Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be
|
No newsletter yesterday.
I didn't send out the newsletter yesterday. I was feeling under the weather-- probably from the change in weather, and just laid low.
We've got a great mix of articles today though.
Best,
rob kall
 Daily Headlines
Divide and conquer was the same tactic used during the Occupy movement.
The Orwellian concept of "information warfare" holds that propaganda can break down enemies and decide geopolitical outcomes, a strategy that has taken hold of the U.S. government's approach to international crises, especially the Ukraine showdown, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains.
By Mike Whitney
"Margin Call from Hell" -- Why a Stronger Dollar will Lead to Deflation, Recession and Crisis 
Seven years and $11 trillion in central bank bond purchases has increased financial instability to the point that any attempt to normalize rates threatens to vaporize emerging markets, send stocks crashing, and intensify deflationary pressures. If that isn't an argument for "ending the Fed," then I don't know what is.
CNN and Wolf Blitzer had no fear of being called on the carpet for spreading war fever. The so-called "mainstream media" has been transformed into a Ministry of Propaganda. Similar propaganda is being spread in the UK where defense minister Michael Fallon declared Russia to be a "real and present danger" to Europe. US troops and tanks are being rushed to the Baltics on the pretext that Russia is going to attack.
Almost eight months after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine -- creating a flashpoint in the standoff between nuclear-armed Russia and America -- the U.S. intelligence community claims it has not updated its assessment since five days after the crash, reports Robert Parry.
I hope that, when it comes time for the Senate election, that the voters will use their votes to tell Senator Feinstein and other members of Congress who do not bother to consider the views of their constituency, or even to read them, that special interest groups have enough say in Washington and it is time to listen to the people instead of the lobbyists.
Newly-elected Senator Cotton and neocon leader Bill Kristol are now doing the work of AIPAC, and their pro-Israel, anti-Iran funders, standing with a foreign leader on a foreign policy issue against their own president. In the process they have pulled 47 Republican senators into their scheme. Some of those senators are expressing doubt over their decision to sign a letter they had quickly read and endorsed.
Visitors sometimes hear this point of view and they are reminded, as this observer was recently, surprisingly by a Syrian university professor in Aleppo, "Sir, what matters most now is the condition of people not old stuff!"
By Paula J Caplan
Diagnosisgate: Major Mental Health System Expose The most stunning story of corruption in the modern mental health system
I don't know which is more troubling: to have a political party that has gone rogue, that respects neither the will of the people nor the norms of American politics; or to have the base of a supposedly conservative party rewarding conduct from its leaders that would formerly have been regarded as disgraceful and destructive of our democracy and its traditions.
Where in your brain do you exist? Is your awareness of the world around you and of yourself as an individual the result of specific, focused changes in your brain, or does that awareness come from a broad network of neural activity? How does your brain produce awareness? Their findings, which were published March 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, challenge previous theories that hypothesized much more restricted changes were responsible for producing awareness. "Identifying the fingerprints of consciousness in humans would be a significant advancement for basic and medical research, let alone its philosophical implications on the underpinnings of the human experience." The researchers aimed to characterize how connections between the various parts of the brain were related to awareness. "We take for granted how unified our experience of the world is. .."
Japanese scientists have succeeded in transmitting energy wirelessly, in a key step that could one day make solar power generation in space a possibility, an official said Thursday. Researchers used microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power--enough to run an electric kettle--through the air with pinpoint accuracy to a receiver 55 metres (170 feet) away.
By Thomas Farrell
Getting Our Bearings from Jung On car trips, kids often ask, "Are we there yet?" Years ago, C. G. Jung predicted that the Age of Aquarius would emerge next in Western culture. So liberals and progressives today may ask, "Are we there yet?" For example, in the U.S. in recent years, public opinion about same-sex marriage has shifted dramatically. Doesn't this show that the Age of Aquarius is emerging slowly but surely? Let's examine what else Jung says.
This year for Valentine's Day, my bride of nearly 40 years, Peggy, gave me a wonderful gift.
The following are my teaching assignments on critical thinking for California 12th grade students in the semester-long courses, "US Government" and "Economics." I offer them for non-profit use:
The real problem is that the justice system doesn't protect people who need protection and doesn't help people who've been hurt. My story shows people -- betrayed by the justice system -- finding their own paths. They want to heal wounds, hold people accountable and make amends. But they must do it on their own. Their instincts are closer to what's sometimes called Restorative Justice. "Crime is a wound. Justice should heal."
Liquid water, possible non-Earth life and manned mission or colonization targets in our solar system
Oceans trapped under ice appear to be pretty common in the solar system and one of them, on a small moon of Saturn's, appears to be quite hot. Scientists reported evidence for hydrothermal vents on the Saturnian moon Enceladus, with temperatures of its rocky core surpassing 194 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius) in spots. The discovery, if confirmed, would make Enceladus the only place other than Earth where such chemical reactions between rock and heated water are known to be occurring today -- and for many scientists, it would make Enceladus a most promising place to look for life.
By Karl Grossman
Ben Jones' Crusade Against Tailgating Ben Jones, at 92 the oldest paradmedic in New York State (and probably in the U.S.) has for decades been on a crusade to get action on tailgating. The key problem, he says, is that virtually all motorists in the nation have been -- and continue to be -- incorrectly taught about the distance they should be driving behind the vehicle in front of them.
In an effort to reassert control over the domestic political debate surrounding sensitive negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, the White House penned a letter Saturday night warning senators to hold back on legislation that would detract from the president's ability to affect and approve a final agreement with Iran. Coming just days before the March 24 deadline for a political framework for the final nuclear agreement, the Saturday night letter -- three pages, single spaced, in length -- is the latest indication of rising tensions between the White House and the Hill. The letter, written by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), reiterates a veto threat of the bill, while insisting that Congress will have a say in reviewing and affecting the ultimate outcome. At times assertive and, at others, combative, the letter warns Corker that his bill, which would give Congress the right to vote up or down on the final nuclear agreement, would cripple U.S. negotiators and lead Iran and international negotiating partners to question the U.S.' ability to follow through on its end of the bargain.
Binyamin Netanyahu is fighting for his political life. A few months ago, when he decided to dismiss the Knesset and call early elections, he certainly did not dream of such a predicament. And here we are, a few days before election day, with Likud almost desperate. Why? How? It seems that people are just fed up with Netanyahu. They seem to be saying: Enough is enough.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to cancel a January briefing for U.S. Senators by his nation's intelligence service that warned Congress could damage talks aimed at constraining Iran's nuclear program, according to sources familiar with the events."
Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records. The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found. Aides to Bush said Saturday that none of the e-mails contained sensitive or classified information, and that many of the events mentioned in them were documented in press accounts, either contemporaneously or later. But security experts say private e-mail systems such as the one used by Bush are more vulnerable to hackers, and that details such as troop movements could be exploited by enemies.
Consciousness is the source of not only the human mind, but also of all energy and matter.
The Republican Party was formed on strong anti-slavery sentiments, and, at least for its early history, did some good for our country and for the US people.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commented on the GOP-47's letter to Iran and said it represented "the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system's internal disintegration." Khamenei noted that as a matter of course, nations are 'typically' loyal to their commitments even when the reins of power change hands, "but American senators officially announced the commitment will be null and void after this government leaves office. Isn't this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system's internal disintegration?"
Sweden Offers to Question Assange in London
On the eve of legal deadline to prosecute Assange, Swedish Prosecution finally accepts to question him in the Embassy of Ecuador in London. The procedure includes the DNA test, so Swedes are now suddenly in a hurry. Brits plan to arrest Assange anyway if he dares to set a foot outside the Embassy.
In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the price was steep -- $5 million -- and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money. hey first turned to a secret fund that the Central Intelligence Agency bankrolled with monthly cash deliveries to the presidential palace in Kabul, according to several Afghan officials involved in the episode. The Afghan government, they said, had already squirreled away about $1 million from that fund. Within weeks, that money and $4 million more provided from other countries was handed over to Al Qaeda, replenishing its coffers after a relentless C.I.A. campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan had decimated the militant network's upper ranks.
By William Dunkerley
The War Putin Lost Are Russia and the U.S. in jeopardy of being sucked into a hot war?
An eloquent illustration of the contribution of motion pictures to political literacy.
By earl ofari hutchinson
Nothing New in the Ape Crack about Michelle Obama Silly, sick, demeaning cracks made by such as the canned Univision host Rodner Figueroa likening First Lady Michelle Obama to a Planet of the Apes character are not new. Four years ago the then CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, Walt Baker, took much heat and lost a lot of business for his marketing firm when he also likened the First Lady to a monkey. Latest Articles
The beginning of 2015 has witnessed one of the worst political turmoil in the history of Bangladesh. Since last two months, the country has been badly paralyzed by the blockades of roads, railways, waterways and rallies staged by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Cary Woodworth speaks on acting in Chinese language films, on the independent film scene and on film festivals.
This is a story of a champion woman farmer, who stood against all odds and established herself as a woman farmer in a heavily male-dominated agriculture arena
Hillary and Bill Clinton "opened Haiti" as their private asset to liquidate. They used the State Department, USAID, the UN, the Private Military Security Contractors (PMSC), the US military, and the Fed's passport and visa issuance capabilities. They got kickbacks called "donations," from anyone who wished to buy their influence. Hillary's brother sat on the board of VSC mining that got a rare contract to mine Haiti gold.
A call for a return to maturity and professionalism in broadcast media: Prejudice, whether clothed in white hoods, red neck Frat Houses, blue uniforms, Media suits or Tea stained House of Representatives, WE hold this truth to be self-evident: There is no Exceptionalism in hate, media hyperbole, miss-representation of facts or oppression of those who do not look, act, think, speak or marry as WE.
Most prospective candidates are polling in single digits. Warren, despite saying she isn't running, is polling at 19%. That is a strong number. Obama had already declared by this time in 2007 and had surged to 25% in the polls. Warren has not declared and is already close to 25%.
In agreeing to such a small settlement in the Exxon case, Christie placates his politically connected colleagues and gets himself some extra cash to spend on his budget's new tax cuts. He also gives a gift to an oil industry donor just as he starts raising money for a 2016 White House bid.
Just as the Bush administration and the U.S. media re-labelled "torture" with the Orwellian euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques" to make it more palatable, the governments and media of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance are now attempting to re-brand "mass surveillance" as "bulk collection" in order to make it less menacing (and less illegal).
 Best News Links from the Web
The molecular machines that copy DNA in a living cell are amazingly fast and accurate at pairing up the correct bases--G with C and A with T--into each new double helix. They work by recognizing the shape of the right base pair combinations, and discarding those--such as a G and a T--that don't fit together correctly. Yet for approximately every 10,000 to 100,000 bases copied, these machines make a mistake that if uncorrected will be immortalized in the genome as a "transmutation". "The structure of DNA is inherently tailored to allow 'innovations' to happen. Those 'innovations' are critical because if we never made them we would never have life as we know it, since we would never evolve. But if we had too many of them, our genes would undergo dissolution and we wouldn't survive. These quantum jitters appear to tune the frequency of these spontaneous mutations to just the right level."
The true scandal of the Tom Cotton letter to Iranian leaders is the manner in which the Republican Senate apparently conducts its affairs. The document was crafted by a senator with two months of experience under his belt. It was signed by some members rushing off the Senate floor to catch airplanes, often with little close analysis. Many of the 47 signatories reasoned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's endorsement was vetting enough. There was no caucus-wide debate about strategy; no consultation with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has studiously followed the nuclear talks (and who refused to sign). This was a foreign policy maneuver, in the middle of a high-stakes negotiation, with all the gravity and deliberation of a blog posting. In timing, tone and substance, it raises questions about the Republican majority's capacity to govern.
The Hague Rules against Chevron in Ecuador Case
"Exxon Valdez", Louisiana Gulf? How about Ecuadorean jungle - do you think is it any different? "Chevron" had accused suitors - the victims! - under RICO act in NY, but victims' struggle against the monsters is a long and wretched road. The most important thing is to never give up and to seek solidarity. Other victims are most welcome.
Liberals feel strongly that the GOP would cry treason if a Democrat did what Cotton has under a Republican president. Though there is a split on the letter, conservatives across the board are deeply skeptical of any agreement between President Barack Obama's administration and the Islamic Republic. "The GOP letter -- while sound in substance -- caused the debate to shift from the administration's wrongheadedness to the GOP's tactics," said a New Hampshire Republican, who -- like all 92 respondents this week -- completed the survey anonymously in order to speak candidly. "That's not helpful." "Policy wise, the deal Obama is trying to cut is a bad one," said another. "Politically speaking, however, the letter has been a disaster. The Democrats have totally framed and owned the debate, and our GOP senators are getting pummeled."
The letter to Iran has turned into an unrelenting disaster of a story that is following Republicans wherever they go. Republican presidential candidates are being asked about it on the campaign trail. Republicans who didn't have anything to do with the letter are being questioned about it. There is no escape for Republicans. The level of disrespect in the letter has shocked people who don't follow politics on a daily basis, but who vote in a presidential election. The behavior of the Senate Republicans can't be undone. There is no way to repair the damage, and Republicans might have cost themselves their Senate majority with this blatant act of sabotage.
Catching up with George Miller - Anger in Arizona over higher ed funding; by CAITLIN EMMA - POLITICO
Anger in Arizona over higher ed funding.Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona's Republican-led legislature shocked many this weekend by passing a "values-based budget" that slashes higher education funding by 13 percent - $99 million - and completely pulls state support for community colleges in the process. The unrest isn't letting up, according to local reports [http://bit.ly/1b2JlWz ], with Arizona Board of Regents Chairman Mark Killian exploring a possible lawsuit against the legislature during the board's Wednesday meeting. He points to a state constitutional provision stating that a college education must be "as nearly free as possible." - Ducey argues that "with a $600 million line item, the universities are one of the largest recipients of state funding." That's despite a 48 percent per-student funding cut for public colleges since 2008 - the largest nationwide - and average tuition increase of nearly $4,500, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Killian acknowledges that such a lawsuit may be a longshot. Meanwhile, the Phoenix New Times reports [http://bit.ly/1D71pKZ], Arizona State University President Michael Crow says he'll try to figure out a way to deal with the cuts while still keeping in-state tuition flat next year, as promised. "The ramifications for the state's economy will take years to play out because it is our colleges and universities that produce Arizona's strongest asset: educated young men and women trained to play leading roles in a rapidly changing world," Crow said.
More than 200 members of Congress are lobbying the Obama administration not to make cuts in a popular Medicare program that covers about 16 million seniors nationwide. The new rate proposal announced in late February would decrease payments "modestly" by about 0.95 percent, said Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator and director of the CMS. This year's proposed rate reduction is less than last year's 1.9 percent. That full cut never went into effect, however, after an aggressive lobbying effort by the medical industry.
Here's What I Did When Online Targeted Ads Started Stalking Me
Only after that same ad (for a show called The Nether) also popped up when I was on The New York Times site did it occur to me that maybe this wasn't coincidence. Maybe this ad was targeting me, I thought, because I had bought my tickets for this show online. I'd seen targeted ads similar to this repeated on multiple sites before. But this one was different. It was tied to a much more specific behavior of mine than the others and promoted something relatively obscure--a limited-run show in a small theater. (Note: I have no connection with this show or anyone associated with it). Over the next few days, as the ad made its way to other sites that I visited, I found myself resenting its constant presence. I felt stalked. It seemed to be following me everywhere I went online. Even across the Atlantic Ocean.
Underground ocean on Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede -- ScienceDaily
Identifying liquid water on other worlds, big or small, is crucial in the search for habitable planets beyond Earth. Though the presence of an ocean on Ganymede has been long predicted based on theoretical models, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found the best evidence for it. Hubble was used to watch aurorae glowing above the moon's icy surface. The aurorae are tied to the moon's magnetic field, which descends right down to Ganymede's core. A saline ocean would influence the dynamics of the magnetic field as it interacts with Jupiter's own immense magnetic field, which engulfs Ganymede. Because telescopes can't look inside planets or moons, tracing the magnetic field through aurorae is a unique way to probe the interior of another world.
Free will? Even Worms Seem to Have it
Even worms have free will. If offered a delicious smell, for example, a roundworm will usually stop its wandering to investigate the source, but sometimes it won't. Just as with humans, the same stimulus does not always provoke the same response, even from the same individual.
CURMUDGUCATION: Coke Provides a Marketing Lesson; by Peter Greene
" Peter Greene uses the example of Coke to show how market competition does not produce a better product. When faced with a loss of market share, Coca-Cola decided to put the same product into smaller cans. Maybe the failure of "New Coke" in 1985 taught them not to mess with the formula.Similarly, in education, competition has not produced better education. Vouchers are used to send children to schools that teach creationism, that have no curriculum or certified teachers or to charter schools that push out low-scoring students and spend inordinate time on test prep." Our slavish devotion to competition is destroying educate, "adds Diane Ravitch
Privatization Scams You Should Know About; by Diane ravitch
I am on the email list for an organization called "In the Public Interest." It follows privatization in every sector, including education. The current newsletter is eye-opening. If you want to know how private interests have finagled their way into making a killing off public sector dollars,Here is an example: Top executives of the Blackstone Group, owner of the janitorial services company GCA Services Group, pull down massive annual compensation. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's CEO, received $656 million in dividends and pay; and its real estate chief Jon Gray took in $205 million, for a combined total of $861 million. GCA has faced repeated accusations of low pay. The New Haven Register reported in 2011 that "a proposed GCA contract for custodial services would plunge 200 New Haven, Connecticut, Public Schools custodians into poverty, according to a research report by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts." Ravitch continues: "I have trouble understanding why some billionaires refuse to pay workers a living wage. Why was it so hard for the Walton family, each of whom is a billionaire, to agree to pay their workers $9 an hour? Why are so many of their workers part-time, even when they are eager to have full-time jobs? The billionaires pay great compensation to their executives, apparently, but think that the people who do the daily work of the corporation can get by on 20 hours a week at $9 an hour.Open the link about GCA. It isn't just accusations of low pay that have been a problem:"
In a USA Today op-ed published Friday, the former presidential candidate suggested that Obama could silence critics like him by walking away from the deal and that would be "courageous" and "right." "Turning down a weak deal may be too much to expect from a president who walked back from his own red line in Syria, but we can hope," Romney wrote. He called on President Obama to listen to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and put further pressure on Tehran.
"On NBC's "Today" show yesterday morning, the Kentucky Republican told Matt Lauer that he signed on to the sabotage letter because he wanted to "strengthen the president's hand." "At a certain level, the fact that so many in the GOP are scrambling to address the scandal they created is itself a heartening sign. All things considered, it's better to hear Republicans making bizarre excuses than to hear then boast about how proud they are of their sabotage letter. Senators like McCain and Paul aren't defending the letter on the merits so much as they're looking for excuses to rationalize their participation in a dangerous stunt."
Pratchett, who penned the beloved Discworld series of books, died on Thursday at the age of 66 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Thus far, more than 2,500 people have signed the petition asking for Pratchett's return. Death was not available for comment.
We've been warned over and over that the Federal Reserve, in its effort to improve the economy, is "debasing" the dollar. The archaic word itself tells you a lot about where the people issuing such warnings are coming from. It's an allusion to the ancient practice of replacing pure gold or silver coins with "debased" coins in which the precious-metal content was adulterated with cheaper stuff. Message to the gold bugs and Ayn Rand disciples who dominate the Republican Party: That's not how modern money works. Still, the Fed's critics keep insisting that easy-money policies will lead to a plunging dollar.a lot of businesses around the world have borrowed heavily in dollars, which means that a rising dollar may create a whole new set of debt crises. Just what the global economy needed.
|
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기