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As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From Austerity!
Images of the Day:
Trump seems to be expounding on his inaugural address, in which he cited “the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage,” he said, “stops right here and stops right now.” Trump may favor a relaxation in tensions with Russia, but there can be no doubt about his commitment to a permanent state of war with Black America. Although Trump has not labeled Black Lives Matter a “terrorist organization, more than 100,000 of his supporters sent a petition to that effect to the Obama White House back in July, and Trump surrogate David Clarke, the Black Sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, called Black Lives Matter “one of the most destructive groups to the well-being and justice for black Americans that exist today.” Candidate Trump has entertained the possibility of a federal probe of the movement. “I have seen them marching down the street essentially calling death to the police and I think we’re going to have to look into that,” he told Bill O’Reilly, last summer. Asked if he would instruct the Justice Department to explore criminal charges against Black Lives Matter, Trump replied: “When you see something like that taking place — that’s really a threat, if you think about it. And when you see something like that taking place, we are going to have to perhaps talk with the Attorney General about it or do something. But, at a minimum, we’re going to have to be watching because that’s really bad stuff and it’s happened more than once.” — Glen Ford, Trump Will Probably Dump Police Department “Consent Decrees”
Videos of the Day
Declining Cost of Renewables Will Challenge Trump’s Promise to Bring Back Jobs Through Coal America First Energy Plan is replacing the former administration’s Clean Power Plan, whose benefits outweighed costs and would not have been a challenge on growth, says Yale professor Kenneth Gillingham
Trump’s ‘Global Gag Order’ Will See Countless Women Lose Access to Essential Health Services A number of organizations will reluctantly obey the gag order because they are in need of U.S. funding in order to financially survive — Panel with Shannon Kowalski of International Women’s Health Coalition and Dilly Severin of the International Family Planning Coalition Communicators
US:
Corporate Media Looks Away as Trump Era Begins with Arrests of Journalists Their own community is under attack, yet major outlets remain decidedly pro-police. By Adam Johnson
Trump’s First Big Test on Taxes Our first billionaire president has nominated a cabinet that includes two billionaires and at least ten multi-millionaires, whose combined net worth is estimated at over $13 billion. As a group, they’re part of the tiny segment of U.S. society that will personally benefit from such targeted tax cuts for the wealthy. by Chuck Collins
The War Horror Has Begun This new war horror show has passed without notice, as though it were somehow just a continuation of acceptable norms. Here we are on Day 5 of the Donald Trump presidency, and he’s got “special” forces of the U.S. military in two-thirds of the world’s nations. He’s engaged in serious occupation and/or bombing campaigns in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. He just sent malicious robot airplanes armed with missiles to blow to pieces a bunch of vaguely-identified but never indicted “criminals” in Yemen. Their body parts were widely scattered and their loved ones devastated. The injured writhed in agony. By David Swanson
The Year in Drones: 2016 Law Professor Marjorie Cohn decried the police execution of Johnson, rightly noting that Killing with Robots Increases Militarization of Police. Professor Cohn notes that the police robot could have used tear gas to subdue Johnson, who posed no immediate further threat. by Charles Pierson
Double Standards: Where Were the Liberal Protestors During Obama’s Wars? by Mike Whitney
Standing Rock Camp Founder Refuses to Shut Down Water Protector Camp On December 4, the Army Corps of Engineers and Obama Administration temporarily halted the Dakota Access Pipeline construction along its proposed route under Lake Oahe, which will threaten the drinking water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux. On January 24, President Trump signed an executive order resuming construction of the pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have denounced Trump’s order, calling for his administration to “honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archembault told the Guardian. by Michael J. Sainato
Standing Rock Sioux to Trump: ‘Creating a Second Flint Does Not Make America Great Again’ By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
Environment:
Defending Science Is Not Only for Scientists — It’s for All Who Care About Clean Air, Water, and Soil The Union of Concerned Scientists is committed to watchdogging the Trump administration’s attacks on science and the safeguards that keep our water, soil, and air clean. Since the inauguration of President Trump, we have seen how the administration has fired all cannons on deck to gut protections from the ravaging effects of climate change as well as from air, soil, and water contaminants. For example, a few minutes after the inauguration, all mentions of climate change from the White House’s website were taken down (but were archived here). This week, the Environmental Protection Agency has been effectively gagged and immobilized under orders to suspend all social media contacts, and freeze grants and not talk about it. By Juan Declet-Barreta
U.S. government scientists go ‘rogue’ in defiance of Trump Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial “rogue” Twitter feeds in defiance of what they see as attempts by President Donald Trump to muzzle federal climate change research and other science. Seizing on Trump’s favorite mode of discourse, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus have privately launched Twitter accounts – borrowing names and logos of their agencies – to protest restrictions they view as censorship and provide unfettered platforms for information the new administration has curtailed. By Steve Gorman
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
State Department 2014 Report: The Keystone XL Pipeline Will Create Only 50 Long-Term Jobs Upon reviving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline this week, the Trump administration claimed it would create 28,000 jobs. In a 2014 study, the U.S. State Department estimated the pipeline would create 50 jobs, 35 of which would be permanent.
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
Cory Booker, Corporate Hooker: The Perfect Establishment Opposition to Donald Trump After losing the White House to the most unpopular president in history, Democrats have lots to say, but even more to avoid saying, lest they expose themselves as every bit as much the corporate tools as their Republican foes. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is their ideal spokesperson, a cynical, photogenic and utterly dependable corporate whore who can be counted on to keep the anti-Trump rabble safely inside the Democrat’s big stinky tent. A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
Trump Will Probably Dump Police Department “Consent Decrees” Donald Trump is unlikely to approve of any more “consent decrees” to “reform” police departments. But this will be no great loss. As practiced, “the scheme very much resembles former Attorney General Holder’s coddling of criminal banks, under which the offending institutions were fined, but not criminally charged or compelled to admit guilt.” In most cities, police killings of Blacks actually increased or stayed the same after federal intervention. by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Labor:
Economy:
World:
The North of Ireland: Scandals, Brexit and spiralling crisis The crisis faced by the political establishment in the North of Ireland is without precedent in the 19 years of “power sharing” that followed the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). New elections won’t resolve anything. The reality is that the sectarian cul de sac of the Stormont Assembly lends itself to grandstanding and acrimony, with the DUP and Sinn Féin ruling together whilst at the same time opposing each other and simultaneously looking over their shoulder at their opponents within their own communities. By Ben Curry
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Why Independent Media Is Crucial for Countering Trump’s Lies Trump has made it clear that he is willing to leverage the mainstream media’s ability to access the White House to control the national conversation. Facts alone will not hold Trump to account. We need independent media to counter his lies with a completely different narrative. By Mike Ludwig
El Greco Painting: Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple
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