More war crimes in Yemen

The United States' client state in Riyadh is importing child soldiers from Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese paramilitary group that was blamed for the systematic raping of women and girls and indiscriminate killing during the conflict in Darfur, to fight the front lines in Yemen (using, if it needs reminding, American weapons, intelligence and air support). “The Saudis told us what to do through the telephones and devices,” according to Mohamed Suleiman al-Fadil, a 28-year-old member of the Bani Hussein tribe who returned from Yemen at the end of last year. “They never fought with us." "The Saudis would give us a phone call and then pull back,” added Ahmed, a 25-year-old member of the Awlad Zeid tribe. “They treat the Sudanese like their firewood.”

The rest of the story: Saudi Arabia recruited Darfur children for Yemen war by Chris Mills Rodrigo (The Hill).

A map representing the Republican Party platform on trade policy in the election of 1888.

War (huh)

What's it good for?
A whole lotta profits
(say it again)

Priorities

"Trapped puppies rescued after six-car smashup" -- The Carmel Pine Cone

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

A Christmas Carol, American Style

Antonio Rodriguez Garcia

An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in United States custody early Christmas Day, the second death of a child in detention at the southwest border in less than three weeks, raising questions about the ability of federal agents running the crowded migrant border facilities to care for those who fall ill: 8-Year-Old Migrant Child From Guatemala Dies in U.S. Custody by Miriam Jordan (New York Times)

The exile of America's greatest living journalist

"The later part of [Seymour] Hersh’s career is the most distressing. He was writing for The New Yorker when Barack Obama was elected president. David Remnick, the magazine’s editor, socialized with Obama and was apparently wary of offending the president. When Hersh exposed the fictitious narrative spun out by the Obama administration about the killing of Bin Laden, the magazine killed the story, running instead a report about the raid, provided by the administration, from the point of view of one of the SEALs who was on the mission. Hersh resigned. He published the account of the raid in the London Review of Books, the beginning of his current exile to foreign publications. When we most urgently need Hersh and good investigative reporters like him, they have largely disappeared. A democracy, at best, tolerates them. A failed democracy, like ours, banishes them, and when it does, it kills its press."

The rest of the story:
Banishing Truth by Chris Hedges (TruthDig)

Making Ends Meet

"According to an analysis by New Jersey Policy Perspective, a New Jersey family with one child needs a wage of $20.07 an hour to make ends meet. According to the nonprofit think tank, there’s quite a range between the state’s 21 counties — from $17.32 an hour for workers in Camden to $22.26 in Hunterdon. A boost of the minimum wage 'would inject $3.9 billion into the state’s economy and help over 1 million workers better afford their needs,' according to NJPP. 'Today, there is no region of the state where a single worker with no children can afford basic necessities while making less than $15 per hour. The costs of transportation, food and rent are simply too high for a minimum wage worker to afford without suffering in poverty.'”

The rest of the story:
Of Safaris, Dungeons and Dragons, and the Real World of the Working Poor by Bob Hennelly (Insider NJ)

With apologies to Theodor Geisel

"It could be the head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But we think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small." -- NY Daily News

From The-Joke's-On-You Desk:

Trump Winery has reportedly applied for permission to hire six foreign workers under the H-2 visa program. BuzzFeed reports that “combined with this latest request, companies owned by Trump or bearing his name have sought permission from the Department of Labor to hire at least 263 foreign guest workers since he launched his presidential campaign.”

At the Capitol Lounge

Safe, affordable housing is a right.

"Under capitalism, housing provision is based on what will make developers, lenders, and landlords rich -- not what average people need to survive. That’s why we’ll never get decent, affordable housing for everyone under the free market.
----
"The hyper-financialization of home mortgages in the mid-2000s is perhaps the most dramatic example of how treating housing like a speculative commodity can spiral out of control, grotesquely distorting the provision of a basic necessity.

"After the 2007–2008 financial crash, many liberal capitalists argued that better regulations on the secondary mortgage market might have prevented the worst aspects of the crisis. There might even be good reason to welcome such regulations. But the constant oscillations of housing prices will never disappear under capitalism, because these boom-bust cycles are inherent to any kind of capitalist commodity."

The rest of the story: Capitalism Can’t Give Us Affordable Housing by Robbie Nelson (Jacobin)

Carpe Diem

"One of the most important movements that made its presence felt this year was the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The campaign seeks to achieve the vision of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King to unite the working class of the US, bridging historical divisions to combat systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy and militarism."

Veteran organizer Willie Baptist reflects on the historical importance of this moment in the US and across the world, and the need to take strategic, coordinated action. We can’t miss this moment: Willie Baptist (People's Dispatch)

It was so surprising

to see Joe Manchin voting with his fellow Democrats on something today, it actually made headlines.