US politics

This report by Channel 4 News in the UK, covering Edward Snowden’s application for asylum in the Russian Federation and his revelations of collaboration between Microsoft and the National Security Agency struck me as everything that US “news” coverage is not. The reporters don’t just parrot the Washington line. They point out that the transit […]

US politics

Murderers where the Victim was White are Far more Likely to be Punished in US (Graph)

Juan Cole

In the US, as Amnesty International points out: Percentage of murder victims annually that are African-American: 50% Percentage of executions for murder annually where the victim was white: 77%

al-Qaeda

FBI Discriminates Against American Muslims & lets White Terrorists Off the Hook (Harwood)

Juan Cole

Matthew Harwood writes at Tomdispatch: The evangelical Christians of Greenville County, South Carolina, are afraid. There has been talk of informants and undercover agents luring young, conservative evangelicals across the South into sham terrorist plots. The feds and the area’s police want to eliminate a particularly extreme strain of evangelical Christianity opposed to abortion, homosexuality, […]

US politics

Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force fed under standard Guantánamo Bay Concentration Camp procedure

Juan Cole

There are 120 prisoners at the extra-legal concentration camp at Guantanamo Bey. 44 are on hunger strike and being force-fed against their will, in contravention of international law. Rapper Yasin Bey (formerly Mos Def) demonstrates how that’s done

US politics

Gil Scott-Heron Explains ‘The Revolution will not be Televised’

Juan Cole

Gil Scott-Heron explains what he meant by the phrase “The Revolution will not be Televised”

Africa

Obama at Soweto University: New Generation of Africans taking its Place on World Stage

Juan Cole

President Obama’s address at Soweto University, via Channel 4 News:

Domestic Surveillance

Glenn Greenwald: Good journalism is measured by how angry you make the people you’re covering (Video)

Juan Cole

Greenwald’s video appearance at the Socialism conference in Chicago (via We are Many:

Domestic Surveillance

Everything you wanted to Know About NSA Surveillance *but were afraid to ask (Stray)

Juan Cole

Jonathan Stray writes at ProPublica: There have been a lot of news stories about NSA surveillance programs following the leaks of secret documents by Edward Snowden. But it seems the more we read, the less clear things are. We’ve put together a detailed snapshot of what’s known and what’s been reported where. What information does […]

US politics

Did the Supreme Court strike down DOMA because it was Theocratic?

Juan Cole

The Supreme Court decision authored by Justice Kennedy spends a lot of time arguing that marriage is a matter for the states to regulate, and that the Federal intervention to punish a class of people (married gays) that the states wish to protect is too wide-ranging to survive. The decision also invokes the 5th Amendment, […]