The Transformative Potential of the Right to Food
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Truthout: Transitioning from an industrial model of agriculture to a system benefiting small-scale producers – a step governments must support – will not only alleviate worldwide hunger and poverty, but will reduce carbon emissions, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food concludes in a new report.
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The Hedge Fund Managers Tax Break: Because Wall Streeters Want Your Money
Dean Baker, Truthout: The hedge fund managers’ tax break, which is also known as the carried interest tax deduction, is different from other tax breaks in that it has no economic rationale. The Wall Streeters’ arguments as to why they shouldn’t have to pay the same tax rate as everyone else are basically just jokes.
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The Global Banking Game Is Rigged, and the FDIC Is Suing
Ellen Brown, Web of Debt: Taxpayers are paying billions of dollars for a swindle pulled off by the world’s biggest banks, using a form of derivative called interest-rate swaps, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has now joined a chorus of litigants suing over it.
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Government Secrets: Bureaucratic Wars on Who Gets Prosecuted
Dina Rasor, Truthout: Most government officials have to walk a “bureaucratic knife’s edge” day after day. So why has Leon Panetta been given a pass by the Department of Defense Inspector General, even after the former CIA director offered up highly classified material to an unsecured crowd?
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Was Marx Right?
Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: Marx is suddenly fashionable after many years of being The Economist Who Could Not Be Named. As income disparity has widened enormously and class mobility has eroded, his idea of class warfare seems particularly apt.
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A Primer on the Antiunion Campaign at Volkswagen
John Logan, Truthout: Given the dizzying array of antiunion forces that were involved in the campaign to undermine workers’ choice about whether to form a union at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, a who’s who of who did what in the dirty tricks campaign may come in handy.
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Six Reasons Sen. Bernie Sanders Should Run for President
Kevin Mathews, Care2: It is critical for Americans to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive views to understand the actual problems we face. Here are six political opinions that Sanders has articulated in recent months that our next leader should pursue.
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“Years of Living Dangerously”: Is This the New Trend?
Denise Robbins, Media Matters: Recent reporting treats manmade climate change as a given and features established experts on climate science – a welcome change from the contrarian “skeptics” that have been infiltrating the media with doubt and misinformation.
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American Democracy No Longer Works
The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: Years of corporate-friendly Supreme Court decisions, like Citizens United, have rigged and corrupted American politics so badly that average hard-working Americans have little to no influence in Washington.
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Season of Emancipation
Samantha Sarra, Truthout: During this week of Passover, one of the most sacred of Jewish observances, commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, it behooves us to remember that captivity in many forms for many people continues.
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Charter Schools and the Destruction of Public Education
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report: Charter schools take public money without being accountable to the public, and they are funded by organizations like the Walton Family Foundation of Walmart fame and hedge fund chieftains. There is no data proving that they provide superior education.
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AFRICOM Goes to War on the Sly
Nick Turse, TomDispatch: For years, senior AFRICOM officers and spokesmen have downplayed the scope of US operations in Africa, but recent investigations have revealed that the US military is indeed pivoting to the continent.
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: More Than 100 Scientists and Economists Called on the Obama Administration to Reject Keystone XL, and More
In today‘s On the News segment: Last week, more than 100 scientists and economists signed on to a letter calling on the Obama administration to reject the tar sands pipeline; Vermont says that residents have a right to know what’s in their food; it’s only April, but Oklahoma has already had more than 100 earthquakes; and more.
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BuzzFlash
Just Say No to Tasering Students and Militarizing Our Schools
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The New York Times finally admits that the United States uses torture, only, as its editorial board deplores, it is in our schools.
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United States Still World’s Biggest Military Spender
Read the Article at Al Jazeera America
US Air Force Conducts Pakistan Drone Target Surveillance for CIA
Read the Article at The Guardian
The Importance of Elizabeth Warren
Read the Article at The New Yorker
Long-Term Unemployment Spans All Demographic Groups
Read the Article at the Economic Policy Institute
Why Equitable Bananas Matter
Read the Article at Small Farmers, Big Change
State GOP to Vote on Affirming Wisconsin’s Right to Secede
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
Suspected Jewish Center Killer in Kansas Was Violent Ex-KKK Leader
Read the Article at The New York Daily News
Spirit In Action 