- On the eve of a pivotal international conference on migration in Mexico, the Trump administration pulled out of talks on the United Nations Compact on Migration. The UN is negotiating a new framework to address the plight of refugees and find solutions to the large numbers of job seekers migrating out of the developing world. (“Donald Trump Pulls US out of UN Global Compact on Migration,” The Guardian, Dec. 3, 2017; “Trump Withdraws U.S. From UN Migrant And Refugee Compact,” Huffington Post Dec. 3, 2017)
- Violence escalated in Yemen’s three-year brutal civil war, as the Iran backed Houthi rebels killed former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh had switched sides in the war and recently allied himself with Saudi Arabia. Earlier the former president had joined forces with the Houthi that control most of Yemen. Saleh was president of Yemen for over 30 years and was forced out of power during the Arab Spring. (“Yemen Houthi Rebels Kill Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh,” The Guardian, Dec. 4, 2017; “In Push for Yemen Aid, U.S. Warned Saudis of Threats in Congress,” Reuters, Dec. 8, 2017)
- Texas populist Jim Hightower and Vermont Senator and former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ political organization “Our Revolution” ran a barnstorming tour through Texas to boost prospects for progressive victories in the 2018 election. Tyler, Texas, a blue-collar city, used to support Democrats like Hightower in the 1980s and 1990s, before the town started to lose thousands of good paying factory jobs at Goodyear and Carrier Corporation. In 2015, Tyler and its suburbs voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton by a 3 to 1 margin. (“Can Our Revolution Build a Blue Texas?” The Nation, Nov. 30, 2017)
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