ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Health Care October 3, 2019

‘Los Angeles Times’ Investigation Shows How Vaping Crisis Began With Lobbyist Influence On Obama Administration

All Things Considered / NPR (10/2/19) NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Baumgaertner about how the FDA tried banning vaping flavors, but the Obama administration rejected it. Link to 4-Minute Audio ***** FDA Tried To Ban Child-Enticing Flavors Years Before Current Vaping Outbreak But Top Obama Officials Bent To Lobbyist Pressure By Emily Baumgaertner Los Angeles Times (10/1/19) Unicorn Vomit. Cotton Candy. Gummy Bear. Skittles. Some teenagers who tried these playful vaping flavors thought they were just inhaling water vapor — not also nicotine, a chemical considered as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Now, as a mysterious vaping-related lung…

ALL ARTICLES, Gun Cult, Ron "RoJo" Johnson October 3, 2019

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson & Three Other GOP Senators Allegedly Benefited From Illegal NRA Campaign Cash In 2014, 2016

How much of the millions the NRA was handing out was actually Russian money laundered through the NRA? By Joan McCarter Daily Kos (9/30/19) The Russian asset National Rifle Association has been illegally coordinating with Republican senators’ campaigns, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission. The nonprofit and nonpartisan organization Campaign Legal Center has filed an FEC complaint alleging the NRA’s coordination with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in the 2016 campaign through a shell corporation called Starboard, which illegally funneled potentially millions from the NRA in in-kind contributions. “There is substantial evidence that the NRA funneled millions through a shell…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor October 3, 2019

Russia Monitor: Trump Is Up To His Plump ‘Moot’ In Alligators

  “The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump pressed the president of Ukraine eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani to investigate Joe Biden’s son,” Raddatz said. “What do you know about those conversations?” “So, you just gave me a report about a I.C. whistleblower complaint, none of which I’ve seen,” Pompeo replied. — Trump Sec. of State Mike Pompeo with ABC’s Martha Raddatz (9/22/19) ***** “I was on the phone call.” — Trump Sec. of State Mike Pompeo confirms to Wall Street Journal he was in on the Trump-Zelensky call (10/2/19) ***** “This country has to find out…

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ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Documentaries, History They Don't Want You To Know, M. Taylor Columns October 3, 2019

Who Really Owns & Runs The Country: Documentary On The Plot To Overthrow FDR Documentary Is A Warning For Today

  By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (10/3/19) Commoner Call reader Gary Ebben forwarded this History Channel documentary on the 1933 fascist ‘Wall Street Putsch’ to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt to stymie his attempts at the reform necessary to rescue the nation from the Great Depression and to weave a few strands of decency into the national government and economy. To channel the anger of the veterans Bonus Marchers and to have some popular credibility, a cadre of fascsit-loving mega-wealthy Wall Street plotters approached retired Major General Smedley Butler — of “War Is A Racket” fame — to…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Right Wing Religion October 3, 2019

Trump’s Top Religion Advisor Declares Democrats Do Not Worship Jesus They Worship Demon God ‘Moloch’ (Video)

[Editor’s Note: Now keep in mind, this guy’s political operation gets tax-exempt status as a church, so in effect, you are subsidizing this freeloader to call for your persecution. — Mark L. Taylor] By David Badash The New Civil Rights Movement (10/1/19) President Donald Trump’s top religion advisor Dr. Robert Jeffress has some news for the millions of Democratic voters who happen to be Christians: You are not. Dr. Jeffress, who sits on President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board and even led a private pre-inauguration sermon for the Trump and Pence families hours before the president was sworn in, was not shy about his feelings on Christian Democrats….

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change, War State America October 3, 2019

10 Ways That The Climate Crisis & Militarism Are Intertwined

  By Medea Benjamin Common Dreams (9/26/19) The environmental justice movement that is surging globally is intentionally intersectional, showing how global warming is connected to issues such as race, poverty, migration and public health. One area intimately linked to the climate crisis that gets little attention, however, is militarism. Here are some of the ways these issues—and their solutions—are intertwined. 1. The US military protects Big Oil and other extractive industries. The US military has often been used to ensure that US companies have access to extractive industry materials, particularly oil, around the world.The 1991 Gulf War against Iraq was a blatant…

ALL ARTICLES, Deep State October 3, 2019

MoveOn’s Phony New Campaign For ‘Protecting Whistleblowers’

  By Norman Solomon Reader Supported News (9/30/19) ll of a sudden, MoveOn wants to help “national security” whistleblowers. Well, some of them, anyway. After many years of carefully refusing to launch a single campaign in support of brave whistleblowers who faced vicious prosecution during the Obama administration – including Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, NSA whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden, and CIA whistleblowers John Kiriakou and Jeffrey Sterling – MoveOn.org has just cherrypicked a whistleblowing hero it can support. “The stakes could not be higher for the whistleblower, who took a great personal risk to defend our democracy,” MoveOn declared in a mass email Sunday…

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ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know October 3, 2019

‘Seducing And Killing Nazis’ Challenges Us To Actively Resist, Not Meekly Adapt To, Fascism

  In the midst of all of this they tried to remain human under inhuman circumstances. By Chauncey K. Robinson Peoples World (8/28/19) The book Seducing and Killing Nazis is essential reading because there’s nothing “normal” about Nazis. From past to present, they are a group of people who support the genocide of others based on hate and the idea of “white pride.” There’s nothing “normal” about fascist regimes; they stamp out democracy and encourage suppression. Yet, in these times, allies and representatives of these ideas are being glamorized on pop culture reality shows like Dancing with the Stars, or given sympathetic profile…

ALL ARTICLES October 3, 2019

Reports From Behind The Lines: Sec. Of State Of Insecurity Mike Pompeo Is Covering His Rear End

  The Young Turks document Sec. of State Mike Pompeo’s lies regarding the Ukraine story. First he told the media he didn’t know what had been said between Donald Trump and the Ukraine president. Then it turns out he was sitting in on the entire call. Details follow about Pompeo’s bullying, abusive behavior while head of the CIA. As with all bullies, Pompeo’s swagger is all smokescreen for a fragile little fellow in search of meaning and affirmation in his little self. A good update. — Mark L. Taylor, Editor Link to 9-Minute Video More Insight On Mike Pompeo’s Lying…

ALL ARTICLES, Quotes October 3, 2019

Notably Quotable: “I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.” — Major General Smedely Butler, two time winner of the Medal of Honor, “War Is A Racket”. ***** “Maybe it’s overly optimistic of me to think this matters, but when…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know, Police State America, Rethuglicans, Right Wing Religion, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 30, 2019

Pathocracy: The Pathological Power Of Governments Led By Narcissists & Psychopaths

The danger of democracy transitioning into pathocracy is always real. It is always closer to us than we think, and once it has a foothold, will crush every obstacle in its way. By Steve Taylor The Conversation (9/19/19) After spending his early life suffering under the Nazis and then Stalin, the Polish psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski devoted his career to studying the relationship between psychological disorders and politics. He wanted to understand why psychopaths and narcissists are so strongly attracted to power as well as the processes by which they take over governments and countries. He eventually came up with the term “pathocracy”…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 30, 2019

Russia Monitor: The Ugly Contents Of Trump’s Pandora’s Box Of Corruption

    “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” — Whistleblower’s opening sentence from the Complaint ***** “@RepAdamSchiff has reached an agreement with the #Whistleblower for that courageous patriot to testify in Congress.” — Law professor Laurence Tribe tweet (9/29/19) By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (9/30/9) Dear Fellow Readers, Trump Impeachment – don’t blink, you’ll miss a critical headline. I am going to let…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Police State America, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 30, 2019

Before The Hobnail Boot Of Tyranny Falls, There Are Warnings

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (9/23/19) Oftentimes big stories are revealed in small footnotes. The Miami Herald recently reported (9/19)that a Marine Corps unit was looking to hold its celebration of the annual Marine Corps Ball at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “At a time when taxpayer and foreign-government spending at Trump Organization properties is fueling political battles, a U.S. Marine Corps reserve unit stationed in South Florida hopes to hold an annual ball at a venue that could profit the commander-in-chief,” the Miami Herald reported Thursday. The news comes after recent reports of  Trump’s struggling Turnberry golf resort in Scotland benefiting from diverted…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, American Socialist Tradition, History They Don't Want You To Know September 30, 2019

They Make It All Possible: The Protectors Our Corrupt Economic Overlords

“In a highly developed society, the Establishment cannot survive without the obedience and loyalty of millions of people who are given small rewards to keep the system going: the soldiers and police, teachers and ministers, administrators and social workers, technicians and production workers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, transport and communications workers, garbage men and firemen. These people –the employed, the somewhat privileged — are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the upper and lower classes. If they stop obeying, the system falls.” -Howard Zinn

ALL ARTICLES, World Trade Center September 30, 2019

CNBC Anchor Ron Insana: Building 7 A ‘Controlled Implosion’

  By Ted Wall Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (9/25/19) On the 18th anniversary of 9/11, CNBC senior analyst and former anchor Ron Insana went on Bernie and Sid In the Morning on New York’s 77 WABC Radio to share his haunting experience of that horrible day. Approximately eight minutes into the interview, Insana made a statement regarding the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 — which collapsed late in the afternoon of 9/11 — that is truly stunning, especially considering his access to the scene and his job as a prominent news anchor: “Well, remember 7 World Trade had not yet come…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change September 30, 2019

Two-Fifths Of Europe’s Native Trees At Risk Of Extinction, Assessment Says

  Irish Examiner / Press Association (9/27/19) Horse chestnut trees, whose conkers [nuts] have been collected and treasured by generations of children, are among scores of European trees at risk of extinction. The latest assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List also reveals three species of whitebeam recently discovered in Somerset are critically endangered at a European level. The European Red List of trees, which covers all 454 species of native trees, found more than two-fifths – 168 species – are under threat of dying out in Europe. More than half (58%) of the trees…

ALL ARTICLES September 30, 2019

As Made-To-Order DNA Gets Cheaper, Keeping It Out Of The Wrong Hands Gets Harder

What could possibly go wrong? By Nell Greenfieldboyce Morning Edition / NPR (9/24/19) Patrick Boyle recalls that by the time he got his Ph.D. in biology in 2012, he had worked with just a few other people and managed to manufacture six genes, the basic units of heredity. “Today, we are synthesizing more than 10,000 genes every month,” he says, showing off a lab at a Boston biotech company called Ginkgo Bioworks. Making genes from scratch used to be laborious and time consuming, but not anymore. That’s why federal officials are now considering new measures to prevent this rapidly advancing technology from being…

ALL ARTICLES September 30, 2019

Drone Video Reveals Hundreds Of Blindfolded & Shackled Chinese Prisoners

  By Lily Kuo The Guardian (9/23/19) Drone footage has emerged showing police leading hundreds of blindfolded and shackled men from a train in what is believed to be a transfer of inmates in Xinjiang. The video, posted anonymously on YouTube last week, shows what appear to be Uighur or other minorities wearing blue and yellow uniforms, with cleanly shaven heads, their eyes covered, sitting in rows on the ground and later being led away by police. Prisoners in China are often transferred with handcuffs and masks covering their faces. The video was posted on YouTube by an account named War on…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change September 26, 2019

At A Time Of Grifters, Liars, Cowards & Cheats, Greta Thunberg Showed The World What It Means To Really Lead

Her remarks reminded us what leadership, courage and sacrifice look like. By Michael H. Fuchs The Guardian (9/25/19) At the 2019 annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, a 16-year-old climate activist took the mantle of global leadership usually reserved for the US president. Donald Trump’s decision to not participate in the UN climate summit illustrated just how devastatingly Trump’s climate-denying policies have undermined America’s role in the world as a force for good, and how his actions could contribute to the destruction of the futures of countless billions. Meanwhile, Greta Thunberg called him – and other world leaders –…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change September 26, 2019

World’s Ice And Oceans Under Dire Threat, Shocking UN Report Warns

Hundreds of millions of people in coastal areas would be threatened if climate change continues unabated, the UN’s climate body warned. By Nick Visser HuffPost (9/25/19) Ice sheets are melting, glaciers are shrinking and the planet’s oceans are changing in “unprecedented” ways, according to a shocking new report released by the United Nations on Wednesday, the latest confirmation that climate change is already wreaking havoc around the globe. The findings, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, the leading U.N. body studying human-caused global warming, issue stark warnings for hundreds of millions of people living in low-lying…

ALL ARTICLES September 26, 2019

A Staged Reading Of Trump’s Phone Call With Ukraine President Zelensky

Trump says the call was “perfect”​ — we’ll let you decide for yourself how well it went. By Valerie Kipnis, Michael Kalenderian & Dan Ming VICE News (9/25/19) We couldn’t be in the room for President Trump’s history-making call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump says the call was “perfect” — so we decided to recreate it. We’ll let you decide for yourself how well it went. The White House released a rough transcript of the July 25 phone call on Wednesday after days of pressure and the launch of an official impeachment inquiry over Trump pushing a foreign leader to investigate 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden…

ALL ARTICLES September 26, 2019

Rep. Ron ‘Wall Street” Kind AWOL On House Trump Impeachment

  As of late Wednesday evening (9/25), two of the three Wisconsin democratic congress members (Rep. Pocan and Rep. Moore) have done the right thing and stepped up to support the Trump impeachment inquiry. The one who hasn’t is — no surprise — corporate dem Rep. Ron “Wall Street” Kind. Reports are the congress critter has — as usual — been meekly gazing at the rusty political weathervane atop his garage waiting for direction. If you want to let Rep. Wall Street know it is time to stand up and do his damn job and support a broad impeachment inquiry…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 26, 2019

Russia Monitor: In His Own Words

“The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution…Mr. Trump must be held accountable — no one is above the law.” (The president’s conduct revealed his) “betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announcing formal impeachment inquiry (9/24/19) ***** “So: In order to get dirt on a political opponent, the president removed a U.S. ambassador, used (paid?) a private citizen to threaten a foreign government, personally called a foreign leader, and delayed disbursing appropriated funds for that nation….

ALL ARTICLES, Economic Injustice, History They Don't Want You To Know, One Percenters September 26, 2019

How Our Government Came To Be So Crippled By Corruption

    “As America’s political dysfunction has grown worse, the economic stagnation of the middle class has deepened. this is not a result of blind economic forces, Adam Smith’s invisible hand, globalization,or some nebulous cause. Specific committees of congress, inevitably assisted by specific K Street lobbyists, wrote legislation that achieved this result.” — Mike Lofgren, “The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went CRAZY, Democrats Became USELESS, And the Middle Class Got SHAFTED”, 2012 (p.1)

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Economic Injustice, One Percenters September 26, 2019

The Plutocratic War On We The People: Centrists & Conservatives Ignore The Greedy Elephant In Our National Living Room

  By John Atcheson Common Dreams (9/14/19) The best analogy I can think of to characterize what passes for political “debate” in America these days, is a bunch of people stuck in a rubber life raft with a big leak hissing away, drifting in the midst of a vast ocean surrounded for as far as they can see by starving sharks, while a few “leaders” insist on arguing about 1) whether there’s a leak; 2) whether to patch it; and 3) what to patch it with. The people in the raft—who can’t hear their leaders—are fed information back from a…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Economic Injustice, One Percenters September 26, 2019

YES! — “I Don’t Think Billionaires Should Exist”: Sanders Proposes Wealth Tax To Slash Unearned Fortunes Of Ultra-Rich

  By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (9/24/19) To tackle “outrageous and grotesque and immoral” levels of inequality in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday proposed a new wealth tax on the richest Americans that economists say would slash the fortunes of billionaires in half over 15 years and raise an estimated $4.35 trillion in revenue during the first decade. “I don’t think that billionaires should exist,” Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, told the New York Times in an interview. “This proposal does not eliminate billionaires, but it eliminates a lot of the wealth that billionaires have, and I think that’s exactly what we…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, CIA, FBI, Police State America, Surveillance State September 26, 2019

The Trump Whistleblower Scandal Is Proving Edward Snowden Right

Snowden should’ve gone through “official channels,” his critics yelped. Here’s what happens when you do. By Nick Bauman HuffPost (9/24/19) Edward Snowden did it all wrong, his critics thundered. The former National Security Agency subcontractor should have used “other avenues available for somebody whose conscience was stirred and thought that they needed to question government actions,” then-President Barack Obama claimed in an August 2013 press conference, citing an executive order he had signed that — in theory at least — gave intelligence officers some whistleblower protections for the first time ever. “Snowden could have come to me,” George Ellard, then…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America September 26, 2019

A Child Is A Child: The Kids Are Definitely Still Not All Right

Baby concentration camps “are the worst and the last place you would ever want to put a child,” say doctors and functioning human beings. By Abby Zimet Common Dreams (9/24/19) Amidst the latest noise about the latest outrage – treason and Ukraine and extortion oh my – a grisly reminder: Crimes against small, brown humanity are ongoing. Thousands of migrant kids are still imprisoned – children as pawns, children in cages, sick, dirty, hungry, alone, frightened, experiencing “trauma after trauma” until “every heartbeat hurts.” Does it need to be repeated: Baby concentration camps “are the worst and the last place you would…

ALL ARTICLES September 26, 2019

Where The 2020 Democratic Candidates Stand On Guns

  By Daniel Nass, Champe Barton & Jennifer Mascia The Trace (9/20/19) Gun reform has received little attention in past presidential races, but it’s a key issue among Democrats vying for the White House in 2020. Several candidates have released briefs detailing how they’d handle gun policy from the Oval Office, and a couple — namely Cory Booker and Eric Swalwell — have made conquering gun violence a centerpiece of their campaigns. To bring some clarity to the discussion, The Trace surveyed the 21 candidates who have qualified for the Democratic debates on a range of gun policies. We picked issues ranging…

ALL ARTICLES, Quotes September 26, 2019

Notably Quotable: “This present window of opportunity, during which a truly peaceful and an interdependent world order might be be built, will not be open too long…”

“This present window of opportunity, during which a truly peaceful and an interdependent world order might be be built, will not be open too long — we are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.” — David Rockefeller ***** “You can’t change a corrupt system by taking its money.” — Sen. Bernie Sanders ***** “F*ck it, let’s roll.” — Rick Wilson, GOP strategist Rick Wilson lays out case for impeachment in hilariously profane new rant. ***** “Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism September 23, 2019

BROKEN: If This Isn’t Impeachable, Nothing Is

  The Republicans, predictably, have decided to choose their party over their country, and the damage control and lying have begun. By Tom Nichols The Atlantic (9/21/19) The president of the United States reportedly sought the help of a foreign government against an American citizen who might challenge him for his office. This is the single most important revelation in a scoop by The Wall Street Journal, and if it is true, then President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office immediately. Until now, there was room for reasonable disagreement over impeachment as both a matter of politics and a matter…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America September 23, 2019

ACLU Reports Medical Neglect, Maltreatment & Death At Aurora ICE Facility Run By Contract Corporation

The problems inside the Aurora detention facility are not isolated, based on inmate accounts collected by the ACLU. By Saja Hindi The Denver Post (9/17/19) The day Neda Samimi-Gomez learned her 64-year-old father had died in immigration detention in Aurora is etched in her memory. She didn’t get a call from immigration officials until two days after his death. The more details she learned, the sicker she felt. “It was unbelievable that so many people could be involved in my father’s death,” she said. Kamyar Samimi, a Thornton resident, died Dec. 2, 2017, a little more than two weeks after…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change September 23, 2019

La Crosse Students Rally To Raise Awareness On Climate Crisis

“The children are the only adults in the room.” — Protest sign. By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (9/23/19) Students across Wisconsin took to the streets late Friday to express their concern for what the growing climate crisis means for their future. About 250 kids, teens and adults gathered at Burns Park near downtown La Crosse late in the afternoon under the direction of a great group of teen activists to march several blocks to Rep. Ron Kind’s office(D-WI). While nobody from Kind’s office was on hand, the activists gathered signatures on a letter to the congressman calling for…

ALL ARTICLES, Health Care September 23, 2019

25 Ways Canadian Health Care Is More Humane Than America’s Brutal Medical Corporate Profit System

It’s decision time, America! By Ralph Nader Common Dreams (9/19/19) Dear America: Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare, and although it has improved access to healthcare for some, tens of millions of Americans still cannot afford basic medical care for their family. No healthcare system is without problems but Canadian-style single-payer — full Medicare for all — is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal for all basic and emergency medical and hospital services. In the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson enrolled 20 million elderly Americans into Medicare in six months. There were no websites. They did it with index cards! Everybody in, nobody out,…

ALL ARTICLES, American Socialist Tradition, Democrats, Resist! September 23, 2019

The Sunset Of Old ‘Politics-As-Usual’ Corporate Dem Neoliberalism

The not unlikely shortcomings of a President Joe Biden could lead us straight back to the current dilemma, perhaps with a younger, smarter version of Trump. By Max Sawicky Jacobin (8/24/19) Cheer up. The Left is winning the battle of ideas. Ideas are the basis for organization, and organization is prior to change. The signs are in the evolution of statements and platforms presented by Democratic presidential candidates. As the economist John Maynard Keynes wrote, eighty and some years ago: “Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist….

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 23, 2019

Russia Monitor: Trump’s Corruption Is Breaking Our Democracy.

  ““Climate change. Gun safety. Health care. On the face of it, these three are totally different issues. But despite our being the strongest and wealthiest country in the history of the world, our democracy is paralyzed. Why? Because giant corporations have bought off our government. “[Trump is] “corruption in the flesh”, but emphasized the problem is much bigger than just him). We need to take a deep breath and recognize that a country that elects Donald Trump is already in serious trouble.”” — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) unveiling a 6,000 word anti-corruption plan in New York City’s Washington Square….

ALL ARTICLES, Bomb Trains, Climate Change September 23, 2019

Update From The ‘Frac Sand Sentinel’ — Danger: Heed Fracking Air Pollution Warnings

How is deregulated natural gas flaring impacting Texas? According to a professional photographer who visited the Bakken in North Dakota, flaring is also occurring there in abundance and pouring pollutants into the air. Watch the video from Texas. “Texas Sharon” Wilson readily uses her Flir Camera to demonstrate the pollution affecting those who live near a hydraulic fracturing area. These pollutants are causing illness among the residents. Link to 4-Minute Video Since the fossil fuel industry is involved in “slowly poisoning west Texas” there is no doubt that pollutants from the Bakken are also polluting North Dakota and nearby mid-western…

ALL ARTICLES, Bomb Trains September 23, 2019

LNG ‘bomb trains’ Ignite Nightmare Scenario For South Florida

There is no way to put out the fires or prevent the explosions should a rail car carrying LNG derail and rupture. By Ann Henson Feltgen FloridaBulldog.org (9/18/19) “If I lived in South Florida near the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, I would move now.” That statement came from Ron Kaminkow, of Reno, Nev., who is an Amtrak engineer and general secretary for Railroad Workers United. “If a train derailed and there was an explosion and fire, you’re dead!” he added. Kaminkow was talking about a nightmare scenario here where so-called “bomb trains” towing liquified natural gas tank cars now run…

ALL ARTICLES, Police State America, Surveillance State September 23, 2019

The Mysterious Death Of The Hacker Who Turned In Chelsea Manning

  By Nina Temple-Raston I’ll Be Seeing You / NPR (9/19/19) Debbie Scroggin and her husband live at the end of a series of gravel roads in a lonesome part of Kansas. It is the kind of place where, Debbie says, “you have to drive 15 minutes to get anywhere.” Getting to the Scroggin house involves turning onto a desolate ribbon of gravel that cuts through fields as far as the eye can see. It was easy to think that someone might come here to either get lost or be forgotten. Scroggin remembers Adrian Lamo arriving on a night train…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Media Hits & Misses September 23, 2019

From Govt. Psy-Ops To National Public Radio: New CEO John Lansing’s Glass House

By Laura Flanders Common Dreams (9/15/19) I don’t know about you, but I take a teeny weeny bit of offense when a guy in a glass house lobs a great big stone and expects me not to notice the sound of shattering. Which brings me to National Public Radio. When the ubiquitous news and public affairs network announced the appointment of a new CEO, it noted that John Lansing made his mark in his current job with “stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference.” This had me picking through the shards when they went on to explain that Lansing comes to…