Henry A. Giroux | Beyond Orwellian Nightmares and Neoliberal Authoritarianism
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: Those who fight against neoliberalism must not settle for reforming a system that is as broken as it is dangerous. Any viable, transformative struggle will need a boldly democratic vision; durable, longstanding organizations and strategies that make politics meaningful.
From Chicago to Geneva, a Call for Police Accountability for Violence and Torture
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: We Charge Genocide, a coalition of Chicago activists, is turning outside the US criminal justice system to force accountability for police misconduct by taking their demands to the United Nations.
Congress Ignores Obama’s Broad Executive Power Use – Except on Guantánamo
Sharon Adams, Truthout: While The Washington Post writes that closing Guantánamo is “potentially the most dramatic use” of President Obama’s executive power, it and Congress simultaneously ignore Obama’s other dramatic uses of executive power.
Salvatore Babones, Truthout: Tar sands, offshore oil, shale gas and coal mining: All this means carbon, and carbon of the worst kind. Every progressive should be in favor of eliminating the use of fossil fuels.
Judge Pens Plea to SCOTUS to Overturn His Own Landmark Voter ID Ruling
Ernest A. Canning and Brad Friedman, Truthout: Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner’s courageous reversal of hisCrawford v. Marion County Election Board opinion on photo ID voting laws in a recent dissent should convince the US Supreme Court that such laws are both unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Mass Murder by Botulism: Surge in Great Lakes Bird Deaths Driven by Invaders
Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News: The botulism bacterium is the most toxic natural substance on earth. Just one gram could kill off 2 million people. And for birds in the Great Lakes region, it is essentially just widespread food poisoning.
A Red Privatization Horror Story
The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Republicans don’t care about the damage privatization does to our society because privatization destroys the one thing standing between them and the total corporate takeover of our democracy: our government.
Long Sentences and No Federal Parole Deepen Crisis of Mass Incarceration
Jamila T. Davis, Jamila Davis’ Blog: Do the statistics correctly portray Americans to the world as the most dangerous country, filled with heathens who commit far more serious crimes than any other nation? Or is there another explanation for our country’s mass incarceration epidemic?
James Risen Prepared to “Pay Any Price” to Report on War on Terror Amid Crackdown on Whistle-Blowers
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: Veteran New York Times investigative reporter James Risen faces years in prison if he refuses to testify at the trial of a former CIA officer accused of giving him classified information. But he says it is a price he is willing to pay.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
In Wisconsin, Dark Money Got a Mining Company What It Wanted
Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica: An accidentally released court filing reveals how one company secretly gave money to a nonprofit that helped get favorable mining legislation passed.
Obamacare Helps Millions, but Per Capita Cost of Care Still Higher Than in Other Nations
Wendell Potter, The Center for Public Integrity: Despite publicly touted successes of the Affordable Care Act, the law falls short in many ways. While it is reducing the rate of uninsured Americans, it doesn’t get us anywhere close enough to the universal coverage that residents of other developed countries enjoy.
High-Level Donor Conference on Cholera in Haiti Fails to Secure Much Needed Funding
Jake Johnston, Center for Economic and Policy Research: Cholera, which scientific studies have found was introduced to Haiti by United Nations troops in 2010, has so far killed at least 8,614 and sickened more than 700,000. But international actors have failed to raise an adequate amount of funds to eradicate it.
BuzzFlash
Mainstream US Corporate Media Ignore Increased Fukushima Water Radioactivity
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: You have to go to The Japan Times to find out that this week’s Typhoon Phanfone caused a significant spike in the radioactive contamination of groundwater at Fukushima.
Rate of Mass Shootings Has Tripled Since 2011, Harvard Research Shows
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Wealth Gap: Just $3,650 Puts a Person in Top Half of Wealth in the World
Read the Article at Jonathan Turley’s Blog
Hong Kong Police Beat Protester in Violent Crackdown on Demonstrations
Read the Article at The Guardian
Joe Biden: The Tea Party Is Crazy
CIA Study: Arming Rebels Rarely Works
Read the Article at The New York Times
Supreme Court Issues a Qualified Reversal of Devastating Texas Abortion Clinic Law
Read the Article at The MaddowBlog
Orphaned by Deportation: The Crisis of Children Left Behind
Read the Article at The Guardian
Spirit In Action 