CounterCurrents: 'A Roadmap To Global Burning': COP20 Closes With Even Weaker Climate Pact

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Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


'A Roadmap To Global Burning': COP20 Closes With Even Weaker Climate Pact
By Lauren McCauley

http://www.countercurrents.org/mccauley151214.htm

After two weeks of negotiations, the world community has yet again failed to take any meaningful actions to prevent landmark global warming and instead has produced a "roadmap to global burning," leading climate campaigners lamented upon the close of the United Nations COP20 climate talks in Lima, Peru on Sunday


Tens Of Thousands Join Protests Against Police Killings In The US
By Joseph Kishore

http://www.countercurrents.org/kishore151214.htm

Tens of thousands of protesters participated in demonstrations against police violence in New York City, Washington, DC and other US cities on Saturday. In New York, at least 50,000 gathered at Washington Square Park and marched through the streets of Manhattan. In Washington, DC, 25,000 participated in a protest that far exceeded the expectations of the organizers, including the National Action Network, led by Democratic Party operative Al Sharpton. Some 3,500 participated in a demonstration in Oakland, California


Stop Torture! Accountability: YES – Impunity: NO
By Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday

http://www.countercurrents.org/halliday151214.htm

Statement and petition initiated by two former UN Assistant Secretaries-General, UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq: Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday


American Torture -- Past, Present, And… Future? Beyond The Senate Torture Report
By Rebecca Gordon

http://www.countercurrents.org/gordon151214.htm

The Senate torture report could be the opening we need to really make U.S. torture a thing of the past. Let's not waste it!


Legitimate Palestinian Questions In The Christmas Time
By Dr Salim Nazzal

http://www.countercurrents.org/nazzal151214.htm

In the Christmas time we chant for peace in Palestine and the Middle East, and for humanity. The Palestinian Christmas is loaded with many questions which Palestinians ask all the time


Questions Begged By The Unanimous Foregone Conclusions
On “Godman” Ramphal And The Storming Of His Ashram
By Simran Kaur

http://www.countercurrents.org/kaur151214.htm

Caught in my self-identity as “educated,” I am usually quite quick to offer the usual condemnation of “deras” and the “illiteracy,” if not “criminality,” they breed. So the storming of one such dera less than a month ago by the Haryana police may not have made me loose much sleep. However, when the deaths of four women and an 18-month-old baby as a result of the storming by the police were accepted as mere collateral, I wondered. And as a one-sided story quietly made its way through diminishing news cycles, while Progressive blogs and mainstream media quite aligned on foregone conclusions, I began to wonder some more


Why Didn’t I Vote?
By Suhail Qasim Mir

http://www.countercurrents.org/mir151214.htm

Had it been beyond the issues of road, electricity and water, I would have voted. Had it been about justice, I would have voted. Had it been a plebiscite I would have been the first one to express my choice. But it was not any of these; that is why I didn’t vote……

RSN: For Every Dollar Michigan Spends on Energy-Saving Programs, Customers Save 3.75, Judge to Elections Officials: Reveal Sources of Campaign Spending

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Paige Winfield Cunningham | The Coming Wave of Anti-Abortion Laws

Paige Winfield Cunningham, Politico
Cunningham writes: "The big Republican gains in the November elections strengthened and enlarged the anti-abortion forces in the House and the Senate. But it's the GOP victories in the statehouses and governor's mansions that are priming the ground for another round of legal restrictions on abortion."
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Jedediah Purdy | The Hunger Games Economy
Jedediah Purdy, The Daily Beast
Purdy writes: "Katniss Everdeen has broken the Hunger Games and entered open war against the Capitol. But from Ferguson to Washington to Wall Street, we are still playing our own Hunger Games. We are still playing by rules that divide us."
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UN Investigators Urge Obama to Release CIA Torture Report
Robert Evans, Reuters
Evans writes: "United Nations human rights investigators called on President Barack Obama to live up to principles preached by the United States around the world and release a long completed report on CIA interrogation methods."
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Ferguson Protesters Surprise Black Friday Shoppers at Macy's in NYC
Sebastien Malo, Franchise Herald
Malo writes: "More than 200 people angered by a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sought to disrupt Black Friday shopping in New York with a protest in front of Macy's flagship store."
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Fast Food Workers Announce Largest-Ever Strike in 150 Cities on December 4
Ned Resnikoff, Al Jazeera America
Resnikoff writes: "Fast food workers in at least 150 cities nationwide will walk off the job on Dec. 4, demanding an industry-wide base wage of $15 per hour and the right to form a union. Workers unanimously voted on the date for the new strike during a Nov. 25 conference call, held shortly before the second anniversary of the movement's first strike."
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Judge to Elections Officials: Reveal Sources of Campaign Spending
Joseph Tanfani, Los Angeles Times
Tanfani writes: "In a decision that could force disclosure of some of the secret money flooding into elections, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that groups that run election-related ads must reveal their donors."
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For Every Dollar Michigan Spends on Energy-Saving Programs, Customers Save 3.75
Associated Press
Excerpt: "Michigan regulators say residential and business customers are benefiting from a state law that requires utilities to implement energy-efficiency programs."
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