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(Columbus Day — The Beginning of the Native American Genocide )
Images of the Day:
The four municipalities of Baracoa, Imías, Maisí and San
Antonio del Sur in Cuba’s eastern Guantánamo Province
are perhaps the areas that have been most strongly lashed by
Hurricane Matthew. A lot of details and images are already
available in Internet – particularly in CubaDebate –
about the impact of this hurricane and in the very near future,
we’ll know the exact dimensions of the destruction
it’s left in its wake. For the moment, it is important to say that due to Cuba’s
incredibly efficient and timely disaster preparedness, its broad
and well-organized Civil Defense system, the massive assistance
of a hurricane-wise and hurricane-experienced population and a
deep commitment by the state to protect human life –
first and foremost – there are no reported deaths. Among
other things, this is due to evacuation of people living in
potentially dangerous areas, such as along the coast and in
lowlands susceptible to flooding.
In Guantánamo Province alone, 227,598 people were evacuated
of whom 182,281 (80%) were provided shelter in the homes of
family and friends – yet another example of Cuba’s
characteristic solidarity in times of need – and 45,508 were
housed in state-provided and provisioned shelters. — Solidarity in the Storm: Cuba in the Wake of Hurricane Matthew
Videos of the Day:
U.S
US and EU sanctions are ruining ordinary Syrians’ lives The conflict in Syria is the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has seen since the Second World War with 13 million people – two thirds of the population – in need of assistance The US and EU economic sanctions on Syria are causing huge suffering among ordinary Syrians and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to a leaked UN internal report. By Patrick Cockburn 
Pentagon Begins Low-Intensity, Stealth War in Syria Call it stealth warfare, call it poking the bear, call it whatever you’d like. The fact is, the Syrian war has entered a new and more dangerous phase increasing the chances of a catastrophic confrontation between the US and Russia. by Mike Whitney
As the Surveillance Expands, Best Way to Resist is to Bury the NSA in Garbage Word that Yahoo! last year, at the urging of the National Security Agency, secretly developed a program that monitored the mail of all 280 million of its customers and turned over to the NSA all mail from those who used any of the agency’s thousands of keywords, shows that the US has become a total police state in terms of trying to monitor every person in the country (and outside too). by Dave Lindorff
Seeds of Corporate Power vs. Farmers’ Rights The consolidation of corporate power in agriculture has been in the news a lot lately, first with the proposed ChemChina-Syngenta and Dow-DuPont mergers, and now with Bayer’s proposal to purchase seed giant Monsanto. National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson testified in Congress that the proposed mergers would enable just three corporations to control 80 percent of the USseed supply (and 70 percent of the global pesticide market). The result is that farmers have fewer and fewer choices about the kinds of seeds they want to plant. The concentration of processing and distribution also limits options and further squeezes farmers at a time when prices are tumbling around the globe. By Karen Hansen-Kuhn
Environment:
Solidarity in the Storm: Cuba in the Wake of Hurricane Matthew I have been waiting all evening to send this preliminary report,
hoping I would be able to have communication with the community
of San Antonio del Sur in the southern coastal strip of
Guantánamo Province that was also among the areas most
severely hit by Hurricane Matthew in eastern Cuba. But phone lines are down and loss of electricity means that cell
phones can’t be charged up – so for now I’m
sending some information only about the town of Baracoa located
on Guantánamo’s northern coast. by Susana Hurlich
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Charts The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.
Risk of global financial crash has increased, warns IMF Threat of instability and recession in emerging economies, and legacy of debt and disharmony in eurozone among ‘triad of risks’ outlined in stability report By Phillip Inman 
World:
Polish women strike back at church and state over abortion Polish women staged magnificent demonstrations and strike action all over the country on Monday 3 October. They are fighting against a proposed law that would ban abortion under all circumstances, even in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s life. Even in this country where the Catholic Church is so powerful, and where the right-wing Law and Justice party won power just a year ago, the spirit of struggle is alive and explosive. by Ben Gliniecki
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Monsanto’s Toxic PCBs Lurking in 26,000 U.S. Public Schools, Report Says Monsanto’s history with a controversial and dangerous class of chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, has once again reared its ugly head. On the same day that the agribusiness giant announced plans to set aside a whopping $280 million in PCB personal injury settlements, a study from scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that up to 14 million students in 26,000 schools in the U.S. could be exposed to unsafe levels of the highly toxic chemicals even though they were banned several decades ago. Before switching its operations to agriculture, Monsanto was the sole manufacturer of PCBs from 1935 until 1977. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned PCBs in 1979 due to its link to birth defects and cancer in laboratory animals. PCBs can have adverse skin and liver effects in humans and can also linger in the environment for many decades. By Lorraine Chow 
Toxic Allegiances and Corporate Power: Open Letter to the Oxford Martin Commission by Colin Todhunter
The Right of Might and Genocide
Maybe
Quotes of the Day:
The United States as Destroyer of Nations by Daniel Kovalik 
Librarians Condemn Police Conduct in Kansas City Free Speech Arrests Libraries often find themselves on the frontlines against government overreach, whether it is opposing local politicians who want to ban books or protecting the privacy and confidentiality of their patrons from police intrusion. The Kansas City, Mo., Public Library system has dealt with these issues over the years. But now the library finds itself at the center of a new controversy — aggressive policing — a trend increasingly common in the streets but rarely seen inside the walls of libraries. by Mark Hand
Fears, Tears and Jeers at a BLM Listening Session: a Navajo Community Takes Fracking to Heart by Frances Madeson
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
House of Cards: How the Chicago Police Department Covered Up for a Gang of Criminal Cops Code of Silence Part 3: Top Chicago police officials carried out a campaign of retaliation against two officers investigating a criminal gang within the department.
Watch Your Back Chicago Police Bosses Targeted Cops Who Exposed Corruption Code of Silence Part 4 After Chicago police officers Shannon Spalding and Danny Echeverria filed a whistleblower lawsuit, retaliation against them only intensified.
Labor: