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News March 2013

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Friday March 29, 2013
News Articles

Breast Cancer Photo Essay: Man Documents His Wife's Brave Battle With The Disease
HP | Christina Huffington | 03/28/13

When Reddit user freckledsmile posted a link to Angelo Merendino's photo essay of his wife Jennifer's battle with breast cancer, he moved even the most stoic of Redditors to tears. "I've never once cried from something I found on Reddit. Not until now... I think I'm actually sobbing," wrote one. "Wow. Just wow. Powerful," wrote another.

Merendino, a New York-based photographer, describes the photo essay as an attempt to "humanize the face of cancer." He writes that the photographs "show the challenge, difficulty, fear, sadness and loneliness" and that "most important of all, they show our love." ... Read more
Website

Huffington Post Headlines
  1. TAKING ON THE TAILPIPE
  2. EPA To Propose Rule Tightening Emissions Standards...
  3. Administration Says Move Will Yield Billions In Health Benefits...
  4. Big Oil, Political Allies Resist Move, Citing Pump Price Increase...
Any takers on who will win?

Schools Are Training Second-Graders to Attack Mass Shooters
MotherJones | Deanna Pan | 03/28/13

Braden Kling, an eight-year-old from Middletown, Ohio, knows what to do. His school has prepared him for the moment of reckoning. "We have this big board and we hide behind that. If he comes in, we start throwing stuff," he explains. "Pencils, chairs, boxes, books, markers. And then we escape. ... "

... Perhaps the most controversial approach has been instructing school children to fight back. After Newtown, one commentator was met with derision when she suggested that kids should be trained to "gang rush" a mass shooter rather than to hide from him. ... Read more

Putin orders surprise military exercises
Aljazeera | author | 03/28/13

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered ordered surprise military exercises in the Black Sea region involving 7,000 troops and dozens of ships to test the army's battle readiness, the Kremlin said.   The order was presented to the Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a sealed envelope in the middle of the night at 4:00 am (2400 GMT) on Thursday, with the drills to start immediately.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the order was aimed at testing out the battle readiness of the Russian armed forces and said Moscow was not obliged to warn its partners of the plan. ... Read more

Spamhaus Hit With 'Largest Publicly Announced DDoS Attack' Ever, Affecting Internet Users Worldwide
HP | Raphael Satter | 03/27/13

A record-breaking cyberattack targeting an anti-spam watchdog group has sent ripples of disruption coursing across the Web, experts said Wednesday.

Spamhaus, a site responsible for keeping ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills out of the world's inboxes, said it had been buffeted by the monster denial-of-service attack since mid-March, apparently from groups angry at being blacklisted by the Swiss-British group. ... Read more

Walmart's Death Grip on Groceries Is Making Life Worse for Millions of People
AlterNet | Stacy Mitchell | 03/26/13

... Having gained more say over our food supply than Monsanto, Kraft, or Tyson, Walmart has been working overtime to present itself as a benevolent king. It has upped its donations to food pantries, reduced sodium and sugars in some of its store-brand products, and recast its relentless expansion as a solution to "food deserts." In 2011, it pledged to build 275-300 stores "in or near" low-income communities lacking grocery stores. ... Read more

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DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, March 29 [11:19]
DN | Strange Bedfellows: While Urging Gun Laws at Home, Obama Joins NRA to Weaken U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (03/29/13) [12:51]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 03/29/13 [1hr]
International News - Friday 03/29/13 [1hr]
BRICS and BRICS Bank
RT | 'Hegemonic corporations scared as BRICS plan bank to rival IMF' (03/28/13) [6:59]
Aljazeera | BRICS wrangle over new development bank (03/26/13) [2:14]
BRICS Summit: Morning Live chats to guests about the summit (03/25/13) [10:58]
Good Old Banking - Fractional reserve banking
Click to zoom
Fractional reserve banking (video) [18:04]
Fractional reserve banking, Wikipedia
Fractional-reserve banking is the practice whereby a bank retains funds equal to only a portion of the amount of its customers' deposits as readily available reserves (currency on hand at the bank plus deposit accounts for that bank at the central bank) from which to satisfy demands for payment. The remainder of customer-deposited funds is used to fund investments or loans that the bank makes to other customers. Most of these loaned funds are later redeposited into banks, allowing further lending. Because bank deposits are usually considered money in their own right, fractional-reserve banking permits the money supply to grow to a multiple of the underlying reserves of base money originally created by the central bank.
Modern Money Mechanics Workbook.pdf
More documentaries on Banks from this web site
How Banks Works
How the Federal Reserve Works
How Wall Street Works
Who Weilds the Ultimate WMD?
RT | Large-scale military drills in Black Sea following order from Putin (03/28/13) [1:38]
RT | World Wide War: Biggest cyber-attack shakes web (03/27/13) [4:27]
RT | Digital Doom: Cyber-attacks as dangerous as WMDs? (03/28/13) [3:27]
Indoor Farming | Locally Grown
TRNN | Indoor Farm Goes 'Mega' Near Chicago (03/28/13) [1:57]
Aljazeera | Record UK cold freezes economy (03/26/13) [1:59]
Max Keiser
Keiser Report (E424) Plunderball - New Euro Banking Game (03/28/13) [25:46]
Max Keiser talks to Mitch Feierstein about the implications to all bank depositors of the confiscation of some funds in Cyprus.
Keiser Report (E423) 'Yes, No, Maybe' World Order (03/26/13) [25:45]
Max Keiser talks to Leah McGrath Goodman, author of The Asylum: Inside the Rise and Ruin of the Global Oil Market, about the definitive proof that oil markets were manipulated to $100 in 2008 by ConAgra traders and what the US government response was to the information.
Keiser Report (E422) Constitution Fine Print (03/23/13) [25:45]
Max Keiser talks to Marc Hochstein of AmericanBanker.com about whether or not bitcoin is a ponzi scheme and about the issue of privacy in banking and financial transactions.
Keiser Report (E421) Financial Fascism (03/21/13) [25:46]
Max Keiser talks to Reggie Middleton of BoomBustBlog.com about Cyprus, the rules that have been revealed and his upcoming special investigation on certain European banks he's discovered have been committing fraud.
Keiser Report (E420) JP Morgan Out Of Control (03/19/13) [25:45]
Max Keiser talks to author, Josh Rosner, about his explosive new piece, "JP Morgan Chase: Out of Control." They discuss the London Whale as a systemic and sticking the taxpayer with JP Morgan's bad Washington Mutual debts.
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday March 28, 2013
News Articles
Cyprus is still Making News
  1. Lines Form as Cyprus Banks Reopen (WSJ)
  2. Greek Bets Sank Top Cyprus Lenders - Banks at Heart of Cyprus Mess Were Bullish on Athens as Other Investors Fled (WSJ)
  3. Hollande Economic Woes Masked by Cyprus Fig Leaf (BBG)
  4. M&A Stumbles Amid March Deal Drought (BBG)... but any minute now
  5. Train hauling Canadian oil derails in Minnesota  (Reuters) - must be an evil pipeline riding first class
  6. Slovenian Austerity After Cyprus Fails to Stem Yield Gain (BBG)

Not Just the Bees: Bayer's Pesticide May Harm Birds, Too
MotherJones | Tom Philpott | 03/27/13

Once again this spring, farmers will begin planting at least 140 million acres--a land mass roughly equal to the combined footprints of California and Washington state--with seeds (mainly corn and soy) treated with a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. Commercial landscapers and home gardeners will get into the act, too--neonics are common in lawn and garden products. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know all of that is probably bad news for honeybees and other pollinators, as a growing body of research shows--including three studies released just ahead of last year's planting season.

But bees aren't the only iconic springtime creature threatened by the ubiquitous pesticide, whose biggest makers are the European giants Bayer and Syngenta. It turns out that birds are too, according to an alarming analysis co-authored by Pierre Mineau, a retired senior research scientist at Environment Canada (Canada's EPA), published by the American Bird Conservancy. And not just birds themselves, but also the water-borne insect species that serve as a major food source for birds, fish, and amphibians. ... Read more

Ghost Factories: Poison in the Ground
USAToday | author | current

Ken Shefton is furious about what the government knew eight years ago and never told him -- that the neighborhood where his five sons have been playing is contaminated with lead.

Their Cleveland home is a few blocks from a long-forgotten factory that spewed toxic lead dust for about 30 years.   The Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators clearly knew of the danger. They tested soil throughout the neighborhood and documented hazardous levels of contamination. They never did a cleanup. They didn't warn people living nearby that the tainted soil endangers their children. ... Read more

BRICS nations pledge to work together on global issues (03/26/13) [2:05]
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Banks Seek to Overturn Judge's Ruling in Critical Mortgage Case
NYTimes | Jessica Silver-Greenberg | 03/27/13

The nation's largest banks, facing a torrent of lawsuits over shoddy mortgage securities, are pushing to overturn a series of tough rulings in an important case.

In a rare move, 15 banks -- including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and UBS -- filed a motion in Federal District Court in Manhattan late Tuesday night to throw out a series of decisions by Judge Denise L. Cote, according to a copy of the court filing. In doing so, the financial institutions are aiming to broaden the amount of evidence they can gather in the hopes of quashing the lawsuit. ...

... In 2011, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, accused the banks of duping the housing giants into buying $200 billion of mortgage securities that ultimately imploded during the financial crisis. On Wall Street, the lawsuit is considered a critical litmus test for how successful the banks will be in stanching their losses from the mortgage litigation. ... Read more

Slick, Paranoid Tea Party Video Aims for Violent Insurrection
AlterNet | Richard (RJ) Eskow | 03/26/13

Attendees at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) were reportedly thrilled by a short sci-fi video depicting a dictatorial near-future government and the underground "Movement on Fire" that springs up to resist it. The video, a thinly veiled advertisement for violent insurrection from the "Tea Party Patriots" group, boasts professional acting and Hollywood production values. But underneath its bright, professional sheen lurk dark overtones of End Times paranoia that will resonate with millions of American fundamentalists. ... Read more
Tea Party Patriots - A Movement On Fire! (03/09/13) [2:01]

Five Ugly Extremes of Inequality in America
AlterNet | Paul Buchheit | 03/25/12

The first step is to learn the facts, and then to get angry and to ask ourselves, as progressives and caring human beings, what we can do about the relentless transfer of wealth to a small group of well-positioned Americans.

  1. $2.13 per hour vs. $3,000,000.00 per hour. Each of the Koch brothers saw his investments grow by $6 billion in one year, which is three million dollars per hour based on a 40-hour 'work' week. They used some of the money to try to kill renewable energystandards around the country. Their income portrays them, in a society measured by economic status, as a million times more valuable than the restaurant server who cheers up our lunch hours while hoping to make enough in tips to pay the bills.
  2. Any of the ten richest Americans could pay a year's rent for all of America's homeless with their 2012 income.
  3. The poorest 47% of Americans have no wealth
  4. The U.S. is nearly the most wealth-unequal country in the entire world
  5. A can of soup for a black or Hispanic woman, a mansion and yacht for the businessman
Read more
Wealth Inequality - repeat, but good

Meet the CEO Who Cut Worker Pay in Half While Pulling in $21 Million Last Year
AlterNet | Sam Pizzigati | 03/25/13

The founder of modern management science, Peter Drucker, considered excessive executive pay an assault on good enterprise management practice.   But Peter Drucker also cared deeply about enterprise morality. In his later years, he watched -- and despaired -- as downsizing became an accepted corporate gameplan for pumping up executive paychecks. Drucker could find "no justification" for letting CEOs benefit financially from worker layoffs. ...

... If Drucker were still writing today, he'd likely be even more unforgiving. CEOs these days aren't just slashing worker jobs to add on to their own rewards. They're slashing worker pay as well -- and no CEO may be benefiting more from shrinking paychecks than Ford chief executive Alan Mulally.   Entry-level workers at Ford used to make $28 an hour. That rate fell by half when the auto industry financial crunch first hit five years ago and now sits a bit above $19. And since the crunch all Ford workers, not just entry-level workers, have given up cost-of-living wage adjustments and health benefits. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, March 28 [15:53]
DN | Justices Cast Doubt on DOMA in Case Brought By 83-Year-Old Lesbian Widow. Part 1 (03/28/13) [12:37]
DN | Debate: Does Marriage Equality Reinforce a Conservative Institution or Support Social Change? (03/28/13) [18:50]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The Future Of The CIA 03/28/13 [1hr]
TRNN News - The Roots of the Cold War
TRNN | Peter Kuznick (co-author of The "Untold History"): Truman breaks Roosevelt's alliance with the Soviet Union and pushes the world into a bitter, decades long conflict (03/28/13) [19:09]
TRNN | Peter Kuznick (co-author of The "Untold History"): The atomic bomb did not end the war with Japan, it was a threat to the Soviet Union that the US would dominate the post-war world (03/28/13) [18:21]
Secrecy - Transparency - Security - Constitutional
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (trailer) (2013) [3:01]
The Forgotten Man (trailer) (older) [5:05]
The Forgotten Man (full) [45:02]
Second only to Julian Assange, Bradley Manning is the most important figure in the Wikileaks controversy; his is alleged to have handed over hundreds of thousands of secret US war files and diplomatic cables. But, while the world watches Assange's trial with baited breath, Manning is already wasting away in solitary confinement; this is the story of his daring intelligence heist. We hear the only recording of Bradley Manning's voice and we listen to the logs of alleged conversations with the man who ultimately betrayed him.

Manning, a US army private, claims that he released the cables because, "I was actively involved in something I was completely against". That is according to the Internet chat room logs that are the basis for his imprisonment. Manning's exact relationship with Wikileaks remains unclear and the source that uncovered him to the US government has been called into question.
Short Informative InfoVideos
Disappearing American middle class [1:58]
Balancing Budget vs Tax Rates [4:01]
Charity (vs Foreign Aid)
Give Us The Money - Why Poverty? (03/23/13) [58:41]
From Live Aid to Make Poverty History, celebrities have become activists against poverty. Bob Geldof and Bono have been the most prominent voices advocating on behalf of the poor. But have their concerts and campaigns really lifted millions out of poverty?

Geldof, Bono and Bill Gates speak candidly about how to lobby effectively and how to play to politicians' weaknesses for glitz and popularity.
Welcome To The World - Why Poverty? (03/23/13) [58:33]
Is it worse to be born poor than to die poor? 130 million babies are born each year, and not one of them decides where they'll be born or how they'll live. In Cambodia, you're likely to be born to a family living on less than $1/day. In Sierra Leone chances of surviving the first year are half those of the worldwide average.

Brian Hill takes a worldwide trip to meet the newest generation - In the US Starr's new baby could well be one more of 1.6 million homeless children now living in the streets.
Foreign Aid (vs Charity)
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Foreign Aid vs Military Foreign Aid
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Foreign Aid Budget vs Military Budget
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Other Videos and Documentaries
Love and Rubbish - Why Poverty? [7:45]
RUSSIA: If you live in poverty, can you afford to dream? An estimated five million people are homeless in Russia; one million of them are children.

This film takes an unflinching and yet poignant look at the lives of a group of children living on a rubbish dump outside of Moscow, showing the hardships they face and the dreams they hold on to.
Stealing Africa - Why Poverty? (03/23/13) [58:28]
Rüschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents. But it receives more tax revenue than it can use. This is largely thanks to one resident - Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, whose copper mines in Zambia are not generating a large bounty tax revenue for the Zambians. Zambia has the 3rd largest copper reserves in the world, but 60% of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80% are unemployed. Based on original research into public documents, the film describes the tax system employed by multinational companies in Africa.
Solar Mamas - Why Poverty? [58:16
Rafea is the second wife of a Bedouin husband. She is selected to attend the Barefoot College in India that takes uneducated middle-aged women from poor communities and trains them to become solar engineers. The college's 6-month programme brings together women from all over the world. Learning about electrical components and soldering without being able to read, write or understand English is the easy part. Witness Rafea's heroic efforts to pull herself and her family out of poverty.

Wednesday March 27, 2013
News Articles

The Effort to Roll Back Dodd-Frank
Bill Moyers | author | 03/25/13

But it seems some members of the House Agriculture Committee aren't paying much attention to their colleagues in the Senate. They have brought seven bills to the House floor that will weaken federal regulation of derivatives trading. The bills take aim at Title VII of the Dodd-Frank bank reform act -- even though Dodd-Frank has not been fully implemented yet. ...

... There's a reason why Warren Buffett said, "Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." And why Bill Clinton said he was wrong to avoid regulating derivatives when he had the chance. These financial instruments played a central role in the financial crisis, culminating with the collapse and bailout of AIG. … Read more

*Mary Jo White, Obama Pick to Head SEC, Pushed Former Enforcement Chief As Bank Lawyer
HP | Ben Hallman | 01/24/13

Morgan Stanley needed someone with an inside line to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was 2005, and the investment banking giant's board of directors was hearing that its top candidate for CEO could be implicated in a probe of insider trading at a major hedge fund. Seeking clarity, the board engaged the lawyer many considered the best in the business: Mary Jo White.

White swiftly lived up to her reputation, setting Morgan Stanley's board at ease. According to a report later prepared by the Senate Finance Committee, she emailed and then spoke by phone with the agency's chief of enforcement and learned that the board's CEO choice, John Mack, was most likely in the clear. The SEC investigation -- which had seemed to be leading closer to Mack -- disappeared, and Mack took the helm at Morgan Stanley.

On Thursday, President Obama tapped White to run the SEC as its next commissioner, a powerful role as Wall Street's top regulator and cop. ... Read more

Wikileaks Was Just a Preview: We're Headed for an Even Bigger Showdown Over Secrets
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 03/22/13

I went yesterday to a screening of We Steal Secrets, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney's brilliant new documentary about Wikileaks. The movie is beautiful and profound, an incredible story that's about many things all at once. ... ... As Gibney pointed out in his movie, this is a Wizard of Oz moment, where we are being warned not to look behind the curtain ...

... What will we find out? We already know that our armies mass-murder women and children in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, that our soldiers joke about smoldering bodies from the safety of gunships, that some of our closest diplomatic allies starve and repress their own citizens, and we may even have gotten a glimpse or two of a banking system that uses computerized insider trading programs to steal from everyone who has an IRA or a mutual fund or any stock at all by manipulating markets like the NYSE. ... Read more

Adrian Lamo on Bradley Manning: 'I knew my actions might cost him his life'
The Guardian | Ed Pilkington | 01/03/13

More than two years after Manning's arrest, the man who gave him up talks to Ed Pilkington about how he made the decision ... Read more

Ex-Hacker Adrian Lamo Institutionalized, Diagnosed with Asperger's
Wired | Kevin Poulsen | 05/20/10

... When Lamo was finally discharged to his parents' house on May 7, he left the hospital with a new diagnosis. At 29 years old Lamo learned he has Asperger's Disorder.

"It's kind of a surprise that it took me until almost 30 to find I had a particular disorder and get proper treatment for it," Lamo says.

Sometimes called the "geek syndrome," Asperger's is a mild form of autism that makes social interactions difficult, and can lead to obsessive, highly focused behavior.   There are no reliable figures on how many people have Asperger's, but anecdotally a lot of them are drawn into the computer field, particularly the logic-heavy world of coding. BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has diagnosed himself with the disorder, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates is frequently speculated to have it. ... Read more

The Geek Syndrome | Asperger's syndrome
Nick is building a universe on his computer. He's already mapped out his first planet: an anvil-shaped world called Denthaim that is home to gnomes and gods, along with a three-gendered race known as kiman. As he tells me about his universe, Nick looks up at the ceiling, humming fragments of a melody over and over. "I'm thinking of making magic a form of quantum physics, but I haven't decided yet, actually," he explains. The music of his speech is pitched high, alternately poetic and pedantic - as if the soul of an Oxford don has been awkwardly reincarnated in the body of a chubby, rosy-cheeked boy from Silicon Valley. Nick is 11 years old.

Nick's father is a software engineer, and his mother is a computer programmer. They've known that Nick was an unusual child for a long time. He's infatuated with fantasy novels, but he has a hard time reading people. Clearly bright and imaginative, he has no friends his own age. His inability to pick up on hidden agendas makes him easy prey to certain cruelties, as when some kids paid him a few dollars to wear a ridiculous outfit to school.

One therapist suggested that Nick was suffering from an anxiety disorder. Another said he had a speech impediment. Then his mother read a book called Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. In it, psychologist Tony Attwood describes children who lack basic social and motor skills, seem unable to decode body language and sense the feelings of others, avoid eye contact, and frequently launch into monologues about narrowly defined - and often highly technical - interests. Even when very young, these children become obsessed with order, arranging their toys in a regimented fashion on the floor and flying into tantrums when their routines are disturbed. As teenagers, they're prone to getting into trouble with teachers and other figures of authority, partly because the subtle cues that define societal hierarchies are invisible to them.


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, March 27 [12:21]
Inside the Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Supreme Court Case: Recordings of Oral Arguments, Part 1 (03/27/13) [7:22], Part 2 [14:31], Part 3 [12:41]
*Park Avenue: money, power and the American dream - Why Poverty? (01/05/13) [59:03]
740 Park Ave, New York City, is home to some of the wealthiest Americans. Across the Harlem River, 10 minutes to the north, is the other Park Avenue in South Bronx, where more than half the population needs food stamps and children are 20 times more likely to be killed. In the last 30 years, inequality has rocketed in the US -- the American Dream only applies to those with money to lobby politicians for friendly bills on Capitol Hill.
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Sheila Bair Takes on the Banks, (03/22/13) [22:20]
The former FDIC chair joins Bill to talk about American banks' manipulative practices and seeming immunity from real scrutiny or prosecution.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Understanding International Tax Havens (Cyprus) 03/27/13 [1hr]
New Documentary
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (trailer) (2013) [3:01]
Interview with Alex Gibney: We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks. (02/06/13) [34:12]
Hackers Wanted! is an unreleased American documentary film (2008) [1:25:46]
Directed and written by Sam Bozzo, the film explores the origins and nature of hackers and hacking by following the adventures of Adrian Lamo, and contrasting his story with that of controversial figures throughout history. The film is narrated by Kevin Spacey.

Originally named "Can You Hack It?" The film failed to get a conventional release, according to Lamo, because of conflicts between its producer and others on the team. The more commonly cited reason is a problem with the quality of the finished product. On May 20, 2010, a version of the film was leaked to BitTorrent. Lamo has stated that he had no involvement in the leak. "It's ironic that a film about overcoming barriers, about new technologies, about thinking differently, had to come to the public eye by being hacked out of the hands of people who, after making a film about the free flow of information, tried to lock away that information forever.
60 Minutes
60 Minutes | Nile Crocodiles: Diving with a deadly predator (03/24/13) [14:10]
PBS | Frontline
*PBS Nova Mind of a Rampage Killer (re-aired 03/__/13) [52:53]
After Newtown. (12/22/12) [52:37]
PBS Frontline | Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown. (re-aired 03/__/13) [54:46]
TYT News
*TYT | Cyprus Bailout, & Disastrous Financial Derivatives. (03/25/13) [3:41]
TYT | If Dems Can't Win On Gun Control, What CAN They Win On? (03/25/13) [5:07]
*TYT | SEC Nom's HUGE Conflict of Interest - Protect The Bankers? (03/24/13) [3:57]
*TYT | A Cheap Solution to the Clean Water Problem? (03/23/13) [3:17]
TYT | Bill Gates Offers 100k For Best Condom Ever. (03/25/13) [2:20]
Other Videos and Documentaries
PBS NOVA | Can I Eat That? (11/31/12) [53:37]
What Next After Newtown: What our Country and Communities Can Do. (12/22/12) [2:37:15]
Streamed live on Dec 22, 2012
(Video starts at 1:25 mark) SATURDAY, Dec. 22, 3-6pm (check local listings). In a live-broadcast, WNET-Thirteen in a Public Television special event continued the coverage of the Newtown shootings with hosts Jeff Greenfield, Maria Hinojosa, Susie Gharib and Scott Simon. Looking for long-term solutions and answers, the show provides an in-depth analysis of such issues as accessibility of weapons, violence in the media, talking to children and finding a path to healing, school security, public policy and mental illness, as well as the mind of troubled shooters.

Tuesday March 26, 2013
News Articles

Rat may have caused Fukushima blackout, say officials
TheGuardian | AP | 03/20/13

A power cut at Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant this week may have been caused by a rat, according to officials.   Masayuki Ono, spokesman for Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Company), the utility that runs the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said a 6-inch rodent was found dead near a switchboard. He said the rat might be linked to the power failure. ... Read more

*Bill Moyers: Are the Monster Banks on the Verge of Unleashing Fresh Economic Disaster?
AlterNet | Bill Moyers | 03/24/13

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the question of the week: are the banks -- banks too big to fail and too big to jail -- are these monsters courting another disaster?   That's what it looks like. As you no doubt heard, last week, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a report and hauled in key executives from JP Morgan Chase -- the world's biggest derivatives trader -- demanding to know how the bank blew 6.2 billion dollars in funny money -- I mean, derivatives -- and hid the losses with some fancy accounting tricks aimed at fooling both regulators and the public.

Senator Carl Levin, the Chairman, bluntly summed up what they found out: "It exposes a derivatives trading culture at JP Morgan that piled on risk, hid losses, disregarded risk limits, manipulated risk models, dodged oversight, and misinformed the public." ... Read more

The Global Stagflation-O-Meter Brings Even More Bad News For Cyprus
ZeroHedge | author | 03/26/13

Even more bad news for Cyprus, which now has not only a depression to look forward to but a depressionary stagflation to boot. Bloomberg has ranked countries based on their risk of stagflation based on the following methodology: First, the average real Gross Domestic Product and average Consumer Price Index was calculated for each country from 2012 to 2014. Then the Stagflation Score was determined by multiplying average real GDP by average CPI if the average real GDP was negative or by dividing average real GDP by average CPI if the average real GDP was positive. The lower the score, the greater the risk of stagflation. The winner, or loser at the case may be? Cyprus was found to be most at risk of stagflation with a Stagflation Score of -4.733, followed by Portugal (-2.671), Italy (-2.133), Spain(-1.745) and Greece (-1.366). Switzerland was ranked least at risk with a score of (7.560), followed by China (2.612) and Japan (2.446). ... Read more
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Can We Save More Than Four Million Children's Lives In the Next 1,000 Days?
HP | Ray Chambers | 03/26/13

On December 31, 2015, 1,000 days from April 6, we'll reach the deadline for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. These goals represent the most important effort to improve lives in history, endorsed by leaders from 193 countries and 23 international agencies, and they include three that are dedicated to global health, focused largely on children under five and pregnant mothers. ... Read more

North Korea orders artillery to be combat ready, targeting U.S. bases
Reuters | author |03/26/13

North Korea said on Tuesday its strategic rocket and long-range artillery units have been ordered to be combat ready, targeting U.S. military bases on Guam, Hawaii and mainland America after U.S. bombers flew sorties threatening the North.   The order, issued in a statement from the North's military "supreme command", marks the latest fiery rhetoric from Pyongyang since the start of joint military drills by U.S. and South Korean forces early this month. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, March 26 [13:56]
DN | Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz Criticized For Backing Fracking & Nuclear Power; Ties to BP, GE, Saudis (03/26/13) [13:42]
I wonder if they catch the locus to eat before or after they are sprayed?
Locusts Invade Israel, First Ravaging Crops in Egypt (03/23/13) [1:34]
TRNN News
*TRNN | James Henry: Cyprus Crisis Reveals Shadowy World of Tax and Money Laundering Haven (03/26/13) [17:26]
Fukushima & Japan's Nuclear Waste
Fukushima Blackout Update 3/19/13: Cooling restored at 2 Fukushima reactors (03/19/13) [2:04]
*Fukushima Update - Possible Earthquake (03/18/13) [1:15]
Fukushima Update - Interesting (03/23/13) [4:09]
Japan's Nuclear Waste: Managing a Lethal Legacy (03/23/13) [48:41]
EuroNews | Roof collapses at Chernobyl nuclear power plant (repeat) (02/13/13) [0:30]
Chernobyl - New Radiation Shield (11/28/12 [2:29]
Chernobyl 25 years on (01/17/11) [9:07]
Chernobyl's Children - Belarus (older 02/27/08) [7:47]
Michael Ruppert - 9/11 and the Cheney Conspiracy
*Media Mayhem : 9/11 and the Cheney Conspiracy with Michael Ruppert. Part 2 (03/05/13) [49:24]
9/11 Ten Years Later
9/11 - Uncovering Ten Years Of Deception, The Toronto Hearings - 2011 (Full Length) (12/27/12) [5:14:33]
How to Prosecute the 9/11 War Crimes - Panel Discussion at the 9/11 Revisited Conference in Malaysia (12/05/12) [1:25:03]
Just for Fun - Making Of "The Hobbit
Making Of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Full | All of Production Blogs (12/02/12) [1:52:24]
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (Full Official Soundtrack) [3:40:32]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday March 25, 2013
News Articles

Cyprus Salvaged After EU Deal Shuts Bank to Get $13B
Bloomberg | Rebecca Christie | 03/25/13

Cyprus dodged a disorderly default and unprecedented exit from the euro by bowing to demands from creditors to shrink its banking system in exchange for 10 billion euros ($13 billion) of aid.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades agreed to shut the country's second-largest bank under pressure from a German-led bloc in a night-time negotiating melodrama that threatened to rekindle the debt crisis and rattle markets. ... Read more
Cyprus Salvaged After EU Deal Shuts Bank to Get $13B (03/25/13) [3:24]

The Drought That Ravaged US Crops Is Only Going to Get Worse
MotherJones | Suzanne Goldenberg | 03/22/13

This story first appeared on the Guardian website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The historic drought that laid waste to America's grain and corn belt is unlikely to ease before the middle of this year, a government forecast warned on Thursday.

The annual spring outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted hotter, drier conditions across much of the US, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, where farmers have been fighting to hang on to crops of winter wheat.   The three-month forecast noted an additional hazard, however, for the midwest: with heavy, late snows setting up conditions for flooding along the Red and Souris rivers in North Dakota. ... Read more

The 147 People Destroying the World
AlterNet | Richard (R.J.) Eskow | 03/25/13

Can 147 people perpetuate economic injustice -- and make it even worse? Can they subvert the workings of democracy, both abroad and here in the United States? Can 147 people hijack the global economy, plunder the environment, build a world for themselves that serves the few and deprives the many? ...

... Derivatives, the Sequel: Four short years after too-big-to-fail banks nearly destroyed the world economy, as the nation continues to suffer the after-effects of the crisis they created, a Congressional committee moved to undo the already-insufficient safeguards in the Dodd/Frank law. ... Read more

*One Nation Under The Gun: Thousands Of Gun Deaths Since Newtown
HP | Jason Cherkis | 03/22/13

... In the first week after the Newtown, Conn., massacre on Dec. 14, more than 100 people in the U.S. were killed by guns. In the first seven weeks, that number had risen to at least 1,285 gunshot killings and accidental deaths. A little more than three months after Newtown, there have been 2,244. ... Read more
Click to zoom



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, March 25 [15:09]
*DN | A People's Revolt in Cyprus: Richard Wolff on Protests Against EU Plan To Seize Bank Savings (03/25/13) [12:18]
DN | Capitalism in Crisis: Richard Wolff Urges End to Austerity, New Jobs Program, Democratizing Work (03/25/13) [15:39]
Click to zoom
TRNN News
*TRNN | Bill Black: Standard Chartered admits to fraud, no one fired or prosecuted; Cypriot people force government to give up on taxing smaller depositors. (03/25/13) [13:16]
TRNN | James K. Gailbraith and Leo Panitch: Is a New 'New Deal' Possible? Part 1 (03/20/13) [20:23], Part 2 [22:09], Part 3 [13:29]
Aljazeera News
Aljazeera | Drought has Indian farmers drowning in debt. (03/23/13) [2:19]
911, Al-Qaeda, Iraq War & Dick Cheney
The World According to Dick Cheney (trailer) (03/16/13) [3:25]
*No End in Sight Iraq's Descent Into Chaos (older but good) [1:41:54]
10th Anniversary Of The Iraq War SteveTalks (03/19/13) [11:15]
In this exposè, former Dep. Asst. Secretary of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik discusses the Iraq war and makes his indictment of parties involved in the most self-destructive war we've ever committed.
Thom Hartmann
Brunch with Bernie: March 22, 2013 [36:17]
The Coming Economic Crash (03/19/13) [10:59]
Time For a Debt Jubilee? (03/20/13) [6:52]
Other Videos and Documentaries
DN | "Kill Anything That Moves": New Book Exposes Hidden Crimes of the War Kerry, Hagel Fought in Vietnam (01/15/13) [18:40]
Oklahoma City Bombing
Terror From Within- The Untold Story Behind The Oklahoma City Bombing [1:29:18]
Timothy McVeigh: Biography [43:40]
Oklahoma Bomb: The Conspiracy Files (2007) BBC [59:00]
Oklahoma City, What Really Happened? [1:16:26]
Oklahoma City Bombing Forerunner [1:48:09]
Oklahoma City Bombing - The Cover-Up [1:47:58]
Conspiracy 7/11 - Oklahoma City Bombing [44:44]
Zero Hour | The Massacre at Columbine High | 2004 [46:53]
Videos About Israel
BBC | Israel and Palestine - the truth () [58:22]
Line Of Fire - The Six Day War () [48:52]
BBC | Film That Exposed Israel's Secret Illegal Nuclear Weapons () [44:14]
Mossad in America
9/11 September 11th - Jewish Agents - Mossad in America Part 1 [5:00], Part 2 [5:29], Part 3 [4:12], Part 4 [4:34]
Mossad Truck Bombs on Sept 11
9-11 Mossad 'Mural Van' - NYPD Radio Transmission [7:26]
9/11 - Missing Links [2:07:06]
9/11 - In Plane Sight - Directors Cut [1:12:12]

Friday March 22, 2013
News Articles

Former Halliburton Subsidiary Received $39.5 Billion In Iraq-Related Contracts Over The Past Decade
BusinessInsider | Angelo Young | 03/19/13

The accounting of the financial cost of the nearly decade-long Iraq War will go on for years, but a recent analysis has shed light on the companies that made money off the war by providing support services as the privatization of what were former U.S. military operations rose to unprecedented levels.

Private or publicly listed firms received at least $138 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for government contracts for services that included providing private security, building infrastructure and feeding the troops. ...

... The No. 1 recipient?   Houston-based energy-focused engineering and construction firm KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), which was spun off from its parent, oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), in 2007. ... Read more

Big Banks Offer Payday Loans At 300 Percent Interest
HP | Mark GongloffMark Gongloff | 03/21/13

Step aside, Tony Soprano: Big banks will now lend money at 300 percent interest without threatening to break a leg.   Then again, the payday loans some big banks are offering can have other ill effects, such as financial ruin, according to a new study by the Center for Responsible Lending. Even as public anxiety grows about the dangers of payday lending, with 15 states recently banning the practice, many big banks are offering the service to their customers. ... Read more

Rep. Alan Grayson: Paul Ryan wants sick poor people to die fast
RawStory | Eric W. Dolan | 03/12/13

Rep. Alan Grayson, a notably blunt Democrat from Florida, blasted House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday night.   While discussing the Republican congressman's latest budget proposal on Current TV, Grayson accused Ryan of wishing a large swath of Americans would die.

"In one case after another, you look at his principles, you look at his vision, and they're a nightmare for America," he said. "He wants Americans to work until they die, he wants poor people who get sick not be able to see a doctor, not to get the care they need, not to get better, he wants them to die, and he wants an America that consists of nothing but cheap labor for his corporate patrons." ... Read more

10 Years After the Invasion: America Destroyed Iraq But Our War Crimes Remain Unacknowledged and Unpunished
AlterNet | Nicolas J.S. Davies | 03/15/13

Since the end of the Second World War, American political leaders and opinion-makers have led the public to believe that the aggressive use of overt and covert military force are essential tools of US foreign policy. As we reel from one military disaster to the next, sending our loved ones off to war, killing millions of innocent people and destabilizing one region after another, each new administration assures us that it has learned the lessons of the past and deserves our support and sacrifice for its latest military strategy.

But the web of myths, euphemisms and ever-growing secrecy behind which our leaders feel compelled to hide their war policies belies their claims to have learned the lessons of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else. The brave efforts of Julian Assange, Wikileaks and Bradley Manning to let us honestly examine the record for ourselves and draw our own conclusions are met with vindictive terror in the halls of power.

Forty years after the last U.S. troops came home in defeat from Vietnam, Nick Turse's book, Kill Anything That Moves, has documented the systematic slaughter that thousands of American soldiers took part in and millions of Vietnamese suffered. Turse has restored the lived reality of millions of people to its rightful place in American history, from which it had simply been redacted and suppressed. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, March 22 [11:56]
*TheGuardian | James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq. (03/15/13) [51:08]
The full length version of 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq.
Or view the video at The Guardian
TRNN | Maggie O'Kane, Executive Producer: tells the story revealed by the Guardian documentary about the role of Col. James Steele in supporting torture, death squads and brutal sectarian conflict during the height of the Iraq war. (03/15/13) [16:28]
The World According to Dick Cheney (03/16/13) [1:49:22]
No End in Sight Iraq's Descent Into Chaos [1:41:54]
Obama's Trip to Middle East News
Obama in Israel: 'Peace Must Come to Holy Land' (03/21/13) [5:57]
JewishNewsOne | President Obama's keynote speech in Israel (03/22/13) [4:32]
American President Barack Obama's Speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center in Israel (full) (03/21/13) [50:46]
Short Insightful/interesting Videos
TRNN News
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: Cyprus should let the private banks fail and create a public bank that focuses on strengthening the real economy. (03/21/13) [18:21]
TYT News
TYT | Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Worse Than ACTA? (older, but good) [6:35]
Why does something that is suppose to be go good have to be so secret?
"The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the son of ACTA, a secretive copyright and trade treaty being negotiated by the Pacific Rim nations, including the USA and Canada. As with ACTA, the secretive negotiation process means that the treaty's provisions represent an extremist corporate agenda where due process, privacy and free expression are tossed out the window in favor of streamlined copyright enforcement. If this passes, America will have a trade obligation to implement all the worst stuff in SOPA, and then some...".
The Guardian | The Pacific free trade deal that's anything but free
Current | Viewpoint: Rasheda Ali talk about Stem Cell research. (good) (03/01/13) [6:53]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 03/22/13 [1hr]
International News - Friday 03/22/13 [1hr]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday March 21, 2013
News Articles

Rat may have caused Fukushima blackout, say officials
TheGuardian | AP | 03/20/13

A power cut at Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant this week may have been caused by a rat, according to officials.   Masayuki Ono, spokesman for Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Company), the utility that runs the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said a 6-inch rodent was found dead near a switchboard. He said the rat might be linked to the power failure. ... Read more

White House Petition: Make Lawmakers Wear Logos Of Financial Backers On Clothing, Like In NASCAR
HP | Nick Wing | 03/20/13

From the depths of the White House's "We the People" petition website comes this cause created on Tuesday, hoping to force congressional lawmakers to prominently display their financial backers and monetary support from various lobbies. ... Read more

Starbucks CEO: 'I Am A Supporter Of The Minimum Wage Going Up'

Freddie Mac Unaware Of Homeowner Complaints, Inspector General Concludes
HP | Ben Hallman | 03/21/13

For more than five years, many homeowners who complained about mortgage industry foreclosure abuses have wondered whether anyone with a financial stake in keeping them in their home was paying attention. On Thursday, with the release of a new report from a federal watchdog, they got their answer: No.

Four of the largest bank servicers -- Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Provident -- reported no escalated cases to Freddie Mac, despite handling more than 20,000 over a 14-month period, according to the report. Freddie Mac examiners did not notice that the mortgage companies were failing to disclose the complaints, nor did the FHFA, which relied on "incomplete" Fannie Mae examinations, the report concludes. The FHFA oversees the bailed out lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. ... Read more

Nine Pollution Picture Perfect Days In Beijing



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, March 21 [10:02]
DN | Exclusive: Dying Iraq War Veteran Tomas Young Explains Decision to End His Life (03/21/13) [18:58]
*DN | Exclusive: Dying Iraq War Veteran Tomas Young Reads "Last Letter" to President Bush and Dick Cheney (03/21/13) [9:01]
DN | Phil Donahue on His 2003 Firing From MSNBC, When Liberal Network Couldn't Tolerate Antiwar Voices (03/21/13) [5:48]
Insightful Short Videos
Bush Administration Officials Face Public Shaming On 10th Anniversary Of Iraq War (03/20/13) [4:39]
Cutting Medicare to fix budget is like invading Iraq when you were attacked by 15 Saudis (03/20/13) [3:12]
TRNN News
*Michael Hudson: Solution to Student Debt is to Get the Banks Out of the Education Business (03/21/13) [11:39]
Crippling student debt, which is also a drag on the whole ecnonomy, developed as governments pushed the burden of higher education costs onto students and pushed them into the arms of the banks
*TRNN | James K. Gailbraith and Leo Panitch: Is a New "New Deal' Possible? Part 1 (03/20/13) [20:23], Part 2 [22:09]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Cyprus And EU Bailouts 03/21/13 [1hr]
Yet More Insightful Short Videos
Rep Grayson: Just Cancel the Sequester (03/19/13) [1:58]
Rep Grayson: 26 TRILLION Dollars In Bank Bailouts - Not Including TARP (old, but good) [7:32]
Rep Grayson: Republicans Are Doing The Work Of The People Who Own (03/12/13) [2:16]
Alan Grayson: "Paul Ryan Wants Americans To Work Until They Die & Poor Americans Who Get Sick To Die (03/12/13) [8:09]
Rep Grayson: "Why Democrats Love The Paul Ryan Budget" (03/20/13) [9:20]
Other Videos and Documentaries
Off the grid-Life on the Mesa [1:06:22]
Off the Grid - Documentary 2012 [1:00:26]
Rocket Stove Heater in RV [4:40]
Rocket Stove Heater in RV [9:55]
There is a lot of good information on rocket stoves online. A Google search on "rocket stove" or "rocket mass heater" will yield good results but http://www.rocketstove.org is probably the best place to start. There is also an excellent book called Rocket Mass Heaters available for purchase in PDF format at http://www.rocketstove.org.
Mini Rocket stove heater [13:03]
Doomsday Preppers
Doomsday Preppers S02E02 - am I nuts or are you [45:00]
Doomsday Preppers S02E06 - You've Got Chaos [45:00]
Doomsday Preppers S02E07 - Escape From New York [45:00]
Doomsday Preppers S02E08 - [45:00]
Doomsday Preppers S02E10 - In the Hurt Locker [45:00]
Doomsday Preppers S02E11 - Prepper's Paradise [45:10]
Doomsday Preppers S02E13 - Solutions Not Problems [45:09]
Doomsday Preppers S02E14 - Pain is Good [45:08]
Doomsday Preppers S02E15 - A Fortress at Sea [44:59]
How to Build A Nuclear Submarine [59:12]

Wednesday March 20, 2013
News Articles

America's Lost Decade in Iraq: A Marine Officer Looks Back
TheDailyBeast | Benjamin Busch | 03/19/13

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of our second invasion of Iraq, and the questions that were never answered about our nearly nine-year occupation are no longer being asked. Americans, our allies, and the Iraqi people are still owed an honest answer from the leaders who created the war and kept us in it: why were we there?

Hundreds of thousands of Americans protested at the start of the war, but bombing inevitably began on March 19, 2003. The next day U.S. and British forces drove through a breach in the high berm dividing Kuwait from Iraq. I entered as part of the invasion force sent to disarm Iraq. Colin Powell told the U.N. that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was linked to 9/11. Rumsfeld said we would be done within a few months at a cost of around $50 billion. Paul Wolfowitz said Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction with oil revenue. Dick Cheney said we would be greeted as liberators. President Bush declared an end to major combat operations 44 days later under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished." We were not briefed on a post-hostilities plan, and even Saddam Hussein managed to evade capture for another seven months. ... Read more

*Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
MotherJones | Jonathan Stein | 2006

AT A CONGRESSIONAL hearing examining the march to war in Iraq, Republican congressman Walter Jones posed "a very simple question" about the administration's manipulation of intelligence: "How could the professionals see what was happening and nobody speak out?"   Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, responded with an equally simple answer: "The vice president."

But the blame for Iraq does not end with Cheney, Bush, or Rumsfeld. Nor is it limited to the intelligence operatives who sat silent as the administration cherry-picked its case for war, or with those, like Colin Powell or Hans Blix, who, in the name of loyalty or statesmanship, did not give full throat to their misgivings. ... Read more

Tomas Young, Dying Iraq War Veteran, Pens 'Last Letter' To Bush, Cheney On War's 10th Anniversary (featured in documentary "Body of War")
HP | Nick Wing | 03/19/13

Days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Tomas Young, then a 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., made a decision repeated by many other Americans around the country: He was going to enlist in the military in hopes of getting even with the enemies who had helped coordinate the deaths of nearly 3,000 men, women and children.

Less than three years later, Young's Army service placed him not in Afghanistan -- where then-President George W. Bush had told the nation the terrorist plot had originated -- but in Iraq. On April 4, 2004, just five days into his first tour, Young's convoy was attacked by insurgents. A bullet from an AK-47 severed his spine. ... Read more
Click to zoom

Last Letter to Bush and Cheney @ Truthdig.com

Wall Street Deregulation Garners Bipartisan Support Despite Devastating JPMorgan Report
HP | Zach Carter | 03/19/13

A bipartisan cadre of House lawmakers will move on legislation to deregulate Wall Street derivatives Wednesday, less than a week after Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) released a devastating report on the multibillion-dollar derivatives debacle at JPMorgan Chase.

"The road to hell is paved with these bills," said Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), an advocate of financial reform. ... Read more

The Disturbing History of One of the Pentagon's Most Expensive Flying Turkeys
AlterNet | Jeremiah Goulka | 03/10/13

... So what did Lockheed do about the fate of the C-130? It bypassed the Pentagon and went straight to Congress. Using a procedure known as a congressional "add-on" -- that is, an earmark -- Lockheed was able to sell the military another fleet of C-130s that it didn't want. ...

... the Air Force did request some C-130s. Thanks to Senator John McCain, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) did a study of how many more C-130s the Air Force requested between 1978 and 1998. The answer: Five. How many did Congress add on? Two hundred and fifty-six. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, March 20 [12:36]
*DN | Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed State Living in "Utter Devastation" (03/20/13) [13:18]
*DN | Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq With Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers (03/20/13) [11:51]
*DN | Brokers of Deceit: As Obama Visits Israel, Scholar Rashid Khalidi on How the U.S. Undermines Peace (03/20/13) [18:26]
Body of War by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro
Tomas Young, Dying Iraq War Veteran, Pens 'Last Letter' To Bush, Cheney On War's 10th Anniversary
"Body of War" movie, Part 1[9:53], Part 2 [10:09], Part 3 [10:00], Part 4 [10:01], Part 5 [10:03], Part 6 [10:06], Part 7 [9:40], Part 8 [10:07], Part 9 [9:53]
Web site
Bill Moyers interview on "Body of War" with Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro
*Iraq War Infographics
costsofwar.org website
Click to zoom
Click to zoom
Click to zoom
TRNN News
*TRNN | James K. Gailbraith and Leo Panitch: Is a New "New Deal' Possible? (03/20/13) [20:23]
TYT News
*TYT | How Much Does it Cost to Win an Election? (03/18/13) [5:42]
TYT | Factory Farm Animal Abuse Video Ban Pushed by Lobbyists (03/18/13) [5:49]
TYT | Corporations Get Rich off Children with Charter Schools (03/17/13) [4:39], Salon article
TYT | Tesla (electric car company) Pays Back Government Loan 5 Years Early (03/17/13) [2:30]
TYT | Progressives Challenging Obama's Drone Strike Legality (03/17/13) [7:11]
<--Goes with article on the left
NatGeo | Megastructure | Air Force Transport C-5A (bigger brother to C-130) (12/12/11) [47:10]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Tuesday March 19, 2013
News Articles

*Iraq War Media Failure Can Happen Again
HP | Michael Calderone | 03/19/13

Major news organizations have retracted or re-examined pre-war stories, while "liberal hawks" churned out mea culpas. There's now a small canon of books and TV specials chronicling the press failure, including Michael Massing's Now They Tell Us, Greg Mitchell's So Wrong For So Long, and Bill Moyers' "Buying The War."

Such criticism is well-deserved, given that the U.S. media -- with a few notable exceptions -- helped promote the Bush administration's flimsy case for invading a country that had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, thus beginning a nine-year war that killed more than 115,000 Iraqi civilians and 4,488 U.S. service members. ... Read more

*A Decade Later, Iraq Still A Bloody Mess: 57 Killed Today...
HP | Adam Schreck | 03/19/13

A wave of bombings tore through the Baghdad area Tuesday, killing 57 people on eve of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion and showing how unstable Iraq remains more than a year after the withdrawal of American troops.

Violence has ebbed sharply since the peak of Sunni-Shiite fighting that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007. But insurgents maintain the ability to stage high-profile attacks while sectarian and ethnic rivalries continue to tear at the fabric of national unity. ... Read more

Iraq: War's legacy of cancer
Aljazeera | Dahr Jamail | 03/15/13

Contamination from Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions and other military-related pollution is suspected of causing a sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases, and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq.

Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates. ... Read more

5 Exciting Verdicts: Occupy Keeps Winning in Court
care2.com | Kevin Mathews | 03/16/13

While Occupy might not be grabbing as many headlines as of late, many of the cases from previous years' incidents are finally reaching their conclusions in court. The good news is that the outcomes are overwhelmingly in favor of the activists, showing that even if the police and state are seemingly going above and beyond to obstruct dissent, the courts are paying more attention to the Constitution.

  1. Last week, a jury acquitted a dozen Philadelphia Occupy activists charged with conspiracy and trespassing for holding a sit-in at a Wells Fargo bank.
  2. Michael Premo was found innocent in New York City's first Occupy trial to go before a jury. Police had trumped up charges against Premo, alleging he had rushed at an officer and knocked him over, breaking one of the officer's bones.
  3. Seven members of Occupy Austin who faced significant prison time had their sentences reduced to time served. Although their crime -- chaining themselves to PVC pipe at the Port of Houston -- was a peaceful act of civil disobedience, they were still facing felony charges.
  4. In Chicago, 92 Occupy activists arrested in a raid at Grant Park had their cases summarily dismissed. Judge Thomas Donnelly found that the park's supposed curfew law was enforced rarely and inconsistently, meaning the police's crackdown was a targeted attempt to infringe on First Amendment Rights.
  5. A similar case in Cleveland, Ohio may have opened the door for another occupation. Two activists who were found guilty of staying overnight in a park in defiance of the park's curfew contested the case to the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals. This court agreed that the initial decision ignored these individuals' First Amendment rights and overturned the ruling.
Read more

Whole Foods Market, the grocery story chain, has made the stunning announcement that labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs) will be required on all products sold in the company's 339 stores within five years.
care2.com | Ocean Robbins | 03/18/13

Making the historic declaration, Whole Foods Co-Chief Executive Walter Robb stated: "This is an issue whose time has come… With cases like horse meat discovered in the U.K., plastic in milk in China, the recalls of almond and peanut butter in the U.S., customers have a fundamental right to know what's in their food." ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, March 19 [12:47]
*DN | "We've Lost Our Country": An Iraqi American Looks Back on a Decade of War That's Devastated a Nation (03/19/13) [11:59]
*DN | The Costs of War: 10 Years After Iraq Invasion, New Study Tallies the Massive Human, Financial Toll (03/19/13) [15:12]
On the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we look at a massive new report by a team of 30 economists, anthropologists, political scientists, legal experts and physicians about the Iraq War's impact. "The Costs of War" report found the total number of people who have died from the Iraq War -- including soldiers, militants, police, contractors, journalists, humanitarian workers and Iraqi civilians -- has reached at least 189,000 people, including at least 123,000 civilians. Financially, the report estimates a cost to U.S. taxpayers of $2.2 trillion, a figure that could one day approach $4 trillion with the interest accrued on the borrowed money used to fund the war.
TRNN News
*TRNN | Kevin Gallagher: Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) threatens national sovereignty, extends corporate rights, and targets China. (03/18/13) [10:03]
*TRNN | Lawrence Wilkerson: 10 Years After the War in Iraq, the Same Political Forces are Planning a War with Iran. (03/19/13) [10:25]
*TRNN | Michael Ratner: The New York Times and "Liberal Media" Helped Sell the Iraq War. (03/19/13) [16:56]
When Do We Start The War Crimes Trial?
"Bush/Cheney Lied Us Into Iraq War" Rachel Maddow (trailer?) [11:14]
*Rachel Maddow | Hubris (current and good) (Full Movie) [44:11]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Choosing Efficient And Effective Charities 03/19/13 [1hr]
Tiny House
Video [3:10]
Rowdykittens.com Tiny House (article/website)
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday March 18, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*Iraq 10 Years Later: The Deadly Consequences of Spin
MotherJones | David Corn | 03/18/13

One night, more than a decade ago, I was a guest on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show along with Bill Kristol, the godfather (or son-of-the-godfather) of the neoconservative movement. The subject: What to do about Iraq? The Bush administration had begun pounding the drums for war, claiming, as Vice President Dick Cheney had put it, that there was "no doubt" tyrant Saddam Hussein was "amassing" weapons of mass destruction "to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." As one of the few political analysts on television to question the rush to war, I noted that WMD inspections in Iraq could be useful in preventing Saddam from reaching the "finish line" in developing nuclear weapons. Kristol responded by exclaiming, "He's past that finish line! He's past the finish line!"

Saddam wasn't--as it turned out, he wasn't even in the race. ... Read more

Dick Cheney's not sorry
USA Today | Bruce Kluger | 03/17/13

On Friday, the Showtime network premiered its much-anticipated documentary The World According to Dick Cheney, a meticulous two-hour flashback to the eight-year reign of, arguably, the grumpiest vice president in U.S. history. The response to the landmark film has been nearly unanimous. While most critics agree that it is exhaustive (and, at 110 minutes, even exhausting), they likewise conclude that the mammoth undertaking is missing one crucial element: contrition.

the film features a full-frontal Cheney fielding hard-hitting questions on everything from waterboarding to infighting with President George W. Bush to his much alleged overreach for power. Yet, through it all, The Man from Wyoming remains unrepentant. "If you want to be loved," he remarks at one point, "go be a movie star."

We've known this about "Vice" for years. As his unofficial, unauthorized biographers (you can still buy our 2008 book, Young Dick Cheney: Great American ... on eBay), we learned early on that if you wanted answers from this dude -- honest, compelling, newsmaking answers -- you just had to make them up. ... Read more

Fish Near Fukushima Reportedly Contains High Cesium Level
AP & HP | Malcolm Foster | 03/17/13

The Japanese utility that owns the tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant says it has detected a record 740,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in a fish caught close to the plant.   That's 7,400 times the government limit for safe human consumption. ... Read more

Would You Rather Have Your Deposits Confiscated, Or Used By JPMorgan's Prop Trading Desk To Buy Stocks?
ZeroHedge | author | 03/18/13

At this point a question is in order: while in Cyprus, and soon probably elsewhere, the government will openly confiscate deposits to fund insolvent banking systems, in the US excess deposits are used by the prop desks of banks like JPMorgan to inflate risk assets, corner a bond market (IG9), and to generally create a wealth effect... for the 1%. ... Read more
Click to zoom

ZeroHedge
I found it interesting that all the initial articles found on ZeroHedge, and many of the other news outlets, are about the Cyprus Bailout? Such a small country!
Articles ZeroHedge were looking at 03/18/2013-07:41
  1. Cypriot Bank Levy Is 'Ominous' for Bondholders, Barclays Says (BBG)
  2. Euro, Stocks Drops; Gold, German Bonds Rally on Cyprus (BBG)
  3. Total chaos:Cyprus tries to rework divisive bank tax (Reuters)
  4. More total chaos: Cyprus Prepares New Deposit-Tax Proposal (WSJ)
  5. Euro Slides Most in 14 Months on Cyprus Turmoil; Yen Strengthens (BBG)

Record U.S. Stocks at Lowest Valuation Since 1980
Bloomberg | Alexis Xydias | 03/18/13

Even after U.S. stocks more than doubled in the four-year bull market, companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index are cheaper than at any record high since 1980 as individual investors shun equities. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, March 18 [15:32]
*DN | Arundhati Roy on Iraq War's 10th: Bush May Be Gone, But "Psychosis" of U.S. Foreign Policy Prevails (03/18/13) [15:36], Part 2 [8:11]
DN | Steubenville Rape Trial: Blogger Who Exposed Case Speaks Out After Ohio Teens Found Guilty (03/18/13) [17:59]
Leaked Steubenville Big Red Rape Video (01/02/13) [12:29]
BB | Trillion-Dollar Liquid Gold Mine: Who Taps First? (03/18/13) [2:12]
SHOWTIME - Dick Cheney
*Showtime | Behind the Scenes: The World According To Dick Cheney (trailer) (03/01/13) [3:05]
MSNBC | Dick Cheney: "I have NO Regrets" (03/07/13) [8:56]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Remember climate change? The issue barely comes up with any substance in our current political dialogue. (03/15/13) [52:53]
Scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, joins Bill to describe his efforts to galvanize communities over what's arguably the greatest single threat facing humanity. Leiserowitz, who specializes in the psychology of risk perception, knows better than anyone if people are willing to change their behavior to make a difference.
PBS Frontline
PBS Frontline | Climate of Doubt (older but good 10/23/12) [53:47]
HBO Documentary
"American Winter": Documenting the downturn
Last winter, filmmakers and brothers Joe and Harry Gantz decided to document the lives of eight families in Portland, Ore., living outside of the middle class during this economic downturn.   The filmmakers found their families by teaming up with the nonprofit social services organization 211 in Portland, monitoring and recording calls from families in need of social services. The film, "American Winter," turned out to be a very vivid snapshot of what life was like for many formerly middle-class families. Families that, amid the deepest valley of the economic downturn, were having trouble keeping it all together.
*American Winter (Preview) (02/01/13) [4:52]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Empire : Iraq to Mali: The changing calculus of war (02/24/13) [47:33]
Myth of the "Clash of Civilizations"
Samuel Huntington on the 'Clash of Civilizations' [22:06]
International Arms Trade Treaty: Take a Good Look [2:27]
Tiny Home Builders
PBS | A look inside the tiny house movement [9:00]
*TINY a story about living small (trailer) (03/13-18/13) [2:38]
TINY a story about living small (interview) (03/13-18/13) [1:21:55]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Friday March 15, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 03/08/13

Our kids are being prepared for passive obedience, not creative, independent lives. ... Read more
Powell Memorandum

*Out of Control -- New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise
Naked Capitalism | David Dayen | 03/14/13

About JP Morgan Chase, Rosner writes, "we could not find another 'systemically important' domestic bank that has recently been subject to as many public, non-mortgage related, regulatory actions or consent orders."

Obviously this contrasts with Jamie Dimon's spotless reputation (at least in Washington) and his bold talk of a "fortress balance sheet." Yet as you read the report, it's hard to see the bank as anything but a criminal racket just days away from imploding, were it not propped up by implicit bailout guarantees and light-touch regulators. Rosner paints a picture of a corporation saddled with pervasive internal control problems, which end up costing shareholders, and which "could materially impact profitability in the future." He calculates that since 2009, JPM has paid out $8.5 billion in settlements for its outlaw activity, which equals nearly 12% of net income over the same period. ... Read more

*JPMorgan Report Piles Pressure on Dimon in Too-Big Debate
Bloomberg | Dawn Kopecki | 03/15/13

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)'s efforts to hide trading losses, outlined in a Senate report yesterday, probably will ignite debate over whether the largest U.S. bank is too big to manage and ratchet up pressure on Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon to surrender his role as chairman.

Dimon misled investors and dodged regulators as losses escalated on a "monstrous" derivatives bet, according to a 301-page report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The bank "mischaracterized high-risk trading as hedging," and withheld key information from its primary regulator, sometimes at Dimon's behest, investigators found. Managers manipulated risk models and pressured traders to overvalue their positions in an effort to hide growing losses. ... Read more
Click to zoom

Global-Tech: Betting Against American Workers
GlobalLabourRights.org | author | 09/27/12

Mr. Romney and Brookside Invest up to $23 Million in Global-Tech Sweatshop in China
"When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23.... And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room. Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them?.... And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers." ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, March 15 [13:41]
DN | Syrian Opposition Voice Says Country is Victim of a Global Proxy War. Part 1 (03/15/13) [10:46], Part 2 [16:57]
DN | Teaching Men Not to Rape: Survivor Zerlina Maxwell Defies Threats After Speaking Out on Fox News (03/15/13) [11:57]
Noam Chomsky
*Noam Chomsky "Public Education and The Common Good" (02/06/13) [47:46]
Noam Chomsky "Global Warming and The Common Good" (02/06/13) [21:53]
Banks - Getting the Attention They Deserve
*JPMorgan Report Piles Pressure on Dimon in Too-Big Debate (03/15/13) [35:06]
Bloomberg | Ina Drew Says London Team at JPMorgan Let Her Down (03/15/13) [2:45]
Wealth Inequality - Infovideos
TheGuardian | 99% v 1%: the data behind the Occupy movement - animation (11/18/11) [5:42]
TheGuardian | The Occupy Movement - Statistics behind the protests (11/15/11) [2:36]
What Is Occupy Wall Street About? (10/30/11) [1:31]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 03/15/13 [1hr]
International News - Friday 03/15/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq. (03/15/13) [51:08]
The full length version of 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq.
TRNN | Maggie O'Kane, Executive Producer: tells the story revealed by the Guardian documentary about the role of Col. James Steele in supporting torture, death squads and brutal sectarian conflict during the height of the Iraq war. (03/15/13) [16:28]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | The 9/11 Decade - The Intelligence War? (08/31/11) [47:13]
Immediately after 9/11, the US announced that 'the gloves were coming off' in the fight against al-Qaeda. In the first of three films on the aftermath of 9/11, we examine the highs and lows of the intelligence war.
Aljazeera | The 9/11 Decade - The Image War? (09/08/11) [47:19]
A PR stunt which killed thousands and launched a propaganda war that has, so far, lasted a decade. Since 9/11, how far has the US and al-Qaeda been prepared to go to win 'hearts and minds' with elaborate media strategies?
Aljazeera | The 9/11 Decade - The Clash of Civilizations? (09/11/11) [47:28]
A look behind the headline news of airstrikes and suicide bombings at the post-9/11 war for hearts and minds.
*Aljazeera | Argentina's Bad Seeds. The country's soy industry is booming but what is the impact of GMO soy production on Argentinians and the environment? (03/15/13) [27:00]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday March 14, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Chomsky: Corporations and the Richest Americans Viscerally Oppose Common Good
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 03/07/13

One of the great achievements of American democracy has been the introduction of mass public education, from children to advanced research universities. And in some respects that leadership position has been maintained. Unfortunately, not all. Public education is under serious attack, one component of the attack on any rational and humane concept of the Common Good, sometimes in ways that are not only shocking, but also spell disaster for the species.

Sometimes the attacks on education and on the Common Good are very closely linked. One current illustration is the "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act" that is being proposed to legislatures by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded lobby that designs legislation to serve the needs of the corporate sector and extreme wealth. This act mandates "balanced" teaching of climate science in K-12 classrooms."   "Balanced teaching" is a code phrase that refers to teaching climate change denial, to "balance" authentic climate science. ... Read more

Source of 47 Percent Video To Go Public
MotherJones | Monika Bauerlein | 03/12/13

On September 17, Mother Jones' David Corn broke a story that became a key factor in the presidential campaign, revealing video of GOP candidate Mitt Romney speaking candidly to donors at a $50,000-a-plate campaign fundraiser. In the video, Romney said that 47 percent of Americans.

Now the source himself has decided to go public: He will tell his story Wednesday night on MSNBC's The Ed Show. ... Read more

*The Disturbing History of One of the Pentagon's Most Expensive Flying Turkeys
AlterNet | Jeremiah Goulka | 03/10/13

... So what did Lockheed do about the fate of the C-130? It bypassed the Pentagon and went straight to Congress. Using a procedure known as a congressional "add-on" -- that is, an earmark -- Lockheed was able to sell the military another fleet of C-130s that it didn't want. ...

... the Air Force did request some C-130s. Thanks to Senator John McCain, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) did a study of how many more C-130s the Air Force requested between 1978 and 1998. The answer: Five. How many did Congress add on? Two hundred and fifty-six. ...

... Most of the dollars the company spends on lobbying are tax dollars. According to its 2011 annual report, "82% of our $46.5 billion in net sales were from the U.S. Government, including 61% from the Department of Defense." And don't forget that a significant part of the 17% of its sales that went to international customers in 2011 were actually paid for by Uncle Sam under the rubric of foreign military aid. Only 1% of its sales that year were to "U.S. commercial and other customers." Its CEO made $20,538,981, while the company paid only $722 million in net federal and foreign taxes in that same year. ...

... What will happen in this year's request? We don't know yet, because it's late in coming thanks to sequestration. But Lockheed isn't worried: even while threatening sequestration layoffs, the company forecasts record profits this year. ... Read more

TPP's Effects on the IP Law of Canada and Mexico
infojustice.org | Carrie Ellen Sager | 04/11/12

Comparison of the leaked IP provision in TPP and the currents hosts countries law.

Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, March 14 [13:52]
DN | Pope Francis: First Latin American, Jesuit Pope Picked to Head Church; Praised for Work with Poor (03/14/13) [9:04]
DN | Pope Francis' Junta Past: Argentine Journalist on New Pontiff's Ties to Abduction of Jesuit Priests (03/14/13) [22:37]
The Ed Show
*Ed Show | Scott Proudy, a bartender working Mitt Romney's fundraiser, talks about why he released the "47% Statement" video. Part 1 (03/14/13) [16:42], Part 2 [9:49], Part 3 [7:38], Part 4 [6:11]
Betting Against American Workers (article)
Ed Schultz Announces He Is Leaving 8 P.M. Slot On MSNBC (03/14/13) [1:55]
Jon Stewart
*Jon Steward: Fear Factory, By creating a convenient ecosystem, China's Foxconn draws in employees who earn 31 cents an hour working for 35 hours straight, thereby saving American companies money. (older but great) 01/16/12) [7:06]
TRNN News
TRNN | Senior Citizens and Disabled people say they're being abandoned by society, while energy companies threaten to raise cost of heating further. But energy companies are making greater profits. (03/13/13) [11:13]
TPP - Trans-Pacific Partnership
Since 2010, negotiations have been taking place for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposal for a significantly expanded version of TPSEP. The TPP is a proposed free trade agreement under negotiation by (as of December 2012) Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Japan has expressed its desire to become a negotiating partner, but not yet joined negotiations as the TPP became a major issue in Japan's 2012 election. South Korea was asked by the US to consider joining the TPP but declined for the time being.

The TPP is intended to be a "high-standard" agreement specifically aimed at emerging trade issues in the 21st century. These ongoing negotiations have drawn criticism and protest from the public, advocacy groups, and elected officials, in part due to the secrecy of the negotiations, the expansive scope of the agreement, and a number of controversial clauses in drafts leaked to the public.
Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis of TPP
TPP - Worse Than ACTA? [6:35]
Denise Kucinich: Trans-Pacific Partnership [2:30]
*Secret Deal: Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (03/07/13) [11:12]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Wednesday March 13, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*Kyle Bass Warns "The 'AIG' Of The World Is Back"
ZeroHwdge | author | 03/12/13

Kyle Bass, addressing Chicago Booth's Initiative on Global Markets last week, clarified his thesis on Japan in great detail, but it was the Q&A that has roused great concern. "The AIG of the world is back - I have 27 year old kids selling me one-year jump risk on Japan for less than 1bp - $5bn at a time... and it is happening in size." As he explains, the regulatory capital hit for the bank is zero (hence as great a return on capital as one can imagine) and "if the bell tolls at the end of the year, the 27-year-old kid gets a bonus... and if he blows the bank to smithereens, ugh, he got a paycheck all year." Critically, the bank that he bought the 'cheap options' from recently called to ask if he would close the position - "that happened to me before," he warns, "in 2007 right before mortgages cracked." His single best investment idea for the next ten years is, "Sell JPY, Buy Gold, and go to sleep," as he warns of the current situation in markets, "we are right back there! The brevity of financial memory is about two years." ... Read more

*Paul Ryan, master of illusion - or - Paul Ryan's magical budget
Washington Post | Dana Milbank | 03/12/13

Paul Ryan's budget is an amazing and wondrous document.   Not only does it balance the budget in 10 years while reducing tax rates, it also does so without any pain or suffering -- or even breaking a sweat. It achieves not just the longtime goals of policymakers -- "a safety net strengthened .?.?. retirement secured .?.?. a nation protected" -- but also brings about changes in human nature that have bedeviled civilization from the beginning of time. "This budget ends cronyism; eliminates waste, fraud and abuse," Ryan's plan promises.

"Now, how do we do this?" Ryan (R-Wis.), the House Budget Committee chairman, asked with a magician's flourish as he unveiled his budget Tuesday morning.   Here's how: The former Republican vice presidential candidate's budget eliminates ___ loopholes in the tax code, cutting the ___ and the ____ deductions. It reduces spending on the ____ program by _____ and the _____ program by _____. Retirees would see ____, students would experience ____ and the poor would be _____. ... Read more

Welcome to Ayn Rand Planet: Why the Rich Prosper from the Stock Market While We Get Screwed
AlterNet | Les Leopold | 03/11/13

How appropriate to be promoting Ayn Rand books just as the stock market and corporate profits both reached record highs. How appropriate to think of the infamous John Galt withdrawing from society in comfort while the rest of us face high unemployment, oppressive student loans, increasing healthcare costs, upside-down mortgages, and declining real incomes. But, according to Rand's philosophy, this is as it should be -- the wealthy getting all the rewards while the rest of us get nothing.

None of this is accidental. Our two-tiered economic recovery is the direct result of policies, or the lack thereof, that flow directly from Randian principles. If we don't do something soon, we'll all be living on Planet Rand.   Before exploring this Randian policy coup, let's be clear on who owns how much stock in America, and therefore who is benefiting most from the record rise in the equity markets. ... Read more

10 Worst People on Forbes 2013 Billionaires List
AlterNet | Lynn Stuart Parramore | 03/12/13

It will hardly come as a surprise that the rich got richer in 2013. Didn't happen to you, did it? The combined wealth of the world's billionaires hit an all-time high of 5.4 trillion, up from 4.6 trillion in 2012.

The Forbes list of billionaires is brimming over with oligarchs, monopolists, thugs, miscreants, and hustlers. Not to mention right-wingers, narcissists, and parasitic predators. The only thing missing is the king of Mexian drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, whose assets were evidently too hard to calculate this year. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, March 13 [12:56]
DN | Overturning Citizens United: Is a Constitutional Amendment the Best Path to Limit Dark Money? (03/13/13) [18:51]
Banks
*The Biggest Bank Heist Ever! [49:42]
Video Excerpts | 'Inside Job' | Charles Ferguson | 2011 | US | © Economic Crisis Film LLC. This is not the full "Inside Job" by Charles Ferguson, but includes many of the insightful interviews.

The award winning documentary "Inside Job" (2011) by the veteran crusader, Charles Ferguson is the most insightful and illuminating amongst a number of such attempts that deal with the global financial crisis, which is wrecking lives and economies across the world to this day.

The reason is that it successfully challenges the myths and lies surrounding the root causes of the crisis and tells us exactly how and why it happened, in a simple and straightforward way that anyone can understand.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *US Foreign Policy Challenges Ahead 03/13/13 [1hr]
Zbigniew Brzezinski counselor and trustee, Center for Strategic and International Studies, professor of American foreign policy,School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and former national security advisor in the Carter administration.Zbigniew Brzezinski counselor and trustee, Center for Strategic and International Studies, professor of American foreign policy,School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and former national security advisor in the Carter administration.
TRNN News
TRNN | Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Resolution S.RES.65 sends the message to Iran that the US objective is regime change... which is scary (03/13/13) [8:19]

The Worst Mistake in U.S. History -- America Will Never Recover from Bush's Great Foreign Policy Disaster
Tom Dispatch & AlterNet | Peter Van Buren | 03/07/13

Ten years ago, George Bush made a decision that this country will regret for a very long time.

I was there. And "there" was nowhere. And nowhere was the place to be if you wanted to see the signs of end times for the American Empire up close. It was the place to be if you wanted to see the madness -- and oh yes, it was madness -- not filtered through a complacent and sleepy media that made Washington's war policy seem, if not sensible, at least sane and serious enough. I stood at Ground Zero of what was intended to be the new centerpiece for a Pax Americana in the Greater Middle East. ... Read more

*No End in Sight Iraq's Descent Into Chaos (older but good) [1:41:54]
*Rachel Maddow | Hubris (current and good) [44:11]
Tom Toles on the budget battle (great illustrations)
Other Videos and Documentaries

Tuesday March 12, 2013
International News
Domestic News

One Economy, Two Americas
Bill Moyers | Hedrick Smith | 03/06/13

Before you gulp down your favorite champagne to celebrate Wall Street's new stock market highs, remember that we are two Americas: The nation's economic divide is costing us all dearly in terms of lost jobs and growth and is fueling the angry, gridlocked politics in Washington.

As The New York Times reported Monday, corporate profits have been skyrocketing ever since 2008 --- rising an average of 20.1 percent a year for four years in a row. But out on Main Street, average household incomes have risen only 1.4 percent a year. CEOs and big investors have been hogging the profits. ... Read more

*How Bill Clinton Inspired The 47 Percent Filmmaker
HP | Ryan Grim | 03/12/13

Bill Clinton won the presidential election for Barack Obama. But it wasn't his masterful Democratic National Convention speech or the advice he offered the president's reelection campaign. Clinton, it turns out, inspired the man who filmed Mitt Romney's infamous and game-changing 47 percent comments.

The man, who tended bar for a company that catered to a high-end clientele, had previously worked at a fundraiser at a home where Clinton spoke. After Clinton addressed guests, the man recalled, the former president came back to the kitchen and thanked the staff, the waiters, the bartenders, the busboys, and everyone else involved in putting the event together. He shook hands, took photos, signed autographs, and praised the meal -- all characteristic of the former president.   When the bartender learned he would be working at Romney's fundraiser, his first thought was to bring his camera, in case he had a chance to get a photo with the presidential candidate.

Romney, of course, did not speak to any of the staff, bussers or waiters. He was late to the event, and rushed out. He told his dinner guests that the event was off the record, but never bothered to repeat the admonition to the people working there.

One of them had brought along a Canon camera. He set it on the bar and hit the record button.   The bartender said he never planned to distribute the video. But after Romney spoke, the man said he felt he had no choice. ... Read more

*Which 'Patriotic' US Companies 'Invested' The Most Cash Overseas Last Year?
ZeroHedge | author | 03/12/13

A Wall Street Journal analysis of 60 big U.S. companies found that, together, they parked a total of $166 billion offshore last year. That shielded more than 40% of their annual profits from U.S. taxes, though it left the money off-limits for paying dividends, buying back shares or making investments in the U.S. The 60 companies were chosen for the analysis because each of them had held at least $5 billion offshore in 2011. Within the group of 60 companies, WSJ found 10 that parked more earnings offshore last year than they generated for their bottom lines. The trend was most pronounced among the 26 technology and health-care companies. ... Read more
Click to zoom



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, March 12 [9:39]
DN | Bradley Manning Speaks: In Leaked Court Recording, Army Whistleblower Tells His Story for First Time (03/12/13) [9:28]
DN | Daniel Ellsberg: In Hearing Bradley Manning Act Out of Conscience, Secret Tape Refutes Media Slander (03/12/13) [19:27]
*DN | "This War is Continuing": As U.S. Prepares 2014 Pullout, No End in Sight to Afghan Occupation (03/12/13) [8:17]
DN | After Vowing Greater Transparency, Obama Admin Increasingly Censoring, Withholding Info From Public (03/12/13) [8:48]
GMO
Genetic Roulette 10min Remix [10:50]
New Movie & Koch Brothers
Greedy Lying Bastards (trailer) [2:23]
*Robert Greenwald's | "Koch Brothers Exposed" (older but good) [1:00:52]
Aljazeera | People & Power - The Koch Brothers [25:06]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *Competing Plans For The Federal Budget 03/12/13 [1hr]
Trans-Pacific Partnership
*Secret Deal: Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (03/07/13) [11:12]
TYT News
TYT | Immigrants Can Have Citizenship...for $50,000?! (03/10/13) [5:34]
TYT | Lawmaker Wants 'Bicycle Pollution' Tax (03/09/13) [3:39]
Aljazeera News
Aljazeera | North Korea to end armistice with South (03/08/13) [2:09]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday March 11, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Jack Lew, Citigroup and the Ugland Truth
Bill Moyers | Michael Winship | 03/08/13

... There you'll find Ugland House, a five-story office building that, according to a 2008 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), houses 18,857 corporations, about half of which have billing addresses back in the States. It's the business world equivalent of one of those circus cars that's packed with more clowns than you thought possible. In 2009, Obama said of Ugland House, "either this is the largest building in the world or the largest tax scam in the world." ... Read more

Antibiotic Resistance Poses 'Catastrophic Threat' To Medicine, Says Britain's Top Health Official
HP & Reuter | Kate Kelland | 03/10/13

Antibiotic resistance poses a catastrophic threat to medicine and could mean patients having minor surgery risk dying from infections that can no longer be treated, Britain's top health official said on Monday.

Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said global action is needed to fight antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance and fill a drug "discovery void" by researching and developing new medicines to treat emerging, mutating infections. ... Read more

Goldman leads decline as Wall Street commodity revenues plummet
Reuters | David Sheppard | 03/11/13

Wall Street commodity revenues crashed last year to their lowest on record, as tighter regulation and limited price swings squeezed the once dominant traders of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N).

All three firms reported double-digit percentage declines in revenues for oil, grains and copper trading in 2012, illustrating how the one-time 'Wall Street Refiners' have withered in the face of subdued markets and restrictions on proprietary trading.   The decline is most stark at Goldman, where commodity revenues collapsed by more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2012 to just $575 million, according to the bank's annual report. Read more

The Many Faces of Evil
HP | Marina Nemat | 03/08/13

EVIL: How and why do good people turn evil?
VERSUS
GOOD: How can ordinary people be inspired to act heroically?
Read more
TED | The Many Faces of Evil. Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil (03/08/13) [7:35]



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, March 11 [12:00]
*DN | Fukushima Meltdown's 2nd Anniversary Brings Protests Against Japan's Reliance on Nuclear Power (03/11/13) [9:10]
*DN | Vandana Shiva on Int'l Women's Day: "Capitalist Patriarchy Has Aggravated Violence Against Women" (03/08/13) [10:42]
DN | Anwar al-Awlaki: NYT Details How Obama Admin Justified & Carried Out the Killing of U.S.-Born Cleric. Part 1 (03/11/13) [15:18], Part 2 [21:11]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *The Outlook For The US Economy (Very Good) 03/11/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Greg Palast: Congressman Tim Griffin Accused of "Voter Caging", Fronts XL Pipeline for Koch Brothers (03/11/13) [8:50]
TRNN | Greg Palast: Koch Brothers Driving Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Cut Out Venezuelan Oil. (older 01/07/13) [11:14]
TRNN | Jennifer Taub and John Weeks: discuss the prospects for a serious reform of the banking system. On the 80th anniversary of the election of FDR and the New Deal, (03/11/13) [13:30]
TRNN | Jennifer Taub and John Weeks discuss the post-war period and how successive administrations dismantled it New Deal. (cont 03/10/13) [15:07]
*TRNN | Omar Dahi: Humanitarian Catastrophe in Syria (03/11/13) [9:14]
Wealth Inequality - repeat, but good


Friday March 08, 2013
International News
Domestic News

The Market Speaks
NYTimes | Paul Krugman | 03/07/13

... Meanwhile, about the stock market: Stocks are high, in part, because bond yields are so low, and investors have to put their money somewhere. It's also true, however, that while the economy remains deeply depressed, corporate profits have staged a strong recovery. And that's a bad thing! Not only are workers failing to share in the fruits of their own rising productivity, hundreds of billions of dollars are piling up in the treasuries of corporations that, facing weak consumer demand, see no reason to put those dollars to work. ... Read more

Elizabeth Warren: Banks Get Wrist Slaps While Drug Dealers Get Jail
HP | Mark Gongloff | 03/07/13

Sen. Elizabeth Warren unloaded on bank regulators Thursday about the fact that British bank HSBC is still doing business in the U.S., with no criminal charges filed against it, despite confessing to what one regulator called "egregious" money laundering violations. ... Read more

*Organic Consumers Association Calls for Boycott of Organic Brand Parent Companies That Helped Defeat Prop 37
organicconsumers.org | author | older 11/06/12

"Among the largest bankrollers of the NO on 37 campaign were huge multinational food and beverage companies whose subsidiaries make billions selling popular organic and 'natural' brands," Prop 37was narrowly defeated on Nov. 6, thanks to a relentless, deceitful $46-million advertising blitz. Among the food companies that helped to defeat the measure were:

  1. PepsiCo (Donated $2.5M): Naked Juice, Tostito's Organic, Tropicana Organic
  2. Kraft (Donated $2M): Boca Burgers and Back to Nature
  3. Safeway (Member of Grocery Manufacturers Association, which donated $2M):"O" Organics
  4. Coca-Cola (Donated $1.7M): Honest Tea, Odwalla
  5. General Mills (Donated $1.2M): Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar
  6. Con-Agra (Donated $1.2M): Orville Redenbacher's Organic, Hunt's Organic, Lightlife, Alexia
  7. Kellogg's (Donated $791k): Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger
  8. Smucker's (Donated $555k ): R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic
  9. Unilever (Donated $467k): Ben & Jerry's
  10. Dean Foods (Donated $254k): Horizon, Silk, White Wave
Click to zoom
website


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, March 08 [11:00]
DN | Hugo Chávez Funeral: Derided by US Media, Venezuelan Leader Uplifted Poor From Caracas to the Bronx (03/08/13) [19:27]
DN | New Violence Against Women Act Includes Historic Protections for Native American and LGBT Survivors (03/08/13) [16:32]
*Elizabeth Warren Banks Get Wrist Slaps While Drug Dealers Get Jail (03/07/13) [7:35]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 03/08/13 [1hr]
International News - Friday 03/08/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Greg Wilpert: looks at the achievements, failures and life of, Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution (03/08/13) [11:59]
*TRNN | Greg Palast: Chavez made big oil pay serious royalties which he used for social programs, he enjoyed majority support in many elections (03/08/13) [10:57]
TYT News
TYT | Bill O'Reilly Screaming: 'This Is Bull-S&%t!' (03/08/13) [5:46]
Wealth Inequality - repeat, but good

Earthquake Tool
Click to zoom
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday March 07, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*Tracing the shadows of 'Operation Condor'
Aljazeera | author | 03/06/13

A coordinated campaign to kill political dissidents across Latin America in the 1970s, all with the knowledge of the US, resulted in one of Latin America's darkest periods.

Tens of thousands of people were kidnapped, tortured and killed by military regimes across the continent and those who fled repression in one country were often targeted in another - there was no escape.   'Operation Condor' involved six different nations - led by Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet in response to the populist and socialist movements emerging throughout Latin America in the 1960s and 70s. ... Read more

*Elizabeth Warren Takes On Eric Holder's 'Too Big To Jail' Statement
HP | Mollie Reilly | 03/06/13

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) took on Attorney General Eric Holder's admission that some banks are too big for the Justice Department to prosecute, asserting that Holder's statement illustrates why the financial institutions should be held accountable.

"It has been almost five years since the financial crisis, but the big banks are still too big to fail," Warren said in a Wednesday statement. "That means they are subsidized by about $83 billion a year by American taxpayers and are still not being held fully accountable for breaking the law. Attorney General Holder's testimony that the biggest banks are too-big-to-jail shows once again that it is past time to end too-big-to-fail." ... Read more

Obama Invites Ryan, Van Hollen to White House Lunch
Bloomberg | Roger Runningen | 03/07/13

President Barack Obama invited House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and Chris Van Hollen, the panel's top Democrat, to lunch today as he seeks to restart talks on a long-term deal to reduce the federal deficit.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2012, said in a statement he hoped the lunch with Obama and Van Hollen, a Maryland representative, "is the beginning of a serious discussion of the challenges we face." ... Read more

*The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
NYTimes | Michael Moss | 02/20/13

On the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury and discharged 11 men who controlled America's largest food companies. Nestlé was in attendance, as were Kraft and Nabisco, General Mills and Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars. Rivals any other day, the C.E.O.'s and company presidents had come together for a rare, private meeting. On the agenda was one item: the emerging obesity epidemic and how to deal with it. While the atmosphere was cordial, the men assembled were hardly friends. Their stature was defined by their skill in fighting one another for what they called "stomach share" -- the amount of digestive space that any one company's brand can grab from the competition. ... Read more

Why America Has the Cheapest, Most Addictive and Most Nutritionally Inferior Food in the World
AlterNet | Amy Goodman | 03/01/13

Amy Goodman: As we continue deep inside the $1-trillion-a-year "processed-food-industrial complex," we turn to look at how decades of food science have resulted in the cheapest, most abundant, most addictive and most nutritionally inferior food in the world. And the vitamins and protein added back to this processed food? Well, you might be surprised to know where they come from. That's the focus of a new book by longtime food reporter Melanie Warner, author of Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal. ... Read more

*The Weaponizing of Salt, Sugar and Fat: The Secrets of How Big Food Got Us Hooked on Junk
AlterNet | Amy Goodman | 03/10/13

Amy Goodman: Going deep inside the "processed-food-industrial complex," beginning with the "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food." That was the cover story in the recent New York Times Magazine that examined how food companies have known for decades that salt, sugar and fat are not good for us in the quantities American's consume them, and yet every year they convince most of us to ingest about twice the recommended amount of salt, 70 pounds of sugar -- 22 teaspoons a day. Then, there's the fat. Well, New York Times reporter Michael Moss explains how one of the most prevalent fat delivery methods is cheese. Read more

Mars Rover Curiosity Sleeps As Solar Blast Races Toward Red Planet
HP | Alicia Chang | 03/07/13

Curiosity hunkered down after the sun unleashed a blast that raced toward Mars. Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, March 07 [13:35]
*DN | Operation Condor Trial Tackles Coordinated Campaign By Latin American Dictatorships To Kill Leftists (03/07/13) [22:14]
John Dinges, author of "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents." A historic trial underway in Argentina is set to reveal new details about how Latin American countries coordinated with each other in the 1970s and '80s to eliminate political dissidents. The campaign known as "Operation Condor" involved military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. They worked together to track down, kidnap and kill people they labeled as terrorists: leftist activists, labor organizers, students, priests, journalists, guerilla fighters and their families. The campaign was launched by the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and evidence shows the CIA and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were complicit from its outset. ...
DN | The Girl: Abbie Cornish Stars in Film About Tragic Smuggling of Immigrants Across US-Mexico Border (03/07/13) [8:42]
*DN | Pandora's Lunchbox: Pulling Back the Curtain On How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal (03/01/13) [10:26]
DN | Salt Sugar Fat: NY Times Reporter Michael Moss on How the Food Giants Hooked America on Junk Food (03/01/13) [18:26]
Elizabeth Warren Takes On Eric Holder
*Elizabeth Warren | Banks Too Big For Trial (03/07/13) [4:10]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *Fighting Deadly Superbugs 03/07/13 [1hr]
Aljazeera
*Aljazeera | Inside Story - Tracing the shadows of 'Operation Condor' (03/06/13) [25:00]
A coordinated campaign to kill political dissidents across Latin America in the 1970s, all with the knowledge of the US, resulted in one of Latin America's darkest periods. Tens of thousands of people were kidnapped, tortured and killed by military regimes across the continent and those who fled repression in one country were often targeted in another - there was no escape.
*US wasted billions in rebuilding Iraq (03/06/13) [2:12]
The US government is still counting the cost of rebuilding Iraq after invading the country 10 years ago.   Stuart Bowen, head inspector for the US office overseeing Iraq's reconstruction, told Al Jazeera that $8bn in funds that were meant to be spent on rebuilding the country remains missing. Millions of dollars of the funds were stolen.
TYT News
Elizabeth Warren Smacks Down Wall Street Bankers (02/15/13) [9:10]
Stephen Cobert & Jon Stewart
Stephen Cobert | Stephen Colbert and Julian Bond Make Mincemeat Out of Scalia (03/07/13) [4:04]
US | Another Major Snow Storm
Major Snowstorm Slamming Midwest Targets East: U.S. Weather Report March 2013 [2:43]

Wednesday March 06, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Eric Holder: Drone Strike To Kill U.S. Citizen On American Soil Legal, Hypothetically
HP | Ryan J. Reilly | 03/05/13

The Obama administration believes it could technically use military force to kill an American on U.S. soil in an "extraordinary circumstance" but has "no intention of doing so," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter disclosed Tuesday. ... Read more

This Time Is Different 2013 Edition
ZeroHedge | author | 03/06/13

A small note on the frankly hilarious news that the Dow Jones Industrial Average smashed through to all-time-highs.   First of all, while stock prices are soaring household income and household confidence are slumping to all-time lows. Employment remains depressed, energy remains expensive, housing remains depressed, wages and salaries as a percentage of GDP keep falling, and the economy remains in a deleveraging cycle. Essentially, these are not the conditions for strong organic business growth, for a sustainable boom. We're going through a structural economic adjustment, and suffering the consequences of a huge 40-year debt-fuelled boom. While the fundamentals remain weak, it can only be expected that equity markets should remain weak. But that is patently not what has happened.

In fact, it has been engineered that way. Bernanke has been explicitly targeting equities, hoping to trigger a beneficent spiral that he calls "the wealth effect" - stock prices go up, people feel richer and spend, and the economy recovers. But with fundamentals still depressed, this boom cannot be sustained. Read more
Click to zoom

*$1.5 Trillion for the Drug War? 5 Outrageous Areas of Gov't Spending That Should be Cut Instead of Social Services
AlterNet | David Sirota | 03/05/13

Let's assume that the New York Times was right this week when it asserted that in 2013, "the only issue that truly unites Republicans is a commitment to shrinking the federal government." Even though there's ample evidence that the GOP doesn't actually want to shrink the government, let's nonetheless assume that Republicans are trying to rhetorically brand themselves to the concept of small government, past votes be damned. And let's assume that gerrymandering means the GOP will control at least one house of congress for the remainder of the Obama presidency.

Does that, then, mean the next four years will automatically be mired in stalemate? Not necessarily, if Democrats call Republicans' bluff and use the GOP's small government argument for progressive ends. Indeed, with House Speaker John Boehner showing a penchant for violating the so-called Hastert Rule and allowing transpartisan bills to pass, the "small government" argument could be a perfect instrument for congressional Democrats to pick off just enough Republican votes to pass meaningful legislation in five key areas: ... Read more
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DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, March 06 [12:25]
DN | Hugo Chávez Dead: Transformed Venezuela & Survived U.S.-Backed Coup, Now Leaves Uncertainty Behind (03/06/13) [11:48]
TRNN News
TRNN | George Monbiot: What causes global warming? (03/05/13) [4:54]
*TRNN | Alex Main: Venezuela's Real Division Over Who Benefits from Oil Wealth. (03/05/13) [9:52]
TRNN | Gregory Wilpert: Chavez Democratized Venezuela Making it the Most Equal Country in Latin America. (03/05/13) [13:40]
TRNN | Michael Ratner: Bradley Manning Tells Court Public Have the Right to Know About US War Crimes (03/01/13) [16:41]
TYT News
*TYT | FBI: Sequester Stops Wall Street Fraud Investigations...Which Exist? (03/05/13) [2:59]
TYT | Noam Chomsky - Rightward Shift of US Politics. (01/30/13) [42:03]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Venezuela After The Death Of Hugo Chavez 03/05/13 [1hr]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | Lambasts Absurdity of "Post-Racial" Attack on Voting Rights Act. (03/05/13) [7:47]
Jon Stewart | Sandra Day O'Connor doesn't envy the current Court its more difficult decisions. Part 1 (03/05/13) [5:35], Part 2 [4:39]
More News Articles

*Noam Chomsky: Can Civilization Survive Capitalism?
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 03/05/13

Capitalism as it exists today is radically incompatible with democracy.   The term "capitalism" is commonly used to refer to the U.S. economic system, with substantial state intervention ranging from subsidies for creative innovation to the "too-big-to-fail" government insurance policy for banks.

The system is highly monopolized, further limiting reliance on the market, and increasingly so: In the past 20 years the share of profits of the 200 largest enterprises has risen sharply, reports scholar Robert W. McChesney in his new book "Digital Disconnect." ... Read more
*Noam Chomsky | Who Owns the World? U.S.-Fueled Dangers, from Climate Change to Nuclear Weapons (10/27/12) [42:00]

Noam Chomsky | on the State-Corporate Complex: A Threat to Freedom and Survival (04/12/11) [2:03:21]
Noam Chomsky | Capitalism, World Trade and Economics (05/25/10) [9:21]
Noam Chomsky | Media, Objectivity and Reality of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East (11/01/12) [40:16]

Tuesday March 05, 2013
International News

Hugo Chavez Dead: Venezuela's President Dies At 58
HP & AP | author | 03/05/13

The Associated Press reports that Hugo Chávez, who led a leftist revolution and served as Venezuela's president for nearly 14 years, has died at 58 years old.

President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. ... Read more

Domestic News

*Is Antonin Scalia the Vilest Person in Washington?
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 03/04/13

A day after Justice Antonin Scalia caused gasps in the Supreme Court gallery by saying the 1965 Voting Rights Act had become a "racial entitlement" no congressperson could vote against, Rachel Maddow told The Daily Show she was in the courtroom and Scalia clearly enjoyed tormenting people. "I think he does know how that sounds," she said. "He's a troll. He's saying this for effect. He knows it's offensive." ... Read more

The US Navy Spends $4 Billion on Fuel Every Year
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | date

Yesterday's Climate Desk Live briefing--titled "How the US Navy Is Leading the Charge on Clean Energy and Climate Change"--told a different kind of environmental story from the one we're used to hearing. It was an "optimistic story," as panelist Julia Whitty, Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, put it--of a powerful institution, the Navy, adapting to the demands of a changing energy future simply because it's pragmatic, and because it makes sense. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, March 05 [12:34]
*DN | Glenn Greenwald on Bradley Manning: Prosecutor Overreach Could Turn All Whistleblowing Into Treason (03/05/13) [11:50]
DN | New Funding Group Calls for 100 More WikiLeaks to Offset Unprecedented Gov't Secrecy (03/05/13) [14:03]
*DN | Importing the War on Terror: Glenn Greenwald & Activist Trevor Timm on Domestic Drone Surveillance (03/05/13) [4:28]
DN | White House Denounces Cell Phone Unlocking Ban Hours After Petition Backer Appears on Democracy Now! (03/05/13) [8:14]
DN | Sharing the Internet: "Commotion Wireless" Technology Lets Communities Create Free Webs of Access (03/05/13) [7:30]
MotherJones
The US Navy Spends $4 Billion on Fuel Every Year (02/27/13) [2:53]
TYT News
Is This Republican an American Hero? (03/04/13) [3:18]
Aspartame Hidden In Milk- Do You Deserve to Know? (03/03/13) [3:46]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday March 04, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*Nobody Knows What Nanoparticles Do -- Yet They Are in Your Food, Cosmetics, and Toys
AlterNet | Carole Bass | 07/10/09

Your sunscreen, energy drink and high-tech clothing may be among the 800-plus consumer products made with nanomaterials: those manufactured at the scale of atoms and molecules. Sunscreen that turns clear on the skin contains titanium dioxide, an ordinary UV-blocker in extraordinarily small particles. Odor-eating socks are made with atoms of germ-killing silver. Supplement makers boast of amazing health effects from swallowing nanosolutions that are completely untested for effectiveness or safety. And that stain-repellant clothing? The manufacturer won't even tell you what nanomaterials are in it.

The problem is not just that you, the consumer, don't know what's in the products you use. The much bigger problem is that at the nanoscale, common substances behave in uncommon ways. And nobody--not even the world's leading nanoscientists--knows what nanoparticles do inside the body or in the environment. ... Read more

*Nuclear Disaster in the US: How Bechtel Is Botching the World's Costliest Environmental Cleanup
AlterNet | Joshua Frank | older but good10/21/11

Razor wire surrounds Hanford's makeshift borders while tattered signs warn of potential contamination and fines for those daring enough to trespass. This vast stretch of eastern Washington, covering more than 580 square miles of high desert plains, is rural Washington at its most serene. But it's inaccessible for good reason: It is, by all accounts, a nuclear wasteland. ...

... During Hanford's lifespan, 475 billion gallons of radioactive wastewater were released into the ground. Radioactive isotopes have made their way up the food chain in the Hanford ecosystem at an alarming rate. Coyote excrement frequently lights up Geigers, as these scavengers feast on varmints that live beneath the earth's surface. Deer also have nuclear radiation accumulating in their bones as a result of consuming local shrubbery and water. ... Read more

*Lords of Disorder: How the Big Banks Are Designed to Prey off Our Economic Misery
AlterNet | Richard (RJ) Eskow | 03/01/13

The President's "sequester" offer slashes non-defense spending by $830 billion over the next ten years. That happens to be the precise amount we're implicitly giving Wall Street's biggest banks over the same time period. ...

... These institutions are designed to prey off economic misery. They suppress genuine market forces in order to thrive, and they couldn't do it without our ongoing help. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are making it happen. ... Read more

Capping bonuses: Too little, too late?
Aljazeera | Inside Story | 03/02/13

The European Union has agreed to a new financial reform that includes a cap on bonuses for bankers, in a deal that is expected to be introduced next year.   But is going after the so-called 'fat cats' of the financial world the right move in troubled times?   The aim behind the move is to calm public anger at the financial sector. It was of course money from taxpayers that rescued banks that were deemed "too big too fail" following the 2008 crash.   Under the agreement, bankers' bonuses will be automatically limited to a year's salary, making it one of the world's strictest pay curbs. ... Read more

Most intellectually dishonest, self-aggrandizing Bernanke-speak to come out of the Fed Chairman's testimony [this week]:

  1. "[The Federal Reserve has] 25 years of success in keeping inflation low and stable, not just in the United States but around the world."
  2. Translation: "I have not set foot in a grocery store or gas station in decades."
  3. "Our estimates are that we've helped create many private sector jobs, government jobs to support the economy quite significantly."
  4. Translation: "In my sole discretion where I get to completely ignore all data points I don't like, I am doing a heck of a job."
  5. "I am very much in favor of getting our fiscal house in order but I think it's a long run issue and I would be supportive of a less front-loaded set of measures."
  6. Translation: "Feel free to continue kicking the can down the road."
  7. "The best way to get interest rates up is to not raise them too quickly."
  8. Translation: "No matter what, I'm going to continue printing money and justify it with puzzling drivel."
  9. "I don't see any sign that that's happening (the U.S. dollar losing status as world's reserve currency)."
  10. Translation: "I pay absolutely no attention to what's going on in Russia, China, the Middle East, or the gold market."
  11. "[S]avers have many hats. They may own fixed income instruments, like bonds, but they also may own stocks or a house or a business. . . And those values have gone up, the stock market has roughly doubled, as you know, in the past few years."
  12. Translation: "In order to not get eaten alive by inflation, I will force responsible savers to assume unnecessary risks in an overinflated stock market that has just now, finally, reached its nominal highs from 2007 thanks to my money printing."


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, March 04 [11:56]
"After Aaron": Late Activist's Campaign for Open Internet Continues at Freedom to Connect Conference (03/04/13) [15:06]
GOP "Rising Star" Derek Khanna Fired After Penning Controversial Copyright Reform Memo. Part 1 (03/04/13) [8:47], Part 2 [10:38]
Municipal Broadband Networks Bridge the Digital Divide As TeleComm Industry Tries To Block Them (03/03/13) [12:04]
*Hanford Dumped Billions of Gallons of Radioactive Waste in the 50s & 60s on the ground (03/03/13) [8:46]
*DHS Purchases 2,700 (approx. $500,000/MRAP) Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile (03/03/13) [2:44], MRAP in Wikipedia
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | 19-year-old activist Zack Kopplin talks about fighting the creep of creationist curricula in public school. (03/01/13) [52:53]
Religious fundamentalists backed by the right wing are finding increasingly stealthy ways to challenge evolution with the dogma of creationism. Their strategy includes passing education laws that encourage teaching creationism alongside evolution, and supporting school vouchers to transfer taxpayer money from public to private schools, where they can push a creationist agenda.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Dealing With Sequestration Fallout 03/04/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Jennifer Taub and John Weeks discuss President Roosevelt's "The New Deal" policy of saving the economy from the ground up. (03/04/13) [15:07]
TRNN | Bill Black: Both parties have conspired to bring us a disaster; Obama's sequestration plan gives cuts without blame. (03/04/13) [7:08]
TRNN | Dr. Heiner Flassbeck: Targeting low inflation will deepen crisis; government must pass laws and intervene to facilitate a general rise in wages. (03/03/13) [14:55]
PBS Financial (older but good)
*PBS Frontline | "The Untouchables": examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis. (01/22/13) [53:41]
The men who crashed the world Part 1 [42:30], Part 2 [44:56], Part 3 [45:00], Part 4 [44:59]
PBS - View in to the Past
PBS | Makers: Women Who Make America (02/26/13) [57:43], Part 2 [54:31], Part 3 [54:00]
PBS Need To Know | Ray Suarez hosts a panel of experts to explore how to save Medicare. (02/06/13) [25:15]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | The Canadian Maple Syrup Syndicate. (01/28/13) [5:54]
Jon Stewart | Rachel Maddow questions a style of governing based on an unending series of self-imposed crises. Part 1 (01/28/13) [5:54], Part 2 [8:03]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Friday March 01, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Are Big Banks a Bunch of Organized Criminal Conspiracies?
AlterNet | Les Leopold | 92/27/13

Are too-big-to-fail banks organized criminal conspiracies? And if so, shouldn't we seize their assets, just like we do to drug cartels?   Let's examine their sorry record of deceit and deception that has surfaced in just the past two months:

Loan Sharking
You want to get really, really pissed off? Then read " Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the New York Times (2/23/13). In sickening detail, she describes how the largest banks in the United States are facilitating modern loansharking by working with Internet payday loan companies to escape anti-loansharking state laws. These payday firms extract enormous interest rates that often run over 500 percent a year. ...

Money Laundering for the Mexican Drug Cartels
HSBC, the giant British-based bank with a large American subsidiary, agreed on Dec. 11, 2012 to pay $1.9 billion in fines for laundering $881 million for Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel. The operation was so blatant that "Mexican traffickers used boxes specifically designed to the dimensions of an HSBC Mexico teller's window to deposit cash on a daily basis," reports Reuters. They also facilitated "hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries," according to the Justice Department. ...

Fleecing Distressed Homeowners
The big banks, in collusion with hedge funds and the rating agencies, puffed up the housing bubble and then burst it. Nine million workers, due to no fault of their own, lost their jobs in a matter of months. Entire neighborhoods saw their home values crash. Tens of millions faced foreclosure.   The big banks, which were bailed out and survived the crash, sought to foreclose on as many homes as possible, as fast as possible. Hey, that's where the money was. In doing so they resorted to many unsavory practices including illegal robo-signing of foreclosure documents. When nailed by the government, the big banks agreed to provide billions in aid for distressed homeowners. Were they finally forced to do the right thing? Not a chance. (See " Homeowners still face foreclosure despite billion in aid" NYT 2/22.) ...

Too Big to Indict?
Wait, it gets worse. Why weren't criminal charges filed against the bank itself? After all, the bank overtly violated money laundering laws. This was no clerical error. The answer is simple: " Too big to Indict," screams the NYT editorial headline. You see federal authorities are worried that if they indict, the bank would fail, which in turn would lead to tens of thousands of lost jobs, just like what happened to Arthur Anderson after its Enron caper, or like the financial hurricane that followed the failure of Lehman Brothers. So if you're a small fish running $10,000 in drug money, you serve time. But if you're a big fish moving nearing a billion dollars, you can laugh all the way to your too-big-to-jail bank. ...

The Indictments Go On
I could write a book about all the ways in which banks and their hedge fund cousins have turned cheating into a way of life. (In fact, I just did: "How to Earn a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away With Siphoning off America's Wealth. Here's the AlterNet interview. ) ...
Read more

What Is The Sequester?
HP | Lisa_Miller | 03/01/13

The sequester is what everyone, at least in Washington, seems to be talking about. But what is sequestration exactly?   Set to begin March 1 at 11:59 p.m., the sequester is a set of automatic spending cuts put into law by the Budget Control Act. Signed by President Barack Obama in August 2011, that legislation raised the debt ceiling and sought to apply pressure on Congress to come up with a longer term plan for deficit reduction.

The $1.2 trillion in budget cuts would be spread over nine years and are equally divided between domestic and defense-related spending. During the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year, $85 billion worth of cuts are set to go into effect. The budget cuts would end in 2021. ... Read more

There Goes The Sequester
ZeroHedge | author | 03/01/13

Today is the day when an unprecedented $85 billion spending cuts will be sequestered, unleashing famine, pestilence, the apocalypse and grizzly bears (as all park rangers will be dead from starvation). Which is why we applaud the administration's desire to preempt this tragic for the nation outcome, by issuing, in one day alone: February 28, $80 billion in Treasurys sending debt to (obviously) what is a new all time high $16,687,289,180,215.37.   In other words, the entire apocalyptic impact of the sequester for 2013 was offset by one day's debt issuance. Read more

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DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, March 01 [13:09]
DN | WikiLeaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning Says He Wanted to Show the Public the "True Costs of War" (03/01/13) [16:25],
Collateral Murder Video [39:29]
Salt Sugar Fat: NY Times Reporter Michael Moss on How the Food Giants Hooked America on Junk Food (03/01/13) [18:26]
DN | Pandora's Lunchbox: Pulling Back the Curtain On How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal (03/01/13) [10:26]
Global Geoengineering
Chemtrails [10:27]
"What in the World Are They Spraying?" [1:37:45]
"Why in the World are They Spraying?" [1:12:56], Website
"Toxic Skies." - Geoengineering and Chemtrails (movie)(02/23/13) [1:26:25]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 03/01/13 [1hr]
International News - Friday 03/01/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
TRNN | Michael Ratner: Bradley Manning Tells Court Public Have the Right to Know About US War Crimes (03/01/13) [16:11]
TRNN | Josh Stieber, a member of the army company that came upon the Iraqis murdered by the US helicopter crew, discusses the Wikileaks video and army training that makes killing civilians acceptable (03/01/13) [13:07]
TYT News
TYT | Why is Bradley Manning's Pleading Guilty? (02/28/13) [7:38]
TYT | GOP and VAWA - Native Americans Don't Deserve Protection? (02/28/13) [5:14]
TYT | Majority Would Pay More to Insure Restaurant Workers (02/27/13) [3:30]
TYT | Scalia: 'Racial Entitlement' in Voting Rights Act (02/27/13) [8:29]
TYT | Is There Still Racial Injustice in This Country? (02/27/13) [4:49]
TYT | Is Hannity The Worst Journalist Ever? (02/27/13) [6:51]
Max Keiser Report
Keiser Report (E411) Media Moron Mockery. Part 1 (02/26/13) [25:49], Part 2 [25:45]
Second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to renowned mathematician and monetary scientist, Professor Antal Fekete, about the gold basis - cash versus the nearest futures contract and why that the cash price for gold is never reported is by design. They also discuss gold repatriation from Germany as a trial balloon, to see how much demand there is for cash gold and how it is that permanent backwardation means internal bleeding in the monetary system.
Keiser Report (E410) Death by Financial Hypoxia (02/23/13) [25:46]
Second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to professor and economist, Constantin Gurdgiev, about the liquidation of IBRC, the bank formerly known as Anglo Irish and how it is that the bank came to collapse in the first place.
Keiser Report (E409) Mystery Meat - Shut Up & Eat! (02/21/13) [25:46]
Second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to HBOS whistleblower, Paul R. Moore, about the absurdity of naming the FSA twice and why eating dodgy securities is not a victimless crime.
Other Videos and Documentaries
A Perfect Candidate () [1:43:55]
Disproving the adage that there are no second acts in American life, Iran/Contra legend Oliver North re-emerged to challenge incumbent Charles Robb in a hotly contested 1994 Virginia senatorial race. R.J. Cutler and David Van Taylor weave a modern-day parable about leadership in America and campaign culture in a cynical age. The result is a clear-eyed examination of the electoral process, where issues take a back seat to the machinations of spin doctors, and voter interests are lost in a media hall of mirrors.
The World's Largest Shopping Mall [13:16]
Is nothing American sacred anymore? The largest mall in the world turns out not to be the famous Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. It's the South China Mall outside of Guangzhou, China. Outdoing the techniques of American consumerism, South China Mall is Disneyland, Las Vegas and Mall of America rolled into one. But four years after its construction, the mall sits virtually empty of both shops and shoppers.
Ghost mall in China meets the wrecking ball. (07/22/11) [6:53]
Jim Chanos: China Banks Deteriorating. (10/14/11) [7:45]
Jim Chanos: China Debt is Worse than Europe Debt. (09/21/11) [15:07]
Aljazeera | 101 East: China's dirty secrets (02/04/11) [24:55]

03.01.2013. 16:06



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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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