Daily Headlines
Mikel Weisser a long term contributor to OpEdNews.com, is running for congress. We talk about the experience.
Resistance will begin locally, with communities organizing to form autonomous groups that practice direct democracy outside the formal power structures, including the two main political parties. These groups will have to address issues such as food security, education, local governance, economic cooperation and consumption. And they will have to sever themselves, as much as possible, from the corporate economy.
It has not been reported yet that the seven women whose bodies were found since Friday in Indiana were involved in high-risk lifestyles. But many in the Chicago and northern Indiana area remember the 1990s reign of terror from killers who targeted such women.
The Pentagon announced Sunday that it will create a 30-person team of medical experts that could quickly leap into a region if new Ebola cases emerge in the United States, providing support for civilian doctors who lack proficiency in fighting the deadly virus. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the Pentagon's Northern Command, which has a prime focus on protecting homeland security, to send this new team to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for high-level preparations to respond to any additional Ebola cases beyond the three confirmed in the country.
Vote all you want. The secret government won't change. - Boston Globe
The people we elect aren't the ones calling the shots, says Tufts University's Michael Glennon.
The people we elect aren't the ones calling the shots, says Tufts University's Michael Glennon.
By Ann Wright
"Stop Killing Us" Say Strong Youth Leaders in Ferguson, Missouri's Weekend of Resistance to Police Brutality
"Stop Killing Us" Say Strong Youth Leaders in Ferguson, Missouri's Weekend of Resistance to Police Brutality
On Friday, Oct 10, despite an intense rainstorm, hundreds marched in Clayton, Missouri demanding that the county prosecutor step down. On Saturday, Oct 11, thousands marched in St. Louis, challenging police brutality and racism, and in the evening marched from Michael Brown's memorial to the Ferguson police station. On Sunday, October 12, 150 women gathered to share stories of social injustice in the St. Louis area.
By Eric Zuesse
If Republicans Win Control of the Senate in November, Nuclear War with Russia Will Be More Likely. Here's Why.
If Republicans Win Control of the Senate in November, Nuclear War with Russia Will Be More Likely. Here's Why.
This is one of the most dangerous features of Republican rule over both houses of Congress.
No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.
No nation is exceptional. No nation is indispensable. All nations are exceptional in their own ways and all nations are indispensable as the human race now lives in a world that has a global economy that is interconnected more now than at any other time in history. The fact is, we are all connected and not just through the mainstream media. We talk to people from other nations through Skype, Facebook and Twitter.
While Gates wants us to believe that his software innovations were a great service to the world, most users of his software would probably not agree. His efforts to corner the market may have made him rich, but they slowed down the process of software development.
By Laurie Endicott Thomas
The Most Violent People on Earth!
Toddlers are like tiny drunks. To transform them into well-behaved children, you need to teach them important lessons, such as don't hit people. To help them grow into responsible adults, you must teach them a set of subjects that are sadly being neglected in our public schools. Subjects such as grammar, logic, and rhetoric were once called the liberal arts because they were to be reserved for free men, as opposed to slaves.
The Most Violent People on Earth!
Toddlers are like tiny drunks. To transform them into well-behaved children, you need to teach them important lessons, such as don't hit people. To help them grow into responsible adults, you must teach them a set of subjects that are sadly being neglected in our public schools. Subjects such as grammar, logic, and rhetoric were once called the liberal arts because they were to be reserved for free men, as opposed to slaves.
Why a Leading Professor of Media Studies Banned Electronic Devices from his Classroom; by Diane Ravitch
Clay Shirkeyis not just any technology professor. He is one of the leaders in the study of new techologies and social media. He writes: of New York University has resolved to ban all electronic devices from his classes about the new media. Why? Students could not pay attention or learn what he was teaching because they were so distracted by the messages on their cellphones, laptops, tablets, etc.""This problem is especially acute with social media, because on top of the general incentive for any service to be verbose about its value, social information is immediately and emotionally engaging. Both the form and the content of a Facebook update are almost irresistibly distracting, especially compared with the hard slog of coursework." Shirkey realized he had to choose between teaching and watching his students interact with their devices. He chose to teach.
Clay Shirkeyis not just any technology professor. He is one of the leaders in the study of new techologies and social media. He writes: of New York University has resolved to ban all electronic devices from his classes about the new media. Why? Students could not pay attention or learn what he was teaching because they were so distracted by the messages on their cellphones, laptops, tablets, etc.""This problem is especially acute with social media, because on top of the general incentive for any service to be verbose about its value, social information is immediately and emotionally engaging. Both the form and the content of a Facebook update are almost irresistibly distracting, especially compared with the hard slog of coursework." Shirkey realized he had to choose between teaching and watching his students interact with their devices. He chose to teach.
Keeping Faith in Democracy; BILL MOYERS ON Marilynne Robinson's new book, Lila,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson SAYS to Bill Moyers: "Democracy has been meant to remove the artificial constraints, poverty is the huge artificial constraint on human thought and action. In this country, there have been attempts to moderate that entrapment and we've abandoned that."
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson SAYS to Bill Moyers: "Democracy has been meant to remove the artificial constraints, poverty is the huge artificial constraint on human thought and action. In this country, there have been attempts to moderate that entrapment and we've abandoned that."
By Tom Engelhardt
Laura Poitras and Tom Engelhardt: The Snowden Reboot
Call me moved. I recently went to the premiere of Citizenfour, Laura Poitras's engrossing new film on Edward Snowden, at the New York Film Festival. The breaking news at film's end: as speculation had it this summer, there is indeed at least one new, post-Snowden whistleblower who has come forward from somewhere inside the U.S. intelligence world with information about a watchlist (that includes Poitras).
Laura Poitras and Tom Engelhardt: The Snowden Reboot
Call me moved. I recently went to the premiere of Citizenfour, Laura Poitras's engrossing new film on Edward Snowden, at the New York Film Festival. The breaking news at film's end: as speculation had it this summer, there is indeed at least one new, post-Snowden whistleblower who has come forward from somewhere inside the U.S. intelligence world with information about a watchlist (that includes Poitras).
Bill Maher and Sam Harris have been accused of "racism" for their attacks on Islam. They have rightly defended themselves against this specific charge--cultural chauvinism is the more precise term for attacking some worldview while your own nation's leaders pursue imperial adventures that inflict oppression and mass death in countries where that worldview predominates.
Xi Jinping, the President of China, is not only showing his people a better way to the future with the Chinese Dream, but for the rest of humanity as well.
Not only are foodstuffs, medical supplies--even clinics--going to ISIS, the distribution networks are paying ISIS 'taxes' and putting ISIS people on their payrolls. While U.S. warplanes strike at the militants of the so-called Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, truckloads of U.S. and Western aid has been flowing into territory controlled by the jihadists, assisting them to build their terror-inspiring "caliphate."
Israeli-Palestine Crisis Calls for a Three-State Solution -- a novel solution to solving the Middle East crisis between Palestine and Israel.
Prepare Your Children for "a Lifetime of Surveillance;" by Diane Ravitch
The data mining industry is growing and metastasizing as investors see new opportunities to profit from the data surreptitiously collected while children are using computers, taking and practicing for tests online; investors have poured billions of dollars into new technologies to track students' movements, which are being used to track and record every move students make in the classroom, grooming students for a lifetime of surveillance and turning education into one of the most data-intensive industries on the face of the earth. The NSA has nothing on the monitoring tools that education technologists have developed in to "personalize" and "adapt" learning for students in public school districts across the United States.FERPA regulations in 2011 to make it easier for vendors to data mine. "Make no mistake, this is big business. It will not easily be stopped!"
The data mining industry is growing and metastasizing as investors see new opportunities to profit from the data surreptitiously collected while children are using computers, taking and practicing for tests online; investors have poured billions of dollars into new technologies to track students' movements, which are being used to track and record every move students make in the classroom, grooming students for a lifetime of surveillance and turning education into one of the most data-intensive industries on the face of the earth. The NSA has nothing on the monitoring tools that education technologists have developed in to "personalize" and "adapt" learning for students in public school districts across the United States.FERPA regulations in 2011 to make it easier for vendors to data mine. "Make no mistake, this is big business. It will not easily be stopped!"
Does Amazon really have robber-baron-type market power? When it comes to books, definitely. Amazon overwhelmingly dominates online book sales, with a market share comparable to Standard Oil's share of the refined oil market when it was broken up in 1911. Even if you look at total book sales, Amazon is by far the largest player. So far Amazon has not tried to exploit consumers. In fact, it has systematically kept prices low, to reinforce its dominance. What it has done, instead, is use its market power to put a squeeze on publishers, in effect driving down the prices it pays for books.
The first of 17 U.S.-built Ebola treatment centers in West Africa will open in a few weeks, the top commander of U.S. troops in the region told USA TODAY on Sunday. Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams also said new mobile laboratories have cut the time it takes to process blood samples of suspected Ebola victims to two or three hours from three days. "They are making a huge difference," Williams said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Indonesia for Joko Widodo's presidential inauguration on Monday, seeking more help from Southeast Asian leaders in the U.S.-led effort against Islamic State in the Middle East. The priority is to seek more help in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the officials, who declined to be identified, told reporters on Kerry's flight to Jakarta.
As the UK Parliament takes its stand, the Middle East version of Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement is growing, thanks, in part, to the supportive work of scholars like Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, who carefully exposes the narrative of Israel's ethnic cleansing as a key ingredient in its nation-building.
Among the many reasons Lebanon should immediately desist in the targeting of Syrian and Palestinian refugees is that they are pushing many toward supporting those that the Lebanese government claims to be opposing.
By Dennis Trainor, Jr.
Our Culture is a Crime | Acronym TV 019
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink talks about the links between the peace movement and the climate justice movement -- and how Code Pink started as an Environmental group-
Our Culture is a Crime | Acronym TV 019
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink talks about the links between the peace movement and the climate justice movement -- and how Code Pink started as an Environmental group-
Both Russia and China are seen as pariahs by the unipolar, imperial elite. It's as if we were still frozen in those early1990s days. Russia and China may have changed almost beyond recognition -- but for the Empire of Chaos the priorities are to tear Russia apart, starting with Ukraine, and "pivot to Asia" via an anti-China military/economic axis in the Western Pacific.
Latest Articles
It is impossible to address the cycle of violence between Israel and Palestine without putting aside any racist assumptions, conscious or unconscious. This article discusses this explosive topic in an attempt to promote a rational dialogue that respects the humanity of both sides.
Best News Links from the Web
An Important Message to the New York Board of Regents; by Diane Ravitch and Damon Buffum
This is an important message from a local school board member--Damon Buffum-- to the New York Board of Regents. To commend him for his straight talk and thoughtfulness, Diane Ravitch adds him to our honor roll as a champion of American education. - MUST read Mr Buffums' letter: The main purpose of his note "is to strongly support the views that Regent Rosa expresses: She states,'They are using false information to create a crisis, to take the state test and turn it on its head to make sure the suburbs experience what the urban centers experience: failure'."It's disturbing to me to listen to Governor Cuomo, Commissioner King and the Board of Regents decry, universally, that New York schools are failing our children...t I've also done personal analysis and know that there is a DIRECT link of education performance (whatever academic metric you chose) and student poverty. ...
This is an important message from a local school board member--Damon Buffum-- to the New York Board of Regents. To commend him for his straight talk and thoughtfulness, Diane Ravitch adds him to our honor roll as a champion of American education. - MUST read Mr Buffums' letter: The main purpose of his note "is to strongly support the views that Regent Rosa expresses: She states,'They are using false information to create a crisis, to take the state test and turn it on its head to make sure the suburbs experience what the urban centers experience: failure'."It's disturbing to me to listen to Governor Cuomo, Commissioner King and the Board of Regents decry, universally, that New York schools are failing our children...t I've also done personal analysis and know that there is a DIRECT link of education performance (whatever academic metric you chose) and student poverty. ...
Indiana: Voters Need to Band Together to Fight Destruction of Community Public Schools; by Diane Ravitch
"Tony Lux, recently retired as superintendent of the Merrillville Community public schools, has written a blistering opinion article in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. He says that it is time for all supporters of public education to unite and vote for legislators who support public education. The only way to stop the total destruction of public education in the great state of Indiana is to vote for legislators who will support public schools against the entrepreneurs, privatizers, and profiteers....the election of 2014 may be the most important ever for the future of public education in Indiana." .."Now is the time to step up and support those who will fund our public schools and oust those vandals who would destroy them and turn our children into profit centers."
"Tony Lux, recently retired as superintendent of the Merrillville Community public schools, has written a blistering opinion article in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. He says that it is time for all supporters of public education to unite and vote for legislators who support public education. The only way to stop the total destruction of public education in the great state of Indiana is to vote for legislators who will support public schools against the entrepreneurs, privatizers, and profiteers....the election of 2014 may be the most important ever for the future of public education in Indiana." .."Now is the time to step up and support those who will fund our public schools and oust those vandals who would destroy them and turn our children into profit centers."
How One Man Poured Chemicals Into New Jersey's Drinking Water and Changed Women's Fashion Forever
How One Man Poured Chemicals Into New Jersey's Drinking Water and Changed Women's Fashion Forever | Mother Jones Mass chlorination had some predictable effects, reducing the mortality rate in the average American city by 43 percent. According to Johnson, parents of infants benefited even more significantly, as the death rate for babies dropped by 74 percent. And while reducing mortality is perhaps the most important consequence of Leal's innovation, there is also a lighter side to the story.Mass chlorination had some predictable effects, reducing the mortality rate in the average American city by 43 percent. According to Johnson, parents of infants benefited even more significantly, as the death rate for babies dropped by 74 percent. And while reducing mortality is perhaps the most important consequence of Leal's innovation, there is also a lighter side to the story.
How One Man Poured Chemicals Into New Jersey's Drinking Water and Changed Women's Fashion Forever | Mother Jones Mass chlorination had some predictable effects, reducing the mortality rate in the average American city by 43 percent. According to Johnson, parents of infants benefited even more significantly, as the death rate for babies dropped by 74 percent. And while reducing mortality is perhaps the most important consequence of Leal's innovation, there is also a lighter side to the story.Mass chlorination had some predictable effects, reducing the mortality rate in the average American city by 43 percent. According to Johnson, parents of infants benefited even more significantly, as the death rate for babies dropped by 74 percent. And while reducing mortality is perhaps the most important consequence of Leal's innovation, there is also a lighter side to the story.
