Return to Home Page Informed Cynic Home Page             
 
Augustin Plains Water Gila Forest Cibola Forest Wolf Release Useful Links Socorro Electric Co-op Augustin Plains Water Socorro Electric Co-op Useful links Gila River Issues Cibola Forest Issues Wolf Reistroduction Augustin Plains Water Gila Forest Cibola Forest Wolf Release Useful Links Socorro Electric Co-op JULY 2018 POLITICAL ARTICLES
JULY 2 THROUGH 12

July 12, 2018

Mark Weisbrot: Trump’s Threats to Invade Venezuela Are Part of U.S. Strategy of Regime Change. DemocracyNow  

A New Era of IMF Riots: Protests Force Haiti to Rescind Fuel Hikes. DemocracyNow  

Antifa Activists Are Freaking Out About a Proposed 'Unmasking' Law. ... The bill targets antifascist and anarchist protesters who use "black bloc" tactics to challenge the alt-right.  Vice  

The US White Nationalist Movement Is Attempting to Build International Allies.  TruthOut  

Farmers at Gaza’s Edge Try to Make Ends Meet Between Economic Squeeze and Israeli Sniper Fire.  Intercept  

Julia Salazar Is Looking to Land the Next Blow Against the New York Democratic Machine.
Intercept
 

Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant. ... As unions warn of serious injuries, plans to take speed limits off the lines at pig plants are causing anxiety.  Guardian  

CLICK BAIT

Scott Pruitt Claims Misappropriated EPA Funds Would Have Only Been Wasted On Dumb Shit Like Clean Water.  Go >  

Inconsolable Jeff Sessions Tries To Commit Suicide By Smoking Joint. Go >  

Resistance Win! This Artist Was Going To Draw Trump And Putin Kissing, But Was Worried That Seemed Homophobic, So He Had Them Kiss While Thinking About Pamela Anderson.  
Go >
 

Don’t Understand Net Neutrality Since That Horse Kicked You In The Head? Hush Now, And Look At The River.  Go >  

July 11, 2018

When Local Newspapers Fold, Taxpayers Take a Hit in the Wallet.  TruthDig     Related:  Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance.  Papers.ssrn   And - Trump's Ever More Powerful Weapons Against Journalism. TruthDig  

Pruitt Gone, But "No Happy Ending" for Planet as Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Takes Over EPA. ... "Before everyone gets excited about Pruitt, remember we're going to get all the same horrific policy under Andrew Wheeler, without any of the comic, attention-drawing personal corruption."  CommonDreams

Thoughts Inspired by Julian Assange.  
Craig Murray  

U.S. Army Reportedly Discharging Immigrants Who Enlisted With Promises Of Citizenship
About 10,000 people now serve under a program meant to fast-track U.S. citizenship for military duty.  HuffPost  

Dawn Sturgess. (Novichik, Russia story continued)  Craig Murray  

Here’s why Trump’s new strategy to keep ailing coal and nuclear plants open makes no sense.  
The Conversation  

Goodbye Regulations, Hello Impending Global Financial Crisis. ...  Ten years after the last financial crisis, Republicans - with backing from many Democrats - have made sure that Wall Street can return to its old ways of doing business by repealing the Dodd-Frank Act, which acted up to now as a very mild regulatory regime to rein in the predatory nature of financial capital. TruthOut   

Fox News' Tucker Carlson Gets Schooled on Democratic Socialism by Cornel West. ... Fox News, forever fearful of the left, is learning how to demonize democratic socialism, one interview at a time. AlterNet  

A psychologist explains how to shut down online trolls spreading ridiculous right-wing ‘fake news’.  RawStory  

July 10, 2018

The Con of Diversity.  TruthDig/Hedges  

CIA-Linked Military Contractor Used Arizona “Black Site” to Secretly Jail Dozens of Migrant Children.    DemocracyNow  

Human Rights Lawyer Jennifer Harbury on How Trump Is Punishing Cartels’ Victims ... Not Their Members.  DemocracyNow    Related:   Dirty Secrets: Jennifer, Everardo & the CIA in Guatemala -
Video
 

Trump Admin. Officials 'Destroyed' Records of Immigrant Kids Separated from Their Parents: Report. ... The administration seems to have no idea how to reunite the families it tore apart.  AlterNet  

From CIA-Backed Wars to Cartel Violence: Inside the Roots of the Refugee Crisis in Central America.  DemocracyNow 

Local N.Y. Media Wrongly Pushes for Gang Databases.  TruthDig  

Trump administration comes out against breastfeeding worldwide to placate baby formula makers — until Russia objects.  RawStory  

After Promises Of ‘Transparency,’ Pentagon Under Scrutiny For Troop Number Blackout
For years, the Pentagon provided quarterly reports on troop numbers overseas. But war zone figures are now conspicuously missing.  HuffPost  

“Why Can’t the US Just Simply Invade?” Officials Say Trump Pushed US Military Overthrow in Venezuela.  TruthOut  

July 9, 2018

How Liberal Partisan Politics Strengthen the Right Wing. TruthOut   

Noam Chomsky has a dark warning for smug liberals: November wins won’t be enough to rid ourselves of the fascism that gave rise to Trump.  RawStory  

MSNBC Does Not Merely Permit Fabrications Against Democratic Party Critics. It Encourages and Rewards Them.  Intercept  

The Democratic Party is such a mess — What are we going to do? ... Ten experts analyze the “situation”
Salon  

(2017) The Democratic Party is a disaster. We have to start over.  LA Times  

Nomi Prins on the Banks That Run the World.  TruthDig  

Haunted by a Legacy of Hatred: Fear of ISIS’s Return in Iraq.  CounterPoint  

Prosecutors Drop All Remaining Charges Against Trump Inauguration Protesters After 'Epic Failure' to Prove Wrongdoing. ... "The state failed at silencing dissent and today our movement is stronger than it was on #J20."  CommonDreams  

New EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, Former Coal Lobbyist, Aims to Continue to Dismantle EPA from Inside.  DemocracyNow  

Facebook labels declaration of independence as 'hate speech'. ... The website told a local newspaper they violated its community guidelines by posting the original document.  Guardian  

Mother Teresa’s charity sold babies: Indian police.  RawStory  

Weekend of JULY 6-8, 2018

Weekend Read:
They Rule: The 1% vs. Democracy. By Paul Street - They Rule reflects on key political questions raised by the Occupy movement, showing how similar questions have been raised by previous generations of radical activists: who really owns and rules the US? Does it matter that the nation is divided by stark class disparities and a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few? Amazon  

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Trump's Ever More Powerful Weapons Against Journalism.  TruthDig  

 Hobbling a Champion of Global Press Freedom.  Freedom House  

Homeland Security to Compile Database of Journalists, Bloggers.  Big Law Business  

Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And 'Media Influencers'  Forbes  

Israel Banned me for Documenting the Occupation  Forward  

The Obama Administration and the Press.
 CPJ 


Trump Fans Accuse NPR of ‘Taxpayer Funded Partisan Advocacy’ After It Tweets Out the Declaration of Independence — Again
It's the most wonderful time of the year.  Alternet  

The Lack of Civility in US Politics Comes From the Top, Donald Trump.  BuzzFlash  

The Amesbury Mystery.  Craig Murray  

Julia Salazar Is Looking to Land the Next Blow Against the New York Democratic Machine.
Intercept
 

Here’s why you don’t have the right to believe whatever you want. RawStory  

Families must pay thousands of dollars to be reunited with children taken from them. ... "The government is creating impossible barriers and penalizing poverty."   ThinkProgress  

Why Trump’s inauguration money is a major part of Mueller’s Russia investigation. .. Russia-tied donations and oligarch connections have drawn Mueller’s interest.  BuzzFlash  

Our Founders Showed Greater Respect for Islam Than Trump and the Supreme Court. ... As we celebrate July 4 and the founding moment, we do well to recall that Islam has always been a part of America.  The Nation  

JULY 5, 2018

CLICK BAIT

Attack on Freedom:  Hate-mongering Hillaryites Just Shooed Stephen Miller Away From The Bird Feeder Where He Was Peacefully Enjoying Breakfast  Go >  

I May Not Agree With Everything Trump Says, But It’s My Duty As An American To Repeat All Of His Talking Points Basically Verbatim.  Go >  

Han Solo Met Chewbacca After Clubbing Chewie’s Parents To Death And Stealing Him As A Cub: Everything You Need To Know About ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Go >  

A New Film Examines Sexual Violence as a Feature of the Bakken (ND) Oil Boom.  Intercept  

Kushner’s “Ultimate Deal” Would Strip Palestinians of Their Human Dignity. CounterPunch  

DNC Chair Tom Perez on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Upset Win & Obama’s Immigration Policies.  DemocracyNow  

UNRWA Does not Perpetuate the Conflict, the Conflict Perpetuates UNRWA. ... In January, without warning, Donald Trump declined to pay $305 million of his country’s $365 million commitment to UNRWA. UNRWA, the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees, remains $200 million short of the funds it needs to provide humanitarian services for five million people, including 2/3 of the population of the Gaza Strip. . CounterPunch  

After Long Career Bailing Out Big Banks, Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Now Runs Predatory Firm That Exploits the Poor for Profit. ... "Your economy, rigged to redistribute wealth to the top." ... Geithner helps manage a lucrative predatory lending outfit called Mariner Finance, which mass-mails loan checks to low-income Americans, hides exorbitant interest rates in the fine print, and quickly sues those who fail to repay the loan and interest in time.   CommonDreams  

Fundamentalism is coming for us – and women, as ever, will be first. ... Some women have never had it so good. But across the world the misogynistic dystopia of The Handmaid’s Tale is all too real.   Guardian  

Tourists go home, refugees welcome': why Barcelona chose migrants over visitors.  Guardian  

We just got a clear sign the trillion-dollar coastal property bubble could burst any time. ... Climate change hits U.S. property values, new analysis finds. ThinkProgress  

JULY 4, 2018

The Anatomy of Trumpocracy: An Interview With Noam Chomsky. ... With its spate of right-wing rulings this week, the Supreme Court has paved the way for Donald Trump and the Republican-dominated Congress to intensify their attacks on human rights, workers and the country’s democratic institutions, dragging the US deeper into the abyss.  TruthOut/Chomsky  

“It’s a Humanitarian Crisis”: Texas Lawyer Describes Chaos, Terror of Family Separation at Border.  DemocracyNow  

As the North Korean Deal Crumbles, Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Looks Worse Than Ever.  TruthOut  As the North Korean Deal Crumbles, Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Looks Worse Than Ever.  TruthOut  

No Need For Nato. ... NATO is a demonstrably useless institution. It’s largest ever active military deployment, for 12 years in Afghanistan, resulted in military defeat throughout 80% of the country, the installation of a pocket regime whose scrip does not run further than you can throw the scrip, and a vast outflow of heroin to finance the criminal underworld throughout NATO countries.  Craig Murray  

Chuck Schumer Is Already Bucking Demands to Fight for a Progressive Supreme Court. ... Under his leadership, Democrats have quickly ceded their no-holds-barred demand.  AlterNet  

Federal judge rules Detroit children have no ‘fundamental right’ to literacy. ...  (Judge) Murphy argued that impact of illiteracy does “not necessarily make access to literacy a fundamental right.” RawStory  

The College That Wants to Take Over Washington. ... Hillsdale College might be cozying up to Trump, but its acolytes are playing the long game.
 Politico  

Blinded by Darkness: Here's Why Evangelicals Are Choosing Trump Over Jesus. ... Author John identifies and lucidly explores three fundamental flaws in evangelical thinking that have led them to embrace a leader who is wholly unfit by their own once-cherished moral standards, in pursuit of ends they cannot possibly achieve — restoring 1950s America via government action.  AlterNet  

A social capitalism.  ... Our current financial system is failing. It’s time to overturn corporate capitalism and let community systems flourish in its place.  RSA  

TV news coverage linked to diminished support for Supreme Court. Journalist's Resource  

JULY 3, 2018

America the Failed State. ... Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he said, can no longer be checked.  
TruthDig/Hedges
 

Is Trump really winning? The truth about the president's popularity. ... US voters remain deeply skeptical of political polling, but Trump’s approval rating so far has been ‘incredibly stable’.  
Guardian
 

Mexico's 'Bernie Sanders' Wins in a Huge Historic Landslide With Mandate to Reshape the Nation. ... AMLO is definitely the Bernie Sanders of Mexico.  CommonDreams  

Tucson Skirts International Law in Refusing to Reinstate Mexican American Studies.  
TruthOut
 

There’s an Easy Answer to Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Won: Socialism. Intercept  

The Right Abandoned Civility a Long Time Ago
So why is it always the left that’s being told to pipe down?  The Nation  

The US and NATO Are Establishing Terrorist Bases in Europe. ... NATO and the United States, which, together, claim to be fighting some sort of amorphous “global war on terrorism,” have enabled a terrorist group to establish bases in two NATO member states.  Mint Press  

The Washington Post Really Really Hates Markets When It Means Higher Pay for Ordinary Workers.  CounterPunch  

After Warning Congresswoman 'Be Careful,' Trump Has Yet to Denounce Lynching Threats Made Against Maxine Waters. ... Highlighting attacks on Waters by the president and right-wing media, one commentator said of the death threats: "This is exactly what they wanted."  CommonDreams  

Blair and Brown Governments Gory with Torture.  Craig Miller 

JULY 2, 2018

Realize that every pressing social issue is solved through civil discourse if you ignore virtually all of human history.

Our Beef Addiction Has Contributed To Shocking New Deforestation Figures. ... Efforts to deal with the crisis are like “trying to put out a house fire with a.  HuffPost  

Deepwater Horizon disaster altered building blocks of ocean life. ...Oil spill disaster reduced biodiversity in sites closest to spill, report finds, as White House rolls back conservation measures.  Guardian  

How the Saudi-Qatari Rivalry Has Fueled the War in Syria. Intercept  

In 'Stunning Indictment', ICE Officers Call for Own Agency to Be Dissolved Amid Growing Outrage Over Immigration Policy. ... "It was never about crime. Never about MS-13. Always just about hurting less privileged people of color. All at the expense of actually protecting America."  CommonDreams

The Supreme Court, the Muslim Ban and Trump's Ugly Abyss of Racism.  TruthDig  

The Trump Administration Is Reshaping the Country Under the Guise of National Security. The Energy Sector Is Next.  Intercept.  

Azhar Ahmed – charged with treason over Facebook comments? ... Comments about the army on a Yorkshire teenager's Facebook page seem to be too much for the new 'total policing' state.
 Guardian  

White supremacist propaganda on college campuses is soaring. ... There have been nearly 300 incidents in the last academic year alone.  ThinkProgress    Related:  Far-right voices are frothing about a looming civil war. ...They apparently don't remember how well it went for them last time.  
ThinkProgress  

Was there a link between Justice Kennedy’s retirement and a $1 billion bank loan to Trump?  RawStory  

Senate Democrats urge Pence to discuss Assange with Ecuador.  NewsOK  

New House Bill Would Empower Donald Trump to Punish U.S. Companies that Boycott Israel.  Intercept  .

Rising seas: 'Florida is about to be wiped off the map'. ... Sea level rises are not some distant threat; for many Americans they are very real. In an extract from her chilling new book, Rising, Elizabeth Rush details how the US coastline will be radically transformed in the coming years.  Guardian  


 

.

.

 

JULY 13 THROUGH 19

July 19, 2018

Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election.  Intercept  

Indictment of 12 Russians: Under the Shiny Wrapping, a Political Act.  TruthDig  

Noam Chomsky on US-Russia Relations.
You Tube Video
 

A Judicial Coup, the Carceral State, and the War Against Us All. Intercept  

CLICK BAIT

Supporters Praise Trump For Upholding Traditional American Value Of Supporting Murderous Dictators For Political Gain.  
Go >
 

As An ICE Agent, The Best Part Of My Job Is Getting To Work With Children.  Go >  

ABC Criticized For Unrealistic Portrayal Of Racists Actually Facing Consequences.
 Go >  

Colin Kaepernick’s Forced Exile From the NFL Has Lasted for 500 Days.  Intercept  

The Holes in the Official Skripal Story.
Craig Murray
 

July 18, 2018

Talking Points Memo:
Thanks in part to Trump, we’re getting a really good look at what this country’s all about at the operation level. Many of these people aren’t cranks, but government officials who make life-and-death decisions in courthouses across the country every day. Here’s one of the top prosecutors in San Bernadino County going off on Maxine Waters (D-CA): “Being a loud-mouthed c#nt in the ghetto you would think someone would have shot this bitch by now.”

Chomsky on the Trump NATO Ruse.  
CounterPunch  

More Fear Than Proof of Russian Midterm Meddling - So Far.  TruthDig  

THE NRA'S AND THE RUSSIAN "OPERATIVE" -
THE ONE THEY THREW UNDER THE BUS

November 2016 - Why has the NRA been cozying up to Russia? ... The Right to Bear Arms in Moscow enjoys a close relationship with America’s leading gun-rights group.  ThinkProgress  

March 2017 - Top Trump Ally Met With Putin’s Deputy in Moscow. ... Before the NRA poured more than $30 million into Trump’s election, it met with a notorious Kremlin hardliner, allegedly to discuss a rifle competition.. Daily Beast  

Janurary 2018 - FBI investigates whether Russia banker used NRA to fund Trump campaign. ... Banker with links to Putin faces questions over whether he funneled money through NRA, amid scrutiny over gun rights group’s Russia ties.  Guardian  

May 2018 - The Very Strange Case of Two Russian Gun Lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump. ... Here’s what we uncovered about an odd pair from Moscow who cultivated the Trump campaign.  
Mother Jones   

July 17, 2018 - Russia’s Plan to Buy Off the GOP Began Before the Rise of Trump. ... Republicans placed an anti-patriot in the Oval Office—just as the Russians bet they would.  Daily Beast  

July 17, 2018 - Here are all the Republican leaders and conservative activists Maria Butina met. ... And is this the unnamed American who helped Russia infiltrate the NRA?  ThinkProgress  

Ireland’s Intellectuals Bow to the Queen of Chaos ... “It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies.” - Noam Chomsky (1967)    CounterPunch  

GOP-Controlled House Passes Bill to Eviscerate Nation's Marine Ecosystems, Fisheries. ... If the bill becomes law, it "would reverse decades of bipartisan progress towards preventing overfishing and rebuilding fish populations, harming the health of our marine ecosystems and the coastal communities who depend on them."  CommonDreams  

The Case for Obstruction. ... There’s Plenty of Evidence That Trump Sought to Block the Russia Probe, but It Will Take More Than That to Bring Him Down.
Intercept
 

Here's Why Trump Tries So Hard to Be on Putin's Good Side. ... It has nothing to do with politics.  
AlterNet
 

July 17, 2018

The War on Assange Is a War on Press Freedom.  TruthDig  

As White House Declares Summit a Success, Sanders Rips Trump-Putin Presser as 'Embarrassing Spectacle'.  CommonDreams  

Trump Knows That the US Can Exercise More Power in a UK Weakened by Brexit.  
CounterPunch  

Anthony Kennedy agreed to retire after urging Trump to pick former clerk Brett Kavanaugh: report.  RawStory 

Climate change cited as a leading national security threat around the world. ... The issue runs almost even with ISIS, while cyberattacks and the refugee crisis rank lower.  ThinkProgress  

What Trump Is Actually Doing With 'Infrastructure' Spending.  TruthDig  

America's Regime Change Toolbox. TruthDig  

The Media Never Mention the No. 1 Cause of Climate Change.  TruthDig  


Marielle Franco murder: Amnesty urges independent monitor of police inquiry. ... Amnesty says lack of progress over death of Franco in Rio in March shows ‘incompetence’ of Brazil’s criminal justice system. Guardian  

July 16, 2018

Talking Point Memo -
Guess who .... Her contempt for America, democracy and the world is no secret. The Podesta emails (released by WikiLeaks in 2016) - for example - reveal a two faced politician: a Wall Street Clinton and a Main Street Clinton. For $225,000 a speech Clinton tells the banksters the truth. And for votes she tells the American people fairytales. In her own words: “But if everybody’s watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position.”

Reading Against Fascism. ...The Marxist cultural critic Walter Benjamin once argued that every rise of fascism bears witness to a failed revolution. Benjamin was not only addressing elements of a failed political revolution, but also the failure of language, values, courage, vision and a critical consciousness.  TruthOut/Giroux  

Andrew Cuomo’s Biggest Donors Rake in Millions From ICE. Intercept  

Who Is Making Money from ICE in Your State? ... Hundreds of for-profit and nonprofit corporations have pulled in billions of dollars worth of ICE contracts in recent years. See where these ICE operations take place and where the corporations are headquartered.  ReadSludge  

Poll: Voters oppose abolishing ICE.  Politico  

The Hammonds and the Violent Origins of the Rancher Uprising in Burns, Oregon. CounterPunch  

Why Putin’s Foes Deplore U.S. Fixation on Election Meddling.  NY Times  

MSNBC Does Not Merely Permit Fabrications Against Democratic Party Critics. It Encourages and Rewards Them.  Intercept  

Law Prof. Snape on why you should take his warning that Kavanaugh is ‘Voldemort’ seriously
"He is the one who scares me the most," says the colorfully named American University law professor.  ThinkProgress   

Don't Be Afraid to Go Low — And 12 Other New Strategies for Dealing with Right-Wing Trolls
How to mess with a troll in ways they don’t expect, ways that are perfectly suited to your wits and potential repertoire -- but that you haven’t let yourself use until now.  AlterNet  

Weekend of July 13-15, 2018

Weekend Read:  It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America - by David Cay Johnston. No journalist knows Donald Trump better than David Cay Johnston, who has been following him since 1988. It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America goes inside the administration to show how the federal agencies that touch the lives of all Americans are being undermined. Here is just some of what you will learn:  Amazon  

Andrew Cuomo’s Biggest Donors Rake in Millions From ICE.  Intercept  

Former Obama Officials Are Riding Out The Trump Years By Cashing In. ... The revolving door takes a spin. HuffPost  

Concentration Camps in the U.S.: Andrea Pitzer Decries Tent Cities for Detaining Kids Without Trial.  DemocracyNow  

“The Old Order Is Disappearing”: How Progressive Grassroots Movements Are Sweeping the U.K. & U.S.  DemocracyNow  

Candidate For Keith Ellison’s Congress Seat Called Israel ‘Apartheid Regime’  Fast Forward  

U.S. Military Surveys Found Local Distrust in Niger. Then the Air Force Built a $100 Million Drone Base.  Intercept  

When Resistance Becomes Capitulation: A Response to an Open Letter in The Nation.  TruthDig  

Trump's Ever More Powerful Weapons Against Journalism TruthDig  

Media Coverage and Public Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court. T&F  

Blackwater founder Erik Prince wants to ‘rationalize and restructure’ America’s wars — and has a company to do it.  RawStory  

Prankster in chief: why I threw swastika golfballs at Donald Trump. ... He stage-invaded Kanye, gave Blatter a cash shower, and got cuffed for riling Trump. As Simon Brodkin gets his own TV show, he reveals why Scottish police are the best – and Swiss officers the worst.  Guardian  

 

 

 

JULY 20 THROUGH 31

July 31, 2018

Our 'Rentier Capitalism' Is One More Nail in Earth's Coffin. TruthDig  

Marxism 101: How Capitalism is Killing Itself with Dr. Richard Wolff. YouTube  

Conservatives Hate That the Mueller Probe Is Taking So (2015) Was Rudy Giuliani's father part of the mob? Colorful and violent family history of NYC mayor famed for his zero-tolerance approach to crime exposed in new book.  Daily Mail  

Amid Deadly Israeli Crackdown on Gaza Protests, Chomsky Says U.S. Must End Support for “Murderers”.  DemocracyNow      Related: Noam Chomsky Condemns Israel’s Shift to Far Right & New “Jewish Nation-State” Law.  DemocracyNow   Related: Israel Arrests Italian Artists Who Painted a West Bank Mural of Ahed Tamimi. Palestinian officials said Israeli border police arrested the two artists who crafted the large painting, now on display at a separation barrier in Bethlehem.  Haaretz  

A New Broadband Network Is Pitching Surveillance Enhancements to Cops Across the Country.  
Intercept
 

The Ubiquity of Evil.  Craig Murray  

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy. ... The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.  The Atlantic  

Conservatives Hate That the Mueller Probe Is Taking So Long - but Love When Investigations Into Police Brutality Drag on Forever. Intercept 

Liberal Comfort Blankets.  Craig Murray  

Harvard’s Laurence Tribe Has Become a Deranged Russia Conspiracist: Today Was His Most Humiliating Debacle.  Intercept  

Accidents at Amazon: workers left to suffer after warehouse injuries. ... Guardian investigation reveals numerous cases of Amazon workers being treated in ways that leave them homeless, unable to work or bereft of income after workplace accidents.  Guardian  

July 30, 2018

Memo: Jimmy Carter lamented the fact that under Trump the US has “lost its place as a human rights leader.” Of course, the US’s place as a human rights leader has always been eclipsed by its place as a human rights abuser.

Sorry, Bernie, We Need Radical Change.
CounterPunch  

Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party.  DemocracyNow  

Interference in US elections has been going on for years. The reason? Voter purges. ... As ever more voters are delisted, no part of the US is immune from purges – but every eligible American deserves the right to vote.  Guardian  

Giuliani, Bolton Repeatedly Met With Group Formerly Designated a Cult-Like Terror Organization.  TYT Network

The Elite Fixation With Russiagate. ... Does a broader public share this sense of crisis?  
The Nation  

Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era.  DemocracyNow  

Trump lawyer uses government action on abortion to raise cash for own group. ... Jay Sekulow, whose activist group has directed millions to his family, has telemarketers cite Planned Parenthood ‘investigation’.  Guardian  

Trump Doesn't Have the Skill to Pull Off His Most Nefarious Plots. ... Trump will go down as the most dangerously corrupt and tragically incompetent president in America’s history.  AlterNet  

Native American pipeline protesters enter plea agreements to avoid long prison terms. ... Native Americans were the only protesters targeted by federal prosecutors.  ThinkProgress  

Former Obama Officials Help Silicon Valley Pitch the Pentagon for Lucrative Defense Contracts.
 Intercept  

Weekend of July 27-29

Weekend Read: The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire - by Stephen Kinzer. ... How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat?until the cycle begins again. Review:  TruthDig  

The Resurgence of Political Authoritarianism: An Interview With Noam Chomsky.  TruthOut  

When Worse is the Enemy of Bad. ... There comes a time in the decline of an empire when–in its hubris, its arrogance–it decouples from reason and blindly blunders toward its fate in a ludicrous ugly trance of stupidity. To paraphrase Walter Cronkite–we are there.  CounterPunch  

Corporate Democrats Plan “Counterrevolution” in the Midst of Progressive Success. ThruthOut  

Defending Land and Environmental Rights Has Become an Increasingly Deadly Endeavor
Nafisa Eltahir.  Intercept     

Trump’s War on the Environment, from Attacking California Fuel Standards to Destroying Public Lands. DemocracyNow  

These six species are about to be sacrificed for the oil and gas industry. ... Republican-led changes to the Endangered Species Act put plants and animals across America at risk. Here are the ones you should be most concerned about.
 Guardian  

Seymour Hersh on America’s Capacity for Fascist Brutality.  TruthDig  

House Republicans want to impose work requirements on foster kids facing homelessness ... “This is part of an effort to punish low-income people and take away the support they need to make ends meet."   ThinkProgress  

Immigrant Parents Unwittingly Signed Away Right To Reunite With Children, Lawyers Say. ...
Some signed forms thinking they would reunite with their children. Instead, they agreed to be deported without them. HuffPost  

The Washington Post Thinks It Is a New Idea to Tell People to Worry About Mobility and Not Inequality.  CounterPunch  

How tech's richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse.  Guardian  

July 26, 2018

This ‘Fox & Friends’ segment about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is beyond parody. ... "They talk about education for your kids, health care... it was really uncomfortable."  ThinkProgress  

Migrant Children Detained in Shelters Being Drugged, Told Not to Hug, Forced to Bathe in Sinks.  DemocracyNow  

Rep. Ro Khanna’s Fight Against American Election Meddling. ... The Nation speaks with Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) on his proposed legislation to prohibit US election interference abroad.
 The Nation  

Steve Bannon to set up 'The Movement' foundation to boost far-right across Europe. ... Donald Trump's former chief strategist wants to 'spark a right-wing revolution'.  Independent  

Elections: More than Half of Americans Believe Fairy Tales are Real.   According to a new poll ... 51% of respondents agree (15% “strongly” and 36% “somewhat”) with the statement “American elections are fair and open.”.  CounterPunch 

Corporate Democrats Plan “Counterrevolution” in the Midst of Progressive Success.  TruthOut  

Reflections on Media Gone Russia-Wild.  CounterPunch  

You Can’t Vote Out Fascism… You Have to Drive It From Power!. CounterPunch  

#QANON Conspiracy Theorists Are Hunting for 'Child Sex Camps' in the Arizona Desert. ... A veteran’s charity in Arizona is hunting pedophiles in Tucson and asking the internet for help.  Motherboard/Vox  

CLICK BAIT

Timeline Of The Democratic Party.  Go >

Supporters Praise Trump For Upholding Traditional American Value Of Supporting Murderous Dictators For Political Gain.
 Go > 

As An ICE Agent, The Best Part Of My Job Is Getting To Work With Children.  Go >  

ABC Criticized For Unrealistic Portrayal Of Racists Actually Facing Consequences.
 Go >  

July 25, 2018

A Neuroscientist Explains How Trump Supporters Are Easily Hoodwinked Because of This One Psychological Problem. ... Those who score low on political knowledge tend to overestimate their expertise even more when greater emphasis is placed on political affiliation.   AlterNet  

By suing WikiLeaks, DNC could endanger principles of press freedom.  CPJ  

Violent Coup Fails in Nicaragua, U.S. Continues Regime Change Efforts  TruthDig  

Cold as Ice (or I.C.E.)  Harpers  

Koch Industries Is Staffing Up with Voter Data Scientists to Tip the November Election to the Extreme Right.  CounterPunch  

This Disgusting Scheme to Enrich Cops by Starving Prisoners May Soon Be Scuttled. ... Alabama’s sheriffs have been getting rich off of prisoners for decades thanks to pre-World War II statutory language.  AlterNet  

Trump and Sessions Don’t Realize That Republican Policies Are Behind the Explosive Growth of Violent Prison Gangs. ... Republicans who are applauding Trump and Sessions for being “tough on crime” need to take a close look at the history of prison gangs in California.  AlterNet  

Massachusetts allows school to continue with electric shocks. ... The only US facility using shocks on children with learning disabilities has fought off another legal challenge.  Guardian  

With No Evidence That #GOPTaxScam Has Benefited Most Americans, Republicans Unveil Plan to Double Down on Corporate Tax Cuts. ... "The new line from Republicans in Congress is that Americans are 'better off' because of last year's tax cut, so we have to extend it. Well, some Americans are better off—people like me who are wealthy enough to not need work—but most Americans are still struggling."  CommonDreams   Related:  Putting Common Good Over Billionaires and War Profiteers, House Progressives Introduce "People's Budget" ... The Congressional Progressive Caucus' plan "invests in our neglected infrastructure, ends the systematic inequality in our tax system by making corporations pay their fair share, and stops the rising cost of drugs."  CommonDreams  

July 24, 2018

U.S. Pushes Confrontation with Iran: Trump Warns of “Consequences,” Pompeo Likens Leaders to “Mafia”.  DemocracyNow  

Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money. Forbes   REBUFF: Behold This Disastrously Bad Op-Ed Calling for Amazon to Replace Libraries.  Gizmodo  

Trump’s Treasonous Traitor Summit or: How Liberals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the New McCarthyism.  Consent Factory  

ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy. ... Documents reveal conservative group's anti-green agenda ... Strategy to charge people who install their own solar panels ... Environmentalists accuse Alec of protecting utility firms' profits.  Guardian  

Read the transcript of the conversation among GOP leaders obtained by The Post ...The conversation provides a glimpse at the internal views of GOP leaders who now find themselves under mounting pressure over the conduct of President Trump. ... The exchange, which was obtained by The Washington Post, shows that the Republican leadership in the House privately discussed Russia's involvement in the 2016 election and Trump's relationship to Putin, but wanted to keep their concerns secret. House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: 'I think Putin pays' Trump. WaPo  

Sanders' wing of the party terrifies moderate Dems. Here's how they plan to stop it. ... Party members and fundraisers gathered for an invitation-only event to figure out how to counteract the rising progressive movement. NBC News  

Taking 'Wrecking Ball' to Endangered Species Act, Trump Administration Opens Door for Corporate Attack on Vulnerable Wildlife. ... If Interior Department's proposals are approved, "Zinke will go down in history as the extinction secretary"  CommonDreams  

Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Massive Offshore Drilling Sale in Gulf of Mexico.  TruthOut  

Reminder: Women Migrants Are Fleeing Countries The U.S. Helped Decimate. ... The violence driving people to seek shelter in the U.S. has its roots in American foreign policy. HuffPost  

Trump Aide Boasted He Was A Kremlin Adviser 3 Years Before Dossier. ... A 2013 letter unearthed by Time magazine appears to undercut GOP claims of FBI bias against the president. HuffPost  

July 23, 2018

FBI conference’s keynote speech will cover ‘Radical Left-Wing Gangs’. ... Never mind the dozens of examples of far-right violence in recent years. ThinkProgress  

House GOP Blocks Funding for Election Security  TruthDig  

Journalism in the Age of Trump: What’s Missing and What Matters. ... Has the preoccupation with the president pushed aside other urgent stories?  The Nation  

Fake, misleading social media posts exploding globally, Oxford study finds.  McClatchy  

‘This is it for you. You’re fu**ed.’: Inside Trump’s abuse of migrant kids at an old Walmart. ... From holding cells nicknamed the "hielera" or icebox, to the supposedly friendlier housing at "Casa Padre," migrant kids describe a hellscape of cruel guards, sickening food, and psychological torture.  ThinkProgress     Related: (1897) - Cold as Ice (or I.C.E.?)  Harpers  

Chaos Prevails in Immigrant Detention Centers, With Children Under 5 Still Separated From Parents. Intercept  

Salvadoran Mother Reunited with 3-Year-Old Son Says He Shows Signs of Trauma & Aggressive Behavior. DemocracyNow  

 No Liberal Rallies Yet for the Children of Yemen.  CounterPunch  

Jewish Nation-state Law Makes Discrimination in Israel Constitutional. ... The nation-state law is another step in the direction of annexing the territories, but in reverse: The territories have annexed the state.  Haaretz  

After Warning of 'Large and Painful Military Operation,' Israel Begins Massive Bombing of Gaza. ... "Israeli snipers shoot and kill scores of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza, including kids, then calls it self-defense. When a Palestinian sniper fires at one Israeli soldier, Israel bombs Gaza with F-16s and preps for all out war."  CommonDreams  

Weekend of July 20-22, 2018

Weekend Read: America: The Farewell Tour - by Chris Hedges. Hedges, the realist and no-holds-barred award winning journalist and war correspondent gives us the full antidote to Trump’s and other politicians’ fantasies and sugarcoating of what Americans are experiencing in this inverted home of the free. Hedges walks you through the reality of this “other America” blows away the insidious incense of the pontificating plutocrats and their toady oligarchs.  Amazon  

Talking Points Memo:
Will Putin respond by indicting CIA agents for hacking into Russian computer systems?

More Fear Than Proof of Russian Midterm Meddling—So Far  TruthDig  

The USA and Russia: Two Sides of the Same Criminal Corporate Coin. ... Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world. Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. - Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”. CounterPunch  

Russiagate Is Far Wider Than Trump and His Inner Circle. ... It isn’t just the story of a few corrupt officials, or even a corrupt president. It’s the story of a corrupt Republican Party.  The Nation  

Mike Pence Looms As Donald Trump’s Ultimate Poison Pill.  HuffPost  

PBS Report from Yemen: As Millions Face Starvation, American-Made Bombs Are Killing Civilians.  Democracy Now  

United States of Arms. Video  

'Absolute Ghoul' Joe Lieberman Emerges From Political Irrelevance to Urge Third Party Bid Against Ocasio-Cortez. ... "The Democratic Party has a choice: be the party of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or be the party of Joe Lieberman."  
CommonDreams  

Here's Why Mike Pence Is Worse Than Gerald Ford — And Why the Left Should Think Twice About Calling for Trump’s Impeachment
“We would be begging for days of Trump back if Pence became president," Omarosa Manigault Newman once cautioned.  AlterNet  

Think GOP Lawmakers Not Unhinged Enough to Endorse Program Called "Kinderguardians" That Puts Guns in Hands of 4-Year-Old Kids? Watch Them. ... Sacha Baron Cohen's new show is about to drop and exposed nut-job Republicans are not happy about it.  CommonDreams  

Red Fawn Fallis and the Felony of Being Attacked by Cops.  CounterPunch  

Kavanaugh Scorns International Law and Loves Executive Power.  Intercept  

Walmart Patents "Big Brother-Style" Surveillance Technology to Eavesdrop on Workers' Conversations. ... One labor expert warns "there's a lot of potential for misuse," where a supervisor might determine, "as a cashier you're too friendly, you're talking too much, and therefore not moving people along, so let's penalize you."  CommonDreams  

The Media Never Mention the No. 1 Cause of Climate Change. TruthDig  

 

 

 
-
.