The neoliberal attack on government expenditure in poorer countries was a key driver of international migration. Even by 1990, it had become clear that the migrants had become an essential force in providing foreign exchange to their countries through increasing remittance payments to their families. By 2015, remittances—mostly by the international working class—outstripped the volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA) by three times and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). ODA is the aid money provided by states, whereas FDI is the investment money provided by private companies. For some countries, such as Mexico and the Philippines, remittance payments from working-class migrants prevented state bankruptcy. More

I am not saying that Judge Merchan should lock Trump away in some KGB mental hospital, as happened to the political opposition in Stalin’s Soviet Union. But I am pointing out that while New York State court has jurisdiction over convicted felon Trump, the judge has both the right and the obligation—before issuing a sentence—to find out if the defendant has understood the charges that were brought against him. (From his endless press conferences during his trials, Trump sounds clueless about the facts in his own cases.) More

The whole phony case against Assange stinks of corruption and abuse of power. Corruption because the CIA under Mike “Get Assange” Pompeo plotted to kidnap or murder the journalist and also, corruptly, listened in on his privileged conversations with his attorney in the Ecuadoran embassy. Corruption because bogus charges were cooked up against him by a pliant Swedish prosecutor, the sole purpose of which was to toss Assange into the clutches of the furious U.S. government. Assange did not rape those two women in Sweden, and the prosecutor eventually dropped the case. But the damage was done: to Assange’s reputation and to his freedom, because once he sought refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy, he was trapped. More