Tsunami of Outrage, Vows of Resistance Follow Trump’s Pipeline Order

by Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Common Dreams | 24 January, 2017

A San Francisco protest in solidarity with North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux and their fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo: Peg Hunter/cc/flickr)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed executive orders advancing the controversial Keystone XL (KXL) and Dakota Access (DAPL) pipelines, prompting a tsunami of outrage and vows of bold resistance from the Indigenous activists, climate campaigners, and countless others who have fought against these projects.

Trump’s “Disastrous” Regulatory Cuts Imperil Public for Corporate Benefit

by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

Common Dreams | 24 January, 2017

President Donald Trump met Tuesday morning with U.S. auto industry leaders, and said environmental regulations are “out of control.” (Photo: Getty)

Even as he moves to approve risky fossil fuel projects and eliminate healthcare for millions, President Donald Trump told corporate leaders on Monday he could “cut regulations by 75 percent, maybe more”—and he made similar promises to automakers in a meeting Tuesday morning.

The TPP Is Officially Dead. Thank the People’s Movement, Not Trump.

by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

Common Dreams | 23 January, 2017

Anti-TPP signs seen at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), marking a new phase for the broad movement that sought to kill the corporate-friendly trade deal.

Calcutta Notebook

by B J

Frontier | Vol. 49, No.28, Jan 15 – 21, 2017

Four factors indicate the possibility of a recession. The United States’ central bank, known as Federal Reserve Board or the “Fed” has increased interest rates by 0.25 percent. This is small but it has made clear its intention to increase the rates three times in 2017. The United States is considered to be a safe haven. An increase in interest rates will encourage foreign investors to pull money out of the emerging markets like India that are considered more risk prone and invest in bonds issued by the US Government. Foreign Institutional Investors have already pulled out about US Dollar 2 billion recently. The share markets are down and value of the rupee has declined because of this repatriation. This flight on foreign investment from India is likely to continue due to the expected increase in interest rates in the United States in the coming year.

Highways To Hope

JOE GILL

Morning Star | 23 January, 2017

Four Futures: Life
After Capitalism
by Peter Frase
(Verso, £8.99)

ACCORDING to Peter Frase, the historical fork in the road facing humanity is not the two-pronged life-or-death choice declared by Rosa Luxemburg a century ago. It’s more of a four- lane superhighway.

Frase’s short and very readable Four Futures: Life After Capitalism includes the two routes identified by Luxemburg and throws in two more — communism, of the post-scarcity, non-statist variety, and “rentism.”

Cuba says no to gender violence

by Rachel Rivero Acosta

“It’s our responsibility to facilitate encounters to articulate more effective ideas regarding these problems, of which people are often unaware,” stated Cenesex director Mariela Castro Espín. Photo: Yander Zamora

The Second International Symposium on Gender Violence, Prostitution, Sex Tourism and Human Trafficking, organized by the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) is taking place January 23-25 in Havana’s La Pradera Convention Center.