written or oral — with Qatar or any other Qatar-related individual or entity. Neither General Allen nor any entity with which he was or is affiliated ever received fees — directly or indirectly — from the Qatari government for his efforts. Brookings never received a contribution from Qatar or any Qatari government-related entities or individuals in connection with General Allen’s activities.” Federal law requires that anyone lobbying for a foreign government register with the Justice Department, and in recent years the department has tried to crack down on suspected violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

The Supreme Court did not disclose its longstanding financial ties with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff even as it touted him as an expert who independently validated its investigation into who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. The court’s inquiry, released last week with Chertoff’s endorsement, failed to identify who was responsible for the unprecedented leak. The decision to keep the relationship with Chertoff quiet is a reflection of a pattern of opacity at the nation’s highest court, whose rulings affect every American. the court in recent years has privately contracted with The Chertoff Group for security assessments, some broadly covering justices’ safety and some specifically related to Covid-19 protocols at the court itself. The estimated payments to Chertoff’s risk assessment firm, for consultations that extended over several months and involved a review of the justices’ homes, reached at least $1 million. The exact amount of money paid could not be determined. Supreme Court contracts are not covered by federal public disclosure rules and elude tracking on public databases.

>At the rally nurses told the crowd they were forced to pick up extra shifts and work longer hours, and they were being assigned unmanageable and unsafe numbers of patients. They said they leave work feeling exhausted, physically and emotionally drained, because they can’t deliver the level of care patients deserve.

I know it's a really long video (play it at 2x speed) but I thought it was fantastic and the part from 25:33-27:17 was particularly insightful: "The impact of sanctions on Iran or Zimbabwe or Venezuela or Syria is something that those who may oppose western governments don't really ever discuss. So imagine if instead there was a NATO attack on Iran, you would have immediate clarity of what's happening. But the impact of sanctions on the Iranian people is not something that generates any sort of political mobilization in the core. Instead, actually, what it enables is a representation of imperialist states as humanitarian states." "It's not like you're bringing home people in body bags. It's not like people in the US see the outcome of sanctions because it's not like CNN is going to cover the fact that Iranians of dying of rare diseases because they can't access certain pharmaceutical medications that they aren't able to produce in their own country and can't buy because of sanctions. That's all out of sight out of mind ... you'll have almost no public backlash"

They straight up can't locate 61% of their assets, including weapons, planes, ships, and even buildings. In total, this amounts to several *TRILLIONS* of dollars since 1998 that are completely unaccounted for.

>TC Energy, the company responsible for the spill, has been accountable for over 20 spills since construction of the Keystone pipeline in 2010. The Keystone pipeline runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Oklahoma. It has been the target of many protests in the last 12 years, especially from Indigenous activists and area ranchers. TC Energy also owned the infamous Keystone XL pipeline, which was shut down in 2021 after years of protests and mass pressure.

>If you would like to contribute to the strike relief fund for Pacific Northwest Starbucks Workers, do so here: gofundme.com/f/PNWStarbucksWorkerRelief.

>Rail union members protested in Denver; Galesburg, Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; Royal Oak, Michigan; Minneapolis; Sparks, Nevada; Columbus, Ohio; Salt Lake City; and Cheyenne, Wyoming; as well as Santa Fe.

>In an interview with Workers World, Nairan explained that these Council members of one of Boston’s largest “nonprofits” — which pay zero taxes in Massachusetts — divvy up billions of dollars in grant monies from mostly military, high tech, biotech, Big Pharma and Wall Street-sponsored companies and foundations to various university departments. The lion’s share goes to STEM. “With these enormous funds,” Wu said, “BU’s sprawling campus and neighborhood housing for over 34,000 students is like a giant real estate company that sells modern education and research.”

In these pressing times, the magnanimous United States has decided to celebrate the holiday season by imposing some new sanctions against Zimbabwe. This vid explains the long history of Zimbabwean debt to western powers. P.S. It's so difficult to find more information about this because literally no one is reporting on it. [This press release from the US Treasury](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1158) is all I got.

>The Cleveland campaign to hold bosses accountable for wage theft, led by Guardians for Fair Work, scored a win Dec. 5 when City Council passed a wage theft ordinance. The city will not do business with companies or their subcontractors who engage in wage theft. Those found guilty of wage theft will be put on an Adverse Determination List and barred from city contracts for three years. A seven-member Fair Employment Board will oversee enforcement of the ordinance.

The entire documentary feels like they’re stating the obvious and it stings so much more knowing that these people who produced it are fighting tooth and nail day after day to make sure NONE of this gets better for Americans. Watch it or don’t, you likely won’t learn anything new, it’s just in poor taste making this doc imo

Trump suggested that the contents of the leak warranted a complete election re-do or simply a coup in which he would be installed as president.

>“When people celebrate the myth of Thanksgiving, they are not only erasing our genocide but celebrating it,” said James. “We did not simply fade into the background, as the Thanksgiving myth says. We have survived and flourished. We have persevered. The very fact that you are here is proof that we did not vanish. Our very presence frees this land from the lies of the history books and the mythmakers.” (See also: [Leonard Peltier’s greeting to National Day of Mourning](https://www.workers.org/?p=67944).)

>Ostrom Farms is a large agribusiness in the hugely profitable mushroom industry. The mushroom workers held a rally with solidarity messages from Starbucks Workers and other community groups. The Ostrom workers were demanding fair pay, safe working conditions, equal opportunities and respect in the backbreaking agricultural industry. Over 200 Ostrom workers signed a petition to Ostrom in June, making these demands.

>Support from the community has been solid, judging by the pile of food donated to keep the strikers going. Worker solidarity was on display, with union members from Amazon and the Teamsters present. Hailey Espinoza, who has worked at Starbucks for 4 ½ years, spoke on their strong relationship with the nurses at St. Vincent Hospital. She says that after marching with the nurses, the nurses returned the favor by showing up to their strike. Most people who show up stay for a long time.

>Starbucks bosses tried to break the strike at the remaining store at 75 Mount Auburn St. in Watertown, Massachusetts, which the workers report is the most profitable store in the region. Using managers from other struck stores exclusively to run the shop, the district manager repeatedly called the cops on the handful of workers — some with years of seniority at the location — who were talking with their regular customers at the door.

Democracy Now! is a great spot for interviews and some current events(It still has lib cringe but they’re getting better lately.) and this scholar from the Lakota Tribe talks about the history of indigenous struggle and what the indigenous struggle will continue to look like as they gain allies from around the world who also have disdain for settler colonialism.

>Thousands rallied and marched in Atlanta and around the state following the Supreme Court ruling. Reproductive rights and justice have been a prominent feature of the recent elections, particularly in the U.S. Senate race between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker with the runoff vote on Dec. 6.

>Protesters gathered in front of the University of Pennsylvania administrative building. Students and UC Townhomes residents have been demonstrating for months to expose UPenn’s historic role in the destruction of neighboring Black communities, through the decades-long expansion of University City. They are calling on the Ivy League university — which has avoided paying property taxes — to make reparations to the Townhomes residents from its multibillion-dollar endowment.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/442595 > Sheesh. What is it with AmeriKKKa with all of these recent shootings. Land of the 'free' boys... The so Called 'Land of the free' is having a normal one.

>Protesters will gather on Cole’s Hill on so-called Thanksgiving Day this year just as they have for the past 52 years. Key issues to be addressed include the potential overturn of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA); Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S); the ongoing anti-colonial struggle in Puerto Rico; and clemency for longtime Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier. > >As Moonanum James, son of Wamsutta Frank James and the late co-leader of UAINE, said to the crowd at the 2019 National Day of Mourning: > >“We will continue to gather on this hill until corporations and the U.S. military stop polluting the Earth. Until we dismantle the brutal apparatus of mass incarceration. We will not stop until the oppression of our Two-Spirit siblings is a thing of the past. When the homeless have homes. When children are no longer taken from their parents and locked in cages. When the Palestinians reclaim the homeland and the autonomy Israel has denied them for the past 70 years. When no person goes hungry or is left to die because they have little or no access to quality health care. When insulin is free. When union busting is a thing of the past. Until then, the struggle will continue.”

Voters in Oregon Pass a Measure Making Healthcare A Right (Measure 111) Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, who carried the bill in the Senate, said […] that Measure 111 does not set Oregon up for a single-payer system. The language of the measure states: “It is the obligation of the state to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.” But Measure 111 does not spell out what the state must do to meet its new constitutional obligation, or define what access to affordable health care means. It will be up to the Legislature to shape what health care access for all looks like and how to pay for it. “It does not implement any new taxes, it does not say how we’re supposed to do this. It just says this is a value,” she said The Right to Health Care PAC brought in just under $100,000. The measure also wasn’t a top priority for state Democrats A constitutional right to health care was the lifelong project of Mitch Greenlick, who served in the state legislature and tried at least eight times in 16 years to send a proposal for it to the voters. Greenlick died in 2020, and his Democratic colleagues in the legislature referred the measure to voters in honor of his work.

>By law the city and county must provide funds to maintain homeless programs and for the Healthcare for the Homeless Network. However, last year 195 homeless people died in the city and county, and 135 have died so far this year.

>Leonard Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, is recognized around the world as a political prisoner. Peltier, who was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, has been in prison now for 46 years for a crime he did not commit. The U.S. government has repeatedly refused him parole in violation of its own statutes.