(2019-12-24). Slingshot issue 131 article Deadline and first reading. indybay.org Long Haul infoshop – 3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley – 510 540 0751 – corner of Shattuck and Woolsey across from La Pena – 2 blocks from Ashby BART…
(2019-12-24). Abe, Moon meet after worst period of tension between S. Korea & Japan in decades. rt.com 
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Tension over stalled denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States was the main issue on the agenda. | Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing "agreed to continue close communication and cooperation toward denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," Moon said. "We… decided to work together to ensure that denuclearization and peace continue through prompt North Korea-US dialogue," he added. | For Moon and Abe…
(2019-12-24). Far-right Spanish general demands ouster of Socialist Party government. wsws.org According to El País, this call from the former chief of staff of the Spanish army is circulating widely in the officer corps among WhatsApp groups.
(2019-12-24). 2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern CA Regional Conference, Day 2. indybay.org Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
(2019-12-24). Anti-war leader blasts Klobuchar for backing U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Amy Klobuchar, a 'centrist' who is trying to become the Democratic Party standard-bearer in the upcoming elections for president, states that she will not reverse Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. There has long been a consensus among most Republican and Democratic politicians to support the Zionist occupation of Palestine. | Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a leader of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee responded, "It doesn't surprise any of us in the anti-war movement that Klobuchar doesn't want to reverse Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy fr…
(2019-12-24). Basta FridayWeekly Save Chelsea from Torture and Death Vigil&Music. indybay.org Fruitvale &MacArthur oakland 94602…
(2019-12-24). 'Little Women' for Millennials. truthdig.com How is it that a story written a century and a half ago manages to speak to the many moments at which it's been reimagined for moviegoers?
(2019-12-24). Michael L. Cantor mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates. indybay.org In a shocking email further below, Michael L. Cantor, director of FE Partners LLC, the owner of the former Presidential Yacht Sequoia, mocks the artwork of the Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates with condescension and derision towards the much coveted historical Yacht Sequoia Cruise Certificates!
(2019-12-24). Journalist Peter Hartcher and the anti-China campaign in Australia. wsws.org Hartcher's essay in the Quarterly Essay is textbook propaganda for war. It seeks to cultivate nationalist fear and even paranoia about the intended enemy—China.
(2019-12-24). Germany: Former secret service boss agitates against refugees and plays down right-wing terrorism. wsws.org One year after his removal as head of Germany's domestic secret service, Hans-Georg Maassen (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) has become one of the spokesmen for the extreme right.
(2019-12-24). Turkey not given up on Khashoggi murder case: Experts. yenisafak.com Evaluating Monday verdict of a Saudi court over slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish experts said the decision does not bind Turkey and called for carrying out legal process in Istanbul, where the incident took place.Criminal lawyer Ersan Sen told Anadolu Agency that only Turkey has the judiciary rights on the Khashoggi case in the world.Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a U.S. resident, was murdered after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 of last year on a visit to pick up paperwork for his forthcoming marriage."The UN, U.S., or Saudi Arabia, no matter who says what, it doe…
(2019-12-24). Trump slashes Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico. wsws.org President Trump personally intervened in last week's spending talks to reduce funding for Puerto Rico, which has been plagued by recession and ruthless social inequality.
(2019-12-24). 'Role play'? Swedish schoolkids made to kneel in gender-segregated MUSLIM prayer & told to listen to Koran in Arabic. rt.com 
A Swedish school decided to familiarize its fifth-graders with Islamic worshipping by having a teacher recite Koranic verse to them and having them pray facing Mecca, in a bizarre set-up the educators called "role play." | An offbeat "religion lesson" was taught at the Bjurbäck school situated in the south of Sweden, according to Samhallsnytt news outlet. An outraged parent said pupils were told to face the Kaaba and kneel on prayer mats, while the whole class was divided by gender, with girls forced to the back of the room. | His daughters "did not even want to be there because they could not understand…
(2019-12-24). Inside Brazil's War on Small Farmers. zcomm.org Not long ago, Brazil's government walked a thin, complicated line between protecting the right to private property and the right to agrarian reform. Today, that line has been obliterated…
(2019-12-24). Corporate Media and 'Moderate' Democrats Are Defending the Oligarchy Against Bernie Sander. indybay.org Seeking "a more positive future" for the wealthy…
(2019-12-24). With Federal Minimum Stuck at $7.25, Report Shows 32 Jurisdictions Will Raise Wages to or Above $15 in 2020. commondreams.org "It shows the incredible momentum that the Fight for $15 movement has built up. People who work low-wage jobs need and deserve a raise—and companies can afford it. There's no excuse." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/fight_for_15_5.jpg …
(2019-12-24). Back To the Far Side, and Not A Moment Too Soon. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/further/new_far_tease_returns_2_side.jpg …
(2019-12-24). German student says he's told to leave India after joining protests. yenisafak.com A German exchange student said on Tuesday that Indian authorities had ordered him to leave the country after he took part in protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new citizenship law.Jakob Lindenthal, a 24-year-old pursuing a master's degree in physics, said he took part in two rallies in the southern city of Chennai against the law, which critics say discriminates against India's minority Muslims.A photo circulated on Twitter shows Lindenthal holding a sign that reads: "1933-1945 We have been there," a reference to Nazi Germany.Lindenthal said he was summoned to a meeting with India's immigration autho…
(2019-12-24). Syrian regime, allies capture 35 residential areas in Idlib. yenisafak.com Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime backed by Russia and Iran has captured 35 residential areas in the past four days in the northwestern Idlib province, which has been designated a de-escalation zone.Since the offensive began on Dec. 20, the regime and its allies have launched a military campaign mainly in the cities of Maarat Al-Numan and Saraqib as well as the surrounding rural areas.Despite being a de-escalation zone, the regime and its allies on Monday night took control of nine more areas, including Jarjnaz, Khirbet Marata, Abu Dafna, al-Hadisa, Kafr Yasin, al-Salihiyah, Dar al-Salam, al-Falul, and Babulin, bri…
(2019-12-24). San Francisco Action In Support Of French Strikers. indybay.org Photo: Leon Kunstenaar | Extent of Macron's attack on working class revealed. | For labor, its getting personal against him.
(2019-12-24). Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg forced to resign. wsws.org Muilenburg's removal will not change the underlying drive by Boeing for ever-greater profits at the expense of human lives.
(2019-12-24). Football match brought together friends of Lula, Chico Buarque, and MST in Sà£o Paulo. peoplesdispatch.org 
Friends of Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the celebrated musician and author Chico Buarque took part in a friendly game of soccer against members of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) on Sunday, Dec. 22. The match ended 2-1, with goals scored by Lula and Buarque. | The former president scored from a free kick in the beginning of the match. Federal congressman Nilto Tatto, from the Workers' Party, scored for the MST team. Chico Buarque scored the tie-breaking goal from a penalty kick. | Joà£o Paulo Rodrigues, a member of the national board of the MST, said it was a close game and a nar…
(2019-12-24). In Mountain View, Seasonal and Humorous Signs at Eve of Impeachment Demo on Four Corners. indybay.org Demonstrators leaned in toward passing traffic to show off their creative signs on Impeachment Eve at a major intersection in the heart of Silicon Valley.
(2019-12-24). Disconnected at Christmas… Bah Humbug! globalresearch.ca John and Yoko Lennon's 1971 'Happy Christmas …' song begins with "So this is Christmas and what have you done?….". Well, this holiday season, replete with the usual suspects of mass consumer spending, massive traffic jams and accidents, mass pleas …
(2019-12-24). In SF, Music Punctuates Enthusiastic Chanting at Rally and March on Eve of Historic Impeachment Vote. indybay.org In San Francisco, lyrics were rewritten to rock classics calling for impeachment and a crowd of thousands chanted for "Trump Pence Out Now!"
(2019-12-24). Indo-Pak Nuclear Confrontation: First Use Policy & the Race towards Armageddon. counterpunch.org Click here to read Part Two. Head in the Sand Approach Information on the colossal destructive effects of use of nuclear weapons, based on the horrendous experiences of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been in the public domain for well over six decades. Yet, unmindful of the existing knowledge about the More
(2019-12-24). Could every country have a Green New Deal? zcomm.org Stanford report charts paths for 143 countries…
(2019-12-24). Wrong kind of record: 2019 was year of most US mass murders ever — study. rt.com 
Among the records the US set in 2019 was a sad and disturbing one. It was the year with the most incidents of mass killing since media and scholars started keeping track, according to a new study. | There were 211 victims in 41 mass killings this year, according to the database maintained by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University in Boston. By their definition, a mass murder is any incident in which four or more people die, excluding the perpetrator. | It is the largest number of mass killings since the two news organizations and the university started tracking them in 2006, when they reco…
(2019-12-24). Australian police begin "foreign interference" raids. wsws.org The Weekend Australian's "exclusive" story signals an offensive by the police and intelligence agencies to carry out the first prosecutions under draconian "foreign interference" laws.
(2019-12-24). Tax Amazon: Strike While the Iron is Hot. counterpunch.org The history of American capitalism is full of corporate bullying, threats and even violence against working people when we stand up for our rights. | Yet in spite of Amazon's all-out, attempted hostile corporate takeover of Seattle City Hall this year, working people just beat the richest man in the world by running perhaps the strongest grassroots campaign ever in our city. When we fight, we can win. More
(2019-12-24). New Zealand Police fatally shoot man in rural town. wsws.org Increased police shootings in New Zealand are occurring under conditions of increased militarisation of the police by the Labour-NZ First-Greens government.
(2019-12-24). MI5 Given the Go-ahead to Allow Informants to Commit Crimes. globalresearch.ca Human rights campaigners today vowed to appeal against a "knife-edge" divided tribunal ruling which allowed MI5 to continue authorising informants to commit serious criminal offences. | Privacy International, Reprieve, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the Pat Finucane …
(2019-12-24). Workers in Germany support French workers' strike against Macron. wsws.org Opel workers near Frankfurt and Siemens workers in Berlin spoke out to support the strike movement in France and explain what they believe should be done.
(2019-12-24). Israel cancels Jordan Valley meeting amid ICC probe. yenisafak.com An Israeli ministerial team cancelled a scheduled meeting to discuss plans for annexing the Jordan Valley following a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.The meeting had been scheduled to take place last week, but was called off last minute once ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced intention on Friday to investigate alleged Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.During his election campaign in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said h…
(2019-12-24). No Way To Treat A Child: Mistreatment and Persecution of Palestinian Children. indybay.org Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco | 1187 Franklin St. @ Geary | San Francisco…
(2019-12-24). Feeling nervous? Blame evolution for making human brain more susceptible to anxiety, study suggests. rt.com 
Depression can come from many things, such as reading Twitter too often, but a new study has revealed that feeling lousy is partly the fault of changes in the brain over the course of human evolution. | Serotonin and dopamine are critical to keeping us upbeat and positive, but a gene tasked with transporting these chemicals to our brain has evolved to carry less of these neurochemicals, a research team led by Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, has concluded. | Vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) is one of the genes responsible for delivering mood-boosting neurotransmitters to our brain. By reconstructin…
(2019-12-24). Everything You Wanted to Know about Climate Change, but Were Afraid to Ask. indybay.org Half Moon Bay Library, 620 Correas Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019…
(2019-12-24). The Hypnosis of Patriotism. indybay.org Patriotism is an unnatural, unreasonable, harmful feeling for our times, which causes much of the evil from which mankind suffers.
(2019-12-24). BALPA trade union sells out British Airways pilots struggle. wsws.org BALPA have forced through an agreement over pay that workers previously threw out.
(2019-12-24). New Zealand police suspend search for two missing in deadly eruption. yenisafak.com New Zealand police said on Tuesday they were ending the search for the bodies of two people still missing following the deadly eruption of a volcano earlier this month."The search for the two missing victims of the Whakaari/ White Island eruption has been suspended," Bay of Plenty District Commander, Superintendent Andy McGregor said in a statement."The families of the two missing people have been informed of this decision. Police remain ready to respond if new information comes to light," he added.Those still missing, presumed dead, are Winona Langford, a 17-year-old Australian tourist, and Hayden Marshall-Inman…
(2019-12-24). YPG/PKK forcibly recruits orphan kids against soldiers. yenisafak.com Terror group YPG/PKK recruits foreign national orphan children held hostage in a camp in northern Syria and trains them to fight against Turkish and Syrian soldiers, according to security sources on Tuesday.A terrorist who surrendered to security forces in Turkey's southeastern Mardin province revealed the YPG/PKK's malice once again, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.Identified by initials H.A., the terrorist said the orphan children held hostage in al-Hol Camp in northern Syria's Hasakah city were being forcibly trained to use weapons.Over 100 children, age…
(2019-12-24). Postcard From Paris. zcomm.org In short order, talks between the government and the transport unions broke down and the Prime Minister managed to turn everyone against him…
(2019-12-24). Rise Up Singing Holiday Potluck. indybay.org Avalon Visions | 2815 Porter Street, Soquel, CA 95073…
(2019-12-24). Russian airstrikes kill 8 civilians in Syria's Idlib. yenisafak.com Syrian opposition aircraft monitors said Russian warplanes struck the city of Saraqib and towns of Maar Shoreen, Babeela and Jawbas.The attacks on Jawbas left eight people, including five children, dead, sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency said.Over 1,300 civilians have been killed in the Idlib de-escalation zone despite a deal reached by Ankara and Moscow in September 2018.Over a million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border following intense attacks.Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in over 3.6 million Syrians who fled their country, making Turkey…
(2019-12-24). Japan PM asks South Korea to take steps to resolve bilateral row. yenisafak.com Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday it is South Korea's responsibility to come up with measures that would resolve bilateral disputes that have taken Tokyo's relationship with Seoul to the lowest in decades.Abe made the comment at a news conference on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with China and South Korea in Chengdu, China.Ties between Japan and South Korea, two of the United States' major Asian allies, have plunged to their lowest in decades after South Korea's top court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate some wartime forced labourers.Japan says the issue was settled under a 1…
(2019-12-24). No, McConnell — Biased Jurors and No Witnesses Do Not Make for a Fair Trial. zcomm.org In my decades as a criminal defense attorney, I have never seen a trial where the jurors admit they aren't impartial, coordinate the trial process with the defendant and then, as promised, find the defendant not guilty. And yet, that is exactly what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell aims to do…
(2019-12-24). Tweets About Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "Dying Like a Dog" are no Joking Matter. counterpunch.org The media has been overflowing with wisecracks about the absurdity of Trump's praise for the Belgian Malinois, Conan, one of several dogs used to hunt Isis founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on October 26. On the one hand, Trump tweeted that the "wonderful," "beautiful" and "talented" dog did a "GREAT JOB" and posted a More
(2019-12-24). Peace on Earth . counterpunch.org Peace on Earth The laundry soap'll hardly pour When it's as cold as this it's thick And white as wax when — well It had to be a green cat Candle the last of the red ones Ears were smashed And peace on earth my friend won't come Until we stop worshipping Work and war, More
(2019-12-24). The US Approves Bill That May Legislate Hybrid Warfare on Venezuela. counterpunch.org On December 16 both houses in the US approved the appropriation bill to be signed by President Trump. Aside from the mind-boggling amount of $1.4 trillion that was approved in total our interest was in looking at the details concerning Venezuela. A press release issued by the organization Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is More
(2019-12-24). On Hijacking History. counterpunch.org 
Here's the question at hand — and I guarantee you that you'll read it here first: Is Donald Trump the second or even possibly the third 9/11? Because truly, he has to be one or the other. Let me explain, and while I do, keep this in mind: as 2019 ends, thanks to Brexit and More