William Rivers Pitt | Here Lies America: Shot to Death
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: If a pill or a car or anything else was killing as many children a year as guns, there would be a national panic and a recall and bipartisan legislation in Congress to make sure it never happens again.
TransCanada Begins Injecting Oil Into Southern Leg of Keystone XL Despite Reported Anomalies
Candice Bernd, Truthout: TransCanada has begun its initial start-up process on the southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline despite hundreds of reported anomalies in the pipe. Grassroots activists are calling on regulators to halt the start of commercial operations.
As It Turns Out, There Still Is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy: The Many Friends of ALEC
Ellen Dannin, Truthout: Even if ALEC were to disappear tomorrow, its agenda still would be propelled by a variety of institutional allies, including the Reason Foundation, the State Policy Network and a variety of think tanks.
Actually Existing Capitalism: Wrecking Societies for the Benefit of Big Capital and the Super-Rich
CJ Polychroniou, Truthout: Evidence suggests that capitalism has become wholly predatory and has given up all pretense of being “socially responsible.”
Bill Moyers | The Great American Class War: Plutocracy vs. Democracy
Bill Moyers, TomDispatch: There is nothing idealized or romantic about the difference between a society whose arrangements roughly serve all its citizens (something otherwise known as social justice) and one whose institutions have been converted into a stupendous fraud.
John Pilger | Mandela’s Greatness May Be Assured, but Not His Legacy
John Pilger, Truthout: John Pilger recalls an interview with Nelson Mandela in the 1990s, painting a portrait of a leader whose African National Congress had been in struggle and exile for so long, they were willing to collude with forces that had been the people’s enemy.
Watch the Video and Read the Article
How Do You Destroy a Presidency?
The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: What do you do if you want to make sure a president goes down badly in history and that his or her legacy is one of failure? Of course, the easiest thing to do is to blow up the economy.
The Backroom Deal That Could’ve Given Us Single-Payer
Enrique Diaz-Alvarez, Jacobin Magazine: It’s not so much that Obama “sold us out” to a powerful constituency, but that he picked the wrong powerful constituency. A quick look at the financial details reveals that health insurance nationalization was always the real “path of least resistance.”
Paul Krugman | What Europe Needs Now Is Moderate Inflation
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Europe’s inflation problem: it’s too low. Moderate inflation is actually a good thing for modern economies.
Jim Hightower | This Thriller Is Both a Joke and No Laughing Matter
Jim Hightower, OtherWords: NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander says he thinks it’s OK for the government to spy on us, but he wants to deny the media the freedom to report on Big Brother’s surveillance.
Social Justice Groups Demand Congress Slash Military Budget, Spend Money on People, Peace, Planet
Anne Meador, DC Media Group: A social justice coalition called on the Congressional Budgetary Committee to pass a budget resolution that redirects military spending to domestic needs.
On the News With Thom Hartmann: America’s Pensions Are Under Attack, and More
In today’s On the News segment: Politicians, corporations and even our courts are all chipping away at retirement benefits and promised health care that workers paid into throughout their careers; Republicans in the US Senate stayed up all night to delay a vote on a federal appeals court judge; millennials could be the next great generation; and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
Economic Update: Struggles Over the Welfare State
Richard D. Wolff, Economic Update / Truthout: Updates on the tentative budget deal in Congress, psychiatrists refusing insurance and austerity’s terrible toll on Ireland. Interview with Yale history professor Jennifer Klein on rise, fall and possible rise again of the US welfare state and organized labor. Response to questions on possibilities of a worker take-over of Boeing in Seattle.
BuzzFlash
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The School Shootings You Didn’t Hear About – One Every Two Weeks Since Newtown
Read the Article at The Daily Beast
Rachel Maddow | How George W. Bush Failed the GOP
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Nuclear Disarmament: Beyond Iran
No, the Budget Deal Isn’t a “Compromise”
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Mark Morford | Obama and the Harsh Reality Check
Read the Article at The San Francisco Chronicle
Michigan Puts Restrictions on Abortion Insurance
Read the Article by The Associated Press
Soothing Words on “Too Big to Fail,” but With Little Meaning