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Democracy Now!
- A Wealth Tax on Billionaires? California Voters to Decide Prop 40
As voters across the United States cast ballots on November 3, Californians are weighing whether to approve a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires in the state. The tax would apply to roughly 250 Californians who now hold an estimated $2.3 trillion in wealth. Supporters say the wealth tax could raise up to $100 billion, with about 90% going toward healthcare. The remaining funds would support education and food assistance programs. If Proposition 40 passes, it will mark the first time a government in the U.S. successfully taxes the wealth — rather than just the income — of the ultra-rich. “It’s past time that billionaires pay their fair share,” says Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, […]
- Nobel Peace Laureate Navi Pillay on ICC, Gaza, Rape as War Crime, Her South African Roots & Mandela
We speak with the acclaimed South African human rights lawyer and international jurist Navi Pillay, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay has been the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and a judge at both the International Criminal Court and at an international tribunal investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Most recently, she led the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Hours after Pillay was announced as winner of the Nobel Prize, the United States imposed sweeping new sanctions against the International Criminal Court. “It’s extremely shocking to me, totally unacceptable, that the United States administration can today impose […]
- Headlines for October 20, 2026
Finland to Purchase 1 Million Landmines as Russia Continues Attacks on Ukraine, Trump Lashes Out Against Zelensky: “It’s Time for Somebody Else to Negotiate on Behalf of Ukraine” , Drone Strike in Sudan Kills 80 People, Trump Stumps for Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Continuing Tour of Deep Red States, CBS News Correspondent Apologizes for Partisan Post Targeting Michigan Senate Candidate El-Sayed, Drop Site News: Mike Rogers’s Wife Won Lucrative Contracts While Rogers Served as Intel Chair , Seventh Person Dies in ICE Custody in Texas, Video Shows ICE Agents in Long Beach, California Brutalizing U.S. Citizen, Mississippi Attorney General Rules Police Officer Justified in Fatal Shooting of Black Toddler, Palestinian Activist Mahmoud […]
- Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa: Prominent Anti-Corruption Lawyer in Guatemala Assassinated
The prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot along with another man on Saturday at a sports center in Guatemala City. For years, Solórzano Foppa had been outspoken against Guatemala’s most powerful politicians, business leaders and companies. He was known for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office and later as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures. “In more recent years, he developed a social media presence, and he was forcefully denouncing corruption,” says Roman Gressier, a journalist based in Guatemala City. “We were thinking about […]
- Masked Israeli Settlers Nearly Kill Washington Post Journalist as Attacks on Palestinians Escalate
Israeli settlers backed by IDF soldiers brutally assaulted Palestinian olive farmers in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday. Witnesses say dozens of masked Israeli settlers armed with clubs, sticks, slingshots and guns hurled rocks at Palestinian farmers, set olive trees ablaze and drove people from their fields. Veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, a 64-year-old American, was documenting the attack when settlers began beating her. She suffered stab wounds, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a severe hand injury. Levine was wearing a clearly marked press vest and a helmet at the time of the attack. According to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, Israeli settlers have carried out at least […]
Anthropocene
- Magenta solar panels may be agrivoltaics’ cleverest trick yet
See-through solar cells harvest some wavelengths of light to make electricity, while passing through the red and blue wavelengths that plants need. In a new agrivoltaics experiment, broccoli yields held steady.
- Could dirty, salty wastewater quench data center thirst?
Data centers need millions of gallons of water a day. Oil and gas industries produce more wastewater than that. Connecting them using today’s desalination technologies makes sense.
The Guardian
- Thousands of California public employees set to strike over contract
SEIU Local 1000, representing nurses and teachers, pushing for higher wages, telework and affordable healthcareThousands of California state workers were set to strike on Wednesday, rallying outside government buildings in several cities, as tensions boiled over lapsed contract negotiations with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration.SEIU Local 1000, a union that represents roughly 100,000 public employees, including nurses and teachers, has been pushing for higher wages, flexible telework and affordable healthcare. Continue reading...
- Trump hails Russia’s release of US teacher amid Witkoff’s visit – live
US was not required to give anything in return for Stephen Hubbard’s release ‘out of respect for President Trump’, he claimsSign up for Breaking News US emailSend us your questions about immigration and the midtermsMeanwhile, as my colleague Jakub Krupa reports, French president Emmanuel Macron blasted “unacceptable” and “stupid” comments on the protests and riots in France from foreign leaders, accusing them of “campaigning at our expense”. This comes after Donald Trump has explicitly linked the protests to mass migration, without any evidence to support his claims. Continue reading...
- ‘Invasive and extreme’: doctors fight anti-trans measure requiring genital exams for student athletes
A Washington referendum has drawn broad opposition from adults who work with queer and trans teensFor Kelsey Gellner, a Seattle-based pediatric nurse, a statewide proposal to bar trans girls from sports participation feels like a violation of her duty as a medical professional. The ballot initiative includes a requirement she calls “invasive and extreme”: all students who wish to compete on girls’ teams would have to undergo genital exams.“I tell my kids and patients that my No 1 job is to keep them safe,” said Gellner, who is also a board member of the Washington State Nurses Association. “I can say with confidence that girls do not want to have an unnecessary exam that creates an unsafe barrier.” Continue reading...
- Trump suggests he could be ‘arbitrator’ in DoJ anti-fraud whistleblower scheme
President makes suggestion while announcing new program to reward tipsters who submit fraud allegationsDonald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he would serve as “the arbitrator” of decisions in the justice department’s new anti-fraud program that awards compensation to those who submit tips resulting in conviction or significant federal enforcement.While announcing the new program alongside JD Vance, the vice-president, who leads the White House’s taskforce to eliminate fraud, the president told reporters he had a solution for situations where multiple people submit a tip for the same alleged fraud. Continue reading...
- State attorneys general step up plans to counter Trump’s meddling in midterms
Coordination by Democratic officials overseeing elections includes Zoom calls and in-person tabletop exercisesDemocratic state attorneys general, other top state officials and civic groups have accelerated planning to thwart any federal meddling in the November midterm elections by Donald Trump as he continues his false charges of widespread voting fraud and veiled threats of interfering in the process.Since early this year, 24 Democratic attorneys general have expanded coordination with about a dozen Democratic secretaries of state and several civic groups using weekly Zoom calls and in-person tabletop exercises to strategize about countering any federal intervention in the elections. Continue reading...
Aeon
- When it started to burn
Horrific violence, enduring terror and ceaseless solidarity: four years of war through the eyes of Ukrainian civilians- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon
The Conversation
- An AI model’s false tip to Philadelphia police reveals how digital agents can do as they’re told and still cause trouble
An expert on AI governance explains why these rare mistakes may soon be common, and with much higher stakes.
- Offering cash for votes is quite common – but here’s why it doesn’t work
Money or other material benefits are often not enough to override a voter’s preferences and partisanship.
- El Niño is threatening California’s fragile coast again – the 1982-83 El Niño opened eyes to the serious erosion risks
The destructive 1982-83 El Niño, then the strongest on record, eroded cliffs, leaving homes hanging precariously over the edges. A coastal scientist explains the escalating risks.
- Human rights could improve – or worsen – based on how nations use the UN treaty against cybercrime
If the treaty enters into force, responsible nations will have to carefully monitor how other countries use it.
- Horror’s monsters find new meaning with queer and trans audiences – how ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ dissects identity
Horror as a genre has traditionally been rife with transphobia and homophobia. But LGBTQ+ fans love it anyway.
Inter Press Service
- The Sámi People and Reindeer Herding – a Struggle for Sápmi’s Whole Nature
The Sámi, Europe’s last recognised Indigenous community, have faced threats to their existence throughout history. Norway, in 2024, apologised for its forced assimilation policy ...
- As Winter Approaches, Afghanistan Faces Record Hunger and Mounting Human Rights Abuses
In recent months, Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has severely deteriorated, with the UN reporting record-high levels of acute malnutrition and hunger. Compounded by rampant human ...
- From Small Islands to Antalya: COP31 Must Move Climate Promises from Paper to People
When you grow up on a small island, the ocean is not scenery. It is your neighbour, your livelihood, and the measure of time ...
Sludge
- Tech Billionaire John Doerr Funnels Millions to Democrats Through New 'Dark Money' Group
The billionaire chair of Kleiner Perkins, who co-founded the industry lobby TechNet, set up a nonprofit, Incaendo, that gave more than $10 million to Democratic dark money groups last year.
Grist
- Town leaders chided residents for warning of flash floods. Then, the river took two children.
After wildfires scarred the Sacramento Mountains above Ruidoso, New Mexico, the community was under heightened threat of catastrophic flooding. Officials were aware but continued to promote the town to tourists who were oblivious to the danger.
- At the Wall of Wind, engineers blow homes apart to learn how to save them
Extreme weather threatens millions of manufactured homes. Researchers are looking for practical ways to make them more more wind resilient.
- In Michigan, 3 tribes are on a mission to bring back a fish that disappeared 100 years ago
Tribal nations across the country are trying to restore culturally important species, like the Arctic grayling, while grappling with climate change.
Truthout
- “No Kings” Shifts Focus to Midterms With Early Voting Day of Action
Over 5 million ballots have been cast, according to an estimate, as Trump faces a historic low in approval ratings.
- Aging Coal Plants Turn Into a Midterm Fight Over Energy Costs
Climate and energy battles are running through campaigns in Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, and beyond.
- Organizers Are Pushing to Reach “Forgotten” Black Voters Ahead of the Midterms
The efforts target college students, first-time voters, and the formerly incarcerated, particularly in the South.
Labor Notes
- Labor Goes on Election Defense
New York City unions representing 1 million members launched a new coalition October 15 to defend the right to vote ahead of the midterm elections November 3. A thousand members rallied outside the city’s main post office, pledging to mobilize the labor movement to defend the elections from Trump administration interference.
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