Tuesday, June 30, 2015
CounterCurrents: The Globalization Of War. America's "Long War" Against Humanity, Bank Closures Impose Deepening Misery On Greek People, Before The Dawn
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In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org
Bank Closures Impose Deepening Misery On Greek People
By Alex Lantier
http://www.countercurrents.org/lantier300615.htm
Stock markets closed sharply lower in Asia, Europe and the US Monday, as a weeklong bank holiday designed to avert a collapse of the banking system went into effect in Greece and European Union (EU) officials escalated threats to expel Greece from the euro zone
Before The Dawn
By Kathy Kelly
http://www.countercurrents.org/kelly300615.htm
When will day break? I haven't a clock nearby to tell me when, but I can't go back to sleep. When I see the children adapt so readily to the schooling denied them, when I watch my young friends struggle eagerly to take the small steps allowed them, sowing seeds of mutual understanding or planting trees in Kabul, and when I read such grace and dignity in the words of Mohamedou Ould Slahi after years of torture, I have to believe that a dawn will come. For now, it remains a blessing to work alongside people awake together, even in darkness, working to face burdens with kindness, ready to join with kindred spirits near and far, faces aglow with precious glimmers of a coming day
Libya War: The Unknown Costs And The Indemnified Interventionists
By Farooque Chowdhury
http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury300615.htm
Today's Libya is a collapsed country, an epitome of failure in “humanitarian” interventionists' “intelligence” driven by business interests. Still the interventionists are not brought to book
The UN vs Eritrea
By Thomas C. Mountain
http://www.countercurrents.org/mountain300615.htm
I spent Monday, June 22 in Geneva, Switzerland protesting alongside over 5,000 fellow Eritreans in front of the UN “Commission of Inquiry” offices... We were there because a UN “Commission of Inquiry” had just issued as nasty a lot of lies about Eritrea as one could imagine. But then none of the 3 Commission members had ever been to Eritrea and two had even called for “regime change” in the country?
Russia vs. China: The Conflict in Washington Over
Who Should Lead America's Enemies List
By Michael T. Klare
http://www.countercurrents.org/klare300615.htm
America's grand strategy, its long-term blueprint for advancing national interests and countering major adversaries, is in total disarray. Top officials lurch from crisis to crisis, improvising strategies as they go, but rarely pursuing a consistent set of policies. Some blame this indecisiveness on a lack of resolve at the White House, but the real reason lies deeper. It lurks in a disagreement among foreign policy elites over whether Russia or China constitutes America's principal great-power adversary
The Globalization Of War. America's "Long War" Against Humanity
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
http://www.countercurrents.org/watzal300615.htm
The world is on a brink of America's instigated wars against all countries that would not succumb to political pressure by the U. S. Empire. This "globalization of war"-doctrine is, according to Michel Chossudovsky, professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) in Montreal, Canada, the centerpiece of America's hegemonic project in order to gain world domination
American Gandhi: A.J. Muste And The History Of
Radicalism In The Twentieth Century
Book Review By Staughton Lynd and Andy Piascik
http://www.countercurrents.org/piascik300615.htm
American Gandhi: A.J. Muste and the History of Radicalism in the Twentieth Century is the most comprehensive and thoroughly-researched account of the life of A.J. Muste yet to appear. It is particularly valuable in its treatment of the years that Muste devoted to building a radical labor movement, 1919 to 1936. This review limits itself to that period of Muste’s life
Jhelum’s Repeated Warnings
By Mohammad Ashraf
http://www.countercurrents.org/ashraf300615.htm
After the last year’s destructive flood which reflected the River’s annoyance, it has given two more warnings before it strikes in the most devastating final way!
POPS OF POPULISM: A letter carrier's special delivery to Congress, The Donald, and more!
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"The Donald Show"
By
"Wow," exclaimed a beaming Donald Trump as he stepped onstage, basking in the cheers of a throng attending his launch into the 2016 presidential race. "That is some group of people," he gushed. "Thousands."
... [read more]
The isolated splendor of the superrich
Rich people tend to live behind high walls with guarded gates. Then there are the über-rich. They don't need walls and gates, for they isolate themselves from us riff-raff the natural way – by buying... [read more]
A letter carrier's special delivery to Congress
Neither rain, sleet, nor snow – nor even the likelihood that he'd be killed – could stop this letter carrier from making his appointed rounds.
Doug Hughes is one gutsy... [read more]
Oh, joy! Oh, goody! Oh, happy day! If you love the loopy side of American politics, your dream of some serious loco for 2016 has arrived: Donnie Trump is in the race! For president. Of... [read more]
RSN: How I Would Vote in the Greek Referendum, A Hard Day's Work Deserves a Fair Day's Pay
FOCUS: Joseph Stiglitz | How I Would Vote in the Greek Referendum
Joseph Stiglitz, Guardian UK
Stiglitz writes: "European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant: it is about power and democracy much more than money and economics."
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Joseph Stiglitz, Guardian UK
Stiglitz writes: "European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant: it is about power and democracy much more than money and economics."
READ MORE
FOCUS: Barack Obama | A Hard Day's Work Deserves a Fair Day's Pay
Barack Obama, Reader Supported News
Obama writes: "Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve. That's partly because we've failed to update overtime regulations for years - and an exemption meant for highly paid, white collar employees now leaves out workers making as little as $23,660 a year - no matter how many hours they work."
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Barack Obama, Reader Supported News
Obama writes: "Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve. That's partly because we've failed to update overtime regulations for years - and an exemption meant for highly paid, white collar employees now leaves out workers making as little as $23,660 a year - no matter how many hours they work."
READ MORE
You Have Got to Watch This Young Man Explain Bernie v. Hillary: This Kid is Amazing; WATCH
You Have Got to Watch This Young Man Explain Bernie v. Hillary: This Kid is Amazing; WATCH
For many Democrats, the next presidential election is going to boil down to a choice between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. This young man understands that this isn’t really any choice at all and does a great job of explaining the race to come.
Watch.
Hillary Clinton vs Bernie Sanders
http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2015/06/you-have-got-to-watch-this-young-man-explain-bernie-v-hillary-this-kid-is-amazing-watch/
This, that..... Jon Stewart shreds Scalia’s dissent: He had no problem telling voters to ‘f*ck off’ in Citizens United
Jon Stewart shreds Scalia’s dissent: He had no problem telling voters to ‘f*ck off’ in Citizens United
!['Daily Show' host Jon Stewart on June 29, 2015. [YouTube]](http://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Daily-Show-host-Jon-Stewart-on-June-29-2015.-YouTube-800x430.jpg)
'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart on June 29, 2015. [YouTube]
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/jon-stewart-shreds-scalias-dissent-he-had-no-problem-telling-voters-to-fck-off-in-citizens-united/Dear Maine Neighbors:
Hope you regain your sanity at the polls.
This was a link long ago, nothing new:
Maine Gov. Paul LePage's administration [of lunatics]
The Republican governor of Maine has earned the name Paul "LeRampage." After saying he wants to shoot a political cartoonist he said he wanted to round up lawmakers and execute them in the public square.
Somehow I don't think that would work.
Conservative Reporter LIED? Say it isn't so!
Conservative Reporter Misrepresents Court Decision Forcing Parents Of Slain Aurora Theater Shooting Victim To Compensate Ammo Companies
TIMOTHY JOHNSON
Washington Free Beacon staff writer Stephen Gutowski falsely reported that the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence must pay more than $200,000 to ammunition dealers that supplied a gunman who attacked moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado in 2012. The misleading article was published after a court dismissed a lawsuit against the companies.
In fact, the plaintiffs in the case - parents of one of the victims - were ordered to pay the ammunition companies' legal fees because of a special carve-out in Colorado law for the gun industry.
On July 20, 2012, a man wearing body armor and carrying an arsenal of firearms and tear gas fatally shot 12 people and wounded 58 others during a midnight screening at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. The Brady Center subsequently filed a lawsuit against companies that had supplied the gunman, on behalf of Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was killed in the shooting.
The lawsuit alleged that Lucky Gunner and several other companies had negligently supplied the gunman with thousands of rounds of ammunition, body armor, a high-capacity drum magazine that could hold 100 rounds of ammunition, and canisters of tear gas.
In April, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit and Lucky Gunner and other defendants moved to collect attorney's fees from the plaintiffs. On June 17, a judge granted that request, ordering the Phillipses to pay $203,000. The decision is currently under appeal.
On June 29, Beacon staff writer Gutowski reported on this development, but botched his analysis to claim that the Brady Center, rather than the Phillipses, was ordered to compensate companies that supplied the Aurora gunman.
In an article headlined, "Federal Judge Orders Brady Center to Pay Ammo Dealer's Legal Fees After Dismissing Lawsuit," Gutowski wrote, "A federal judge has ordered that the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence pay the legal fees of an online ammunition dealer it sued for the Aurora movie theater shooting." The actual order, which is cited in the article, contradicts this claim by describing at length how the plaintiffs, who are listed at the top of the order as Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, must pay fees to companies that enabled their daughter's killer.
Gutowski's erroneous report was republished and cited throughout conservative media, including byFoxNews.com, The Washington Times, BizPacReview, Ammoland.com, Hot Air, and conservative media watchdog Accuracy In Media.
Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association correctly wrote in The Daily Caller that the Phillipses were ordered to pay the fees in a post that called the decision a "victory... years in the making," and attacked the Brady Center for sponsoring the lawsuit.
During a May 21 MSNBC segment on the lawsuit, host Rachel Maddow noted that Colorado has laws "written explicitly to protect gun and ammunition manufacturers" that allow gun industry companies to recover attorney's fees from plaintiffs, adding, "Sandy Phillips and her husband are, as far as anybody can tell, they are the first people to ever be punished under that specific Colorado statute - they are going to be the first family ever ordered to pay the legal fees under that Colorado statute to the gun industry because they had a daughter who died in one of the worst mass shootings in the history of this country, in the state of Colorado, and they decided to say something about it."
Disclosure: In 2010, I interned with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Legal Action Project, prior to the filing of the lawsuit discussed in this post.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/06/30/conservative-reporter-misrepresents-court-decis/204203
RSN: It's Official: New York Bans Fracking, The Death Penalty: How We Kill,
Michael Moore | It Is a New America, but It Is Not a Free America - Yet
Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
Moore writes: "It was one of those weeks, this past week. A week in which we witnessed profound history being made. A week when a large chunk was taken out of the wall of hate that criss-crosses this country, a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves."
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Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
Moore writes: "It was one of those weeks, this past week. A week in which we witnessed profound history being made. A week when a large chunk was taken out of the wall of hate that criss-crosses this country, a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves."
READ MORE
Barack Obama Moves to Double US Salary Limit on Overtime Pay, Raising Wages for Five Million
Edward-Isaac Dovere and Marianne LeVine, Politico
Excerpt: "The proposed rule would more than double the salary level under which virtually all workers qualify for overtime pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in any given week."
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Edward-Isaac Dovere and Marianne LeVine, Politico
Excerpt: "The proposed rule would more than double the salary level under which virtually all workers qualify for overtime pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in any given week."
READ MORE
Greece Hours Away From Defaulting on IMF Loan
Krishnadev Calamur, NPR
Calamur writes: "Greece has until 5 p.m. ET to repay its approximately $1.8 billion IMF loan. [...] Without that money, Greece will fall into arrears and likely will exit the eurozone, a move that would have an even worse effect on the country's economy and hurt the rest of the EU, too."
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Krishnadev Calamur, NPR
Calamur writes: "Greece has until 5 p.m. ET to repay its approximately $1.8 billion IMF loan. [...] Without that money, Greece will fall into arrears and likely will exit the eurozone, a move that would have an even worse effect on the country's economy and hurt the rest of the EU, too."
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The Death Penalty: How We Kill
D. Parvaz, Al Jazeera America
Parvaz writes: "With the guidance of medical experts, Al Jazeera looks at what it means for an inmate to be put to death in the US."
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D. Parvaz, Al Jazeera America
Parvaz writes: "With the guidance of medical experts, Al Jazeera looks at what it means for an inmate to be put to death in the US."
READ MORE
US Supreme Court Refuses to Let Texas Close 10 Abortion Clinics
Lauren Gambino, Guardian UK
Gambino writes: "The US supreme court stepped in to postpone reproductive-rights restrictions that would have left the vast state of Texas with fewer than 10 abortion clinics, allowing healthcare providers and women's rights groups time to petition the nation's highest tribunal to review their fate."
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Lauren Gambino, Guardian UK
Gambino writes: "The US supreme court stepped in to postpone reproductive-rights restrictions that would have left the vast state of Texas with fewer than 10 abortion clinics, allowing healthcare providers and women's rights groups time to petition the nation's highest tribunal to review their fate."
READ MORE
Google Skews Search Results in Favor of Own Services
David McCabe, The Hill
McCabe writes: "Google's decision to skew its search results in favor of its own services hurts users, a study released Monday claims."
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David McCabe, The Hill
McCabe writes: "Google's decision to skew its search results in favor of its own services hurts users, a study released Monday claims."
READ MORE
It's Official: New York Bans Fracking
Cole Mellino, EcoWatch
Mellino writes: "New York State officially banned fracking today by issuing its formal Findings Statement, which completed the state's seven-year review of fracking."
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Cole Mellino, EcoWatch
Mellino writes: "New York State officially banned fracking today by issuing its formal Findings Statement, which completed the state's seven-year review of fracking."
READ MORE
MASSterList: The problem with Boston 2024's legacy appeal | More Wynn, city intrigue | Panhandle law still unsettled
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Keith Regan
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Today's Tuesday - and here's what's happening
The Revenue Committee holds a hearing at 10 a.m. Children will be a major topic at the hearing with a bills to provide a child care tax credit, reduce the costs for adoption, and deal with deductions for contributions to college savings plans, Room B-1.... Coalition for Social Justice and SEIU 32BJ hold press conference to mark state's new earned sick time law's implementation, which begins tomorrow. Attorney General Maura Healey plans to participate, Irish Famine Memorial, corner of Washington and School streets, Boston, at noon... Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry joins federal, state, and local elected officials for press conference with immigration advocacy groups, leaders of the Haitian and Dominican community and clergy regarding the humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic, on State House steps, noon.
We're building it already: Why Boston 2024's legacy argument lacks some heft
Here's a quote that seems to sum up the case for the Boston 2024 bid:"This could be the biggest economic development opportunity of our lifetimes," said Boston 2024 chairman Steve Pagliuca, framing the new argument for the Olympics. Without the Olympics, previously obscure locales will remain underdeveloped. New neighborhoods may be left unborn.
The once-in-a-lifetime argument ignores a blatantly obvious local phenomenon: Boston, right now, already is going through a once-in-lifetime development explosion. Look at the transformation in Downtown Crossing, with the exclamation point being the massive Millennium Tower. A new neighborhood has risen in Fan Pier and an expanded one in Fort Point. The old Government Center Garage will be the site of a massive six-building complex, including a 528-foot tower and two residential high-rises, one 480 feet tall, a $2 billion project. Over 800 residential units are slotted. North Point (practically underneath the elevated Route 93) is in the early stages of becoming a full-blown neighborhood. Boston Properties is building a huge project at North Station -- about 500 residential units there. It's a $1 billion project. Boston has built or has plans to build the equivalent of the proposed Olympic infrastructure in the past four years. And it didn't have to deal with the IOC to do it. Just the BRA.
Would it be great to have Columbia Point developed, especially for affordable housing, after it serves the Olympic athletes? Yes, of course. One thing all the downtown building lacks is affordable housing and housing average people can afford. Is building a gargantuan platform overtop Widett Circle a fascinating way to facilitate the Olympic stadium and then transform into a new business and residential district? You bet.
The questions are at what cost, what risk, and why to we need an Olympics to build it? One problem the Boston 2024 folks face is a populace with a lack of burning enthusiasm for the honor of hosting the games. There's a distinct absence of irrational exuberance. Pagliuca is saying, hey, don't miss the boat. Boston may end up responding: We don't need to jump on board.
The Olympic bid coverage and analysis pours in: Here's a medley
* The plan relies on $765 million in still unfunded transportation upgrades, notes the Herald's Jack Encarnacao. http://bit.ly/1Hri7p7
* Boston 2024's commuter rail station plan for Widett Circle was news to the T's interim general manager Frank DePaola, the Globe reports.http://bit.ly/1Ip2G1I
* Globe columnist Joan Vennochi says thumbs up or down power rests with Gov. Baker, and she's right. http://bit.ly/1R0IdWi
* The proposed tax break for Widett Circle is particularly generous, reports a team of Globe reporters. http://bit.ly/1BTlMeT
* Pagliuca himself weighs in: "...Bid 2.0 avoids the most serious risk we face: letting this opportunity pass us by." http://bit.ly/1Ly9cnC
* The Boston Business Journal breaks down the Widett Circle development plan in its various stages. http://bit.ly/1BTyFFK
* Then there's the insurance for the Games, right now pegged at $128 million. The Herald's Encarnacao quotes a BC professor who says insurance doesn't cover cost overruns: http://bit.ly/1JnMign
Did Wynn investigators get special access?
Let's face it: If the Olympics weren't on full display, the media would be obsessing about the city's fight with Wynn Resorts and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Boston's legal fight with Wynn Resorts and MGC took another nasty turn Monday when the city issued a slew of subpoenas and claimed that private investigators for Wynn were given access to confidential files and wiretap reports in the attorney general's office as they looked into issues of ownership of the disputed Everett casino site, the Globe says. Among the more than a dozen people subpoenaed are former state police officers, members of the Patrick administration, including former Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, and executives at Hard Rock Cafe, which kicked the tires on the Everett land before Wynn stepped in and eventually secured the Eastern Mass. resort license. Commission spokesperson Elaine Driscoll accused the city of trying to "litigate meritless claims in the press." Coming up in the case: A July 9 hearing on a motion by the MGC to dismiss the city's suit. http://bit.ly/1LSjGvY The Herald, for its part, says if it can be shown that Wynn's investigators were allowed into what it calls the AG's "wiretap room," that could be enough to prompt the MGC to yank Wynn's license. http://bit.ly/1NuOd3v
Report says DCF overwhelmed by appeals
A report sent to lawmakers and the state's child advocacy office Monday finds the Department of Children and Families has made improvements since 2010 but that the agency still faces a backlog of appeals hearings that would take a full year to work through, the Herald reports. The Ripple Group reports that as of Dec. 31, 2014, DCF had 2,126 open appeals cases, a third of which dated back at least two years and some of which were as much as nine years old. "We hope our report will be received as a call to action," Mete Habip, a partner at The Ripples Group, told the Herald. http://bit.ly/1dumELk
Worcester's panhandle law still unsettled
The Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to revisit its earlier decision not to issue an injunction halting enforcement of Worcester's ban on street panhandling, a move that has both sides in the years-long legal saga claiming victory, according to the Telegram. SCOTUS declined to take on the case itself and instead ordered a Federal appeals court to reconsider its decision denying an injunction in light of the Supremes' own recent decision to strike down an Arizona town's sign bylaw because it treated signs differently based on their content. The ban on aggressive panhandling was passed by the Worcester City Council in early 2013, bringing immediate legal challenges on free speech grounds, the Telegram notes. http://bit.ly/1GWz2OQ
Dems call out Baker, list failed Republican candidates
After a Globe story revealed that Charlie Baker had filled some economic development posts with some unsuccessful Republican candidates, the Massachusetts Democratic Party issued a press release yesterday worthy of note simply because of its attention to detail. "If Republican Baker is going to institute a hiring freeze exemption to hand out plum positions in his administration as a reward for failed GOP candidates, there's 84 of his fellow Republicans sitting by the phone right now waiting for the call," Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman Pat Beaudry stated in the release. And then the Dems helpfully list all 84 of the Republican candidates.
Sen. Thomas Kennedy mourned
Leaders of both parties expressed sorrow over the passing of Sen. Thomas Kennedy (D-Brockton), remembered as a "true champion and public servant." http://bit.ly/1RPzl13
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Billionaires-without-a-clue want to "fix" Washington