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Truthout Daily Digest | Monday, 20 April 2015

Dahr Jamail | Gulf Victims Suing BP Disaster’s Compensation Czar

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: Five years after BP’s oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, those suffering physically and financially from it are suing Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney chosen by BP and the US government to administer compensation funds, alleging he misled claimants in order to limit BP’s financial liability.

Read the Article

Gulf Fishermen Still Struggling Five Years After the BP Spill

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: Five years after BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Truthout goes onboard a small fishing boat in the Gulf to find out how the catastrophic spill is still impacting families and the local economy.

Read the Article

The Canadian Ministry of “Truth”: “Reality Is Whatever We Say It Is”

Fred Guerin, Truthout: In George Orwell’s dystopian novel1984, the phrase “reality control” describes how the powerful create logic-denying, fact-free realities that happen to suit their interests. We now live in that world.

Read the Article

So Far, 2015 Is On Pace to Set Abortion Restriction Records

Katie Klabusich, Truthout: Only 12 percent of counties have an abortion provider, and state-level, anti-abortion provisions are being introduced at a record pace this year – 332 in 43 states. We are past the emergency point where every restrictive law costs people – especially the poor and already marginalized – their right to bodily autonomy.

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A Foreclosure Conveyor Belt: The Continuing Depopulation of Detroit

Laura Gottesdiener, TomDispatch: Detroit residents are fighting against the worst iniquity imaginable: a Detroit where once inhabited streets have been submerged in the silence of water retention ponds, where longtime residents have been scattered and displaced by the foreclosure conveyor belt.

Read the Article

Dean Baker | A Simple Progressive Economic Agenda for Hillary Clinton (or Anyone Else)

Dean Baker, Truthout: While many policies will be needed to improve the situation of the poor and middle class, there are three simple ones that could make a big difference: a more competitive dollar, a Federal Reserve Board committed to full employment and a financial transactions tax to rein in Wall Street.

Read the Article

This 4/20 Should Be a Wake-Up Call to End the Racist “War on Drugs”

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: The war on drugs decimates communities of color, breaks apart families and brings violence into already poverty-stricken neighborhoods. It also makes problems associated with drug abuse worse because it passes the buck on to a prison system that doesn’t know how to deal with addiction.

Read the Article

How the Federal Reserve Is Destroying Your Economic Future

Lynn Stuart Parramore, AlterNet: Economist Gerald Epstein and his colleague sought to find out who in the economy tends to benefit from the Fed’s actions. They conclude that wealthy Americans are the big winners from policies like quantitative easing, while the rest see little improvement in their economic lives.

Read the Interview

FBI Informant Exposes Sting Operation Targeting Innocent Americans in New(T)ERROR Documentary

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: A new film shines a bright light on the FBI’s shadowy use of informants in its counterterrorism sting operations. These undercover operatives are meant to root out would-be terrorists before they attack, but critics argue they often target the wrong people.

Watch the Video Interview and Read the Transcript

Protesters Bring Ongoing “Situation” to New FERC Chairman

Anne Meador, DC Media Group: At his first meeting as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Commissioner Norman Bay gave the cold shoulder to demonstrators who repeatedly interrupted him to protest what they say is FERC’s rubber-stamp approach to regulation.

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Climate Change Threatens More Than Two-Thirds of Rabbit Species

Katie Leach, The Conversation: Climate change will have major effects on the ecology and distribution of many animal species. Now new research suggests that rabbits will be particularly hard hit as climatic changes alter their habitat over the coming decades.

Read the Article

Strategies of the 1% Revealed

George Lakey, Waging Nonviolence: We often fail to notice the strategy game of the 1%. Knowing some of the favorite moves they make to achieve their goals will assist us as we stand up for justice, equality and life itself. Even in the United States, the 1% has lost some battles.

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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Workers Join the “Fight for $15” Movement, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: Thousands of workers across the United States took part in mass protests in more than 200 cities; in the European Union, regulators are actually standing up to corporate monopolies; in the richest nation on earth, the number of homeless children has grown by 60 percent in the last six years; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

BuzzFlash

Walmart Heir Does Not Deserve Assets It Would Take a Worker a Million Years to Earn

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Don’t be fooled by Walmart’s announcement that it is raising its lowest wage to $10 per hour for full-time workers by 2016.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Green Activist Killings Up by a Fifth

Read the Article at BBC

Another Fight for 15: A $15,000 Dividend for Every US Family

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Antarctica Blows Hot and Cold – for Now

Read the Article at Climate News Network

Ignoring the Terror Within

Read the Article at The Kansas City Star

Don’t Let Conservatives Continue to Ban and Censor Library Books

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

A City Goes Renewable, but Raises Questions About the Impact of Biomass Power

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

Undocumented Migrant Children Have Become Big Business for Extortionists

Read the Article at The New Yorker


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Truthout Daily Digest Thursday, 20 November 2014

Subways Are an NYPD Hotspot in de Blasio’s New York

Raven Rakia, Truthout: A boost in New York City’s subway arrests for minor violations such as dancing is putting the same people through the criminal justice system as did stop-and-frisk: young, black and Latino men.

Read the Article

George Lakoff | The Strict Father Is at the Core of Conservative Ideology and Values

George Lakoff, Truthout: In this excerpt from Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, George Lakoff explains how progressives can better express values that improve the common good – through political language that appeals to people’s better selves.

Read the Excerpt

Community Corrections: Profiteering, Corruption and Widening the Net

Kay Whitlock, Critical Mass Progress: How is it that, as a society, we have endorsed the idea that people in prison or under the control of “community corrections” should be seen as commodities for private, for-profit services that often rely upon quotas guaranteed by federal or state law, or written into contracts?

Read the Article

San Francisco Homeless Advocates to Public Transit Police: “Stop Criminalizing Homelessness”

Andrew Klein, Truthout: San Francisco homeless advocates are challenging a policy, implemented in July 2014, authorizing the police force of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to arrest individuals resting or sleeping against BART station walls.

Read the Article

G20 and Beyond: The Future Is Watching You

Niall McLaren, Truthout: The G20 summit meeting in Brisbane has two levels: the overt grandstanding and posturing that politicians love, and a deeper, far more sinister agenda.

Read the Article

The 2014 Midterm Elections, Incorporated

Ben Cohen, Truthout: In Washington, it doesn’t matter if you are a Republican, Democrat or independent: Money reigns supreme. During the last election, a number of global corporations contributed to both candidates in hotly contested Senate races. Corporations don’t really care who does their bidding.

Read the Article

Black Community Crisis: Police Violence in Brazil

Christen A. Smith, Truthout: November 20 is Brazil’s Black Consciousness Day. For a group of black mothers in Bahia, this year’s action will not be about traditional black political questions like affirmative action or identity politics, but about the crisis of lethal racial profiling by police.

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PolitiFact Left the House Without Its Pants On

Thom Hartmann, The Thom Hartmann Program: “Talking about the Keystone pipeline and the Koch brothers earlier this month, I said that, ‘The Kochs stand to make around $100 billion if the government approves the Keystone XL pipeline’… In all of its fact-checking and flaw detection, PolitiFact’s PunditFact missed the point that I was trying to make.”

Read the Article

Wall Street Journal Reports: Bank of North Dakota Outperforms Wall Street

Ellen Brown, The Web of Debt Blog: The Bank of North Dakota’s public banking model is simply more profitable and efficient than the private model. Profits, rather than being siphoned into offshore tax havens, are recycled back into the bank, the state and the community.

Read the Article

The Outpost That Doesn’t Exist in the Country You Can’t Locate

Nick Turse, TomDispatch: The United States has for more than a decade poured copious amounts of money, time and effort into making Chad a stable regional counterterrorism partner, sending troops there, training and equipping its army and looking the other way when its military employed child soldiers.

Read the Article

An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015

Brendan Fischer, PR Watch: The midterm elections may have given the embattled American Legislative Exchange Council a new lease on life. With Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles.

Read the Article

This Will Make You Think Twice About Getting That Manicure

Michelle Chen, The Nation: The materials used in salon treatments like perms and manicures are as dangerous as any industrial chemical. However, unlike industrial workplaces where protective equipment is often the norm, regulation remains a gray area in salons.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

Oil Company Tries to Shake Down California County for $1.2 Billion for Banning Fracking

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: When the votes are counted and public health and the earth’s future are “elected” over the toxic profits of one company, shouldn’t democracy prevail?

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

There Have Now Been More Than 90 School Shootings Since Sandy Hook

Read the Article at Salon

Ferguson and the “Us vs. Them” Illusion

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

How Police Use Military Tactics to Quash Dissent

Read the Article at AlterNet

Energy East: Big Oil’s New Keystone XL

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Elizabeth Warren Torches GOP on Trickle-Down Economics

Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

“Electoral Integrity Project” Report Ranks US 26th Among World Democracies

Read the Article at The Brad Blog

Occupy Madison’s Village of Tiny Houses for the Homeless Officially Open

Read the Article at The Cap Times


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Common Dreams Highlights Thursday, 20 November 2014

Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

News & Views | 11.20.14

Featured…

Ahead of Primetime Annoucement, Voices Urge Obama to ‘Go Big’ on Immigration
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/ahead-primetime-annoucement-voices-urge-obama-go-big-immigration

Headlines…

Kucinich Says Weary Nation ‘Must Not Cede to Forces of Destruction’
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/kucinich-says-weary-nation-must-not-cede-forces-destruction

‘Enough Is Enough’: Sen. Warren Condemns Obama’s Latest Wall Street Pick
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/enough-enough-sen-warren-condemns-obamas-latest-wall-street-pick

Small Wages, Huge Pollution: New Report Exposes Walmart’s Coal-Saturated Climate Destruction
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/small-wages-huge-pollution-new-report-exposes-walmarts-coal-saturated-climate

‘Shock’ As Global Arms Manufacturer Jockeys to Get Piece of UK’s Privatized Health System
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/shock-global-arms-manufacturer-jockeys-get-piece-uks-privatized-health-system

‘Resist Surveillance’: Human Rights Groups Launch Tool to Detect Spyware
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/20/resist-surveillance-human-rights-groups-launch-tool-detect-spyware

and more…

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Views…

William Greider: Should We Impeach Chief Justice John Roberts?
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/20/should-we-impeach-chief-justice-john-roberts

John R. MacArthur: How the New York Times Tries to Marginalize the Left
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/20/how-new-york-times-tries-marginalize-left

Robert C. Koehler: Ferguson and the ‘Us vs. Them’ Illusion
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/20/ferguson-and-us-vs-them-illusion

Kathy Kelly: ‘Uncomplicated’ in Afghanistan: On Health and Healing in a War-Torn Nation
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/20/uncomplicated-afghanistan-health-and-healing-war-torn-nation

Egberto Willies: The MayDay SuperPAC: A Lesson in Failure
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/20/mayday-superpac-lesson-failure

****************************************************

Newswire…

Government Accountability Project: Congressman Calls on President Obama to Pardon CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/20/congressman-calls-president-obama-pardon-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou

Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Walmart’s Dependency on Coal Responsible for 8 Million Tons of Carbon Pollution
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/20/walmarts-dependency-coal-responsible-8-million-tons-carbon-pollution

Latino Advocacy: Undocumented Leaders and Allies Host Watch Party for President’s Immigration Announcement
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/20/undocumented-leaders-and-allies-host-watch-party-presidents-immigration

and more…


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Truthout Daily Digest Monday, 20 October 2014

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Dahr Jamail | As Casualties Mount, Scientists Say Global Warming Has Been “Hugely Underestimated”

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: As the signs of runaway anthropogenic climate disruption continue to escalate, a new study reports that climate change is “worse than we thought” because it is happening “faster than we realized.”

Read the Article

The Evaporation of Democracy

Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli, Truthout: Democracy is evaporating. In our globalized world, new forms of colonization are emerging, and popular control over decisions that affect people’s freedom and well-being is becoming increasingly weaker. This can and must be stopped.

Read the Article

Documents Show US Siding With Israel in Death of Its Own Citizen

Jessica Lee, Truthout: Documents obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights show how the United States was complicit in hindering investigation of Israel’s execution of a US citizen and other crimes while halting the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a humanitarian relief effort.

Read the Article

Domestic Terrorism Allegations Appear to Be Used as War Propaganda

Alastair Sloan, Truthout: In the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, some terrorism investigations appear to be deliberate attempts to suggest domestic terror connections that will stimulate popular support for the war against Islamic State.

Read the Article

Dean Baker | Ebola Hysteria Fever: A Real Epidemic

Dean Baker, Truthout: Thus far, the Ebola virus has infected three people in the United States that we know of, however Ebola hysteria seems to have infected somewhere close to 300 million. There are reports of kids being pulled out of schools and even some school closings.

Read the Article

Dark Day for Democracy: SCOTUS Allows Racially Motivated Disenfranchisement of Texas Voters

Ernest A. Canning and Brad Friedman, The Brad Blog: As the plaintiffs in the otherwise successful challenge to Texas Republicans’ polling place photo ID restriction law pointed out during their emergency petition to the US Supreme Court earlier this week, it was the high court itself that gutted a central provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Read the Article

Edward Snowden and the Golden Age of Spying: An Interview With Laura Poitras

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: Director Laura Poitras, like reporter Glenn Greenwald, is now known almost as widely as Edward Snowden himself for helping facilitate his entry into the world. Her new film takes you back to June 2013 and locks you in that Hong Kong hotel room with Snowden for eight days that changed the world.

Read the Interview

Did Louisiana Attorney General Caldwell Miss the CDC Memo That Incineration Kills Ebola?

Julie Dermansky, DeSmogBlog: Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell got a temporary restraining order to stop the incinerated remains of Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s belongings from being disposed of in Louisiana.

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Code Black Alert: Slave Patrols Alive and Well Across the US

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Kevin Berends, Black Agenda Report: Understanding the history of policing in the US-African community is important to developing an analysis and the ability to predict whether this criminal justice system is salvageable or needs to be completely reimagined.

Read the Article

On the News With Thom Hartmann: The US Is Number One in Violence, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: Violence is one of the only reasons the United States finds itself at the top of any charts; many colleges around the country will take as much of their students’ money as they can get their hands on; the top 1% own half of all the world’s assets; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Threat of Ebola Highlights Problems in the US Public Health System

Emily Cerciello, Next New Deal: The second case of Ebola transmitted in the United States was confirmed in Texas recently. Even more frightening, perhaps, is the sequence of events leading up to the transmission and the many questions it generates about the preparedness of the country in responding to public health emergencies.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

Obama’s Drone Strike Threat to Jonas Brothers Remains Despicable After Four Years

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Celebrities come and go, but presidential attempts at reprehensible humor leave a foul aftertaste.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Pennsylvania Senate Stands Up to the NRA

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Lawsuits: Alabama Jailers Let Prisoners Die From Easily Treatable Illnesses to Save Money

Read the Article at Raw Story

Obama Could Reaffirm a Bush-Era Reading of a Treaty Which Would Allow Torture Overseas

Read the Article at The New York Times

Only 4 Percent of Drone Victims in Pakistan Named as Al-Qaeda Members

Read the Article at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

In Texas, It’s Easier to Buy an Assault Weapon Than to Vote

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

For Battered NFL Wives, a Message From the Cops and the League: Keep Quiet

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Matt Taibbi | The US Justice Divide: Why Crime and Punishment in Wall Street and Ferguson Are So Different

Read the Article at The Guardian


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Truthout Daily Digest Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and David Krieger | We Must End the Madness of Nuclear Weapons

Desmond Tutu and David Krieger, Truthout: The Republic of the Marshall Islands has courageously taken the nine nuclear weapons-wielding countries to the International Court of Justice. The country aims to enforce compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law – and to rally support for life on earth.

Read the Article

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the FCC’s Net Neutrality Proposal

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: All eyes were on the Federal Communications Commission last week as the agency proposed rules marking its third attempt at establishing net neutrality regulations. This is our chance to tell the government how to guarantee a free and open internet. Here’s a rundown of key issues so you can make your voice heard.

Read the Article

The Corporate Security State Is Shredding Our Constitution

Beatrice Edwards, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: No foreign terrorist shredded the Constitution, nor did we, as citizens, bankrupt the nation. However, powerful forces inside this country are doing that shredding – and intend to keep doing it. The real reason to be afraid is the unchecked rise of the Corporate Security State.

Read the Excerpt

The Greatest Modern Presidential Speech Turns 50

John de Graaf, Truthout: Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson chose not to believe Americans were condemned to “soulless wealth.” He elucidated a new ideal, “The Great Society,” valuing quality of life above quantity of stuff.

Read the Article

How The War on Workers Is Changing

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: While the war on workers has been eating away at the income of working-class Americans, its ultimate goal is to turn the nation’s activist, working middle class into a disempowered, working poor class. To do that, the forces behind the War on Workers have to shift their focus to the state level.

Read the Article

Under the Surface: Fracking Wastewater Proves Devastating to Mayflies

Roger Drouin, Truthout: Even highly diluted levels of fracking wastewater could have a deadly effect on mayflies, the fragile and beautiful insects long-considered a key indicator of stream health, according to a study by Pennsylvania-based Stroud Water Research Center.

Read the Article

Oligarchy: As American as Poisoned Apple Pie

Rivera Sun, Truthout: The current struggle between democracy and oligarchy in the United States traces its roots back to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention where the wealthy elite pulled off a counter-revolutionary coup to stifle democracy.

Read the Article

How a “New Secessionist” Movement Is Threatening to Worsen School Segregation and Widen Inequalities

Susan Eaton, The Nation: Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, new breakaway districts of whiter, wealthier students threaten to exacerbate resource disparities between wealthy and poor communities and sweep away any remnants of desegregation.

Read the Article

On the News With Thom Hartmann: Net Neutrality Is Hanging by the Thinnest of Threads, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: Net neutrality may be hanging on by the thinnest of threads; the Fight for 15 wave hits another major city; the US ranks number one in how badly we treat our nation’s new mothers; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Trancript

Don’t Set Back the Clock on Juvenile Parole

Jean Trounstine, Jean Trounstine’s Blog: Massachusetts is in for some difficult years of litigation if it follows the path of Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, who filed a bill setting a minimum sentence of 35 years before any juvenile convicted of first-degree murder would be eligible for parole.

Read the Article

Paul Krugman | When Government Intervention Works

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Government intervention has been a big success. Many fisheries have rebounded, to the benefit of both fishers and consumers. Fighting climate change isn’t really all that different from saving fisheries; if we ever get around to doing the obvious, it will be easier and more successful than anyone now expects.

Read the Article

Rebecca Solnit | Feminism Has Just Started (and It’s Not Stopping Now)

Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch: Feminism is an endeavor to change something very old, widespread and deeply rooted in many, perhaps most, cultures around the world. It aims to change innumerable institutions and most households on earth. And it aims to change our minds, where it all begins and ends.

Read the Excerpt

BuzzFlash

The Pyramid Scheme of the 1% Should Be Illegal

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the takeaway from a 1911 International Workers of the World poster illustrating the pyramid-wedding cake structure of workers generating wealth, but not partaking in it.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Eugene Robinson | Disgrace: Heads Need to Roll at the VA

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

A Rare Loss for the NRA

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Police Abuse Black Political Activist as He Moves Into His Own House

Read the Article at Raw Story

Glenn Beck Supporters Turn on Him After “Operation American Spring” Failure

Read the Article at BradBlog

Did Scientists Just Solve the Bee Collapse Mystery?

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Arizona Candidate Apologizes for “Most Mass Shooters Are Democrats” Remarks

Read the Article at Salon

The Politics of Climate Change This Summer Will Be Worse Than Obamacare’s

Read the Article at New York Magazine