California Ships Prisoners Out of State to “Reduce” Its Prison Population
Victoria Law, Truthout: In response to a Supreme Court mandate to reduce its penitentiary population, California is shipping prisoners to private correctional facilities in Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi, far from friends and family.
Nelson Mandela, the Conscience of the World
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post Writers Group: As the encomiums flood in from around the globe, it is important to remember that Mandela was not always held in such universal esteem.
Aaron Cantu, Truthout: Marijuana seems set to become the next great American industry in coming decades, but while some want to turn it into a big business, many resist the corporatization of cannabis.
Dean Baker | November Job Growth Pushes Unemployment Rate Down to 7.0 Percent
Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research: The Labor Department reported the economy added 203,000 jobs in November after adding a revised 200,000 in October, the first time the economy has seen consecutive months of 200,000-plus job growth since November and December of last year.
Making Trouble – and Alternatives – in Asia
Dr. Joseph Gerson, Truthout: The Obama administration’s B-52 flights over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands last month and the veiled nuclear threat they represent highlight the importance of making the Asia-Pacific “pivot” a diplomatic – not military – exercise.
Petition Works: 37-Year Hispanic Scholarship Fund Dream Policy Overturned
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Truthout: Last month, in an apparent response to a Change.org petition, the national Hispanic Scholarship Fund voted to reverse its 37-year-old policy of excluding DREAM students.
Amazon, Domino’s and Big Brother: Drones Flying the Not-So-Friendly Surveillance Skies
John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute: Imagine a robot hovering overhead as you go about your day, driving to and from work, heading to the grocery store or stopping by a friend’s house. The robot records your every movement with a surveillance camera and streams the information to a government command center.
The Truth Behind Those Cancelled Insurance Policies
Crystal Shepeard, Care2: Just like technical issues with web sites, cancelled insurance policies are quite common. Health insurers sell a product. The ACA requires that these policies maintain a minimum standard. Put simply, the cancelling of insurance policies is capitalism at its finest.
How Perseverance Is Paying Off for School of the Americas Watch
Ken Butigan, Waging Nonviolence: When the first School of the Americas mass protest was held in 1990, its organizers probably didn’t think they would still be at it 23 years later. But enduring social change typically takes many years or decades, especially if your goal is to shutter a facility that’s a lynchpin of US geopolitics.
What Didn’t Kill Mandela Made Him Stronger
David Swanson, War Is a Crime: Mandela emerged able to propose reconciliation because he’d had the time to think it through, because he’d had the experience of overcoming the prisons’ brutality, because he’d been safely locked up while others outside were killed or tortured, and also – critically – because he had the authority to be heard and respected by those distrustful of nonviolence.
BuzzFlash
McDonald’s Offered Advice to Wage Slave Workers on Gifts for Au Pairs and Pool Cleaners!
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: When corporations use you as captive labor, it’s a challenge just to financially survive. Apparently, McDonald’s overlooked the likelihood that you can’t afford a pool cleaner on $9 an hour.
The Conservative Movement’s Long-Time Hate Affair With Nelson Mandela
Paul Krugman | Obama Gets Real
Read the Article at The New York Times
Another Shutdown? Conservatives Push to Scuttle Budget Deal
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
Holiday Lunacy: How Americans Are Conditioned to Buy Like Pavlov’s Dogs When the Corporate Bells Ring
How to Revive the Fight for Single-Payer
Read the Article at The Nation
Bye-Bye, Fake Liberals: The Warren Democrats Are Winning
How Those Fast-Food Strikes Got Started
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Spirit In Action 