Peruvian Inspired Rotisserie Chicken

Last year I did a take on Peruvian style chicken adapted for the charcoal BBQ. Here we are going to do a similar dish, only this time for a whole chicken done using a more traditional rotisserie method.

For this recipe you want to use your oven rotisserie function and tools if it has one, or, better yet, a home rotisserie unit.  A whole chicken of around 3 or 4 pounds works best.

To begin you need to make a marinading paste for the chicken.

Paste Ingredients:

1/4 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons white wine
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 or 4 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cumin
sea salt and black pepper to taste

To begin, take all the ingredients and mix them together until they form a paste.

Place the chicken inside a large freezer bag and coat it all over with the paste. Let sit in the fridge for around 2-4 hours. You do not need to let it sit for longer than this and should not let it sit for more than 24 hours.

After resting in the paste before cooking.

Place the chicken onto the rotisserie and cook according to the instructions that accompany your rotisserie. Oven rotisserie and stand-up rotisserie times and temperatures vary, though generally the chicken will have to be cooked for around 20-25 minutes a pound.

Trust me, with this seasoning paste your house or apartment will smell fantastic as the chicken cooks!

Remember that according to Health Canada a whole chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

After cooking let the chicken rest 10 minutes before carving.

It goes very well with some rice and roast potatoes as well as your favourite white wine.

Enjoy.

Trump, Ecuadorian Protests, Climate Emergency & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos September 29 - October 6

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of September 29 - October 6.


For those interested in news and developments in the Canadian election this will be covered in a separate weekly roundup the fourth of which this past Friday was: Scheer's Very Bad Week, PPC At It Again and more -- The Left Chapter Canadian Election Round-up Week Four

1) Riots at Greek refugee camp on Lesbos after fatal fire

Helena Smith, The Guardian

Greek authorities are scrambling to deal with unrest at a heavily overcrowded migrant camp on Lesbos after a fire there left at least one person dead.

2) Quebec should apologize for systemic discrimination in treatment of Indigenous people, Viens report says

Benjamin Shingler, Kamila Hinkson · CBC News 

The Quebec government should apologize to First Nations and Inuit for the harm they have endured as a result of provincial laws, policies and practices, says the author of a damning report into the treatment of Indigenous people.

3) Misogyny, male rage and the words men use to describe Greta Thunberg

Camilla Nelson & Meg Vertigan, The Conversation 

Greta Thunberg obviously scares some men silly. The bullying of the teenager by conservative middle-aged men has taken on a grim, almost hysterical edge. And some of them are reaching deep into the misogynist’s playbook to divert focus from her message.

4) 'Based in hatred': violence against women standing in Colombia's elections

Julia Zulver, The Guardian 

The body of mayoral candidate Karina García was found shot and incinerated in her car in the Cauca department of southern Colombia, on 1 September.

5) How a brief socialist takeover in North Dakota gave residents a public bank

Will Peischel, Vox

There’s a legislative fight brewing in California. Supporters are pushing a public banking law that could redefine the state’s financial landscape, while detractors call it a government intrusion. Both would benefit to look at an unusual source — North Dakota — where a similar policy has been in place for a century.

6) The judge's bizarre remarks in the Ezekiel Stephan case signal a miscarriage of justice

Juliet Guichon, Ian Mitchell and Pauline Alakija · CBC News

In deciding that Collet and David Stephan were not guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life in the 2012 death of their son, Ezekiel, Justice Terry Clackson ​​​​​​issued a written decision that, in our view, improperly focused on the medical examiner's accent, and not on the medical evidence. Such focus is suspect, and could be evidence of racism.

7) The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher

Alan MacLeod, Truthdig 

Ultimately, Maher has built up an impressive following and continues to espouse snarky elitist hot takes weekly for HBO, earning an estimated $10 million per year doing so. Call him a racist, a bigot or an astute businessman; just don’t call him a liberal.

8) We were told capitalism had won. But now workers can take back control

Grace Blakeley, The Guardian 

Class politics is reemerging in response to the huge inequality caused by the 2008 crash. And it’s time to take on the City.

9) Capitalism’s triumph: Labor rights violated in every country on Earth

Systemic Disorder 

In what country are labor rights fully respected? The sad answer is: none.

10) New Video May Signal Dangerous Change For Neo-Nazi Terror Cell

Mack Lamoureux and Ben Makuch, Vice

A neo-Nazi terror group under investigation by the FBI has released a propaganda video that one expert is calling “incredibly significant” and “essentially a declaration of war.” This comes after the group has already been linked to five murders, and was named in an FBI investigation involving an alleged bomber in Las Vegas who stockpiled explosives and firearms for a planned attack on the city's Jewish and LGBTQ communities.

11) Protesters rally outside North York industrial bakery in wake of death of temp worker

Sara Mojtehedzadeh, The Toronto Star

It was a protest underpinned by a simple question: how many vigils are necessary?

12) SACRAMENTO AMAZON WORKERS ARE PROTESTING AFTER WOMAN WAS ALLEGEDLY FIRED FOR SPENDING EXTRA HOUR WITH DYING MOTHER-IN-LAW

Melissa Lemieux, Newsweek 

Amazon workers at the company's Sacramento, California delivery location united to present a petition to their supervisor September 30 to protest the company's off-time policy, according to The Verge.

13) The Fake Nazi Death Camp: Wikipedia’s Longest Hoax, Exposed

Omer Benjakob, Haaretz 

For over 15 years, false claims that thousands of Poles were gassed to death in Warsaw were presented as fact. Haaretz reveals they are just the tip of an iceberg of a widespread Holocaust distortion operation by Polish nationalists.

14) European Parliament launches anti-communist crusade

Steve Sweeney, People's World

Communists and left organizations have hit out at a reactionary “ahistorical” motion passed by the European Parliament last month which equates communism with “the monster of fascism.”

15) Communist Party of Ukraine addresses open letter to the Ukrainian and Russian peoples

Ben Chacko, The Morning Star 

UKRAINE’S Communist Party published an open letter to the peoples of Ukraine and Russia today, warning against the rise of fascism and of bids by the ruling elites in each country to turn their populations against one another.

16) Irregular votes, panicked moves, kiosks

Drew Anderson, CBC News

It was fall of 2017. Jason Kenney, former prime minister Stephen Harper's chief lieutenant, and Brian Jean, who had led Alberta's recently dissolved Wildrose Party, were vying to lead the newly created United Conservative Party. On the second day of the three-day leadership vote, a panicked call came from Kenney's campaign in Calgary ordering his team in Edmonton to shut down a voting kiosk they had set up in an empty storefront in a strip mall.

17) Press and OAS’s Differential Treatment to Venezuela vs. Crisis in Peru and Ecuador?

 Orinoco Tribune

So far, neither the OAS nor the government of the US president, Donald Trump, have ruled against the violation of Ecuadorian human rights or the confrontation of powers in Peru.

18) Ecuador arrests taxi, union leaders as strike over end of fuel subsidies spills into 2nd day

The Associated Press

Ecuadoran authorities dispatched military vehicles to ferry civilian passengers Friday and arrested several transport union leaders in efforts to halt a strike that shut down taxi, bus and other services in response to a sudden rise in fuel prices.

19) Correa: No One Voted For The IMF Or The Increase In Fuel Price

Telesur 

The former Ecuadorean president warned that Lenin Moreno "is scared to death for his betrayal to the movement (Revolucion Ciudadana) and the people", because he has taken measures diametrically opposed to his own and to the programmatic proposals that led him to the government.

20) Ecuador Assembly Calls for President's Removal, Early Polls

Telesur 

Former members of Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno’s own party, Alianza PAIS, have announced they are demanding early presidential and congressional elections due to the executive’s “non-compliance of functions.”

21) Ecuador's Transport Workers Strike, Take to Streets to Reject Pro-IMF Neoliberal Reforms

Telesur

Ecuador woke up this Thursday with a total stoppage of activities as a result of a nationwide strike announced by transport workers and taxi drivers to protest against the "Paquetazo", a package of austerity policies which President Lenin Moreno announced Tuesday in order to comply with suggestions presented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF9 in return for billions of dollars in loans.

22) Thousands of Indigenous Farmers Head Towards Ecuador's Capital

Telesur

Ecuador’s indigenous and union organizations kept protests going on Saturday and promised not to let-up in their push to overturn President Lenin Moreno’s austerity measures, which have convulsed this South American country for three days on a row.

23) Peru: 'Interim President' Araoz Quits, Vizcarra Still in Power

Telesur

Peruvian Interim President Mercedes Araoz announced her resignation Tuesday night as Vice President of the country and as head of state, a designation conferred by Congress Monday night.

24) Peruvian Left Backs Dissolution of Congress: Interview

Telesur

Progressive media outlet Nodal interviewed leftist congresswoman Indira Huilca from the New Peru Movement Party this week. During the interview, they discussed Peru’s political crisis and what the left sees as the solution to the never-ending corruption scandals that have engulfed the country. Huilca stated stated that Congress has lost legitimacy and is only trying to impede the rooting out of corruption that they represent, but that a genuine solution will involve going much further than Vizcarra is proposing, and will require confronting the corporate interests fueling corruption.

25) Egypt’s Harsh Crackdown Quashes Protest Movement

Vivian Yee and Nada Rashwan, The New York Times

A group of teenagers arrested on their way to buy new school clothes. An illiterate shoeshiner picked up from the street. Eight people stopped while they were eating from a street food cart. And a 28-year-old financial auditor, who was walking to his car after dinner when police officers ordered him to stop.

26) Haiti on Brink of Revolution to Overthrow US-Backed Regime

AMW

Revolutionaries destroyed police headquarters, attacked residences of government officials, and burned a jail and courts to the ground in different parts of Haiti on Friday.

27) Bolivia Launches Reforestation Plan for Areas Affected by Fires

Telesur 

Bolivia’s government has launched ‘Plan Paradise’ to reforest areas of the Chiquitania, Santa Cruz, that was affected by forest fires. The plan will bring together experts with governmental authorities to calculate the best ways of reforesting burnt areas.

28) Cuba Manages Fuel Shortage With Venezuelan, Russian Cooperation

Telesur 


During the first week of October, a fleet of oil tankers from Venezuela arrived in Cuba to help President Miguel Diaz-Canel to alleviate fuel shortages generated by the U.S. economic and financial blockade.

29) Fearful of Lula’s Exoneration, His Once-Fanatical Prosecutors Request His Release From Prison. But Lula Refuses.

Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept 

Lula’s accusers are desperately trying to get him out of prison, while he insists on staying there until he’s fully exonerated.

30) At Least 42 Dead After Days Of Violent Protests In Iraq

Scott Neuman, NPR

Iraqi security forces fired live rounds to disperse crowds of protesters in Baghdad on Friday, as the death toll from days of anti-government unrest has reached at least 42, according to officials.

31) Bolivia to Introduce First Domestically-Made Electric Vehicle

Telesur

President Evo Morales officially presented on Tuesday the first electric car to be manufactured in Bolivia, produced by state owned company YLB. Morales presented the vehicle at the official opening of a new lithium technology center in Potosi.

32) Fighting Calls for Impeachment, Trump Intensifies Anti-Semitic Rhetoric. We Cannot Ignore It.

Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept

“PRIME DIRECTIVE: Always Blame the Jews for Everything.”

33) Trump Bars Immigrants Who Cannot Pay For Health Care

Richard Gonzales, NPR

President Trump signed a proclamation late Friday barring legal immigrants who cannot prove they will have health care coverage or the means to pay for it within 30 days of their arrival to the United States.

34) Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War

Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, The New York Times

The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. But this time he had a solution. As White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day.

35) Advocates Say President Trump's Immigration Policy Is 'A Tool Of Cruelty'

Joel Rose, NPR

Immigrant advocates asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a key part of President Trump's immigration policy. The policy forces asylum seekers to wait for their immigration court hearings in Mexico.

36) Supreme Court Revisits Abortion With Louisiana Case

Nina Totenberg, NPR

The U.S. Supreme Court has jumped headlong back into the abortion wars. The court said Friday that it will hear arguments in a case from Louisiana that is nearly identical to a Texas case decided by the court three years ago.

37) Palestinian Tortured by Israel's Shin Bet in Critical Condition

Telesur

44-year-old Palestinian Samir Arbeed was admitted to a hospital in Jerusalem after been interrogated and tortured by Israel’s Shin Bet - domestic intelligence service - who is accusing him to be the mastermind behind an alleged attack in an illegal West Bank settlement.

38) Anti-Palestinianism is the modern day McCarthyism

Asa Winstanley, Middle East Monitor 

As regular readers of this column will know, the McCarthyite atmosphere in Britain against supporters of Palestinian rights is getting worse. That is down in part to the Labour Party leadership’s acquiescence to the smear campaign to portray the party as anti-Semitic. The Labour National Executive Committee’s acceptance of the bogus IHRA “working definition” of anti-Semitism last year gave the document undeserved acceptance and currency; it deliberately conflates anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel for being the racist state that it so evidently is.

39) It’s Still Netanyahu’s Israel

Douglas Greenwald, Jacobin

Over the past decade, Benjamin Netanyahu has remade Israeli politics in his own image. Though his career now hangs by a thread, his legacy of far-right pandering and cold-blooded “management” of Palestinian oppression will live on.

40) After US Senator Asks Public to 'Imagine' CIA Interfering in Foreign Elections, Historians Are Like... Uhhh

Eoin Higgins, Common Dreams

Comments from Sen. Mark Warner responding to reports that Attorney General Bill Barr asked a number of world governments for help in refuting the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. election were met with ridicule Friday as observers mocked the suggestion that the CIA would never do such a thing.

41) Cook's arrival was a disaster for Māori. Britain's half-hearted apology isn't good enough

Tina Ngata, The Guardian

As we mark 250 years since the arrival of Captain Cook in New Zealand, we are still seeing crimes against indigenous peoples and their territories.

42) Workers Are Falling Ill, Even Dying, After Making Kitchen Countertops

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR

Artificial stone used to make kitchen and bathroom countertops has been linked to cases of death and irreversible lung injury in workers who cut, grind and polish this increasingly popular material.

43) Irrigation For Farming Could Leave Many Of The World's Streams And Rivers Dry

Dan Charles, NPR

Something odd is happening to streams and rivers on the high plains of Kansas and Colorado. Some have disappeared.

44) My Community Is Warming Three Times Faster Than the Rest of the World

 Paul Josie; as told to Jackie Hong, VICE

Canada’s North is warming three times faster than the global average. Nowhere is this more acutely felt than in places such as Old Crow, the northernmost community in Yukon and home to the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Earlier this year, Vuntut Gwitchin became among the first Indigenous communities to declare a climate emergency. Last week, Whitehorse, Yukon's capital, also declared a climate emergency.

45) 'Things are getting unstable': global heating and the rise of rockfalls in Swiss Alps

Denise Hruby, The Guardian 

As Switzerland’s glaciers melt, dangerous rockfalls become more likely and towns are forced to live under an existential threat.

See also: Canadian Climate Strikes, Climate Emergency, Labour Resolutions & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos September 22 - 29

Peruvian Inspired BBQ Chicken

This dish is inspired by a seasoning sauce and paste that is used as a marinade for rotisserie chicken in Peruvian recipes. I have modified it by adapting it for cooking chicken pieces on a charcoal BBQ. The marinade already makes the chicken very flavourful and the smokiness of the barbecuing enhances this.

I used this marinade to make 5 large chicken legs. It also works well with drumsticks or thighs.

Marinade Ingredients:

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup canola oil
juice of 1 lemon
900 - 1000 ml water
4-6 minced cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
sea salt to taste


Combine all of these ingredients in a large bowl thoroughly.

Place your chicken in a large freezer bag and pour the marinade in making sure it covers it all.

Marinade in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and ideally for 4 hours.

Prepare your charcoal grill as usual.

When ready to cook take the chicken out of the marinade and grill for 2-3 minutes a side directly over the charcoal. Do not discard the marinade.

Once you have finished grilling them place the legs in an aluminium cooking pan.

Pour the marinade out of the bag into the pan around the chicken. While you should always discard marinades used on raw meat if it is not going to be used in cooking, here the marinade will be boiled for an hour with the chicken as a sauce. Groups like the FDA and CDC note that marinade is safe to use again if it has been boiled but if you prefer, of course, you can simply make a second batch of marinade for the cooking and discard the first one.

Place the tray of chicken on the grill and cook in the boiling marinade for one hour turning once half way through. (Chicken legs are done when they have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. according to Health Canada).

You should regulate the heat and smokiness by using the lid. I like to BBQ this way by having the lid on with the flue open for 10 minutes, off for 5, on again for 10, etc.

Serve the chicken removed from the sauce.

This chicken is perfect with rice. I like to drizzle some of the cooking sauce and some lime juice over it and serve it with a Caribbean style hot sauce on the side for dipping.

Enjoy.

Puerto Rico Protests, Ilhan Omar, Israeli Apartheid & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos July 14 - 21

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.


This list covers the week of July 14 - 21.


1) Puerto Rico Governor Defies Calls To Resign Amid Growing Protests Over Text Chats

Adrian Florido & Vanessa Romo, NPR

The governor of Puerto Rico is resisting calls to resign despite growing protests against his government after leaked text chats revealed conversations rife with homophobic and misogynistic slurs.

2) These Dramatic Pictures Show The Huge Protests Against The Puerto Rico Governor

Gabriel H. Sanchez, BuzzFeed

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Puerto Rico in protest against Gov. Ricardo Rosselló following the leak of his misogynistic and anti-gay text messages.

3) Why Half a Million Puerto Ricans Are Protesting in the Streets

 Ed Morales, The Nation

This week has been unlike any other in Puerto Rican history. An estimated 500,000 demonstrators filled Old San Juan’s cobblestone streets on Wednesday to demand the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló. He has lost public confidence because of mounting scandals in his government and damning revelations from a leaked trove of private chats, published on July 13 by the island’s Center for Investigative Journalism.

4) BBC Panorama hatchet job on Labour antisemitism is a farce

David McAllister, Counterfire 

The BBC's Panorama on antisemitism in the Labour Party provides no real evidence and shows how cynical the smear campaign is.

5) Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes remind us of how millions of women are exploited in the sex industry

Sonia Ossorio & Lauren Hersh, New York Daily News

In the world of prostitution, Epstein is the norm, not the exception. And if we are outraged about what he did, we ought to be equally outraged by this insidious effort underway to legalize and legitimize pimping, the buying of sex and the owning of brothels.

6) Amazon workers walk out across the world on Prime Day

The Morning Star

WORKERS worldwide walked out of Amazon warehouses today in protest over pay and conditions during the company’s Prime Day.

7) There's An Environmental Disaster Unfolding In The Gulf of Mexico

 Rocky Kistner, HuffPost US

As fishermen deep in the Louisiana bayou, Kindra Arnesen and her family have faced their share of life-altering challenges in recent years.

8) Planting ‘Billions of Trees’ Isn’t Going to Stop Climate Change

Madeleine Gregory and Sarah Emerson, Vice News

Planting billions of trees is the most effective way to combat climate change. At least that’s what a recent Science study claimed. Its findings were initially celebrated by a wave of articles, but the response is being met with a flood of criticism—from Indigenous activists, policy experts, and climate scientists.

9) Nazi collaborator involved in killing of 8,000 Jews honoured with statue in Ukraine

Ben Chacko, The Morning Star

UKRAINE’s rehabilitation of fascist war criminals continued this week after authorities unveiled a monument honouring an Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) officer involved in the murder of 8,000 Jews in Poltava in 1941.

10) A Judge Ruled A Neo-Nazi Blogger Should Pay $14 Million To A Woman Targeted In A Racist “Troll Storm"

Salvador Hernandez, BuzzFeed

The judgment against Andrew Anglin included $10 million in punitive damages for what the judge called "particularly egregious and reprehensible" behavior.

11) Call me a communist

Rossana Cambron, People's World

As an activist in my early 20s, I didn’t know much about what communism really was; all I’d heard was they were bad people that could hurt you and your loved ones. Being active in the Chicano student movement, I came across a member of MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán) who mentioned to me that the Communist Party USA was giving a class on Marxism and asked if I was interested in going.

12) Another Ontario First Nation declares a state of emergency over water

Jorge Barrera · CBC News

Another fly-in First Nation in Ontario has declared a state of emergency over of its water quality.

13) The Innisfil experiment: the town that replaced public transit with Uber

Leyland Cecco, The Guardian 

Ridership is high and there’s plenty of work for drivers, but success has come at a cost to this Ontario town.

14) 5 Years After Eric Garner's Death, Activists Continue Fight For 'Another Day To Live'

Yasmeen Khan, NPR

The news that federal prosecutors will not charge a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, who repeated the phrase "I can't breathe" almost a dozen times while being arrested for an alleged misdemeanor, closed another door for Garner's family and police reform activists seeking accountability.

15) NDP Suppresses Palestinian Solidarity Again

Yves Engler

One side is playing for keeps. They oust elected representatives and block members from voting on efforts to challenge a brutal occupation. On the other side, members defending a morally righteous cause twist themselves in knots to avoid directly criticizing nakedly authoritarian party leaders.

16) Ecuador: Roads Blocked, Media Silence as National Strike Hits 2nd Day

Telesur 

As the national strike called for this week in Ecuador, by social and political organizations, enters its second day Tuesday, major roads were blocked and manifestations were reported all across the country including the country’s capital, Quito.

17) Peru: Doctors, Health Workers Begin Nationwide Strike

Telesur

Both the Peruvian Medical Federation (FMP) and the National Federation of Health Workers (FENUTSSA) started Wednesday a 48-hour national strike to demand that President Martin Vizcarra's administration increase the budget assigned to the public Integral Health System (SIS).

18) BOMBS AWAY? BOMBARDIER ON TRACK FOR TAKEOVER

People's Voice

Bombardier’s recent announcement that it will cut 550 jobs at its Thunder Bay Rail Transportation facility has sparked outrage within labour, community and political circles. It has reignited the debate around public takeover of industries that are key to the economy and society.

19) Tensions rise in Oka as mayor speaks of being 'surrounded' by Mohawks

Colin Harris · CBC News

The grand chief of the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, northwest of Montreal, is demanding the mayor of the neighbouring town of Oka apologize for what he's calling "hate-filled" and "racist" remarks over a contentious land transfer proposal.


The Sandinista revolution of 1979, led by the FSLN, overthrew the U.S. backed dictatorship of the Somoza family.


20) Trump admin dramatically limits asylum claims by Central Americans

 Priscilla Alvarez, CNN

The Trump administration on Monday moved to dramatically limit the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum if they enter the United States by land through Mexico, the latest attempt by the White House to limit immigration and toughen the US asylum process amid overcrowded conditions at border facilities.

This is one of the single most racist moments in modern American political history. As Trump began attacking my friend Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the crowd began chanting “SEND HER BACK, SEND HER BACK.” It’s utterly despicable and dangerous. We are here. We are in THAT time. And it is ugly. - Shaun King



21) A Racist in the White House

 David Remnick, The New Yorker

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama beat John McCain by nine and a half million votes and became the country’s first African-American President. In 2016, Donald Trump, an unapologetic racist, lost the popular ballot by three million votes but, thanks to the antediluvian rules that still govern our voting system, succeeded Obama in the Oval Office. Understanding the role of racism and its persistence in this dismal pivot will be as central to our understanding of our times as it was to our understanding of Reconstruction.

22) Racism Is an Impeachable Offense

Shaun King, The Intercept

DONALD TRUMP HAS a rich, varied history of racism, bigotry, and discrimination going back to at least 1973, when the Justice Department filed a racial bias suit against him for mistreating Black applicants and tenants all over New York. At the time, it was one of the largest lawsuits of its kind. That was 46 years ago. Since then, the list of offenses has piled up. In a better time, his racist behavior would have prevented him from ever being elected, but here we are. He’s president and now he’s openly carrying that bigotry right into the Oval Office. Not only do I think he is violating his oath of office — I think his open, flagrant bigotry is an impeachable offense.

23) The Real Trouble with Ilhan Omar

Sarah Jaffe, The Progressive 

Ilhan Omar has spent most of her adult life making trouble—good trouble, as her colleague John Lewis, with whom she’s just introduced a resolution supporting Americans’ right to participate in boycott movements, likes to say. So it’s perhaps understandable that she maintains an impressive cool under the repeated onslaught of criticism, threats, and rage thrown her way, from the right as well as well as from the Democratic leadership.

24) Ilhan Omar Introduces Bill Backing Pro-Palestine BDS Movement

Telesur 

U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives Wednesday defending the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and  Sanctions (BDS) movement the lawmaker told the news outlet Al-Monitor.

25) Top Dems imply they’d pressure Israel to end the occupation, but none will even commit to moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv

Michael Arria, Mondoweiss

Last month, the progressive Jewish group IfNotNow officially became a tax-exempt organization legally permitted to lobby politicians. Since then, IfNotNow activists have been confronting Democratic candidates on the campaign trail and asking them about the occupation of Palestine.

26) Israel lobby groups hatch plan to divide the left

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada 

Influential Israel lobby groups are offering “rules” for how Jewish communal organizations can divide the left and break up emerging intersectional coalitions.

27) ‘They shot to kill’: residents of West Bank village in shock after Israeli snipers shoot 10-year-old boy in the head

 Yumna Patel, Mondoweiss 

For eight years, the residents of the northern occupied West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum have protested every single Friday, rain or shine, against Israeli land confiscations and the closure of the village’s southern road by Israeli forces.

28) Israeli plan to raze East Jerusalem homes may be first step towards mass demolitions across the West Bank

Yumna Patel, Mondoweiss

In less than 24 hours, 42-year-old Ismail Obeidiya, his wife Nida, and their six kids, could be made homeless. It’s a terrifying reality that Obeidiya is struggling to grapple with, his unease and frustration more palpable with every word.

29) BDS in the face of Israeli Apartheid

Palestinian BDS National Committee, Socialist Project Bullet 

On July 9th, Palestinians marked with a mix of alarm and hope the 14th anniversary of the BDS Call (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), launched by Palestinian society in 2005 in pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.

30) ‘The Lion King’ is a fascistic story. No remake can change that.

Dan Hassler-Forest, The Washington Post 

No matter how you look at it, this is a film that introduces us to a society where the weak have learned to worship at the feet of the strong.

31) 'Intensely stupid': Health community challenges Scheer's pledge to review new Food Guide

Kristy Kirkup, The Canadian Press 

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer faced strong criticism from nutrition experts on Thursday after he pledged to review the new Canada Food Guide should the Tories win power this fall.

32) The lesson from the ruins of Notre Dame: don’t rely on billionaires

Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian 

The French super-rich promised to dig deep, but such philanthropy comes at a steep price.

33) Ford Government fails to host mandatory anti-racism conference

Yusra Javed, iPolitics 

Ontario appears unlikely to host a mandatory anti-racism conference in 2019, prompting fresh accusations that Premier Doug Ford’s government doesn’t take the anti-racism file seriously.

34) Doug Ford is Quietly Planning Over $100 Million in Cuts to Housing and Rent Support Programs

Press Progress

The Ontario government’s 2019-2020 expenditure estimates for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing show more cuts are coming to housing supports, rent support and homeless assistance efforts.

35) More than 3,000 new Toronto child care spaces at risk due to provincial cuts

 Laurie Monsebraaten, The Toronto Star 

Thousands of new child cares spaces approved by the previous provincial government — including 3,049 in Toronto — may never get built due to the latest Ford government cuts.

36) Venezuela: Trump Diverts Central America Aid to Guaido as EU Threatens More Sanctions

Ricardo Vaz, Venezuela Analysis 

The Trump administration is reportedly diverting over US $40 million of aid destined for Central America to the Venezuelan opposition.

37) Cuba: Safest Country in Latin America to Be a Child and an Adolescent

Telesur 

The annual Save the Children report evaluates 176 countries using international indicators on infant mortality, access to education, nutrition, protection against harmful practices, such as child labour, child marriage, homicides and forced displacement.

38) Boris Johnson’s take on Islam is historically illiterate

Jerry Brotton, The Guardian 

No printing press until the 19th century? Wrong. But why let reality get in the way of a story that fires up his base?

39) Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather

Melissa Ridgen, APTN

Baby H, the B.C. infant who was seized from hospital after medical staff reported her mother was neglecting her 90 minutes after having a C-section is back in a stranger’s care after her aunt asked for a break.

40) Low-Income Workers Can’t Afford Rent in 91% of Canadian Cities

 Anne Gaviola, Vice News

A new study shows how unaffordable this country has become as cities like Vancouver and Toronto are basically out of reach for anyone making less than $70,000.

41) Waste only: How the plastics industry is fighting to keep polluting the world

Sharon Lerner, The Intercept 

THE STUDENTS AT Westmeade Elementary School worked hard on their dragon. And it paid off. The plastic bag receptacle that the kids painted green and outfitted with triangular white teeth and a “feed me” sign won the students from the Nashville suburb first place in a recycling box decorating contest. The idea, as Westmeade’s proud principal told a local TV news show, was to help the environment. But the real story behind the dragon — as with much of the escalating war over plastic waste — is more complicated.

42) Why I’m Fed Up With Being Told To ‘Go Back Where I Came From’

Piya Chattopadhyay, Chatelaine 

For years, I’ve told myself not to let those words bother me. But they do. And why shouldn’t they? The only place I’m from is Saskatoon.

43) Five Men Sentenced to Life for Operation Condor Killings Trained at School of the Americas

Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams

Five of the 24 men sentenced last week by an Italian court to life in prison for their roles in a brutal and bloody U.S.-backed Cold War campaign against South American dissidents graduated from a notorious US Army school once known for teaching torture, assassination, and democracy suppression.

44) Sudan CP hails broad coalition for democracy

Emile Schepers, CPUSA

The Sudanese Communist Party, in its latest bulletin updating the world on the dramatic events that have roiled that African country since the beginning of a mass uprising which gained strength in December of last year and which led to the fall of long time dictator Omar Hassan al Bashir, is sounding an optimistic note.

See also: Epstein, Censoring Palestinian Voices, Syriza & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos July 7 - 14

Bolivar's Cause Lives on in the Struggle of the Peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Other Countries of the Continent Resisting US Imperialism

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

Leaflet: Bolivar's Cause Lives on in the Struggle of the Peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Other Countries of the Continent Resisting US Imperialism - Statement of Six Communist and Workers' Parties of Latin America, 1983

Issued after a meeting in July and August, 1983, this statement on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Simon Bolivar stressed the ongoing need of solidarity between the people of Latin America in the face of American imperialist attack and violence. It is remarkable how much it still resonates sadly. 

It was jointly signed by leaders and representatives of the Communist Parties of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Some of its highlights include: 

Bolivar's principal idea which has reached us and is particularly important today is that of the need for Latin America's unity in the struggle against a nascent new colonialism...Bolivar knew very well that the United States of America would do its utmost to prevent our countries from winning independence...

and:

The anti-imperialist solidarity of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean is the best symbol of Bolivar's ideological legacy. 

The statement makes interesting reading in today's context of the ongoing attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of Venezuela and to end its Bolivarian Revolution as well the intensification of the criminal economic blockade of Cuba by the Trump administration. 

(Click on scans to enlarge)

For other entries in the project see: Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project
 
 Image is from our post: Revolutionary Cuba 1975: Sixteen Years of Socialist Construction Part III -- Photographs and History