Daily Headlines
By Eric Zuesse
Head of Stratfor, 'Private CIA,' Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was 'The Most Blatant Coup in History'
Head of Stratfor, 'Private CIA,' Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was 'The Most Blatant Coup in History'
Intelligence expert calls Ukraine Coup "The Most Blatant Coup in History'
The U.S. launched its disastrous war on Iraq based largely on the false intelligence the CIA produced via torture.The Senate Intelligence Committee report makes clear that the information extracted by these techniques had no accuracy, belying all justification of them. But more to the point, torture and murder are utterly immoral acts, which rouse fury and hatred that come back to haunt the perpetrators: the American people.
So if your guy beats you up then knocks you up, you must have his baby anyway. And if he's still ornery afterward, you can always get one of those protection thingies that have worked so well for the thousands of women who've been murdered by men under restraining orders.
the media has pinned the blame for Tuesday's ruble fiasco on Putin who, of course, has nothing to do with monetary policy. That said, the ruble rout helps to draw attention to the fact that Moscow is clearly losing its war with the US and needs to radically adjust its approach if it hopes to succeed. First of all, Putin might be a great chess player, but he's got a lot to learn about finance.
Wall Street proved again that with enough money and enough power, they can tilt the playing field in Washington a little more in their favor. I fought my heart out against that provision last week. So did tens of thousands of people who signed petitions, who called their representatives, who tweeted and Facebooked, and who spoke out about it.
Assassinations by drone strike escalated to an all-time high a year after the CIA report was written. According to findings by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 751 people were killed in drone strikes that year, compared with 471 in 2009 and 363 in 2011.
A Congress that argues about whether the country can afford to pay for Food Stamps and nutrition programs just approved a Department of Defense bill that authorizes $585 billion in Pentagon spending for the 2015 fiscal year. If history is any indication, the actual spending total will turn out to be a good deal more than that once all the supplemental appropriations have been added.
The American people have become blase about the idea of torture. But how do they feel about the fact that the CIA did human experimentation on the helpless prisoners held in their dungeons?
By Stella Adams
Unarmed Black Men, White Cops and Grand Juries: "Investigated, Considered and Ignored"
Unarmed Black Men, White Cops and Grand Juries: "Investigated, Considered and Ignored"
This article places in historical context the outrage and opportunity for change that the tragic deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner and countless others provide our nation.
he United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) held a briefing in Geneva early this morning and condemned the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Beni area of eastern Congo. It is about time. Atrocities have been ongoing since October
If you are pregnant, you likely want to keep that growing baby as safe as possible. There are inherent risks to driving and especially so for driving while pregnant. This article reviews the risk and offers some safety tips.
By Danny Schechter
Voices From The Ghosts of Vietnam Are Being Heard Again: Which Should We Listen To?
New York, New York: It's been nearly 40 years since what the American media called "The Fall of Saigon" and the Vietnamese referred to as the Liberation. I saw it then as the Fall of Washington.
Voices From The Ghosts of Vietnam Are Being Heard Again: Which Should We Listen To?
New York, New York: It's been nearly 40 years since what the American media called "The Fall of Saigon" and the Vietnamese referred to as the Liberation. I saw it then as the Fall of Washington.
Earlier Friday, Obama said Sony "made a mistake" when it cancelled the Dec. 25 release of the comedy after threats were made by a group of hackers that U.S. officials believe was acting on the orders of the North Korean government. "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, depicts the fictional assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Michael Lynton said Sony had no choice but to cancel the release after some of the country's biggest theater chains refused to carry the movie. Regal, Cinemark, Carmike and Cineplex and others said they would not show the movie after the group, calling themselves Guardians of Peace, threatened violence if it was shown.
By Lewis Mehl-Madrona
Finding More Magic
What is magic in a muggle world? We recently conducted a workshop to explore that question. First, what arose was the idea our thoughts could influence the future to which we are headed. What if our visualizations could change the direction in which we are headed. What is really magic is the power we have to influence others. We have power to uplift. We have power to give hope when there is none. This is real magic.
Finding More Magic
What is magic in a muggle world? We recently conducted a workshop to explore that question. First, what arose was the idea our thoughts could influence the future to which we are headed. What if our visualizations could change the direction in which we are headed. What is really magic is the power we have to influence others. We have power to uplift. We have power to give hope when there is none. This is real magic.
Official Washington's "group think" on the Ukraine crisis now has a totalitarian feel to it as "everyone who matters" joins in the ritualistic stoning of Russian President Putin and takes joy in Russia's economic pain, with liberal economist Paul Krugman the latest to hoist a rock, reports Robert Parry.
By Barbara Ellis
Solar Desalination: Surviving Water's Coming Armageddon
Amid news about species extinction in the U.N.'s recent IPCC report and failure of Lima's conference to agree to tough climate rules, drinking-water shortages are getting worse. One solution ordinary folk can use is solar desalination--backyard boxes or a still. They're cheap, and they yield drinking water for households.
Solar Desalination: Surviving Water's Coming Armageddon
Amid news about species extinction in the U.N.'s recent IPCC report and failure of Lima's conference to agree to tough climate rules, drinking-water shortages are getting worse. One solution ordinary folk can use is solar desalination--backyard boxes or a still. They're cheap, and they yield drinking water for households.
By Madan Goyal
President's Immigration Action is not Amnesty
President Obama immigration action to halt deportation of certain illegal immigrants.
President's Immigration Action is not Amnesty
President Obama immigration action to halt deportation of certain illegal immigrants.
Berkland gets Mad as Hell and they aren't taking it anymore.
The United Nations Security Council could vote on a draft UN resolution that sets terms for a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal within 24 hours, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Friday. The PA official told Ma'an that the UN vote could take place over the next day, without providing further details. But the United States said Thursday it did not support the current resolution. The Palestinian draft resolution sets a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 as the time-frame for completing an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories.
A dispute between two possible presidential candidates escalated on Friday around the topic of newly opened diplomatic relations with Cuba, and the latest jabs took place on -- where else -- the Internet. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took to Twitter and Facebook to lambaste Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who claimed Thursday on Fox News that his fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member "has no idea what he's talking about" on Cuba. Paul came out in support of the Obama administration, which reached a historic accord with the communist island that included the release of U.S. Agency for International Development worker Alan Gross.
A federal judge on Thursday refused to free former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman from prison while he continues to appeal his 2006 bribery conviction. Siegelman attended a Monday hearing in Montgomery before Land while shackled and wearing a red jail jumpsuit. The former Democratic governor is arguing his 2006 trial was tainted by the involvement of a prosecutor with ties to GOP politics. His lawyers also say the trial judge made legal mistakes when sentencing Siegelman.
Before the American left and the Cuban government find happiness in the normalization, they should consider that with normalization comes American money and a US Embassy. The American money will take over the Cuban economy. The embassy will be a home for CIA operatives to subvert the Cuban government.
An article examining the poor shape of Indian Public banks due to rising corporate debts
The article addresses the persistent presence of racism in the federal government in light of the public outcry for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation of Mr. Eric Garner, an unarmed black male killed by Daniel Pantaleo, a white law enforcement officer using a "banned" chokehold.
By Linh Dinh
Talking to a Palestinian about Israel, American Dissent, Brainwashing and Hijacked Protests
Talking to a Palestinian about Israel, American Dissent, Brainwashing and Hijacked Protests
Those living outside the US can't fathom the American media's extreme bias towards Israel. During the 2014 attack on Gaza, for example, American television viewers were only shown images of Palestinian buildings being blown up from afar, as if there were no people working or living in them. No corpses were seen being pulled from rubbles.
By Dave Lindorff
Obama's Trojan Horse: US Recognition of Cuba after 54 Years of Hostility and War Does't Mean an End to US Subversion
Obama's Trojan Horse: US Recognition of Cuba after 54 Years of Hostility and War Does't Mean an End to US Subversion
The fact that the US will now recognize Cuba does not mean that it will not keep trying to overthrow the government and overturn Cuban socialism, writes TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff, noting the history of the US using embassies as HQs for subversion.
Nearly 50 percent of PolitiFact's readers found anti-climate positions to be the most significant falsehoods in the public discourse. The specific "global warming is a hoax" statement PolitiFact used as its hook to debunk climate deniers in general was made by Louisiana congressional candidate Lenar Whitney, who enjoys being called "the Sarah Palin of the South."
By Bob Burnett
In Elizabeth Warren We Trust
A recent Pew Research poll found that only 24 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington. This says a lot about US politics, but it doesn't answer the question: Which politicians can we trust?
In Elizabeth Warren We Trust
A recent Pew Research poll found that only 24 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington. This says a lot about US politics, but it doesn't answer the question: Which politicians can we trust?
Latest Articles
Sony Corporation_North Korea Conspiracy?
Questioning the lack of evidence supporting the insinuation the mainstream media is putting out there that the North Koreans are behind the hacking of Sony Corporation.
Questioning the lack of evidence supporting the insinuation the mainstream media is putting out there that the North Koreans are behind the hacking of Sony Corporation.
Coyote Psychotherapy
We had realization that we could pretend to own the name, Coyote Psychotherapy, which is, as we playfully told people, indigenous inspired, body-oriented, narrative and social psychotherapy, and still a little more, because Coyote can never be completely contained. Psychotherapy has always been a problematic word for me. What indigenous elders do is healing. I'd like to use the term healing, but it has such a New Age feel.
We had realization that we could pretend to own the name, Coyote Psychotherapy, which is, as we playfully told people, indigenous inspired, body-oriented, narrative and social psychotherapy, and still a little more, because Coyote can never be completely contained. Psychotherapy has always been a problematic word for me. What indigenous elders do is healing. I'd like to use the term healing, but it has such a New Age feel.
The Real War for U.S. Health Reform
A reflection on issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act: A war for universal health coverage and reform in the U.S. healthcare system.
A reflection on issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act: A war for universal health coverage and reform in the U.S. healthcare system.
This is a 2,000-word article on my decision to use a midwife when delivering my child.
The Racial Divide
Put America's race problem in perspective.
Put America's race problem in perspective.
Best News Links from the Web
Pakistani Army officials said today they struck Taliban targets near the border with Afghanistan, killing at least 77 militants, days after the Taliban massacred children at a school in what may be a defining moment for the nation. The air and ground attacks late Thursday and Friday followed an eight-hour killing spree on Tuesday of 148 people, including more than 130 children, at a military school in Peshawar.
IN SEPTEMBER 2000 the heads of 147 governments pledged that they would halve the proportion of people on the Earth living in the direst poverty by 2015, using the poverty rate in 1990 as a baseline. It was the first of a litany of worthy aims enshrined in the United Nations "millennium development goals" (MDGs). Many of these aims--such as cutting maternal mortality by three quarters and child mortality by two thirds--have not been met. But the goal of halving poverty has been. Indeed, it was achieved five years early. In 1990, 43% of the population of developing countries lived in extreme poverty (then defined as subsisting on $1 a day); the absolute number was 1.9 billion people. By 2000 the proportion was down to a third. By 2010 it was 21%...
Judge Exonerates 14-Year-Old Boy Executed in 1944
A judge on Wednesday vacated the conviction of George Stinney, Jr., who was executed in 1944 at 14 years old, making him the youngest person put to death in the United States in the 20th century. Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen found "fundamental, Constitutional violations of due process" in Stinney's case, which took place in the segregated mill town of Alcolu, South Carolina, during the Jim Crow era.
A judge on Wednesday vacated the conviction of George Stinney, Jr., who was executed in 1944 at 14 years old, making him the youngest person put to death in the United States in the 20th century. Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen found "fundamental, Constitutional violations of due process" in Stinney's case, which took place in the segregated mill town of Alcolu, South Carolina, during the Jim Crow era.
German Researchers Discover Security Flaw That Puts Worldwide Network at Risk
German researchers have discovered a new flaw in the global network known as Signalling System 7 (SS7), which could allow hackers and spies to intercept communications on a massive scale, the Washington Post reports. These vulnerabilities continue to exist even as cellular carriers invest billions of dollars to upgrade to advanced 3G technology aimed, in part, at securing communications against unauthorized eavesdropping. But even as individual carriers harden their systems, they still must communicate with each other over SS7, leaving them open to any of thousands of companies worldwide with access to the network. That means that a single carrier in Congo or Kazakhstan, for example, could be used to hack into cellular networks in the United States, Europe or anywhere else.
German researchers have discovered a new flaw in the global network known as Signalling System 7 (SS7), which could allow hackers and spies to intercept communications on a massive scale, the Washington Post reports. These vulnerabilities continue to exist even as cellular carriers invest billions of dollars to upgrade to advanced 3G technology aimed, in part, at securing communications against unauthorized eavesdropping. But even as individual carriers harden their systems, they still must communicate with each other over SS7, leaving them open to any of thousands of companies worldwide with access to the network. That means that a single carrier in Congo or Kazakhstan, for example, could be used to hack into cellular networks in the United States, Europe or anywhere else.
Rising Sea Causing Flooding in Many Coastal Areas
By 2050, a majority of U.S. coastal areas--including urban centers such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston--will likely be threatened by 30 or more days of flooding each year due to dramatically accelerating sea level rise, according to a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
By 2050, a majority of U.S. coastal areas--including urban centers such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston--will likely be threatened by 30 or more days of flooding each year due to dramatically accelerating sea level rise, according to a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Greenwald: Dick Cheney Should Be in 'Federal Prison' Not on 'Meet The Press'
The reason why Dick Cheney is able to go on 'Meet The Press' instead of being where he should be--which is in the dock at The Hague or in a federal prison--is because President Obama and his administration made the decision not to prosecute any of the people who implemented this torture regime despite the fact that it was illegal and criminal," Greenwald said in an interview with HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski.
The reason why Dick Cheney is able to go on 'Meet The Press' instead of being where he should be--which is in the dock at The Hague or in a federal prison--is because President Obama and his administration made the decision not to prosecute any of the people who implemented this torture regime despite the fact that it was illegal and criminal," Greenwald said in an interview with HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski.
For nearly 15 years more than 100 monastics and lay practitioners of Buddhism and a large number of beginning meditators have participated in scientific experiments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at least 19 other universities. The article you will read, in fact, is the product of a collaboration between two neuroscientists and a Buddhist monk who originally trained as a cell biologist. A comparison of the brain scans of meditators with tens of thousands of hours of practice with those of neophytes and nonmeditators has started to explain why this set of techniques for training the mind holds great potential for supplying cognitive and emotional benefits. The goals of meditation, in fact, overlap with many of the objectives of clinical psychology, psychiatry, preventive medicine and education. As suggested by the growing compendium of research...
Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast--and It's Killing All the Baby Puffins
Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast--and It's Killing All the Baby Puffins. But soon Kress noticed that fewer birds than usual were hanging out at the Loafing Ledge, a rocky ridge where the parents socialize between feedings. Then he realized that the time between chick feedings was considerably longer than normal. The puffins were having to range much farther to find fish. Too far, as it turned out. Although Hope successfully fledged on August 21, she was one of the few lucky ones. Only 10 percent of the puffin chicks survived in 2013--the worst year on record. "We've never seen two down years like this," Kress told me. "The puffins really tanked."
Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast--and It's Killing All the Baby Puffins. But soon Kress noticed that fewer birds than usual were hanging out at the Loafing Ledge, a rocky ridge where the parents socialize between feedings. Then he realized that the time between chick feedings was considerably longer than normal. The puffins were having to range much farther to find fish. Too far, as it turned out. Although Hope successfully fledged on August 21, she was one of the few lucky ones. Only 10 percent of the puffin chicks survived in 2013--the worst year on record. "We've never seen two down years like this," Kress told me. "The puffins really tanked."
