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G7 tax deal: From global tax to global government

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

 

Dear Reader:

 

I bring you today an exposé of what is been said is coming about what many of you might have been hearing lately: the plans of the elite to institute a World Government in out planet Earth. Well, investigative journalist, James Corbett brings that exposure to us in the article below. Hope you will enjoy it. – Marvin Ramírez

 

by James Corbett

June 13, 2021 – Imagine if you spent months planning an elaborate 50th birthday party for yourself—hiring performers, decorating your place and inviting everyone you know—and when the big day finally arrived . . . no one bothered to show up. Embarrassing, right?

Well, that’s essentially what happened to the European Union in 2007 when they threw themselves a 50th Anniversary Extravaganza. Reports at the time talked of EU-sponsored “citizen parties,” street festivals and public celebrations that were largely ignored by the public. About the only thing that Europeans can ever agree on is their differences, and even after 50 years of conditioning it seemed few outside of Brussels were stirred by the EU flag or the thought of half a century of political union.

Perhaps that’s because 2007 did not really mark the 50th anniversary of the EU or 50 years of political union at all. No, 2007 was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a 1957 compact to form a common market and customs union between six European nations. It is doubtful that many people beyond the handful of Bilderbergers and globalists who signed the treaty could have imagined that it would result in a grandiose anniversary celebration for the European Union 50 years hence.

(FUN FACT: The “Treaty of Rome” that was signed on March 25, 1957 was literally a blank document because “[t]he Italian state printer had not met the deadline.”)

It makes you wonder: Is there any seemingly innocuous event taking place in the world today that, 50 years from now, may be commemorated as the moment that some monstrous globalist institution was born?

As it turns out, there is just such an event that took place this month that may lead to a “50 Years of Global Government” celebration in June 2071. Do you know what it is?

Here’s some hints, courtesy of dinosaur media headlines:

Finance Leaders Reach Global Tax Deal

Biden and G-7 leaders will endorse a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%

Yes, It’s a Global Tax on American Tech

Have you heard about this story yet? If not, here are the talking points that the MSM want you to take away from this.

The first is that the US is ready to go along with the rest of the G7 (and, eventually, the G20) on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%, meaning that no nation under the agreement could charge corporate tax rates below that mark. Why would the Biden administration agree to such a plan? Well, if you ask Biden (or, more accurately, his teleprompter writers), he’ll tell you it’s part of a “foreign policy for the middle class” that aims to “ensure that globalization and trade are harnessed for the benefit of working Americans, and not merely for billionaires and multinational corporations.”

But even the New York Times is willing to call that nonsense out for the shameless mealymouthed political dissembling that it is. As Alan Rappeport puts it more bluntly in his report for the Old Grey Presstitute on the deal:

“The Biden administration has been particularly eager to reach an agreement because a global minimum tax is closely tied to its plans to raise the corporate tax rate in the United States to 28 percent from 21 percent to help pay for the president’s infrastructure proposal.”

What? A politician taking whatever opportunity presents itself to deflect blame for a huge tax hike? Will wonders never cease.

More seriously, we arrive at the other key part of the plan. This is where things get a bit more convoluted. As the G7 Finance Ministers “explained” in their communiqué last week:

We commit to reaching an equitable solution on the allocation of taxing rights, with market countries awarded taxing rights on at least 20% of profit exceeding a 10% margin for the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises.

Clear as mud? I thought so. In this case the Wall Street Journal is there to helpfully translate this impenetrable jargon from the globalese into everyday English:

“Translating the jargon, this means new rules would allow jurisdictions where global companies earn revenue (“market countries”) to tax a portion of the resulting profits. This would upend a century of global standards that tax companies where their headquarters are based.”

So why this? Why “20% of profit exceeding a 10% margin”? Why now?

Well, the super secret thing that you have to read between the lines with your special decoder ring in order to understand is that this clause is specifically aimed at Big Tech. Of course, they don’t say “Big Tech” or talk specifically about Amazon, Facebook, Google or the other FAANGsters. If they did, it wouldn’t be a secret! But when they float the idea of a $20 billion revenue threshold for this clause (as Yellen has reportedly done), that automatically includes all the Big Tech companies and excludes most other major multinationals. And there are very few industries other than Big Tech where companies routinely achieve greater than 10% profit margins. According to the WSJ, “negotiators are carving out exclusions for other industries that otherwise would have to pay the tax.”

So why the “secrecy,” then? Why not call it a Big Tech tax and be done with it? Because (again according to the WSJ):

 

Ms. Yellen and her G-7 colleagues understand truth in advertising could kill this measure on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers might bristle at a tax aimed primarily at U.S. companies. They especially will notice the goal is to shift to other governments tax revenue Washington might otherwise claim for itself.

In other words, we’re being asked to believe that as long as American politicians don’t physically read the words “Big Tech” or “US companies” (and as long as they don’t read the op ed pages of the Wall Street Journal) then they’ll never figure out what’s really going on here until it’s too late.

This is self-debunking bunkum. There’s obviously a much bigger story here. So what is it? Perhaps we can turn to less mainstream-y sources for the story.

Unfortunately, if you turn to a publication like The American Conservative you’re not going to get a much better explanation. In “G7’s Global Tax Plans Threaten Prosperity Worldwide,” contributor Charles Amos makes the least persuasive argument imaginable in the most ham-handed way possible, all the while constructing the most convenient strawman for proponents of the deal to tear down with ease. In the most wonkish, straight-out-of-college way conceivable, Amos earnestly intones:

“These plans will do significant damage to the global economy. According to the Tax Justice Network, the 15 percent proposals can be expected to raise roughly $275 billion globally. Nevertheless, when corporate taxes rise, shareholders see lower returns, consumers pay higher prices, and workers earn lower wages. And while high prices and low wages hurt momentarily, lowering returns on capital impoverishes entire economies for years to come.”

In other words, “Won’t someone think of the poor World Economic Forum partner corporations?!”

The global tax is not here yet, but it is on the way and if you can’t see that yet I don’t know what else to say to you. Of course, when the global tax arrives it will be hailed as a wonderful thing. A penny or two on every ton of CO2 emitted anywhere in the world to go directly to the UN’s climate mitigation efforts. Who could possibly dispute such a virtuous and noble cause?

And, just like that, the global government will be funded into existence.

Although we are not there yet, and although it may sound fairly innocuous, the announcement of this global tax deal is one of the landmark moments in the establishment of the global government. And just like no one but the conspirators themselves could have predicted in 1957 that the signing of the Treaty of Rome was going to be commemorated as the birthday of the European Union, it’s almost certain that some similarly mundane event will one day come to be seen as the birthday of the New World Order. Like, say, a global minimum corporate tax rate deal reached at the G7 Summit in 2021.

All I’m saying is that when the cryogenically preserved head of Klaus Schwab pronounces a Year of Celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his rule as Planetary Overlord in 2071, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Relieve digestive issues and fight cancer with Indian bael

by Evangelyn Rodríguez

 

Aegle marmelos, commonly known as bael in Nepal and India, is a plant that belongs to the Rutaceae, or citrus, family. It is native to Northern India but can also be found in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. Also called shivaduma, or the tree of Shiva, bael is sacred to the Hindus and is commonly found growing near temples. The Hindus believe that Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune, resides in bael leaves; hence, the plant is often used as a religious offering. Bael is also widely used in traditional Indian medicine.

In a recent article published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine, researchers from Australia and South Korea reviewed scientific evidence supporting the pharmacological activities of bael. The plant has long attracted scientific interest because of the many medicinal uses associated with its various parts. For more than 5,000 years, ethnic communities residing in the Indian subcontinent have been using the leaves, bark, stem, fruits and seeds of bael to treat a wide variety of diseases.

The root of bael, for instance, is used to treat intermittent fever, hypochondriasis, melancholia and heart palpitations. It is also an important ingredient of “dasmula” or “dasamula,” an Ayurvedic medicine used for the management of pain, arthritis and inflammatory disorders. Bael leaves and bark, meanwhile, are used in medicated enemas. The leaves are also said to be effective against diabetes mellitus and related complications.

But the part of bael most used for medicinal purposes is its fruit. A well-known remedy for diarrhea that’s been included in the British Pharmacopoeia, the unripe fruit of bael is also used to treat dysentery, or intestinal infections, peptic ulcers and respiratory infections. Studies have also reported that bael fruit is effective in experimental models of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The fruit has been called a “rasayana” by early scholars, which, in Ayurvedic medicine, means something that can invigorate the body and prolong a person’s lifespan.

The anti-cancer properties of bael

Recently, studies have emerged supporting the use of bael as anti-cancer medicine. For instance, a study published in the Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences reported that bael leaf extracts have significant antiproliferative activity against leukemia, colon and breast cancer cells. Phytochemical analysis of the bael leaf extracts revealed that the plant is rich in alkaloids, anthraquinones, terpenoids, tannins and reducing sugars. Researchers also identified a compound called imperatorin that contributes to the anti-cancer activity of bael’s ethanol extract against leukemia cells.

In a separate study published in Nature, Indian researchers reported that bael fruit extracts also have anti-cancer properties. Using rats with chemically induced breast cancer, they looked at the plant’s ability to reduce tumor formation. The researchers found that treatment with bael fruit extract for five weeks significantly reduced mammary tumor volume in the breast cancer model. The extract also decreased serum levels of tumor growth biomarkers and improved kidney and liver serum biomarkers. Altogether these results suggest that bael fruit is a promising natural medicine for breast cancer that also confers kidney- and liver-protective effects.

Many other phytochemicals in bael have been identified as anti-cancer agents. Marmelin, a compound unique to bael, has been found to inhibit the growth of epithelial cancer cells by decreasing cancer cell survival, proliferation and invasiveness. Lupeol, another active compound in bael, prevents tumor formation in neoplastic cell lines. Eugenol shows cytotoxic effects on malignant liver tumors, colon cancer and melanomas, while citral induces apoptosis in hematopoietic cancer cell lines.

Many studies have validated the medicinal uses of bael, as well as the plant’s antibacterial, antioxidant, antiviral, antidiarrheal, gastroprotective, anti-ulcerative colitis, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, radioprotective and anti-cancer activities. However, more studies are needed in order to identify other useful phytochemicals in bael and develop them into potent medicines that can be used in clinical practice. Shared from Natural News.

Mexico falls 7 percent on Latin America corruption index to place 11th out of 15 countries

2021 report shows Mexico on ‘clear downward trajectory’ in tackling corruption

 

by Mexico News Daily

 

A new study says corruption in Mexico continues to worsen despite President López Obrador’s claims that his administration is eradicating the scourge.

Mexico dropped three places to 11th out of 15 countries on the 2021 Capacity to Combat Corruption (CCC) Index and its score fell to 4.25 out of 10, a decline of 0.3, or 7 percent, compared to its score on last year’s index.

It is the second consecutive year that Mexico’s score has declined. It was down 2 percent, to 4.55, on the 2020 CCC Index, which assesses Latin American nations’ ability to detect, punish and prevent corruption. The index was first published in 2019.

Mexico only ranked ahead of Paraguay, Guatemala, Bolivia and Venezuela this year. Uruguay led with the best score of 7.8 out of 10. In second to 10th places, respectively, were Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Developed by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and the global risk and strategic consulting firm Control Risks, the index looks at 14 key variables, including the independence of judicial institutions, the strength of investigative journalism and the level of resources available for combating white-collar crime.

“The CCC Index’s goal is not to shame or single out countries but to foster a policy-driven discussion, helping governments, civil society and the private sector identify — through data and a robust methodology — areas of success and deficiencies to be addressed,” the organizations said.

In three subcategories — legal capacity, democracy and political institutions, and civil society and media — Mexico achieved scores of 3.82, 4.08 and 6.35 respectively. The first two scores declined compared to last year, but the third increased.

In the legal capacity subcategory, Mexico fared best in “access to public information and overall government transparency” and worst in “independence and resources for the chief prosecutor’s office and investigators.”

The prosecutor’s office refers to the federal Attorney General’s Office, which is ostensibly autonomous but headed by a close ally of the president, Alejandro Gertz Manero, who has been described as a fiscal carnal, or government-friendly prosecutor, by government critics.

In the democracy and political institutions subcategory, Mexico’s best result was in “overall quality of democracy” and its worst was in “lawmaking and ruling processes.”

López Obrador, who has been accused of seeking to concentrate government power in the executive, said Sunday that Mexico is an example to the world in “how to govern in a democracy.”

“… Mexico is an example to follow in the world in this way of governing, with the people [and] with honesty, austerity [and] efficiency, … guaranteeing the right to dissent,” he said during a visit to Oaxaca.

In the civil society and media subcategory, Mexico’s highest score was in “civil society mobilization against corruption” and its lowest was in “education improvements.”

There are numerous civil society organizations dedicated to the fight against corruption in Mexico, including Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, which has exposed corruption in the current government, angering López Obrador, who describes the group as a political opponent.

The CCC Index report (opens as a PDF) acknowledges that Mexico is on a “clear downward trajectory” in terms of its capacity to detect, punish and prevent corruption.

“… Over the past year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has continued the anti-corruption rhetoric that he campaigned on in 2018, even declaring in a morning press conference this year that ‘there is no more corruption’ in Mexico,” the report said. “However, prominent corruption cases, including former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya’s, remain unresolved, while corruption allegations involving politicians, including members of AMLO’s Morena party, have emerged.”

Lozoya was extradited to Mexico last July after being arrested in Spain on corruption charges, but he has still not faced trial, while Public Administration Minister Irma Sandoval and Federal Electricity Commission chief Manuel Bartlett are among current government officials whose reputations have been tainted by corruption accusations.

The report noted that the National Anti-Corruption System, devised by the previous federal government, has not been implemented, “and even saw significant budget cuts as part of austerity measures” implemented by the López Obrador administration.

“This contributed to a 13 percent decline in the variable assessing the independence and efficiency of anti-corruption agencies. There has been a lack of transparency in both public procurement during the pandemic and in trust funds (fideicomisos), several of which have been dismantled and centralized under the executive branch,” it said.

“The country fared better in the civil society and media category, where Mexico ranks fifth regionwide. Despite AMLO’s rhetorical attacks on NGOs, civil society mobilization against corruption remains strong, registering over two points above the regional average, second only to Uruguay,” the report said.

The AS/COA and Control Risks said that in the months following the midterm elections, which were held June 6, “it will be crucial to monitor whether the integrity of independent institutions is maintained.”

“The president and members of Morena have criticized the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) and the National Electoral Institute (INE) and may pursue reforms that affect their autonomy,” the report said.

“AMLO has supported a Senate measure to extend the term of Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldívar, who has previously supported the president. The move raises questions about executive branch interference in the judiciary.”

Remains of another Ayotzinapa student identified

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

 

The federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced Tuesday that the remains of one of 43 students who disappeared in Guerrero, Mexico, in 2014 has been conclusively identified.

Omar Gómez Trejo, the special prosecutor in charge of the reexamination of the disappearance and presumed murder of the 43 Ayotzinapa rural teachers college students, said that a bone fragment of Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz was identified via nuclear DNA testing at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

“Today we can report … that the identification of Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz is certain and absolute,” he said.

The University of Innsbruck identified a bone fragment as matching the DNA of Guerrero de la Cruz’s mother in 2015 but that finding wasn’t considered conclusive.

Gómez said the bone fragment analyzed was found in a ravine in the municipality of Cocula, Guerrero. Authorities found the remains of another Ayotzinapa student, Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre, in the same ravine last year. DNA analysis at the University of Innsbruck identified the remains as those of Rodríguez.

The remains of three of the 43 students have now been formally identified. Those of Alexander Mora were identified in December 2014.

The previous federal government claimed that the students were intercepted by corrupt municipal police in Iguala on September 26, 2014, after they commandeered a bus to travel to a protest in Mexico City. According to its “historical truth,” the police handed the students over to a local crime gang, the Guerreros Unidos, whose members killed them, burned their bodies in the Cocula dump and scattered their ashes in the nearby San Juan River.

However, the remains of Guerrero de la Cruz and Rodríguez showed no evidence of fire damage.

The parents of the former were notified of the positive identification of their son last weekend. They met with President López Obrador on Tuesday along with other parents of the disappeared students.

A lawyer for the parents, Vidulfo Rosales, said the president told them that the United States had advised Mexico of the arrest of a person allegedly involved in the case. However, it is unclear whether that person will be extradited to Mexico and when that might occur.

Scores of suspects have been arrested in connection with the students’ disappearance but many were later released because they were found to have been tortured while being questioned about their alleged crimes.

President López Obrador established a super commission to conduct a new investigation into the Ayotzinapa case shortly after he took office in late 2018. His administration has dismissed the previous government’s “historical truth” but hasn’t established its own definitive version of events.

The army has long been suspected of involvement in the students’ disappearance, and leaked testimony obtained by the newspaper Reforma earlier this year supported that theory.

With reports from El Universal and AP

Focusing on Financial Health: Chart the Path Toward Your Next Milestone

By Avianca Verdugo

Bay Area Market Director for JPMorgan Chase

Sponsored content from JPMorgan Chase & Co

When was the last time you looked at your bank account balance? According to a recent study, over 60 percent of Americans check their balance at least once week[1]. This is a habit, if practiced the right way, that can put you on the path to achieving your financial goals.

Whether you’re looking to become financially independent, planning for a long awaited vacation, or saving for a down payment to buy your first home,  we want you to be aware of some of the tools and skills to help make your financial journey as smooth as possible.

But let’s talk about the basics first. Managing your money can be overwhelming but it doesn’t need to be. Understanding things like budgeting, saving, paying your bills, and even building your credit score are skills that can help you at any stage of your life. Even in these difficult times with the pandemic when so many of us are facing greater uncertainty around our finances and job security, it is these types of moments where understanding core financial skills can be the difference maker.

The past year has impacted families, friends, colleagues and our community. Since the start of the pandemic, 61% of Latino households Americans have said that either they or someone in their family has experienced a job or wage loss due to COVID.[2] In these situations, especially, it is critical to know how to manage your finances to stay or get back on track.

If you’re unsure of where to begin, how to start making progress, or simply looking to refresh your knowledge, consider the following as you chart a successful path forward and take control of your financial future.

Advice and Tools

Our financial goals hub is a great place to start. Start by picking a goal – save, budget, or build credit – and explore advice, offerings and tools that more simply allow you to control your financial future. Our Grow Your Savings page, for example, offers an interactive calculator that maps out a timeline to reach savings goals and highlights how the Autosave tool can help you manage a regular savings schedule to stay on track and meet your goals. Other resources are also available, such as budget worksheets to monitor and track monthly spending, guidance on using the Credit Journey tool to build and protect credit, as well as background on low-cost checking accounts designed to provide access for anyone who has had trouble getting or keeping an account in the past.

Reserved Capital for Business Owners

Education, reliable support and resources are fundamental first steps to financial literacy, but equal access to capital is just as critical. With 32% of Latino-owned businesses shuttering since this time last year[3], COVID-19 has only worsened the disparities and inequities that demand an intentional reprioritization of capital. Through our Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, we’re working to provide more access to capital to future entrepreneurs, existing business owners and communities who have historically and unfairly struggled to secure it. JPMorgan Chase also recently announced it is setting aside funds specifically for Latino and Black business owners – stop into your local branch and talk with a Chase For Business representative to see if you qualify.

Equitable Home Lending

Home equity is also a major contributor to families’ wealth, making it imperative that we increase property ownership among Latino communities. One way we hope to do this is through our Chase DreaMaker mortgage, which makes applying for your first mortgage or refinancing a current one more attainable with a smaller down payment, and by offering reduced mortgage insurance, more flexibility around your credit score, potential assistance grants and homebuyer education courses.

No matter where you are financially, budgeting and saving are two key habits that can help all of us bounce back from life’s unexpected moments or keep on track to ensure you meet your goals. That is why we are here to help everyone have open conversations about what it means to become financially healthy and provide support, tools and advice to get there. Financial health is a journey, and we can help you think about a plan for now and the future.

For more resources, information and access to tools that can help you achieve your financial goals and milestones, visit chase.com/personal/financial-goals

 

[1] https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/survey-36-of-americans-look-at-their-bank-account-daily

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/05/financial-and-health-impacts-of-covid-19-vary-widely-by-race-and-ethnicity/

[3] https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27309/w27309.pdf

Guest worker COVID protections abandoned – a taste of things to come

BELLINGHAM, WA - 4AUGUST19 - Farm workers and their supporters march to protest the H2-A guestworker program and the death of Honesto Silva, on the anniversary of his death twho years earlier. They also protested recent federal regulations making it more difficult to protect the rights of H-2A and resident farm workers. The march was organized by Community2Community and the new union for Washington farm workers, Familias Unidas por la Justicia. Copyright David Bacon

by David Bacon

 

Growers are just beginning to bring this year’s wave of contracted laborers into Washington State for the coming season to pick apples, cherries and other fruit. The laborers are arriving to just-relaxed COVID-19 health and safety requirements for farmworkers, courtesy of a Superior Court judge in Yakima County, the heart of the state’s apple country.

Meanwhile a vote nears in the U.S. Senate that would lead to the massive expansion of the H2-A guest worker program, used by growers across the country to recruit these laborers.

In 2020, despite the pandemic, growers and labor contractors brought 28,959 workers, almost all from Mexico, to work in Washington’s fields and orchards, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.  Nationally the number of H2-A workers brought to the U.S. annually has mushroomed from 79,011 to 275,430 in a decade.

COVID-19 outbreaks struck Washington’s guest worker barracks in April, starting with 36 laborers in a Stemilt Growers housing unit in East Wenatchee. Within months eight other clusters were found, and by mid-May rural Yakima County had 2,186 cases – 122 were reported on May 15 alone – and 73 people were dead

With 455 infections per 100,000 residents, the county had the highest COVID-19 rate on the West Coast. Then Juan Carlos Santiago Rincon, a Mexican H2-A worker, died in a Gebbers Farms barracks in July. A second death followed a week later – a 63-year old Jamaican farmer, Earl Edwards, who had been coming to Washington State as an H2-A worker for several years.

State health authorities only found out about Santiago’s death from anonymous phone calls from workers. Ernesto Dimas, another Gebbers worker, told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the company sent workers into the orchards even when they showed symptoms of illness. “You could hear people coughing everywhere,” he said.  Sick workers were sent to an isolation camp, but one infected worker, Juan Celin Guerrero Camacho, said, “I got scared seeing what happened – that workers were not getting medical attention.”

The barracks for H-2A workers leave them vulnerable to infections. They are divided into rooms around a common living and kitchen area. Four workers live in each room, sleeping in two bunk beds, making it impossible for them to maintain the required six feet of distance to help avoid contagion. Stemilt Growers says that it has 90 such dormitory units in central Washington, with 1,677 beds, half of which are bunks. It adds up to a “unique risk,” according to a court declaration given last May by University of Washington epidemiologists Drs. Anjum Hajat and Catherine Karr.

Familias Unidas por la Justicia, the state’s new farmworker union, Columbia Legal Services and other advocates sued the state a year ago in March, demanding better safety measures. Although they didn’t win a ban on the bunk beds, they did win other protections, including twice-daily medical checks for workers with COVID-19 symptoms, quick access to emergency services, and allowing community advocates to contact workers on the farms.

But those victories were invalidated by Yakima County Superior Court Judge Blaine Gibson’s April 21 decision.

In a news release, John Stuhlmiller, chief executive officer of the Washington Farm Bureau, called it a “common sense ruling” and “science-based adjustments.” He called for “repeal or modification” of other requirements, including any limits on bunk beds or other distancing measures, which he had previously labeled “crippling business restrictions.

Washington State was hardly a fierce enforcer of the regulations. Even before the ruling, the state Department of Health said the monitoring requirements weren’t feasible, and the Department of Labor and Industries said it would not enforce them. State communicable disease epidemiologist Scott Lindquist said in an April 13 court declaration that a daily phone call to a sick worker, from an unspecified source, could take the place of medical visits.

But Edgar Franks, political director for Families Unidas por la Justicia, said such a measure “wouldn’t have helped the workers who died at Gebbers, since there was no phone service because they couldn’t get a good signal in that rural area.”

Meanwhile, Congressman Dan Newhouse, a grower from the Yakima Valley, has pushed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act through the U.S. House of Representatives, and it now awaits a vote in the Senate.

“The Farm Workforce Modernization Act is the dream of the industry,” said Franks, “because it lets them do what they want with workers, including paying them low wages, and blacklisting and deporting them if they protest. The judge’s recent ruling just gives us a taste of what’s coming down the line. Even the minimal gains we’ve fought for can be taken away, just like that.”

The bill contains a complex and restrictive legalization program for some of the country’s 1.2 million undocumented farmworkers, along with enforcement provisions that would prevent undocumented people from working in agriculture at all in the future.

The bill’s main impact, however, is the relaxation of restrictions on the use of the H2-A visa program, which would likely lead to enormous increases in the number of workers brought to the U.S. by growers and labor contractors.

Dan Fazio, director of the country’s second-largest labor contractor for H2-A workers, the Washington Farm Labor Association, told Capital Press, “The program works, and we don’t have an alternative.”

Even though unemployment skyrocketed during the pandemic, growers claim they couldn’t find local workers willing to pick Washington’s fruit. “We don’t see any effect from the unemployment rate for U.S. workers,” Fazio claimed.

According to Washington State Tree Fruit Association President Jon DeVaney, unemployed people don’t want to work because “they are collecting state and federal unemployment benefits.”

Rep. Newhouse was successful in winning grower support for the bill, but only 30 Republicans voted for it. The bill’s cosponsor is Silicon Valley Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, and every Democrat in the House – except Maine’s Jared Golden – voted for it, even the party’s leftist representatives.

“There’s a real disconnect among policy makers from the reality on the ground,” Franks charged. “They’re preserving a system that is putting workers at risk. With this judge’s decision community organizations and unions are now denied access to these workers, while growers have them in a stranglehold.”

Nevertheless, Stuhlmiller asserted, “We all share the same goal: protecting farm worker health while keeping our farmers in business.”

Within days of the judge’s decision, Gov. Jay Inslee warned, “we now are seeing the beginnings of a fourth [coronavirus] surge in the state of Washington.”

Affected guest workers will no doubt receive a phone number they can call when they get sick.

US has given $29 millions to Mexican NGOs in the past three years

Figure more than double entire 2021 budget of Mexico’s Interior Ministry

 

by Mexico News Daily

 

President López Obrador has been railing against the United States’ funding of what he says are political groups opposed to his administration, accusing the U.S. government of meddling in Mexico’s internal affairs.

Now, more details have emerged about the quantity of money the U.S. government has sent south of the border since AMLO, as the president is commonly known, took office in late 2018 and who has received it.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) have provided approximately US $29 million to organizations operating in Mexico, according to documents reviewed by the newspaper Milenio.

That figure — made up of the amounts the two agencies sent to Mexico in 2019, 2020 and the first five months of this year — is more than double the entire 2021 budget of Mexico’s Interior Ministry, Milenio said.

The newspaper said that the USAID and NED money goes to projects led by Mexican organizations, projects led by United States organizations that are active in Mexico and to municipal, state and federal governments.

“It’s used to help strengthen civil society organizations, improve public initiatives like the National Anti-Corruption System, protect human rights, combat drug trafficking, look for missing people, eradicate violence against women, promote democratic ideals, support the media and promote the use of renewable energy sources, among other projects,” Milenio said.

Among the organizations that have received funding from USAID since AMLO assumed the presidency are the Mexican Institute of Human Rights and Democracy, the Institute for Security and Democracy, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness and the National Social Communication Center.

Freedom House, a United States-based NGO that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights, is one example of an American organization that has received USAID funding for its work in Mexico.

USAID has also provided funding for a range of government projects. This year, it will provide $90 million in funding to municipal, state and federal governments. That figure is set to increase in 2022.

The NED, an agency founded in 1983 to promote democracy abroad at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were Cold War foes, has provided funding to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), México Evalúa — a public policy think tank — the news website Animal Político and a range of other organizations, Milenio said. It has also provided funding to events such as Mexico City’s International Documentary Film Festival.

The United States’ funding of MCCI, which has exposed corruption in the current and previous federal governments, has particularly roiled AMLO. The federal government sent a diplomatic note to its U.S. counterpart in May to ask it to explain why it has provided funding to the group. The government has also asked the U.S. to stop funding opposition groups, but López Obrador said Monday that there has been no response to that request.

Last August, AMLO accused civil society organizations and Animal Político of using funding they received from the NED and private U.S. foundations to oppose the federal government’s Maya Train project. But the NGOs and the news site rejected the accusation.

López Obrador said Monday that his government would continue asking the United States to stop funding groups such as MCCI and the press freedom organization Article 19, which has also criticized him.

 

Source: Milenio (sp).

 

In other non-related news:

 

Researchers find cancer-fighting agent in pulque, drink of the gods

An acid in the drink can prevent the proliferation of colon cancer cells by up to 40 percent

 

Pulque, an alcoholic drink from fermented agave, contains a cancer-inhibiting probiotic, researchers have found.

The finding indicates that a lactic-acid-bacteria found in the drink called Lactobacillus brevis prevents the proliferation of colon cancer cells by up to 40 percent.

Mexican and French scientists made the discovery in a joint study of Mexican fermented beverages by the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) and France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE).

Researchers isolated 20 strains of Lactobacillus brevis from pulque sediment to test their ability to block the proliferation of tumorous cells, and found that the strain which is endemic to Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala, to be most effective.

The two research institutions have obtained a patent for the discovery, and detailed information has been shared with experts in the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Dr. María Elena Sánchez Pardo, an IPN researcher, attested to the value of the acid to fight cancer. “Lactobacillus brevis has an effect similar to that of the drug 5-fluorouracil, without causing any adverse effects on healthy cells … This is a very important scientific achievement that opens the possibility of having an innocuous treatment against colon cancer,” she said.

Tests were also carried out on an animal model of colon cancer, which provided further evidence of the anti-cancerous effect.

Dr. Pardo added that the discovery motivated the research team, and that their work would continue to search for other beneficial properties of fermented Mexican drinks.

Pulque is known as the drink of the gods as it was considered sacred in pre-hispanic Mexico. It is a milk-colored drink with a yeast like taste.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Nicaragua opposition figure Chamorro put under house arrest

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

shared from BBC

 

Police in Nicaragua have placed opposition presidential hopeful Cristiana Chamorro under house arrest.

Prosecutors have accused Chamorro of money laundering, which she denies, and demand she be barred from running in November’s election.

Chamorro is seen by many in the opposition as their best hope of defeating President Daniel Ortega, who is expected to run for a fifth term.

Her mother defeated Ortega in the 1990 presidential poll.

The arrest is the latest in a series of measures which the opposition says are aimed at crushing its chances of defeating the government in the upcoming election.

Who is Cristiana Chamorro?

The 67-year-old journalist comes from one of Nicaragua’s most influential families.

Her father, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, was the editor of newspaper La Prensa, which opposed the autocratic Somoza family that ruled Nicaragua for decades. He was assassinated in 1978.

Violeta Chamorro, her mother, won the 1990 election to become the first female president in Latin America, putting an end to Daniel Ortega’s first 11 years as president.

Cristiana Chamorro had until recently been leading the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which is focused on press freedom. But she stepped down from the post earlier this year.

On Tuesday, she announced she would seek to become the presidential candidate for the opposition Citizen’s Alliance. The Alliance wants to field one single name in the hope of defeating Ortega.

The president, who has been in power since January 2007, is widely expected to run again, though an official announcement is yet to be made.

How did things get here?

Shortly after Chamorro’s announcement, prosecutors accused her of “abusive management [and] ideological falsehood” during her time at the helm of the foundation.

She has also been charged with “the laundering of money, property and assets, to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society”.

The investigation against her was opened in May at the request of the Ortega government. Chamorro says they are trumped up charges to prevent her from challenging the president.

On Wednesday, shortly before Chamorro was due to give a news conference, police raided her home in the capital, Managua, and placed her under house arrest.

What’s the reaction been?

In a statement issued before Chamorro’s arrest, the regional body Organization of American States (OAS), of which Nicaragua is a member, said the country was “heading for the worst possible elections”.

“The use of the prosecutor’s office, injunctions and precautionary measures, the politicized handling of justice and the de facto banning of candidates are in violation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the OAS Charter, the instruments on human rights and of international pacts to which Nicaragua is party,” the statement read.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned the move, saying on Twitter: “Arbitrarily banning opposition leader [Chamorro] reflects Ortega’s fear of free and fair elections. Nicaraguans deserve real democracy.”

Opposition parties in Nicaragua accused the government of “unleashing a witch hunt”, alleging Ortega feared “going to a free, transparent and observed” election.

Meanwhile government-friendly newspapers printed the arrest warrant issued for Chamorro.

What’s the background?

Last December, the legislative, which is dominated by parties allied with the government, passed a law giving the government the power to ban candidates from running for office if they are deemed to be “traitors” to Nicaragua.

The government says the law aims to protect “the independence, the sovereignty and self-determination” of Nicaragua. It claims the country is under threat from imperialist powers in the US and “coup-mongers” within Nicaragua who are determined to overthrow the government.

The opposition alleges that repression has grown since 2018, when anti-government protests swept through the country and were met with a violent police response.

OSHA suspends requirement for employers to report vaccine injuries

by Nation World News Desk

 

In order to encourage U.S. workers to be vaccinated, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has suspended the legal requirement for employers to report work-related injuries as a result of vaccinations aimed at combating the CCP virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

This suspension of the law by OSHA does not change the fact that employers can be held liable under the workers’ compensation laws or under the personal injury laws, according to the nonprofit group Liberty Counsel.

Earlier this month, the website of OSHA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), said that employers can be held liable if they require employees to receive COVID-19 injections as a condition of service and that employees then experience. adverse reactions.

A section on FAQs on OSHA’s website states: ‘If you have to be vaccinated against your employees as a condition of employment (ie for work-related reasons), then any negative reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine work related. The adverse reaction is recordable if it is a new case under 29 CFR 1904.6 and meets one or more of the general admission criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7, according to Liberty Counsel.

But visitors to the same site FAQ section now see another message, which reads:

‘DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not want to discourage workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, nor does it want to discourage employers’ vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not apply 29 CFR 1904 survey requirements to require employers to record COVID-19 vaccination side effects by May 2022. We will reevaluate the position of the agency at that time to determine the best way forward.”

Liberty Counsel inferred from the amended guidance that the White House had an influence on the decision to suspend the application of the one-year reporting requirement.

‘Undoubtedly received the pressure from the Biden administration, but OSHA suspended the enforcement requirement to record adverse injuries or death due to COVID shots until May 2022 to print the COVID shots. This politically motivated change by OSHA is unprecedented, ”the group said in a press release.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver in a Press release criticized the decision to change the OSHA leadership.

“Employers who expect employees to take a COVID survey can be held liable for adverse injuries and death. The fact that OSHA will not apply the survey requirements does not change the legal liability of employers requiring, forcing or encouraging employees to take COVID surveys.

‘OSHA’s suspension of the survey requirement not to discourage experimental COVID shots shows that the Biden government can pay less attention to the collateral damage caused by the COVID shots. The people can see this biased agenda. They are not stupid.”

None of the available COVID-19 shots have been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Liberty Counsel noted. They come under the introduction of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which means that their use is not necessary.

The FDA acknowledge on its website that it “should ensure that recipients of the vaccine are informed under an EUA, in so far as practicable given the appropriate circumstances … that they have the option to accept or refuse the vaccine, and of any available alternatives to the product. “

EUA authority under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, allows the FDA to take steps to protect public health from “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats (CBRN), including infectious diseases, by facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures (MCMs) required during public health emergencies.”

When the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declare that an EUA is needed, as it did on On March 27, 2020, regarding the ongoing pandemic, the FDA may authorize other approved medical products or unauthorized use of approved medical products to be used ‘in an emergency to treat serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by CBRN diagnose, treat or prevent. threat agents when certain criteria are met, among which there are no adequate, approved and available alternatives.”

The OSHA sent for for a comment on Memorial Day, but did not receive a response at press time.

 

Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre Trailer | Premieres May 30 at 8/7c | The HISTORY Channel

The HISTORY® Channel sets the premiere date for its new two-hour documentary “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre” on Sunday, May 30 at 8PM ET/PT. Executive produced by NBA super star and philanthropist Russell Westbrook, and directed by Peabody and Emmy-Award winning director Stanley Nelson (“Freedom Riders”) and Peabody and duPont-Award winner Marco Williams (“Two Towns of Jasper”), the documentary commemorates the 100th anniversary of the horrific Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history, and calls attention to the previously ignored but necessary repair of a town once devastated. The HISTORY® Channel is also partnering with WNYC Studios to launch a new six-part podcast series Blindspot: Tulsa Burning on May 28 as complementary audio content.

Additionally, through its “Save Our History” philanthropic initiative, the network is helping to preserve the Historic Vernon A.M.E. Church, the only standing Black-owned structure from the Historic Greenwood Avenue and Black Wall Street era

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