Month

Archives: May 2014

Is the US Mil. Training of African Special Ops is a prelude to disaster?

Is the US Mil. Training of African Special Ops a prelude to disaster?

By William R. Polk With everyone's attention focused either on the European elections, President Obama's speech at West Point or the Ukraine, a story by Eric Schmitt in The International New York…

Pastor Hagee: It’s not Climate Change, It’s The Return Of Christ

Hagee: You May Think It’s Climate Change, But It’s The Return Of Jesus Christ (via Liberaland) Matthew Hagee, son of fire and brimstone preacher John Hagee, says don’t believe those climate scientists…

Did Benghazi Obsession cause Fox ‘News’ Ratings to Plummet 27% in May?

Epic FAIL: Fox ‘News’ Ratings Plummet 27% in May! (via Atlas Left) Fox News ratings dropped 27% in May, and there were double-digit falls across many of their top shows. The ratings…

European Wind Power: Denmark, Portugal, and Spain Leading the World

European Wind Power: Denmark, Portugal, and Spain Leading the World (via sustainablog) By J. Matthew Roney Denmark produced one third of its electricity from the wind in 2013. In no other country…

Solar Power for the Global Masses: The Next Revolution

By Juan Cole As the price of solar panels drops, they increasingly are being spontaneously bought and installed by villagers throughout the world, who are often ill-served, or not served at all,…

Reconciliation between Judaism and Islam is Possible

By Joseph Richard Preville via IslamiCommentary Israeli-American businessman, scholar, and activist Rabbi Shai Har-El’s new book — Where Islam and Judaism Join Together: A Perspective on Reconciliation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) — is…

Snowden: Clapper pattern of Lies about My Complaints to NSA

Snowden: NSA Revealed Only One Email, Shows NSA Lied Before... Also: None Of This Matters (via Techdirt) After NBC confirmed Ed Snowden's earlier claims that he had tried to make use of…

“Man-Up” Kerry tries to Swiftboat Ed Snowden

By Jon Queally U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is facing widespread criticism for his comment that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden—increasingly seen by the American public as a heroic figure for exposing…

Gov’t to Class of ’14: Getting to Know You, Getting to Know all About You

By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch Internet Class of 2014, I’m in awe of you! To this giant, darkened auditorium filled with sparkling screens of every sort, welcome! It would, of course, be…

Mr. Kerry: Why Snowden can’t “Make his Case” in “Our System of Justice”

By Juan Cole Secretary of State John Kerry said that Edward Snowden should "return home and come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case." Kerry seems…

Israeli PM Netanyahu Vows never to Return Occupied E Jerusalem to Palestinian Residents

On Jerusalem Day Netanyahu vows never to divide the city (via AFP) Tens of thousands of religious Jews waving Israeli flags marched into mainly Arab east Jerusalem Wednesday as the country celebrated…

US Ally Bahrain’s Courts are Corrupt, in service of Injustice

Human Rights Watch A police officer in Bahrain who kills a protester in cold blood or beats a detainee to death might face a sentence of six months or maybe two years,…

Press Freedom is the Issue, not Glenn Greenwald’s Personality

By Barry Eisler via Freedom of the Press Foundation: One of the most fascinating aspects of Glenn Greenwald’s journalism is the way it provokes various people who think of themselves as journalists…

Bush-Cheney Committed War Crimes: Terrorism Czar

Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! has an exclusive interview: " Exclusive: Bush Committed War Crimes Says Ex-Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke" Excerpt: Amy Goodman: "Do you think President Bush should be brought up on…

Not Snowden but Keith Alexander: Hero or Traitor (the debate we should be having)

By Juan Cole NBC News's Brian Williams interviewed Edward Snowden in Moscow on Wednesday night. But then Mr. Williams followed it up with a panel discussion of whether Snowden is a hero…

Guatemala Town Threatens to Expel Jews

A town in Guatemala has asked its Jewish residents to register with the municipality and warned that they face expulsion. Click here for the rest of the article...

Maya Angelou: ‘Still I Rise’ (video)

Poet Maya Angelou dies at 86. Maya Angelou reads 'Still I Rise'

Rapid climate changes deadlier than asteroid impacts in Earth’s past

Rapid climate changes more deadly than asteroid impacts in Earth’s past – study shows. (via Skeptical Science) Posted on 27 May 2014 by howardlee The link between rapid climate changes and mass…

The NSA Effect: China tells its banks to remove IBM servers as Spyware

China tells its banks to remove IBM servers over snooping fears (via The Inquirer) THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT has urged its banks to stop using servers built by IBM because it believes that…

“Joe the Plumber”: “Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.”

"Joe the Plumber": "Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights." (via The Political Carnival) "Joe the Plumber" (Sam Wurzelbacher, the not-plumber), wrote the following in response to the grieving parents of…

Preying on the Weak: Like Big Tobacco, Big Oil Targets Developing Countries

By Michael T. Klare via Tomdispatch.com In the 1980s, encountering regulatory restrictions and public resistance to smoking in the United States, the giant tobacco companies came up with a particularly effective strategy…

Egypt: Passive Aggression and Counter-revolution: Voters, Youth Stay Home

By Juan Cole Voting was abruptly extended from two days to three in Egypt's presidential election on Tuesday, apparently because of an unexpectedly low turnout. The contest pits Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, until…

Turkish Court asks Interpol to arrest 4 Israeli ex-Generals for Gaza Aid Ship Murders

Turkish court orders arrest of Israeli top brass over Gaza ship raid (via AFP) A Turkish court on Monday ordered the arrest of four former Israeli military chiefs over a deadly 2010…

Solar & Wind Renewables Pass Hydroelectric Dams as Power Sources in US

Non-Hydro Renewables Pass Hydropower In United States (via Clean Technica) Originally published on the ECOreport. (Editor’s Note: it’s worth noting that the numbers below don’t include rooftop solar power, only utility-scale solar power plants.)…

Shooting victim’s father rips ‘rudderless idiots’ in Congress: ‘I can’t tell you how angry I am’

Shooting victim’s father rips ‘rudderless idiots’ in Congress: ‘I can’t tell you how angry I am’ (via Raw Story ) With a California town grieving the deaths of six college students killed…

Did a Karzai-Obama Rift Mar the President’s visit to Afghanistan?

Did a Karzai No-Show Spoil Obama’s announcement of end of Afghanistan War?

By Juan Cole Update: President Obama on Tuesday morning announced the end of the Afghanistan War on December 31, 2016. He envisions about 10,000 US troops there through 2015, then 5,000 in…

Pope Francis Calls for Palestinian State, Prays at Aparheid Wall

Pope Francis Calls for Palestinian State, Prays at Apartheid Wall

On Sunday in Bethlehem, Pope Francis called for recognition of an independent Palestinian state. CNN reports that he asked for "the acknowledgment by all of the right of two states to exist…

Far-right rises in European Parliament elections, but is it a ‘Euroquake’?

By Remy Davison, Monash University, via The Conversation Some 400 million eligible voters, 751 seats, 28 countries: a portrait of true democracy at work – unless they held an election and nobody…

S. Carolina Bible College head Slaveholder Arrested. Yes, You Read That Correctly

South Carolina Slaveholder Arrested. Yes, You Read That Correctly (via Liberaland) … and your jaw is going to hit the floor when you read what he does for a living: The president…

Shale Oil Hype Fail: California Bonanza Evaporates

California's Shale Fail: The Case of 13 Billion Barrels of Missing Oil By Richard Heinberg In 2011, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy commissioned INTEK Inc., a…

On Memorial Day, Let’s do right by our Veterans

(By Juan Cole) Memorial Day should honor not only those military personnel who gave their lives for America but really all those who have suffered and died in war. Given the difficulties…

Obama’s Just Right Foreign Policy

By Daniel Wagner via IPD A plethora of pundits, lawmakers and think tanks continue to criticize the Obama administration for presiding over what appear to be persistent failures in the foreign policy…

The Pope in Palestine: O Little Town of Bethehem caught in Apartheid Wall

Papal pilgrimage heads to Bethlehem (via AFP) Pope Francis arrives in Bethlehem Sunday to begin the most sensitive part of his three-day Middle East tour aimed at forging regional peace and easing…

Nat’l Gas actually worse than Coal for Climate Change because, Methane: Cornell Scientist

‘Catastrophe’ Claim Adds Fuel to Methane Debate (via Climate Central) By Bobby Magill Follow @bobbymagill A Cornell University scientist's claims that oil and gas development is so harmful to the climate that…

30 Murders by Firearm in England 2012 (equiv. 164), vs. 8,855 in US

By Juan Cole The mentally imbalanced individual who hunted down UC Santa Barbara students and knifed three and shot 6 of them to death, wounding with gunfire 7 more, on Saturday, used…

The Real Veterans Scandal: 258,000 Have No Healthcare Thanks to GOP Governors

By S Lee Caudle The Real Veterans Scandal: 258,000 Have No Healthcare Thanks to GOP Governors (via Atlas Left) While the GOP/Tea Party fiddles, blaming Obama for everything that’s wrong, our Veterans…

When Bibi Meets Modi: Israel and the Indian Elections

(By Shalom Goldman via IslamiCommentary) Shalom Goldman After weeks-long elections in India, the Hindu nationalist BJP party, with Narendra Modi as prime-minister elect, has emerged as the overwhelming victor in a hotly…

‘Journalist’ Michael Kinsley says Gov’t should make Publishing Decisions

By Barry Eisler 'Journalist' Argues In NY Times That Publishing Decisions Should Ultimately Be Made By Government (via Techdirt) Glenn Greenwald spends the last third of his excellent new book, "No Place…

Onshore Wind Power in Europe now Cheaper than Gas, Coal or Nuclear

Onshore Wind Is The Cheapest Electricity Generation Option In Europe (via Clean Technica) Originally published on Renew Economy. The falling cost of renewables is not news to those who have paid attention…

Pope Francis in Jordan Reaches out to Forgotten Syrian Refugees, Christians and Muslims

By Juan Cole AFP Arabic reports that Syrian refugees, and Christian refugees in particular, are hoping that the visit of Pope Francis to Jordan on Saturday will raise the profile of their…

Rocket attack wounds 20 in Libya's Benghazi

Twenty members of a single family were wounded when a rocket slammed into their home near an army base in Libya's second city Benghazi overnight, medical and security sources say.

Sarah Palin: Veterans died waiting for VA care because ‘Barack Obama is lazy’

Sarah Palin: Veterans died waiting for VA care because ‘Barack Obama is lazy’ (via Raw Story ) Fox News contributor and half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said this week that veterans…

Nigeria’s Boko Haram Crisis: What the Drones Can’t See

By Allan Christelow On the night of April 14-15 2014, militants from the group known as Boko Haram broke into the dormitory of a secondary school in the town of Chibok, in…

House Passes Fake USA Freedom Act; Only hope is Senate

House Passes Fake USA Freedom Act; Fight Turns To The Senate To Fix A Broken Bill (via Techdirt) As explained earlier, due to pressure from the White House and NSA's supporters in…

Shouldn’t the “1% Doctrine” Apply to the WMD of Climate Change?

(By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch.com) Who could forget? At the time, in the fall of 2002, there was such a drumbeat of “information” from top figures in the Bush administration about the secret Iraqi…

Pope Francis to call for Sovereign, Independent Palestinian State from Bethlehem

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is signaling that Pope Francis in his visit to Bethlehem on Sunday will strongly support the right of Palestinians to a sovereign state. Implicitly, Pope…

Anthony Bourdain on Palestinians: “The World has visited many terrible things on” them, robbed of their Humanity

Anthony Bourdain: it is something we do all the time: "Show regular people doing everyday things--cooking and enjoying meals... It is a measure, I guess, of how twisted and shallow our depiction…

NASA’s Launch Pads menaced by Sea Level Rise it is Charged to Monitor

Sea level rise forces US space agency to retreat (via AFP) Sea level rise is threatening the majority of NASA's launch pads and multi-billion dollar complexes famous for training astronauts and launching…

Iran “Happy” Video Arrestees out on Bail but Pharrell Cover goes Viral

Iran frees 'Happy' video dancers on bail (via AFP) Six young Iranians arrested for dancing on rooftops to US singer Pharrell Williams' hit "Happy" in a video that went viral on the…

Historian who Made History: Vincent Harding, Civil Rights Pioneer and King Confidant

(By Ken Butigan, Waging Nonviolence) Historian by profession and relentless nonviolent advocate by calling, Vincent Gordon Harding died on Monday, May 19, at the age of 83. The author of a series…

Top 5 Wars on Religious Extremism in Today’s Muslim World

The Fox News commentators who say that the Muslim world is not doing enough to police its own extremist movements don't actually seem to be reading the news. If anything in a…

If Senate’s Phony Journalist “Shield Law” wouldn’t Protect a Glenn Greenwald what Good is It?

A Media Shield Law That Wouldn't Protect Glenn Greenwald Is Not A Media Shield Law; It's A Joke (via Techdirt) Back in March, we pointed out that Senator Chuck Schumer had more…

The BuSSy Monologues in Egypt: I will pinch your ass and grab your boobs, and you can’t talk about it:

(By Sondos Shabayek) "You can't go on stage and say this," the state-owned theater director told me. "How do you suggest I say it otherwise?" I replied."Just use ‘bleep’ or say that someone…

Israel Accused of War Crime over Army “Execution” of Innocent Palestinian Teens

(By Lauren McCauley) According to rights group Defense for Children International — Palestine, which obtained and circulated the security camera footage, Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh, 16, sustained fatal…

When the McCarthyites tried to Ban “Robin Hood” as a Communist; and the Green Feather Movement

(By Alison Kysia) On November 13, 1953, during the height of the McCarthy era, Robin Hood and his band of “merry outlaws” made headlines. Mrs. Thomas J. White of the Indiana Textbook…

The Obama Effect? Are Iran/ Saudi-and-GCC no longer on a war footing?

(By Juan Cole) There are signs of a diplomatic thaw between Iran and the Arab oil monarchies of the Gulf. It has just been announced that the ruler of Kuwait, Sabah al-Ahmad…

India-Pakistan Solar Energy Race? Desert Solar Park among world’s Largest

Pakistan’s First Solar Power Park Inaugurated, Will Be One Of The Biggest In World After Completion (via Clean Technica) Pakistan’s first large-scale solar power project, the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project, was recently…

Can we close Guantanamo Now? Abu Hamza Convicted by New York Jury

British preacher Abu Hamza guilty on US terror charges (via AFP) A New York jury convicted British hate preacher Abu Hamza on 11 kidnapping and terrorism charges Monday, opening the way for…

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Miles O’Brien slam CNN as the ‘Wal-Mart of journalism’

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Miles O’Brien slam CNN as the ‘Wal-Mart of journalism’ (via Raw Story ) On the latest episode of his StarTalk Radio Show, Neil DeGrasse Tyson spoke to former…

Will Pope Francis’s Visit to the West Bank be a Challenge to Occupation?

"This visit will help us in supporting our struggle to end the longest occupation in history." (By Lauren McCauley) On an upcoming trip to the Middle East, Pope Francis is expected to…

Sunnis Big Losers in Iraq Elections, PM al-Maliki has Largest Party

(By Juan Cole) The results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections are in, and everybody lost. There will be another hung parliament that gets almost nothing done. The Sunni Arabs ended up dividing…

After Occupy: Is Economic Democracy Possible?

(A conversation on economic democracy with Tom Malleson via OUP) How do we address the problem of inequality in capitalist societies? Tom Malleson, the author of After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the…

Dick Cheney wants Hillary Clinton ‘held accountable’ for Benghazi terror attacks

Dick Cheney wants Hillary Clinton ‘held accountable’ for Benghazi terror attacks (via Raw Story ) Dick Cheney, the former vice president who was in office during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,…

Occupartheid is Isolating and Degrading Israel

(Open Letter from Daniel Bar-Tal, Tel Aviv) "Love your neighbor as yourself" This is the core requirement for overcoming blindness caused by hate and fear needed for peacemaking. Dear Friends, I write…

The Eurasian Pivot: Is it China’s and Russia’s Century?

(By Pepe Escobar via Tomdispatch) HONG KONG -- A specter is haunting Washington, an unnerving vision of a Sino-Russian alliance wedded to an expansive symbiosis of trade and commerce across much of…

Second Libyan Revolution, this Time Against Political Islam, Extremist Militias

Second Libyan Upheaval, this Time Against Political Islam, Extremist Militias

(By Juan Cole) In Benghazi on Monday morning, fighting resumed between the "Libyan National Army" forces of Col. Khalifa Hifter and fundamentalist extremists. The latter fired rockets at the Benina military airport…

Anti-Muslim Gadfly to run DC Bus ads linking Hitler to Islam (+Russell Brand video against Islam Hatred)

Anti-Muslim Long Island blogger to run ads linking Hitler to Islam on DC area buses (via Raw Story ) An organization run by an anti-Mulsim blogger has purchased billboards on the sides…

Congressional Gridlock on Climate Change hurts US Int’l Leadership on Issue

(David Victor via The Stanley Foundation) As the world heads toward a new round of climate talks in 2015, the moment is ripe for concerted, collective action to surmount years of international…

8 False Climate-Change-Denial Memes Debunked by Real Scientists

Eight Pseudoscientific Climate Claims Debunked by Real Scientists (via Moyers & Company) Most people who deny that human activity is warming the planet just dismiss a massive body of scientific evidence as…

America as Torture Central: From Prisons to “Black Sites”

(By Sarah Lazare) Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for…

GOP holds hearings but in the Real Benghazi a Retired Gen. is bombarding Extremists

GOP holds hearings but in the Real Benghazi a Retired Col. is bombarding Extremists

(By Juan Cole) As congressional Republicans prepare to have yet another round of investigations into the September 11, 2012 attacks on a US "consulate" in Benghazi, Libya, it is hard to see…

Under World Cup Pressure, Qatar reforms Guest Worker Laws, abolishes Sponsorship System

Qatar to end sponsorship system for foreign workers (via AFP) Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup, said Wednesday it will abolish its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers, whose treatment…

Some Saudis Kiss their Camels to defy Gov’t MERS Warning

Saudi homes in on camels in bid to combat MERS (via AFP) Saudi authorities have issued fresh warnings on how to handle the desert kingdom's wealth of camels, thought to be the…

Picture This: U.S. Cities Under 12 feet of Sea Level Rise

Picture This: U.S. Cities Under 12 feet of Sea Level Rise (via Climate Central) By Climate Central Maps are one way to understand what collapse of West Antarctic glaciers could eventually mean. Photos show it…

Fracking Victims demand Environmental Protection Agency Protection

Fracking Victims demand Environmental Protection Agency Intervention

(By Lauren McCauley) The 150 million Americans routinely exposed to toxic air as a result of oil and gas drilling need better protection from their government, demanded a coalition of 64 environmental…

5 Reasons India’s new BJP (“Tea Party”) Government may not be so Great for Business

(By Juan Cole) The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India's elections is being hailed in some Western media as a hopeful sign for US-Indian trade and for Indian business.…

FCC Votes To “Fast Track” Death Of Net Neutrality

The Fight Goes On: FCC Votes to Consider Rules that Could End Net Neutrality (via Moyers & Company) The vote was taken at the Federal Communications Commission Thursday morning, as drums pounded and…

On Sunday, 75% of Germany’s Electricity came from Renewables

Germany Reached Nearly 75% Renewable Power Use On Sunday (via Clean Technica) En route to its 2050 Energiewende goal of 80% of the nation’s power being supplied by renewables, especially spurred on…

Sudan judge orders Christian woman to hang for apostasy

Sudan judge orders Christian woman to hang for apostasy (via AFP) A Sudanese judge on Thursday sentenced a heavily pregnant Christian woman to hang for apostasy, a ruling which Britain denounced as…

Mass Protests, Strikes in Turkey over Erdogan’s Neoliberal Response to Miner Deaths

(By Juan Cole) Turkey's Public Workers Union Confederation announced a one-day strike to demand better worker safety and political protests have broken out Friday in a number of Turkish cities over deaths…

Greenwald: NSA sneaking backdoors into hardware exports

NSA is accused of sneaking backdoors into hardware exports (via The Inquirer) Glenn Greenwald has accused the US National Security Agency (NSA) of inserting backdoors for surveillance purposes into servers being exported…

Rising Numbers of Palestinian Children Subjected to Solitary Confinement

Rising Numbers of Palestinian Children Subjected to Solitary Confinement (via PRWeb) A new report from Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI-Palestine) finds that in 21.4 percent of cases documented in 2013, children…

Activists in Bahrain denounce anti-Shia Policies

(By Catherine Shakdam) Early last week political activists affiliated with Bahrain’s opposition groups delivered a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon calling for his office to take a stand against…

You always knew it was a Gas Hog: Ben Affleck’s Batmobile to be a Hybrid

Ben Affleck Might Drive A Hybrid Batmobile (via Gas 2.0) Ben Affleck is slated to be the next Batman, and the Batmobile could get a major overhaul too. A hybrid Batmobile? Even…

Iran Going Big With Renewables! 5,000 MW Of New Solar & Wind Capacity By 2018?

Iran Going Big With Renewables! 5,000 MW Of New Solar & Wind Capacity By 2018? (via Clean Technica) Iran is aiming big with renewables, based on recent statements made by the Iranian…

Donald Sterling’s Illiberal Zionism Part of Racism Controversy with Magic Johnson

(By Juan Cole) Major political ideas and philosophies are complex and ambiguous, not straightforward. American conservatism is an alliance of economic conservatives and cultural conservatives. Economic conservatives are champions of entrepreneurs and…

NASA: West Antarctic ice sheet collapse now Inevitable, 10 ft Sea Rise Locked In

West Antarctic ice sheet collapse 'unstoppable', says NASA (via AFP) Ice is melting in the western Antarctic at an "unstoppable" pace, scientists said Monday, warning that the discovery holds major consequences for…

When Greenwald met Snowden: “Spark a … movement against the dangers of state surveillance”

(By Glenn Greenwald via Tomdispatch) [This essay is a shortened and adapted version of Chapter 1 of Glenn Greenwald’s new book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S.…

New Yemeni Campaign against al-Qaeda gains Popular Support as US Embassy Closes on Security Fears

Yemeni anti-Al-Qaeda Campaign gains Popular Support but US Embassy forced to Close

(By Robert Sharp) As Yemen enters the post-National Dialogue Conference period, theory and practice are colliding; the constitutional referendum will take place in June followed by hopefully credible presidential and parliamentary elections.…

Operation American Spring aims to drive Obama from office this Friday

Operation American Spring promises to drive Obama from office this Friday (via Raw Story ) Self-styled revolutionary patriots plan to converge on Washington, D.C., this week to drive President Barack Obama and…

The Real Egyptian Divide is between Tahrir Self-Government and Authoritarians of all Stripes

(By Haifaa G. Khalafallah) Revolutions or coups seeking to change modern Egypt, whether in 1919 or 1952, never challenged the familiar patterns of power relations, that is to say, their political culture.…

Top 5 Signs that it is Rove who is Brain Dead, not Hillary

(By Juan Cole) Karl Rove was reported to have raised questions about Hillary Clinton's mental well-being because of her fall in late 2012. He later walked back his allegation, but not too…

John Oliver: What if TV Climate Debates were 97 to 3 as in Real Science?

"John Oliver hosts a mathematically representative climate change debate, with the help of special guest Bill Nye the Science Guy, of course." John Oliver LastWeekTonight: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):…

Reich on Obama Walmart Photo-Op: “What numbskull arranged this?”

(By John Queally) A low-wage Walmart employee in California has a simple message for President Obama on behalf of the millions of workers who find themselves in situations just like hers: "Help…

US Military Report: War effort in Afghanistan was bedeviled by Corruption, made it Worse

The US military describes its biggest mistakes in Afghanistan (via GlobalPost) Enlarge Air Force aerial porters load a shipping container onto a C-130 Hercules cargo plane at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost…

Dear GOP: Here are Some Basic Real Questions to ask about Benghazi & CIA

(By Michael G. Roskin) With a Congressional committee about to seize on the Benghazi question (as part of the 2014 election campaign), some previously unasked but basic questions should come before the…

Israeli Squatter anti-Church Terror in Jerusalem “Poisons” Papal visit

(By Juan Cole) The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, has said that Israeli squatter attacks on and desecration of Christian churches has poisoned the atmosphere in advance of Pope Francis's planned…

Nisar lauds PTI workers’ attitude

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan praised the workers and supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for demonstrating a “sense of responsibility” during the party’s rally in the capital…

New Study Ties California Drought to Fossil Fuel-Driven Climate Change

New Study Links California Drought to Climate Change and Burning of Fossil Fuels (via Desmogblog) Sat, 2014-05-10 09:07Chris Rose California, widely considered the U.S. state that most promoted the American Dream, may…

Kochs slammed by GOPer for plan to cripple wind power in Kansas

Kansas Republican slams Kochs for trying to cripple state’s growing wind power industry (via Raw Story ) Friday night’s edition of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC took aim at billionaires Charles…

Pakistan: CIA “Bin Laden” Unit’s Fake Vaccination Ploy Sparked Polio Crisis

(By Sarah Lazare) A Pakistani official on Thursday slammed the CIA's fake vaccination drive in 2011 for fueling distrust of polio eradication campaigns and driving "attacks on polio workers" as the country…

The True Costs of Remote Control Drone Wars

(By Pratap Chatterjee via Tomdispatch) Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield…

Did the GOP Obsession with Monica Lewinsky contribute to 9/11? Is the Benghazi hysteria deja vu?

(By Juan Cole) The reemergence in the news of Monica Lewinsky is also a reminder of one of the lowest deeds in modern politics, the impeachment of Bill Clinton by House Republicans…

Saudi-Iran Struggle and the Syrian Proxy War can only be Resolved by Diplomacy

(By Robert Mason) The current foreign policy tensions between Iran and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pivot around Iran's nuclear programme, ideology (the relative balance between revolutionary/resistance ideology and…

Global Warming could Uncork East Antarctic Ice Shelf, Leading to Massive Sea Rise

(By Andrea Germanos) A small amount of ice in the East Antarctic holding back an area of marine ice like a "cork" is at risk from climate change, threatening unstoppable sea level…

Nat’l Climate Assessment Says We’re in Trouble. This Chart Shows Why.

The National Climate Assessment Says We’re in Trouble. This Chart Shows Why. (via Moyers & Company) This animated chart from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences shows the amount of…

Human Rights NGOs Call for Palestine to take Israel to International Criminal Court

(By Human Rights Watch) (Jerusalem) – Palestine should urgently seek access to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a group of 17 Palestinian and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said…

Is Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Case against Iran Collapsing?

(By Juan Cole) Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has determinedly beaten the drums for war with Iran, though his lack of any actual overt action on that front has suggested to many…

Dark Triad: Right wing Conservatives far more likely to be Sociopaths

PROOF! Conservatives and CEOs Really ARE Evil Psychopaths (via Americans Against The Tea Party) Have you ever wondered why today’s conservatives never seem make any sense? Turns out that what we’ve always…

Why the Super-Rich Should Pay Super Taxes

(By Paul Buchheit) Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, "It's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally...It's a game we play...I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up…

Curious about the biggest trade deal in history? Sorry, it’s classified

Curious about the biggest trade deal in history? Sorry, it’s classified (via GlobalPost) BANGKOK — The Trans-Pacific Partnership sounds deadly boring. It’s not. The potential impact on humanity from this proposed mega-deal…

Rush Limbaugh: Pope Francis using UN to impose Marxism on world

Rush Limbaugh: Pope Francis trying to convince UN to impose Marxism, socialism on world (via Raw Story ) Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Friday attacked Pope Francis as a “Marxist” for…

Iraq: Fundamentalist Shiite MP can only keep Power with Sunni Support

(By Mustafa Habib in Baghdad via Niqash.org) The official results of Iraq’s general elections are unknown as yet. But current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will not be winning a majority – and…

No Sense of Urgency: Obama’s New Solar Energy Commitments are still Just Baby Steps

(By Juan Cole) President Obama has long expressed concern about climate change and its impacts, and was mocked by Mitt Romney for saying he wanted to stop the rising of the seas.…

Calif. Republican Smears Arab-American Libertarian Congressman as ‘al Qaeda’s best friend’

Calif. Republican calls Arab-American colleague ‘al Qaeda’s best friend’ in Congress (via Raw Story ) Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash found himself the target of intra-party criticism again, as a California colleague…

How Myanmar’s government is making Buddhist violence toward Muslims worse

How Myanmar’s government is making violence between Muslims and Buddhists worse (via GlobalPost) MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — “For three days,” Khine recalls, “our town was hell.” As the 32-year-old waitress tells it, the…

Washington Militarizes Foreign Policy, but cuts Fulbright Cultural Exchange

(By Ann Jones via Tomdispatch.com) Ignorance can be dangerous, as shown in a recent poll asking Americans what to do about the Ukraine crisis. It turned out that the less those polled…

Top Ten Reasons GOP Benghazi Witch Hunt is just a Campaign Fundraising Ploy

Top 10 Reasons GOP Benghazi Witch Hunt is just a Campaign Fundraising Ploy

(By Juan Cole) Since Obamacare is increasingly a wildly popular success, the GOP is flailing around looking for an issue, any issue to help fundraising for the fall congressional campaigns. In a…

Nuke expert: Iran a decade from bomb, but PM playing politics

Former head of Israeli Atomic Energy Commission Uzi Eilam says Tehran may not even want nuke, but Netanyahu working public into lather for political gain

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds as Nigeria offers reward for girls

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds as Nigeria offers reward for girls (via AFP) A new Boko Haram massacre has killed hundreds in Nigeria's northeast, a senator said Wednesday, as police offered $300,000…

Climate Change in the U.S. in 8 Frightening Charts

Climate Change in the U.S. in 8 Compelling Charts (via Climate Central) By Brian Kahn Follow @blkahn The newly released National Climate Assessment spans 30 chapters with thousands of references on how…

Muslim-haters Pam Geller & J. Farah Attack Spielberg, Liberal Jews as Appeasers

Pam Geller and Joseph Farah Ought To Be Ashamed Of Themselves For Their Statements On Liberal Jews (via Liberaland) This liberal Jew is disgusted by the constant comparisons of Barack Obama to…

Is the Fall of Homs a turning point in Regime’s Quest to Recapture Syria?

Is Fall of Homs a turning point in Regime’s Quest to Retake Syria?

(By Juan Cole) The Governor of Homs Province, Talal al-Barazi said Wednesday that 80 percent of the rebel fighters in that city have now been evacuated. It is expected that the rest…

Israeli Pres. Peres: Netanyahu blocked 2011 Peace Deal with Palestinians

Israel's Peres says Netanyahu blocked 2011 peace deal (via AFP) Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked a 2011 peace agreement he had secretly negotiated with Palestinian…

Rep. Paul Ryan targets Poor as his “Signature Issue”, and I do Mean Targets (Cartoon)

By Paul Jamiol, from Jamiol's World

Rep. Louie Gohmert: Constitution only fit for Americans who ‘cling to God and guns’

Louie Gohmert: Constitution only protects Americans who ‘cling to God and guns’ (via Raw Story ) Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) recently asserted that the U.S. Constitution only applied to people “who cling…

In Egypt, Industrial Scale Death Decrees

(By Amy Austin Holmes) A single judge in a single court in Egypt has sentenced more people to death this year than the total number of people who were executed last year…

Boko Haram and the Lord’s Resistance Army: Hunted Children & the Problem of Fundamentalism in Africa

(By Juan Cole) The horrific story of the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls from their school in Borno Province, northeastern Nigeria, by the Boko Haram terrorist group has again underlined the problem…

The Death Penalty in the United States (Infographic, plus John Oliver)

Death Penalty in the USA The Death Penalty in the USA. Produced from ArrestRecords.com ------ Related video: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Death Penalty"

Apartheid is a reality in the West Bank

(By Glenn Robinson) America's top diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, has found himself in a pickle for having used the word "apartheid" when describing a possible future for Israel if it…

US Supreme Court: First Amendment is Only For Christians, Upholds State-Sponsored Prayer

US Supreme Court: First Amendment is Only For Christians, Upholds State-Sponsored Prayer (via Americans Against The Tea Party) Welcome to the theocracy! Monday morning was a dark day for America. The Supreme…

Scientists Develop Coal-Killing Solar Cell Made From Tin

Scientists Develop Coal-Killing Solar Cell Made From Tin (via Clean Technica) Weren’t we just saying that perovskite solar cells are the next big thing? Well, make that tin perovskite solar cells. Tin…

Netanyahu’s Blood and Soil: The Racist-Nationalism of his “Jewish State” Ideal

(By Juan Cole) Binyamin Netanyahu is again beating the "Israel is a Jewish state" drum, and now wants to have it legislated into Israeli organic law. On Sunday, Netanyahu said, "There are…

Taking Voting Rights from Felons preserves the Legacy of Slavery

(By Pippa Holloway) Nearly six million Americans are prohibited from voting in the United States today due to felony convictions. Six states stand out: Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. These…

Egypt going Big Into Solar Energy, Announces $1 Billion Investment

Egypt Investing Big In Solar Energy, Announces $1 Billion Investment (via Clean Technica) The new Egyptian government apparently sees solar energy as being a key part of the country’s future, based on…

Jose Antonia Vargas’ “Documented” on Plight of Undocumented to air on CNN after Theatrical Release

Jose Antonio Vargas’ “Documented” on Plight of Undocumented to air on CNN after Theatrical Release

(By Juan Cole) I was privileged to see a special screening of Jose Antonio Vargas's breathlessly awaited documentary, "Documented," when I was in Los Angeles last week, and honored to meet Vargas…

Boycott, divestment, sanctions movement seeks justice for Palestinians

(By Marilyn Jerry) Opinion: Boycott, divestment, sanctions movement seeks justice for Palestinians (via NJ.com) By Marilyn Jerry With the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to promote a peace agreement…

Obama Quips at White House Correspondent Dinner: ‘Orange is the New Black’

Obama Quips at White House Correspondents Dinner: ‘Orange is the New Black’

CBSNews.com Web Extras: "President Obama skewers the press, pols, and Obamacare at correspondents dinner" AFP reports: Obama yuks it up with Washington reporters (via AFP) President Barack Obama cracked jokes about the…

Greenwald vs NSA’s Hayden: Glenn Wins in a Slam Dunk

( Commondreams.org joint project ) Greenwald vs NSA's Hayden: Glenn Wins in a Slam Dunk Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who brought the Edward Snowden documents to the world, debated former CIA and NSA…

The Ukraine Crisis and Qatar’s Ascendancy should Make us think Big Solar, not Gas

Solar & Global Politics, & Why Ukraine & Qatar Are Critical Hubs There (via Clean Technica) Originally published on SolarWakeup.By Yann Brandt Solar may be a small portion of energy production globally but…

Condoleezza Rice, Charged with War Crimes at Rutgers, withdraws as Commencement Speaker

(By Juan Cole) Condoleezza Rice on Saturday pulled out of giving the commencement address at Rutgers University after professor and student protests. Rutgers historian Professor Rudy Bell argued that while it would…

Japanese fans say Hollywood’s new Godzilla too fat

Japanese fans say that new Godzilla, set to star in a Hollywood reboot of the post-war classic, is too fat and and has been beefed up too much.

Alabama’s chief justice: Muhammad didn’t create us so 1st Amendment only protects Christians

(By Scott Kaufman) Alabama’s chief justice: Buddha didn’t create us so First Amendment only protects Christians (via Raw Story ) Speaking at the Pastor for Life Luncheon, which was sponsored by Pro-Life…

US calls Israeli Squatter attacks on Palestinians ‘Terrorism’; Israel says ‘only vandalism’

(Via AFP) Israel police challenge US 'terror' findings (via AFP) Israeli police on Thursday challenged Washington's inclusion of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in a global terror report, saying such incidents could…

In Deep South where GOP Rejected Obamacare, tens of 1000s die Unnecessarily every Year

(By Juan Cole) The Center for Disease Control house found that 900,000 people a year die of five leading causes every year in the US, and that 20% to 40% of these…

43% of Denmark’s Power from Renewables: Aiming for 70% by 2020

(By Juan Cole) Denmark is now getting 43% of its power from renewable energy (mainly wind and biomass). It is thus on track to meet its ambitious goal of 70% renewables by…

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Cost some $2 Trillion Annually, According To IMF

(By Sophie Vorrath) Fossil Fuel Subsidies Cost ~$2 Trillion Annually, According To IMF (via Clean Technica) Originally published on RenewEconomy.By Sophie Vorrath Science informs us about the environmental cost of our global…

The Cost of Repression: Turkey on May Day

(By Emma Sinclair-Webb @esinclairwebb ) With a reported 39,000 police officers and 50 water cannon vehicles, plentiful supplies of teargas, and a complete shutdown of the public transport system in the city,…

It’s Not about Hamas: Decrying Palestinian Unity

(By Gregory Harms) Aside from the occasional cross-border violence between Gaza and Israel, Hamas, which governs the coastal strip, has received little attention in the press over the last few years. Because…

This Land is their Land, it isn’t Your Land: Growing inequality in a Declining Empire

(By Peter van Buren via Tomdispatch.com) As America's new economy starts to look more like the old economy of the Great Depression, the divide between rich and poor, those who have made…

Top Attacks on US Embassies in Republican Administrations that Lindsey Graham doesn’t Care about

Top 10 Attacks on US Embassies in Republican Administrations that Lindsey Graham doesn’t Care about

(By Juan Cole) The Republicans in Congress keep beating the dead horse of Benghazi. Now they have sprung a briefing memo for Susan Rice, based on CIA talking points. I shows that…

Rick Jacobs Threatens to Pull URJ Out of Presidents Conference After J Street Fiasco

Reform Movement leader Rabbi Rick Jacobs has signaled that the Union of Reform Judaism could consider dropping out of the Conference of Presidents in response to yesterday’s vote to reject membership to…

Why Oklahoma’s Botched Execution is an Argument for ending Death Penalty

Oklahoma Stays Second Execution Attempt, Victim Dies Anyway (via Americans Against The Tea Party) Yet more evidence that the death penalty is cruel and inhumane arrived today at 8:00PM from the state…

The PLO-Hamas Unity Agreement: an Opportunity for the United States and Israel

(By Joel Migdal) The unity agreement announced last week between Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization drew swift, negative reactions from Israel, including suspending its participation in the U.S.-sponsored peace talks. Israel…

On how the Death of Turkish Democracy this Year wasn’t Clickbait

On how the Death of Turkish Democracy this Year wasn’t exactly Clickbait

(By Ola Claësson) I can’t help being surprised of how little that has been reported in the foreign media about the development in Turkey after the local elections. Before the Gezi protests…

Fox censors ‘Scientific American’ editor on Climate Change because, Future

(By Scott Kaufman) ‘Scientific American’ editor: Fox censored my discussion of climate change as ‘future trend’ (via Raw Story ) Scientific American editor Michael Moyer went on Fox & Friends this morning…

Iraq’s first Post-American Elections by the Numbers

(By Juan Cole) Iraqis went to the polls on Wednesday in the first national parliamentary elections since US troops pulled out of the country completely (in late 2011). The results won't be…