the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

The Democratic National Convention concluded Thursday night with the formal acceptance of the party’s presidential nomination by former Vice President Joe Biden, after a final two-hour session that was full of empty clichés, inane rhetoric and nauseating insincerity. by Patrick Martin The atmosphere Thursday was more of a religious revival than a political event. There was incessant emphasis on the personal moral superiority of Biden compared to Trump, accompanied by increasingly maudlin testimonials to Biden’s alleged deep concern for children, the downtrodden, and virtually anyone who crossed his path. One former White House official referred to Biden’s “empathy skills,” a phrase which recalls the old wisecrack: “Sincerity—if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” The sheer contempt for the intelligence of the population and the viewing audience was summed up in Biden’s acceptance speech. His speechwriters appeared to have been trying to cram every possible trite phrase...

This resolution was adopted unanimously by the membership of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States at its Sixth National Congress, which was held online from July 19 to July 24, 2020.  Part 4 - June 1–July 2020: Trump’s coup and the racialist politics of the Democratic Party 43. The response of the Trump administration was to attempt to stage a presidential coup, overturning the Constitution and deploying the military throughout the country. On June 1, Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, in which he declared his intention to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to brand opposition to police violence as “domestic terrorism.” As federal police launched a violent attack on citizens engaged in peaceful protests outside the White House, Trump declared that he was the president of “law and order.” If cities or states did not take measures the White House deemed sufficiently aggressive, Trump said, “ I will deploy the US military and qu...

A disturbing new document outlines plans for a US regime-change scheme against Nicaragua’s elected leftist government, overseen by USAID, to bring about a “market economy” and a purge of Sandinistas. by Ben Norton Part 4 - USAID’s regime-change plot to “transition” Nicaragua to a “market economy” USAID’s Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) plan makes it clear that it is just a “ short term bridge ” to bring about regime change in the country, adding, “ It is USAID’s intent to follow RAIN with longer-term programs, which will be determined as the crisis evolves .” The regime-change plot outlined a “Mission Goal 2” in which “ Nicaragua provides basis for future economic growth and increased trade through transition to a rules-based market economy based on transparent and accountable regulatory institutions, fiscal and monetary stability, respect for the rule-of-law and protection of private property rights. ” A supplementary “mission objective” emphasized USAID’s ...

Behind a veil of corporate media PR, the Gates Foundation has served as a vehicle for Western capital while exploiting the Global South as a human laboratory. The coronavirus pandemic is likely to intensify this disturbing agenda. by Jeremy Loffredo and Michele Greenstein Part 10 - Weakening the public health systems of states In addition to pushing dangerous products onto poorer countries, the Gates Foundation actually stunts improvements to public health systems and access to health care. Thus, changes in social and economic determinants of health take a backseat to more profitable, technology-centric solutions like vaccines. This phenomenon is reflected in the WHO budget. The foundation is the largest contributor to the WHO’s polio eradication program, but the largest funder of WHO’s “health systems” program is the government of Japan. According to Global Justice Now , the foundation’s “ heavy focus on developing new vaccines… detracts from other, more vital heal...

The Anti-Money Laundering Act would expose the owners of shell companies now sits alone on a shelf in the US Senate while the Federal Reserve shrugs its shoulders in the face of blatant manipulation by the too-big-to-fail banks. by Raul Diego Part 2 - Transparency is too risky Despite the already semi-opaque structure of the current bill, members of the Senate still want more. Unlike the U.K. version, which makes the data publicly available, the U.S. version would be controlled by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and only be accessible to law enforcement agencies. The Senate Banking Committee has, reportedly already agreed on the bill’s language and only the funding source is a question mark, at this point. It is clear that the legislation has accrued momentum and will likely pass at some point. 42 Attorney Generals have urged the federal government to pass it and in June, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter in support to t...

During both, the truth can quickly disappear. by Patrick Cockburn  Part 3 - The Misreporting of Wars and Epidemics By the time I started to research a book about the Cork polio epidemic that would be titled Broken Boy , I had been reporting wars for 25 years, starting with the Northern Irish Troubles in the 1970s, then the Lebanese civil war, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the war that followed Washington’s post-9/11 takeover of Afghanistan, and the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. After publication of the book, I went on covering these endless conflicts for the British paper the Independent as well as new conflicts sparked in 2011 by the Arab Spring in Libya, Syria and Yemen. As the coronavirus pandemic began this January, I was finishing a book (just published), War in the Age of Trump: The Defeat of Isis, the Fall of the Kurds, the Confrontation with Iran. Almost immediately, I noticed strong parallels between the Covid-19 pandemic and the polio epidemic 64 y...

On Friday, Minnesota Democratic Representative Betty McCollum introduced the Israeli Annexation Non-Recognition Act in the US Congress. The bill prohibits US recognition of or funding for Israel’s potential annexation of additional Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.  Its original cosponsors are six Democratic representatives: Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Massachusetts’ Ayanna Pressley, Wisconsin’s Mark Pocan, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, and Indiana’s André Carson. All seven representatives have strong track records of congressional advocacy for Palestinian rights – though Pressley last year broke ranks with progressives and voted for a resolution condemning the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Full report: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/josh-ruebner/historic-bill-would-penalize-israel-annexation-and-apartheid

Last Monday night Israeli fighter jets executed airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip for the ninth night in a row in an act that may be another on Israel’s long list of possible war crimes. Israeli leaders characterized the actions as retaliatory, naming Gazan “incendiary balloons” and “riots” as justification. This is just the latest in what mainstream media generally depicts as a “protracted conflict” between “the militant group Hamas and Israel,” after “months of calm” (5 Gazans have been killed in 2020; Israel has shot at farmers and fishermen hundreds of times; no Israelis have been killed). The plight of Palestinians in Gaza, a population of almost two million crammed into a region the size of Detroit, has been hidden from the view of most, even as the US funds its occupier with over $10 million a day in military aid. Not only does Israel limit the amount of food and medicine entering the Strip, but it has also attacked the population in three massive incursions a...

Democracy At Work " If you were to define capitalism as you ought to, with a definition that does the job definitions are supposed to do, you would be vulnerable to the critique that this system that you're defending is the antithesis of democracy. " Richard D. Wolff

The Hill Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti weigh in on who is speaking at the Democratic Convention this week, including the keynote speech being given by 17 "rising stars" in the Democratic Party.