Senate Democrats May Pass 9/11 Health Care Bill
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) have finalized a deal with Senate Republicans to pass a bill that would provide specialized health care to 9/11 first responders, many of whom are now suffering from long-term and fatal illnesses caused by inhaling smoke and ash at the scene, The Hill reports. Schumer and Gillibrand announced Sunday that Republican leaders in the Senate have signed off on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act after initially filibustering the legislation on December 9. The most recent version of the bill reduces its overall cost from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion.
Forty Percent of Americans Believe in Creationism
A new Gallup poll shows that approximately 40 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution and believe that humans were created by God in the past 10,000 years, The Huffington Post reports. Thirty-eight percent believe that humans evolved from basic organisms, but that God was part of the process, while 16 believe in “secular evolution,” that humans developed over time without divine influence.
Afghanistan War Gets Four Percent of Media Coverage in US
According to The New York Times, the Afghanistan war accounted for just 4 percent of US news coverage in major outlets this year, down from 5 percent last year, and compounded by the lack of foreign journalists in Afghanistan. A study done by the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism found that many news stations have had to cut their budgets and their staff significantly due to the financial crisis, leaving few funds available for overseas reporting. Others have chosen not to send their journalists to the war due to noted incidents of violence and danger against correspondents on the ground. According to the Pew study, the midterm elections, the economy and the oil spill in the Gulf each earned more than twice as much media attention as the war.
North Korea Won’t Retaliate for South Korean Military Drills
North Korea released an official statement Monday evening saying it would not respond to South Korea’s military drills conducted near the country’s coastline, McClatchy Newspapers says. South Korea conducted more than an hour of live artillery exercises on an island seven miles off from North Korea’s borders and remained on emergency alert after several days of retaliation threats. Monday’s announcement by Pyongyang followed another statement by the government that North Korea is willing to resume talks with international nuclear inspectors.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.