MORE THAN 70 US SERVICEMEMBERS ARE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED EVERY DAY AS EPIDEMIC OF SEX CRIMES IN MILITARY GRABS NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT. A new report from the Pentagon finally admits the vast extent of the US military’s crisis of sexual assault, with data showing at least 26,000 members of the armed forces were assaulted last year, the [...]
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 [...]
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” [...]
A small town in Arkansas is dealing with an oily mess after an ExxonMobil tar sands pipeline burst beneath dozens of homes, an accident that many say portends the fate of more American communities if the much larger Keystone pipeline is built. The spill comes at a time of rising political support for TransCanada’s massive [...]
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 [...]
Political posturing has trumped science and environmental concerns in the long and tortured journey to the increasingly inevitable construction of the massive Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast. Bipartisan pressure is building on President Obama both sides await a delayed decision from the White House on whether the pipeline will [...]
CLIMATE CRUSADERS “UNDER ATTACK.“ Bill Mckibben writes in Grist of the recent travails facing two of the globe’s most ardent and respected leaders of the movement to take aggressive action against climate change. NASA scientist James Hansen, arrested last month for his dogged opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, a project he says will [...]
ARE ELDERLY AMERICANS THE “PICTURE OF AFFLUENCE?” Thatfflu is the picture drawn in a new Pew Research study of the “net worth” of American households. The average net worth of seniors of $170,500 seems “affluent” only by contrast with the almost non-existent amount of $ 3,700 for those under 35. With many older people now [...]
UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS WASN’T VERY “HUMANITARIAN” IN ITS TREATMENT OF THE HEAD OF THEIR OFFICE IN ZIMBABWE. This is the ruling of the 3-judge panel of the UN Dispute Council, finding that OCHA management mistreated the official, Dr. Georges Tadonki, who tried to warn of the humanitarian violations of [...]
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