PRESIDENT OBAMA “THROWS IN THE TOWEL” ON POPULISM AND “INTEGRITY” IN HIS ADMINISTRATION Two obscure cabinet appointments with an outsized impact on the daily lives of Americans made by President Obama in the last month offers a startling look at the true course the president’s second term will take, argues Norman Solomon. Penny Pritzker [...]
(SOMEBODY’S) “WAR GAMES” BEGIN IN SYRIA—BUT WHOSE GAMES AND TO WHAT PURPOSE? These are questions without definitive answsers as devastating air strikes hit targets near Damascus. Syrian officials, noting that only Israeli forces would have the firepower in the area to deliver such blows, accuse Israel of perpetrating them, though Israel officially denies this. [...]
WILL “KEYSTONE COPS,” IN THE NAME OF “SECURITY,” BE SUPPRESSING PROTEST AGAINST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE IN NEBRASKA? Local officials of the pipeline company behind the oil company, TransCanada, are in negotiations with local police enforcement agents about using “off duty” police officers to insure against “violence” among the protesters. The local protest group, Bold [...]
FOILED BY CONGRESS, GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES TURN TO STATE BALLOTS IN BID TO END VIOLENCE. Lawmakers and organizations in several states are considering whether to place gun-related amendments such as universal background checks on state ballots as soon as the 2014 elections.Though the piecemeal approach is not ideal, activists are beginning to tire of [...]
BOMB AT BOSTON MARATHON KILLS 3 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 1 CHILD AND THERE IS AN OUTPOURING OF U.S. SYMPATHY FOR THE VICTIMS. A secret C.I.A. counter-terrorist raid in Afghanistan kills 17 people, including 12 children. Sympathy out-pouring?—not so much, at least in the U.S. Not so, however, in Afghanistan itself, where the PM Hamid Karzai [...]
GLOBAL WATER CRISIS GETS SCANT MEDIA OR POLITICAL ATTENTION…AND THAT CAN LITERALLY BE DEADLY. Long thought of as solely and environmental issue, access to clean water can no longer be stereotyped as the domain of “tree hugging” activists. With a shrinking supply, climate change and rampant pollution affecting this quite invaluable resource, water is [...]
HEY CHUCK, WELCOME TO AN AFGHAN DEBACLE. This is Bill Van Auken’s description of the first trip to Afghanistan of the newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel. To say that the inauguration of Hagel’s relations to his Afghan partner in the “war on terrorism” was inauspicious would be putting it much [...]
STOCK MARKET RECORD HIGHS: THE RICH GET RICHER, EVERYONE ELSE GETS POORER… Last week saw the Dow Jones stock index shatter its all-time record highs, an occurrence trumpeted by the press and the Obama administration as a clear sign of a full turnaround from the depths of the Great Recession and proof of a [...]
Will the nation’s vaunted military-industrial complex survive what some have billed as the “disaster” of mandatory sequestration cuts? Yes, and likely stronger than before. The self-imposed “sequester” wrought by the failure of Congress to reach a budget deal are scheduled to deliver more than $1 trillion in government spending cuts within weeks. Despite promises from [...]
THE “BIGGEST CLIMATE FIGHT” OF THE YEAR MAY ALREADY BE HERE, AND IT COULD HAVE BIG CONSEQUENCES FOR THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET. A tiny Oregon town is at the center of a brewing struggle over big profits for the coal industry and whether simply “offshoring” the dirtiest of fossil fuels will negate any [...]
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