By John Pring
A disabled man who starved to death after his benefits were wrongly stopped is the latest in a long line of fatalities that can be linked to failings and deliberate policy decisions by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
27 January 2020 — The New Dark Age
There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back
Russia, Iran agree to look at format of parliamentary dialogue of Caspian nations
https://tass.com/world/1113385
Today’s Links 27 January 2020
http://mikewhitneysgraspingatstraws.blogspot.com/2020/01/todays-links_27.html
27 January 2020 — Michael Roberts Blog
At the recent ASSA 2020 conference there was a session on whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the ubiquitous measure of national output, was adequate as a gauge of “well-being or social welfare”. Various proposals have been put forward for attempting to measure social welfare, including “dashboards” of economic and social indicators as well as approaches that are more explicitly tied to economic theory. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) initiated a discussion at ASSA to consider the pros and cons of alternative approaches.
26 January 2020 — 21st Century Wire
Up until this week, Assange has been held in solitary confinement in Belmarsh prison. Incredibly, it was the other prisoners along with Assange’s legal team, who have pressured the government officials to respect the law and allow Assange to be removed from solitary confinement, resulting in his transfer to a general wing. This piece looks at how Assange was unofficially segregated in the prison’s healthcare unit, with no recourse to systems designed for prisoners in official solitary confinement regimes as applied under Prison Rule 45, leaving him out of reach of rules and law.
27 January 2020 — Indian Punchline
By M.K. Bhadrakumar
Russian President Vladimir Putin watches Black Sea navy exercise from Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser, Jan. 9, 2020.
The US President Donald Trump first said there were ‘no casualties’ in the Iranian missile attack on the Ain al-Asad military airbase in Iraq on January 8. “We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases,” Trump had said.
18 January 2020 — Edward Curtin
“Our problem is civil obedience,” said the people’s historian Howard Zinn.
This may sound like an odd way to begin a review of a play, but I think you will agree that it is apropos, since the musical Matilda, based on the book by the impish writer Roald Dahl and produced by Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater, has just opened and will run, most appropriately, through the Sunday of Martin Luther King weekend and continue the following Thursday through Sunday at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts. I like to think MLK would approve.
26 January 2020 — The New Dark Age
There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back
Bolivians Celebrate Fourteen Years of the Plurinational State
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/bolivians-celebrate-fourteen-years-of-the-plurinational-state/
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva: Obama, Hillary Ordered Me Not to Negotiate with Iran
https://www.mintpressnews.com/brazil-president-lula-da-silva-obama-hillary-ordered-not-negotiate-iran/264315/
27 January 2020 — Drone Wars
The third of our twice-yearly updates details new operators and other significant developments around the proliferation of armed drones. For our complete list of states operating, or close to operating, armed drones see Who Has Armed Drones?
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