Above Photo: A masked flight attendant passes out refreshments on a flight from San Francisco, California, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 27, 2020. Michael Loccisano / Getty Images. Flight Attendant union president and labor leader Sara Nelson is criticizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for changing its guidance on quarantining for COVID-19 after business leaders asked the agency to cut its recommendations by half, potentially at the cost of public health. Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International, accused the CDC in a statement of making its decision to benefit businesses that may be experiencing staffing […]
Corporate
37 posts
Berlin’s housing referendum became possible after years of struggle to make housing in the city affordable and available to all again. To understand the issue and the movement that led to this vote, Peoples Dispatch spoke to Anisia Petcu. On 26 September, Berliners voted to expropriate housing from corporate landlords. This referendum became possible after years of struggle to make housing in the city affordable and available to all again. To understand the issue and the movement that led to this vote, Peoples Dispatch spoke to Anisia Petcu, an activist in the expropriation campaign. She works primarily in the working group […]
Above Photo: The Biden administration is under fire for a report about leasing public lands and waters to fossil fuel companies that critics called “completely inadequate.” (Photo: nightman1965/Getty Images) “Greenlighting more fossil fuel extraction, then pretending it’s OK by nudging up royalty rates, is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” said one campaigner. Climate campaigners and other progressive critics on Friday called out the Biden administration for a new U.S. Interior Department report about leasing public lands and waters to oil and gas companies, slamming its proposals as far too weak given the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. […]
Above photo: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) poses with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y,). Office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi/via Reuters. This past week, November 1 to 6, this writer wrote a daily running commentary on the developments in Congress, as the corporate wing of the Democrat Party maneuvered US House progressives into a corner over voting on the Infrastructure and Reconciliation (Build Back Better) spending bills. Ever since the two the bills—Infrastructure and Reconciliation— were first raised together last March 2021, progressives in the Democrat Party have been steadily driven into making concession after concession, reducing their proposals in a vain […]
Above photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images. The corporate media in recent days has been busy resurrecting and re-reporting the deal negotiated weeks ago by Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary, to get 100+ other nations to sign on to and introduce a 15% global corporate alternative tax in their countries. But why is the mainstream media bringing it up again now? Is it to soften the blow of Biden’s repeal of his proposal to hike corporate taxes in the US from Trump’s 21% to 26%? (It was 35% pre-Trump)? Or is there something else as well that explains why the media is […]
Above Photo: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images / Inequality.org Missing From The Climate Talks Next week international negotiators are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland to develop solutions to the climate change threat. But one major obstacle to global sustainability will be largely absent from the discussions: the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system. This system gives transnational corporations the power to sue governments over actions — including policies to address climate change — that reduce the value of their foreign investments. Allowing corporations to continue to wield this power could undermine whatever agreements might be reached in Glasgow. How does this system […]
The COP 26 United Nations climate meeting is underway in Glasgow Scotland. Following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent “Code Red” report that proves urgent action is critical, the world is looking at the corporate-dominated COP 26 to do what is necessary. Clearing the FOG speaks with Anne Petermann, executive director of the Global Justice Ecology Project, who says COP 26 is focused on ‘false solutions’ promoted by large corporations to protect their profits instead of the planet. Petermann describes a new publication, “Hoodwinked in the Hothouse,” that explains what these false solutions are and what is necessary, the real […]
Above Photo: Protestors shut down Puerto Rico Highway 18 in San Juan on October 15, 2021. (@devilette / Twitter) On October 15, protestors shut down Puerto Rico’s Highway 18 in San Juan chanting “Fuera Luma!”, our Out Luma, demanding an end to the government contract with the private energy company, Luma Energy. Their cries were echoed at protests on the same day in New York City, Miami and Philadelphia. Three days later, protestors also rallied at the Capitol in San Juan to call for the stoppage of cuts to the public university, social services and public pensions. Puerto Rico take to […]
“The Comprehensive Range Of NHS Services Salami, Sliced Down To A Remnant Of Poor Standard Emergency Care In Fewer Locations.” — Bob Gill The British National Health Service (NHS) once stood as an internationally renowned example of a tax-funded health system that delivered public-health services to millions of British citizens, lifting a huge burden from the sick. However, the rise of neoliberal policies in the United Kingdom has targeted the NHS to become the latest victim of a U.S.-U.K. economic trade deal that would put health care services in the hands of private U.S. corporations. This means that private U.S. […]
Above Photo: Corporate crime can be difficult to detect and hard to prosecute. Federal prosecutions of white-collar crime dropped by more than a third from 1998 to 2018, with corporations often able to pay fines rather than go to court. (Michael Morganstern / Knowable Magazine) ) Corporate criminal law doesn’t exist. And it never has. That’s the conclusion of two rising young stars in the corporate crime academic world – Iowa Law School Professor Mihailis Diamantis and Michigan Ross School of Business Professor Will Thomas in a new article titled – But We Haven’t Got Corporate Criminal Law! “For more than a […]
On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the ongoing persecution of human rights lawyer Steven Donziger. Judge Loretta Preska, an adviser to the conservative Federalist Society, to which Chevron is a major donor, sentenced the human rights attorney and Chevron nemesis Stephen Donziger to six months in prison on October 1 for misdemeanor contempt of court after he had spent 787 days under house arrest in New York. Preska’s caustic outbursts – she said at the sentencing, “It seems that only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law” – capped a judicial farce worthy of […]
Above photo: Steven Donziger in a video message to supporters on Sept. 30. Steve Donziger, Twitter. Imprisoning the David to Chevron’s Goliath is the latest outrage by a US judiciary now engineered to always favor the interests of capital. Judge Loretta Preska, an adviser to the conservative Federalist Society, to which Chevron is a major donor, sentenced human rights attorney and Chevron nemesis Steven Donziger to six months in prison Friday for misdemeanor contempt of court after he had already spent 787 days under house arrest in New York. Preska’s caustic outbursts — she said at the sentencing, “It seems that […]
On the show, Chris Hedges speaks with the author Robert Eisenberg about the legacy of the Obama/Biden administration and how it led to the election of Donald Trump. The election of Donald Trump to the presidency can be directly tied to the policies implemented by Barack Obama and Joe Biden during their eight years in office. Rather than confront Wall Street and the bankers who were responsible for the global financial crash of 2007 and 2008, they bailed them out. Rather than halt the military adventurism that led to the debacles in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya, they backed and expanded […]
The World Economic Forum and Gates Foundation are convening a food summit through the United Nations on September 23. Global farmer, peasant and fishing coalitions have called a boycott of the summit for its pro-corporate agenda, refusal to include the human right to food and exclusion of the intergovernmental body, the Committee on World Food Security, that has created an inclusive and democratized international structure. Clearing the FOG speaks with Patti Naylor, a family farmer in Iowa who works on agroecology and food sovereignty. She is on the board of Family Farm Defenders and a member of the US Food Sovereignty […]
In this feature, we interview Syrian-born journalist Richard Medhurst about state propaganda, the mainstream media, and U.S. imperialism. Roberto Sirvent: Can you share a little bit about the mainstream media’s coverage of Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan? What are some subtle and not-so-subtle ways that pundits and politicians maintain an imperial and colonial framework in their analysis? Richard Medhurst: One of the more subtle ways they’ve tried to keep the war going is printing headlines saying that women’s’ rights are imperiled by a US withdrawal. The notion that a bunch of imperialists, who have killed scores of women and mothers, and turned […]
Supreme Court Weighs Corporate Liability For Child Laborers On Cocoa Farms By Claire Kelloway, Food and Power. December 11, 2020 Supreme Court Weighs Corporate Liability For Child Laborers On Cocoa Farms2020-12-112020-12-10https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/12/cocoa-e1607651188640.jpg200px200px Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether the world’s largest cocoa corporations are liable for child slavery in their supply chains. For 15 years, six citizens of Mali who were trafficked as children to work on cocoa farms have sought legal damages from Cargill and Nestle USA under a 240-year-old anti-piracy law. The plaintiffs’ attorney told the court that the corporations “maintain a system of child slavery and […]
US Congress And Corporate Media Claim Venezuela’s Government Threatened To Starve Non-Voters By Max Blumenthal and Anya Parampil, The Grayzone. December 7, 2020 US Congress And Corporate Media Claim Venezuela’s Government Threatened To Starve Non-Voters2020-12-072020-12-07https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/12/venezuela-diosdado-cabello-threat-food-starve-voters-e1607355882439.jpg200px200px Spun out by the US Congress and Wall Street Journal, the cynical deception is part of an assault on Venezuela’s legislative election, in which even opposition politicians were sanctioned for participating. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US corporate media declared Venezuela’s legislative elections a “sham” before results were even announced, opening a new front in the propaganda war on the besieged country and its leftist government. Among […]
When Centrists Lose, Corporate Media Blame The Left By Julie Hollar, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. November 12, 2020 When Centrists Lose, Corporate Media Blame The Left2020-11-122020-11-12https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/spanberger-1024×575-1.jpg200px200px Joe Biden hadn’t even been declared the victor of the 2020 election before establishment Democrats, in the face of poorer-than-expected results in House and Senate races, began pointing fingers at the left—with corporate media giving them a major assist. Democrats had been hoping for big wins on election night, with the possibility of winning not only the presidency but also the Senate, and increasing their majority in the House. But while Biden has come […]
The Corporate Dictatorship Of The Very Rich By Nora Fernandez, Global Research. November 7, 2020 The Corporate Dictatorship Of The Very Rich2020-11-072020-11-07https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/ceos-feature-e1604777425758.jpg200px200px Above photo:Composite/Getty Images. I heard friends praising Bill Gates’ philanthropy a while ago; it still surprises me how people respond to billionaires. The wealthy improve their image financing self-serving projects they present as “serving others” but few question their motives or suspect them of hidden agendas. Most take billionaires at face value and forget how they made their fortunes. Gates is a monopolist who crushed others in the process of building Microsoft. At least, J.D. Rockefeller (the first) made it a bit easier for […]
Corporate Media Reverse Reality By Blaming BLM Protesters For Everything By Joshua Cho, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. November 5, 2020 Corporate Media Reverse Reality By Blaming BLM Protesters For Everything2020-11-052020-11-05https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/hill-bike-fire-e1604592474380.jpg200px200px Aside from the coronavirus pandemic, this year has also seen unprecedented mass uprisings against the US’s white supremacist police state after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis. However, throughout the ongoing protests this year, corporate media seemed to take every opportunity to vilify the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement by spinning the protesters—rather than the racist and authoritarian US regime they are protesting against—as the […]
Paradise For Human Victims Of Corporate Persons By Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. October 27, 2020 Paradise For Human Victims Of Corporate Persons2020-10-272020-10-27https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/henry-tayali-zambia-destiny-1962-1966.-4-e1603829386913.jpg200px200px Above photo: Henry Tayali (Zambia), Destiny, 1962-1966. Any day now, Zambia will be the first African country to slip into a private debt default. It can only pay interest on the $3 billion in dollar-denominated bonds if it totally ignores the needs of the Zambian people. The country has suffered from the slowdown of the world economy, which impacted the sale of its copper for a part of this year (although copper prices and future prices have now begun […]
A Corporate Megafishery Set The Stage For Violent Conflict In Mi’kma’ki By Robin Tress, Canadians.org. October 18, 2020 A Corporate Megafishery Set The Stage For Violent Conflict In Mi’kma’ki2020-10-182020-10-18https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/fisheries-scaled-e1603043530352.jpg200px200px Trapped in conflict. The corporate megafishery Clearwater, headed by Nova Scotia’s richest billionaire, has set the stage for violent conflict in Mi’kma’ki. Today across the country, people awoke to reeling images of violence and racism carried out against Mi’kmaq fishers. Many people are asking key questions such as why the RCMP has not pro-actively intervened and defended Mi’kmaq leadership and fishers, what are the economic realities of the fisheries in Mi’kma’ki, and […]
Payments company Square’s announcement that it would put some $50 million, or 1% of its assets, into bitcoin has touched off speculation that more corporations might do the same. Jack Dorsey, the Twitter CEO who also helms Square, is a longtime bitcoin bull, so it wasn’t a huge surprise his company would put some of its corporate liquidity into the cryptocurrency. He’s following the path of MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who has invested at least $425 million of the company’s assets in bitcoin. None other than Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, tweeted a question: “Who’s going to be the […]
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong dropped a bombshell on corporate America and the culture wars when he told employees, firmly, to keep activism out of the workplace. In a blog post on Monday, Armstrong said Coinbase employees should be “laser focused” on the company’s mission: to create an open financial system for the world. The message is clear: Coinbase won’t touch topics unrelated to its business and it expects employees to pursue social activism in their own time. Armstrong predicted his blog might stir up some controversy. He was right. Twelve hours after publication, the post has split the crypto industry straight down […]
In August, the volume of personally owned stock sold by corporate executives reached its highest level since 2015, followed by a 10% decline in the S&P500 in September. August saw the largest volume of insider selling since 2015, with more than 1000 corporate officers offloading $6.7B in stock. Subsequently, the market has seen a 10% decline since the S&P500 all time high of Sept. 2. What’s more, according to new statistics, insider selling is happening at the fastest pace since 2012. The question is: What do these executives know that the rest of the market doesn’t? Source link
Make Corporate Landlords Pay The Bills During The Pandemic By Sofia Lopez and Sara Mycklebust, Inequality.org. September 22, 2020 Make Corporate Landlords Pay The Bills During The Pandemic2020-09-222020-09-22https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/cancelrent-e1600783330253.jpg200px200px Above photo: Getty Images. With fortunes inflated by corporate welfare, wealthy real estate owners can afford to cancel housing-related expenses and debts for millions of struggling American families. The Covid-19 crisis has both exposed and exacerbated racial and wealth inequality in the United States. As unemployment skyrockets and tens of millions of Americans struggle with a sudden loss of income, many are unable to pay rents or mortgages and are facing eviction, foreclosure, […]
On Thursday night, US President Donald Trump delivered a fiery acceptance speech after being nominated by the Republican Party to run for a second term in November. A journalist told Sputnik that Trump is given space to spin lies about an imaginary adversary by a mainstream media that long ago gave up its duty to be critical of politicians. In a speech at the White House on Thursday that lasted more than an hour, Trump presented himself as a defender of the United States against forces threatening to destroy it – forces that would be mobilized if Democratic nominees Joe Biden […]
Chris Hedges: How Corporate Tyranny Works By Chris Hedges, ScheerPost.com. August 26, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Chris Hedges: How Corporate Tyranny Works2020-08-262020-08-26https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/ecuador-e1598473285702.jpg200px200px Above photo: A citizen of Guanta, Ecuador, shows a butterfly killed by oil pollution, in 2003. AP/Dolores Ochoa. Those, like environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who fight the corporate control of our society on behalf of the vulnerable find the institutions of power unite to crucify them. The persecution of the attorney Steven Donziger is a grim illustration of what happens when we confront the real centers of power, masked and unacknowledged by the divisive cant from the Trump White […]
Scheer Intelligence: Something’s Rotten In The Corporate States Of America By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. August 21, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Something’s Rotten In The Corporate States Of America2020-08-212020-08-21https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/mrfish.jpg200px200px Above image: “Punch the Clock” by Mr. Fish. A new book by Barbara Freese explores eight stories about the unfettered corporate greed that has corrupted modern society and led to an astounding loss of life. Beginning with the slave trade and leading all the way up to the climate crisis, author Barbara Freese’s “Industrial Strength Denial” examines eight of private industries’ most egregious crimes against humanity. On this week’s installment […]
Make Corporate Landlords Pay For Housing Crisis By Sofia Lopez and Sara Myklebust, Inequality. August 18, 2020 Make Corporate Landlords Pay For Housing Crisis2020-08-182020-08-18https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/07/right-to-housing-e1596131418813.jpeg200px200px The Covid-19 crisis has both exposed and exacerbated racial and wealth inequality in the United States. As unemployment skyrockets and tens of millions of Americans struggle with a sudden loss of income, many are unable to pay rents or mortgages and are facing eviction, foreclosure, and possible homelessness. We’ve seen this eviction crisis brewing for months, and despite platitudes about racial justice, our elected officials and corporate landlords haven’t taken any meaningful action to prevent it from hitting poor people […]
Chris Hedges: America Faces A Historic Choice — “Ugly Corporate Tyranny” Or Revolution By Chauncey Devega, Salon. July 16, 2020 Chris Hedges: America Faces A Historic Choice — “Ugly Corporate Tyranny” Or Revolution2020-07-162020-07-16https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/07/salon-e1594946136186.png200px200px Above photo: Police confront demonstrators as Black Lives Matter supporters demonstrate | Protesters hold their fists in the air during the protest against racism following the Black Lives Matter movement. John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency/Ying Tang/NurPhoto/Getty Images. These are “the good times,” says Hedges, compared to what may lie ahead. But there’s real hope in the streets. Time is broken in Donald Trump’s America. Minutes feel like hours, hours feel like days. […]
‘Unacceptable threat’ and ‘provocation’: European nations fume after US pulls out of talks on global digital tax …from Russia Today, Moscow [ Editor’s Note: The US pulled out of the digital tax talks with Europe when they were at the 11th hour. Gosh, might it have something to do with Trump’s election year worries? Internet giants like Google and Facebook have avoided taxation by parking their profits in tax havens, where Ireland is the most popular rabbit hole. The company revenues are structured to pass all the profits to a “home office corporation” incorporated in a low tax or no tax […]
Plummeting Facebook shares have wiped out billions of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth. The impetus? Corporations such as Coca-Cola and Verizon have pulled their ads, demanding that Facebook censor hate speech. Zuckerberg lost $7.2 billion, after Facebook’s shares fell by 8.3 percent on Friday, Bloomberg reported. The dive in value happened after Unilever, one of the largest advertisers in the world, joined the list of major companies that suspended their ad campaigns on Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. At around the same time, Coca-Cola said it was also pulling all its social-media advertising for 30 days. More than 120 […]
Athletic brand Reebok and several affiliate gyms have canceled their partnerships with fitness giant CrossFit after its CEO tweeted a mocking response to a statement calling racism a “public health issue.” CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman might have cost his company millions with just 13 characters. After he replied to a tweet from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation calling racism and discrimination “critical public health issues that demand an urgent response” by quipping “It’s FLOYD-19,” Reebok and affiliate gyms hurried to distance themselves from the popular fitness brand. Reebok told Business Insider on Sunday it will not renew its contract […]
Steven Donziger Challenged A Corporate Polluter And Won, Now They’re Trying To Ruin Him By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. June 1, 2020 Steven Donziger Challenged A Corporate Polluter And Won, Now They’re Trying To Ruin Him2020-06-012020-06-01https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/06/donz.jpg200px200px Texaco was the first oil company to drill in the Amazon. To maximize profits, and because they thought they could get away with it, they did not take any steps to protect local communities or the environment from their toxic waste. For a long time, they did get away with it. Then a group of lawyers and organizations worked with locals […]
Corporate Media Don’t Think Americans Paid To Invade Venezuela Count Are Mercenaries By Joshua Cho, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. May 13, 2020 Corporate Media Don’t Think Americans Paid To Invade Venezuela Count Are Mercenaries2020-05-132020-05-13https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/mercenaries-e1589391922696.jpg200px200px Above photo: From Telesur (via People’s Dispatch, 5/6/20) of captured mercenaries in Venezuela. When an attempted invasion of Venezuela launched from the shores of Colombia was foiled on May 3, after armed commandos were intercepted at Venezuela’s coastline of La Guira, it seemed undeniable that the heavily armed men, possessing satellite phones and uniforms with the US flag emblazoned on them, had been paid to take part in a coup attempt to […]
Bernie Blackout, a new VICE TV documentary directed by Pat McGee examining the mainstream media’s alleged bias against the Sanders campaign, is rooted in independent and alternative journalism instead of the corporate cable news outlets like MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN. While McGee’s film straightforwardly breaks down the cynical function of corporate media (that is, to turn a profit, not to tell the truth), the documentary unfortunately does not reach beyond the 24-hour news cycle and into the centuries of knowledge produced around spin, propaganda, and political manipulation that came before today’s U.S.-based podcasters, vloggers, and other digital writers (including me) […]