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Friday May 30, 2014
News Articles

John Boehner: 'I'm Not Qualified To Debate The Science Over Climate Change'
thinkprogress.org/ | Katie Valentine | 05/29/14

House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that though he doesn't feel qualified to "debate the science" of climate change, he does know that the Obama administration's efforts to mitigate the problem are bad for the country.

"Listen, I'm not qualified to debate the science over climate change," Boehner said when asked by a reporter whether he thinks climate change is a problem, and whether he would support taking action to fix it. "But I am astute enough to understand that every proposal that has come out of this administration to deal with climate change involves hurting our economy and killing American jobs. ... Read more

More Foreclosures Means More Suicides, Study Finds
thestranger.com | Ansel Herz | 05/27/14

South Seattle woman Phyllis Walsh shot herself on her front lawn two days before her eviction last year, after she was foreclosed on by US Bank, as I reported. She thought she was in the "middle of a refinance," according to her suicide note.

I've been struck every time I've listened to someone talk about going through foreclosure: They all describe in similar terms how the process hollows out your hopes, how being buried in paperwork and slowly but surely losing one's home makes you feel alone and desperate. Now, a study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Purdue University confirms that an increase in foreclosures during the past six years drove up the suicide rate: ... Read more

Big Dairy Is Putting Microscopic Pieces of Metal in Your Food
MotherJones | Tom Philpott | 05/28/14

... According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN)--a joint venture of Virginia Tech and the Wilson Center--there are more than 1,600 nanotechnology-based consumer products on the market today. If SmartSilver Anti-Odor Nanotechnology Underwear sounds like a rather intimate application for this novel technology, consider that the PEN database lists 96 food items currently on US grocery shelves that contain unlabeled nano ingredients. Examples include Dannon Greek Plain Yogurt, Silk Original Soy Milk, Rice Dream Rice Drink, Hershey's Bliss Dark Chocolate, and Kraft's iconic American Cheese Singles, all of which now contain nano-size titanium dioxide. As recently as 2008, only eight US food products were known to contain nanoparticles, according to a recent analysis from Friends of the Earth--a more than tenfold increase in just six years. ... Read more

What If Nanoparticles Are Sickening American Workers Who Don't Even Know They're Being Exposed?
MotherJones | Tom Philpott | 05/29/14

On Wednesday, I wrote about how nanotechnology--which involves microscopic particles of common substances--is rapidly pervading the food supply, despite health concerns raised by the Food and Drug Administration. But food is just one of the ways people interact with this ubiquitous and little-discussed technology. Another one is the workplace.

Nanoparticles are known to be used used in more than 1,600 consumer products, from athletic socks and bed sheets to toothpaste. Globally, the nanotech industry is worth about $20 billion per year. That's a lot of superfine particles that have to be manufactured, delivered, and added to the various end products by workers. ... Read more

Glenn Greenwald's No Place to Hide Reveals the Secrets Behind Edward Snowden's Revelations
reason.com | Andrew Napolitano | 05/29/14

... No Place to Hide not only tells of Snowden's initially frustrating and anonymous efforts to reach out to Greenwald and the others; it not only carefully explains the insatiable appetite of the NSA to learn everything about everyone ("Collect it all" was a continuously posted NSA motto). It is also a morality tale about the personal courage required of Snowden and Greenwald and his colleagues to expose government wrongdoing and the risk to their lives, liberties, and properties in doing so. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 30 [10:09]
*DN | "How Immigration Became Illegal": Aviva Chomsky on U.S. Exploitation of Migrant Workers (05/30/14) [12:50]
TRNN News
TRNN | NBC's Snowden Interview Overlooks Pre-9/11 Data Collection by the NSA (05/30/14) [10:21]
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: Financialization and the Collapse of European Social Democracy, Part 7 (05/30/14) [10:25]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | The Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz on why America's future prosperity depends on tax reform today. (05/30/14) [22:10]
Fox News
Fox News | O'Reilly To Megyn Kelly: 'You're Buying Into This Fraud' Of Income Inequality (05/30/14) [2:23]
NBC News
*NBC News | Edward Snowden Exclusive Interview with NBC Brian Williams (05/29/14) [43:19]
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | United States of Secrets Part 1 The Program (05/15/14) [1:54:11]
*PBS Frontline | United States of Secrets Part 2 The Program (05/21/14) [53:41]
*TYT News
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (05/30/14) [1hr]
International News - Friday (05/30/14) [1hr]
Revealing Graphics
Click to zoom - Major Cause of Death
Click to zoom - How Your Taxes are Spent
Click to zoom - Defense Budget
Click to zoom - Who's Responsible for National Debt
Click to zoom - Top Corporate Tax Rate

05.30.2014. 13:30

Thursday May 29, 2014
News Articles

U.S. Economy Shrinks For The First Time In 3 Years
Reuter & HP | author | 05/29/14

The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in three years as it buckled under the weight of a severe winter, but there are signs activity has since rebounded. The Commerce Department on Thursday revised down its growth estimate to show gross domestic product shrinking at a 1.0 annual rate.

It was the worst performance since the first quarter of 2011 and reflected a far slower pace of inventory accumulation and a bigger than previously estimated trade deficit. The government had previously estimated GDP growth expanding at a 0.1 percent rate. It is not unusual for the government to make sharp revisions to GDP numbers as it does not have complete data when it makes its initial estimates. Read more

30 Percent Of World Is Now Fat

7 States Running Out Of Water: 24/7 Wall St.
24/7 Wall St. | Alexander E.M. Hess | 05/24/14

In seven states drought conditions were so severe that each had more than half of its land area in severe drought. Severe drought is characterized by crop loss, frequent water shortages, and mandatory water use restrictions. Based on data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the states with the highest levels of severe drought.

Click to zoom - US Drought Monitor
7. Texas
> Pct. severe drought: 56.1%
> Pct. extreme drought: 39.9% (4th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 20.7% (3rd highest)

6. Oklahoma
> Pct. severe drought: 64.5%
> Pct. extreme drought: 50.1% (2nd highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 30.4% (the highest)

5. Arizona
> Pct. severe drought: 76.3%
> Pct. extreme drought: 7.7% (9th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 0.0%

4. Kansas
> Pct. severe drought: 80.8%
> Pct. extreme drought: 48.1% (3rd highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 2.8% (6th highest)

3. New Mexico
> Pct. severe drought: 86.2%
> Pct. extreme drought: 33.3% (6th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 4.5% (5th highest)

2. Nevada
> Pct. severe drought: 87.0%
> Pct. extreme drought: 38.7% (5th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 8.2% (4th highest)

1. California
> Pct. severe drought: 100.0%
> Pct. extreme drought: 76.7% (the highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 24.8% (2nd highest)
Read more

Someone Is Dead Wrong About The Economy
magazine | author | date

Bottom line: someone is dead wrong on the economy, but we are glad that the weathermen formerly known as economists are putting all these timestamps out there in the public domain. Because we eagerly look forward to seeing just what the scapegoat will be when Q2 GDP mysteriously fails to soar to 4%. And judging by what the bond market is doing, the only place that may see 4% growth in Q2 is China (net of all the fabricated data of course). ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, May 29 [11:33]
DN | The Case for Reparations: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Reckoning With U.S. Slavery & Institutional Racism (05/29/14) [7:43]
*DN | Exclusive: Bush Committed War Crimes Says Ex-Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke (05/29/14) [2:03]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Journalist Dahr Jamail & Professor Peter Wadhams: Melting Polar Ice Caps a "Ticking Timebomb" for Earth's Climate System (05/29/14) [15:26]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Joseph E. Stiglitz: Let's Stop Subsidizing Tax Dodgers (trailer) (05/28/14) [0:25]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm America In The World: Assessing President Obama's Foreign Policy Leadership. (05/29/14) [1hr]
Ring of Fire News
*Ring of Fire: The Disappearing Middle Class (05/28/14) [11:27]
The middle class is disappearing from America, and part of the reason is because the system has become so rigged that a middle class is no longer possible. Our politics, our laws, and our economy are all skewed in favor of the 1%.
Ring of Fire: U.S. Chamber Buying Attorney General Races (05/27/14) [10:49]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pumping millions of dollars into state attorney general races this year, hoping that they can buy enough power to end investigations into corporate crimes. If they succeed, there will be very little recourse for their members the next time they break the law.
Ring of Fire: Systemic Fraud Uncovered In Privatized Schools (05/27/14) [8:03]
The House of Representatives recently passed a measure that would hand $300 million dollars worth of taxpayer money over to charter schools. Not only do corporations who are looking to make a profit typically run these schools, but they are also ripe with fraud.
Other News
A Galaxy Far, Far Away...Will Hit Ours
Recently Hubble Space Telescope measurements have confirmed that the Milky Way will collide with a sibling galaxy known as the Andromeda nebula in about two billion years.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Destroys Climate Deniers (short) () [2:33]
When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I noticed that the FOX servers are a little slow so be patient.
*Cosmos | The Electric Boy: the beginnings of high technology (S01E10) (05/18/14) [40:33]
*Cosmos | The Immortals: Contemplate the future with a hopeful vision. (S01E11) (05/25/14) [42:30]

05.29.2014. 15:57

Wednesday May 28, 2014
News Articles

America is an oligarchy, not a democracy or republic, university study finds
Washington Times | Cheryl K. Chumley | 05/21/14

America is no longer a democracy -- never mind the democratic republic envisioned by Founding Fathers.

Rather, it has taken a turn down elitist lane and become a country led by a small dominant class comprised of powerful members who exert total control over the general population -- an oligarchy, said a new study jointly conducted by Princeton and Northwestern universities.

One finding in the study: The U.S. government now represents the rich and powerful, not the average citizen, United Press International reported.

In the study, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups and Average Citizens," researchers compared 1,800 different U.S. policies that were put in place by politicians between 1981 and 2002 to the type of policies preferred by the average and wealthy American, or special interest groups.

Researchers then concluded that U.S. policies are formed more by special interest groups than by politicians properly representing the will of the general people, including the lower-income class.

"The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence," the study found.

The study also found: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose." Read more
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.pdf
Although Geithner's 'Stress Test' is an entertaining story, the result of reading it alongside 'House of Debt' is damning.

How Timothy Geithner Failed His Stress Test
america.aljazeera.com/ | Mike Konczal | 05/22/14

Two books published this month offer radically disparate interpretations of the Great Recession and its aftermath. They each tell a very different story about the housing bubble, the 2008 financial crisis and the weak recovery that has followed. In one version, the bailout of the Wall Street banks is the hero, keeping the Great Recession from becoming a replay of the Great Depression. In the other, the bailout is a sideshow, even a distraction, to the real story about our economy. The interpretation that gains traction will determine how the recession is understood, what went right and wrong, and who is ultimately to praise and blame.

The first book is "Stress Test," former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's memoir. Although he discusses his education, world travels as a young person and experiences in the Clinton administration, the bulk of the narrative is a first-person account of the financial crisis and subsequent bailouts. Unlike other books about the bailouts, such as "Too Big to Fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin and "On the Brink" by Geithner predecessor Hank Paulson, "Stress Test" provides a point of view from within the first term of the Obama administration.

The second is "House of Debt," by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, economists at Princeton and the University of Chicago, respectively. In it they describe the large amount of empirical research carried out since 2008 to try and understand what went wrong in the financial markets and in the economy as a whole. Much of this work was either generated by the two authors or in response to them, and their command of these debates and the underlying data is impressive.

The books offer very different reading experiences. "Stress Test" is massive, at over 500 pages; "House of Debt" is barely 200. "Stress Test" is filled with clever humor and day-to-day observations during the economic crash. "House of Debt" reads as an excellent summary presentation of the recession to date, with each page packed with data. As opposed to many economists who try to force their pet theory onto the recession, Mian and Sufi let the research speak for itself. ... Read more
Dumb Quote of the Day
Joe The Plumber: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump My Constitutional Rights' To Have Guns.

Interview with Mian & Sufi on "House of Debt", and a review
ftalphaville.ft.com/ | Cardiff Garcia | 05/28/14

... To prevent a similar catastrophe in the future, the financial system should move away from debt contracts that impose all losses on debtors and towards equity-like and hybrid instruments. Future losses must be shared more equitably between creditors and debtors, the expectation of which would convince lenders to act more prudently. A good first step would be for the government to start eliminating subsidies for debt, such as the mortgage interest deduction. ... Read more
House of Debt website
House of Debt publisher

Tim Geithner and the Wall Street Bailout Redux
magazine | Robert Reich | 05/20/14

Timothy Geithner's new book about the financial crisis, "Stress Test," is basically an argument that the Wall Street bailout succeeded. That's hardly surprising, given that Geithner was in charge of the bailout when Treasury Secretary (as was his predecessor at Treasury, Hank Paulson), and so has an inherent interest in telling the public it succeeded.

Even so, the bailout clearly did succeed, if success means avoiding another Great Depression.

But another Great Depression might have been avoided if the crisis had been handled differently -- for example, by allowing the bankruptcy laws to do what they were intended to do, and forcing the big Wall Street banks to reorganize under them.

In fact, the bailout was a colossal failure in several respects Geithner barely mentions in his book, or avoids completely:

(1) The biggest Wall Street banks are now bigger than ever, and no sane person on or off the Street now believes Washington will ever allow them to fail -- which means they'll continue to make big, risky bets because they know they can't fail. And they'll get even bigger because big depositors and lenders know they'll never fail and therefore demand lower interest rates than demanded from smaller banks.

(2) No Wall Street executives have ever been prosecuted for what they did to the country, which means even more rampant irresponsibility in executive suites as well as even deeper cynicism in the public about the political power of Wall Street.

(3) The bailout helped the banks but did little or nothing for the tens of millions of Americans who lost billions of dollars in home equity and savings, and the millions more who lost their jobs. The toll was greatest on the poor and the middle class, who still haven't recovered their losses, even though Wall Street has fully recovered (and then some). Nor have reforms been enacted that will help the middle class and the poor the next time Wall Street implodes.

So pardon me if I take issue with Tim Geithner. The bailout was a success in the narrowest terms. Seen more broadly it was a terrible failure.

We'd have done better had we forced the biggest Wall Street banks, including the giant insurer AIG, to reorganize under bankruptcy rather than bail them out.
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 28 [11:45]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: 40% of Profits Buys A Lot of Politicians, Part 6 (05/28/14) [12:57]
TRNN | Michael Hudson: Voters Reject Traditional Left Parties In EU Parliament Elections (05/28/14) [9:33]
TRNN | Professors Trevor Evans & John Weeks: EU Election Results Reflect Widespread Disapproval Of Austerity Policy Throughout Europe (05/28/14) [20:18]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
*Jon Stewart | Timothy Geithner Extended Interview (05/21/14) [42:20]
If the above doesn't work, try the source below.
Jon Stewart | Timothy Geithner Extended Interview (05/21/14) [42:20]
Financial Times News
FT | Interview with Mian & Sufi on "House of Debt", and a review (05/28/14) [23:47]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | REPLAY: Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism (older, but good) [first half]
Dylan Ratigan
This is from several years ago on the Dylan Ratigan Show. It was good then, and still true NOW!
Dylan Ratigan | loses it on air (2011) [4:45]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *New Data On Whether College Is Worth The Debts (05/28/14) [1hr]
Who's Responsible for National Debt - Click to zoom
Top Corporate Tax Rate - Click to zoom

05.28.2014. 11:21

Tuesday May 27, 2014
News Articles

Populists' Rise in Europe Vote Shakes Leaders
NYTimes | Andrew Higgins | 05/26/14

An angry eruption of populist insurgency in the elections for the European Parliament rippled across the Continent on Monday, unnerving the political establishment and calling into question the very institutions and assumptions at the heart of Europe's post-World War II order.

Four days of balloting across 28 countries elected scores of rebellious outsiders, including a clutch of xenophobes, racists and even neo-Nazis. In Britain, Denmark, France and Greece, insurgent forces from the far right and, in Greece's case, also from the radical left stunned the established political parties. ... Read more

The Appeal of the Fringe
NYTimes | author | 05/26/14

In the elections for the European Parliament over the weekend, many traditional, centrist political parties lost ground to smaller or upstart parties from both sides of the spectrum. The charts below show the percentage of the vote won by selected political parties, with the upstarts in bold. ... Read more

Carbon Dioxide Levels Topped 400 PPM Throughout Northern Hemisphere In April, WMO Says
Reuters | Tom Miles | 05/26/14

GENEVA, May 26 (Reuters) - Carbon dioxide levels throughout the northern hemisphere hit 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history in April, an ominous threshold for climate change, the World Meteorological Organization said on Monday.

The 400 ppm level in the atmosphere, up 40 percent since wide use of fossil fuels began with the Industrial Revolution, is rapidly spreading southwards. First recorded in 2012 in the Arctic, it has since become the norm for the Arctic spring.

"Time is running out," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, May 27 [11:25]
DN | Will Election Unite Ukraine? Dozens Killed in Airport Battle as President-Elect Vows Russia Talks (05/27/14) [6:11]
DN | #YesAllWomen: Rebecca Solnit on the Santa Barbara Massacre & Viral Response to Misogynist Violence (05/27/14) [4:38]
The Rise of the Euroskeptic Right-wing in Europe (05/26/14) [2:28]
TRNN News
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: The Financialization of Big Business, Part 4 (05/25/14) [13:24]
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: Is Financialization Necessary for a Modern Economy?, Part 5 (05/27/14) [17:55]
TruthLoader
TruthLoader | The corporations and landowners causing hell for Haiyan survivors (05/22/14) [10:11]
TruthLoader | The Great Climate Change Conspiracy (05/14/14) [17:40]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Debate over 'Right-to-Try' Laws (05/27/14) [1hr]
Lawmakers in three states have passed so-called "Right-to-Try" laws, which give terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs without FDA approval. Diane and guests discuss the growing demand for these laws and whether they jeopardize patient safety.
TYT News
TYT | Was Congress Right to Cut Off Long Term Unemployment Benefits? (05/26/14) [5:22]
TYT | Which Party Should Control Congress? AP/Gallup POLL Results (05/26/14) [5:19]

05.27.2014. 10:15

Monday May 26, 2014
News Articles

Michigan Politician Compares Gays To Nazis, Rejecting Anti-Discrimination Bill
HP | Lila Shapiro | 05/22/14

The city council in Saginaw, Michigan, spent a few hours this week debating an ordinance that would have banned local businesses from firing or refusing to serve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people because of their sexuality or gender identity.

Supporters argued that the measure would benefit the local economy by sending friendly signals to LGBT entrepreneurs and, more generally, to young people, who overwhelmingly support gay rights, according to polls. ... Read more

Fractional-Reserve Banking: From Goldsmiths To Hedge Funds To... Chaos
ZeroHedge | author | 05/23/14

Banking didn't start out as a reckless, parasitical plaything of a moneyed and politically-connected aristocracy. In the beginning, in fact, bankers weren't even bankers. They were jewelers and goldsmiths who had to maintain their inventory with vaults, guards etc., and offered storage services to others with valuables to protect. So the original banks were, in effect, very safe warehouses. ... Read more

The 95 Percent Doctrine: Climate Change as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
Bill Moyers | Tom Engelhardt | 05/23/14

Who could forget? At the time, in the fall of 2002, there was such a drumbeat of "information" from top figures in the Bush administration about the secret Iraqi program to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and so endanger the United States. And who -- other than a few suckers -- could have doubted that Saddam Hussein was eventually going to get a nuclear weapon? The only question, as our vice president suggested on "Meet the Press," was: Would it take one year or five? And he wasn't alone in his fears, since there was plenty of proof of what was going on. For starters, there were those "specially designed aluminum tubes" that the Iraqi autocrat had ordered as components for centrifuges to enrich uranium in his thriving nuclear weapons program. ... Read more

Elliot Rodger's fatal menace: How toxic male entitlement devalues women's and men's lives
Salon | Katie Mcdonough | 05/25/14

We don't yet know much about the six innocent women and men who were killed in Isla Vista, California late Friday night, but we have come to know a few things about the man who is alleged to have murdered them. Hours before he is believed to have fatally stabbed and shot six people and wounded 13 others in that coastal college town, Elliot Rodger filmed a video of himself -- palm trees behind him, the glow of an orange sun highlighting his young face -- and vowed to get "revenge against humanity." ... Read more

A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
MotherJones | Mark Follman | 05/24/14

America's latest mass shooting took place in Santa Barbara on Friday night. The New York Times reports: "A college student who posted videos that documented his rage against women for rejecting him killed six people and wounded 13 others during a spasm of terror, the police said. He stabbed three men to death in his apartment and shot the others as he methodically opened fire on bystanders on the crowded streets of this small town." According to the LA Times, the guns he used—two Sig Sauer p226 model handguns and a Glock 34—were legally purchased from federally licensed dealers and were registered to the killer, who after a shootout with police ended his own life with a bullet to the head. ... Read more
Click to zoom - A Guide to Mass Shootings in America

TRNN News
*TRNN | REPLAY: The Video that Bradley Manning says Pushed Him to Upload to Wikileaks (05/12/10) [13:07], Part 2 [11:43], Part 3 [11:20], Part 4 [10:45]
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren's Powerful Speech on Raising the Minimum Wage After the Vote Lost (05/24/14) [4:42]
PBS Frontline
PBS Frontline | United States of Secrets Part 1 The Program (05/15/14) [1:54:11]
*PBS Frontline | United States of Secrets Part 2 The Program (05/21/14) [53:41]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
*Jon Stewart | Timothy Geithner Extended Interview (05/21/14) [42:20]
If the above doesn't work, try the source below.
Jon Stewart | Timothy Geithner Extended Interview (05/21/14) [42:20]
Karen Hudes WORLD BANK Insider
World Banker Karen Hudes Reveals Secret US Constitution (04/01/14) [22:52]
Karen Hudes WORLD BANK Insider reveals who`s behind the throne (02/23/14) [15:00]
Click to zoom -

05.26.2014. 11:32

Friday May 23, 2014
News Articles

Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Allowing Electric Chair If Lethal Injection Drugs Unavailable
HP | Erik Schelzig | 05/22/14

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law Thursday allowing the state to electrocute death row inmates in the event prisons are unable to obtain the drugs, which have become more and more scarce following a European-led boycott of drug sales for executions. ... Read more

These Eight Charts Show Why Racial Equality Is a Myth in America
Bill Moyers | author | 05/22/14

This week's Moyers & Company interview -- shows how dramatically the legacy of slavery and centuries of legalized and institutionalized racism have held back our country's African-American population. In 2014, there still very much exists what in 1967 Martin Luther King described as "two Americas," one "overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity," the other tainted by "a daily ugliness … that constantly transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair." ... Read more

Click to zoom -

Hookers And Blow: How Changing The Definition Of GDP Officially Evolved
ZeroHedge | author | 05/23/14

A year ago it was the US which first "boosted" America's GDP by $500 billion - literally out of thin air - when it arbitrarily decided to include "intangibles" to the components that 'make up' GDP (in the process cutting over 5% from the US Debt/GDP ratio). Then Spain joined the fray. Then Greece. Then the UK. Then Nigeria, which showed those deveoped Keynesian basket cases how it is really done, when it doubled the size of its GDP overnight when it decided to change the base year of its GDP calculations. Now it is Italy's turn, and like everything else Italy does, this latest "revision" of the definition of GDP easily wins in the style points category. As Bloomberg reports, "Italy will include prostitution and illegal drug sales in the gross domestic product calculation this year." Yup: blow and hookers. And that, ladies and gents, how it's done. ... Read more

Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call in the Bahamas
firstlook.org/theintercept | Glenn Greenwald | 05/19/14

The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas.

According to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the surveillance is part of a top-secret system -- code-named SOMALGET -- that was implemented without the knowledge or consent of the Bahamian government. Instead, the agency appears to have used access legally obtained in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to open a backdoor to the country's cellular telephone network, enabling it to covertly record and store the "full-take audio" of every mobile call made to, from and within the Bahamas -- and to replay those calls for up to a month. ... Read more

Keith Alexander Unplugged: on Bush/Obama, 1.7 million stolen documents and other matters
firstlook.org/theintercept | Glenn Greenwald | 05/19/14

The just-retired long-time NSA chief, Gen. Keith Alexander, recently traveled to Australia to give a remarkably long and wide-ranging interview with an extremely sycophantic "interviewer" with The Australian Financial Review. The resulting 17,000-word transcript and accompanying article form a model of uncritical stenography journalism, but Alexander clearly chose to do this because he is angry, resentful, and feeling unfairly treated, and the result is a pile of quotes that are worth examining, only a few of which are noted below: ... Read more

Ecuador Issues Permit To Drill In Pristine Amazon Reserve
AP & HP | author | 05/22/14

Ecuador's government has issued an environmental permit for oil drilling in the pristine Amazon reserve that President Rafael Correa initially offered to exempt from exploration if rich countries would pay his government. Correa abandoned that effort last year due to insufficient interest and has spurned pleas by environmentalists to spare the Yasuni reserve. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 23 [8:19]
DN | After Latest Coup in Thailand, Will U.S. Rethink Military Ties to Longtime Asian Ally? (05/23/14) [3:23]
DN | Iona Craig: Dire Situation in Yemen as Backlash Grows From U.S.-Backed Offensive Against Al Qaeda (05/23/14) [7:30]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | This week Bill speaks with Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor for The Atlantic about his cover story on why America needs to reconcile with its racist past. (05/22/14) [26:46]

Europe News
It seems change is coming - as Farage himself noted recently... () [3:28]
TRNN News
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: Growing Up in the Greek Police State, Part 1 (05/21/14) [12:52]
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: After the Fall of the Dictatorship, I Knew Political Economy was the Key, Part 2 (05/22/14) [14:01]
TRNN | Costas Lapavitsas: large scale industrialization created the need for massive amounts of capital and big banks, a process that developed an aggressive global capitalism, Part 3 (05/23/14) [13:17] Monopoly Capitalism
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (05/23/14) [1hr]
International News - Friday (05/23/14) [1hr]
Movie and TV News
Sneak Preview of Premiere Episode. Sundays 10/9c, Series Premiere June 1. The 1980s computing boom through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy as they chart the changing culture in Texas' Silicon Prairie.
CTRL The Future: Halt and Catch Fire (trailer)
CTRL The Future: Halt and Catch Fire (full) (05/23/14) [50:45]
AMC's Breaking Bad in 2 Hours - Cinematic Recap (08/17/13) [1:55:40]
"Citizen Koch" Official (trailer) (2014) [3:11]
A World Without Water (05/04/12) [1:16:15]
Tiny House
10 homes on wheels
Tiny House for $30,000.00

05.23.2014. 10:37

Thursday May 22, 2014
News Articles

Thailand's Military Stages Coup 2 Days After Declaring Martial Law
AP & HP | Thanyarat Doksone | 05/22/14

Thailand's military seized power Thursday in a bloodless coup, dissolving the government, suspending the constitution and dispersing groups of protesters from both sides of the country's political divide who had gathered in Bangkok and raised fears of a violent showdown.

The powerful army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the military takeover in a statement broadcast on national television. It was followed by additional announcements including a nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and an order for top government officials -- including the ousted prime minister -- to report immediately to the country's new governing military commission. ... Read more

How Right-Wingers Are Amping Up Their War on Science and Reality
AlterNet | Amanda Marcotte | 05/20/14

No longer content just to claim to be "skeptical" of scientific findings they find disagreeable, Republican politicians have moved on to a more alarming anti-science strategy: confuse the public about what science even is, claiming it's just someone's opinion and ignoring the importance of evidence.

... By making climate change a matter of what he "believes" or "agrees with," Rubio was implying that climate change is a matter of opinion and not of evidence or fact. There's the old saying, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." Conservatives have figured out a workaround: redefine the facts as opinions, and by golly, now you get to have your own facts! ... Read more

Endless War: Top Obama Lawyers Tell Congress the President Can Do Anything In War On Terrorists
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 05/21/14

President Obama has all the authority he needs to fight terrorists overseas, top lawyers for the Pentagon and State Department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, in a contentious hearing over whether Congress' authorization to use force after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was still needed -- or even relevant.

AUMF--the Authorization To Use Military Force passed by Congress three days after the 9/11 attacks -- gave then-President George W. Bush unlimited authority to go after foreign terrorists. ... Read more

Stark Photos Of Inequality In Mexico City Show A Metropolis Divided
HP | author | 05/20/14

Mexico has an inequality problem. The uneven distribution of wealth is perhaps best illustrated by a series of images captured by photographer Oscar Ruíz in Mexico City. Produced by ad firm Publicis, the campaign seeks to to highlight the huge wealth disparity in the country in order to "Erase the Difference." ... Read more

Click to zoom - What Inequality Looks Like (in Mexico)

North Korea's Biggest City Looks Like A Ghost Town
HP |Emily Thomas | 05/21/14

To the outside world, glimpses of daily life in North Korea are few and far between. A Singaporean photographer, however, recently created a video tour of the country's capital. With permission from North Korea's notoriously secretive government, Aram Pan was allowed to mount a GoPro Hero 3 camera onto a car and roam the city of Pyongyang, filming the sights and sounds. ... Read more
GoPro City Tour Of Pyongyang, North Korea's Biggest City (05/19/14) [22:48]

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, May 22 [8:35]
*DN | NYC Suspends Massive 911 System Overhaul to Probe Lengthy Delays, $1 Billion Over Budget (05/22/14) [3:05]
DN | Facing Senate Uproar, Obama Admin to Release Memo Justifying Drone Killings of Americans Overseas (05/21/14) [3:18]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Congress Considering Expanding Wasteful Pentagon Programs (05/22/14) [10:14]
Anti-militarism advocates William Hartung and Greg Mello discuss why a House proposal to spend billions on new nuclear weapons, the F35 and other projects is wasteful and harmful for America's strategic interests.
Ring of Fire
*Papantonio: Gulf Coast Still Poisoned, Drill Baby Drill! (05/21/14) [9:48]
*RFK, Jr. and Seder: U.S. Postal Service Fighting for Survival (05/22/14) [9:23]
Koch Brothers Exposed
Koch Brothers Exposed (older version) (2012) [1:00:34]
Live Press Briefing and Premiere of Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition (05/20/14) [40:30]
Press Briefing and Premiere of Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition with Senator Harry Reid, Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Filmmaker Robert Greenwald.
*NEW version | Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition (05/20/14) [55:56]
Brave New Films website
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Think Tanks, Influence and Independence (05/21/14) [1hr]
The role of think tanks in shaping public policy dates back nearly a century to when the Brookings Institution set up shop in the nation's capital. The idea was to create a "university without students" that could provide research to lawmakers. Today, there are more than 1,800 think tanks in the United States, 400 in Washington alone. They range from liberal to conservative, scholarly to activist. Recently, outside groups have started to demand a higher level of transparency when it comes to where think tanks get their money. They say citizens deserve to know who is bankrolling the ideas that shape our democracy. A conversation about think tanks, influence and independence.
Fukushima
Fukushima Documentary Films - The Radioactive Waters of Fukushima (full) (05/13/14) [49:11]



Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

05.22.2014. 10:06

Wednesday May 21, 2014
News Articles

All About Blackshades, the Malware That Lets Hackers Watch You Through Your Webcam
MotherJones | Dana Liebelson | 05/21/14

On Monday, US officials announced the arrest of more than 90 people allegedly connected to an organization called Blackshades, which sold software that allows hackers to easily take over a Microsoft Windows computer remotely. Last year, a college student used the tool to take nude photos of Miss Teen USA via her personal computer's webcam. According to the FBI and law enforcement officials, the program has been sold and distributed to "thousands" of people in more than 100 countries since 2010, affecting some 700,000 victims. Here's why you might want to update your anti-virus software, or, if you're prone to dancing around your room naked, at least put a piece of tape over your webcam.

Blackshades is the name of an organization allegedly owned by a Swedish 24-year-old named Alex Yücel. According to government officials, Yücel and Michael Hogue?, a 23-year-old US citizen who was arrested in 2012 as part of the feds' tangential investigation into Blackshades, codeveloped the Blackshades remote access tool (RAT). This tool, which sold for as little as $40 at bshades.eu and other sites, essentially allowed buyers to act as peeping Toms on strangers' computers. The organization made more than $350,000 between September 2010 and April 2014, according to the FBI. ... Read more

Russia And China Finally Sign Historic $400 Billion "Holy Grail" Gas Deal
ZeroHedge | author | 05/21/14

There was some trepidation yesterday when after the first day of Putin's visit to China the two countries did not announce the completion of the long-awaited "holy grail" gas dead, and fears that it may get scuttled over price negotiations. It wasn't: moments ago Russia's Gazprom and China's CNPC announced, that after a decade of negotiations, the two nations signed a 30 year gas contract amounting to around $400 billion. And with the west doing all it can to alienate Russia and to force it into China's embrace, this is merely the beginning of what will be a far closer commercial (and political) relationship between China and Russia. ... Read more

As Russia Dumps A Record Amount Of US Treasurys, Here Is What It Is Buying
ZeroHedge | author | 05/21/14

Last week we commented that based on TIC data, while "Belgium's" unprecedented Treasury buying spree continues, one country has been dumping US bonds at an unprecedented rate, and in March alone Russia sold a record $26 billion, or 20% of its holdings. So as Russia is selling a record amount of US paper, what is it buying? For the answer we go to Goldcore which tells us that "Russia Buys 900,000 Ounces Of Gold Worth $1.17 Billion In April." ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 21 [12:36]
DN | Koch Brothers Exposed: The Chilling New Documentary Republicans Don't Want You to See (05/21/14) [1:18]
DN | Behind the Koch Brothers: New Book Spills the Secrets of Nation's Most Powerful & Private Dynasty (05/21/14) [5:13]
*Robert Greenwald's "Koch Brothers Exposed" (full) (2012) [1:00:51]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Michael Hudson: The Fed's practice of buying mortgage and government bonds has helped big banks profit while leaving homeowners holding more debt (05/21/14) [8:01]
TRNN | James Henry: 5 Things You Need to Know About Credit Suisse's Criminal Charge (05/21/14) [10:52]
Ring of Fire
*Ring of Fire | Where Has All The Money Gone? (05/20/14) [12:50]
Ring of Fire | Leaked Secret Trade Doc Portends US/EU Fracking Bonanza (05/20/14) [5:38]
As written, secretive trade agreement would push industry-friendly protections for gas production...
Ring of Fire | Countries in the European Union are working on implementing a financial transaction tax, why can't the US. (03/25/14) [5:44]
Jon Stewart
*Jon Stewart | A new type of handgun the "smart gun" threatens to harm the status of its fellow guns. (05/20/14) [4:41]
Jon Stewart | V.A. offices in several states alter hospital records to hide the degree of their inadequacy and negligence. (05/19/14) [4:36]

05.21.2014. 14:17

Tuesday May 20, 2014
News Articles

Koch vs. Koch: The Brutal Battle That Tore Apart America's Most Powerful Family
MotherJones | Daniel Schulman | 05/20/14

The roles the brothers would play in that drama were established from boyhood. Fred and Mary Koch's oldest son, Frederick, a lover of theater and literature, left Wichita for boarding school after 7th grade and barely looked back. Charles, the rebellious No. 2, was molded from an early age as Fred's successor. After eight years at MIT and a consulting firm, Charles returned to Wichita to learn the intricacies of the family business. Together, he and David would build their father's Midwestern company, which as of 1967 had $250 million in yearly sales and 650 employees, into a corporate Goliath with $115 billion in annual revenues and a presence in 60 countries. Under their leadership, Koch Industries grew into the second-largest private corporation in the United States (only the Minneapolis-based agribusiness giant Cargill is bigger).

Bill, meanwhile, would become best known for his flamboyant escapades: as a collector of fine wines who embarked on a litigious crusade against counterfeit vino, as a playboy with a history of messy romantic entanglements, and as a yachtsman who won the America's Cup in 1992, an experience he likened, unforgettably, to the sensation of "10,000 orgasms." Koch Industries made its money the old-fashioned way--oil, chemicals, cattle, timber--and in its dizzying rise, David and Charles amassed fortunes estimated at $41 billion apiece, tying them for sixth place among the wealthiest people on the planet. ... Read more

The Greenspan Housing Bubble Lives On: 20 Million Homeowners Can't Trade-Up Because They Are Still Underwater
ZeroHedge | author | 05/20/14

One of the most deplorable aspects of Greenspan's monetary central planning was the lame proposition that financial bubbles can't be detected, and that the job of central banks is to wait until they crash and then flood the market with liquidity to contain the damage.

In fact, after the giant housing bubble crashed and left millions of Main Street victims holding the bag, Greenspan evacuated the Eccles Building, and then spent nearly a whole chapter in his memoirs explaining how this devastation wasn't his fault.

Instead, he blamed Chinese peasant girls who came by the millions to the east China export factories where they lived a dozen at a time cramped in tiny dormitory rooms working 14 hour days. According to the Maestro, they "saved" too much, thereby enabling American's to overdo it on the mortgage borrowing front. Yes, in so many words he said exactly that! ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, May 20 [6:48]
DN | Sen. Al Franken: Media Mega-Mergers and FCC Rollback of Net Neutrality Threaten Democracy (05/20/14) [4:15]
*DN | Too Big To Jail? Credit Suisse Bank Pleads Guilty to Decades of Tax Evasion, But Execs Avoid Prison (05/20/14) [4:27]
DN | Snowden Docs Reveal NSA, DEA Teamed Up to Record Every Cell Phone Call in Bahamas (05/20/14) [5:37]
TRNN News
*TRNN | TRNN Debate: Is Obama Doing Enough to Fight Climate Change? (05/20/14) [17:59]
Environmental scholar Subhankar Banerjee and Center for American Progress fellow Daniel Weiss debate the Obama administration's record on fighting climate change after government report finds climate change effects happening now.
TRNN | Danny Glover and James Early at a Real News Town Hall discuss the role of the mainstream media (05/20/14) [23:37]
TYT News
TYT | CNBC Anchor BLASTS "Extremism" in the GOP (05/19/14) [3:11]
TYT | What Is the "Liberal" Obama Administration's Beef with Economist Thomas Piketty? (05/19/14) [4:48]
TYT | India's Pro-Business Candidate Wins World's Biggest Election (05/19/14) [9:09]
Financial Crisis | Banksters
This is from several years ago on the Dylan Radigan Show. It was good then, and still true NOW!
Dylan Ratigan | loses it on air (2011) [4:45]
*The Financial Crisis & Public Debts Explained In Detail (2012) [52:06]
Understanding the Financial Crisis: Origin and Impact - Elizabeth Warren (2008) [1:38:53]
slide the progressbar to 31:51 and play to 44:54
Jon Stewart
Here is another person who we should be listen to. Jon Stewart | Learn more about Malala Yousafzai, you can buy her book or visit The Malala Fund.() [6:13]

05.20.2014. 10:54

Monday May19, 2014
News Articles

How to Save the Planet
Bill Moyers | author | 05/16/14

Report after report tells us our planet is in trouble. Most recently, two teams of researchers concluded that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's gradual collapse due to global warming has become unstoppable; as a result, sea levels will rise by feet, not inches, in the centuries to come. This is just one of the many frightening effects of climate change.

Yet Americans remain unfazed. Only 40 percent of us are concerned, a Gallup poll recently found. Twenty-five percent remain global warming skeptics. Legislative attempts at climate action are inevitably derailed, and political hopefuls increasingly play the science denial card to win support. So what can we do? Read more

Wealth Of UK's 1000 Richest People Increased 15% In Past Year; Equal To 3.5x GDP Of Greece.

Eight Pseudoscientific Climate Claims Debunked by Real Scientists
Bill Moyers | Joshua Holland | 05/16/14

Most people who deny that human activity is warming the planet just dismiss a massive body of scientific evidence as a big hoax.

But there's a more sophisticated set of climate "skeptics" who make arguments that, at least to the lay ear, sound like they're grounded in scientific evidence. And because most of us lack the background to evaluate their claims, they can muddy the waters around an issue that's been settled in the scientific community. ... Read more

  1. No, the Earth Hasn't Stopped Warming Since 1998 (or 1996 or 1997)
  2. No, the IPCC Makes Projections, Not Predictions
  3. Yes, the Temperature Readings Are Reliable
  4. Yes, There Is a Scientific Consensus
  5. It's Not the Sun's Fault
  6. Doubling Down With "Global Cooling"
  7. Yes, It's Been Warm Before
  8. No, Antarctic Ice Isn't Increasing
  9. And 168 more…
Visit SkepticalScience.com

Read The Secret Trade Memo Calling For More Fracking and Offshore Drilling
HP |Zach Carter | 05/19/14

The European Union is pressing the Obama administration to expand U.S. fracking, offshore oil drilling and natural gas exploration under the terms of a secret negotiation text obtained by The Huffington Post.

The controversial document is an early draft of energy policies that EU negotiators hope to see adopted under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal, which is currently being negotiated. The text was shared with American officials in September. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment on the document. ... Read more

The California Drought Is Far From Over, And The Entire State Is Suffering
HP | Carly Schwartz | 05/16/14

For a few days last month, it rained in San Francisco. Residents across the city cheered a welcomed respite from a drought that has crippled California for more than two years -- but the celebration turned out to be premature.

On Thursday, for the first time this century, the U.S. Drought Monitor declared that all of California is in a "severe" drought, with many areas of the state in an even worse condition, from "extreme" to "exceptional," the poorest possible rating. ... Read more

FBI Issues "Most Wanted" Notice For Wang "Ugly Gorilla" Dong And 4 Other Chinese Army Officers.
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, May 19 [11:56]
DN | "The Most Important Journalist You've Never Heard Of": Remembering William Worthy (1921-2014) (05/19/14) [9:42]
TRNN News
TRNN | Steve Wamhoff of Citizens for Tax Justice discusses how Pfizer Offers To Buy Foreign Corporation In Order To Avoid Paying More Taxes. (05/19/14) [6:34]
TRNN | Ajamu Baraka explains: Boko Haram Kidnappings An Excuse For The U.S. To Further Entrench Itself In Africa (05/19/14) [6:46]
The book "Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink" by John Campbell. Mr. Campbell is the former US ambassador to Nigeria and an expert on Nigeria. His book is extremely informative, was updated in 2013 and very readable.

One would not know from the MSM just how reluctant Nigeria is in accepting US military assistance in finding "Our Girls". They keep saying all they want is US intelligence, military weapons and money. They are rightfully highly suspicious of boots on the ground and it is not in their nature. As Mr. Campbell puts it, Nigeria which makes up the bulk of UN peacekeeping troops in Africa is used to giving help but not asking for military help.

The latest stories to splash across the media is that Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin are joining the "total war" against Boko Haram. These are Francophone countries. Nigeria is also highly suspicious of them and would not want their boots on the ground in Nigeria either. The spin of the MSM is that Africa is uniting to fight a common threat. More likely this is another initiative by the West. Confusing though is that the US, for its own interests, has been pushing France and Belgium out of Africa.

I keep reminding people that this is the centennial year of the start of WW1. That war was largely ignited by the Scramble for Africa. Not much has changed in 100 years except now we can kill much larger numbers of people.
TYT News
TYT | Pentagon May Grant Chelsea Manning's Request for Gender Transition (05/19/14) [4:04]
TYT | Segregation's Over, Right? Wrong, It's Making A Comeback (05/19/14) [9:05]
TYT | Should School Records Cost More Than Most Cars? (05/19/14) [6:34]
TYT | Latest Billionaire Perk? Beach Goons! (05/19/14) [3:48]
'Star Wars' Arm Will Change How You Think, Literally (05/18/14) [4:22]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm James Webb: "I Heard My Country Calling" (05/19/14) [1hr]
John Oliver | Last Week Tonight
HBO | Ukraine - Eurovision and Crimea Coin (05/11/14) [6:55]
HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | GM Ad (05/18/14) [4:50]
HBO | Fareed Zakaria Interview on India's Election (05/18/14) [7:35]
HBO | Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: General Keith Alexander Extended Interview (04/27/14) [9:25]

05.19.2014. 12:47

Friday May 16, 2014
News Articles

The War on Climate Scientists
Bill Moyers | author | 05/14/14

News reports like this show that climate change is serious, but corporations and even some governments seem recklessly determined to minimize or deny the reality of global warming, as well as undermine the authority of scientists. In the second part of his conversation with Bill, Canadian scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki says killing the messenger is a 50-year-0ld strategy ripped straight from big tobacco's playbook.

... In part two of his interview, scientist David Suzuki says there's still hope for the planet, despite the obstruction and greed of politicians and corporations. Watch the preview. ... Read more

United Renter States Of America
ZeroHedge | author | 05/16/14

Click to zoom - Change in Housing Permits

UMich Confidence Tumbles, Misses By Most In 8 Years
ZeroHedge | author | 05/16/14

After April's confidence-inspiring reflexive rebound (thanks to hope for the future more than current perceptions) back near post-crisis highs, it seems the less-than-frigid-weather and record-er highs in stocks were not enough to maintain the status quo enhancing exuberance. UMich confidence dropped and missed expectations by the most since June 2006. Maybe its fears of El Nino? Maybe its concerns at the bond market signals? Or maybe - the reality is that the average joe is not as cock-a-hoop as the man-on-the-TV says he should be. Economic conditions dropped to their lowest since November. Higher highs in stocks and lower highs in confidence - not what the Fed wants. ... Read more

Click to zoom - UofM Consumer Confidence

Bernanke: The Deception Behind QE
ZeroHedge | author | 05/16/14

Most times I leave people to their flawed ideas because in most cases, it is not what you believe that is most important but that you live in congruence with your beliefs. But this came up in conversation the other day, and since this belief is affecting us all, it must be examined.

Bernanke in 2001: (good article) ... Read more

Stephen Cobert
Stephen Cobert | Karl Rove on Hilary Clinton's Health (05/15/14) [5:44]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 16 [11:45]
DN | A Matter of Life and Death: Veterans Affairs Head Grilled Over Delays in Care For Returning Soldiers (05/16/14) [7:54]
DN | India Elects Hard-Right Hindu Nationalist as New Indian Prime Minister Backed by Corporate Interests (05/16/14) [5:24]
TRNN News
TRNN | Ryan Radia and Christopher Mitchell discuss: Should The Internet Be Regulated Like A Utility? (05/16/14) [26:38]
Bill Moyers
In part two of his interview, scientist David Suzuki says there's still hope for the planet, despite the obstruction and greed of politicians and corporations (preview) (05/16/14) [0:29]
Dylan Ratigan
*Dylan Ratigan Goes on a Rant (older) [4:45]
Dylan Ratigan | Goldman Sachs-Robbing and Thieving The American People (older) [7:38]
Banks
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (05/16/14) [1hr]
International News - Friday (05/16/14) [1hr]
Crowd Funded Movies
"Classified: The Edward Snowden Story" (01/11/14) [3:25]
[ v e r a x ] : Edward Snowden - short film () [5:21]
Rachel Maddow on GOP
Maddow: OMG, Republicans Think "The Flintstones" Was A Documentary! (older) [7:22]
Maddow: GOP brings anti-science perspectives to war on women (older) [18:48]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | With midterm elections right around the corner, aging incumbents seem impervious to anything that might force them out of office. (05/15/14) [4:11]
Jon Stewart | Jim Parsons reflects on the emotional experience of getting to act in "The Normal Heart" on the stage as well as in the HBO movie adaptation. (05/15/14) [7:22]

05.16.2014. 12:55

Thursday May 15, 2014
News Articles

Hedge Fund Titans Hum a Happy Tune as They Target Public Schools
BillMoyers | Sam Pizzigat | 05/15/14

... What had the hedgies so happy? The rest of us found out the next day. In 2013, the trade journal Alpha revealed, the hedge fund industry's top 25 earners collected $21.15 billion, a whopping 50 percent over their total the year before.

A hedge fund manager in 2013 needed to take in $300 million just to make the top 25. Ten years ago, in 2004, an aspiring hedge fund kingpin only had to grab $30 million to enter the industry's top 25 elite. ... Read more

America's 157,800 kindergarten teachers made about $8.34 billion in 2013. Hedge fund America's top four earners alone made $10.4 billion.
CEOs in the Fast Food industry make 1200 TIMES what thier average workers makes.

Fighting Wage Theft in the Fast Food Industry
HP | Eric T. Schneiderman | 05/15/14

On Thursday, fast-food workers around the world will stage an unprecedented protest for fair wages. They will be speaking out against income inequality -- and the world would do well to listen. Income inequality is one of the most destructive forces in the United States today. Minimum-wage workers devastated by the economic crash of 2008 have continued to languish in poverty while the subsequent recovery has sent executive compensation soaring.

Nowhere is the disparity starker than in the fast-food industry, which a recent Demos report called the most unequal sector in the U.S. economy. It has some of America's lowest-paid workers -- but its top executives make 1,200 times more than their average employees, according to Demos. Nationally, the average hourly wage for a fast-food worker is about $9 per hour, $4,500 less than the federal government's poverty level threshold of $23,500 for a family of four.

While the industry takes in $200 billion a year, the average fast-food worker in New York City earns just $11,000 annually. ... Read more

Euro-Area Growth Missing Forecast Keeps Pressure on ECB
Bloomberg | Stefan Riecher | 05/15/14

The euro-area recovery failed to gather momentum last quarter, as France unexpectedly stalled and economies from Italy to the Netherlands shrank.

Growth of just 0.2 percent for the currency bloc, half as much as economists had forecast, adds pressure on the European Central Bank to deliver stimulus measures next month in its battle against weak inflation and anemic output. While German expansion doubled to 0.8 percent, that wasn't enough to offset renewed weakness across the region, including a 0.7 percent drop in Portugal. ... Read more

Europe's "Very Disappointing" Q1 GDP In Charts
ZeroHedge | author | 05/15/14

Thank god for Germany, whose Q1 GDP printed at 0.8%, above the expected 0.7%, and higher than Q4's 0.4%, or else the Eurozone's very disappointing Q1 GDP, which printed at 0.2% or half the expected 0.4%, could have been flat or negative. ... Read more
Click to zoom - Euro Q1 GDP

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, May 15 [12:31]
*DN | Debate: As FCC Votes on Internet's Future, What's the Best Way to Protect Net Neutrality? (05/15/14) [6:47]
DN | "We Have to Stop This Inequality": Fast-Food Worker Strike Spreads to Dozens of Cities (05/15/14) [4:46]
TRNN News
TRNN | Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. (05/15/14) [0:46]
*TRNN | Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the 21st Century, tells us about his study of the history of income and wealth since the 18th century (05/15/14) [30:16]
*TRNN | RERUN: The Making of Oliver Stone's "Untold History of the United States" (older) [10:23]
See all the episodes here.
Other News
Ring of Fire | Right-wing Think Tanks, Corporate Interests and SCOTUS Chipping Away at Secularism and the Constitution. (05/13/14) [4:27]
WSJ | Two insecticides appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies, according to a new Harvard study (05/13/14) [4:01]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | The Koch brothers' wealth causes Harry Reid to worry about a troubling addiction among Senate Republicans (05/13/14) [3:19]
Jon Stewart | Senator Harry Reid explains why some mega-donors are better than others. (05/13/14) [4:53]

05.15.2014. 09:55

Wednesday May 14, 2014
News Articles

Paul Ryan's Poverty Plan Straight Out Of 19th Century
HP | Arthur Delaney | 05/14/14

... As the GOP's vice-presidential candidate in 2012, Ryan was mocked after he and his family donned aprons and washed pots and pans in an Ohio soup kitchen. Now, with Woodson by his side, he is shunning such photo-ops in favor of an earnest listening tour to uncover what truly ails the poor.

"The reason that Paul Ryan is on this journey is to gain some perspective," Woodson told The Huffington Post. "For the past 50 years, people both left and right of center have been parachuting into low-income communities [with] remedies designed by people that have never talked to people suffering the problem."

Fresh solutions are needed, Woodson said last month to the House Budget Committee, over which Ryan presides. The welfare state is suffering, he said, from "an absence of new and effective ideas." This summer, Ryan plans to unveil a new blueprint for tackling poverty, the culmination of his work with Woodson and his trips to poor neighborhoods.

Despite their calls for a new approach to poverty, however, Ryan and Woodson's ideas are extremely old-fashioned. Indeed, they echo conservative views about welfare going all the way back to the English Poor Laws of the 17th century, which categorized poor people according to their deservingness of help. These ideas have gained popularity at different times since then in response to different crises, like when "tramps" terrorized American towns in the 1870s, when "welfare queens" birthed crack babies in the 1990s, and when the so-called "food stamp surfer" delighted the Fox News crowd by refusing to get a job in 2013. ... Read more

What Food Inflation?
ZeroHedge | author | 05/14/14

Click to zoom - Income Inequality

Incidentally, the last time food prices spiked by this much in one month, the resulting Arab Spring wave of revolutions tumbled governments across north Africa and the middle east.

Keep a close eye on those who are not exactly participating in the global central bank cartel's "wealth transfer effect" , and suddenly find they can't afford food again. ... Read more

Why Karl Rove Uses Dirty Tricks: They Work
TheAtlantic.com | Peter Beinart | 05/13/14

Karl Rove reportedly hinted that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage from a fall--then quickly backed away. His history suggests it's a calculated maneuver.

Karl Rove now denies reports that he said Hillary Clinton may have brain damage. "I never used that phrase," he said on Fox News. True. What Rove said was, "Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that." ... Read more

Click to zoom - Income Inequality
Income Inequality
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 14 [11:37]
*DN | "Right Out of a Spy Movie": Glenn Greenwald on First Secret Meeting with NSA Leaker Edward Snowden (05/14/14) [5:22]
DN | Glenn Greenwald: U.S. Corporate Media is "Neutered, Impotent and Obsolete" (05/14/14) [6:28]
Other News
Bloomberg | Geithner's Memoir Defends Financial Crisis Bailout (05/14/14) [6:55]
TRNN News
TRNN | Mr. Abunimah, founder of Electronic Intifada, says after the Israeli 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2008 attack on Gaza, he knew what he had to do (05/13/14) [18:48]
TRNN | Mr. Abunimah, says that Palestinians need to know that even in a country with formal legal equality, the reality can mean mass incarceration, economic inequality and racism (05/14/14) [17:41]
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | United States of Secrets (Part 1) (05/13/14) [1:54:11]
How did the government come to spy on millions of Americans? In United States of Secrets, FRONTLINE goes behind the headlines to reveal the dramatic inside story of the U.S. government's massive and controversial secret surveillance program -- and the lengths it went to try to keep it hidden from the public.
*PBS Frontline | Secrets of the Vatican (02/25/14) [1:23:44]
In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.
PBS Frontline | Prison State (04/29/14) [1:23:40]
With extraordinary access, FRONTLINE takes you to the epicenter of the raging debate about prison reform. "Prison State" follows the lives of four individuals in Kentucky's criminal justice system, as the state tries to interrupt the cycle of mass incarceration.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *DOJ Investigations: The Role Of Banks In The 2008 Financial Crisis (05/14/14) [1hr]
The six largest banks control 67% of all U.S. financial system assets. That number is UP 37% from five years ago.

Despite all we should have learned about the dangers of over-concentration of bank assets, unregulated greed and incompetent oversight, nothing has changed. In fact, it's worse than ever.

Banks captured their regulators long ago. Now even the Department of Justice has surrendered. Despite what AG Holder says, the fact is, too big to fail is too big to jail.

05.14.2014. 09:39

Tuesday May 13, 2014
News Articles

Part Of West Antarctic Ice Sheet Starting Slow, Unstoppable Collapse, Studies Indicate
AP & HP | author | 05/13/14

The huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a glacially slow collapse in an unstoppable way, two new studies show. Alarmed scientists say that means even more sea level rise than they figured.

The worrisome outcomes won't be seen soon. Scientists are talking hundreds of years, but over that time the melt that has started could eventually add 4 to 12 feet to current sea levels.

It's likely because of man-made global warming and the ozone hole which have changed the Antarctic winds and warmed the water that eats away at the feet of the ice, researchers said at a NASA news conference Monday. "The system is in sort of a chain reaction that is unstoppable," said NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot, chief author of the NASA study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "Every process in this reaction is feeding the next one." ... Read more

Predatory Capitalism | Crony Capitalism

How Parasite Corporations Like Pfizer are Chucking U.S. Citizenship to Escape from Taxes
AlterNet | Lynn Stuart Parramore | 05/11/14

Let's say you're a giant American corporation like Pfizer, founded in Brooklyn way back in 1849. The fact that you exist and make a profit is largely due to the generous support of U.S. taxpayers. It's the taxpayers, after all, who pony up for the National Institutes of Health, which does the basic research you rely on to develop drugs on which you make gigantic sums. And it's the taxpayers who shell out large amounts of money to protect your patents, broker trade treaties in your favor, and protect your interests around the world in international negotiations. The same ones who pay for the public education of your employees and the costly infrastructure -- the highways, airports, etc. -- needed to move your products. The very folks who pay the billions in federal contracts you receive.

So what do you do? Do you pay your share of taxes to return some of this largesse? Oh, no. You vigorously lobby for lower taxes and leave no loophole unexploited. You are not satisfied to have received $2.2 billion in federal tax refunds from 2010-2012 while raking in $43 billion worldwide even though 40 percent of your sales are in America. You're not ashamed in the least that in 2012, you stashed $73 billion in profits offshore on which you paid zilch in U.S. income taxes.

Your greed and irresponsibility demand still more. So you decide to get out of paying a single nickel to the country that feeds you. You rig up an overseas purchase so you can "officially" relocate to a place with a lower tax rate and in doing so deliver a giant middle finger to your fellow Americans. ... Read more

Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras Take on America's Runaway Surveillance State

"The first principle of any American intelligence official is not an oath to secrecy but a duty to the public."

How the Wal-Mart Heirs Got Their Wealth
Bill Moyers | author | 05/11/14

All men and women are not created equal. Some are lucky enough to be born very, very wealthy. And they just get wealthier with the passage of time.

Last month, economist Paul Krugman spoke with Bill Moyers about the US's growing inherited wealth problem in the United States while discussing Thomas Piketty's bestselling book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. "[R]ight now, what we're really talking about is Gordon Gekko's son or daughter. We're talking about inherited wealth playing an ever-growing role," he said. ... Read more
Ezra Klein lays out why wealth inequality is a more dangerous cousin of income inequality. Close to 40 percent of America's national wealth rests in the hands of the top one percent of US households. What that means is that the top one percent in the country holds more accumulated wealth than the bottom 90 percent.

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, May 13 [10:37]
*DN | "Collect It All": Glenn Greenwald on NSA Bugging Tech Hardware, Economic Espionage & Spying on U.N. (05/13/14) [6:01]
DN | "The Stuff I Saw Really Began to Disturb Me": How the U.S. Drone War Pushed Snowden to Leak NSA Docs (05/13/14) [3:58]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Leo Panitch: Global Capitalism, the US Empire and Russian Nationalism (05/11/14) [18:48]
Leo Panitch analyzes the complex relationship between the process of global economic integration and nation state rivalry.
TRNN | Professor Aleksandr Buzgalin: Is Ukraine Entering A Revolutionary Moment? (05/12/14) [13:54]
Professor Aleksandr Buzgalin discusses the recent referendums for independence in Ukraine's eastern regions
Drones are now used across the U.S. to monitor crops, inspect power lines, and shoot commercials. But the near-collision of a drone and a commercial jet last week is highlighting the need for new rules for unmanned aircraft. A conversation about the regulation of domestic drones to protect privacy and public safety.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Regulating Domestic Drones to Protect Privacy and Public Safety (05/13/14) [1hr]
This March 12, 2014 file photo shows a drone landing after flying over the scene of an explosion that leveled two apartment buildings in East Harlem in New York. Brian Wilson, the owner, says he uses the aerial drone to document buildings, weddings and news events. The Federal Aviation Administration bars commercial use of drones no matter how seemingly benign. Officials say rules to address the special safety challenges associated with unmanned aircraft need to be in place before they can share the sky with manned aircraft and final regulations could be years away. But tempting technology and an eager marketplace are outrunning the aviation agency's best intentions.
Bill Moyers News
*Bill Moyers | A geneticist who has made science exciting to millions of TV viewers warns that we're burning up the planet, but there's still a chance we can make it.. (05/09/14) [24:27]
John Oliver (HBO)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Climate Change Debate (05/11/14) [4:26]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | "Missing Microbes" author Martin Blaser describes the threats associated with the overuse of antibiotics. (05/12/14) [6:44]
Jon Stewart | A militant terrorist group in Nigeria, lead by Abubakar Shekau, kidnaps hundreds of schoolgirls, drawing the disapproval of even Al Qaeda. (05/12/14) [3:05]

05.13.2014. 10:07

Monday May 12, 2014
News Articles

*Finally, Neil deGrasse Tyson and "Cosmos" Take on Climate Change
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 05/05/13

If you've been reading my semi-regular dispatches about the Fox and National Geographic series Cosmos--far and away the most rational show on television--then you know that for some time, I've been not-so-subtly predicting that the program was going to tackle the scientific issue of our time, climate change. It seemed to me that in order to be true to the legacy of Carl Sagan, a man who epitomized the quest to use science to solve humanity's problems, you simply couldn't avoid this topic.

And sure enough, last night, it happened... watch here... Read more

When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I noticed that the FOX servers are a little slow so be patient.
*Cosmos | The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth (S01E09) (05/11/14) [42:01]

Eight new MERS cases reported in Saudi Arabia
upi.com | JC Finley | 05/12/14

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health reported Monday eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and five new deaths.

The MERS coronavirus causes acute respiratory illness. Its symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. The majority of its victims do not survive, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. It is regarded as a deadlier but less-easily transmitted form of the SARS virus, which began in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, 744 of whom died. Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, May 12 [12:11]
DN | Did CIA's Fake Polio Vaccination Program in Pakistan Help Fuel a Global Health Emergency? (05/12/14) [9:25]
DN | After Chaotic Autonomy Votes, Negotiations Could Be Sole Path to Prevent Ukraine's Disintegration (05/12/14) [8:16
TRNN News
*TRNN | Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson says US foreign policy is made by the oligarchs, Part 1 (05/10/14) [21:22]
TRNN | Colonel Wilkerson says while an Iran deal is in US strategic interests, it could still be derailed by Congress, the Neo-cons and Hillary Clinton, Part 2 (05/12/14) [17:43]
TRNN |Col. Wilkerson says the United States and China must stop the arms buildup and solve the climate change crisis or humans may not have a future on this planet, Part 3 (05/12/14) [12:42]
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I noticed that the FOX servers are a little slow so be patient.
*Cosmos | When Knowledge Conqurer Space (S01E02) (05/11/14) [42:01]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | F**k, It's in My Backyard (05/07/14) [4:39]

05.13.2014. 10:06

Friday May 09, 2014
News Articles

Seven Scary Facts About How Global Warming Is Scorching the United States
Bill Moyers | Chris Mooney | 05/07/14

The new National Climate Assessment, launched on Tuesday by the Obama administration, is a landmark document. It is a landmark because unlike the reports of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is written in plain language that ordinary mortals can understand. ("Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans." "Data show that natural factors like the sun and volcanoes cannot have caused the warming observed over the past 50 years.")

It is a landmark because unlike past National Assessments, this report is not being buried or ignored. Rather, President Obama is using it to launch a very impressive communications campaign aimed directly at Americans via one of their most trusted scientific sources, TV meteorologists. ... Read more

The Bubble Expands: "No Money Down" Loans Come To Asia
ZeroHedge | author | 05/09/14

Remember all of those credit card and loan offers you used to receive in the mail? Bad credit? No credit? No problem. 0% APR for the first six months. Free balance transfers. No money down. And my personal favorite-- no credit check. These were all classic signs that the mother of all liquidity bubbles was upon us. Looking at the expansion of credit across the West, though, it's happening again. Fool me twice, shame on me. But this is a worldwide phenomenon now. Read more

The Decline Of Small Business And The Middle Class
ZeroHedge | author | 05/09/14

What are the headwinds to entrepreneurial enterprise and small business? Here are a few key dynamics:

  1. Barriers erected by cartels and the government - Cartels prosper by eliminating competition, and the easiest, cheapest way to restrict competition is to influence government to create regulatory barriers...
  2. Overcapacity - Supply exceeds demand in almost every nook and cranny of the global economy. There aren't many high-value opportunities to pursue because every field is already crowded or restricted.
  3. High cost structure - Many people are calling for small businesses to pay their employees a living wage. I understand the emotional source of this demand: a desire to close the income gap and raise the standard of living of the working poor...

More
  1. The costs of labor overhead - healthcare insurance, pensions, payroll taxes, worker compensation, etc.--are rising. That leaves less available for wages.
  2. Local governments are responding to their own soaring healthcare and pension costs - by raising junk fees and taxes on small business: in many areas, a new small business faces a blizzard of fees for licenses, permits, etc.
  3. The fundamental context of our economy is not conducive to small business or conventional employment: the cost of human labor keeps rising while technology that replaces human labor gets cheaper; fixed costs keep rising while overcapacity and anti-competitive barriers reduce high-value opportunities.
  4. The only way to not just survive but thrive as an entrepreneurial enterprise is to destroy fixed costs and labor overhead. The food services enterprises that will thrive are those that share the expensive fixed costs of a kitchen. The enterprises that thrive will not own vehicles, they will share vehicles. The enterprises that thrive will not have employees, they will draw upon self-employed people who organize to complete a specific project/task and share the revenue.
  5. The way to destroy fixed costs and labor overhead is to pay no business rent, own no vehicles, have no employees, owe no debt, own your own tools/means of production and nurture human and social capital. This model for small enterprise is overturning all the skimming cartels and bureaucracies: commercial real estate, local government fees and property taxes, etc. etc.

The future of middle class prosperity is entrepreneurial enterprise and joining the class of Mobile Creatives who minimize fixed costs and overhead and maximize productive cross-fertilization of skills, human and social capital and debt-free ownership (or shared access to) the means of production. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 09 [14:32]
*DN | Marijuana Refugees: Virginia Family Moves to Colorado to Treat Epileptic Child with Cannabis Oil (05/09/14) [6:41]
DN | As Marijuana Refugees Flock to Colorado, Will Medical Community Force Rewriting of U.S. Drug Laws? (05/09/14) [5:20]
TRNN News
TRNN | Bill Black: No Evidence Justice Dept. Will Prosecute U.S. Banks Responsible for Financial Crisis (05/07/14) [9:00]
TRNN | Protestors to Occupy FCC to Fight for Net Neutrality (05/08/14) [9:03]
Organizer Kevin Zeese argues that the internet should be treated as a basic utility like in Nashville, TN, which has one of the highest internet speeds in the U.S.
*TRNN | Keystone XL Pipeline Likely Not Headed for Senate Vote (05/08/14) [9:42]
First Nation activist Clayton Thomas-Muller & journalist Steve Horn discuss reports that the push to force a Senate vote on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline has been thwarted
Bill Moyers News
*Bill Moyers | A geneticist who has made science exciting to millions of TV viewers warns that we're burning up the planet, but there's still a chance we can make it.. (05/09/14) [24:27]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (05/09/14) [1hr]
International News - Friday (05/09/14) [1hr]
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I noticed that the FOX servers are a little slow so be patient.
*Cosmos | Hiding in the Light (S01E05) (05/11/14) [42:01]
Cosmos | A Sky Full of Ghosts. (S01E04) (05/11/14) [43:59]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | And Justice for Some - Financial Victims Unit (05/07/14) [2:23]
*Jon Stewart | Democalypse 2014 - 2016 Foreplay Edition Part 1 (05/07/14) [3:40], Part 2 [6:22]

05.09.2014. 19:36

Wednesday May 07, 2014
News Articles

Fox News' Bizarre Crusade to Convince Viewers That Children Are Dangerous
AlterNet | Amanda Marcotte | 05/06/14

Enemies are the bread and butter of Fox News. The network is notorious for churning out an endless stream of people its viewers are instructed to fear and loathe: feminists, gay people, immigrants, atheists and the Bureau of Land Management. This constant stream of enemies helps keep viewers tuning in to see who they need to hate this week and keeps them in a state of perpetual anger and fear so that they’re easy to manipulate politically.

Even so, it’s alarming to see the newest group of Americans Fox News is telling its audience is public enemy number-one: Their own children. Tuning into Fox News lately means hearing about how Americans in their teens and 20s are oversexed and out of control. Audiences are even hearing that young people are such a public menace that older people are well within their rights to murder them. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, May 07 [11:42]
DN | Foretelling Devastating Impact, Will White House Climate Report Spark Action on Global Warming? (05/07/14) [21:22]
TRNN News
TRNN | Alan Robock: What to Do Next About Global Warming? Burning coal must end now and fracking is not a good transitional form of energy production (05/07/14) [12:38]
TRNN | Jill Stein: We Must Deal With The Climate Crisis Through Job Creation (05/07/14) [17:37]
TRNN | Bill Black: No Evidence Justice Dept. Will Prosecute U.S. Banks Responsible for Financial Crisis (05/07/14) [9:00]

05.07.2014. 20:39

Tuesday May 06, 2014
News Articles

White House To Make Another Big Push On Climate With New Report On Impacts
HP | Kate Sheppard | 05/05/14

The White House is making another big push on climate this week, starting with the Tuesday release of the National Climate Assessment, a massive report on the effects of climate change in the United States.

The report is an update from the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The last assessment, released in June 2009, included grim predictions on sea levels, heat waves and droughts into the future. ... Read more

Antarctic Ice Shelf On Brink Of Unstoppable Melt That Could Raise Sea Levels For 10,000 Years
Reuters | author | 05/05/14

Part of East Antarctica is more vulnerable than expected to a thaw that could trigger an unstoppable slide of ice into the ocean and raise world sea levels for thousands of years, a study showed on Sunday.

The Wilkes Basin in East Antarctica, stretching more than 1,000 km (600 miles) inland, has enough ice to raise sea levels by 3 to 4 metres (10-13 feet) if it were to melt as an effect of global warming, the report said. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I notices that FOX sercers are a little slow so be patient.
Cosmos | The Clean Room (S01E07) (05/11/14) [42:01]
Cosmos | Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still. Explore the universe on the smallest scale. (S01E06) (05/11/14) [43:59]

05.07.2014. 19:54

Monday May 05, 2014
News Articles

The State Of The Deep State - The Monster In America's Closet
ZeroHedge | author | 05/02/14

I like to say that I'm allergic to conspiracy theories because human beings are generally too inept to carry out schemes at the grand scale, as well as being poor secret-keepers. Insider knowledge is almost always swapped around, even in secretive organizations, often recklessly so, because doling it out confers status, tactical advantage, and sometimes money for the doler-outer. But the Deep State isn't a secret. It operates in plain sight.

  1. Military - first, of course, is the Pentagon leviathan plus all of its suppliers, enablers, and lackeys -- the beast that President Eisenhower warned his fellow citizens to beware of in his farewell address, calling it "the military-industrial complex."
  2. Finance - Then there are the multiple vampire squids of Wall Street (shorthand for all of finance) engaged in funneling as much wealth out of the disintegrating middle class as possible
  3. Security - Present worries over the Deep State are focused on its massive security apparatus, made up of a combination of venerable old institutions such as the CIA and the Defense Intelligence services with some newer ones such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Safety Agency (TSA), Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the good ol' IRS, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and God knows how many out-of-sight "security" offices in the dark precincts of seemingly benign agencies like the National Parks Service and the Bureau of Weights and Measures
Read more

Click to zoom - Latest Russian And Ukraine Troop Movements
On The Edge Of War: The Latest Russian And Ukraine Troop Movements

Is Elizabeth Warren the Only Person Standing Between You and Total Bank Domination?
AlterNet | Lynn Stuart Parramore | 05/01/14

Warren seems aware of her mythic dimension: at one point in her new memoir, A Fighting Chance, she refers to herself as "Alice in Crazyland." As Alice/Elizabeth heads down the rabbit hole to navigate the money-papered halls of Washington, she uses words like "vile" and "shameful" to describe the evildoing of bankers and corporate predators: she's an outsider from a realm of truer American values who looks upon the upside-down goings on with outraged astonishment, frequently peppering her narrative with her favorite term for disbelief at human folly, an emphatic, " Really?!?" This Alice among the evil wizards of Wall Street is full of homespun charm and Midwestern wisdom, but in this cynical age, the truly fabulous thing is that her story is true.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren really did grow up among ordinary, struggling people in Oklahoma, and she really did try her very best to content herself with baking brownies and tending her young family before deciding to go to law school. She really did become a crack expert in bankruptcy law and a Harvard professor, and used what she'd learned to challenge the bankers who spent billions purchasing their own facts and unleashing armies of lobbyists to make victims of hard-working, law-abiding Americans. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, May 05 [14:05]
DN | Imprisoned Al Jazeera Journalist Details Abu Ghraib Torture & Why He's Suing U.S. Contractor CACI (05/05/14) [10:45]
Part 2 [4:38], Part 3 [5:25]
TRNN News
TRNN | Answering Counter Climate Claims - Alan Robock on Reality Asserts Itself (3/5) (05/04/14) [21:09]
TRNN | Answering Counter Climate Claims - Alan Robock on Reality Asserts ItselfMr. Robock says a full-scale nuclear war between the United States and Russia would produce so much smoke that temperatures would get below freezing even in the summertime, crops would die and there would be no food for the entire planet. (4/5) (05/05/14) [19:24]
TRNN | Koch Brothers Are The Largest Foreign Lease Holder of Canadian Oil Sands (05/05/14) [9:30]
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
When the video window appears, pease scroll down about an inch. I notices that FOX sercers are a little slow so be patient.
Cosmos | The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth (S01E09) (05/11/14) [42:16]
Cosmos | Sisters of the Sun (S01E08) (05/11/14) [42:16]
Thom Hartmann
*Thom Hartmann | New Economic Perspectives (04/29/14) [22:52]
Thom Hartmann talks economics with Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Chair, Department of Economics-University of Missouri at Kansas City / Creator & Editor- New Economic Perspectives Website: http://neweconomicperspectives.org
Chris Hayes
Chris Hayes discusses with Bill Maher the state of our mass media (05/05/14) [5:05]
Jon Stewart
Jason Jones negotiated with Republican strategists (older, but good) [4:35]
John Oliver: Last Week Tonight (05/04/14) [12:23]

05.05.2014. 17:46

Friday May 02, 2014
News Articles

Ukraine Launches First Major Assault Against Pro-Russian Forces
AP & HP | Peter Leonard | 05/02/14

Pro-Russia forces shot down two Ukrainian helicopters Friday as Ukraine launched its first major offensive against an insurgency that has seized government buildings in the east. The Kremlin said Kiev's move "destroyed" the two-week-old agreement on cooling Ukraine's crisis.

Fighting broke out around dawn near Slovyansk, a city 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Russian border that has become the focus of the armed insurgency against Ukraine's interim government. Two helicopter crew members were killed in the crashes, both sides said, and pro-Russia militiaman was reported killed. ... Read more
Ukraine forces launch assault on pro-Russians (05/02/14) [0:46]

Click to zoom - Threat Assessment SE Ukraine
Threat Assessment South-East Ukraine

As America Recovers The Jobs Lost During The Depression, Here Is What Sticks Out
ZeroHedge | author | 05/02/14

While we expect much media coverage of the fact that as of the end of April, total jobs have risen to 138,252K or just 98,000 jobs shy of the December 2007 highs when the depression started (which means that the next jobs report will finally show a full recovery of the jobs lost in the past 6 years), another fact which will not receive nearly as much attention is that the cumulative increase in Americans who have, over the same period, dropped out of the labor force has more than "made up" for the job gains. In fact, it may come as a surprise to most, that since the peak of the depression in February 2010, when the job number dropped to 129.7 million and has been rising ever since, the average monthly number of job adds is 172K. ... Read more

Click to zoom - Job Loss Recovery
Threat Assessment South-East Ukraine

Don't Let Net Neutrality Become Another Broken Promise
Bill Moyers | author | 05/02/14

Barack Obama told us there would be no compromise on Net neutrality. We heard him say it back in 2007, when he first was running for president.

"We have to ensure [a] free and full exchange of information and that starts with an open Internet," he said in a speech at Google headquarters, the presidium of cyberspace. "I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality, because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose. The Internet is perhaps the most open network in history and we have to keep it that way." ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, May 02 [7:43]
DN | Juan González: Respect Key in "Landmark Agreement" Between NYC & Teachers Union (05/02/14) [3:36]
DN | Posing as U.S. Officials, Yes Men Announce Renewable Energy Revolution at Homeland Security Congress (05/02/14) [4:33]
TRNN News
TRNN | Will SCOTUS Ruling Allowing EPA To Regulate Carbon Emissions Protect Public Health? (05/02/14) [8:27]
TRNN | Why Aren't North American Workers More Militant? (Part 2/2) (05/02/14) [12:56]
TRNN | Why Aren't North American Workers More Militant? (Part 1/2) (05/01/14) [17:21]
TRNN | The Lobbyists Behind Senate Failure to Advance Minimum Wage Increase (05/02/14) [7:54]
Twenty low-wage dependent trade groups band together to shut down the Senate's minimum wage hike, although the majority of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage.
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Is NET Neutrality Dead? Democracy loses if the Internet's sold to the highest bidder -- and that may be exactly what's about to happen. (05/02/14) [25:34]
New Documentary
FED UP (trailer) (04/09/14) [2:25]
This is the movie the food industry doesn't want you to see. FED UP blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history. From Katie Couric, Laurie David and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (05/02/14) [1hr]
International News - Friday (05/02/14) [1hr]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page attempt to quantify the relative influence of wealth on policy in their study "Testing Theories of American Politics." (04/30/14) [6:37], Part 2 [5:36], Part 3 [5:28]
Jon Stewart | A Bureaucracy of Dunces (04/30/14) [3:43]
Jon Stewart | A Bureaucracy of Dunces - Veterans Affairs F**k-Ups (04/30/14) [4:03]

05.02.2014. 17:34

Thursday May 01, 2014
News Articles

Is Rising Wealth Concentration Really an Inexorable Trend?
MotherJones | Kevin Drum | 04/27/14

Jared Bernstein tries to explain today why Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century has become such a cultural phenomenon. The answer, he says, is a growing sense that "something is structurally wrong with both the economy and the practice of economics":

Between financial bubbles and busts, the macro-management seems inept and even once the economy starts growing again, the benefits accrue narrowly to the top. In part, it's a sense that "the fix is in" when it comes to the distribution of growth. ... Read more

The U.S. Is Even More Unequal Than You Realized
HP | Maxwell Strachan | 05/01/14

Click to zoom - Income Inequality

The chart above, from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) using the World Top Incomes Database, shows how income gains between 1975 and 2007 were divvied up in 18 OECD countries for which the researchers had data. Nowhere did the rich benefit as much as in America.

America's top 1 percent of earners accounted for 47 percent of all pre-tax income growth over that time period. And that's excluding capital gains, for God's sake. Throw in the rest of the top 10 percent, and you're looking at a group that got four-fifths of all income growth between the Ford and George W. Bush administrations. The rest of us were left to scramble for the last one-fifth of extra income. If you add in capital gains, which typically accrue to the highest earners anyway, the picture is probably a lot worse. ... Read more

Criminal Charges Against Banks Risk Sparking Crisis
Bloomberg | Greg Farrell | 05/01/14

As U.S. Justice Department prosecutors angle to bring the first criminal charges against global banks since the financial crisis, they'll have to stare down warnings of uncontainable collateral damage.

The 2002 collapse of Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm indicted in the Enron scandal, "should be a lesson" for prosecutors, Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "Don't play with matches."

Stung by lawmakers' criticism that multibillion-dollar settlements have done too little to punish Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis, prosecutors are considering indictments in probes of Credit Suisse Group AG and BNP Paribas SA, a person familiar with the matter said. Even after talking with financial regulators about ways to mitigate damage -- such as ensuring banks keep charters -- prosecutors might not fully understand consequences for the market, according to industry lawyers and bankers who are following the case. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, May 01 [12:33]
DN | Lawyer for Next Oklahoma Prisoner Set for Death Calls for Independent Probe of Botched Execution (05/01/14) [14:48]
DN | Brown Student Lena Sclove Speaks Out After School Lets Her Accused Rapist Return to Campus (05/01/14) [8:16]
TRNN News
TRNN | Why Aren't North American Workers More Militant? (05/01/14) [17:21]
TYT News
TYT | Gov Rick Scott Confronts Ugly Obamacare Truth: Seniors Love It! (04/30/14) [7:23]
TYT | Tim Pawlenty Supports Minimum Wage, That Was Before Lunch... (04/30/14) [4:44]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Artist Chris Jordan explores feelings about consumerism with his incredible garbage photographs that attempt to quantify how much stuff Americans throw away each minute. [10:23]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The Plight Of The Middle Class In The Post-Recession Job Market (05/01/14) [1hr]
Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann | How George W. Bush Screwed this Generation of College Students... (04/28/14) [4:45]
Thom Hartmann | talks economics with Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Chair, Department of Economics-University of Missouri at Kansas City (04/29/14) [22:52]
Thom Hartmann | Brunch with Bernie - April 30, 2014 [44:12]
More News

What $1.4 Trillion In QE Buys The US Economy
ZeroHedge | author | 05/01/14

Click to zoom - Income Inequality

Back in December of 2012, the Fed, after two and a half failed attempts to stimulate the economy (via QE1, QE2 and Operation Twist), announced Open-Ended QE of an indefinite injection of $85 billion per month (which it currently is tapering at a pace of $10 billion per month on the realization that it has soaked up virtually all high quality collateral). Since then the Fed's balance sheet has grown from $2.9 trillion to $4.3 trillion: a direct injection of $1.4 trillion in liquidity into the stock market, if not so much the economy, which as Wall Street is suddenly busy telling us following the latest disappointing construction spending data.

There's even better news: if the next quarter shows the US economy contracting again - and with the "beneficial" impact of Obamacare fading, global trade stuck in the doldrums, and US consumers tapped out with near record low savings this is a distinct possibility - the US will officially enter a recession. ... Read more


05.01.2014. 12:44



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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
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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
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
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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.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
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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

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Kuznick Interviews

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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

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China Valley of Tunnels

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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

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Trump's Mashups
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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)
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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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