Politics & Globalization
International trade agreements force the U.S. and other participting countries to "harmonize" food and envrironmental safety standards to the lowest common denominator. Often these agreements are negotiated behind closed doors, shutting out Congress and the public, while granting corporations and trade associations a seat at the table. It's no surprise that these agreements give transnational corporations "special rights", allowing companies to challenge individual countries' environmental, worker and food safety laws and regulations.
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Rose and Ronnie· Joe volunteer© 2008
In order to see how corporate deregulation has led to a breakdown of democracy, to increasing fundamentalism and violence, and to the rise of far-right political leaders, it is vitally important that we see the broader connections that mainstream analyses generally ignore.
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President Trump’s trade tactics are causing pain in farm country, but that’s not knocking the president off his favored pedestal. “Despite all the high anxiety in farm country over the Trump trade tariffs, the president's polling improves in key farm states,” according to Pro Farmer’s policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.
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Most people understand the influence the pharmaceutical industry has had on federal regulatory agencies and physicians. However, less is known about the influence food manufacturers, specifically the American Beverage Association (ABA), has had on your purchase choices and in state legislatures.
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It’s nearly time for the federal government to update its Dietary Guidelines for the public, and this time around the recommendations will include legally mandated dietary guidance for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers. With that in mind, my colleagues and I were troubled to read of a dust-up over infant formula that occurred at the World Health Organization this past spring.
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Today, the Massachusetts legislature became the latest state to successfully pass legislation to enable automatic voter registration (AVR). The bill, passed by both houses of the state legislature, will now head to Governor Charlie Baker following several other procedural votes, which are expected next week. Once he receives the bill, Governor Baker has ten days to sign, veto, or amend the bill.
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The dangerous smoke — from wood, dung or charcoal fires used by 3 billion people in villages and slums across Africa, Central America and Asia — was estimated by health officials to shorten millions of lives every year. The World Health Organization in 2004 labeled household pollution, “The Killer in the Kitchen.” Women and children nearest the hearth paid the greatest price.
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New reporting out Wednesday details how some former Obama officials are taking full advantage of the revolving door between big business and government, with critics charging they are exploiting Trump's tenure at the White House by "cashing in" on lucrative opportunities.
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Even at first sight it is exhilarating. The overthrow of one of the most mainstream and senior Democrats in Congress by a 28-year-old Democratic socialist with a radical programme and one tenth of his funding is, you might think, interesting enough.
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From the workers’ struggles in the 19th and 20th centuries that won the eight-hour workday to the growth of a fighting labor movement to my own election as a millennial socialist city council member in Chicago, Midwesterners have consistently backed socialist movements and socialist candidates that reject the political status quo and fight for the working-class values of solidarity and equality.
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"Are you ready for a fight?" Sanders asked the crowd. "Are you ready to defend Roe vs. Wade? Are you ready to tell the Supreme Court that we think it's absurd that they give constitutional rights to billionaires to buy elections and then tell women they don't have the constitutional right to control their own bodies?"
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