New and Noteworthy 2019

Meeting Sundays 3-5 pm at Columbia as always
Location: Room 409, Int’l Affairs Bldg. Columbia Univ.
420 W. 118th St.. (SE Corner of Amsterdam Ave. )

On Feb. 24 at 2 pm, Jerome will explain and critique Modern Monetary Theory.

For background, please see this video
Dr. Stephanie Kelton: Are There Spending Constraints on Governments Sovereign in Their Currency

and materials posted on this page.

For the week of Feb. 17 to Feb. 23, 2019

  1. America’s Other Family-‍Separation Crisis: Why do we lock so many women up?
  2. U.K. government report labels Facebook ‘digital gangsters’
  3. A history of debt: David Graeber questions etablished wisdom about the moral power of debt, the origins of money and the definition of money itself.
  4. Regime Change We Can Believe In: The U.S. Agenda in Venezuela, Haiti, and Egypt
  5. Left perspectives on Presidential Campaigns (not an endorsement)
  6. Socialism for Realists
  7. CFPB is looking out for financial predators instead of Main Street
  8. Momentum grows for New York’s landmark climate-equity bill
  9. School strikes against climate change take off

For the week of Feb. 10 to Feb. 16, 2019

  1. How The CIA Overthrew Iran’s Democracy Any similarity to events in Venezuela are purely coincidental
  2. Elliott Abrams, U.S. envoy for Venezuela, previously convicted of deceiving Congress, faces questions from Congress about past and present U.S. interventions in Latin America
  3. Venezeula: Maduro accuses U.S. of imperialism; history says he’s not wrong
  4. Why more of the world now feels threatened by U.S. than by China or Russia (see above)
  5. Republicans Are Using Shameless Tactics to Split Democrats Over BDS
  6. Virginia blackface scandal: Ralph Northam vows to stay as governor
  7. Will the U.S. Senate Let the People of Yemen Live?
  8. Trump’s Illegal Emergency Declaration Is a Dangerous Low Point in U.S. Presidential History
  9. There is a crisis at the border. It’s just not what Trump says it is.
  10. How Pharma rips off Americans
  11. Presidential candidates not getting much press:
  12. Former presidential candidate who got too much press
  13. The Left must finally break with the Democrats
  14. NYC Public Advocate debate also note: not qualifying for debate but on the ballot: Manny Alicandro, David Eisenbach, Anthony Herbert, Jared Rich, Helal Sheikh, Latrice Walker, Benjamin Yee
  15. The Venezuela Myth Keeping Us From Transforming Our Economy
  16. To combat dark money, we need public campaign financing
  17. Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out Dark Money
  18. Amazon Cancels Plan to Build Headquarters in NYC
  19. The Rise of Surveillance Capitalism
  20. The vultures are circling NYCHA
  21. Science and Subterfuge in Economics

For the week of Feb. 3 to Feb. 9, 2019

  1. Economic Bills of Rights:
    1. FDR: The Economic Bill of Rights
      1. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
      2. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
      3. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
      4. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
      5. The right of every family to a decent home;
      6. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
      7. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
      8. The right to a good education.
    2. Reagan’s version
      1. Freedom to work
      2. Freedom to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor
      3. Freedom to own and control one’s property
      4. Freedom to participate in a free market
  2. Twelve Step Method to Conduct Regime Change
  3. Democratic Socialists statement on U.S. intervention in Venezuela “Stop Dangerous and Counterproductive US Intervention in Venezuela”
  4. Venezuela crisis: Former U.N. rapporteur says U.S. sanctions are killing citizens
  5. Mark Twain’s opposition to imperialism
  6. Activists convicted after leaving water and food for migrants in Arizona desert
  7. Dozens of Cities Have Secretly Experimented With Predictive Policing Software
  8. How do we get dark money out of politics?
  9. No billionaires
  10. Curious case of missing wealth taxes
  11. Media is badly botching medicare-for-all debate: The current health system is unaffordable, not medicare-for-all
  12. Green New Deal:
  13. Trump draining the swamp?
  14. Trump’s 2019 State of the Union was an ode to an imaginary America
  15. Racism, Sexual Assault and Politics in Virginia

For the week of Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 2019

  1. Financialization creates inequality some finance is helpful, too much is damaging. And we have way too much (slide show)
  2. Venezuela: What activists (and others) need to know about the U.S. led coup
  3. SCUM Manifesto
  4. This conversation may change how you understand misogyny
  5. Men at Davos Discover New, “Creative” Excuse to Justify Excluding Women in the Workplace Creative??? They are just following Mike Pence
  6. Climate Change Leads to Wars, Refugees
  7. Youth Climate Lawsuit in Limbo as the U.S. Government Puts Up Roadblocks
  8. Jackboots in the Morning: No One Is Spared From This American Nightmare
  9. The War in Yemen Is the World’s Worst Man-Made Humanitarian Disaster
  10. Accounting for Race  “Abetted by the federal government, several states have actively subverted the well-being of their residents of color. “
  11. The Congolese people succeeded in forcing President Kabila to allow elections to choose his successor, but Kabila still rigged the vote.
  12. Trump Is Killing the INF Treaty
  13. Withdrawing our money from Wall Street: Why NYC needs public banking now

For the week of Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, 2019

  1. Martin Luther King, Jr. speech on Three Evils of Society: Racism, Extreme Materialism and Militarism
  2. Bryan Stevenson wants the U.S. to face its history
  3. Capital Gains and Inequality
  4. Do not call lists: Police who prosecuters think are too ‘unreliable’ to testify in court
  5. SPLC sues Trump administration for violating due process rights of immigrant children
  6. Venezuela:
  7. A case for starting process to impeach Trump column or video
  8. Latest Oxfam report shows 26 billionaires have more than 3.8 billion people combined. One of their key recommendations is to tax wealth and capital (see above) at higher, fairer, rates.
  9. After LA’s Teachers Strike, “Nothing Will Be the Same”

For the week of Jan. 13 to Jan. 19, 2019

  1. Banking and Finance
  2. Fascinating, frightening discussion of chaos and deception in decisionmaking to go into Iraq No reason to think things are better today
  3. Trump’s Wall Demands Hurt People Already Hurting the Most
  4. Pentagon Officials Fear Bolton’s Actions Increase Risk of Clash With Iran
  5. Tulsi Gabbard Is a Rising Progressive Star, Despite Her Support for Hindu Nationalists
  6. One day, your voice will control all your gadgets, and they will control you
  7. See you in court, citizens tell governments on climate change
  8. Chicago’s police ‘code of silence’ went on trial — and the code won
  9. Albany passes some voting reform, Cuomo not helpful
  10. Astra Taylor’s What is democracy? offers no simple answers

For the week of Jan. 6 to Jan.12, 2019

  1. Banking and Finance
  2. Carbon emissions rise second most in 20-years as majority of America believes in anthropogenic climate change‘
  3. Raising the Bar on a Green New Deal
  4. Do We Really Need Billionaires?
  5. Frightening prospect of a ‘state of emergency’
  6. Case Closed: The Justice Department Won’t Stand Behind Its Report on Immigrants and Terrorism
  7. Tulsi Gabbard Is a Rising Progressive Star, Despite Her Support for Hindu Nationalists
  8. Bases, Bases, Everywhere…  Except in the Pentagon’s Report 
  9. Human Again’: Florida Felons Emotional as They Begin Registering to Vote

For the weeks of Dec. 23, 2018 to Jan. 5, 2019

  1. Banking and Finance
  2. Yellow Vests Rise Against Neo-Liberal ‘King’ Macron
  3. Winners Take All | Robert Wright & Anand Giridharadas (if you’ve listened to other stuff from Giridharadas, you can skip about 30 minutes to where he talks more about solutions)
  4. Black Agenda Radio: Twilight of US empire; Black Alliance For Peace: Trump Should Withdraw From Syria, and Africa too; Carrie Bramen on the myth of “American Niceness”
    • Listen to whichever segments you like. I recommend the last: myth of American Niceness .
  5. Important Environmental Stories of 2018
  6. “Prison Reform” Is Not Enough. In 2019, Let’s Fight for Decarceration
  7. Romney states the obvious: Trump lacks character
    • Also praises Sessions, Haley, Mattis, Tillerson, judges (Kavanaugh), corporate tax cuts, “deregulation” and Trump policy in general
  8. The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done

Earlier items


July-Dec. 2018
Jan. – June 2018
July – Dec. 2017
Jan. – June 2017
July – Dec. 2016
Jan. – June 2016