Roberto Abraham Scaruffi: OpEdNews

Sunday 21 July 2013

OpEdNews

Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be
  • Helen Thomas Dead at 92
  • America Does not have a Functioning Democracy - President Jimmy Carter-- Yet MSM Keeps Serving Up Distractions
  • Vigilantism Killed Trayvon Martin
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Three podcasts to check out. 
First I discovered that the audio did not properly upload for my interview with Ray McGovern, so here's the link WITH the audio.
CIA Veteran Ray McGovern on Ed Snowden, NSA and Lying Spying Liars

Next, I interviewe Radley Balko, about his extraordinary book on the Militarizaiton of police. Here's the podcast. It is frightening. Rise of the Warrior Cop; Interview with Radley Balko.   Guess which president has provided more money to militarize than any other. And there's a top down/botom-up angle to this that ties in with the Drug war and the opposition to legalization of marijuana.
and finally, Helen Thomas passed away. The story below includes a link to the interview I did with her about two years ago. 
Do me a favor. If it's been a long time, or if you've never made a donation to support our work, please do. 
thanks, 
rob kall
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Daily Headlines

Helen Thomas, long time White House correspondent, is dead. I interviewed her in 2011. There's a link to the podcast of theinterview in this.

We are being watched and recorded. We have no defense against arrest and incarceration if the government deems that we are terrorists or support a terrorist organization. The people that designate exactly who or what is a terrorist organization is unclear. Perhaps the government will publish a manual of who it is we are to avoid. God forbid we talk we talk about such things.

The saddest and scariest aspect of the Zimmerman verdict is that it greenlights the vigilantism than stand-your-ground laws are already encouraging.

Photo caption: 'New York Times reporter James Risen has said in previous comments that he would rather go to prison than reveal the identity of his source.

By Walter Brasch
Practicing Un-Medicine
Congress has extended billions of dollars to agricorporations and its own members NOT to grow food. So, wouldn't it be advantageous to apply this principle to other areas as well?
By Consortium News
Brandon Toy's Act of Conscience
Secrecy is a tool states use most commonly in order to mask unethical, unconstitutional, criminal and foolish behavior. Brandon Toy's informed rejection of a system that is violating the basic rights of its own citizens depends on whistleblowers, who in turn rely on courageous, professional journalists to inform the public.

The opposition may have made an impressive showing on June 30 and in the days that followed, but the stunning crowd counts it spread across the world do not seem to hold up against critical scrutiny. And as the mirage of a 30-million-person march evaporates, an unsavory military coup stands exposed.

Do yourself a favor and don't care about the newest Rolling Stone "scandal"!

Whether we agree or disagree with the acquittal of George Zimmerman for murder in the Trayvon Martin case what's done is done. But this trial and the Florida "stand your ground" law that was a major factor in the jury's decision has now established a very dangerous precedent in America's already highly faulted judicial system.

This is a terrifying interview with a man who has done his homework and shares just how bad the police state has become-- Let's start with over 50,000 violent SWAT team home invasions a year, a police culture funded by the drug war that has become militarized, the existence of what amounts to SWAT porn, and guess which president has raised the budget the most for further militarization--

By Sandra Lindberg
My Uncle Gunshot
Detroit is bankrupt and I'm thinking about Uncle Gunshot, Swedish immigrant and a man who loved Detroit.

By Ashu M. G. Solo
Staying the Course in a Righteous Cause
This political poem is about fighting against bigotry for the advancement of liberty.
Thanks to public pressure, Herman Wallace of the Angola 3, recently diagnosed with cancer, has finally been transferred out of solitary confinement, following a letter sent to the US DOJ by four Congressmen asking for an investigation into LA prisons. With the inspiration from this victory, the next step is Herman's release from prison on humanitarian grounds, as called for by Amnesty International's recent action campaign.

Wolf Richter: "Who Could Trust Such A Company?" -- The Big Fat Lies About Radiation Exposure Of Workers At Fukushima -
Wolf Richter: "Who Could Trust Such A Company?" -- The Big Fat Lies About Radiation Exposure Of Workers At Fukushima
McDonald's should join the wage movement it so ably served this week, because economic misery is hurting its bottom line in the US and worldwide. And while its new and successful "dollar menu" shows that it's willing to profit from hard times, that's only a short-term fix in a declining economy. Pay your workers what they deserve, McDonald's. Every dollar makes a difference.

Snowden's choice was ultimately personal. He decided to take big risks on behalf of big truths; he showed how easy and hazardous such a step can be. He blew the whistle not only on the NSA's Big Brother surveillance but also on the fear, constantly in our midst, that routinely induces conformity.

Imagine a counter demonstration to a Boston Marathon vigil. Imagine a counter demonstration to a Oklahoma tornado or Hurricane Sandy vigil.

Earlier this week, President Obama endorsed New York City police commissioner (and stop-and-frisk champion) Ray Kelly as a worthy candidate to succeed Janet Napolitano as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

By Franklin Lamb
Are Palestinian Students in Lebanon Being Pressured to Choose Kalashnikovs Over College?
Education cannot be ethnically cleansed, stolen, tortured, jailed, uprooted, bulldozed, massacred, murdered, bombed or burned down. Rather, staying in school and pursuing ones dream is what your cherished for-bearers, who were forced from their homes and lands into Lebanon and trekked from Palestine
In yet another of the silly dog and pony show of ginned-up outrage that serve as "news" in this sordid land of fear, loathing and stupidity the corporate media has a new bogeyman. The strident attacks on Rolling Stone magazine for their latest issue's cover featuring Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev actually looking human instead of the standard Muslim bogeyman is a shining example of propaganda in 2013.

The owners of the World Trade Center were blocked Thursday from filing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the two airlines whose hijacked planes brought down the twin towers.Real estate developer Larry Silverstein and World Trade Center Properties have already collected nearly $5 billion toward reconstruction. But they sought additional money from United Airlines Inc., American Airlines Inc. and the latter's parent company, AMR Corp., alleging their negligence let the terrorists board the flights.

Panama on Friday allowed a retired CIA station chief wanted in Italy for his role in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian Muslim cleric to leave for the United States, permitting the former U.S. intelligence agent to avoid an Italian jail cell. Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA station chief in Milan, had been arrested earlier in the week as he attempted to cross into Costa Rica from Panama.

House Republicans passed a bill Friday to reduce the federal role in public education and cede back to states decisions about how to deal with failing schools, how and whether to evaluate teachers, and how to spend much of the money sent by Washington to educate poor, disabled and non-English speaking students. Democrats say bill would devastate poor children, all vote against it, Obama threatens veto.

In tough times, under pressure from lenders and taxpayers, cities often make cuts. They even privatize services and sell off public facilities. But under Snyder's emergency manager law, Detroit's voters and their elected leaders aren't making the choices that will determine Detroit's direction. A Republican governor, and his appointed manager, are calling the shots.

ElBaradei was fully engaged in contacting world leaders to convince them that the only way out for Egypt was the dismissal and overthrow of Morsi. Ironically, during May and June, Western leaders, including Obama and Kerry, pressured Morsi and the MB leadership to appoint ElBaradei as Prime Minister while the latter was arguing for Morsi's overthrow.

Much as the white-dominated South tied up Congress in the pre-Civil War days and then used political obstructionism to end post-Civil War Reconstruction, the nearly all white Republican Party is now intent on creating a Second Jim Crow Era by suppressing the non-white vote, gerrymandering congressional districts and investing heavily in anti-government propaganda.

A military judge issued a ruling in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning today where she declined to acquit Manning of the "aiding the enemy" charge.

I'm writing to YOU to urge you to either come with me on Sunday or go to a nearer African American church this Sunday and let the African American community in your neighborhood or town know that they are not alone, that we understand their fear and stand in solidarity with them. No matter where you came out on the Zimmerman trial, you can still stand in solidarity with African Americans, support them in their grief...

Yesterday Judge Lind upheld the charge of "aiding the enemy" against Bradley Manning which could bring a life sentence w/ no chance of parole. Him being in a military brig for life would be a supreme injustice. In the 70's Daniel Ellsberg was completely exonerated w/ all charges dropped for leaking the Pentagon Papers. Now Manning faces a possible life sentence for revealing the truth. It shows how far our gov't has descended.

Racism and prejudice are complex, self-perpetuating perceptual processes that don't get erased easily. What we can learn from the Zimmerman verdict - and what the Supreme Court needs to learn.



Latest Articles
President Obama Rams the Issue of Racial Profiling Back on the Nation's Table
President Obama movingly spoke of the "pain" most African-Americans felt at the acquittal of George Zimmerman.
The summer of 2013 is all about guns, marriages, and a national discussion about racism in the USA.


Best News Links from the Web
Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the doyenne of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at her apartment in Washington. She was 92. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, but her career ended ignominiously over remarks she made about Israeli Jews.

For top brass at NYU, the eye-popping loans and lavish pay packages kept flowing freely last year. From January 2000 to January 2013, NYU gave 281 loans totaling $89.83 million to star faculty and administrators, according to a June 28 letter from NYU to the lawmaker that was obtained by The Post. NYU issued 214 loans totaling $68.8 million for the purchase of primary residences, while nearly a third, or 67 loans, totaling $15 million, were forgivable, according to the letter. Of the loans, 129 carried zero-interest totaling $24.6 million.

Pols face recall over gun control - Andrea Drusch - POLITICO.com
For the first time in Colorado history, two state lawmakers will face recall elections for their support of tougher gun control measures. Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order on Thursday setting the date for the recall elections of the pair of Democratic state senators. Under pressure of a campaign by the NRA,...
The Mars rover Curiosity is doing more than channeling its inner tourist and snapping photos every chance it gets. Two new papers appearing in this week's issue of Science are the first to come out of the Mars Science Laboratory that talk about the planet's surface. Both papers say that Mars has been steadily losing its atmosphere over the past 4 billion years.
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 03:41