World News

>A huge strike swept France on Thursday as millions of workers revolted against pension attacks from president Emmanuel Macron.

>It is set to be the most significant wave of workers’ action since 1995 when protracted strikes broke a right-wing government’s assault on pensions.
>A teacher said “The pension reforms are one blow too many. We're fighting not to lose hundreds of euros of pension a month—after more than 40 years in a job.

>Hundreds of demonstrations took place, beginning at 10am in some areas. The CGT union federation said 1.5 million people marched nationwide. Even the interior ministry said over 800,000 took part.

>In several places they were met with tear gas.
>In Paris 6,000 police officers were deployed against protests and the authorities issued a decree forbidding protesters from gathering on the Champs-Elysées or at police stations.
>Riot police began searching pedestrians' bags before dawn, and shops on a planned protest route were ordered to close.

>In many areas the Yellow Vests, who have been fighting Macron for a year, joined the action. There is a massive feeling that life is hard and public services are declining. A poll last month in the newspaper Liberation found 89 percent of French people felt the country was experiencing a “social crisis”.

>It’s crucial to bring together all the sections of strikers and protesters, and to stop the union leaders choking off the action before it wins.

>The mass strikes and protests are giving hope to the whole of Europe. They show that the bitterness in society can be torn away from the right and the racists and directed towards the left.

>People formed a 620-km human chain from Kasargod in the north of Kerala to Thiruvananthapuram in the south to register their protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Republic Day. Organised by Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front, the protest saw lakhs of people -- including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan -- lining up along roads across the state.

>More than 180 House Democrats joined a nearly united Republican caucus Wednesday night to pass a sweeping $738 billion military spending bill that gives President Donald Trump his long-sought "Space Force," free rein to wage endless wars, and a green light to continue fueling the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.

>"This NDAA is atrocious, and it's very depressing that only 48 members of congress voted against it," tweeted anti-war group CodePink.

>In a floor speech ahead of Wednesday's vote, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the most vocal opponent of the NDAA in the House, said "there are many things you can call the bill, but it's Orwellian to call it progressive." Khanna was standing across the aisle from Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who hailed the measure as "the most progressive defense bill we have passed in decades."

>According to the New York Times, Smith—chairman of the House Armed Services Committee—negotiated several provisions of the NDAA directly with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser.

>Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) foreign policy adviser Matt Duss expressed outrage that Democrats allowed Kushner—who has close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—to kill an amendment that would have helped end U.S. complicity in the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

>Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who voted against the NDAA, noted in a statement that the final version also stripped out her House-passed amendment that would have repealed the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

>There have been more than 3,000 confirmed cases in a country of just 200,000 people and 42 people have died, 38 of them children under four.

>Four years ago, roughly 85% of one-year-olds were vaccinated, in 2017 that dropped to 60%

>legalize marijuana within 100 days of taking office
>nominate AG and HHS secretary who will work to end drug war
>vacate and expunge all past marijuana-related convictions, including those still in prison
>protect marijuana industry from being controlled by big corporations
>incentivize nonprofits
>institute market share caps to prevent consolidation and monopolization
>invest profits into communities hit hardest by drug war
>eliminate barriers to public benefits for those who were fucked by legal system

>The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and groundwater, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens.