PUBLIC REACTIONS TO BOSTON BOMBING: SELECTIVE SYMPATHY AND IRRATIONAL FEAR. While a definitive “who did it?” narrative has yet to emerge, preliminary reactions show an all-too-familiar pattern, according to Glenn Greenwald. There is the typical quick assumption of a “Muslim” involvement that puts U.S. Muslims everywhere at fear of retaliation, and makes “heightened security” [...]
THE WAY OF THE KNIFE: THE C.I.A., A SECRET ARMY, AND A WAR AT THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. A new book of this title by Mark Mazzetti is about to be released and is excerpted in the New York Times. It describes the “secret deal” in 2004 between the C.I.A. and the Pakistani state [...]
“YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING…TO LOWER PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO GET.” This is Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein opening the familiar pandora’s box of rhetoric designed to fundamentalism “change” — i.e; kill off — “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare. Almost like clockwork, the election results are being used [...]
“THIS WAS A WRETCHED DEBATE, WITH ALMOST NO REDEEMING QUALITIES.” You’d be forgiven if you thought Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were running mates instead of political adversaries if you watched the last of three presidential debate on Monday night. The pair spent much of the nearly two-hour event agreeing with each other on [...]
“WE HAVE SPENT OUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE ADAPTING: WE’LL ADAPT. IT’S AN ENGINEERING PROBLEM AND THERE WILL BE AN ENGINEERING SOLUTION.” (The Guardian) ` A favorite accusation routinely leveled at the business community and companies around the world is “greenwashing,” where politically correct language and pleasant sounding platitudes on their “eco-friendly” initiatives are utilized by corporations [...]
WHY IS SOCIAL SECURITY IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE? HOW ABOUT THE $2.7 TRILLION DOLLARS THE GOVERNMENT HAS BORROWED OR STOLEN FROM THE SURPLUSES GENERATED BY F.I.C.A. TAXES? (Dissident Voice) Economist Allen W. Smith continues his long-term effort to educate the public about the sources of the actual financial insecurity of the aging population. The current “baby [...]
SPANISH BAILOUT HAS COUNTRY PREPARED FOR “THUMBSCREW OF AUSTERITY” (World Socialist) A few observers declared that the European fiscal crisis took a sizable step towards a positive resolution with the announcement this week that banks and officials with the European Union and International Monetary Fund would bail out Spain with a 100 billion euro loan [...]
WHAT’S THAT IN THE SKY? A BIRD? A PLANE? “NOPE, JUST OUR LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT’S 25-POUND DRONE…” (Business Week) Unprecedented police control of the nation’s skies appears imminent after the Federal Aviation Administration and the Obama administration gave hearty approval to the request of undetermined “public safety agencies” to place unmanned drones weighing up [...]
PHILADELPHIA STORY: COULD BE U.S. STORY WHEN IT COMES TO THE CLOSING OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (Black Agenda Report) Philadelphia is only one of the most recent of numerous school systems including Atlanta and New York City, following the lead of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former CEO of Chicago public schools in wielding a [...]
Lawmakers in Virginia have backed off two highly controversial bills that would have been an unprecedented duel assault on the rights and privacy of women in the commonwealth. The rapid disintegration of support for the measures could the clearest evidence yet that a sustainable backlash is developing in what can only be described as a nationwide war [...]
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