The silly hysteria over the world ending December 21, based on a misinterpretation of a Mayan text, should have passed by now, or maybe someone will keep it going until midnight. What amazes me is that you can get people excited about dangers to their world by twisting some text from an ancient civilization, but […]
Sheldon Adelson’s $155 Million Candidate Buying Spree (Meyer)
Theodoric Meyer writes at ProPublica: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and emblem of the Citizens United-era of campaign finance, spent gobs of money on the 2012 elections — more money than anyone else in American history. Exactly how much, you ask? We don’t really know, and it’s likely we never will. Many of the […]
The Coming Conflict between the US and Israel (Chernus)
Ira Chernus writes at Tomdispatch.com Are the U.S. and Israel Heading for a Showdown? No One Thinks So, But It Just Might Happen Here’s the question no one is asking as 2012 ends, especially given the effusive public support the Obama administration offered Israel in its recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza: Will 2013 be […]
UN Security Council Condemns Further Israeli Squatting on Palestinian Land, with Rogue State US Vetoing
The US acted again as the rogue state at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, with the other 14 members issuing statements condemning Israeli plans for vast further theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank and installing squatters on it, in a step designed to cut the West Bank in two and make […]
Human Rights Abuses in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt: Amnesty Int’l Report (Ross)
Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Last week Amnesty International highlighted just how troubled this tribal region is, charting human rights abuses by both the Pakistani army and the Pakistani Taliban. The Hands of Cruelty demonstrates how the region’s estimated civilian population of three million, is trapped between two opposing yet similarly vicious forces. […]
Why our Hair is not on Fire about Cutting Emissions, and what to do about it (Giesen)
Tom Giesen writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: Multiple reasons why global warming mitigation will fail Greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing. The yearly increases look like this: • 1990s 2.7%, • 2000 – 2007 3.5%, • 2009 – 2010 5.6%, No action to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the scale or pace […]
Benghazi’s Deep Throat fingers Islamist Leaders for Attacks as State Dept Criticized on Consular Security
The report saying that security was inadequate at the compound that the US had adopted as its ad hoc consulate in Benghazi, Libya, dominates today’s headlines. That conclusion is obvious. The “consulate” was just a private residence taken over for this purpose by the US in the city. It was not constructed to be a […]
ALEC, NRA Lobby the American Deep State on Behalf of Semi-Automatic Weapons Sales (Democracy Now)
Democracy Now! reports on how the gun lobby, the NRA, is outspending the gun control advocates by 10 to 1 on Capitol Hill. And Lisa Graves explains that ALEC isn’t just trying to destroy unions or spread disinformation about climate change, it is also behind legislation to keep military weapons in civilian hands. This is […]
TSA Commission will Look at Health Effects of Backscatter X-Ray Scanners (Grabell)
Michael Grabell writes at ProPublica Following months of congressional pressure, the Transportation Security Administration has agreed to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study the health effects of the agency’s X-ray body scanners. But it is unclear if the academy will conduct its own tests of the scanners or merely review previous studies. […]
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