From the Concorde to Sci-Fi Climate Solutions
Almuth Ernsting, Truthout: Touting “sci-fi climate solutions” – untested technologies not really scalable to the dimensions of our climate change crisis – dangerously delays the day when we actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Remembering the Paris Commune: When Workers and Women Rose Up Against the Oligarchy
John Merriman, Basic Books: Many historians regard the Paris Commune as the precedent for subsequent uprisings against the plutocracy and ruling elite. Who were the Parisians who revolted against the ruling class ensconced in Versailles and suffered deadly retribution as a result?
First Anti-Islam March by Pegida Movement Fizzles in Denmark
Linda Pershing, Truthout: On January 19, 2015, supporters of the Pegida movement participated in their first Copenhagen rally, following earlier anti-Islam events in Dresden. In response, four times as many people showed up for an anti-Pegida rally to oppose their efforts.
Read the Article and View the Photos
Seeking Accountability: Palestine’s Recourse to the ICC
L. Michael Hager, Truthout: Impunity for Israeli war crimes encourages more gross violations of international law. Palestine’s application to the International Criminal Court is a welcome step toward accountability.
The Attack on Human Rights in Haiti: An Interview With Jackson Doliscar, Part II
Beverly Bell, Other Worlds: Community organizer and rights defender Jackson Doliscar speaks of the efforts of the Haitian government to silence advocates of human rights, land rights and housing rights. The Haitian government is becoming increasingly autocratic, ruling by decree.
Billionaires Won’t Be Happy Until the US Becomes Austerity-Ravaged Greece
The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Billionaires don’t need a social safety net, and they don’t care if working-class people are thrown onto the streets to starve. If anything, doing that provides them with cheaper and more desperate labor. The rich don’t want their not-so-hard earned money going to help others.
The Hunting Ground: Film Exposes How Colleges Cover Up Sexual Assault and Fail to Protect Students
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: Two recent court cases mark a rare example where students accused of sexual assault have actually faced punishment. The Hunting Groundshows how colleges and universities across the nation are covering up sexual assaults and failing to protect students from repeat offenders.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
After Four Decades With Roe, US Women Still Need Abortion Access and So Much More
Andrea Flynn and Shulie Eisen, Next New Deal: As economic inequality takes center stage in politics, it’s important to remember that reproductive justice and bodily autonomy are just as essential for secure lives.
Cuba and US Skirt Obstacles to Normalization of Ties
Patricia Grogg and Ivet González, Inter Press Service: The biggest discrepancies in the first meeting to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States, after more than half a century, were over the issue of human rights. What stood out in the talks, however, was a keen interest in forging ahead, in a process led by two women.
Jim Hightower, OtherWords: McDonald’s is in the hot seat and now faces upward of 100 federal charges of labor law violations for retaliating against workers seeking higher wages and the freedom to unionize without corporate retaliation.
Rory Fanning, Jacobin: As Vietnam taught us, if we want to build a successful antiwar movement, we have to engage the soldiers fighting the wars. American Sniper, if we take it seriously, might help us do just that.
Save Us From Washington’s Visionaries: In (Modest) Praise of a Comforting Mediocrity
Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch: As Obama and his team muddle toward their finish line, their achievements negligible, we might even express a modicum of gratitude. At least they managed to steer clear of truly epic disasters on the foreign policy front.
BuzzFlash
Disproportionate Emphasis on European and US Victimhood Is Racist
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: It is an injustice to confine the outpouring of public mourning for victims of violence to those of white European identity.
US Incarceration System Facilitates Breakdown of Society
Will the Obama Administration Finally Bring the CIA Torturers to Justice?
Read the Article at The Guardian
French Government Creates Bizarre Checklist That Is Islamophobic
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Something Really Really Terrible Is About to Happen to Our Coral
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Enbridge Gets Another Federal Tar Sands Crude Pipeline Permit as Senate Debates Keystone XL
Read the Article at DeSmogBlog
The Strange Case of Darren Wilson’s Mysterious Disappearing Duty Belt
Why This Baby’s Mom Is So Angry at the Anti-Vaxxers
Read the Article at The Washington Post
(I haven’t read this last article yet but I am disappointed in Truthout for joining the mainstream media in this latest crusade against the anti-vaccine movement. The problem with vaccines in my opinion is not the germs but the poisonous additives and preservatives like mercury-a well known cumulative neurotoxin. I like the idea of vaccinations but I do not appreciate the corporations making public health a cash cow at the expense of innocent children. This should not be a partisan issue with liberals joining the corporations side in mocking the anti-vaccine movement. That shows a disgusting lack of awareness and Orwellian mind programming.
ohnwentsya)
Spirit In Action 