THIRD WORLD USA

Fewer Jobs, Rising Poverty: Scathing Report Finds Trump Economic Legacy 'One of the Worst Among All US Presidents'

"American businesses and workers are struggling to survive because President Trump refused to listen to advice from public health experts and economists about the best way to handle the coronavirus."

by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Published on
Saturday, December 19, 2020
by Common Dreams

Local residents who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic wait in line at a Thanksgiving meal take home kit food distribution organized by the L.A. Mission, November 20, 2020, outside Compton Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

When President Donald Trump departs the White House next month, he will leave in his wake a nation devastated by a pandemic he failed to confront and an economic scene characterized by rising poverty, widespread hunger, a looming eviction tsunami, and mass layoffs that have left the U.S. with fewer jobs than when his administration began.

And for that, a scathing new report (pdf) by Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) argues, the outgoing president "only has himself to blame."

Released Friday in response to the 2020 Economic Report of the President (pdf), the assessment of Trump's economic performance during his four years in office runs directly counter to the rosy depiction frequently offered by the president himself, who seldom missed an opportunity to boast about the state of the stock market even in the midst of nationwide material suffering brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

"American businesses and workers are struggling to survive because President Trump refused to listen to advice from public health experts and economists about the best way to handle the coronavirus," Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the incoming JEC chair, said in a statement. "In fact, his handling of the coronavirus will hurt the economy for years to come. That is President Trump's economic legacy—one of the worst among all U.S. presidents."

The President’s failure to acknowledge the threat of the coronavirus and his refusal to use the power of the presidency to fight it will weigh down the U.S. economy for years to come.

That will be President Trump’s economic legacy.#ERPResponse | https://t.co/Y69n0fkLHe

— Joint Economic Committee Democrats (@JECDems) December 18, 2020

The new report examines Trump's economic record dating back to the beginning of his administration, which began with soaring promises on jobs, trade, wages, healthcare, and other key policy matters.

While Trump inherited an steadily improving economy, the president "failed to pursue policies that would sustain and strengthen the economic expansion," the JEC report argues.

As many analysts predicted before its passage and implementation, the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump signed into law in December of 2017 delivered most of its benefits to the rich and failed to produce anything resembling an economic boom.

"President Trump's televised claim that the tax cuts would be 'one of the great Christmas gifts to middle-income people' proved to be deeply misleading," the JEC report notes. "Analysis reveals that the tax cuts heavily favored the very wealthy, with the top 1 percent of households—those with average incomes of almost $2 million—projected to receive an average tax break of nearly $50,000 in 2020."

"This is approximately 64 times the average tax cut of the middle 20 percent of households, who were projected to receive an average tax cut of $780," the report continues. "The poorest 20 percent were projected to receive an average tax cut of just $60."

Trump's trade promises were similarly empty, the report finds. The president's oft-touted trade war with China "resulted in hundreds of thousands of lost U.S. jobs."

"A study by Moody's Analytics found that by September 2019 it had cost the U.S. economy nearly 300,000 jobs," the JEC notes.

While the president's economic performance prior to the coronavirus pandemic was far from successful, Trump's handling of the Covid-19 crisis and resulting economic collapse was catastrophic, pushing millions more into poverty and leaving countless Americans unable to afford basic necessities. At present, the U.S. has around 10 million fewer jobs than it did at the start of the pandemic.

NEW: Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer.
It's the fastest rise in poverty in the past 60 years.
And it's a direct result of gov't aid for the unemployed falling, even as jobs clearly remain scarce. https://t.co/jblSQ5s92N
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) December 16, 2020

The JEC observes that after Congress and the White House approved the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March—providing a temporary $600-per-week boost to unemployment benefits and a round of one-time stimulus payments to many Americans—"the administration and Senate Republicans refused to work to negotiate another package until a few weeks before the expiration" of the unemployment supplement, a lapse that dramatically slashed the incomes of millions of people.

"The administration's mismanagement of the coronavirus, and its grudging response to limit the resulting economic damage, have exposed and widened vast structural inequalities," the report states. "Low-income workers and people of color have been most harmed by Covid-19 and the ensuing recession. They are more likely to be exposed to the virus, to be hospitalized and to die from it."

The JEC Democrats conclude that "by all objective measures—job growth, unemployment, gross domestic product—President Trump leaves the economy in much worse condition than he found it."

"However, the numbers do not tell the whole story—his failure to use the power of the presidency to fight the coronavirus will weigh down the U.S. economy for years to come," the report says. "His successor will be left with an extraordinary challenge—to reverse the failures of the Trump administration. He must also move beyond them to ensure that the United States builds back better from this crisis, fully utilizing the talents and resources of all of its people to build an economy that is fairer, stronger, more inclusive, and more resilient."

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'This Is Atrocious': Congress Crams Language to Criminalize Online Streaming, Meme-Sharing Into 5,500-Page Omnibus Bill


"These types of decisions should never be made in closed-door negotiations between politicians and industry or rushed through as part of some must-pass spending package."

by Kenny Stancil, staff writer
Published on
Monday, December 21, 2020
by
Common Dreams




55 Comments

"When a big bill like this comes together, your job as a lawmaker is to try to get as many of your legislative and funding priorities into the text as possible," said Sen. Chris Murphy 

(D-Conn.). (Photo: Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Lawmakers in Congress are under fire from digital rights campaigners for embedding three controversial changes to online copyright and trademark laws into the must-pass $2.3 trillion legislative package—which includes a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and a $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill—that could receive floor votes in the House and Senate as early as Monday evening.

The punitive provisions crammed into the enormous bill (pdf), warned Evan Greer of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, "threaten ordinary Internet users with up to $30,000 in fines for engaging in everyday activity such as downloading an image and re-uploading it... [or] sharing memes."

While the citizenry had almost no time to process the actual contents of the 5,593 page legislative text, Greer said Monday afternoon that the CASE Act, Felony Streaming Act, and Trademark Modernization Act "are in fact included in the must-pass omnibus spending bill."

As Mike Masnick explained in a piece at TechDirt on Monday:


The CASE Act will supercharge copyright trolling exactly at a time when we need to fix the law to have less trolling. And the felony streaming bill (which was only just revealed last week with no debate or discussion) includes provisions that are so confusing and vague no one is sure if it makes sites like Twitch into felons.

"The fact that these are getting added to the must-pass government funding bill is just bad government," Masnick added. "And congressional leadership should hear about this."



Um. Admitting that you're using a must pass government funding bill to sneak through legislation that you couldn't pass normally is... a choice I guess. https://t.co/atkS2Ny8nr— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) December 21, 2020

According to Fight for the Future, "More than 20,000 people had called on House and Senate leadership to remove these dangerous and unnecessary provisions from the must-pass bill," yet Congress chose to include them anyway.

"This is atrocious," Greer said in her statement. "We're facing a massive eviction crisis and millions are unemployed due to the pandemic, but congressional leaders could only muster $600 stimulus checks for Covid relief."

And yet, lawmakers "managed to cram in handouts for content companies like Disney?" Greer continued. "The CASE Act is a terribly written law that will threaten ordinary Internet users with huge fines for everyday online activity. It's absurd that lawmakers included these provisions in a must-pass spending bill."

They're voting soon. Keep making noise! Even if this bill passes we are going to have a massive fight in 2021 to fix the DMCA and defend the rights of Internet users and online creators. Keep retweeting, keep signing petitions, keep sounding the alarm.https://t.co/AuXeBYNEOm— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) December 21, 2020

Explaining why the inclusion of these provisions is dangerous, Masnick said "there's a reason [why] copyright is generally controversial." Even "small changes" threaten a "massive impact on... the public's ability to express themselves," he wrote.

As The Verge's Makena Kelly reported:

The CASE Act would create a quasi-judicial tribunal of "Copyright Claims Officers" who would work to resolve infringement claims. As outlined in the bill, copyright holders could be awarded up to $30,000 if they find their creative work being shared online.

Proponents of the CASE Act, like the Copyright Alliance, argue that the bill would make it easier for independent artists to bring about copyright claims without having to endure the lengthy and expensive federal courts process. Still, critics of the bill, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, argue that the CASE Act could fine ordinary internet users for engaging in everyday online behavior like sharing memes.

Greer echoed Masnick, saying that "we've seen time and time again that changes to copyright law have profound implications for online freedom of expression and human rights."

"Frivolous copyright takedowns are already a huge problem for the next generation of artists and creators, streamers, gamers, and activists," Greer noted, advocating instead for what she called "a fair system that protects human rights and ensures artists are fairly compensated."

Considering how artists and musicians "are suffering immensely during the pandemic," Greer added, "Congress should be working quickly to provide immediate relief, not cramming controversial, poison-pill legislation into budget bills to appease special interests."

The way Congress jammed through these changes "is a total and complete travesty," said Masnick. "People should be mad about this and should hold the congressional leadership of both parties responsible."

Calling on "House and Senate leadership to remove the copyright provisions from the continuing resolution and move them through regular order so we can have transparent and open debate about the right balance," Greer said that "these types of decisions should never be made in closed-door negotiations between politicians and industry or rushed through as part of some must-pass spending package

 

Battle of Ain Jalut

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Battle of Ain Jalut
Part of the Mongol invasions of the Levant
Map showing movements of both forces, meeting eventually at Ain Jalut
Date 3 September 1260 Location Near Ayn Jalut, Nazareth, Galilee[1] Result Mamluk victory Mongol invasion of the Mamluk Sultanate is halted. Territorial changes Territories captured by the Mongols are returned to the Mamluks.
Belligerents
Mamluk Sultanate  Ayyubid emirs of Kerak and Hamah	Ilkhanate (Mongol Empire)  Kingdom of Georgia  Cilician Armenia  Ayyubid emirs of Homs and Banias
Commanders and leaders
Saif ad-Din Qutuz  Baibars  Al-Mansur of Hamah	Kitbuga †  Al-Ashraf of Homs  Al-Said of Banias
Units involved
Light cavalry and horse archers, heavy cavalry, infantry	Mongol lancers and horse archers, Cilician Armenian troops, Georgian contingent, local Ayyubid contingents
Strength
15–20,000[2][3][4]	10–20,000[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	most of the army[11][12][13]

show v t e Mongol invasions and conquests

show v t e Mamluk-Ilkhanid War

The Battle of Ain Jalut (Arabic: معركة عين جالوت‎, romanized: Ma'rakat ‘Ayn Jālūt), also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Mongol Empire on 3 September 1260 (25 Ramadan 658 AH) in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley near the Spring of Harod (Arabic: عين جالوت‎, romanized: ‘Ayn Jālūt, lit. 'Spring of Goliath'). The battle was fought not far from the site of Zir'in, a now-destroyed Palestinian village in present-day Israel. The battle marked the height of the extent of Mongol conquests, and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been permanently beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield.

Continuing the westward expansion of the Mongol Empire, the armies of Hulagu Khan captured and sacked Baghdad in 1258, along with the Ayyubid capital of Damascus sometime later.^[15] Hulagu sent envoys to Cairo demanding Qutuz surrender Egypt, to which Qutuz responded by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on the Bab Zuweila gate of Cairo. Shortly after this, Hulagu returned to Mongolia with the bulk of his army in accordance with Mongol customs, leaving approximately 10,000 troops west of the Euphrates under the command of general Kitbuqa.

Learning of these developments, Qutuz quickly advanced his army from Cairo towards Palestine. Kitbuqa sacked Sidon, before turning his army south towards the Spring of Harod to meet Qutuz' forces. Using hit-and-run tactics and a feigned retreat by Mamluk general Baibars, combined with a final flanking maneuver by Qutuz, the Mongol army was pushed in a retreat toward Bisan, after which the Mamluks led a final counterattack, which resulted in the death of several Mongol troops, along with Kitbuqa himself.

The battle has been cited as the first time the Mongols were permanently prevented from expanding their influence,^[14] and also incorrectly cited as the first major Mongol defeat. It also marked the first of two defeats the Mongols would face in their attempts to invade Egypt and the Levant, the other being the Battle of Marj al-Saffar in 1303. The earliest known use of the hand cannon in any military conflict is also documented to have taken place in this battle by the Mamluks, who used it to frighten the Mongol armies, according to Arabic military treatises of the 13th and 14th centuries.

READ ON 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ain_Jal

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-battle-that-saved-islam-and-crushed-the-mongols-1d75b2f6d88d

 

After bombshell report some Wexit leaders denounce neo-Nazism in their ranks – others don’t

posted by Duncan Kinney | 32RTs
October 14, 2020

Last week the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) published an incredible scoop: that a group of Hitler-quoting, Stormfront-posting, Nazi Germany enthusiasts operating under the banner of the Alberta Separatist Youth League (ASYL), had embedded themselves into positions of power in the ‘Wexit’ Alberta independence movement.

Unfortunately Canada’s mainstream media seems much more interested in covering a Wexit Facebook page getting a lot of likes than to question the Wexit leaders who are looking to turn western separatism into a respectable political movement. 

So we did. 

Rick Northey, president of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta (formed by a merger of the Freedom Conservative Party and Wexit Alberta), knew Sam Bell, one of the of the leaders of the Alberta Separatist Youth League, from when he was nominated to the interim joint board of governors for the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta by Peter Downing.

But despite his involvement in the formation of Northey’s party, Northey distanced himself from Bell, pointing out that Bell did not purchase a party membership after the merger. 

“I don’t have to kick him out because he never actually had a membership,” said Northey. “As a libertarian party we support free speech and freedom of expression but you have to draw the line at hate.” 

Jay Hill was a conservative MP of various persuasions for 17 years and House leader under former prime minister Stephen Harper. He is now the leader of the Maverick Party, formerly the Wexit Canada Party. Hill was not familiar with the group or any of the young men identified in the story. 

“As much as possible we screen people who join. Last I heard it’s a free country. People can join any political party they like,” said Hill. “It’s up to parties to disavow and expel. Certainly I would in this case.” 

Hill said they vet all board members and candidates. “All parties have issues with candidates who slip through the cracks and embarrass the parties.” 

Peter Downing, self-described co-founder of the Wexit movement, was dismissive of the CAHN report when we interviewed him. Downing knows Sam Bell and Eli Weisberg (another ASYL organizer mentioned in the CAHN report) but denied any knowledge of the ASYL’s association with fascism. “If Sam [Bell] or Eli [Weisberg] were quoting Hitler, ask them, I have no idea.” 

Downing was dismissive of the CAHN report, claiming (several times) in our interview that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network had mocked him online for having an Asian wife. Downing showed us a screenshot of this harassment. It was from an anonymous Twitter account calling itself Red Deer Antifa that is not associated with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. We pointed this out to Downing, who replied that “they’re the same commie shit show to me.” 

We asked Downing if he condemned Nazism in the Wexit movement, but he declined. “As soon as you guys get rid of your bad apples, your communists and your perverts,” said Downing, “then I will be more than happy to denounce neo-Nazis – if they exist in the Wexit movement.” 

When Downing’s quotes were read to him Hill said, “now you know why even before I joined Wexit Canada I made sure Peter Downing had left.”

Sam Bell, Eli Weisberg and Teron Garbutt are all members of the Alberta Separatist Youth League as detailed in the Canadian Anti-Hate Network report.

Jewish and Muslim groups were also concerned about the report on the Alberta Separatist Youth League. 

“We are deeply concerned by the growing manifestation of racism and intolerance within the Wexit movement in Alberta, and in particular that a group of young men who allegedly adhere to neo-Nazi ideology seem to have found a home within their ranks. These types of beliefs have no place in our society, and there is no reason to associate them with the Alberta independence movement,” said Debby Shoctor CEO and Steve Shafir, president, of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton.

“While further investigation is required, Alberta has no place for neo-Nazism or white supremacist groups. Every Albertan – including our leaders – must do their part to root out this scourge in our midst,” said Mustafa Farooq, the CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. 

"We unequivocally condemn any kind of behavior that promotes neo-Nazism by any individual or group. We work hard every day to combat the spread of this vile propaganda. Ideologies of hatred have no place in Canadian society, and we take any promulgation of them very seriously,” said B’nai Brith’s manager of public affairs in Alberta, Abe Silverman.

We did attempt to reach out to the Alberta Separatist Youth League and its members for comment but did not receive a meaningful response. The only reply we received was from the Facebook account purporting to represent the ASYL, who sent us an image of the coat of arms of Ukraine and one short message: “eat shit, Bolshevik."

theprogressreport.ca

 

Hate crimes unit investigating vandalism of Nazi collaborator war criminal statue in Edmonton

posted by Duncan Kinney | 32RTs
July 23, 2020

In Deceber of 2019, the statue of Roman Shukhevych outside of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex was vandalized with red tape and spray-painted with the words “Nazi Scum.” According to both the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex and B’nai Brith this act is being investigated by the Edmonton Police Service’s hate crimes unit. The Edmonton Police Service has refused to reply to inquiries from the Progress Report on this matter.

Shukhevych was trained by Nazi intelligence and was a commanding officer under the Nazis of military units that massacred around 100,000 people. Among the dead were thousands of Jews and tens of thousands of Poles according to independent scholarship on the issue.  

The issue of Nazi collaborator monuments has been in the news recently with the revelation that the vandalism of a monument in Oakville, Ontario dedicated to the 14th Waffen SS division with the words “Nazi war monument” was being investigated by the local police as a hate crime. The local police chief eventually decided that it would no longer be investigated as a hate crime after public backlash. 

Michael Mostyn, the CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, a prominent Jewish organization that calls itself a leader in combating antisemitism, also recently released a statement calling for the “removal of any monuments glorifying military units, political organizations or individuals that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II.”

“There is no place for such monuments in Canada,” said Mostyn.

Abe Silverman is the Alberta manager of public affairs for B’nai Brith. “If you deface a statue like that you can be charged with mischief and even a hate crime, but how can you be convicted if the statue is in honour of a war criminal responsible for the deaths of thousands of people?” said Silverman.  

According to Silverman, the hate crimes unit is investigating the vandalism as mischief that may eventually lead to people being charged under hate crimes laws.

In a statement to Progress Alberta on July 2, representatives of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex denied that there was any reliable evidence Shukhevych had committed war crimes, and that any evidence that does exist of war crimes committed by Shukhevych was manufactured by the KGB. 

“The statue of Roman Shukhevych is on private property,” reads the statement signed by Taras Podislky, president of the Edmonton branch of the League of Ukrainian Canadians and Irene Kolomijchuk, president of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Council. “These accusations and recent hateful vandalism on our property are now part of a police hate crimes unit investigation.” 

The Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex received a $75,000 grant from the Alberta government when it opened in 1973. The Ukrainian Youth Unity Council also received more than $279,000 in a grant from Western Economic Diversification Canada in 2015 in order to repair the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex.  

Edmonton is home to another monument dedicated to glorifying a military unit that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II. In St. Michael’s Cemetery in north Edmonton is a monument that is dedicated to several Ukrainian military units, one of them being the 14th Waffen SS Division – a unit that later became the 1st Ukrainian Division in the Ukrainian National Army.

The 14th Waffen SS Division swore an oath to Hitler, were personally addressed by Heinrich Himmler, and took part in the Huta Pieniacka Massacre according to both the Polish Institute of National Remembrance and the Institute of History at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. According to historians in both the Polish and Ukrainian investigations, 172 farmsteads were burned down.

The Polish Institute of National Remembrance’s investigation into the massacre concluded that:

“The crime was committed by the 4th battalion of the 14th division on February 28. On that day, early in the morning, soldiers of this division, dressed in white, masking outfits, surrounded the village. The village was cross-fired by artillery. SS-men of the 14th Division of the SS “Galizien” entered the village, shooting the civilians rounded up at a church. The civilians, mostly women and children, were divided and locked in barns that were set on fire. Those who tried to run away were killed. Witnesses interrogated by the prosecutors of the Head Commission described the morbid details of the act. The crime was committed against women, children, and newborn babies.”

The Edmonton Police Service refused multiple inquiries from the Progress Report, deeming us not to be a legitimate media organization and to submit our media bonafides to their lawyer

theprogressreport.ca

Americans live in '3 distinct realities' — causing 'enormously dangerous' fractures: op-ed


Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery | May 28, 2018 

(Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

Alex Henderson December 21, 2020

Countless political pundits have described the United States as a deeply divided country with two separate realities: a rural Red America that voted to reelect President Donald Trump and consumes Fox News and AM talk radio voraciously, and an urban and suburban Blue America that rejected Trump, made Joe Biden president-elect and is more likely to be consuming the New York Times, MSNBC and CNN. But liberal/progressive pundit Cenk Uygur, in an op-ed published by The Hill on December 21, argues that there are "three tribes" in the United States: (1) "the establishment, (2) "Trumpworld, MAGA Land," and (3) progressives.

Uygur, who hosts "The Young Turks" with fellow liberal/progressive Ana Kasparian, describes "the establishment" as Americans whose "worldview is cemented by the best propaganda the world has ever seen."

"They've convinced the world that the country that does the most invasions seeks peace, the country that ethnically cleansed a continent seeks equality and the country that enslaved a people stands for freedom," Uygur explains. "And everyone believed it. These days, driven by greed, they are busy convincing people that we can afford war but not health care — and that, somehow, the carnage of war keeps us safer than high-quality medicine. That if the rich have all of the money, the poor will be better off because some small amount will one day trickle onto them."

In other words, Uygur describes "the establishment" as traditional non-Trumpian conservatives. And he draws a distinction between the right-wing "establishment" and "Trumpworld, MAGA Land, where no facts need apply."

"Their worldview is cemented by a neurotic insecurity buttressed by the most brazen propaganda," Uygur observes. "Their alternative facts are wielded as blunt instruments — and that, too, works. So, now we have the largest cult the world has ever seen: 74 million people in an alternate universe where facts are the enemies of the people. This is enormously dangerous."

Comparing the "three alternate realities" in the U.S., Uygur asks, "So, how do we communicate, when we're not even speaking the same language anymore? We progressives think we're speaking the language of logic, and we think the right-wing tribe doesn't understand one word of that language — in fact, it doesn't even think our language should exist. To them, logic is for suckers and losers; winners go for raw power, no matter what the facts are."

Uygur concludes his op-ed on a pessimistic note, lamenting that he doesn't see how Americans can overcome their deep divisions.

"When if you hate the messenger, and even if the messenger is wrong about the particulars, the one thing we can all agree on is that we can't agree on a damned thing," Uygur warns. "Welcome to the parallel-universe portion of our program! There are now three Americas with three distinct realities. We don't just disagree on the issues, we disagree about what planet we live on. So, how does this end? Not well."

The December solstice happens at the same instant for everyone, everywhere on Earth – and this year the winter solstice occurs on Monday December 21, at 10:02 GMT in the Northern Hemisphere.

The winter solstice happens every year when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.4 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted farthest away from the Sun, delivering the fewest hours of sunlight of the year.

The Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere during the December solstice and is closer to the horizon than at any other time in the year, meaning shorter days and longer nights.

The shortest day of the year lasts for 7 hours 49 minutes and 42 seconds in London, which is over 9 hours shorter than the June Solstice. As such, Monday December 21 will be the longest night of the year.

The day after the winter solstice marks the beginning of lengthening days, leading up to the summer solstice in June.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true. Dawn comes early, and dusk comes late. The sun is high and the shortest noontime shadow of the year happens there. In the Southern Hemisphere, people will experience their longest day and shortest night.

Sunset at Stonehenge, just after the winter solstice CREDIT: MOMENT RF/GAIL JOHNSON

Does the winter solstice always fall on December 22nd?

While it more often than not falls on December 21 or 22, the exact time of the solstice varies each year. In the Northern hemisphere the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, because it is tilted away from the sun, and receives the least amount of sunlight on that day.

However, the earliest sunset does not occur on the solstice, because of the slight discrepancy between 'solar time' and the clocks we use.

The shortest day of the year often falls on December 21, but the modern calendar of 365 days a year - with an extra day every four years - does not correspond exactly to the solar year of 365.2422 days.

The solstice can happen on December 20, 21, 22 or 23, though December 20 or 23 solstices are rare.

The last December 23 solstice was in 1903 and will not happen again until 2303.

Read more: What a Covid Christmas will look like in 2020

What does 'solstice' mean?

The term 'solstice' derives from the Latin word 'solstitium', meaning 'Sun standing still'. On this day the Sun seems to stand still at the Tropic of Capricorn and then reverses its direction as it reaches its southernmost position as seen from the Earth.

Some prefer the more teutonic term 'sunturn' to describe the event.


Is the solstice the first day of winter?

The answer might vary depending on who you ask. There are two types of winter: astronomical and meteorological.

This year, astronomical winter begins on December 21, with the winter solstice, and ends on March 20 2021. Meteorological winter always begins on December 1 and ends on February 28 (February 29 during leap years).

While astronomical winters are determined by the Earth's orbit around the sun, meteorological winters are the three calendar months with the lowest average temperatures.

The Met Office tend to use the meteorological definition of the seasons.

Stonehenge and the solstice

Scores arrive at the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire to mark the occasion. Why is the site so important?

Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire, is carefully aligned on a sight-line that points to the winter solstice sunset (opposed to New Grange, which points to the winter solstice sunrise, and the Goseck circle, which is aligned to both the sunset and sunrise).

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC and it is thought that the winter solstice was actually more important to the people who constructed Stonehenge than the summer solstice.

Druids and other worshippers celebrate the winter solstice at Stonehenge every year

 CREDIT: HANNAH MCKAY/REUTERS

The winter solstice was a time when cattle were slaughtered (so the animals would not have to be fed during the winter) and the majority of wine and beer was finally fermented.

The only other megalithic monuments in the British Isles which clearly align with the sun are Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland and Maeshowe situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland.

You can also see the solstice sunrise around the world; this website shows the streets in cities around the world where you can get a clear view of the sun rising on the morning of the solstice.
How is the solstice being celebrated at Stonehenge this year?

In the pagan and druid communities, they celebrate the first sunrise after the astronomical event - and English Heritage time their official event in line with this.

This year, celebrations at Stonehenge fall on Monday December 21, with the sun rising at 6:52am if it still goes ahead. A spokesperson for Stonehenge said: "This year we haven’t been able to host the usual gatherings for summer solstice and the equinoxes at Stonehenge because of the Coronavirus pandemic. As we approach the winter solstice we are keeping the situation under review and will make a decision informed by the latest advice from Government and local partners nearer the time."

In 2009, a crowd wearing traditional costume, met at Stonehenge on December 21 morning to mark the rising of the sun on the shortest day of the year. But unfortunately their calculations were slightly out meaning they had in fact arrived 24 hours prematurely.

The '09 solstice fell at exactly 5:47pm that day, and because the sun had already set, the official celebrations were due to take place at sunrise the next day.

English Heritage, who manage the ancient site in Wiltshire, decided to open the gates anyway and welcome those who had made a miscalculation.

A spokesman for English Heritage said at the time: "About 300 people turned up a day early. We took pity on them and opened the stone circle so they could celebrate anyway. They were a day early but no doubt had a wonderful time as well.

Arthur Pendragon poses as Druids, pagans and revellers gather in the centre of Stonehenge, hoping to see the sun rise, as they take part in a winter solstice ceremony 

CREDIT: CREDIT: MATT CARDY/GETTY IMAGES

"People always assume that because the summer solstice is the June 21, the winter solstice will be December 21. They should always check because it does change."

Pagan leader Arthur Pendragon said: "It is the most important day of the year for us because it welcomes in the new sun.

"There were hundreds of people there. If we'd celebrated on the 21st it would have been the right day but the wrong sun – when the whole point of the occasion is about welcoming in the new sun."
Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the year’s shortest day?

Solar noon - the time midway between sunrise and sunset - is when the sun reaches its highest point for the day, but the exact time of solar noon, as measured by Earth’s spin, shifts.

A clock ticks off exactly 24 hours from one noon to the next but actual days – as measured by the spin of the Earth – are rarely exactly 24 hours long.

If the Earth’s spin is measured from one solar noon to the next, then one finds that around the time of the December solstice, the time period between consecutive solar noons is actually 30 seconds longer than 24 hours.

Therefore two weeks before the solstice, for example – the sun reaches its 'noontime' position at 11:52am local standard time.

Two weeks later - on the winter solstice – the sun reached that noontime position at 11:59am - seven minutes later.

The later clock time for solar noon also means a later clock time for sunrise and sunset. The result? Earlier sunsets before the winter solstice and increasingly later sunrises for a few weeks after the winter solstice.

The exact date of earliest sunset varies with latitude but the sequence is always the same.

For the Northern Hemisphere the earliest sunset occurs in early December and the latest sunrise happens in early January. This year the earliest sunset is on December 12 and the latest sunrise for next year on January 4 2021. 

Solstice celebrations around the world

The December solstice marks the 'turning of the Sun' as the days slowly get longer. Celebrations of the lighter days to come have been common throughout history with feasts, festivals and holidays around the December solstice celebrated by cultures across the globe.

Saturnalia

The winter solstice festival Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days in Ancient Rome.

These Saturnalian banquets were held from as far back as around 217 BC to honour Saturn, the father of the gods.

The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms.

The festival was characterised as a free-for-all when all discipline and orderly behaviour was ignored.

Wars were interrupted or postponed, gambling was permitted, slaves were served by their masters and all grudges and quarrels were forgotten.

Saturnalia by Antoine-Francois Callet (1741-1823) Musée du Louvre


It was traditional to offer gifts of imitation fruit (a symbol of fertility), dolls (symbolic of the custom of human sacrifice), and candles (reminiscent of the bonfires traditionally associated with pagan solstice celebrations).

The Saturnalia would degenerate into a week-long orgy of debauchery and crime – giving rise to the modern use of the term 'saturnalia', meaning a period of unrestrained license and revelry. A mock 'king' was even chosen from a group of slaves or convicts and was allowed to behave as he pleased for seven days (until his eventual ritual execution).

The poet Catullus considered it to be "the best of days."

Yalda

Yalda or Shab-e Chelleh ('night of forty') is an Iranian festival celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year," i.e. the night of the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice.

Every year, on the date of the Winter solstice, Iranians celebrate the arrival of winter, the renewal of the sun and the victory of light over darkness on Yalda Night.

Ancient Iranians believed that the dawning of each year is marked with the re-emergence or rebirth of the sun, an event which falls on the first day of the month of Dey in the Iranian calendar (December 21).

On this day, the sun was salvaged from the claws of the devil, which is represented by darkness, and gradually spread its rays all over the world to symbolise the triumph of good over evil. Family members get together (most often in the house of the eldest member) and stay awake all night long in Yalda.

Pomegranate, watermelon and dried nuts are served as a tradition and classic poetry and old mythologies are read in the gathering.

It is believed that eating watermelons on the night of Chelleh will ensure the health and well-being of the individual during the months of summer by protecting him from falling victim to excessive heat or disease.

In Khorasan, there is a belief that whoever eats carrots, pears, pomegranates, and green olives will be protected against the harmful bite of insects, especially scorpions. Eating garlic on this night protects one against pains in the joints.

Getting a ‘Hafez reading’ from the book of great Persian poet Shamsu d-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi is also practiced.

Another custom performed in certain parts of Iran on the night of Chelleh involves young engaged couples. The men send an edible arrangement containing seven kinds of fruits and a variety of gifts to their fiancees on this night.

In some areas, the girl and her family return the favour by sending gifts back for the young man.