Before we begin, we want to apologize again for last week's SNAFU with the newsletter where an incomplete draft went out. It was a technology issue on our end, and we hope it did not cause confusion on your end! We'd like to wish everyone celebrating a happy Hanukkah!

Not to be a huge downer, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that 1,000 Americans are dying from the coronavirus per week. We want to stress that these deaths are largely preventable. The worst effects of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, can be mitigated and even prevented with a safe vaccine.

If you are planning to travel and see loved ones this for the holidays, please consider protecting yourself and those around you by staying up to date on vaccination–not just for COVID, but flu and RSV as well. Also, please remember that the virus is still out there and there are vulnerable people you may encounter. One easy way to protect them and yourself from infection is wearing a high-quality mask (KN95 or N95 or better) indoors in public and on public transportation.

With that, let's go right to the news aggregation because that's what you're here for and a ton has been happening. OptOut's network of participating outlets have been on it.

Gaza War

The war in Gaza continued last week and civilian casualties continued to mount. The American Prospect had a good piece comparing the conflict to the Vietnam War. In it, author Harold Meyerson wrote, "The problem in both cases has been that the American and then the Israeli forces couldn’t really separate out their designated enemies from the general population. In both cases, they quickly gave up trying, which meant they ceased to care about the civilian deaths and injuries they caused—if indeed, they ever cared at all."

Israel’s War on Gaza Now Resembles Our War on Vietnam

Today on TAP: Mass bombing didn’t destroy the Vietnamese Communists and won’t destroy Hamas, but it sure kills lots of civilians.

The American ProspectHarold Meyerson

Jacobin covered how workers blockaded UK  factories that provide arms to Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In the UK, Workers Blockaded Four Arms Factories in Solidarity With Palestine

Yesterday more than a thousand workers blockaded four factories across the UK that provide arms components for Israel. As the British government continues to support Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza, more and more workers are saying, “Not in our name.”

Taj Ali

The Real News Network put out a video depicting life in makeshift refugee camps in northern Gaza. Watch here:

Climate News

To begin with, the COP28 climate summit has been underway, and the results have reportedly been mixed. Counterpunch offered up a sobering look at the conference that aims to determine humanity's future.

COP28: Where Fossil Fuel Industries Go to Gloat

The sequence of COP meetings, ostensibly a United Nations forum to discuss dramatic climate change measures in the face of galloping emissions, has now

CounterPunch.orgBinoy Kampmark

A new proposal from the UDA to allow industries to permanently store planet-warming CO2 underneath U.S. Forest Service forests has climate advocates sounding the alarm over safety. Floodlight had the story via the Louisiana Illuminator.

Plan to stash planet-heating CO2 under national forests alarms critics - Louisiana Illuminator

A proposal would allow industries to permanently stash climate-polluting carbon dioxide beneath U.S. Forest Service land.

Louisiana IlluminatorPam Radtke, Floodlight

Belly of the Beast put out a video about Cuba's plan to restore coral reefs. You can watch it here:

A reminder: OptOut's climate editor, Amanda Magnani, is at COP28, reporting for us! Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our climate newsletter for updates!

Labor News

United Auto Workers became the largest labor union to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, as PRISM reported. "We opposed fascism in World War II, we opposed the Vietnam war, we opposed apartheid South Africa and we mobilized union resources in that fight. The UAW International has joined the call for a ceasefire."

UAW is the largest US union to call for a ceasefire in Gaza

The announcement at a news conference where protesters had been on a hunger strike outside of the White House marks a major development for labor and the larger call for a ceasefire

PrismMindi Isser

Capital & Main spoke with National Domestic Workers Alliance leader Ai-jen Poo about her fight to secure federal investment in America's care infrastructure.

Labor Leader Ai-jen Poo Confronts ‘the Biggest Driver of Economic Inequality that Nobody Talks About.’

Care for children, the elderly and disabled is among the lowest-paying industries. Poo thinks federal investment could become reality.

Capital & MainJessica Goodheart

Los Angeles hotel workers are waging an aggressive effort for better wages and conditions, staggering their strikes at different hotels. The Nation had the story.

The New Labor Militancy of LA’s Hotel Workers

UNITE HERE Local 11 is staggering its strikes across Los Angeles, targeting one out-of-contract hotel one day and another the next.

The NationSasha Abramsky

Inequality in America

The New Republic had an important story about how wealth inequality in liberal San Francisco is threating the public school system in the city. Check it out:

Yet Another Casualty of San Francisco’s Disastrous Housing Policy

As non-wealthy residents flee the unaffordable city, the public school system is facing a funding collapse.

The New RepublicNed Resnikoff

NYC's shelter system is at a "breaking point" according to a new report from City Limits, which has been trying to get a full picture of just how many people are sleeping in shelters. Read the story here:

Tracking NYC’s Record-High Homeless Shelter Population

Now, with additional city agencies providing more emergency lodging than ever before in a system that officials say is at a breaking point, monitoring the total number of people in shelter has only become more important—and more complicated.

City LimitsPatrick Spauster

Majority Report had a good segment about how car culture helped propel the "federalization of criminal justice." Watch here:

MLK50 republished an important piece from Tennessee Lookout about how Tennesee is making it harder to restore felon voting rights.

Restoring voting rights after a felony is rare in Tennessee. This year, the process got harder.

This story has been republished with permission from Tennessee Lookout. Read the original story here. Janiqua Thompson was in her early 20s when she began

MLK50: Justice Through JournalismJamie McGee, Tennessee Lookout

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