The idea of having a strong Federal government was controversial in the early United States, and one of the ways Federalists reassured Americans that it wouldn’t become tyrannical was to append a Bill of Rights to the Constitution. That attempt to prevent despotism has failed, because the Federal government and its various agencies have set […]
No, NSA snooping didn’t foil 50 Terrorist Attacks (Elliot & Meyer)
Claim on “Attacks Thwarted” by NSA Spreads Despite Lack of Evidence Justin Elliot and Theodoric Meyer write at ProPublica Two weeks after Edward Snowden’s first revelations about sweeping government surveillance, President Obama shot back. “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, […]
Why the US needs Electric Cars: Saudi Arabia threatens Pivot away from US
The royal family of Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy with no constitution and no elected legislature, is in a snit about US foreign policy. King Abdullah doesn’t like even the mild American criticism of the Sunni Bahrain monarchy’s brutal crackdown on the majority Shiite community in that country. He is furious that President Obama went […]
Rights Groups: Some US Drone Strikes are War Crimes (Oldroyd)
Rachel Oldroyd writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Leading human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised serious concerns about the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. The two organisations have conducted separate investigations into specific strikes to highlight how civilians are being killed. Such killings, they claim, are […]
Egypt’s Coptic Christians Protest Killing by Fundamentalists of 4 at Church
Coptic Christians in Egypt staged a big demonstration on Monday to protest the shooting deaths of four church-goers at the Church of the Virgin in the working class al-Warraq district in Cairo on Sunday. Two of the victims were children. Assailants came in on motorcycles with guns blazing. Many Coptic Christians blamed the deposed Muslim […]
America may Shutter the Gov’t, but not the Gov’t’s Wars (Astore)
William J. Astore writes at Tomdispatch: There is a new normal in America: our government may shut down, but our wars continue. Congress may not be able to pass a budget, but the U.S. military can still launch commando raids in Libya and Somalia, the Afghan War can still be prosecuted, Italy can be garrisoned […]
Israeli Settlers Chop down more Palestinian Olive Trees (having destroyed 800,000 since 1967)
Israeli settlers over the weekend used chain saws to destroy some 100 Palestinian olive trees in Qaryut village near the West Bank city of Nablus. Construction of new homes by Israeli squatters on the Palestinian West Bank has increased by 70% in 2013, encouraged by the far-right Likud government. There are now 515,000 Israeli squatters […]
Sanders: Climate Change more Menacing than Terrorism (Germanos)
Andrea Germanos writes at Commondreams.org: In a newly published interview, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasts the "unfettered capitalism" that has collapsed the middle class, and the corporate power fueling climate change, which poses a "far more serious problem than Al Qaeda." Sanders speaking about the government shutdown’s impacts. (Photo: AFGE/cc/flickr) Speaking with economics writer Jonathan […]
Top Ten Climate Change Threats being ignored by your Television News
Since many mainstream media outlets in the US are burying the dramatic climate change stories from all around the world, either by not reporting them or by reporting incidents with no context, it is important for the progressive alternative press to keep this subject in the public eye. 1. Many observers believe climate change is […]
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