Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 4 April 2015

Five Reasons Why San Francisco Must Not Give Up Public Land for Market-Rate Development

Joseph Smooke and Dyan Ruiz, Truthout: With a dire need for housing for its lower-income residents, San Francisco’s plan to use any public land for market-rate housing just doesn’t make economic sense. This piece – the first in a two-part series – explores the city’s desperate need for affordable spaces.

Read the Article

Imagining Social Justice as a Communal Process

Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski, Beacon Press: Transformative change can only occur by first understanding how “hate” is inextricably bound to broader social and political systems.

Read the Book Exceprt

In Greece, New Commission Will Audit All National Debt

Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: Eric Toussaint of the Committee for the Abolition of Third-World Debt discusses a new commission to audit Greece’s public debt to determine which parts are illegal, illegitimate, unsustainable or odious.

Read the Interview

How the Public Can Shape the Future of Drone Use

George M. Moore, Truthout: The private use of drones, as well as police and military use domestically, needs to be controlled from a public safety standpoint, from a public security standpoint and from a privacy standpoint. The public must take advantage of the present moment to shape how that control functions.

Read the Article

Plutocracy the First Time Around: Revisiting the Great Upheaval and the First Gilded Age

Steve Fraser, TomDispatch: Americans of the 19th century managed to mount a sustained economic, political and cultural resistance to plutocratic rule that is simply unimaginable today. Masses of people refused to accept that tooth-and-claw capitalism was their fate.

Read the Article

Former Iranian Ambassador: Historic Nuclear Deal Has Prevented a New War in the Middle East

Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now!: After eight days of talks in Switzerland, Iran and world powers have reached a framework agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program for at least a decade. In return, the United States and Europe plan to lift economic sanctions on Iran.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

In a Win for Opponents of Mountaintop Removal, West Virginia Will Study Health Impacts

Laura Michele Diener, YES! Magazine: The shift in approach in West Virginia is good news for those who blame the health disparities of southern West Virginia on mountaintop removal mining. It’s also good news for environmentalists worldwide, who want to see more urgency in transitioning society away from fossil fuels.

Read the Article

The Silence Surrounding Alabama’s Debtors’ Prisons

Andrew Cohen, Brennan Center for Justice: You can draw a line from a brilliant exposé of Alabama’s private probation industry last June to the recent filing of a federal civil rights complaint alleging a racketeering conspiracy between a probation company and officials in the Alabama city of Clanton. What lies between is Ferguson, Missouri.

Read the Article

“Biden Plan” for Central America Continues the Crackdown on Kids

Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus: Washington’s policy response to the crisis of unaccompanied minors migrating to the United States purports to address the root causes of migration, but actually mirrors – and in many ways intensifies – the causes that forced so many to flee.

Read the Article

Rousseff’s Brazil: No Country for the Landless

Fabiola Ortiz, Inter Press Service: In Brazil, one of the countries with the highest concentration of land ownership in the world, some 200,000 peasant farmers still have no plot of their own to farm – a problem that the first administration of President Dilma Rousseff did little to resolve.

Read the Article

Richard D. Wolff | Economic Update: Economic Change and Personal Life Crises

Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This episode provides updates on the car parts industry, how Russia’s economy is growing despite sanctions, declining US teaching positions for new PhDs in humanities and huge Mexican strikes against Driscoll berries. We also respond to questions on countries’ currency manipulations and the role of unions in workers’ co-ops.

Listen to the Audio Segment

BuzzFlash

GMO Advocate Claims Monsanto Roundup Is Safe but Is Terrified to Drink It

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: A paid consultant to toxic chemical companies paradoxically asserts glyphosate is harmless, but says he would be an idiot to ingest it.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

How Ohio’s Energy Economy Became a Radioactive 19th Century Relic

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

New Harvard Research Debunks the NRA’s Favorite Talking Points

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Boy Scouts in New York Hire Openly Gay Eagle Scout in Spite of National Rules

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator Receives Hero’s Welcome in Tehran

Read the Article at The Guardian

EPA Restricts Use of Pesticides Suspected of Killing Bees

Read the Article at NBC News

The Historical Context of Voting Rights

Read the Article at Civil Rights Movement Veterans

Study: Global Deaths Due to Air Pollution Are Substantially Higher Than Previously Estimated

Read the Article at Jonathan Turley’s Blog

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 28 March 2015

Beyond Homan Square: US History Is Steeped in Torture

Adam Hudson, Truthout: When reports of torture in CIA black sites or Chicago’s Homan Square come out, it’s tempting to view them as historical anomalies, but they are not. Rather, state torture is the norm, a product of the slavery and imperialism on which the United States was built.

Read the Article

Louisiana Residents Convince EPA That Burning Explosive Waste Outside Is a Bad Idea

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: More than 18 million pounds of hazardous explosives are still sitting in bunkers at Camp Minden in Louisiana, after an explosion happened there more than two years ago. Officials haven’t agreed on how to clean up the wartime leftovers, but they have decided not to burn them in the open air.

Read the Article

Shaker Aamer: Hostage to the Special Relationship

Aisha Maniar, Truthout: Prisoner Shaker Aamer is not being held at Guantánamo Bay for anything he has done; he is a pawn in the power games of others.

Read the Article

A Window Into Congressional Intelligence Oversight

Jude Widmann, Truthout: The positions advocated in a recent essay in Foreign Affairs by Jane Harman, former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, reflect how weak, incomplete and outdated US intelligence oversight is.

Read the Article

The Divisive Euro: National Struggles and International Solidarity

Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli, Truthout: While nationalist rhetoric has often been exclusionary and utilized by racist, right-wing factions, national struggles can also be an inclusionary means to stimulate solidarity among the oppressed, in Greece and other disadvantaged European nations, against the political and economic elites of the European Union.

Read the Article

Endless War: As US Strikes Tikrit and Delays Afghan Pullout, “War on Terror” Toll Tops 1.3 Million

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: As the United States begins bombing the Iraqi city of Tikrit and again delays a withdrawal from Afghanistan, a new report has found that the Iraq War has killed about 1 million people. The Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War examined the toll from the so-called war on terror.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

The Fight of Their Lives: Can Adjuncts Finally Win a Living Wage?

Rebecca Burns, AlterNet: Seattle may have become one of the first cities to pass a $15 minimum wage last year, but the city’s adjunct instructors say that the dictum for fair pay has yet to penetrate the Ivory Tower. The next big fight for decent labor protections is heating up in academia.

Read the Article

Howard Zinn, “Finishing School for Pickets,” and Paula Giddings, “Learning Insubordination”

Howard Zinn and Paula J. Giddings, TomDispatch: In an excerpt from 1960, Howard Zinn observes the young women of Spelman College turning into protesters, while historian Paula J. Giddings vividly looks back on Zinn and the Spelman experience 55 years later.

Read the Excerpt and the Essay

Talk Climate to Me

Emily Schwartz Greco, OtherWords: While Florida Gov. Rick Scott openly questions whether climate change is occurring, he denies he’s muzzling his staff. But stories of Florida state workers and contractors getting the brunt of this censorship make his denial ring hollow.

Read the Article

Paul Krugman | Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal: Few Benefits, Many Questions

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Why do some parties want this treaty so much? Because, as with many “trade” deals in recent years, the intellectual property aspects are more important than the trade aspects. We should never forget that protecting intellectual property means creating a monopoly.

Read the Article

Household Debt Is a National Crisis

LeeAnn Hall, OtherWords: The Obama administration should investigate all forms of predatory lending, including student loans, payday loans, medical loans, mortgages and credit cards. Our children, our neighbors, our parents, the sick and the struggling aren’t cash cows for bankers and lenders to milk.

Read the Article

Deep Dive: The White House’s New Memo on Drones and Privacy

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice: Last month, President Obama released a presidential memorandum on the domestic use of drones by federal agencies. The memorandum addresses the implications for privacy, civil rights and civil liberties. The memorandum takes some steps in the right direction, but leaves many questions unanswered.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash Those Who Want Peace Have the High Moral Ground; Those Who Want Conflict Have the Power Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The bottom line is that war needs to occur in order to justify the US military empire. Read the BuzzFlash Commentary Ted Cruz Is All About Repressing the Religious Rights of Non-Christians Read the Article at BuzzFlash Co-Pilot Appears to Have Crashed Germanwings Plane on Purpose, Prosecutor Says Read the Article at Reuters Wealth vs. Money Read the Article at BuzzFlash “False Witnesses” Publish Deeply Flawed Study on Abortion Mortality in Mexico Read the Article at RH Reality Check WikiLeaks Leaks TPP Draft! Read the Article at Daily Kos Bring Snowden Home? European Panel Says It’s Time Read the Article at WhoWhatWhy Saudi Arabia Launches Yemen Air Strikes as Alliance Builds Against Houthi Rebels Read the Article at The Guardian

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 21 March 2015

As Gentrification Persists in San Francisco, Evictions Take New Forms

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.

Read the Article

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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The Oracle Report | Saturday, February 14 – Sunday, February 15, 2015

TAKEN BY WISE OWL CINDY

The Oracle Report – Saturday, February 14 – Sunday, February 15, 2015

“Load In” – Pisces Lunar Cycle (1) 2015 – February 18 – March 19, 2015

OracleReport.com

Saturday, February 14 – Sunday, February 15, 2015

Third Quarter Moon Phase (Saturday): reassess, revise

Balsamic Moon Phase (Sunday): release, clear, dream

Moon in Sagittarius/Scorpio (5:25 pm ET/10:25 pm UT)

Ruling Wisdom Goddess: Matangi (Goddess of the Wind)

Skill (Saturday): bid farewell to the old

Skill (Sunday): clear and refresh whatever needs it

Positive Imprints: hope, refreshment, fairness, flowers and the healing power of flowers, personal growth, patience, finding new use or noticing new interest, opportunities, ambitions, return of personal power

Catalysts for Change: mistrust, stuck in a situation that is not in our highest and best interests, preventing or standing in the way of other’s growth, inflexible, impatient, lack of sensitivity, destruction of something, impossible standards, putting things off, uncompromising

Love is a good reason for celebration any day, but today (Saturday) there’s another reason to celebrate: today is the last day of the year-long energy of “the ruler of a nation.” The prime opportunity to establish agendas of control and domination over the collective effectively ends today.

This is because today is the last day of the Third Quarter Moon phase of the lunar month that is the Third Quarter time of year. In the natural cycle of life, Third Quarter Moons signal the completion of energy established at New Moons. When we apply this to the year, we are at the last day of the astrological “year” that began on March 30, 2014. The cycle or opportunity closes. The new (unnatural) world order’s hopes for world domination are vanishing. Those efforts are no longer empowered. It could have been very, very bad, but it didn’t happen and it was the best chance they had to make it happen. We are all still here, poised at the edge of the return of the old ways, the natural ways. V for victory.

Balsamic Moon Phase, the phase that begins Sunday, is the last phase of the Moon before it becomes new again. It is not really part of the last month and not part of the next month. Energetically, it is not the end of the month; it is the transition phase. It operates outside time and space, clearing the field and preparing it for the new. Sunday begins our entry into two months of Balsamic or transitional energy that prepares, builds, and leads to the new astrological year. The new astrological year begins with the New Moon in Aries on April 18, 2015. I go into more detail to explain this in the audio recording for the overview of the upcoming lunar month, which is posted on the Homepage of http://www.oraclereport.com.

So you could say that Saturday is New Year’s Eve and then we go into two months of “dreaming” before New Year’s Day on April 18. We will be well-rested and well-prepared for New Year’s Day because we have two months of the closest possible connection with Spirit. Divine inspiration, guidance, and assistance is on the way to prepare us for the upcoming year, the year of “the music of the spheres.”

You may notice the shift in energy on Sunday with a burst of energy or optimism or some other change in perspective. It may be brief, but that’s ok. If you don’t notice a change, that’s ok, too. Most likely your personal astrological chart is being influenced and has you occupied with other things, which is part of your own journey with the energy. You will feel it later.

Saturday’s energy is pure, simple and gentle. However, mind chatter, expectations, and the need to break free from certain situations, relationships, and circumstances considerably complicates things. Saturday’s events are catalysts for clarity that arrives on Sunday. Clarity on how our spirits can remain free is offered. If a situation is suffocating you, it will become more evident this weekend. Spirits want to break free under these dynamics.

The Sabian symbols for the weekend are loaded with illumination. “Daybreaks in the Eastern sky” and “harvest moons” are included. Light seeks us. It is a time to reflect on what it has taken us to get to wherever we are right now in life. Wise owls have been “holding the line” all year long, maintaining emotional equilibrium and keeping the field in place as best we can while the old structure has been falling.

As it falls, we remain standing and at the ready for refugees of the old world.

Job well done, wise owls. Let’s celebrate.

Thank you for supporting The Oracle Report!

Copyright Oracle Report 2009 – 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Permission to repost is granted provided credit is given towww.oraclereport.com.

http://www.oraclereport.com/

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 7 February, 2015

“Progressive” Gentrification: One Community’s Struggle Against Affordable Housing

Aaron Cantú, Truthout: Under the mayor’s affordable housing plan, a New York City neighborhood’s rezoning may result in its own kind of gentrification. Some Brooklyn residents were told they must accept rezoning, and likely development near transit lines, if they want to protect other parts of their community.

Read the Article

Hillary Clinton in Winnipeg: An Exercise in Cognitive Dissonance

Harrison Samphir, Truthout: Hillary Clinton’s embryonic presidential campaign made two stops in Canada on January 21. The former secretary of state spoke about terrorism and human rights, but hid a damaging foreign policy record veiled in the language of populism. It was a textbook case of cognitive dissonance.

Read the Article

Climate Change Is Violence

Rebecca Solnit, Trinity University Press: If you’re poor, the only way you’re likely to injure someone is the old traditional way: artisanal violence. But if you’re tremendously wealthy, you can practice industrial-scale violence without any manual labor on your own part. Climate change is global-scale violence against places and species.

Read the Excerpt

Bringing Fanon’s Concerning Violence to Film

Alnoor Ladha, Truthout: Activist and author Alnoor Ladha interviews coproducer Joslyn Barnes about Göran Hugo Olsson’s film, Concerning Violence, which explores African liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s.

Read the Interview

Friends Like These

Raul A. Reyes, OtherWords: GOP presidential hopefuls are cozying up to anti-immigrant extremists and right-wing billionaires. Letting hardliners dictate immigration policy makes Republicans look long on ugly rhetoric and short on real solutions.

Read the Article

Fox News: PR Department for ISIS

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: By airing the gruesome video of Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned alive, Fox News gave ISIS some free exposure and became the newest member of its propaganda machine.

Read the Article

Populist Movement’s “Ground Zero”: The Effort to Reclaim Chicago

Jacob Swenson-Lengyel, Campaign for America’s Future: In the broader struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party, Chicago is ground zero. There, populists, led by Reclaim Chicago, are working to build a lasting independent political movement to upend the corporate rule of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his rubber-stamp city council.

Read the Article

How to Get Serious About Ending the ISIS War

Sarah Lazare, Foreign Policy in Focus: Now is a critical time to seek to understand and build solidarity with Iraqi and Syrian civil societies and strengthen awareness here at home of the tremendous political and ethical debt the United States owes all people harmed by the now-discredited war on Iraq and the crises it set in motion.

Read the Article

The Obama Administration and Immigration Policy: The Immigration Enforcement Record in Recent Years

Nikki Hager, The Council on Hemispheric Affairs: The Obama administration has deported more immigrants than most of its predecessors. The president is, however, taking a more progressive approach than in the past, granting the opportunity for temporary deportation relief to more than 5 million undocumented immigrants. Here is an overview of President Obama’s immigration policies.

Read the Article

The Lone-Wolf Terror Trap

Matthew Harwood, TomDispatch: There’s only one problem with the rising crescendo of alarm about lone wolf terrorists: most of it simply isn’t true. Worst of all, its recent highlighting paves the way for increased abusive and counterproductive police and national security practices, like infiltration of minority and activist communities and elaborate sting operations that ensnare the vulnerable.

Read the Article

Murder, Mass Incarceration, Militarization and Genocide in Progress

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Kevin Berends, Black Agenda Report: Mass incarceration; state-sponsored murder coast-to-coast; the impoverishment of black wealth through wholesale thievery by corporate and banking foreclosures; and the militarization of police: Had these crimes against African Americans been committed in a theater of war, they would rise to the level of genocide as defined by the United Nations.

Read the Article

A Theory About European Naval Domination

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Western Europe had a disproportionately large number of skilled open-sea sailors. Very few of them would have been engaged in warfare in normal times, or even during wars. Can’t we argue that these sailors provided a base of skills that gave the Atlantic fringe a big military advantage at sea?

Read the Article

Take Roots Action!

Governor Cuomo of New York has declared a statewide ban on fracking. Local citizen-led initiatives in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico and California have likewise led to the banning of the practice.

Let’s ban it everywhere!

BuzzFlash

Religion Should Be What Binds Us Together, Not What Justifies Killing Each Other

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: We do not need to look to sources outside ourselves for the divine; we need to look to the divine in each other.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

How Do We Stop a Temper Tantrum War?

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Claims Against Saudis Cast Light on Secrets of 9/11 Report

Read the Article at The New York Times

Diane Rehm Examines the Dangers of Monsanto’s Roundup and Dow’s Enlist Duo Herbicides

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

NBC’s Brian Williams Forced to Retract Story About Coming Under Fire in Iraq

Read the Article at The Guardian

Twelve-Year-Olds Are Fair Game: Michelle Malkin and the Right’s Ugly New Smear Strategy

Read the Article at Salon

Air Pollution and Kids: Altered Brain, Memory, IQ

Read the Article at Science Daily

US Judge Appointed to Head UN Gaza War Crimes Inquiry

Read the Article at Jurist

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 31 January 2015

So many articles in this issue of Truthout that I wish I could share the full article! I am disappointed though, that so few journalists are questioning the propaganda push for vaccination. I would like to see carefully researched articles on the problems and the benefits of vaccination programs, including ideas on how we can improve them.

Instead of mocking and deriding the anti-vaccine movement, why not consider that real problems exist and how to address them?

I’ve always noticed propaganda but only recently has it seemed so obscenely pervasive-and so completely accepted. It bothers me more when liberals do the knee-jerk unquestioning mindless attitude thing. Maybe because I see liberals as intellectual and feel they should know better? Perhaps it’s just embarrassing because most of my views do fall in the liberal spectrum (though not all).

On the opposite side-where is the Republican party outrage at the egregious violations of private property rights being perpetrated by the Keystone XL pipeline project?!?

My Republican father would be disgusted by the “The Corporations Are Always Right Party” they seem to have become. I’m pretty sure that is NOT the view of most real conservatives though the propaganda has pushed a lot of otherwise intelligent conservatives to justify the absurd.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

Crises at Pacifica Radio

Michael Corcoran, Truthout: Pacifica Radio, the iconic progressive radio network, is currently dealing with several major crises, including an audit from the California Attorney General’s Office, layoffs, divisive infighting and dwindling fundraising and listenership.

Read the Article

The United States’ Hidden Hand in the Creation of Israel

L. Michael Hager, Truthout: Alison Weir’s new book, Against Our Better Judgment, exposes little-known facts about Zionist manipulation of US policy makers in the creation of Israel in 1948. It helps explain how the United States became entangled in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the side of Israel.

Read the Review

Dispatch From Sundance: “How to Change the World”

Tom Roston, Moyers & Company: A ragged band of Canadians took a fishing boat into the frigid waters of the North Pacific Ocean in 1971 to try to stop a nuclear weapons test on the island of Amchitka. With that action, they started the environmental group Greenpeace and, in addition to saving many a whale, revolutionized political activism and advocacy journalism.

Read the Interview

The Death Penalty: Chaotic Tedium

Susanne Dumbleton, Truthout: Georgia is set to execute a man with an IQ of 70. Oklahoma is scheduled to execute a man whose guilt is questionable. California continues to fill up its death row and now has 749 residents. Who is served by this gruesome chaos?

Read the Article

Texas Town at Center of Latest Earthquake Swarm Questions Fracking Impact

Julie Dermansky, DeSmogBlog: The town of Irving, Texas, experienced 12 earthquakes during a 48-hour period in January. Residents are concerned nearby fracking operations are the cause.

Read the Article

Young Navajos Stage 200-Mile Journey for Existence

Lyla Johnston, Idle No More: At dawn on January 6, 2015, a group of young Diné (Navajo) women and their supporters gathered at sunrise near the fire department at the base of Dzil Na’oodilii (Huerfano Mountain). From there the group embarked on a 200-mile trek through eastern New Mexico, as a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the tragic “Long Walk.”

Read the Article

You’ve Heard of Hip-Hop, but What About Krip-Hop?

Making Contact, National Radio Project: “Krip-hop” is the name for the international movement of disabled artists, poets, musicians and MCs.

Listen to the Radio Program

Mourners for Black Queer and Trans Lives Attacked by Castro Bar

QTPOC Liberation, The Feminist Wire: Bar patrons in San Francisco’s Castro District assaulted queer and trans people of color who had taken to the streets to challenge mainstream gay communities to combat anti-Black racism.

Read the Article

Pentagon Finally Identifies the Remains of a POW Lost Since 1942

Megan McCloskey, ProPublica: Long buried alongside hundreds of unknown US soldiers in the Philippines, the remains of Pvt. Arthur “Bud” Kelder are being returned home after a lawsuit by his family.

Read the Article

Progressive Policies Are Popular – So Why Should Democrats Be Afraid of Them?

Keane Bhatt, FAIR: Polls found large percentages of the public support policies like increasing the minimum wage, requiring paid sick leave and offering free community college. So why are Democrats so hesitant to support them?

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

The Buzzflash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Measles Outbreak Grows to 107 Cases, Latest in Marin County

Read the Article at the Los Angeles Times

A Strained Alliance: Obama-Netanyahu Rift Grew Over Years

Read the Article at The New York Times

Ukraine, Rebels Gather for Peace Talks as Fighting Rages in East

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

Going to a Public College Isn’t as Affordable as It Used to Be

Read the Article at The Washington Post

The Worst Trade Deal You’ve Never Heard of

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Evangelicals’ Racist “Purity” Culture: What’s Really Behind Huckabee’s Beyoncé Slur

Read the Article at Salon

Native Communities Feel the Heat of Climate Change in the Southwest

Read the Article at MintPress News

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 24 January 2015

In Ferguson

Darryl Pinckney, The New York Review of Books: Ferguson feels like a turning point. For so many, Michael Brown’s death was the last straw. Black youth are fed up with being branded criminals at birth. Ferguson was the country stepping back in time or exposing the fact that change hasn’t happened where it’s most needed.

Read the Article

Syriza and the Greek Elections: The Tough Questions That Must Be Asked

Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: After years of economic crisis and stifling economic austerity, all eyes are upon Greece once more, where the main opposition party, Syriza, is favored to emerge victorious in upcoming elections. Syriza’s economic platform, however, indicates positions that are far from radical.

Read the Article

The Spectacle of Illiteracy and the Crisis of Democracy

Henry A. Giroux, Moyers & Company: One important measure of the demise of vibrant democracy and the corresponding impoverishment of political life can be found in the increasing inability of a society to translate private troubles to broader public issues.

Read the Excerpt

Ahead of Obama Visit, a Report Card on India

Papri Sri Raman, Truthout: The Modi government came to power standing on an anti-corruption plank. However, little has been achieved in this area.

Read the Article

New Study Shows More Than Half of Abortion Clinics Face Threats

Stephanie Hallett, Ms. Magazine Blog: Research from the Feminist Majority Foundation reveals that clinics and doctors are faced with daily threats and intimidation. Nearly one in five clinics experienced severe anti-abortion violence.

Read the Article

EPA Sued Over Disclosure Rules for Toxic Pollution From Drilling and Fracking

Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog: The Environmental Protection Agency has been sued over toxic chemicals released into the air, water and land by the oil and gas industry.

Read the Article

Global Blackness

Hakima Abbas, The Feminist Wire: There has been an outpouring of global solidarity for the Black movement in the United States by Black people in countries like South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Brazil, the UK and France, and from non-Black people who are also fighting against imperialism around the world.

Read the Excerpt

Fighting Extremism With Schools, Not Guns

Zofeen Ebrahim, Inter Press Service: While many millions of people are lashing out at the Taliban for going on a bloody rampage in a school in Peshawar, the Citizens Foundation has busied itself with a pledge to build 141 schools for peace, one in the name of each person who lost their life on that terrible day.

Read the Article

Obama Tips His Hat to FDR

Emily Schwartz Greco, OtherWords: Obama is channeling his inner Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What would FDR say about today‘s growing inequality and stagnant wages?

Read the Article

US Army Special Forces Officially Recruit for “Mission for God”

Mikey Weinstein, AlterNet: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation finds an Army recruiting poster that openly proselytizes. There exists a brutal, sectarian, Christian fundamentalist current within the US Armed Forces.

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

War Is Exploding Anew in Ukraine; Rebels Vow More

Read the Article at The New York Times

California Judges Barred From Boy Scouts Over Anti-Gay Discrimination

Read the Article at the Los Angeles Times

Japan Investigating Reports of Hostage Killed by ISIL

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

American Sniper: Anti-Muslim Threats Skyrocket in Wake of Film’s Release

Read the Article at The Guardian

The True Cost ofCitizens United: The Roberts Court’s Darkest Hour Revisited

Read the Article at Salon

France Sees as Many Anti-Muslim Acts in January as All of 2014

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Students Who Survived Mexico’s Night of Bloody Horror Accuse Army and Police

Read the Article at The Guardian

The Oracle Report | Saturday, January 24 – Sunday, January 25, 2015

FROM WISE OWL ERIC

The Oracle Report – Saturday, January 24 – Sunday, January 25, 2015

“Outposts” – Aquarius Lunar Cycle: January 20 – February 17, 2015

OracleReport.com

“The Mass Turn” – Capricorn 2014 Lunar Cycle: December 21, 2014 – January 19, 2015

OracleReport.com

“The Black Moon Transit of Virgo: November 27, 2014 – August 25, 2015”

OracleReport.com

Saturday, January 24 – Sunday, January 25, 2015

Crescent Moon Phase: persevere; view challenges as an opportunity to strengthen, revise, and improve

Moon in Aries

Ruling Wisdom Goddess: Matangi (Goddess Who Includes)

Skill: post up

Negative Imprint: needing external validation, being too conservative, neurotic, fear of the unknown, ageism, faking, destruction of property, backed into a corner, impediments to progress by standing still

Positive Imprint: repurposing, past life connections, tapping in, wisdom of elders, structuring, making history, rediscovering the past and bringing parts of the past forward, innovation, jumping into the void

Sabian Symbol for the Lunar Month: “an old adobe mission” (projecting plans into the future, inner spiritual retreat)

This weekend, we are asked to “post up.”

In basketball terms, posting up is turning a certain way so that you can establish a position to receive a pass of the ball. The Universe asks us to post up and claim our spot so that we can receive spiritual guidance.

This comes as part of the lunar month where we are projecting our plans, ideas, wishes, and selves into the future. We envision the construct of what that looks like.

A major component of the construction comes from a foundation, an undercurrent, of our inner wisdom. Inner wisdom is divinely directed. As we establish “adobe missions” in the future – outposts where we will arrive later in time, we are reinforcing the structure now with inspiration from Spirit. This weekend we are posting up to reinforce our outposts.

Old adobe missions are spiritual retreats. Other names for old adobe missions and spiritual retreats are temples, medicine wheels, churches, groves, schools, farms, vineyards, mountains, beaches, theatres, museums, studios. What is yours?

It is a good idea this weekend to spend some time in whatever place or space is spiritual for you. Spirit is sending key insights into matters. The energy naturally places us in alignment for inner wisdom. There is a lot happening for our inner contemplation; complex sets of dynamics are in effect. Here are the highlights:

• Relationships, particularly romantic relationships, are undergoing revision, restructuring, and reassessment. Changes occur this weekend to bring things to better states.
• Mercury retrograde is acting as a muse, inspiring us with ideas and actions. The energy is design-oriented and functional. Mental architecture takes place.
• New things are being built from the past. All kinds of things are repurposed or even fully restored. On Saturday, our experiences from the Leo 2014 lunar cycle (July 26 – August 25, 2014) return for a visit and reconsideration. On Sunday, our experiences from the Pisces 2014 lunar cycle (March 1 – March 29, 2014) follow suit. Consider all of this in context and look at how those experiences have enabled you to claim more of your power and become who you are today. (Another element of this energy is a heightened ability to connect with our ancestors.)
• Leaps of faith, discussed at the New Moon of this cycle, may be necessary because the energy shifts quite palpably this weekend. The Moon catapults into Aries after an energetic journey through shadow lands over the last two days, which is a definite shift. But both Saturn and Pluto move to new degrees this weekend. Saturn moves away from energy for strategizing and toward energy that takes us to higher levels. Pluto moves away from energy for permanent structures and toward energy to heal and raise the spirits of people, particularly children. (Heads up: The Wisdom Goddess Matangi is getting ready to roll through on those who prey on the weak, disadvantaged, and marginalized. Whereas the goddess Dhuamavati “sweeps” through the field, Matangi razes it.)

Post up with whatever works for you from this post as you engage in periodic spiritual retreat and communion this weekend. Remember to connect with nature as part of this. Find beauty. And if you can snap a photograph of it, please send it to me to post for everyone to enjoy!

Thank you for supporting the Oracle Report. Blessings to all!

Copyright Oracle Report 2009 – 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Permission to repost is granted provided credit is given towww.oraclereport.com.

http://www.oraclereport.com/

Truthout Daily Digest | Saturday, 17 January 2015

Life, Liberty, Happiness: Health, Food, Shelter

William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: Health care in the United States is a for-profit industry, and that’s just crazy. Even with “Obamacare” delivering us into the warm embrace of the insurance industry in order to give us all “options,” the whole process is a rank offense to the national ethos we allegedly hold so dear.

Read the Article

BDS, Academic Freedom and Self-Censoring Debate on Campus

David Palumbo-Liu, Truthout: When safely tenured academics decide to self-censor, employing the alibi that they lack expertise in the topic of debate, as is so often done in regards to Israel, the Palestinians and the BDS movement, they have essentially given up their academic freedom.

Read the Article

Blood on Their Hands: The Racist History of Modern Police Unions

Flint Taylor, In These Times: Reactionary actions by police unions are not new, but are a fundamental component of their history, particularly since they came to prominence in the wake of the civil rights movement. These organizations have played a powerful role in defending the police, no matter how outrageous and racist their actions.

Read the Article

Searching for Radical Democracy in the Ruins of Capitalism’s Economic Depravity

Chuck Mertz, This is Hell!: The future demands a new political consciousness, and we can’t wait for the current neoliberal economic system to tear apart society, says public intellectual Henry Giroux.

Listen to the Interview

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: A Modern, Militarist Parable

Niall McLaren, Truthout: These days, even children’s books become thundering dioramas of violence, ensuring an endless flow of eager recruits to the ghastly reality of war. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is, in fact, blatant militarist propaganda. Everybody must believe this one point: Violence is why we exist.

Read the Review

Justice in Guatemala Deferred, Again

Christy Thornton, NACLA: In Guatemala last week, the historic trial of the country’s former dictator, Efraín Rios Montt, was set to resume. In a previous trial, he was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, but that decision was overturned. Jo-Marie Burt, director of the Latin American studies program at George Mason University, discusses what happened during last week’s trial.

Listen to the Interview and Read the Transcript

The War on Hen-Pecking

Jill Richardson, OtherWords: All states should follow California’s example and make egg producers treat laying hens better. Instead of living in cramped cages with less room than a sheet of paper, California birds are going to get enough space to lie down, stand up, stretch their wings and turn around.

Read the Article

The Sterling Trial: Merlin Meets Curveball

Marcy Wheeler, Expose Facts: In this update on the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, it is revealed that efforts by the CIA to “get its reputation back” have been rather unsuccessful.

Read the Article

France Puts Off Delivery of Mistral to Russia “Indefinitely”

Gene Zbikowski, L’Humanité: The Mistral helicopter carrier, which was initially to be turned over to Russia in October, will remain at quay for the time being in accordance with recommendations made to the French president by the Americans over the “situation in the eastern Ukraine.”

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

The Buzzflash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Majority of US Public School Students Are in Poverty

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Supreme Court to Decide if States Can Ban Gay Marriage

Read the Article at Reuters

Mexico Arrests Suspect in Disappearance of 43 Students

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

#MLKShutItDown Protests Aim to “Reclaim” Martin Luther King’s Legacy

Read the Article at Al Jazeera

2014 Officially the Hottest Year on Record

Read the Article at The Guardian

Mitt Romney Has a Huge New Conflict-of-Interest Problem

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Holder Limits Seized-Asset Sharing Process That Split Billions With Local, State Police

Read the Article at The Washington Post

The Oracle Report | Saturday, January 17 – Sunday, January 18, 2015

FROM WISE OWL BETTYANN

“Outposts” – Aquarius Lunar Cycle: January 20 – February 17, 2015

OracleReport.com

“The Mass Turn” – Capricorn 2014 Lunar Cycle: December 21, 2014 – January 19, 2015

OracleReport.com

“The Black Moon Transit of Virgo: November 27, 2014 – August 25, 2015”

OracleReport.com

Saturday, January 17 – Sunday, January 18, 2015

Balsamic Moon Phase: release, dream

Moon in Sagittarius (enters Capricorn Sunday at 7:00 am ET/noon UT)

Ruling Wisdom Goddess: Kali

Skill: bring things together

Negative Imprint: self-defeating behavior, superficial comparison, judgmental, melodrama, quitting, confusion, sabotage

Positive Imprint: catalysts for change, whirlwinds of activity and expression, cooperation, exchanging knowledge or expertise, acceptance, mutual respect, self-worth

Sabian Symbol for the Lunar Month: “an Indian chief claims power from the assembled tribe”

The last Moon phase of the lunar cycle, the Balsamic phase, is the mystical time. It’s the time of heightened connection with spirit. Our inner world comes alive.

Our inner world has been quite active this entire month, courtesy of the energy that would cause an Indian chief, theretofore unrecognized, to claim power from his assembled tribe. This month has been about something deep inside of us changing, causing us to stand up for ourselves – to see more of ourselves or see ourselves more clearly, to take better care of ourselves, to try and do the right thing, to be greater than we are. This upright movement continues our proper alignment with destiny.

The weekend’s energy brings opportunities to bring people, places, and things together – even people, places, and things that are very far apart. We can close the gap. Finding common ground and acceptance is a good start for this.

Other elements strongly challenge the status quo. Disruptions and conflicts are riding just under the surface. Chain reactions are easily set off.

The power of words is enhanced under this weekend’s energetics. We are also more inclined to blurt things out. This combination means we need to be extra aware of what we are saying. Don’t get carried away. The power of propaganda is heightened.

Heights of spiritual connection are also attained with the astrological aspects underway. Flurries of inspiration and insight fill the air. We catch more of them when we spend time outdoors. Mental confusion and cloudiness is also helped.

Decision-making is, once again this week, not highlighted. The differences between choices is not clear or maybe not even present at this time. Our skills of discernment are not sharp right now, so wait until things become clearer before taking action, if possible.

Happy Balsamic Moon weekend!

(Note: The audio overview for the next lunar month is now posted on the homepage of oraclereport.com.)

Thank you for supporting the Oracle Report. Blessings to all!

Copyright Oracle Report 2009 – 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Permission to repost is granted provided credit is given towww.oraclereport.com.

http://www.oraclereport.com/