RSN: Democrats Screwed the Pooch Again, There Is More Than One Truth to Tell in the Awful Story of Aleppo

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Charles Pierce | Democrats Screwed the Pooch Again 
 
Charles Pierce, Reader Supported News 
Pierce writes: "All the noise out of Camp Runamuck largely drowned out the clamor of the Democratic Party fcking up again. Over the weekend, the state of Louisiana had a runoff election for the United States Senate. The Republican, an ironically monickered suit named John Kennedy, beat Democratic candidate Foster Campbell. This was the last election of the plague ship campaign of 2016, and the most astonishing part of it is that the national Democratic Party spent most of the time since the presidential election not caring about the race one way or the other." 
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Robert Fisk | There Is More Than One Truth to Tell in the Awful Story of Aleppo 
Robert Fisk, The Independent 
General Michael Flynn, Who Called for Hillary to Be Jailed, Improperly Shared Classified Information 
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General Michael Flynn, Who Called for Hillary to Be Jailed, Improperly Shared Classified Information 
Esther Yu Hsi Lee, ThinkProgress 
Hsi Lee writes: "Flynn himself 'inappropriately shared' classified information with foreign military officers and officials in Afghanistan in 2010, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The publication revealed that Flynn was not authorized to share the classified information and 'particular secrets he divulged.'" 
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Ohio Governor John Kasich Vetoes 'Heartbeat Bill,' Signs 20-Week Abortion Ban 
Monique Judge, The Root 
Judge writes: "The bill would have been the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, forbidding abortion at the point when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy." 
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New Operation Condor Files Show Terror, Torture in Argentina 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "The administration of Barack Obama released Monday a declassified intelligence reports on Operation Condor, the 1970s covert efforts to rid U.S.-backed dictatorships of progressive opponents or to topple progressive governments outright in South America." 
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Duterte Keeps Admitting to Killing People. His Supporters Keep Shrugging It Off. 
Emily Rauhala, The Washington Post 
Rauhala writes: "On Monday, Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, bragged about killing people. He said that when he was a city mayor, he used to hunt suspects on his motorcycle, shooting people on the spot. The goal, he said, was to encourage police officers to do the same." 
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Monsanto Shareholders Approve Bayer Merger to Form World's Largest Seed and Chemical Company 
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch 
Chow writes: "Monsanto shareholders voted to approve the company's $66 billion takeover by German pesticide and pharmaceutical corporation Bayer AG on Tuesday." 
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CounterCurrents: A Deflation Tsunami Building Up In India, A Cabinet Of Generals: Trump Appoints John Kelly To Lead Department Of Homeland Security

Dear Friend,

It is becoming absolutely clear that India is going into a deflationary spiral after the demonetisation of high denomination notes on November 8. A Tsunami is building up from rural India which will devastate the whole of India. 

Angry farmers in Raigarh district in Chhattisgarh are dumping tomato on highways. The reason? They are getting 50 rupees for a 100 kg batch of tomato. That means they are getting 50 paise for a kilogram of tomato. Ironically, 50 paise is practically out of circulation in India. I've written a story explaining the implications and possible fall out of this deflation. 

Our #HumansOfDemonetisedIndia campaign continues with the story of a farmer from Odisha. He says people of the remote districts of Koraput and Kalahandi may not be even aware of the note ban. 

President elect Trump is putting together a team of military hawks as his cabinet team. Latest to join the team is retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Tomato At 50 paise/Kg! A Windfall or Disaster?
by Binu Mathew 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/tomato-at-50-paisekg-a-windfall-or-disaster/

Angry farmers in Raigarh district in Chhattisgarh are dumping tomato on highways. The reason? They are getting 50 rupees for a 100 kg batch of tomato. That means they are getting 50 paise for a kilogram of tomato. Ironically, 50 paise is practically out of circulation in India.




#HumansOfDemonetisedIndia: Nabakishore Pradhan, Farmer From Odisha

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/humansofdemonetisedindia-nabakishore-pradhan-farmer-from-odisha/

My name is Nabakishore Pradhan. I am a farmer from Odisha. My family is dependent on our agricultural produces and now is suffering due to demonetization. I cannot get loan from the banks to tend to our farming needs. My relatives do not have money to avail medical facilities. In every field of life, we are suffering. Life has come to a standstill. As a society too, we are suffering collectively. In Koraput and Kalahandi, there are people who still are not fully informed about the implications of demonetization. Hence, they have not found a way to exchange their currency notes which they have saved since long. They are now doing barter trade instead, to overcome the hurdles. Such dire situation is unfortunate…I do not think this problem is going to go away for at least another couple of years. The government’s stress on e-payment is of little use for most people in our country who are not that aware of the nuances of online business and many people will be cheated by frau
dulent
activities in coming days. This decision is extremely dangerous for our society.





Prime Minister: India needs A Social And Not A Digital Revolution
by A concerned Citizen 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/prime-minister-india-needs-a-social-and-not-a-digital-revolution/

Prime Minister, it is not the digital revolution that India requires but the Social revolution. It is not the cashless-ness but the end of social lawless-ness that is required urgently. In the India that you are trying to build, forget cashless-ness, but social lawless-ness has definitely increased. We are seeing increasing incidents of deaths and physical harassments taking place in the name of cow protection and beef. We are increasingly witnessing the vigilante groups moving freely and harassing people – whether Dalits, Minorities in the name of protection of a culture, which you define as Hindutva. Intolerance has only grown. In the digital pathway that you are laying, you are also sowing the seeds of social lawless-ness at a rapid pace.





Demonetisation And Gandhi
by Nivedita Dwivedi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/demonetisation-and-gandhi/

The demonetisation move led to the disruption in the life of millions (most of them from the poorer sections of society), and hundreds lost their lives. But the interesting thing in all this is that this move is being hailed and projected as the most democratic move ever made, because it is being proclaimed to have been carried out in the name of the masses and for the whole and sole benefit of the masses. How further from the truth could one really get? Coming back to the question of democracy and violence, is this not the practice of the worst kind of violence possible?





‘Mitron’ Fact Is Stranger Than Fiction
by Mirza Yawar Baig 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/mitron-fact-is-stranger-than-fiction/

I discovered a new word: Mitron. It means, ‘A large group of unsuspecting people about to be hit by something they will take a long time to recover from.’ Ironically it comes from the Hindi word – Mitron (Mitr = friend. Mitron = of friends). I believe we are in a Mitron moment; the discovery of a word and an experiential understanding of its true meaning.





A Cabinet Of Generals: Trump Appoints John Kelly To Lead Department Of Homeland Security
by Eric London 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/a-cabinet-of-generals-trump-appoints-john-kelly-to-lead-department-of-homeland-security/

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team announced yesterday it will nominate retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Kelly is the third ex-military general slated for a top cabinet position. His nomination follows those of James Mattis for Secretary of Defense and Michael Flynn for National Security Advisor.






Fatah, Hold Your Applause: Palestinian Body Politic Rotten To The Core 
by Dr Ramzy Baroud 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/fatah-hold-your-applause-palestinian-body-politic-rotten-to-the-core/

In July 2003, the then Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, described Mahmoud Abbas as a ‘traitor’ who “betrayed the interests of the Palestinian People.” Arafat loathed Abbas to the very end. This particular outburst was made during a meeting with the United Nations envoy, Terje Larsen. The meeting took place a few months after Arafat was coerced, by the US, Israel and other Western powers to appoint Abbas as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.







The Plan To Gaza-ify The Colombian Peace Process
by Héctor Mondragón 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/the-plan-to-gaza-ify-the-colombian-peace-process/

This important article is by the Colombian economist and activist Héctor Mondragón and argues that Colombia’s landowning elite are not interested in peace, even though negotiators have gone to great lengths to placate them. Originally in Spanish – translated by Justin Podur.






See How We Live
by Kathy Kelly 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/see-how-we-live/

Today we met with Kubra, Latifah, Shekibah and Naima, four local seamstresses struggling to get by in alarmingly simple dwellings, and I mentioned that many in the U.S. believe the war has allowed the U.S. government to help and protect women in Afghanistan. All four women disagreed, insisting that any aid from outside Afghanistan goes to people who will never share it with the needy.





Tough-Talking Philippine President Duterte 
by Andre Vltchek 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/tough-talking-philippine-president-duterte/

There is a sense of change in those narrow and desperate alleys of the Baseco slum in the Philippines’ capital Manila. For the first time in many years a beautiful, noble lady visited; against all odds she decided to stay. Her name is Hope.






Exploiting Terrorism For Economic Gains
by Nauman Sadiq 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/exploiting-terrorism-for-economic-gains/


In order to understand the hype surrounding the phenomena of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, we need to understand the prevailing global economic order and its prognosis. What the pragmatic economists forecasted about the free market capitalism has turned out to be true; whether we like it or not. A kind of global economic entropy has set into motion. The money is flowing from the area of high monetary density to the area of low monetary density.




Political Prisoners To Go On Hunger Strike, Protesting Nilambur Encounter Killings

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/political-prisoners-to-go-on-hunger-strike-protesting-nilambur-encounter-killings/

A Hunger Strike will be observed by all the political prisoners kept under trial on Friday the 9th December 2016 in all prisons in South Indian States.





The Hindutva Terror Nexus
by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/the-hindutva-terror-nexus/

Sanathan Sanstha, being probed for bomb blasts and assassination of three great democratic-secular intellectuals of India, Narendra Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi, is an offshoot (or vice versa) of Hindu Janajaguriti Samiti (HJS) which has openly been demanding conversion of democratic-secular India into a Hindu rashtra and celebrating ‘vadh’ of Gandhi ji.





Kashmir: Subjugation, Not“Normalcy”!
by Mohammad Ashraf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/subjugation-notnormalcy/

Peace is slowly returning to Kashmir but it is debatable whether it is in reality a return to “Normalcy” or the people have been subjugated into apparent submission, temporarily?





Grassland Shrinkage Posing Threat To Endangered Pygmy Hog In Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary Of Assam
by Shajid Khan

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/08/grassland-shrinkage-posing-threat-to-endangered-pygmy-hog-in-barnadi-wildlife-sanctuary-of-assam/

Rapid shrinkage and degradation of the grasslands of the Barnadi Widlife Sanctuary of Udalguri of Assam pose a serious threat to the long-term survival of the critically-endangered pygmy hog that was reintroduced to the sanctuary six months back that were captive breeded in state capital Guwahati.

RSN: Marc Ash | They'll Be Back, FBI Policy of Manufacturing Terrorism Plots Reaffirmed by Appeals Court,

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Marc Ash | They'll Be Back 

Marc Ash, Reader Supported News 
Ash writes: "The stand at Cannonball, North Dakota, on the banks of the Missouri River was one of most courageous, determined, and successful civil disobedience protest actions seen in the U.S. in recent years." 
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Walter Scott Mistrial: Prosecutor Insists, 'We Will Try Michael Slager Again' 
Kirsten West Savali, The Root 
Savali writes: "The Slager jury consisted of 11 whites and one black - the kind of jury that killers with badges probably dream about." 
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Pentagon Hid Study Exposing $125 Billion in Wasteful Spending 
Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward, The Washington Post 
Excerpt: "The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post." 
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FBI Policy of Manufacturing Terrorism Plots Reaffirmed by Appeals Court 
Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof 
Gosztola writes: "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that provides further support for the FBI and its policy of inducing individuals, typically Muslims, to plot acts of terrorism. The appeals court additionally backed the outcome of the notorious FBI sting operation against the Newburgh Four." 
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Broken Machines Could Throw Michigan Recount Into Chaos 
Sam Thielman, Guardian UK 
Thielman writes: "Broken polling machines may have put vote counts in question in more than half of Detroit's precincts and nearly one-third of surrounding Wayne County, possibly throwing the Michigan recount into chaos." 
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Police Rack Up an Almost Perfectly Deadly Record in Philippine Drug War 
Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall, and Damir Sagolj, Reuters 
Excerpt: "In 51 shootings by police in drug busts, 100 suspects were killed and just 3 wounded. The 97 percent kill ratio, eyewitness testimony and other evidence amassed by Reuters suggest officers are summarily gunning down suspects in President Duterte's crackdown." 
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Oklahoma's Earthquakes on the Wane After Wastewater Rules Take Hold 
Rowena Lindsay, The Christian Science Monitor 
Excerpt: "After a sudden increase in earthquakes, which have been linked to oil extraction practices, Oklahoma instituted new limits on wastewater injection. Since then, the quakes have dropped off significantly." 
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