July 31, 2013
Aaron Swartz's Loved Ones Slam 'Whitewash' MIT Report | Common Dreams
"An internal MIT investigation into the university's role in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, and culpability in his tragic suicide, has been slammed by loved ones of the deceased internet activist and programmer as a fluffy PR maneuver that falsely absolves the institution."
How Maryland’s New Climate Plan Could Actually Lower Energy Costs
Chris Christie Calls Rand Paul Just Another 'Washington Politician'
"During a press conference today in Little Ferry, Gov. Chris Christie today dismissed Rand Paul as another "Washington politician," and questioned the U.S. Senator from Kentucky for his state's dependence on federal dollars."
Manning Verdict: Slow Death for Democracy | Common Dreams
"Though he was acquitted of aiding the enemy on Tuesday, Bradley Manning was found guilty of five counts of violating the Espionage Act. It has long been said that military justice is to justice what military music is to music, but Manning’s prosecution has failed to clear that low bar."
Federal Judge: Catholic Church Has A Constitutional Right Not To Compensate Victims Of Sex Abuse
5 Million Could Be Kicked Off Food Stamps Under Republican Cuts
Congressional Task Force: Yes, Intensifying Wildfires Are Due to Climate Change | Common Dreams
"A Congressional task force of representatives and climate experts convened on Tuesday, where they concluded that the worsening of wildfires devastating the U.S. is in fact due to climate change, an unprecedented statement for a government body."
A Nation On Fire: Climate Change And The Burning Of America
Impeach Justice Clarence Thomas
"Let's just get this out of the way right now. When a sitting Supreme Court justice is married to a woman who received nearly a million dollars from a wealthy Texas billionaire to oppose the Affordable Care Act in a high-profile fashion, the answer shouldn't be that spouses are entitled to do whatever they want.
Let’s Celebrate Medicare by Expanding It | Common Dreams
"The real celebration of this important milestone would be to improve Medicare and extend it, providing access to health care for all."
Bombshell: Plutocrats Brazenly Collude to Hurt State Economies and Screw Working People | Alternet
"Illinois fatcats discuss plan to sabotage state bond ratings in scheme to destroy pensions."
President Obama's New Offer To Republicans
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The Case To Raise The Minimum Wage
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The “Free Market” Takes Its Pound Of Flesh, But Never From The Failed CEO | Alternet
"Let’s consider the price regular workers pay when something goes bad, versus the price CEOs never pay when something goes askew."
Emails: Charter School's Rating Adjusted To Save Program's Image
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Who Orchestrated the Prohibition of Marijuana? | Alternet
"Cannabis was a popular medicine in the 1900s, but when it threatened authorities, a cockamamie scheme arose to outlaw the plant."
July 30, 2013
Kansas Conservatives Hope To Use Special Session To Push Through A Radical Six-Week Abortion Ban
Fox's Charles Payne: Raising The Minimum Wage Rewards Mediocrity
"It was a twofer for Neil Cavuto and his regular guest and fill-in, Charles Payne, who, when he's not attacking the working class, apparently spends his time hawking worthless stocks to anyone foolish enough to take his investment advice seriously."
Big Banks Targeted For Rigging Electricity Markets
Billionaire Gets New Sports Arena in Bankrupt Detroit
"the Tea Party governor gave a big thumbs-up to a plan for a new $650 million Detroit Red Wings hockey arena. Almost half of that $650 million will be paid with public funds."
ACLU Alleges County Hired Private Firm That Impersonated Police For Profit
Politicians Celebrate Medicare’s 48th Anniversary With Attack Ads
N.C. Attack on Women Signed Into Law | Common Dreams
"North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law Monday a sweeping new state attack on women's rights to abortion, infuriating reproductive justice advocates who have rallied at the capitol, pressured their representatives, and organized their communities for months demanding reproductive rights not be eroded."
Republicans To Spend August Recess Promoting Poverty Creating Policies
"There is a reason Republicans, conservative belief-tanks, and ALEC state legislators are cutting education and condemn critical thinking, because keeping their supporters stupid, suspicious of minorities, and devoted to superstition pays electoral dividends. There are Americans who say the Republican devotees deserve what they get,” but effects of Republican policies are not confined to their supporters. Because although Republican voters make up less than half the population, they have created economic demise for nearly 80% of the people to the point there are few Americans who know anyone who is not suffering."
Groundswell Group Stoked Scandals with Help From GOP Leaders
"When David Corn broke the Groundswell story last week, the general reaction among the politerati was a shrug and a giggle. Even influential NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen called it "no big deal."
North Carolina: 'Ground Zero' Of Voter Suppression
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Mitt Romney Tries To Rewrite 47% Remark
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Fight On The Right: Rand Paul vs Chris Christie
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Governor Accepted Gifts From Individuals Who Later Landed Lucrative State Contracts
Rights Rollbacks Put North Carolina In Civil Rights Spotlight
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
America Fails Middle Class To Detriment Of Economy
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Mock The Poor -- The Conservative Media Solution To Poverty
"While 4 in 5 Americans will "struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives," the right believes the solution to all of their problems is scorn."
GOP: The Pope Has Some Lessons for You…
"So if Republicans really want to keep calling themselves Christians, at the very least they should start listening to the Pope, and change their policies to reflect the basic tenants of Christianity and its founder."
McDonald's Employee: 'It's Time To Take A Stand'
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Fast Food Strikes Spread Across The Nation
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Under Obamacare, Heavy Smokers Will Get Free Screenings For Lung Cancer
July 29, 2013
Tar Sands Oil Has Been Leaking Into Alberta For 10 Weeks And No One Knows How To Stop It
'Do the Right Thing': World Rallies Behind Bradley Manning | Common Dreams
"Army private Bradley Manning received an outpouring of support over the weekend as people around the world launched rallies, vigils, and civil disobedience actions demanding the release of the whistleblower."
Largest Fast Food Workers Strike Hits Seven Cities Across US | Common Dreams
"Thousands of fast food workers went on strike in branches across seven U.S. cities on Monday in what could be the largest strike of its kind in U.S. history."
Clueless North Carolina Gov. McCrory will sign voter suppression bill he hasn't read
"No close observer expected Republican Gov. Pat McCrory not to sign the Republican-dominated legislature's smörgåsbord of voter suppression provisions. After all, he's willing to sign just about any retrogressive bill they plunk down on his desk. But the guy can't even be bothered to read what he praises and says he intends to sign:"
Bank Profits Have Bounced Back From Post-Recession Lows
Mike Lee confronted with government shutdown reality, still dreams big
"Having spearheaded what one fellow Republican calls the "dumbest idea I've ever heard," and kicking off a real intra-party fracture, now Lee is standing there holding the bag. Slapped down by his fellow GOP senators, he's got nothin'. But he's not going to shut up."
GOP Heartbreak: 52% Of Americans Say Marriage Equality Should Be Legal In All 50 States
"So who are the main holdouts? In short, old conservative Christian men from the South are the chief opponents of marriage equality. You’re totally surprised, right?"
Why Janet Yellen Is A Qualified Choice For Fed Chair Beyond Her Gender
Pope Francis On Gay Priests: ‘Who Am I To Judge?’
Boycotters Win As Cumulus Media Plans On Dumping Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity
"The main reason why Cumulus would even think of dumping Limbaugh and Hannity is that the boycott has made their shows much less profitable. Forty eight of the top 50 advertisers on Cumulus asked that their ads not be played on Limbaugh and Hannity’s shows."
10 Things North Carolina Republicans Have Done To Embarrass Their Own State
"Republicans have turned North Carolina into a prime example of the destruction that occurs when the GOP has complete power. Over the last seven months, conservatives have made several efforts, some of which have succeeded, to enact extreme right-wing policies that have turned the state into a national embarrassment and one of the worst states in the country to live. Here is a list of the many ways Republicans have harmed North Carolina in 2013."
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/29/10-things-north-carolina-republicans-have-done-to-embarrass-their-own-state/#ixzz2aS5BlcAU
REPORT: Nation’s Second Largest Radio Broadcaster Planning To Drop Rush Limbaugh
Recession Forever? 10 Reasons American Workers Are Screwed | Alternet
"As these experts are starting to realize, the recovery will only come when workers get their due. Until then, American corporations are sowing the seeds of their own destruction – and taking the rest of us down with them."
8 Shocking Ways America Leads the World | Alternet
"The New American Exceptionalism: Number one in obesity, guns, prisoners, anxiety, and more..."
CBS is Trying to Get Us to Raise Our Own Cable Bills | Alternet
"Big media companies now think Americans are as gullible as politicians do. The cable operators and networks take us for pigeons, too."
July 28, 2013
A Winning Agenda That Meets Women’s Economic Needs
"“In short, a Democratic agenda focused on pay, opportunity, and support for working moms outperforms a Democratic agenda that does not include these policies — and far outperforms the dominant Republican agenda,” the survey concluded."
PERRspectives: After Denying Insurance for 500,000, Jindal and Walker Attack Obamacare
"The past week brought two big waves of Obamacare news. In the first, Maryland became just the latest state to announce that its new health care exchange will deliver lower than expected insurance premiums beginning in 2014. In the second, a slew of contenders for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination took the op-ed pages to denounce the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The latter were nothing if not ironic. On the Fox News web site, Florida Senator Marco Rubio demanded that Congress refuse to fund Obamacare, only to then charge that the resulting government showdown would be the President's fault. Meanwhile, Republican Governors and White House rivals Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker called for a "complete repeal" of the "unworkable Obamacare" even as they insist on denying health insurance to half a million people in Louisiana and Wisconsin."
Should Detroit Be Labeled A 'Conservative Utopia?'
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Jared Bernstein On Summers, Yellen, And Regulating The Financial Markets
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Feinstein: Woman as Head of Fed Would be 'Very Positive Thing' for Obama Administration
"We've already discussed here some of the reasons why Larry Summers would make a terrible choice for head of the Federal Reserve. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, among others have signed a letter backing his rival for the position, Janet Yellen instead, and this Sunday, her colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein voiced her support for Yellen as well."
You Think George Zimmerman’s Bad; Wait Until You Get a Load of the 211 Crew
"So if you’re head isn’t already on a swivel with laughingly lax gun laws and a growing population of extremists ready to kill anybody, anywhere under the aegis of megalomaniac, self-anointed white supremacist cells, it should be now."
Singers, Spectators, Tourists Arrested And Threatened By Capitol Police In Wisconsin (VIDEO)
"Over the past week in Madison, Wisconsin, dozens of citizens have been arrested for singing, for clapping for watching singing and clapping or even for simply being present in the state Capitol Building when someone else was singing or clapping or watching singing or clapping. It’s a situation that can only be described as big brother on steroids."
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/28/dozens-arrested-in-wisconsin-for-singing-clapping-witnessing-singing-clapping-video/#ixzz2aNgKIg9B
Rep. Lee Invites Mother On Food Stamps To Testify Before Paul Ryan
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
REPORT: Fox News Covers Up Steve King's Anti-Immigrant Remarks
"Fox News has repeatedly given Rep. Steve King (R-IA) a platform to discuss a number of political issues, including immigration, this year but has completely ignored his comments likening undocumented immigrants to drug smugglers -- even as the network has continued to discuss immigration issues."
Ruckelshaus: Prepaid Cards Are 'Not A Good Deal For Workers'
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
President Obama Ruptures John Boehner’s Pipeline of Keystone XL Lies
"Barely a week goes by without Speaker Boehner whining about the need to approve Keystone XL right now. What Rep. Boehner never tells anyone when he discusses the project is that he stands to personally benefit from its approval.Boehner is invested in seven tar sands companies that will benefit from the pipeline’s construction. This is why Boehner keeps lying about the values and virtues of Keystone.
Why Do Steve King's Comments On Immigrants Matter?
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Fox News Continues To Push The Lie That Only Conservatives Were Targeted By The IRS
"documents released by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)prove that not only were progressive and Occupy groups targeted, but that the IRS intentionally didn’t disclose the targeting of the left to Congress. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) continues to refuses to release the full transcripts of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee IRS investigation because they prove him wrong."
The United States of... Class War, Inequality, and Poverty | Common Dreams
"According to the report by AP, four out of every five American adults will "struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives" revealing the strained fabric of a national economy which once saw the meteoric rise of the middle class returned to a state where increasing inequality is the norm and class tensions—though often muted for popular discussion—is undermining the prospects for tens of millions."
Governor Admits He ‘Does Not Know Enough’ About The Voter Suppression Bill He’s About To Sign
“Ridiculous pseudo-science garbage”: Meet the GOP’s environment leaders! | Alternet
"What do the 8 Republicans who sit on the Senate Environment Committee think about climate change? We break it down"
Louisiana Police Arrest Men For Agreeing To Consensual Gay Sex Under Unconstitutional Sodomy Laws
The Republican Plan to Violate the First Amendment by Establishing Religion
"There is no good explanation for wasting our time and our tax dollars on this nonsense when there are serious problems to be solved. The Republican Party did not get the message in 2008 and they did not get it in 2012. There is no good reason to suspect they will finally get it in 2016."
Tsunami of Public Outrage Builds in Colorado as Fracking Invades Cities | Alternet
"What's happening in Greeley should frighten the citizens of every city that sits atop a shale deposit."
The Bad Seed: The Health Risks of Genetically Modified Corn | Common Dreams
"starting in the mid-1980s, the biotechnology giant Monsanto began to genetically alter corn to withstand its herbicide Roundup—the goal being to eradicate weeds but not crops—as well as to resist a pest called the corn borer. These small changes in the DNA of the corn are expressed by the plant as proteins. It’s those proteins, Mansmann believes, that can act as allergens, provoking a multisystemic disorder marked by the overproduction of a type of white blood cell called an eosinophil."
Republicans Are Gearing Up To Continue Their Senseless War on America
"The Republican goal is clear; either Washington concedes to divest its power and transfer it to the wealthy and their corporations, or they will, one way or the other, destroy the government."
Immigrants Have Cantaloupe Calves, and 4 Other Unhinged Comments from America’s Lunatic Right-Wing Fringe This Week | Alternet
"Although Republican leaders rebuked King’s comments, realizing that publicity like this might cost them some Latino votes, it is worth remembering that 97 percent of the House backed King’s amendment to defund the Obama administration’s directive to stop deporting the children of undocumented immigrants. So House Republicans don’t really disagree with the content of his statement, maybe just the colorful language. The Tea Party firebrand does have a way with words, once comparing House janitors who changed incandescent bulbs to more energy-saving compact fluorescents to Stasi troops."
This is What a Subsidiary Of The Koch Empire Looks Like
"Obviously, with policies as popular as these Pope’s Republicans can’t rely on persuading voters to elect them. So they passed a voter suppression bill, designed to remind “you people” who are black or brown, poor and young or old that voting means buying ID that wasn’t needed to vote before. "
July 27, 2013
The Things They Are Doing: Wisconsin Police Arrest People for Standing In A Room, Holding A Flag, Singing and Other Dangerous Activities | Common Dreams
"Because Koch Brothers' stand-in Scott Walker is some tired of pesky protesters trying to block his corporate agenda and otherwise exercise their alleged constitutional rights to peacefully assemble and even, God forbid, sing, Wisconsin police are in the third day of acrackdown that saw scores of demonstrators arrested in the state Capitol under newly approved rules requiring permits for gatherings of over 20 people - a slight improvement over an earlier rule for gatherings of four, but not much, given that it's supposed to be the people's house and all. Many of those arrested and given $200 tickets were Solidarity Singers in their 70s and 80s who have been turning up for two years to protest Walker'spolicies."