Adam Hudson, Truthout: As San Francisco rents continue to rise and gentrification spreads, unscrupulous landlords are using new tactics to evict tenants from affordable housing, including bullying residents, going “out of business” and misusing zoning laws.

The Increasing Concentration of Capital Precludes Democracy

Tariq Ali, Verso Books: The contradiction between the dense concentration of capital and the needs of a majority of the population is becoming explosive. But the hollowing out of democracy is not a process that can be reversed by parliamentary decree alone.

Read the Excerpt

UN Security Council: Right Venue for Iran Deal, Right Venue for Israel-Palestine

Robert Naiman, Truthout: The Netanyahu lobby has too much power in Washington for DC to be the center of a resolution to the conflict. That is precisely why the Netanyahu lobby has insisted that Washington must be the center of Israel-Palestine diplomacy.

Read the Article

Women Up in Arms: Zapatistas and Rojava Kurds Embrace a New Gender Politics

Charlotte María Sáenz, Other Worlds: Women are increasingly represented on governing councils and active in the armed ranks of resistance groups, but the real revolution is seen within the domestic sphere, where caring for children, health and home are shared labor between men and women.

Read the Article

Richard Falk on ISIS and Islamic “Essentialism”

Dan Falcone, Truthout: The international law and foreign relations scholar deconstructs “essentialism”: right-wing political commentators’ attribution of recent events in the Middle East, such as the ISIS beheadings or the destruction of Assyrian artifacts in the Mosul Museum in Iraq, to the essential character of Islam.

Read the Interview

Joseph Stiglitz on the Trans-Pacific Partnership: “This Is A Big Deal”

Alexandros Orphanides, In These Times: Proponents of the TPP argue that the agreement will encourage global economic integration, increase US competitiveness in a “dynamic Asia region” and stimulate political reform leading to more open markets. All this, they claim, will result in better jobs, wages and products.

Read the Article

Consumers Getting “Skinned” by Health Insurers

Wendell Potter, Center for Public Integrity: Conventional wisdom holds that consumer-driven health care has contributed to a slowing in the rate of medical inflation. It also undoubtedly has contributed to a very troubling phenomenon: people with health insurance who are no longer getting the care they need.

Read the Article

Why Did Miriam Carey Die After Wrong Car Move at White House Checkpoint?

Amy Goodman and Aaron Maté, Democracy Now!: As new details have emerged about two Secret Service agents accused of drunk driving into a White House security barricade, we look back to another Secret Service scandal – the shooting of Miriam Carey on October 3, 2013.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Guiding Obama Into Global Make-Believe

Ray McGovern, Consortium News: This US pattern of exaggeration – making scary claims about Ukraine without releasing supporting evidence – has even begun to erode the unity of the NATO alliance, where Germany is openly criticizing the Obama administration’s heavy-handed use of propaganda against Russia.

Read the Article

Edison’s Bright Idea

Emily Schwartz Greco, OtherWords: It could take years to restore the equilibrium Big Oil banked on just a year ago. In the meantime, disruptive energy innovations will keep reducing and displacing demand for fossil fuels, and governments will step up green-energy mandates.

Read the Article

Science Denier Ted Cruz Doesn’t Understand NASA’s Core Mission at All

Steve Williams, Care2: Putting science-denier Senator Ted Cruz in charge of NASA’s funding oversight was never going to go well. Last week the Republican lawmaker really began flexing his muscles, claiming that NASA should focus only on space exploration and stop looking at more earthly matters.

Read the Article

The Brutal Winter That Wasn’t

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: People like Senator Jim Inhofe, America’s climate change-denier-in-chief, would tell you that this winter was proof that climate change and global warming are a big joke. But here’s the thing: In most of United States, this winter was not cold.

Read the Article

Fitness Devices Make it Harder to Lie to Ourselves

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: You might say that the truth will show up on the scale and your waistline eventually. Yes, but that’s too future-oriented. You need to guilt-trip yourself in the here and now.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

Rick Scott’s Ban on State Officials Acknowledging Global Warming Imperils Florida

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Although Florida’s coast is in danger of permanent flooding due to global warming, Governor Rick Scott has reportedly issued a gag order on state officials, prohibiting them from even mentioning climate change.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Community Rights vs. Corporate Rights: Citizens Fight for Home Rule Against Fracking and Pipelines

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

UN Panel to Consider US “Failure” to Clear Up Racial Murders of Civil Rights Era

Read the Article at The Guardian

Charles P. Pierce: There Is No Republican Middle

Read the Article at Esquire

Black Women’s Lives Matter: A Chant Less Often Heard

Read the Article at Ravishly

We’re Pumping So Much Groundwater That It’s Causing the Oceans to Rise

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Obama Proposes Mandatory Voting, Says it Would Be “Transformative”

Read the Article at ABC News

The Unbearable Cruelty of the GOP Budget

Read the Article at Reverb Press

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February 23, 2015
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Truthout Daily Digest | Sunday, February 21,2015

I read the article in the Buzzflash section below that is the latest in the witch-hunt propaganda against the anti-vaccine movement. I’m disturbed by the repetitive propaganda vilifying people who have concerns without ever once addressing those valid concerns.

If I could find documentation that toxic preservatives had been completely removed and banned legally from being used in vaccine preparation- I would be overjoyed.

The dangers the pro-vaccine propaganda discuss are serious. I’m sure every educated parent who avoids vaccines due to things like thimerosal (because mercury is a well documented neurotoxin that should never be injected into children! ) is losing sleep and sick with stress over such a heart and gut wrenching choice.

If we weren’t being treated as slaves to the corporations and the 1% it would be self evident that such pertinent information as to the formulation and regulation of vaccine manufacturing should be in EVERY article about the subject.

I personally believe that people with the genetic basis for autism are often more sensitive to toxic exposure. This would explain the correlation that the pro vaccine propaganda say is not causative.

It doesn’t matter if the toxics used in vaccine formulas specifically “cause autism”. The significant point is that there is no good reason to endanger children by exposing them to known neurotoxins at such fragile ages.

We can use other less toxic preservatives! Why is that not obvious?

If we as a society decided collectively that mandatory vaccination was necessary then the first order of business should be to ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that the formulation and regulation of their manufacture were absolutely safe.

Which the laws that say parents cannot sue manufacturers for damages when children are harmed make very clear is NOT the case.

We have, as our Constitution makes clear, certain inalienable rights. Even had the U.S. Constitution never been written, all human beings still would have these rights. It’s instinctual even in single celled organisms to avoid harm to the self. Most animals, including humans, will also fight to prevent harm to their children.

It’s unconscionable to override this for profit.

I hope this issue, like the issues of corruption, money controlling politics, GMO’S and other clean food issues, can unite us. We do have much in common across the heavily programmed boundaries that supposedly divide all Americans into two sheeplike herds ever butting heads.

In the end we are all human beings. We have basically the same needs. We have more in common than different-even two people who appear incredibly different.

If we could just let go of fear, anger and hatred. If we could just open our hearts to one another, feel one another’s struggles and difficulty. We could move beyond fake teams to genuine caring and understanding. Then, together, we would be unstoppable.

I know “American Exceptionalism” is bunk. We are not somehow born special. Much of what makes our country great comes from the mixture. It comes from people of all different countries, races, religions and worldviews finding ways to work together and solve problems effectively. We have done this in no small part by overcoming the fears and hatreds that could divide us.

The public health problems caused by infectious diseases will never be solved by force. They cannot be solved by crushing some to benefit others. They must be solved by making people accountable.

If corporations CEO’s are held personally accountable for harm due to their negligence, if corporations are held financially accountable for harm their products cause then we can expect products to be safer.

If governments want to mandate vaccination then they must also mandate vaccine safety.

And once those necessary steps are accomplished only then is it reasonable to hold individuals and families accountable for their choices in regard to vaccination.

I don’t think many people would choose to avoid vaccination unless it was a medical issue, or a serious conflict with their religious beliefs-IF the vaccines were guaranteed to be safe.

Blessings,
ohnwentsya

Evaluating Police Psychology: Who Passes the Test?

Candice Bernd, Truthout: With no national standards for screening police applicants, specialized psychologists may rely on tests unfocused on predicting aggression, and incumbent officers’ personality profiles are not typically re-evaluated post-hire. Meanwhile, the mental and emotional consequences of policing leave entire communities with deep psychological trauma.

Read the Article

Nancy J. Altman: Expand Social Security Now

Mark Karlin, Truthout: Nancy J. Altman, co-founder of the group Social Security Works, debunks many myths about Social Security and calls for its expansion in a Truthout interview.

Read the Interview

Central America “Aid” Won’t Slow Migration

Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, Truthout: The US government’s new aid plan for Central America will only deepen the economic and human rights crises that led refugees to flee in 2014.

Read the Article

Happy Birthday RW Johnson! A Legacy

Kathleen Sharp, Truthout: There are too many similarities between the heyday of quack remedies and today‘s crisis in Big Pharma.

Read the Article

Profiles in Courage: The 38 Democrats Who Publicly Broke With Netanyahu’s War Polemic

Robert Naiman, Truthout: Proposals for action that the right-wing Israeli government might disapprove of have generally had about the same effect on Democrats as proposals for action that the National Rifle Association might disapprove of. In such a context, the Democrats who have so far distanced themselves from Benjamin Netanyahu are courageous.

Read the Article

Amy Goodman | As Extreme Cold Engulfs Eastern US, Fossil Fuel Mishaps Leave Disaster Areas on Fire

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: “Climate policy and energy policy are not usually discussed together in this country,” says Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International. “Climate change means that we need to transition away from fossil fuels, sooner rather than later.”

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

The Front Page Rule

Kathy Kelly, teleSUR: “As drone warfare proliferates, as the stings of the drone become more lethal and terrifying, the peace activists hold a newsworthy message. I’m glad CODEPINK members continually interrupt high-level hearings.”

Read the Article

Washington’s Prying Eyes

Kirsten Weld, North American Congress on Latin America: Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations about the NSA’s global surveillance practices sparked outrage around the world, but nowhere more than in Latin America, where US efforts to project its influence have long been concentrated.

Read the Article

When Your Armed Neighbor Comes Knocking

Mitchell Zimmerman, OtherWords: Craig Hicks, who murdered three Muslim-American students in Chapel Hill, carried one of his many guns to their door. What kind of country do we live in, where it’s legal for a man to bring a weapon to a noise complaint?

Read the Article

What Are We Doing to Our Children’s Brains?

Elizabeth Grossman, Ensia: The numbers are startling. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1.8 million more children in the US were diagnosed with developmental disabilities between 2006 and 2008 than a decade earlier. Environmental chemicals are wreaking havoc to last a lifetime.

Read the Article

Richard D. Wolff | Economic Update: Free Enterprise System Defects

Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This episode provides updates on Europeans’ struggles against austerity policies. We also respond to questions about how workers’ self-directed enterprises solve various problems, especially financing and uneven skill levels. Finally, we give an in-depth critical discussion of the “free enterprise” system.

Listen to the Audio Segment

BuzzFlash

Bill O’Reilly Accused of Falsely Claiming Heroic War Coverage

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: It should be no surprise that Bill O’Reilly – who was once a TV reporter and is now a bloviating television pundit espousing a caricature of jingoistic “Christian” virtues – is being accused of embellishing his war-reporting record.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Solar Industry Prepares for Battle Against Koch Brothers’ Front Groups

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle

Read the Article at The Intercept

As the Rich Get Richer, Unions Are Poised for Comeback

Read the Article at Bloomberg News

“Children Do Not Migrate – They Flee”: Striking Photos From Poverty-Ravaged Guatemala

Read the Article at Mother Jones

What the Anti-Vax Movement Doesn’t Tell You About Measles

Read the Article at The Nation

Rudy Giuliani: Obama Had White Mother, So I’m Not Racist

Read the Article at The New York Times

David Swanson: Where Do US War Dead Come From?

Read the Article at War Is A Crime

January 23, 2015
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Truthout Daily Digest | Wednesday, 21 January 2015

I’m glad Truthout chose to address the community college thing. It didn’t feel right or make sense that President Obama who is very educated and intelligent would propose a plan so poorly designed and thought out. I’m frankly tired of the moneyed monsters behind the scenes using Barack Obama as their tool. At least for me it’s fairly obvious when he is speaking from his own heart and mind and when he’s a mouthpiece. I’m in no doubt at all that HE knows-and that he uses his intelligence by purposefully making their plans and ideas as ridiculous as possible (“We tortured some folks”? You can’t seriously think a man that intelligent would say that -that way-if HE really believed in what he was supposedly defending or sweeping under the rug!)

I believe he is using their racism and superiority complex to drive the “hidden powers” agenda, actions and plans right into the public spotlight.

Of course plenty of die-hard Democrats will support whatever he proposed simply because ANYTHING has got to be better than what Boehner and friends are serving.

I realized something was odd about the community college thing when first my gut instincts rejected it without reason and second, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with a column about it by David Brooks, a conservative commentator in my local newspaper. I appreciate his writing but have never read a column I agreed with so fully.

I think issues like this highlight the fact that America has functioned as well as it has because the tug of war between left and right has often resulted in solutions that incorporated the best ideas from both sides in a compromise that all could accept.

Since the Republican party was taken over by extremists for whom compromise is a four letter word, we have lost that blessing. However, the right wing going insane didn’t suddenly make every supposedly left wing idea perfect. Like a bird, our country does need BOTH wings to fly.

One idea I, like many other liberals, can relate to from conservative views is the concern for invasive control tactics from government or corporations (more usually from corporations, enacted by government).

I see things being manipulated where there is no need. Much like the sovereignty conceding trade deals (NAFTA, CAFTA, TPP etc) and the obscene levels of surveillance, excessive control of community colleges seems to be another step on the stairway down to fascist totalitarian capitalism.

Perhaps I think too much, but it seems ever more apparent to me that the time has come for all aware Americans from all political philosophies to stow our differences and work together to stop the fascist oligarchy from destroying our country.

Surely we can all agree that freedom, real democracy, an environment and food that is safe and clean are required by us all?
ohnwentsya

Twenty Pounds of BS in a Ten-Pound Bag

William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: In his State of the Union speech, President Obama said we’ve “turned the page” on the economic wasteland created by our neocon/neoliberal brain trust in Washington. In reality, however, countless Americans are economically scared to death, and most of them are living paycheck to paycheck.

Read the Article

Trading Away Our Environmental Future: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Martha Baskin, Truthout: Although making sure trade deals don’t harm communities and the planet may not be a government priority yet, activists are convinced that if we can stop fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, it could mean an improvement for future trade negotiations.

Read the Article

Simon Johnson: GOP and Wall Street Say, “To Hell With Protecting the Public!”

Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: In the last election cycle, Wall Street banks and financial interests spent more than $1.2 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions. Their spending strategy appears to be working. Just last week, the House passed further legislation that would delay by two years some key provisions of Dodd-Frank.

Read the Interview

Dysfunctional Drones Underscore Mission Mess at Homeland Security

Tom Barry, Truthout: A new report confirms that the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection program is not clear about its mission, lacks any clear and pragmatic definition of what constitutes a secure border and cannot set realistic performance goals to measure its effectiveness.

Read the Article

The Trojan Horse of “Free” Community College

Adam Bessie, Truthout: Will the strings likely to be attached to President Obama’s plan for “free community college” fundamentally alter the nature of the institution? If open access is sacrificed, and high-stakes testing is instituted, the community college model may be changed for the worse.

Read the Article

Ralph Nader on What Was Missing in President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now!: Much of President Obama’s State of the Union address focused on the economy and efforts to bolster the middle class with a push for education, child care and tax breaks. But did he go far enough? Ralph Nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate, discusses the speech.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

The Myth of Obama Moving to the Left

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: The so-called “middle-class economics” espoused by President Obama in the State of the Union was, many decades ago, the conservative position here in the United States. So to say that Obama is moving to the left, as many Republicans claim, ignores our own history.

Read the Article

Inside the Uniform, Under the Hood, Longing for Change

Kathy Kelly, teleSUR: People in the United States must see every detainee in Guantánamo as human, someone to be called by name and not by a prison number. The cartoon versions of foreign policy handed to Americans, designating heroes and villains, create a dangerously under-educated public unable to engage in democratic decision-making.

Read the Article

The Astronomical Scale of Money in Politics

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Brennan Center for Justice: Since the Supreme Court issued theCitizens United ruling, it’s clear average Americans are not funding our elections. The major individuals driving political spending are the 1% of the 1%.

Read the Article

Seven Reproductive Rights Issues to Watch in 2015

Nina Martin, ProPublica: Changes for abortion, contraception and more top the agenda with Republicans in the majority in Congress and many state legislatures.

Read the Article

Boehner’s Constitution Read Should Only Be a Beginning

Robert Weiner and Autumn Kelly, The Hill: An informed electorate would create a more productive, representative government. Not reading the US Constitution is like asking coach to put you into the game when you haven’t studied the playbook.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

Why I Didn’t Watch the State of the Union

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: It is a mistake to expect deliverance from the outcome of an election or the fleeting promises contained in a speech.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

High Levels of Cancer-Causing Benzene Found in Public Water Supplies After Montana Pipeline Spill

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

Government Health-Care Website Quietly Sharing Personal Data

Read the Article at the Associated Press

Swing State Ohio Is Plunging Ever Deeper Into the Fossil Fuel and Nuke Abyss

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

France Unveils Raft of “Anti-Terrorism” Measures After Paris Attacks

Read the Article at AFP

Faced With Land Seizures, Defiant Nebraskans Vow to Halt Keystone XL

Read the Article at Common Dreams

The Secret History of the GOP’s New Abortion Ban

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Mike Huckabee’s Hashtag Should Be #Hypocrisy

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

December 22, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Truthout Daily Digest Sunday, 21 December 2014

While Congress Fails on Syringe Exchange Funding, Activism Fills the Gap

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: Congress once again failed to lift a ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs, despite overwhelming evidence that exchanging used needles for new ones can saves lives and millions of dollars in health care costs. Fortunately, activists on the ground have never waited for lawmakers to act.

Read the Article

Rory Fanning: “We Have to Make It Cool to Be a War Resister Again”

Joe Macarè, Truthout: Rory Fanning spoke to Truthout about his aims in writing Worth Fighting For: An Army Ranger’s Journey Out of the Military and Across America, the meaning of Pat Tillman and how to engage with war resisters in the military.

Read the Interview

Utah Land Defenders Stand Up to Dirty Politics

Anna Simonton, Oil Change International: The Uinta Basin region of Utah has transformed over the past decade to one in which drill rigs are more common than cattle herds, and methane emissions have degraded the air quality in this wilderness region to rival that of Los Angeles. Activists, however, are fighting back.

Read the Article

Ferguson Reverberates Around the World

Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report: The Ferguson protests seized the attention of people all over the world and gave them a sense of the unvarnished truth of Black American life.

Read the Article

Hollywood, the Police and the Poor

John Steppling, Truthout: Dan Gilroy’s new film Nightcrawleris garnering rave reviews and is indeed beautifully photographed, well-made and entertaining. But the reviews, like the movie itself, erase entire chunks of our society and its reality.

Read the Review

Truthout Interviews Michael Meurer on Torture Photos and Uruguay Thwarting Supply-Side Austerity Policies

Ted Asregadoo, Truthout: Truthout contributor Michael Meurer talks about the release of 2,000 photographs of the US torture of prisoners and the ways in which Uruguay has drawn neoliberal wrath for thwarting supply-side economics and corporate governance.

Watch the Video

Take the Chains Off: The Struggle for Racial Justice Continues

Nicholas Powers, The Indypendent: The state maintains law and order in an unequal society, so the contradictions roil it from inside. It must suppress the very people who are the source of its legitimacy, and it does this by shielding its own agents from public accountability while demonizing its victims.

Read the Article

The Unspeakable in Afghanistan

Pat Kennelly, World Beyond War: “I have heard ordinary Afghans whisper about Afghanistan as a failing state, even as the media has touted growth, development and democracy,” the author writes. If energies were focused on peacemaking, however, perhaps people could transform the Afghan state.

Read the Article

Why USAID Could Never Spark a Hip Hop Revolution in Cuba

Sujatha Fernandes, North American Congress on Latin America: “In a society shaped by successive generations of revolutionary projects, any attempt to engineer a US-affiliated movement from above is destined to be revealed for the farce that it is.”

Read the Article

Four Ways 2014 Was a Pivotal Year for the Internet

Timothy Karr, OtherWords: The internet’s fate feels distinctly uncertain as 2014 draws to a close. At stake is whether the internet remains a democratic, user-powered network – or falls under the control of a few powerful entities.

Read the Article

This week in Speakout:

Dr. James Zogby calls on Attorney General Eric Holder to stop racial profiling that results in deportations; the Military Religious Freedom Foundation demands Creech Air Force Base in Nevada remove the Bible from the POW table in its dining hall; Bruce Lesnick promotes a Bill of Rights for working people as the “top secret” solution to what ails the world; Halyna Mokrushyna reports back from a conference where Canadian academics discussed the origin of the Ukrainian crisis and the outlook for reconciliation; the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin lodged criminal complaints against former CIA head George Tenet, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other members of the administration of former US President George W. Bush; S. M. (Mike) Millercalls on Democrats, liberals and progressives to unite in order to win the 2016 election; theBrennan Center for Justice supports an amicus brief filed by the New York University School of Law which states the Fourth Amendment should apply to digital documents;Matt Peppe reports that Puerto Ricans demand the release of political prisoner Oscar López Rivera; Emanuel Garcia offers a new definition of torture; Ben Norton criticizes CNN for hiring Mark O’Mara, George Zimmerman’s defense attorney, who is now defending the actions of Darren Wilson; Sharon Adams points out that the CIA’s torture program resulted in unreliable information; Four Arrows discusses the American Psychological Association’s longstanding role in torture, eugenics and social control, and suggests a university boycott of the organization may be in order; Dr. Justin A. Frank notes the ugly underlying sadism in George W. Bush’s presidency; The BRussels Tribunal – led by two former UN Assistant Secretaries-General, UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq, Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday – argues for accountability for torture; Roger Annis excoriates mainstream coverage of the crisis in Ukraine; and more.

Read the Articles

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Conservatives’ Sick Reaction to NYPD Officer Killings: Blame Obama and de Blasio

Read the Article at Salon

Panel Advises Against Punishing CIA for Accessing Senate Intelligence Computers

Read the Article at Crooks and Liars

In Midst of Holiday Shopping, Protesters Disrupt Business-as-Usual to Declare “Black Lives Matter”

Read the Article at Common Dreams

Fears Build as CIA’s “Ghost Prisoners” Vanish Into Afghan Jails

Read the Article at The Guardian

Foes of Unions Try Their Luck in County Laws

Read the Article at The New York Times

At Least 100,000 Prisoners Are Locked Up for Low-Level Drug Offenses – Obama Just Gave Relief to Eight

Read the Article at The Washington Post

How ALEC Plans to Undo Minimum Wage Increases in 2015

Read the Article at RH Reality Check

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November 22, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Truthout Daily Digest Friday, 21 November 2014

School of the Americas Morphs Into US Training Industrial Complex

JP Sottile, Truthout: Twenty-five years after an infamous massacre of six Jesuits at the hands of its graduates, activists still demand closure of School of the Americas (SOA). Yet, since SOA was “officially closed” and reopened the next year with a new name, a worldwide US network of training that amounts to a vast satellite campus system of military influence and power is the “new” School of the Americas.

Read the Article

Obama Announces Order Allowing Millions of Undocumented Immigrants Safety, for Now

Bethania Palma Markus, Truthout: President Obama announced Thursday he’s issuing an executive order that will allow some 5.2 million immigrants the right to live and work legally in the United States by expanding a program and extending protections to parents with children who are US citizens or green card holders.

Read the Article

Utah Tries Where Congress Fails to Keep NSA Within Constitution

Michael Boldin, Truthout: A Utah state representative is fed up with waiting for Congress to stop NSA snooping and is pushing a bill to halt operations at its recently opened Bluffdale facility by cutting off water.

Read the Article

On Modernizing the US Nuclear Arsenal

David Krieger, Truthout: Why modernize the US nuclear arsenal? The US government should instead fulfill its legal obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and end the nuclear weapons era through diplomacy and negotiations.

Read the Article

Chief Tax-Dodging Officers

Scott Klinger and Sarah Anderson, OtherWords: Hiding profits in tax havens is one of the most common ways large corporations avoid paying their fair share to the IRS. And indeed, the 31 firms who paid their CEOs more than Uncle Sam operate 237 subsidiaries in low- or no-tax zones. But that’s just one tax-dodging trick.

Read the Article

Edelman TransCanada Leak: Aggressive PR for Keystone Alternative

Lisa Graves, PR Watch: Leaked documents expose a plan by Edelman for TransCanada to launch an “aggressive” US-style politics PR campaign to persuade Canadians to support a Canada-based alternative to the stalled Keystone XL pipeline to get controversial tar sands oil to refineries in eastern Canada for export.

Read the Article

Elizabeth Warren: “Enough Is Enough” With Obama’s Wall Street Appointees

Richard Eskow, Campaign for America’s Future: Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been talking about President Obama’s economic appointees, and it sounds like she’s pretty fed up. The White House has begun blocking tax inversions and has publicly denounced the practice, but its position is undercut when it appoints someone like Antonio Weiss.

Read the Article

Fossil Free Canada Convergence Deepens an International Movement

Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence: Last weekend, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition hosted the first-ever Fossil Free Canada Convergence. Held at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal, the convergence brought together 80 youth organizers from around the country.

Read the Article

Secret Tapes Hint at Turmoil in New York Fed Team Monitoring JPMorgan

Jake Bernstein, ProPublica: Revelations of internal strife add new details to the summary of an investigation by the Federal Reserve Board’s inspector general into the New York Fed’s supervision of JPMorgan before the “London Whale” trading scandal.

Read the Article

Paul Krugman | Anxieties Over Interest Rates

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Let us celebrate the IMF’s willingness to look honestly at its own record and learn from it. Taking responsibility for your actions and statements is all too rare in modern economic discourse. The Fund, it turns out, is better than that, and deserves praise.

Read the Article

Latin America Moves Towards Decarbonizing the Economy

Fabiola Ortiz, Inter Press Service: When the advances made toward curbing global warming are analyzed in the first 12 days of December in Lima, during the 20th climate conference, Latin America will present some achievements, as well as the many challenges it faces in its “decarbonizing development.”

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash Commentary will return soon.

Kansas GOPer Wonders if Hispanic Majority Would Conduct “Ethnic Cleansing” in US

Read the Article at Right Wing Watch

Newtown Shooter’s History Reviewed in New Report

Read the Article at The Associated Press

GOPer Sees Obama Impeachment, Jail Time Over Executive Action

Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

Ten Fun Facts About the Student Debt Crisis

Read the Article at GenYize

Failing to Indict Darren Wilson Won’t End the Movement Against Police Violence

Read the Article at The Nation

We Just Had the Hottest October on Record

Read the Article at Mother Jones

The Undoing of Bill Cosby

Read the Article at Gawker

November 22, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

New post on HighHeartLife – November 17 through 21, 2014 Update | Denise le Fey

This is beautiful. Denise, like Aisha and others this week is so reassuring to me.

We are all experiencing varying levels of this newness, disorientation, feelings of struggle or discomfort. It’s not you-it’s not me-it really is the Spirit of the Age moving us all in new ways.

For me, it has been a lot of practice in simply accepting where I am in each moment; learning to laugh at the unkind, criminal and just plain mean instead of taking it personally; learning to flow with the energy moment to moment-ie eat when hungry, sleep when tired, rearrange to do list when sleeping overtakes the schedule for days in a row.

It’s like the energy these days is a teacher from a kung fu movie-if we don’t learn to be in the moment, it gets progressively more uncomfortable until we have that “aha!” moment.

But the best thing has been this growing awareness of all of you and our collective connection across all the old boundaries of time, distance, language, age, political and religious beliefs etc.

It feels like the collective consciousness of Earth is waking up. As I send my prayers, reiki and intentions out toward comfort, healing, safety and peace for all those in danger zones whether of war, illness or climate problems; others are also doing so and the energies take on a life and mission spiraling out from us, multiplying-and like the butterfly wings and the hurricane-creating something far beyond our individual abilities to do.

Conversely, I also feel the energy spiraling in from those who pray for healing for the ill, bringing me new hope for my own individual future.

As the old saying goes-The Goddess is alive, and magic is afoot!;-)
Blessings to you all,
ohnwentsya

November 17 through 21, 2014 Update

by Denise

A brief note about some of the different NEW energies I’ve felt from around November 17 through today, the 21st. The image I used above looks much like how it has felt to me; extra bright, intense and very different. Tomorrow the Sun enters Sagittarius and there’s a New Moon at 0° Sagittarius 7′ which […]

Truthout Daily Digest Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Gareth Porter | How a US and International Atomic Energy Agency Deception Haunts the Nuclear Talks

Gareth Porter, Truthout: In 2008, the Bush administration and a key IAEA official agreed on a strategy of misrepresenting Iran’s position on the authenticity of intelligence documents, which they used to establish an official narrative of Iran “stonewalling” the IAEA investigation. That narrative continues to shape Obama administration policy in the nuclear talks.

Read the Article

Racist Policing in the De Blasio Era: Bill Bratton’s Crusade to Save a Dying Brand

Nick Malinowski, Truthout: Is profiting from the criminalization of people of color racist, and is New York City Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton maintaining a debunked policing philosophy for personal financial gain?

Read the Article

“Suffered or Permitted to Work” – When Is a Worker an Employee?

Ellen Dannin, Truthout: In the first week of the Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 term lurks an easy-to-miss case. To miss it would be a mistake. Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Buskreveals the ugly side of business today.

Read the Article

We Want Them Alive: The Search for Mexico’s 43 Missing Students

Andalusia Knoll, Waging Nonviolence: The last time the group of missing students was seen was in the custody of Mexican municipal police forces, who detained them after opening fire on their caravan in an attack that killed six people and injured dozens more.

Read the Article

Israel-Palestine: Untying the Knot

L. Michael Hager, Truthout: The Israeli occupation and settlement expansion, the Gaza cease-fire, reconstruction, PLO-Hamas reconciliation and Palestinian statehood are entangled issues. To untie the knot that lies at the center, the United States must use its military aid to Israel and Egypt as a bargaining chip.

Read the Article

The Lost Generation

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Thanks to our nation’s addiction to 34 years of failed Reaganomics and to devastating libertarian extremist economic policies, the millennial generation is the United States’ lost generation. Millennials have seen up close and personal how libertarian economics and unregulated capitalism have brought our nation’s economy to its knees.

Read the Article

Suit Against Kern County Schools Alleges Disproportionate Discipline for Students of Color

Susan Ferriss, The Center for Public Integrity: A sweeping lawsuit filed in Kern County, California, this month alleges that African-American and Latino high school students suffer discrimination from disciplinary practices that remove them at disproportionate rates from regular school and place them in inferior alternative settings.

Read the Article

Governor Brownback Outsourced Child Support Services to Donor

Mary Bottari and Jonas Persson, PR Watch: In March 2013, the Kansas Department of Children and Families announced that all child support services would be outsourced, and a request for proposal was issued. Not limited to enforcement, the contracts would include services connected to court petitioning, locating parents and establishing paternity.

Read the Article

Applauding Black Death in the Hour of Chaos

Mariame Kaba, Prison Culture: “I heard a 19-year-old young black man say that he wasn’t afraid to die for justice in Ferguson. Some in the assembled multiracial audience applauded. But what does it mean to be willing to die for a cause in a society that already considers you to be hyper-disposable?”

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Laura Flanders | New Factories Have Jobs You’d Really Want – and These Chicago Kids Are Skilling Up to Get Them

Laura Flanders, YES! Magazine: Manufacturing jobs are returning to the United States, but to fill them we’ll have to train a new generation of workers. That’s what this school is doing in a struggling neighborhood that once hosted the country’s biggest candy empires, as factories return.

Read the Article

Fighting the Last War: Will the War on Terror Be the Template for the Ebola Crisis?

Karen J. Greenberg, TomDispatch: These days, two “wars” are in the headlines: one against the marauding Islamic State and its new caliphate of terror carved out of parts of Iraq and Syria, the other against a marauding disease and potential pandemic, Ebola, spreading across West Africa.

Read the Article

On the News With Thom Hartmann: California’s Dwindling Water Supply Is Contaminated, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: The last thing Californians needed was to learn that some of their dwindling water supply has been contaminated; last week, a lab official pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering whether to extend Diablo Canyon’s operating license for another 20 years; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

BuzzFlash

Global Trade Pacts Now Limit US Consumer Food Information

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Public Citizen condemned a World Trade Organization ruling that would prohibit mandatory country of origin labeling on meat sold in the United States.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

In Ferguson, the Grand Jury Is Out and the Fix Is in

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Meet the Iraq War Truthers: Why They’re Convinced Bush Was Right on WMD

Read the Article at Salon

Ridiculous Pastor John Hagee: Ebola Is God’s Judgment on the US for Trying to “Divide Jerusalem”

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

How a SWAT Team Killed an Innocent Man Outside His Childhood Home

Read the Article at Salon

How Edward Snowden Changed Journalism

Read the Article at The New Yorker

Exxon: Destroying Planet Necessary to Relieve Global Poverty

Read the Article at EcoWatch

David Swanson | On Killing Trayvons

Read the Article at War Is A Crime

May 22, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Pow Wows.com newsletter Wednesday 21 May 2014

Below are excerpts of articles that have been published on Powwows.comover the last couple of weeks that you may have missed!

Be sure to check our site often for new articles!

Congratulations Diane Humetewa! Newest Member of the Federal Bench

You might remember we mentioned Diane Humetewa was nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the district of Arizona as a federal judge. It was announced May 14, 2014, that the United States Senate confirmed her to serve on the federal bench! Humetewa is the first American Indian woman to serve in the federal judiciary.

The National Congress of American Indians released a statement.
The Honorable Humetewa is impeccably qualified for her new role. She has practiced law in federal courts for over a decade – as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, as Assistant U.S. Attorney, and as the U.S. Attorney for Arizona – and is experienced in a wide array of complex proceedings, hearings, and cases.

Pow Wow Calendar Update – May 15, 2014

Check the list below for the latest Pow Wows added to our calendar and ones coming up in the next couple of weeks!

Plan your Pow Wow trips!
Upcoming Pow Wow

40th Annual DE-UN-DA-GA Memorial Day Pow Wow
May 23 – May 26
7 Boy Scout Lane, Carlton , PA – 16311

Memorial Dayz Pow Wow has been postponed
May 24 – May 24
The Mall, Washington D.C., D.C. – 20024

Congratulations to all the New Native Graduates!

Lots of folks were busy attending graduation ceremonies this past weekend, for both high school and college. Good job everyone!

I saw this great photo by Jack Ahasteen, the man behind Navajo Times’ editorial cartoons, and thought it would be an appropriate sentiment to share.

Chickasaw Nation Showcases Thriving Culture Online

The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma is proud of its heritage and hopes to increase awareness of their culture and legacy by producing high-quality videos for the public to view. Chickasaw.tv is where the Chickasaw Nation’s past and present come together. Take a look below at some of the talented members of this nation.

Jeremy Wallace is a Chickasaw drummer, singer and stomp dancer. During his performances, Jeremy’s connection to his ancestors and the Creator become palpable, as he honors his Chickasaw heritage through song and dance.

Videos from the 43rd Annual Stanford Pow Wow

Our friend Charlie Ballard hit the pow wow trail again and attended the 43rd Annual Stanford Pow Wow this past weekend. The Stanford Pow Wow is one of the largest student-run pow wows in the United States.

It looks like he had a lot of fun taking in the sights, the sounds and the frybread! Check out some of his videos below:
Interview with Southern Emcee Tom Phillips. He has the perfect emcee voice!

Gathering of Nations Midnight Special – Smoke Dance Competition

Were you lucky enough to watch the Smoke Dance Competition at Gathering of Nations this year? If not we’ve got you covered. Check out some highlights from the Friday Midnight Special with singer Sheldon Sundown.
Men and Women together:

Waskewitch Family, Gathering of Nations Hand Drum Singing – Pow Wow Video of the Week

Waskewitch Family, GON 2014 hand drum singing

Watch the video!

Third Native American Issue from Sooner Spectator Released

I met some really great people during my years at the University of Oklahoma. It was wonderful to have such a strong Native American community there as well. That’s why it makes me happy to see that OU is recognizing those strong contributions our fellow Native students made to the campus.NDNSports has a great write up of the latest release of the Sooner Spectator which features a 16-page section on key student-athletes who have helped enhance the tradition and history that Natives have established there over the last 108 years.

“Native Americans have played such a significant role in so many aspects of campus life at the University of Oklahoma. They are an essential part of the fabric that is OU and OU athletics,” said Jay C. Upchurch, editor of Sooner Spectator. “Looking back at the history of OU football, Natives have been there basically every step of the way — helping build a tradition that many believe is the greatest in college athletics.”

Overcrowding An Issue at Pow Wows?

There’s no doubt about, Gathering of Nations is one of the most anticipated Pow Wows each year with representatives from over 500 nations attending the event. According to tourism statistics in New Mexico it’s the 2nd largest event in the state, right behind the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

In its 31st year, the pow wow was examined for safety issues with reports of at least 2,000 dancers on the floor during grand entry. Local TV reporters from KRQE TV took a closer look at the concern.

Natives Fight Back: Siouxper SOBER

In case you missed it last week, University of North Dakota (UND) students came under fire for creating some ignorant party t-shirts that proclaimed they were“Siouxper Drunk”. The t-shirts show a version of the old UND mascot (Fighting Sioux) with a beer bong in his mouth. This led to outrage, protests and heated arguments on social media.

If you want to order a t-shirt follow the link for Pow Wow Jamz. And if you want to, there’s also a new group you can join on Facebook called#SiouxperSOBER Natives.

Have You Seen the Lakota Bears?

Back in 2011, 20 episodes of The Berenstain Bears series were dubbed with the Lakota language and began airing on public television in North and South Dakota under the title Mat?ó Waú?šila Thiwáhe (“The Compassionate Bear Family”). The Lakota Berenstain Bears Project is a joint venture of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Lakota Language Consortium, with the goal of bringing the Lakota language to television sets across Indian Country

My little guy watched a whole episode, not even caring that it was a language he didn’t understand. Too bad they don’t have a Comanche version! What other languages would you like to see the series dubbed with?

The first episode is “Trouble At School: Owáyawa-ta Wóiyotiyekiye” Watch the full episode below:

Life of a Pow Wow Singer

This upcoming Summer, many pow wow singers will be hitting the road. Our friend Charlie Ballard recently sat down with Manuel Lieras to get an inside peek at life on the pow wow trail with one of the many singers everyone will be seeing this 2014 season.

CB: Please introduce yourself – name, tribe, where you from, schooling/education, age, horoscope sign, dating status, family members.
ML: Manuel “Manny” Lieras. I’m Diné and Comanche, born and raised in San Diego, CA. I have a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from San Diego State University, turning 36 on May 29th, Gemini, Indian, married. I have a daughter named Joni who is 16 months and expecting a second child with my wife Yvonne Marshall in December.

Help Send the Sewam American Indian Dance group to France!

Eddie Madril, Anecita Hernandez, Michael Bercier and Sara Moncada are honored to be the first Native American Indigenous group to be invited to present at the Cultures of the World International Dance Festival in France. The festival has over a 40-year history of presenting cultures from around the world and has been awarded a non-governmental organization partnership with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, for the safeguard, development and promotion of traditional cultures around the world. Other groups in the 2014 program include Pampa y Huella from Argentina, Wadaiko Group Saidi from Japan, Baku Group of Azerbaijan and the Massai from Kenya to name a few.

While the festival provides housing and meals while there, the dancers are responsible for all travel and extras in getting their people there and back home.