the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

globinfo freexchange Right after the arrest of Julian Assange, we wrote that this is a war against real journalism. It is a direct threat against all the independent media with real journalists who expose the war crimes of the US empire and its allies. After this, expect an ongoing, brutal hunt against every real journalist who will attempt to report the truth, contrary to the corporate PR parrots of the mainstream media - the golden operatives of the establishment, who faithfully stick to the script. We concluded that until we see Julian Assange free and safe, until we see the restoration of the real Democracy, especially in the US/UK neocolonial complex, we are at war with this fascist regime. We will all have to fight not just for Julian, but for our own existence. Because everyone who seeks truth and justice from now on, would be considered potential target from the regime. Unfortunately, it seems that we were right. The regime is now going after Max Blumenthal. Blumenthal ...

The spark that lit the flame was a 3% hike in subway fares, but after 12 days of mass protests and street violence, Chile’s worst unrest in decades has transformed into a nationwide uprising demanding dramatic changes to the country’s economic and political system. Eighteen people have died in the violence and 7,000 have been arrested amid widespread outbreaks of violence and arson, and credible allegations of human rights abuses by the security forces. The leaderless movement has forced the billionaire president, Sebastián Piñera, on the defensive, prompting him to replace eight ministers and announce a string of emergency measures including a small increase in the minimum wage and higher taxes on wealthy Chileans. But such moves have not been enough to defuse the protests, which are driven by deep-rooted disillusionment over inequality that has left millions of citizens frozen out of Chile’s economic rise. One per cent of Chile’s population earns 33% of the nation’s weal...

The Intercept The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald explains the shocking news from Brazil linking the Bolsonaro family to the murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco.

Turkey has attacked a Russian military police convoy patrolling a northern Syria border area near Turkey, according to local correspondents and video of the incident's aftermath. Unconfirmed Syrian Kurdish media reports say at least one Russian soldier who was part the military police (MP) patrol was injured after the convoy came under fire by Turkish artillery fired from Turkey's side of the border in an area called Derbisiye. A senior foreign correspondent for the Telegraph also posted a video of the attack's aftermath. Early unconfirmed reports say there may be other casualties including two journalists and four civilians possibly injured in the attack on the Russian police convoy. Kurdistan24 News journalist Akram Salih described of the incident that the Turkish army entered the Syrian side of the border at which point the mortar was fired at the Russian side.  Full report: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-military-convoy-targeted-turkish-...

by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Part 2 - Ecuador in Rebellion Against IMF and the US Puppet Moreno On October 4, Moreno proclaimed the end of a 40-year policy of fuel and petrol subsidies, which had traditionally benefited his country’s working-class population. He also announced a 20 percent decrease in the salary of public employees and initiated plans to privatize pensions. He removed workplace and job security safeguards. Decree 883, known as ‘The Package’, was a series of neoliberal policies demanded by the IMF in return for a $4.2 billion dollar loan. It was preceded by policies for the wealthy including reducing their taxes.  The IMF loan was part of Moreno serving as a puppet and bowing to multiple US demands. Ecuador promised to settle a long dispute with Chevron whose oil drilling and pipelines have polluted the country. Tens of billions of dollars in restitution from Chevron are at stake but Moreno said he is willing to give them up. In fact, the IMF loa...

Fueled by fears of school shootings, the market has grown rapidly for technologies that monitor students through official school emails and chats by Lois Beckett Part 4 - Values at stake Some proponents of school monitoring say the technology is part of educating today’s students in how to be good “ digital citizens ”, and that monitoring in school helps train students for constant surveillance after they graduate. “ Take an adult in the workforce. You can’t type anything you want in your work email: it’s being looked at, ” Bill McCullough, a Gaggle spokesperson, said. “ We’re preparing kids to become successful adults. ” Experience with school monitoring is a “ training ground ” that might mean that students “ won’t lose their job for sharing inappropriate content ”, said Trimble-Oliver, the chief information officer for Cincinnati’s public school district, which uses Gaggle. Students “ need to know that organizations can and probably are monitoring their content ”,...

984radio Χιλή: Όαση για τους λίγους, κόλαση για τους πολλούς. Ο οικονομολόγος και δημοσιογράφος –αναλυτής Λεωνίδας Βατικιώτης , μιλώντας στον 98.4 για τις εξελίξεις σε Κεντρική και Νότιο Αμερική , τόνισε ότι οι λαϊκές κινητοποιήσεις  κόντρα στις νεοφιλελεύθερες οικονομικές πολιτικές των χωρών τους, είναι συνάμα και μια προαναγγελία οικονομικής θύελλας με παγκόσμιες ενδεχομένως διαστάσεις.  Ειδικά για την Χιλή , ο Λεωνίδας Βατικιώτης τόνισε , ότι ο δεξιός πρόεδρος Πινέρα είναι από τους πλουσιότερους ανθρώπους της Χιλής, με προσωπική περιουσία που, σύμφωνα με το περιοδικό Forbes, φτάνει τα 2,8 δισ. δολ. Το μίσος που εξέφρασε ενάντια στους διαδηλωτές όταν δήλωσε «είμαστε σε πόλεμο» και η κάλυψη απέναντι στο στρατό (που δεν έχει αλλάξει ούτε καν εμφάνιση από τα χρόνια του Πινοτσέτ όταν σκότωσε 40.000 δημοκράτες και προκάλεσε την εξαφάνιση άλλων 2.300) μπορεί να μην ταίριαζε με το ρόλο του ως εκλεγμένος πρόεδρος, ταίριαζε πλήρως όμως με τα ταξικά του συμφέροντα. Ας κρατήσο...

"I want to convert the Democratic Party, to break its dependency on big money and corporate interests, and make it a party of working-class people, of young people, of all people who believe in justice." White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday agreed with centrist group Third Way that he poses an "existential threat" to the Democratic Party and called for transforming it to serve working-class people in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC's John Harwood. After Sanders, a democratic socialist, said that " what I am trying to do, in many ways, is pick up where Franklin Delano Roosevelt left off, " Harwood asked, " Do you also embrace the part of FDR that said adversaries hate me and I welcome their hatred? " " Absolutely, " the senator responded. " You can judge a person by the friends they have. You can judge a candidate for president by the enemies they have. " Sanders caucuses with Senate Democrats—an...

UK MPs have voted for a pre-Christmas general election to take place on December 12. After multiple attempts by PM Boris Johnson to force a poll, he’s finally got his way in a bid to break the Brexit impasse. Lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday voted in favor of Johnson’s early parliamentary general election short-bill by 438 votes to 20. It will be the first December election since 1923. MPs had earlier rejected the Labour Party’s proposal to move the date of the general election forward to December 9. Some 315 MPs voted against moving the election forward by three days, while 295 voted in favour. If MPs had backed the opposition plan to move the election forward, parliament would have needed to be dissolved by Thursday night. The British prime minister had tried and failed to get an election on three previous occasions having seen his Fixed-term Parliaments Act motions defeated by MPs. Under the law, there must be at least 25 working days before an election can take p...

globinfo freexchange Μετά το πρώτο βήμα που έκανε το Μητσοτακικό καθεστώς για τη δημιουργία Ειδικών Οικονομικών Ζωνών εντός της Ελληνικής επικράτειας, δηλαδή για τα φέουδα του 21ου αιώνα, όπως είχαμε προβλέψει, φαίνεται ότι, δυστυχώς, αρχίζει να επαληθεύεται και το σχέδιο για την ανασύσταση του δεξιού παρακράτους.   Ήδη από το Μάιο του 18, είχαμε επισημάνει ότι σε ομιλία του στη βουλή, ο Μητσοτάκης ξεκίνησε το παραλήρημα του περί βίας αναφερόμενος συγκεκριμένα στα 'Εξάρχεια', τους 'Ρουβίκωνες' και τους 'αγανακτισμένους'. Και στο σημείο αυτό, πάλι κάτι ξέχασε: τους φασίστες. Έτσι, έστειλε σήμα στους μηχανισμούς του αστικού καθεστώτος ότι θα συνεχίζει να το προστατεύει εγκαθιστώντας ένα κράτος σκληρής καταστολής, χωρίς να πειράξει το ακροδεξιό βαθύ κράτος που επιστρατεύει η εγχώρια ολιγαρχία όταν αισθάνεται κίνδυνο. Ένας κίνδυνος που μπορεί να έρθει σε περίπτωση νέων αναταραχών από τις βάναυσες πολιτικές λιτότητας που ο Μητσοτάκης θα συνεχίσει να ...

Μέσα σε τεταμένο κλίμα, που πυροδότησαν οι πρωτοφανείς μεθοδεύσεις από Ν.Δ. και ΚΙΝ.ΑΛΛ., οι βουλευτές των δύο κομμάτων αποφάσισαν να εξαιρέσουν τον Παύλο Πολάκη και τον Δημήτρη Τζανακόπουλο από μέλη της επιτροπής προκαταρκτικής εξέτασης για τους χειρισμούς του Δ. Παπαγγελόπουλου στο σκάνδαλο της Novartis. Η σημερινή συνεδρίαση ήταν θυελλώδης, με τον Γιάννη Ραγκούση να καταγγέλλει ότι « με τη βία της πλειοψηφίας αποφασίζετε να μετατρέψετε την Επιτροπή σε χούντα », καθώς ο πρόεδρος της επιτροπής απείλησε να φέρει τη φρουρά. « Να με αποβάλετε και να φωνάξετε και την αστυνομία. Ντροπή σας. Ξεφτιλίζετε ό,τι ήταν ιερό σε αυτή την αίθουσα », είπε ο κ. Ραγκούσης.  Από τη σημερινή ψηφοφορία απείχε ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, που είχε εξαρχής διαμηνύσει πως η όποια προσπάθεια εξαίρεσης των βουλευτών του συνιστά κοινοβουλευτικό πραξικόπημα και casus bell. Κατά ψήφισε το ΚΚΕ και «παρών» δήλωσε η Ελληνική Λύση. Δεν έχει υπάρξει ιστορικά, απόφαση ειδικής επιτροπής προκαταρκτικής εξέτασης να εξαιρεί μέ...

984radio Σε νέα κρίση φαίνεται να εισέρχεται η επιρροή της Ουάσιγκτον στην κεντρική και Νότια Αμερική καθώς μια μετά τη άλλη οι δεξιές κυβερνήσεις, που στηρίζουν τις ΗΠΑ και τον Ντόναλντ Τραμπ, απειλούνται, είτε από λαϊκές κινητοποιήσεις και εξεγέρσεις, είτε από εκλογικές ήττες.  Αυτά είπε μεταξύ άλλων ο δημοσιογράφος και ερευνητής διεθνών γεγονότων,  επικεφαλής του info-war.gr , Άρης Χατζηστεφάνου , μιλώντας στον 98.4 . Όπως είπε ο Άρης Χατζηστεφάνου, το πολιτικό εκκρεμές, που εδώ και χρόνια κινούνταν προ τα δεξιά (ή την φασίζουσα άκρα δεξιά) φαίνεται έτοιμο να ξεκινήσει την πορεία του προς το πολιτικό κέντρο ή ακόμη και την αριστερά. Το παράδειγμα των συνεχών λαϊκών κινητοποιήσεων στη Χιλή, παρά τις κινήσεις κατευνασμού με ανασχηματισμό της κυβέρνησης του, από τον Πρόεδρο Πινιέρα , είναι ενδεικτικό ότι κάτι βαθύτερο συμβαίνει στην ευρύτερη περιοχή. 

Fueled by fears of school shootings, the market has grown rapidly for technologies that monitor students through official school emails and chats by Lois Beckett Part 3 - How it works In Florence, South Carolina, school officials intervened after a middle school student started writing about suicide while working on an in-class English assignment. The phrases she typed in a Google document triggered an alert from Gaggle, the surveillance company working with the school district. “Within minutes”, the student was pulled out of class for a conversation with school officials, according to Dr Richard O’Malley, the district superintendent. In Cincinnati, Ohio, the school district’s chief information officer had to call the police in the middle of the night to conduct a wellness check on a student who had been flagged by Gaggle for writing about self-harm. The situation was serious enough that the student was hospitalized to receive mental health services, the chief information ...

The Humanist Report / globinfo freexchange Donald Trump finally counter-attacked against corporate Democrats and their persistent desire to impeach him, through the ultimate threat: a civil war. In a recent tweet he wrote: " ... If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal. ”   All these prove that capitalists are ruthless and they will not hesitate to use various sections of the US working class to win the endo-capitalist war. Even if this will eventually lead to a civil war on a national level.    https://failedevolution.blogspot.com/2019/10/trump-threatens-to-transfer-endo.html

by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Part 1 Once again, the left is rising in Latin America as people revolt against authoritarian regimes, many of whom were put in place by US-supported coups. These regimes have taken International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and are under the thumb of international finance, which is against the interests of people. After the embattled President of Ecuador claimed that President Nicolas Maduro was the cause of the massive protests against him, Maduro made clear what was occurring in Latin America, saying: “We have two models: the IMF model which privatizes everything and takes away the people’s rights to health, education and work; and the humanist-progressive model which is emerging in Latin America and has the Bolivarian Revolution at the forefront.” Maduro’s clear understanding of the conflict is why it has been so important for the US to remove him. His success in defeating ongoing US coup attempts is a model guiding Latin America ...

As the candidates needed 45 percent of the vote to avoid a second round, the 47 percent obtained by the Fernandez-Fernandez ticket has been enough to give them the win. With almost 90 percent of votes counted, Argentinian opposition progressive ticket Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner have won over right-wing incumbent President Mauricio Macri with 47,75 over 40,76 percent respectively in Sunday's general elections. As the candidates needed 45 percent of the vote or 40 percent with a 10-point lead over the runner-up to avoid a second round, the 47 percent obtained by the Fernandez-Fernandez ticket has been enough to give them the win. " If the result were to stay as it is, that would mean Fernandez would be sworn in as president, " Argentinian Political Analyst Atilio Boron told teleSUR . The ballot was effectively a referendum between Macri's austerity and the "social contract" of the left-leaning opposition, who have attracted voter...

US President Donald Trump has approved an additional $4.5 million for Syria Civil Defense, known popularly as the White Helmets. With close to $100 million in funds from the US and UK governments, as well as donations from Qatar, support from Turkey, and backing from wealthy private donors, this outfit has acted as a public relations vehicle for the Syrian armed opposition. White Helmets links to extremist Salafi-jihadist groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, have been thoroughly documented. What’s more, the group has participated in recent Turkish onslaughts in northern Syria where Kurds and other minority groups faced ethnic cleansing. The continued US funding is a sign that Washington’s regime-change war against Syria continues, even while Trump has partially withdrawn American troops from the country. The White House announced the funding in a press release on October 22. Full report: https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/28/trump-million-syria-jihadist-white-helmets/

globinfo freexchange On this episode of RT's Going Underground, legendary former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters discusses Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's latest extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court. Waters explains why it makes him ashamed to be English, why he believes the UK and US are attempting to kill Julian and why the extradition case shouldn't even be happening and is a mockery of British justice. Waters also feels optimistic about the rise of Bernie Sanders and the wave of young progressives that could transform the Democratic party. A process that could radically change the course of the destructive war-guided US foreign policy towards a progressive policy of peace and stability. Yet, in some issues, the progressives are not taking the right positions because probably are heavily misinformed, or afraid the cruel response of the US deep state propaganda mechanisms. Such an example is Sanders' position on the situation in Venezu...

There’s no credible data to prove a successful American raid took place against Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. The US coalition didn’t even carry out any airstrikes in Idlib recently. Earlier, Trump made a rare Sunday address from the White House informing the world that al-Baghdadi was eliminated in northwest Syria in a “ daring nighttime raid ” with the involvement of US special forces, planes, helicopters and drones. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader met his end “ crying and screaming ” in the face of the Americans’ might, he said. But the Russian Defense Ministry insisted that “ there were legitimate questions and doubts about the very fact [of the US operation] and, especially, its success. ” Full report: https://www.rt.com/russia/471984-trump-russia-baghdadi-killed-syria/

Moscow released photos it claims show the real reason the US wants to keep troops in eastern Syria: to protect the illegal oil trade and reap large profits. On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry published aerial images of what it said is clear proof of Syrian crude oil being massively smuggled outside of the country “ under the strong protection of the US. ” The black and white images are said to show scores of tanker trucks, supposedly loaded with crude oil, scattered in the oil-rich northeastern province of Deir ez-Zor. Dozens of trucks were spotted near the Daman oil-gathering facility, 42km east of the city of Deir ez-Zor, as well as near Mayadin. Full report: https://www.rt.com/news/471891-syria-oil-smuggling-images/

Voters in the eastern German state of Thuringia boosted the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the regional elections on Sunday, according to ARD projections, but it is the Left party that will remain the dominant political force in the state. The Left party is forecast to win 30.6% of votes in the state that was once part of the communist former East Germany. The far-right AfD party is predicted to take nearly 24% of the vote, making it the second-largest party in the assembly — and pushing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party into third place. The turnout for the Thuringia polls was unusually high. Around 66% of the state's 1.7 million voters cast their ballots, compared to less than 53% five years ago. Postal votes were not included in the statistics. Full report: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-left-party-tops-thuringia-election-afd-surges-to-second-projections/a-51010071

RT America Russian petroleum refining company Rosneft, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, has ditched the US dollar for the Euro to avoid US sanctions. Investigative journalist Ben Swann breaks it down.

Fueled by fears of school shootings, the market has grown rapidly for technologies that monitor students through official school emails and chats by Lois Beckett Part 2 - Huge growth There is still no independent evaluation of whether this kind of surveillance technology actually works to reduce violence and self-harm. Privacy experts say pervasive monitoring may hurt children, and may be particularly dangerous for students with disabilities and students of color. Despite the lack of research evidence, tech companies are marketing school monitoring technologies with bold claims of hundreds of lives saved, mostly through prevention of youth suicide attempts. Gaggle, a leading provider of school email and shared document monitoring, says its technology is currently used to monitor 4.5 million students across 1,400 school districts. The company claims that in the last academic year alone its technology “ helped districts save the lives of more than 700 students who were plan...

 by Caitlin Johnstone Former British ambassador Craig Murray has published a very disturbing account of Julian Assange’s court appearance yesterday which I recommend reading in full. There have been many reports published about Assange’s case management hearing, but the combination of Murray’s prior experience with torture victims, his familiarity with British courts, his friendship with Assange, and his lack of reverence for western power structures allowed for a much more penetrating insight into what happened than anyone else has been able to provide so far.  Here is a small excerpt: Before I get on to the blatant lack of fair process, the first thing I must note was Julian’s condition. I was badly shocked by just how much weight my friend has lost, by the speed his hair has receded and by the appearance of premature and vastly accelerated ageing. He has a pronounced limp I have never seen before. Since his arrest he has lost over 15 kg in weight. But his phy...

The Real News Network The OAS and Bolivia's opposition are accusing the Morales government of fraud in the recent presidential election, but offer no evidence. They're following Sen. Marco Rubio's lead, says CEPR's Mark Weisbrot.

The Grayzone Amid outrage over Turkey’s atrocities against Kurdish civilians northern Syria, Max Blumenthal discusses how some of the Syrian militias committing the crimes are composed of the same "moderate rebels" that the US, Turkey, and Gulf states armed, trained, and supported during the multi-year Syria proxy war. 

globinfo freexchange In a recent ad, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explains why she endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. Yet, it would be interesting to examine a specific point she makes at the beginning of this short video. AOC says:                     The first time I ever heard about Bernie Sanders was when I was a waitress in a greasy spoon diner type of restaurant in downtown Manhattan. And I had been working 12 hour days. I didn't have health insurance. I was being paid less than a living wage. And I didn't think that I deserved any of those things, I thought that that's just how life was.   Her last (highlighted) phrase tells you a lot of how deeply the neoliberal perception has penetrated inside societies and especially inside the minds of new generations. Entire generations have been trained to believe that that's how things are, in order to accept the neoliberal...

The Intercept A little over a year ago, the last time then-congressional candidate Ilhan Omar appeared as a guest on The Intercept’s Deconstructed podcast with Mehdi Hasan, she was skeptical that Sen. Bernie Sanders should make a second run for president, instead identifying more closely with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Asked last year if she thought Sanders should run for president, Omar said, “I actually believe that ship might have sailed.” She would, however, have been excited about a Warren candidacy, she said, explaining that she’d “always thought of [herself] as part of the Warren wing of the party.” But Omar’s views have evolved over the past 12 months. She endorsed the independent senator from Vermont last week, and she explained her decision Wednesday night during a live taping of Deconstructed at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

goingundergroundRT Legendary journalist and filmmaker, John Pilger, speaks about Julian Assange’s latest extradition hearing this Monday, which he attended. He discusses how Julian appeared at the trial, the bias of the judge against Julian Assange, the lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian’s persecution, his health and conditions in Belmarsh prison, CIA spying on Julian Assange and more. MP Chris Williamson also speaks about Assange’s extradition hearing, his motion in the House of Commons to condemn Julian Assange’s treatment, why Julian’s persecution is of international importance, the silence of mainstream media on Julian Assange, the lack of vocal outrage from Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour front bench over Assange’s treatment. 

The Intercept In a wide-ranging conversation before the rally in Queens on Saturday, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke with Ryan Grim about the power of grassroots movements, the importance of electing progressives to Congress, health care, foreign policy and more.