Daily Headlines
Mike Gravel changed the course of history by exposing the Pentagon Papers on the Senate floor over 40 years ago. Today, there are numerous exposures that can be made on critical issues of human rights, justice and equality. Although such an exposure might only result in a localized reform of minimal effects, we can't deny the possibility of the revelation becoming a catalyst for a systematic structural change for humanity.
The low prices at the gas pump may mean the beginning of the end of horizontal fracturing (fracking) as a viable way to mine natural gas--and, possibly, the direction needed to expand renewable energy.
The administration of George W. Bush committed a number of actions, some of which are likely criminal, some of which expand the powers of the executive beyond credible fidelity to the constitution and some of which are just plain offensive regardless of their legality. Pres. Obama, who followed Bush into office, made some show of reversing some of the policies of his predecessor But kept others creating a culture of impuni
By Eric Zuesse
NPR Propagandizes Against Putin, for Regime-Change in Russia
How about a dose of propaganda with your daily meal? Try NPR!
NPR Propagandizes Against Putin, for Regime-Change in Russia
How about a dose of propaganda with your daily meal? Try NPR!
Belgium is having a general Strike to strike back at draconian austerity cuts that are crippling not just Belgium, but all of Europe.
President Obama is preparing a major push on a vast free trade zone that seeks to enlist Republicans as partners and test his premise that Washington can still find common ground on major initiatives. The president is already facing fierce blowback from fellow Democrats, who are accusing him of abandoning past promises on trade and potentially undermining his domestic priority. At issue is Obama's support for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would establish the world's largest free-trade zone. The administration has touted the deal as a way to boost U.S. exports to Asia at a time when the United States faces increasing competition from China.
Since his first inauguration, President Obama has masterfully steered the benefits of the recovery to only the wealthy, while the net worth of average working Americans has dropped by 40 percent since before the recession. Today's middle class is actually poorer than it was in 1989, when Reagan left the White House.
For three months, the author was under subpoena, not allowed to tell anyone and not allowed to tell anyone he didn't tell them.
Afghanistan is still in shambles with the majority of the people living in extreme poverty; Libya, which had the highest GDP per capita and life expectancy on the continent, is now a failed state; Western intervention transformed Iraq from an emerging country with moderate prosperity into an impoverished country with a starving population.
The National Security Agency today released reports on intelligence collection that may have violated the law or U.S. policy over more than a decade, including unauthorized surveillance of Americans' overseas communications. The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA's website at around 1:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Critical Glaciers Melting Under 'Continuous Warming': Study
Glaciers in China are disappearing quickly, an environmental institute in Lanzhou confirmed on Wednesday. Scientists with the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute conducted a lengthy survey of southern glaciers, which provide vital drinking water to India, and found that their total geographic area had decreased by 13 percent since 2002.
Glaciers in China are disappearing quickly, an environmental institute in Lanzhou confirmed on Wednesday. Scientists with the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute conducted a lengthy survey of southern glaciers, which provide vital drinking water to India, and found that their total geographic area had decreased by 13 percent since 2002.
Wonder Woman is a national treasure that the Smithsonian Institution named among its 101 Objects that Made America; she is a '70s feminist icon; she is the product of a polyamorous household that participated in a sex cult.
These are Dickensian times, when charity is rationed by politicians and pundits callously dismiss the poor as a burden best forced by hunger to grab at bootstraps and pull themselves upward. Charles Dickens wrote of such times in 1843. But surely he would have recognized 2014, a year that began with the Congress of the wealthiest nation in the world locked in debate over cutting funds for nutrition programs that serve those who are in need. The cuts were approved and, as the year progressed, so there came the announcements that tens of thousands of Americans would no longer have access to food stamps.
By Rossen Vassilev
Newspeak In The Language Of Politics In The Post-totalitarian Era: The Case Of Bulgaria
Newspeak In The Language Of Politics In The Post-totalitarian Era: The Case Of Bulgaria
This article on the manipulation of language in politics is based on my Chapter 5 under the same title (pp. 99-120) in Ernest Andrews's edited collection of scholarly essays "Legacies of Totalitarian Language in the Discourse Culture of the Post-Totalitarian Era" (Lexington Books, 2011).
Norfolk Botanical Gardens (Norfolk, Virginia) is celebrating 20 years of holiday light shows as well as the honor of being selected as one of the top ten of the 'Best Public Lights Display' category by USA TODAY. Here's a little photo album of our Christmas Day visit to their show with over a million lights.
By Thomas Farrell
Contextualizing Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Marshall McLuhan received more media attention in the 1960s and 1970s than any other literature professor achieved during the twentieth century. McLuhan's most imaginative book, UNDERSTANDING MEDIA: EXTENSIONS OF MAN, was first published in 1964. It helped catapult him to the extraordinary media attention he received. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its publication, I'd like to contextualize it -- and McLuhan.
Contextualizing Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Marshall McLuhan received more media attention in the 1960s and 1970s than any other literature professor achieved during the twentieth century. McLuhan's most imaginative book, UNDERSTANDING MEDIA: EXTENSIONS OF MAN, was first published in 1964. It helped catapult him to the extraordinary media attention he received. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its publication, I'd like to contextualize it -- and McLuhan.
By Suzana Megles
One Good Man
On this past Christmas Day, I became re-acquainted with two men whom I admire--Thomas Merton and Senator Cory Booker. I have only started to read the Christmas book I received re Thomas Merton, but here I recall the wonderful Care 2 post on Senator Cory Booker. For me he is truly a man of inspiration.
One Good Man
On this past Christmas Day, I became re-acquainted with two men whom I admire--Thomas Merton and Senator Cory Booker. I have only started to read the Christmas book I received re Thomas Merton, but here I recall the wonderful Care 2 post on Senator Cory Booker. For me he is truly a man of inspiration.
Jeb Bush is stepping down from the board of directors of Tenet Healthcare Corp. The health care company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that the former Florida governor would resign his seat at the end of the year. Bush has been a director since 2007.
Shoot Down the Stupid Second Amendment
What country fetishizes, lionizes, valorizes, idolizes, and sacralizes guns as much as does our United States? OK, possibly Mozambique--the only country with an AK47 on its flag, but really, it's long past time to end this obsessive "My Precious" attachment of Americans to instruments of death.
What country fetishizes, lionizes, valorizes, idolizes, and sacralizes guns as much as does our United States? OK, possibly Mozambique--the only country with an AK47 on its flag, but really, it's long past time to end this obsessive "My Precious" attachment of Americans to instruments of death.
Amid Heightened Tensions With the West, Russia Declares NATO is Top Military Threat
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a new military doctrine that names NATO's military presence near the country's border and expansion in Eastern Europe as Russia's top external threat, according to a Kremlin statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a new military doctrine that names NATO's military presence near the country's border and expansion in Eastern Europe as Russia's top external threat, according to a Kremlin statement.
Senator Bernie Sanders message to all Americans, looking back at what's been accomplished and forward to what must be done.
Controversial Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is stepping down after six years in office. The Republican, who was a staunch critic of President Obama and his administration, delivered one last parting shot at him before she left, branding him a "failed president." Brewer said: "He's been a very big disappointment to me. I think he has done things that certainly we would never have expected any president to do by executive order and because he says so."
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders says he'll decide by March whether to launch a 2016 presidential campaign and, if so, whether he'll seek the Democratic nomination. Either way, Sanders says he wouldn't run just to nudge the debate to the left. "I don't want to do it unless I can do it well," he told The Associated Press. "I don't want to do it unless we can win this thing." Sanders said the issues about which he's been railing all these years are only becoming more dire. The wealth gap has grown, and the middle class, he says, is "collapsing."
In America, unlike in other countries, a huge chunk of medical spending goes to insurance company profits, not to health care. Another big chunk goes to paperwork, which has a variety of purposes such as collecting personal information on patients and combating fraud (probably the paperwork costs more than fraud).
Peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition could be held in Moscow next month, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday. The talks are set to take place sometime after Jan. 20, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said. The first stage of the talks will bring together representatives of home-based and foreign opposition, and representatives of the Syrian government would join them in the next stage.
The economic pain, being inflicted on Iran and Russia by the Saudi-induced oil-price drop, has fueled a new surge in Official Washington's "tough-guy-ism" and thus may hurt chances for successful negotiations, especially an agreement to constrain Iran's nuclear program, as Gareth Porter reports.
Was "The Interview" the perfect cover? The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an extensive investigation into the recent massive Sony hack. Following the conclusion of that investigation, the FBI felt that its evidence pointing to hackers with ties to North Korea was so strong that President Obama publicly pinned responsibility on the Eastern nation.
All year Americans have been bombarded with dire news reports portraying a world out of control and a clueless government with no idea what to do. Yet if you look back at what actually happened over the past year, you see something completely different. Amid all the derision, a number of major government policies worked just fine -- and the biggest successes involved the most derided policies. You'll never hear this on Fox News, but 2014 was a year in which the federal government, in particular, showed that it can do some important things very well if it wants to.
By Eric Zuesse
Ukraine's Government Is Starving Residents of the Breakaway Region
Obama's people are trying to starve to death the people in the area of Ukraine that rejects their rule.
Ukraine's Government Is Starving Residents of the Breakaway Region
Obama's people are trying to starve to death the people in the area of Ukraine that rejects their rule.
By Philip Weiss
Next U.S. elections threaten Israel's "total isolation" -- and the Israeli public is worried
Next U.S. elections threaten Israel's "total isolation" -- and the Israeli public is worried
Last summer an Obama foreign policy aide, Philip Gordon, shocked Israel supporters by warning that Israel faces a "tsunami" of international pressure if it fails to participate in the peace process. Now that warning seems to be coming true. I have to believe that Gaza plays a role in Israel's wariness. If you listen to international opinion and end the blockade of Cuba, why not end the siege of Gaza too?
Latest Articles
I judge you
New poem by Gary Lindorff
New poem by Gary Lindorff
Time to wrap up (and assess) another year.
"The Interview" is a first rate commedy unless you are offended by crude sexual and scatological humor. The hype regarding the film is just that, hysteria with a strong dose of political expedience. It fits a pattern used by both Bush and Obama.
Best News Links from the Web
A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought against Barack Obama by an Arizona police chief who called the U.S. president's sweeping immigration reforms unconstitutional, saying the plaintiff lacked legal standing in the case. Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the demand by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a preliminary injunction to halt the policies. Arpaio, who calls himself "America's Toughest Sheriff," filed the case last month, saying Obama had overstepped his powers by bypassing Congress and ordering the changes himself.
In the United States--as in all of the world's wealthier nations--ending poverty is not a matter of resources. Yet, poverty continues to exist. In the U.S., for example, almost 15 percent of citizens (and almost 20 percent of children) live in poverty. Of those, slightly under 2 percent live on less than $2 per person per day. The main problem is logistical. The current U.S. welfare systems take in trillions of dollars and provide fairly little utility on a dollar-for-dollar basis. But there may be a solution. Some might see it as radical, but advocates, both libertarian and liberal, are suggesting straight up cash: a guaranteed subsidy to everyone.
