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ALL ARTICLES, Gun Cult April 19, 2018

Dick’s Sporting Goods Is Destroying Its Stock Of Unsold Assault-Style Rifles

By Dominique Mosbergen & Nick Wing The HuffPost (4/17/18) Dick’s Sporting Goods won’t be returning their unsold assault-style rifles to manufacturers. Instead, the company says it’s chosen to destroy all of them. Dick’s announced in February ― following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida ― that it would stop selling assault-style rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines in all of its Field & Stream stores, where these items had been sold by the large sports retailer. The company also announced that it would no longer sell guns to people under the age of 21 at any of its stores. A company…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor April 19, 2018

Russia Monitor: Trumputin’s Fixer & Redefining ‘Normal’ In America

“And people wonder why Putin is “popular” with total control of Russian politics, civil society, and the media? One year of Trump & one cable channel and half the GOP happily attacks the FBI!” — Garry Kasparov, April 18 tweet By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (4/19/18) Dear Fellow Readers, Before we jump into the most important Trump-Russia news of the cycle, we’ll lead with a conclusion. It has long been clear that the simplest case to be made against Trump is criminality of his business dealings over decades. So what is the biggest Trump-Russia topic over the last few…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan April 19, 2018

Colbert’s Interview With James Comey

“I’m like a break-up he can’t get over.” The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (4/17/18) Watch Stephen Colbert’s full unedited interview with former FBI Director and ‘A Higher Loyalty’ author James Comey. Link to 32-Minute Video ***** James Comey To ‘Fresh Air’: The FBI Isn’t ‘On Anybody’s Side’ By Terry Gross Fresh Air (4/17/18) It’s been almost a year since since James Comey first learned that President Trump had fired him. The former FBI director was in Los Angeles visiting the field office for a diversity event when a ticker announcing his ouster scrolled across the bottom of a TV…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses April 19, 2018

Did Minnesota Public Radio Give Garrison Keillor’s Bad Behavior A Free Pass?

By Laura Yuen & Euan Kerr MPR (4/18/18) On Nov. 2, Jon McTaggart, the CEO of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media Group, posted an all-staff memo expressing his disgust and outrage over reports of an NPR news executive who sexually harassed women. The news of how NPR handled the allegations in Washington — a process that NPR’s top official admitted was slower and less forceful than it should have been — had rattled some of McTaggart’s employees in St. Paul. “I can tell you how the APM Group would address this kind of situation,” McTaggart wrote in the memo. “I…

ALL ARTICLES April 19, 2018

Anonymous Republican Congress Critter On Trump: ‘Impeach The Motherf*cker’

Some of the juiciest political quotes, EVER! (Potty language alert.) The Young Turks (4/11/18) The unnamed Republican congressman also said Trump was, “like an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump.” Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, discuss. Link to 9+-Minute Video ***** Breitbart Leaks Audio Of Paul Ryan Trashing Trump (Editor’s Note: This video is a year old but worth a re-run. Of course, once Trump won, little Lyin’ Ryan the invertebrate climbed right into Trump’s boxer shorts. — Mark L. Taylor, Editor) The Young Turks (4/14/17) Why is Breitbart going after Paul Ryan? Cenk Uygur,…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses April 19, 2018

This Episode Of ”The Empire Files” Has Been Blocked In 28 Countries: Max Blumenthal On Palestine’s Rebellion, Israel’s Brutal Fascism

The Empire Files (11/13/15) Abby Martin interviews journalist and author Max Blumenthal on the current situation in Palestine and the Israeli occupation. This episode covers what is behind today’s rebellion, the rising dominance of far-right, ultra-racist ideology in Israel, eye-witness accounts of the aftermath of the Gaza war, and the Israeli government’s fear of Palestinian resistance. Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times Best Seller “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel”, and the recently-published “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.” Link to 28-Minute Video

ALL ARTICLES, Your Brain On Politics April 19, 2018

‘Connection-Speech’ — I Was A Liberal At Fox News. Here’s What That Taught Me About Communicating With Right Wing Folks

Connection-speech offers a ray of hope in the dark storm cloud that is internet vitriol, and vitriol in general. Because the fact is, we all say we don’t like this crap. By Sally Kohn TIME (4/10/18) It may seem surprising for a liberal commentator like myself, but from 2010 to 2013, I worked in the most prominent den of American conservatism: Fox News. During my time at the network I came to realize how condescending I’d been in my views about not only the people who worked at Fox News but the people watching at home. And condescension is just…

ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Your Brain On Politics April 16, 2018

WisDems May Be On The Verge Of (Once Again) Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

By Scott Wittkopf Frame For The Future (4/11/18) After the election of Rebecca Dallett to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin kicked its messaging machine into high gear. They had a very focused message – the “blue wave” is inevitable. Dallett’s win can be contributed to a number of factors – most of which had a lot to do with the candidate herself, and the campaign she ran. Another important aspect was the fact that her opponent was weak, and fell back on a very ineffective style of campaign – just attack your opponent. Now,…

ALL ARTICLES April 16, 2018

NY Gov Race Candidate Cynthia Nixon Takes Aim At ‘Corporate Democrats’ At Gathering For Progressive Candidates

By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams (4/13/18) Addressing hundreds of “fellow progressives” on Friday, New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon decried soaring inequality, admonished corporate Democrats, and said it was necessary to “turn the system upside down.” Nixon, who announced her challenge to New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month, was speaking to several hundred Democratic candidates who were attending a training session in Washington, D.C. convened by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and OurRevolution. About 70 percent of the 450 conference attendees are actively running in 2018, ABC News reports. What joined those gathered, the actress and activist said, is…

ALL ARTICLES, Paul Ryan April 16, 2018

The Young Turks: The Real Reason Paul Ryan Is Retiring & It Had Nothing To Do With Spending More Time With His Kids

The Young Turks (4/12/18) “US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan will not run for re-election this year, in a big blow to Republicans with mid-term elections looming. Congress’ most powerful lawmaker said he would not stand for another term in his Wisconsin district this November. Republicans already face a tough challenge from Democrats to keep control of the lower chamber. Mr Ryan joins nearly 30 House Republicans who have announced this year they are retiring outright. Democrats need 23 seats to take over the House. In a Wednesday morning news conference, Mr Ryan said the decision was family-related. “You…

ALL ARTICLES April 16, 2018

Syrian Researcher: Focus On Alleged Chemical Attack Ignores War’s Ongoing Deaths By Conventional Airstrikes, Bullets

Democracy Now! (4/13/18) As the United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session over the growing prospect of a war between Russia and the U.S., after President Trump threatened U.S. strikes in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, we get response from Syrian-Canadian writer Yazan al-Saadi. “Let’s remind everyone that the U.S. is striking Syria already. You have more than 2,000 soldiers on the ground. There are bases.” He adds, “For me, as a Syrian, I see it as an occupation, just like how I see the Russians are an occupation on the country.” Regarding the…

ALL ARTICLES, Economic Injustice April 16, 2018

Author Corey Robin: Striking Teachers Are “Real Resistance” To “Incoherent” Republicans And “Gutted” Dems

Democracy Now! (4/12/18) In the continuing teachers’ rebellion sweeping the U.S., dozens of Oklahoma teachers have completed a 7-day, 110-mile march from Tulsa to the state capital Oklahoma City. Public schools across Tulsa and Oklahoma City remain closed as thousands of teachers continue their strike for education funding into a ninth day. The strike comes as the Supreme Court is considering Janus v. AFSCME, a case that could deal a massive blow to public unions nationwide—and as President Trump is successfully appointing right-wing judges to federal courts, reshaping the judiciary for decades to come. We continue our conversation with Corey…

ALL ARTICLES, You Can't Say That. Oh, Yes I Can! April 16, 2018

You Can’t Say That. Oh, Yes I Can!

The rising tide of national protest and opposition has brought forth a lot of creative humor, satire and other forms of protest. Some of that is to be found on protest signs created by fellow citizens speaking truth to power. In our new original cartoon feature — “You Can’t Say That! Oh, Yes I Can!” — The Commoner Call will feature some of that handheld wisdom. If you see a particularly good protest sign send it along for consideration. Pass this invitation to your contacts. And maybe take some of this good signage to your next local protest. — Mark L. Taylor,…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor April 16, 2018

Russia Monitor: From Bombings To Trump’s Booby Trap Lawyer — A Pivotal Week

“We don’t know the precise path the next few months will take. There will be resistance and denial and counterattacks. But it seems likely that, when we look back on this week, we will see it as a turning point. We are now in the end stages of the Trump Presidency.” — Adam Davidson writing for The New Yorker. By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (4/16/18) Dear Fellow Readers, It’s not possible to walk past the U.S., U.K., France strike against Syria without comment. We will look at this from a Trump-Putin perspective to stay within guardrails. Friday…

ALL ARTICLES, Resist! April 16, 2018

Russian Dissident Garry Kasparov’s Warning About Foreign Dictators Has A Message We Need To Heed Here

“It’s a tragedy that the free world always refuses to learn from past mistakes where dictators and would-be dictators are concerned. “The autocrats, in contrast, are eager students of their predecessors. The make careful study of how to gradually remove rights without allowing rebellion, how to crush dissent and hold sham elections while keeping favorable travel and trade status in the West, and how to talk peace while waging war. The motives of dictators vary, it is true — communism, fascism, conquest, larceny – but the drive for total control never changes and their methods are painfully repetitive. In contrast,…

ALL ARTICLES, M. Taylor Columns, Media Hits & Misses April 16, 2018

Public Radio Show ‘MarketPlace’ Badly Bungles Postal Service Story

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (4/16/18) The Friday (4/13) broadcast of the public radio show “MarketPlace” included a report on the current controversy about the rates charged by the United States Postal Service for delivering Amazon orders. In a backhanded attack on the Washington Post for its excellent reporting on the Trump-Russia scandal, Donald Trump has been attacking Amazon for taking advantage of lower USPS rates. Both Amazon and the Washington Post are owned by many-multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos. Putting aside the Amazon issue, what I found troubling about the MarketPlace report was that it completely blew past the primary…

ALL ARTICLES, Health Care April 16, 2018

Spreading ‘Like Wildfire’: Majority Of Americans—Including 74% Of Democrats—Now Support Single-Payer

By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (4/12/18) “Five years ago, could you have believed that half of Americans would agree we need a single-payer healthcare system?” That’s how Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—a longtime advocate of guaranteeing healthcare for all Americans—responded to a new poll that found that 74 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of all adults surveyed support implementing a single-payerhealthcare system in the United States. “When people see the justice of an idea, it spreads like wildfire,” Sanders tweeted Thursday morning. “The American people know that healthcare should be a right.” The Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll asked: “Do you support or oppose having a…

ALL ARTICLES, Paul Ryan April 12, 2018

Ryan’s Real Legacy: Trumputin & The Enabling Russpublicans

He could have stood up to Trump. He chose not to. By Matt Fuller The HuffPost (4/11/18) WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Wednesday that he would not seek re-election in November, prompting the normal convulsions of Washington praise for Ryan and his “legacy.” President Donald Trump tweeted that no one could question Ryan’s “legacy of achievement,” and Ryan himself said he was proud of all the things he had accomplished as speaker, namely the tax cuts he helped push through last year and the big increases to military spending he oversaw last month. But aside from a…

ALL ARTICLES, Economic Injustice, Paul Ryan April 12, 2018

SURPRISE! New Analysis Of The Paul Ryan / GOP Tax Scam Shows “Corporate Cheapskates” Hoarding The Windfall From Workers

By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (4/10/18) Bolstering poll results and expert analysis indicating that the tax plan Republicans forced through Congress last year is primarily benefiting big businesses and wealthy Americans, a new report finds very few corporations are raising workers’ wages or giving them bonuses, despite receiving billions of dollars in tax cuts. As President Donald Trump signed the tax plan into law just before the New Year, he proclaimed, “Corporations are literally going wild over this, I think even beyond my expectations,” just moments after touting the legislation as “a bill for the middle class.” But while corporations are getting about $60.8 billion in tax cuts,…

ALL ARTICLES, Paul Ryan, Randy Bryce April 12, 2018

With Lyin’ Ryan Gone, Race Opens For Randy Bryce, The ‘Iron Stache’

Randy ‘Iron Stache’ Bryce: A Democrat who stands for workers & their families. By Tim Murphy Mother Jones (December 2017) Randy Bryce was looking for another hit. On a weekday afternoon in August, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Wisconsin’s 1st District sat at his kitchen table, staring into the camera lens of his laptop. Bryce is a union ironworker when he is not running for office, and he was surrounded by traces of his craft. Four pairs of heavy high-topped work boots were scattered across the cluttered apartment he shares with his 11-year-old son on the second floor of…

ALL ARTICLES April 12, 2018

World’s First Failed Rich State: Completely Underestimating The Extent & Pace Of American Collapse

“Seen accurately. American collapse is a catastrophe of human possibility without modern parallel.” By Umair Haque Eudiamonia (1/25/18) You might say, having read some of my recent essays, “Umair! Don’t worry! Everything will be fine! It’s not that bad!” I would look at you politely, and then say gently, “To tell you the truth, I don’t think we’re taking collapse nearly seriously enough.” Why? When we take a hard look at US collapse, we see a number of social pathologies on the rise. Not just any kind. Not even troubling, worrying, and dangerous ones. But strange and bizarre ones. Unique…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Your Brain On Politics April 12, 2018

Trump Is Still The Most Unpopular President Since Polls Have Been Kept; But It May Not Matter In 2018 Or 2020

By John Atcheson Common Dreams (4/7/18) Trump recently bragged that his approval ratings were higher than “Cheatin Obama” at this point in his Presidency. As it turns out, only Rasmussen – a right wing polling organization that has consistently put Trump’s approval ratings above those of other polling organizations – had Trump approaching a 50 percent approval. The rest put him somewhere well below that, with two placing his rating below 40 percent. As a Party, the democrats are completely devoid of a set of coherent policies based on values. But to anyone who navigates through the world using facts, reason, and critical…

ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, M. Taylor Columns, Trumpenstan April 12, 2018

A Whole New Meaning For Trumputin’s MAGA

Okay — yes, yes — I know, Trumputin’s personal attorney and shady fixer Michael Cohen didn’t get arrested by the feds. He just had his home, office and hotel room raided by the FBI, sparking a Twitter meltdown by Donald “The Don” Trumputin. Just another ho-hum day in Trumplandia. But I just couldn’t help putting a comment from a reader on The Young Turks website to work in a cartoon: “M.A.G.A …..My attorney got Arrested.” So, yeah, Cohen hasn’t gotten arrested … yet. Hell, the week isn’t even done. A news item came out Wednesday that Justice Department special counsel Robert…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor April 12, 2018

Russia Monitor: Trumputin’s Lawyer On The Griddle As Former FBI Director Comey Hits The Book Promotion Circuit

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (4/2/18) Dear Fellow Readers, Former MI6, head of Russia desk, author of the Steele dossier, Christopher Steele offered the case that Trump was susceptible to blackmail over his sexual exploits. For some weeks now it seems we’ve been watching confirmation, not in Moscow, but in the lead-up to the U.S. election with what we continue to learn about porn star Stormy Daniels, former Playmate Karen McDougal and the Access Hollywood “I grab her by the pussy” video. Given all the threads of Trump-Russia and the investigations of special counsel Robert Mueller this might…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses April 12, 2018

Sinclair TV Network Chairman Met With Trump During White House Visit

‘We are here to deliver your message. Period.’ By John Swaine The Guardian (4/10/18) The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met Donald Trump at the White House during a visit to pitch a potentially lucrative new product to administration officials, the Guardian has learned. David D Smith, whose company has been criticised for making its anchors read a script echoing Trump’s attacks on the media, said he briefed officials last year on a system that would enable authorities to broadcast direct to any American’s phone. “I just wanted them to be aware of the technology,” Smith said in an interview. He also recalled an…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses, Surveillance State April 12, 2018

Surveillance Capitalism: Google’s File On You Is 10 Times Bigger Than Facebook’s — Here’s How to View It

By Jake Anderson AntiMedia (4/9/18) (ANTIMEDIA) — With all the attention paid to Facebook in recent weeks over ‘data breaches’ and privacy violations (even though what happened with Cambridge Analytica is part of their standard business model), it’s easy to forget that there are four other Big Tech corporations collecting just as much — if not more — of our personal info. Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook. Curious about just how much of his data Google had, web…

ALL ARTICLES April 12, 2018

Mike Pompeo Could Be Defeated If Senate Democrats Decide To Stand For What Is Right & Fight

By Ryan Grim The Intercept (4/11/18) DEMOCRATIC ACTIVISTS AROUND the country have become energized by the nomination of Mike Pompeo as the new secretary of state, kicking off a bout of organizing around foreign policy that has little precedent outside the lead-up to an imminent invasion. The question now is whether that enthusiasm will transfer to Senate Democrats themselves, or whether they will usher him through as they did in January 2017 when he was confirmed as CIA director. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted to confirm Pompeo last year. Pompeo, a committed Islamophobe and war hawk, has galvanized opposition particularly for…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change April 12, 2018

Concerns Of ‘Catastrophic Collapse’ Grow As Gulf Stream Weaker Than It’s Been In 1,600 Years

By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (4/11/18) New research published Wednesday in the journal Nature raises alarm about how global warming is impacting the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf Stream System, and how weakening ocean currents could influence extreme weather in Western Europe and sea level rise along North America’s East Coast. Although the two studies draw different conclusions about timing and causation, researchers agree that the system of ocean currents called Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has notably weakened in recent decades. This key takeaway, as Damian Carrington at the Guardian notes, throws into question “previous predictions that a catastrophic collapse of the Gulf Stream…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change, War State America April 12, 2018

Don’t Sweat The Apocalypse: A Tour of Fun, Amenities-Stuffed Bunkers For The 1% In The Middle of Kansas

“A ‘Wow experience’ — Winner of multiple industry awards.” By Daisy Luther The Organic Prepper It’s time for another episode of Doomsday Bunkers of the Rich and Famous. You can find the last article about a doomsday neighborhood in Germany right here. This time, we’ll travel a bit closer to home – right in the middle of…Kansas. In the small town of Glasco, Kansas, population 473, lies the ultimate in luxury bunker destinations: Survival Condos. Basically, they prep for you and you only have to learn some stuff. So, if you’re curious about how the other half intends to ride out the…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, FEATURE April 9, 2018

The Dem Party Establishment’s Long, Ugly History Of Sabotaging Progressives Candidates

By Branko Marcetic In These Times (4/5/18 – May issue) In February, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) attempted to undermine Democratic primary candidate Laura Moser out of fear she’s too far left. The Houston journalist and activist is running in Texas’s 7th District on a platform of single payer, gun control and reproductive rights. In a move typically reserved for Republican opponents, the DCCC—whose mission is to fundraise for Democratic House candidates—posted opposition research it had conducted on Moser. Citing her recent move to Texas from Washington, D.C., and her campaign’s payments to her husband’s D.C. research firm, the memo portrayed her as corrupt…

ALL ARTICLES, Resist! April 9, 2018

AUDIO: Parkland Activist Emma Gonzalez & The Future Of #NeverAgain

Illustration by Seth L. Taylor, 2018. The New Yorker Radio Hour (4/6/18) Emma González is a survivor of the Parkland school shooting and a leader of the #NeverAgain movement. She talks with David Remnick about the ways her life has changed since the attack, and why activism comes naturally to the teen-agers spearheading this new push for gun control. Link to 16-Minute Audio

ALL ARTICLES April 9, 2018

Republican Multi-Millionaire Mass Murderer For Senate – Have We Hit Bottom Yet?

By William Boardman Reader Supported News (4/7/18) Donald Leon “Don” Blankenship isn’t just another typical rich, white, tall, 68-year-old Republican multi-millionaire ideologue serving out the last probationary year of his federal criminal sentence in Las Vegas while running for the US Senate in West Virginia, he’s also an endlessly, self-righteously self-justifying mass murderer. Don Blankenship isn’t your typical extermination-camp-type mass murderer, he’s a lifelong coal executive. Mostly his activities kill people slowly, in their natural habitat, or what used to be a natural habitat before coal mining started destroying mountains, rivers, aquifers, and other life-sustaining ecosystems. None of this is much…

ALL ARTICLES April 9, 2018

Tuesday Webinar To Reclaim Our Govt. From Big Money Interests: Pledge To Amend

“Will you Pledge to Amend?” In this election year, that’s the question we’ll be asking candidates up and down the ballot. We need YOU to “bird dog” [search out and pursue with dogged determination] for the Pledge to Amend Campaign! We need YOU to ask that question–again and again and again — and let us know how the candidates respond… Join our webinar Tuesday, April 10, to learn how – RSVP here! Whether it passes directly through Congress or through an Article V Convention of the States, we need state and federal legislators in place who support the We the People Amendment. Our plan remains the same: Pass our amendment by…

ALL ARTICLES, Documentaries April 9, 2018

Kleptocracy Inc. — Checking Into Trump’s Washington DC Hotel

Kleptocracy, a heart-shaped diamond and a quarter-billion dollar yacht named ‘Equanimity’. Reveal / The Center For Investigative Reporting (4/7/18) In 2016, the Justice Department alleged that Malaysian officials stole billions of dollars from their people and funneled some of it through the United States. Reveal teamed up with Washington D.C.’s public radio station, WAMU, to dig into one of the largest investigations ever by the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. It’s a tale that features cameos from Leonardo DiCaprio, Donald Trump, the world’s largest yacht, a Malaysian playboy known for his lavish spending in New York nightclubs, and –…

ALL ARTICLES, You Can't Say That. Oh, Yes I Can! April 9, 2018

You Can’t Say That! Oh, Yes I Can!

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor, Weasel Walker April 9, 2018

Russia Monitor: Sanctions & Scotty Walker’s Campaign Financing T’rubles

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (4/9/18) Dear Fellow Readers, At long last, the Trump administration has finally issued serious sanctions against Russia. The sanctions cover a combination of Russian oligarchs, related companies and Russian officials. These sanctions are issued under previous censure of Russian involvement in Ukraine and Syria. Congress overwhelmingly passed bipartisan sanctions meant to punish Russia for election interference in August 2017, while these latest additions are not part of that legislation, these are certainly aimed squarely at Russian influence in the 2016 election. More specifically, these latest sanctions punish many Russians directly linked to Trump and…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Putin & Donnie April 9, 2018

Authoritarianism Scholar Timothy Snyder: Reporters – Are The Heroes Of Our Time

“Everything good we take for granted in a free society depends upon factuality. Without reporters we don’t have factuality.” By Timothy Snyder (3/10/18) Without the people who seek facts, we can forget about justice, freedom, and equality. Timothy Snyder is a historian at Yale University, specializing in eastern Europe, totalitarianism, and the Holocaust. His books have received widespread acclaim. His most recent book, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” explores the everyday ways a citizen can resist the authoritarianism of today. He is also the author of “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning” and, forthcoming…

'Just-Us' System, ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Health Care, Police State America April 9, 2018

If You Want To Kill Dangerous Drug Dealers, Start With Big Pharma

By Domenica Ghanem OtherWords (4/4/18) At a recent rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump called for the death penalty for drug traffickers as part of a plan to combat the opioid epidemic in the United States. At a Pennsylvania rally a few weeks earlier, he called for the same. Now his administration is taking steps toward making this proposal a reality. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo on March 21 asking prosecutors to pursue capital punishment for drug traffickers — a power he has thanks to legislation passed under President Bill Clinton. Time and again, these punitive policies have proven ineffective…

ALL ARTICLES, Your Brain On Politics April 9, 2018

Your Brain On Politics: Trump Voters Value Power Over Others, Wealth & Conformity

(Editor’s Note: This story is on how voting decisions are made which is not on the basis of facts, talking points and wonky position papers, but on the basis of values and emotional identification and rejection. The right wing has known and honed this insight for 50 years. The left — especially the democrats — have only lately begun to grasp the reality, but, as we see with the state and national dem leadership, they are fighting that bit of psychological reality every inch of the way. -Mark L. Taylor) By Eric Dolan PsyPost (3/18/18) People with similar values…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change April 9, 2018

But Of Course! Thoreau’s Walden Pond Is Being Killed By PEE-ople

By Corky Siemaszko NBC News (4/6/18) If Henry David Thoreau were alive today, he might re-title his most famous work “On Golden Pond.” And he would be pissed. That’s because Walden Pond, the once-pristine jewel that inspired the American naturalist and philosopher in the mid 1800s, has been befouled by generations of swimmers urinating in the water, according to a new study. So much so that it is wrecking the ecosystem and devastating the fish population of the pond some 25 miles west of Boston that Thoreau immortalized in his best-known work, “Walden; or, Life in the Woods.” “These findings suggest that, although…