When Facebook Is the Internet: Zero-Rating and the Global Net Neutrality Debate
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: With billions of people expected to come online for the first time in the next few years, zero-rating plans, which allow tech and telecom companies to pick and choose what mobile users can access, have huge implications for the future of the internet.
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US Shifts Blame to Afghan Government for Exploding Central Asian Opium Trade
Julio Sharp-Wasserman, Truthout: The US government, which fostered Afghanistan’s opium production in the 1980s, has responded to a report that business is booming – despite a more recent $7.6 billion US effort to quash it – by blaming the country’s government.
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Lessons on Mobilizing the Rising American Electorate
Eveline Shen, Truthout: Forward Together has been working with 150 organizations in a nationwide initiative called Strong Families to shift policy and culture so that all families – of every kind – can thrive. That has involved educating and mobilizing within historically marginalized communities for civic engagement.
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Senate Narrowly Rejects Keystone XL Amidst Protests by Climate Activists
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: The Keystone XL pipeline is a political football in Washington, but activists say it would make a devastating contribution to climate change.
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Walmart Workers Rally in Global Day of Action for Decent Work
John Logan, Truthout: Today, Walmart workers and their supporters in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, India, South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere are protesting for respect for freedom of association, living wages, consistent scheduling and employment security.
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Cultivating Climate Justice: Brazilian Workers Leading the Charge Toward Zero Waste
Antonia Bruno, Zero Waste World: The recycling workers of Brazil have long been a powerful force in protecting their communities and the climate. Now they are on the forefront of a nationwide movement for zero waste.
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We Need to Act Now to Save the Post Office
The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: One of those less well-known but incredibly important priorities for Congress is saving the US Postal Service from the Republicans who want to bankrupt and privatize it so they can give it to their billionaire buddies.
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Texas Regulators Sidestep Connection Between Fracking Industry and Earthquakes
Julie Dermansky, DeSmogBlog: New rules for Texas injection wastewater well operators offer no relief to people impacted by more than 30 earthquakes that hit Azle, Reno and Springtown almost a year ago. Seismic activity is not something the region is known for.
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Amending Colorado’s Constitution: Do Communities Have the Right to Clean Air and Water?
Ruthi Engelke, Occupy.com: A push to amend the Colorado Constitution grew out of attempts by municipalities to ban fracking in their communities but was expanded to include any laws that attempt to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens.
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G20 Climate Challenge Calls for a Rethink of Economics
Geoff Harcourt and Anne Junor, The Conversation: The key problem of our time is the possibility of pursuing three goals simultaneously: ecological sustainability, economic development and a more equitable distribution of wealth within and among nations.
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Return of the Ferguson War Zone? Missouri Enacts State of Emergency Ahead of Mike Brown Grand Jury
Amy Goodman and Aaron Maté, Democracy Now!: Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in advance of the grand jury’s pending decision in the Michael Brown shooting case. While state officials say they fear violence, protesters say they fear a return to the militarized crackdown that turned their community into a war zone.
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How Many Islamic State Fighters Are There?
Ray McGovern, Consortium News: If honest intelligence analysts are silenced, as Sam Adams was 47 years ago during the Vietnam War, they need to plumb their consciences and see if they have the guts to make public both the undercounting of enemy forces and the incentive given to their multiplication by further US military involvement.
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Spirit In Action 
Thank you, Sergio, for an interesting link and question. Yes, I have lots to say on this. There were some materials in the Russians press, although this information was diligently covered up and suppressed in the US and West in general.
Quote from the article in Voltairenet.org: “The State Department acknowledged that the crew of the destroyer USS Donald Cook has been gravely demoralized ever since their vessel was flown over in the Black Sea by a Russian Sukhoi-24 (Su-24) fighter jet which carried neither bombs nor missiles but only an electronic warfare device.
On 10 April 2014, the USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and on 12 April a Russian Su-24 tactical…