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(ii) engage in an original way in renovation of peasant agriculture, based on the principle that agricultural land is a common good of the nation, managed in a way that secures access to land and the means of exploiting it to all farming families. Projects must be designed on this basis for the growth of output per family/hectare, and priority industries put in place to allow this. The objective of this strategy is to ensure the nation’s food sovereignty and control migratory flows from the countryside to the cities, to adjust the pace to the growth of urban employment.
The articulation of progress on each of these two fields is the main focus of state policies that guarantee the consolidation of “worker and peasant” broad popular alliances. This creates a favourable terrain for the advances of participatory democracy.
In the Northern countries popular sovereignty must also break with ordo-liberalism, implying here bold policies up to the nationalisation of monopolies and the initiation of means of socialisation of their management.This obviously implies the national management of the control of money, credit, taxation, and foreign trade.
The imperialist system in place implements a differentiated range of ways in which it has dominion over the nations of the peripheries of the global system and their exploitation. In the advanced countries of the South in the industrialisation segments of the outsourced global system, controlled by the capital of financialised monopolies of the imperialist triad (United States, Western and Central Europe, Japan), reduced to the status of subcontractors, offer major means by which a growing mass of the value generated in the dependent local economies is converted into imperialist monopoly rent. In many developing countries, operating modes also take the form of brutal plunder of natural resources (oil, minerals, agricultural land, water and sunlight) on the one hand, that of the implementation of financial raids which seize the national savings of the countries in question. The constraint of ensuring priority in the service of external debt is the means by which these raids operate.
The structural deficit of public finances in these countries creates an opportunity for imperialist monopolies to place profitably their growing financial surpluses generated by the crisis of the globalised and financialised imperialist system by forcing developing countries into debt in leonine conditions.Financial raiding also exercises its destructive effects in the imperialist centres. The continued growth of the volume of public debt relative to GDP is actively sought and supported by national and international financial capital to which it allows fruitful investment of surpluses. The public debt owed to private financial market provides the opportunity of a drain imposed on the incomes of workers, allowing the growth of rent monopolies. Thus fueling the continued growth of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. The official discourse that claims to implement policies to reduce the debt is completely false: their goal is actually to increase rather than reduce the debt.
Neoliberal globalisation continues a massive attack against peasant agriculture in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Accepting this major component of globalisation led to the enormous poverty/exclusion of hundreds of millions of people on three continents. It would actually stop any attempt of our societies to succeed in the global society of nations. Modern capitalist agriculture, represented by both rich family farming and/or by agribusiness companies, seeks to massively attack global peasant production. Capitalist agriculture governed by the principle of profitability of capital located in North America, Europe, Southern Cone of Latin America and Australia, employs only a few tens of millions of farmers, so that it has the highest global productivity; while peasant farming systems still occupy nearly half of humanity – three billion people. What would happen if “agriculture and food production” were treated like any other form of capitalist production, subject to the rules of competition in a deregulated open market? Would these principles facilitate the acceleration of production? Indeed, one can imagine fifty million new additional modern farmers, producing what the three billion farmers present on the market can offer in addition to their own (and low) subsistence. Conditions for success of such an alternative would require significant transfers of arable land to new farmers (lands taken from those currently occupied by peasant societies), access to capital markets (to buy equipment) and access to consumer markets.
These farmers would compete easily with the billions of existing farmers. And what would happen to them? Billions of noncompetitive producers would be eliminated in a short historical period of a few decades. The main argument for the legitimisation of the “competitive” alternative is that this kind of development took place in Europe in the nineteenth century and contributed to the formation of rich industrial then postindustrial urban societies able to feed the nation and even to export surplus food. Why not repeat this model in the countries of the third world today? No, because this argument ignores two key factors that today make a reproduction of the model impossible in third world countries. The first is that the European model developed for a century and a half with intensive labour industrial technologies. Contemporary technologies are much less. And therefore, if the newcomers of the third world are to be competitive in world markets for their industrial exports, they must adopt these technologies. The second is that in the process of this long transition., Europe could massively emigrate its surplus population to the Americas.
Can we imagine other alternatives based on access to land for all local inhabitants? In this context it is implied that peasant agriculture must be maintained and simultaneously engaged in a process of change and continuous technological and social progress. And this at a pace that would allow a progressive transfer to non-agricultural employment along with the development of the system. Such a strategic goal involves policies protecting peasant food production from the unequal competition of modernized national agriculture and international agribusiness. It challenges industrial and urban development models – which should be less based on exports and low wages (which in turn imply low food prices) and give more attention to the expansion of a market socially balanced inside. In addition such a strategy would facilitate the integration in all policies that ensure national food sovereignty, an essential condition for a country to be an active member of the international community, strengthening its necessary degree of autonomy and capacity for negotiation.
For brevity I have not addressed here any adjacent major issues: the emergence of capitalism of generalised monopolies, the new generalised proletarianisation, the militarisation of globalisation and conflicts over access to natural resources, the financial globalisation as the weak link of the system, reconstruction of solidarity among developing countries, the strategy of ongoing struggles, the requirements of anti imperialist internationalism of peoples. I refer the reader to my book L’implosion du capitalisme contemporain (The implosion of contemporary capitalism) and draw attention to the institutional structures that I have proposed to consolidate popular content management of the transition of the economy beyond capitalism (pages 123-128 of the cited book).
After days of speculation over whether the controversial chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago will stay or go, Cheryl Hyman announced that she will remain at the institution a year longer to allow time for a transition.
“I will be giving City Colleges this additional time to allow the Board to conduct a national search for my replacement,” Hyman said in a statement issued Monday evening.
Hyman’s future as the head of the seven-campus network of community colleges has been in question since the Board of Trustees meeting on June 2. At that meeting, the Board did not renew Hyman’s three-year contract, which expires at the end of the month. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who appoints the chancellor of City Colleges, later sidestepped questions of whether she would remain in the post.
Hyman’s tenure has recently been fraught with controversy over her efforts to centralize management and overhaul the curriculum through her “Reinvention” program. In February, faculty declared that they had taken a vote of no confidence in her leadership, claiming that she has declined to meet with them about the changes or direction of the schools. Another particularly contentious topic has been the bitter, ongoing negotiations with the adjunct faculty and librarians union, which marks its fourth year of working without a contract.
But Hyman has had vociferous supporters, particularly within the civic, business and higher educational circles of Chicago. They cite a doubling of the graduation rates and a growth in transfer agreements with four-year colleges and universities as evidence of her success.
How successful are Chicago's city colleges?
End Of The Road For City Colleges Chancellor?
The news cycle is more chaotic than ever, and the technology created to deliver it can sometimes make it feel overwhelming. To help users feel a little less pessimistic, Google Assistant will now deliver “good news” via its devices.
When users say “Hey Google, tell me something good” to Google Assistant, a series of news briefs about positive events play.
The experiment is in coordination with the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit that showcases stories showing problems can be solved. It also summarizes the stories delivered to devices.
Some examples provided on Google’s blog include a story about backyard beekeepers in East Detroit who are helping to boost the local economy and bolster the dying bee population. Another about Iceland’s efforts to curb teen drinking through curfews and extracurricular activities.
The new command marks a way for often-overlooked stories to surface, creating a market for ones that don’t rely on sensationalism or shock.
Good’s print magazine created a physical version somewhat like this years ago, and it continues to publish online with the tagline “Live Well. Do Good.” Then it acquired clickbait site Upworthy, an outlet that relied heavily on Facebook’s newsfeed to draw people with attention-grabbing headlines.
The "good news" command may helps stories, once widely shared on Facebook. to find a new audience. It may also increase engagement for publications in the process.
1 comment about "Google Assistant Delivers "Good News" To Users".
John Grono from GAP Research, August 24, 2018 at 8:24 p.m.
Umm, how about for starters ... "Hey John, as from today Google will no longer track everything you do on your mobile phone.
Re “Tech, not law, will reshape firearms industry” (Forum, Dan Morain, Nov. 22): The use of technology in firearm design to reduce gun violence and improve gun safety is a very long-term, partial solution that will probably have minimal impact on most gun violence in today’s environment.
Many guns, if not most, in use today are designs that date back to 1873 and are not only functional and working, but loved by their owners. A modern handgun such as a Glock can be expected to still be working well in 50 years with only moderate care. It will require decades of production and sales of high-tech guns to displace those that exist, unless existing firearms are outlawed and confiscated, and current designs are banned and can no longer be made.
And that is a tough row to hoe logistically and politically. This does not mean that work to improve the technology shouldn’t be explored, but what people buy will ultimately determine what manufacturers make unless controlled by the government.
This is yet another common sense, first-step scheme to disarm law-abiding citizens.
You can bet that those elites deemed worthy of having guns by big brother will not be burdened by this restriction. For instance, the legions of armed bodyguards of politicians paid for by U.S. taxpayers will not be required to submit to having their weapons controlled by big brother.
With “radio frequency identification in smart guns” installed in common citizens’ weapons it will be easy to deactivate them by sending a signal at a whim. The camel is still trying to get his nose under the tent.
The very real possibility is that this technology will break down just when you need an operating firearm for legitimate defense of you and yours. An inoperable firearm is no better than a paperweight.
Since most gunshot wounds are accidental, why not require liability insurance for firearms like we do for automobiles?
The insurance industry has done more for vetting the reliability of driving safety technology through their actuary tables than any government or tech industry study.
Adrian Tysoe – Gun control is fine. They had stricter gun control when the Constitution was written than you might think, certainly more than most states today. The only issue with these smart guns is they don’t really tackle the real problem, which is that 300 million guns already in circulation don’t have any smart features.
I don’t think banning is feasible, but proper gun control is a good idea. And possibly some of the same controls as we have for driving automobiles like pink slip registration that has to be handled in a similar manner, and possibly insurance to help pay for the accidental damage inflicted with guns that far surpasses crime.
Alexis Garcia – Terrorist attack happens, we blame the terrorist. Gun attack happens; we blame guns (and not the shooter). Liberal logic 101.
Alejandro Vasques – Smart technology sounds expensive and dangerous, because the government would be able to disable the weapons whenever it wanted.
David Powell – A few smart gun tech companies already went out of business, lol. The technology was way too costly.
Alex Falk – If it’s a physical object, it can be altered. If it’s software, it can be hacked. How about enforcing current laws, and expanding rights for legal gun owners?
Pat Walsh – They don’t care if the technology is junk or unreliable. It’s a Trojan horse for gun prohibition laws.
Michelle Cesar – Any weapon that I have to wait to identify me will most likely just get me killed.
Jimmy Van Heste – When my life is on the line and I need to defend myself, I don’t want an extra system that could malfunction. You won’t get a second chance to protect yourself after getting a 404 error.
Stephon To – I’d buy that pistol of I had money. I think it’s cool, but seeing how California wants it mandatory that all guns have to have it, I say no. I’m not relying on that with my life.
Greg Bower – Lets be sure the police and government get them first.
Jenkins was among more than 100 East County residents who braved the rain to protest in front of SDG&E’s headquarters, then march to the federal courthouse where the trial would have been held.
David Elliott, a Manzanita tribal member, risked his job to speak about what he’s witnessed as a Native American monitor on the Powerlink project.
“I may not be employed tomorrow,” he said. “This project will impact sites that are very significant to our ceremonies. They are putting towers on them and it appears that we will not be able to go to those sites in the future,” he said, then added defiantly, “We’re going to go to them anyway.” He said off-road vehicle enthusiasts will no longer be able to use McCain Valley if Powerlink and wind projects related to Powerlink go through.
Elliott said the Bureau of Land Management, which owns land where both Powerlink and the wind projects are slated, has a bighorn sheep population that he’s seen, along with other animals such as mountain lions and bobcats. “The BLM claims there is no such thing, that the big horn sheep don’t exist,” he stated. View video excerpts of Elliott's speech.
"We have a very good attorney and a very good case," said Donna Tisdale, spokesperson for plaintiffs that include Protect Our Communities, Backcountry Against Dumps, and the East County Community Action Coalition (ECCCAC).
“It is our money,” Jacob agreed, then said she believes this and other lawsuits against Powerlink should win in courts of law. “I have faith that judges will look at the evidence in record and if they do, then our side, the right side, will prevail.” View video excerpt of her speech.
Protesters included circus performers--jugglers and a clown on stilts, who drew attention to the crowd, as some motorists honked and waved in approval. Musicians led a chorus of "This Land is Our Land" and performed an anti-Powerlink song.
But mostly, those present were ordinary East County citizens expressing serious fears and concerns.
Rob Emerson of Blossom Valley agreed. “We’ve been through a couple of fires out there,” he said. “At one time, there were 13 firefighting aircraft at the base of the mountain…with Powerlink, I don’t think that could happen.” Planes cannot fly close to the high voltage lines, nor drop water unless the lines are first depowered. Fire officials have testified that firefighting on the ground would also be hindered, though SDG&E contends that its lines will not diminish firefighting and that it will convert its Sunbird, a massive helicopter, for firefighting purposes in cases of wildfires.
Marion Bowles of Potrero said SDG&E is starting construction at the “chicken ranch” site in Round Potrero Valley—the same valley saved from a proposed Blackwater private military training camp following a massive public outcry and recall of planners who voted for that project. Bowles and a second Potrero resident present expressed anger at what they view as despoilment of a town treasure. Others expressed similar anger that Powerlink construction has commenced in environmentally sensitive areas such as Lakeside’s El Monte Valley as well as through the heart of Alpine’s business district.
Lutz accused SDG&E of “illegal lobbying” and revealed he is working to bring a delegation to visit new Governor Jerry Brown to discuss the possibility of reversing Powerlink approval made by the California Public Utilities Commission during Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration.
Judge Michael Anello is assigned to decide the case. He is a former Marine and Deputy City Attorney, served in private practice in San Diego for 25 years before become a San Diego Superior Court Judge in 1998. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2008 and was unanimously recommended by a bipartisan Judicial Advisory Committee.
Some Powerlink protesters at Monday’s rally voiced fears that cancellation of the trial could mean a negative outcome is forthcoming.
They point to Judge Anello’s track record, citing some decisions favoring large corporations, most notably in the case of Gober v. Ralphs Grocery Company, when Anello was removed from the case by an Appellate Court after documents revealed a judge previously removed from the case stated that Judge Anello conferred with her on the case, which would be a violation of judicial ethics. Jurors and a prominent trial lawyer contended that Anello kept out evidence that would have led to an even larger verdict than the $30 million ultimately awarded for abuse and harassment of store employees.
Following the verdict in the Gober case, Anello filed a complaint against the State Bar against plaintiff’s attorney Phillip Kay alleging misconduct, though he never filed a misconduct complaint during the trial. Kay contends that evidence against him was falsified by Judge Anello. “I have no qualms saying in public that the man is a bona fide liar,” Kay told ECM.
Kay was suspended for three years by the Bar, but claims it was because he refused to divulge information protected by attorney-client privilege. He is now suing the California Bar Association. A prominent civil rights attorney, he won landmark cases including two featured on PBS and Court TV. The National Law Journal named Kay to the list of “Top Ten Litigators” for 2002, and he was a finalist for the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from Consumers Attorneys of California. The Gober v. Ralphs Grocery case resulted in the highest non-class action sexual harassment verdict I U.S. history.
Kay also obtained a large verdict in another prominent San Diego case, Marcisz vs Ultra Star Cinemas, in which employees alleged they were terrorized at work including being held at knifepoint. Kay alleges that Anello conferred with a trial judge in that case as well in an effort to discredit him.
“He doesn’t care about the law and he doesn’t care about who gets hurt,” Kay said of Anello.” He has his own agenda.” He further contends that by omitting information from his U.S. Senate confirmation questionnaire about his removal from a case for what amounts to” judicial misconduct,” he believes Anello committed an impeachable offense.
Anello’s rulings have not always favored corporations, however. He has ruled in favor of environmental protection in at least one prominent case, calling for an injunction against the Gregory Canyon landfill. Then a San Diego County Superior Court Judge, he ruled that the environmental impact report was inadequate and violated the California Environmental Quality Act. Judge Anello ruled in favor of the United Nurses of Children’s Hospital, a labor union, in a court battle over a mandatory flu vaccination policy. He also authorized a class action against Welk Resorts, which was accused of hiding water leaks that led to growth of mold and fungus.
Another controversial case heard by Anello entailed a case filed by Linda Poniketera, an El Cajon voter who sued San Diego County to ask that the Registrar assure that seals are properly affixed to ballot boxes before they leave polling places to prevent tampering and alleged that the County was not following its own procedures. Judge Anello ruled against her and an Appellate Court denied her appeal.
Whether Anello’s ruling will vindicate these East County residents’ faith in democracy, or come down on the side of powerful voices favoring the Powerlink, remains to be seen.
Correction/update March 30, 2011 – An earlier version of this article contained once sentence which refered to a “trial” cancelled. In fact the case was a hearing on plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.
"The article’s statement the “Trial had been cancelled” is incorrect because a trial date for this case had not been set. Moreover the inference Judge Anello’s future ruling to be made “on the written record only” somehow deprives the parties of their legal rights is also in error.
This case involves judicial review of a federal action. The public record clearly shows the parties mutually agreed to have the issues decided by filing written motions. Such motions are automatically set for determination by the assigned judge on a specific date (in this case, March 7th, 2011). Pursuant to Civil Rule 7.1.d.1, and common practice, these type of motions are generally decided without oral argument. But even if an oral argument had occurred on March 7th, that hearing would simply have been an opportunity for the lawyers to orally present the arguments set forth in their written motions."
We respectfully differ with key points raised by the Bar.
Plaintiff Donna Tisdale states that “our attorney advised us via e-mail that the hearing had been cancelled and the judge would issue his future ruling based on the written briefs filed by our attorney, SDG&E, and the Dept. of Justice.” Prior to cancellation, plaintiffs had widely publicized the hearing date and arranged to have a large crowd at the courthouse for the hearing. Laura Cyphert with the East County Community Action Coalition, another plaintiff group, also reconfirmed that a hearing was set and then cancelled. So clearly there was an expectation that a hearing would take place.
Cancelling the hearing, moreover, raises a question of whether the plaintiffs’ and the public’s interest in observing the judicial process in this extremely high-profile case was respected. The judge had a right to decide on the written record, but he also had the option to assure transparency and allow the public the opportunity to observe the proceedings in a public courtroom. Thousands of East County residents have a strong and personal stake in whether approval of Powerlink on public lands stands or is struck down, yet the public has been denied the opportunity to witness the decision making process in this landmark case.
CHRIS COLEMAN has promised that his Coventry City side won’t be distracted by “outside influences” as they strive to consolidate their superb start to the new season.
Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Barnsley means the Sky Blues are top of the table and are the only side in the Championship to secure six points from their first two matches.
But City boss Coleman insists that there is no room for complacency.
“Look what happened last season,” he said.
“After 10 games we were sixth and I heard people saying, ‘This is it,’ but then it bit us on the backside.
“It’s very hard to calm people down when things are going well, but it’s vital that we stay level-headed.
"This is a very tough division and although we’ve won two games while Barnsley have drawn one and lost one, we’re both in for a tough season.
“A few results either way can make all the difference because there’s a very fine line between teams in the top half pushing for the top six and teams trying to stay out of the bottom six.
"And just as we won’t start panicking if we lose one or two games, we won’t get carried away because we’ve won a couple.
“I can’t do anything about what people say or write, but we won’t pay any attention to outside influences.
"I don’t care what’s being said outside my little group – the players, the chairman and the board – we will stay level headed.
An apparently broad outage rocked Gmail and a raft of other Google Web applications Friday afternoon, leading many affected users to flood Twitter, other social media sites and discussion forums with complaints.
Google acknowledged the Gmail problem at around 2:10 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on its Apps Status site, and declared it solved at around 3:20 p.m.
The company later reported on the Apps Status at around 3 p.m. that more than 10 other services were also having problems, including Calendar, Talk, Drive, Docs, Sites, Groups, Voice and Google+ Hangouts.
The outages of most of those applications were declared fixed by 3:25 p.m., with the exception of Google+ Hangouts, which was cleared at around 3:50 p.m. The problem with Voice hasn't yet been fixed.
Asked for comment about the cause and scope of the outage, the Google public relations team said via email to check the Apps Status site for information.
"Interesting watching my Twitter feed explode with people frustrated that their Gmail is down. Guess we're still a way from email's demise," wrote Forrester Research analyst TJ Keitt on his Twitter account.
Gmail is used both by individuals for personal communications and by businesses for their employees as part of the Google Apps email and collaboration suite.
Meanwhile, TechCrunch reported the bizarre situation of a man who since last night has been receiving a deluge of emails because of a link that appears when people search for "Gmail" on Google.
Such a search query delivers as its first result -- as expected -- a link for Gmail, but a sub-link that appears below it, labeled "Email" triggers, when clicked upon, a Gmail message interface already addressed to the man's Hotmail account.
It's not clear whether this issue is related to the outages on Friday afternoon, since the man, David Peck, told TechCrunch that the issue started on Thursday evening.
Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about that issue, which IDG News Service was able to reproduce.
New Construction in Machesney Park's Eagles View Sub! Harlem Schools & Taxes! The Alexander Model w/1430SF Ranch plan, 2x6 framing, 3 BRs, 2 full Baths, and 3 car garage. Open Kitchen w/stepped cabinetry, SS appliances, granite, and a breakfast bar w/pendant lighting. LR w/gas fireplace. Main floor Laundry. Cathedral ceilings in Great Room & Kitchen. C/A, 12x12 deck w/stairs, maintenance free exterior, blacktop drive. Full Basement w/rough-in Bath, and 9ft ceiling height. MBR has private Bath & walk in closet. LVP flooring in entry, Kitchen, Laundry, & Baths. Tall white woodwork 6 panel doors, painted walls, and Smart Home features. 1 year builder warranty. Trim stage as of 03/25/2019. Completion May 2019. Tax rate is 11.41%. *Current taxes reflect lot only. Interior pics are illustrative only and are from similar plan but different location of Ambassador homes. Color selections have been made. Other sites available. Same plan going on Lot 71 - foundation stage. Ask agent for details.
Mohammad Nabi “very happy” to..
A beaming Mohammad Nabi played his first game on the hallowed MCG turf on Saturday night and loved every minute of it.
The 33-year-old Afghan – who hit 52 off 30 balls on the way to a man-of-the-match performance – told Macquarie Cricket post-game the “whole of Afghanistan” would be watching as Melbourne Renegades beat crosstown rivals Melbourne Stars by six wickets.
“The MCG may look empty but (tonight) was a big crowd,” he said.

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