Lawrence Lessig’s March to End Corruption
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: In the footsteps of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, activist Lawrence Lessig led a two-week, 185-mile trek through the winter cold in New Hampshire to raise awareness of corruption in American politics.
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The 2014 Elections Have Already Happened
Joseph Natoli, Truthout: When all the memories that persist are about possession and not sharing, no one attacks the fundamental principles of market rule because everyone is too deeply tied to the allure of those dark instincts to which neoliberals openly appeal: our memories of the future are already fixed.
Time to Restore the Power of the National Labor Relations Act
Ellen Dannin, Truthout: Many believe high union membership is necessary to balance employer power with worker power. To achieve that result, union organizing and fair National Labor Relations Board elections in the private sector are required.
Dean Baker | Corporate Cronyism: The Secret to Overpaid CEOs
Dean Baker, Truthout: The corporate directors who are supposed to be holding down CEO pay for the benefit of the shareholders are generally buddies of the CEOs, and friends don’t try to save money by cutting their friends’ pay.
Are We Going to Be the Flintstones or the Jetsons?
The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: Even though productivity has increased 400 percent since 1950, Americans are working, on average, just two hours per week less, and are paid the same or in many cases even less than they were paid in 1950.
AOL’s CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace
Andrea Flynn, Next New Deal: AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies,” which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions.
Impunity in West Virginia as Criminal Law-Breaking Polluters Still Walk Free
Carl Gibson, Occupy.com: Recent spills have shown that Patriot Coal and Freedom Industries have both shown a pattern of acting with impunity. The Department of Justice has already begun criminal proceedings against Freedom Industries in connection with the Elk River spill, and more federal action may be pending.
The Chicago Tribune’s War on Dissent
Christine Geovanis, CounterPunch: The Chicago Tribune threw down the gauntlet this week in the war on dissent — and came in solidly on the side of the billy club and the black-masked police provocateur. In its February 10 op ed piece, the paper’s apparatchiks undertake what all good instruments of the jack-boot state do – they reinvented history.
Debate: Was Snowden Justified? Former NSA Counsel Stewart Baker Vs. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!: Former National Security Agency lawyer Stewart Baker and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg join Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez for a debate on Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the NSA’s massive spying apparatus in the United States and across the globe.
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In today‘s On the News segment: It’s illegal for an employer to intimidate workers trying to form a union, but apparently it’s just fine when a lawmaker does it; there is much more methane leaking into our atmosphere than EPA estimates have indicated; the science is in – background checks save lives; and more.
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How Obamacare Raids the Assets of Low-Income Older Americans
Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: One feature of Obamacare is that individuals over 55 who are enrolled in Medicaid are subject to having expenses like being in a long-term care facility, home services, and related drugs and prescriptions clawed back from their estates. The pilfering of assets of low-income Americans results from the interaction of several of these nasty features.
Untold History: More Than a Quarter of US Presidents Were Involved in Slavery, Human Trafficking
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: As the country marks Presidents’ Day, Amy Goodman looks at an aspect of US history that is often missed: the complicity of American presidents with slavery.
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BuzzFlash
The Buzzflash commentary for Truthout will return soon.
How Privatization Perverts Education
How Big Banks Are Cashing In on Food Stamps
Read the Article at The American Prospect
Ted Cruz Just Doomed the GOP — But Not in the Way You Think
Pentagon to Trim Plans for F-35 Jet Order
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Bridge Scandal Spotlight Turns to Port Authority Police
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment: How to Build a Post-Constitutional America One Death at a Time
Read the Article at TomDispatch
Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site