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rob kall
Support Opednews. Make a tax deductible donation to make OEN Strong.  Daily Headlines
Corporations and the wealthy use complexity and secrecy combined to operate under the radar. This is a big deal-- an approach and system that was a real shock to me. Imagine-- a bank with thousands of subsidiary operations. I'm not talking about branch outlets for the public. I'm talking about subsidiaries created to hide what is being done by whom and what.
World Beyond War has just published a short book titled A Global Security System: An Alternative to War.
German intelligence officials gave DerSpiegal their candid assessment of U.S. General Breedlove, NATO commander. Basically, they think he's hallucinating when he claims Russia recently put 1000 military vehicles in Ukraine. Nobody else saw that, including European intel sources. Obama is worse than Bush at this point. Breedlove, Nuland and the other neocon war hawks all work for Obama.
By accessing your DNA, the government will soon know everything else about you that they don't already know: your family chart, your ancestry, what you look like, your health history, your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course, etc.
Rob Kall speaks of disruptive emergence. Continuing that train of thought leads to possible directions and experiments.
Question: when President Obama's issues orders to launch Predator or Reaper drones in Pakistan, Somalia or Yemen, which then take a terrible toll on innocent civilians, how many new potential recruits for ISIS, Al-Qaeda or Daesh are generated? We don't know for sure but it's becoming evident that the more drones Mr. Obama launches the more the ranks of new terrorist recruits swell.
By Sherwood Ross
U.S. Banks Bankrolling Nuclear Arms Unbeknown to you, your friendly banker may be investing in nuclear weapons whose use may destroy life on Earth, including you and your family. The financial institutions investing the heaviest are American and include Bank of (Goodbye?) America, State Street, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup, among other notables.
Florida State Workers Banned From Using Term 'Climate Change'
Florida's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) employees have for years been banned from using terms like "climate change," "sustainability," and "global warming," according to a new report published Monday by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
The fact that deportations of unaccompanied children take place at all is outrageous. That the numbers are in the thousands, if not higher, demonstrates the brutality of the crackdown on Central American migrants conducted by the US government, in direct contradiction to the public pretense of sympathy adopted by President Obama.
Who does this Congress work for? Republicans say government should keep on working for employers who don't like unions and who have figured out how to exploit a tangled system. But we weren't sent here just to represent employers who don't like unions. We're here to support working people who just want a fighting chance to level the playing field.
Paul Treanor's great philosophical and correct discussion of 'why Libertarianism' is wrong.... Paul Treanor studied Political Science at the Universiteit van Amserdam. He maintains an active web site that follows his interests and includes a list of his publications.
Abundance comes to us in many forms. Sometimes it is as simple as a few rabbits and some juicy bright carrots!
By Herbert Calhoun
Uncovering the Realities of Imperial Spain: A Review of Carlos Fuentes' Book "The Buried Mirror" A review of Carlos Fuentes' book: The Buried Mirror. Uncovering the realities of Imperial Spain
As Benjamin Netanyahu's fear-mongering speech echoed through the chambers of Congress, an American Jewish voice could be heard directly opposing the Israeli prime minister's bellicose machinations--that of Rabbi Michael Lerner. Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday was arranged by House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, without the agreement or cooperation of the White House. The day before the speech, Rabbi Lerner and Tikkun ran a full-page ad in The New York Times and, then, on Tuesday, repeated the ad in The Hill newspaper. It was topped with a simple, bold headline: "No, Mr. Netanyahu--you do not speak for American Jews. And " The American People Do Not Want a War with Iran!"
The proponents of secrecy may not have to use clunky document shredders anymore; instead, they can shred more of those documents with a click of a button. Preserving any kind of open government, therefore, requires continued vigilance and stronger freedom of information laws because new technology alone does not guarantee transparency. Too often it can foster the opposite.
Two Swiss pilots are expected to embark on Monday morning on the first attempt to fly around the world in a plane propelled only by the sun.
Supreme Court Justice Scalia wrote a whole book on how the meaning of a statute should be construed. Following his stated principles, Scalia should unhesitatingly reject this latest challenge to Obamacare, argued last week before the Court. Instead, according to observers, he seems determined to ignore principle to get a victory for his side. If or when he does that, he will show once again: he's a political hack in robes.
Days after Israel's Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, claimed to be speaking for "the entire Jewish people" in his speech before Congress, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, rejecting such a ridiculous notion by calling for his ouster.
Ferguson has become an emblem of the tensions between minorities and police departments nationwide since Darren Wilson, a white officer, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, last summer. The Justice Department cleared Wilson of criminal wrongdoing, but in its report last week, it made numerous allegations against the city's police department that included racial disparities in arrests, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement - essentially using the black community as a piggy bank to support the city's budget through fines.
On Climate, Humanity Must Rise Up Against 'Collective Shrug of Fatalism'
All we have to do is not react as if this is a full-blown crisis. All we have to do is keep on denying how frightened we actually are.
Beware of Education Reformers Who Co-Opt the Language of the Civil Rights Movement ; by Denisha Jones
.In this article, Jones warns that so-called "reformers" have stolen the language of the civil rights movement to advance their goals of privatization and deprofessionalization. Their aims actually contradict the aims of the civil rights movement. Privatization is inherently unequal.The corporate reform movement that is waging war against public education has one goal in mind: privatization. Free-market advocates do not believe in a system of public education and are on a mission to see every aspect of a public society privatized from our prisons to our schools. But with privatization comes the loss of public ownership. Public systems are open to inspection by the public. Records are made public and the process is transparent so that community members can understand what is happening and voice their concerns. Privatization removes the ability of the public to know what is happening with their tax dollars. Private companies can use proprietary laws to prevent them from disclosing documents and following laws pertaining to public records"Without the transparency of how our tax dollars are spent how do we hold private corporations accountable?
Looking for Leaders on Climate? Follow the Women Farmers
"I give you a message from my heart," she says, "let's move forward and work together for the benefit of everyone. And especially for those who work in the fields, as we are the ones who suffer the most." [One of the many articles that actually give me hope and inspiration. Recommended. DG]
By Rev. Dan Vojir
Stealth Weapon Of The (Christofascist) Right: Is David Lane The Most Dangerous Man In America? 
Just who is David Lane and what is his plans for the Christian Right and the GOP?
By William K. Black, J.D., Ph.D.
McCloskey Wants to Change the Title and the Substance of Her Article on Corruption 
Deirdre McCloskey has responded with two comments to my series of articles critiquing her book review in the Wall Street Journal of two new books about corruption.
Charter Investors' Conference: Your Tax Dollars at Work: Laura Chapman at Diane Ravitch
Laura Chapman investigated the charter investors' conference. she learned: The US Department of Education will be at the charter school "investors" conference, representing you, dear taxpayer, in a scheme to subsidize the financing of charter school facilities that LISC is marketing, along with the Gates and Walton Foundations"SC boasts that it has raised millions in grants and loans from the Walton Family Foundation, Prudential Insurance, Bank One, The Boston Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, CEOs for Fundamental Change in Education, Citibank, City National Bank, Excellent Education Development, the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank, the Indianapolis Mayor's Charter Schools Office, the Low Income Investment Fund, the Massachusetts Charter School Association, the Massachusetts Department of Education's Charter School Office, the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, Prudential Insurance, Wells Fargo,
If U.S. television and politicians started saying that Saudi Arabia should be bombed because it kills and tortures innocent people, within a week many millions of Americans would demand just that. And because those voices do say that about ISIS, many millions of Americans do favor a war on ISIS.
What other celebrity political duo instantly transforms any election into melodrama at best, family intrigue at worse, rife with influence peddling, suspect donations, policy failures , strategic blunders, and bungled secrecy that inevitably gets unmasked? The greatest downside to President Hillary is elevation of first female whose gender novelty promises no jolts to the grievous status quo nor the plutocracy that funds her.
By Tom Engelhardt
Andrew Bacevich: How to Create a National Insecurity State Policy intellectuals -- eggheads presuming to instruct the mere mortals who actually run for office -- are a blight on the republic. Like some invasive species, they infest present-day Washington, where their presence strangles common sense and has brought to the verge of extinction the simple ability to perceive reality. Latest Articles
While stone statues of the female form (Saraswati, Lakshmi, Durga/Kali) are worshipped in temples and religious rituals, a large number of those made of flesh and blood face violence on the streets and in homes, and encounter discrimination throughout their lives that begins at (or even before) birth, and continues during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
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Estimated 50,000 Rally Against Netanyahu in Tel Aviv
Tens of thousands rallied against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling government in the nation's capital of Tel Aviv on Saturday night as they decried the leader's domestic policies and called for a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Combined Arctic ice observations show decades of loss
Historic submarine and modern satellite records show that average ice thickness in the central Arctic Ocean dropped by 65 percent from 1975 to 2012. September ice thickness, when the ice cover is at a minimum, dropped by 85 percent. [That people still question global warming this is profoundly disturbing, particularly when it is those whose bank accounts are tied to fossil fuels, imvso.]
Hello, Gov. Cuomo, Two More Charters Fail in Albany; by Diane Ravitch
Now will the charter lobby stop boasting that they have the answers to low test scores? Two charter middle schools run by the Brighter Choice Foundation were closed by the state's Charter Schools Institute. At one time, reformers claimed that Brighter Choice was "the Holy Grail" of charter schooling. No more. The two schools-- one for girls--pleaded for more time, sounding like public schools. They didn't get it. They will close. Long-time columnist Fred LeBrun writes: "I have a sneaking suspicion that money and financing at stake over bricks and mortar are as much of a motivator for keeping those charters alive as is serving the community. Regardless, about 440 students after this academic year may well have to find an alternative school. "Students, and parents, who had put their hopes in charters, Brighter Choice in particular, now find themselves associated with failed schools as defined by the Charter School Institute. "It was five years ago that Brighter Choice got into the middle-school business, with fanfare and swagger. The same year Albany's first charter school, New Covenant, one of the first in the state, finally gasped its last after 11 years of teetering. The failure of New Covenant was devastating to the city's minority community, which had invested heart and soul in it. The leaders of Brighter Choice at the time coldly wrote off New Covenant as exactly the way not to start and run a charter school. "But now that Brighter Choice has seen its own limitations at the middle- and high-school levels, we are not hearing quite the same bravado anymore. I'll get an argument, I know, but I believe that in the long run Albany is not better off for being a heralded laboratory for charters."
A Reckless Call From the Senate's Leader; by the Editorial Board, NYTimes
For all his partisan animus toward President Obama, it is still shocking to see the Senate's majority leader, Mitch McConnell, urge the nation's governors to undermine the Obama administration's efforts to regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Mr. McConnell has insisted for months that Mr. Obama has been waging a "war on coal," of which the proposed power plant rules are only the latest manifestation. But the real war has been waged by the market and technology, most recently the shift to newly abundant supplies of natural gas. Across decades, extending back through the administration of Ronald Reagan, federal data show that Kentucky's mining jobs have steadily declined by more than 50 percent since 1983....
Bill allows outside nonprofit to operate school district taken over; by Max Brantly
ARKANSAS INSIDIOUS district by district move to PRIVATIZES EDUCATION: Watch it happen before your eyes here, because it is going to be the process state by state, and with it goes the remnant o f DUE PROCESS for teachers.: Legislation filed Friday by Rep. Bruce Cozart (R) chair of the House Education Committee, would expand the state's sweeping powers to operate a school or school district in state receivership for academic reasons, including allowing the state to contract with an outside nonprofit to operate the district. The law significantly advances existing takeover powers by allowing the commissioner to waive the teacher fair dismissal act. Due process in firing? Gone. The state can also waive the fair hearing law and any requirement to engage in collective bargaining. Employees become at-will -- fireable for any, or no, reason! The nonprofit operators need not hire licensed teachers.; observe laws on length of day and holidays; or have a school board. The nonprofit operator DOES get to claim the voter-approved local property tax, whether residents of the district like that or not. When a specific school is taken over, the rest of an existing school district can be forced to provide transportation, meals and such for the taken-over school.The nonprofit operator can get existing school buildings -- again built by local tax millage -- for $1 a year...yes, that is ONE DOLLAR. A public school or school district that is classified by the State Board of Education as being in academic distress and taken over by the state board as of the effective date of this act is eligible to become part of the achievement school district at the discretion of the Commissioner of Education.
Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency in charge of setting conservation policy and enforcing environmental laws in the state, issued directives in 2011 barring thousands of employees from using the phrases "climate change" and "global warming", according to a bombshell report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR). The report ties the alleged policy, which is described as "unwritten", to the election of Republican governor Rick Scott and his appointment of a new department director that year. Scott, who was re-elected last November, has declined to say whether he believes in climate change caused by human activity. "I'm not a scientist," he said in one appearance last May.
The White House Has Gone Full Doublespeak on Fast Track and the TPP
Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Orrin Hatch are now in a stand-off over a bill that would put secretive trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement on the Fast Track to passage through Congress. The White House meanwhile, has intensified their propaganda campaign, going so far as to mislead the public about how trade deals--like the TPP and its counterpart, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)--will effect the Internet and users' rights.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran and the 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) group of powers have a hard path to pave as the two sides try to reach a final comprehensive nuclear deal in the next few months. "I hope that the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 will finally result in a win-win deal and of course there is a rugged path ahead," Salehi said on Sunday. On Saturday, Salehi announced that the technical issues with regard to Tehran's nuclear program had been resolved in his recent talks with US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in Switzerland. "We were facing a type of deadlock in the technical negotiations and the higher-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic assumed as necessary my presence in the negotiations and holding talks with the highest-ranking official of the other side, meaning the US secretary of energy, over details," Salehi said.
Tens of thousands of Israelis attended a rally to demand a new government Saturday night in Rabin Square. Israel Police estimated that 40,000 people attended; the event's organizers claimed more than 80,000 people showed up. The rally was held under the banner, "Israel wants change," and was being billed as an anti-Benjamin Netanyahu event. Among the speakers scheduled to take part in the event were former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who told the crowd that he is more scared of Israel's leadership than its enemies. The former Mossad chief derided the current leadership for using fear and threats to present peace as unattainable. "To those who say we don't have any alternative, as somebody who worked directly with three prime ministers: there is a better alternative," Dagan said.
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