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DECEMBER 1 THROUGH 10

Weekend of December 8-10, 2017

Netanyahu Ditches US Jews for Alliance with Christian Evangelicals and the Alt-Right. CounterPunch

Zero Hour in Palestine TruthDig/Hedges

PLO Leader Hanan Ashrawi: Trump’s Jerusalem Order Violates Int’l Law & “Destroys” Chance for Peace DemocracyNow Related: “Settlers in the White House”: Palestinians Denounce Trump Jerusalem Order & Protest in Day of Rage DemocracyNow

The Trump Team Definitely Colluded With a Foreign Power - Just Not the One You Think ... Why are the media paying scant attention to Michael Flynn’s admissions about Israel? The Nation

Challenging the Neoliberalism at the Root of Trump's Authoritarianism. TruthOut/Giroux

Voucher Schools Championed By Betsy DeVos Can Teach Whatever They Want. Turns Out They Teach Lies. ... These schools teach creationism, racism and sexism. They’re also taking your tax dollars. Huffington

Tax Plans Pave Way for Massive Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security TruthOut

Ending Medical Tax Break Could Be a ‘Gut Punch’ to the Middle Class. NY Times

Paul Ryan admits the GOP will gut Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts
GOP lawmakers are driving up the deficit, then claiming the deficit's too high to support safety net programs for poor people. ThinkProgress

The Republicans’ Devious Tax Attack on the People. CounterPunch/Nader

As Egypt Arrests and Tortures Gay People, It Enlists the Help of Pro-LGBTQ PR Firm in Washington. The Intercept

Daniel Ellsberg Reveals He was a Nuclear War Planner, Warns of Nuclear Winter & Global Starvation. DemocracyNow

Most Dire Climate Change Predictions, Warns New Study, Are Also the Most Accurate. ... New research shows emissions must go down every year starting in 2020 to prevent dangerous warming of planet. CommonDreams

December 7, 2017

Who Voted for Germany’s New Nazis? CounterPunch

Who Could Have Predicted Trump? Poland, and Hungary, and Slovakia. ... After the Cold War, right-wing populists surged to power by exploiting economic uncertainty. The Nation

Rushing to Gut Net Neutrality May Leave Internet Providers With No Federal Oversight.
TruthOut

Ryan Zinke memo signals Trump’s attack on public lands is just getting started. National monuments in Oregon and Nevada targeted. ThinkProgress

Fate of New Mexico National Monuments Now in Hands of President Trump ... NM-New Mexico Wild condemns President Trump's actions yesterday to eviscerate the Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly 50% and Bears Ears National Monument by almost 85%, totaling a reduction of nearly 2 million acres. This represents the largest roll-back of public lands protections ever - so far. We view an attack on one national monument as an attack on all. We stand in solidarity with New Mexico's All Pueblo Council of Governors, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the overwhelming majority of Americans who opposed this. New Mexico Wild will file a friend of the court amicus brief on their behalf.
NM Wild.org

Donald Trump Is Just the Front Man for a Massive Heist. ... Republican elites are pushing through their agenda while the president acts a fool.
The Nation

Racism, fundamentalism, fear and propaganda: An insider explains why rural, white Christian America will never change. RawStory

Deconstructing anti-nuclear economic myths The Energy Collective Related: We Are Living In An Ayn Rand Novel. ... Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, has some disturbing observations. […] as I am listening to the hearing on executive compensation and TARP special master… Capital Research Org. Related: Here is a link to and her commentary behind and supporting a Tax Reform plan by Marco Rubio and Mike Lee, from 2015....in it you can see the origins of today's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill NationalReview

Chris Hedges on the American Empire’s Descent Into Dystopia (Video). TruthDig

December 6, 2017

Rep. Keith Ellison: GOP Tax Bill Would Reorder Society & Create “Hereditary Aristocracy” for Rich. DemocracyNow

Trump’s Transition Team Colluded With Israel. Why Isn’t That News? Intercept

Plunder Capitalism. ... I deplore the tax cut that has passed Congress. It is not an economic policy tax cut, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with supply-side economics. The entire purpose is to raise equity prices by providing equity owners with more capital gains and dividends.
CounterPunch

In an Unprecedented Move, 10 Democratic Senators Demand That Netanyahu Halt Israel Demolition of Palestinian Village. Intercept

The Threat Is Real: Israel Escalates Its "Ethnic Cleansing, Without Guns". CommonDreams

New NSA leak exposes Red Disk, the Army's failed intelligence system. ... The leak marks at least the fifth exposure of NSA-related data in as many years.
ZDNet

Monetary Imperialism. ... he reality since World War I is that the United States has taken the lead in shaping the international financial system to promote gains for its own bankers, farm exporters, its oil and gas sector, and buyers of foreign resources – and most of all, to collect on debts owed to it. CounterPunch

Senate Republicans are essentially defunding public schools to pay for private ones. Another big win for the wealthy. ThinkProgress

Israel and US Hide Names of Companies Supporting Israeli Settlements. The Israeli and US governments are opposing the publication of a UN list of companies profiting from the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Officials from both countries worry that making the list public could further strengthen the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement against the Israeli occupation. Truth-Out

December 5, 2017

A Women’s Revolt That Targets Far More Than Sexual Abuse. TruthDig/Hedges

New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission in Retrograde. CounterPunch

US Extremist Crime Database, 1990-2010.  ... This project involves (1) systematic collection of open-source data on non-violent and violent criminal behavior associated with far right-wing extremist groups, including data on event, perpetrator, and victim, all integrated into a relational database; (2) statistical analyses of data, to include: descriptive analyses, bivariate analysis and multivariate regressions, and time-series analyses. ECDB

Here Are 6 Of The Most Radical Aspects Of The GOP Tax Bill. ... Congratulations to private schools! Huffington

Trump campaigned as a populist. He’s not delivering as president. Boston Globe

ACLU Foundation v. Mattis ... On October 5, the ACLU Foundation filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of an unidentified U.S. citizen unlawfully detained by the U.S. military in Iraq since approximately September 14 for allegedly fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria. ACLU

'March of Shame’: Tens of Thousands of Israelis Protest Against Netanyahu, Corruption. ... If charged, Netanyahu would come under heavy pressure to resign. CommonDreams

Left-Greens' Katrin Jakobsdottir becomes Iceland’s new prime minister at head of coalition government. ... The Nordic country's new government involves the green left, the centre-right, and agrarian populists. Independent

Who is Calling the Shots in the Middle East These Days? It’s Not Trump. CounterPunch

Jada & ‘the boys’ - Two hours before John Kennedy was murdered at 12:30 p.m. Central Time on Friday November 22 1963, something happened in Dallas which renders the official story that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone nut gunman as silly as arguments that the Earth is flat and astronauts never landed on the moon. MadCow

December 4, 2017

Why the UN is investigating extreme poverty … in America, the world's richest nation. ... At the heart of Philip Alston’s special mission will be one question: can Americans enjoy fundamental human rights if they’re unable to meet basic living standards? Guardian

Michael Flynn's wrongdoing is just the tip of the iceberg. Guardian

Why Does the Far Right Hold a Near-Monopoly on Political Violence? ... Studies show that most people across the political spectrum abhor it. So what might explain the disparity? The Nation (June 2017)

The US Opium Wars: China, Burma and the CIA. ... You won’t find a star of remembrance for him on the wall of fallen “heroes” at CIA HQ in Langley, but one of the Agency’s first casualties in its covert war against Mao’s China was a man named Jack Killam. CounterPunch

Trump Set To Gut 2 Protected Utah Monuments On Monday ... Bears Ears National Monument would lose its name, be cut by 85 percent and be split into two smaller sites, documents show.
Huffing

Dasvidaniya, Donna Brazile, the Dismal Dollar Democrat. CounterPunch

US gun violence spawns a new epidemic: conspiracy theorists harassing victims ... After mass shootings, survivors and victims’ families face a second round of attacks online – and fighting back is ‘like trying to kill roaches with a fly swatter’ Guardian

Here Comes the Next Big Right-Wing Attack on Our Voting Systems. ... Right-wingers are using bad data and shoddy methodology to push localities to purge infrequent voters. AlterNet

Weekend of December 1-3, 2017

Weekend Read:
The Mass Destruction of Iraq: The Disintegration of a Nation: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible. ... As the violence and mayhem in the shattered nation of Iraq once again makes headlines, the George W. Bush-era authors of that nation's ongoing war have taken to the airwaves and the editorial pages in an effort to distance themselves from the carnage and misery their actions have wrought.
Amazon Kindle only Edition

National Democratic Party – Pole Vaulting Back into Place. ... Seeking to capitalize on the Republicans’ disarray, public cruelty and Trumpitis, the Democratic Party is gearing up for the Congressional elections of 2018. Alas, party leaders are likely to enlist the same old cast and crew. CounterPunch

‘Their own media megaphone’: what do the Koch brothers want from Time? ... The company’s decline is readily apparent – but if the billionaire brothers’ other interests are a guide, their investment will be about more than money. Guardian

The Problem With Fake News Is That 'People Want to Consume Information That Makes Them Feel Good, Because It Reaffirms Their Worldview' AlterNet 

Joseph Stiglitz: 'Trump has fascist tendencies' ... The Nobel prize-winning economist on the threat from the US president, fairer globalisation– and whether Bernie Sanders would have won.
Guardian

Why is Google’s Eric Schmidt So Afraid? ... an American multinational conglomerate that owns a lot and among them Google – is working on “de-ranking” alleged propaganda outlets such as Russia Today, RT – the world’s third largest television network – and Sputnik. CounterPunch

Supreme Court Hears Arguments About Cellphone Location Tracking in Landmark Privacy Case. Intercept

Monster heat wave reaches Greenland, bringing rain and melting its ice sheet. ... NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission warns the ice sheet is more at risk to global warming than we knew. ThinkProgress


 

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DECEMBER 11 THROUGH 21

December 21, 2017

The criminalization of environmental protest in Trump’s America. ... Environmental protesters had a successful 2016. Then came the crackdown. ThinkProgress

U.N. Special Rapporteur Says Tax Bill Will Make the U.S. “World Champion of Extreme Inequality” DemocracyNow

Tax Cuts, Growth and Debt.   CounterPunch

Jill Stein Targeted in Senate 'Russiagate' Investigation. ... Stein, the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2016, has become a target of the Senate’s “Russiagate” investigation. Some Democrats blame Stein for Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump, and now Stein is under scrutiny for attending a 2015 dinner in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former former national security adviser. TruthDig

Jill Stein Says Senate Request for Docs on Russia Probe is “New McCarthyism”. DemocracyNow

We Will Not Be Erased. ... Last week's lunatic, Orwellian announcement that the Orange Cheeto's minions have barred the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from using seven words in official documents - “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based,” which, duh, is what saves our lives - isn't going over so well in a country that, by ornery tradition, doesn't ban words. CommonDreams

More Legal Warfare: How Critics of Israel Are Being Subjected to Aggressive Lawsuits.  TruthOut

December 20, 2017

NM: Pearce is one of them:
Here Are the 227 GOP House Members Who Just Voted to Raise Taxes on 90 Million Working Families to Give Tax Breaks to Millionaires and Corporations CommonDreams

The Woman Democrats Love to Hate. The Green Party’s presidential candidate Jill Stein has been widely attacked by Democrats simply for running for president. Some blame her for Hillary Clinton’s loss. This week on Intercepted: Stein strikes back at her critics and discusses what she calls severe vulnerabilities in the U.S. voting system.
Intercept

Trump’s Jerusalem Announcement Sparked Deadly Violence - From Israel. Intercept

A guide to the billions in giveaways to special interests buried in the Senate tax bill.
LA Times

FCC chairman jokes about being a Verizon shill, days before forcing an FCC vote that would be a boon for Verizon. LA Times

December 19, 2017

The Permanent Lie, Our Deadliest Threat. TruthDig/Hedges

Cracks in the House of Sand: the Pratfalls of the Crown Prince.. CounterPunch/Cockburn

CEOs Aren’t Waiting for the Tax Bill to Pass — They’ve Already Started Pocketing the Windfall. ... U.S. corporations are already beginning the process of pocketing the winnings from the tax bill jackpot they expect to hit any day now, undercutting, in a remarkably public fashion, the pretense that the corporate tax cut will lead to greater investment in job creation. Intercept

“CorkerKickback?”: Sen. Supports Tax Bill After Last-Minute Provision Would Personally Enrich Him. DemocracyNow

Kali Akuno: Tax Bill is One of Greatest Transfers of Wealth from Working Class to Rich in History. DemocracyNow

Robert Reich: American Oligarchs' Day of Reckoning Is Nigh . ... The GOP tax bill is a triumph for the 1 percent, but recent election results suggest it won't last. AlterNet

More Legal Warfare: How Critics of Israel Are Being Subjected to Aggressive Lawsuits. TruthOut

December 18, 2017

The Republican tax reform bill will live and die by this obscure Senate rule. ... Remember the Byrd Rule? Vox

Increasingly a Necessity: A 15-Point Guide to Surviving Authoritarianism. ... Rule #1: Always think critically and fight ignorance with facts.
Moyers

Trump Is an Eerily Perfect Match With a Famous 14-Point Guide to Identify Fascist Leaders. ... Celebrated novelist Umberto Eco’s guide has breathtaking parallels to Donald Trump.
AlterNet

A Journey Throught a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America. ... The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation. Guardian

Medics, Observers & a Journalist Face 50 Years in Prison in First Trial of J20 Inauguration Protests. Final arguments are underway today in Washington, D.C., in a case that could shape the future of free speech and the right to protest in the United States: the first trial of the nearly 200 people arrested during President Donald Trump’s inauguration. DemocracyNow

Trump judicial nominee stumped on basic law questions at Senate hearing. ... Matthew Petersen, whom Trump nominated for the circuit court of the District of Columbia, struggled with a line of questioning on some key legal principles.
Guardian

Turkey's President Erdogan says he will open an embassy in East Jerusalem. ... The Muslim leader has led calls for world to recognise city as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. Independent

In Gaza, Israel is shooting fish in a barrel. ...A man with no legs, shot in the head, is the perfectly harrowing metaphor for life in Gaza, and for Palestinians on a whole. Helpless, Static. Stunted. 972mag.com

'Making America Stupid Again': Outrage Over Forbidden 7 Words You Can't Say at Trump's CDC. ... The existence of a list of reportedly banned words—including "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based"—was described by Sen. Kamala Harris as "downright ridiculous." CommonDreams

Weekend of December 15-17, 2017

Weekend Read:
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.
... The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century.
Amazon

That Net Neutrality Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Was Written By a Comcast Attorney. ... In the face of widespread opposition, the Federal Communications Commission rolled back net neutrality protections that prevented internet service providers from charging websites for faster download speeds. Intercept

Net Neutrality Fight 'Not Over': Web-Wide Campaign Launched to Overrule FCC CommonDreams

The U.S. is Not a Democracy, It Never Was. ... One of the most steadfast beliefs regarding the United States is that it is a democracy. Whenever this conviction waivers slightly, it is almost always to point out detrimental exceptions to core American values or foundational principles.
CounterPunch

Cecile Richards: Mike Pence is “Orchestra Master” of Assault on Women’s Rights Under Trump. DemocracyNow

The US Military Is the Biggest "Big Government" Entitlement Program on the Planet . TruthOut

'Travesty of Justice' as Trump DOJ Lifts Threat Prosecution Threat for Banking Giant HSBC. ... Original agreement had been criticized as "the world's largest wrist slap." CommonDreams

Henry A. Giroux on Developing a Language of Liberation for Radical Transformation ... Confronted with the rise of an authoritarian society affecting all institutions and individuals, there is a need for resistance based on radical transformation, says Henry A. Giroux in this interview about The Public in Peril. TruthOut

Paul Ryan says American women need to have more babies. ... "I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country," said the father of three. ThinkProgress

Leaked Documents Expose How Corporations Use Spies to Subvert People's Movements Worldwide. ... Given what "these companies have gotten away with," concluded Naomi Klein, it is "no wonder they fear our power." CommonDreams

"Cheated and Lied to": How Insurers and Manufacturers Mask the Truth About High Drug Prices TruthOut

Noam Chomsky: Antifa is a gift to the far right and US state repression. ... Exclusive: Renowned academic says antifascist movement has initiated the use of force in ways that are ‘completely unacceptable’ Independent

Surveillance firms spied on campaign groups for big companies, leak shows. ... Targets included grieving family of Rachel Corrie, environmental activists and local campaigners protesting about phone masts.
Guardian

December 14, 2017

How We Prepare to Be Ungovernable in 2017. ... A conversation with Kali Akuno, organizer with Cooperation Jackson and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. AlterNet

Cecile Richards: Mike Pence is “Orchestra Master” of Assault on Women’s Rights Under Trump. DemocracyNow

The US Military Is the Biggest "Big Government" Entitlement Program on the Planet . TruthOut

'Travesty of Justice' as Trump DOJ Lifts Threat Prosecution Threat for Banking Giant HSBC. ... Original agreement had been criticized as "the world's largest wrist slap." CommonDreams

Henry A. Giroux on Developing a Language of Liberation for Radical Transformation ... Confronted with the rise of an authoritarian society affecting all institutions and individuals, there is a need for resistance based on radical transformation, says Henry A. Giroux in this interview about The Public in Peril. TruthOut

Leaked Documents Expose How Corporations Use Spies to Subvert People's Movements Worldwide. ... Given what "these companies have gotten away with," concluded Naomi Klein, it is "no wonder they fear our power." CommonDreams

"Cheated and Lied to": How Insurers and Manufacturers Mask the Truth About High Drug Prices TruthOut

December 13, 2017

Robert Reich Reveals the Biggest Threat to American Democracy You've Never Heard Of. ... SLAPP lawsuits are emerging as one of the Trump administration's most dangerous weapons.
AlterNet

D.C. cops used ‘rape as punishment’ after Inauguration Day mass arrests, lawsuit says
Wide array of unconstitutional tactics alleged in suit over chilling round-up that hit peaceful protesters, journalists, and anarchists alike.
ThinkProgress

Michael Flynn: Serial Doublecrosser.
Empty Wheel Related: Retired Generals of Flynn-Associated IP3: “United States Mideast Strategy Is Resourcing Conflict” Empty Wheel

A Dubious Arrest, a Compromised Prosecutor, a Tainted Plea: How One Murder Case Exposes the System. ... The case of Demetrius Smith reads like a preposterous legal thriller: dubious arrests, two lying sex workers, prosecutorial fouls and a judge who backpedaled out of a deal. TruthOut

(October 10, 2017) Schumer blasts Trump’s ‘indecisiveness’ in pushing off embassy move. ... Democratic Senate minority leader urges president to 'show the world' the US acknowledges Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Times of Israel

The left shouldn't make peace with neocons - even to defeat Trump. ... Don’t trust “woke Bill Kristol.” Vox

Trump Treasury Dept. Analysis of GOP Tax Plan Ripped as 'Pure Propaganda'. ... One coalition of advocacy groups concluded that the analysis shows the GOP tax plan "would be great for the economy...in a world where unicorns exist, pigs fly, and Trump has released his tax returns." CommonDreams

December 12, 2017

Jerusalem Decision Risks Uniting the Entire Arab World Against the US.
CounterPunch/Cockburn

The Calculated Destruction of America’s Government. CounterPunch

“They’re Taking Everybody” — Videos Show Texas Troopers Ripping Apart Immigrant Families During Traffic Stops. Intercept

Magical Thinking Is Keeping a Lid on Political Protests. ... The archplutocratic tax cut Washington politicians are working on this holiday season ought to be a call to arms for the United States’ populace. TruthDig

The FBI is Not Your Friend. CounterPunch

Is Trump going to fire Mueller? 6 disturbing signs. ... Reading the tea leaves. ThinkProgress

Guantánamo art show rattles US military and could prompt confiscation or destruction. ... Works by detainees are making waves at a New York exhibition – but now officials have taken away finished artworks and won’t let them leave the site. Guardian

Russophobia Goes Comic ... the entire premise of the Russophobic “election-hacking” conspiracy theory is simple nonsense. Craig Murray

December 11, 2017

1994 - Alleged Russian Mobster Buys Condos in Trump Tower. David Bogatin, a 38-year-old former Soviet Army pilot and Russian émigré who arrived in America seven years earlier with just $3 in his pocket, pays $6 million for five condominium units in a luxurious new Manhattan high-rise, Trump Tower. More >

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems. ... Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump - neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative? Guardian

Armageddon? Bring It On: The Evangelical Force Behind Trump's Jerusalem Speech. ... The U.S. evangelical community is in raptures over Trump's decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, believing it moves the world closer to Armageddon. Haaretz

Fighting Israeli Occupying Forces Is “Terrorism.” Boycotting Is “Anti-Semitism.” What’s Allowed? Intercept Related 1999 NYTimes article

No Democracy Here: Ousted Honduran Pres. Zelaya Says 2009 U.S.-Backed Coup Led to Election Crisis. DemocracyNow

Trump’s Russian Laundromat. ... How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House. New Republic Relalated: Scott Balber’s Latest Narrative on Trump Tower
Empty Wheel

The surprising factors driving murder rates: income inequality and respect. Guardian Related Database

Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter “Deep State” Enemies.
Intercept and pod-cast at Intercept

US evangelical preacher should be banned from entering UK, critics say. ... Opposition grows to visit by Franklin Graham, who is accused of ‘hate speech’ for remarks about Islam and gay people. Guardian

“The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”: Psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee on Growing Mental Health Concerns. DemocracyNow


 

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DECEMBER 22 THROUGH 31

Weekend of December 28-31, 2017

Weekend Read:
Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream
- by Sasha Abramsky. ...Why is an unarmed young black woman who knocks on a stranger's front door to ask for help after her car breaks down perceived to be so threatening that he shoots her dead? Why do we fear infrequent acts of terrorism more far more common acts of violence? Why does a disease like Ebola, which killed only a handful of Americans, provoke panic, whereas the flu--which kills tens of thousands each year--is dismissed with a yawn? ... Jumping at Shadows is Sasha Abramsky's searing account of America's most dangerous epidemic: irrational fear.
Amazon

Rescue at Oakland Slaughterhouse Shows New, Potent Tactics of Growing Animal Rights Movement. Intercept

As Wealthiest Amass Another $1 Trillion in 2017, Calls for a 'Strike Back' Against Oligarchy ... "We can have a world where everyone has a decent home, the chance for an education, and access to healthcare. Or we can have billionaires. We can't have both." CommonDreams

UN Agency Decries 'Shocking Scale' of Attacks on Children in Conflict Zones ... "Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools, and playgrounds." CommonDreams

Netanyahu Lashes Out at Arabs Demonstrating Against Him: Shame on You, Protesting the Only State That Protects Human Rights. ... Netanyahu was invited by local Arab leadership, but the local community was not pleased. Haaretz

With New D.C. Policy Group, Dems Continue to Rehabilitate and Unify With Bush-Era Neocons. Intercept

New Zealand Singer Lorde Cancels Israel Show After BDS Pressure. ... Lorde axed her planned show in Tel Aviv after an open letter urged her to 'join the artistic boycott of Israel' Haaretz

December 28, 2017

Homeland Security’s Multibillion Dollar Comedy Show. CounterPunch

Meet the Federal Judge Trump Attacked for Ruling NYPD’s Stop & Frisk Policy was Unconstitutional. DemocracyNow

Big Media on Last Thursday’s Vote in Catalonia: “Never Mind”. CounterPunch

Climate Change Meets Mass Incarceration: California's Incarcerated Firefighters. TruthOut


New Documentary Reveals Major Coverup and Corruption in Las Vegas Police Department, Before and After the Mass Shooting. ... Many deaths might have been avoided, but police and the casino want to hide the truth. AlterNet

If Hillary Clinton Had Won, We’d Be Even Worse. CounterPunch

Sorry Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg: If Daniel Ellsberg Is a Hero, So Is Edward Snowden. ... The crew of The Post celebrates leaking the Pentagon Papers but gets all touchy when Obama's secret surveillance is mentioned. Reason

Student Debt Slavery: Bankrolling Financiers on the Backs of the Young. ... (1862) Slavery is likely to be abolished by the war power and chattel slavery destroyed. This, I and my European friends are glad of, for slavery is but the owning of labor and carries with it the care of the laborers, while the European plan, led by England, is that capital shall control labor by controlling wages. TruthDig

Former Federal Judge: Trump Is Packing the Courts with Unqualified Conservative Extremists. DemocracyNow

December 27, 2017

Interview with Chris Hedges Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "Death of the Liberal Class" talks about how liberal institutions have helped the rise of the Christian right By Evie Ruddy.
UC Observer

Ta-Nehisi Coates v Cornel West: black academics and activists give their verdict. ... One of the foremost black intellectuals in the US has deleted his Twitter account after a public row. Commentators Melvin Rogers, Patrisse Cullors, Carol Anderson and Shailja Patel discuss the impact on the debate and struggle for racial equality. Guardian

Noam Chomsky in Conversation with Amy Goodman on Trump, Nukes, North Korea, Climate Change & Syria. DemocracyNow

United States Tries—But Fails—to Stop to Stop Hondurans from Protesting Election Fraud. DemocracyNow

Sanders Slams Trump for 'Bragging' About Millions of Americans Losing Healthcare. ... The Vermont senator was referring to a provision in GOP tax bill that repeals ACA individual mandate, potentially leaving 13 million more Americans without health insurance. CommonDreams

How a Gay Friendly and “Very Pro-Choice” Trump Created the Most Anti-Choice, Anti-LGBT Administration in Generations. Intercept

U.S. Drought Risk Rising as a Second La Niña Winter Kicks In. Weather Underground Related Map

December 26, 2017

What Christmas Means. TruthDig/Hedges Related: After Going from Church to Church Seeking Help, A Mexican Family Finds Sanctuary in Philadelphia. Intercept

Israel Tackles Existential Threat Posed By 16-Year-Old Palestinian Girl. Intercept

Diverting Class Warfare Into Generational Warfare TruthOut

Israel Won't Reveal Names of Organizations on BDS Blacklist ,,, Minister says the list, meant to bar boycott activists from Israel, is not yet in complete, but the parameters have already been determined, Haaretz

Catalan Separatists Win Slim Electoral Majority Despite Jailing & Exile of Pro-Independence Leaders. DemocracyNow

From W to Obama to Trump, the Policy Has Been Endless War. ... Trump’s version of global strategy is turning out to be more of the same. AlterNet

Trump and the Meat Tycoon: Backstory to a Commutation. CounterPunch

December 25, 2017

To Use His Space Against Him: Learning As A Form of Protest. CommonDreams

Mueller Investigation: Politics, Not Law Enforcement or Counterintelligence. National Review

Masha Gessen’s Warning Ignored as Dreams of Trumpeachment Dance in Our Heads.
CounterPunch

What We Don’t Talk about When We Talk about Russian Hacking. London Review of Books.

The most respectable conspiracy theory in Washington. The Week

Trump Embodies the Crisis of Capitalism: A Conversation With Naomi Klein TruthOut/Klein

Britain has a delusional view of itself on the global stage - and stupid remarks by our politicians prove this. .. The UK is a minor player in Syria and the major player in Northern Ireland but makes similar mistakes in both places. Independent

December 22, 2017

Weekend Read:
The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings. by Wendell Berry ... profound critique of American culture has entered its sixth decade, and in this new gathering he reaches with deep devotion toward a long view of Agrarian philosophy. Mr. Berry believes that American cultural problems are nearly always aligned with their agricultural problems, and recent events have shone a terrible spotlight on the divides between our urban and rural citizens. Our communities are as endangered as our landscapes. There is, as Berry outlines, still much work to do, and our daily lives?in hope and affection?must triumph over despair. Amazon

“Game On”: K Street Salivating Over Next Step in Tax Fight. ... Credit unions fared well in the GOP tax bill passed through Congress on Wednesday, despite lobbying efforts by big banks to tilt the playing field against them. But they didn’t get everything they wanted. Intercept

GOP rushed to pass tax bill, but likely won’t fund Children’s Health Insurance Program until 2018. ... 1.9 million children could lose health coverage in January with continued inaction. ThinkProgress

Bussed out - How America moves its homeless Each year, US cities give thousands of homeless people one-way bus tickets out of town. An 18-month nationwide investigation by the Guardian reveals, for the first time, what really happens at journey’s end. Guardian

'Victory for Right to Dissent' as Six J20 Protesters Found Not Guilty on All Charges. ... "We hope today's verdict begins the important work of teaching police and prosecutors to respect the line between lawbreaking and constitutionally protected protest.". CommonDreams

Netanyahu Embraces Trump as His Number One Role Model. ... The prime minister takes a page from the Trump handbook as he mocks a reporter's physical appearance and tries to undercut his investigators. Haaretz

Mark Lilla: the liberal who counts more enemies on the left than the right. .. The academic-turned-polemicist believes liberalism has lost its way but detractors accuse him of ‘trolling disguised as erudition’. Here he answers back. Guardian

Melting ICE: New Sanctuary Coalition Activists Surround New York Immigrant Processing Center, Calling for Justice. TruthOut

US Bank Declares End to Oil and Gas Pipeline Loans—Then Quietly Joins $4B Deal with Dakota Access Owner. DeSmogBlog

Mike Pence says Donald Trump has 'fulfilled miracles' in gushing two-minute eulogy, as President looks on. .. 'Thank you for seeing, through the course of this year, an agenda that truly is restoring this country' Independent

At Debate on Jerusalem, Haley Threatens UN: Vote Will Be Remembered. ... Palestinians say there is 'not religious excuse for annexation,' as Haley pledges that the U.S. will move its embassy to Jerusalem
Haaretz


 

 
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