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Friday November 29, 2013
News Articles

Fact Check: Social Security Does Not Increase the Deficit
AlterNet | Lynn Stuart Parramore | 11/19/13

The American people love Social Security, and with good reason. It protects seniors and the disabled from poverty, and it is the most important life and disability safeguard available to the nation's 75 million children. The program is a bargain: Its administrative costs are lower than privately managed retirement plans. Social Security returns in benefits more than 99 cents of every dollar collected, whereas a typical 401(k) could easily eat up 20 cents of that dollar in fees. The program is fiscally sound and prudently managed -- a policy triumph.

There are basically two categories of people who want to see Social Security cut: 1) financiers who wish to move us toward privatized retirement accounts so that they can charge us fees; and 2) rich people who do not like to pay taxes. Their main champions are conservatives at the Heritage Foundation, libertarians at the Cato Institute and Wall Street financier Pete Peterson. ... Read more

Why Are Big Retailers Trying to Kill Thanksgiving?
Click to zoom
MotherJones | Josh Harkinson | 11/27/13

In case you haven't noticed, Black Friday isn't just on Friday anymore. The retail industry's high-density mass of starry lights, Santa dioramas, and door-buster shopping deals really ought to be renamed the Black Hole--it just keeps sucking up everything around it. That holiday known as Thanksgiving? Pretty much gone. Especially if you work for one of the nation's largest retailers. ... Read more

17-Year-Old Boy in Coma, Fighting for Life After Texas Cop Tasered Him For Breaking Up a School Fight
AlterNet | Jodie Gummow | 11/29/13

... Noe Nino de Rivera, had successfully stepped in to break up a fight between two girls at Cedar Creek High School when school officials called in Randy McMillan, a Bastrop County sheriff department deputy. McMillan told the boy to step back and the teen obliged, with his hands in the air.

Yet, in a vicious act of police brutality, McMillan tasered the boy anyway, who fell onto his face and was knocked unconscious. Rather than calling for emergency medical assistance, the cop put the comatose boy in handcuffs. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
TRNN News
TYT News
Ron Paul News
Julian Assange talks to Ron Paul part 1 (11/29/13) [5:56], Part 2 [8:54], Part 3 [5:26], Part 4 [1:05]
More News
FAA Issues Holiday Reminder That Planes Can Crash And Kill You (11/29/13) [1:43]

11.29.2013. 16:00

Wednesday November 27, 2013
News Articles

Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied On Porn Habits As Part Of Plan To Discredit 'Radicalizers'
HP | Ryan Grim | 11/26/13

The National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a proposed plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a top-secret NSA document. The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, identifies six targets, all Muslims, as "exemplars" of how "personal vulnerabilities" can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target's credibility, reputation and authority. ... Read more

UMich Consumer Confidence "Recovers" - Hovers At 10-Month Lows
ZeroHedge | author | 11/27/13

Unlike every other measure of consumer confidence, sentiment, or comfort, the 'final' UMich Consumer Confidence print recovered its "flash" collapse and managed to beat expectations. However, before the party streamers are broken out, this uptick leaves the confidence data the 2nd lowest since Jan 2013 ... Read more
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Speed Traders Meet Nightmare on Elm Street With Nanex
Bloomberg | Michael P. Regan | 11/26/13

The nemesis of Wall Street's high-frequency traders operates out of an apartment-sized office above the Bliss Salon -- manicure/pedicure $45 -- on Elm Street in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka.

Staring at four computer monitors,Eric Scott Hunsader, the founder of market-data provider Nanex LLC, looks for hints of illicit trading hidden in psychedelic images of triangles dancing with dots that represent quotes to buy and sell U.S. stocks broken down by the millisecond.

To Hunsader, the images created from market feeds are evidence of high-frequency trading firms exploiting market rules to turn a profit in a lawless environment. Though others in the industry see his reports and charts as propaganda, Nanex's interpretations are helping to drive the public debate about the fundamental fairness of the modern stock market. ... Read more

Fed Reveals New Concerns About Long-Term U.S. Slowdown
Bloomberg | Rich Miller | 11/27/13

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are suffering through their own form of cognitive dissonance: revealing new concerns about the economy's long-term prospects even as they forecast faster growth in 2014.

Interesting article about all the double speak we get from our supposed experts that are methodically driving our economy (along with the world's) into the ground.
Read more
BB | Fed Reveals New Concerns About Long-Term U.S. Slowdown (11/27/13) [48:56]

These Photos Of Female Heroin Addicts Reveal The Power Of Addiction
HP | author | 11/25/13

Most often, addiction and the struggles that accompany it stay hidden behind closed doors. Yet in 1997, photographer Lincoln Clarkes explored the streets and alleyways of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, capturing and exposing the images of over 400 female heroin addicts over the course of five years. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, November 27 [11:17]
DN | "My Family Has Been Separated For 19 Months Now": Immigrant Activist Interrupts Obama Speech (11/27/13) [16:46]
DN | Religious Rights for Corporations? Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Contraception Coverage (11/27/13) [5:37]
Assorted News Spots
*Reuter | Billions in Pentagon spending down a black hole (11/18/13) [4:38]
*Rumsfeld says on 09/10/2001 $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon (older) [4:38]
What Do "The Banksters Keep Secret"? (11/03/13) [1:22]
TRNN News
TRNN | Sen. Graham: Investigating the Saudi Government 9/11 Connection and the Path to Disillusionment (11/27/13) [16:10]
US veterans being pumped full of addictive opiates (11/25/13) [8:59]
High-Intensity 'Megafires' a New Global Danger (11/26/13) [3:17]
TYT News
TYT | George Zimmerman Arrested With Lots Of Guns (11/27/13) [3:51]
TYT | Supreme Court To Hear Obamacare Contraception Cases (11/27/13) [4:15]
TYT | Pope Francis Goes Off On Capitalism (11/27/13) [6:34]
"Pope Francis has attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny", urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality in the first major work he has authored alone as pontiff. The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, amounted to an official platform for his papacy, building on views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March. In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticising the global economic system, attacking the "idolatry of money" and beseeching politicians to guarantee all citizens "dignified work, education and healthcare". He also called on rich people to share their wealth.
TYT | Jewish Obama Donors Angry Over Iran Deal (11/27/13) [3:44]
TYT | Iran Nuclear Deal Reaction Mashup (11/26/13) [12:38]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm New Efforts To Limit NSA Surveillance Powers (11/27/13) [1hr]
The Senate Intelligence Committee has ratified a bill which allows the NSA to continue bulk collection of phone records but imposes new rules on when these records can be reviewed. Some members from both parties think the proposed reforms don't adequately address concerns related to privacy rights and the powers of the NSA. In addition to questions about its dragnet approach to phone records, it is now clear that the contents of tens of thousands of emails between Americans have been collected without a warrant. Diane and her guests discuss why some say it's time for a national debate on U.S. surveillance policy.

Guests
  1. Patrick Leahy Senator (D-Vermont).
  2. Michael Hirsh chief correspondent, National Journal; author of "At War with Ourselves: Why America Is Squandering its Chance to Build a Better World."
  3. Marc Rotenberg executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and teaches Information Privacy Law at Georgetown University Law Center.
  4. David Sanger chief Washington correspondent, The New York Times; author of "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power."
MSNBC Chris Hayes - Al l In
Chris Hayes | The next 'Citizens United' (11/26/13) [4:16], Part 2 [9:49]
Chris Hayes | Benghazi fallout continues to spread (11/26/13) [7:53]
Chris Hayes | Iran and invoking Munich (11/26/13) [10:03], Part 2 [4:05]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
9/11
9-11 Ripple Effect [1:36:16]
Posted by BridgeStoneMediaGroup.com This is a special edit from director William Lewis including the integration of two previously deleted scenes. Keep watching after the credit roll... there's a couple of trailers that you'll definitely find of interest and value. Learn more about how you can make a difference. http://www.911RippleEffect.com/action.html.
911 In Plane Site (Directors Cut) [1:12:11]
Some interesting points brought up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmD5BD... especially in chapters 6 and 7 in regards to the ghost plane theory. http://www.911inplanesite.org/
CIA Threatens 9/11 Researchers After Discovery Of Cover Up Details [12:53]
Mysterious Deaths of Key 9 11 Witnesses Full Documentary [1:00:09]
Professor Anthony J. Hall
"The 9/11 Wars" Professor Anthony J. Hall Interview [9:48]
Face to Face with Professor Anthony J. Hall - Earth Into Property [58:41]

11.27.2013. 15:35

Tuesday November 26, 2013
News Articles

Intelligence Officials Fret Over Snowden's 'Doomsday' Cache of NSA Documents
AlterNet | Alex Kane | 11/26/13

Does whistleblower Edward Snowden have a secret cache of National Security Agency documents? U.S. and British intelligence officials now say he does. They claim that "the worst is yet to come" from Snowden.

Reuters reports that intelligence officials claim that there exists a "doomsday" cache of secret documents hidden on an Internet data cloud. The heavily protected crop of documents allegedly includes the names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel. The data cloud is protected by encryption and multiple passwords. The material is allegedly separate from the other documents Snowden gave to journalists. ... Read more

Spies worry over "doomsday" cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden
Reuters | Mark Hosenball | 11/25/13

British and U.S. intelligence officials say they are worried about a "doomsday" cache of highly classified, heavily encrypted material they believe former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has stored on a data cloud.

The cache contains documents generated by the NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said. ... Read more

How Wall Street Turned America Into Incarceration Nation
AlterNet | Les Leopold | 11/25/13

The U.S. leads the world in prisoners with 2.27 million in jail and more than 4.8 million on parole. Minorities have been especially hard hit, forming 39.4% of the prison population, with one in three black men expected to serve time during their lifetimes.   How is it that our land, supposedly the beacon of freedom and democracy for the rest of the world, puts so many of its own people into prison?

We usually attribute the prisoner increase to a combination of overt racism and Nixon's war on drugs, followed by Rockefeller's "three strikes" legislation in New York, and then the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act with its mandatory sentences. While racism and these laws certainly provide ample opportunity to incarcerate millions for violating senseless prohibition laws, they do not tell the whole story. ... Read more

What is clear is that in 2006, the Bush administration entered into a secret agreement with telecom giants and came up with a specific plan as to when and how the government can actually shut down these networks--called Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303.

The Government's Secret Plan to Shut Off Cellphones and the Internet, Explained
MotherJones | Dana Liebelson | 11/26/13

This month, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must make its plan to shut off the internet and cellphone communications available to the American public. You, of course, may now be thinking: What plan?! Though President Barack Obama swiftly disapproved of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turning off the internet in his country (to quell widespread civil disobedience) in 2011, the US government has the authority to do the same sort of thing, under a plan that was devised during the George W. Bush administration. Many details of the government's controversial "kill switch" authority have been classified, such as the conditions under which it can be implemented and how the switch can be used. But thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), DHS has to reveal those details by December 12--or mount an appeal. (The smart betting is on an appeal, since DHS has fought to release this information so far.) Yet here's what we do know about the government's "kill switch" plan: ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, November 26 [12:03]
DN | As Wal-Mart Workers Plan Record Black Friday Protests, Study Says Retail Giant Can Afford Higher Pay (11/26/13) [14:20]
DN | Reverend Billy Faces Year in Prison for Protesting JPMorgan Chase's Financing of Fossil Fuels (11/26/13) [9:47]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Yves Smith and Dean Baker on Secrets in TPP Trade
A US-led trade deal is currently being negotiated that could increase the price of prescription drugs, weaken financial regulations and even allow partner countries to challenge American laws. But few know its substance.

The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don't want you to know about. Over 130 Members of Congress have asked the White House for more transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains.

And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade.

Instead, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, "This really is a deal that's being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental." Yves Smith, an investment banking expert who runs the Naked Capitalism blog adds: "There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public."
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Why Millions Of Americans Go Hungry And How To Address Their Needs (11/26/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - Al l In
*Chris Hayes | The right wing reacts to a peace deal (11/25/13) [5:04], Part 2 [12:30], Part 3 [6:34]
Chris Hayes | Stink tank: Heritage vs. the GOP (11/25/13) [5:04]
More segments on the MSNBC website
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
*Rachel Maddow | A deal on Iran - and that's not all! (11/25/13) [21:08]
Rachel Maddow | Sandy Hook shooting tragedy senseless: report (11/25/13) [5:42]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Humor
Li'l NSA Spy Kit [2:20]
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.

11.26.2013. 10:11

Monday November 25, 2013
News Articles

Thanksgiving Storm Leads To Hundreds Of Flight Cancellations
HP | Ramit Plushnick-Masti | 11/24/13

A large storm already blamed for at least eight deaths in the West slogged through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest on Sunday, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations as it slowly churned east ahead of Thanksgiving.

After the storm plows through the Southwest, meteorologists expect the Arctic mass to head south and east, threatening plans for Tuesday and Wednesday as people hit the roads and airports for some of the busiest travel days of the year. ... Read more

The War Within: Treating PTSD
60 Minutes | author | 11/24/13

We've seen a lot of stories about veterans and post-traumatic stress disorder but tonight, for the first time, we're able to show you new therapies that are changing the lives of vets and their families. Two million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Veterans Administration tells us that one out of five suffers from PTSD. One reason we're seeing so much of it is because many of our troops have been ordered on combat tours three, four or even five times. The VA overwhelmed by the need, decided to try new treatments that were originally designed for rape victims. ... Read more

Fukushima's crippled reactors: the risky plan to move fuel rods
CBC World | Craig Dale | 11/19/13

The thousands of people who punch in every day at what is arguably the world's most dangerous workplace are accustomed to facing risks.   But now workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have embarked on their most precarious operation since the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns and explosions at the facility.

On Monday, select crews from Tokyo Electric Power Company began removing hundreds of radioactive fuel rods from a cooling pool inside a rickety reactor building, a job that is unprecedented in scale, and where one wrong move could have disastrous consequences.

... "They need to be handled extremely carefully and closely monitored. You should never rush or force them out, or they may break. I'm much more worried about this than I am about contaminated water." ... Read more

4 Ways the Koch Brothers' Wealth Is Beyond Comprehension
AlterNet | Paul Buchheit | 11/24/13

In 2012, David and Charles Koch made enough money in one second to pay the food bill for an entire year for a homeless woman named Beverly

... If Beverly is approved for food stamps, she'll get about $1.50 per meal. David and Charles Koch made enough in one second at the office in 2012 to pay her food bill for an entire year. ... Read more

5 Powerful Videos on Factory Farming
onegreenplanet.org | author | Recent

By now, most of us know that factory farming is a monstrous problem -- for the environment, the animals, and those working in these facilities.   Over 10 billion land animals are killed for food in the U.S. every year -- a frightening statistic that is expected to increase with population numbers if nothing is done.

Slaughter numbers are staggering, but the way the system runs is even more disturbing. Anyone who has seen undercover footage of the animal abuse, toxic waste, and read or heard stories of factory farm workers know that these facilities are not fit for anyone. ... Read more

5 Short Videos on Factory Farming

The Corporate Bully Whose Front Groups, Willful Distortions and Hate-Mongering Has Poisoned U.S. Politics?: Meet Richard Berman
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 11/24/13

"Why don't we know who one of the most powerful people in America is? What he has done? Why '60 Minutes' called him Dr. Evil?" asks Saru Jayaraman, a leader in a growing national movement of restaurant workers demanding better pay and working conditions.

Dr. Evil is Richard Berman, a Washington-based lawyer-turned-hitman for Big Food who pioneered and still deploys many of the most intentionally deceptive, inflammatory and anti-democratic tactics used in corporate propaganda campaigns today. For nearly four decades, Berman's attacks have tried to smear, discredit and destroy public-interest causes and groups by a toxic brew of industry front groups, distortion-filled attacks, ridicule and bullying to stoke prejudice and hatred as a means of turning the public's attention and regulators away from his paymasters' business practices. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 25 [12:33]
DN | Historic Deal Curbs Iran's Nuclear Program While Easing U.S.-Led Devastating Economic Sanctions (11/25/13) [14:27]
*DN | Spooky Business: U.S. Corporations Enlist Ex-Intelligence Agents to Spy on Nonprofit Groups (11/25/13) [7:41]
TRNN News
TRNN | Peter Kuznick discuss whether or not JFK intended to withdraw from Vietnam before his assassination (11/22/13) [19:19], Part 2 [17:02]
60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | The War Within: Treating PTSD (11/24/13) [13:13]
60 Minutes | Malcolm Gladwell: The Power of the Underdog (11/24/13) [12:35]
Fukushima
*Mentally disabled are working at Fukushima Daiichi, says journalist -- Many men forced to go to plant -- Homeless treated like 'disposable people' [3:26]
Japan's mafia is reportedly cashing in on the Fukushima disaster by running the clean-up efforts at the damaged nuclear plant. Workers complain of being understaffed and mistreated by contractors who think nothing of throwing them into areas of high radiation.
Click to zoom

Fukushima Voice website
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Implications For New Filibuster Rules In The Senate (11/25/13) [1hr]
Jon Stewart - Daily News
Jon Stewart | A Lesson in Institutional Dysfunction - Cable News (11/24/13) [2:23]
*Jon Stewart | A Lesson in Institutional Dysfunction - Corporations (11/24/13) [2:21]
Jon Stewart | A Lesson in Institutional Dysfunction - Congress (11/24/13) [2:11]
Jon Stewart | A Lesson in Institutional Dysfunction - International Edition (11/24/13) [2:39]
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.
Fukushima
Profit Before Safety: Engineer Exposes Coverup of Reactor Flaw [4:46]
Former Babcock-Hitachi engineer and member of the Japanese Parliament committee investigating TEPCO, Mitsuhiko Tanaka, details a flaw in the manufacture of the pressure vessel for Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4. This flaw was covered up despite compromising the safety of the reactor. Though not the cause of the explosion, it was one of many problems at the plant not properly investigated or adequately repaired.
Archaeological Discoveries - Early Christian Church
Amazing Archaeological Discoveries Recently Made in Jerusalem (06/29/13) [11:13]
Professor Robert Beckford: The Secret Family of Jesus [1:40:30]
The Descendants of Jesus: Tracing the Family of Christ Through the Ages [1:07:07]
DC | The Secrets of Mary Magdalene [45:47]
Christianity, the first 1000 years [3:03:14]
BBC | The Bible's Buried Secrets The Garden of Eden [58:47]
Who wrote the Bible [1:43:15]
HC | Banned From The Bible - Secrets Of The Apostles [41:54]
Nephilim: True Story of Satan, Fallen Angels, Giants, Aliens, Hybrids, Elongated Skulls & Nephilim [1:54:56]
Thorium Reactors
Thorium Summary in 11 Minutes (10/30/11) [52:14]
Thorium Advocate Nuclear Tour of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (03/28/13) [2:24:41]
DMT - N-Dimethyltryptamine
Gnosis - DMT The Spirit Molecule [1:13:47]
The Spirit Molecule weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman's groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing hallucinogen found in the human brain and hundreds of plants. Utilizing interviews with a variety of experts to explain their thoughts and experiences with DMT within their respective fields, and discussions with Strassman's research volunteers brings to life the awesome effects of this compound, and far-reaching theories regarding its role in human consciousness.
DMT Experience [25:17]
Gnosticism [42:07]
Gnosis - Swedenborg's Quest For Insight [25:17]
Gnosis - Secret Gate to Garden of Eden [1:15:55]
Gnosis - Secrets of the Kabbalah [44:46]

11.25.2013. 09:21

Friday November 22, 2013
News Articles

Todd Gitlin: How to Reverse the Slow-Motion Climate Change Apocalypse
AlterNet | Todd Gitlin |11/21/13

Why the divestment movement against big energy is so important.

Slow-motion, however, is not no-motion. In fits and starts, speeding up and slowing down, turning risks into clumps of extreme fact, one catastrophe after another -- even if there can be no 100% certitude about the origin of each one -- the planetary future careens toward the unlivable. That future is, it seems, arriving ahead of schedule, though erratically enough that most people -- in the lucky, prosperous countries at any rate -- can still imagine the planet conducting something close to business as usual. ... Read more

12 Ways JP Morgan Admitted It Ripped Off Americans to the Tune of Billions
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 11/20/13

Wall Street's latest chapter in corporate accountability is hardly satisfying, even if it is a rare admission of wrongdoing from a major bank. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced a $13 billion settlement with J.P. Morgan for its rapacious role in the housing market bubble and collapse.

Beyond analyses showing that the government's supposed largest fine ever might end up " closer to $2.74 billion," and that $7 billion of it is tax deductible -- tantamount to America's 138 million taxpayers each giving a $50 bill to Morgan ...

  1. J.P. Morgan knew it had bad loans from the start
  2. J.P. Morgan knew appraisers were inflating values
  3. J.P. Morgan lied about these values to investors
  4. When asked about bad loans, they said, 'Don't worry."
  5. They were buying loans like sharks biting at bait.
  6. Their sales pitches were filled false assurances
  7. They dumped bad loans, en masse, into loan pools
  8. They had twice the bad loans as their standards allowed
  9. They met with Countywide, but kept buying bad loans
  10. They kept telling investors everything was peachy
  11. Other Wall Street giants did the exact same thing.
Read more

TPP - A Corporate Coup in Disguise
AlterNet | Jim Hightower | 10/01/13 older

This is a super-sized NAFTA, the 1994 trade scam rammed through Congress by the entire corporate establishment. NAFTA promised the "glories of globalization": prosperity across our land. Unfortunately, corporations got the gold. We got the shaft -- thousands of factories closed, millions of middle-class jobs went south, and the economies of hundreds of towns and cities were shattered.

Twenty years later, the gang that gave us NAFTA is back with the TPP, a "trade deal" that mostly does not deal with trade. Of the 29 chapters in this document, only five cover traditional trade matters! The other chapters amount to a devilish "partnership" for corporate protectionism: ...

- Banksters. Wall Street and the financial giants in other TPP countries would make out like bandits. The deal explicitly prohibits transaction taxes (such as the proposed Robin Hood Tax here) that would shut down speculators who have repeatedly triggered financial crises and economic crashes around the world. It restricts "firewall" reforms that separate consumer banking from risky investment banking. It could roll back reforms that governments adopted to fix the extreme bank-deregulation regimen that caused Wall Street's 2007 crash. And it provides an escape from national rules that would limit the size of "too-big-to-fail" behemoths.
Read more

Three Charts Explain Why Democrats Went Nuclear on the Filibuster
MotherJones | Kevin Drum | 11/22/13

No one has completely clean hands when it comes to filibusters in the Senate. Democrats have used them and Republicans have used them. But hoo boy, Republicans sure have used them more. That's why Democrats went nuclear on Thursday. Three charts tell the story. ... Read more

The Real Conspiracy Behind the JFK Assassination
MotherJones | David Corn | 11/22/13

... Like many late-year boomers, I grew up fascinated by the speculation, poring over the latest "revelations" and initially believing the worst--at one point, when I was 13, my best friend and I called Parkland Hospital in Dallas and asked to be connected to the wing where the supposedly still-alive Kennedy was being housed--but I came to conclude that much of the conspiracy-mongering was bunk. In Slate, Fred Kaplan does an excellent job chronicling his own similar trajectory, so I won't detail my conversion. But as I spent more time investigating and reporting national security matters, I came to the realization that government officials, spies, and operatives tend not to be sufficiently competent to pull off the murder of a president (with a well-placed patsy as the fall guy!) and then mount a subsequent and wildly effective cover-up. Still, I've resisted getting drawn too far into the Kennedy conspiracy debates--a true black hole. But if you're asking, I do believe that Kennedy was likely killed as the result of underhanded alliances and government misdeeds. It's just that what transpired was more nuanced than a CIA-Mafia-Castro-Soviet-Lyndon-Johnson plot. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, November 22 [10:39]
TYT News
*TYT | Afghanistan War In 2024? (11/22/13) [7:19]
"Secretary of State John Kerry announced Wednesday that the United States and Afghanistan had finalized the wording of a bilateral security agreement that would allow for a lasting U.S. troop presence through 2024 and set the stage for billions of dollars of international assistance to keep flowing to the Kabul government. The deal, which now will be presented for approval by an Afghan grand council of elders starting today, came after days of brinkmanship by Afghan officials and two direct calls from Mr. Kerry to President Hamid Karzai, including one Wednesday before the announcement. Just the day before, a senior Karzai aide had said the Afghan leader would not approve an agreement unless President Barack Obama sent a letter acknowledging U.S. military mistakes during the 12-year war. But Mr. Kerry emphatically insisted Wednesday that a deal was reached with no U.S. apology forthcoming. "President Karzai didn't ask for an apology. There was no discussion of an apology," Mr. Kerry said. "I mean, it's just not even on the table." After a 12-year war that stands as the longest in U.S. history, the security accord defines a training and counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan lasting at least another 10 years and involving an estimated 8,000-12,000 troops, mostly American.
*TYT | Elizabeth Warren Nails It On Social Security (11/22/13) [9:12]
*TYT | Don't Mix Coke With A Vote To Drug Test Welfare Recipients (11/21/13) [4:06]
*TYT | Senate Democrats Going Nuclear (11/22/13) [4:18]
TYT | Reid Finally Realizes GOP Will Never Work With Democrats (11/22/13) [8:43]
TYT | He's Autistic; He Deserved It Say Parents Of Bullies (11/22/13) [4:12]
TYT | Fox News Freaks Out Over Oprah Race Comments (11/22/13) [11:32]
TYT | Is The Bible Fiction? (11/22/13) [8:20]
*Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (11/22/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (11/22/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - Al l In
Chris Hayes | A historic day: Nuclear option in the Senate (11/21/13) [14:20], Part 2 [3:52], Part 3 [5:48]
Chris Hayes | The fog of the Kennedy assassination (11/21/13) [4:14], Part 2 [6:16]
More segments on the MSNBC website
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | GOP obstruction sparks nuclear reaction (11/21/13) [18:49]
Rachel Maddow | Digital archives a window on JFK history (11/21/13) [9:25]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Harry Reid bypasses the Senate's filibustering Republican minority by launching the "nuclear option." (11/21/13) [3:58]
Jon Stewart | Black Friday: Businesses extend Thanksgiving shopping hours, and turkey number 37740 shares its grievances with the world (11/21/13) [4:46], Part 2 [4:17]
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Cobert | Senate Democrats employ the so-called "nuclear option" in response to an unprecedented series of Republican filibusters (11/21/13) [3:21]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

11.22.2013. 11:54

Thursday November 21, 2013
News Articles

Who Buys the Spies? The Hidden Corporate Cash Behind America's Out-of-Control National Surveillance State
Bill Moyers | Thomas Ferguson | 10/23/13

Long before President Obama kicked off his 2008 campaign, many Americans took it for granted that George W. Bush's vast, sprawling national security apparatus needed to be reined in. For Democrats, many independents and constitutional experts of various persuasions, Vice President Dick Cheney's notorious doctrine of the "unitary executive" (which holds that the president controls the entire executive branch), was the ultimate statement of the imperial presidency. It was the royal road to easy (or no) warrants for wiretaps, sweeping assertions of the government's right to classify information secret, and arbitrary presidential power. When Mitt Romney embraced the neoconservatives in the 2012 primaries, supporters of the president often cited the need to avoid a return to the bad old days of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld National Security State as a compelling reason for favoring his reelection. Reelect President Obama, they argued, or Big Brother might be back. ... Read more

What Wal-Mart Could Learn From Henry Ford
Bill Moyers | Robert Reich's blog. | 11/18/13

Wal-Mart just reported shrinking sales for a third straight quarter. What's going on? Explained William S. Simon, the CEO of Wal-Mart, referring to the company's customers, "their income is going down while food costs are not. Gas and energy prices, while they're abating, I think they're still eating up a big piece of the customer's budget."

Wal-Mart's CEO gets it. Most of Walmart's customers are still in the Great Recession, grappling with stagnant or declining pay. So, naturally, Wal-Mart's sales are dropping.   But what Wal-Mart's CEO doesn't get is that a large portion of Walmart's customers are lower-wage workers who are working at places like … Walmart. And Walmart, not incidentally, refuses to raise its median wage (including its army of part-timers) of $8.80 an hour. Read more

What You Need to Know About Fukushima
Bill Moyers | John Light | 11/18/13

All eyes are on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as major cleanup efforts are set to begin later this month, in the most significant test of the operator's ability to manage the threats resulting from one of the biggest nuclear disasters ever. For two years now, the plant's operator and the Japanese government have struggled to contain an ongoing series of crises at the devastated facility. But the situation has the potential to get worse. Here's what you need to know. ...

... Nuclear facilities in Japan lie near 14 active fault lines; Tepco's Fukushima facilities are along five. The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) says the utilities are capable of withstanding another earthquake. But last month, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki expressed his fears that further damage to the Fukushima facility could prove catastrophic. "Three out of the four plants were destroyed in the earthquake and in the tsunami. The fourth one has been so badly damaged that the fear is, if there's another earthquake of a seven or above, that building will go and then all hell breaks loose."

The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo said earlier this year that there's a 70 percent chance a 7.0-magnitude or higher quake will strike Tokyo, near Fukushima, by 2016. Should the fourth reactor collapse, Suzuki said, it would be "bye bye Japan," and "everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate. Now if that isn't terrifying, I don't know what is." ... Read more

Why Does the Media Ignore Timothy Geithner's Disastrous Leadership of the NY Fed?
TRNN | William K. Black | 11/18/13

Remember nine months ago when Timothy Geithner assured us that it was "extremely unlikely" he would take a position on Wall Street?   The media meme when Geithner announced that he was stepping down as Treasury Secretary and taking a position as a "senior fellow" with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was what a superior human he was for not taking a job with Wall Street. The "extremely unlikely" (to no one's surprise) was announced nine months later. The private equity firm Warburg Pincus has hired Geithner as its President. ... Read more

Solar activity has ramped up in the past several months as the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year solar cycle. At that point in time -- expected to be soon -- the sun's magnetic field will undergo a complete reversal, with its north and south poles essentially "flipping."
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, November 21 [8:01]
DN | "Nature Does Not Negotiate": Environmentalists Walk Out of U.N. Climate Summit in Warsaw (11/21/13) [4:00]
DN | Greenpeace: In Opposing Oil Drilling, Detained "Arctic 30" Are Standing Up for Planet's 7 Billion (11/21/13) [13:49]
*DN | "We Have To Consume Less": Scientists Call For Radical Economic Overhaul to Avert Climate Crisis (11/21/13) [25:47]
A pair of climate scientists are calling for what some may view as a shocking solution to the global warming crisis: a rethinking of the economic order in the United States and other industrialized nations. Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows-Larkin of the influential Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in England say many of the solutions proposed by world leaders to prevent "runaway global warming" will not be enough to address the scale of the crisis. They have called for "radical and immediate de-growth strategies in the United States, EU and other wealthy nations." Anderson says that to avoid an increase in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the world would require a "revolutionary change to the political and economic hegemony."
DN | "Polluters Talk, We Walk": Civil Society Groups Abandon Warsaw Talks Over Inaction on Global Warming (11/21/13) [4:23]
*Fukushima
Harvey Wasserman: Risky Operation at Fukushima Demands World Action (11/20/13) [12:57]
Harvey Wasserman on Continuing Fukushima Crisis: The amounts of radiation are lethal on a global scale (10/10/13) [9:51]
*Fukushima The Worst Nuclear Disaster The World Has Ever Seen (2013) [12:55] Interesting overview!
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The JFK Assassination Anniversary: Public Perceptions And Political Realities (11/21/13) [1hr]
Fiftieth Anniversary Of President Kennedy's Assassination (11/21/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - All In
Chris Hayes | Still no fix for military sexual assault (11/20/13) [14:39] Part 2 [9:11], Part 3 [5:18]
More segments on the MSNBC website
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | Dems bet economic populism trumps culture war (11/20/13) [19:16]
Rachel Maddow | This is why Democrats want Warren to run (11/20/13) [9:07]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Legendary newsman Tom Brokaw examines the ways in which John F. Kennedy's assassination profoundly changed America (11/20/13) [6:51]
Stephen Colbert Report
Stephen Cobert | Florida Congressman Trey Radel is arrested after buying cocaine from an undercover officer, but he's definitely not a hypocrite (11/20/13) [2:58]
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.

11.21.2013. 11:55

Wednesday November 20, 2013
News Articles

US Ranks 43rd in the World on Climate Policy (and Canada is Even Worse)
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 11/20/13

Recently, there's been some good news when it comes to US greenhouse gas emissions: They're actually going down. The bad news, though, is that despite this progress, we still only rank 43rd in the world for the overall effectiveness of our climate policies. ...
Click to zoom
Read more

Obama Administration Maps Out Detour Around HealthCare.gov
HP | Jeffrey Young | 11/19/13

People interested in buying health insurance under Obamacare could soon skip the HealthCare.gov website and apply for coverage and financial assistance directly with private insurance companies and online brokers, the Obama administration said Tuesday, in its latest effort to work around the faulty website.

These insurance issuers and brokers are about to get what they want. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is close to providing insurers with the technological capability to also take subsidy applications, as well as sell plans to customers, spokeswoman Julie Bataille said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday. ... Read more

The American Model Of "Growth": Overbuilding And Poaching
ZeroHedge | author | 11/19/13

The rising Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other simulacra of "growth" are masking the real model of growth in America: overbuilding and poaching, as in poaching customers and sales from competitors.

No matter how many outlets a company has, there's always room for a few hundred more somewhere. Now that there's a Starbucks on every corner, you might think the opportunities for expansion are limited. No way--now there are Starbucks in bookstores, Safeway supermarkets, subway stations (BART), etc. ... Read more

A Daring Swiss Bid to Stomp Out CEO Pay Excess
Bill Moyer | Sam Pizzigati | 11/19/13

Something astounding is happening in Switzerland. For the first time ever, voters in a modern developed nation are going to be voting on whether to create what amounts to a "maximum wage."   The vote will come Sunday, November 24, on a ballot initiative that bans any Swiss corporate executive compensation that runs over 12 times worker pay.

In effect, under this "1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay," no Swiss company would be able to pay its top executives more in a month than the company's lowest-paid workers make in a year. ... Read more

How Washington D.C. Is Sucking The Life Out Of America
ZeroHedge | author | 11/19/13

Ever since I started writing about what is happening in the world around me, my primary theme has been that the root cancer at the core of the U.S., and indeed global economy, is cronyism and an absence of the rule of law when it comes to oligarchs. In the U.S., this cronyism is best described as an insidious relationship between large multi-national corporations and big government to funnel all of the wealth and resources of the nation to themselves at the expense of everyone else. In a genuine free market defined by heightened competition and governed by an equal application of the rule of law to all, the 0.1% does not aggregate all of a nation's wealth. This sort of thing only happens in crony capitalism, which is basically nothing more than complete and total insider deals to aggregate newly created money into the hands of the few. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, November 20 [12:41]
*DN | "Finance Climate Action, Not Fossil Fuel Subsidies": Activists Blast Priorities of Biggest Polluters (11/20/13) [11:44]
DN | As Poor Countries Walk Out of Climate Talks, Venezuela Calls on Industrial Nations to Take Action (11/20/13) [17:43], Part 2 [4:05]
MSNBC Dylan Rattigan
Dylan Rattigan Gets Emotional About Debt (older but GOOD) [4:48]
TRNN News
TRNN | Kshama Sawant: Boeing receives almost $9 billion in state tax breaks but threatens to move some operations out of Washington due to a contract dispute (11/20/13) [6:59]
TTY News
TYT | George Zimmerman 911 Call - 'Gun In My Freaking Face' (11/20/13) [6:32]
TYT | Walmart Holds Food Drive For Its OWN Employees (11/20/13) [5:35]
TYT | How To Get A Job At Fox Business (11/20/13) [4:53]
TYT | White Supremacist Arrested For Terrorizing Town (11/19/13) [4:37]
TYT | The Two Establishment Candidates For 2016 (11/19/13) [7:40]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - Al l In
Chris Hayes | Time to use the nuclear option (11/19/13) [3:22]
Chris Hayes | Expanding Social Security (11/19/13) [3:59], Part 2 [5:51]
Chris Hayes | Battle lines are drawn in the Cheney family (11/19/13) [3:35]
More segments on the MSNBC website
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | Marriage equality spreads, GOP goes anti-ga (11/19/13) [20:16]
More segments on the MSNBC website
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Rob Ford, the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto, has done it again (11/19/13) [4:40], Part 2 [4:28]
Stephen Colbert
Even More News

  1. JPMorgan $13 Billion Mortgage Deal Seen as Lawsuit Shield (BBG)
  2. J.P. Morgan Is Haunted by a 2006 Decision on Mortgages (WSJ)
  3. World powers, Iran in new attempt to reach nuclear deal (Reuters)
  4. Keystone Foes Seek to Thwart Oil Sands Exports by Rail (BBG) - mostly Warren Buffet?
  5. How Would Fed Deal With Debt Ceiling Crisis? Look to Minutes for Clues (Hilsenrath)
  6. Anything to prevent the loss of prop trading: 'Volcker Rule' Faces New Hurdles (WSJ)
  7. BOE Sees Case for Keeping Record-Low Rate Beyond 7% Jobless (BBG)
  8. Obama Backs Piecemeal Immigration Overhaul (WSJ)
  9. Abenomics Seen Cutting Japan Bad-Loan Costs to 2006 Low (BBG)
How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas

How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas
Bill Moyer | Joshua Holland | 11/19/13

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

Exposed: The State Policy Network.pdf

Mackinac Center for Public Policy
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a right-wing pressure group based in Michigan. Founded in 1987, it is the largest state-level "think tank" in the nation. It was established by right-wing activists to promote "free market," pro-business policies. The Center voices its policy positions though publications and has moved beyond Michigan by helping the leaders of similar conservative institutions to ratchet up their operations in many other states and countries around the world. It is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide.

11.20.2013. 12:08

Tuesday November 19, 2013
News Articles

How much did HealthCare.gov cost?
WashingtonPost | Glenn Kessler | 11/19/13

Some weeks ago, we wrote a column examining the cost of developing the troubled HealthCare.gov Web site. We said we would keep updating it as more information emerged. The most recent figure we had, courtesy of congressional testimony by Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, was $174 million, as of the end of August.

A reader e-mailed that it was time for an update, as Politico had reported that an official at the Government Accountability Office has testified before Congress that the figure actually was "north of $600 million."   That seemed a big difference. So we decided to investigate. ... ... Now the figue seems to be closer to $318 million ... Read more

Obamacare: The Biggest Insurance Scam in History
Truth0out.org | Margaret Flowers | 10/30/13

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also called "Obamacare," may be the biggest insurance scam in history. The industries that profit from our current health care system wrote the legislation, heavily influenced the regulations and have received waivers exempting them from provisions in the law. This has all been done to protect and enhance their profits.

... Sadly, most Americans are being manipulated into supporting the ACA and do not even know they are being bamboozled. That is how scams work. Even after the con is completed, victims do not know they have been manipulated and ripped off. They may even feel good about being scammed, thinking they made a deal when they really had their bank accounts picked. But it is the insurance companies that are the realizing windfall profits from the Obamacare con even as it falters. ... Read more

The Gospel of Selfishness in American Christianity
AlterNet | Amanda Marcotte | 11/14/13

How the philosophers of selfishness came to use Christianity as their cover story.

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant business will be happy to tell you that waiters always fight each other to avoid working Sunday lunch shift. Not because they want to sleep in, but because it's a widespread belief that the post-church crowd is loud, demanding and unwilling to tip appropriately. In the food service industry, "Christian" is synonymous with "selfish.
Bill Maher New Rules - When Did Christian Values Change From Love Thy Neighbor to F*ck Off & Die
Read more

Elizabeth Warren: Don't cut Social Security. Expand it!
WashingtonPost | Greg Sargent | 11/18/13

If Elizabeth Warren is emerging as a kind of spokeswoman for the new economic populism that many Democratic activists want the party to embrace heading into 2014 and 2016, this speech that Warren is currently delivering on the floor of the Senate suggests the push to expand Social Security could become a key issue in the argument over the Democratic Party of the future.

In remarks Warren just began delivering, she strongly endorsed the push to boost Social Security benefits -- in keeping with Senator Tom Harkin's proposal to do the same -- and condemned the "Chained CPI" that liberals fear Dems will embrace in strong terms. From the prepared remarks: ... Read more

Tim Geithner is cashing in
WashingtonPost | Neil Irwin | 11/18/13

Tim Geithner, apparently now tanned and rested after a long six years of financial crisis, is going back to work. The former Treasury secretary and New York Fed chief will be president and managing director of Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm.

The brickbats are flying fast. Here are examples from Ryan Grim and Noam Scheiber that go beyond the standard-issue Twitter snark. The critique boils down to: Of course Tim Geithner is going to make millions in the private equity business. He has always been a creature of the financial industry, carrying its water in government. And now the financial industry is, in effect, repaying him. Future treasury secretaries will know the lucrative fate the awaits them if they are similarly cooperative with Wall Street mandarins. And the circle of life continues. ... Read more

Insight: As U.S. default threatened, banks took extraordinary steps
Reuters | David Henry | 11/19/13

As the United States threatened to default on its debt last month, major U.S. banks set up war rooms, spent many millions of dollars on contingency planning and, in some cases, even prepared to underwrite federal government benefits.

In a series of interviews with top bank executives, new details emerged about the extent of the contingency planning that was undertaken before and during the 16-day government shutdown and as a potential default loomed.

The planning for worst-case scenarios didn't come cheap. JPMorgan alone has spent more than $100 million on contingency planning for U.S. budget crises in recent years including this one, sources close to the bank say. It has reviewed and analyzed thousands of trading contracts, updated computer systems to handle fiscal emergencies, hired consultants, and built new models to figure out what might happen to securities prices. .... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, November 19 [10:32]
DN | Filipino Climate Chief Yeb Saño Demands Rich Nations Pay For Global Pollution (11/19/13) [14:44], Part 2 [10:47]
DN | "Civil Society Isn't Welcome & Corporations Are": Youth Activist On Being Banned From Climate Talks (11/19/13) [10:55]
*DN | Leaked Memo Reveals U.S. Plan To Oppose Helping Poor Nations Adapt to Climate Change (11/19/13) [9:47]
Ring of Fire
RingOfFire | No Justification for Drone Strikes (11/12/13) [10:18]
BP Unveils New Paper Towels For Home Use! [1:15]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | Fighting the Good Fight: In the face of a government by and for the one percent, two medical doctors, Jill Stein and Margaret Flowers, left their careers behind to fight against a dysfunctional system and offer policy alternatives (11/15/13) [38:37]
Have you ever dreamed of quitting your day job to work on something you really believed in? That's exactly what this week's guests, Jill Stein and Margaret Flowers, did when they left their careers behind as medical doctors.

Both saw that holding political office largely depended on how much money you have, which in turn enabled injustices to be fashioned into law and public policy. Outraged and angry, they decided to stand up and take action. More
Green Shadow Cabinet
Popular Resistance website
60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | The Recyclers: From trash comes triumph. The residents of Cateura, Paraguay, don't just make a living from the massive garbage heap in their town. They also make music (11/17/13) [13:19]
*60 Minutes | The Giving Pledge: A new club for billionaires. Membership comes with just two requirements: You must be worth at least a billion dollars and be willing to give half of that away (11/17/13) [12:31]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Chris Hedges and Jeremy Hammond's Mother React to Jeremy Hammond's 10-Year Prison Sentence (11/19/13) [10:07]
TRNN | Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Ph.D.: Three Million More in Poverty than Previously Estimated (11/19/13) [7:54]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Lawmakers And Regulators Take A Closer Look At Bitcoin (11/19/13) [1hr]
TYT News
TYT | Former Treasury Secretary Cashes In on Wall Street (11/19/13) [5:54]
TYT | If I Were Obama - Cenk Reacts To Obamacare Trouble (11/19/13) [5:52]
TYT | Gay Marriage Feud Splits Cheney Sisters (11/19/13) [3:55]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | Katrina the Healthcare Glitch: The media compares the government abdication of responsibility during Hurricane Katrina to the flawed launch of a s**tty web site (11/18/13) [4:33], Part 2 [3:09]
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Cobert | Obamacare Backlash: Obama's political crisis leads pundits to draw unlikely comparisons, ranging from Hurricane Katrina to Toronto's crack-smoking mayor (11/18/13) [3:10], Part 2 [3:28]
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer on Whistleblowers and Prosecuting Bankers for Fraud [1:55]

11.19.2013. 12:22

Monday November 18, 2013
News Articles

JPMorgan's Fruitful Ties to a Member of China's Elite
NYTimes | David Barboza | 11/13/13

To promote its standing in China, JPMorgan Chase turned to a seemingly obscure consulting firm run by a 32-year-old executive named Lily Chang.   Ms. Chang's firm, which received a $75,000-a-month contract from JPMorgan, appeared to have only two employees. And on the surface, Ms. Chang lacked the influence and public name recognition needed to unlock business for the bank.

But what was known to JPMorgan executives in Hong Kong, and some executives at other major companies, was that "Lily Chang" was not her real name. It was an alias for Wen Ruchun, the only daughter of Wen Jiabao, who at the time was China's prime minister, with oversight of the economy and its financial institutions.

JPMorgan's link to Ms. Wen -- which came during a time when the bank also invested in companies tied to the Wen family -- has not been previously reported. Yet a review by The New York Times of confidential documents, Chinese public records and interviews with people briefed on the contract shows that the relationship pointed to a broader strategy for accumulating influence in China: Put the relatives of the nation's ruling elite on the payroll. ... Read more

Geithner to Join Private Equity Firm
NYTimes | Michael J. De La Merced |11/16/13

Timothy F. Geithner will join the private equity firm Warburg Pincus as president, the firm announced on Saturday. It would be his first prominent position since leaving office as Treasury secretary this year. ... Read more

The People Can Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership
TRNN News | Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | 11/15/13

Time to end the failed experiment with rigged corporate trade and put in place fair trade for the people and planet before profits

Momentum is growing in the campaign to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Yesterday, the TPP was dealt two blows. Each could be lethal but the TPP, and its Atlantic counterpart, called TAFTA, are not dead yet. It is time for the movement of movements that formed to oppose the TPP to stand in solidarity, defeat these agreements and end the era of rigged corporate trade.

Yesterday's first blow came from Wikileaks, showing once again that when government works in secret with big corporations, exposure by whistle blowers is critical to changing the corrupt direction of government and the economy. ... Read more

These Beautiful "Place-Hacking" Photos Will Give You an Adrenaline Rush

Forth Rail Bridge, Scotland. All photos by Bradley Garrett/eyevine/zReportage. Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 18 [10:19]
DN | Partnering With Polluters? U.N. Climate Summit Criticized for Sponsorships by Fossil Fuel Companies (11/18/13) [10:09]
DN | 2 Months After Russia's Jailing of Arctic 30, Greenpeace Urges Their Release at Warsaw Summit (11/18/13) [7:19]
DN | After Typhoon Haiyan's Devastation, Filipino Calls for Climate Action Take On New Urgency (11/18/13) [7:46]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Kevin Zeese: Wikileaks Exposes the TPP as a Capitulation to Corporate Interests (11/15/13) [9:06]
TRNN | Robert Wade on hot money & Iceland's boom bust: How Powerful Interests Walked Households into a Debt (11/18/13) [11:39]
TYT News
TYT | JPMorgan Banksters Caught Bribing Chinese Politicians (11/18/13) [6:34]
TYT | Income Inequality Targeted By Incoming Fed Chair (11/15/13) [10:35]
TYT | Corruption On Steroids - Koch Brothers Spend Record Cash (11/15/13) [8:52]
Fukushima Crisis
MOXNEWSd0tC0M | TEPCO Begins Removing Fuel Rods From Fukushima Nuclear Reactors (11/18/13) [5:20]
Financial Crisis
Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street (2010) [47:49]
The Finance Industry Has Captured Our Government: Glenn Greenwald [41:09]
Click to zoom
The Finance Industry Has Captured Our Government: Glenn Greenwald
Remote Viewing
The Killshot [1:02:47] Solar Flare to End Humanity in 2013 - Remote VIewing with Major Ed Dames The Kill Shot [38:07], The Kill Shot website
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm How Changes To The Affordable Care Act Could Affect Consumers And Insurance Companies (11/18/13) [1hr]
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Cobert | Not to be outdone by the "Today" show, Stephen raises awareness for men's health with the help of a few special guests (11/14/13) [8:53]

11.19.2013. 12:21

Friday November 15, 2013
News Articles

Dick Cheney Is An Even Bigger Monster Than You Thought
AlterNet | Joan Walsh | 11/15/13

That's not surprising: Cheney is a troll who maligns the president whenever he can, and piling on with Clinton is a special kind of fun. Yes, it's outrageous that a man who has enjoyed many millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded medical care doesn't give a damn about the uninsured in our society, but that's Dick Cheney.

Still, I was a little startled to hear the former vice president express total indifference to questions about his heart donor in a revealing interview on Politicking with Larry King ( it airs Thursday night; here's a clip). It's a window into his utter entitlement and self-absorption, and he comes off as an even bigger monster than I'd thought. Most people would at least feign interest in the donor; Cheney can't manage it. ... Read more
Click to play

If Only Right-Wing Christians Knew Where Their Ideas Came From
AlterNet | Ira Chernus | 11/12/13

The media spotlight has focused on the growing split in the Republican Party between its corporate-business wing and the libertarian-leaning Tea Partiers. But what about the third leg of the GOP tripod, the one that used to get all the attention: the evangelical Christian religious right? That's where the spotlight ought to be. ...

... Many politically active evangelicals are happy to be Tea Partiers and align with the libertarian call for smaller government. They see government as a force imposing its secular ways upon them. And Tea Party politicians have been equally happy to talk the religious right talk because it wins them votes. ... Read more

ALEC Floats Legislation Chipping Away At The 17th Amendment
HP | Amanda Terkel | 11/15/13

ALEC circulates model legislation to state legislators, and its bills have resulted in states passing laws related to voter ID, so-called Stand Your Ground issues and the elimination or reduction of state income taxes. ...

... The bill would significantly increase the role of the state legislature in the election of U.S. senators, inching back toward the process used prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913. The 17th Amendment established the direct election of U.S. senators. Before this amendment, senators were chosen by state legislators. ... Read more

Chase Isn't the Only Bank in Trouble
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 11/05/13

There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector. As one friend of mine put it, "Whatever those morons put aside for settlements, they'd better double it."

Firstly, there's a huge mess involving possible manipulation of the world currency markets. This scandal is already drawing comparisons to the last biggest-financial-scandal-in-history (the Financial Times wondered about a "repeat Libor scandal"), the manipulation of interest rates via the gaming of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor. The foreign exchange or FX market is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily trading volume of nearly $5 trillion. ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, November 15 [12:44]
*DN | Jailed for Life for Stealing a $159 Jacket? 3,200 Serving Life Without Parole For Non-Violent Crimes (11/15/13) [13:58]
DN | Burning the Evidence: Gunmen Torch Records Documenting War Crimes, Missing Children in El Salvador (11/15/13) [6:24]
More News
Ring of Fire | Cliff Schecter: Shock Doctrine USA: Safety Net Programs On The Chopping Block (11/15/13) [11:18]
Ring of Fire | Alex Kane: No Justification for Drone Strikes (11/12/13) [10:18]
*Chris Hayes | JEWS FOR JESUS! (11/15/13) [13:00]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Kevin Zeese: Wikileaks Exposes the TPP as a Capitulation to Corporate Interests (11/15/13) [9:06]
TRNN | Economists Bill Black and Greg Palast discuss Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen's record, pointing to her support of the repeal of Glass-Steagal as an indication of how she?ll work with Wall Street (11/15/13) [9:58]
Thorium
Thorium-Fueled Car Only Needs a Fill-up Once a Century (11/07/13) [1:07]
Vice | The Thorium Dream (11/10/11) [28:26]
*Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (11/15/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (11/15/13) [1hr]
TYT News
Thom Hartmann News
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.

11.15.2013. 19:14

Thursday November 14, 2013
News Articles

Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Freaky New World Order of International Treaties
truthdig.com | Peter Z. Scheer | 11/13/13

WikiLeaks blew open the secret negotiations behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement on Wednesday, releasing draft text that looks good for big corporations and bad for ordinary people.

The TPP is an existing treaty that could be expanded -- with new rules -- to cover as many as 13 countries and as much as 40 percent of the world's GDP. The scary thing about international agreements like this one is that they make local fights moot. Did you sign a petition to stop SOPA or PIPA? Too bad. The TPP would obviate those proposed U.S. laws. ... Read more

How the Stock Market Is Rigged, According to a Robo-Trading Whistleblower
motherboard.vice.com | Alec Liu | 11/14/13

"If you're on Wall Street, you would just assume that you're being ripped off, unless you were the one doing the ripping off," says Dave Lauer, who has helped build robotic systems at top firms like Citadel.

This is the opening of The Wall Street Code, a new documentary on the mysterious and sometimes incomprehensible world of high frequency trading produced by Backlight, a Dutch public broadcasting company. The focus of the documentary isn't on Lauer, who has testified as an expert at a Senate Committee Hearing on HFT, but on Haim Bodek, a "genius" algorithm architect who dared to break Wall Street's notorious omerta, the industry's unwritten rule of silence and secrecy. ... Read more

Flash-Crash Story Looks More Like a Fairy Tale
Bloomberg | Mark Buchanan | 05/07/12

Two years after the frightening spring day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost and regained about 600 points in a matter of minutes, we still don't really know why. This is a problem, because it means something similar -- or worse -- could happen again.

... The actual crisis struck in the three minutes between 2:41 p.m. and 2:44 p.m., when the market fell another 5 percent to 6 percent. Hunsader's analysis suggests this plunge was caused by high-frequency traders. They typically act as liquidity providers, standing ready to buy and sell at certain price levels. But the day's volatility prompted them to dump their holdings to avoid losses. ... Read about the Flash Crash

Ladydrawers - Zoned: The Mysterious "Foreign-Trade Zones" Outposts Inside the USA
truth-out.org | Anne Elizabeth Moore | 11/12/13

Lets look at the wacky world of Foreign-Trade Zones and the labor problems they foster. Despite their rampant growth in recent years, few know they exist. However, they contribute greatly to the annual gross domestic product - and the global garment trade.
Read more

Diabetes Kills One Person Every Six Seconds, New Estimates Show
Bloomberg | Albertina Torsoli | 11/14/13

Diabetes kills one person every six seconds and afflicts 382 million people worldwide, according to the International Diabetes Federation, which has been canvassing the help of people ranging from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to Bob Marley's nephew to raise awareness about the problem.

The number of diabetes cases has climbed 4.4 percent over the past two years, according to new figures the Brussels-based federation released today. The number of people affected by the disease is expected to climb 55 percent to 592 million by 2035 as factors including poor diet, a more sedentary lifestyle, increases in obesity and life expectancy fuel an epidemic, it said. There were only 285 million sufferers worldwide in 2009. ... Read more

The Rhino Horn Crisis
Once thought to posess magical abilities, and now used primarily for supposed medicinal purposes across Asia, rhino horn is now an incredibly rare commodity that's worth more than cocaine, gold, or platinum. In Southeast Asia, a single horn--ripped from the head of a dead rhinoceros by a poacher working for a crime syndicate--can sell for half a million dollars or more. Article website South African farmers and scientists suggest the only way to save the endangered rhino is to legalise trade in the animal's horn. (06/13/12) [8:33]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, November 14 [11:21]
*DN | TPP Exposed: WikiLeaks Publishes Secret Trade Text to Rewrite Copyright Laws, Limit Internet Freedom (11/14/13) [20:41]
DN | Senate Faces Historic Vote on Handling Military Sexually Assault Epidemic Outside Chain of Command (11/14/13) [12:13]
Last week, the Pentagon revealed that sexual assault in the military increased by 46 percent in the past fiscal year. In total, more than 3,500 sexual assaults were reported from last October through June, compared to roughly 2,400 over the same period the previous year.
The Invisible War
The Invisible War (trailer) (05/30/12) [1:54]
*The Invisible War (01/30/13) [1:37:36]
The Invisible War website
The Invisible War is a 2012 documentary film written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering and Tanner King Barklow about sexual assault in the United States military.
TRNN News
*TRNN | Chris Hedges: Jeremy Hammond Exposed State's Plan to Criminalize Democratic Dissent (11/14/13) [10:52]
TRNN | Rachel Tansey: Fossil Fuel Corporations Dominating the UN Climate Change Conference (11/14/13) [8:05]
TRNN | Trita Parsi: Hawkish Groups Mobilize to Sink Iran Nuclear Deal (11/14/13) [8:41]
Wall Street
The Wall Street Code (trailer) [0:44]
*The Wall Street Code (11/04/13) [50:30]
The Wall Street Code: a thriller about a genius algorithm builder who dared to stand up against Wall Street. Haim Bodek, aka The Algo Arms Dealer.
Money & Speed: Inside the Black Box () [48:23]
The Biggest Con Job in World History - Wall Street! () [2:59:50]
Michael Pollan: Blacklight Talks () [15:57]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Gregory Zuckerman: "The Frackers" (11/14/13) [1hr]
Ten years ago, major oil and gas companies thought it was crazy to try to extract fossil fuels buried in shale rock deep below the ground. But a few oil and gas prospectors thought differently. In a new book, a Wall Street Journal reporter shows how these men risked their careers to develop a new drilling process known hydraulic fracturing or fracking. He chronicles the story of how a group of ambitious and headstrong drillers ignored the experts and dramatically transformed America's energy production. In just a few years "the Frackers" made astonishing fortunes and triggered a global environmental outcry.
Jon Stewart | Stephen Colbert
Stephen Cobert | Colbert coins the term "glumming," short for -- you guessed it -- glamour slumming, an activity that allows you to experience what it's like to live in a real South African shanty town, "resenting rich people who do things like stay in a pretend shanty town." Or you could always stay in Colbert's own all-American version of the resort. (11/14/13) [4:32]
Jon Stewart | One World Trade Center is named the tallest building in the United States, igniting a rivalry between New York and Chicago (11/13/13) [6:56]
Jon Stewart | Racist or Not Racist? (11/13/13) [4:12]
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.
Wall Street
Watch high-speed trading in action () [2:51]
Bonus Wall Street Code: who made money from Flash Crash () [2:16]
Tomas Sedlacek: Blacklight Talks () [2:16]

Wall Street Warriors S01E01 () [25:04]
UFO
The World's Highest Ranking Alien Believer (08/17/13) [10:40]
Paul Hellyer recently stirred up global controversy when he testified before a half-dozen former US representatives that aliens exist. As Canada's former Minister of Defence, Hellyer is the first and only cabinet-ranking official from a G8 nation to publicly state a belief in extraterrestrials.
HC | Aliens: The Great Deception (06/07/13) [44:00]
BBC | Aliens on Earth (2013) [48:12]

The Men in Black Phenomena () [44:18]

11.14.2013. 12:11

Wednesday November 13, 2013
News Articles

Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Stir House Bipartisan Opposition
HP | Zach Carter | 11/12/13

Separate groups of House Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday condemned the Obama administration's proposed sweeping free trade agreement with 11 Pacific nations, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

... Critics of the Trans-Pacific deal have warned that it would undermine Internet freedom and consumer protections in the U.S. and abroad. But the letters take issue with the process for approving the deal, demanding greater congressional input, rather than singling out specific policy complaints. ...

... "Under Fast Track, the executive branch is empowered to sign trade agreements before Congress has an opportunity to vote on them, and then unilaterally write legislation making the pacts' terms U.S. federal law," reads a letter from 22 House Republicans. "Fast Track allows the president to send these executive branch-authored bills directly to the floor for a vote under rules forbidding all floor amendments and limiting debate. ... We do not agree to cede our constitutional authority to the executive." ... Read more

*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]

You Will Be Shocked at How Ignorant Americans Really Are
AlterNet | Marty Kaplan | 11/02/13

If you think the widening chasm between the rich and the rest spells trouble for American democracy, have a look at the growing gulf between the information-rich and-poor.

Earlier this year, a Harvard economist’s jaw-dropping study of American’s beliefs about the distribution of American wealth became a viral video (see video above). Now a new Pew study of the distribution of American news consumption is just as flabbergasting.

... Pew sliced the TV news audience into thirds: heavy, medium and light. In my Jeffersonian fantasy, that distribution would look like a bell curve; in fact, it looks like a cliff. Heavy viewers watch a little over two hours of TV news a day, but medium viewers barely watch a quarter of an hour and light viewers average only two minutes a day. The top third of the country does 88 percent of the day’s TV news viewing; the middle third watches only 10 percent of the total time; the bottom third sees just 2 percent of the minutes of news consumed. ... Read more

Chef Roy Choi Soups Up Instant Ramen With American Cheese
Click to view

In his new cookbook, L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food, chef Roy Choi of L.A.'s famous Kogi taco truck (among a slew of other popular restaurants) shares this souped-up instant ramen recipe that will forever change the way you look at your 2 a.m. college dinner (or 2 p.m. breakfast).

"Making instant ramen is spiritual, important and methodical for Korean-American kids," Choi tells Tasting Table. "It's our peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, November 13 [11:41]
DN | As New Protest Law Looms, Egypt Faces Harsher Authoritarian Order Than the Revolution Overthrew (11/13/13) [10:51]
DN | Dave Pierre on Surviving 1,144 Days Locked Up Inside the Failed U.S. Immigration System (11/13/13) [17:59]
DN | "Criminalizing Black Corpses": No Charges Filed After White Man Kills Detroit Teen Renisha McBride (11/13/13) [16:38]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The U.S. And Israel Divide Over Containing Iran's Nuclear Program (11/13/13) [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Fossil Fuel Industry Receives $500 Billion in Subsidies by Governments Worldwide (11/13/13) [7:17]
*TRNN | Mulhall v. Unite Here decision will have a profound effect on employer neutrality, a union's ability to reach employees, and whether a union will be recognized by the employer during labor negotiations. (11/13/13) [5:02]
There are 22 military suicides per day!
TRNN | The Untold Story of America's War in Afghanistan, Part 3 [8:20]
TYT News
TYT | Gruesome Public Executions In North Korea - 80 Killed (11/13/13) [5:36]
TYT | How To Tell Political Hacks From Real Progressives & Conservatives (11/11/13) [6:22]
TYT | This Bush Lie Mashup Will Make You Angry All Over Again (11/11/13) [4:42]
TYT | Ted Cruz Dad says Evolution Is A Communist Lie, Gay Rights Endanger Children (11/11/13) [6:09]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | How the power of corporate opponents of GMO food labeling can cause a popular initiative to lose (11/12/13) [6:07]
Jon Stewart - Daily Show
Jon Stewart | Fox News' Medical A-Team appear to be less expert doctors and more shady expert witnesses paid by the defense to say that the bullet hole exit wound is maybe a third nipple. (11/12/13) [5:34]
60 Minutes Show
*60 Minutes | Washington's open secret: Profitable PACs: Most Americans believe it's illegal for politicians to profit from their public office but that's not the case. (10/20/13) [13:09]
60 Minutes | Dick Cheney's heart: For the first time, Dick Cheney speaks frankly and in detail about the heart disease that plagued him during his political career (10/20/13) [13:59]
*60 Minutes | Return of the humpbacks: 60 Minutes travels to the South Pacific on the trail of the humpback whale. (10/20/13) [12:14]
60 Minutes | An interview with ex-CIA No. 2 Mike Morell opens a rare window into the inside affairs of the U.S. intelligence agency during a trying time 911 in U.S. history (10/27/13) [11:44]
60 Minutes | GoPro's video revolution (11/10/13) [12:46]
A little, wearable camera is putting its owners in their own movies, doing everything from walking down the street to jumping out of an airplane. Anderson Cooper reports on GoPro, the world's best-selling camera that's revolutionizing the world of video.
60 Minutes | Lamborghini turns 50: After half a century in the luxury, supercar business, Lamborghini is still making the kind of cars that dreams are made of (11/03/13) [11:59]
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.
Get Ready For The "Martial Law" October 2013 To Early Spring 2014? (09/06/13) [19:33]
Jesse Ventura | Conspiracy Theory
*Jesse Ventura | Conspiracy Theory (S03E04) Ozarks (12/15/12) [40:14]
Jesse Ventura - American Conspiracies Part 1-10 (audio book) [58:24]
Jesse Ventura | Conspiracy Theory (S0xE0x) Skinwalker () [43:44]
Jesse and his team explore various corporations that are filling the void left by NASA and continuing space research and technology under private enterprise - some of which may be used to weaponize space. Jesse's leads focus him on billionaire aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow who purchased Utah's mysterious "Skinwalker Ranch" - a site with a long history of claims of paranormal activity, specifically UFOs, leading to rumors that Bigelow is reverse engineering his own alien technology.
*Jesse Ventura | Conspiracy Theory (S02E01): Plum Island [44:17], More Episodes, and 15 Other Episodes
MUFON

11.13.2013. 13:53

Tuesday November 12, 2013
News Articles

Former Fed Quantitative Easer Confesses, Apologizes: "I Can Only Say: I'm Sorry, America"
ZeroHedge | author | 11/12/13

"I can only say: I'm sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the centerpiece program of the Fed's first plunge into the bond-buying experiment known as quantitative easing.... We were working feverishly to preserve the impression that the Fed knew what it was doing... The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for helping Main Street. But I've come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.... Having racked up hundreds of billions of dollars in opaque Fed subsidies, U.S. banks have seen their collective stock price triple since March 2009. The biggest ones have only become more of a cartel: 0.2% of them now control more than 70% of the U.S. bank assets. As for the rest of America, good luck..... The implication is that the Fed is dutifully compensating for the rest of Washington's dysfunction. But the Fed is at the center of that dysfunction. Case in point: It has allowed QE to become Wall Street's new "too big to fail" policy." ... Read more

Meet Your Taxpayer-Subsidized Farm Bill Billionaires!
HP | Jason Linkins | 11/11/13

When most people think about farm subsidies, chances are they do not immediately think "massive taxpayer money boondoggle that should be cut from the federal budget immediately." They've probably heard about how hard it is out there for small family farmers, doing honest work in the world, keeping everyone fed and maintaining our institutional repository of agricultural practices. Surely, these subsidies are helping to keep an important way of life alive for the True Sons of Soil and Toil ... like, say, multi-billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Reps. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) both cited the Bible last week to argue that while individual Christians have a responsibility to feed the poor, the federal government does not.   Yet both men's farms have received millions in federal assistance, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that advocates for more conservation and fewer subsidies. LaMalfa's family rice farm has received more than $5 million in commodity subsidies since 1995, according to the group's analysis of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department, while Fincher's farm has received more than $3 million since then. ... Read more

There is a reason these subsidies are never cut - Congress is on the Take:

  1. Senators. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley received $1 million in federal Farm handouts over 11 years.
  2. Families of Senators. Grassley's son received $699,248.
  3. 4Republican Districts. In just four Republican Districts in Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas the government handed out $5.4-billion in farm subsidies to big argi-business.
  4. Corn and Milk. In 2005 alone, the US government spent $4.9 billion guaranteeing Corn and Milk prices.
  5. All Industries. It isn't just farm subsidies. Every big business is at the public trough. Annual Direct Federal Subsides To Industries:

  6. Farm = $35 billion
    Airline = $68 billion
    Oil = $35 billion.
    Coal = $86 billion
    Natural Gas = $100 billion
    Ethanol = $173 billion
    Flood Insurance = $12 billion
    Total = $509 billion

  7. State Subsidies. It isnt just Federal Subsidies. Texas State Subsidies Oil/Gas total $1.4-billion
  8. Indirect Subsidies. Indirect Federal, State and Local Oil Subsidies including Tax breaks, Delpletion Allowance, Oil Pipelines, Monitoring, Transportation, Remote Sensing/Mapping (USGS), etc. less environmental costs = $310 billion.

Total Government Subsidies to Businesses: $800-billion.


Republicans Refuse to Cut Subsidies. In 2011, the Democrats proposed a bill to cut some of these subsidies. No Republicans voted for the measure and it lost 176-249, with all Republicans voting against it:

http://republicanpartyconvention.com/blogs/e2-wire/146843-house-thwarts-dem-bid-on-oil-tax-breaks
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/ten-reasons-cut-farm-subsidies
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_home
http://www.progress.org/2003/energy22.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/business/06boonies.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/energy/subsidies/
http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/pdf/hist.pdf
http://www.dot.gov/bib2009/crosswalk.htm
http://cleantech.com/news/node/554
http://www.heritage.org/Research/welfare/Test080101.cfm
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/michelle_bachman_welfare_queen_20091221/
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1209/Antisocialist_Bachmann_got_250k _in_federal_farm_subsidies.html
U.S. Drought Monitor Update for Nov 5, 2013
ncdc.noaa.gov | author | 11/05/13

According to the November 5, 2013 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covers 32.2% of the contiguous United States, a decrease from last week's 34.7%. However, the worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) increased slightly from 2.8% last week to 2.9%. ... Click to zoom
Read more

Rising Seas Around the World (Interactive)
Click to zoom
NatGeo | Rising Seas Around the World


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 12 [15:16]
DN | "Stop This Madness": Filipino Climate Chief Yeb Saño Begins Hunger Fast to Protest Global Inaction (11/12/13) [13:34]
*DN | Thom Hartmann on "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America - and What We Can Do to Stop It" (11/12/13) [19:31], Part 2 [7:17]
Could the United States face another economic collapse? Writer and broadcaster Thom Hartmann looks back at past financial crises and comes to a startling conclusion. "As long as you don't look too closely at our nation, things seem under control -- the United States looks whole ... but when you go around to the 'dark back side' of the nation, you see the shocking truth. There you see a nation whose core fundamentals have been hollowed out," writes Hartmann in his new book, "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America -- and What We Can Do to Stop It."
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | John Nichols and Robert McChesney on Selling out Democracy (11/12/13) [31:39]
special interests pumped big money into promoting or tearing down candidates and ballot initiatives in elections across the country. It was a reprise on a small scale of the seven billion dollars we saw going into presidential, congressional and judicial races in 2012. To sway the vote, wealthy individuals and corporations bought campaign ads, boosting revenues at a handful of media conglomerates who have a near-monopoly on the airwaves.

No one knows the dangers of this 'money-and-media complex' better than John Nichols and Robert McChesney, who speak with Bill this week on Moyers & Company. Nichols is Washington correspondent for The Nation and a pioneering political blogger. McChesney is a professor and leading scholar of communications at the University of Illinois. Their latest book is Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex Is Destroying America.
*Bill Moyers | Heidi Boghosian on Spying on Democracy (11/11/13) [20:52]
Executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, Heidi Boghosian, joins Bill for a conversation on what we all need to know about surveillance in America. Boghosian, author of Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance, says the government is working with corporations to illicitly spy on virtually all of us, not just suspected terrorists or the Angela Merkels of this world. "They are hand-in-hand working to gather information about Americans as well as people across the globe, to really be in a race to collect more information than any other country can."
Philippines' Super Storm
News31 | Philippines declares 'state of calamity' (11/12/13) [2:18]
Wealth Inequality in America
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
TRNN News
The Untold Story of America's War in Afghanistan , Part 2 [9:52]
TRNN | Former IAEA inspector Robert Kelley examines what the IAEA already knows about Iran's nuclear program and debunks myths and misconceptions (11/12/13) [8:07], Part 2 [7:30]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | 60 Minutes: Meh Culpa: Lindsey Graham pays a price for the "60 Minutes" report on Benghazi being total bulls**t (11/11/13) [5:45]
Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation
Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation "space storm", Nasa has warned.
Surface of the Sun As You've Never Seen It [3:35]
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.

11.12.2013. 17:41

Monday November 11, 2013
News Articles

Guns & Ammo Editor's Hope For "Healthy Exchange of Ideas" Costs Him His Job
Slate | Josh Voorhees | 11/07/13

Guns & Ammo editor Jim Bequette says he was hoping to generate a "healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights" when he decided to publish a column that veered ever-so slightly from the the usual from-my-cold-dead-hands rhetoric normally found in the pages of his magazine. It's safe to say that effort didn't go exactly as he had hoped.

After a swift and vocal backlash from readers and other Second Amendment enthusiasts, Bequette announced yesterday that he was stepping down immediately, and that the magazine was also cutting ties with the author of the piece in question, contributing editor Dick Metcalf. "I made a mistake by publishing the column," Bequette wrote in an apologetic letter to readers. "I thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights. I miscalculated, pure and simple. I was wrong, and I ask your forgiveness." ... Read more
Original article

A Malaysian Businessman Allegedly Traded Hookers and Lady Gaga Tickets for Navy Secrets
Slate | Dan Gartland | 11/04/13

The Associated Press brings us the latest details on a wide-ranging Navy corruption case that first came to light last month. Hookers? Check. Lady Gaga tickets? Check. A stage performance of The Lion King? Check.

Based on the court documents the AP got a look at it's unclear whether prosecutors are building a case against U.S. Navy officer Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and Leonard Francis, a big-spending Malaysian defense contractor known as "Fat Leonard," or simply trying to create the greatest SEO line of all time. ... Read more

Hillary's Nightmare? A Democratic Party That Realizes Its Soul Lies With Elizabeth Warren
newrepublic.com | Noam Scheiber | 11/10/13

We're three years from the next presidential election, and Hillary Clinton is, once again, the inevitable Democratic nominee. Congressional Republicans have spent months investigating her like she already resides in the White House.

... On one side is a majority of Democratic voters, who are angrier, more disaffected, and altogether more populist than they've been in years. They are more attuned to income inequality than before the Obama presidency and more supportive of Social Security and Medicare.1 They've grown fonder of regulation and more skeptical of big business.2 A recent Pew poll showed that voters under 30--who skew overwhelmingly Democratic--view socialism more favorably than capitalism. Above all, Democrats are increasingly hostile to Wall Street and believe the government should rein it in. ...

... A Clinton-Warren matchup would have all sorts of consequences, none of them especially heartwarming. The most immediate is that Warren would probably lose. Though Warren has been boning up on a variety of policy areas in periodic dinners with experts--she told me there are several issues beyond Wall Street "we need to have frank conversations" about without naming specifics--she remains a work in progress as a politician. She is still pedestrian in front of a crowd despite her strengths as a questioner and debater, and her Senate campaign last year was bumpier than it should have been. At this stage in their careers, Clinton is simply easier to visualize as president. "Does Elizabeth Warren . . . cross some kind of experience threshold, a presidential threshold? ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 11 [15:00]
DN | "Unimaginable" Devastation as Phillipines Hit With One of Worst Storms in History (11/11/13) [7:01], Part 2 [19:33]
DN | The Untold Story of War: U.S. Veterans Face Staggering Epidemic of Unemployment, Trauma & Suicide (11/11/13) [14:58]
Big Oil
The Big Fix - BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Cover up (2012) [1:30:20]
Houston We Have A Problem [46:36], Part 2 [39:55]
A Crude Awakening - The Oilcrash () [1:22:52]
TRNN News
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Veterans Treatment Courts (11/11/13) [1hr]
TYT News
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.
Mitt Romney and Bain Capital
Thom Hartmann | The Bain Connection to Death Squads... (07/20/12) [11:09]
Mitt Romney's run for the Presidency has received financial help from Chinese gangs - but now it turns out he's got past connections to El Salvadorian death squads too.
Thom Hartmann | The Religious Right Field Tests Plan... and the main character is Ralph Reed (07/11/12) [5:40]
Ethos
Woody Harrelson's "Ethos" () [1:08:40]
Banking
2012 Largest banking corruption scandal in history, NOT ONE SINGLE PESON IN JAIL? (06/05/12) [9:05]
Rep. Alan Grayson: $12 Trillion Gone and No One Punished (02/10/10) [5:04]
Iceland Dismantles Corrupt Gov't Then Arrests All Rothschild Bankers (06/24/12) [6:27]
TYT | Fed Whistleblower Exposes Bernanke & Geithner (01/26/10) [5:28]
Noam Chomsky on TRNN
TRNN | Noam Chomsky on Geithner (03/27/10) [15:39]
TRNN | Noam Chomsky on the economy (10/21/08) [10:59], Part 2 [14:07], Part 3 [13:40], Part 4 [11:19]
Carl Zinn on TRNN
TRNN | Zinn on class in America (04/07/09) [14:26], Part 2 [12:52]
TheFilm Archive | Why Is America in Decline? Chris Hedges on the U.S. Empire & Death of the Liberal Class (2012) [2:58:58]
TheFilm Archive | The Rich in America: Power, Control, Wealth and the Elite Upper Class in the United States (06/09/12) [1:39:19]
Click to zoom
The Rich in America: text
David Icke
David Icke | Rothschild Zionism () [24:52]
David Icke | Where The Elite Want To Take The World. International Law & Problem Reaction Solution () [13:07]
David Icke | Speaks About Bilderberg, The Illuminati and the Hacking Of Our Reality (06/09/13) [47:16], Part 2 []
Shadow Governments
Core Of Corruption Volume 1: In The Shadows () [1:27:46]
Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined () [2:14:01]
United We Fall () [2:03:11]
Into The Fire () [2:03:47]
SHADE () [1:33:29]
SHADE website
The New World Order, Secret Societies () [2:26:14]
911
Missing Link (Israel Involvement in 911) () [2:05:42]
9/11 Painfull Deception, Truth & Lies Behind 911 () [2:05:42]
Radical Islam
Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against the West () [1:17:38]
Obsession - Radical Islam website
The Third Jihad - Radical Islam's Vision for America [1:01:49]

11.11.2013. 13:56

Friday November 08, 2013
News Articles

Russell Brand: we deserve more from our democratic system
TheGuardian | Russell Brand | 11/05/13

The people who liked the interview said it was because I'd articulated what they were thinking. I recognise this. God knows I'd love to think the attention was about me but I said nothing new or original, it was the expression of the knowledge that democracy is irrelevant that resonated. As long as the priorities of those in government remain the interests of big business, rather than the people they were elected to serve, the impact of voting is negligible and it is our responsibility to be more active if we want real change. ... Read more

Philippines Typhoon: Year's Strongest Storm Haiyan Makes Landfall
HP | Oliver Teves | 11/08/13

One of the strongest storms on record slammed into the central Philippines on Friday, killing at least four people, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes and knocking out power and communications in several provinces. But the nation appeared to avoid a major disaster because the rapidly moving typhoon blew away before wreaking more damage, officials said.

Weather officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. That makes it the world's strongest typhoon this year, said Aldczar Aurelio of the government's weather bureau. ... Read more
Typhoon Sea Rescues Haiyan Catastrophic Storm Of Massive Destruction (11/08/13) [2:11]

Which of the 11 American nations do you live in?
WashingtonPost | Reid Wilson | 11/08/13

Woodard lays out his map in the new book "American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America." Here's how he breaks down the continent:

  1. Yankeedom: Founded by Puritans, residents in Northeastern states and the industrial Midwest tend to be more comfortable with government regulation. They value education and the common good more than other regions.
  2. New Netherland: The Netherlands was the most sophisticated society in the Western world when New York was founded, Woodard writes, so it's no wonder that the region has been a hub of global commerce. It's also the region most accepting of historically persecuted populations.
  3. The Midlands: Stretching from Quaker territory west through Iowa and into more populated areas of the Midwest, the Midlands are "pluralistic and organized around the middle class." Government intrusion is unwelcome, and ethnic and ideological purity isn't a priority.
  4. Tidewater: The coastal regions in the English colonies of Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware tend to respect authority and value tradition. Once the most powerful American nation, it began to decline during Westward expansion.
  5. Greater Appalachia: Extending from West Virginia through the Great Smoky Mountains and into Northwest Texas, the descendants of Irish, English and Scottish settlers value individual liberty. Residents are "intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers."
  6. Deep South: Dixie still traces its roots to the caste system established by masters who tried to duplicate West Indies-style slave society, Woodard writes. The Old South values states' rights and local control and fights the expansion of federal powers.
  7. El Norte: Southwest Texas and the border region is the oldest, and most linguistically different, nation in the Americas. Hard work and self-sufficiency are prized values.
  8. The Left Coast: A hybrid, Woodard says, of Appalachian independence and Yankee utopianism loosely defined by the Pacific Ocean on one side and coastal mountain ranges like the Cascades and the Sierra Nevadas on the other. The independence and innovation required of early explorers continues to manifest in places like Silicon Valley and the tech companies around Seattle.
  9. The Far West: The Great Plains and the Mountain West were built by industry, made necessary by harsh, sometimes inhospitable climates. Far Westerners are intensely libertarian and deeply distrustful of big institutions, whether they are railroads and monopolies or the federal government.
  10. New France: Former French colonies in and around New Orleans and Quebec tend toward consensus and egalitarian, "among the most liberal on the continent, with unusually tolerant attitudes toward gays and people of all races and a ready acceptance of government involvement in the economy," Woodard writes.
  11. First Nation: The few First Nation peoples left -- Native Americans who never gave up their land to white settlers -- are mainly in the harshly Arctic north of Canada and Alaska. They have sovereignty over their lands, but their population is only around 300,000.
Read more

We Sent Them to Brutal Wars: Now, the Untold Story Of What Happens When Soldiers Come Home
AlterNet | Ann Jones | 11/06/13

Jones' new book takes us on a powerful journey from the devastating moment an American soldier is first wounded in rural Afghanistan to his return home for recovery. This excerpt picks up at Ann Jones' visit to Craig Hospital, a Level III Trauma Center at Bagram Airforce Base in Afghanistan.

... His first surgical patient, three days after he arrived at Bagram, was a young soldier who had stepped on an IED, triggering an upward blast that destroyed his legs and left his pelvic cavity "hollowed out." His urinary system was in shreds. His testicles were destroyed. His penis was attached to his body by only "a little thread of skin." That first surgery, the doctor said, was "emotional" for everyone on the surgical team. "The others hadn't seen anything like these injuries for a while," he said, "and I had never seen anything like it. To have to amputate that boy's penis and watch it go into the surgical waste container--it was emotional." ... Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, November 08 [13:46]
DN | "We Are Living in the World Occupy Made": New York City Voters Elect Mayor Who Vows to Tax the Rich (11/08/13) [14:53]
DN | Washington State Vote to Label GM Food Defeated By Corporations' "Sophisticated Propaganda Machine" (11/08/13) [6:46]
The Big Fix
The Big Fix (trailer) [2:08]
The Big Fix - BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Cover up (2012) [1:30:20]
The Big Fix website
Fukushima
RT | Dangerous Phase: Fukushima's radioactive fuel rods to be moved to safe storage (11/07/13) [5:34]
TYT News
TRNN | Arjun Makhijani: Removing the spent fuel rods from the Fukishima Reactor is a dangerous but necessary move (11/08/13) [6:05], Part 2 [13:50]
TRNN | Brendan Fischer: Koch Brothers Dealt Mixed Election Results as Grassroots Movement Mobilizes Against Dark Money (11/08/13) [9:58]
TRNN | Chris Hedges: The Detention of Greenwald's Partner on Terrorism Charges Amounts to the "Criminalization of Journalism" (11/08/13) [9:09]
TYT News
TYT | Sterilized Behind Bars - New TYT & CIR Documentary (11/07/13) [17:25]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (11/08/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (11/08/13) [1hr]
Majority Report
Majority Report | Matt Taibbi: The Conspiracy To Destroy Our Pensions (10/07/13) [42:49]
Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi joins us in studio and explains how a former Enron commodity trader who wants to destroy pension plans across the country, why Rhode Island is at the forefront of pension "reform" policies, why pension "reforms" passing public funds into the hands of Hedge Funds, why Wall Street and crony capitalism caused the pension crisis, the single biggest scam devised by Wall Street, why if you are in the Hedge Fund business you never lose and why Unions are beginning to recognize the pension scam.
Thom Hartmann
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.
Mitt Romney and Bain Capital
Mitt Romney original Funding/Capital
Ring of Fire | Papantonio: Bain Capital's Central American Blood Money (08/24/12) [9:37]
Mike Papantonio discusses the story that Mitt Romney doesn't want you to hear with Justin Elliot, an investigative journalist with ProPublica. Mitt Romney has some serious questions to answer about his history at Bain Capital -- questions that could easily have a huge impact on whether or not he succeeds in his bid for the presidency. One of the biggest questions is why he sought money from warlords in El Salvador to help finance Bain Capital in its early years.
Bain Capital
TYT | Dirty Secret Behind Bain Capital Profits Under Mitt Romney (06/27/12) [9:04]
Majority Report | Matt Taibbi: Mitt Romney and the Looting of America (Vulture Capitalism) (09/12/12) [24:06], Part 2 [19:24]
Matt Taibbi joined us to discuss his new Rolling Stone feature story: Greed and Debt. The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital. He and Sam talked about how Bain Capital and Mitt Romney exemplified the shift from an industrial economy based on making things to a economy run on speculation, how Bain moved away from investing start up capital to simply loading existing companies with debt and stripping their assets and how the restaurant scene in Goodfellas is the best way to understand how Bain's business model works. Sam lamented that the Democrats haven't followed up on Newt Gingrich's attacks on Bain he made during the primary and he and Matt agreed that the Democrats are still committed to making nice with Wall Street.
DN | Matt Taibbi: The Secret to Mitt Romney's Fortune? Greed, Debt and Forcing Others to Pay Bill (Leverage Buyout Artist) (08/30/12) [21:39]
Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone sheds new light on the origin of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's fortune, revealing how Romney's former firm, Bain Capital, used private equity to raise money to conduct corporate raids. Taibbi writes: "What most voters don't know is the way Mitt Romney actually made his fortune: By borrowing vast sums of money that other people were forced to pay back. This is the plain, stark reality that has somehow eluded America's top political journalists for two consecutive presidential campaigns: Mitt Romney is one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time. In the past few decades, in fact, Romney has piled more debt onto more unsuspecting companies, written more gigantic checks that other people have to cover, than perhaps all but a handful of people on planet Earth.
MSNBC's Martin Bashir | Matt Taibbi: Story of Mitt Romney & Bain Capital's Pathological Hypocrisy, Greed & Debt (08/30/12) [3:45]

11.08.2013. 14:04

Thursday November 07, 2013
News Articles

Chomsky: Why the Rest of the World No Longer Wants to be Like U.S.
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 11/05/13

During the latest episode of the Washington farce that has astonished a bemused world, a Chinese commentator wrote that if the United States cannot be a responsible member of the world system, perhaps the world should become "de-Americanized" -- and separate itself from the rogue state that is the reigning military power but is losing credibility in other domains.

The Washington debacle's immediate source was the sharp shift to the right among the political class. In the past, the U.S. has sometimes been described sardonically -- but not inaccurately -- as a one-party state: the business party, with two factions called Democrats and Republicans.

That is no longer true. The U.S. is still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction: moderate Republicans, now called New Democrats (as the U.S. Congressional coalition styles itself). ... Read more

Bill Moyers: The Corporate Plot That Obama and Corporate Lobbyists Don't Want You to Know
TPP - zoom
AlterNet | Bill Moyers |11/01/13

... The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don't want you to know about. More than 130 members of Congress have asked the White House for greater transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains.

And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade. ... Read more

Inside the 'ALEC Universe'
ALEC - zoom
Bill Moyers | Theresa Riley | 08/15/13

Representative Chris Taylor is a Democrat elected to the Wisconsin legislature in 2011. Last week, she attended the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual conference in Chicago. Writing about her experience at The Progressive magazine's website, she describes her experience inside the "ALEC universe" and writes: "ALEC members have been quietly working out of the public eye to develop their agenda so that when given the opportunity, they are ready to start creating an ALEC nation. That time has come. And they are ready." ... Read more

Inside the Dark Money-Fueled, 50-State Campaign Against American Workers
Bill Moyers | Joshua Holland | 11/05/13

"The Legislative Attack on American Wages and Labor Standards, 2011--2012" reveals the existence of a multifaceted, nationwide campaign to not only deprive working people of the right to join a union, but also keep wages low and make it harder for people to take their employers to court when they've been wronged.

The Interview:
Joshua Holland: Your report looks at a wide array of state laws -- passed or proposed -- that undermined workers' rights in 2011 and 2012. You say that this is an unprecedented assault on working people. ...

... Joshua Holland: You made another important point, which is that a lot of people in these states think that these laws are being pushed by their local lawmakers. And in fact, when you dug into this issue, you saw the same legislation popping up in state after state after state. Who is behind this?

Lafer: Right. The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, writes model laws. They'll have five or six different model laws about the same thing that are kind of calibrated to see what can pass in a given state at a given time. So on minimum wage, their end goal is to have there be no minimum wage at all, and they have a bill that says abolish the minimum wage, but, well, if you can't pass that, at least don't increase it in a way that's linked to the rate of inflation and goes up every year. So we see, in every state, people experience these as if they come from their local legislator or as if they're a response to the particular problems in their state, and in fact, the laws are being written largely by ALEC.

And if you look behind ALEC -- and all of this stuff is available to the public because there is a member of ALEC who was a whistle-blower and dumped a lot of the information that was supposed to be kept secret from the public out in the public domain -- there's a website called ALECexposed.org where you can see all the model bills. But if you look at the member companies behind them, it's a bunch of the biggest and most powerful corporations in the country. They work through ALEC, but they also work through the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association and a bunch of other business lobbies. And what we see is the same corporations are helping write the law, are funding the campaigns of the candidates, are funding state-level corporate-backed think tanks that put out white papers and talking points and offer talking heads to go on TV, and then they spend the unlimited money on ads on radio and TV. It's a very well-coordinated campaign. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, November 07 [13:01]
*DN | War Crimes in Afghanistan? 10 Bodies of Abducted Villagers Found Outside US Special Forces Base (11/07/13) [8:16], Part 2 [15:28], Part 3 [4:56]
TRNN News
TRNN | Israel is an Example of an Economy Hijacked by Industrial Military Security Complex (2013) [7:00]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | TPP - The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About. The trade deal Washington and big business are trying to hide (10/30/13) [33:30]
*Bill Moyers | United States of ALEC: A Follow-Up (08/00/13) [56:34]
Fukushima
Thom Hartmann | Fukushima Japan Bleeding To Death (10/25/13) [14:32]
Arnie Gundersen | Tour of Fukushima Daiichi (10/03/13) [21:20]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Frederick Forsyth: "The Kill List" (11/07/13) [1hr]
*MSNBC Chris Hayes - All In
Chris Hayes | The real 'spirit of Sandy' (11/06/13) [15:01]
Chris Hayes | Obamacare on the ballot in Virginia (11/06/13) [8:38]
Chris Hayes | Party Down: Tea Party loses off-year election (11/06/13) [4:28]
*Chris Hayes | 2013 and progressive politics going forward (11/06/13) [4:36], Part 2 [6:17]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | Right-wing lens sees wins in election losses (11/06/13) [20:47]
Additional segment of the show
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | Indecision 2013: Wait, There's an Election in 2013? Edition (11/06/13) [2:17], Part 2 [4:41]
PBS Frontline (older but good)
*PBS Frontline | "The Untouchables": examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis. (01/22/13) [53:41]
*PBS Frontline | Top Secret America (09/06/11) [53:41]
FRONTLINE reveals 9/11's unprecedented yet largely invisible legacy: the creation of a vast maze of clandestine government and private agencies designed to hunt terrorists and prevent future attacks on the U.S.
*PBS Frontline | Money, Power and Wall Street, Part 1 (04/24/12) [59:14], Part 2 [59:00], Part 3 [59:00], Part 4 [59:00]
As Wall Street innovated, its revenues skyrocketed, and financial institutions of all stripes tied their fortunes to one another. FRONTLINE probes deeply into the story of the big banks -- how they developed, how they profited, and how the model that produced unfathomable wealth planted the seeds of financial destruction.
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.

11.07.2013. 11:29

Wednesday November 06, 2013
News Articles

Half Of The World's Richest People Come From Just 2 Families
HP | author | 11/1105/13

Here's a fact that will make any liberal cringe.   Seven of the 12 richest people in the world have names ending in Koch, Walton or Adelson, according to a new calculation by Bloomberg Markets magazine.

Of course, extreme wealth gives you a lot of political power. Here's how these folks wield their influence:

  1. The Waltons derive their wealth from Walmart, a company that has historically donated more to Republican causes and lobbied aggressively on taxes and labor issues. It's also not so keen on raising the minimum wage.
  2. The Koch brothers once threw $60 million into attempting to dethrone President Obama.
  3. Sheldon Adelson may just be the biggest Republican donor of all.
Read more

The 'toxic monster' is coming! Texas-sized floating island containing one million tonnes of junk from Japan tsunami drifting towards US
independent.co.uk | John Hall | 11/06/13

An enormous floating island of debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami is drifting towards the coast of America, bringing with it over one million tonnes of junk that would cover an area the size of Texas.

The most concentrated stretch -- dubbed the "toxic monster" by Fox News - is currently around 1,700 miles off the coast, sitting between Hawaii and California, but several million tonnes of additional debris remains scattered across the Pacific. ... Read more

Toxic Monster - zoom

Fuel Rod Removal Attempt at Fukushima Unit 4 Delayed, Possibly for Weeks
fukushimaupdate.com | ENE News | 11/05/13

The utility had intended to start removing the fuel rods from the unit's packed cooling pool as early as Friday.

... The building housing the No. 4 reactor and the storage pool, however, was hit by fires and a hydrogen explosion after the station lost power, disrupting the pool's cooling system. More than 1,300 spent fuel assemblies and more than 200 fresh ones, including some containing plutonium-infused mixed-oxide fuel, remain in the pool. ... Read more

The Intent Beneath the Sirius Documentary
HP | Denise M. Wilbanks | 05/08/13 older

For centuries, we have been conditioned with the axiom, "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck," but is it really a duck every single time? We live under a dense veil of "illusion" forcing us to operate under the auspices that our socioeconomic conditions are the direct result of our collective doing. This is not entirely so.

Last week I had the privilege of conducting an exclusive interview with Dr. Steven Greer, founder of the Center for Study of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) established in 1990. Dr. Greer also spearheaded the Disclosure Project, a research initiative working to fully disclose the facts about UFOs, extraterrestrial intelligence and classified advanced energy propulsion systems. This project has proven to reveal much more than it set out to discover. ... Read more

Naomi Klein: Why Science Is Telling All of Us to Revolt and Change Our Lives Before We Destroy the Planet
AlterNet | Naomi Klein | 10/29/13

But it was Werner's own session that was attracting much of the buzz. It was titled "Is Earth F**ked?" (full title: "Is Earth F**ked? Dynamical Futility of Global Environmental Management and Possibilities for Sustainability via Direct Action Activism").

Standing at the front of the conference room, the geophysicist from the University of California, San Diego walked the crowd through the advanced computer model he was using to answer that question. He talked about system boundaries, perturbations, dissipation, attractors, bifurcations and a whole bunch of other stuff largely incomprehensible to those of us uninitiated in complex systems theory. But the bottom line was clear enough: global capitalism has made the depletion of resources so rapid, convenient and barrier-free that "earth-human systems" are becoming dangerously unstable in response. When pressed by a journalist for a clear answer on the "are we f**ked" question, Werner set the jargon aside and replied, "More or less." ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, November 06 [11:27]
DN | With Wins for de Blasio, Minimum Wage & Tea Party Losses, Voters Signal Rejection of Austerity (11/06/13) [13:54], Part 2 [6:45]
Jon Stewart Daily Show
Jon Stewart | President Obama qualifies his formerly definitive statements regarding the Affordable Care Act, and his opponents lie like motherf**kers about its effects (11/05/13) [6:09]
TRNN News
TRNN | CIA analyst Ray McGovern: Hegemony Abroad Requires a Security State at Home (11/06/13) [18:09]
Fukushima
David Schindler and David Suzuki talk about the threat of Fukushima. - UofA 2013 [4:39]
Hero rescues pets from Fukushima nuclear wasteland (11/05/13) [2:34]
Sirius
'Sirius' (trailer) [2:20]
Sirius Movie [60:01], Part 2 [60:00]
RedIce Radio | Steven Greer - Sirius Film, Free Energy, ET's and Freeing Humanity [1:22:33]
Sirirus/Disclosure website
Untold History of US by Oliver Stone
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Day-After Analysis Of State Election Results (11/06/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - All In
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | Christie already looking beyond Tuesday's win (11/05/13) [9:12]
Additional segment of the show

Tar Sands - Click to zoom
Tar Sands is a messy job

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

11.06.2013. 11:58

Tuesday November 05, 2013
News Articles

Fed's Bullard: Bubbles Are "Blindingly Obvious"
ZeroHedge | author | 11/04/13

In a stunning series of lies, damned lies, and twisted statistics, the Fed's Jim Bullard unleashed a torrent of self-agrandizing comfort-speak on CNBC this morning. From his comment that "bubbles, such as housing and dot-com, were blindingly obvious at the time," despite Bernanke's (and Greenspan's) insistence at the time that they were not.

Read more

How Ayn Rand Ruined My Childhood
AlterNet | Alyssa Bereznak | 11/04/13

... You might be familiar with Rand from a high school reading assignment. Perhaps a Tea Partyer acquaintance name-dropped her in a debate on individual rights. Or maybe you've heard the film adaptation of her magnum opus "Atlas Shrugged" is due out April 15. In short, she is a Russian-born American novelist who championed her self-taught philosophy of objectivism through her many works of fiction. Conservatives are known to praise her for her support of laissez-faire economics and meritocracy. Liberals tend to criticize her for being too simplistic. I know her more intimately as the woman whose philosophy dictates my father's every decision. ... Read more

Bill Moyers: The Corporate Plot That Obama and Corporate Lobbyists Don't Want You to Know About
AlterNet | Bill Moyers |11/01/13

... The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don't want you to know about. More than 130 members of Congress have asked the White House for greater transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains.

And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade. ... Read more

Jaimie Alexander Shocks In Sheer Dress With No Underwear At 'Thor: The Dark World' Premiere
HP | author | 11/05/13

All eyes were on Jaimie Alexander when she arrived on the red carpet for the premiere of "Thor: The Dark World" in a totally sheer dress.
Read more

DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 05 [12:34]
DN | Oliver Stone on 50th Anniversary of JFK Assassination & the Untold History of the United States (11/05/13) [6:12], Part 2 [9:23]
The Untold History Of The US by Oliver Stone
*The Untold History Of The United States Episode 01 [58:00], Episode 02 [58:00], Episode 03 [58:00], Episode 04 [58:00], Episode 05 [58:00], Episode 06 [58:00], Episode 07 [58:00], Episode 08 [58:00], Episode 09 [58:00], Episode 10 [58:00]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | TPP - The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About. The trade deal Washington and big business are trying to hide (10/30/13) [33:30]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Bill Black: SAC Capital Advisors pleads guilty to insider trading, but owner Steven Cohen has yet to face criminal prosecution (11/05/13) [9:38]
TRNN | Ray McGovern: Ex-CIA Analyst on Snowden and Calling Journalists Terrorists (11/05/13) [17:01]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Environmental Outlook: The Changing World Energy Picture (11/05/13) [1hr]
TTY News
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Cobert | Fox News' John Stossel claims that women should pay more for health care because they use health care services more often than men (11/04/13) [4:32]
MSNBC Chris Hayes - All In
Chris Hayes | Media serves up Obamacare scare stories (11/05/13) [14:49]
Chris Hayes | A viewer's guide to Obamacare media coverage (11/05/13) [3:30]
Chris Hayes | Is ENDA doomed once again? (11/05/13) [6:51]

11.05.2013. 15:05

Monday November 04, 2013
News Articles

Who Buys the Spies? The Hidden Corporate Cash Behind America's Out-of-Control National Surveillance State
TRNN News | Thomas Ferguson | 10/23/13

In early June 2013, Glen Greenwald, then of the Guardian, with an assist from journalists at The Washington Post, electrified the world with stories drawn from documents and testimony from Edward Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton working under contract with the National Security Agency, who had fled the country. They broke the news that the U.S. government had been collecting vast amounts of information on not only foreigners, but also American citizens. And the U.S. had been doing this for years with the cooperation of virtually all the leading firms in telecommunications, software, and high tech electronics, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Verizon, and Facebook. Sometimes the government even defrays their costs. ... Read more

Atlantic Storms to Hit Europe in Warmer-Than-Usual November

No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A.
NYTimes | Scott Shane | 11/02/13

... From thousands of classified documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks; the agency's official mission list includes using its surveillance powers to achieve "diplomatic advantage" over such allies as France and Germany and "economic advantage" over Japan and Brazil, among other countries. ... Read more

The Battle of the NSA Surveillance Bills
MotherJones | Dana Liebelson | 11/01/13

Privacy experts say that the FISA Improvements Act, which passed 11-4, codifies current surveillance practices instead of fixing the law to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans: "This was an opportunity for Congress to really recalibrate the statute, and it's very disappointing that they've used this opportunity to cement domestic spying programs instead," says Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the ACLU. ...

... Also worrisome to privacy experts is the fact that the bill expands the NSA's powers, by allowing the agency to track cellphone's of non-Americans believed to be located abroad for 72 hours after they enter the United States. The bill additionally levies a penalty of up to 10 years in prison on anyone who accesses NSA information without authorization, like Snowden did. ... Read more

5 Infuriating Quotes from Politicians About the NSA
Care2.com | Kevin Mathews | 11/02/13

Representative Mike Rogers, Republican from Michigan
"If the French citizens knew exactly what that was about, they would be applauding and popping champagne corks. It's a good thing."
General Keith Alexander, head of the NSA
"I think it's wrong that newspaper reporters have all these documents… and are selling them and giving them out… We ought to come up with a way of stopping it. I don't know how to do that. That's more of the courts and policymakers, but, from my perspective, it's wrong to allow this to go on."
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina
"I'm glad that the NSA is trying to find out what the terrorists are up to overseas and in our country. I'm glad that activity is going on, but it is limited to tracking people who are suspected to be terrorists and who they may be talking to… Yes, I am sure that that's what they're doing."
Representative Peter King, Republican from New York
"The president should stop apologizing, stop being defensive. The reality is the NSA has saved thousand of lives -- not just in the United States, but also in France and Germany and throughout Europe."
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California
"I am not a high-tech techie, but I have been told that is not possible."
When Edward Snowden reported that he had the ability to wiretap anyone, Feinstein claimed that it couldn't be done. Feinstein provided Congressional oversight for the NSA, but didn't actually understand how any of it works. In essence, her role was to merely ask if the NSA was behaving and then relay what she was told. Talk about oversight
Read more

5 Ways Super-Rich Are Betraying America
AlterNet | Paul Buchheit | 11/03/13

As they accumulate more and more wealth, the very rich have less need for society. At the same time, they've convinced themselves that they made it on their own, and that contributing to societal needs is unfair to them. There is ample evidence that this small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes. ...

... Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot and member of the Forbes 400, had this to say about any American who might object to all the greed: "Who gives a crap about some imbecile?" ...

  1. They've Taken $25 Trillion of New Wealth While Paying Less Taxes
  2. For the First Time in History, They Believe They Don't Need the Rest of Us
  3. They Soaked the Middle Class, and Now Demand Cuts in the Middle-Class Retirement Fund
  4. They Continue to Insist that They "Made It on Their Own"
  5. As a Final Insult, Many of Them Desert the Country that Made Them Rich
Read more

Be Very Afraid: The American Economy Is Cannibalizing Itself, and We the People Are Going to Pay a Huge Price
AlterNet | Robert Reich | 11/03/13

... The larger reality is that most Americans are still living in the Great Recession. Median household income continues to drop. In last week's Washington Post-ABC poll, 75 percent rated the state of the economy as "negative" or "poor."   So why is Washington whacking safety nets and services that a large portion of Americans need, when we still very much need them? ...

... It's not just that the top 10 percent have jobs and their wages are rising. The top 10 percent also owns 80 percent of the stock market. And the stock market is up a whopping 24 percent this year. ...

... Big corporations can also borrow at rock-bottom rates these days in order to buy back even more of their stock -- courtesy of the Fed's $85 billion a month bond-buying program. (Ichan also wants Apple to borrow $150 billion at 3 percent interest, in order to buy back more stock and further enrich himself.) ... Read more

Ender's Game (trailer) [2:07]


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, November 04 [13:46]
DN | Inside the "Electronic Omnivore": NSA Spying on U.N., Climate Summit, Text Messaging Worldwide (11/04/13) [7:32], Part 2 [11:49]
New York Times reporter Scott Shane, who reports that the NSA has "as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations."
Drone Wars
CNN coverage of Congressional briefing for drone strike survivors (11/29/13) [8:54]
CNN coverage of the Congressional briefing called for by Rep. Alan Grayson (FL-09) for the drone strike survivors and Robert Greenwald's documentary "Unmanned: America's Drone Wars."
Martin Bashir interviews family of drone strike survivors (11/28/13) [7:49]
Interview with Nabila, 9-year-old survivor of a drone strike (11/28/13) [2:38]
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars (trailer) [1:18]
*UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars by Robert Greenwald (full) (10/28/13) [1:03:55]
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill
The Untold History Of The US by Oliver Stone
The Untold History Of The United States Episode 01 [58:00], Episode 02 [58:00], Episode 03 [58:00], Episode 04 [58:00], Episode 05 [58:00], Episode 06 [58:00], Episode 07 [58:00], Episode 08 [58:00], Episode 09 [58:00], Episode 10 [58:00]
Oliver Stone: Untold History - An Interview with Bob Woodruff (11/26/12) [1:33:59]
Beating The Bomb [1:12:22]

Nuclear Bombs expoded
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 (hint 2053) - by Isao Hashimoto [14:25]

Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Analysis Of President Obama's Leadership And Management Style (11/04/13) [1hr]
TYT News
Thom Hartmann
Jon Stewart Daily Show
Jon Stewart | A Bugged Life, If you're a world leader and you put the USB stick Russia gave you into your computer, you deserve to have them f**k with your screensaver. (10/31/13) [3:08], Part 2 [6:20]
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.

11.04.2013. 08:45

Friday November 01, 2013
News Articles

John Kerry: NSA Spying Has 'Reached Too Far,' Was Happening 'On Autopilot'
HP | Chris Gentilviso | 11/01/13

Secretary of State John Kerry admitted Thursday that the NSA's surveillance programs have gone "too far" -- so much so that actions were occurring without knowledge from the Obama administration. ...

... "The president and I have learned of some things that have been happening in many ways on an automatic pilot, because the technology is there and the ability is there," he said, according to the Guardian. ... Read more

New Report: Homeland Security workers routinely boost pay with unearned overtime, report says
WashingtonPost | Emily Wax-Thibodeaux | 10/31/13

Federal employees at the Department of Homeland Security call it the "candy bowl," a pot of overtime money they have long dipped into to pad their pay even if they haven't earned it, whistleblowers say.

This practice, which can add up to 25 percent to a paycheck, has become so routine over the last generation that it's often held out as a perk when government managers try to recruit new employees, according to these accounts. ... Read more

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Trade Agreement for Protectionists
TPP - Zoom
Bill Moyers | Dean Baker | 10/29/13

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) stands at the top of the Obama administration's trade agenda. The argument from its supporters is that this agreement is part of the never-ending quest for freer trade. The evidence from what we know of this (still secret) pact is that the TPP has little to do with free trade. It can more accurately be described as a pact designed to increase the wealth and power of crony capitalists.

At this point, with few exceptions, formal trade barriers, such as tariffs and quotas, are not very large. If lowering or eliminating the formal barriers that remain were the main agenda of this pact, there would be relatively little interest. Rather, the purpose of the pact is to use an international trade agreement to create a regulatory structure that is much more favorable to corporate interests than they would be able to get through the domestic political process in the United States and in the other countries in the pact. ... Read more

Harry Reid's Source On Mitt Romney's Taxes Was Jon Huntsman Sr., Book Claims
HP | Mollie Reilly | 10/31/13

The source behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) bold claim that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had paid "basically" no taxes for a decade was Jon Huntsman Sr., a new book on the 2012 campaign claims.

The New York Times on Thursday offered details from "Double Down: Game Change 2012," a behind-the-scenes account of the election by political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Among the nuggets in the book is the reveal that Reid's source was Huntsman, a longtime backer of Romney. ... Read more

When Advertising is Lying?
Body Evolution - Model before and after [1:12]

And then there is just Make Believe
Heiti Klum transforms to old lady for Halloween [0:35]

Jon Stewart Daily News
Jon Stewart | Members of Congress pressure Kathleen Sebelius to join millions of Americans who break the law every day (10/31/13) [6:21]
Jon Stewart | The media uses Jon's lampooning of the Affordable Care Act as evidence of its impotence (10/31/13) [5:51]


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, November 01 [13:38]
DN | Canadians Held 50 Days in Egyptian Prison After Documenting Massacre Speak Out Following Release (11/01/13) [17:26], Part 2 [14:53]
TRNN
*TRNN | Bill Black: House Passes Deregulation Bill Written by Citigroup (11/01/13) [7:37]
TRNN | Edward Snowden Says He Will Be Happy To Tell German Government What He Knows About NSA Spying (11/01/13) [1:51]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | TPP - The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About. The trade deal Washington and big business are trying to hide (10/30/13) [33:30]
A cornerstone of President Obama's plan to create more American jobs is a new agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), referred to by some as "NAFTA on steroids." While negotiations are being carried out in secret and very little about the terms has been leaked, enough is known to worry about its possible effect on trade unions and our copyright and patent laws, not to mention environmental, health and safety regulations.

This week on Moyers & Company, Bill discusses the TPP with two perceptive observers of the global economy. Yves Smith is an expert on investment banking who runs the Naked Capitalism blog, a go-to site for information and insight on the business and ethics of finance. Dean Baker is co-director of the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
Bill Moyers | Gretchen Morgenson on Why JPMorgan Chase May Be Getting Off Easy (11/01/13) [19:19]
*Bill Moyers | America's Drone Wars form Bill Moyers (10/30/13) [11:47]
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars (trailer) [1:18]
*UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars by Robert Greenwald (full) (10/28/13) [1:03:55]
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill
*Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday (11/01/13) [1hr]
International News - Friday (11/01/13) [1hr]
MSNBC Chirs Hayes - All In
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | McConnell on front lines of GOP 'civil war' (10/31/13) [19:58]
Additional segment of the show
MSNBC Martin Bashir
MSNBC Martin Brashir | New Poll: 37% say Zombies would do a better job than the Federal Government (11/01/13) [13:08]
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.

11.01.2013. 07:17



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

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

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

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

I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

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

Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

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

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

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

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

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

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

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

Wall Street and Banksters

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

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

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

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

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

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Nukes
Nukes

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

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

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

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

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

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

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

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

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

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

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

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911
911

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

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

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

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

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

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

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

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

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

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