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August 8, 2017Dawn
of the Dead: Why American Politics Can’t be Reformed. CounterPunch
With
New D.C. Policy Group, Dems Continue to Rehabilitate and Unify With Bush-Era Neocons.
Intercept This
Trump real estate deal looks awfully like criminal tax fraud. ... Two tax lawyers
break down the president’s sale of two condos to his son. WaPo
Wall Street Fines Down 66% Under Trump's Goldman Sachs-Filled Administration.
... "You do have to wonder when working-class Trump supporters will start
to notice such things." CommonDreans
Our Russia
Fixation Is Devolving Into an Assault on Political Discourse
The truth about evil. ... Our leaders talk a great deal about vanquishing the
forces of evil. But their rhetoric reveals a failure to accept that cruelty and
conflict are basic human traits. Guardian
Trump
tries to erase climate change from the Department of Agriculture. ... Referring
to climate change as "extreme weather" isn't enough. ThinkProgress
‘Watch
out for the paramilitaries’: Right-wing militia groups aligning with GOP
officials under Trump. RawStory
| ||||||||||||
MEDIA ISSUESStatement
on Jeff Sessions' disturbing press conference announcing a crackdown on leaks
and journalism. Freedom
Press Jeff
Sessions Floats Media Subpoenas As Part Of Crackdown On Leaks Keep
the Trump Leaks Coming Joining
Arab states, Israel says it plans to ban Al-Jazeera. AP
Can you trust the mainstream media? ... After Brexit, Trump, the 2017 election
and Grenfell, increasing numbers of people express no faith in ‘the MSM’.
So what has caused such a crisis of faith in journalism? Guardian
|
August 4-6, 2017
Weekend
Read:
No
Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need.
Naomi Klein - This is one attempt to uncover how we got to this surreal political
moment. It is also an attempt to predict how, under cover of shocks and crises,
it could get a lot worse. And it’s a plan for how, if we keep our heads,
we might just be able to flip the script and arrive at a radically better future.”
Amazon
Jim Hightower:
John Deere Is Against the Right to Repair Its Equipment. ... Despite what corporations
may claim, it's your legal right to repair the stuff you own. AlterNet
Noam
Chomsky on How the United States Developed Such a Scandalous Health System. TruthOut
RExxon
Tillerson’s Petro-Imperially Perfect Regime Change Threat ... UStop “diplomat”
saying that a democratically elected head of sovereign state, Venezuela’s
president Maduro, must leave office or “we” – the US government
that is - will reserve the right to remove him (absurdly described as “return[ing]”
the Venezuelan government “back to their constitution.”) It is a declaration
of the United States’ presumed entitlement to conduct internationally criminal
regime change, confident that it is exempt from global sanction or prosecution.
Because we own the world and what we say goes –- especially in our hemisphere.
Capice? CounterPunch
50
Senators Want to Make It a Crime to Boycott Israel. CounterPunch
The
Golden Age of Drug Trafficking: How Meth, Cocaine, and Heroin Move Around the
World.
Vice
News
'There's no sport in that': trophy hunters and the masters of the universe. ...
Modern trophy hunters can shoot animals via the internet – but they argue
that it is all conservation. The killing of Xanda – Cecil the Lion’s
son – has sparked debate about what hunting really means. Guardian
| WAR Uncle
Sam’s Grisly Record of Murder and Mayhem Since 1945: Some of the Worst Hits.
The
Mask Is Off: Trump Is Seeking War with Iran.
Lobeblog Trump
Considers Prolonging Afghan War to Secure $1 Trillion in Untapped Mineral Deposits.
Democracy
Now The war
America can't win: how the Taliban is regaining control in Afghanistan. ... The
Taliban controls places like Helmand, where the US and UK troops fought their
hardest battles, pushing the drive toward peace and progress into reverse. Watchdog
Enumerates Problems in Afghanistan as Trump Considers Replacing US Forces With
Private Contractors. TruthOut
US
Foreign Military Bases Aren’t for “Defense”. CounterPunch
Vietnam
Encore - In September a Ken Burns 10-parter is going to make the US role in Vietnam
an “issue” again for a little while. CounterPunch
This
October, Trump Will Try to Start a War with Iran. ... Trump plans to sabotage
the nuclear deal. AlterNet
|
August 3, 2017
Wray
Confirmed as FBI Director as Questions Swirl over His Past Record & Close
Ties to Big Business. Democracy
Now
Related: American
Interests
Meat industry
blamed for largest-ever 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico. ... A new report shows
toxins from suppliers to companies like Tyson Foods are pouring into waterways,
causing marine life to leave or die. Guardian
Forget
Fascism. It’s Anarchy We Have to Worry About. ... We are not barreling toward
fascism. Fascism requires a program and unity of purpose. Moyers
'Alt-right' groups will 'revolt' if Trump shuns white supremacy, leaders say prominent
members of the American far right predict that waning influence on the president-elect
could trigger discord and vengeance within the movement. Guardian
Related: 'Young white
guys are hopping mad': confidence grows at far-right gathering. Guardian
Noam Chomsky
July 2017 - The Emerging World Order. YouTube
Video
Nearly
all Cabinet officials attend Bible lessons with right-wing pastor who compares
Trump to biblical heroes. RawStory
Noam
Chomsky: We're 'Lucky' Trump Is a Clown—but Our Luck May Be Running Out ...
The linguist and philosopher says a more "charismatic" figure could
be a "real danger." AlterNet
The
People are Not the Enemy: Police Anarchy in America. CounterPunch
Energy Department
Scientists Barred From Attending Nuclear Power Conference
No one can explain
why the U.S. scientists were prevented from attending the conference in Russia.
AlterNet
Whistleblower
Case Shows How Trump Tries to Silence Science. ... A top federal scientist working
with Alaska Native communities on climate change talks about abuses of power and
intimidation, while a report details other tactics.
Inside
Climate News
August 2, 2017
Hydropolitics
Down Under: The Failure of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. CounterPunch
Is
Trump Trying to Sabotage the Nuclear Deal to Lay Groundwork for War with Iran?
Democracy Now
Jill
Stein on Trump as a "Grave Danger" & Why She was at 2015 Moscow
Dinner with Putin & Flynn. Demcoracy
Now
Explosive lawsuit alleges Trump reviewed and approved bogus Fox News story on
Seth Rich. ... White House officials previously denied any knowledge. ThinkProgress
Scientists Warn of "Biological Annihilation" as Warming Reaches Levels
Unseen for 115,000 Years. TruthOut
| TRUMP AND HEALTH CARE Trump
threatens to end insurance payments if no healthcare bill. Reuters
Trump
threatens insurer payments — and health care enjoyed by Congress. StatNews
Can
Trump really cut health insurance payments for members of Congress and their staff?
It would be easy. LA
Times
Trump threatens to gut Obamacare markets. ... The president has repeatedly told
aides and advisers that he wants to end the subsidy payments, and he has not changed
his position. Politico
The
new bipartisan House proposal to fix Obamacare, explained. ... On Monday, the
approximately 40 members of the House’s “Problem Solver” caucus
— co-chaired by Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) — unveiled
a plan to fix Obamacare marketplaces without dismantling its basic architecture.Vox
|
August 1, 2017
The GOP Is No Longer A ‘Conservative’ Party
They’ve become
radical, and they want to remake America. ... To most Americans, “conservative”
is interchangeable with “Republican Party.” After all, the GOP has usually
been the more conservative side of a two-party system for a century. We also tend
to understand who a conservative is based on the root of the word: someone who
is cautious and respects the status quo, or, put more strongly, someone who is
resistant to change. Huffington
The
Rising Collateral of Civilian Deaths in Iraq and Syria. ... In its war against
ISIS, the Trump administration has escalated its military intervention in the
Middle East from extermination to straight up annihilation. The
Wire
Hacked
Emails Show UAE Building Close Relationship With D.C. Think Tanks That Push Its
Agenda. Intercept
Saudi
Arabia Is Buying Off and Silencing Its Critics. TruthOut
High
Court Judges Defy Reason to Protect Tony Blair. Craig
Murray
Emails
Show Iraq War PR Alums Led Attempt to Discredit Dakota Access Protesters. ...
Behind the scenes, as law enforcement officials tried to stem protests against
the Dakota Access pipeline, alumni from the George W. Bush White House were leading
a crisis communications effort to discredit pipeline protesters. Desmog
The
Dark Prince of Voter Fraud Alarmism is Joining the Trump Administration. Slate
New
Film Shows the Brutality of Duterte’s Murderous Drug War in the Philippines.
Intercept
"Billion-Dollar
Mistake": Democrats Neglect People of Color While Failing to Woo White Trump
Voters, Democracy
Now
.
|
AUGUST 11 THROUGH 21  August 21, 2017 The
Corruption of the Law. ... The supposed clash between liberal and conservative
judges is largely a fiction. The judiciary, despite the high-blown rhetoric about
the sanctity of individual freedom by the Federalist Society, is a naked tool
of corporate oppression.. TruthDig/Hedges
Federalist
Court ... How the Federalist Society became the de facto selector of Republican
Supreme Court justices. Slate
Billionaires
Trying to Carve Up the Planet to Build Their Empires Is Astounding. ... From Yemen
to Haiti and everywhere in between, the poorest citizens are punished for unknown
crimes. The
White House is Now Run Entirely by Hucksters, Democrats, and Generals. ... There
is no one left in the White House who has any idea what they’re doing. At
least nobody conservative. ... President Donald Trump never tires of reminding
audiences that he is not a politician, and he proves it on an hourly basis. He
is by turns a nationalist, a populist, and a demagogue — but rarely acts
as a traditional conservative.
Intercept Drawing
the Line ... How redistricting turned America from blue to red.. New
Yorker A 'Forgotten
History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America. NPR
Interactive
Redlining Map Zooms In On America's History Of Discrimination. NPR
Justice
Department’s Dreamhost Subpoena Ramps Up the Police State. ... If the U.S.
Department of Justice prevails in a case against web-hosting provider Dreamhost,
you can become the subject of a criminal investigation by visiting a website.
CounterPunch
Capitalist
Economies Create Waste, Not Social Value. TruthOut
Israel
Minister: Preserving Ties With Trump Bigger Priority Than Denouncing Neo-Nazis.
... “Trump is the unquestioned leader of the free world, and we must not
accept anyone harming him,” said Ayoub Kara last week. Huffington
It’s
Not Just Trump, Federal Law Enforcement Is Not Very Focused On Far-Right Extremism.
.. Fewer resources are devoted to combating rising violence from white supremacists
and far-right domestic terrorism. Huffington
August 18-20, 2017Son
of Israeli prime minister says leftists worse than Nazis. ... His comments represent
a concerning trend among Israeli officials, who have failed to denounce global
anti-Semitism. ThinkProgress
Pentagon
Ready for "Full Range" of Options, Despite South Korea's Pleas to Rule
Out War. TruthOut
The North Korea Standoff, Like the Cuban Missile Crisis, Exposes the Reckless
U.S. Worldview. Intercept
The
Dangers of American Exceptionalism. ... Pence's
Indiana 'Cautionary Tale' for Privatizing Infrastructure Projects. White House
plan touts partnerships with private sector while Indiana residents navigate aftermath
of roadway privatization approved by Pence, their former governor. CommonDreams
Reclaiming
Public Services. ... How cities and citizens are turning back privatisation. TNI
Why
Is the Justice Department Targeting an Online Audience of Over 1 Million Anarchists?
... Anti-Trump website balks as Washington demands names, addresses and bank information
of their users. AlterNet
Longtime
Trump business partner ‘told family he knows he and POTUS are going to prison’:
report. RawStory
Prediction:
Trump Will Resign In Disgrace… Soon – The Young Turks. Ring
of Fire Preparing
for an "all out war": Why anti-Government Militias are Taking up Arms
for Trump. Haaretz
Donald
Trump removes law protecting buildings from floods and sea-level rise. ... 'It's
going to be quick. It's going to be a very streamlined process. And by the way,
if it doesn't met environmental safeguards, we're going to approve it - very simple'
|
| AUGUST
24 THROUGH 31 August 31, 2017 The
Red Cross Won’t Save Houston. ... How
the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and Built Six Homes.
...Even as the group has publicly celebrated its work, insider accounts detail
a string of failures. ... by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Laura Sullivan, June
3, 2015 ProPublica
Trump
tries to erase climate change from the Department of Agriculture. ... Referring
to climate change as "extreme weather" isn't enough. ThinkProgress
ICE
Plans to Start Destroying Records Detailing Immigrant Sexual Abuse and Deaths
in Its Custody. ... Ten people have perished in detention centers over the last
year alone. AlterNet
Diplomatic
Underground. ... The Sordid Double Life of Washington’s Most Powerful Ambassador.
Pro-solar
bill fails again in Maine as lawmakers fall for ‘scare tactics’ ...
State legislature unable to override governor's veto for second year in a row. A
Sobering National Climate Change Report. CounterPunch
The “Poison
Papers” represent a vast trove of rediscovered chemical industry and regulatory
agency documents and correspondence stretching back to the 1920s. Taken as a whole,
the papers show that both industry and regulators understood the extraordinary
toxicity of many chemical products and worked together to conceal this information
from the public and the press. PoisonPapers
Just-Released
Docs Show Monsanto 'Executives Colluding With Corrupted EPA Officials to Manipulate
Scientific Data'. ... The damning documents were released by plaintiffs suing
Monsanto in a claim that Roundup caused them to become ill with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
AlterNet
|
| SMOKE A TOKE The
Essential Guide for the First-Time Cannabis Tourist. ... For those who don’t
live in a state where cannabis is legal, states with legalized cannabis have become
a vacation destination. Why
medical marijuana patients can’t buy guns. ... An appeals court ruled last
week that a federal law prohibiting medical marijuana cardholders from purchasing
guns does not violate their Second Amendment rights, because marijuana has been
linked to "irrational or unpredictable behavior." WaPo
ATF
doubles down on marijuana gun ban, adds more explicit warning to firearm purchase
form. Cannabist
Court Rules
That Medical Marijuana Card Holders Can’t Buy Firearms. Fortune
Stoners
and Guns Don't Mix, California Court Says. LA
Weekly |
Weekend of August 25-27, 2017
Weekend
Read:
Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count - by David Dailey ... Lauded
as a “compelling” (The New Yorker) and “eye-opening tour of a process
that many Americans never see” (Washington Post), David Daley’s Ratf**ked
documents the effort of Republican legislators and political operatives to hack
American democracy through an audacious redistricting plan called REDMAP. Since
the revolutionary election of Barack Obama, a group of GOP strategists has devised
a way to flood state races with a gold rush of dark money, made possible by Citizens
United, in order to completely reshape Congress?and our democracy itself. “Sobering
and convincing” (New York Review of Books), Amazon
Razer
on Greenwald: journalism should be incisive, not amiable. ... Helen Razer sits
down with Glenn Greenwald to reflect upon the role of journalism, and resistance,
in an era where writing is often seen as an exercise in branding. Crikey
Pakistani
Journalist: Why Is Trump Pushing For Failed Military Solution Instead of Diplomacy?
DemocracyNow
Freedom
for the Speech We Hate: a Legal Guide to Your Protest Rights. CounterPunch
This is Sinclair, 'the most
dangerous US company you've never heard of'. ... Sinclair is the largest broadcast
company in America. But its partisan politics – and connections to the White
House – are raising concerns. The
Guradian
Why Mike
Pence Is Worse Than Donald Trump. ... In every way, he knows better, but he says
and does things that are equally awful and offensive.
The Nation
Is
There Any Point to Protesting? ... We turn out in the streets and nothing seems
to happen. Maybe we’re doing it wrong. New
Yorker
Ecocide
and the Psychotic 0.5 Per Cent.
CounterPunch
The Trump administration's solution to climate change: ban the term. The
Guardian
Trump
administration refuses to close fossil fuel loophole, admits it will cost taxpayers
millions. ... Expert contends Interior Department underestimates revenue losses
to taxpayers. ThinkProgress
60
Percent Drop in Fines Shows Corporate Polluters Have Little to Fear From Trump.
CommonDreams
gnoring
Threat of Rising Seas, Trump Eliminates Flood Risk Standards. ... "Silly
Trump wants to use tax dollars to build on floodplains as sea level rises. Damp!"
CommonDreams
Just-Released
Docs Show Monsanto 'Executives Colluding With Corrupted EPA Officials to Manipulate
Scientific Data' ... The damning documents were released by plaintiffs suing Monsanto
in a claim that Roundup caused them to become ill with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. AlterNet
Trump
tries to erase climate change from the Department of Agriculture
Referring
to climate change as "extreme weather" isn't enough. ThinkProgress
"President
Trump campaigned on a promise of 'law and order,' but apparently law enforcement
for big polluters is not what he had in mind."
CommonDreams
August 24, 2017
Chris
Hedges Visits Former Car Manufacturing City to See Impact of Job Flight (Video)
TruthDig
Trump
has been subject to a military coup behind the scenes – this is the beginning
of the end for his presidency. ... He is now so enfeebled that the Generals and
Admirals are not just emboldened to ignore his orders with contempt (not a blind
bit of notice was taken of his ban on transgender people in the military). They
are dictating foreign policy even when it directly undermines the support of Trump’s
base.
Independent
Paid
Actors, a Fake Publicist, and Retweeted Bots: How Trump Creates His Own Alternate
Reality. ... The president has a long history of manipulating the public's perceptions
about him. AlterNet
Silicon Valley siphons our data like oil. But the deepest drilling has just begun.
... Personal data is
to the tech world what oil is to the fossil fuel industry. That’s why companies
like Amazon and Facebook plan to dig deeper than we ever imagined.
Guardian
Trump’s
‘God whisperer’ says resisting him is an affront to God. ... A stunning
expression of Christian nationalism. ThinkProgress
White supremacists
are running for office as Republicans. Will the party stay silent? ... What can
the GOP do about the neo-Nazi on the ballot? ThinkProgress
The Republican Party May Not Survive Steve Bannon's 'War' on Washington.
... The Trump adviser's ouster threatens the GOP's fragile, fractious coalition.
AlterNet
Millionaire
wife of Trump’s treasury secretary mocks Oregon mom for not being rich ..
"Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband?" ThinkProgress
Endtimes
in Mosul. CounterPunch/P.Cockburn
August 23, 2017
The
Lies on Afghanistan Trump Will Now Tell. CommonDreams
State Dept.
Official Who Quit in 2009 over U.S. War in Afghanistan Speaks Out on Trump’s
Troop Surge. DemocracyNow
The Taliban
Tried to Surrender and the U.S. Rebuffed Them. Now Here We Are. Intercept
Trump,
Khashoggi, & Germany’s Criminal Deutsche Bank. MadCow
Theresa
May rejects appeal from 9/11 survivors to release suppressed Saudi Arabia terror
report. ... The survivors described the UK response as 'shameful'. Independent
Two
Sides to Every Issue: the Tedium Twins Debate the Crucifixion, Slavery and Cannibalism.
CounterPunch/A.Cockburn
Historians
of Christian nationalism are alarmed by its appearance in American pulpits ...
A lesson on the dangers to the United States.
ThinkProgress.
Part 1 of 2
Why Christian nationalists
love Trump
God and country. ThinkProgress.
Part 2 of 2.
McConnell,
in Private, Doubts if Trump Can Save Presidency. NY
Times
Sessions
Looks Set to Back off His Marijuana Crackdown. NewsWeek
Private
Prisons Are Thriving Under Trump.
TruthDig
With Trump,
Warns Scahill, "Unelected National Security Apparatus" Now Unleashed.
... "Trump may not finish his term as president, but the CIA and the Pentagon
will," writes expert on U.S. assassination program and Afghan war. CommonDreams
Why
Trump Could Be Gone Before 2020. ... A story that appeared in ... The Hill last
week ... “Half
of Republicans Would Back Postponing 2020 Election if Trump Proposed It.”
Read the report’s opening 90 words and let them sink in: CounterPunch
Email
Shows UAE’s Ambassador Worried About ‘Targeting of Civilian Sites’
in Yemen War. ... “The increased targeting of civilian sites combined with
the lack of humanitarian support is translating into a liability for washington.”
Intercept
August 22, 2017
Henry
A. Giroux | Trump's Neo-Nazis and the Rise of Illiberal Democracy. TruthOut/Hedges
Will
the Nightmare of President Donald Trump Become the Nightmare of President Mike
Pence?
A right-wing ideologue may end up replacing a sociopath. AlterNet
The
Madman With Nuclear Weapons is Donald Trump, Not Kim Jong-un. Intercept
Trump May
Not Finish His Term But the Assassination Complex Will Live On. Intercept
A
Brief History of Donald Trump and the Mafia. ... In the 1980s, the budding real
estate mogul had a soft spot for wise guys. Vice
Report:
Queasy Aussies Killed Trump’s Casino Bid Over “Mafia Connections”
... Government documents label Trump’s Atlantic City operations “dangerous.”
Mother
Jones
‘Alt-right’
Trump operative running stock fraud ‘hyena pack’. MadCow
Trump
Administration Dissolves Federal Climate Advisory Committee. ... The committee
was integral in crafting how the U.S. responds to the greatest threat of our time.
Huffington
FCC
Packs Broadband Advisory Group With Big Telecom Firms, Trade Groups. TruthOut
Trump's
DOJ Demands Personal Info On 1.3M Visitors
to "DisruptJ20" Inauguration Protest Website. DemocracyNow
Related: Disruptj210.org
Why
the Democratic Party Can't Save Us From Trump's Authoritarianism. ... Resistance
to Trump's authoritarianism will not come from a two-party system that has been
shaped by neoliberalism and the power of the financial elite. Despite its rebranding
efforts, the Democratic Party is far from embracing the anti-capitalist vision
of radical change needed to make democratic socialism into a real alternative
in the United States.. TruthOut/Giroux
Centrist
Democrats Riled as Warren Says Days of 'Lukewarm' Policies Are Over. ... "The
Democratic Party isn't going back to the days of welfare reform and the crime
bill." CommonDreams
Trump chief
scientist nominee: It’s ‘logical’ allowing same-sex marriage will
lead to legalized pedophilia. RawStory
-