Tag: pandemic

A historian explains how evangelicals use shallow readings of the Bible to support a political agenda 

A devout evangelical Christian friend of mine recently texted to explain why he was not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. “Jesus went around healing lepers and touched them without fear of getting leprosy,” he said.

Source: A historian explains how evangelicals use shallow readings of the Bible to support a political agenda – Alternet.org

Striking Cookie Workers Refuse to Crumble 

CHICAGO—“We’re just tired!” April Flowers-Lewis told a rally in support of striking Mondelez workers. It’s not hard to see why the folks who make the nation’s cookies and crackers are exhausted and fed up.All through the pandemic, Flowers-Lewis, 48, and her co-workers, members of Bakery and Confectionary Workers Local 1, have been on their feet up to seven days a week, 16 hours a day baking and packing Wheat Thins, Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter, Velveeta, and Animal Crackers here at what was the historic Nabisco plant on this city’s southwest side.

Source: Striking Cookie Workers Refuse to Crumble | Portside

 Afghanistan: dot.gov opium mafia behind the botched occupation?

The history of the US in Afghanistan is so grotesque that one has to wonder how anyone could think the US could create a democracy there. US generals on Cable News makes for depressing viewing indeed. The US needs to simply shut up on the question, and never be allowed to inflict their stupidity on any more state victims again.
A key question in a long list is whether the whole thing was giving cover for covert operatives and others controlling and making billions from the opium trade which revived at the start and thrived all along. One can only misjudge the level of cynicism needed here. The memory of Gary Webb and the unwitting stumbling into a mafia at work in US politics resurfaces.
This is a question, not a conclusion, but the issue of the drug trade in the core of American deep politics lurks as a monster, hopefully a monster of thought only.

The US needs to simply begone from this absolute mess they have made. The issue of democracy is especially sad. The US is not a democracy itself. So what is the model? There are none. Create an oligarchy of capitalists, plus a mafia, plus an imperialism,…
Afghanistan is likely once again to be the graveyard of an empire. Between Trump, the pandemic and Afghanistan the endgame of American democracy seems already a fair accompli: the chicken decapitation proceeds a few more steps until The End.

Despite its claims to be building democracy in Afghanistan, the US’s War on Terror pushed the country deeper into chaos. The United States should be held fully responsible for this failure by the r…

Source: The US Is to Blame for the Destruction of Afghanistan – 1848+: The End(s) of History

A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years Ago, New Study Finds 

Researchers have found evidence that a coronavirus epidemic swept East Asia some 20,000 years ago and was devastating enough to leave an evolutionary imprint on the DNA of people alive today.The new study suggests that an ancient coronavirus plagued the region for many years, researchers say. The finding could have dire implications for the Covid-19 pandemic if it’s not brought under control soon through vaccination.

Source: A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years Ago, New Study Finds | Portside