RSN: Official Washington's Syrian 'Fantasy', Megabanks Have the Federal Prison System Locked Up,

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Zimmerman Family Values

Amanda Robb, GQ
Robb writes: "Until his little brother, George, shot and killed an unarmed black teenager on the sidewalk of a Florida gated community more than two years ago, Robert Zimmerman Jr. was "the family fuckup.""
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Robert Parry | Official Washington's Syrian 'Fantasy'
Robert Parry, Consortium News
Parry writes: "It is perhaps not news that the U.S. government bases wars on illusions, such as the nonexistent WMD in Iraq, but it is rare when there is a broad consensus before the conflict begins that a war's success rests on a "fantasy" like the chimera of "moderate" Syrian rebels."
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Megabanks Have the Federal Prison System Locked Up
Daniel Wagner, Center for Public Integrity
Wagner writes: "For the 790 federal prisoners incarcerated at MCC, Bank of America controls the provision of money transfers, e-messaging and some telephone services."
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UN Report: Daesh (ISIS) Commits Systematic Violations That Amount to War Crimes
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters
Nebehay reports: "Islamic State insurgents in Iraq have carried out mass executions, abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers in what may amount to systematic war crimes that demand prosecution."
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How Struggling Kentucky Miners View the Country's Most Expensive Senate Race
Luke Mullins, Yahoo! News
Mullins reports: "The 59-year-old engineer began working in eastern Kentucky's coal fields 38 years ago, like his father and grandfather before him."
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California Becomes First U.S. State to Ban Plastic Bags
Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "California became the first US state Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags, as Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure into law."
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Greenpeace Director | Forests Need Laws, Not Loopholes
Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace Blogs
Naidoo writes: "Sitting in the towering United Nation’s building on New York’s east side, it might be hard for world leaders to picture a destroyed forest, but I know just how depressing the site is."
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RSN: The Florida Farce: Rick Scott Vs. Charlie Crist, Here's What Happened the One Time When the U.S. Had Universal Childcare

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Joseph C. Wilson | Pat Roberts, Congenital Liar

Joseph C. Wilson, Reader Supported News
Wilson writes: "Does Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican from Kansas, live in Kansas? That's the issue that's tripped him up as he runs for reelection. But I have known for a decade where he really lives. Like Dorothy, he is no longer in Kansas anymore. Like Oz, he is a charlatan. He lives in a land of lies and deception of his own making."
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Tom Engelhardt | Entering the Intelligence Labyrinth
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
Engelhardt writes: "Never have so many had access to so much information about our world and yet been so unprepared for whatever happens in it."
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NM Officer Spoke of Shooting Before Killing Homeless Man
Jonathan Turley, Jonathan Turley's Blog
Turley writes: "The Albuquerque police have long been criticized for a high rate of shootings and the increasing militarization of their operations. This month, many have joined in that criticism after the release of a videotape of police shooting a homeless camper, James Boyd, in the foothills outside of the city."
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Meet the Prison Bankers Who Profit From the Inmates
Daniel Wagner, Center for Public Integrity
Wagner writes: "JPay and other prison bankers collect tens of millions of dollars every year from inmates' families in fees for basic financial services. To make payments, some forego medical care, skip utility bills and limit contact with their imprisoned relatives, the Center for Public Integrity found in a six-month investigation."
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The Florida Farce: Rick Scott Vs. Charlie Crist
Jeb Lund, Rolling Stone
Lund writes: "If you want a picture of America two terms from now, ignore the national stage and gaze instead at the states, where failure is confirmed before it's applied to the rest of the country. Look to a Ponzi state running eternally on the next out-of-town sucker, administered by a gerrymandered GOP hammerlock and overseen by a man who the president of Public Policy Polling once said could be trounced by 'a ham sandwich.'"
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Here's What Happened the One Time When the U.S. Had Universal Childcare
Bryce Covert, ThinkProgress
Covert writes: "Nothing before or since has been like the Lanham Act, though you probably haven't heard of it. It wasn't even legislation that was supposed to have anything to do with child care. It was a bill to fund infrastructure projects that were needed for the war effort in 1940."
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What 35,000 Walruses Forced to the Beach Tell Us About Global Warming
Heather Saul, The Independent UK
Saul writes: "An estimated 35,000 pacific walrus have been spotted ashore on a beach in north-west Alaska."
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