February 2012
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Iran Through the Looking Glass | Tom Engelhardt →
A hypothetical:
Imagine that, in late 2007, Iran’s ruling mullahs and their military advisors had decided to upgrade already significant covert activities against Washington, including cross-border operations, and so launched an intensification of its secret campaign to “destabilize” the country’s leadership — call it a covert war if you will — funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of oil...
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“No, Mayor Quan, I will not denounce OccupyOakland as a whole for the actions of...”
– Dear Oakland Mayor Quan, you do not need to call me, here is MY response to YOUR demands | ministryoftruth
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Coal’s not dying — it’s just getting shipped... →
The U.S. is burning less and less coal each year, thanks to cheap natural gas and new pollution rules. From a climate perspective, that’s a huge deal — less coal means less carbon. But here’s the catch: if the U.S. just exports its unused coal abroad, the end result could actually be more carbon.
Coal use in the United States really does appear to be waning. In 2000, the country got 52 percent...
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January 2012
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India defies sanctions, won't cut Iran oil imports... →
Energy wars!
MUMBAI, India—India has joined China in saying it will not cut back on oil imports from Iran, despite stiff new U.S. and European sanctions designed to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.
“It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the import from Iran drastically because, after all, the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economy,...
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“U.S. diplomacy with Tehran will only work if it is based on the same foundations...”
– Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, “The Soft Side of Regime Change: Trita Parsi’s A Single Roll of the Dice.” (via bostonreview)
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Obama Defends Drone Strikes, Denies Civilian Toll... →
President Obama defended his administration’s unprecedented use of armed drones on Monday during a “virtual interview” that was conducted via Google+ and YouTube. He also acknowledged the United States was carrying out drone strikes inside Pakistan. Obama made the comment after he was asked how he feels about the large number of civilians killed by drones since he took office.
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Strike kills 12 Yemen militants, minister escapes... →
In southern Yemen, at least 12 al Qaeda militants, including four local leaders, were killed in a drone strike in southern Yemen. It was one of the biggest such strikes believed to have been carried out by the United States in Yemen.
In the capital Sanaa, unidentified assailants opened fire on Information Minister Ali al-Amrani’s car as he prepared to leave from a cabinet meeting. The minister...
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United Kingdom Shows That Austerity Does Not Grow... →
The reason the economy is not creating jobs is simply that there is no source of demand to replace the demand created by the housing bubble. With nothing to replace this lost demand, companies see little reason to expand production and hiring.
Government spending is an obvious source of demand. However this spigot has been closed due to concerns over deficits. We have thousands of people in...
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“I want to make sure people understand actually drones have not caused a huge...”
– Barack Obama on the drone program that kills 1 militant for every 10-15 civilians. (via jonathan-cunningham)
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FBI Wants New App to Wiretap the Internet | Common... →
You know, to keep us safe and stuff:
The FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SOIC) posted a ‘Request for Information (RFI)’ online last week seeking companies to build a social network monitoring system for the FBI. The 12-page document (.pdf) spells out what the bureau wants from such a system and invites potential contractors to reply by February 10, 2012.
It says the...
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The Haditha Massacre: No Justice for Iraqis |... →
Like other grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, these acts of summary execution and willful killing are punishable under the US War Crimes Act. Commanders have a responsibility to make sure civilians are not indiscriminately harmed and that prisoners are not summarily executed. Because rules of engagement are set at the top of the command chain, criminal liability extends beyond the...
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“Treat all income the same. Tax it all according to the same rate schedule. A...”
– Beyond the Buffett Rule (via ryking)
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Colbert's Super PAC raises over $1 million, and...
shortformblog:
Dear Sirs and Sirettes,
Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (ABTT) would like it entered into the record that as of January 30th, 2012, the sum total of our donations was $1,023,121.24.
Stephen Colbert, President of ABTT, has asked that I quote him as saying, ”Yeah! How you like me now, F.E.C? I’m rolling seven digits deep! I got 99 problems but a non-connected...
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The Falklands: Cameron's colony | Counterfire →
In a move demonstrating both foolishness and arrogance, David Cameron has accused Argentina of a ‘colonialist’ attitude for reiterating their call of sovereignty over the [Falkland] islands, better known to Argentineans as the Malvinas. Last week he announced that the UK National Security Council was drawing up plans to reinforce the islands.
The hypocrisy of a British Conservative Prime...
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Syria's Crisis Deepens: Does Internationalization... →
The intensification of the violence [in Syria over the weekend] comes, as Ian Black at The Guardian notes, as the regional and international politics of the Syrian crisis is coming to a new boil. The Arab League’s observer mission, manipulated by the regime and proven useless, has been withdrawn. Two high Arab League officials are briefing the United Nations’ Ban-ki Moon and the League may go...
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Ron Paul Is, In Fact, Exactly Like Other... →
“It was playing on a growing racial tension, economic tension, fear of government,’’ said the person, who supports Paul’s economic policies but is not backing him for president. “I’m not saying Ron believed this stuff. It was good copy. Ron Paul is a shrewd businessman.’’ - Washington Post 1/20/2012
So what does this say about Ron Paul? There are two options. Either Ron Paul believed the bigotry...
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“[In the last year] there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the...”
– John Brennan, President Obama’s counter-terrorism advisor in June 2011. By the time he made that statement, at least 168 children were killed by drones so far that year. (via jonathan-cunningham)
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The Odd Couple: Romney Vs. Gingrich | Matt Taibbi →
This, of course, was the final irony: that South Carolina – a nest of upright country church folk proud of their exacting morals and broad distrust of buggery, stem cells and Hollywood relativism – had chosen as its values champion Newt Gingrich, a man who has been unfaithful not just to two wives but also two religions (raised Lutheran, he is currently Catholic by way of Southern Baptist)....
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Lessons from Iraqi outrage over US drones | Glenn... →
Today in “they hate us for our freedom”:
The U.S. is continuing to fly surveillance drone aircraft over Iraq, prompting what The New York Times this morning describes as “outrage” among senior Iraqi officials and the Iraqi public. There are several revealing points from this account, beginning with this description of the ongoing American presence in that country now that “the war is...
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“So far, the financial industry has made 69 percent of its donations in the...”
– Romney Collects More in Donations From the Five Biggest Banks Than All Other Candidates Combined | Truthout
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Six Americans Obama and Holder Charged Under the... →
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“If you’re not a conservative voter with a dog in this fight, watching Mitt...”
– Matt Taibbi
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Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners -... →
Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.
Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late 2010, the same time that the company was making it harder for homeowners to get out of such high-interest mortgages.
No evidence has emerged that...
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Selling Votes | John Holbo →
Why aren’t citizens allowed to sell their votes to the highest bidder? (Bear with me for a minute.) You may at first be inclined to say that it’s like the stricture against selling yourself into slavery: we don’t let citizens strip themselves of the most basic political rights and liberties. But I’m not talking about disenfranchising yourself permanently. Let’s focus just on the case in which...
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One million Iraqis killed during U.S. war →
socialismartnature:
Shame on Bush AND Obama. In his State of the Union address, the only mention Obama made of Iraq was to congratulate the U.S. soldiers on a job well done, and to say the U.S. had made Iraq a better place. There was not even a hint of remorse or acknowledgment of the holocaust wrought by the U.S. there.
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OVER A million Iraqis are dead from America’s war.
That sentence...
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Tawakul Karman: 'We brought down a tyrant. Now we... →
A year on from the fall of Zine el- Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Yemen is far from alone in finding it hard to turn a revolution into solid democracy.
To ensure the uprisings are not quashed after so much has been achieved, [Nobel Prize winner, Tawakul] Karman believes the West needs to step up its help.
The centrepiece of her visit to Britain, arranged by the Council for Arab-British...
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Why Climate Change Will Make You Love Big... →
The intensification of climate change means that we need to acknowledge the chaotic future we face and start planning for it. Think of what’s coming, if you will, as a kind of storm socialism.
After all, climate scientists believe that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide beyond 350 parts-per-million (ppm) could set off compounding feedback loops and so lock us into runaway climate...
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Leon Panetta’s explicitly authoritarian decree |... →
At the beginning, we reject the idea that, when the United States acts against citizens abroad, it can do so free of the Bill of Rights. The United States is entirely a creature of the Constitution. Its power and authority have no other source. It can only act in accordance with all the limitations imposed by the Constitution. When the Government reaches out to punish a citizen who is abroad, the...
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“I think that although the government lost Jones 9-0, it did far better than...”
– Reactions to Jones v. United States: The government fared much better than everyone realizes | SCOTUSblog
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Eric Schneiderman: Hero or Goat? | Robert Kuttner →
Schneiderman turns out to have a lot of leverage. Although the outlines of a narrow deal on the legal problems of mortgage servicers have been leaked, Schneiderman has not yet signed off on the deal. As noted, he has already gotten major concessions. The deal will only address the relatively narrow (but outrageous) abuse of robo-signing, and nothing in it will provide release from criminal...
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And the Drones Start Patrolling Iraq, Again |... →
We just want to make sure “our oil” is OK:
Sure enough, it’s happening and Iraqis are worried about what it says about their sovereignty.
A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance droneshere to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. Some senior Iraqi officials...
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Syrian revolt arrives at the capital’s doorstep |... →
DAMASCUS, Syria — The upheaval that has roiled much of Syria for the past 10 months is seeping its way into the heart of the country’s capital, puncturing the sense of invulnerability that had until recently sustained confidence in the government’s ability to survive the revolt.
On Sunday, security forces launched a major assault to reclaim suburbs just a short drive from the city center that...
