Daily Headlines
How is it that it was Democrats all squeamish in Kentucky recently over fricking hemp legalization? Because police and other traditional Democratic special interests own them of course.
Religions are based on propositions that attempt to explain what we don't understand. But certain people are not satisfied to respect religious choice as personal.
lovely man
As the gun carnage continues across the United States, the Right won't stop peddling its bogus historical claimsabout the Second Amendment and rallying its gullible supporters to fight even modest safety laws. But victims of gun violence are finally fighting back.
After a terrorist attack, if anyone dares suggest that the killings represent blowback from U.S. military violence abroad, that person can expect furious denunciations even though the point is almost surely true, a paradox that William Blum confronts in this article from Anti-Empire Report.
We Americans watch the news to acquire some minimal understanding of what the hot topics are on everything from local to national happenings and accept the stories as truth...it is time to hold media accountable for their delivery of disinformation and our politicians for the false agendas they propel.
By Dave Lindorff
Ducking the Full Costs of War: The Ongoing Scandal Called the Veterans Administration
Ducking the Full Costs of War: The Ongoing Scandal Called the Veterans Administration
Veterans and their surviving spouses are being deliberately robbed of their disability benefits and their pensions by a VA and a government that wants to hide and escape the true costs of America's wars, says TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff
Why Chuck Hagel must not fall into the trap of arming Syria's Al Qaeda-linked rebels.
"Israeli aircraft bombed a target in Syria overnight Thursday, an Obama administration official said Friday night, as American officials said they were considering military options, including carrying out their own airstrikes."
The sequester cuts are only now beginning to hit. Austerity is driving Europe deeper into recession. China is slowing. US exports will suffer. And Washington is about to descend into new self-manufactured crises around next year's budget and the debt ceiling. The government should be targeting investments to spur job growth.
By Kamala Sarup
My Experiences participating in US Institute of Peace (USIP) training
USIP has been helping professionals, peacemakers and individuals to undertake difficult task of bringing peace to troubledcountries around the world.
My Experiences participating in US Institute of Peace (USIP) training
USIP has been helping professionals, peacemakers and individuals to undertake difficult task of bringing peace to troubledcountries around the world.
The 2nd of 3 eclipses is a New Moon Solar Eclipse in Taurus. Solar eclipses indicate a propitious time for new beginnings. Taurus is all about what we value and what we build. 'If you build it, they will come.' The question is, what's worth building? Once you know that, put your back into it!
A scathing analysis of how "useful idiots" of both the Republican and Democrat stripe dominate the news with their mutually hateful "idiot wars," keeping the far more important story or corporation domination off its rightful place on the front page. Also stresses how much liberal idolaters of faux-progressive Obama block political progress as much as the "right-wingnuts" they vilify.
At least five US soldiers serving as part of the NATO forces have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. It is the biggest attack since the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive on Sunday, saying it would take aim at foreign military bases and diplomatic areas. The attack came four days after three British soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the neighbouring province of Helmand. Nineteen US personnel have been killed in the last week in three air crashes and Saturday's bombing.
Mercedes and BMW manufacture more luxury cars in the United States than either Cadillac or Lincoln. Cadillac and Lincoln are making more cars in Mexico despite the fact that Americans believe quality is better in products Made in the USA.
Obama's Transparency Charade-- The War on Whistleblowers Continues
The Obama administration has been carrying out an unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers, particularly on those who have divulged information that relates to national security. The Espionage Act, enacted during the first World War to punish Americans who aided the enemy, had only been used three times in its history to try government officials accused of leaking classified information -- until the Obama administration. Since 2009, the administration has used the act to prosecute six government officials. Meet the whistleblowers.
The Obama administration has been carrying out an unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers, particularly on those who have divulged information that relates to national security. The Espionage Act, enacted during the first World War to punish Americans who aided the enemy, had only been used three times in its history to try government officials accused of leaking classified information -- until the Obama administration. Since 2009, the administration has used the act to prosecute six government officials. Meet the whistleblowers.
The dramatic events of the past few days in Boston has assured us that the Police State has arisen.
The most significant resistance to fracking is coming from the towns and cities that are becoming sacrifice zones in the wake of corporate profits and the national quest for energy independence. Local government is the one entity that might throw a wrench in the works, because they actually have some legal power. The burning question is: How much power?
The task force takes physicians and psychologists to task for their participation, in violation of age-old ethical standards, in the abuse of detainees, both by devising techniques that constituted torture and for failing to report abuses. It's about time a floodlight was shined on this shameful conduct by medical and so-called mental-health professionals.
After a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East, GlobalPost and the family of missing American journalist James Foley now believe the Syrian government is holding him in a detention center near Damascus. GlobalPost representatives were now meeting with the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon in Beirut to secure his support. The ambassador has delivered letters to the Syrian ministries of defense, interior, information and foreign affairs. The Syrian government, however, has so far not acknowledged knowing of Foley's whereabouts.
All detainees--every last one of them, the schlubs who have been officially cleared by the Pentagon and, yes, even the scary dudes the government insists are "the worst of the worst"--can, should and--if the US Constitution means anything at all--must be released. Obama should stop blaming Congress. He signed their legislation into law. He owns this mess.
Writing on April 19, four days after the event, Falk was aware that one suspect was dead and the other still at large. His concern was that the president -- and the country -- not over-react to what, although he doesn't put it this way, would be a slow day in Baghdad.
This is the life that those who complain so loudly about "wasteful government spending" would impose on yet another generation of American citizens so that they can play the part of the fat man and make sure that nobody who suffers misfortune ever gets quite what they need.
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May 5 - 11 has been designated as Public Service Recognition Week...With the exception of astronauts and the SEAL team that caught Osama bin Laden, there aren't many federal employees whose work is heralded in newspaper headlines.
Devils, dirty deeds, and dark money
The Supreme Court's "Citizens United" ruling has created a new class of political investors, those who are so ashamed of what they are doing that they wish to remain anonymous.
The Supreme Court's "Citizens United" ruling has created a new class of political investors, those who are so ashamed of what they are doing that they wish to remain anonymous.
there may be a new reason to eat less meat. While we were still digesting the study about meat, we were served the news that there may be a new reason to eat fewer eggs, as well. But before we wind up overcooking this potential new beef with meat and eggs, we'd best carve up the particulars and chew carefully.
Media critic Howard Kurtz has lost his job as Washington bureau chief for Newsweek/Daily Beast after a blog post in which he falsely accused basketball player Jason Collins of hiding his past engagement to a woman while coming out as gay. But Kurtz's journalistic abuses have a much longer history.
Is the expression "partisan politics" dog whistle code-speak for "double standard"?
Bee Colony Collapse disorder (CCD) is tied to a collection of insecticides the EPA approved even against the objections of the EPA's own scientists. Now, the EPA is now turning a blind eye to the situation. Are honeybees merely the canary in the coal mine? A researcher with evidence that Monsanto's Roundup was causing CCD had his hives confisticated based on what he called a govt suberfuge to destroy evidence
When the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, I grabbed those FBI files -- and a plane for Kazakhstan, bullying cameraman Rocco D into joining me. [Rocco, no fool, won't let me print his full name.] Here in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, televisions everywhere run endless loops of the bombs going off at the Boston Marathon, the screams, the blood, the victims... and the questions.
Best News Links from the Web
Boston Bombing, links to CIA, Revelations and Speculations
It has been confirmed that the Tsarnaev family, at least to some degree, have been connected to the Central Intelligence Agency for almost 20 years. In 1995, Ruslan Tsarnaev (affectionately known as “Uncle Ruslan,” the American corporate media darling who bemoaned the alleged actions of his nephews Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev ) married the daughter of the former Deputy Director of the CIA’s National Council on Intelligence, Graham Fuller. Fuller has been fingered by whistleblower Sibel Edmonds as "one of the top culprits" in the cover-up of CIA-NATO terror operations in Central Asia.
It has been confirmed that the Tsarnaev family, at least to some degree, have been connected to the Central Intelligence Agency for almost 20 years. In 1995, Ruslan Tsarnaev (affectionately known as “Uncle Ruslan,” the American corporate media darling who bemoaned the alleged actions of his nephews Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev ) married the daughter of the former Deputy Director of the CIA’s National Council on Intelligence, Graham Fuller. Fuller has been fingered by whistleblower Sibel Edmonds as "one of the top culprits" in the cover-up of CIA-NATO terror operations in Central Asia.
The United States believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria, two U.S. officials tell CNN. U.S. and Western intelligence agencies are reviewing classified data showing Israel most likely conducted a strike in the Thursday-Friday time frame, according to both officials. This is the same time frame that the U.S. collected additional data showing Israel was flying a high number of warplanes over Lebanon.
That Happened | ThinkProgress
and this bonus:10 Crazy Things the Right Did This Week The right wing rarely rests and this week has been no exception. Here's ten stories from just this week illustrating just how extreme, out of touch, and just plain offensive that conservatives can be. ...and this :BONUS: A group founded and funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used both its left-wing and right-wing subsidiaries to launch ads in favor of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In an introductory column launching the group, Zuckerberg said that the group would be dedicated to "building the knowledge economy," which he contrasts to "the economy of the last century" primarily based on natural resources." Zuckerberg added, "there are only so many oil fields, and there is only so much wealth that can be created from them for society."
and this bonus:10 Crazy Things the Right Did This Week The right wing rarely rests and this week has been no exception. Here's ten stories from just this week illustrating just how extreme, out of touch, and just plain offensive that conservatives can be. ...and this :BONUS: A group founded and funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used both its left-wing and right-wing subsidiaries to launch ads in favor of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In an introductory column launching the group, Zuckerberg said that the group would be dedicated to "building the knowledge economy," which he contrasts to "the economy of the last century" primarily based on natural resources." Zuckerberg added, "there are only so many oil fields, and there is only so much wealth that can be created from them for society."
Assailants opened fire on the prosecutor, Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali, as he drove to work from his home in a suburb of the capital, Islamabad, for a court hearing in which the former military leader, Pervez Musharraf, faces charges in relation to Ms. Bhutto's death in 2007. Mr. Ali represented the Federal Investigation Agency, which has implicated Mr. Musharraf in the death of Ms. Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007, just before the last election.
From the beginning, it was or should have been obvious that the financial crisis had plunged us into a "liquidity trap," a situation in which many people figure that they might just as well sit on cash. America spent most of the 1930s in a liquidity trap; Japan has been in one since the mid-1990s. And we're in one now. Whenever anyone talks about the need for more stimulus, monetary and fiscal, to reduce unemployment, the response from people who imagine themselves wise is always that we should focus on the long run, not on short-run fixes. The truth, however, is that by failing to deal with our short-run mess, we're turning it into a long-run, chronic economic malaise.
The European Union voted this week for a two-year ban on a class of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, that has been associated with the bees' collapse. But a US government report blamed a combination of factors for the disappearance of America's honeybees on Thursday and did not join Europe in singling out pesticides as a prime suspect. The report, by the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, blamed a parasitic mite, viruses, bacteria, poor nutritions and genetics as well as pesticides for the rapid decline of honey bees since 2006. Researchers said it was not clear whether a certain class of pesticides was a major cause of the colony collapse. Environmental groups described the lapse as a missed opportunity to respond swiftly to a situation that has decimated the country's bee population.
