Blogosphere
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Russiagate Brings Black Caucus to a New Low
Margaret Kimberley: The so-called Russiagate scandal is a fiction. The hapless Democrats see it as a means of doing what they failed to do on election day in 2016, defeat Donald Trump. The fear mongering also makes the case for waging war by other means against Russia and supporting American imperialism. But this worst of all fake news stories fell apart. The only way to continue the dubious cause was to ratchet it up with more lies. Enter the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). ... The members of the CBC were once known as the conscience of the Congress. But they have been beaten down by corporate interests which threaten them with political defeat should they step out of line. Fear and cynical self-interest turned them into useless party hacks. They are only committed to keeping themselves in office...
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Oct 18, 2017, 10:55am
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: True Conspiracies
Margaret Kimberley: The most effective lies are the biggest, the ones created by influential people who insist on having their way in the world. They want to keep us distracted and frightened. They want to intimidate other nations, or take their resources, or keep their own people incarcerated. So they tell us to be afraid of crime or WMD or North Korean rockets. ... We are most likely to be correct if we assume that these assertions from the corporate media and politicians are themselves meant to create dissension. A distracted and hypnotized public won’t ask questions, make demands, or build movements...
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Oct 12, 2017, 3:23pm
Blogosphere
How to Succeed in Western Media Without Really Trying
Stephen Lendman: Most important is loyalty to monied interests, war-profiteers, and the imperial state – serving as their press agents, abandoning fundamental journalistic principles, learning how to lie well, along with leaving honesty and integrity at home when heading for work. ... Julian Assange offered his own recommended strategy for success. It’s simple, he said. Blame Russia for everything. .... During pre-television days, noted journalist and author AJ Liebling once said “(p)eople everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.”...
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Oct 9, 2017, 12:40pm
Blogosphere
Jimmy Carter Explains What North Korean Leaders Told Him
Stephen Lendman: Carter met earlier with Kim Il-sung (North Korea’s founder), Kim Jong-nam (his eldest son and successor), and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly. ... He found them and other DPRK officials “completely rational and dedicated to the preservation of their” country. They’re not madmen, as falsely portrayed by US and other Western hardliners ... Their demands are entirely legitimate, Carter explaining they want direct talks with Washington, a peace treaty ending decades of an uneasy armistice. ... They want sanctions lifted and guarantees they’ll be no naked aggression on their country like during the 1950s war...
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Oct 6, 2017, 3:31pm
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Russiagate Targets Black People
Margaret Kimberley: There is no last refuge for the scoundrels intent on stoking cold and possibly hot war against Russia. Neocons in both parties and the corporate media have all spent years demonizing Russia’s president even as they commit and abet horrific crimes against humanity at home and abroad. Every charge leveled against Vladimir Putin is a sinister projection of the American rap sheet. ... The latest and most shameful charge is that Russia has targeted black Americans in an effort to “sow division” in the United States via social media. ... There is no American democracy left to undermine anyway. America is not a democracy and nothing proves it like the police killing three people every day or the fact that one million black people are held behind bars in this country...
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Oct 4, 2017, 5:00pm
Blogosphere
Small Class Size – A Reform We’re Just Too Cheap To Try
Imagine a classroom where students have the space to be individuals and not nameless cogs in the system. ... In education circles, small class size is the one universal constant. There is some debate about exactly how small classes should be (at least less than 20, maybe even closer to 10 or 15 students) and for which student groups it is most important, but the consensus in favor of small class size is overwhelming. ... Study after study concludes that small class size increases academic performance. When compared with peers in larger classes, those in small settings end up being months ahead. They cover more material, with greater depth and achieve better comprehension in less time...
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Oct 2, 2017, 12:55pm
Blogosphere
Six Reasons Why American Corporations Shouldn’t Get a Tax Cut
Robert Reich: ... Fourth, American corporations are now paying less in taxes than they have in 65 years. Corporate tax receipts are the lowest percentage of the economy since just after World War II. If corporate taxes are cut, you will have to pay even more in taxes in order to make up the difference. ... The real problem is stagnant wages of most Americans, coupled with declining public investments in schools, roads, public transportation, and basic research – all the things average working Americans need in order to become more productive and get higher wages. To finance these we need higher corporate taxes, not lower...
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Sep 30, 2017, 11:42am
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Killing Kaepernick’s Movement
Margaret Kimberley: NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was clear from the outset. Beginning in the 2016 pre-season he declared that he would not stand during the playing of the national anthem. He would instead “take a knee” and he did so to protest the police killing of over 300 black people every year. ... “Kaepernick didn’t shrink and didn’t hesitate in denouncing the everyday carnage in this country.” ... Kaepernick’s stance was not about patriotism, the flag, or whether or not white people approved of his actions. ... Kaepernick made police brutality his target. No one should claim to join with him unless they are completely onboard with that sentiment. Stand or kneel with Kaepernick against the police state or don’t bother at all...
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Sep 27, 2017, 4:30pm
Blogosphere
US to Plunder Afghanistan’s Mineral Riches
Stephen Lendman: Endless US aggression in Afghanistan has nothing to do with combating terrorism (America supports it), everything to do with controlling the country, using it for oil and gas pipelines, part of encircling Russia and China with US military bases, and plundering vast Afghan mineral riches – likely worth trillions of dollars, a prize corporate predators covet. ... They include barite, chromite, coal, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, enormous amounts of highly-valued lithium and other rare earth metals vital for high tech products ... The nation is a resource treasure trove, a key reason why US occupation is permanent, unjustifiably justified by war, the idea not winning it, just waging it endlessly, a forever war...
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Sep 23, 2017, 4:05pm
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Trump and America are White Supremacist
Margaret Kimberley: In recent days a foolish controversy has swirled regarding president Donald Trump. At issue is whether or not he can be labeled a white supremacist. There is no need for conjecture on this point. He most certainly is a white supremacist. But asking the question is utterly useless in a country whose very founding was a white supremacist project. Racist structures impact every facet of life in this country. Race determines where we go to school, live, work, or even if one is employed at all. ... Black people are at the bottom economically because we face more discrimination than anyone else...
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Sep 20, 2017, 3:39pm
Blogosphere
What is Hate Speech?
George Lakoff: Hate speech defames, belittles, or dehumanizes a class of people on the basis of certain inherent properties — typically race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. ... Hate speech these days is not just speech by an individual. It has become an industry for the racist right — organized, purposely provocative, a recruiting tool, and a show of power aiming at greater power. ... Freedom in a free society is freedom for all. We are not free to prevent others from being free...
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Sep 19, 2017, 5:25pm
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Hurricanes and Capitalism
Margaret Kimberley: Recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida reveal a great deal about the United States and how little it does for its people. Of course hurricane winds destroy material things and injure and kill humans. But natural disasters also destroy the myths of American democracy, exceptionalism and greatness. .. In America everyone is on their own in a dystopian survival of the fittest nightmare. ... No one can expect a helping hand unless they are already among the haves. Democrats and Republicans work together to reduce the tax burden on the wealthy but do nothing to raise the minimum wage ... “Cities and states race to the bottom to compete for the favors of the already wealthy.”...
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Sep 13, 2017, 4:14pm
Blogosphere
On 9/11: How we slighted the real Threat, Climate Change, and Hyped Terrorism
Juan Cole: The real threat to the Homeland did not come from fringe radicals in the Middle East. ... We will have wasted $6 trillion or more, not to mention inflicting profound harm on our Constitution. ... Where did the real threat come from? From toxic carbon dioxide and methane emissions. ... Since 9/11, in other words, by burning fossil fuels at such a furious rate, by burning coal to make electricity and gasoline to move automobiles, we have sent 3,200,000 Americans to an early grave. ... Instead of invading and occupying Iraq, we should have created an army of scientists and engineers to invent better solar panels and better wind turbines and better batteries...
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Sep 11, 2017, 12:01pm
Blogosphere
Freedom Rider: Assad is Winning
Margaret Kimberley: The five-year long regime change effort in Syria may soon be over and the United States and its allies will be the losers. The Syrian Arab Army broke the siege of Deir Ezzor, which was one of the last Daesh strongholds in the country. ... The neocon plot for American hegemony was hatched during the George W. Bush administration ... The United States and its allies committed a terrible crime against the Syrian people and five million of them were forced to flee their country to escape this latest example of state sponsored terrorism ... The defeat also weakens Saudi Arabia and its campaign of terror against Yemen or any other country it should choose to target...
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Sep 7, 2017, 11:33am
Blogosphere
Green Energy Jobs: Top 7 Pieces of Rare Good News for US Workers on Labor Day
Juan Cole: 1. The Christian Science Monitor says that in 2016, US solar businesses employed 260,077 workers – up 25 percent from 2015. ... 2. That is, the solar energy sector alone employs more people than Apple, Google, and Facebook combined! ... 3. Solar also employs more people in US electricity generation than oil, gas and coal combined! ... 7. Each day, US workers erect 10 new wind turbines around America. Each creates 44 years of full-time employment. So at an average of 30 years per worker, that is the equivalent of generating over 200,000 full time jobs that last for a lifetime every year....
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Sep 4, 2017, 12:54pm
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