Greta Thunberg ―
LA’s Climate Action Saint Comes to Town By Adam R. Thomas, Reporter
O
n All Saint’s Day, Nov. 1, hundreds of environmental protestors gathered outside of downtown Los Angeles’ City Hall before marching to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s nearby office early in the afternoon and back again to rally with more speeches, including from the headliner, Greta Thunberg. The once holy day was most likely coincidental, but fitting. There was a definite reverence in the air reserved for Thunberg. The 16 year-old climate activist showed up at the end of the event organized by LA Youth Climate Strike to deliver a speech to a cheering and adoring crowd that never grew to a terribly large size for a downtown Los Angeles protest. It roughly hit a peak attendance of 1,000 to 1,500 attendees. At the start of the event shortly after noon, a few hundred people gathered in front of a stage set up in front of City Hall with a pair of very large television screens and an extensive sound system. After several minutes of waiting around in the roughly 85-degree heat of the afternoon, the digital muzak was broken through when Lydia Ponce, an indigenous organizer with the American Indian Movement, was the first to [See Thunberg, p.4]
Rep. Barragàn talks impeachment and healthcare p. 3
By Leslie Belt, Contributor
T
alk about your bad side effects. Since its release in 1996, OxyContin has been directly responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 people, destroyed God knows how many lives, and has cost the rest of us trillions of dollars. Yet to date, the drug’s manufacturer (Purdue Pharma) and the private family that owns it (the Sacklers) have paid out just a small fraction of the revenue they’ve taken in from OxyContin in fines and damages. Before OxyContin took my sister’s life, it took my empathy and compassion. I am not proud of this, but the fact is that I have done a lot more thinking about
why Susan died than I did about who was killing her. Even as her life was imploding before my very eyes I told myself what society told me. She has only herself to blame. In the decade since Susan’s death, however, a flood of evidence has exposed the truth. Richard Sackler and Purdue Pharma intentionally manufactured my sister’s deadly addiction for its own maximum profit. I am far from the only one outraged by this blatant corporate malfeasance. Purdue Pharma as well as eight members of the Sackler family currently face more than 2,000 civil lawsuits filed by state and local governments and tribes. What’s more, in the past Democratic
Meet the new robber baron, same as the old robber barons.
It’s no mystery why the Sackler, Mellon and Rockefeller families are increasingly mentioned in the same breath. Sure, they have those vast fortunes in common. (Although it is interesting to note that the Sackler’s wealth now exceeds that of the Golden [See Pharma, p.8]
November 7 - 20, 2019
Tacos, tacos, tacos p. 10
Purdue Pharma and the small secretive family of billionaires who own it have made millions from the prescription opioid addiction epidemic they helped to create. All the while, walking the check on its deadly and costly toll with impunity. Until now.
presidential debate fully one third of the contenders, (Harris, Castro, Warren and Sanders) called for Purdue Pharma executives and members of the Sackler family to be held criminally liable for the death and destruction that OxyContin has caused. (Move over El Chapo, meet your new roomies for life.) To understand just how sharp of an ethical U-turn this growing moral imperative represents, consider just how smooth of a ride the Sackler family has enjoyed until now.
Take me to Sardine ― Todd Congelliere on the soon to be opened music venue p. 9
How OxyContin Killed My Sister
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
Greta Thunberg speaks at the Climate Action rally on Nov. 1 in downtown Los Angeles. Photo by Nathan Solis/Court News
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