Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be
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The more flexible, forgiving attitude that results when we see our self as a home for transient identities turns out to be the perspective we need to maintain our dignity in adversity and accord it to others in theirs.
Perhaps all is not lost. In the long dark night of our military imperium, a shaft of light, of hope, has suddenly appeared -- the Court of Appeal of the Armed Forces of the United States. For it turns out that if a military prisoner has faced the least mistreatment during incarceration, even a temporary abuse of due process, then all charges against him will be dropped and he can walk free.
The victory represented by the election of Barack Obama was also a tragedy, as it turns out. The sellout was predictable, perhaps inevitable but was surprising in its swiftness and completeness. From day one it was clear that we'd been had. The 1% neocon/neoliberal cabal wasted no time asserting itself through their new spokesperson. President Obama, as presidents do, made his loyalty to the empire evident.
Batsh*t Crazy: the term seems to define social conservatives these days. Just look at last week! And hold on to your hats - or funny bones!
Obama does not speak for Trayvon Martin. He speaks for a different social class whose interests are deeply antagonistic to those of the Martin family and the broad mass of working people and youth of all races and ethnicities. The same day Obama gave his remarks, the White House flatly rebuffed suggestions that the federal government should come to the assistance of the city of Detroit, forced into bankruptcy last week.
Spain's slow-motion implosion into an insolvent singularity has been one of the most amusing sideshows for over a year. The chief reason for this is the sheer schizophrenic and absurdist polarity between the sad reality, visible to everyone, and the unprecedented propaganda by the government desperate to paint a rosy picture. As Reuters reports, and contrary to fairy tales of unicorns and soaring 0% GDP, Spain's government is so insolvent, it was just forced to "borrow" from its social security reserve to fund pension payments.
Rich Entrepreneur: The Wealthy Aren't Job Creators, Middle Class Workers Are
Rich Entrepreneur: The Wealthy Aren't Job Creators, Middle Class Workers Are
Listening to the lead prosecutor's final argument in the Zimmerman case, it's hard to believe he really wanted a conviction.
Stand Your Ground laws devalue human life. Thank you Jeb Bush for spearheading them
By Andrew Schmookler
The Spirit That Drove Us to Civil War Is Back: A Spirit that Made Slavery Its Priority Ever since the Civil War ended, the South --with a mixture of deception and self-deception-- has been trying to obscure the truth about what it was fighting for. It was all about slavery. What does it say about a spirit if it drives people to kill or die for the right of some people to treat other people as property? That same spirit is visible in today's Republican Party.
By Thomas Farrell
Critchley and Webster Study Hamlet's Complicated Grief What is known today as complicated grief has been seriously under-studied. However, Shakespeare's most famous character, Hamlet, suffers from complicated grief. In their acutely perceptive short book about Hamlet, Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster deepen our understanding of Hamlet's complicated grief enormously. Their remarkable study deserves to be studied by anybody suffering from complicated grief and by everybody.
By Tom Engelhardt
Eduardo Galeano, Robots, Drugs, and Collateral Damage It could be any week on that great U.S. military base we know as Planet Earth and here's the remarkable thing: there's always news. Something's always happening somewhere, usually on more than one continent, as befits the largest, most destructive, most technologically advanced (and in many ways least successful) military on the planet.
In the conclusion of the series, Buster Flange's change to city council charter has passed, and the city's first functional constituency was chosen in a special election. The next step is for the electorate of the newly created virtual district to agree on who will represent them in city council. If we're going to remake the art of governance from the bottom up, we first have to imagine what that might be like.
Macy's funds rodeos, which torture and kill animals. What's next for Macy's? dogfighting
By Danny Schechter
The New South Africa Bans A Major Film Festival Entry Under apartheid. films were frequently banned in
By David Swanson
Copperhead Copperhead was a name for Northern Democrats opposed to the Civil War. Now it's also the name of a remarkable new film: CopperheadTheMovie.com. This is not the first film about a family opposed to the Civil War. Many will probably recall the 1965 film Shenandoah starring Jimmy Stewart. But Copperhead is the one to see.
The US Government Is Metamorphosing Into the Borg
Equipped with Atlases on the ground, backed by drones in the sky, and real-time global surveillance--the US government will soon be ready to announce: "Resistance is futile."
There are already plenty of politicians stepping up to say what Washington can't do in response not just to Detroit's needs but also to those of hundreds of cities and counties nationwide. But that's austerity talking, not common sense. Common sense says that the federal government, which has played a part in undermining the economic prospects of American cities, needs to start playing a useful role.
If homeless people in Tampa want to avoid jail, they'd better find a place to store their things and a bed to sleep in. The Tampa City Council passed a new ordinance allowing police officers to arrest someone they see sleeping in public or "storing personal property in public." Tampa isn't the only city taking on new anti-homeless measures. Last week, a Miami City Commissioner began an effort to throw homeless people in jail who were caught engaging in life-sustaining activities in public, such as eating and sleeping.
Thank the Lord, at least, that we have so evolved as a people that the history of the lynch mobs has become impolite, the very last lynching so 1968 ago that even a Google search fails to identify the name of that last victim on record. Anybody know who he or she was? Does anybody really care? I mean, we don't travel for miles around to enjoy and picnic around such entertainments anymore....
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday, July 18, 2003 that preparations are being made so strikes against Syria can begin.
'BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq, July 22 (Reuters) - Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.
By Philip Farruggio
Onward Back to Feudalism! We need to look at better and more viable ways to house our citizens. Why not have local towns and cities buy up the rental properties and charge the tenants a fairer price? On top of that and this is key,have the local governments that would own the rental properties offer the tenants a deal:
In these negotiation promises, there is not a single sign that oppression will be eased. It would be wrong to believe that this new round of talks brings with them the slightest hope of success, if our only hope rests with U.S. political leaders who have thus far forfeited their leadership to the Zionist Lobby.
By William Barth
The Killing of Trayvon Martin, the Dangers of Instant Profiling, and the Need To Protect Minority Rights This article argues that more than anti-discrimination laws are required to prevent tragedies like the killing of Trayvon Martin. The author argues that African Americans deserve greater protection in the form of minority rights.
No matter what bullshit you hear from Wall Street-funded, ecocide-perpetrating war criminals, remember this: Action is always better than hope.
Two developments last week are linked by a profoundly perverted notion of the Internet and a destructive vision of what it should become. They highlight, taken in tandem, a truly frightening development.
To sabotage the SEC's case for securities fraud, Paolo Pellegrini audaciously lied under oath.
By Dave Lefcourt
The Government has Become the Real Life Sequel to the Fictional "The Godfather" and Why Leaks are Flourishing 
Obama has pursued leakers w/ a vengeance, more than all other administrations combined. Ex Dir. Of Nat'l Intelligence Dennis Blair & AG Eric Holder seem to agree leaks were flourishing because the gov't was too passive in addressing them. Not so. Leaking is flourishing because of the gov'ts massive engagement in illegal activities & leaker's conscience won't let them remain silent knowing what they know about gov't wrongdoing.
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Litvinenko: Massive Media Fraud Uncovered
News reports about the Litvinenko case are demonstrably false and unreliable.
Taxation and National Ethical Priorities
Children's lives lost because our material values took priority over our ethical values.
Consumer-Contract Law: What kind of Judge Will You Get?
Balance of Power requires Discretion, Mercy, and Wisdom in our Justice System with an added supported link to fact-finding legal investigation.
"Prologues: Conversations on the Arts, Politics, and Science Between a Russian and an American"
I have had trouble for several decades accepting the idea that politics and the Arts are separable! Why shouldn't the Arts be informed by interesting, provocative thought in the sciences, technologies, religion, spirituality, etc? Is this not a hodge-podge universe with all kinds of interwoven themes that artists--and other thinkers--are trying to interpret to bring the Whole--at least our little part of it--together? -GC
President Barack Obama's administration, besieged by a dysfunctional congress at home, is barely relevant in the Middle East anymore, with Russia, France, Britain, Turkey, and even China making headway. Resuming the "peace process" is necessary to give the US a chance to claim leadership in a leaderless region.
How many of us wonder about the future of our planet, including future generations of human beings? It has been reported that ancient tribal cultures would judge their actions according to how they would effect the future unto the 7th generation. Bill McKibben of 350 Dot Org and New England Climate Summer Riders converge at Sebago Lake in Maine on 7/20/13 to rally regarding tar sands oil and its environmental impact.
 Best News Links from the Web
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that he wanted the United States and Afghanistan to complete a security partnership agreement by October, allowing for the continued presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
'Well, not really. But that's the unintended consequence of yesterday's awful decision in US v. Sterling, in which the Fourth Circuit held that James Risen could not rely on journalist's privilege to avoid testifying against James Sterling, whom the government believes leaked classified information to Risen...If a journalist can be forced to testify against a whistleblower in a leak case because he "witnessed" the "crime," there is only one solution for journalists who want to work with whistleblowers who expose government misconduct: obtain the information completely anonymously. If they do not know who provided the information, forcing them to testify will accomplish precisely nothing. In other words, WikiLeaks. That is now the only viable model of investigative journalism, given Sterling"s overt attack on freedom of the press.
Alaska's High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) has drawn its fair share of conspiracy theories over the years, as it sits in Gakona, an array of antennas intended to heat the Earth's ionosphere and study the effects. Fringe thinkers have tenuously linked HAARP to everything from the 2011 Japanese Earthquake to mind control and hurricanes.Much of that, however, remains speculation. In the meantime, conspiracy theorists will just have to continue to posit that HAARP is controlling people's minds, the tectonic plates, and even the weather.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul confirmed Monday that controversial staffer Jack Hunter, who once was a shock jock known as the "Southern Avenger," has resigned.
The city's emergency manager said Sunday that retirees' benefits will have to be cut down the road. The battle over the future of Detroit is set to begin this week in federal court, where government leaders will square off against retirees in a colossal debate over what the city owes to a prior generation of residents as it tries to rebuild for the next. Soon after Detroit emergency manager Kevyn D. Orr and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder(R) approved a bankruptcy filing Thursday, groups representing the 20,000 retirees reliant on city pensions successfully petitioned a county court to effectively freeze the bankruptcy process.
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