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FOCUS: Oliver Stone's Latest Piece of Pro-Putin Propaganda May Be His Most Shameless Move Yet
 Pierre Vaux, The Daily Beast Vaux writes: "When Oliver Stone announced at the end of June that he would be premiering a new documentary, Revealing Ukraine, at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, not many people noticed." Update My Monthly Donation |
Showing posts with label Oliver Stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oliver Stone. Show all posts
Sunday, July 14, 2019
FOCUS: Oliver Stone's Latest Piece of Pro-Putin Propaganda May Be His Most Shameless Move Yet
Friday, April 21, 2017
MUST READ & SHARE! RSN: Oliver Stone | Trump Has Taken the Handcuffs off Our War Machine
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Please read and seriously consider the horrifying implications.
EXCERPT:
Abetted by the Clintonites, they’ve done a wonderful job throwing America into chaos with probes into Russia’s alleged hacking of our election and Trump being their proxy candidate (now clearly disproved by his bombing attack) -- and sadly, worst of all in some ways, admitting no memory of the same false flag incident in 2013, for which again Assad was blamed (see Seymour Hersh’s fascinating deconstruction of this US propaganda, ‘London Review of Books’ December 19, 2013, “Whose sarin?”). No memory, no history, no rules -- or rather ‘American rules.’
No, this isn’t an accident or a one-off affair. This is the State deliberately misinforming the public through its corporate media and leads us to believe, as Mike Whitney points out in his brilliant analyses, “Will Washington Risk WW3” and “Syria: Where the Rubber Meets the Road,” that something far more sinister waits in the background. Mike Whitney, Robert Parry, and former intelligence officer Phil Giraldi all comment below. It’s well worth 30 minutes of your time to read.
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FOCUS: Oliver Stone | Trump Has Taken the Handcuffs off Our War Machine
Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "I confess I really had hopes for some conscience from Trump about America's wars, but I was wrong - fooled again! - as I had been by the early Reagan, and less so by Bush 43."
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Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "I confess I really had hopes for some conscience from Trump about America's wars, but I was wrong - fooled again! - as I had been by the early Reagan, and less so by Bush 43."
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http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/43156-focus-trump-has-taken-the-handcuffs-off-our-war-machine
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
RSN: Oliver Stone | On the Passing of Fidel Castro, The Next Standing Rock: Fossil Fuel Battles Loom Across North America
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Oliver Stone | On the Passing of Fidel Castro
Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "Fidel stood always strongly against imperialism and colonialism, as well as racism, and the kind of corporate capitalism that interferes in other nations' right to self-govern."
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Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "Fidel stood always strongly against imperialism and colonialism, as well as racism, and the kind of corporate capitalism that interferes in other nations' right to self-govern."
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Julian Assange Releases Full Testimony to Swedish Prosecutors Six Years After Sexual Assault Arrest
Peter Walker, The Independent
Walker writes: "Julian Assange says he is 'entirely innocent' of rape in his testimony to Swedish prosecutors, which he has defiantly published online."
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Peter Walker, The Independent
Walker writes: "Julian Assange says he is 'entirely innocent' of rape in his testimony to Swedish prosecutors, which he has defiantly published online."
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Guns, Grenades, and Facebook: How the Victory at Standing Rock Is a Testament to the Power of Direct Action
Brendan McQuade, Jacobin
McQuade writes: "The coming months will be filled with more struggle, more direct action. But already the showdown at Standing Rock has clarified much about the contemporary contours of state repression - and how to beat it."
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Brendan McQuade, Jacobin
McQuade writes: "The coming months will be filled with more struggle, more direct action. But already the showdown at Standing Rock has clarified much about the contemporary contours of state repression - and how to beat it."
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Donald Trump Fires Transition Team Member Michael G. Flynn for Spreading Fake News About 'Pizzagate'
Matthew Rosenberg, Maggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times
Excerpt: "President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday fired one of his transition team's staff members, Michael G. Flynn, the son of Mr. Trump's choice for national security adviser, for using Twitter to spread a fake news story about Hillary Clinton that led to an armed confrontation in a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC."
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Matthew Rosenberg, Maggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times
Excerpt: "President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday fired one of his transition team's staff members, Michael G. Flynn, the son of Mr. Trump's choice for national security adviser, for using Twitter to spread a fake news story about Hillary Clinton that led to an armed confrontation in a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC."
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Why Is the Obama Administration Opposing Rights for Immigrant Detainees?
Daniel Denvir, Guardian UK
Denvir writes: "Non-citizens are often locked up as they fight deportation proceedings, even if they're in the country legally or don't pose a flight risk."
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Daniel Denvir, Guardian UK
Denvir writes: "Non-citizens are often locked up as they fight deportation proceedings, even if they're in the country legally or don't pose a flight risk."
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Israel's Blockade of Gaza Is Killing Women With Breast Cancer
Sarah Algherbawi, Electronic Intifada
Algherbawi writes: "Human rights groups have long documented how Israel has, in effect, sought to blackmail Palestinians who are seriously ill. Patients have been told that they will only be allowed to travel for treatment if they become informers to the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency."
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Sarah Algherbawi, Electronic Intifada
Algherbawi writes: "Human rights groups have long documented how Israel has, in effect, sought to blackmail Palestinians who are seriously ill. Patients have been told that they will only be allowed to travel for treatment if they become informers to the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency."
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The Next Standing Rock: Fossil Fuel Battles Loom Across North America
Natasha Geiling, ThinkProgress
Geiling writes: "The Dakota Access pipeline is far from the only pipeline under construction in North America."
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Natasha Geiling, ThinkProgress
Geiling writes: "The Dakota Access pipeline is far from the only pipeline under construction in North America."
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Thursday, October 27, 2016
RSN: Indiana Officials Are Trying to Block Almost 45,000 Black Citizens From Voting, DAPL Mississippi Stand Update: Protesters Arrested on False Pretenses and Illegally Searched
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Oliver Stone | I Believe Edward Snowden Is Misunderstood by Americans
Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "I still believe the Snowden affair is misunderstood by most Americans. He's still the guy who 'gave away secrets.' I don't really think his message got through in 2013. It'll take time to sink in as we drift more and more into an era of mass surveillance, drone and cyber-warfare with our regime-change, global-policeman policies."
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Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone's Facebook Page
Stone writes: "I still believe the Snowden affair is misunderstood by most Americans. He's still the guy who 'gave away secrets.' I don't really think his message got through in 2013. It'll take time to sink in as we drift more and more into an era of mass surveillance, drone and cyber-warfare with our regime-change, global-policeman policies."
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Indiana Officials Are Trying to Block Almost 45,000 Black Citizens From Voting
Kira Lerner, ThinkProgress
Lerner writes: "Roughly 45,000 newly registered voters in Indiana - almost all of whom are black - may not be allowed to vote next month after state police targeted the state's largest voter registration drive, forcing it to shut down its operation."
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Kira Lerner, ThinkProgress
Lerner writes: "Roughly 45,000 newly registered voters in Indiana - almost all of whom are black - may not be allowed to vote next month after state police targeted the state's largest voter registration drive, forcing it to shut down its operation."
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US Sits Out Historic Cuba Blockade Vote for First Time, Effectively Passing Resolution
teleSUR
Excerpt: "In a historic step toward lifting the blockade on Cuba, the United States abstained Wednesday in the United Nations general assembly vote unanimously calling for the end of the Cold War measure for the 25th consecutive year."
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teleSUR
Excerpt: "In a historic step toward lifting the blockade on Cuba, the United States abstained Wednesday in the United Nations general assembly vote unanimously calling for the end of the Cold War measure for the 25th consecutive year."
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AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit, New Documents Reveal
Kenneth Lipp, The Daily Beast
Lipp writes: "Hemisphere isn't a 'partnership' but rather a product AT&T developed, marketed, and sold at a cost of millions of dollars per year to taxpayers."
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Kenneth Lipp, The Daily Beast
Lipp writes: "Hemisphere isn't a 'partnership' but rather a product AT&T developed, marketed, and sold at a cost of millions of dollars per year to taxpayers."
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Schools Closing Over Poll Violence Fears
Patrick Whittle and David Sharp, Associated Press
Excerpt: "Rigged elections. Vigilante observers. Angry voters. The claims, threats and passions surrounding the presidential race have led communities around the U.S. to move polling places out of schools or cancel classes on Election Day."
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Patrick Whittle and David Sharp, Associated Press
Excerpt: "Rigged elections. Vigilante observers. Angry voters. The claims, threats and passions surrounding the presidential race have led communities around the U.S. to move polling places out of schools or cancel classes on Election Day."
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DAPL Mississippi Stand Update: Protesters Arrested on False Pretenses and Illegally Searched
Mississippi Stand
Excerpt: "These are the first known DAPL related arrests in Illinois and it sets a clear precedent about whose side of this battle the police are on."
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Mississippi Stand
Excerpt: "These are the first known DAPL related arrests in Illinois and it sets a clear precedent about whose side of this battle the police are on."
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Meet the Tiny Towns Taking on Climate Change
Kate Yoder, Grist
Yoder writes: "Take some inspiration from the tiny communities around the world that are taking the fight against climate change seriously, sluggish politicians and pessimistic couch potatoes be damned."
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Kate Yoder, Grist
Yoder writes: "Take some inspiration from the tiny communities around the world that are taking the fight against climate change seriously, sluggish politicians and pessimistic couch potatoes be damned."
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Thursday, October 6, 2016
RSN: Oliver Stone: Obama's Administration Has Been the Worst Ever for Whistleblowers
FOCUS | Oliver Stone: Obama's Administration Has Been the Worst Ever for Whistleblowers
Dana Kennedy, The Daily Beast
Kennedy writes: "The Oscar-winning director of 'Snowden' opens up about allegations of Russian hacking against the U.S., 'evil Hillary,' and how Obama can prove he's 'human' by pardoning Snowden."
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Dana Kennedy, The Daily Beast
Kennedy writes: "The Oscar-winning director of 'Snowden' opens up about allegations of Russian hacking against the U.S., 'evil Hillary,' and how Obama can prove he's 'human' by pardoning Snowden."
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Tuesday, September 20, 2016
RSN: James Bamford | How 'Snowden' the Movie Could Help Win a Pardon for Snowden the Man
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FOCUS: James Bamford | How 'Snowden' the Movie Could Help Win a Pardon for Snowden the Man
James Bamford, Reuters
Bamford writes: "Today, perhaps more than at any time in history, the battle lines have been drawn between those in government - both the executive branch and Congress - who view the theft of government secrets as espionage, regardless of the motive, and those in civil-liberties groups and the media who see motive as a critical distinction."
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James Bamford, Reuters
Bamford writes: "Today, perhaps more than at any time in history, the battle lines have been drawn between those in government - both the executive branch and Congress - who view the theft of government secrets as espionage, regardless of the motive, and those in civil-liberties groups and the media who see motive as a critical distinction."
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Monday, September 19, 2016
RSN:Court: Glenn Greenwald | Washington Post Makes History: First Paper to Call for Prosecution of Its Own Source (After Accepting Pulitzer), [California] Cop Shot Man Less Than a Second After Giving Command, Trump's Cops: Officers Backing Republican Have Murky Legal Histories
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Glenn Greenwald | Washington Post Makes History: First Paper to Call for Prosecution of Its Own Source (After Accepting Pulitzer)
Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
Greenwald writes: "In the face of a growing ACLU-and-Amnesty-led campaign to secure a pardon for Snowden, timed to this weekend's release of the Oliver Stone biopic 'Snowden,' the Post editorial page not only argued today in opposition to a pardon, but explicitly demanded that Snowden - their paper's own source - stand trial on espionage charges or, as a 'second-best solution,' 'accept[] a measure of criminal responsibility for his excesses and the U.S. government offers a measure of leniency.'"
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Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
Greenwald writes: "In the face of a growing ACLU-and-Amnesty-led campaign to secure a pardon for Snowden, timed to this weekend's release of the Oliver Stone biopic 'Snowden,' the Post editorial page not only argued today in opposition to a pardon, but explicitly demanded that Snowden - their paper's own source - stand trial on espionage charges or, as a 'second-best solution,' 'accept[] a measure of criminal responsibility for his excesses and the U.S. government offers a measure of leniency.'"
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Mass Stabbing Attack in Minn. Mall Injures at Least Eight People
Merrit Kennedy, NPR
Kennedy reports: "An assailant at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota stabbed at least eight people before the suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer, authorities said. Police say he was 'reportedly wearing a private security uniform' and began attacking shoppers at Crossroads Center just after 8 p.m."
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Merrit Kennedy, NPR
Kennedy reports: "An assailant at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota stabbed at least eight people before the suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer, authorities said. Police say he was 'reportedly wearing a private security uniform' and began attacking shoppers at Crossroads Center just after 8 p.m."
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Trump's Cops: Officers Backing Republican Have Murky Legal Histories
Jon Swaine, Guardian UK
Swaine writes: "David Clarke has been accused of covering up a deputy's misdeeds while Joe Arpaio has been called 'unrepentantly lawless'. Meet the prominent officers who want the businessman in the Oval Office."
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Jon Swaine, Guardian UK
Swaine writes: "David Clarke has been accused of covering up a deputy's misdeeds while Joe Arpaio has been called 'unrepentantly lawless'. Meet the prominent officers who want the businessman in the Oval Office."
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Court: Cop Shot Man Less Than a Second After Giving Command
Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press
Myers writes: "A Southern California police officer gave a man less than a second to raise his hands before opening fire and killing him, a federal appeals court noted Friday in rejecting the officer's request to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against him."
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Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press
Myers writes: "A Southern California police officer gave a man less than a second to raise his hands before opening fire and killing him, a federal appeals court noted Friday in rejecting the officer's request to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against him."
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How Muslim Women Bear the Brunt of Islamophobia
Rana Elmir, The Washington Post
Elmir writes: "Almost every woman has an unsettling story about the difficulties of being a woman in public - whether it's a stranger walking behind us too closely, verbal abuse, unwanted sexual advances or physical attacks. But for Muslim women, these isolated incidents of misogyny or violence have taken on an additional, ugly edge."
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Rana Elmir, The Washington Post
Elmir writes: "Almost every woman has an unsettling story about the difficulties of being a woman in public - whether it's a stranger walking behind us too closely, verbal abuse, unwanted sexual advances or physical attacks. But for Muslim women, these isolated incidents of misogyny or violence have taken on an additional, ugly edge."
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American Legion Asks Congress to Reschedule Cannabis as Vets Continue to Suffer Under War on Drugs
Kit O'Connell, Mint Press
O'Connell writes: "The American Legion has called on the U.S. government to reconsider its stance on medical cannabis in order to benefit some of the millions of veterans the organization represents."
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Kit O'Connell, Mint Press
O'Connell writes: "The American Legion has called on the U.S. government to reconsider its stance on medical cannabis in order to benefit some of the millions of veterans the organization represents."
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Massive Sinkhole in Florida Is Leaking Radioactive Water Into the Ground
Center for Biological Diversity
Excerpt: "A massive sinkhole below a phosphate strip mine 30 miles east of Tampa has been releasing radioactive waste into the Floridan aquifer for three weeks."
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Center for Biological Diversity
Excerpt: "A massive sinkhole below a phosphate strip mine 30 miles east of Tampa has been releasing radioactive waste into the Floridan aquifer for three weeks."
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Saturday, September 17, 2016
RSN: Silent Skies: North America Has Lost 1.5 Billion Birds Since 1970s, Says Report, $90 Billion Whistleblower Suit Filed Against Four of the Nation's Largest Chemical Companies
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Oliver Stone: 'The US Government Lies All the Time'
Benjamin Lee, Guardian UK
Lee writes: "Oliver Stone has taken aim at the US government for deceiving people about the levels of surveillance that exist in the country."
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Benjamin Lee, Guardian UK
Lee writes: "Oliver Stone has taken aim at the US government for deceiving people about the levels of surveillance that exist in the country."
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CEOs Can Now Be Prosecuted Like War Criminals at the Hague
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The International Criminal Court announced Thursday it will now hold corporate executives and governments legally responsible for environmental crimes."
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teleSUR
Excerpt: "The International Criminal Court announced Thursday it will now hold corporate executives and governments legally responsible for environmental crimes."
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$90 Billion Whistleblower Suit Filed Against Four of the Nation's Largest Chemical Companies
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch
Chow writes: "Four of the country's largest chemical companies have been accused of selling billions of dollars worth of harmful isocyanate chemicals but intentionally concealing their dangers to consumers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the past several decades."
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Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch
Chow writes: "Four of the country's largest chemical companies have been accused of selling billions of dollars worth of harmful isocyanate chemicals but intentionally concealing their dangers to consumers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the past several decades."
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Bernie Sanders: I'm Going to Do All I Can to Make Sure Trump Doesn't Win
Nick Gass, Politico
Gass writes: "Bernie Sanders does not even want to contemplate the possibility of a President Donald Trump, as the Vermont senator looks to boost the candidacy of former rival Hillary Clinton as Trump rises in the polls."
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Nick Gass, Politico
Gass writes: "Bernie Sanders does not even want to contemplate the possibility of a President Donald Trump, as the Vermont senator looks to boost the candidacy of former rival Hillary Clinton as Trump rises in the polls."
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The Feds Will Soon Be Able to Legally Hack Almost Anyone
Senator Ron Wyden, Matt Blaze and Susan Landau, Wired
Excerpt: "The Justice Department is planning a vast expansion of government hacking. Under a new set of rules, the FBI would have the authority to secretly use malware to hack into thousands or hundreds of thousands of computers that belong to innocent third parties and even crime victims. The unintended consequences could be staggering."
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Senator Ron Wyden, Matt Blaze and Susan Landau, Wired
Excerpt: "The Justice Department is planning a vast expansion of government hacking. Under a new set of rules, the FBI would have the authority to secretly use malware to hack into thousands or hundreds of thousands of computers that belong to innocent third parties and even crime victims. The unintended consequences could be staggering."
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US and Israel Sign Largest-Ever Military Aid Package, Despite Human Rights Concerns
Al Jazeera America
Excerpt: "The US will reportedly provide Israel's military with $38 billion in a 10-year deal that also involves concessions by Israel."
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Al Jazeera America
Excerpt: "The US will reportedly provide Israel's military with $38 billion in a 10-year deal that also involves concessions by Israel."
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Silent Skies: North America Has Lost 1.5 Billion Birds Since 1970s, Says Report
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
Weber writes: "North American skies have grown quieter over the last decades by the absent songs of 1.5 billion birds, says the latest summary of bird populations."
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Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
Weber writes: "North American skies have grown quieter over the last decades by the absent songs of 1.5 billion birds, says the latest summary of bird populations."
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Friday, May 20, 2016
RSN: Oliver Stone | My Commencement Speech to the Graduating Class of the University of Connecticut
Reader Supported News | 20 May 16
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FOCUS: Oliver Stone | My Commencement Speech to the Graduating Class of the University of Connecticut
Oliver Stone, The Oliver Stone Experience
Stone writes: "The thing that people don't realize is that history can be fun, that the narrative can be taught with great sweep and power like a movie, not a museum."
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Oliver Stone, The Oliver Stone Experience
Stone writes: "The thing that people don't realize is that history can be fun, that the narrative can be taught with great sweep and power like a movie, not a museum."
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thank you both, Dr. Herbst and Dr. Choi for bringing me. And I’d also like to thank Professor Frank Costigliola, of your History Department, who’s written a new book on the Cold War that greatly enlarges our understanding of a time when countries resorted, once again, to paranoid fears of invasion and subterfuge.
And I’d like to extend a BIG CONGRAGULATIONS to all of you -- the Class of 2016 -- on this wonderful achievement in your lives. Today is a great day. And also congratulations to your parents and relatives who are here to celebrate your evolution. Bravo!
I actually went to 4 different colleges in my life, so I’m not necessarily the best-suited speaker for this ceremony, (but I think you knew that when you invited me). My first college was down the road at Yale. In my class, among others, was George Bush, two Olympic gold-medal athletes, one pro football star, several future multi-millionaires and billionaires who now have a big say in our destiny, Pulitzer Prize winners, a future Secretary of State, etc, etc, what I’d call ‘the Obama School of Ivy League Geniuses’. But the truth for me was that Yale was so incredibly difficult academically, and competitive in all things, that my 4 grueling years of preparation at a boys’ boarding school in Pennsylvania were not sufficient to compete. And the freedom given by the College was far too liberal for my discipline. Basically, all of a sudden, we were on our own -- study when you want; eat, sleep when you want; do what you want. Go to New York City for a week, it doesn’t matter. No one really cares as long as you pass the course. That was the point, no one cared, there was no headmaster around to scare the shit out of you. I barely survived the first year, failed Greek, and just made it through the most abstract course I ever had -- Economics. And after trying, I also failed to make any of the serious athletic teams. I was just another mediocrity and I quit school, shaken and depressed.
I went to Asia, Vietnam specifically, for almost a year, to teach high school and work in the US Merchant Marine, as a ‘wiper’ in the South China Seas. Then I gave Yale another try for half a year, and again I was profoundly disappointed -- in myself. Mr. Bush could get Cs and party and get through it all. And with a pedigree, he could become President. But I had no pedigree. I think, more importantly, I couldn’t stand any longer the air of Ivy League superiority and competition. There was a lack, essentially, of humanity -- a compulsive need to out-do your fellow man. I wanted something gentler, something like I’d seen in Asia, an ability simply to breathe a natural life. So I abandoned school once again, but it was clear this time there was no going back. In fact, I’d failed every single one of my courses. That’s pretty hard to do, 4 out of 4 zeros.
Dad was pissed; some 9,000 in tuition (no tax deduction here) blown away. And what would I do for the rest of my life? He’d expected me to get to Wall Street at the least -- sort of as an ‘idiot son’ like Bush. Or, at worst, a steady job at AT&T in New York, starting at a couple hundred bucks a week. I went home and hid my face from my Dad’s friends, who’d known me as a promising, conservative young man. I was a BUM now -- in my eyes as well as Dad’s. I had no real skills or earning power. I decided I had nothing to lose, so I’d join the Army, specifically the Infantry, and go to the front lines in Vietnam. And if it was intended by the Greek gods, or the monotheistic God from the Bible -- either way -- I was putting it on the line. The divine forces would cast their decision, and I’d either live or die.
It was literally on my 21st birthday -- I suspect many of you here are 21 or close -- I was on a plane bound for Vietnam a second time -- all 120 of us in Army khaki with buzzcuts. I never even had a 21st birthday; as we crossed the International Date Line, my birthday dropped away into the sea as the calendar jumped a day. It was like an omen -- that I’d never get to 21. I’d be lost in some crack of time in Vietnam.
After 15 months of… let’s say another kind of world, I went back to the US with no idea of what to do and no skills except camping, surviving, hunting, and not sleeping very well. I’d taken a few electronics courses through a college extension program. I’d talked with some Army buddies about opening a construction company down in Alabama, or maybe Latin America, getting contracts from the Government -- all that fantasy died on the return, and my buddies went to other small towns and cities in the country. And rarely did we see each other again. This reality, along with something we didn’t know much about at the time, since called PTSD, left us each in some dark holes. People simply didn’t understand because that war was crazy and made no sense. How can you explain it when it makes no sense?
After months of low-level depression, an old school friend who’d graduated from Yale was pursuing a career making low-budget porno films -- and making money at it; he told me I could actually go to one of these new “film schools”, and I could get 80% of my tuition paid from the GI Bill. It sounded nuts to me. “You mean I can actually get credit for watching movies all day?” It was too good to be true, but it was a new world. There were respected schools in California -- but now NYU had one too. So I thank you -- I mean it -- the US Government.
But it was really a vocational school for me. I was older than the others. It was difficult for me to readjust to the mentality. I was quiet and didn’t mingle much. These students were in another world, and they probably looked at me like I was the guy in “Taxi Driver” who ends up blowing up the class.
But I had fun there. I also learned the beginnings of a skill. And then after 6/7 years of professional rejection and writing a lot of speculative scripts, making low-budget films, breaks started coming my way, and I actually made it into the film business with some success. In fact, much to my Father’s inability to think it possible, I actually started to make a living at this film thing.
I think a point to be made of this experience is no matter how dark it gets early, don’t get too down on yourself. You have -- you may not know them -- hidden talents, skills, passions. You simply cannot recognize it yet. So listen to the wind. The answer might be blowing right past you... But although I now had a degree and some success, I didn’t really have an education. Learning a trade is not a complete experience. I was a partly educated writer-director who’d never really studied with any rigor history, mathematics, English, science. All I had was curiosity, and thank god for that.
So almost 40 years later, like Rodney Dangerfield in “Back to School”, in 2008 I went to my 3rd college -- not your normal campus with the bells beautifully tolling and the cries of young people in the air -- but a concentrated 5-year journey through American history from the 1890s to today. Guiding me was a highly intelligent mentor and professor at American University, and his staff of graduate students. (In fact, he’s here today, my co-author of “The Untold History of the United States”, Professor Peter Kuznick, who’s been teaching for 30 years). I learned a lot -- too much in many ways to function well in this culture. I learned how to check and recheck everything -- every little detail. I learned how to doubt and cross-examine myself. It took us almost 5 years and many drafts and edits to make our incredible thesis entertaining enough for a wide audience uninterested in history, able to watch it on a prestige cable company or read the 700-page book we wrote to back it up. That millions watched it and continued to watch it for ten weeks, and that it made the ‘New York Times’ Bestseller List, and that it was sold in many countries in the world -- and that we traveled to numerous colleges and high schools to share it, was proof enough to me that I’d finally earned, my self-declared and really proud-of-it college degree in History. And why not? The thing that people don’t realize is that history can be fun, that the narrative can be taught with great sweep and power like a movie, not a museum. Nor need it be a ‘Walt Disney movie’ of American history the way it’s taught now, which is mostly a pat on the back for being a great and special country -- singular in history and particularly blessed by God. That’s why young people have so often turned away from American history. They can smell Lies and Hypocrisy.
Well, needless to say, it was quite controversial and often ignored because that’s the price you pay to say something strong in this country. I’m proud to tell you our mainstream media blasted it or ignored it because that’s the same media -- you know them, all the ‘biggies’ -- that since Vietnam have helped cheer us on into so many pathetic wars without any purpose or validity, and yet have never apologized for their mistakes. And then a few years later they move on and recommend another set of disastrous choices that lead to war. Where did this ongoing delusion start? This was the main point of our series -- and why so many progressive historians praised it as a work that brought an entire century into one tent with its recurring pattern of militarism, false patriotism, racism, sexism, and financial greed (revealed).
All because we never really learned from our past. Because we never looked deeply in elementary or high school, and we went with this mythology that we were somehow exceptional and outside history. And, as a result over time, our memories became clouded, the history distorted by the politics of the powerful school boards in Texas and California. And over those 80 years since World War II, we began, on a grand scale, to truly lose our collective memory of what we’ve done in the world without recognizing the consequences (or apologizing), including the militarily unnecessary atomic bombing of Japan. As a result your generation suffers all the consequences of this. And you accept that, since 9/11, a policy of unending war is necessary and endurable. Policies of torture, detention, drones and undeclared wars, interfering in the affairs of every country in the world and declaring unilateral “regime change” as if we were gods, has given us an overwhelming arrogance that lives inside the skin and brain of the power elite in Washington, DC -- the feeling that the State itself has the right over its own citizenry to break the laws as it chooses, and most egregiously violate the 4th and 5th Amendments in the name of defending our National Security. In doing that we lose sight that security at any cost is a prison for all of us without end -- a panopticon that cows us all to surrender our sense of protest, of individuality, of privacy itself to this anonymous secret state that has eyes on all of us. This is the triumph of force over liberty, this is naked fascism, dress it however you like! -- and this has nothing to do with the country I was born in and went to war for as a young, conservative man.
Please don’t ever forget that Edward Snowden was 29 years old when he challenged this system on behalf of us all -- just a few years older than you. He’s an avatar for your generation. Do not be cynical and say, ‘Privacy? So what? I have nothing to hide.’ Because when you’re older you might understand what you’re surrendering without knowing it is your greatest secret of all -- yourself.
I told you I went to 4 colleges, but maybe I exaggerated a bit. Because the fourth college is one you never graduate from. For want of better words, I’d call it the ‘College of Older Age’. It’s the toughest of all because it makes you question -- everything. It teaches to those who listen the necessity for ambiguity in life’s grayer matters, nothing being black or white -- and it humbles us in ways we have never been before.
I’m sure in your lifetime you’ll see things we never thought would happen, as we were surprised by these wars, JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations, the theft of the 2000 election, 9/11, the incorporation of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, allowing money once again to suffocate our voices. More will happen to you, in the same way that everybody through the centuries feels that theirs is the most important time of all. But I still believe that we’ve been given a divine blessing to be alive in this world. And I believe the purpose of our journey is to grow our consciousness, our tolerance, and finally our love. This purpose allows us also to act badly at times, to indulge ourselves, and hopefully discover both our mistakes and our regrets. And with it comes an allowance for our weakness and strength because both are so similar. Enjoy what you can.
And in closing, I’d suggest you take a year off and do nothing! Be a bum -- or do something you’ve never done before. If you choose nothing, see for yourself if being a lazy person works for you or it bores you. Sit on a bench, walk around, fish. But go to the end of that feeling and find out for yourself. Be a janitor. Clean hotel rooms. Work with your hands. Learn how to plant, grow, cook. Travel to foreign countries second/third class and see how you relate to all kinds people and challenges. Above all, even if you want to make a fortune as quickly as you can, I urge you to break your pattern here and now, and don’t do what you did for 4 years.
So, go in peace, love justice and mercy -- and do well by this world. Thank you.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/36976-focus-my-commencement-speech-to-the-graduating-class-of-the-university-of-connecticut
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