Top 10 Epic Reasons Why Americans Should Give a Sh*t About Voting
Victoria Collier and Ben-Zion Ptashnik, Truthout: Voting – or not voting – in some way impacts almost every aspect of our lives, including whom we can love, our bodies, our food, our air and water. Voting is important in spite of our fundamentally corrupt political system.
Mark Karlin, Truthout: Tom Engelhardt of TomDispatch discusses his new book, Shadow Government, about whether the surveillance state actually makes the United States more secure and how Washington exists in a post-legal world.
Smoke and Mirrors: Essential Questions About “Prison Reform”
Kay Whitlock and Nancy A. Heitzeg, Critical Mass Progress: We’re hearing that we’ve entered a new era of “bipartisan prison reform.” Don’t celebrate just yet, though. There is a “reform” agenda, to be sure, but what are the elements of that reform?
‘Tis the Season to Be Frightened
Brian Moench, Truthout: Ebola, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, valley fever, Lyme disease, hantavirus: Republican ideology created some of these threats in the first place, or managed to make others worse. The climate crisis, which Republicans dismiss en masse, is a key ingredient in all of them.
The 0.01 Percent’s “I Reap All” Accounts
Bob Lord, OtherWords: Multimillionaires and billionaires are shielding vast fortunes from taxation with monstrously huge IRAs. While the government sets limits on IRA contributions to curb this abuse, there are still more loopholes than restrictions.
What Would Republicans Do With a Senate Majority?
Robert Naiman, Truthout: Election fatigue can often foster election cynicism. Perhaps it would be useful for progressives to eavesdrop a bit on what Republicans are saying to other Republicans about what they should do with a majority in the Senate.
Green World Rising: A Call to Save the Earth From Climate Change
The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: The threat of climate change is very real, but we have the solutions, knowledge and ingenuity needed to save our planet; a new video talks about how we can put those solutions and that knowledge into action right now.
Arming the Warrior Cop: From Guns to Drones, Inside the Booming Business of Police Militarization
Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now!: Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer goes inside the corporations and government departments involved in enabling police departments to acquire anything from bayonets to semiautomatic rifles and drones.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
US Sends Planes Armed With Depleted Uranium to Middle East
David Swanson, War Is A Crime: Depleted Uranium (DU) is classed as a Group 1 Carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and evidence of health damage produced by its use is extensive. Yet the US Air Force says it is not halting its use of DU weapons, it has recently sent them to the Middle East and it is prepared to use them.
Voters Turned Away Because of Texas Photo ID Law
Staff, Brennan Center for Justice: Actual voters tell of the difficulties they’ve encountered at the polls. Texas failed these voters twice – first, by requiring identification they did not have, and second, by not training election officials to help them navigate the rules.
US Energy Policies Based on Inflated Fracking Predictions: Post Carbon Institute Report
Julie Dermansky, DeSmogBlog: A new report from the Post Carbon Institute shatters the government’s estimate of the potential productivity of shale regions in the United States. Four out of seven of the top shale regions have peaked and are now in a decline.
The Missing Women of Afghanistan: After 13 Years of War, the Rule of Men, Not Law, Prevails
Ann Jones, TomDispatch: The disconnect between Washington’s much-advertised support for women’s rights and its actual disdain for women was not lost on canny Afghans. From early on, they recognized that the Americans were hypocrites at heart.
Dean Baker | Defense Spending and Net Exports Spur Higher Than Expected Third-Quarter Growth
Dean Baker, Center for Economic Policy and Research: GDP grew at a higher than expected: 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter. Although there was a 16 percent increase in defense spending, health spending continues its slower path.
BuzzFlash
Christ Gets Kidnapped by Prosperity Theology
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: In an age when 95 percent of the nation’s economic gains since 2008 have gone to the top 1%, what could be more appropriate than a revisionist view of Christ as a promoter of greed?
The Act of Voting vs. the Controlling Interests of the US Empire
How Police Brutality Changed Me: “He Crushed His Knee Into My Neck. I Could Hardly Breathe”
50,000 Missing Georgia Voter-Registration Applications? Nothing to See Here
Read the Article at The Daily Beast
Lindsey Graham: White Men Will “Do Great” Under My Presidency
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
These Maps of California’s Water Shortage Are Terrifying
Read the Article at Mother Jones
When Did Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo Go to Medical School?
Read the Article at The Nation
Charles P. Pierce | The Democrats’ Hillary Clinton Problem
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