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  Daily Headlines
A significant development in the ongoing rift between the Obama administration and Israel's government: it appears White House plans to snub AIPAC's upcoming policy conference are intensifying over Binyamin Netanyahu's March 3 address before Congress.
This article adds additional citations to the "misstatements" made by Bill O'Reilly that compare to those of Brian Williams. In both cases, their claims have proven to be of the most egregious kind: "stolen valor." Williams has paid the price for his; will O'Reilly be given similar treatment now that his have been exposed?
By Nicola Nasser
UN peace coordinator unwelcome by Palestinians What can Mladenov do that his predecessors, the UN, the Quartet, the Arab League and others, couldn't?
The Plot to Kill Health Care - by Timothy Egan NYTimes
In less than two weeks' time, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell -- the net result of a well-orchestrated, well-financed, five-year campaign to kill President Obama's signature achievement by legal assassination. It's a remarkably flimsy case, the plaintiffs may lack standing, and a host of business and health care professionals have said the consequences of backing the right-wing consortium behind this case could be catastrophic.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani seems determined to make a fool of himself by his continuous litany of denigration directed at President Barack Obama. Rudy's latest silly rant, claiming that our President "does not love America" demonstrates the former mayor's irrelevance to anything of importance today.
By Mike Whitney
The Battle Behind the Fog of Propaganda: The "Exceptional" U.S. Suffers Crushing Defeat in Debaltsevo 
Last week, Washington suffered its greatest military defeat in more than a decade when Ukraine's US-backed army was soundly routed in the major railway hub of Debaltsevo. Roughly, 8,000 Ukrainian regulars along with untold numbers of tanks and armored units were surrounded in what-came-to-be-known-as "the cauldron."
It follows, from Giuliani's ill-informed, paranoid, perspective, that the President does not "love America." That is sheer gobbledegook, nonsense designed to deceive. But it plays well to the political right, and it gets extensive attention in right wing media outlets like Fox News, reaching precisely ISIL's target audience
The facts about tax fairness are certainly compelling -- the numbers prove that the system could be at once more equal and raise more resources for public priorities. But those numbers will only become a reality if there is a serious political counterweight to the GOP -- and that remains a big if.
There's plenty to be excited about as the Year of the Sheep (or Goat) starts. What's certain is that the Chinese caravan, much in contrast with the dogs of war -- and austerity -- pivoting across the West, has already pivoted towards "win-win" pan-Eurasia integration.
By Christian Bentzen
CPAC again excludes gay Conservatives from its annual event. CPAC, the annual gathering of conservatives and republican groups, is again excluding the only LGBT Republican group from the event.
Matt Damon reads from Howard Zinn's 1970 speech, "The Problem is Civil Obedience" on Vimeo
Here, Matt Damon reads from a speech Howard Zinn gave in 1970 as part of a debate on civil disobedience. Matt Damon and his family were lifelong friends of the Zinns. This performance was part of "The People Speak, Live!" show, featuring Damon, Lupe Fiasco and a cast of Chicago's finest poets, actors, activists, artists, musicians, and writers. The show took place at the Metro in Chicago, on January 31, 2012, and was produced by Voices of a People's History (peopleshistory.us) in collaboration with Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival
Mother Jones put out a report last night about "inconsistencies" in Bill O'Reilly's war stories that O'Reilly adamantly denounced to Mediaite as "total bullshit." But it's another quote O'Reilly gave last night regarding Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn that spurred the magazine to send a concerned letter to Fox News. In talking with TVNewser last night, O'Reilly said, "When they verify what I'm saying, because it's easily verifiable, then I expect David Corn to be in the kill zone. Where he deserves to be."
By Marta Steele
Danny Schechter, "When South Africa Called, We Answered" (Ruminations from Heartfelt and Increasingly Expert Involvement 
Review of Danny Schechter's powerful and empowering South Africa story, including himself, Mandela, and a cast of billions . . . the world
or people who love fashion, there are few events more exciting than the Oscars. Hollywood's most glamorous night of the year guarantees the most epic red carpet moments.
I hope that one day we will all realize that having a pure breed dog is really not all that important - especially since this "need" has spawned so many terrible puppy mills. I loved all my 7 mix-breed dogs because I saw something beautiful in each one. I feel fortunate because of this. The puppy mills would be out of business if there were many more people of my ilk.
Why Sex Feels Good and Other Fascinating Facts About the Science of Touch
I have this annoying tendency -- a tic, really -- to sit and stroke the same piece of hair over and over again throughout the day as I work. I run the same half-inch-wide collection of strands at the bottom layer of the back of my head between my right ring and middle fingers, my thumb tracing beneath, for hours every day. It's awful, but it helps me concentrate -- it also feels good. But if ever someone else tries to repeat the movement on my head, it never feels right; usually the sensation is enough to make me shudder and jerk away. That's because, despite my weird hair tic, I am a normal human -- one whose hairy skin has special nerve endings at the base of her hair follicles that are sensitive to different touches, whether they're too fast or too slow or just right. [From the article]
Should Police Brutality be classified as a sub-category of Kink?
While Corn and Schulman are certainly not alone in conflating--to use a word of the moment--O'Reilly's credibility gap with Williams's troubles, the Fox News host is unlikely to be subjected to any penalty for his lapse, let alone the possibly career-ending ordeal Williams is enduring.
By David Snieckus
Testimony on HB 938 in Masssachusetts we need a 10-year moratorium on foreclosures to clean house in the banking and mortgage industry once and for all! We need a "time out" to prevent another devastating foreclosure in Massachusetts. Foreclosures are happening more because of a mathematical phenomenon, not necessarily because people can't pay!
On Thursday, Mother Jones published an article by Daniel Schulman and me that documented how Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has mischaracterized his wartime reporting experience. Most notably, he has more than once said that during his short stint as a CBS correspondent in the 1980s, he was in the "war zone" during the Falklands war between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. He even once told the story of heroically rescuing his cameraman in this "war zone" while being chased by army soldiers. Yet according to O'Reilly's former CBS colleagues in Argentina and other journalists there during the war, no American journalist reached the war zone in the Falkland Islands and other territories iin the southern Atlantic Ocean during this conflict. O'Reilly and his colleagues covered the war from Buenos Aires, which was 1200 miles from the fighting.
'Jeb Bush's PAC is hiring Tim Miller, a GOP opposition research guru whose America Rising PAC was a big player in the 2014 midterms.'
With frequent economic slumps and a widening gap between the local poor and the multinational super-rich, the need for scapegoats is rising. But I do not believe that these marginal groups, even if some of them are not so marginal anymore, constitute a real anti-Semitic surge.
Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is said to be a rising contender for the Republican presidential nomination. So, on Wednesday, he did what, these days, any ambitious Republican must, and pledged allegiance to charlatans and cranks. A doctrine that even Republican economists consider dangerous nonsense has become party orthodoxy. And what makes this political triumph especially remarkable is that it comes just as the doctrine's high priests have been setting new standards for utter, epic predictive failure.
Maureen McDonnell was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison after an emotional, hours-long hearing in which the former first lady of Virginia apologized publicly for the first time since she and her husband were first accused of public corruption. Robert McDonnell was sentenced last month to two years in prison and has been allowed to remain free on bond while he appeals the case. Spencer allowed Maureen McDonnell, too, to remain free during her appeal.
The American torture president and self-professed Christian, George W. Bush, gratefully accepted an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the Christian-ideology-based University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, on February 11, in a "public" event that was closed to most of the public. The only direct media coverage allowed for the event was by Fox News and the college public relations team.
Euro zone finance ministers reached an agreement on Friday to extend heavily indebted Greece's financial rescue by four months, officials on both sides said. An agreement removes the immediate risk of Greece running out of money next month and possibly being forced out of the single currency area. It provides a breathing space for the new leftist-led Athens government to try to negotiate longer-term debt relief with its official creditors.
By William Dunkerley
Ukraine Is a Kind of Iraq II. Won't They Ever Learn? Who's behind the misinformation campaign this time?
By David Swanson
Not Very Funny One of my favorite things that Mark Twain didn't really say but definitely should have said was "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." He left out the possibility of imbeciles who are putting us on.
By Philip Weiss
White House suggests Israel is lying about Iran talks -- as Obama officials shun Netanyahu 
It turns out from the State Department briefing that no one is going to be around to meet Netanyahu when he comes to town to give his March 3 speech. The president won't meet him. The VP won't meet him. And now the Secretary of State will be out of town.
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"At least six American presidents were unable to pay their debts at some point in their careers; and likely would have had to file bankruptcy under today's laws. During most of the 19th century, there were no bankruptcy laws in the young republic, though there was legislation governing insolvency and the collection of debts. It's not as if these presidents were deadbeats. They weren't even bad businessmen, necessarily. Presidents in the 19th century not only got less compensation -- they were responsible for paying for their own travel, diplomatic entertaining and the salaries of their staffs, all on $25,000 a year. That's the equivalent of about $366,250 in today's dollars. Sitting presidents have never been paid well."
"President Barack Obama's done running for office, but not making fun of Republicans. "In a speech to the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting Friday in Washington, Obama ripped into Hill Republicans -- and Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in particular -- for attempts to 'spin' and 'bamboozle' Americans by claiming to be for the middle class."
Follow the Money: How Charter Schools in Pennsylvania Succeed; by Diane Ravitch
This is an excellent series of articles on the rise of the privatization movement in Pennsylvania. The bottom line, as usual: Follow the money. If you want to understand the growth of charter schools in Pennsylvania, you must read this bombshell article by Daniel Simmons-Ritchie. The charter lobby has spent millions to influence legislators. It also has the ability to mobilize hundreds of children to pack legislators' offices, a tactic unavailable to public schools. Pennsylvania does not allow for-profit charter schools, yet there are many for-profit charter schools in the state. Do you want to know who is making money by sponsoring charters? The article has the names and details.
The Department of Justice will seek a stay on a federal judge's ruling that brought a temporary halt to immigration programs created by executive action, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. The federal government would like the programs to be able to move forward until an appeals court examines the lower judge's ruling. The stay will be filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans by next Monday at the latest, and will be in addition to an appeal, he said.
State-sponsored healthcare might seem like a relatively modern concept, but Egyptian papyri texts dating back 3,100 to 3,600 years tell a different story. These text were discovered during archaeological excavations of Deir el-Medina, a village occupied during ancient Egypt's New Kingdom period, which spanned between 1550 and 1070 B.C. The village was the home to the highly skilled craftsmen charged with creating rock-cut tombs for royalty in the Valley of the Kings.
Maduro Confirms Arrest of Caracas Mayor for Coup Plotting
The career of a long-time butcher, on whose hands is the blood of thousands of victims of the 1989 Caracazo, dozens of victims of 2002 coup d' etat against Chavez and of last year's "guarimbas", gets at least halted. These are the reasons behind "violent arrest of the Mayor in Caracas in his office with no charges presented" - the only thing reported by the MSM. The man has been arrested for plotting in another coup - this time against Maduro's government, but actually against Bolivarian revolution.
Walmart said it would pay even its lowest-level workers at least $9 an hour starting this spring, comfortably above the $7.25 federal minimum wage, and push that to $10 in 2016. The company also said it would strengthen a "department manager" role, giving it a minimum wage of $13 per hour this year and $15 next, thus offering low-wage hourly workers a clearer path to advancement. Including similar bumps at Walmart-owned Sam's Clubs, the company expects 500,000 workers to receive a raise at a cost of $1 billion a year, executives said in a conference call with reporters.
Jill Stein and the Green Party
The Green Party opposes proposed plans to provide Ukraine's armed forces military aid to fight rebels who are allegedly receiving assistance from Russia and urges President Obama to reject the advice of warhawk advisors and Congressmembers. "Washington has used the people of Ukraine as chess pieces in a bid to strengthen NATO and isolate Russia politically, militarily, and economically, taking advantage of Russia's vulnerability in the wake of sanctions and Saudi Arabia's reduction of oil prices. Instead of seeking peace, the U.S. is aggravating tensions, risking a face-off with Russia that could spark a proxy war or even a global conflict. This game isn't about self-defense for the U.S., it's about expanding the power of NATO and enforcing the U.S.'s superpower status," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.
The central and eastern U.S. braced for another blast of record-breaking cold, snow and ice early Friday after already frigid temperatures shattered all-time lows. Thursday was the coldest Feb. 19 in Chicago in 79 years. At Niagara Falls, the majestic rushing water was obscured by blocks of craggy ice. In Florida, the start of spring training felt less than springlike. Chicago broke a 79-year-old record: The air temperature at O'Hare International Airport dropped to minus 8 degrees around 6 a.m. -- inching ahead of the -7 F recorded on Feb. 19, 1936.
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