America's Secret War in 134 Countries, Voting in Fear et al

From RSN:

Nick Turse | America's Secret War in 134 Countries

Nick Turse, TomDispatch
Turse writes: "Since September 11, 2001, U.S. Special Operations forces have grown in every conceivable way, from their numbers to their budget. Most telling, however, has been the exponential rise in special ops deployments globally."
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Michael Winship | Door Closes to Open Internet, but All May Not Be Lost
Michael Winship, Moyers & Company
Winship writes: "The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a potentially lethal blow to net neutrality - the principle that the Internet should be available equally to anyone who wishes to use it."
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US Judge Upholds Subsidies Pivotal to Obamacare
David Ingram, Reuters
Ingram reports: "A judge on Wednesday upheld subsidies at the heart of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, rejecting one of the main legal challenges to the policy by conservatives."
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TPP: The Fast-Track to Poverty
Leo Gerard, AlterNet
Gerard writes: "The corporations that stand to profit and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support the current TPP scheme, as they did the other job-destroying trade deals. And so do corporate politicians."
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Nathan Schneider | The World Should Be Watching India's 'Common Man' Coup
Nathan Schneider, Waging Nonviolence
Schneider writes: "India's anti-corruption movement should inspire the envy of populist movements everywhere, especially its cousins from Tahrir Square to Zuccotti Park that also rose up in the explosive year of 2011."
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Ohio Execution Turns Gruesome
Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press
Welsh-Huggins reports: "A condemned Ohio inmate appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die Thursday as he was executed with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S."
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Alaska Mine Threatens Salmon, Native Cultures
Nicole Mordant, Reuters
Mordant reports: "Large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed poses serious risks to salmon and native cultures in this pristine corner of southwest Alaska."
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FOCUS: Marjorie Cohn | Will Court Beat Back NSA's Police State Desires?

Marjorie Cohn, Common Dreams
Cohn writes: "The government has admitted it collects metadata for all of our telephone communications, but says the data collected does not include the content of the calls."
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FOCUS: Charles P. Pierce | How Many Ways Can Maureen Dowd Embarrass Journalism?

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "I should have stayed working at the state park. I could've retired at a full pension 15 years ago and I wouldn't have spent my working life in what amounts at its highest levels to a Chronic Ward."
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Robert Reich | Fear Is Why Workers in Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest

Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
Reich writes: "Not only are employees eager to accept whatever job they can get. They are also unwilling to demand healthy and safe environments."
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David Swanson | Chelsea Manning Awarded Sam Adams Integrity Prize for 2014
David Swanson, War Is A Crime
Swanson reports: "On February 19, 2014 Pvt. Manning - currently incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison - will be recognized at a ceremony in absentia at Oxford University's prestigious Oxford Union Society for casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq..."
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NSA Says Checking to See if They Spied on Bernie Sanders Is Illegal
Ken Hanly, Digital Journal
Hanly reports: "In response to a letter from Senator Bernie Sanders asking if NSA spied on members of the U.S. Congress in the past, NSA chief, General Alexander claimed that the NSA does nothing unlawful but refuses to answer questions about any past abuses."
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In Defeat for Tea Party, House Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill
Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times
Weisman reports: "The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, 359 to 67, to approve a $1.1 trillion spending bill for the current fiscal year, shrugging off the angry threats of Tea Party activists and conservative groups whose power has ebbed as Congress has moved toward fiscal cooperation."
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New York Agrees $18m Settlement With 2004 Republican Convention Protesters
Ed Pilkington, Guardian UK
Pilkington reports: "The city of New York has agreed to pay $18m to settle a civil rights claim from hundreds of protesters who were rounded up and detained in overcrowded and dirty conditions after they rallied outside the 2004 Republican National Convention."
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EU Moves to Ban Most Plastics by 2020
European Parliament
Excerpt: "The most hazardous plastics and certain plastic bags should be banned by 2020, as part of an EU strategy to reduce plastic waste in the environment, says the European Parliament in a resolution voted yesterday."
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