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How Precision Scheduled railroading at Norfolk Southern caused a toxic Vinyl Chloride mushroom cloud over East Palestine, Ohio
In this post, I will not cover what has been well-covered elsewhere: The derailment itself (50 cars, 20 of which carried toxic materials, 14 of those vinyl chloride), the subsquent fire, which burned for three days, the ultimate “controlled release” of the poisonous gas, the toxicity of vinyl chloride, the effects of the poison on locals, their pets, and their streams, or the arrest of the reporter who asked questions at Governor DeWine‘s presser.
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60 Minutes’ weight-loss tip: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
People in the United States have grown accustomed to endless pharmaceutical ads when watching TV. The industry is the fourth-biggest spender on TV advertising in the country—one of only two in the world (along with New Zealand) that allows such direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.
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U.S. Lawfare and the destabilization of Latin America
Brazil-based reporter and author Brian Mier outlines the strategy of lawfare and how it has been used in Latin America, particularly in the Lava Jato investigation.
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French police attack 4th protest over pension reforms
Protesters stage a fourth round of nationwide demonstrations on Saturday against President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to reform the country’s pension system.
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Dying by killing: U.S. and its manifest destiny
The fear of disappearing as a hegemonic power awakens the survival instinct. The United States (U.S.) has entered a dangerous drift, the end of which puts the future of humanity at risk.
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SchoolStudents in Alabama walk out after told to limit Black history programme
Students said they were ordered to leave out major historical moments, including slavery and civil rights movement, from the programme scheduled for February 22 at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Guatemala blocks leftist Indigenous leader from presidential race, in ‘electoral coup’
Guatemala’s notoriously corrupt right-wing government banned Indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera and her leftist Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (MLP) party from running in the presidential election. International observers warn this is an “electoral coup”.
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Will depopulation sink China?
In the following article, Adnan Akfirat, Chairman of the Turkish-Chinese Business and Development Friendship Association, and a member of our advisory group, analyses the recent demographic changes in China, which see the population not only age but start to fall, with India on course to become the world’s most populous nation this year, if it has not already done so.
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Zelensky admits he never intended to implement Minsk agreements
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admits that he never thought about implementing the pivotal Minsk agreements reached with the Donbass.
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Nestlé’s blatant misconduct shows us the darkness of capitalism
From inventing the need for mass-scale baby formula leading to the deaths of infants, to redirecting much needed water from impoverished areas to bottle and sell back to the same communities, to exploiting child labor and slavery, Nestlé will stoop to any moral low to make a buck.
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The United States wants to make Taiwan the Ukraine of the East: The Sixth Newsletter (2023)
On 2 February 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines met with U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at Malacañang Palace in Manila, where they agreed to expand the U.S. military presence in the country.
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How America took out the Nord Stream pipeline
The U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center has been training highly skilled deep-water divers for decades who, once assigned to American military units worldwide, are capable of technical diving to do the good—using C4 explosives to clear harbors and beaches of debris and unexploded ordinance—as well as the bad, like blowing up foreign oil rigs, fouling intake valves for undersea power plants, destroying locks on crucial shipping canals.
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Why I wrote a book about my pet parrot
Michael & Debby Smith write about 30 years of living with a parrot whose intelligence and emotional awareness challenges our human-centric world view.
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‘We’ve never been closer to nuclear catastrophe’: Activist Helen Caldicott
Australian anti-war and environmental activist Dr. Helen Caldicott warns that policymakers who understate the danger of nuclear weapons don’t have the public’s best interest at heart.
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Lessons from the Teachers’ Strikes
In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike. That marked the beginning of a wave of job actions that would reach West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Los Angeles, and other cities and states before returning to Chicago in 2019.
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Resistance is continual in Nicaragua
Roger McKenzie talks to U.S. writer Dan Kovalik about why the people of Nicaragua need our support in their battle to determine their own future
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Introducing our new podcast: ‘Movies vs Capitalism’
The Lever’s new movie podcast launches.
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Danish working class opposes government’s bid to abolish public holiday to raise money for arms
The government’s decision to add an extra working day is part of its plan to raise an extra 3 billion kroner (USD 0.43 billion) for the rearmament of the country.
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Fiery Ohio train wreck the result of “PSR”
Railroad Workers United (RWU) condemns the dangerous and historically unsafe practices by Class 1 rail carriers that resulted in this catastrophe that will impact the community of East Palestine Ohio for many years, if not forever.
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A masterpiece of Socialist Realism
BRUNI DE LA MOTTE recommends a classic of East German literature that gives a human face to difficult political choices.