blog of the post capitalist transition.. Read or download the novel here + latest relevant posts
By Mike Capuzzo Financial analyst and data expert Edward Dowd said a new U.S. Department of Labor disability survey shows employed men and women ages 16-64 reported record harms since February 2021, with women suffering an unprecedented 55% increase in disabilities. Since February 2021, more than 1 million working U.S. women ages 16-64 have told […]
Disability Claims Among Women Shot Up 55% After Rollout of COVID Vaccines
News & Views No. 13 Diarmuid Breatnach (Reading time: mins.) British TV personality Rachel Riley shared with the media that she is feeling sombre on New Year’s eve with reference to the conflict in Gaza. We could all empathise with that were it not for her greater elucidation. So, what makes you “somber” Rachel, is […]
THE LIFE OF RILEY IS AN EGOTISTICAL DENIAL OF HUMANITY
from thefreeonline on 2nd January 2024 by George Monbiot…
Bully Beefs
Everything that makes campaigning against fossil fuels difficult is 10 times harder when it comes to opposing livestock farming. Here you will find a similar suite of science denial, misinformation and green washing.
But in this case, it’s accompanied by a toxic combination of identity politics, nostalgia, machismo and the demonisation of alternatives. If you engage with this issue, you don’t just need a thick skin; you need the skin of a glyptodon.
You will be vilified daily as a “soyboy”, a “hater of farmers” and a dictator who would force everyone to eat insects. You will be charged with undermining western civilisation, destroying its masculinity and threatening its health. You will be denounced as an enemy of Indigenous people, though generally not by Indigenous people themselves, for many of whom livestock farming is and has long been by far the greatest cause of land-grabbing, displacement and the destruction of their homes.
You will find yourself up against those who promote paleo diets (with or without added anabolic steroids), “agrarian localists” pushing impossible dreams of feeding 21st-century populations with medieval production systems, and culinary conservatism, which ranges, in different forms, from Donald Trump to MasterChef.
You will find yourself fighting not only a very modern and peculiarly vicious demagoguery, but also a very old and deep-rooted romanticism, which still portrays the pastoral life much as the Greek poets and the Old Testament prophets did. There’s a powerful, de facto alliance between the two.
Perhaps most often, you’ll be denounced as a puppet of the World Economic Forum (a target of multiple conspiracy fictions), or a stooge of corporate or institutional power, in the pay of plant-based meat, precision fermentation, Big Lettuce or Big Bug, which are depicted as monstrous behemoths stamping on traditional businesses.
Continue reading “The Holocaust of Animals- Science denial, Green washing, Nostalgia, Machismo, and Lies Lies LIES”from thefreeonline on 2nd Jan 2023
The World Bank reported that back in 2022, a total of 37 states had outstanding debt to Russian creditors, amounting to $28.9 billion, a $2.3 billion (or 8.7%) increase from 2021.
The Russian government will no longer base its foreign loan decisions on credit ratings compiled by Western agencies and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
African countries can be denied loans on bad credit ratings caused by historical repayment defaults due to colonialist looting.
Based on estimates cited by RBK, in 2021, Russia ranked fifth among the largest sovereign lenders to developing countries.
Russia’s influence in Africa grows –
A corresponding decree was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last week, and the document was later published on the government’s official portal.
Poor credit ratings have historically blocked many nations in securing loans. Under the previous regulations, in order to receive a loan from Moscow, foreign countries had to belong to credit risk groups with a score no lower than six (out of eight) according to the OECD’s classification, or with a long-term credit rating higher than B- (according to the Fitch and Standard & Poor’s rating systems), and higher than B3 (according to Moody’s).
Pro-Russia demonstrators rally in Burkina after coup. The series of Coups in the Sahel region has ended French and UN control in the region.
These provisions no longer apply, which means Russia will be able to provide loans to countries that don’t meet these requirements, according to the latest decree.
African countries are showing great interest in joining the expanding BRICS+ coalition and gaining future access to ‘no strings attached’ financing , thus evading World Bank, US dollar and IMF blackmail and debt traps.
Dec 3, 2023 A ship carrying 25,000 tons of humanitarian wheat from Russia arrived in Somalia on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also promised to send free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, Mali, and Eritrea.
In addition, the analyst Onyango Ogola pointed out that Western countries always impose additional conditions on the transfer of grants and aid. Besides, the fact that the UK and other European countries “have classified African countries as middle-income economies” does not allow them to provide many grants, as the focus is on low-income countries, Onyango Ogola said.
Western profits from African resources always far exceed conditional ‘Development Aid’….. read more here
The free grain has been described as a WIN/WIN gift as Russia has a surplus of wheat after another record harvest in 2023.
The previous grain export deal allowing export of Ukrainian wheat under US led Sanctions was on the condition it be used to relieve world hunger.
That grain deal was finally cancelled by Russia which long complained that the promise to deliver grain to Africa was flouted by the west and the cheap grain supply went mainly to animal feed in Europe.
However Russia has few problems exporting its own grain and other agricultural products to 3rd countries despite sanctions and another record grain harvest is predicted in 2024.
from thefreeonline on at The Most Revolutionary Act by Tele Sur English.
Among other things, the far-right President intends to govern by granting himself legislative powers for up to 4 years.
Newsletter
On Thursday, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Argentina’s largest labor union, called for a general strike and a march to the Congress on January 24th to protest against the decree of urgent necessity and a bill that grants “superpowers” to the far-right president Javier Milei to govern discretionally for two years.
The general strike will take place one day before the date on which the Milei administration intends to have Parliament vote in favor of his neoliberal reform package, which seeks to deregulate and liberalize the Argentine economy and downsize the State.
As political processes are currently happening in Argentina, however, parliamentary approval could become just a formality, since Milei’s anti-worker reforms began to come into force de facto from December 29.
On Wednesday, Milei also sent another bill to Parliament to declare Argentina in “public emergency” until the end of 2025, a measure that could be extendable until 2027.
If this bill is approved, the far-right President could govern his four-year term by attributing himself broad legislative powers in matters related to the economy, finance, taxes, social security, defense, goods and services tariffs, energy, and public administration.
The text reads, “The Argentine police repress demonstrations against Milei in Cordoba. The population bravely faces police violence. Freedom is won by fighting. A general strike is being prepared throughout the country. Let’s fight!. Milei is dictatorship, Milei is hunger, Milei is a scam.”
“If a president is allowed to assume all public power for a period of two years renewable for two years, we will live in a country where the president will have all the power, and institutions will not be respected,” CGT Secretary Hector Daer said, warning that Milei’s intentions are against collective and individual rights.
Among other things, Milei’s new bill includes electoral regulation reform, changes in the Penal Code to control street protests, a deep labor flexibility, the privatization of 41 large state-owned companies, and authorizations to incur more public debt.
Cancelling the Land Law opens sale of Argentina to foreign funds
“The mobilization is a clear fight against the reinstatement of the conservative neoliberal model in its cruelest version,” said Luis D’Elia, the leader of the Federation of Land, Housing, and Habitat, one of the organizations that blocked roads on the outskirts of Buenos Aires as a protest measure on Thursday.
After assuming the presidency on December 10th, Milei, a far-right politician who claimed that his dead dogs communicate with him and advise him on state matters, launched a “shock” plan to supposedly balance the Argentine macroeconomy.
The USS Gerald Ford was mocked online for ‘fleeing Iran’s unstoppable hypersonic missile threat’, while Iran’s Alborz warship entered the Red Sea.. .
from thefreeonline info by SETH J. FRANTZMAN / Maritime-Executive / Al Mayadeen English / REUTERS JANUARY 1, 2024
Reports on December 31 that the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier is heading out of the Mediterranean is also raising eyebrows in Iran and the region. The Saga Of The Navy’s Newest Problem-Plagued Carrier continues as it is called home despite the Gaza emergency.
Two U.S. Navy Amphibs Leave Red Sea Despite Houthi Attacks on Shipping The two U.S. Navy amphibs that were deployed to the Red Sea to deter Iranian-allied Houthi rebels have now been withdrawn . On Thursday, USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall – two-thirds of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) – transited north through the Suez Canal.
USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall flee Red Sea despite US naval blockade
Iranian warships have been operating in the region “to secure shipping lanes since 2009,” Tasnim said.
Continue reading “Iran warship enters Red Sea as US Anfibs abandon it and US Aircraft Carrier Gerald Ford heads home”from thefreeonline on 1st Jan 2023m by The Final Straw Radio .. .
Listen/Download This Episode.. Eric was just released in December 2023 into a halfway house in Colorado after nearly 10 years in Federal prisons
This week on the show, you’ll hear part of our conversation with Eric King and Josh Davidson. Josh has been on a few times to talk about collaborative inside-outside projects he works on such as the Certain Days calendar, the greeting cards he helped make of Indigenous political prisoner Oso Blanco’s artwork to benefit Zapatista schools in Chiapas, and the Rattling The Cages book that he co-edited with Eric King.Audio Player
listen here… https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/author/peacepolice/
Eric is an anarchist who was incarcerated for an attempt to molotov the office of a Democratic Party official in Kansas City in solidarity with the then-going Ferguson Uprising following the murder of Michael Brown by police there.
Continue reading “Eric King is Finally Free! – The Final Straw Radio Podcast”
The Free 