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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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 | Friday, 3 April 2015

Wind Powers “Green” Growth in Kenya, but for Whom?

Chris Williams, Truthout: Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya, is a remote, arid region, home to nomadic pastoralists. It’s also part of a government development plan to increase domestic energy production with a 310-megawatt wind farm, along with new paved roads. But who really benefits from this development?

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Executive Action Leaves Many Undocumented Immigrants in State of Apprehension and Uncertainty

Erika L. Sánchez, Truthout: While many undocumented immigrants are relieved and excited about the Obama administration’s immigration executive action, some fear that the policy will only be temporary, and that giving information to the government can possibly put them in a more vulnerable position.

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The Native American Genocide and the Teaching of US History

Tanya H. Lee, Truthout: In many classrooms, the United States is left out of the list of countries where genocide has occurred. In this piece, Native American history professors discuss the controversy over including indigenous genocide on the AP US history exam, as well as the larger picture of how that history is taught.

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The Rise of Islamic State Offers Policy Lessons for US Hawks

Patrick Glennon, Truthout: Patrick Cockburn’s new book, The Rise of Islamic State, looks at the legacy of recent wars. It emphasizes how convoluted ongoing conflicts in the Middle East truly are, and how we must search for nuanced approaches to diplomacy.

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Student Debt Strikers Grow in Number and in Power

Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence: Today, there are more than 100 debt strikers. Their goal is to ramp up pressure on the US Department of Education to relieve not only the debt they incurred, but all the loans of students at Corinthian Colleges. They declare that for-profit colleges are not, in fact, too big to fail.

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The Great Game in Afghanistan: The US Is Losing Out

Dilip Hiro, TomDispatch: Having spent an estimated $1 trillion and sacrificed the lives of 2,150 US soldiers, Washington finds itself increasingly consigned to observer status in Afghanistan. A new chapter could unfold in war-torn Afghanistan, in which the Chinese role would only grow, while the United States might end up as a footnote in the long history of that country.

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Indiana Scrambles to Contain Growing Corporate, Public Outcry Over Anti-LGBT “Religious Freedom” Law

Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now!: As Indiana faces pressure to repeal a new “religious freedom” law, Arkansas lawmakers have passed a similar bill that could allow business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ customers.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Who’s on Your Side – Elizabeth Warren or Jamie Dimon?

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: Sure, some politicians like Elizabeth Warren do speak out about issues that affect everyday people, but by and large, corporations and the rich get their way, much as they did over 200 years ago when the British parliament passed the Tea Act. The solution is to get money out of politics once and for all.

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Grassroots Movement Blocks Water Privatization in Mexico

Alfredo Acedo, The CIP Americas Program: The rapid and massive response by peasant and indigenous organizations has, for now, made it clear that the privatization measures of the current government will have an increasingly high political cost.

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Pledges for Humanitarian Aid to Syria Fall Short of Target by Billions

Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service: The third international pledging conference for humanitarian aid to Syria was able to raise only about $3.8 billion against an anticipated $8.4 billion. Nearly half the world’s top donors didn’t give their fair share of aid to the Syrian humanitarian effort in 2014, based on the size of their economies.

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Los Angeles Teachers Escalate Action to Demand Fair Treatment

Karla Griego, Labor Notes: New leaders have mobilized around a platform modeled on a similar initiative by the Chicago Teachers Union. Demands include safe, clean and fully staffed schools; smaller class sizes; a commitment to arts, music and physical education; and good salaries and benefits to encourage teacher retention.

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Nature Needs a New Pronoun: To Stop the Age of Extinction, Let’s Start by Ditching “It”

Robin Wall Kimmerer, YES! Magazine: Objectification of the natural world reinforces the notion that our species is somehow more deserving of the gifts of the world than the other 8.7 million species with whom we share the planet. Using “it” absolves us of moral responsibility and opens the door to exploitation.

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Repeal the Patriot Act

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) have introduced the Surveillance State Repeal Act (H.R.1466). This bill would end the mass surveillance of US citizens under the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, restoring instead the use of the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of a warrant for any search.

Take Roots Action!

BuzzFlash

Protesters Arrested for Charging Supreme Court With Permitting the Selling of Democracy

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: As with the civil rights movement, as with Gandhi’s campaign for independence in India, when five people commit nonviolent protests and are stopped, ten more need to take their place – and then hundreds and then thousands.

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Anti-LGBTQ Indiana Law Complicates GOP Presidential Campaigns

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Blackwater: Still the Top Pentagon Contractor for Afghanistan Training

Read the Article at The Nation

Palestinians Formally Join International Criminal Court

Read the Article at the BBC

Black America’s State of Surveillance

Read the Article at The Progressive

David Swanson: Television Commercial in California Asks Drone Pilots to Stop Killing

Read the Article at War Is A Crime

In the Belly of the War on Drugs Beast

Read the Article at Alongside a Border

The Right’s Made-Up God: How Bigots Invented a White Supremacist Jesus

Read the Article at Salon

Truthout Daily Digest | Monday, March 9, 2015

Heeding the Call: Black Women Fighting for Black Lives That Matter

Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Sarah Rosenblatt, Truthout: In response to the killing of Black people by police and the lack of accountability that follows, there has been a resurgence of civil disobedience reminiscent of the 1960s civil rights movement. Black women activists have been at the head of this new movement.

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Rewriting the Future

Walidah Imarisha, Bitch Media: The science fiction – or speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism etc. – we humans create doesn’t appear out of the ether. Whether it’s settings from The Hunger Games, Harry Potter or Star Wars,these fantastical worlds end up exploring issues like war, racism, gender oppression, power, privilege and injustice.

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There’s So Much Life Here: A Death Row Prisoner Looks Back on Over 20 Years in Solitary Confinement

Jack Shuler, Truthout: Keith LaMar is sentenced to die for his role in the 1993 Lucasville riot, one of the most violent prison uprisings in US history. While he lives in an Ohio supermax prison because of the crimes he’s convicted of, LaMar strives to maintain connections with the outside world.

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The Cost of Compassion: Why Churches Turn Their Backs on Torture Victims

Justin Norman, Truthout: When compassion becomes politically inconvenient, churches turn their backs on those in need.

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Shaky Conviction, Ongoing Punishment: Canada v. Omar Khadr

Aisha Maniar, Truthout: The former Guantánamo child prisoner Omar Khadr, who returned to his native Canada in late 2012, has finally received essential shoulder surgery and is catching up on the education he was denied. Still, Khadr may be left blind due to untreated wounds.

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Will Biden’s Billion-Dollar Plan Help Central America?

Alexander Main, NACLA: At first glance, the White House’s new plan appears to herald a salutary shift away from the US government’s failed regional security policy.

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Indigenous Storytelling in the Limelight

Francesca Dziadek, Inter Press Service: The Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale, has established a European hub for indigenous voices across a number of platforms, including its NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema series and Storytelling-Slams.

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A Sea of People Fighting for Water in Sao Paulo

Midia Ninja and Laura Capriglione, NINJA: The Iguatemi Mall did not seem to welcome the crowd. Neither did the Rolls-Royce store on Cidade Jardim Avenue. These sacred luxury consumer temples, where the water tanks are always full, lowered their doors before the the march that brought together 15,000 men, women and children.

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The BuzzFlash commentary will return soon.

“Selma Is Now” Says Obama Ahead of Visit to Highlight Abusive Justice System

Watch the Videos at The Guardian

Bank of Canada: “Stop ‘Spocking’ Our Currency”

Read the Article at Jonathan Turley’s Blog

Maine Effort to Tax Nonprofits Raises Eyebrows Across the US

Read the Article at Seattle Pi

US Media Executive Includes RussiaToday in the Same “Challenge List” as ISIS and Boko Haram

Read the Article at Global Research

Holder Says He’s “Prepared” to Dismantle Ferguson Police Department if Necessary

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Robert Swan Leads Antarctic Expedition to Show Firsthand Effects of Climate Change

Read the Article at EcoWatch

Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine

Read the Article at Spiegel

Truthout Daily Digest | Wednesday, February 4, 2015

I’m glad to see this article. There are so many unaware and unconcerned people spreading this toxic stuff everywhere-where kids, pets and other unsuspecting adults are immediately and directly harmed. Plus the widespread exposure to us all due to industrial agriculture. I hope everyone realizes the benefits of organic and permaculture practices very soon.

Monsanto’s Roundup: Enough to Make You Sick

Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic Consumers Association: In the nearly 20 years of intensifying exposure, scientists have been documenting the health consequences of Roundup and glyphosate in our food, in the water we drink, in the air we breathe and where our children play. The results are not good.

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Blessings,

ohnwentsya

US Continues Restrictions on Guatemalan Aid

Jeff Abbott, Truthout: Although the US continues aid restrictions requiring Guatemala to stop using its military as law enforcement, that country has intensified its use of the military to protect multinational business interests against communities resisting infrastructure projects.

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Execution of Paris Communards Foreshadowed Mass Murders of 20th Century

Mark Karlin, Truthout: Yale Professor John Merriman speaks about his new book, Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune, providing a remarkably detailed account of an armed uprising that rejected oligarchic government.

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There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a Corporation

Ben Cohen and John Bonifaz, Truthout: With the most politically active corporations reaping $760 for every $1 they donate to influence politics, these donors are well positioned to give 10 times the amount to national parties they were previously allowed, virtually dissolving McCain-Feingold campaign finance law gains.

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Who Needs Lobbyists? See What Big Business Spends to Win American Minds

Erin Quinn and Chris Young, The Center for Public Integrity: When Washington’s biggest trade associations want to wield influence, they often put far more of their money into advertising and public relations.

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Monsanto’s Roundup: Enough to Make You Sick

Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic Consumers Association: In the nearly 20 years of intensifying exposure, scientists have been documenting the health consequences of Roundup and glyphosate in our food, in the water we drink, in the air we breathe and where our children play. The results are not good.

Read the Article

GOP Obamacare Replacement Plan Calls for Higher Costs and More Poor People Dying

Crystal Shepeard, Care2: When Republicans vote for the 60th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they will be saying to the United States that the poor and the very sick will die, and that is perfectly okay because that’s how the free market works.

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Labor Relations Board Under Renewed Attack

Meghan Byrd, Campaign for America’s Future: Conservatives in Congress launched a renewed effort to weaken the ability of workers to get justice in the workplace against anti-labor behavior by businesses. The bill furthers Republican goals in advancing business interests at a high cost to workers.

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Africa’s Rural Women Must Count in Water Management

Miriam Gathigah, Inter Press Service: Across Africa, women account for at least 80 percent of farm laborers: they are the most burdened by water stresses and best placed to implement best water practices. They should not be excluded from decisions.

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Pull Yourself Up by Your Bread Bags

Marjorie E. Wood, OtherWords: There’s no doubt that hard work and resourcefulness can get you very far. But the reason millions of Americans are struggling these days isn’t because they aren’t resourceful; it’s because the rules are stacked against them.

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This week in Speakout:

Boston University Metropolitan College staff highlight how the juvenile correction system in the US is ineffective and nonetheless increasing in population year-over-year; theInternational Campaign to Stop GE Trees, Dogwood Alliance and Biofuelwatch protest US secret approval of the introduction of genetically engineered trees; Veronika Kyrylenko and Ryan Schinault look at the results a year after the victory of Euromaidan in Ukraine; Nacira Guenif-Souilamas, Abdellali Hajjat, Marwan Mohammed and other French social scientists of Arab and African origin ask, “How does it feel to be a problem?” following the Paris attacks; Julie Matthaei’s open letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew proposes more heterodoxy and systemic challenges in economic advice to the government; Simon Johnson urges the Obama administration to nominate a qualified individual as undersecretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department; the Western Environmental Law Center notes the ferocious opposition to a proposed Piñon Pipeline;Arthur Goodridge examines how the philosophy of nonviolence and the representation of people who espoused it have become oversimplified and offers a new response; Palestinian refugee Ramzy Baroud offers words of compassion to Syrian refugees; Alan Kritzler asks, five years after the Citizens United decision, whether the people or the major political contributors rule; and more.

Read the Articles Buzzflash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Editor of Major German Newspaper Says He Planted Stories for the CIA

Read the Article at Digital Journal

Tens of Thousands Rally in Spain for Anti-Austerity Party Podemos

Read the Article at Reuters

Census Says 16 Million US Children Are Living on Food Stamps, Double the Number in 2007

Read the Article at The Guardian

The British Army Is Creating a Battalion of “Facebook Warriors”

Read the Article at BBC

Governors’ Big Oil-Assisted Lobbying Pays Off in Obama’s Atlantic Drilling Plan

Read the Article at Facing South

Why Bigger Snowstorms Come With Global Warming

Read the Article at InsideClimate News

I Was an American Sniper, and Chris Kyle’s War Was Not My War

Read the Article at Salon

Truthout Daily Digest | Friday, January 23 2015

The Chilling First Amendment Implications of Journalist Barrett Brown’s Five-Year Sentence

Candice Bernd, Truthout: Concluding a case which has lasted more than two years, and which has frightening implications for journalists and researchers of all stripes, a federal judge in Dallas sentenced journalist and transparency activist Barrett Brown to 63 months in prison on Thursday.

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The New “Oppressed Peoples’ Movement”: Can the Tide of Resistance Continue?

James Kilgore, Truthout: What are some of the possibilities and tensions in the mass uprisings and new social movements that have appeared in the wake of the murder of Michael Brown?

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Sundarbans Oil Spill: An Urgent Wake-Up Call for the Bangladeshi Government

Iara Lee, Truthout: The catastrophic oil spill in Sundarbans tidal mangrove forest has mobilized activists to work even harder to prevent construction of a planned coal plant nearby.

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Is Reinvestment a Good Strategy for the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement?

Carlos Davidson and Cynthia Kaufman, Truthout: Fossil fuel divestment is emerging as a powerful strategy in the fight against climate change. It is crucial that activists focus on the political impact of divestment, and not get distracted by the economics.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders | Roads and Bridges Need $1 Trillion. It Is Time to Rebuild the US

Bernie Sanders, Campaign for America’s Future: “For many years we have underfunded the maintenance of our nation’s physical infrastructure. That has to change. It is time to rebuild America. I will soon be introducing legislation for a $1 trillion investment, over five years, to modernize our country’s physical infrastructure.”

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Dissing DuVernay and the Lessons of Selma

Sikivu Hutchinson, The Feminist Wire: The lessons of Selma itself are relevant to DuVernay’s “omission” from the Academy Awards nomination for Best Director. True to Frederick Douglass’ assertion that “power concedes nothing without demand,” the snub of DuVernay is criminal, but of course, not unprecedented.

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The 2015 State of the Union Address: A Major Omission

David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: In President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address, the only mention of nuclear weapons was in relation to the agreement the Obama administration is seeking to negotiate with Iran.

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Do the United States’ Hungry Children Matter?

Mariana Chilton, Moyers & Company: This is supposed to be the year when the US ends its child hunger crisis. That was the promise then-president-elect Obama made during his first campaign. At that time some 12.4 million children lived in homes that self-reported as food insecure. Today there are 15.8 million such children.

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The 1% Are Bad for Your Health – It’s Time to Tax Them More

Kate Pickett, The Conversation: The evidence that large income differences have damaging health and social consequences is very strong, and in many countries inequality is increasing. Narrowing the gap is vital to improve our health and well-being.

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“American Propagander”: Six Ways Paul Reickhoff’s American Sniper Column Deeply Bothers This US Veteran

Emily Yates, Emily Yates Does Everything: “When I first laid eyes on the guest column Paul Rieckhoff wrote about American Sniper, I thought I’d read the byline wrong. This has to have been written by the Department of Defense, I thought.”

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Richard D. Wolff | Economic Update: Spinning Out of Control

Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This episode provides updates on Obama’s State of the Union speech, the European Central Bank pumping up the money supply to stimulate Europe, forgiving Greece’s debts and housing extremes in the US. We also respond to questions on global wealth inequality and Switzerland’s currency maneuvers. Finally, we interview Dr. Harriet Fraad on the US economy’s disastrous impact on children.

Listen to the Audio Segment

BuzzFlash

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

US House Passes Stringent Abortion Restrictions

Read the Article at Salon

Joni Ernst’s Family Received Nearly $500,000 in Farm Subsidies

Read the Article at Raw Story

Obama Says Treating Drug Use as a Criminal Problem Is “Counterproductive”

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Advocates Call for State Investigation Into Shooting of Black Man in Traffic Stop

Read the Article at The Guardian

US Militarization and the “War on Terror” Create a Tinderbox of Violence

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Anti-Muslim Incidents Soar in France

Read the Article at The Local France

King Dies, New Tyrannical Leader for Saudi Arabia

Read the Article at USA TODAY

Truthout Daily Digest | Thursday, 22 January 2015

Supreme Court Upholds Auto Stop With No Traffic Violation

Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: The latest in 15 years of continuous Supreme Court decisions effectively enlarging police powers and restricting Forth Amendment protections against illegal searches and seizures, Heien v. North Carolina upheld a traffic stop where there was no traffic violation.

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Economist Leonidas Vatikiotis: Syriza’s Proposals Don’t Go Far Enough for Greece

Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: Economist Leonidas Vatikiotis, previously a European Parliament candidate with Greece’s Antarsya political party, shares his take on the upcoming elections in Greece, the economic proposals put forth by main opposition party Syriza, and the need, in his view, for Greece to depart from the eurozone.

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Interim Settlement Reached in Lac Mégantic Oil Train Disaster, but Culprits Say “It Wasn’t Us”

Roger Annis, Truthout: Amid continuing official support for oil trains in Canada, an initial financial compensation agreement for some victims of the 2013 Lac Mégantic, Quebec oil train disaster has been reached with some of the oil and transportation companies responsible for the tragedy.

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New Year, Same as the Old Year? 2015 Reproductive Rights Preview

Katie Klabusich, Truthout: The GOP-led 114th Congress declared its legislative priority by opening with assaults on reproductive healthcare access from all angles, choosing the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade as the day to vote on new abortion restrictions.

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State of the Black Union: The Shadow of Crisis Has Not Passed

Staff, Black Lives Matter: We the people, committed to the declaration that Black lives matter, will fight to end the structural oppression that prevents so many from realizing their dreams. We cannot, and will not stop until the United States recognizes the value of Black life.

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Supreme Court’s Latest Race Case: Housing Discrimination

Nikole Hannah-Jones, ProPublica: This week, the Supreme Court will take up one of the most important civil rights cases of the last decade – Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. Many fear the case could gut the landmark Fair Housing Act.

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Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition

Staff, Brave New Films: This documentary delves even deeper into where the Koch brothers’ money is going, who their money is hurting and how much they made during the whole process leading up to the 2014 elections.

Watch the Video

Is John Boehner a Traitor?

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: By inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress, Speaker of the House John Boehner may have broken any number of laws, and the Department of Justice needs to investigate.

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In SOTU, President Punts on Income Inequality

Michael Winship, Truthout: Much of the buildup to President Obama’s State of the Union address made it sound as if he was going to have a “Piketty moment.” Yet, with a president too often bold in words but timid in action, facing a Congress more Republican and obstructionist than ever, little will get done to fix inequality.

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The 1% Dine in Davos as Latin America Pulls People Out of Poverty

Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR: Billionaires and political elites have swooped into Davos this week for the annual World Economic Forum. The biggest risk the world faces may be the Forum’s continued neoliberal economic policies its members advocate that have created the crises it supposedly seeks to redress.

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Inequality Is Costing Us Big-Time

Sam Pizzigati, OtherWords: If the United States had been as equal in 2007 as it was in 1979, that average income would have been $94,310. In other words, inequality is costing the average American family about $18,000 a year.

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More and War: The Tao of Washington

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: The visibly Orwellian nature of US intelligence is now widely accepted, at least in Washington, as a necessity of our age, of our need for (you guessed it) safety and security. As a result, its bureaucratic expansion, secret wars, global kill lists and other activities are largely beyond challenge.

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Why the CIA Is So Eager to Demolish Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling

Norman Solomon, Expose Facts: The CIA is on a quest for more respect from anyone willing to defer to its authority, no matter how legally hypocritical or morally absent. Demolishing the life of Jeffrey Sterling is just another means to that end.

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New Jersey Officers Shoot and Kill Unarmed Black Man With Hands Up

Read the Article at The Chicago Tribune

Inequality in the Air We Breathe?

Read the Article at The New York Times

Maureen Dowd’s Clueless White Gaze: The “Selma” Backlash

Read the Article at Salon

US Senate Again Fails to Admit Human Role in Global Warming

Read the Article at The Guardian

The Narcissistic Fantasy of Mitt Romney

Read the Article at The Week

Pelosi Slams Netanyahu Invite

Read the Article at The Hill

Toxic Tanneries Poisoning Workers in Bangladesh

Read the Article at Vice News

Truthout Daily Digest | Monday, 19 January 2015

Martin Luther King, Jr.: All Labor Has Dignity

Martin Luther King, Jr., Beacon Press: In his introduction to the newly published anthology of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches and writings, Cornel West notes the book unearths a radical King whose legacy can no longer be sanitized. He was “anti-imperial, anti-colonial, anti-racist” and embodied “democratic socialist sentiments.”

Read the Excerpt

Your Home Is Your Prison

Maya Schenwar, TomDispatch: The “American Gulag,” is a vast carceral archipelago into which millions of human beings are simply deep-sixed. The urge to reform such a system should be applauded, but as with so many “reforms” in our era, the latest “alternative” forms of confinement may only be extending and expanding the prison system into other parts of American life.

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Democrats Take on Wall Street With Financial Transactions Tax

Dean Baker, Truthout: The House Democratic Party leadership remarkably proposed a financial transactions tax. The proposal is part of a larger package which includes a substantial tax credit for workers, and also a limit on the tax deductibility of high CEO pay.

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Five Corporations You’ve Never Heard of Are Making Millions From Mass Incarceration

James Kilgore, Truthout: From construction to monitoring devices, some corporations are making off like bandits with profits from mass incarceration. Here are five of the worst offenders.

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Uncovering a World War II Prisoner Exchange Program Through Interned Immigrants’ Stories

Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout: From 1942 to 1948, thousands of Japanese, German and Italian immigrants living in the United States were held in a Texas internment camp. All were suspected of disloyalty to Allied forces, and although none were tried or convicted of any crimes, some were repatriated to their countries of origin.

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The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have

Susan Holmberg, The Next New Deal: The economic proposals in Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s action plan “to grow the paychecks of all, not just the wealth of a few” will reinforce the progressive economic messaging championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren and conceivably embolden more Democrats to finally take command of our economic debate in advance of the 2016 presidential election.

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EPA Report Finds Pesticide Poses Risk to Workers, Spurs Calls for Ban

Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News: The insecticide chlorpyrifos, used on corn and other US crops, poses health risks to workers who mix and apply it and also can contaminate drinking water, according to a new EPA report.

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We Need Less Work, Not More

Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes: The notion held by many labor unions that the Senate is “killing” jobs by voting against the Keystone XL pipeline is misguided. We need to increase wages and lower the cost of living, so workers do not have to work themselves to death.

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One Thing Schools Should Do to Boost Students’ Intellectual Growth

Marion Brady, The Washington Post: Much that affects student performance, like poverty, disability and education of parents, can’t be fixed by education policy. A fundamental performance-limiting problem that can be fixed in school but has never been adequately addressed is this: information overload.

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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Democrats May Tax Wall Street and Give Main Street a Break, and More

Thom Hartmann, The Thom Hartmann Program: In today‘s On the News segment: Democratic lawmakers have put forth a progressive tax plan that would tax Wall Street to give Main Street a little relief; the 2014 election saw massive increases in outside spending and so-called dark money; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

BuzzFlash

The Buzzflash commentary for Truthout will return soon.

Black Conservatives Mangle and Defame the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Read the Article at Buzzflash

The Hope and Burden of the Civil Rights Movement

Read the Article at Colorlines

Richest 1% Likely to Control Half of Global Wealth by 2016, Study Finds

Read the Article at The New York Times

Obama Will Focus on Wealth Inequality – Not Just Income

Read the Article at The Atlantic

“Black Lives Matter” Aspires to Reclaim the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Read the Article at Mother Jones

White Oklahoma ‘Survivalist’ Walks Free After Shooting Black Police Chief Four Times

Read the Article at Crooks and Liars

On Gay Marriage, Supreme Court to Weigh Equal Rights and States’ Rights

Read the Article at the Los Angeles Times

The State of Felony Disenfranchisement in America

Read the Article at MSNBC

Truthout Daily Digest | Thursday, 15 January 2015

How “Hate Crimes Against Police” Expose the Fatal Flaw Within Hate Crime Statutes

Aaron Cantú, Truthout: Hate crime legislation lent legitimacy to a 40-year carceral program that has wrought immense damage on communities of color. In an ironic twist, the police – who’ve been the main enforcers of this program – now want to invoke these laws for their protection.

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Richard Wolff on the Greek Crisis, Austerity and a Post-Capitalist Future

Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: New School professor and economist Richard Wolff analyzes the causes of the economic crises in Greece and the eurozone, debunks claims that the Greek economy is recovering and proposes a post-capitalist future for Greece and the world.

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Pipeline to Nowhere

Emily Schwartz Greco, OtherWords: Researchers of a new study predict that virtually all Canadian tar sands oil production will stop by 2020. If Keystone XL is built by then, there would be nothing for the pipeline to transport, and it would become a monument to wasting colossal sums of money on dirty-energy infrastructure.

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The Robots Are Coming! Let’s Make Them Work for the Workers

Thomas Matt, Truthout: In a capitalist economy with privately owned means of production, technological advancements often result in unemployment and inequality. In a cooperative political economic system, however, these advancements would mean less work and higher living standards.

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Four Places Conservatives Believe Women Don’t Belong

Robin Marty, Care2: Conservatives assert that there are no roadblocks for being female, that a woman can have access to any opportunity a man can have and that there are no opportunity differences between the sexes. But it appears that men and women aren’t that equal at all.

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Lobbyists Lobby on Behalf of… Lobbyists

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: It’s bad enough that corporations are spending billions to buy off our lawmakers and corrupt our democracy. Now they’re trying to convince us that we should support or ignore their bad behavior, and strip our own government of the power to protect us from these predators.

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In the Wake of Charlie Hebdo, Assaults on Mosques Escalate

s.e. smith, Care2: The Charlie Hebdo attacks provided a convenient smokescreen for those looking to launch retaliatory attacks, despite the fact that the vast majority of Muslims were equally horrified by the attacks and were dismayed by the actions of the killers, who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam.

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The United States Is Open for Business in Iraq

Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch: While the collapse of the Iraqi army and the abandonment of piles of its US weaponry helped create a new business opportunity for weapons makers like General Dynamics, the plan to cash in on Iraq can be traced back to the United States’ occupation of the country.

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Hold Your Breath: Fracking and Clean Air Don’t Mix

Staff, Earthworks: Using a FLIR (infrared) camera designed to detect normally invisible, sometimes toxic, volatile organic compounds, mother, activist and FLIR-certified technician Sharon Wilson went on a road trip to document pollution at oil and gas operations – and its human cost.

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The Enchanted Land Where Community College Is Free? Welcome to Tennessee in 2015

Yessenia Funes, YES! Magazine: A new bill provides two years of tuition at a community college for participating high school grads who might otherwise face a 7.5 percent unemployment rate – and other states are already following suit.

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The Distorted Exaggeration of Black-on-Black Crime Ignores Much of the United States’ Criminality

Adam Hudson, AlterNet: This myth relies on shaky evidence and a selective definition of crime that ignores crimes committed by powerful institutions and the people who run them, many of whom are white men. Here are five examples of the kinds of crimes that slip under the radar.

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Three Ideas for Inclusive Cities: How Raleigh, Seattle and Others Are Bringing Everyone Into the Fold

Shannan Stoll, YES! Magazine: From city-issued ID cards to open-source data anyone can access, simple urban innovations are creating more transparent and equitable cities.

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Women on Waves: Meet the Dutch Physician Who Defied Abortion Bans by Bringing Her Clinic to the Sea

Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!: As Republicans in the new Congress and in state legislatures across the United States seek new restrictions on abortion, we look at the story of a Dutch doctor who has brought safe abortion to countries around the world where it is illegal.

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BuzzFlash

Maybe the Two-Party System in the US Should Be in the Creation Museum With the Dinosaurs

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The jury is out on whether a two-party system can seriously address the pressing issues of our time.

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Partners in Terror: This Is Bigger Than Satire

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The Rate of Sea-Level Rise Is “Far Worse Than Previously Thought,” Study Says

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Paris Is a Warning: There Is No Insulation From Our Wars

Read the Article at The Guardian

Cop Rock: The NYPD Turn on Spokesman Patrick Lynch

Read the Article at Esquire

ISIS Gaining Ground in Syria, Despite US Strikes

Read the Article at The Daily Beast

GOP House Passes Bill Setting Up New Shutdown War Over Immigration

Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

“Not the Way We Do Democracy!” Why Is a Ferguson Grand Juror Being Silenced?

Read the Article at Salon

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Truthout Daily Digest | Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Dahr Jamail | The Methane Monster Roars

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: Losing Arctic sea ice due to rising global temperatures means releasing larger amounts of previously trapped methane into the atmosphere. This process will magnify the effects of climate disruption, which, scientists warn, threaten all plants, animals and humans on earth.

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As Frac Sand Mining Expands, Community Activists Face Off Against Companies

Mara Kardas-Nelson, Truthout: With lax US and state government oversight of frac sand mining, a little-known industry producing a key component of fracking, it is up to cities and towns in Wisconsin to fight off powerful mining interests, and the state of Iowa is taking note.

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Do Prisons and Mass Incarceration Keep Us Safe? (Part Two)

Eddie Conway, The Real News Network: Truthout’s Maya Schenwar, author of Locked Down, Locked Out, continues her discussion, this time focusing on alternatives to mass incarceration.

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Are Assad’s Days Numbered?

Darius Shahtahmasebi, Truthout: As the US-led coalition continues to bomb ISIS and support rebels fighting the Syrian government, it’s only logical that Bashar al-Assad will eventually become the target of the US campaign.

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Ethiopia, Seen by West as an Island of Stability, Is Guilty of State Terrorism in Ogaden

Graham Peebles, Truthout: A shining example of African economic growth, a willing ally in the “war on terror” and a strategically convenient base from which the United States launches deadly Reaper drones over Yemen and Somalia, Ethiopia is also an egregious violator of human rights.

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Putting $7 Trillion of Notional Value of Derivatives in Taxpayer-Backstopped Depositaries Will Cost Zero

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: Why did Elizabeth Warren lose her battle to stop banks from parking $7 trillion notional value of risky derivatives like the credit defaults swaps in taxpayer-backstopped depositaries? One of the less recognized reasons is that the Congressional Budget Office’s dubious analysis said it would not cost taxpayers a dime.

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Four Ways the West Got the Iran Nuclear Issue Wrong

Gareth Porter, Middle East Eye: For decades, the United States and its European allies have committed one error after another in the process of creating a commonly held narrative that Iran was secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The story of how suspicions of the Iranian program hardened into convictions is a cautionary tale.

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How Cuba Is Using Cooperatives to Decentralize Its Economy

Cat Johnson, Care2: With the recent announcement that the United States will normalize relations with Cuba, change is in the air for the island country. Just a few years ago, Cuba began shifting its economy from state-controlled enterprises to citizen-controlled cooperatives. Will this trend continue?

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Surprising New Findings Point to “Perfect Storm” Brewing in Your Financial Future

Lynn Stuart Parramore, Institute for New Economic Thinking: Groundbreaking research by economist Alan Taylor shows that today‘s advanced economies depend on private sector credit more than ever before. Do we just fasten our seat belts for a bumpy ride, or is there a way to safeguard the financial system going forward?

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Seven Ways to Get Happy – Without Costing the Planet

Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine: It is true that all of us need a basic level of material security. But after that, more stuff does not bring more happiness. Research shows that sustainable happiness comes from other sources, like having meaningful work to do and having authentic relationships.

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Letter to a Young Army Ranger: Why the War on Terror Shouldn’t Be Your Battle

Rory Fanning, TomDispatch: “If, by any chance, you haven’t signed that Option 40 contract yet, you don’t have to. You can be an effective counter-recruiter without being an ex-military guy. Young people across this country desperately need your energy, your desire to be the best, your pursuit of meaning.”

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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Last Year Was the Hottest Year on Record, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, 2014 was hotter than any other year in its 120 years of record-keeping; California has big plans for reducing its carbon footprint; scientists have discovered the most Earth-like planet ever found outside of our solar system; and more.

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BuzzFlash

Chaplain Employed by For-Profit Prison Accused of Whitewashing Immigrant Detention Abuses

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: As with the prison system in general, for-profit corporations that run immigrant jails are interested in filling the maximum number of beds in order to achieve increased profit.

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Social Justice Quiz 2015: How Much Do You Know About Inequality?

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Paris Rally for Peace: Massive Crowd Sings “Imagine” by John Lennon

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The Legacy of Bill Moyers

Read the Article at The Washington Post

Elizabeth Warren Wins: Obama Treasury Pick Bows Out of Nomination Process

Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

The Group Behind the United States’ Biggest Anti-Abortion March Now Says Birth Control Causes Abortions

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Protecting Your Mentally Ill Child From the Cops

Read the Article at The Daily Beast

South African Labor Leader Pitches a New Socialist Party

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

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Truthout Daily Digest | Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Henry A. Giroux | Authoritarianism and the Assault on Public Education

Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: As public schools are privatized, succumbing to corporate interests, critical thought and agency are erased, and education emphasizes market values rather than democratic ideals. The emergence of larger radical social movements depends on public education maintaining its role as a democratic sphere.

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Liberals, Trojan Horses and the Myth of Police-Community Relations

Josmar Trujillo, Truthout: Instead of having a conversation about how we’ve codified racism through law enforcement, we’re given a thick layer of public relations in the name of community policing. At its core, “community policing” serves as a Trojan horse for more policing and more funding of it.

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Robert W. McChesney: “Capitalism as We Know It Has Got to Go”

Robert W. McChesney, Monthly Review Press: In Blowing the Roof Off the Twenty-First Century, McChesney makes an urgent and compelling argument for ending communication monopolies and building a post-capitalist democracy that serves people over corporations.

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The Five Best Labor Stories of 2014

John Logan, Truthout: These stories demonstrate that despite extremely serious challenges, there’s life in the US labor movement – the last, best hope for reversing skyrocketing levels of economic inequality and restoring some measure of justice and decency to the US workplace.

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It’s Time to Bring Domestic Violence Survivors Like Barbara Sheehan Home From Prison

Victoria Law, The Nation: Christmas is traditionally the time when state governors grant clemency to people in prison whose cases they find compelling – and many of the battered women behind bars have compelling cases.

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The True Costs of Corporate Welfare

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: It’s unconscionable and morally reprehensible that an employee working for the largest retailer in the United States, or for a fast food giant, isn’t making enough money to survive and provide for their family. We need to stop rewarding businesses for screwing over their employees.

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Amy Goodman | The Afghan War Is Not Over: More Than 10,000 Troops Continue the Fight

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: The US-led NATO occupation has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan. The move leaves Afghan forces in charge of security, though more than 17,000 foreign troops will remain, including more than 10,000 US troops.

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Saudis Tell Shale Industry It Will Break Them, Plans to Keep Pumping Even at $20 a Barrel

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: Saudi Arabia made it even more clear that it is not pulling out of its game of chicken with other energy-producing nations. The Saudis will keep pumping and, by implication, will force production cuts on others.

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Guatemalan Genocide Trial Set to Resume Amid Amnesty Battles

Jo-Marie Burt, North American Congress on Latin America: Under pressure from entrenched economic and military interests, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court undid its historic genocide ruling in 2013. The trial is set to resume on January 5, but faces last-ditch efforts to derail it.

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Okinawa: The Small Island Trying to Block the US Military’s “Pivot to Asia”

Christine Ahn, Foreign Policy in Focus: In November, the citizens of Okinawa delivered a landslide victory to Takeshi Onaga, who ran on a gubernatorial platform opposing the construction of a new US Marine Corps base in northern Okinawa. Onaga pledged “to stop construction using every means at my disposal.”

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Zombie Apocalypse and the Politics of Artificial Scarcity

Colin Jenkins, The Hampton Institute: If we are truly inclined to cooperate with one another, why is there so much division and turmoil in the world? The answer to this question may be found by assessing the creation of artificial scarcity as a means to maintain hierarchies.

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Life in the Crosshairs – How Some Public Feminists, Atheists and Other Activists Cope With Death Threats

Valerie Tarico, Valerie Tarico’s Blog: Fear has the power to paralyze and silence even strong, determined people, which is why threats of violence are such a potent, common and toxic presence in political discourse. Consequently, it is a wonder, and a gift to us all, when engaged citizens refuse to be silenced.

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BuzzFlash Health Care Professionals Were “Legal Heat Shield” for Bush Administration’s Torture Project Bill Berkowitz, BuzzFlash at Truthout: The role of health care workers in facilitating torture is one of the sickening details uncovered by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s 500-page executive summary of its investigation of George W. Bush’s administration’s torture program. Read the BuzzFlash Commentary Activists Permanently Shut Down Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant Read the Article at BuzzFlash Delaware-Size Gas Plume Over New Mexico Illustrates the Cost of Methane Leaking From Drilling Rigs Read the Article at The Washington Post Blackwater Lobbyist Will Manage the House Intelligence Committee Read the Article at Republic Report 2014 Was the Year We Finally Started to Do Something About Climate Change Read the Article at Mother Jones What Does It Mean to Be Anti-Police? Read the Article at The Nation A 17-Year-Old Rape Victim’s Demand for Justice Gains Momentum in Nepal Read the Article at Global Voices Kyle Orton and the Search for the NFL’s Liberals Read the Article at The Guardian