Truthout Daily Digest Sunday, 30 November 2014

Soy: Industry’s Miracle Bean in Brazil

Santiago Navarro F., Renata Bessi and Translated by Miriam Taylor, Truthout: Soy was initially introduced to Brazil as part of a US military aid package. Today, its industrial cultivation results in a number of negative consequences, including deforestation and the expulsion of small-scale farmers from their land.

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Our Daily Poison: How Chemicals Have Contaminated the Food Chain

Marie-Monique Robin, The New Press: Our Daily Poisonexamines the origins of the modern chemical industry, from the epidemic of cancers and other diseases that exploded at the end of the 19th century to the idea of acceptable daily chemical intake.

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Racism and the Charter School Movement: Unveiling the Myths

Antonia Darder, Truthout: Rather than an oppressive and manipulative engine for capitalist accumulation, schools should function as centers of creativity and imagination where an ethos of democratic life is grounded upon cultural inclusiveness, social justice and economic democracy.

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Truthout Interviews JP Sottile on the School of the Americas 2.0

Ted Asregadoo, Truthout: JP Sottile discusses the rebranded School of the Americas, continued US military involvement in Central American conflicts and global military training with drug traffickers and terrorists replacing Communists.

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With Election Over, First Order of Business Is $450 Billion Corporate Tax Break

Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future: Every year Congress renews a package of “temporary” corporate tax breaks. Congress is working on this year’s extenders package, except this time it wants to make many of the tax breaks permanent.

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Coal’s Black Wind: Pregnant Women in Parts of India Advised to Stay Away

Lindsey Konkel, Environmental Health News: The poor pay the highest cost of India’s dependence on coal. Already burdened by chronic disease, poor nutrition and inadequate health care, they also are highly exposed to air and water pollution.

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Israeli, West Bank Arabs’ Divergent Lives Revealed in Olive Harvest

Daniella Cheslow, McClatchy Newspapers: The olive harvest reflects the growing disparities between Palestinians who live in the West Bank and their more prosperous brethren who hold Israeli citizenship and grapple with a divided loyalty to people and country.

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Obama: Don’t Sell Out the United States’ Women

Martha Burk, OtherWords: The Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated in secret. However, here’s what we do know: This so-called “partnership” is an insult to US workers, and it’s especially bad news for women.

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Justice Department Takes Steps to Reform Grant Program Incentives

Inimai M. Chettiar and Lauren-Brooke Eisen, Brennan Center for Justice: The Department of Justice has made some subtle but important changes to its largest grant program, the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, which improve the program’s transparency and accountability.

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This week in Speakout:

The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign, after hearing news of Marissa Alexander’s plea deal this week, vows to organize until she is free; Carmel Hannan details how Irish communities are taking to the streets to protest a new water tax, but it’s not just about water or austerity; Jason Cervone examines why rural Americans so often vote against their own self-interests; Collette Flanagan reflects on what it means to join a delegation of mothers who have lost children at the hands of the police; Dr. Hakim says both his Afghan and American friends wish for the Afghan conflict to be resolved, but not through expansive war; Michelle Corbin understands that what is happening in Ferguson is not only a personal question, but also a political and pedagogical challenge; Frank Seo argues that a new chapter for the immigrant rights movement is only just beginning; and more.

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BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Ferguson Protesters March to Governor’s Mansion; Officer Darren Wilson Resigns

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Ohio Republicans Push Law to Keep All Details of Executions Secret

Read the Article at The Guardian

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 2014 Is Shaping Up as the Hottest Year on Record

Read the Article at CNN

How to Deal With Wall Street and Income Inequality in One Fell Swoop

Read the Article at Salon

Barbed Wire and Tear Gas in Cairo as Protesters Rise After Mubarak Acquittal

Read the Article at Common Dreams

Faces of Part-Time Workers: Food Stamps and Multiple Low-Paid Jobs

Read the Article at The Guardian

Florida Homeless Program Uses Unpaid, Destitute Residents as Steady Labor Force, Revenue Source

Read the Article at the Tampa Bay Times

Truthout Daily Digest Friday, 28 November, 2014

A Year After Congressional Testimony, Drone Strike Victims Still Searching for Justice

Candice Bernd, Truthout: Despite a recent finding that fewer than 4 percent of drone strike casualties in Pakistan have been confirmed as members of al-Qaeda, critics fear the program will continue with impunity and even be boosted to combat the Islamic state.

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Marjorie Cohn | Prosecutor Manipulates Grand Jury Process to Shield Officer

Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: Robert McCulloch has a history of bias in favor of police involved in altercations with black men. But, ignoring the pleas of 7,000 residents in and near Ferguson who signed a petition, McCulloch refused to recuse himself in the Darren Wilson case.

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Deciphering 10(j) Injunctions at the National Labor Relations Board’s Website

Ellen Dannin, Truthout: The NLRB has launched a new website as part of an effort to beef up employee rights. But how many workers who need to know their rights can read and understand it?

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Native-American Youth Are in Crisis and Need Protection

Jessica Ramos, Care2: Centuries after the first pilgrims and Native Americans came together in peace to give thanks (so the story goes), Native-American youth have nothing close to peace. A new 120-page report from the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee screams that they are in crisis.

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Government Data Sharpens Focus on Crude-Oil Train Routes

Isaiah Thompson, ProPublica: An analysis of federal government data adds new details to what’s known about the routes taken by trains carrying crude oil. Local governments are often unaware of the potential dangers they face.

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Obama’s Immigration Action Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Diana Anahi Torres, OtherWords: Farmworkers don’t qualify for reprieve under President Obama’s recent executive action on deportation unless they’ve lived in the United States for five years and have kids who are US citizens or permanent residents with green cards.

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Asia Smiles for the Cameras

John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus: Washington needs to recognize that its Pacific pivot is adding insecurity to the region, not stability. With its arms sales and encouragement of ally assertiveness, the United States is bringing peace to the region just like the Colt .45 “Peacemaker” brought peace to the Wild West.

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GOP on Wrong Side of History on Immigration

Leo Gerard, Campaign for America’s Future: Suffering amnesia about their personal histories, nativist Republicans want to expel the 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants, the people who harvest the United States’ Thanksgiving vegetables and care for US toddlers and grannies.

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New Pope Can End Church Cover-Up of Child Abuse

Robert Weiner and Florian Prommer, Mass Live: Pope Francis has just announced he will be coming to the US next year for a conference on families. The new Pope is widely popular, but he and the Church must take stronger actions than ones to date on the victims and perpetrators of clerical child abuse.

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The Real Cost of Fracking: How the US Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our Families, Pets and Food

Allison Wilson, Independent Science News: Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald’s new book, The Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our Families, Pets, and Food describes the results of their research on fracking’s health impacts.

Read the Book Review

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Protesters Target Black Friday Sales in Ferguson

Read the Article at Reuters

Police Arrest 338 in LA: No Warnings, “Penned in,” Arrested, Protesters Say

Read the Article at the Los Angeles Times

Working for Walmart Is Even Worse Than You Think

Read the Article at AlterNet

Gunman Dead After Shooting Up Austin Police Headquarters

Read the Article at KXAN

Selma and Fruitvale Station Directors Lead Black Friday Protest Over Ferguson

Read the Article at The Guardian

Mexico’s President Aims to Strengthen Police After Students’ Abduction

Read the Article at The Wall Street Journal

At Home Legally – for Now

Read the Article at The Washington Post

YES! Magazine Highlights 28 November, 2014

SUBSCRIBE 11.28.2014

PEACE & JUSTICE PLANET NEW ECONOMY PEOPLE POWER HAPPINESS yesmagazine.org Police Violence Is Not Inevitable: Four Ways a California Police Chief Connected Cops With Communities “A critical look at any institution with as much power and authority invested in it as the police is probably a good thing.” READ MORE » Mentally Ill People Often Face Violence From Police—But These Cities Are Trying to Fix That Crisis Intervention Teams train police officers to understand mental illness without resorting to violence. READ MORE » “I’m Scared to Be a Black Male Walking Down the Street”: Seattle Teens on Why They Skipped School for a #Ferguson March “We all just left class. As soon as 11:00 came, we stood up and walked out of class. Together as one.” READ MORE » #Ferguson Thanksgiving: A Former Slave Proposed the Holiday 55 Years Before Lincoln. Why His Version Matters Today “For some, racial inequality and fear are raw realities every day, and anything inspiring in American history rings false and remote. For others, the call to reflect on injustice feels like a personal accusation. But we are caught in this history together.” READ MORE » Why It’s OK to Be Angry on Thanksgiving Quite often it is our darker side that illuminates the best part of us, that brings us to where we need to be. READ MORE » Photo Essay: At a Half-Mile-Long Table, Chefs, Farmers, and Volunteers Feed a Neighborhood for Free In St. Paul, Minnesota, artist Seitu Jones wanted to start a community-wide conversation about food access and food justice—and where better to talk than over a good meal? READ MORE » Undercover University: Palestinians Study Up in Israeli Prisons More than 40 percent of Palestinian males have spent time in Israeli prisons. The schools that operate within are increasingly important. READ MORE » When the City Turned Off Their Water, Detroit Residents and Groups Delivered Help Grassroots action has backed down the city’s aggressive water shutoffs. READ MORE »

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Truthout Daily Digest Thursday, 27 November 2014

Thanksgiving Day and the Powerful Play

William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: We live in a world of shrinking margins, of narrowing visions, a world ruled and ruined by fools. This is the fact of our time, and no one is going to fix it today. Tomorrow, perhaps, but in the meantime, hold close what you hold most dear, and give thanks for the chance of that holding.

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Thanksgiving and the Socialist Imaginary

Ben Agger, Truthout: Canadians can access socialist imaginary through the Canadian New Democratic Party; with a Democratic Party that has no vision of utopia, US Americans access socialist imaginary through Thanksgiving. Holidays bear utopia as the negation of present suffering, a political resource at a time when mainstream Democrats cannot out-right the right.

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Show Up on Thanksgiving or Get Fired

Jim Hightower, OtherWords: Most Americans will get a much-deserved break from work on Thanksgiving Day. But millions of others won’t. Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, Radio Shack, and other retailers are requiring their low-paid workers to put in a shift.

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Privateers Make a Water Grab

Ellen Dannin, Portside: Facing increasing opposition abroad over the past several decades, global water privatizers have begun to see US cities as expansion markets.

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Ferguson Thanksgiving: A Former Slave Proposed the Holiday 55 Years Before Lincoln. Why His Version Matters Today

Jedediah Purdy, YES! Magazine: For some, racial inequality and fear are raw realities every day, and anything inspiring in American history rings false and remote. For others, the call to reflect on injustice feels like a personal accusation. But we are caught in this history together.

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#Not1More Means Not One More

Carlos Garcia, Puente Movement: Our organizing is based in the idea that when you organize from below, defending the most vulnerable, you lift everyone else up with you. When the most stigmatized have their humanity recognized, everyone else’s expands as well.

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How ACA Fuels Corporatization of American Health Care

Dr. Philip Caper, Bangor Daily News: Patients are losing confidence in their doctors, while doctors are losing confidence in our ability to do the right thing for our patients. These trends are collateral damage caused by our increasingly corporatized, commodified and commercialized US health care “industry.”

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“Coercive Diplomacy” and the Failure of the Nuclear Negotiations

Gareth Porter, Middle East Eye: The US posture in talks with Iran has reflected the perspective of a dominant power accustomed to employing coercive power.

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The Second Term That Movements Build

Kate Arnoff, Waging Nonviolence: The work grassroots organizers have been doing to put pressure on the White House since well before the 2008 election is paying off.

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BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Mexican Activist Who Fed Train-Hopping Immigrants is Slain

Read the Article at the Los Angeles Times

Mass Imprisonment and Public Health

Read the Article at The New York Times

Video Shows Cleveland Officer Shooting 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice Within Seconds

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Lawmakers Urge Calm, Offer Few Policy Prescriptions in Wake of Ferguson

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

A New Business Strategy: Treating Employees Well

Read the Article at The Atlantic

Thomas Piketty Is Right: Income Inequality Is Holding Us Back

Read the Article at Salon

California Case Could Be a Pivotal Moment in Ending the War on Marijuana

Read the Article at MintPress News

Truthout Daily Digest Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Being Black: The Real Indictment in Ferguson and the USA

William C. Anderson, Truthout: Now that Darren Wilson has not been indicted, Black Americans have been reminded again that their lives are regarded as of little worth. However, the burden of what needs to be done to change this issue is not a Black problem.

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In New Gilded Age, Citizens’ Ballot Initiative Another Casualty of Citizens United Decision

Jeff Clements and Lee Ketelsen, Truthout: Massachusetts devised the citizens’ ballot initiative at the beginning of the last century to inject some democracy into then-plutocratic governance. It mostly worked until the advent of Citizens United.

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New York Fed, Goldman Sachs in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: The idea that Goldman Sachs’ decisions are driven by simple reputational considerations rather than a desire to comply is reinforced by the leakage of this story to Wall Street’s most friendly news outlet, The New York Times’ Dealbook, prior to Senate hearings on the Carmen Segarra tapes.

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Intelligence Questions

Ted Dreier, Truthout: The controversy over US spy agencies is a footnote to a larger intelligence question raised by the most influential and lasting achievement of human action – the permanent degradation of earth’s capacity to sustain life. Are we intelligent?

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The Games People Play: One Year After the Rise of the Maidan Movement in Ukraine

Yulia Malkina and Translated by Dmitriy Kolesnik: One year after mass protests erupted in Kiev’s Maidan Square, a Ukrainian commentator looks back on a protest movement ostensibly aimed against “corruption,” devoted to forging economic and political ties with the leading capitalist countries and ultimately dominated by right-wing nationalism.

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Can Democrats Set Out a New Path?

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Democrats must embrace a pro-government platform, not run away from it. If the Democratic Party is serious about taking back Washington in 2016, then it needs to embrace its base, and restore the US public’s faith in our government.

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Torture Report: Mark Udall’s Historic Moment to Rescue CIA Oversight

Robert Naiman, Truthout: In the struggle over the release of the CIA torture report, a litmus test of the ability and willingness of Congress to conduct any meaningful oversight of the CIA, outgoing Colorado Sen. Mark Udall may be the Senate Democrats’ last line of defense.

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Amy Goodman | “It Is Officially Open Season on Black Folks”: Legal Expert Decries Handling of Wilson Grand Jury

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: “I don’t think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence,” says Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is just back from Ferguson.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Bigger Health Care Providers Mean Bigger Profits, but Not Always Better Care

Emily Cerciello, Next New Deal: In 2002, only 22 percent of private physician practices were owned by hospitals. Today, this number has climbed to more than 50 percent, and 75 percent of newly hired physicians are entering the workforce as hospital employees.

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Obama’s Feet to the Fire? Not Likely, Not Ever

Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report: The lack of a Black political agenda will be all the more evident over the next two years. The plight of the undeserving Obama will be lamented even as life gets worse for the Black America he says doesn’t exist.

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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Walmart Is One of the World’s Biggest Consumers of Coal, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: According to a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Walmart is one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal; learning a second language is like bodybuilding for your brain; the Food and Drug Administration is tasked with ensuring the safety of what we put into our bodies, but it has no authority over most of the stuff we put on our skin; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Paul Krugman | Still Waiting for the Collapse

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: The collapse keeps not happening because the Fed is not a rogue trader and historical norms for interest rates aren’t relevant in a persistently depressed, deleveraging economy. But rather than acknowledge that they were wrong, billionaire traders continue to lash out and claim, “It’s all fake!”

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BuzzFlash

Darren Wilson Prosecutor Was Biased From the Get-Go in the Middle of a Racist Cauldron

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: US history can only be understood through the lens of racism, and it is within that context that Michael Brown was killed.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

The Police Have Choices; Why Do They So Often Choose So Poorly?

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

If You’re a Rotten Employer, the Internet Will Find You

Read the Article at Crooks & Liars

Warning to Ferguson Police: Protesters Win Millions for Police Misconduct

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Obama’s New Leader at the Pentagon Will Mean More War – Not Less

Read the Article at The Guardian

How to Talk About Climate Change on Thanksgiving

Read the Article at EcoWatch

Senate Torture Investigation Fails to Interview Key Torture Victims

Read the Article at Common Dreams

Darren Wilson Wasn’t Indicted – Society Was

Read the Article at The Daily Beast

Truthout Daily Digest Monday, 24 November 2014

Henry Giroux: Current “Reforms” Attempt to Drive Young People Out of Democracy

Camilla Croso, Latin-American Campaign for the Right to Education: In this interview, Henry Giroux talks about corporate interests in the privatization of education, attacks on the importance of schooling and the marginalization of youth under the current political and economic systems.

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Deforestation, “Development” Connected to Spread Ebola in West Africa

Jeff Conant, Truthout: Silas Siakor, director of Friends of the Earth Liberia, discusses the root causes of West Africa’s impoverishment and the complex relationship between disease, deforestation and development.

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The Craving for Democracy

Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli, Truthout: Craving real democracy, many people are unwilling to participate in an electoral game that does not provide any form of genuine popular control over decisions that affect people’s well-being and freedom.

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Obama Extends War in Afghanistan

Kathy Kelly, War Is a Crime: News agencies reported Saturday morning that weeks ago President Obama signed an order, kept secret until now, to authorize continuation of the Afghan war for at least another year. The order authorizes US air strikes “to support Afghan military operations in the country” and US ground troops to continue normal operations.

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Dean Baker | Seven Years After: Why This Recovery Is Still a Turkey

Dean Baker, Truthout: Economic policy making continues to be dominated by people who were unable to see an $8 trillion housing bubble. There is no reason to believe that these people have a better understanding of the economy todaythan they did seven years ago.

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Malarkey on the Potomac: Five Bedrock Washington Assumptions That Are Hot Air

Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch: People in Washington don’t have time for reality. They’re lost in a world of their own. Consider the following claims, each of which in Washington circles has attained quasi-canonical status. Subjected to even casual scrutiny, none of these claims will stand up.

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Are Killers Still in Charge of Our Health Care?

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Obamacare was a good start for reeling in for-profit insurance companies and their “profits over people” platform, but it’s not enough. No more Americans should die because of delayed treatments and denied doctors’ visits all done in the name of increased profits.

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Tough Lessons for Rahm

Sarah Karp, Catalyst-Chicago: Over the past decade, the number of black educators in Chicago’s public schools dropped precipitously. With his actions disproportionately affecting black teachers, that pattern continued during Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s time in office.

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Obama Refuses to Close Door on Torture

Faiza Patel, The Brennan Center for Justice: The brutal tactics employed by the United States after 9/11 have led many observers to question its commitment to postwar human rights treaties. Both allied and hostile nations have watched to see if Obama acknowledged that the United States is bound by global torture standards. His answer did not reassure them.

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Tallying Up Returns on Corporations’ Political Investments

Sue Sturgis, Facing South: The amount that the 200 most politically active corporations in the United States spent on federal lobbying and campaign contributions between 2007 and 2012, according to a new report from the Sunlight Foundation, titled “Fixed Fortunes”: $5.8 billion.

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Economic Update: Capitalism’s Personal Costs

Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This week’s episode provides updates on Italy’s general strike, opera economics, Miami baseball and Argentina loans as well as responses to listeners on the economics of US children and on a new political party.

Listen to the Radio Segment

On the News With Thom Hartmann: The Future of the Postal Service May Be in Jeopardy, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: If Congress refuses to act in the next month, the future of the United States Postal Service could be in jeopardy; about one out of every 30 kids in the United States is homeless; Walmart workers are preparing for their biggest Black Friday strike yet; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Upon News of Plea Deal, Activists Vow to Organize Until Marissa Alexander Is Free

Staff and Contributors, Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign: Marissa Alexander has chosen to accept a plea deal with the State of Florida. The plea deal includes time served (1,030 days), an additional 65 days in Duval County Jail which will begin today, and two years of house arrest while wearing a surveillance monitor.

Read the Press Release at Speakout

BuzzFlash

Without Systemic Change, This Single, College-Educated Mother Can’t Find a Living-Wage Job

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The devastating irony of changes to the US economic system is that they are being undertaken to worsen conditions for US workers, not to improve them.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Seven Candidates for Corporate Rip-Off of the Year

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Media Goes Wild Over Hagel Firing but Not Obama’s Secret Afghanistan Reversal

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Anonymous Targets Cleveland Police After 12-Year-Old’s Death

Read the Article at The Root

How Grassroots Efforts Against Fracking Are Succeeding

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

US Drone Strikes – The Facts on the Ground: 41 Men Targeted but 1,147 People Killed

Read the Article at The Guardian

DHS Set to Destroy Government-Wide Network Surveillance Records

Read the Article at Nextgov

Politicians Who Regulate Big Cable Invest in AT&T, Comcast and Verizon

Read the Article at Gizmodo

Common Dreams Highlights Monday, 24 November 2014

News & Views | 11.24.14 Featured… BREAKING: Ferguson Grand Jury Announcement Tonight http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/reports-ferguson-grand-jury-has-reached-decision-michael-brown-case Headlines… ‘Dropping Pretense of Democracy,’ Israel Advances Bill for Jewish Nation-State http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/dropping-pretense-democracy-israel-advances-bill-jewish-nation-state Chuck Hagel Resigns as Secretary of Defense http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/chuck-hagel-resigns-secretary-defense Senate Torture Investigation Fails to Interview Key Torture Victims http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/senate-torture-investigation-fails-interview-key-torture-victims To End Hunger, Empower Women: Study http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/end-hunger-empower-women-study Planet Already on ‘Unavoidable Course to Warming’: World Bank Report http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/planet-already-unavoidable-course-warming-world-bank-report and more… **************************************************** Views… Medea Benjamin: Hagel’s Departure Should Open Debate on Obama’s Wars http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/hagels-departure-should-open-debate-obamas-wars Marcy Wheeler: As Obama Embraces Multi-Fronted War, He Fires Chuck Hagel http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/obama-embraces-multi-fronted-war-he-fires-chuck-hagel Oscar Reyes: Rich Countries Pony Up (Some) for Climate Justice http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/rich-countries-pony-some-climate-justice Andrea Palframan: Can a First Nations-led Movement Stop Big Oil? http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/can-first-nations-led-movement-stop-big-oil Dave Zirin: What the Media’s Not Telling You About the Late Marion Barry http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/what-medias-not-telling-you-about-late-marion-barry **************************************************** Newswire… Center for Biological Diversity: Feds Agree to Protect More Habitat for East Coast’s Most Endangered Whales by 2016 http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/24/feds-agree-protect-more-habitat-east-coasts-most-endangered-whales-2016 Peace Action: Largest Peace Group Supports Extending Iran Negotiations http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/24/largest-peace-group-supports-extending-iran-negotiations Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA): 100+ Scientists Call on Obama’s Bee Task Force to Take Action on Pesticides http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/11/24/100-scientists-call-obamas-bee-task-force-take-action-pesticides and more…

Truthout Daily Digest Sunday, 23 November 2014

The “Urbee” 3D-Printed Car: Coast to Coast on 10 Gallons?

Max Eternity, Truthout: With the advancement of 3D printing in sight, an environmentally sustainable revolution in design and manufacturing is poised to take center stage.

Read the Article

George Lakoff: In Politics, Progressives Need to Frame Their Values

Mark Karlin, Truthout: George Lakoff talks about his latest effort to convince progressives to “frame” their political language and appeals based on deep-seated and active values.

Read the Interview

A Day With Jesse Jackson and a Look at the Failures of American Capitalism

David Masciotra, Truthout: At age 73, Jesse Jackson is still pushing to level the playing field and create a society of equal opportunity for all Americans.

Read the Article

Scholarship, Mentor Program Helps Children of Incarcerated Parents Go to College

Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout: Yasmine Arrington, the 21-year-old founder of Scholar Children of Incarcerated Parents, or ScholarCHIPS, was 3 years old when her father went to prison and a high school student when she founded the philanthropic program that helps children of incarcerated parents go to college.

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How Did We Get Here? Reflections on the 2014 Midterms

Donald Kaul, OtherWords: The 2014 midterms were a disaster for the Democratic Party: They lost every election that was possible to lose and a few that weren’t. The election was an even greater disaster for the people of the United States.

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Truthout Interviews Dahr Jamail on Electromagnetic Radiation War Games in Washington State

Ted Asregadoo, Truthout: Dahr Jamail talks about the Navy’s plan to conduct war games involving electromagnetic radiation in a protected park and forest in the state of Washington.

Watch the Video

Seven Ways the Military Wastes Our Money

Laura Gottesdiener, AlterNet: From scandals to military golf, here are seven absurd ways the military wastes our money – and none of them have anything to do with national defense.

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Is the Grass-Fed Really Greener? Beef Production in the Americas

Maria Alicia Nuñez, Council on Hemispheric Affairs: Most people are not aware that beef production is directly responsible for producing vast levels of greenhouse gases and expanding deforestation, especially in the Amazon forest region.

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Efforts to Curb Destructive Palm Oil Plantations Brings Together Strange Bedfellows

Richard Schiffman, Earth Island Journal: Will corporations and activists join forces to end deforestation in Indonesia? Some environmental groups remain wary of corporate motives, and plan to carefully monitor the developments on the ground in Indonesia.

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Eight Main Street Job Creators Who Are Rebooting the Economy, Starting With Those Who Need It Most

Mary Hansen, YES! Magazine: From the Deep South to the West Coast, these entrepreneurs are making sure jobs and dollars grow – and stay – in places hardest hit by hurricanes, poverty and gentrification.

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This week in Speakout:

David Ragland, Wayne Adams, Mahdis Azarmandi and Mark Lance describe how the militarization of Ferguson creates a self-fulfilling prophesy of violence; Ed Kinane offers pointers for social justice activists; the Center for Constitutional Rights hails the release of five men from Guantánamo; David Swanson writes on why the film Watchers of the Sky is beloved by the US corporate media because it opposes genocide, not war; Swanson also speaks with Truthout’s Maya Schenwar about her new book Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better; Susan Sered describes how Long Island’s geographic separation from the mainland has made it a prime location for isolating social outcasts over the years; Lawrence Wittner looks at how the historical record doesn’t bear out the contention that the United States’ wars have defended the US public’s freedom; the Government Accountability Project announces Rep. Jim Moran’s call for the pardon of CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou; Bill Blunden explains to Forbes magazine that NSA spying is not about stopping terrorism; Nathan Fuller suggests your conspiracy theorist friend isn’t looking so paranoid anymore; Blair Koch details how an oil company vice president and former Halliburton fracking lobbyist assaulted an EnviroNews chief outside of a public meeting; Victor Menotti explains why the Keystone XL pipeline topped the agenda of what he calls the new “Koch Congress”; and more.

Read the Articles

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Republicans Renew Push for Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge

Read the Article at The Hill

Ohio Republicans Want to Ban Abortion Before Many Women Even Know They’re Pregnant

Read the Article at Salon

Ferguson Announcement Does Not Appear Imminent

Read the Article at the Associated Press

How a Strange, Secretive, Cult-Like Company Is Waging Legal War Against Journalists

Read the Article at The Nation

Hazards of Open Pits for Storing Wastewater From Fracking Is Focus of New Study

Read the Article at InsideClimate News

Senate Keystone “Yea” Votes Took Six Times More Money From Oil and Gas Industry Than Opponents

Read the Article at Open Secrets Blog

Court Rules Michigan Has No Responsibility to Provide Quality Public Education

Read the Article at The Michigan Citizen

Truthout Daily Digest Saturday, 22 November 2014 (Warning-Triggering top headline)

Tortured and Raped by Israel, Persecuted and Imprisoned by the United States

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: The conviction of leading Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh, 67, could set a troublesome precedent if evidence from a military court in a foreign country, in this case Israel, is allowed to stand in a US court.

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The History of a Dangerous Idea: Mark Blyth Talks Austerity, Greece and the Global Economic Crisis

Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: The economist and author Mark Blyth discusses the historical origins of austerity as an economic idea and the catastrophe of previous attempts to enforce austerity policies.

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The Moral Trauma of “21st Century Warriors”

Edward Tick, Truthout: Though physically not in danger, US drone operators are not safe and are in harm’s way. They have severe difficulties in their service, are in deep pain and break down with post-traumatic stress disorder to significant degrees as a direct result of their physical immunity.

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Building a Racially Just Society: Psychological Insights

Roy Eidelson, Mikhail Lyubansky, and Kathie Malley-Morrison, Psychology Today: Michael Brown’s tragic death, the anguish of his family and the turmoil within his community are all salient reminders that the United States is still far from being a racially just and equitable society.

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Want to See How Governments Are Making Real Progress? Look to the Cities Tackling Our Biggest Problems

Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine: If you’ve been looking to the federal government for action on big challenges such as poverty, climate change and immigration, this has been a devastating decade. Look instead to cities, where new energy is transforming them into hotbeds of democracy and progressive innovation.

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The Poor Suffer From Hunger – Not the Munchies

Jill Richardson, OtherWords: Drug testing for food stamps wastes taxpayer money and stigmatizes economic hardship. Very few people facing poverty have the luxury to dabble in drugs. If you’re poor enough to qualify for food stamps, you’re really poor.

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A Textbook Example of an Employer’s Campaign to Destroy a Union

Moshe Z. Marvit, In These Times: If you’d like a sense of what an employer’s campaign to try to destroy a union looks like in the 21st century, take a look at a recent National Labor Relations Board decision against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where it was ruled the hospital engaged in a series of discriminatory practices against workers who have been trying to organize a union since 2012.

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Arts Students Are Motivated More by Love of Subject Than Money or Future Careers

Anya Skatova, The Conversation: Universities should provide arts and humanities students with more focus in their undergraduate courses that can make them more structured in achieving their career goals.

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Women Rising 26: A Ride on the People’s Climate Train

Making Contact, National Radio Project: In September 2014, Women Rising radio rode the People’s Climate train coast to coast, with over 200 activists heading to New York City to join the largest climate change march in history.

Listen to the Radio Broadcast

BuzzFlash The BuzzFlash Commentary will return soon. Don’t Expect an Aztec Spring With Mexico Protests, Analysts Warn Read the Article at Al Jazeera America In a Shift, Obama Extends US Role in Afghan Combat Read the Article at The New York Times Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson Has Mastered a Disappearing Act Since Shooting Read the Article at The Washington Post The White House Will Focus on Women and Girls of Color; Here’s How to Make It Count Read the Article at The Nation GOP-Controlled Intelligence Committee Debunks Benghazi Conspiracies Read the Article at Slate Hottest October on Record Puts Planet on Track for Hottest Year Ever Read the Article at EcoWatch Five Guantánamo Inmates Are Sent to Eastern Europe Read the Article at The New York Times

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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