I interviewed psychiatrist Donald Black, M.D., author of Bad Boys, Bad Men, on May 6, 2013, discussing anti-social personality disorder, sociopaths and psychopaths. This is part one of a tw
The US government is betraying not just Bradley Manning, who was obeying his Constitutional oath in reporting on US war crimes; it's also betraying the American people, writes Dan DeWalt in ThisCantBeHappening!
By Eugene Elander
Barack and Me -- The Parting of the Ways!
The grave disappointment of progressive former Obama supporters has led to the parting of the ways for many, for reasons outlined in this stimulating article by an FDR liberal.
Barack and Me -- The Parting of the Ways!
The grave disappointment of progressive former Obama supporters has led to the parting of the ways for many, for reasons outlined in this stimulating article by an FDR liberal.
Conservative Republicans in our nation's capital have managed to accomplish something they only dreamed of when Tea Partiers streamed into Congress at the start of 2011: They've basically shut Congress down. No jobs agenda. No budget. No grand bargain on the deficit. No background checks on guns. Nothing on climate change. No tax reform. No hike in the minimum wage. Nothing so far on immigration reform.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that the source who leaked details about the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program could face the same fate as Bradley Manning, the Army private on trial for espionage and treason. "Bradley Manning is facing a capital offense," Assange said on CBS's "This Morning." "Prosecutors have said they will only ask for life imprisonment, but that is effectively a living death."
Daniel Ellsberg: "I'm sure that President Obama would have sought a life sentence in my case'
Ellsberg became the first person prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act for releasing classified information to the public. But the case was thrown out after the judge learned that the government had engaged in the illegal wiretapping of Ellsberg and other misconduct. Today, Ellsberg is one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration's prosecution of leakers. Under President Obama's tenure, the government has prosecuted six individuals for releasing classified information to media organizations.
Ellsberg became the first person prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act for releasing classified information to the public. But the case was thrown out after the judge learned that the government had engaged in the illegal wiretapping of Ellsberg and other misconduct. Today, Ellsberg is one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration's prosecution of leakers. Under President Obama's tenure, the government has prosecuted six individuals for releasing classified information to media organizations.
By Andrew Schmookler
"Was George W. Bush a Good President?" What a Question!!
That this question can be asked in a generally excellent news magazine, and that GW Bush now has a 47 percent favorability rating with the American public, tells us something very troubling about the state of the Union.
"Was George W. Bush a Good President?" What a Question!!
That this question can be asked in a generally excellent news magazine, and that GW Bush now has a 47 percent favorability rating with the American public, tells us something very troubling about the state of the Union.
Report Says IRS Approved Tax-Exempt Status For Twice as Many Conservative Groups as Liberal Groups | Mother Jones
Two-thirds of the groups who were approved for tax-exempt status were conservative. If the IRS was on a partisan witch hunt against conservative groups, that's sure an odd way of showing it, isn't it?
Two-thirds of the groups who were approved for tax-exempt status were conservative. If the IRS was on a partisan witch hunt against conservative groups, that's sure an odd way of showing it, isn't it?
New evidence has shaken the confidence of former Rep. Lee Hamilton in his two-decade-old judgment clearing Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign of going behind President Carter's back to frustrate his efforts to free 52 U.S. hostages in Iran, the so-called October Surprise case
Obama tells us there's nothing to worry about, that NSA is protecting America, not spying on Americans.
A two-star general who commands U.S. Army forces in Japan has been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault, the Army said Friday. Maj. Gen. Michael T. Harrison was suspended by the Army chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, and Army Secretary John McHugh, the Army said. It provided no details about the alleged sexual assault case.
Former President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in South Africa with a lung infection. A presidential spokesman said he is in a "serious but stable condition", although he was able to breathe on his own - a "positive sign."
acebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Larry Page have responded to media reports on the Internet surveillance program PRISM. Both deny having any knowledge of the program before yesterday and say that they have given no one "direct access to our servers." A top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post describes Facebook and Google as corporate partners in a program that allows the National Security Agency and the FBI to track foreign targets by collecting data directly from Internet companies' servers.
In this Esquire article, Charlie Pierce cuts through the bullcrap and illuminates the hidden agenda (or not so hidden) agenda by Republican Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans to sell the State of Wisconsin piece by piece to their corporate donors. In the article Charlie states, "(Governor) Scott Walker, ... hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin". The recent Mining bill passed earlier this year and purely on a Republican party line vote is a prime example. Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) wants to create the largest iron ore mine in the world in a part of Northern Wisconsin that is ecologically sensitive and contains a massive watershed that runs into Lake Superior and through the Bad River Band of Ojibwe Reservation. The mining bill strips out environmental safeguards and passes cleanup costs to the local residents.
By Karl Grossman
The Closing of the San Onofre Nuclear Plant -- A Great Advance for Safe, Clean, Renewable Energy Technologies
The Closing of the San Onofre Nuclear Plant -- A Great Advance for Safe, Clean, Renewable Energy Technologies
Southern California Edison's announcement that it will close its troubled twin-reactor San Onofre nuclear power plant--along with other recent setbacks for atomic energy in the United States--marks a downward spiral for nuclear power. And it could--and should--mean a great advance for the implementation of safe, clean, renewable energy technologies.
I guess we ain't broke enough to reform /
Israel has been consumed in recent months with the challenge of integrating the insular, swelling ultra-Orthodox minority, known as Haredim, into society. The animating theme of the last election campaign was a call for Haredim -- and Israeli Arabs -- to "share the burden" of citizenship, particularly in military service, and last week a Parliament committee approved legislation to end widespread draft exemptions for yeshiva students.
Shiites from all over the Muslim world stream into Syria to help Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship to survive, while Sunnis from many countries hasten there to support the rebels.
It turns out that the perpetrators of the worst atrocities in the history of the world were also accomplished torturers. All of them justified their atrocities using Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Lindsey Graham's arguments such as saving lives and protecting the innocent from enemies foreign and domestic.
Education as a public good is explored. The $1.1 trillion student debt is a burden hard to repay. Student loan interest rate boubling to 6.8 percent creates a disincentive for students to get an education. The U.S. ranks below many European countries in math and science scores, and some of these countries have lower education costs and no tuitions. Higher education should be affordable to everyone given its public nature.
Americans got a rare glimpse into the breadth of U.S. government surveillance of their communications with new revelations that phone and Internet providers have been turning over vast amounts of data to be mined for "terrorism" investigations, an issue discussed by human rights attorney Shahid Buttar with Dennis J Bernstein.
By Philip Kraske
The Dark Side of Obama's Government
This article is about the Faustian bargain that, somewhere along the way, Obama has struck with the military-security complex.
The Dark Side of Obama's Government
This article is about the Faustian bargain that, somewhere along the way, Obama has struck with the military-security complex.
By Hamad S Alomar
Strong Eyes, Soft Hands
Maybe it's time to go back and review come of the forgotten social norms and wisdom of past generations. They may well offer valuable clues to solving a range of problems facing us today.
Strong Eyes, Soft Hands
Maybe it's time to go back and review come of the forgotten social norms and wisdom of past generations. They may well offer valuable clues to solving a range of problems facing us today.
The "revelation" of the US government requiring phone records from Verizon is nothing new. It has been done for years.
One congressional staffer who attended the meeting winced at the thought of
Ours is an age of "infotainment," and the more entertaining media personalities, politicians, and even government officials are, the more their "info" is received favorably. Conservative America is out there in many forms. Some are organized around religion, some around various forms of xenophobia, and some around the fear of government, its taxes and regulations.
George Orwell's book "1984" was meant to be a novel, not an instruction manual. If we want to stop the government's tyrannical spree and blatant disregard for our rights, we have to insist that the Patriot Act be repealed and that we abolish the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety. We can no longer call ourselves a free country until we accomplish both of those objectives.
The Obama crowd,on the defensive since Wednesday's Guardian newspaper revelation that Verizon is req'd to give the NSA all their call logs of Americans, came out swinging yesterday defending the data mining operation w/ the president seeming to allude 100% security was possible stating "You can't have 100% security & also 100% privacy & zero inconvenience". That's pure propaganda hype. There's no such thing as 100% security.
Introduction to Fire Man and Nature
This article is about the role of fire in nature and the damage that man's fire-suppression activities are doing to nature's fire ecosystems and to man himself.
This article is about the role of fire in nature and the damage that man's fire-suppression activities are doing to nature's fire ecosystems and to man himself.
Two US soldiers and an American civilian were killed in Paktika when a man in an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on them, according to a spokeswoman for Afghanistan's Nato-led force. The attacker was killed in a shootout which also injured two US soldiers. In western Afghanistan, an attacker threw explosives into an armoured vehicle, killing an Italian soldier and wounding three others. The Italian defence ministry said the attack in Farah province came as the soldiers were returning to their base from training Afghan security forces.
To hide his role in championing the use of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act to collect of Americans' phone data and other "tangible things", one of the architects of that legislation, Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, edited a quote in a letter (pdf) to Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday to suggest he never knew how the FBI and NSA were using the authority his legislation had granted.
Glenn Greenwald broke the news of a secret court order allowing the NSA to collect millions of telephone records. Now, the New York Times reports, Greenwald could face legal consequences: The Obama Administration has already prosecuted more alleged leakers (six) than all previous administrations combined. What about former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who's been fingered as the likely source for leaks obtained by Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers?
All Direct and Indirect taxes accompanied by tax laws, accounting, auditing and tax returns, can be abolished if a new tax system called "TOP Tax system" is adopted and implemented by all nations. Ultimate economic reforms will relieve 7 billion people of the world from the cobweb of ambiguous and complex tax structures, plethora of tax laws, mandatory and cumbersome accounting, auditing, tax returns and consequent quagmire of all tax related cases.