Obama Promises New Jobs Aid
Under pressure to revive the faltering economic recovery, President Obama has announced that, along with his economic team, he is considering “additional measures” to bolster growth and spur hiring. These will include “further tax cuts” to encourage businesses to create jobs. He also urged Republicans in the Senate to drop their “blockade” of a Democratic measure, which would help small businesses by cutting their taxes and giving them easier access to credit through a $30 billion loan fund, reported The Washington Post.
Army in Sudan Pledges to Stop Using Child Soldiers
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has established a child protection unit to follow through with its pledge to demobilize all child soldiers within its ranks by the end of the year. The United Nations estimates that the Army has discharged more than 20,000 children, but still employs about 900, reported the BBC. According to William Deng, head of the south’s commission for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, it is now the government’s responsibility to support and educate discharged child soldiers.
Public Workers Continue to Strike in South Africa
Schools and hospitals around South Africa remain closed as a two-week long strike by more than a million public sector workers continues amid attempts to renew reconciliation talks. President Jacob Zuma increased the government’s wage offer to a 7.5 percent wage increase, but it is still below the union demands of an 8.6 percent wage increase. Unions are expected to vote Tuesday night on whether to accept the compromise, the BBC reported.
US Hits North Korea With Tougher Sanctions
An executive order signed by President Obama Monday allows the State and Treasury Departments new authority to slap tough financial sanctions on any individuals or entities doing business with North Korea. The measure is specifically focused on individuals or groups that deal with money laundering, counterfeit goods and drug and weapons trafficking. “North Korea’s government helps maintain its authority by placating privileged elites with money and perks such as luxury goods like jewelry, luxury cars and yachts,” according to Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, reported CNN.
Polls Show More Americans Believe in UFO’s Than Sarah Palin
People may turn out by the thousands to hear Sarah Palin speak, but the latest Vanity Fair poll shows that more Americans believe in UFO’s than believe Palin would be an effective commander in chief. A third of respondents believe alien spacecrafts are “likely to exist,” while only one in four has confidence in a Palin performance in the Oval Office. Even Republicans are split on the question, with 47 percent saying she would make a good president and 40 percent begging to differ.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy