Government

US & Saudi Arabia War Crimes Keep Killing Yemenis

September 4, 2015 William Boardman, www.readersupportednews.org Educate! Government, Human Rights, Wars and Militarism, Yemen

By William Boardman in Reader Supported News - Saudi ground forces invaded Yemen for the first time in this war on August 27. Officially, the Saudi government characterizes the invasion as an incursion that will be limited and temporary. The Saudi government made similar representations about their terror-bombing of Yemen that began March 26 and has continued on a near-daily basis to the present. Other foreign troops have invaded southern Yemen in support of the ousted Yemeni government. At the same time as the Saudi invasion, the ousted Yemeni government, now talking tough from the safety of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, says it won’t enter into any peace talks until the other side, which has no air force and no navy, surrenders its weapons and withdraws from disputed territory. This “demand” is consistent with the corrupt UN Security Council resolution that passed in April, with the support of the US and other countries then waging war on Yemen.

US Consulate To Citizens: Stay Away From New Zealand TPP Protest

August 15, 2015 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Government, New Zealand, Politics, TPP, usa

By Andrea Germanos in Common Dreams - Stay away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership protest taking place Saturday in New Zealand's largest city, the United States Consulate has warned its citizens. The Auckland action is one of over 20 that organizers have planned as part of a national day of action against the controversial pending trade deal. The Consulate's security message reads, in part: "Approximately 8,000 people are expected to attend the protest. We urge citizens to avoid the protest march route as even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational. We remind citizens to always exercise caution when in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations." Greens trade spokesperson Russel Norman, who is taking part in the actions, told Radio New Zealand that such fears are unfounded.

Snowden On Thomas Drake: Meet Thomas Drake

August 15, 2015 AJ Plus+, www.static.ajplus.net Educate! Government, NSA, Snowden, Surveillance

By AJ Plus+ - National Security Agency whistleblower and former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake talks about how the U.S. government violates our privacy by accessing our data without our consent. National Security Agency whistleblower and former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake talks about how the U.S. government violates our privacy by accessing our data without our consent. After blowing the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse within the NSA, Thomas Drake was charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama Administration. This interactive short documentary tells his story. The project was created for AJ+ by Anna Flagg and Emily Bodenberg. Art direction by Moiz Syed. Senior producer Jeff Seelbach. Editing by Kristina Motwani. Additional editing byEuna Lee. Animation by Kai Tang. Sound mix by Mark Behm. Camera Marty Martin, Dave Aronson. Many thanks to Jigar Mehta and David Cohn for their help along the way.

Brazilian Activists Occupy Gov’t Building To Protest Austerity

August 5, 2015 EFE, www.latino.foxnews.com Resist! Agrarian Reform, Brazil, Government, Landless Movement

By EFE in Fox News Latino - Some 1,000 members of Brazil's MST Landless Movement on Monday occupied the finance ministry to protest the austerity policies of President Dilma Rousseff. The MST activists arrived during the early morning, occupied the first floor of the building and blocked access to ministry officials, police said. In a communique, the MST said that the protest was called to protest the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes that the Rousseff government decided to implement to shore up public finances and straighten out the economy, expected to shrink at least 1.5 percent this year. Alexandre Conceição, a member of the national MST coordinating body, told reporters that the cuts in public spending announced by the government has reduced by almost 50 percent the funds available this year for agrarian reform.

Jimmy Carter: The US Is An Oligarchy

August 3, 2015 Paige Lavender, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Democracy, Government, oligarchy, Politics

By Paige Lavender in The Huffington Post - Former President Jimmy Carter spoke with the Thom Hartmann Program earlier this week about "political bribery" in the United States, saying it's created “a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.” Carter was asked about Supreme Court cases like Citizens United, which he said has turned America into an "oligarchy." "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president," Carter said. Carter said the power of money isn't limited to just the presidency, claiming "the same thing" applies to lawmakers on the state level and in Congress. "The incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves," Carter said. "Somebody’s who’s already in Congress has a lot more to sell to an avid contributor than somebody who’s just a challenger."

Thousands Of Japanese Say ‘No’ To Abe Administration

July 28, 2015 Rui Saraiva, www.uk.blastingnews Resist! Government, Japan, Politics

By Rui Saraiva in Blasting News - Thousands of protesters gathered in Tokyo last Friday night, 24th, in a campaign to say "No" to Shinzo Abe and its government. The keywords of this demonstration were "No to Abe," "No to War," and "Protect the Constitution." This was not an isolated event, as over the past week demonstrations have taken place every night in Tokyo. The demonstrators are protesting against the new security bill that attempts to reinterpret the constitution and allow the Japanese Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to participate in collective self-defence with the U.S. and other Japanese allies, scraping 70 years of pacifism. Japan is, probably, the only country in the world in which its military never shed blood over seven decades. The demonstrators deeply wish that pacifism remains as one of the main pillars of the contemporary Japanese political system.

The Power Of Persistence In NYC’s Fight For Affordable Housing

July 11, 2015 Rebecca Nathanson, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Affordable, Government, Housing, New York City (NYC), Politics

By Rebecca Nathanson in Waging Nonviolence - Thanks to the 1971 Urstadt Law, New York State, rather than New York City, controls the city’s rent laws, which expired on June 15. These laws include vacancy decontrol, which allows rent-stabilized apartments to be destabilized once they are vacant and the rent reaches a certain threshold. However, the city does have one means of managing its rent-stabilized apartments: the RGB, which votes on yearly rent increases for stabilized apartments. This year’s vote was scheduled for late-June. The combination of the rent laws expiring and the RGB vote resulted in a period of heightened mobilization for tenant organizations and provided an opportunity for them to come together to pressure both the city and the state in two separate but related struggles.

How Federal Dollars Are Financing The Water Crisis In The West

May 30, 2015 Abrahm Lustgarten and Naveena Sadasivam, www.projects.propublica.org Educate! Capitalism, Government, Privatization, Water

Getting plants to grow in the Sonoran Desert is made possible by importing billions of gallons of water each year. Cotton is one of the thirstiest crops in existence, and each acre cultivated here demands six times as much water as lettuce, 60 percent more than wheat. That precious liquid is pulled from a nearby federal reservoir, siphoned from beleaguered underground aquifers and pumped in from the Colorado River hundreds of miles away. Greg Wuertz has been farming cotton on these fields since 1981, and before him, his father and grandfather did the same. His family is part of Arizona’s agricultural royalty. His father was a board member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District for nearly two decades. Wuertz has served as president of several of the most important cotton organizations in the state.

The Banks Are Felons That The Government Refuses To Stop

May 29, 2015 Portie Crowe, www.businessinsider.com Educate! Banking, Criminal Justice, Finance and the Economy, Government, Law

This week, five Wall Street banks pleaded guilty to felony charges related to interest rate rigging and foreign exchange manipulation. The guilty pleas mean the banks are literally felons, and it's a distinct shift in the way law enforcement has dealt with Wall Street in the past. Lawsuits and legal fees are nothing new for the banks: since the financial crisis, they have essentially become the cost of doing business on Wall Street. Now, apparently, that cost includes both legal fees and criminal charges. The thing is, no one seems to be fazed. This case has nothing to do with the financial crisis. Rather, a couple years ago, traders from a handful of banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, an important interest rate used around the world as a benchmark for mortgages and other loans. Other traders manipulated the prices at which banks bought or sold currencies.

Opponents Say TPP Deal Will Impose Defacto Corporate Governance

May 28, 2015 Interview with Kevin Zeese Scott Harris, www.btlonline.org Educate! Capitalism, Free Trade, Government, Politics, TPP

The battle in Congress over Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “fast track,” and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the European Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreements, is in high gear. President Obama is pressuring lawmakers to pass fast track, which is a mechanism that forces Congress to vote on a trade agreement within 60 to 90 days of receiving it, with only limited debate and no amendments allowed. While fast track had been stalled in the U.S. Senate, it’s expected to eventually pass there, with the real fight moving to the House of Representatives. There, an unlikely coalition of mostly Democrats and some Republicans are opposed to a free trade deal citing a variety of reasons.

Latest Infrastructure Disaster, Amtrak Derailed

May 21, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.opednews.com Educate! Government, Infrastructure, Transportation

The May 12th train derailment near Philadelphia, which killed eight people and hospitalized 200, was the deadliest Amtrak accident in recent history. The train barreled around a dangerous bend at 106 mph, more than double the 50 mph speed limit for the curve. Whether this was due to operator error or mechanical issues is not yet known. But experts say the derailment might have been averted by a safety system called positive train control, which can automatically reduce the speed of a train that is going too fast. The system must be installed on both the train and the route. The Amtrak train had it, but on that stretch of track in that direction it was not yet operational. Why not? The stretch was known to be dangerous. Nearly 80 passengers died near the spot in an earlier derailment in 1943. Absence of positive train control was also cited as a factor in the fatal 2013 crash of a Metro-North train in the Bronx.

Time To Stop FERC’s Rubber Stamping Of Fracking Projects

May 20, 2015 Ted Glick, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Environment, FERC, Fracking, Government

“If someone is upset with fracking, they should probably talk to the states.” —Norman Bay, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), May 14, 2015 Why protest? Why demonstrate? Why nonviolent direct action? Part of the reason is to put pressure on those in power to smoke them out, to get them to say things publicly they might otherwise not say, to expose the truth about how and why things are working the way they are. FERC has more to do with fracking than any other federal agency, and much more than any one state. They approve interstate pipelines to carry fracked gas, compressor stations to push the gas along, storage terminals to store it and, for the last two years, export terminals to ship it around the world. Without this infrastructure, fracking wouldn’t be happening.

John Hopkins, Federal Policies & Slumification

May 9, 2015 Sean Nevins, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Baltimore, Capitalism, Government, Higher Education, Racial Justice

The world watched last week as protesters stormed the streets of Baltimore to oppose police brutality and demand justice for Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man, who died of spinal injuries suffered in police custody on April 19. But racist policing policies aren’t the only factor leading police officers to allegedly treat Gray, and others like him, inhumanely and disregard his cries for help inside that police van. Contempt for black life in Baltimore and indeed across the United States is also manifested through a legacy of discriminatory housing policies, which include federally mandated discriminatory housing and lending practices, as well as predatory redevelopment projects which benefit one group of people while displacing and disregarding others.

“Silenced” Film Shows Price Paid By Government Whistleblowers

April 15, 2015 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! Government, Law, Media

Director James Spione premiered his documentary film “Silenced” at the Goethe Institute in Washington, DC on Saturday, April 10. “Silenced” features three prominent whistleblowers: former US Department of Justice attorney Jesselyn Radack, former NSA Senior Director Thomas Drake, and former CIA Analyst John Kiriakou, all who paid a heavy price for following their consciences. Drake, Kiriakou, and Radack were present for a question and answer period following the showing. Their political stories have been widely reported in the press. The film does much more than tell the story of how three whistleblowers courageously reported crimes they witnessed within their security agencies. It shows their personal struggles through interactions with their families and in their homes, while touching on their collapsing careers and estates.

One-Quarter Of Adjunct Prof Families Receive Public Assistance

April 15, 2015 Jordan Weissman, www.slate.com Educate! Adjunct, Government, Teachers

Once in a while, someone publishes an article about adjunct professors who resort to food stamps in order to survive on the rock-bottom pay that so many college instructors are expected to live on. But until today, I had never seen a statistic summing up how many academics are actually resorting to government aid. The number, it turns out, is rather large. According to an analysis of census data by the University of California–Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education, 25 percent of "part-time college faculty" and their families now receive some sort public assistance, such as Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, food stamps, cash welfare, or the Earned Income Tax Credit. For what it's worth, that's not quite so bad as the situation faced by fast-food employees and home health care aids, roughly half of whom get government help.

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