February 2012
26 posts
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What do the Stratfor emails reveal? →
Following this week’s publication by Wikileaks of millions of internal emails from the private geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor (which models itself as a private-sector CIA), Juan Cole summarizes the early top 5 revelations, while DemocracyNow! reports on what it all means, including how the firm uses spies (“[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or...
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Wealthy More Likely to Lie, Cheat: Researchers →
Bloomberg: The “upper class,” as defined by the study, were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to raise their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work, the research found. The solution, Piff said, is to find a way to increase empathy among wealthier people. “It’s not that the rich are innately bad, but as you...
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WatchCNBC aired its new documentary, “Filthy Rich“, for the first time last night. The documentary was the product of a year-long investigation (FTF):
One way to hide illicit assets is through shell corporations. The United States is one of just a handful of countries that allow the formation of companies without disclosing the true owner.
For more on the non-US, Central Asian side of tax...
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Google augmented reality glasses to hit market in... →
Get ready for a landmark shift in human mental and social environments: Google is getting set to release Internet eyeglasses.
As augmented reality (AR) technology improves and is mass marketed we will increasingly create and personalize our own social worlds. When AR is merged with facial recognition technology, the possibilities become extraordinary. Think Facebook 2.0, in 3D, overlaying real...
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WatchThe Arab Spring’s spin doctors: A look at how embattled Arab governments have employed the services of Western PR companies to clean up their image (AJE)
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Monsanto Found Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in... →
Anthony Gucciardi: In a major victory for public health and what will hopefully lead to other nations taking action, a French court decided today that GMO crops monster Monsanto is guilty of chemically poisoning a French farmer.
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WatchA Trip to The iFactory: ABC/Disney’s ‘Nightline’ Gets an Unprecedented Glimpse Inside Apple’s Chinese Core.
The full report airs tonight.
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WatchTruth, Lies, and Psychotropic Medication.
Good report from 60 Minutes (CBS) summarizing evidence that exercise and placebo pills are just as effective as psychiatric medications for treating mild and moderate cases of depression. By discarding clinical trials that don’t show the results they like, pharmaceutical corporations are able to manipulate the public’s attitudes about the...
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For NYT, Apple Making Less Profit Is Not Even an... →
FAIR: Consumers could almost certainly have something close to cheap gadgets and well-paid workers—but it would mean making Apple a very profitable company instead of a massively profitable one.
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Another March to War? →
Matt Taibbi: As a journalist, there’s a buzz you can detect once the normal restraints in your business have been loosened, a smell of fresh chum in the waters, urging us down the road to war. Many years removed from the Iraq disaster, that smell is back, this time with Iran.
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The U.S., Bahrain, and Iran →
Just Foreign Policy: Do you think it’s right for U.S. officials to pontificate about human rights abuses in an “adversary” country where the U.S. has little influence, but then to stay quiet while human rights are abused in a U.S. “ally” where the U.S. has much more influence, because it’s claimed that staying quiet about abuses by an “ally” serves...
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Apple's Sordid Business Practices Are Even Worse... →
As Apple bows to pressure to let independent auditors into its supplier factories, Arun Gupta exposes further exploitation by the most admired corporation in the US and the world. Criticizing the recent NYT exposé, Gupta writes that, “the Times highlighted environmental hazards and overtime,” explaining in detail how the investigation, “gloss[ed] over wages, working conditions...
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WatchU.S. has 1929-style income inequality, says Nouriel Roubini, NYU Economist.
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CIA's drone tactics in Pakistan include targeting... →
Los Angeles Times: When the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism released a report Sunday claiming that U.S. drone strikes have killed dozens of civilian rescuers and mourners in Pakistan, the American media scarcely noticed.
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$14 Billion To Be Spent On First New Nuclear... →
A boon for industry profits, a debacle for local public health, and a potential catastrophic accident waiting to happen. Despite the fairytale of “clean, safe” nuclear power, the Obama administration is offering $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees as incentive towards this plant instead of investing in renewable energy like solar, wind, or water.
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Top Israeli Soldiers and Spies Who Oppose Bombing... →
Peter Beinart: Some of Israel’s leading soldiers and spies are warning against bombing Iran. American Jews should listen to them rather than accept Netanyahu’s apocalyptic claim that Tehran’s nuclear program is an existential threat to the state.
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Top Underreported U.S. Stories of 2011 →
According to Project Censored: 1. More US Soldiers Committed Suicide Than Died in Combat
2. US Military Manipulates the Social Media
3. Obama Authorizes International Assassination Campaign
4. Global Food Crisis Expands
5. Private Prison Companies Fund Anti–Immigrant Legislation
6. Google Spying?
7. U.S. Army and Psychology’s Largest Experiment–Ever
8. The Fairytale of Clean and Safe Nuclear...
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The Cancer in Occupy →
Chris Hedges: The Black Bloc anarchists, who have been active on the streets in Oakland and other cities, are the cancer of the Occupy movement. The presence of Black Bloc anarchists—so named because they dress in black, obscure their faces, move as a unified mass, seek physical confrontations with police and destroy property—is a gift from heaven to the security and surveillance state.
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How Facebook and Google are Using You →
In this NYT op-ed, law professor Lori Andrews explains, “Ads that pop up on your screen might seem useful, or at worst, a nuisance. But they are much more than that. The bits and bytes about your life can easily be used against you. Whether you can obtain a job, credit or insurance can be based on your digital doppelgänger — and you may never know why you’ve been turned down. ...
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ABC's Iran Propaganda: Alarmist reporting on... →
FAIR: The January 31 ABC World News broadcast featured a blatantly propagandistic report on the supposed threat from Iran…Tell ABC that its January 31 report on Iran failed to challenge official claims about the supposed threat from Iran. At a time of heightened tension, journalists should act to question official rhetoric—not generate propaganda.
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Watch“The Atomic States of America”: Exploring a Nation’s Struggle with Nuclear Power
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The Generals try to stop an Iran War →
Juan Cole: It has leaked that US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. Martin Dempsey warned the Israelis that if they launched a strike on Iran that spiralled into a war, they would be on their own.
January 2012
31 posts
6 tags
How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the... →
George Lakey: While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it’s worthwhile to consider other countries where masses of people succeeded in nonviolently bringing about a high degree of democracy and economic justice.