(2021-12-15). Chile's Future at Stake: Runoff Election Pits Leftist Student Leader Against Far-Right Pinochet Defender. democracynow.org 
In Chile, voters this weekend will determine a close runoff election between far-right candidate José Antonio Kast and leftist Gabriel Boric, a former student leader. If Boric, who holds a narrow lead, wins the race, he would become Chile's youngest and most progressive president in years. Meanwhile, Kast's win would make him "an authoritarian taking power with anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, nationalistic and very hateful rhetoric in relation to everything that is progressive," says Chilean American author Ariel Dorfman.
(2021-12-15). Will Barrick Gold CEO Go Beyond Rhetoric to Deliver Justice for Victims of Police Killings at Tanzanian Mine? inequality.org
(2021-12-15). History of World War II: Did Mussolini's Fate Prompt Hitler to Kill Himself? globalresearch.ca First published on October 26, 2018 With Allied armies pushing ever northwards through the "tough old gut" of Italy, and German forces pulling out, Benito Mussolini took a long look at the situation before departing Milan on 25 April …
(2021-12-15). Fact Check: Student Loan Forgiveness Will Increase The Black-White Wealth Gap. moguldom.com Student loan forgiveness would help Black borrowers, who are disproportionately represented in the $1.75 trillion debt total held by 43.2 million borrowers, but a recent Twitter discussion shows there is doubt about whether or not loan forgiveness would lower the Black-white wealth gap. HBCU alumni have a median federal-debt load of about $29,000 at graduation — 32 …
(2021-12-15). Liberating Frankness, Enlightening Irreverence. dissidentvoice.org The liberating power of irreverent "black comedy": breaking false idols, mocking prevailing hypocrisies, and calling forth a massive revolt against mass delusion and folly—through laughter. It was, of course, in the Sixties, just when people were beginning to "raise their consciousness" — that various forms of spirited and subversive humor appeared on the scene. Things …
(2021-12-15). Man In Italy Tries Go Get Vaccine Certificate With Fake Arm, Nurse Notices Pinker Arm Than Face. moguldom.com A 50-year-old Italian man who wanted to get a coronavirus certificate without actually having the jab presented a nurse with a fake arm, according to The New York Times. A nurse in the northern city of Biella discovered the deception when she noticed that the man's arm was pinker than his hands and face because …
(2021-12-15). Nuevo hallazgo podría explicar por qué la ómicron puede transmitirse con mayor rapidez que variantes anteriores. cubadebate.cu La variante ómicron de la covid-19 contagia y se multiplica 70 veces más rápido en los bronquios humanos que la delta y que el virus original del SARS-CoV-2, comunicó este miércoles un equipo de investigación dirigido por científicos de la Universidad de Hong Kong (China).
(2021-12-15). Omicron Variant Flares Up At Cornell University, Over 900 Students Infected with Covid-19. moguldom.com The omicron variant of covid-19 has flared up at Cornell University, which reported 930 coronavirus cases among faculty and students from Dec. 7-13 — most of them, omicron cases — university officials said. Of the 930 cases, 898 were students with no evidence of severe illness reported in any of the infected students to date. …
(2021-12-14). The United States Is Using Nazis In Ukraine To Provoke War With Russia. popularresistance.org If you listen to the corporate media in the United States, you may believe the lies that say Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. In reality, it is the United States, led by then vice president Joe Biden, that conducted a coup to replace the elected president of Ukraine in 2014 and has been training and arming Nazis to attack the ethnically Russian Donbass Region in eastern Ukraine ever since. There is daily violence against civilians and basic infrastructure. The Biden administration is escalating this aggression and trying to blame Russia with the support of the same corporate media that defended US attacks o…
(2021-12-14). Absurd Guardian Article Declares China World's Only Imperialist Power. strategic-culture.org 
Another cartoonishly ridiculous anti-China propaganda piece has been published in the western mass media, this time by The Guardian, which at this point could arguably be labeled the single most destructive promulgator of empire propaganda in the western world. It is authored by Simon Tisdall, who could most certainly be labeled the single most destructive promulgator of empire propaganda at The Guardian.
(2021-12-14). Chinese, Russian presidents to discuss NATO's bellicose rhetoric. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Russian, Chinese presidents to discuss NATO's belligerent rhetoric, says Kremlin spokesman Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will address NATO's belligerent rhetoric and tense situation in Europe during the talks, which are going to take place on Wednesday via video linkup, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Tuesday. "[The sides] will …
(2021-12-14). Armed Clashes in Sebha: Manufacturing Consent to Postpone Elections. libya360.wordpress.com One dead and two wounded in armed clashes in Sebha, southern Libya following clashes between forces affiliated with the Libyan army and others loyal to the Dabaiba government after an attempt to storm the Military Intelligence headquarters. Armed groups are a security dilemma threatening the Libyan elections Sebha (Libya) — The city of Sebha, west…
(2021-12-14). Spectacles of Amnesia: YouTube Populism and the Rehabilitation of the Marcoses. fpif.org In the hills of Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines, a massive head hovers above the trees. Carved on the side of Mount Pugo, La Union, the 30-meter concrete bust overlooks the northern provinces, as if gazing over its vast domain. The head is of former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Yet today, his effigy is hardly recognizable. Shortly after the 1986 People Power Revolution that deposed and exiled the Marcos family, indigenous groups displaced by the bust's construction returned to smear pig's blood across the leader's face. Three years later, communist rebels bombed the same bust, leaving in…
(2021-12-14). Elizabeth Samet Thinks She Already Found the Good War. davidswanson.org If you were to read reviews of Elizabeth Samet's book, Looking for the Good War — such as the one in the New York Times or the other one in the New York Times — a little too quickly, you might find yourself reading her book and hoping for a reasoned argument against the supposed …
(2021-12-14). "No Rules": A Border Patrol Unit Worked with the FBI to Investigate Journalists. Is It Still Running? democracynow.org 
A shocking exposé reveals how a secretive Customs and Border Protection division investigated as many as 20 journalists and their contacts by using government databases intended to track terrorists. Those investigated include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza, along with others at The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. We speak to Jana Winter, the investigative correspondent who broke the story at Yahoo News, who says it's unclear if the surveillance program was discontinued. "These were career officials who are still running this secretive unit with…
(2021-12-14). The New York Times' crude attempt to pit Detroit parents against educators as pandemic rages. wsws.org The New York Times published an article last week under the headline, "Schools are closing classrooms on Fridays. Parents are furious."
(2021-12-14). ALEC Is Pushing A Bill That Punishes Banks For Divesting From Fossil Fuels. popularresistance.org As climate change accelerates and environmental disasters proliferate around the world, a Big Oil-funded business lobbying group has decided to attack financial firms that are taking their money out of fossil fuel companies, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has learned. | This month at the annual States and Nation Policy Summit of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a pay-to-play organization that brings together corporate lobbyists and mostly Republican state lawmakers to author model legislation, members of the group's energy task force voted unanimously to approve a new model p…
(2021-12-14). Biden's "Democracy Summit" Prioritized US Hegemony Over Democratic Ideals. truthout.org 
For stark evidence that we live in a world where political hypocrisy reigns supreme, one need look no further than Biden's recent The United States — which was rated for the fifth consecutive year as a "
(2021-12-14). The Triumph of Financial Capital. mronline.org 
Financial capital, once cut loose from its original role as a modest helper of a real economy of production to meet human needs, inevitably becomes speculative capital geared solely to its own self-expansion. In earlier times no one ever dreamed that speculative capital, a phenomenon as old as capitalism itself, could grow to dominate a national economy, let alone the whole world. But it has.