It includes statements from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA boss Keith Alexander, Senate Intelligence boss Senator Dianne Feinstein and President Barack Obama -- all stating false claims about NSA surveillance publicly. It then shows how those statements were false. We've said it before but as these very same officials now are trying to assure us there's nothing wrong with the program, given their past lies, how can we take them seriously?
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The cocaine presidents
Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II
Israeli mob celebrates savage beating of Palestinian man, shouts racist slogans
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Black Friday: A History of Violence
Last week, America observed a new and disturbing Thanksgiving tradition: In preparation for Black Friday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued safety guidelines for stores in the hope that this year no one will be bruised or maimed while trying to get their hands on a slightly discounted Elmo doll. OSHA has been sending out its tips for crowd management since 2008
The team at dealnews wants to help you get the best possible price for what you want to buy, and to keep you from getting hoodwinked while you're shopping. While they can't tell you how to score a better parking space at your local mall, they canhelp you strengthen your shopping strategy this year by dispelling some common Black Friday myths. Don't fall victim to the 14 falsehoods below!
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Israel has just suffered a historic defeat. One only had to watch the international news coverage.
istory, it is said, arrives first as tragedy, then as farce. First as Karl Marx, then as the Marx Brothers. In the case of twenty-first century America, history arrived first as George W. Bush (and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith and the Project for a New America -- a shadow government masquerading as a think tank -- and an assorted crew of ambitious neocons and neo-pundits); only later did David Petraeus make it onto the scene.
s the six members of the billionaire Walton Family -- heirs to the Walmart superchain -- prepare to sit down to a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner with their families, the holiday will be very different for the 1.4 million Walmart associates who work for them. For the second year, Walmart is planning to put profits before its workers by beginning its Black Friday sales at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and forcing its workers -- many of whom are part-time -- to abandon quality time with their own families during a cherished American holiday.
This Holiday, Give Thanks and Get Real (About Our Food!)
all is about food. Approaching Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, copious food-rich words are written before we all sit down with loved ones to celebrate food abundance. But in this fall food season, what do we most need to know about food for all seasons?
Fox News prepares viewers for the terrifying war on Christmas
The war on the war on Christmas is starting early this year over at Fox News, where hosts across the network’s programs spent Thanksgiving week decrying the secularization of the holiday season.
Israel’s War On Gaza: 161 Killed, 1222 Wounded
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of 161 citizens and wounded 1222 others, medical sources said on November 21, 2012, revealed the Palestinian Information Center. http://www.countercurrents.org/cc221112.htm
The International Responsibility For Justice In Occupied Palestine
The conflict in Gaza may have come to an inauspicious end last night following a ceasefire agreement, but there is little reason to rejoice for the Palestinian people. Although a ground assault of the Gaza Strip was narrowly avoided, still well over 1,500 air strikes by F-16 fighter jets, Apache helicopters and drones have further devastated the impoverished territory, leaving more than 140 Palestinians dead - mostly civilians, including at least 34 children - while five Israelis also died. http://www.countercurrents.org/parsons221112.htm
Thanksgiving at Walmart: Strikers Plan a Nationwide Celebration for Black Friday
As usual, Walmart, the world's largest and most profitable retailer, has big plans for Black Friday. In an effort to attract the lion's share of Black Friday shoppers Walmart is planning to roll out even more low, Low, LOW! prices than usual. The secret to Walmart's staggering success is volume . Walmart can afford to sell its merchandise at a steeper discount than any other store because Walmart deals in much greater volume than any other retailer. Droves of shoppers pack Walmart stores in every corner of the globe because shoppers know that they are going to find more and bigger bargains at Walmart than at any other store.
Sales goals and a company's bottom line go hand in hand. In a down economy making sales can be more challenging than in an up economy, but it is still possible to meet and even exceed your goals without having to throw the company under the bus. Expertise, equipment, and time are valuable commodities in any economy and in any geographical location. When you waive or discount ancillary or other fees you might think you're doing the customer and yourself a favor, but the reality is you are doing both of you and the company a disservice.
Wall Street Finds a "Third Way" to Plunder Our Wealth
Gotta hand it to 'em: Those Wall Street guys are smart. They've already found two ways to plunder the nation's wealth for their own enrichment, and now they're working on a third.
Black Friday Creep Costs Retail Workers Their Thanksgiving
About one-quarter of all Black Friday shoppers were in the stores at or before midnight last year, compared with just 3 percent in 2009, according to Ellen Davis, vice president at the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group. Echoing retailers themselves, Davis said many companies are opening earlier out of fear of losing ground to competitors.
'Tis the Season to Be Stressed: A Survival Guide The holiday season is upon us -- a time to lovingly connect with family, to relax, recharge and emerge happy, content and revitalized. Just kidding. In fact, of course, it's usually the complete opposite. But why is that? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/holiday-stress_b_2171473.html Why You Shouldn't Shop at Walmart on Friday
Today, America's largest employer is Walmart, whose average employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart's employees work less than 28 hours per week and don't qualify for benefits.
Retailers this year are upping the ante in the game they started in 2011 and plan to open even earlier on Thursday night -- some as early as 8 p.m. -- to get a jump on their competitors.
It's typical to preface a Techdirt article, for me at least, by backtracking to a bunch of articles on related subject matter. I'm not going to do that with another piece on the TSA. Not because there isn't enough material to choose from. Oh no, there's simply too much of it, so if you want to see insanity in its most naked form (this statement assumes you don't live next to Gary Busey), just click here and you won't be disappointed. That said, even those outraged by the pure idiocy of the TSA's post 9/11 production of security theater will normally decry it as a massive waste of money or a gross encroachment on civil liberty. And they're right on both counts. Still, the more striking fact should be that the TSA, an agency with the mission of keeping us alive, is causing death.
This Black Friday Fight ‘Always Low Wages’ At Walmart And Other Big Box Stores These big box stores work on the straightforward business model of destroying their competition by doing everything they can to keep prices as low as possible. Characteristics like providing good customer service, selling quality products that last, and treating one’s workers well are all sacrificed at these big box stores in the name of trying to drive prices down. And while the proliferation of this strategy may have helped increase access to basic products for people living in or near poverty, the impact of the spread of big box stores on wages, economic inequality, local economies, the environment, and society as a whole has been disastrous. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/21/this-black-friday-fight-always-low-wages-at-walmart-and-other-big-box-stores-video/ Feds Won’t Stop Walmart Black Friday Strike, Walmart Threatens Firings
Walmart workers are gearing up for what could be a historic Thanksgiving/Black Friday strike. Nationwide Walmart protests over the last month have worried the retail giant enough to prompt its first complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a decade. However, the NLRB indicated Tuesday that it won’t move on Walmart’s complaints in time enough to stop the Black Friday Strike.
The “Black Friday” protests at WalMart A series of pickets and other protests are scheduled throughout the US against the giant retailer WalMart for “Black Friday”—the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. OUR WalMart (Organization United for Respect at WalMart), launched by the United Food and Commercial Workers last year, is behind the protests, along with a coalition of unions, liberal organizations and church groups.
Whether you are for or against what the 99% stand for, you must (as an American) support the freedom of assembly and speech.At Reddit's Occupy 2.0, THE DISSENTING HERETIC is documenting this new phase of #OccupyWallSt.Join us.
Let's Have More Political Parties
With well over 200 years of experience using our first-past-the-goal-post system of elections we surely can now judge whether it works as we would hope. There is a wide body of opinion that is dissatisfied with our system, though that opinion is is far from universal. In particular, the small but powerful class of Republican and Democratic office holders support the current system but then again they know what to expect with it and it works well for them, electing them to well-paid powerful positions again and again.
In the immediacy of mass protest and non-violent civil disobedience, how can one differentiate between the disruptive violence of Black Bloc anarchists and the disruptive violence of undercover police agent provocateurs?
Occupy is now a year old. A year is an almost ridiculous measure of time for much of what matters: at one year old, Georgia O’Keeffe was not a great painter, and Bessie Smith wasn’t much of a singer. One year into the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was still in progress, catalyzed by the unknown secretary of the local NAACP chapter and a preacher from Atlanta -- by, that is, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. Occupy, our bouncing baby, was born with such struggle and joy a year ago, and here we are, 12 long months later.
#S17 Commemorates First Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street Movement
Taking advantage of the one year anniversary of the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement in lower Manhattan, economic justice advocates take to the streets today under the banner of #S17.
A good many observers wonder, is Occupy over? After all, the encampments that announced the movement a year ago have largely disappeared, and no obviously similar protestdemonstrations of young people have taken their place, at least not in the United States.
Average citizens evaluate political organizations based on how those organizations actually function. They know a political organization is a microcosm of the society it wishes to create. So after ten months of heavy involvement in Occupy, I have this question for Occupiers: would you honestly want to live in a society that is organized like Occupy and functions like Occupy? Do you want a society that claims to be "leaderless" while its true leaders remain hidden and unelected? Do you want a society with no written rules? Do you really expect the general public to support an organization that would extend this model to the rest of society?
Arrests Near Stock Exchange Top 150 on Occupy Wall St. Anniversary
More than 150 people were arrested on Monday as protesters tried to block access to the New York Stock Exchange on the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Celebrating the campaign of the National Nurses United union to win support for a “Robin Hood Tax” on every trade to fund social services and rebuild communities, the platform argued that: “Democrats should make this common-sense levy central to their agenda, part of a long-term vision for moving America from a Wall Street–driven casino capitalism to a Main Street–focused caring, clean and green economics.”
The U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign today applauded the introduction in Congress of a bill that would impose a tax on Wall Street speculation. Introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison, HR 6411, the Inclusive Prosperity Act, would raise up to $350 billion in annual revenues that would be used to breathe new life into Main Street communities across America, as well as international health, sustainable prosperity and environmental programs.
The futility of diverting public funds into the hands of profitseekers has been well-documented. Here are a few of the gathering curses of privatization.
How Arab Spring turned into protests and 'Death to America!'
An outbreak of violence in Afghanistan this weekend was testament to a clear trend: In Muslim countries now enjoying more political freedom, anti-American anger is coming to the surface.
Religious belief systems are one of the most powerful emotional drivers in humanity today. Depending on specific belief system, which book is taken as holy, which god or gods are worshiped, and the seriousness with which the believer takes their faith, the beliefs of the religious are held as a very personal thing; on par with the perceived identity of the believer in terms of the way it is treated.
Today marks the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests, and activists intend to mark the milestone by holding a new round of demonstrations. Dozens have already been arrested, even before the main protests began.
According to a new report by the Congressional Research Service, cutting taxes for the wealthiest does not cause economic growth, despite constant conservative claims that it will.
hen we consider the future effects of climate change in the United States, we sometimes think super-hurricanes, intense wildfires and a cinematic dystopia featuring robotic Haley Joel Osment racing around flooded Manhattan. However, we may want to put the scuba-lessons aside and consider a lesser-known threat from rising temperatures and erratic weather. Experts note that climate change may also be impacting certain environmentally sensitive diseases, and not in a way that will have us breathing easier.
The gleaming poster girl smile to go with the gleaming poster girl products and the whitewashed perfect teeth to match the whitewashed perfect lies. In a world of broken-tooth smiles and deadbeat reality, the advertising industry knows that selling a half-baked dream of ‘happiness through hedonism’ to the masses is not too hard to achieve. And that dream-world comprises products designed for obsolescence in a use and throw culture in a use and throw world of expendable countries with expendable populations that sit on top of oil and the various other mineral resources required to swell corporate coffers and keep consumerism afloat.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls "for the US to establish a firm "red line" that Iran's nuclear program can't cross without risking a military response," and the West is marched ever closer to war with the Islamic Republic based on tired and repeated lies, three important points must be kept in mind.
Overzealous NYPD: Man Arrested at Zuccotti for Yelling; Code Pink Codirector Arrested for Throwing a Bra
Recently, it appears the NYPD is getting even more voracious in their policing, with increasing examples of arrests over absurd and unclear violations. Today at Zuccotti Park, where protesters are commemorating the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, there's already been at least one arrest under confused pretenses, when a man was hauled in, apparently, for yelling.
In January I sued President Barack Obama over Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorized the military to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely, strip them of due process and hold them in military facilities, including offshore penal colonies. Last week, round one in the battle to strike down the onerous provision, one that saw me joined by six other plaintiffs including Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg, ended in an unqualified victory for the public. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, who accepted every one of our challenges to the law, made her temporary injunction of the section permanent. In short, she declared the law unconstitutional.
Judge Declines to Hear Rahm's "Vindictive" Restraining Order Against Striking Teachers
Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago School Board attempted to halt the teacher's strike via a restraining order, but the judge on the case refused to hear their argument today, saying a hearing date may be set for Wednesday.
ccupy is now a year old. A year is an almost ridiculous measure of time for much of what matters: at one year old, Georgia O'Keeffe was not a great painter, and Bessie Smith wasn't much of a singer. One year into the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was still in progress, catalyzed by the unknown secretary of the local NAACP chapter and a preacher from Atlanta -- by, that is, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. Occupy, our bouncing baby, was born with such struggle and joy a year ago, and here we are, 12 long months later.
George Knapp was joined by former senior executive of the NSA, Thomas Drake (relatedarticle), who discussed his decision to blow the whistle on the agency's Trailblazer Project and illegal spying operations, which led to his being charged under the Espionage Act.
The most unpopular and least productive congress in recent history is the 112th. And what makes it different from others is the fact that it is the first Congress that won its Republican majority in 2010, with more than 80 members of the Tea Party.
The House and Senate will work just a few days this week then leave town until after the November election, abandoning work on legislation that's needed to avert looming tax hikes and more than $1 trillion in mandatory federal spending cuts so they can spend their days campaigning for re-election.
There are two groups who suffer most from this lack of interest. One is women. Over the past 15 years, the number of female prisoners has more than doubled, and more than 10,000 women are now sent to jail every year. The five-part investigation which begins in The Independent today explains why, and also offers some ideas of what might be done to improve the situation.
Children in peril as women are jailed in record numbers [U.K.]
The number of women in prisons has more than doubled in 15 years, with 17,240 children separated from mothers who are in jail, an investigation by The Independent shows today.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/31-2
