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Tuesday December 31, 2013
News Articles

War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain
Washington Post | Peter Carlson | 12/30/05 older

It sounds like a joke but it's not. War Plan Red is real. It was drawn up and approved by the War Department in 1930, then updated in 1934 and 1935. It was declassified in 1974 and the word "SECRET" crossed out with a heavy pencil. Now it sits in a little gray box in the National Archives in College Park, available to anybody, even Canadian spies.

War Plan Red was actually designed for a war with England. In the late 1920s, American military strategists developed plans for a war with Japan (code name Orange), Germany (Black), Mexico (Green) and England (Red). The Americans imagined a conflict between the United States (Blue) and England over international trade ... Read more

Michael Hayden 'Drifting' Toward Calling Edward Snowden A 'Traitor'
HP | Elise Foley | 12/30/13

"Revolving Door" Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency, who now works for the Chertoff Group, said Sunday that he used to describe leaker Edward Snowden as a "defector," but is now "drifting in the direction of perhaps more harsh language ... such as 'traitor.'"

"I think there's an English word that describes selling American secrets to another government, and I do think it's treason," Hayden said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Snowden tore back the curtain on NSA programs that collect phone records en masse, among other things, and his revelations sparked outrage from those who feel the agency is going too far. ... Read more

Fear Pays: Chertoff, Ex-Security Officials Slammed For Cashing In On Government Experience
HP | Marcus Baram | 05/25/11

After last month's plot to send bombs from Yemen to the United States aboard a cargo plane, former U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's whiskerless visage was ubiquitous on cable news. Solemnly warning that the nation needed stronger security procedures, Chertoff patiently repeated his talking points on ABC News's "World News Tonight", "Fox and Friends", CNBC's "Squawk Box" and Bloomberg TV.

Almost unmentioned in these appearances: Chertoff , and his company Chertoff Group, has a lot to gain financially if some of these measures are adopted. Between his private consulting firm, The Chertoff Group, and seats on the boards of giant defense and security firms, he sits at the heart of the giant security nexus created in the wake of 9/11, in effect creating a shadow homeland security agency. Chertoff launched his firm just days after President Barack Obama took office, eventually recruiting at least 11 top officials from the Department of Homeland Security, as well as former CIA director General Michael Hayden and other top military brass and security officials. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, December 31 [13:28]
DN | Crackdown on Brotherhood, Opposition Grows as Egypt Joins Ranks of Most Dangerous for Journalists (12/31/13) [17:30]
*DN | WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Calls on Computer Hackers to Unite Against NSA Surveillance (12/31/13) [10:43]
DN | Looking Back: A Year of Struggles on Climate, Education & Marriage Equality Inspire Hope for 2014 (12/31/13) [16:39]
War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain
*War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain [45:03]
War Plan Red, an American strategy to make war on Great Britain. It was conceived in the late 1920s and developed throughout the next decade, including the idea to build air bases capable of bombing cities in the British dominion of Canada, where the US top brass intended the conflict to take place. The plan was officially withdrawn in 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, although it was not declassified until 1974.

Number of bullets Homeland Security (DHS) has bought

The Chertoff Group Website
"Revolving Door" Michael Hayden wants to protect the Internet from all those defectors, treasonist traitors, and hackers.
The Chertoff Group is a private consultancy company founded by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. The company's site describes its activities as advising "corporate and government clients on security and risk management issues". The Group is based in Washington and has offices in New York, however, it does not openly publish the location of these offices on its website. The Chertoff Group's leadership team is mostly comprised of former high-level employees of the DHS, CIA, NSA, and FEMA.

  1. Co-founded by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Chad Sweet, former Director of Operations for the CIA
  2. Leadership team includes General Michael V. Hayden, former Director of the CIA and NSA, as well as Charles E. Allen, a former Assistant Director at the CIA and architect of DHS intelligence structure
  3. Advocates for the usage of body-scanners for airport security, while maintaining clients which include manufacturers of body-scanning systems
Read more

Light Reading while in your Bunker

*U.S. Army Predator Drone Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Tactical Pocket Guide
PublicIntelligence.net | author | 2011

This pocket guide provides information used by battle staffs involved in planning, coordinating, synchronizing or executing actions that support the effective employment of unmanned aircraft systems (uas) on the battlefield.
Read more



U.S. Army Afghanistan Theater of Operations Evidence Collection Guide
PublicIntelligence.net | author | 2012

This Guide will assist Coalition Forces and Afghan units by providing practical means and methods to properly identify, collect, preserve, and provide evidence that will be recognized and accepted by the Afghan criminal justice system.
Read more

*ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council
Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.

In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state.





Michigan Legislators with ALEC Ties
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michigan_ALEC_Politicians

House of Representatives
  1. Rep. Gail Haines (R-43); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
  2. Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-44), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2011
  3. Rep. Kenneth Kurtz (R-58), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force
  4. Rep. Matthew Lori, (R-59), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force
  5. Rep. Peter J. Lund (R-36); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force and Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  6. Rep. Tom McMillin (R-45), sponsored 2011 HB 4050. Compare to ALEC's "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act"
  7. Rep. Aric Nesbitt (R-66); State Chairman, Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
  8. Rep. Amanda Price (R-89); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
  9. Rep. Mike Shirkey (R-65), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2011

Senate
  1. Sen. Darwin Booher (R-35), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005, 2007 and 2009 while a state representative
  2. Sen. Bruce Caswell (R-16), Health and Human Services Task Force
  3. Sen. Mike Green (R-31), State Chairman, paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2011
  4. Sen. Goeff Hansen (R-34), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005, 2007 and 2009 (twice) while a state representative, Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force member
  5. Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R-29), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005, 2007 and 2009 while a state representative, and in 2011 while a state senator
  6. Sen. Mark Jansen (R-28)
  7. Sen. Rick Jones (R-24), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005 while a state representative, told Detroit News in August 2012 that he was no longer a member because "I thought (attending ALEC conferences) would be looked at by my constituents as a junket." See Legislators Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC for more.
  8. Sen. Mike Kowall (R-15), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2009 while a state representative, and in 2011
  9. Sen. Arlan B. Meekhoff (R-30), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2009 while a state representative
  10. Sen. John Moolenar (R-36), Member of ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force[4]. Paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005 and 2007 while a state representative
  11. Sen. Mike Nofs (R-19), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2008 while a state representative
  12. Sen. David B. Robertson (R-26), paid ALEC membership dues with taxpayer funds in 2005
  13. Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker (R-20), former State Chairman[12]; Civil Justice Task Force


12.31.2013. 17:51

Monday December 30, 2013
News Articles

*Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
Der Spiegel | Staff | 12/30/13

The NSA's TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency's top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.

In 2005, the agency took over a former Sony computer chip plant in the western part of the city. A brisk pace of construction commenced inside this enormous compound. The acquisition of the former chip factory at Sony Place was part of a massive expansion the agency began after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

One of the two main buildings at the former plant has since housed a sophisticated NSA unit, one that has benefited the most from this expansion and has grown the fastest in recent years -- the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. This is the NSA's top operative unit -- something like a squad of plumbers that can be called in when normal access to a target is blocked.

According to internal NSA documents viewed by SPIEGEL, these on-call digital plumbers are involved in many sensitive operations conducted by American intelligence agencies. TAO's area of operations ranges from counterterrorism to cyber attacks to traditional espionage. The documents reveal just how diversified the tools at TAO's disposal have become -- and also how it exploits the technical weaknesses of the IT industry, from Microsoft to Cisco and Huawei, to carry out its discreet and efficient attacks. ... Read more

*NSA's Secret Toolbox: Unit Offers Spy Gadgets for Every Need
Der Spiegel | Staff | 12/30/13

The NSA has a secret unit that produces special equipment ranging from spyware for computers and cell phones to listening posts and USB sticks that work as bugging devices. Here are some excerpts from the intelligence agency's own catalog.

When agents with the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division want to infiltrate a network or a computer, they turn to their technical experts. This particular unit of the United States intelligence service is known internally as ANT. The acronym presumably stands for Advanced Network Technology, because that's what the division produces -- tools for penetrating network equipment and monitoring mobile phones and computers. ANT's products help TAO agents infiltrate networks and divert or even modify data wherever the NSA's usual methods won't suffice. You can read more about the TAO division, its strengths and tricks in a SPIEGEL feature that was published in English on Sunday. ... Read more

*REVISIT | Who's Pulling the Strings?
Bill Moyers | staff | 10/11/13

A lot of press coverage has focused on the relatively small group of lawmakers, many of them tea party endorsed backbenchers, who pushed their leadership into shutting down the government in a desperate last-gasp effort to kill off Obamacare.

But how does that work? Why can a cabal of hard-right legislators tell their party's leadership what to do? Why doesn't the rest of the Republican caucus stop them? The answer is that in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision a well-funded network of conservative groups has arisen that has the ability to make the lives of Republicans who seek compromise very, very difficult.

Legislators are hesitant to cross these enforcers, fearing primary challengers from the right, or grassroots tea party activists flooding their offices with angry calls. Here's a look at some of the key players behind the scenes (above) and some of the key lawmakers in front of the cameras (below). Roll over the heads to learn more about each player. Read more

*REVISIT | Is Your State Legislator a Member of ALEC?
Bill Moyers | Theresa Riley | 10/28/13

Many of the laws that affect us most directly -- from taxes to marriage equality to voter ID -- are made at the state level. The idea that change begins with the states is one of the founding principles of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. In state houses around the country, hundreds of ALEC "model laws" are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers. ... Read more
Click to zoom
Is Your State Legislator an ALEC Member?

*REVISIT | The Day That TV News Died
Bill Moyers | Chris Hedges | 03/25/13

I am not sure exactly when the death of television news took place. The descent was gradual -- a slide into the tawdry, the trivial and the inane, into the charade on cable news channels such as Fox and MSNBC in which hosts hold up corporate political puppets to laud or ridicule, and treat celebrity foibles as legitimate news. But if I had to pick a date when commercial television decided amassing corporate money and providing entertainment were its central mission, when it consciously chose to become a carnival act, it would probably be Feb. 25, 2003, when MSNBC took Phil Donahue off the air because of his opposition to the calls for war in Iraq. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, December 30 [13:04]
*DN | NSA, Orwellian or a Blunt Tool?: Conflicting Rulings on NSA Spying Set Up Likely Supreme Court Showdown (12/30/13) [12:30], Part 2 [27:24]
The German publication Der Spiegel has revealed new details about a secretive hacking unit inside the National Security Agency called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. The unit was created in 1997 to hack into global communications traffic. Hackers inside the TAO have developed a way to break into computers running Microsoft Windows by gaining passive access to machines when users report program crashes to Microsoft. In addition, with help from the CIA and FBI, the NSA has the ability to intercept computers and other electronic accessories purchased online in order to secretly insert spyware and components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence agencies. American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer and journalist Glenn Greenwald join us to discuss the latest revelations, along with the future of Edward Snowden, who has recently offered to assist U.S. targets Germany and Brazil with their respective probes into NSA spying.
DN | Jobless Benefits Cut For 1.3 Million, Despite Highest Long-term Unemployment Since World War II (12/30/13) [6:14]
CBS Face-the-Nation | Whistleblower | NSA
*CBS Face the Nation | Whistleblower Edward Snowden defies labels (12/29/13) [47:44]
Former government contractor Edward Snowden, who has divulged significant information on the operations of the National Security Administration, continues to inspire anger from top government officials and admiration from advocates of transparency who say he has sparked necessary changes. And with two judges recently reaching conflicting conclusions on the legality of the NSA methods he revealed back in May, that debate is unlikely to end anytime soon.
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Thomas Cahill on the People's Pope (12/27/13) [17:27]
In just a few months, Pope Francis has proven to be one of the most outspoken pontiffs in recent history, especially when it comes to poverty and income inequality. In a message to be sent to world leaders marking the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace on January 1, he criticized the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs."
60 Minutes
60 Minutes | Going to Extremes, "Birdmen" who soar off cliffs in wingsuits (12/29/13) [43:18]
"Birdmen" who soar off cliffs in wingsuits; filmmakers who use "spy-cams" to show wildlife up close; and, researchers who get in the water with man-eating Nile crocodiles. They're all on "60 Minutes Presents: Going to Extremes,"
Fukushima
Fukushima Daiichi - Nuclear GE Power Plant Whistleblower (12/28/13) [9:19]
War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain
*War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain [45:03]
War Plan Red, an American strategy to make war on Great Britain. It was conceived in the late 1920s and developed throughout the next decade, including the idea to build air bases capable of bombing cities in the British dominion of Canada, where the US top brass intended the conflict to take place. The plan was officially withdrawn in 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, although it was not declassified until 1974.
Movie Making
GRAVITY Extended Trailer (2013) [5:38]
'Gravity' Behind-the-Scenes Featurette Takes Audiences From Script to Screen (12/23/13) [5:47]
Discover Politics in Your State
Discover Politics in Your State
Prof. Antony Sutton & Prof. Carroll Quigley

*Financial Crisis | Economist | Bank | Central Banks | World Bank & BIS | Quants & HST
Financial Crisis
Meltdown (all 4 parts) (04/04/12) [2:49:15]
Simon Johnson | The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown (05/05/11) [1:29:11]
Economist
BBC | Masters Of Money - Part 1 - John Keynes (2012) [59:06]
BBC | Masters Of Money - Part 2 - Friedrich Hayek (2012) [58:23]
BBC | Masters Of Money - Part 3 - Karl Marx (2012) [58:49]
Banks
Four Horseman of the Banking Cartel. They rule the World. (2013) [51:05]
BBC | The Fall of Lehman Brothers () [59:05]
BBC | The Love Of Money Episode 1/3 The Bank That Bust The World () [59:30]
BBC | The Love Of Money Episode 3/3 Back From The Brink () [59:27]
BBC | RBS - Inside The Bank That Ran Out Of Money () [58:58]
Central Banks - BIS
The International Banking Cartel [1:05:03]
Federal Reserve Bank and International Bankers Exposed [47:22]
Eight Families: Big Oil & Their Bankers (article)
Joan Veon | When Central Banks Rule the World [1:20:00]
Is the One-World Government Coming? - Joan Veon (06/20/11) [50:07]
Lots of Joan Veon's articles (good)
John Perkins - Economic Hit Man
John Perkins - Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption 2008 [43:07]
John Perkins "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"Extended Interview 2008 [1:08:38]
John Perkins - The Secret History of the American Empire 2008 [1:24:23]
World Bank
Stone | Karen Hudes Arrested at the World Bank for Whistleblowing (08/30/13) [4:22]
Project Camelot | Interview With Karen Hudes - World Bank Whistleblower (08/30/13) [1:56:21]
Karen Hudes: World Bank Whistleblower makes Startling Confession (10/17/13) [23:44]

John Pilger | IMF & World Bank are weapons of war () [21:21]
Quants | Code | HST
Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street () [47:50]
The Wall Street Code () [50:30]
Masters of the Universe | Elites
Professor Antony Sutton
Antony Sutton | Socialism - A Tool of the Capitalist Elite [44:21]
Antony Sutton | Wall Street, Nazis & the Bolshevik Revolution [40:00]
Antony Sutton | The Best Enemies Money Can Buy [53:03]
Antony Sutton | The Jesuit Order of Skull and Bones [31:58]
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution (book)
Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler by Antony C. Sutton (book)
Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution by Antony C. Sutton (book)
Professor Carroll Quigley
Carroll Quigley on Tragedy And Hope [59:01]
Carroll Quigley | Western Civilization, Part 1 [48:41], Part 2 [51:01], Part 3 [59:01], Part 4 [53:11], Part 5, Part 6 Part 7
Other
The Deal 2005 [1:47:45]

Nuclear Industry

National Security

Other Videos and Documentaries
Capitalist Imperialism
Noam Chomsky, American Imperialism [1:51:53]
War Plan Red: America's Planned War on Britain [45:03]
War Plan Red, an American strategy to make war on Great Britain. It was conceived in the late 1920s and developed throughout the next decade, including the idea to build air bases capable of bombing cities in the British dominion of Canada, where the US top brass intended the conflict to take place. The plan was officially withdrawn in 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, although it was not declassified until 1974.
Communist Imperialism
CIA Propaganda | Communist Imperialism_CIA Documentary on the History of Communism (1961) [34:28]
CIA Propaganda | The Bloody History of China - CIA Cold War Documentary on a Communist [1:17:54]
Mao Zedong and China's Cultural Revolution [45:44]
Mao's Great Famine: great leap foward, history of china [52:26]
"Karl Marx Was Right" [1:43:27]
Hiroshima
HC | Hiroshima [49:42]
Sikh - Operation Blue Star 1984
BBC | Sikh: Operation Blue Star 1984 [59:16]

12.30.2013. 14:13

Friday December 27, 2013
News Articles
Wealth and Income Inequality in America
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
*Wealth Inequality in the World [3:51]

Military Sexual Assault Reports Jump By 50 Percent
HP | Lolita C. Baldor | 12/27/13

The number of reported sexual assaults across the military shot up by more than 50 percent this year, an increase that defense officials say may suggest that victims are becoming more willing to come forward after a tumultuous year of scandals that shined a spotlight on the crimes and put pressure on the military to take aggressive action. .... Read more

Pretty Cool
*Under the Antarctic Ice - Beauty of The Nature (04/22/13) [52:29]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 27 [10:47]
*DN | NSA Whistleblower Kirk Wiebe Details Gov't Retaliation After Helping Expose "Gross Mismanagement" (12/19/13) [22:31]
*DN | Occupy Offshoot Urges Wall Street to Donate $91 Billion in Bonuses to Victims of Financial Crisis (12/27/13) [16:03]
DN | How Can the Philippines Recover From Typhoon Haiyan While Forced to Pay Off Ex-Dictator's Old Debt? (12/27/13) [11:02]
TRNN News
TRNN | Taksim Square, Turkey, Protesters Charged With Terrorism, Attempting Coup (12/27/13) [9:39]
Aljazeera Empire
*Aljazeera | NSA and the One Trillion Dollar scam (07/06/13) [47:45]
RT News
RT | Edward Snowden vindicated, NSA on the ropes? (12/19/13) [4:23]
*Military Budget
Department of Defense (DOD)

Can't Touch This
MotherJones | David Gibson | 12/24/13

Until Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) rode to the rescue this week, Pentagon brass and their allies had been issuing dire warnings about the nation's military readiness: The armed services were being decimated, they said, by sequestration--the automatic budget cuts that were set to trim $1 trillion from the Pentagon budget over the next decade. "It's one thing for the Pentagon to go on a diet. It's another for the Pentagon to wear a straitjacket while dieting," grumbled Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.). The message got through: The House overwhelmingly approved the Ryan-Murray plan just two days after it was introduced.

But now, the Pentagon has once more gotten a reprieve from the budget ax: Under Murray and Ryan's congressional budget deal, the Pentagon will get an additional $32 billion, or 4.4 percent, in 2014, leaving its base budget at a higher level than in 2005 and 2006. (The Department of Defense expects its total 2014 budget, including supplemental war funding, to be more than $600 billion.) ...
Click to zoom
Some Interesting Facts

  1. The Pentagon employs 3 million people, 800,000 more than Walmart.
  2. The Pentagon's 2012 budget was 47 percent bigger than Walmart's.
  3. Serving 9.6 million people, the Pentagon and Veterans Administration together constitute the nation's largest healthcare provider.
  4. 70 percent of the value of the federal government's $1.8 trillion in property, land, and equipment belongs to the Pentagon.
  5. Los Angeles could fit into the land managed by the Pentagon 93 times. The Army uses more than twice as much building space as all the offices in New York City.
  6. The Pentagon holds more than 80 percent of the federal government's inventories, including $6.8 billion of excess, obsolete, or unserviceable stuff.
  7. The Pentagon operates more than more than 170 golf courses worldwide.
Biggest Defense Boondoggle in History
  1. Rolling out the F-35 originally was expected to cost $233 billion, but now it's expected to cost nearly $400 billion. I have heard development costs closer to 1 trillion. The time needed to develop the plane has gone from 10 years to 18.
  2. Lockheed says the final cost per plane will be about $75 million. However, according to the Government Accountability Office, the actual cost has jumped to $137 million.
  3. It was initially estimated that it could cost another $1 trillion or more to keep the new F-35s flying for 30 years. Pentagon officials called this "unaffordable" -- and now say it will cost only $857 million. "This is no longer the trillion-dollar [aircraft]," boasts a Lockheed Martin executive.
  4. Planes started rolling off the assembly line before development and testing were finished, which could result in $8 billion worth of retrofits.
  5. A 2013 report by the Pentagon inspector general identified 719 problems with the F-35 program. Some of the issues with the first batch of planes delivered to the Marines:
  6. The F-35 program has 1,400 suppliers in 46 states. Lockheed Martin gave money to 425 members of Congress in 2012 and has spent $159 million on lobbying since 2000.
Read more

From Eggs to Explosives: The Pentagon's Long Shopping List
MotherJones | Dave Gilson | 12/23/13

Running the massively big, most powerful military in the world requires a lot of stuff, from tanks to toilet paper. The Pentagon handed out $361 billion to contractors in 2012. Some of the items on its long shopping list: ...
Click to zoom
Read more

*Want to Cut Government Spending? Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
finance.yahoo.com | Lauren Lyster | 11/25/13

If you thought the botched rollout of Obamacare, the government shutdown, or the sequester represented Washington dysfunction at its worst, wait until you hear about the taxpayer waste at the Defense Department.

Special Enterprise Reporter Scot Paltrow unearthed the "high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping" in a Reuters investigation. It amounts to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for. The year 1996 was the first that the Pentagon should have been audited under a law requiring audits of all government departments. Oh, and by the way, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with this law. ... Read more
*Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
TYT | Shocking Government Waste at The Defense Department (11/30/13) [7:11]

Black Budget

The Black Budget
Washington Post | author | date

Read more

Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence 'black budget'
Washington Post | author | date

The pages in this document appear in the summary of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's multivolume FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification -- the U.S. intelligence community's top-secret "black budget." It covers many of the high-profile agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, as well as lesser-known programs, including those within the Treasury, State and Energy Departments. ... Read more

Secrets
BBC | WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower (03/22/12) [59:28]
Discovery | Special Operations: America's Secret Soldiers (2002) [44:49]
Drones
PBS NOVA | Rise Of The Drones (11/17/13) [52:10]
Jeromy Schill
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill (full) (11/03/13) [1:26:22]
Department Homeland Security (DHS)

Department of Homeland Security: FY2013 Appropriations
magazine | author | 10/01/12

Net requested appropriations for major agencies within DHS were as follows:
  1. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) $10,345 million
  2. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) $5,332 million
  3. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), $5,130 million
  4. Coast Guard $8,352 million
  5. Secret Service $1,601 million
  6. National Protection and Programs Directorate $1,217 million
  7. Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) $4,528 million
  8. Science and Technology $831 million
  9. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office $328 million
Included as part of the President's overall budget request was a 0.5% pay raise for civilian federal employees.
Read more

Click to zoom
United States Secret Service (DSSS)
*NatGeo | Inside the U.S. Secret Service (03/07/13) [1:29:12]
George W. Bush requests the most taxpayer dollars of ex-presidents (article)
Ex-presidents' tab for 2012: $3.7 million (03/26/13) (article)

12.27.2013. 07:23

Thursday December 26, 2013
News Articles

McDonald's Takes Down Employee Help Site After Controversy
HP | Katie Little | 12/25/13

After yet another PR headache, McDonald's has taken down its employee resources website following what it deemed "unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary."   On Thursday, CNBC reported the McResource Line site included multiple posts bashing fast food, the industry that McDonald's has spent decades spreading throughout the world.

Several excerpts from the posts, which were created from a third-party vendor, warned against the negative effects of fast food, even going so far as labeling a cheeseburger and fries, core items on its menu, as an "unhealthy choice."   After news of these posts went viral, the fast-food giant told its vendor to remove the site, said Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for McDonald's USA. The company will still offer employees help via phone. ... Read more

McDonald's employee site advises workers to avoid eating fast food (12/24/13) [1:10]
McDonald's: McBudgeting (07/12/13) [1:19]

What America Would Look Like If Libertarians Got Their Way
AlterNet | RJ Eskow | 12/25/13

But it seems even clearer that a "libertarian" in today's political environment is almost always someone who ascribes to certain core philosophies: He abhors government, hates taxation, and is hostile to collective action on behalf of the less fortunate. Name any prominent modern libertarian -- Ayn Rand ...

  1. What if you cut all benefits?
  2. Nothing but competition.
  3. Free-enterprise zones.
  4. The absolute rights of private ownership.
Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 26 [9:12]
DN | Bread and Puppet Theater Founder Peter Schumann on 50 Years of Art and Resistance, Part 2 (12/26/13) [14:39], Part 2 [14:05], Part 3 [17:51]
TRNN News
TRNN | Bill Black: An international collaboration of investigative journalists has released the names of wealthy individuals stashing as much as three times the American GDP in tax havens () [13:12]
TRNN | Michael Hudson: Why do they call for governments to balance the budget by pushing the economy at large deeper into debt, while trying to save the banks from taking a loss () [14:30]
TYT News
TYT | Edward Snowden Declares Mission Accomplished (12/24/13) [10:04]
TYT | Pope's Approval Ratings - Why & How It Matters (12/24/13) [6:09]
TYT | Koch Bros Behind Arizona's Solar Power Fines (12/24/13) [6:00]
Spider webs
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.26.2013. 07:20

Tuesday December 24, 2013
News Articles
Click to zoom

Edward Snowden: 'Mission's Already Accomplished... I Already Won'
HP | author | 12/24/13

... Snowden told The Washington Post in an interview published online Monday night that he was satisfied because journalists have been able to tell the story of the government's collection of bulk Internet and phone records, an activity that has grown dramatically in the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ...

... "As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated," Snowden told the Post. "Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself." ... Read more

Retail Traffic Plunges By "Staggering" 21% In Week Before Christmas
ZeroHedge | author | 12/24/13

That it has been one of the most lacklustre shopping seasons in recent years has already been repeatedly covered, with average holiday spending expected to decline for the first time since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, all this despite record promotions and an ever earlier start to Black Friday.

However, while the early start to shopping season has missed expectations, driven primarily by an unprecedented weakness in traditional bricks and mortar outlets, there was some hope that the last stretch into Christmas and the New Year would provide a much needed, last minute bump. Those hopes were dashed last night when Shopptertrack reported that retail traffic plummeted by an unprecedented 21% last week, and in-store sales decreased 3.1% from the year before, dashing retailers' hopes that the final stretch before Christmas would offset soft sales numbers earlier in the holiday shopping season. ... Read more

Study: Major Funders Of Climate Change Denial Identified
firedoglake.com | DSWright | 12/23/13

A study by Drexel University has identified the major sources of funding for climate change denial. Some of the names are all too familiar such as the Koch and Scaife families while some have done their best to remain obscure and have yet to get noticed.

  1. Donors Trust/Donors Capital Fund, $78.8 million, 14%
  2. Scaife Affiliated Foundations, $39.6 million, 7%
  3. The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, $29.5 million, 5%
  4. Koch Affiliated Foundations, $25.3 million, 5%
Read more
TYT | Who Funds Climate Change Deniers? (12/23/13) [10:44]

John Beale's EPA
WSJ | author | 12/20/13

Last month we told you about John Beale, the Environmental Protection Agency employee who bilked taxpayers out of almost $900,000 by pretending to be a secret agent. Telling EPA colleagues that he was a CIA operative, Beale was paid for long absences while on imaginary missions for "Langley." Now there is a disturbing new question about John Beale that goes to the heart of the EPA's mission. What was he doing when he actually showed up for work?

In September, Beale pleaded guilty to theft of government property and agreed to pay $886,186 in restitution and to forfeit another $507,207. On Wednesday he was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison. ... Read more
TYT | A EPA Regulator's Astonishing Fraud (12/22/13) [6:56]

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, December 24 [58:55]
TRNN News
TRNN | Gerald Epstein: Former Bank of Israel Chief Stanley Fischer will likely become the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, but his record shows consistent catering to Wall Street rather than bringing the country to full employment (12/24/13) [5:16]
Click to zoom
TYT News
TYT | Terrorists Apologizing For Attack In Yemen (12/23/13) [6:00]
TYT | Who Funds Climate Change Deniers? (12/23/13) [10:44]
TYT | Unemployed Screwed By Politicians - The Storm Is Coming! (12/23/13) [2:22]
TYT | Do You Trust The Clergy? Most Don't (12/23/13) [3:58]
TYT | 'Terrorism Hoax' Charges For Anti-Fracking Protesters (12/22/13) [8:39]
TYT | A EPA Regulator's Astonishing Fraud (12/22/13) [6:56]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
*Jon Stewart | Former E.P.A. official John Beale admits to lying about his C.I.A. ties, contracting malaria and serving in Vietnam (12/18/13) [5:00], Part 2 [5:50]
Hypersonic: The Warp Speed of Today
The X-51A Waverider is an unmanned scramjet-powered demonstration aircraft, capable of achieving hypersonic speeds five times the speed of sound. At that speed an aircraft could travel across the U.S. in under an hour.
More News Article

'Duck Dynasty' Dad Risks $500 Million With Gay-Sin Remark
Bloomberg | Christopher Palmeri | 12/24/13

Robertson, the 67-year-old head of a Louisiana family that makes duck-hunting gear, was suspended indefinitely last week by A&E Television Networks LLC after telling GQ magazine that homosexuals were akin to adulterers, the greedy, drunkards and swindlers and would not "inherit the kingdom of God." A&E is co-owned by Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp.

His comments and suspension put at risk a show that has exploded in popularity since it first began airing in March 2012. "Duck Dynasty" has generated $400 million in merchandise sales, according to Forbes magazine. The show has produced almost $80 million in advertising sales for A&E this year through September, according to Kantar Media, a more than fourfold increase from a year earlier. ... Read more


12.24.2013. 09:53

Monday December 23, 2013
News Articles

The Taper, The Inflation, And The American People's Matrix Of Lies
ZeroHedge | Howard Kunstler | 12/23/13

Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke pulls one last dead rabbit out of his hat -- it suffocated while the head-fake taper percolated in Ben's brain lo these many months of jive talkin'. As the year turns, the central bank will supposedly monetize $10 billion less debt per month -- $75 billion down from $85 billion -- with $5 billion each deducted from the US Treasury stream and the rotten mortgage barrel. Was there a catch?

John H. Makin saying that the Fed's actual purchase of debt paper amounted to an average $94 billion a month through the year 2013, not $85 billion? I have averred often in this space to the Fed's ability to conduct back-door buying operations of all kinds of janky financial crapola -- and in a world where claims on promises to pay hugely exceed anyone's ability to pay or re-pay, there's as much of it out there as there are plastic grocery bags floating in the horse latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. The Fed can hose up bad paper all the live-long day and apparently get away with mis-reporting what it is doing, and is the country any the worse for it? ... Read more

How Goldman Quickly Found The Volcker Rule Loopholes
ZeroHedge | author | 12/23/13

The ink on the final Volcker Rule has not dried yet, and already the TBTF armies of lawyers have found all the loopholes in the rule they need to continue prop trading as if nothing has changed. Enter Goldman Sachs which as the WSJ reported, is raising a new fund, to which it will contribute 20% in capital, which will make investments in commercial real estate-backed loans including office buildings, hotels, and shopping centers. "Goldman has raised more than $1 billion for the new fund, according to people briefed on the matter. The fund aims to boost that total to $2 billion, and Goldman expects to invest "up to 20% of total equity commitments," according to September marketing documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal." Just how did Goldman get the green light to allocated up to $400 million for what is clearly a prop trading bet: "because regulators excluded many real-estate loans from the tough restrictions on investment funds, allowing Wall Street firms to continue making concentrated bets--sometimes risky ones--with their own capital." In other words, when it comes to reflating the precious real estate bubble, anything goes. ... Read more

Do We Have the NSA on the Run, or Is a Much Worse Surveillance State in the Making?
AlterNet | Zaid Jilani | 12/20/13

While it may look like the NSA and surveillance state are on the run -- it's too soon to break out the applause. The White House panel's recomendations also included the suggestion that data collected on individuals should be held by telecommunications providers or a private third party. There is a threat that this surveillance state may simply reconstitute itself into an increasingly privatized apparatus that the government can access through fees and subpoenas.

VICE's Megan Neal reports that so-called "data brokers" -- firms that spy on Americans' behavior and then sell that information to businesses looking to profit off of it -- have become a $156 billion industry. Neal notes that the Senate Commerce Committee recently published a report looking into how these data marketers spy on Americans -- the report shows how these firms label Americans under various categories depending on their financial security and other demographic categories, including "Ethnic Second-City Strugglers" and "X-tra Needy." ... Read more

Note:
I have highlighted three separate people today, Ralph Nader, John Perkins, and James Corbett. I have used videos of theirs for years, especially John Perkins since it was his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" that got me interested in creating my websites. Today, I stumbled across James Corbett's short videos: "The Last Word on Terrorism", "The Last Word on Overpopulation" and "The Last Word on Osama Bin Laden", they are short but full of great information. Ralph Nader... what can I say. He always makes for good interviews and has thoughtful solutions on how to fix our society.
Ralph Nader
TalkingStickTV | Ralph Nader | Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! (05/08/10) [1:14:16]
Ralph Nader | "The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas For Our American Future" (10/21/12) [1:18:55]
Thom Hartmann | Ralph Nader | "The Seventeen Solutions" (11/01/12) [58:02]
DN | Ralph Nader | American Fascism: How Big Business Has Taken Control of the U.S. Government (06/24/13) [20:56]
Ralph Nader | The Road to Corporate Fascism (02/03/12) [54:16]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, December 23 [14:27]
More News
*David Suzuki speaks about overpopulation () [3:26]
CNN | Glenn Greenwald "Dick Cheney Engaged In Some Of The Most Radical & Criminal Conduct In The U.S." (12/23/13) [7:09]
TRNN News
TRNN | Bill Black: Federal judge Jed Rakoff criticized the Justice Department?s failure to prosecute Wall Street executives for the financial crash (12/23/13) [4:18]
TRNN | Nuclear expert and researcher Joseph Mangano explains his research in connecting the increase of hyperthyroidism in newborns on the West coast to the Fukushima nuclear disaster (12/23/13) [12:10]
Ring of Fire Radiocast
*Ring Of Fire | Global Elites Terrified By Income Inequality (12/19/13) [12:26]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Michelle Alexander: Locked Out of the American Dream, tells Bill about an emerging movement that aims to end mass incarceration and its impact on America. (12/20/13) [35:25]
After civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander published her book The New Jim Crow in 2010 on our dehumanizing system of incarceration, she ignited a national conversation about justice in America and sparked a movement. In her book, Alexander explores how the war on drugs, "get-tough" sentencing policies and racism has created a caste system similar to that of our segregationist past.

Since then, Alexander has traveled the country to meet advocates and everyday Americans working to end mass incarceration in America -- home to 25 percent of the world's prisoners, despite representing only five percent of the world's population.
John Perkins - Economic Hitman
*TalkingStickTV | John Perkins | Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (12/18/09) [53:35]
John Perkins | The Secret History of the American Empire (12/18/09) [1:24:23]
James Corbett
corbettreport.com | The Last Word on Overpopulation (02/15/11) [10:10]
*corbettreport.com | The Last Word on Terrorism (02/22/11) [10:44]
corbettreport.com | The Last Word on Osama Bin Laden (05/24/11) [14:12]
60 Minutes
60 Minutes | Susan Rice on contending with crisis (12/22/13) [14:12]
From her first day on the job as President Obama's national security advisor, Susan Rice has had to contend with one crisis on top of the other: the Edward Snowden leaks, the chemical weapons attack in Syria, Egypt, Iran, China, Russia…you name it.

During her four years as the U.S. ambassador to the UN, she had a reputation, as one magazine put it, for being "whip-smart, energetic, abrasive, charming, funny, combative, and frequently undiplomatic."   And yet the president wanted to name her to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. But then she walked into the Benghazi buzzsaw. ...
*60 Minutes | Medical marijuana: Will Colorado's "green rush" last? (12/22/13) [12:55]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.23.2013. 13:56

Friday December 20, 2013
News Articles

Fukushima Aftermath? 98 Percent Of Parts Of The Pacific Ocean Floor Covered By Dead Sea Creatures
thetruthwins.com |Michael Snyder | 12/15/13

National Geographic recently published a very interesting article about this study of the Pacific Ocean floor. The scientists running the study cannot really explain the very strange changes that they have observed since 2011… In March 2012, less than one percent of the seafloor beneath Station M was covered in dead sea salps. By July 1, more than 98 percent of it was covered in the decomposing organisms, according to the study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...

... "In the 24 years of this study, the past 2 years have been the biggest amounts of this detritus by far," said study leader Christine Huffard, a marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. ...

... Could this phenomenon possibly be related to what has been going on at Fukushima? ... Read more

You Should Never, Ever Leave Your Webcam Uncovered When You Aren't Using It
Slate | Tyler Lopez | 12/19/13

Is your webcam recording you right now? If that little green light is off, you'd probably think the camera is, too. But think again. Wednesday, the Washington Post highlighted an unnerving study published at Johns Hopkins University which found that a laptop webcam can function in relative secrecy -- a slightly subtler Eye of Sauron. ...

... The FBI has also publicly acknowledged its ability to employ such techniques when investigating criminal activity: Last year, a federal magistrate rejected the agency's request to secretly monitor a suspected criminal through his webcam. The Chinese government used a program called Ghostnet -- which involved remote access to webcams -- to spy directly on the Dalai Lama, though it is not known whether or not they first disabled the indicator light. But it isn't just governments who are co-opting webcams to do their surveillance work. ... Read more

Ron Paul Blasts "After 100 Years Of Failure, It's Time To End The Fed"
ZeroHedge | author | 12/20/13

A century ago, politicians failed to understand that the financial panics of the 19th century were caused by collusion between government and the banking sector. Today, however, we do know better. We know that the Federal Reserve continues to strengthen the collusion between banks and politicians. We know that the Fed's inflationary monetary policy continues to reap profits for Wall Street while impoverishing Main Street. And we know that the current monetary regime is teetering on a precipice. One hundred years is long enough. End the Fed. ... Read more

Meet Wall Street: Your New Landlord
Click to zoom
ZeroHedge | author | 12/20/13

Blackstone Group appears to be trying to oligopolize the business of renting single-family homes in the U.S.. As Bloomberg reports, after the housing crash left more than 7 million foreclosed homes in its wake, the investment firm has spent more than $7.8 billion purchasing about 41,000 single-family homes for rental conversion. The world's largest private equity firm has quickly become the largest landlord (of rental homes) in the U.S. and in October, Blackstone offered the first-ever "rental-home-backed" security on Wall Street. One has to wonder if this was the plan all along?

How Bad is the Corporate and Conservative Media?
AlterNet | author | 12/20/13

Actually both corporate and right-wing press are getting much worse. There are dozens of examples of journalistic failure every week. The right-wing media is often insane as we report on AlterNet in our super popular weekly series on Right-wing wackos. And, increasingly, mainstream media is about protecting the 1% and the media owner's financial interests. They too often miss the real story or mislead the reader.

It is no accident that the world's richest man -- Mexico's Carlos Slim, worth $73 billion -- is the second largest stockholder of the New York Times. Or that The Washington Post is now owned totally by one super rich person -- Jeff Bezos, the emperor of Amazon.   Bezos recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA. But, the Post's articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper's sole owner is the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon. ... Read more

Earth Shelter
Grand Designs - Earthship - Brittany Groundhouse (10/31/12) [47:00]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 20 [10:37]
*DN | Arctic 30 Members Welcome Russian Amnesty, But Refuse to Apologize For Trying to Stop Oil Drilling (12/20/13) [18:30]
DN | Indigenous Groups Win Right to Seize Chevron's Canadian Assets over $18 Billion in Amazon Pollution (12/20/13) [14:59]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Ralph Nader's: decision to stay in the Florida race and what an electoral strategy could be now, Part 3 (12/20/13) [19:15]
TRNN | Michael Ratner: White House review panel report doesn't go far enough and potentially undercuts the more serious reform of the NSA proposed by the U.S.A. Freedom Act (12/20/13) [11:26]
TYT News
*TYT | Is Your Webcam Off? Not If The FBI Is Watching (12/19/13) [5:54]
TYT | The Media Leans Left, Say Coddled Establishment Reporters (12/19/13) [11:00]
*TYT | How The Senate Is Bad For Peace (And Good For War) (12/19/13) [5:25]
TYT | Snowden Compared To Mass Murderer By CNN Guest (12/18/13) [6:17]
Fukushima
Arnie Gunderson | What the Japanese Government Isn't Saying About Fukushima (12/16/13) [5:19]
PBS Frontline - National Security
PBS NOVA | Rise of the Drones () [53:54]
PBS Frontline | Top Secret America (09/06/11 older, but still really good) [53:41]
PBS Frontline | Are We Safer?; Flying Cheaper; The Spy Who Quit (01/18/11) [53:40]
Click to zoom
Fusion Centers
PBS Frontline | Nation wide Fusion Centers website

Spying on the US People
Fusion centers -- places for state, local and federal officials to share and analyze information -- sprang up at the local level in the wake of the post-9/11 complaints about the failure to "connect the dots." In 2003, the federal government began contributing funding; to date, the Department of Homeland Security has provided more than $420 million in funding to 72 fusion centers across the country, but some localities have funded additional centers.

Fusion centers are built upon the idea of cops on a beat -- local authorities will recognize potential threats to their communities and feed the system with intelligence about possible terrorists. But critics charge that the imperative to gather as much information as possible can lead to abuses and misinformation that can get into national databases.
Michigan Fusion Center website
Homeland Security website
The ACLU Campaign to Stop Illegal Spying website
The Center for Investigative Reporting website
*Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (12/20/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (12/20/13) [1hr]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
*Jon Stewart | Former E.P.A. official John Beale admits to lying about his C.I.A. ties, contracting malaria and serving in Vietnam (12/18/13) [5:00], Part 2 [5:50]
Jon Stewart | Fox News defends a "Duck Dynasty" star's right to say ignorant s**t on television (12/19/13) [4:33]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Military Movies
The Pentagon Wars (1998) [1:43:49]
Air Force Lt. Col. John Burton was assigned to evaluate the usefulness of the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, an Army troop carrier/scout vehicle that, in its final redesign, was effectively a deathtrap for its occupants. Burton keeps trying to execute a proper live-fire armor test on it but is constantly subverted by his temporary commanding officer, Army Maj. Gen. Partridge, in order to get it under construction and in the field.
Conspiracy (2001) [1:35:51]
Conspiracy is a television film which dramatizes the 1942 Wannsee Conference. The film delves into the psychology of Nazi officials involved in the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" during World War II. It is an English-language adaptation of the German film The Wannsee Conference (1984) which is a must see for anyone who appreciates WW2, Holocaust historical films.
Nuclear War
Thirteen Days (1997) [1:19:38]
The film is set during the two-week Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962, and it centers on how President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and others handled the explosive situation.
Fail Safe (2000) World Nuclear Holocaust [1:24:23]
Fail Safe (2000) The World on The Brink of Accidental War! Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.
Hostile Waters (1997) [1:32:53]
The True story of how an antiquated Russian Project 667 a "Yankee" Class Submarine, K-219 collides with a Hunter Killer "Los Angeles" Class American submarine causing a leakage in the K-219's missile bays, almost leading to nuclear meltdown in it's reactors off the shores of Bermuda.
WWII Movie
Ghostboat [2:12:51]
Ghostboat is a 2006 British television film based on a novel by George E. Simpson and Neal R. Burger starring David Jason -- a fantasy tale of His Majesty's Submarine Scorpion reappearing 38 years after it vanished. The crew has disappeared, but the vessel is otherwise unchanged and has not aged in the intervening years. In the Cold War year 1981, a Royal Navy crew along with the sole survivor of the original voyage is given the mission of retracing the last days of the boat prior to its 1943 disappearance. A supernatural influence takes hold of vessel and most of the crew, and they find themselves fighting World War II enemies.
Fortress () [1:32:53]

12.20.2013. 12:29

Thursday December 19, 2013
News Articles

Let Them Hear the Rumble! Invest in People, Not War
HP | Ralph Nader | 12/18/13

Earlier this month, a delegation of activists took to Capitol Hill to demand a decrease in the massive, out-of-control military budget. As millions of Americans struggle with inadequate health care, low wages, deteriorating public services and uncertainty about their futures as the wage gap between the wealthy elite and the working poor widens, billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars are pouring into the coffers of the Department of Defense every year. The Pentagon budget currently makes up half of the U.S. government's entire operating budget. Estimated to be around $716 billion in 2013, the U.S. defense budget is greater than the defense budgets of the next ten highest spending nations combined. ... Read more

*How Secret Currency Traders' Club Devised Biggest Market's Rates
Bloomberg | Liam Vaughan | 12/18/13

It's 20 minutes before 4 p.m. in London and currency traders' screens are blinking red and green. Some dealers have as many as 50 chat rooms crowded onto four monitors arrayed in front of them like shields. Messages from salespeople and clients appear, get pushed up by new ones and vanish from view. Orders are barked through squawk boxes.

This is the closing "fix," the thin slice of the day when foreign-exchange traders buy and sell billions of dollars of currency in the largely unregulated $5.3-trillion-a-day foreign-exchange market, the biggest in the world by volume, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Their trades help set the benchmark WM/Reuters rates used to value more than $3.6 trillion of index funds held by pension holders, savers and money managers around the world.

Now regulators from Bern to Washington are examining evidence first reported by Bloomberg News in June that a small group of senior traders at big banks had something else on their screens: details of each other's client orders. Sharing that information may have helped dealers at firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C), UBS AG (UBSN) and Barclays Plc (BARC), manipulate prices to maximize their own profits, according to five people with knowledge of the probes. ... Read more

What is $55 trillion between friends? Very little according to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commision). Oh that's ok then, after all what's a little eletronic $55,000,000,000,000 shuttling back and forth between insolvent counterpa.... oh hey look, over there everyone, the Fed just tapered!

CFTC Announces It Is Undercounting Size Of Swaps Market By As Much As $55 Trillion
ZeroHedge | author | 12/19/13

What is $55 trillion between friends? Very little according to the CFTC. In perhaps the biggest under the radar news of the day - to be expected with every watercooler occupied by taper experts - the WSJ reports that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday that technical errors at two so-called swaps data repositories, which collect and supply regulators with transaction data, have led the CFTC to misreport the overall size of the swaps market by undercounting its size. Isn't it curious how all these "glitches" always work out in the favor of preserving market calm and confidence and away from spooking investors and speculators? Either way, a better question is how big was the so called undercounting? The answer: as large as $55 trillion! ... Read more

10 PHOTOS: 2013's Most Terrifying Weather Disasters
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 12/19/13

The year 2013 has seen no less than 39 weather-related disasters costing $1 billion or more in damage. That's far more than last year, when there were only 27, according to an analysis of disaster statistics by the Weather Underground's Jeff Masters--and very near the all time high of 40, in 2010.

After starting in late August, the enormous Yosemite Rim fire eventually grew to encompass more than 250,000 acres, gaining it a ranking of the third largest in California history. To put that in perspective, the Rim Fire grew almost as large as all the other 2013 California fires combined (thus far). ... Read more

Lurid Subprime Scams Unveiled in Long-Running Fraud Trial
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 12/12/13

... The evidence uncovered in the Household suit should put to lie once and for all the oft-repeated myth -- spread by many of America's most notable dumb people, from Rush Limbaugh to New York City Mayor-unelect Mike Bloomberg -- that the financial crisis was caused by the government "forcing" banks to lend to poor people.

In reality, of course, the subprime bubble exploded because financial companies and banks were in a mad rush to get as many iffy borrowers into loans as quickly as possible -- and not because they were forced to, but because they made assloads of money doing so. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 19 [12:14]
*DN | Vindication for Snowden? Obama Panel Backs Major Curbs on NSA Surveillance, Phone Record Data Mining (12/19/13) [10:51]
DN | Morsi Charged With Terrorism As Egyptian Military Widens Crackdown on Journalists, Activists (12/19/13) [7:00]
TRNN News
TRNN | David Cay Johnston: Private Federal Contractors Cost Taxpayers Twice as Much as Civil Servants (12/19/13) [11:34]
*TRNN | Ralph Nader says the reforms of the 1960's and 70's are no longer possible as Congress is bought and sold by a small number of very rich people and commercial interests, Part 2 (12/19/13) [25:03]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm New Efforts To Extend Jobless Benefits (12/18/13) [1hr]
Jobless benefits for 1.3 million Americans will expire after Christmas. Democrats have a new strategy they hope will pressure Republican lawmakers to extend those benefits. Diane and her guests discuss the battle over unemployment insurance.
Readers' Review: "The Casual Vacancy" By J.K. Rowling (12/18/13) [1hr]
After the colossal success of her "Harry Potter" series, J.K. Rowling could have enjoyed an early retirement. But after years of creating a world of wizards and "muggles" for young readers, she felt compelled to try something different for a new audience. Her first novel for adults takes place in the fictional English village of Pagford. It centers around town council member Barry Fairbrother and chronicles the personal and political fallout from his sudden death. And while the book's setting is far from Hogwarts, its characters grapple with problems familiar to Harry, Ron and Hermione -- mortality and the burdens that come with adulthood. Join Diane and her guests for a Readers' Review of J.K. Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy."
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader Determined To Screw Up '2 Party Tyranny' in 2016 Elections [7:28]
An Unreasonable Man - Ralph Nader () [2:02:21]
Ralph Nader: The Corporatization of Your Dreams [33:33], Part 2 [34:59]
Ralph Nader, "The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas For Our American Future" [1:18:55]
Yellowstone
Yellowstone Supervolcano 2.5 Times Bigger Than Thought (12/18/13) [1:10]
CNN | Yellowstone's Supervolcano To Blow (12/17/13) [4:09]
HC | Yellowstone National Park & the Caldera Super Volcano (12/12/13) [44:49]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | John Boehner & The Budget Deal: John Boehner pushes back against conservative critics of the bipartisan budget agreemen (12/17/13) [3:34], Part 2 [4:01]
*Jon Stewart | Erik Prince Exclusive Interview: Blackwater founder Erik Prince tells his side of the Iraq War story (12/17/13) [7:47], Part 2 [5:23], Part 3 [3:14]
Blackwater | Private Armies | Mercenary | JSOC
Scahill - Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (04/24/11) [1:29:44]
*Jeromy Scahill - Dirty Wars (2013) [1:29:44] (third video down in the left column)
Erik Prince & Blackwater
Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL, best known for founding the world's largest private military company, Blackwater USA, in 1997. He served as its CEO until 2009 and later as chairman until Blackwater Worldwide was sold in 2010 to a group of investors. Prince currently lives in the United Arab Emirates.

Prince ended his U.S. Navy service prematurely in 1995 when his father died. Prince's mother sold the Prince Corporation for $1.3 billion in cash to Johnson Controls. Prince moved to Virginia Beach and personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide in 1997. He bought 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and set up a school for special operations. The name "Blackwater" comes from the peat-colored bogs in which the school is located.

From 1997 to 2010, Blackwater was awarded $2 billion in government security contracts, more than $1.6 billion of which were unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of classified work. From 2001 to 2010, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates. It became the largest of the State Department's three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad.

Blackwater came under increasing criticism after the Nisour Square shooting of 17 Iraqis in September 2007, and after Barack Obama took office in 2008, but Prince believes that much of this criticism stems from politics. "I put myself and my company at the CIA's disposal for some very risky missions," Prince told Vanity Fair for its January 2010 issue. "But when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus."

After Blackwater faced mounting legal problems in the United States, Prince was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and moved to Abu Dhabi in 2010. His task was to assemble an 800-member troupe of foreign troops for the U.A.E.

Prince resigned as CEO of Blackwater on March 2, 2009, and remained chairman of the board until he sold the company in late 2010 to a group of investors, i.e. Monsanto

As of 2013 Prince heads a private equity firm called Frontier Resource Group, operating in more than a dozen African countries serving as an adviser to Chinese investors in Africa. He created an investment fund of $100 million for this purpose.
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.19.2013. 10:45

Wednesday December 18, 2013
News Articles
Click to zoom

Land of the Free? America Has 25 Percent of the World's Prisoners
Bill Moyers | Joshua Holland | 12/16/13

The United States has about five percent of the world's population and houses around 25 percent of its prisoners. In large part, that's the result of the "war on drugs" and long mandatory minimum sentences, but it also reflects America's tendency to criminalize acts that other countries view as civil violations.

In 2010, The Economist highlighted a case in which four Americans were arrested for importing lobster tails in plastic bags rather than in cardboard boxes. That violated a Honduran law which that country no longer enforces, but because it's still on the books there its enforced here. "The lobstermen had no idea they were breaking the law. Yet three of them got eight years apiece." When the article was published 10 years later, two of them were still behind bars. ... Read more

Forgotten Soldiers (WWII)
WSJ | author | date

Roman Tritz's memories of the past six decades are blurred by age and delusion. But one thing he remembers clearly is the fight he put up the day the orderlies came for him.   "They got the notion they were going to come to give me a lobotomy," says Mr. Tritz, a World War II bomber pilot. "To hell with them."

The U.S. government lobotomized roughly 2,000 mentally ill veterans -- and likely hundreds more -- during and after World War II, according to a cache of forgotten memos, letters and government reports unearthed by The Wall Street Journal. Besieged by psychologically damaged troops returning from the battlefields of North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, the Veterans Administration performed the brain-altering operation on former servicemen it diagnosed as depressives, psychotics and schizophrenics, and occasionally on people identified as homosexuals. ... Read more

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Wikipedia.org | author | on-going

The TPP is intended to be a "high-standard" agreement aimed at emerging trade issues in the 21st century.

On November 13, 2013, a complete draft of the treaty's Intellectual Property Rights chapter was published by WikiLeaks. This and other leaks have drawn increased criticism and protest of the negotiations from global health experts, internet freedom activists, environmentalists, organized labor, advocacy groups and elected officials, in large part due to the secrecy of the negotiations, the expansive scope of the agreement, and controversial clauses in the drafts leaked to the public. ... Read more

WikiLeaks | Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) (11/13/13) (article & pdf)
WikiLeaks | Second release of secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement documents (12/09/13) [pdf]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, December 18 [11:57]
DN | Geneva Talks "Already Dead" as Syria Faces Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis, Imploding Opposition (12/18/13) [8:25]
*DN | Patrick Cockburn: U.S. Turns Blind Eye As Saudis Fund Jihadists in Syrian Conflict (12/18/13) [5:42], Part 2 [16:17]
*DN | As Judge Rules NSA Surveillance "Almost Orwellian," Obama Prepares to Leave Spying Program Intact (12/17/13) [16:37]
Forgotten Soldiers (WWII)
WSJ | The Lobotomy Files: Inside the Mind of Roman Tritz (12/12/13) [8:14]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Richard Slotkin on Guns and Violence (12/13/13) [49:19]
Ahead of the one year anniversary of the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in which Adam Lanza took the lives of 20 school children and six educators, Bill speaks with cultural historian and scholar Richard Slotkin about the role of guns in America's national psyche.

Slotkin has spent his life studying and writing about the violence that has swirled through American history and taken root deep in our culture. In his works of history and fiction, Slotkin tracks how everything from literature, movies and television to society and politics has been influenced by this violent past including the gun culture that continues to dominate, wound and kill.
TRNN News
*TRNN | Ralph Nader: McCarthyism Made Us Veer Away From a Systemic Doctrine for Change, Part 1 (12/18/13) [24:40]
Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP.
*TRNN | Kevin Zeese: Wikileaks: TPP Revelations Prove US in "Left Field" With Trade Deal (12/15/13) [10:07]
*TRNN | Kevin Zeese: Wikileaks: Exposes the TPP as a Capitulation to Corporate Interests (11/15/13) [9:06]
TYT News
TYT | Better To Be White (And Rich) If You Kill Four People? | Affluenza Up (12/13/13) [11:37]
TYT | Battle over Snowden on CNN between Greenwald and Toobin (12/17/13) [7:37]
TYT | GOP 'Civil War' Pushing US To The Right (12/17/13) [6:19]
How the US Economy Works
*Davidmcw | How the US Economy Works: (12/18/13) [5:00]
The rich continue to grow richer, and as David McWilliams (of Punk Economics) so eloquently explains in this brief clip, this has pushed the Fed into a corner. As the Federal Reserve gets a new chair and decides what to do next, whether to print $85 billion a month more or not, McWilliams examines the heist that is the new normal financialized economy - who gets all the loot and why today's kidnappers wear Prada. "Wake up," he blasts, explaining the uncomfortable reality of what happens when financial kidnappers dress up as loyal patriots and extort money in the name of the common good.
ZeroHedge | author | 12/18/13


12.18.2013. 12:39

Tuesday December 17, 2013
News Articles

Mansfield, Ohio, air base's fate reflects a larger battle between active duty, Guard
Washington Post | Rajiv Chandrasekaran | 12/16/13

After spending almost $600 million to buy a tiny fleet of the planes over the past six years, stationing them in Mansfield, Ohio and at two other National Guard bases, the Air Force flew all of them to a junkyard earlier this year. Five more planes, which the Pentagon already has paid for, will be mothballed as soon as they are built. ... Read more

This graph goes with the video to the right -->

Land of the Free? America Has 25 Percent of the World's Prisoners
AlterNet | Joshua Holland | 12/17/13

The United States has about five percent of the world's population and houses around 25 percent of its prisoners. In large part, that's the result of the "war on drugs" and long mandatory minimum sentences, but it also reflects America's tendency to criminalize acts that other countries view as civil violations.

In 2010, The Economist highlighted a case in which four Americans were arrested for importing lobster tails in plastic bags rather than in cardboard boxes. That violated a Honduran law which that country no longer enforces, but because it's still on the books there its enforced here. "The lobstermen had no idea they were breaking the law. Yet three of them got eight years apiece." When the article was published 10 years later, two of them were still behind bars. ... Read more

Judge: NSA's collecting of phone records is probably unconstitutional
WashingtonPost | Ellen Nakashima | 12/16/13

A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency's daily collection of virtually all Americans' phone records is almost certainly unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon found that a lawsuit by Larry Klayman, a conservative legal activist, has "demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success" on the basis of Fourth Amendment privacy protections against unreasonable searches. ... Read more

Before and After: A Remarkable Year of Recovery from Hurricane Sandy
Time Magazine | author | 10/27/13

Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Brigantine, New Jersey, cutting a vicious path through one of the most densely populated areas in the U.S. A year and $65 billion in damages later, the most hard-hit areas look nothing like they did in the aftermath of the storm. ... Read more
Click to zoom
Recovery from Superstorm Sandy



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, December 17 [12:30]
*DN | As Judge Rules NSA Surveillance "Almost Orwellian," Obama Prepares to Leave Spying Program Intact (12/17/13) [16:37]
DN | The Selling of ADHD: Diagnoses, Prescriptions Soar After 20-Year Marketing Effort by Big Pharma (12/17/13) [23:06], Part 2 [6:02]
More News
cnbc | Jim Grant Slams Steve Liesman "The Fed Can Change How Things Look, But Not What They Are" (12/17/13) [2:27]
MotherJones | Fast Food Kids' Meals Smackdown (12/16/13) [2:59], article
TRNN News
*TRNN | David Swanson: Are There Just Wars? Part 3 (12/17/13) [17:31]
TRNN | Yves Engler: Canada and Russia are investing in military infrastructure in order to protect economic interests in Arctic (12/17/13) [6:45]
TYT News
60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | Inside the NSA (12/16/13) [13:56]
The longer the NSA is allowed to collect all our data, the creepier it feels.
60 Minutes | The Snowden Affair (12/16/13) [12:45]
60 Minutes | China's rover lands on moon: Is it the start of a new space race? (12/16/13) [3:04]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Debate Over Proposed Global Trade Agreements (12/17/13) [1hr]
U.S. negotiators are pushing to reach agreement on a major trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and a new deal with the European Union. But many unions, environmentalists and consumers are skeptical. Diane and her guests talk pros and cons over new trade agreements.

Guests
  1. Simon Johnson professor of entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management, senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, and author of "White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters To You."
  2. Lori Wallach director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
  3. Howard Schneider reporter, The Washington Post.
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | The media focuses on a sensational, possibly made up violent trend rather than a definitely real and more widespread one (12/16/13) [5:37]
Jon Stewart | Megyn Kelly responds to critics challenging her assertion that both Jesus and Santa Claus were white men (12/16/13) [3:23]

12.17.2013. 13:47

Monday December 16, 2013
News Articles

'Inequality is bad for everyone': Robert Reich fights against economic imbalance
PBS Newshour | author | 10/11/13

Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Robert Reich about "Inequality for All," a documentary about the former labor secretary's personal crusade to explain to Americans why everyone should care about the nation's growing economic disparity and divisiveness. ... Read more
'Inequality is bad for everyone': Robert Reich fights against economic imbalance (10/11/13) [6:40]

There are 16.4 million American children living in poverty. That's nearly one quarter (22.6%) of all of our children. More alarming is that the percentage of poor children has climbed by 4.5 percent since the start of the Great Recession in 2007. And poor means poor. For a family of three with one child under 18, the poverty line is $18,400.

Meanwhile, the stock market is booming. Banks, hedge funds and private equity firms are making tens of billions of dollars again, while the luxury housing and goods markets are skyrocketing.

Most amazing of all is the fact that 95 percent of the so-called "recovery" has gone to the top 1 percent who have seen their incomes rise by 34%. For the 99 percent there's been an undeclared wage freeze: the average wage has climbed by only 0.4 percent.
The United States Defence Department has over $8.5 Trillion completely unaccounted for since 1995!

U.S. Drone Strike Kills Nearly a Dozen Civilians Traveling to Wedding in Yemen
AlterNet | Alyssa Figueroa | 12/13/13

On Thursday, a U.S. drone strike hit a convoy traveling to a wedding in Yemen, killing about a dozen civilians. The New York Times reports 11 deaths, while other reports state 17. A recent AFP report states that two of the victims were on the Yemeni government's list of wanted Al Qaeda suspects, while most of the others have been confirmed as civilians.

This reiterates the sentiment heard in villages throughout Yemen. Mohamed al-Qawli, the brother of an innocent drone victim in Yemen, told Reuters: "These (drone) strikes create more terrorism. In our area there was never anyone linked to al Qaeda. After the strike, everyone in the area started listening to al Qaeda types, exchanging videos on mobile phones." ... Read more

Bill Moyers: 'We Are This Close to Losing Our Democracy to the Mercenary Class'
AlterNet | Bill Moyers | 12/12/13

I met Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1987 when I was creating a series for public television called In Search of the Constitution, celebrating the bicentennial of our founding document. By then, he had served on the court longer than any of his colleagues and had written close to 500 majority opinions, many of them addressing fundamental questions of equality, voting rights, school segregation, and -- in New York Times v. Sullivan in particular -- the defense of a free press.

Those decisions brought a storm of protest from across the country. He claimed that he never took personally the resentment and anger directed at him. He did, however, subsequently reveal that his own mother told him she had always liked his opinions when he was on the New Jersey court, but wondered now that he was on the Supreme Court, "Why can't you do it the same way?" His answer: "We have to discharge our responsibility to enforce the rights in favor of minorities, whatever the majority reaction may be." ... Read more

Peter O'Toole Dies At 81

Uruguay's President Rips Into U.N. Official Over Marijuana Law: 'Stop Lying'
HP | Roque Planas |12/13/13

José "Pepe" Mujica shot back on Friday at the president of the International Narcotics Control Board, a U.N. agency, for saying that his administration refused to meet with the agency's officials before legalizing marijuana this week.

Mujica batted down the criticism, insisting that his administration is open to discussing the law and accusing the INCB President Raymond Yans of applying a double standard by criticizing Uruguay, even as U.S. states pass laws to legalize recreational marijuana consumption. ... Read more

NSA Official: Snowden Has 'The Keys To The Kingdom'
HP | Ashley Alman | 12/16/13

However, the sentiment is not unanimous among high-ranking NSA officials. Rick Ledgett, the NSA official leading the task force to assess the damage done by Snowden's leaks, disagrees with Alexander.

"My personal view is, yes, it's worth having a conversation about," Ledgett told CBS. "I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part."

Ledgett said some of the most worrying documents in Snowden's possession are those that would provide a "roadmap" for other nations to protect themselves from U.S. surveillance efforts.   To an adversary, Ledgett said, "It is the keys to the kingdom." ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, December 16 [13:00]
*DN | "Makes Absolutely No Sense": David Cay Johnston on Budget Deal That Helps Billionaires, Not the Poor (12/16/13) [13:09]
David Cay Johnston: A bipartisan budget deal to avert another government shutdown comes before the Senate this week. The vast majority of House members from both parties approved the two-year budget agreement last week in a 332-to-94 vote. It is being hailed as a breakthrough compromise for Democrats and Republicans. The bill eases across-the-board spending cuts, replacing them with new airline fees and cuts to federal pensions. In a concession by Democrats, it does not extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million people, which are set to expire this month.
DN | Nikki Giovanni on 1 Year Since Newtown: Where is the Political Leadership on Gun Control? (12/16/13) [8:47]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Arnie Gundersen: In sworn testimony in Monroe, Michigan, the NRC admitted that it has stripped whistleblower (12/16/13) [11:41]
TRNN | David Swanson: Lies and War, Part 1 (12/15/13) [18:40]
*TRNN | David Swanson: What Drives War? Part 2 (12/16/13) [21:40]
*TRNN | Pope Francis Labels Capitalism "New Tyranny" (12/16/13) [12:12]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm What's In The New Budget Deal And The Politics Behind The Negotiations (12/16/13) [1hr]
The Business of Politics
Reuters | Budget deal could undercut Ryan's 2016 hopes (12/09/13) [3:14]
The Business of Secrecy
NatGeo | Inside The NSA - Americas Cyber Secrets (entertainment) (08/02/12) [44:59]
*Aljazeera | Empire: NSA and the One Trillion Dollar scam (04/06/13) [47:45]
NSA Utah Data Center Will Have 5 Zettabytes Of Memory (05/26/13) [9:33]
PBS NOVA | The Spy Factory (trailer) [2:13]
*PBS NOVA | The Spy Factory (full) [52:43]
PBS NOVA | The Spy Factory website
The Business of War
Reuters | Scott Paltro: Billions in Pentagon spending down a black hole (11/18/13) [4:38]
*Vice | The Business of War: SOFEX (08/05/12) [20:10]
SOFEX is where the world's leading generals come to buy everything from handguns to laser-guided missile systems. It stands for "Special Operations Forces Exhibition Conference" and it's essentially a trade-show where just about anyone with enough money can buy the most powerful weapons in the world.
Reuters | Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan: Inside the Pentagon's $1 trillion jet-fueled piñata (12/09/13) [5:33]
NYT | Walter Reed Scandal: The Battle for Recovery - 2013 [12:13]
The Business of Pot
*Vice | Stoned Kids (12/11/13) [15:18]
Vice | The Future of Weed: HIGH COUNTRY (06/04/13) [43:34]
Cannabis Science - How Marijuana Affects Health (01/07/13) [55:11]
Cannabinoid Profiles - THC, THCA, THCV, CBD, CBG, CBN, CBC & Terpenes (02/28/13) [38:06]
What If Cannabinoids in Cannabis Cured Cancer & Other Diseases? (06/20/13) [49:00]
Cancer - The Forbidden Cures () [1:32:47]
*Run From The Cure (2009) [58:02]
Business of Entertainment
Vice | The Real Walter White - "Breaking Bad" (08/17/13) [17:03]
When AMC's Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, one of Alabama's most successful meth cooks was already knee deep in building a massive meth empire. His name? Walter White. In this documentary, Walter tells us the secret behind his product, how he stacked up thousands of dollars per day, and why his partner is now serving two life sentences.
AMC's Breaking Bad in 2 Hours Recap (11/27/13) [1:55:40]
Breaking Bad Final Ending (09/29/13) [14:53]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Greg Palast Investigations
Vulture Picnic by Greg Palast () [1:05:31]
Bush Family Fortunes (2003) [55:55]
Note: For the Greg Palast interview, in the second half of the show, please drag the Progressbar to the 12.5 minute mark. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Keiser Report: CIA, NSA & Economic Espionage + Greg Palast (E498) (09/17/13) [26:09]
Keiser Report: Greg Palast on Vulture Capitalism, Argentina & Goldman Sachs (08/03/13) [13:01]
Max talks to journalist, author and filmmaker, Greg Palast of GregPalast.com, about Goldman Sachs and John Paulson and about Obama intervening in the case of vulture capitalist Paul Singer versus Argentina only in order to help out Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan.
The Fukushima Story You Never Knew About: Greg Palast Reports (03/12/12) [15:24]
TYT | Greg Palast on Vultures' Picnic (11/16/11) [18:18]
Fukushima
Good Explaination of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (08/29/13) [12:55]
Note: I'm not associated with the EndTimeWarriors, but I did find the compilation of videos good.
December 14 2013 Breaking News Fukushima worldwide Nuclear Crisis not contained Last Days News (12/14/13) [38:54]
Fukushima "Apocalypse in Progress" Gundersen (11/19/13) [50:57]
Climate Change
"Last Hours" is the first in a series of short films that explore the perils of climate change and the solutions to avert climate disaster. (10/11/13) [12:15]
Other Videos
The illusionist (2006) [1:48:57]
The Invisible (2007) [1:42:23]
Mongol (2007) [2:05:39]

We are Preparing for Massive Civil War, Says DHS Informant (05/06/12) [32:14]

G. Edward Griffin | A World Without Cancer - The Story Of Vitamin B17 () [55:14]

12.16.2013. 10:37

Friday December 13, 2013
News Articles

Is the 900-Page Volcker Rule Too Much and Too Late?
finance.yahoo.com | Michael Santoli | 12/10/13

Is the nearly 900-page stack of regulations prohibiting a litany of specific trading actions and dictating how traders are paid the best way to ensure a secure banking system?

This is the guiding hope behind the so-called Volcker rule, a measure meant to ban government-backed banks from speculative trading using their own money. The rule, which has been approved by three of five required government agencies, is a long-in-the-making piece of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law of 2010, which grew from the 2008 financial crisis.

Named for the former Federal Reserve chairman and Obama administration economic advisor Paul Volcker -- who famously said the last useful innovation from the banking industry was the automated teller machine -- the rule is aimed at making banking boring again. ... Read more
Is the 900-Page Volcker Rule Too Much and Too Late? (12/10/13) [4:00]

Budget Deal May Be Good News for Pentagon Boondoggles
MotherJones | Erika Eichelberger | 12/12/13

... Though the $22 billion in cuts to the Pentagon in 2014 were imperfect, says Ethan Rosenkranz, a national security analyst at the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, they would have reined in unnecessary and wasteful spending. "Sequestration is a bad way of implementing spending reductions," he says. "However, it's an excellent way of forcing the Pentagon to make some tough budgetary decisions which they've been neglecting to make for the past 10 or 12 years."

Anticipating looming budget cuts, the Air Force was considering delaying the purchase of more F-35 fighter jets. That would have been a wise decision, Rosenkranz says, because the F-35 has not been fully tested yet, and the program is already billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. ... Read more

*How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown? 12/13/2013, roughly 33,273 people!
slate.com | Chris Kir | Update, June 19, 201

Using the most recent CDC estimates for yearly deaths by guns in the United States, it is likely that as of today, 12/13/2013, roughly 33,273 people have died from guns in the U.S. since the Newtown shootings. Compare that number to the number of deaths reported in the news in our interactive below, and you can see how undertold the story of gun violence in America actually is.

The Guns
  1. Number of guns in the US: 310,000,000
  2. Number of guns per person: About one gun for every American
  3. Countries with more guns per person: None
  4. Runner up: Yemen, with about 11 guns for every 20 Yemenis
  5. Percentage of Americans with a gun in their home: 42
  6. State with the highest rate of gun ownership: Wyoming, 61 percent
  7. State with the lowest rate of gun ownership: New Jersey, 10 percent
  8. Number of licensed firearms dealers in the US: 134,997
  9. Number of grocery stores in the US: 37,053
The Money
  1. Total spent by the NRA (2011): $231,071,589
  2. Total spent by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the largest gun control organization (2011): $2,844,489
The Polls
  1. Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported an assault weapons ban: 57 and in December 2013: 48
  2. Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported background checks for all gun purchases: 91 and in December 2013: 77
Read more

Why Chris Arnade Quit His High-Paying Wall Street Job to Photograph Extreme Poverty and Addiction
finance.yahoo.com | Nicole Goodkind | 12/10/13

Chris Arnade was a trader on Wall Street for 20 years. He had a secure spot on a foreign exchange desk at one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. Yet after two decades on Wall Street he quit his job and began spending much of his time in an area of the South Bronx where the average household income is just $16,000 per year.

"I effectually became disillusioned with Wall Street following the financial crisis," says Arnade. "As a way to try to find something to fill in the gap I started walking around New York with my camera talking to [and photographing] people." ... Read more
Why Chris Arnade Quit His High-Paying Wall Street Job to Photograph Extreme Poverty and Addiction (12/10/13) [2:29]

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 13 [12:49]
DN | "One of Our Greatest Coups": The CIA & the Capture of Nelson Mandela (12/13/13) [10:10]
As South Africa prepares to hold a state funeral for Nelson Mandela, we look at how the CIA helped the South African track down and capture Nelson Mandela in 1962. In 1990, the Cox News Service quoted a former U.S. official saying that within hours after Mandela's arrest a senior CIA operative named Paul Eckel admitted the agency's involvement. Eckel was reported as having told the official, "We have turned Mandela over to the South African security branch. We gave them every detail, what he would be wearing, the time of day, just where he would be. They have picked him up. It is one of our greatest coups." Several news outlets have reported the actual source of the tip that led to the arrest of Mandela was a CIA official named Donald Rickard.
TRNN News
*TRNN | Bill Black says 863-page Volcker rule will allow banks to continue their risky financial derivative bets by claiming speculation is mere hedging (12/13/13) [11:35]
TRNN | Ryan-Murray bipartisan budget deal would not extend unemployment insurance for 1.3 million Americans, while maintaining $100 billion a year sequestration cuts after 2015 (12/13/13) [10:56]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (12/13/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (12/13/13) [1hr]
The Daily Ticker | Laura Lister | Yahoo News
*Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For, Article
TYT | Shocking Government Waste at The Defense Department (11/30/13) [7:11]
*Joseph Cirincione: Budget Deal Doesn't Cut Enough from Defense. "We're spending $55 billion a year on 5,000 nuclear weapons and related programs" (12/12/13) [4:40], Article
60 Minutes
This is an interesting, feel good story, that should shows us how imaginative people can be.
60 Minutes | The Recyclers: From trash comes triumph. The residents of Cateura, Paraguay, don't just make a living from the massive garbage heap in their town. They also make music (11/17/13) [13:19]
Thom Hartmann News
Thom Hartmann | Shares Albert Einstein's thoughts on Socialism (12/11/13) [2:09]
Thom Hartmann | Congressman Peter DeFazio: Saving our Social Safety Net (12/11/13) [7:16]
Thom Hartmann | Bill Black: Volcker Rule "Result will be the Worst of all Worlds" (12/10/13) [9:31]
Thom Hartmann on the News: December 12, 2013 [6:54]
Wealth and Income Inequality in America
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
*Wealth Inequality in the World [3:51]

12.13.2013. 11:12

Thursday December 12, 2013
News Articles

RBS Wins 'Dumbest Bank of the Year' Award
Bloomberg | Jonathan Weil | 12/11/13

... According to a consent order released today by the New York State Department of Financial Services, RBS provided employees at its payment-processing centers in the U.K. with written instructions, containing "a step by step guide on how to create and route U.S. dollar payment messages involving sanctioned entities through the United States to avoid detection." The instructions included:

"IMPORTANT: FOR ALL US DOLLAR PAYMENTS TO A COUNTRY SUBJECT TO US SANCTIONS, A PAYMENT MESSAGE CANNOT CONTAIN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: 1. The sanctioned country name. 2. Any name designated on the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) restricted list, which can encompass a bank name, remitter or beneficiary."

In other words, RBS explicitly told employees how to cover the bank's tracks. The consent order said the bank conducted $523 million of transactions from 2002 to 2011 through New York correspondent banks involving Sudanese and Iranian customers. It also said that RBS, to a lesser extent, processed U.S. dollar transactions for clients in Cuba, Burma and Libya. ... Read more

This Is Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense
HP | Linda Tirado | 11/22/13

This is an article/blog by a person who is poor and is trying to express to the rest of us why she feels she is poor regardless of her everyday decisions.

There's no way to structure this coherently. They are random observations that might help explain the mental processes. But often, I think that we look at the academic problems of poverty and have no idea of the why. We know the what and the how, and we can see systemic problems, but it's rare to have a poor person actually explain it on their own behalf. So this is me doing that, sort of. ... Read more

Teen Avoids Prison Because He's Wealthy
HP | author | date

Ethan Couch Sentenced To Probation In Crash That Killed 4 After Defense Argued He Had 'Affluenza'

A 16-year-old avoided spending time in prison for killing four people in a car accident in June after the judge bought his lawyers' argument that he was the victim of wealth.

CBSDFW reports that Ethan Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation for the drunk driving crash that ended the lives of youth pastor, Brian Jennings; Hollie and Shelby Boyles; and Breanna Mitchell.   Prosecutors asked that Couch serve 20 years in prison. His blood alcohol level was .24, three times the legal limit for an adult.

Psychologist G. Dick Miller testified for the defense that Couch suffered from "affluenza," a condition in which "his family felt that wealth bought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences," ... Read more

Click to zoom

Want to Cut Government Spending? Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
finance.yahoo.com | Lauren Lyster | 11/25/13

If you thought the botched rollout of Obamacare, the government shutdown, or the sequester represented Washington dysfunction at its worst, wait until you hear about the taxpayer waste at the Defense Department.

Special Enterprise Reporter Scot Paltrow unearthed the "high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping" in a Reuters investigation. It amounts to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for. The year 1996 was the first that the Pentagon should have been audited under a law requiring audits of all government departments. Oh, and by the way, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with this law. ... Read more
*Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
TYT | Shocking Government Waste at The Defense Department (11/30/13) [7:11]

Budget Deal Doesn't Cut Enough from Defense: Joseph Cirincione
finance.yahoo.com | Lauren Lyster | 12/12/13

If all goes according to the plan conceived by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), the co-chairs of the bipartisan budget conference committee, Congress will approve their budget deal and the government won't shut down again like it did for 16 days in October.

"I agree with what Chuck Hagel said before he became defense secretary, which is that there's plenty of room to cut," says Cirincione. "We've doubled the defense budget since 9/11 and a lot of that was to fight wars that we're now ending. There's plenty of room to shrink the military without cutting away any of the muscle."

"Even if we don't agree to eliminate nuclear weapons, it's hard to imagine why we need 50 of them or 500 of them. We have 5,000 in our arsenal.....Why do we need so many around still around particularly for the cost that they're incurring for the military, for the economy."

"We're spending $55 billion a year on nuclear weapons and related programs...but the really bad news is that that number is about to explode," Cirincione tells The Daily Ticker.   He explains that the U.S. will be deciding over the over the next two or three years whether to replace its existing nuclear triad of missiles, bombers and submarines, which is estimated to cost $1 trillion over the next 40 years. ... Read more
*Budget Deal Doesn't Cut Enough from Defense: Joseph Cirincione (12/12/13) [4:40]



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 12 [15:39]
DN | The Anti-Apartheid Underground: Ronnie Kasrils on Meeting Mandela in an ANC Safehouse in 1962 (12/12/13) [16:18], Part 2 [8:10]
Fox News
Do we really need to debate the color of Santa Claus on National TV? Does this discussion really make the Fox staff look any smarter? Who even watches Fox?
TRNN | Fox Kelly Panel over Black Santa: Can't Take Fact to Fit Political Agenda (12/11/13) [3:05]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Phyllis Bennis: Syria's Six Wars and Humanitarian Catastrophe, Part3 (12/12/13) [15:49]
TYT News
TYT | Pope Francis Bests Snowden For Time Magazine's Top Honor (12/11/13) [8:59]
TYT | Here's Why Wall Street Regulations Are A Joke (12/11/13) [7:04]
TYT | Bipartisan Budget Deal Leaves GOP Complaining But... (12/11/13) [7:50]
Wealth and Income Inequality in America
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
*Wealth Inequality in the World [3:51]
Robert Reich | Inequality For All (trailer) [1:47]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Robert Reich: Inequality For All [56:46]
DN | Inequality for All: Robert Reich Warns Record Income Gap Is Undermining Our Democracy [11:21], Part 2 [22:56], Part 3 [8:00]
Inequality For All website
"Inequality for all" clips
"Inequality for all" clips [11:40]
"Inequality for all" clips 2 [14:22]
More News
"The 9/11 Plot Was Hatched In Germany!" Bill Maher [7:03]
The Five Worst Weapons Still in Use [7:16]
Hamas rockets vs Israel's Iron Dome [4:20]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Unrest In Ukraine (12/12/13) [1hr]
It appears Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovich may have had a change of heart. He has reportedly told the European Union's foreign policy chief he "intends to sign" a trade deal with the E.U. that he rejected just last month. The news comes after the U.S. says it was disgusted by government crackdowns on protesters in Kiev and that it is considering sanctions against the former Soviet republic. Ukraine is heading for default in early 2014 without financial assistance. And an agreement with the West could bring in fresh investment with E.U. nations. But Yanukovich also faces pressure from Russia, which controls the flow of cheap natural gas into the republic. Guest host, Susan Page and her guests discuss unrest in Ukraine.
Nuclear Bombs expoded
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 (hint 2053) - by Isao Hashimoto [14:25]
The above video starts out slow, but keeps building as more countries get into the act. Note: you can use the progress bar to move back and forth inside the video.
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
*Jon Stewart | Reza Aslan: "Zealot" author Reza Aslan reveals his secret plan to destroy Christianity and sizes up the nuclear deal between the United States and Iran (12/11/13) [6:55], Part 2 [6:56]
Stephen Colbert
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.12.2013. 11:12

Wednesday December 11, 2013
News Articles

At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown
MotherJones | Mark Follman | 12/10/13

A year after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Mother Jones has analyzed the subsequent deaths of 194 children ages 12 and under who were reported in news accounts to have died in gun accidents, homicides, and suicides. They are spread across 43 states, from inner cities to tiny rural towns.

Following Sandy Hook, the National Rifle Association and its allies argued that arming more adults is the solution to protecting children, be it from deranged mass shooters or from home invaders. But the data we collected stands as a stark rejoinder to that view: ... Read more
The NRA says arming more adults will protect kids -- but most are killed at home, our investigation shows, often with unsecured guns.

Another Batch of Wall Street Villains Freed on Technicality
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 12/04/13

I love covering trials, which is one reason I've been a little sad since switching over to the Wall Street beat: Few of the bad guys in this world ever even get interviewed by the authorities, much less indicted, so trials are comically rare.

But we did have one last year, a big one, and though it was boring and jargon-laden enough on the surface that at least one juror fought sleep in its opening days, I thought it was fascinating. In a story about the Justice Department's Spring 2012 prosecution of a wide-raging municipal bond bid-rigging case, I called it the "first trial of the modern American mafia": ... Read more

*Pope Francis Is Time's Person Of The Year
HP | Catherine Taibi | 12/11/13

Time's managing editor Nancy Gibbs explained the magazine's choice on Wednesday, calling the Pope "a new voice of conscience."

"In his nine months in office, he has placed himself at the very center of the central conversations of our time, about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power," she said. "When he kisses the face of a disfigured man or washes the feet of a Muslim woman, the image resonates far beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church." ... Read more

Two-Thirds Say American Dream Is Over
ZeroHedge | author | 12/11/13

A stunning 64% of American say the US no longer offers everyone an equal chance of 'getting ahead', according to a new poll by Bloomberg. The widening gap between rich and poor - as we have previously noted as wide as during the roaring 20s - has eroded faith in the American dream. The lack of faith, Bloomberg reports, is especially pronounced among those making less than $50,000 a year with 73% of those saying the economy is unfair. ... Read more
Click to zoom

The One Topic No One Is Discussing
ZeroHedge | author | 12/11/13

Earlier, Deutsche Bank's iconoclast Jim Reid dared to point out the painfully obvious: that something has drastically changed since the Great Financial Crisis (what that "something" is, is clear to all those whose year end bonus does is not contingent on never pointing out the printerphant in the room). This time around, instead of looking back, he looks forward, to the year 2014, and brings up the two questions nobody dares to ask: i) what happens if 2014 is the year when the recession can no longer be delayed, and ii) how will the Fed, already having doubled down on every last "bullet" in its arsenal, use monetary policy to provide a burst of growth when even $85 billion in flow per month is no longer enough...

From Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, December 11 [9:31]
*DN | ALEC's "Institutional Corruption," From Backing Apartheid to Assault on Clean Energy, Public Sector (12/11/13) [19:31]
The secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has just ended a week-long meeting in Washington where corporate lobbyists worked with state lawmakers on model bills that will later be introduced in states nationwide. ALEC has reportedly drafted a number of new bills designed to prevent President Obama from cutting emissions, and to weaken state policies promoting clean energy. Now conservative groups across the United States are apparently planning a coordinated effort in six states to raise money for attacks on public sector rights and services in the key areas of education, healthcare, income tax, and workers' compensation. The proposals were coordinated by the ALEC-backed State Policy Network, an alliance of groups that act as incubators of conservative strategy at the state level. ALEC is struggling to re-enlist donors after an exodus prompted by its backing of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. According to The Guardian, ALEC has lost nearly 400 state legislators from its network over the past two years and more than 60 major corporate donors.
DN | The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa (12/11/13) [19:49]
TRNN News
TRNN | Phyllis Bennis traces her development from active Zionist youth to whom Jewish identity meant support for Israel, to a leading American anti-Zionist writer and analyst (12/10/13) [23:03]
*TRNN | Phyllis Bennis Fmr. Israeli Intel. Chief Says Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Greater Risk than Nuclear Iran, Part2 (12/11/13) [21:55]
Israel's spy leaders call for peace: 'The Gatekeepers' (08/20/13) [10:15]
TYT News
TYT | Obama Shakes Hand Of Raul Castro, Heads Explode (12/10/13) [8:18]
TYT | How Much Did Fox News Pay an Exec to Not Talk? (12/10/13) [2:31]
TYT | Since Newtown: How Many Kids Have Been Shot, Killed? (12/10/13) [8:25]
TYT | Fox News Vs Pope Francis (12/09/13) [5:23]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Understanding The Volcker Rule (12/11/13) [1hr]
The so-called "Volcker Rule" is aimed at reining in risky trading by banks. Details on the new rule and whether it's tough enough to prevent another financial crisis.

Guests
  1. Michael Greenberger founder and director, University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security and professor, University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
  2. Tim Pawlenty CEO, Financial Services Roundtable. He was governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011.
  3. Jim Zarroli business reporter, NPR.
  4. Janet Hook congressional correspondent, The Wall Street Journal.
"Downton Abbey" Creator And Cast Members (12/11/13) [1hr]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | American students fall behind a bunch of Slovakian fart exporters, and Congress clocks in as the least productive legislative body in American history (12/10/13) [4:46]
Jon Stewart | American Horrible Story - Gerrymandering (12/10/13) [5:34]
Tar Sands - Click to zoom
Tar Sands is a messy job
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.11.2013. 12:22

Tuesday December 10, 2013
News Articles

Obama Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Powers In Secret Trade Deal (TPP = Trans-Pacific Partnership)
HP | Zach Carter | 12/08/13

The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post.

The memos, which come from a government involved in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations, detail continued disputes in the talks over the deal. The documents reveal broad disagreement over a host of key positions, and general skepticism that an agreement can be reached by year-end. ... Read more

World of Spycraft: NSA and CIA Spied in Online Games
propublica.org | Justin Elliott | 12/09/13

Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games played by millions of people across the globe, according to newly disclosed classified documents.

Fearing that terrorist or criminal networks could use the games to communicate secretly, move money or plot attacks, the documents show, intelligence operatives have entered terrain populated by digital avatars that include elves, gnomes and supermodels. ... Read more

The Pentagon looses approx. 1/2 trillion dollars a year (8.5 trillion in the last 15 years), the NSA, CIA and DHS are spending untold amounts of money on National Security (see above article - playing "World of Warcraft"), and yet we can't support food stamps for the hungry??

Fukushima two years on: a dirty job with no end in sight
TheGuardian | Ian Sample | 12/03/13

Carefully, gently, one-by-one. The removal of nuclear fuel rod assemblies from a badly damaged building at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is finally under way. Months in the planning, the job is risky, complex, and crucial. Here begins the first major step in the toughest decommissioning project ever attempted.

Fukushima is home to six nuclear reactors, three of which were running when the giant tsunami swept across the site on 11 March 2011. The defuelling operation centres on the building for reactor four. Though the reactor was shut down for maintenance when the towering wave struck, all its radioactive fuel, and more from earlier runs, was held in a storage pool on an upper floor of the building. ... Read more

Fox News Paid Ousted Exec $8 Million In 'Hush Money': Gawker
HP | Jack Mirkinson | 12/09/13

We now know what it reportedly takes to keep a fired Fox News executive from spilling the beans on all the juicy inner workings at the network: about $8 million.

That's the figure that Gawker said Brian Lewis, the ousted former consigliere to Roger Ailes, was paid by Fox News in a recently uncovered settlement.   Gawker, which reported the figure on Monday, described the payment as "hush money." The site's report is just the latest in a long-running story of intrigue inside one of the most secretive and cutthroat companies in the media industry. ... Read more

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Pictures by Daniel Beltra
TheGuardian | author | 12/09/13

Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, December 10 [11:46]
DN | President Obama: Nelson Mandela "Freed Not Just the Prisoner, But the Jailer as Well" (12/10/13) [12:56]
Many more speeches for Nelson Mandela
TRNN News
TRNN | Bank executives receive big bonuses, while 39% of frontline bank employees must rely on welfare because of insufficient wages (12/09/13) [5:45]
60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | Nelson Mandela in his own words (12/09/13) [12:58]
60 Minutes revisits a collection of revealing writings by the late civil rights giant and former South African president Nelson Mandela.
60 Minutes | Survivor, Part 1 (12/09/13) [16:45] 60 Minutes | Survivor, Part 2 (12/09/13) [9:13]
Former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell recalls the 2005 battle in Afghanistan he alone survived -- a fire fight that at the time, resulted in the largest loss of life for Naval Special Warfare since WWII.
TYT News
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars (trailer) [1:18]
*UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars by Robert Greenwald (full) (10/28/13) [1:03:55]
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill []
The Untold History Of The US by Oliver Stone
*The Untold History Of The United States Episode 01 [58:00], Episode 02 [58:00], Episode 03 [58:00], Episode 04 [58:00], Episode 05 [58:00], Episode 06 [58:00], Episode 07 [58:00], Episode 08 [58:00], Episode 09 [58:00], Episode 10 [58:00]
Bugging Out
*NatGeo | American Blackout 2013 (10/30/13) [1:27:44]
HC | After Armageddon () [1:28:03]
Jon Stewart Daily News
Jon Stewart | NSA: That Thing They Said They're Not Doing? They're Totally Doing (12/09/13) [4:00], Part 2 [4:43]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.10.2013. 10:10

Monday December 09, 2013
News Articles

Whose sarin?
London Review of Books | Seymour M. Hersh | 12/08/13

Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August. In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts. Most significant, he failed to acknowledge something known to the US intelligence community: that the Syrian army is not the only party in the country's civil war with access to sarin, the nerve agent that a UN study concluded -- without assessing responsibility -- had been used in the rocket attack. ... Read more

Please watch the DemocracyNow interview with Seymour Hersh located to the right. I was especially impressed by the last several minutes of part 2.

A Superbug Outbreak at NIH
Click to zoom
PBS Frontline | Bill Rockwood | 10/22/13

One particularly dangerous bug, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase, or KPC, has been found in American hospitals in 44 states so far. That's likely an underestimate, since there is no national reporting system to track outbreaks of drug-resistant bacteria at hospitals.

In 2011, KPC came to one of the nation's flagship research hospitals, the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, known as the NIH. What followed was an outbreak even they still can't fully explain. ... Read more

When We Lose Antibiotics, Here's Everything Else We'll Lose Too
Wired Magazine | Maryn McKenna | 11/20/13

This week, health authorities in New Zealand announced that the tightly quarantined island nation -- the only place I've ever been where you get x-rayed on the way into the country as well as leaving it -- has experienced its first case, and first death, from a strain of totally drug-resistant bacteria

He was flown to Wellington Hospital where tests found he was carrying the strain of bacterium known as KPC-Oxa 48 -- an organism that rejects every kind of antibiotic.   Wellington Hospital clinical microbiologist Mark Jones (said): "Nothing would touch it. Absolutely nothing. It's the first one that we've ever seen that is resistant to every single antibiotic known." ...

... "Post-antibiotic era" is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot these days, most of the time without people stopping to consider what it might really mean. A year ago, I started wondering what life would be like, if we really didn't have antibiotics any more. ... Read more

Award-winning science journalist Maryn McKenna shadows the first group to join the EIS after Sept. 11, 2001. She follows them across the United States and to Africa and Asia, revealing their exhaustion, frustration, occasional fear - and exhilaration when they solve a mystery in time to save lives.





Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future
Click to zoom
medium.com | Maryn McKenna | date

... Sir Alexander Fleming's prediction was correct. Penicillin-resistant staph emerged in 1940, while the drug was still being given to only a few patients. Tetracycline was introduced in 1950, and tetracycline-resistant Shigella emerged in 1959; erythromycin came on the market in 1953, and erythromycin-resistant strep appeared in 1968. As antibiotics became more affordable and their use increased, bacteria developed defenses more quickly. Methicillin arrived in 1960 and methicillin resistance in 1962; levofloxacin in 1996 and the first resistant cases the same year; linezolid in 2000 and resistance to it in 2001; daptomycin in 2003 and the first signs of resistance in 2004. ... Read more

The Drugs Don't Work: A Global Threat by Professor Dame Sally Davies (book)

Trans Fat "Ban" Not What It Appears
Alliance for Natural Health | author | 12/03/13

You may have already heard the news: the FDA has banned trans fats! Well, sort of.   Under the FDA's proposed rule, trans fat itself is not banned. Instead, the ban is on the major source of trans fats in processed food--partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). PHOs are artificial trans fats, created via the process of adding hydrogen to vegetable oils in order to make them semi-solid. ...

... The timing and intent of the FDA's rule is suspect for two reasons. First, it was announced only after most companies had already eliminated trans fat--it's currently only in a handful of foods. Second, the ban will promote market demand for two new GMO soybeans by Monsanto and DuPont, which are engineered for trans fat free oils. ...

... Essentially, the FDA released the PHO ban at a politically perfect point: when it would no longer anger Big Food, but would be of tremendous benefit to Big Biotech's and Big Food's newly deregulated products. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, December 09 [12:00]
*DN | Seymour Hersh: Obama "Cherry Picked" Intel on Syrian Chemical Attack to Justify U.S. Strike (12/09/13) [12:53], Part 2 [16:21]
More News
*NatGeo | American Blackout 2013 (10/30/13) [1:27:44]
PBS Newshour | Massachusetts Works to Curb Rising Healthcare Costs (11/20/13) [8:36]
Massachusetts Works to Curb Rising Healthcare Costs (article) (11/20/13)
TRNN News
TRNN | Bank executives receive big bonuses, while 39% of frontline bank employees must rely on welfare because of insufficient wages (12/09/13) [5:45]
*TRNN | Chris Hedges discusses the psychology of the super rich; their sense of entitlement, the dehumanization of workers, and mistaken belief that their wealth will insulate them from the coming storms, Part 1 (12/05/13) [23:38]
*TRNN | Chris Hedges says that while people are disgusted with the centers of power, unless there is a constructive alternative, any eruption will be nihilistic and could be fascist, Part 2 (12/08/13) [14:13]
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria (10/22/13) [54:11]
Has the age of antibiotics come to an end? From a young girl thrust onto life support in Arizona to an uncontrollable outbreak at one of the nation's most prestigious hospitals, FRONTLINE investigates the alarming rise of a deadly type of bacteria that our modern antibiotics can't stop.
PBS Frontline | Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (11/19/13) [1:53:41]
FRONTLINE marks the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination with an investigative biography of the man at the center of the political crime of the 20th century. At the heart of the assassination lies the puzzle of Lee Harvey Oswald: Was he an emotionally disturbed lone gunman? Was he part of a broader conspiracy? Or was he an unwitting fall guy, the patsy, as Oswald himself claimed?
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The Push To Raise The Minimum Wage For All Americans (12/09/13) [1hr]
60 Minutes
60 Minutes | Detroit on the edge (10/13/13) [13:36]
60 Minutes | Amazon's Jeff Bezos looks to the future (12/01/13) [14:08]
60 Minutes | Death-defying free dives push boundaries (12/01/13) [13:21]
Detroit
Portrait of a City - Detroit (1961) [25:08]
Dan Rather Reports - Detroit: A National Disgrace (2009) [1:45:08]
Detroit bankrupty documentary on Crime: Gangs, drug dealers, decline of the economy [1:22:08]
The Truth About Detroit's Bankruptcy (07/25/13) [39:37]
Tiny Houses
Tiny Homes (12/07/13) [10:02]
NASA
NASA | ISON update on This Week @NASA (12/06/13) [3:09]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Assassination of President Kennedy
NatGeo | JFK: The Final Hours [1:28:06]
DC | "JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet" (2004) [1:26:20]
DC | The Killing of a President [1:31:54]
This documentary represents far more than what the title seems to say. I know. I was not only one of the film's producers, I worked for Garrison for those few historic years he took on the burden of investigating the assassination of one of our nation's greatest Presidents. In the hands of the filmmaker's technology in 1992, the evidence is presented in a way which would have totally altered history, had that technology existed in 1967 when Garrison decided to risk his entire reputation as a distinguished D.A. and challenge the Warren Report's corrupt conclusion. It was not President Johnson's design that Kennedy be murdered. If that were true, he wouldn't have ridden in a convertible car just a few cars behind Kennedy's presidential limo. "Triangulation of fire," was the sophisticated plan of motorcade murder devised by CIA operatives long before 11/22/63. If LBJ had known what that meant, he have told President Kennedy that he'd meet him at the Trade Mart luncheon and skipped the motorcade. Those who are responsible for the assassination of JFK are well known to foreign governments (intelligence depts). I know. I was assigned by Garrison to contact and then meet with General DeGaulle's Secret Service Director, Andre Ducret, who told me what happened in Dallas when JFK was assassinated for political reasons. I gathered that evidence and returned it to Garrison in New Orleans in June of 1968. I arrived with with a heavy heart. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June, 1968 while I met with General De Gaulle's top officials. I wondered if my trip had something to do with the murder of Robert Kennedy
Media Mayhem : Parkland and JFK Assassination Truth with Author James DiEugenio [48:58]
C-Span | JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence: John F. Kennedy Assassination (2010) [58:35]
G&B | The Assassination of JFK: The Garrison Interview (1988) [1:59:00]
BBC | The Killing of President Kennedy (1978) [1:19:43]
BBC | Kennedy Zapruder (1993) [41:52]
NatGeo | Killing Kennedy Full Movie 2013 [1:27:36]
The Secret Team-L.Fletcher Prouty [1:18:47], Part 2 [1:42:31]
"The Secret Team" by L. Fletcher Prouty (book)

12.09.2013. 10:43

Friday December 06, 2013
News Articles

*Activist and peacemaker Nelson Mandela dead at 95
pbs.org | Larisa Epatko | 12/05/13

Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa credited with ending apartheid there, died Thursday in South Africa. He was 95 years old.   Mandela was revered worldwide for leading the anti-apartheid movement and not letting his nearly three decades in prison shake his determination. ... Read more
PBS | Remembering South African leader Nelson Mandela (12/05/13) [18:24]

Peak Smog: Shanghai Orders Cars Off Roads As Pollution Literally Off The Charts
ZeroHedge | author | 12/06/13

"It's horrible out there," notes one resident as an orange-level haze alert, the second highest, remained in effect broadly across China and, as Bloomberg reports, the heavy fog shrouding Shanghai caused widespread flight cancellations and sent the air quality index surging past 500 to the "beyond index" category.

The government has ordered 30% of government-used vehicles off the road and industrial companies to reduce or halt production. Read more

Jobs Added By Industry: Education, Transportation And Retail Winners; Information And Finance Losers
Click to zoom
ZeroHedge | author | 12/06/13

Winners:
  1. Education and Health +40K, after gaining 30K in October; Job gains occurred in home healthcare services (+12,000) and offices of physicians (+7,000), while nursing care facilities lost jobs (-4,000)
  2. Transportation: +31K as logistics needs of the holiday season ramped up hiring
  3. Manufacturing: +27K in November after +16K in October; food manufacturing was +8K, while (channel stuffing of) motor vehicles and parts added anoterh 7K
  4. Retail trade, that old standby, added another 22K, following 46K additions in October for a total of 68K in the past two months.
    1. Within the industry, job growth occurred in general merchandise stores (+14,000); in sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (+12,000); and in automobile dealers (+7,000). Over the prior 12 months, job growth in retail trade averaged 31,000 per month.

Losers:
  1. Financial Activities, or the highest paying jobs, lost 3K after gaining 7K the prior month
  2. Information, the second highest paying jobs, also lost 1K, after gaining 4K in the prior month
Read more

Elizabeth Warren Eyes Wall Street's Think Tank Ties
WSJ | Alan Zibel | 12/04/13

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) asked big Wall Street banks to disclose financial contributions to think tanks, a request that came several days after a centrist Democratic think tank blasted Ms. Warren's "economic populism" on issues including Social Security. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 06 [8:30]
DN | Filmmaker Danny Schechter: The Anti-Apartheid Movement Behind Mandela Can't Be Forgotten (12/06/13) [13:06]
DN | While Mandela Helped Build "The New South Africa," Struggle Continues For Many (12/06/13) [9:57]
*DN | Thom Hartmann on "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America - and What We Can Do to Stop It" (11/12/13) [19:31]
Bill Moyers News
*Bill Moyers | America's Gilded Capital. Journalist Mark Leibovich talks about "This Town", his book on how money rules Washington, D.C. (12/06/13) [52:31]
More News
Euronews | Snowden documents show NSA gathers billions of international mobile phone records daily (12/05/13) [0:41]
Euronews | Mandela's prison island (12/06/13) [2:23]
TRNN News
TRNN | Scott C. Smith: the spreading of oil in Alabama?s wetlands, adding to the more than 17,000 reported U.S. oil spills that happened between 2010-2012 (12/06/13) [6:36]
There have been over 17,000 oil spills reported between 2010 to 2012 in the U.S. alone, according to an analysis by EnergyWire. And recently two transport trains have exploded carrying crude oil. One of those major disasters was in Alabama, when a train carrying 2.7 million gallons of North Dakota Bakken crude oil exploded just outside the town of Aliceville, spilling into the wetlands.
TRNN | Patrick Bond: Mandela Led Fight Against Apartheid, But Not Against Extreme Inequality (12/05/13) [12:01]
TRNN | Director of Research, Nick Surgey: is Google Moves Right By Funding ALEC & Heritage Action (12/06/13) [6:24]
TYT News
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (12/06/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (12/06/13) [1hr]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Fast food workers demand a livable wage, and the financial news media explains why this will destroy the very foundation of America's democracy (12/05/13) [4:03]
Some of the Biggest Man Made Machines
The largest ship in the world [2:13]
Biggest Container Ship in the World
A Dirty Job in a Mighty Engine [1:28]
Oasis of the Seas: The Biggest Cruise Ship in the World [2:00]
M.V. Solitaire, the world's biggest and fastest pipe-layer [2:25]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Submarine Battle of World War 2
U Boat War : Documentary on the Submarine Battle of World War 2 [2:34:00]
Hobbit
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (trailer) [3:01]
Making Of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" [1:52:24]
Stephen King Movies
The Stand - A Stephen King's Film: The Plague, The Dreams, The Betrayal, The Stand (1994) [5:59:35]
At a remote U.S. Army base, a weaponized strain of influenza, officially known as Project Blue and nicknamed "Captain Trips", is accidentally released. Despite an effort to put the base under lockdown, a security malfunction allows a soldier, Charles Campion, to escape with his family. By the time the military tracks the already-deceased Campion to Texas, he has triggered a pandemic of apocalyptic proportions which eventually kills off 99.4% of the world's human population.
IT - A Stephen King's Film (1990) [2:56:02]
In 1960, seven outcast kids known as "The Loser Club" fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. 30 years later, they are called back to fight the same clown again.
The Langoliers - A Stephen King's Film (19xx) [3:00:01]
On a cross-country red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston, ten passengers awaken to find that the crew and most of their fellow passengers have disappeared.
Tommyknockers - A Stephen King's Film (19xx) [1:31:08]
A buried UFO slowly turns local inhabitants into gizmo-building alien mutates.
The Night Flier - A Stephen King's Film (1997) [1:37:06]
A reporter is on the trail of a vampiric murderer who travels by plane.
Cujo - A Stephen King's Film (1983) [1:32:40]
A friendly St. Bernard named "Cujo" contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.
The Tommyknockers (audio book)
More Movies
Altitude (2010) [1:30:10]
The host () [2:10:38]
Immortal (2004) [1:42:49]
Below (2002) [1:45:18]
Rocket Stove & Solar Panels
Rocket Stove Mass Heater with Homemade Mortar & Cob [7:48]
Solar Air Furnace Solar Hot Air Panel Construction Materials and Design of 7500BTU Solar Air Panels [2:23]

12.06.2013. 11:13

Thursday December 05, 2013
News Articles

The State of Work
prospect.org | Harold Meyerson | Editorial

The Forty Year Slump

Since 1947, Americans at all points on the economic spectrum had become a little better off with each passing year. The economy's rising tide, as President John F. Kennedy had famously said, was lifting all boats. Productivity had risen by 97 percent in the preceding quarter-century, and median wages had risen by 95 percent. As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in The Affluent Society, this newly middle-class nation had become more egalitarian. The poorest fifth had seen their incomes increase by 42 percent since the end of the war, while the wealthiest fifth had seen their incomes rise by just 8 percent. Economists have dubbed the period the "Great Compression." ... Read more

*Fast Food CEOs Rake in Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay
ips-dc.org | author | date

These CEO pay subsidies are the result of a loophole that allows firms to deduct unlimited amounts from their income taxes for the cost of stock options, certain stock grants, and other forms of so-called "performance pay" for top executives. Put simply: the more corporations pay their CEOs, the less they pay in federal taxes. And ordinary taxpayers wind up footing the bill.

During the past two years, the CEOs of the top six publicly held fast food chains pocketed more than $183 million in fully deductible "performance pay," lowering their companies' IRS bills by an estimated $64 million. ...

  1. YUM! Brands enjoyed the biggest taxpayer subsidy for its CEO pay largesse. This firm, which owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, paid CEO David Novak $94 million in fully deductible "performance pay" over the years 2011 and 2012. That works out to a $33 million taxpayer subsidy to YUM! -- just for one executive's pay.
  2. McDonald's received the second-largest government handout. As CEO in 2011 and the first half of 2012, James Skinner pocketed $31 million in exercised stock options and other fully deductible "performance pay." Incoming CEO Donald Thompson took in $10 million in performance pay in his first six months on the job. Skinner and Thompson's combined performance pay translates into a $14 million taxpayer subsidy for McDonald's.
Read more
Fast Food CEOs Rake in Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay.pdf

How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas (Think ALEC)
Truth-out | Joshua Holland | 11/21/13

In 1971, Lewis Powell, who would become a Supreme Court justice the following year, penned a memo calling on the American business community to aggressively engage in shaping the country's political discourse and regulatory landscape. The "American economic system is under broad attack," he wrote. He said the time had come to fight back. "Business must learn . . . that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination -- without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business." ... Read more

We need to take our Government back!

ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy
The Guardian | Suzanne Goldenberg | 12/04/13

An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels -- casting them as "freeriders" -- in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned

Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalising individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama's main channel for climate action. ... Read more

Climate Scientists Say the Current International Warming Target Is "Disastrous"
BillMoyers | Tim McDonnell | 12/05/13

Ever since the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, world leaders have agreed on 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) as the maximum acceptable global warming above preindustrial levels to avert the worst impacts of climate change (today we're at about 0.8 degrees C). But a new study, led by climatologist James Hansen of Columbia University, argues that pollution plans aimed at that target would still result in "disastrous consequences," from rampant sea level rise to widespread extinction. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 05 [11:55]
*DN | As Workers Strike, Fast-food CEOs Fatten Pockets With Tax Loopholes, Social Assistance for Employees (12/05/13) [9:06]
As fast-food workers stage a one-day strike, a new report exposes how the industry's CEOs have not just saved money by paying workers low wages, but have used the government to subsidize their own million-dollar salaries with taxpayer dollars. That is because a loophole in the tax code lets companies deduct the costs of performance-based executive pay. We are joined by Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of the new report, "Fast-food CEOs Rake in Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay."
DN | "We Can't Survive on $7.25": Fast Food Workers Kick Off National Day of Action for Higher Pay (12/05/13) [13:50]
*DN | Jeremy Scahill: Oscar Nod for "Dirty Wars" Could Raise Awareness of Ongoing U.S. Drone Strikes (12/05/13) [12:53], Part 2 [8:58]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Henry Giroux: Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism (11/22/13) [56:43]
scholar Henry Giroux explains how our political system has turned people into zombies -- "people who are basically so caught up with surviving that they become like the walking dead -- they lose their sense of agency, they lose their homes, they lose their jobs."
GRITtv News
GRITtv | Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett's Son, on The Charitable Industrial Complex and Philanthro-Feudalism: Calls for End of Capitalism (12/04/13) [13:39]
Laura Flander, GRITtv.org, interviews Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett on the conflict between capitalism and humanism. Says Buffett:"You can't have both".
TRNN News
Click to zoom
TRNN | Leo Panitch: How the Defeat of Trade Unionism Gave Rise to Low-Wage Jobs (12/04/13) [12:05]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Washington Dysfunction And The U.S. Constitution (12/05/13) [1hr]
There's widespread agreement that our government is not working well. Legal scholars debate the causes of dysfunction in Washington and how the U.S. Constitution plays a role.

Guests
  1. Jeffrey Toobin staff writer at The New Yorker; senior legal analyst for CNN, author of "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court" (Doubleday), and former Assistant U.S.Attorney in Brooklyn, New York.
  2. Bruce Fein former associate deputy attorney general, Republican counsel during the Iran-Contra hearings and founding partner with the Lichfield Group.
TYT News
Thom Hartmann News
Thom Hartmann on the News: December 4, 2013 [6:54]
Thom Hartmann | Banksters...too Big to fine? (12/04/13) [8:58]
Thom Hartmann | The Condemnation of Trickle Down Economics (12/04/13) [4:34]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.05.2013. 10:57

Wednesday December 04, 2013
News Articles

Americans Want Congress Members To Pee In Cups To Prove They're Not On Drugs
HP | Emily Swanson | 12/02/13

While most Americans like the idea of drug testing for welfare recipients, they LOVE the idea of drug testing for members of Congress.

According to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, 64 percent of Americans favor requiring welfare recipients to submit to random drug testing -- a measure pushed by Republican lawmakers in recent years -- while 18 percent oppose it. But an even stronger majority said they're in favor of random drug testing for members of Congress, by a 78 percent to 7 percent margin. Sixty-two percent said they "strongly" favor drug testing for congressional lawmakers, compared to only 51 percent who said the same of welfare recipients. ... Read more

Lloyd Blankfein, of Goldman Sachs, recently boiled down one of America's most complex problems into a perfectly simple and quotable line.

"This country does a great job of creating wealth, but not a great [job] of distributing it."

EU Commission fines banks $2.3 billion for benchmark rigging
Reuters | Foo Yun Chee | 12/04/13

EU antitrust regulators vowed to keep investigating rate- rigging on Wednesday as they slapped a record 1.7 billion euro ($2.3 billion) penalty on six financial institutions including Deutsche Bank, RBS and JPMorgan.

The fines by the Commission, which along with authorities around the globe has been examining the manipulation of London interbank offered rate (Libor) and its euro equivalent Euribor, takes the tally of penalties related to the scandal to almost $6 billion. ... Read more

Now Is A Horrible Time To Cut Food Stamps, In 1 Depressing Chart
HP | Maxwell Strachan | 12/04/13

Congress effectively pulled money out of the hands of 47 million struggling Americans last month when it allowed massive cuts to the country's food stamp program to go through without a hitch.

Republicans have been supportive of such cuts. In a recent HuffPost/YouGov poll, 67 percent of Republican respondents said they approved of the cuts. Roughly 67 percent of Democrats opposed. ... Read more
Click to zoom

Wealth and Income Inequality in America
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]

Want to Cut Government Spending? Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
finance.yahoo.com | Lauren Lyster | 11/25/13

If you thought the botched rollout of Obamacare, the government shutdown, or the sequester represented Washington dysfunction at its worst, wait until you hear about the taxpayer waste at the Defense Department.

Special Enterprise Reporter Scot Paltrow unearthed the "high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping" in a Reuters investigation. It amounts to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for. The year 1996 was the first that the Pentagon should have been audited under a law requiring audits of all government departments. Oh, and by the way, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with this law. ... Read more
*Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
TYT | Shocking Government Waste at The Defense Department (11/30/13) [7:11]



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, December 04 [7:47]
*DN | Vandana Shiva & Jane Goodall on Serving the Earth & How Women Can Address Climate Crisis (12/04/13) [12:09], Part 2 [12:10]
*DN | Detroit Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Lost Revenues Forced Decline, But City Pensioners to Pay the Costs (12/04/13) [21:44]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Wendall Potter: As a new study finds most Americans want fundamental change in the US healthcare system (12/02/13) [10:05], Part 2 [7:22]
Following a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, Wendell left his position as head of communications forCigna, one of the nation's largest health insurers, to advocate for meaningful health care reform and to help organizations working for the greater good achieve their goals. His book, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks out on how Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans, is a stark warning that corporate spin is distorting our democracy.
TRNN | Frank Hammer: Detroit Enters Bankruptcy As Pensions and Benefits Go on Chopping Block (12/03/13) [8:02]
TYT News
TYT | Why The GOP Is Freaking Out About Obamacare (12/03/13) [6:34]
TYT | Obamacare Alternative? Republicans Don't Have One (12/03/13) [4:48]
TYT | Legalize Weed To Battle Cartels, Uruguay's President Says (12/03/13) [8:12]
TYT | Don't Get Kids Xmas Gifts, Donate To Scott Walker Instead (12/03/13) [3:11]
TYT | War On Christmas Update From Bill O'Reilly On Fox News (12/03/13) [9:01]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Peter Schweizer: "Extortion" (12/04/13) [1hr]
In recent years, money from special interest groups has flooded Washington. Many say it's the root of our political dysfunction. But maybe conventional wisdom is wrong. Perhaps the problem lies not with the buyers of influence, but with the sellers. Author Peter Schweizer charges lawmakers' hunt for cash influences everything from how they write laws to when they vote on a bill. He says Washington politicians use leadership PACs to bankroll lavish lifestyles, and rely on a secret loophole to make loans to themselves.
9/11
*9/11 False Flag Conspiracy () [43:29]
September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor
September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor (trailer) [3:19]
*September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor () [4:53:42]
Geoengineering
Chemtrails: What in the World Are They Spraying? [1:37:33]
world map of geoengineering
Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering
Pandora's Box
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 (hint 2053) - by Isao Hashimoto [14:25]
Able Archer 1983
Able Archer 1983 The Brink of Apocalypse () [1:15:52]
DC | Cold War Soviet War Scare 1983 () [1:28:33]
Nukes In Space - The Rainbow Bombs (1999) [53:21]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.04.2013. 10:45

Tuesday December 03, 2013
News Articles

Inside the Largest Fracked Oil Spill Ever
prn.fm | Steve Horn | 12/02/13

Tesoro Logistics -- the company whose pipeline spilled more than 800,000 gallons of fracked Bakken Shale oil in rural North Dakota in September -- has hired infamous contractor Witt O'Brien's to oversee its clean-up of the biggest fracked oil spill in U.S. history.

As revealed after ExxonMobil hired the same firm in the aftermath of a 210,000-gallon tar sands oil spill in April 2013, Witt O'Brien's -- formerly known as OOPS, Inc. -- is a firm with a history of oil spill cover-ups dating back to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It also oversaw the spraying of toxic oil dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico during BP's summer 2010 mega-spill and a literal cover-up of Enbridge's massive "dilbit disaster" tar sands pipeline spill in Michigan. ... Read more

I Tried to See Where My T-Shirt Was Made, and the Factory Sent Thugs After Me
MotherJones | Dana Liebelson | 11/29/13

... If Aruna were one of my friends in DC, no one would be asking her why she isn't hitched yet. But in Aruna's home village, if you haven't secured a husband by your early 20s, you're in for a hard ride. "In India, a woman is auspicious because she is married," says Srimati Basu, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky who is an expert on the status of women in India. "Lack of marriage is horrible for the person, the family, and the community."

In order to get married, Tamil village girls like Aruna need at least three gold British sovereigns -- bullion is the preferred currency for dowries -- the equivalent of about $1,200. Together, Aruna's parents make a little less than $400 a year.

As a child, Aruna dreamed of going to college. But by the time she was 15, when her government-subsidized schooling ended, she understood that she was too poor. Then, a stranger promised to change her life. He offered her a job at a textile factory that has supplied companies including, until recently, UK-based maternity wear maker Mothercare. Her pay would be about $105 a month -- enough for food for her family, her further education, and most importantly, the chance to build a dowry. ... Read more

Debate: Should The U.S. Break Up Big Banks?
NPR | NPR Staff | 10/23/13

Too big to fail.   Those four words loomed large in 2008, as a crisis in the banking world threatened the global economy. Fears that the failure of large financial institutions would undermine the entire economic system led Congress to step in, passing a $700 billion bailout package. ...

    Debate: Should The U.S. Break Up Big Banks?

    Fore
  1. Richard W. Fisher is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
  2. Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz professor of entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

  3. Against
  4. Douglas Elliott is a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
  5. Paul Saltzman is the president of The Clearing House Association and executive vice president and general counsel of The Clearing House Payments Co.
Read more

Hanford Nuclear Site Clean-Up: The Mess Gets Worse
khq.com & NBCNews.com | author | 11/18/13

The government's multi-billion-dollar effort to clean up the nation's largest nuclear dump has become its own dysfunctional mess.   For more than two decades, the government has worked to dispose of 56 million gallons of nuclear and chemical waste in underground, leak-prone tanks at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State.

The waste is a legacy of the Cold War, when the site housed nuclear reactors churning out radioactive plutonium for thousands of atomic bombs. To clean up the mess, the Department of Energy (DOE) started building a factory 12 years ago to encase the nuclear leftovers in stable glass for long-term storage.   But today, construction of the factory is only two-thirds complete after billions of dollars in spending, leaving partially constructed buildings and heavy machinery scattered across the 65-acre site, a short distance from the Columbia River. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
*Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, December 03 [10:54]
DN | Animating Noam Chomsky: French Director Michel Gondry on New Film "Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?" (12/03/13) [2:40]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Sen. Bob Graham: The 9/11 Conspiracy: Did Bush/Cheney Create a Culture of Not Wanting to Know? Part 4 (12/02/13) [20:03]
Sen. Graham: Investigating the Saudi Government 9/11 Connection
TRNN | Sen. Graham: Investigating the Saudi Government 9/11 Connection and the Path to Disillusionment (11/27/13) [16:10]
TRNN | Sen. Bob Graham: Revealing the 9/11 Conspiracy Would Undo the Entire US-Saudi Alliance, Part 2 (11/28/13) [16:25]
TRNN | Sen. Bob Graham: Why Would Saudi Arabia Support the 9/11 Conspirators, Why Would the US Gov. Cover it Up?, Part 3 (11/29/13) [19:35]
Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan the authors of "The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden"
TRNN | Summers and Swan: Suppressing Investigation About the role of Saudi Arabia in 9/11, Part 1 (09/12/11) [13:52]
TRNN | Summers and Swan: Bush Ordered Investigation to Suppress Saudi 9/11 Connection, Part 2 (09/13/11) [15:58]
In the book Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11, Bob Graham, who was the cochair of the congressional joint inquiry into 9/11, told the authors of the book the following: The Saudis were facilitating assisting some of the hijackers, and my suspicion is they were providing some assistance to most, if not all the hijackers. It's my opinion that 9/11 could not have occurred but for the existence of an infrastructure of support within the United States. By the Saudis I mean the Saudi government and individual Saudis who are for some purposes dependent on the government, which includes all of the elite in the country.
Richard Clark
TRNN | Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff, on Bush Admin 9/11 responsibility (09/12/10) [29:46]
TRNN | An Evening With Larry Wilkerson (12/13/11) [43:14]
Big Banks
*NPR | Debate: Should The U.S. Break Up Big Banks? (10/23/13) [1hr]
9/11
The Secret History of 9/11 (09/12/06) [1:30:15]
*9/11 False Flag Conspiracy () [43:29]
Painful Deceptions 911 Documentary by Eric Hufschmid () [1:23:31]
*September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor, Part 2 () [1:30:24]
September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor website
The 3 Coming False Flag Attacks (09/26/12) [16:45]
TYT News
Fukushima
PRN.fm | Fukushima and the fall of nuclear power with Arnie Gundersen and Michael Mariotte (audio) (11/18/1) [58:34]
Japan's Nuclear Waste: Managing a Lethal Legacy (03/23/13) [48:41]
Hanford Nuclear Reservation
*Hanford nuclear waste (11/24/13) [2:00]
SURFACE Quake at Hanford Nuclear site (11/17/13) [4:30]
Nuclear Ramifications
The Place You Must Always Remember to Forget - Nuclear Waste () [1:10:14]
Nuclear Waste Disposal Documentary () [52:47]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

12.03.2013. 13:49

Monday December 02, 2013
News Articles

Wall Street Taught Me How to Cheat
AlterNet | Chris Arnade | 11/26/13

A new report finds 53% of financial services executives say ethical standards inhibit career progression.

My first year on Wall Street, 1993, I was paid 14 times more than I earned the prior year and three times more than my father's best year. For that money, I helped my company create financial products that were disguised to look simple, but which required complex math to properly understand. That first year I was roundly applauded by my bosses, who told me I was clever, and to my surprise they gave me $20,000 bonus beyond my salary.

The products were sold to many investors, many who didn't fully understand what they were buying, most of them what we called "clueless Japanese." The profits to my company were huge -- hundreds of millions of dollars huge. The main product that made my firm great money for close to five years was was called, in typically dense finance jargon, a YIF, or a Yield Indexed Forward. ... Read more

Want to Cut Government Waste? Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For
finance.yahoo.com | Lauren Lyster | 11/25/13

If you thought the botched rollout of Obamacare, the government shutdown, or the sequester represented Washington dysfunction at its worst, wait until you hear about the taxpayer waste at the Defense Department.

Special Enterprise Reporter Scot Paltrow unearthed the "high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping" in a Reuters investigation. It amounts to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for. The year 1996 was the first that the Pentagon should have been audited under a law requiring audits of all government departments. Oh, and by the way, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with this law. ... Read more
*Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For

Corporate Elites Are Witnessing a Growing Wave of Resistance to the 'Walmartization' of Our Economy
AlterNet | Kevin Zeese | 11/29/13

The struggle of working Americans took center stage as Black Friday protests covered the country. The struggle for wages that do not leave families impoverished is one that affects us all and highlights the unfair economy created by a class war waged by the wealthy for decades. The 'Walmartization' of the US economy has created a downward spiral in wages and destroyed small businesses and communities while heightening the wealth divide that is at the root of so many problems. The war on working people is a war on all but the wealthiest Americans.

... Noam Chomsky writes in his new book, Occupy: Class War, Rebellion and Solidarity, that the "business class" is always engaged in class warfare. They continually act to protect their interests, wealth and power. The class war manifests itself in every aspect of our lives from the attack on our public institutions and civil liberties to climate change and the global race to the bottom and racially unfair police enforcement and mass incarceration. It defines our foreign policy including trade agreements rigged for big business and wars for resources, cheap labor and the positioning of American Empire. ... Read more

7 Reasons Why It's Easier for Humans to Believe in God Than Evolution
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 11/26/13

... Yet even as creationists keep trying to undermine modern science, modern science is beginning to explain creationism scientifically. And it looks like evolution--the scientifically uncontested explanation for the diversity and interrelatedness of life on Earth, emphatically including human life--will be a major part of the story. Our brains are a stunning product of evolution; and yet ironically, they may naturally pre-dispose us against its acceptance.

"I don't think there's any question that a variety of our mental dispositions are ones that discourage us from taking evolutionary theory as seriously as it should be taken," explains Robert N. McCauley, director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture at Emory University and author of the book Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, December 02 [12:19]
DN | Watching the Watch List: Landmark Case Goes to Trial over Massive U.S. Terrorism "No-Fly" Database (12/02/13) [18:27]
DN | Over 110 Arrested as Record Black Friday Protests Challenge Wal-Mart, Major Retailers on Low Wages (12/02/13) [9:13]
Global Warming
*Last Hours (09/28/13) [10:37]
Last Hours website
Click to zoom
Last Hour Information
BBC | The Day the Earth Nearly Died. BBC Horizon programme on the Permian Mass Extinction (12/15/12) [49:09]
BBC | The Permian--Triassic Extinction Event (09/05/13) [43:43]
Click to zoom
The Permian--Triassic Extinction Event
TRNN News
*TRNN | Arnie Gunderson: TEPCO Downplays Huge Risks Involved in Removing Fukushima Fuel Rods (12/01/13) [5:56]
*TRNN | Charlie Cray is a research specialist with Greenpeace USA. 'Spooky Business': Major Corporations Employ Former U.S. Intelligence Agents As Spies (12/01/13) [7:06]
TRNN | Glenn Greenwald "The Goal Of The U.S. Government Is To Eliminate ALL Privacy Globally!" (11/30/13) [24:04]
TYT News
TYT | What Is 'Petcoke'? (11/30/13) [3:40]
TYT | Exorcisms On The Rise In Mexico, War On Drugs To Blame (11/30/13) [3:43]
*TYT | Shocking Government Waste at The Defense Department (11/30/13) [7:11]
"If you thought the botched rollout of Obamacare, the government shutdown, or the sequester represented Washington dysfunction at its worst, wait until you hear about the taxpayer waste at the Defense Department. Special Enterprise Reporter Scot Paltrow unearthed the "high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping" in a Reuters investigation. It amounts to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for. (The year 1996 was the first that the Pentagon should have been audited under a law requiring audits of all government departments. Oh, and by the way, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with this law.
TYT | WalMart Black Friday Protests? (11/30/13) [4:25]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Ongoing Rollout Challenges For The Affordable Care Act (12/02/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - Al l In
Chris Hayes | A guide to Thanksgiving table talk, how not to talk about politics (11/27/13) [13:19]
Chris Hayes | How to talk Obamacare with your relatives (11/27/13) [7:10], Part 2 [4:28]
More segments on the MSNBC website
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | California a model for making Obamacare work (11/27/13) [13:30]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Earth Shaping
Yellowstone National Park & the Caldera Super Volcano (09/05/13) [44:49]
Click to zoom
HC | Yellowstone National Park & the Caldera Super Volcano
NatGeo | Earth Under Water in Next 20 Years (08/17/13) [45:08]
NatGeo | Creatures of the Deep Ocean (08/15/13) [44:58]
Oil
NatGeo | World Without Oil - The Day the World ran out of Oil (10/15/13) [46:00]
Religion
BookTV | Is Religion Man-Made? How Did Religion Start? The Evolution of Belief (2006) [1:09:07]
UFO
NatGeo | The Truth Behind UFOs (07/26/13) [45:00]
SciFi | NASA's Evidence of UFO's and Alien Encounters (07/30/13) [42:33]
NatGeo | Alien Faces (10/11/13) [44:30]
Grey Aliens and their Origins and their Agenda (09/17/12) [1:08:28]
HC | The Greys (03/04/13) [43:59]
HC | UFO Files - The Gray's Agenda (08/01/12) [43:35]
Brazilian Roswell (03/31/12) [44:38]
UFOTV | The Cygnus Mystery (03/12/11) [52:37]

12.02.2013. 08:48



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

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I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

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Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

Note: To view a video, click on its name/title
Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
Good YouTube Docs. (big | full screen)

Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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Sponsors

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Donation


I am one of those "once" middle class, over 60, over educated, under-employed, semi retired, soon to be poor workers, that everyone is talking about. 
But I have a modest standard of living so I plan to give all extra donation, beyond my immediate needs, to several of my favorite charities.

save-the-children

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