Shunning Corporate PACs Won't End Corporate Influence in Elections

Sunday, March 24, 2019 [| Help expose injustice: Support Truthout! |]( [Shunning Corporate PACs Won't End Corporate Influence in Elections]( Michael Corcoran, Truthout The increased scrutiny of the role of money in politics has continued to play a big role in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Most of the candidates, accordingly, are racing to swear off "corporate PACs." Campaign finance advocates say this reflects important progress, but cannot substitute for comprehensive campaign finance reform or publicly financed elections. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Trump's Golan Heights Tweet Disregards History, Law and Ethics]( Noura Erakat, Truthout Donald Trump's announcement that the United States would recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian Golan Heights flies in the face of history, relevant international law, as well as long-standing U.S. policy. This abysmal situation underscores the urgency of a global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, as a key part of the fight against U.S. imperialism, racial supremacy and fascism. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [How Jim Crow Went to China in the Making of Big Tobacco]( Anton Woronczuk, Truthout The cigarette industry played a paradigm-shifting role in the rise of corporate power during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It drew on Jim Crow to expand globally, and revolutionized branding by intimately intertwining cigarettes with jazz culture. Cigarettes Inc.: An Intimate History of Corporate Imperialism seeks to excavate Big Tobacco's early history in order to challenge framings of corporate power that have otherwise kept our understanding of power clouded in smoke. [Read the Interview →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- You know there's more to the truth than the mainstream cable news narrative. Will you help us fuel Truthout's truly independent journalism by making a donation today? [Donate Now →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [The FBI Is the Enemy of the Left]( Chip Gibbons, Jacobin Two recent books on the FBI's harassment, infiltration, surveillance and disruption of Maoist organizations demonstrate that the agency's principal task in the United States has been not just to monitor dissent, but to actively attempt to destroy it. Today's activists should be acutely aware of the threat of infiltration. But while activists need to be on the guard, an atmosphere of distrust and paranoia within leftist groups is exactly what the authorities want. [Read the Review →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Down the Imperial Memory Hole With Venezuela]( Fred Guerin, Truthout The strategy of the U.S. and its allies is to ensure that Nicolás Maduro is unable to resolve Venezuela's problems. With help from a subservient mainstream media and compliant Western states, they are doing their best to make the Bolivarian revolution, which insists that a country's natural resources should be used for its citizens' benefit, disappear down the memory hole. We must not let that happen. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [HUD's Inspection System Gets a Poor Grade in Congressional Watchdog's Report]( Molly Park, ProPublica The federal government's system of inspecting taxpayer-subsidized housing is fundamentally flawed, and leaders at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development haven't taken adequate steps to fix it, according to a congressional watchdog report released last Thursday. There are numerous cases in which substandard housing complexes received passing -- and even glowing -- scores from HUD. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Jim Crow in Our Climate Crisis]( Alycee Lane, Common Dreams Critics of House Resolution 109 -- the "Green New Deal" -- have condemned this nonbinding resolution for its inclusion of aspirations which, in their view, have nothing to do with climate change. These detractors fail to recognise that extreme weather is blowback from energy systems that were designed and operated in ways that entrenched racial inequalities. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Does Most of Your Paycheck Go to Rent? That May Be Hurting Your Health]( Jessica Owens-Young, The Conversation More than 800,000 U.S. households spend at least half of their income on housing. When people pay too much for housing, they must make tough choices between paying their rent or mortgage or paying for food, medicine and other resources that support their health. Research also shows that segregated communities are more likely to be exposed to more threats to their health. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In Case You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [Mozambique Is Drowning. Nebraska Has Flooded. We Need a Green New Deal.]( William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Massive floods driven by climate disruption have ravaged the people of Mozambique, and they are not alone. A separate, massive climate-driven flood has transformed the middle of the United States into a bowl of soup. The waters have inundated huge swaths of Kansas, along with Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa. It's time to stop stalling and take the imperatives of the Green New Deal seriously. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Commemorating 40 Years of "Injustice for All"]( Roberto Rodriguez, Truthout Forty years after being brutalized by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies for recording another brutalization by deputies in East Los Angeles, the writer reflects on the violence and dehumanization that have characterized this continent since the arrival of Cortés and Columbus in the 16th century. Can people of color ever expect justice within a system set up to racially patrol their bodies and their communities? [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- We still need 60 people to sign up for a sustaining, monthly donation to Truthout. Will you be one? Just choose "monthly" when you make your gift. [Donate Now →]( Connect With Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Donate]( Truthout is a reader-supported, nonprofit organization; donations are tax-deductible. Truthout is a proud member of the Newspaper Guild/CWA, Local 36047. Please add messenger@truthout.org to ensure you receive our messages. [Subscribe]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy](