Category Archives: News

REPUBLICAN CLASS WARFARE: “Hunger Games, U.S.A.” / Paul Krugman

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Paul KrugmanSomething terrible has happened to the soul of the Republican Party. We’ve gone beyond bad economic doctrine. We’ve even gone beyond selfishness and special interests. At this point we’re talking about a state of mind that takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering on the already miserable.

The occasion for these observations is, as you may have guessed, the monstrous farm bill the House passed last week.

For decades, farm bills have had two major pieces. One piece offers subsidies to farmers; the other offers nutritional aid to Americans in distress, mainly in the form of food stamps (these days officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP).

Long ago, when subsidies helped many poor farmers, you could defend the whole package as a form of support for those in need. Over the years, however, the two pieces diverged. Farm subsidies became a fraud-ridden program that mainly benefits corporations and wealthy individuals. Meanwhile food stamps became a crucial part of the social safety net.

So House Republicans voted to maintain farm subsidies — at a higher level than either the Senate or the White House proposed — while completely eliminating food stamps from the bill.

[…]

Now, some enemies of food stamps don’t quote libertarian philosophy; they quote the Bible instead. Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, for example, cited the New Testament: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Sure enough, it turns out that Mr. Fincher has personally received millions in farm subsidies.

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RACIAL TARGETING: “When will it end? Deadly racial targeting of black men and teens is hardly ancient history.” / New York Daily News

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Racial TargetingTrayvon Martin, an African-American killed in an attack seen by many as racially motivated, is just the latest name in a sad roll call. These gruesome hate crimes dating to the ’50s also stirred widespread shock and fury.

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INJUSTICE: “Extradition Hypocrisy on the Part of the U.S.: Whistleblowers Yes, Terrorists No” / Liberation

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Whistleblower Edward Snowden

      Whistleblower Edward Snowden

Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles

            Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles

Edward Snowden, who recently disclosed the massive nature of NSA spying on not only Americans but on every single person in the world who uses electronic communications of any kind, is currently a fugitive from “justice” in the United States. Although [Edward Snowden] is currently in a Russian airport, he has been offered political asylum by Venezuela, as well as by Nicaragua and Bolivia.

Although Snowden isn’t yet in Venezuela, the U.S. government has already requested his extradition from that country. The irony of this request abounds. For eight years now, since June 15, 2005, the U.S. has refused to extradite a notorious terrorist to Venezuela. Luis Posada Carriles is wanted in Venezuela on 73 counts of murder for masterminding the 1976 midair bombing of a Cubana airliner (the flight originated in Venezuela, and the bombing was planned there, which is why that country is involved). Posada was also responsible for a string of Cuban hotel bombings in 1997 which killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo, and was jailed for four years in Panama (2000-2004) for an attempt to bomb an auditorium in which Fidel Castro was speaking to university students. This is the man the U.S. Government continues to allow to walk the streets of Miami a free man, while they ask for the extradition of a man whose crime was to expose their own illegal actions.

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INJUSTICE: “U.S. Shelters Bolivia Ex-President From Genocide Charges As Evo Morales Offers Snowden Asylum”

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Bolivian former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada […]

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, president of Bolivia from 2002 to 2003, was a free-market reformer and U.S. ally. He fled his country after protests to his plans to route natural gas through neighboring Chile toppled his government in 2003 — an episode known in Bolivia as the “Gas War.” He now faces charges of genocide in Bolivia for allegedly ordering the military to fire on protesters in 2003, killing more than 60 people, as well as a civil lawsuit in the U.S. brought by relatives of those who died. Sánchez de Lozada, now living in the U.S., is being sheltered from extradition back to Bolivia.

The Sánchez de Lozada issue hung heavy over U.S-Bolivian relations. And that was before Edward Snowden.

[…]

In 2007, prosecutors in Bolivia filed charges of genocide against Sánchez de Lozada. The Bolivian penal code includes massacres as part of the legal definition of “genocide.”

In 2011, the Bolivian courts convicted five military officers and two former cabinet members and imposed sentences ranging from three to 15 years. In its 2013 “World Report,” Human Rights Watch called the convictions the “only notable advance” in Bolivia’s efforts to punish human rights violations under previous governments.

[…]

The Obama administration refused to extradite Sánchez de Lozada last year. The Bolivian government has filed a second request for extradition, according to La Razón newspaper.

Beth Stephens, the attorney representing the victims’ families [said,] . . . “What they really want is for them to face is criminal prosecution in Bolivia,” Stephens said. “The United States shouldn’t be a safe haven for those who order violent attacks against unarmed civilians.”

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JUSTICE: “Statement by Julian Assange after One Year in Ecuadorian Embassy”

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Julian Assange

It has now been a year since I entered this embassy and sought refuge from persecution.

As a result of that decision, I have been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation.

But today, Edward Snowden’s ordeal is just beginning.

Two dangerous runaway processes have taken root in the last decade, with fatal consequences for democracy.

Government secrecy has been expanding on a terrific scale.

Simultaneously, human privacy has been secretly eradicated.

A few weeks ago, Edward Snowden blew the whistle on an ongoing program – involving the Obama administration, the intelligence community and the internet services giants – to spy on everyone in the world.

As if by clockwork, he has been charged with espionage by the Obama administration.

The US government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off.

It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize, but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice.

Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president.

Continue reading . . .

h/t: WikiLeaks

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM: “Investigative Journalist Glenn Greenwald Schools Political Parrot David Gregory on Criminalizing Investigative Journalism”

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NOAM CHOMSKY: “Obama’s Policies Are Creating Terrorism Around the World” / Laura Flanders

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http://blip.tv/grittv/noam-chomsky-on-secrecy-terrorism-and-google-6604821

If ever you accused Barack Obama of fearing to offend or suffering from lack of spine, you have to hand it to him now: President Obama is acting more and more like a leader every day, one specific leader in fact: George W. Bush.

Take the recent disclosures about the National Security Agency’s massive spying on the world. The data dragnet mimics the worst of the Bush administration.

It’s hypocritical in the extreme to gather data in the name of preventing terrorism while the administration’s own policies are creating terrorism around the world, says MIT professor emeritus, Noam Chomsky in this  GRITtv exclusive interview.