Winning Hearts & Minds

Greenwald vows to release UK secrets after 9-hour detention of his partner

"The journalist who first published secrets leaked by fugitive former U.S. intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden vowed on Monday to publish more documents and said Britain will be 'sorry' for detaining his partner for nine hours. British authorities used anti-terrorism laws on Sunday to detain David Miranda, partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald, as he passed through London’s Heathrow airport. Greenwald said the detention was an attempt to intimidate him for publishing documents leaked by Snowden disclosing U.S. surveillance of global internet communications. Snowden gave Greenwald from 15,000 to 20,000 documents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreenwald vows to release UK secrets after 9-hour detention of his partner

‘Safe haven’ Chicago schoolhouse demolished despite community opposition

"Supporters of a Chicago community schoolhouse were arrested Saturday morning while protesting the facility’s demolition, as residents vowed to continue pressuring city leaders to live up to financial commitments. According to WLS-TV, the building had become a focal point for a neighborhood group, the Whittier Parents Committee, who used the facility to offer free workshops, computers and a library, and staged a 43-day sit-in in 2010 to keep it. 'They talk about safe passage, they talk about the violence,' committee member Gema Gaete said. 'We were an answer. We were providing an answer for free at no cost to CPS, and this is how they repay us.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Safe haven’ Chicago schoolhouse demolished despite community opposition

Administration Can’t Let Go: Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA Are Back

"We've been working our way through a paper released last week by the Commerce Department, concerning copyright reform, and will have a much more detailed post about it soon (there's a lot in there), but over at the Washington Post, they're highlighting the silly recommendation to bring back the plan to make unauthorized streaming a felony. This was a part of SOPA and was widely discussed. This got a fair amount of attention when Justin Bieber was asked about the law, and said that Senator Klobuchar should be locked up. It's no surprise that this is coming back. It's one of the points that's been raised a few times since the death of SOPA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAdministration Can’t Let Go: Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA Are Back

Overseas Americans: Time to Say ‘Bye’ to Uncle Sam?

"Here is a sign that life is getting complicated for U.S. taxpayers with assets abroad: More of them are deciding they are better off cutting official ties with America. Daniel Kuettel, a Colorado native who lives near Zurich, says he gave up his U.S. citizenship in October because he feared he wouldn't be able to get a mortgage now that some Swiss banks are cutting ties with American clients. 'It was a really difficult decision. I had to think about what was best for me and my family, to reduce the risk,' says Mr. Kuettel, a 41-year-old software developer. He says his income was below the limit the U.S. allows overseas taxpayers to exempt and he owed no U.S. taxes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOverseas Americans: Time to Say ‘Bye’ to Uncle Sam?

Argentina’s primary elections: Bad dress rehearsal

"The bizarre teaser election that Argentines had to take part in on August 11th was designed by Cristina Fernández, the president. She put her all into promoting her candidates, even flying her hand-picked hopeful for the most populous province of Buenos Aires to Brazil to be photographed with their compatriot, Pope Francis. Photographs of him, her and the pope were plastered across the province as campaign posters. The pontiff’s magic did not rub off. Ms Fernández’s Front for Victory (FPV) party did worse than at any time in its ten-year existence." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArgentina’s primary elections: Bad dress rehearsal

Tennessee Republican tells girl her father has to be deported as tea party crowd cheers

"A Tennessee tea party Republican state legislator told a frightened little girl at a town hall meeting on Thursday in Murfreesboro, TN that laws are laws and that her undocumented father is going to have to be deported. According to ProgressivePopulist.org, 11-year-old Josie Molina told state Rep. Scott Desjarlais (R) that she has papers but her father does not. The tea party crowd whooped and applauded wildly as the little girl took her seat, head down. Progressive Populist reported that Josie Molina’s father is currently in the process of being deported and that the girl is seeing a child psychologist in order to cope with the stress and anxiety." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTennessee Republican tells girl her father has to be deported as tea party crowd cheers

The Pantheon

"Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Sibel Edmonds, Karen Kwiatkowski, Gary Webb, Danny Casolaro, John Stockwell, Daniel Ellsberg, Mike Gravel, A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Whitaker Chambers, Benjamin Gitlow, and Smedley Darlington Butler are heroes and heroines in the pantheon of whistleblowers who put their conscientious dedication to first principles ahead of a pretended allegiance to duplicitous cabals within a criminal state which had betrayed the fiduciary trust and essential liberties of the people." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Pantheon

Bono: “Capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid”

"Bono (nee Paul David Hewson) is the lead singer in the rock group U2, one of the most successful rock groups in history. Bono also became a major proponent of greatly expanded U.S. foreign aid and other government programs (including debt cancellation) to alleviate the dire plight in the world of HIV/AIDS, malaria, abject poverty, and other issues. In a speech at Georgetown University, Bono altered his economic and political views and declared that only capitalism can end poverty. 'Aid is just a stopgap,' he said. 'Commerce [and] entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid. We need Africa to become an economic powerhouse.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBono: “Capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid”

Samsung workers are given 32 seconds to assemble phones

"The BBC reports that prosecutors in Brazil are seeking damages from Samsung for conditions in factories where its mobile phones and TV sets are assembled, with employees reportedly forced to work long hours without sufficient breaks. Some said they suffer from problems such as backaches because they are forced to stand for 10 hours a day. Perhaps more alarmingly, prosecutors claim that employees at Samsung's factories in the Amazon region are given just 32 seconds to assemble a mobile phone and 65 seconds to put together a Samsung television set. One worker is alleged to have packed as many as 3,000 phones in a day." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSamsung workers are given 32 seconds to assemble phones