the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

WAR CRIMES On the night of March 8, 2019, four staffers at a Swedish-run health clinic in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province ate together, talked around a thermos of tea, and bedded down for the night in the guard’s room. They were awakened some time later by the thump of helicopter rotors followed by distant explosions echoing from farther up the Tangi Valley. The sounds were not unusual in Wardak, where for 20 years there has been little respite from war, and the four went back to sleep. The men were jolted awake again sometime after midnight. The main gate to the clinic, which was next to the guard’s room, had been blown in, and the staff heard hurried footsteps in the ruined entryway. The intruders ran past the guard’s room and into the clinic’s main building. The clinic staff huddled in the darkened room as several doors were kicked in across the compound yard. After what one of the clinic workers described as five or six minutes, the staffers, worried that they’d surprise the

by Joe Emersberger Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, a prominent journalistic critic of US policy toward Venezuela,  was arrested by DC police on Friday, October 25, in connection with a protest at the Venezuelan embassy, and held incommunicado. But if you rely on corporate media, or even leading “press freedom” groups, you haven’t heard about this troubling encroachment on freedom of the press. Blumenthal is a bestselling author whose work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times , CJR, The Nation and Salon . DC police arrested him at his home on a five-month-old arrest warrant, charging him with simple assault for his attempt to deliver food to the besieged Venezuelan embassy; he was held for two days, and for the first 36 hours was not allowed to speak with a lawyer. (In an interview with FAIR, Blumenthal noted that keeping arrestees—generally poor and African-American—from speaking with lawyers or family is par for the course in the DC criminal justice system.

by Eric London Across the world, in countries as culturally distinct as Ecuador, Lebanon, France, Germany, the US, Iraq, Chile and Haiti, a new generation of working class youth is making its powerful entrance onto the battlefield of the global class struggle. Citing the international scope of recent mass demonstrations, the Guardian 's Simon Tisdall recently wrote: “ Each country’s protests differ in detail, but recent upheavals do appear to share one key factor: youth ... This global phenomenon of unfulfilled youthful aspirations is producing political time bombs. Each month in India, one million people turn 18 and can register to vote. In the Middle East and North Africa, an estimated 27 million youngsters will enter the workforce in the next five years. ” The political awakening of the most educated, urbanized and technologically interconnected generation in history is of critical strategic significance for the entire working class.  Born beginning in the 1990s, to

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 loan is

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 κρατήσουμε ότι σ