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News January 2013

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Thursday January 31, 2013
International News
Domestic News

How The Glorious Socialist Revolution Generated A 681% Return For Goldman Sachs
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/30/13

Back in 2011, BlackRock's Larry Fink revealed one of the great unspoken truths of capital markets, namely that "markets like totalitarian governments." They also like authoritarian socialism, sprinkled in with a healthy dose of nationalization, because as Bloomberg reports, one of the biggest beneficiaries of over ten years of the "glorious socialist revolution" in Venezuela, coupled with over 1000 nationalizations by the bed-ridden and roughly 15 times deceased Hugo Chavez (if one believes all the rumors), is none other than Goldman Sachs, which generated some 681% in returns due to "aligning its interests" with those of the unshakable Venezuelan ruler. ... Read more

US Ends 2012 With 103.8% Debt To GDP The numerator, or debt: $16.432 trillion, or the debt ceiling, which as we know was breached on the same day, and which has yet to be formally raised. The denominator, or GDP: $15.829 trillion. This means that the formal debt/GDP is now 103.8% and growing fast.

Chart Of The Quarter: $312 Billion In Debt "Adds" Negative $5 Billion In GDP
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/30/13

What was it about the law of diminishing Fed stimulus returns again? But don't worry: "the market is up." Because if $165 billion in Q4 stimulus could not even generate a positive GDP return, at least it sent the Russell 2000 soaring. Read more
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*Humans Have Already Set in Motion 69 Feet of Sea Level Rise
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 01/31/13

Last week, a much-discussed new paper in the journal Nature seemed to suggest to some that we needn't worry too much about the melting of Greenland, the mile-thick mass of ice at the top of the globe. The research found that the Greenland ice sheet seems to have survived a previous warm period in Earth's history--the Eemian period, some 126,000 years ago--without vanishing (although it did melt considerably).

But Ohio State University glaciologist Jason Box isn't buying it. ... Read more
Climate Desk Live: Can Greenland Be Saved? (01/31/13) [3:58]

Austerity Is Dead: Can Someone Please Tell Paul Ryan and His Deluded GOP Cohorts?
AlterNet | Pat Garofalo | 01/30/13

Republicans cling to a policy that pretty much everyone agrees is a total disaster. Most of the recent economic data out of Europe has been exceedingly grim. A record high number of workers across the Eurozone are unemployed. Economies are shrinking. Debts are rising.

The anecdotes, though, are even worse. Hospitals are asking patients to supply their own syringes due to lack of funds. Trees on public land are being cut down by workers desperate for firewood to warm their homes. An entire generation of young workers is going to experience lower wages for the rest of their lives, due to years of being unemployed while in their 20s. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, January 31 [10:03]
DN | Immigration Activists Win Reunion for Phoenix-Area Family After Deportation Almost Tears Them Apart. Part 1 (01/31/13) [11:04], Part 2 [27:58]
DN | Redemption: Oscar-Nominated Doc Follows the Working Poor Who Survive on Collecting Bottles and Cans (01/31/13) [8:55]
Double arm transplant for US soldier [1:20]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Lawrence Wilkerson: Major Cuts Needed to 1.2 Trillion Dollar National Security Budget (01/31/13) [9:23]
TRNN | Parents and Students Demand Nationwide Moratorium on School Closings (01/31/13) [5:54]
PBS NOVA
*PBS NOVA | The "Swarm Intelligence" of slime mold and a beehive, the amazing navigation of a maze. (01/24/13) [13:10]
What do bees, fish, and slime molds have in common with neurons in the human brain? Members of these communities aren't very smart on their own, but when they come together they're capable of remarkable things. Recent discoveries show that the pattern of communication within a bee colony when it is trying to choose a new home is amazingly similar to neural networks in the human brain.
PBS NOVA | Einstein's Big Idea (10/11/05) [1:48:59]
Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation. E = mc2 was just one of several extraordinary breakthroughs that Einstein made in 1905, including the completion of his special theory of relativity, his identification of proof that atoms exist, and his explanation of the nature of light, which would win him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Among Einstein's ideas, E = mc2 is by far the most famous. Yet how many people know what it really means? In a thought-provoking and engrossing docudrama, NOVA illuminates this deceptively simple formula by unraveling the story of how it came to be.
*PBS NOVA | The Elegant Universe: Eleven dimensions, parallel universes, and a world made out of strings. It's not science fiction, it's string theory. Part 1 (07/11/12) [53:49], Part 2 [52:48], Part 3 [53:51]
One of the most ambitious and exciting theories ever proposed--one that may be the long-sought "theory of everything," which eluded even Einstein--gets a masterful, lavishly computer-animated explanation from bestselling author-physicist Brian Greene, when NOVA presents the nuts, bolts, and sometimes outright nuttiness of string theory.
PBS Frontline | Climate of Doubt (10/23/12) [53:47]
Aljazeera News
Aljazeera | Empire: Syria and the US: The complicity of silence (01/30/13 [47:30]
MSNBC Chris Hayes
Chris Hayes | Has intervention in Libya empowered jhadists in North Africa? Part 1 (01/27/13) [11:53], Part 2 [8:14], Part 3 [4:31], Part 4 [5:40]
Chris Hayes | Hilary Clinton's legacy as Secretary of State. Part 1 (01/27/13) [6:58], Part 2 [3:56], Part 3 [10:02]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Wednesday January 30, 2013
International News
Domestic News

U.S. Economy Shrinks For The First Time Since The Recession Ended
HP | Christopher S. Rugaber | 01/30/13

The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank from October through December for the first time since 2009, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles. The drop occurred despite stronger consumer spending and business investment. ... Read more

Senate confirms Sen. John Kerry as secretary of state to succeed Clinton
AP & newser.com | Donna Cassata | 01/29/13

The vote was 94-3. Once sworn-in, Kerry will replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years.   The vote came just hours after the Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination by voice vote. Kerry has led the committee for the past four years.   The 69-year-old Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran and the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. ... Read more

Pentagon's new massive expansion of 'cyber-security' unit is about everything except defense
Guardian | Glenn Greenwald | 01/28/13

As the US government depicts the Defense Department as shrinking due to budgetary constraints, the Washington Post this morning announces "a major expansion of [the Pentagon's] cybersecurity force over the next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold." Specifically, says the New York Times this morning, "the expansion would increase the Defense Department's Cyber Command by more than 4,000 people, up from the current 900." The Post describes this expansion as "part of an effort to turn an organization that has focused largely on defensive measures into the equivalent of an Internet-era fighting force." This Cyber Command Unit operates under the command of Gen. Keith Alexander, who also happens to be the head of the National Security Agency, the highly secretive government network that spies on the communications of foreign nationals - and American citizens. ... Read more

Treasury Disregarded Own Guidelines, Allowed Executive Raises At Bailed-Out GM, AIG: Report
HP & Reuters | Author | 01/28/13

The Treasury's pay czar, or "special master," was tasked with limiting "excessive" pay at companies the government bailed out using taxpayer money during the financial crisis.   But the Office of the Special Master did not follow the rules it had set for compensation, instead letting companies define pay themselves, according to a report by the inspector general for the government's bailout program.

In 2012, the pay czar acceded to company requests in approving multi-million dollar pay packages and pay hikes for top executives at General Motors, AIG and Ally Financial.... Read more

Dow Nears 14,000, On Way To 36,000, Obviously: Seven And A Half Things To Know
HP | Mark Gongloff | 01/30/13

... Whatever number you want to use, the Dow has more than doubled from its crisis low of 6,547.05 in March 2009. And most of that climb has been driven by professional investors -- twice-burned individuals have doggedly shunned stocks throughout the rally, pouring their money into bond mutual funds at a record pace. That pattern has changed lately, writes Tom Lauricella of the Wall Street Journal, as small investors have started to crawl back into stock funds. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, January 30 [12:19]
*DN | Ex-CIA Agent, Whistleblower John Kiriakou Sentenced to Prison While Torturers He Exposed Walk Free (01/30/13) [17:22]
DN | Is Egypt on the Brink of Collapse? Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports From Restive City of Port Said (01/30/13) [11:35]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Dimitri Lascaris: Lack of Criminal Prosecutions Linked to Obama and Holder's Wall St. Connections (01/30/13) [10:08]
*TRNN | Allan Ruff and Steve Horn: Obama, Hagel and the Asian Pivot (01/30/13) [16:19]
TYT News
TYT | Immigration - GOP Realizes They Can't Alienate Latinos (01/28/13) [3:37]
TYT | Backpedal Time! 92% Want Universal Background Checks (01/28/13) [2:52]
TYT | Scott Brown's Twitter Meltdown #Bqhatevwr (01/28/13) [4:36]
MSNBC Ed Show
Ed Show | 36 Republican voted no on aide for victims of Hurricane Sandy (01/29/13) [6:29]
Ed Show | Will Republicans support immigration reform? (01/29/13) [13:14]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | GOP governors increase burden on poor with regressive tax plan. (01/28/13) [5:51]
Rachel Maddow | Paul Krigman: contrasting words with deeds in Republican tax policy. (01/28/13) [6:18]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Tuesday January 29, 2013
International News

Deadly flood waters rise in eastern Australia
Aljazeera | Author | 01/29/13

At least four people have been killed by deadly floodwaters, and thousands of homes and businesses flooded by torrential rain, along Australia's east coast since the weekend.   Floodwaters swept down the coast on Tuesday, with Queensland's state capital Brisbane bracing for its river to peak as other towns waited anxiously to see just how high the water would rise. ... Read more

Domestic News

The OCC's Tragic Response to the Frontline expose: The Untouchables
TheRealNews | William K. Black | 01/25/13

... "The OCC statement about SARs (the technical jargon for "criminal referrals"), is sad. Banks virtually never make criminal referrals against their senior officers, so the number of SARs filed by banks is not relevant to the subject being discussed. The OTS made over 30,000 criminal referrals during the peak years of the S&L debacle. It made zero in this crisis -- a crisis in which the losses and the frauds by senior managers were roughly 70 times larger than during the debacle. Apparently, the OTS and the OCC are trying to excuse their failure to examine, supervise, regulate, and investigate, much less make referrals on the claim that this is the first Virgin Crisis ... Read more

Fukushima | Toshio Yanagihara at the United Nations Human Rights Council, NGO Information Meeting: Let me now talk about the actual health condition of the children of Fukushima. On September 11, the thyroid examinations found abnormalities such as nodules or cysts in 43% out of the 42,000 children tested. The numbers for girls are worse. 54% of girls from age 6 to 10 had these abnormalities, and 55% for age 11 to 15.

Obama: Fox News And Rush Limbaugh Are Why Washington DC Is Such A Mess
BusinessInsider | Brett LoGiurato | 01/27/13

In a sit-down interview with The New Republic released today, President Barack Obama cast blame on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for shaping compromise as a "dirty word."   Obama talked about the recent deal to avert the fiscal cliff, saying he thought House Speaker "genuinely wanted" to come to a deal sooner but felt he was vulnerable to attack from the right. ... Read more

Five Moments From President Obama & Hillary Clinton's '60 Minutes' Interview
Daily Beast | Ben Teitelbaum | 01/28/13

In their first joint interview, President Obama and Hillary Clinton couldn't get enough of each other, as they talked about their friendship, the last four years, and America on the world stage. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, January 29 [12:07]
DN | Seattle's Teacher Uprising: High School Faculty Faces Censure for Boycotting Standardized MAP Tests (01/29/13) [11:41]
60 Minutes Show
*60 Minutes | President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton address their evolution from bitter opponents to partners in the corridors of power. Steve Kroft reports. Part 1 (01/21/13) [14:18], Part 2 [7:21]
60 Minutes | Is Lance Armstrong still lying? (01/21/13) [17:34]
TRNN (The Real News Network) News
*TRNN | James S. Henry commenting on PBS documentary "The Untouchables": If one of these institutions was indicted and made an example of, it would have a profound affect on the whole industry. (01/29/13) [13:21]
*TRNN | Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Hagel's nomination for Sec. of Defense is opposed by those who believe that American military power should be used almost as the sole instrument of American policy. (01/29/13) [10:45]
DAVOS Conference
Aljazeera | Iceland president: Let banks go bankrupt. (01/25/13) [2:58]
TYT News
TYT | Obama Vs. Fox News (01/28/13) [7:57]
TYT | Obama and Hillary - Best Friends Forever? (01/28/13) [4:42]
TYT | Police Caught Kicking, Tasering Man Lying on Ground. (01/28/13) [3:27]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday January 28, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Withdrawn: $114 Billion From Big U.S. Banks
Business Week | Nick Summers | 01/23/13

More than $114 billion exited the biggest U.S. banks this month, and nobody's quite sure why.   The Federal Reserve releases data on the assets and liabilities of commercial banks every Friday. The most current figures, covering the first full week of 2013, show the largest one-week withdrawals since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Even when seasonally adjusted, the level drops to $52.8 billion--still the third-highest amount on record, and one for which bank experts and analysts were reluctant to give a definitive explanation. ... Read more

SEC's new Wall Street enabler
Salon | David Sirota | 01/24/13

If your first reaction to this morning's news about President Obama nominating Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission is positive, that's understandable. She's a former prosecutor and, as such, much of the elite media has simply concluded that must mean the Obama administration is going to get tough on Wall Street crime. ...

However, Mary Jo White isn't just any prosecutor. Her name should ring a bell, or really, sound a frightening alarm. I knew I had heard of her before, and not in a good way. So I fired up Google this morning and sure enough, I discovered why my superficially good feeling was quickly turning into a deeply ominous nausea. I suddenly remembered that this is the same Mary Jo White who has built the latter part of her career leveraging her position in governmental law enforcement positions to land lucrative private-sector jobs defending Wall Streeters. In moving through that revolving door, she has been a part of a corrupt culture that has weakened the power of the very law enforcement agency President Obama is now nominating her to run. ... Read more

Amgen Gets a Gift From Congress
NYTimes | Author | 01/22/13

For a disheartening example of how intense lobbying and financial contributions can distort the legislative process in Washington, consider what happened to the "fiscal cliff" bill approved three weeks ago by Congress.

Senators who play a major role in federal health care financing were happy to help Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, evade Medicare cost-cutting controls by delaying price restraints on a class of drugs used by kidney dialysis patients, including Sensipar, a drug made by Amgen. That provision was inserted into the final fiscal bill by Senate aides. Many members of Congress did not know it was in the bill until just hours before it was approved. ... Read more

Are banks too big to jail?
Salon | David Sirota | 01/23/13

PBS Frontline's stunning report last night on why the Obama administration has refused to prosecute any Wall Streeter involved in the financial meltdown doesn't just implicitly indict a political and financial press that utterly abdicated its responsibility to cover such questions. It also -- and as importantly -- exposes the genuinely radical jurisprudential ideology that Wall Street campaign contributors have baked into America's "justice" system. Indeed, after watching the piece, you will understand that the word "justice" belongs in quotes thanks to an Obama administration that has made a mockery of the name of a once hallowed executive department. ... Read more

The Four Steps Required to Keep Monsanto OUT of Your Garden
TheHealthyHomeEconomist | Sarah | 01/23/13

What most of these home gardeners don't realize is that corporate behemoth and GMO titan Monsanto has been gobbling up the seed market faster than a caterpillar can munch a tomato plant! With one fell swoop in 2005, Monsanto grabbed approximately 40% of the US vegetable seed market with its acquisition of Seminis. ... Read more

Hate Eating Corporate Food? Democracy Is the Best Recipe
AlterNet | Tara Lohan | 01/27/13

We may be able to agree that much of our food system is broken, but how we begin to fix it is much harder to understand. Wenonah Hauter, director of Food and Water Watch, takes on this challenge in her new book, Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America.

Hauter, who grew up and lives on a farm in Virginia, uses Foodopoly to take readers on a deep dive into our country's history and our relationships with farmers. Through her book, readers learn about farmers as the heart of the Populist movement, whose organization and alliance with labor leaders made them a political threat. She writes about the systems that were put in place to move men off of farms for cheap labor in cities, to lower prices for crops, and to whittle away at the fabric of rural America -- for the sake of corporate profit. ... Read more

Hope Has Changed - It Died
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/28/13

Hope is dying in the US. The performance of financial markets affects everyone. For savers and investors, these markets represent the means to an improved life, at least as they define it. Savings and wealth provide options and opportunities, the quintessential aspect of being an American. These options and opportunities differentiated an American from someone who was born and destined to die in a hut or remain locked in a societal class from which there was no hope of escape. ... Read more

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DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, January 28 [15:18]
DN | "Running from Crazy": Mariel Hemingway Tackles Family History of Suicide, Mental Illness in New Doc (01/28/13) [3:34]
"Man" by Steve Cotts [3:36]
The Yes Men are working on their new movie: "The Yes Men Are Revolting" Teaser (01/12/13) [3:40]
The Yes Men Fix The World (Full Movie) (2009) [1:35:40]
New York Times Newspaper
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | U.S. Rep. Peter Welch on Amgen's Sweet Senate Deal (01/24/13) [20:17]
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | "The Untouchables": examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis. (01/22/13) [53:41]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Alan Blinder: "After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead" 01/28/13 [1hr]
TYT News
TYT | Disturbing Report: Both Parties In Bed With Amgen (01/22/13) [10:00]
Wall Street Enabler Appointed to SEC Chair by Obama (01/25/13) [7:15]
CIA Torture Whistleblower Gets 30 Months (01/25/13) [8:13]
Civil Disobedience to Fight Keystone Pipeline (01/26/13) [5:15]
Why Obama is Deeply Conservative (01/25/13) [3:46]
BPA Affects Male Sex Hormones? (01/26/13) [6:38]
TRNN News
TRNN | Leo Panitch: Global capitalism needs massive banks, but big private banks have the power to prevent regulation and threaten more crisis; the solution is not breaking them up but making them public (01/26/13) [15:12]
Aljazeera News
Aljazeera | Listening Post - Mali's 'war without images' (01/26/13) [24:53]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | GOP Expunging Any Trace Of Romney Campaign, Ignoring Larger Problems With Party (01/26/13) [5:38]
GMO News
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) - Myths and Truths [6:39]
The World According to Monsanto [1:49:02]
There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it -- it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the "revolving door". One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company's vice president for public policy.

Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto's long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.
FOOD, INC [58:20]
Bad Seed [58:20]
Jeffrey M. Smith: The GMO Threat [59:49]
Banking
The Essence Of The Banking Industry... [1:43]
"The Federal Reserve Is A PRIVATE? Banking Cartel, In-de-pen-dent Of The U.S Government And Its Citizenry."

Our economic system is based onDEBT, and without constantly continuing issuance of debt, the whole thing falls apart.

Our system of 'fractional reserve banking' gives commercial banks a licence to literally create money out of thin air -- and then charge interest on the money they created. Fractional reserve banking? is the cause of spiralling debt.
BBC | The Money Trap: How Banks Control the World Through Debt (11/24/12) [39:31]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Friday January 25, 2013
Health News

Billion-Dollar Hospital Bonuses Not Seen Improving Health
Bloomberg | Shannon Pettypiece | 01/25/13

The chief executive officer of an HCA-owned (HCA) hospital recently went undercover, wearing a two-day- old beard and a baseball cap to pose as a patient entering his hospital. His goal: spot service flaws and get them fixed.   The covert mission was part of a bid to win some of the almost $1 billion in government payments for hospitals with top ranked service. Across the U.S., the program is encouraging tidier rooms and quieter hallways at the more than 3,000 hospitals that participate in "patient experience" surveys. ... Read more

U.S. Health Worse Than Nearly All Other Industrialized Countries
AlterNet | Carey L. Biron | 01/22/13

U.S. citizens suffer from poorer health than nearly all other industrialised countries, according to the first comprehensive government analysis on the subject, released Wednesday.   Of 17 high-income countries looked at by a committee of experts sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the United States is at or near the bottom in at least nine indicators.

These include infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, and adolescent pregnancies, as well as more systemic issues such as injuries, homicides, and rates of disability. ... Read more

Environment News
US battles record low temperatures (01/24/13) [1:33]

Explained in 90 Seconds: It's Cold. That Doesn't Mean Global Warming is Fake.
MotherJones | James West | 01/25/13

Regular readers that pepper us on Twitter and Facebook with one of several climate myths upon the publication of every article, sometimes with freakish speed. One of the most popular myths is this: Global warming isn't real because it's really cold outside; climate models are thus full of sh*t. So, here in 90 seconds, is our attempt to explain something we interact with every day, in all sorts of ways, from flying in a plane, to getting a loan, to betting on a horse: computer modeling. ... Read more
Explained in 90 Seconds: Climate Modeling (01/24/13) [2:18]

*Why Greenland's Melting Could Be the Biggest Climate Disaster of All
MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 01/24/13

Jason Box speaks the language of Manhattans. Not the drink--the measuring unit. As an expert on Greenland who has traveled 23 times to the massive, mile thick northern ice sheet, Box has shown an uncanny ability to predict major melts and breakoffs of Manhattan-sized ice chunks. A few years back, he foretold the release of a "4x Manhattans" piece of ice from Greenland's Petermann Glacier, one so big that once afloat it was dubbed an "ice island." In a scientific paper published in February of 2012, Box further predicted "100 % melt area over the ice sheet" within another decade of global warming. As it happened, the ice sheet's surface almost completely melted just a month later in July -- an event that, in Box's words, "signals the beginning of the end for the ice sheet." ... Read more

Financial Services News
Comment: and the GOP wonders why our National Debt is wildly increasing!

Tim Geithner's Annotated Exit Interview: "F--- The Banks" And Other Pearls
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/25/13

... "To save an economy from a failing financial system, you have to do things that are going to be fundamentally impossible to explain to people," Geithner said. "You're going to look like you're giving money to people who were responsible for burning down the economy." ... Read more

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The Case Against QE: "Zombie Banks, Companies, Households, And Governments"
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/25/13

In a quiet corner of Davos this week, Davide Serra (hedge fund manager) and Nouriel Roubini (doom-monger) laid out to the great and good attending just exactly what their puppet central-banking transmission channels were doing to our world. As The Telegraph reports, "Money printing is theft from our children and may merely be storing up problems for an even bigger crisis." QE has led to gross mis-allocation of capital, the two gentlemen go on to note, adding that they comprehend the reasoning why Bernanke's Put has replaced Greenspan's but add that in doing this money-printing-by-another-name, they have "made it difficult for bond vigilantes to do their job - force fiscal reform." QE just buys time - but the time must be used wisely. Roubini warned that central bankers need to think about turning off the cheap money tap or risk creating another, possibly even worse, bubble. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, January 25 [13:00]
DN | "The Square": Jehane Noujaim's New Film Captures Ongoing Revolution in Egypt After Mubarak's Fall (01/25/13) [11:59]
DN | "Fruitvale": Ryan Coogler's Debut Film on Bay Area Police Slaying of Oscar Grant the Buzz of Sundance (01/25/13) [19:38]
DN | "Who Is Dayani Cristal?": Gael Garcia Bernal Traces Path of Migrant Worker Who Died in Arizona Desert (01/25/13) [5:47]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 01/25/13
International News - Friday 01/25/13
TRNN (The Real News Network) News
*TRNN | Bill Black reports from Davos that the Global Competitiveness Report pushes countries towards even more deregulation - policies that helped trigger the crisis (01/25/13) [10:15]
CEO of JPMorgan says you don't need to know how banking works, it's like an airliner engine, too complex to explain, just shut up and pay us. (01/23/13) [2:32]
TYT (The Young Turks) News
*TYT | Disastrous Idea - Arm School Children, Says Lawmaker (01/24/13) [2:40]
*TYT | Hilary Clinton Hits Back at Brutal Benghazi Hearing (01/25/13) [8:45]
TYT | Filibuster Rule Change - Not a Big Deal? (01/25/13) [5:40]
TYT | Blaming Black People for Gun Violence (01/24/13) [3:29]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Fault Lines : U.S. foreign wars, achieving anything? (01/23/13) [22:32]
Aljazeera | Empire : Hollywood and the war machine (older) [46:58]
Sustainable Food Supplies
*6,000 lbs of food on 1/10th acre - Urban Farm - Urban Homestead - Growing Your Own Food [8:39]
*Aljazeera | earthrise: Growing fish and vegetables symbiotically in the Mid West [9:19]
Aljazeera | earthrise: Six Legged Meat [6:38]
MSNBC Ed Show
MSNBC Rachel Maddow

Thursday January 24, 2013
International News
Domestic News

How Climate Change Could Wipe Out the Western Forests
The Atlantic | Sarah Garland | 01/24/13

If current trends continue, the landscapes of states like New Mexico and Arizona may soon be unrecognizable. ... Read more

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Fiscal cliff, elections boost spending on lobbying
publicintegrity.org | Dave Levinthal | 01/23/13

Congress' fiscal cliff fiasco, a flurry of lame duck legislation and election-season politics drove some of the nation's most powerful lobbying forces to double down on their governmental influence efforts late last year, newly filed reports show.   Such an uptick foreshadows what could be ever-more-aggressive lobbying on federal finances, taxation, energy and social issues like immigration and gun ownership as President Barack Obama enumerated in his inaugural address Monday. ... Read more

How doctors and hospitals have collected billions in questionable Medicare fees
publicintegrity.org | Fred Schulte | updated 01/09/13

Thousands of doctors and other medical professionals have steadily billed higher rates for treating elderly patients on Medicare over the last decade -- adding $11 billion or more to their fees and signaling a possible rise in medical billing abuse, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity has found. ... Read more

Detailed Photos Of Cold War Missile Sites: Opposing Superpowers, Same Terror
Wired Magazine | Pete Brooks | 01/24/13

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the U.S. and U.S.S.R, at the height of the Cold War, maintained approximately 8,800 warheads on 3,000 ICBMs combined, with the Soviets generally possessing twice the amount of the U.S. at any given time.

The Soviets were gluttons for nuclear megatonnage. In the mid-1970s, the U.S.S.R. possessed the equivalent yield of almost 450,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs. Massive, publicized reductions have taken place since. The U.S. currently operates 450 ICBMs on three Air Force bases, and Russia has about double that number. Currently, only Russia, China, India and the U.S. are the nations known to possess land-based ICBMs. ... Read more

Bringing Home the Bacon--With an AR-15
Mother Jones | Tim Murphy | 01/24/13

Why semiautomatic rifles are the weapon of choice for helicopter hunting. Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, January 24 [10:25]
DN | "Gideon's Army": Young Public Defenders Brave Staggering Caseloads, Low Pay to Represent the Poor (01/24/13) [18:22]
DN | At Sundance Film Festival, Documentaries Shine Light on Overlooked Stories of Global Injustice (01/24/13) [9:17]
*PBS Newshour | Doctors Are Charging More for Medicare Patients [6:45]
The Center for Public Integrity investigated how Medicare billing changed over the past decade and found doctors were billing at much higher rates. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Center for Public Integrity's Fred Schulte to understand why doctors are 'upcoding' more and why electronic medical records could be driving higher prices.
TYT News
*TYT | Debt Ceiling Caves in on Republicans (01/24/13) [7:23]
*TYT | Morgan Stanley Sold 'Nuclear' Investments, Cashed In (01/24/13) [6:32]
TYT | HUGE Oil Deposit In Australia? (01/24/13) [2:02]
TYT | Military Women Can Fight on the Front Lines (01/24/13) [3:45]
Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann | The News: January 18, 2013 [6:54]
Thom Hartmann | The News: January 22, 2013 [6:54]
*Thom Hartmann | Big Government Vs. Reaganism (01/22/13) [9:31]
Max Keiser
*Keiser Report | Welcome Home German Gold (01/19/13) [E395]
Keiser Report | With Alex Jones; Threshold of Tyranny Passed, Wall ST, Mussolini, Activism (01/17/13) [E396]
Max Keiser talks to Alex Jones about his appearance on Piers Morgan's show on CNN. They also discuss the targeting of activists and the role of new media taking on the dinosaurs of media.
InforWars | Max Keiser: Zombie Banks. (01/22/13) [42:15]
Which Nations Consume the Most Water? Much of the life-sustaining resource is traded across national borders Click to zoom

Other Videos and Documentaries

Wednesday January 23, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals
thebureauinvestigates.com | Author | 02/04/12

The CIA's drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals, an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times has revealed.   The findings are published just days after President Obama claimed that the drone campaign in Pakistan was a 'targeted, focused effort' that 'has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties.' ... Read more

Too Big To Jail? The Top 10 Civil Cases Against the Banks
PBS Frontline | Jason M. Breslow | 01/22/12

The Justice Department's initial response to the financial crisis did not take long to materialize. In June 2008, three months before the Lehman Brothers collapse, the department brought its first criminal case, charging two former Bear Stearns executives with securities fraud for their alleged roles inflating the housing bubble.

A little more than a year later, a jury found the executives not guilty, dealing the DOJ an early setback. Since then, government investigations into the crisis have almost exclusively centered on civil charges, which requires prosecutors establish guilt beyond a preponderance of the evidence. The bar is higher in criminal cases, requiring they prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. ... Read more

Debt Ceiling: House Voting On Temporary Extension
HP | Andrew Taylor | 01/23/13

With tacit support from President Barack Obama, House Republicans are moving to try to defuse a potential debt crisis with legislation to prevent an economy-rattling fiscal crisis for at least three months.   The GOP legislation marks a tactical retreat by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who is eager to avoid a potential first-ever default on U.S. payment and debt obligations as he wrestles with Obama and his Democratic allies over taxes, spending and the deficit. ... Read more

U.S. Budget Discord Is Top Threat to Global Economy in Poll
Bloomberg | David J. Lynch | 01/22/13

Global investors say the state of the U.S. government's finances is the greatest risk to the world economy and almost half are curbing their investments in response to continuing budget battles, a Bloomberg poll shows. ... Read more

The Vision and the Budget
HP | Jeffrey Sachs | 01/22/13

...The budget has been shrinking for thirty years, on a declining trajectory started by Reagan and continued by every president since then -- including Obama in his first term!

In the 1970s, that budget was more than 4 percent of GDP, too little to meet America's needs even then, but at least within the ballpark. Then came Reagan and the goal to "starve the beast," meaning to cripple the government by cutting tax revenues so that spending would have to decline as well.   The non-defense discretionary budget fell to under 4 percent and continued to slide. By 2008, in the final year of the Bush Presidency, it had declined to 3.7 percent of GDP, and was no longer able to fund programs in science, technology, energy, climate change, education, job training, and infrastructure needed to keep America modern and competitive. When President Obama promised "Change" in 2008, the change he should have meant was to re-establish a vibrant Federal Government, with the finances to keep it running. ... Read more

Nebraska Governor Appoves Alternative Route Of Keystone XL Pipeline: Will Buffett/Obama Give The Green Light?
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/22/13

One of the more contentious issues in the past year for America's environmentalists was the (successful) blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline over fears that it would contaminate the Ohallala aquifier in the Sandhill region of Nebraska, a major source of groundwater, and an issue over which none other than the president was quite vocal just about a year ago when he killed the idea. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, January 23 [10:50]
Sundance Film Festival 2013
Dylan Mohan Gray film "Fire In The Blood"
*DN | "Fire in the Blood": Millions Die in Africa After Big Pharma Blocks Imports of Generic AIDS Drugs (01/23/13) [12:07], Trailer
The new documentary, "Fire in the Blood," examines how millions have died from AIDS because big pharmaceutical companies and the United States have refused to allow developing nations to import life-saving generic drugs. The problem continues today as the World Trade Organization continues to block the importation of generic drugs in many countries because of a trade deal known as the Trips Agreement.
Jeremy Scahill & Rick Rowley's Film "Dirty Wars"
*DN | Dirty Wars: Jeremy Scahill & Rick Rowley's New Film Exposes Hidden Truths of Covert U.S. Warfare Part 1 (01/22/13) [29:39], Part 2 [6:47], Dirty Wars Website, Director interview
Alex Gibney's film "We Steal Secrets"
*DN | "We Steal Secrets": Alex Gibney's New Documentary Explores the Story of WikiLeaks (01/23/13) [23:53], semi-trailer
"We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks." The film examines the key players involved in the whistleblowing website's release of hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, features prominently, as does Bradley Manning, the army private accused of leaking the documents to WikiLeaks.
TRNN News
*The Bottom Line: Regulation. Rules are as important in an economy as they are in sports
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | "The Untouchables": examines why no Wall St. execs have faced fraud charges for the financial crisis. (01/22/13) [53:41],   Website
TYT News
*TYT | Disturbing Report: Both Parties In Bed With Amgen (01/22/13) [10:00]

Amgen Gets a Gift From Congress
NYTimes | Author | 01/22/13

For a disheartening example of how intense lobbying and financial contributions can distort the legislative process in Washington, consider what happened to the "fiscal cliff" bill approved three weeks ago by Congress.

Senators who play a major role in federal health care financing were happy to help Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, evade Medicare cost-cutting controls by delaying price restraints on a class of drugs used by kidney dialysis patients, including Sensipar, a drug made by Amgen. ... Read more

TYT | O'Reilly Rips Obama Inaugural Address Over Social Justice (01/22/13) [3:02]
*TYT | Aaron Swartz, Wikileaks, & Senator John Cornyn (01/22/13) [8:01]
TYT | Texas College Shooting, & Shep Smith's Slavery Analogy (01/22/13) [4:31]

More News Articles

School Kicks Out Sophomore in RFID Student-ID Flap
Wired Magazine | David Kravets | 01/18/13

A Texas high school on Friday barred a girl from attending class as part of the fallout from a legal flap that began when the sophomore refused to wear around her neck an RFID-chip student ID she claims is the "Mark of the Beast," lawyers connected to the brouhaha said.

The Northside Independent School District in San Antonio began issuing the RFID-laden student-body cards when the semester began in the fall. The ID badge has a bar code associated with a student's Social Security number. The chip monitors pupils' movements on campus, from when they arrive until when they leave. ... Read more

Other Videos and Documentaries

Tuesday January 22, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Obama's Job One: Middle-Class Employment Problems Loom Over Second Term
HP | Dave Jamieson | 01//14/13

On election night in Chicago two months ago, President Barack Obama triumphantly pledged to fight for a middle class he'd appealed to relentlessly -- and successfully -- on the 2012 campaign trail. ... Read more

Goldman Sachs Profiting From Food Crisis: Report
HP | Bonnie Kavoussi | 01/22/13

Goldman Sachs has boosted its bottom line on the backs of people struggling to pay for food, according to a new report in The Independent.   The bank made about $400 million last year by betting on the prices of food staples, according to an analysis for The Independent by the World Development Movement. This speculation is fueling rising food prices, according to the report. ... Read more

Obama's 'Playbook' for Targeted Strikes Has a Gaping Hole--CIA's Killer Drones in Pakistan Exempted
AlterNet | Alex Kane | 01/22/13

The CIA's deadly campaign of drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan will be exempt from the Obama administration's attempt to codify rules for targeted killings. ... Read more

Democratic base wants compromise
Politico | Rep. Ron Kind | 01/21/13

Last November, Bob and Evelyn Driscoll waited 90 minutes in line to vote. Standing in a cold drizzle, neither of them were in love with either of the presidential candidates or their congressional representatives. But they were eager to vote because they knew the country faced immense challenges.

They stood in the cold until it was their turn to vote. They pulled the lever for the president, and for Democrats in the House and Senate. And if they were able to deliver a short message to each as we cross the threshold into Barack Obama's second term, it would be this: "Fix it. Work together and fix it."... Read more

How Factory Farming Contributes to Global Warming
Reader Supported News | Ronnie Cummins, EcoWatch | 01/22/13

... Factory farms aren't just a disaster for the environment. They're also ruining our health. A growing chorus of scientists and public health advocates warn that the intensive and reckless use of antibiotics and growth hormones leads to factory-farmed food that contains antibiotic-resistant pathogens, drug residues such as hormones and growth promoters, and "bad fats." Yet despite these health and environmental hazards, the vast majority of consumers don't realize that nearly 95 percent of the meat, dairy and eggs sold in the U.S. come from CAFOs. Nor do most people realize that CAFOs represent a corporate-controlled system characterized by large-scale, centralized, low profit-margin production, processing and distribution systems. ... Read more

Is Genetically Engineered Salmon Safe?
AlterNet | Ocean Robbins | 01/21/13

On December 21, at the very end of the last business day before Christmas week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly released its environmental assessment that found "no significant impact" from the controversial AquaBounty AquaAdvantage transgenic salmon. Frankenfish could be on your dinner plate by the end of the year. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, January 22 [11:10]
DN | Inaugurating 2nd Term, Obama Hints at a More Progressive Domestic Agenda Than in His First 4 Years (01/22/13) [9:46]
*DN | Dirty Wars: Jeremy Scahill & Rick Rowley's New Film Exposes Hidden Truths of Covert U.S. Warfare Part 1 (01/22/13) [29:39], Part 2 [6:47]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm President Obama's Second Term Agenda 01/22/13 [1hr]
TRNN (The Real News Network) News
*TRNN | Bob Pollin: Three Things Obama Can Do if he is Serious About Promise to Middle Class (01/21/13) [12:55]
TRNN | John Nichols: Obama Speech Rings a Different Tone (01/22/13) [11:01]
TYT News
TYT | First Lady's Epic Eyeroll at GOP (01/22/13) [1:48]
TYT | Did Beyonce Steal the Spotlight from the Obamas? (01/21/13) [3:11]
TYT | Cornell West Goes OFF on Obama (01/21/13) [7:23]
Jon Stewart Daily News
Jon Stewart | Jon Stewart's Inauguration Coverage Hijacked By Michelle's Bangs (01/22/13) [2:20]

Monday January 21, 2013
International News

Netanyahu Gets Landslide in Markets Masking No Peace Process
Bloomberg | Shoshanna Solomon | 01/21/13

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's electoral opponents say he has presided over a deterioration of the Palestinian peace process, heightened tension with Iran, Egypt and Turkey and rising living costs. ... Read more

Domestic News

The Road Forward: What Does the World Want From Obama?
HP | Nicholas Sabloff | 01/18/13

To find out what the world want from Obama we go to UK, Canada, France, Spain and Italy -- for a collection of articles as part of our series "THE ROAD FORWARD: Obama's Second Term Challenges." The hope is that these pieces, written by our reporters in these countries, will illuminate how the world outside America views the challenges and possibilities facing a leader whose personal appeal still looms larger than his presidential accomplishments. Read more, Series the stories

The Five-Step Process to Cheat the Middle Class Worker
AlterNet | Paul Bucheit | 01/19/13

As we struggle to support ourselves, the super-rich remain on the take, driving us ever closer to the status of most wealth-unequal country in the world. It's so artfully done, and so diabolical, that one can picture secret seminars in subterranean Wall Street meeting rooms, guiding young business recruits in the proven process of taking an extra share of wealth from the middle class. Their presentation might unfold as follows: ... Read more

Factoid - Bush Legacy
  1. Number Of Iraqis killed In US War And Occupation Of Iraq: 1,455,590
  2. Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq: 4,801
  3. Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 3,258
  4. Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan: $1,414,501,623,171

*The 'war on terror' - by design - can never end
The Guardian | Glenn Greenwald | 01/04/13

As the Pentagon's former top lawyer urges that the war be viewed as finite, the US moves in the opposite direction. Last month, outgoing pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson gave a speech at the Oxford Union and said that the War on Terror must, at some point, come to an end: ... Read more

*When Did Whistleblowers Become the Bad Guys?
care2.com | Kevin Mathews | 01/19/12

... The demonization of whistleblowers is growing in the business world, according to The Wall Street Journal. Employees fear being labeled a snitch or ostracized by their coworkers for potentially costing the company jobs or profits should they report illicit corporate actions. While laws are supposedly in place to protect those who do step forward, too often they fall short: airline employees who brought attention to insufficient safety inspections were demoted to desk jobs. A miner who reported illegal, unsafe work conditions (which would lead to a coworker fatality the following day) is being held criminally responsible. A former Wells Fargo employee who exposed the bank's practice of targeting minority communities with high-interest loans is now having her home fraudulently foreclosed on by the same bank in an apparent act of retaliation. ... Read more

*The Myth of Human Progress
AlterNet | Chris Hedges | 01/20/13

Clive Hamilton in his "Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change" describes a dark relief that comes from accepting that "catastrophic climate change is virtually certain." This obliteration of "false hopes," he says, requires an intellectual knowledge and an emotional knowledge. The first is attainable. The second, because it means that those we love, including our children, are almost certainly doomed to insecurity, misery and suffering within a few decades, if not a few years, is much harder to acquire. To emotionally accept impending disaster, to attain the gut-level understanding that the power elite will not respond rationally to the devastation of the ecosystem, is as difficult to accept as our own mortality. ... Read more

*How to Steal an Election
informationclearinghouse.info | Larry Dorshkind | 11/05/12
Read more

Davos Doom Loses to Merkel-Draghi as Euro Defies Roubini
Bloomberg | Simon Kennedy | 01/20/13

The parade of economists and investors led by Nouriel Roubini predicting Greece's ejection by now from the euro zone failed to appreciate the resolve of European policy makers to protect their union and the amount of pain Greeks are willing to stomach. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, January 21 [14:09]
*DN | The Big Money Inauguration: Obama Kicks Off Second Term With Help of Unlimited Corporate Donations (01/21/13) [8:34]
DN | NAACP's Ben Jealous at Obama Inauguration: "Never Elect Someone to Make Change Happen For You" (01/21/13) [8:54]
TRNN (The Real News Network) News
TRNN | Anthony Monteiro: Obama's presidency has nothing to do with the legacy of King, it's actually the opposite (01/20/13) [15:39]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Larry Cohen on Eliminating the Silent Filibuster (01/18/13) [22:39]
Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, joins Bill to make the case for eliminating the Senate's "silent filibuster". He leads a broad coalition of nearly 50 progressive organizations campaigning to hold Senators accountable by restoring the filibuster requirement that they show up in person and talk in plain sight -- so we can know who's holding democracy hostage.
PBS | Frontline
PBS Frontline | Inside Obama's Presidency: Takes a probing look at the first four years of Barack Obama's presidency. (01/15/13) [53:41]
Oliver Stone - Untold History of United States
Untold History of the United States (E08) [59:06]
Untold History of the United States (E09) [59:06]
*Untold History of the United States (E10) [59:06]
See all the rest of the episodes here.
Oliver Stone: Untold - An Interview with Bob Woodruff (11/26/12) [1:33:59]
One of the most controversial directors in Hollywood, Oliver Stone has made films that are remarkable both for their handling of subject matter and the degree of controversy such handling inspires. A producer, screenwriter, and actor, Stone is consistently identified with his more political works, including Platoon and Nixon. Despite this association, Stone has stated that his films are "first and foremost dramas about individuals in personal struggles," and he believes himself to be a dramatist rather than a political filmmaker. His current project, the 10-part TV documentary, The Untold History of the United States, focuses on the last 60 years of America's history, debunking some heroes while crediting those previously lost to history. Stone has received three Academy Awards and 31 nominations.

Award-winning journalist Bob Woodruff, a current ABC news reporter, will interview Stone for this Penny W. Stamps Series presentation. In the sit-down interview, Woodruff, who was severely injured while reporting in Iraq as a World news co-anchor, will discuss the motives behind Stone's latest project and more political works.

With support from UM Screen Arts & Cultures and the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

This October 25, 2012 lecture is part of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Distinguished Speaker Series. Established with the generous support of alumna Penny W. Stamps, the Speaker Series brings respected emerging and established artists/designers from a broad spectrum of media to the School to conduct a public lecture and engage with students, faculty, and the larger at the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor communities.
Michael Douglas On Oliver Stone & WALL STREET (interview) (06/17/09) [3:58]
TYT News
*TYT | Is This Endless War on Terror The New Normal? (01/20/13) [7:54]
*TYT | Where Are Obama's Middle Class Wage Jobs? (01/20/13) [5:14]
TYT | GOP Lawmaker 'Appalled' by Muslim Books at College (01/20/13) [4:46]
TYT | Lawmaker Compares Abortion to Prostitution (01/20/13) [4:01]
Stephen Cobert
Colbert Mocks Rush Limbaugh, Steve Doocy's Obama Gun Law Criticism (01/18/13) [4:11]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Friday January 18, 2013
International News
Domestic News

*What's Inside America's Banks?
The Atlantic | Frank Partnoy | Jan/Feb

Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever. Sophisticated investors describe big banks as "black boxes" that may still be concealing enormous risks--the sort that could again take down the economy. A close investigation of a supposedly conservative bank's financial records uncovers the reason for these fears--and points the way toward urgent reforms.

The financial crisis had many causes--too much borrowing, foolish investments, misguided regulation--but at its core, the panic resulted from a lack of transparency. The reason no one wanted to lend to or trade with the banks during the fall of 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed, was that no one could understand the banks' risks. It was impossible to tell, from looking at a particular bank's disclosures, whether it might suddenly implode. ... Read more

Our Legal System Didn't Give Aaron Swartz a Chance
The Atlantic | Wendy Kaminer | 01/15/13

Federal prosecutors wanted to make an example of Aaron Swartz and they succeeded. Their wildly disproportionate treatment of his victimless trespasses exemplified the Justice Department's disregard for fairness, decency, and the fundamental rights of the citizens it's supposed to serve. Swartz's prosecution was notable not because of its cruel over-zealousness, which is horribly routine, but because it involved a gifted, idealistic, emotionally vulnerable defendant, with a sophisticated and relatively powerful constituency that has the means to make itself heard. ... Read more

Quote of the Day Is this guy for real?
Rush Limbaugh: 'You Know How to Stop Abortion? Require That Each One Occur With a Gun'.

Senator Asks CIA Nominee When Drones Can Kill Americans
Wired Magazine | Spencer Ackerman | 01/14/13

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter on Monday to John Brennan, the White House's counterterrorism adviser and nominee to be head of the CIA, asking for an outline of the legal and practical rules that underpin the U.S. government's targeted killing of American citizens suspected of working with al-Qaida. The Obama administration has repeatedly resisted disclosing any such information about its so-called "disposition matrix" targeting terrorists, especially where it concerns possible American targets. ... Read more

Sandy wrecked our house, but bureaucrats are keeping it broken.
WSJournal | Roger Kimball | 01/14/13

Like many people whose houses were badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, my family and I have been living in a rented house since the storm. Unlike some whose houses were totalled, we could have repaired things and been home toasting our tootsies by our own fireplace by now. What happened?   Two things: zoning (as in "Twilight Zone") and FEMA. ... Read more

How JPMorgan's $5 Million Loss Rose 80-Fold In Minutes After "A Confrontation Between Traders"
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/18/13

Actually that title was misleading: there will be no disclosure of "how", because we don't know. What we do know is that thanks to the magic of JPM's definition of "Mark-To-Market" accounting, a $5 million prop trading loss (and thus forbidden by the Volcker Rule) funded by depositor cash as it took place in the infamous CIO unit whose job was to manage "excess deposits" in a prudent manner, became a $400 million prop trading loss in the span of 88 minutes. But not during trading - the market was long closed. The adjustment was purely on paper. ... Read more

Everything We Know So Far About Drone Strikes
ProPublica | Cora Currier | 01/11/13

You might have heard about the "kill list." You've certainly heard about drones. But the details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia -- a centerpiece of the Obama administration's national security approach -- remain shrouded in secrecy. Here's our guide to what we know--and what we don't know. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, January 18 [14:57]
*DN | "Unintended Consequences of Military Intervention": Roots of Mali, Algeria Crisis Tied To Libya War. (01/18/13) [19:52]
What's Inside America's Banks? Should More Bankers Be in Prison? (01/17/13) [4:45]
PBS NOVA News
*PBS NOVA | What the drones can see and remember. (01/17/13) [2:52]
*PBS NOVA | What the drones can do on their own. (01/17/13) [2:52]
*TYT | How Corporations Captured US Government (old but interesting) (04/05/10) [6:47]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 01/18/13
International News - Friday 01/18/13
TRNN (The Real News Network) News
*TRNN | What are the German Bankers Thinking? Michael Ash: German bankers can be ruthless bill collectors, wild speculators, social planners and austerity hawks but they seem to ignore the damage they are doing to Europe (01/18/13) [12:50]
TYT News
TYT | Outrage at Aaron Swartz Prosecutor's Role in Death (01/17/13) [5:22]
*TYT | What Huge Risks Are Big Banks Hiding? (01/13/13) [11:02]
TYT | Despicable - Limbaugh Calls Kids 'Human Shields' (01/17/13) [3:10]
RT News - Second half interviews
RT | Deadly Deflation (E390) (01/08/13) [28:48]
Max Keiser talks to Dan Collins of TheChinaMoneyReport.com about the petro-yuan, China's gold and the problem with the fact that nobody in Africa wants to buy America's opium - credit default swaps.
RT | Bums & Bloodsuckers (E391) (01/10/13) [28:28]
Max Keiser talks to Satyajit Das, author of Extreme Money, about MMT or Modern Money Tricks and about whether or not the people of Europe will ever rise up and stop the never ending bailout of banker crimes.
RT | Keiser Report: Lunatics & Lubricants (E392) (01/12/13) [28:07]
Max Keiser talks to Reggie Middleton about the education debt bubble, the collapsing collateral value of a university degree and the reason that French debt is trading higher than UK debt.
RT | Keiser Report: Whore-der of JP Morgan (E393) (01/15/13) [28:11]
In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to David Hales about the economics of bit torrent and the future of peer to peer banking.
*RT | Keiser Report: Devil's Deadly Derivatives (E394) (01/17/13) [27:53]
Max Keiser talks to Nick Dunbar, author of The Devil's Derivatives and Inventing Money and journalist at Bloomberg, about the Escher painting that is the global derivatives market where bankers are trading an option on an option that is a bet upon a bet upon a bet on a bet on a bet upon which there may be no collateral.

Thursday January 17, 2013
International News
Domestic News

'Zero Dark Thirty' Is Osama bin Laden's Last Victory Over America
RollingStone | Matt Atibbi | 01/16/13

... So I went to see the movie and like most people I know who watched it, I was blown away. On a pure whodunit level, the bulk of the film was an unbelievably compelling thriller, and purely on the level of action cinematography, the final scene -- with all its real-world drama and consequence, plus the unique fact the movie revealed secrets about one of the shadowiest, most highly-classified operations ever -- was about as pulse-pounding and exciting as movies get. ... Read more

NRA Warns Obama Gun Proposal Is 'Fight Of The Century' In Fundraising Push
HP | Luke Johnson | 01/16/13

The National Rifle Association blasted out an urgent fundraising appeal by Executive Director Wayne LaPierre Tuesday night, hours ahead of President Barack Obama's announcement of 23 executive actions on gun control.   "I warned you this day was coming and now it's here," LaPierre wrote. "This is the fight of the century and I need you on board with NRA now more than ever. My strength, and the strength of our entire NRA organization comes from you and your strong commitment to our membership. I need you in our corner TODAY." ... Read more

The Prosecution of Aaron Swartz Paints Obama's Justice Department as Needlessly Cruel and Capricious
AlterNet | Marcy Wheeler | 01/15/13

A powerful indictment of our justice system, the Swartz case exemplifies the sick hypocrisy of persecuting information activists while corrupt corporations and bankers get off easy. ... Read more

*FreedomWorks Putting Its War Chest to Work for ALEC's Anti-Union Agenda in the States
prwatch.org | Brendan Fischer | 01/14/13

The Tea Party-affiliated group FreedomWorks -- the right-wing organization that helps connect "Tea Party" groups with talking points, rallies, and more -- is gearing up to direct its sizeable war chest towards advancing anti-union initiatives in the states, supporting an agenda set by groups like David Koch's Americans for Prosperity and the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). This strongly suggests that the battle for the future of private and public sector unions in America is beginning a new phase of combat. ... Read more

Dennis Kucinich Joining Fox News
AlterNet | Natasha Lennard | 01/16/13

... "I've always been impressed with Rep. Kucinich's fearlessness and thoughtfulness about important issues," said Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in a statement announcing that Kucinich will join the network as a regular paid contributor. "His willingness to take a stand from his point of view makes him a valuable voice in our country's debate." ... Read more

Charts: Suicide, PTSD and the Psychological Toll on America's Vets
MotherJones | Jaeah Lee | 01/17/13

Click to zoom

It Will Take The Fed Seven Years To Deliver 300 Tons Of German Gold
ZeroHedge | Author | 01/17/13

... Germany's Bundesbank intends to store half of Germany's gold reserves in its own vaults. it will take the Fed some seven years to procure Germany's 300 tons of gold. This is the same Fed that, in its own words, holds some "216 million troy ounces of gold" or some 6720 tons, in its vault 80 feet below ground level. ...

... Why it will take the Fed 7 years to part with an amount of gold that is less than 5% of its total holdings is anyone's guess... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, January 17 [17:25]
DN | Aaron Swartz's Partner, Expert Witness Say Prosecutors Unfairly Targeted Activist. (01/17/13) [17:50]
60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | Are robots hurting job growth?: Technological advances, especially robotics, are revolutionizing the workplace, but not necessarily creating jobs. Steve Kroft reports. (01/13/13) [13:31]
60 Minutes | How to design breakthrough inventions. (01/06/13) [12:40]
PBS Frontline
*PBS Frontline | Inside Obama's Presidency: Takes a probing look at the first four years of Barack Obama's presidency. (01/15/13) [53:41]
PBS Frontline | The Untouchables Preview: investigates why Wall Street CEO's have escaped prosecution for mortgage fraud. (01/22/13) [0:31]
PBS Frontline | Cliffhanger Preview: Investigates Washington's failure to solve America's debt & deficit problems. (02/12/13) [0:30]
Aljazeera | Earthrise
I'm adding the following videos from Aljazeera, because I think they show how simple solutions are better for indigenous people and the environment than to throwing a whole lot of money (and guns) at a country and calling it foreign aide.
*Aljazeera | Earthrise: Eco Toilets: How an innovative toilet-to-garden process is turning waste into resource in Haiti's camp for the internally-displaced. (03/30/12) [8:39]
Aljazeera | Earthrise: Protecting People: The Congolese Wildlife Authority has set up a biomass briquette programme which aims to protect both the Virunga National Park and the Kiwanja IDP camp residents by teaching women to make fuel briquettes from recyclable materials. (05/04/12) [5:28]
MSNBC Ed Show
Ed Show | The right-wing responds to gun proposal (01/16/13) [8:56]
*Ed Show | Public Health Option is back on the table (01/16/13) [5:52]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
*Rachel Maddow | Iraq lies cast shadow on skepticism on Syria chemical weapons (01/15/13) [11:08]
Rachel Maddow | GOP seeks to rig presidential race on model of congressional gerrymandering (01/15/13) [9:43]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | Bob Schieffer remembers Richard Nixon's first inauguration and weighs in on the national gun debate. (01/15/13) [7:04]
Other Videos and Documentaries
Aljazeera | Counting the Cost
  1. Aljazeera | Counting the Cost - Beyond the fiscal cliff (01/11/13) [25:00]
  2. So, on the show this week we are planning a good look at the US debt situation. Yes it avoided the much-vaunted 'fiscal cliff' - but at what long-term cost? And what do we really know about US debt? The debts in many European economies have been well documented, but if the $16tn budget deficit in the US is not addressed at some point, what sort of effect will that have?
  3. Aljazeera | Counting the Cost - Money for nothing (08/04/12) [25:56]
  4. From Lehman to Libor, scandal and even criminal activity has stalked the banking sector, so are the bankers, and the banking system, out of control? And with banks failing the West, does Islamic finance have some answers to the world's money troubles?
  5. Aljazeera | Counting the Cost : Big banks, big criminals? (12/17/12) [25:26]
  6. But it also turned out that it was helping drug cartels, crime syndicates and so-called rogue nations to move billions around the world's financial system. A Mexican drugs lord described HSBC as "the place to launder money".   The bank was busted after a year-long investigation by US authorities.   The almost 400-page report revealed that customers took advantage of lax controls and poor oversight.   The report says that the bank's Mexican arm transported $7bn to HSBC in the US, more than any other Mexican bank. Despite warnings, it did not think that was suspicious.
Aljazeera | The Climate Question
  1. Aljazeera | The Climate Question: Degrees of Change Part 1 (11/25/12) [24:26], Part 2 [24:39]
Aljazeera | Earthrise
  1. Aljazeera | Earthrise: using bees to solve human-elephant conflict in Kenya, diving for century-old hardwood in the Belize River, and Haiti's 'eco-toilets' for hygiene and agriculture.. [S02E01] (03/30/12) [24:55]
  2. Aljazeera | Earthrise: Sustainable aquaculture in Spain, rechargeable 'e-trikes' and a methane-cutting diet for Australia's cows. [S02E02] (04/07/12) [24:56]
  3. Aljazeera | Earthrise: the dream of cheap, safe fusion power takes a step closer to becoming a reality. [S02E03] (04/13/12) [24:43]
  4. Aljazeera | Earthrise: Saving Kenya's forests; using seawater to grow food; greening Los Angeles; and Oslo - City of the Future. [S02E04] (04/20/12) [24:51]
  5. Aljazeera | Earthrise: Growing fish and vegetables symbiotically in the Mid West; training young Haitians to help protect their reefs; an Indian city embraces sustainable energy. [S02E05] (08/03/12) [24:54]
Aljazeera | FaultLines
  1. Aljazeera | Fault Lines : The battle for the Sinai (12/18/12) [24:21]
  2. Aljazeera | Fault Lines : Robot wars (12/26/11) [24:26]
  3. Aljazeera | Fault Lines : The Battle for the Arctic (11/14/12) [23:28]

Wednesday January 16, 2013
International News

What Exactly (Cough) Is Beijing (Hack) Breathing?
MotherJones | James West | 01/15/13

China's landlocked capital of 20 million people has experienced record-breaking pollution over the last few days. The South China Morning Post reported that visits to Beijing Children's Hospital hit a five-year high, with more than 7,000 patients a day. Bloomberg News found that heart attacks roughly doubled since Friday at Peking University People's Hospital. ... Read more
Click to zoom

Domestic News

*The 5 Things Obama Must Do For Financial Reform
HP | Mark Gongloff | 01/16/13

When President Barack Obama first swore the oath of office, the backdrop was a financial system in flames. Four years on, the fires are out, but those who hoped Obama would make capitalism fundamentally safer are disappointed.

  1. Make Dodd-Frank stonger
  2. Finish The Rules of Doss-Frank Already
  3. Solve Too Big To Fail
  4. Get The Right People In Place... PLEASE
  5. Loophole-Free Derivatives Regulation
Read more

*New Federal Report: Climate Change Is Really, Really Scary
MotherJones | Tim McDonnell | 01/11/13

Say what you want about the Obama administration's relative ignoring of climate issues: Many of his top scientists are paying rapt attention, and they think we're about to get our butts kicked--although dumping the news at 4 p.m. on a Friday gives some indication of where it sits in federal priorities. ... Read more

*2012 Global Temperature Reports From NASA, NOAA Show Continued Warming
HP | James Gerken | 01/15/13

...Every year of the 21st century thus far has been one of the top 14 warmest years in 133 years of recordkeeping.... Read more
2012 Global Temperature Reports From NASA, NOAA Show Continued Warming

America's False History Allows the Powerful to Commit Crimes Without Consequence
TruthOut | Mark Karlin | 01/15/13

Seasoned journalist Robert Parry offers a thoroughly researched account of how the Republican Party and neocons have conspired to creative a false narrative about America's political and constitutional history. ... Read more

Factoid of the Day
Don't ever say that Republicans haven't accomplished anything. They have in fact voted on repealing Obamacare 33 times in the past two years and by the end of President Obama's 2nd term, at this rate we can add at least 33 more attempts. GOP spendthrifts have spent at least 88 hours and $50 million, while failing to pass a single piece of job creation legislation in the last session of Congress which is deemed as the least productive since 1947. But hey, if at first you don’t succeed, maybe the 62nd time will do the trick. Michele Bachmann was just sworn in and her first action was to attempt another repeal of the health care law in its entirety. Never mind that she has nothing to replace it with, no plan, no focus; simply a way to rid America of Obama's signature legislation.

How to Go Vegan
NYTimes | Tara Parker-Pope | 01/14/13

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too. ...

... Since then, I've spoken with numerous vegan chefs and diners who say it can be a challenge to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight. They offer the following advice for stocking your vegan pantry and finding replacements for key foods like cheese and other dairy products. ... Read more

What the Heck is Nutritional Yeast?
fatfreevegan.com | Susan Voisin | date
Read more

Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street
MotherJones | Tom Philpott | 10/14/13

The Occupy Wall Street protests grew out of anger at the outsized power of banks. But as they've expanded nationwide, the uprisings have evolved into a kind of running challenge to the way power is concentrated in all aspects of our economy--concentrated into the hands of people with an interest in maintaining the status quo. ...

*Three companies process more than 70 percent of beef in the US; four slaughter and pack more than 58 percent of our pork and chicken.
*By 2002, just four companies produced 75 percent of cereal and snacks, 60 percent of cookies, and half of all ice cream.
*Some 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States go to livestock facilities, the FDA reports.
Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, January 16 [12:26]
DN | VA. Tech Shooting Survivor: Obama's Gun Plan a 1st Step, But "We Need a Movement" to Overcome NRA, Part 1 (01/16/13) [19:55], Part 2 [18:36]
*DN | Behind The NRA's Money: Gun Lobby Deepens Financial Ties to $12 Billion Firearms Industry (01/16/13) [7:24]
NRA's New Ad Calls Obama 'Elitist Hypocrite' (01/15/13) [0:36]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm *Federal And State Efforts To Reduce Gun Violence 01/16/13 [1hr]
General Stanley McChrystal: "My Share of the Task" 01/16/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Aaron Swartz - a Fighter Against the Privatization of Knowledge (01/15/13) [26:27]
TRNN | Gerald Epstein: Powerful lobbying by finance sector keeps turning regulations into Swiss cheese; is there an alternative if people fight for it? (01/16/13) [7:21]
TYT News
*TYT | Do politicians support drone strikes because they drive bigger defense contracts? (01/14/13) [3:11]
*TYT | Why did Aaron Swartz scare the government so much? (01/14/13) [3:55]
TYT | What's More Popular, Congress or Cockroaches? (01/13/13) [4:28]
TYT | Huge Payouts for Politicians Turned Lobbyists (01/12/13) [2:52]
TYT | President of Uruguay is Worth $1,800 (01/13/13) [5:23]
The Invisible Poor
Are more and more people in the western world dropping off the radar and becoming the invisible poor or is the opposite happening? We are always interested in looking at the financial health of real people. We noted earlier that an astounding 46 million Americans are officially below the poverty line (That's $23,050/year for a family of four according to the official sources).
Click to zoom

Jon Stewart
*Jon Stewart | HSBC proves too big to prosecute when it comes to laundering money for terrorists and Mexican drug cartels. (01/09/13) [4:03]
*Jon Stewart | Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg thanks the people who bailed out his company by suing them for $25 billion. (01/09/13) [4:13]
Jon Stewart | Paul Krugman & the Trillion Dollar Coin (01/14/13) [4:00]
Jon Stewart | Zero Dark Appointees (01/14/13) [4:53]


More News Articles

The Stimulus Plan: How to Spend $787 Billion
NYTimes | Farhana Hossain | date

See a large table of all the numbers ... Read more


Tuesday January 15, 2013
International News
Domestic News

The Finance Industry Has Pried into Every Sector of the Economy, and Has Ended Up Running the Whole Show
AlterNet | Michael Hudson | 12/31/12

Today's economic warfare is not the kind waged a century ago between labor and its industrial employers. Finance has moved to capture the economy at large, industry and mining, public infrastructure (via privatization) and now even the educational system. (At over $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt came to exceed credit-card debt in 2012.) The weapon in this financial warfare is no larger military force.

The tactic is to load economies (governments, companies and families) with debt, siphon off their income as debt service and then foreclose when debtors lack the means to pay. Indebting government gives creditors a lever to pry away land, public infrastructure and other property in the public domain. Indebting companies enables creditors to seize employee pension savings. And indebting labor means that it no longer is necessary to hire strikebreakers to attack union organizers and strikers. ... Read more

A Global NRA: Our Government Is the Largest Federally Licensed Weapons Dealer on the Planet
AlterNet | Tom Engelhardt | 01/13/13

The White House and the Pentagon -- with a helping hand from the State Department -- ensure that the U.S. remains by far the leading purveyor of the "right to bear arms" globally. ... Read more

Obama Versus Physics
Bill McKibben | TomDispatch & Bill Moyers | 01/07/13

... For Obama, faced with a Congress bought off by the fossil fuel industry, a realistic approach would be to do absolutely everything he could on his own authority -- new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, for example; and of course, he should refuse to grant the permit for the building of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, something that requires no permission from John Boehner or the rest of Congress. ...

... If he were serious, Obama would be doing more than just the obvious and easy. He'd also be looking for that Pearl Harbor moment. God knows he had his chances in 2012: the hottest year in the history of the continental United States, the deepest drought of his lifetime, and a melt of the Arctic so severe that the federal government's premier climate scientist declared it a "planetary emergency." ... Read more

Interesting Facts if the Debt Ceiling isn't Raised
These include payments for Social Security; Supplemental Security Income; Medicare; Medicaid; national security needs, including military salaries, military retirement, veterans' benefits, and defense contractors; income tax refunds; federal employee salaries and retirement; law enforcement and operation of the justice system; unemployment insurance; disaster relief; goods and services sold to the government under contracts with small and large businesses; and many others. If Congress does not act to extend borrowing authority, all of these payments would be at risk. This would impose severe economic hardship on millions of individuals and businesses across the country.
The deficit has ballooned not because of specific spending measures, but because of the recession. The deficit more than doubled between 2008 and 2009, as the economy was in free fall, since laid-off workers paid less in taxes and needed more benefits. The deficit then shrank in 2010 and 2011.
Republicans frequently have blamed the $787 billion stimulus for the national debt, but, when all government spending is taken into account, the stimulus frankly wasn't that big. In contrast, the U.S. will have spent nearly $4 trillion on wars in the Middle East by the time those conflicts end, according to a recent report by Brown University. The Bush tax cuts have cost nearly $1.3 trillion over 10 years.
Defense spending constituted 20 percent of federal spending last year, or $718 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This adds up to 41 percent of the world's defense spending, according to Bloomberg TV anchor Adam Johnson.
Health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid, constituted 21 percent of federal spending last year. In contrast, education constituted 2 percent of federal spending.

Call for a Democracy-for-All Act on MoneyOut/VotersIn Day
TheNation | Mark Green | 01/14/13

It's time to stop moneyed conservative interests from trying to buy or steal our democracy. We know the problem -- let's get to the solutions.

... This time, the efforts of the Adelsons, Kochs and Roves largely failed (at the federal level). But the economic elites will be back to attempt their hostile takeover of our democracy with even more money and sophistication. ...

  1. Reverse Citizens United
  2. Public funding of elections
  3. Stop gerrymandering
  4. Universal Voter Registration
  5. etc.
Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, January 15 [15:07]
DN | "Kill Anything That Moves": New Book Exposes Hidden Crimes of the War Kerry, Hagel Fought in Vietnam (01/15/13) [18:40]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The Debt Ceiling Standoff 01/15/13 [1hr]
TRNN News
TRNN | Bill Black: Obama nominates a Wall St. loyalist to help negotiate the "Grand Betrayal" (01/14/13) [9:11]
TRNN | IAEA Former Inspector: No Evidence of Iranian Nuclear Weapons Activity at Parchin (01/14/13) [11:16]
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Paul Krugman Explains the Keys to Our Recovery (01/11/13) [47:50]
Bill Moyers | Plutocrats: Then & Now
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Noam Chomsky: The responsibility of privilege (01/12/13) [25:01]
From Wikipedia | Neoliberalism refers to economic liberalizations, free trade and open markets, privatization, deregulation, and increasing the role of the private sector in modern society. Today the term is mostly used as a general condemnation of policies that deregulate and increase the role of the private sector.
From ZeroHedge | The essence of neoliberalism is that a liberalized financial sector will efficiently regulate itself via market mechanisms and make more profitable use of capital than either the State or the non-financial sectors of the economy.

This is the classic theory, but in practice the Neoliberal financial sector is the ultimate perfection of cronyism and political corruption, as the Central Bank and State protect the financial sector's vast skim of the national income with a combination of toothless regulations and regulations that are only enforced for purposes of percetpion management
MSNBC Ed Show
Ed Show | Colin Powell calls out GOP (01/14/13) [4:47]
Ed Show | The human toll of defaulting on our debt (01/14/13) [8:56]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow | Beau Biden on Delaware's new gun plan (01/14/13) [10:42]
Additional Videos
Gunsmoke - USA [23:06]
Click on the following graphics to go to Bill McKibben's website 350.org and read the explanation on what we need to do to get back to a sustainable point.


Monday January 14, 2013
International News

Up to half of world's food goes to waste, report says
Reuters | Author | 01/10/13

Up to half of all the food produced worldwide ends up going to waste due to poor harvesting, storage and transport methods as well as irresponsible retailer and consumer behavior, a report said on Thursday. ... Read more

Domestic News

Jack Lew's Robert Rubin Connection Is A Bad Sign For Financial Reform
HP | Mark Gongloff | 01/11/13

What's possibly more troubling about Lew is how he got to Citigroup, along with the fact that he apparently managed to spend a couple of years on Wall Street without learning too much about markets.   His position at Citi was secured on the recommendation of Rubin, who knew him from their years working together in the Clinton administration and was on Citi's executive committee in 2006.

The connection to Rubin is particularly troubling, as Rubin was the chief architect of the financial deregulation in the 1990s that helped set the stage for the crisis. Lew was not as close to Rubin as were Tim Geithner or Larry Summers, writes Michael Hirsh in the National Journal. But he at least owes Rubin for his big Wall Street payday. ... Read more

The Inconvenient Truth About Jack Lew
HP | Robert Scheer | 01/11/13

I suppose that he can't be much worse than Timothy Geithner, but that should be scant cause for cheer over the news that the president has nominated Jack Lew as Treasury secretary. Both championed the financial deregulation craze of the Clinton administration, and both are acolytes of Robert Rubin, the former Clinton Treasury secretary who unfettered Wall Street greed and then took his own considerable cut of the action.

Rubin went to work at Citigroup, the world's largest financial conglomerate whose legality was enabled by legislation he advanced while in government. He made off with a salary of $15 million a year during his decade at that bank, which specialized in toxic mortgage derivatives and had to be bailed out by taxpayers to avoid bankruptcy. ... Read more

Matt Taibbi & Bill Black: Obama's New Treasury Secretary a 'Failure of Epic Proportions'
AlterNet | Juan Gonzalez | 01/11/13

President Obama is facing criticism for nominating another former Wall Street executive to become treasury secretary. On Thursday, Obama tapped his own chief of staff, Jack Lew, to replace Timothy Geithner. Lew was an executive at Citigroup from 2006 to 2008 at the time of the financial crisis. He served as chief operating officer of Citigroup's Alternative Investments unit, a group that bet on the housing market to collapse.

Lew has also long pushed for the deregulation of Wall Street. From 1998 to January 2001, he headed the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton. During that time, Clinton signed into law two key laws to deregulate Wall Street: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. ... Read more

Last Year Wasn't Just Hot -- It Was a Habanero
Bloomberg | Tom Randall | 01/10/13

To say that 2012 was hot is an understatement. The average temperature in the contiguous U.S. last year was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees hotter than the 20th century average and 1 degree hotter than the previous record. ... Read more
Click to zoom



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, January 14 [15:48]
DN | "An Incredible Soul": Lawrence Lessig on Aaron Swartz After Leading Cyberactivist's Suicide. Part 1 (01/14/13) [10:42], Part 2 [9:46], Part 3 [9:46]
The first portrait of The Duchess of Cambridge is unveiled (01/11/13) [3:51]
TRNN News
TRNN | Oliver Stone of the Untold History: Peter Kuznick: A Wallace Presidency might have prevented the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan and prevented the Cold War (01/11/13) [10:09]
TRNN | Oliver Stone of the Untold History: Peter Kuznick: Stalin, the Soviet Union and WWII (01/14/13) [16:07]
See the different episodes here
TYT News
TYT | Does Obama's Treasury Nom Understand Deregulation? (01/11/13) [7:16]
TYT | Does the NRA Represent Gun Owners or Manufacturers? (01/11/13) [4:57]
TYT | Husband Kills Fake Burglar Sent by Cheating Wife (01/11/13) [4:05]
William K. Black on U.S. Financial Fraud [3:29]
The full version (good interview)
William K. Black on U.S. Financial Fraud (28/22/09) [28:22]
James Yeager, CEO Who Threatened To 'Start Killing People' Over Gun Control, Backpedals... Sort Of (01/11/13) [7:45]
Alex Jones On HuffPost Live: 'YOU'RE IN DANGER! YOU'RE IN DANGER!' (01/11/13) [2:55]

Secret Goldman Team Sidesteps Volcker After Blankfein Vow
Bloomberg | Max Abelson | 01/08/13

Sitting onstage in Washington's Ronald Reagan Building in July, Lloyd C. Blankfein said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) had stopped using its own money to make bets on the bank's behalf.   "We shut off that activity," the chief executive officer told more than 400 people at a lunch organized by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., slicing the air with his hand. The bank no longer had proprietary traders who "just put on risks that they wanted" and didn't interact with clients, he said.

That may come as a surprise to people working in a secretive Goldman Sachs group called Multi-Strategy Investing, or MSI. It wagers about $1 billion of the New York-based firm's own funds on the stocks and bonds of companies, including a mortgage servicer and a cement producer, according to interviews with more than 20 people who worked for and with the group, some as recently as last year. ... Read more
Secret Goldman Team Sidesteps Volcker (scroll down 1 inch) [4:15]
Other Videos and Documentaries
NatGeo | Megastructures
NatGeo | Mega Structures - Beijing Water Cube (06/22/12) [47:14]
NatGeo | MegaStructures: South Pole Station() [43:01]
NatGeo | Megastructures Ice Breakers [46:51]
NatGeo | Megastructures Deep Sea Drillers [47:18]
NatGeo | Megastructures Icelandic Super Dam [45:06]
NatGeo | Megastructures Hoover Dam Reinvented [46:57]
NatGeo | Megastructures Panama Canal [47:01]
NatGeo | Megastructures NORAD [44:18]
NatGeo | Megastructures Black Gold (Oil Mine) [47:01]
NatGeo | Megastructures International Space Station [47:56]
NatGeo | Megastructures Eurotunnel [47:29]
NatGeo | Megastructures Beijing Stadium [47:25]
NatGeo | Megastructures Electric Ocean [46:04]
NatGeo | Megastructures Man Made Sun [47:29]
NatGeo | Megastructures Bahrain Trade Centre [47:29]
NatGeo | Megastructures Dubai's Dream Palace [49:59]
NatGeo | Megastructures USS Ronald Reagan [45:30]
NatGeo | World's Best Modern Megastructures [43:04]

9/11 Videos
World Trade Center Construction 1966 - 1973 [9:57]
WTC Secret Gov Attacks [8:12]
The Painful Deception Truth & lies behind 9/11 [1:23:44]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igX7Z8VstN4 [1:12:12]
PBS | America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero [1:26:21]

Other videos
1984- George Orwell [1:50:30]
Atlantis- The Lost Continent [1:35:57]

Friday January 11, 2013
International News
Domestic News

The Debt Ceiling's Escape Hatch
NYTimes | Edward D. Kleinbard | 01/09/13

THE fiscal cliff may have been avoided, but an even higher-stakes political standoff -- this time, over the federal debt ceiling -- is just around the bend. ... Read more

AIG Wants to Sue the Govt After Taking Huge Bailout Money -- Taibbi Shreds Wall St. Lies
AlterNet | Laura Gottesdiener | 01/09/13

... As Taibbi writes:
Even worse was the incredible episode in which bailout recipient AIG paid more than $1 million each to 73 employees of AIG Financial Products, the tiny unit widely blamed for having destroyed the insurance giant (and perhaps even triggered the whole crisis) with its reckless issuance of nearly half a trillion dollars in toxic credit-default swaps. The "retention bonuses," paid after the bailout, went to 11 employees who no longer worked for AIG. ... Read more
AIG "Thank You America" commercial [1:01]

No More Liar Loans Or Other Dreadful Mortgage Products, Regulators Say
HP | Ben Hallman | 01/10/13

It took awhile, but more than five years after a wave of failing subprime loans wrecked the American economy, regulators have instituted new rules that prevent lenders from offering prospective buyers the worst types of mortgages.

The rules, imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday, force lenders to do something they actively and intentionally avoided during the build up to the mortgage bubble: determine if the person they were loaning money to buy a house had the ability to repay that loan. So no more of the "no doc" or "liar's loans" that failed in epic numbers. ... Read more

Who To Trust On Banks: Warren Buffett Or Your Lying Eyes? Seven And A Half Things To Know
HP | Mark Gongloff | 01/10/13
Read more

*U.S. Drones Pound Pakistan, Which Responds by Doing Exactly Nothing
Wired Magazine | Spencer Ackerman | 01/10/13

Make that seven U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan during the first 10 days of 2013. But the recent uptick in drone strikes hasn't yet coincided with a resurgence in Pakistani outrage that marred Washington's relationship with Islamabad in 2012. ... Read more

6 Strikes, 8 Days, 35 Dead: The U.S. Drone War in Pakistan Is Back
Wired Magazine | Spencer Ackerman | 01/08/13

The sixth U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2013 has killed at least eight people, as if to announce the impending arrival at the CIA of the drone campaign's chief advocate. ... Read more

*NRA Gun Control Crusade Reflects Firearms Industry Financial Ties
HP | Peter H. Stone | 01/11/13

Throughout its 142-year history, the National Rifle Association has portrayed itself as an advocate for the individual gun owner's Second Amendment rights. In turn, the NRA relied on those gun owners, especially its 4 million or so members, to pressure lawmakers into carrying out its anti-gun control agenda.

In the last two decades, however, the deep-pocketed NRA has increasingly relied on the support of another constituency: the $12-billion-a-year gun industry, made up of manufacturers and sellers of firearms, ammunition and related wares. That alliance was sealed in 2005, when Congress, after heavy NRA lobbying, approved a measure that gave gunmakers and gun distributors broad, and unprecedented, immunity from a wave of liability lawsuits related to gun violence in America's cities.

It was a turning point for both the NRA and the industry, both of which recognized the mutual benefits of a partnership. That same year, the NRA also launched a lucrative new fundraising drive to secure "corporate partners" that's raked in millions from the gun industry to boost its operations. ... Read more

Jon Stewart
'The Daily Show' Rips Detroit Bridge To Canada Opposition (01/10/13) [6:11]


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, January 11 [15:36]
*DN | Bill Black: "Failure of Epic Proportions": Treasury Nominee Jack Lew's Pro-Bank, Austerity, Deregulation Legacy (01/11/13) [15:30]
*DN | Matt Taibbi: on Bailout Secrets & How New Foreclosure Deal Spares Banks From Justice (01/11/13) [16:26]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 01/11/13
International News - Friday 01/11/13
TYT News
*TYT | Cheney's Troop Poisoning KBR Wants Your Money (01/09/13) [7:11], Article
Dick Cheney's company, KBR, got a military contract to coat pipes with a powerfully carcinogenic substance to protect them. Their negligence fatally poisoned U.S. soldiers in the process. Guess who is expected to foot the bill?

"Sodium dichromate is an orange-yellowish substance containing hexavalent chromium, an anti-corrosion chemical. To Lt. Col. James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Qarmat Ali water treatment center in Iraq just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, it was "just different-colored sand." In their first few months at the base, soldiers were told by KBR contractors running the facility the substance was no worse than a mild irritant."
*TYT | Is Obama's Treasury Nominee A Big Bank Crony? (01/09/13) [8:05], Article
TYT | Congress: Daily Schedule, 4hrs to Raise Money, 1 hr to listen to constituents (01/10/13) [12:45], Article
*TYT | Traci Lords' Steubenville - A Culture of Rape? (01/09/13) [2:39]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu headlines Jerusalem mega event for thousands of Jewish teenagers on Birthright Rally (01/10/13) [7:28]
Precis
Since 1999, over 300,000 young Jews from around the world have embarked on the free, 10-day tour of Israel known as Taglit-Birthright. It's considered the most effective means of connecting the next generation of the Jewish Diaspora to the state of Israel. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently pledged $100 million to the program. Netanyahu is also a regular speaker at Birthright mega-events, like the one The Real News' Lia Tarachansky attended this week with journalist and Author Max Blumenthal
MSNBC The Ed Show
*Ed Show | Bernie Sanders: Fighting for the soal of America (0110/13) [9:03]
Ed Show | Everyone agrees on guns... almost. No compromise by NRA. (01/10/13) [8:50]
MSNBC Rachel Maddow
*Rachel Maddow | Will Obama bring drones out of the dark? (01/10/13) [18:45]
Rachel Maddow | Americans signal readiness for zero troups left in Afghanistan (01/10/13) [3:25]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday January 10, 2013
International News

*Australia had to add two new colors to their weather maps to represent this years extreme temperatures
Click to zoom

Domestic News

Halliburton's KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill
HP | Ryan J. Reilly | 01/09/13

... Lt. Col. James Gentry was one of approximately 830 service members, including active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard and reserve units from Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and Oregon, assigned to secure the water treatment plant, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.   Sodium dichromate is not a mild irritant. It is an extreme carcinogen. In November 2009, at age 52, Gentry died of cancer. The VA affirmed two months later that his death was service-related.

In November, a jury found KBR, the military's largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.   KBR, however, says taxpayers should be on the hook for the verdict, as well as more than $15 million the company has spent in its failed legal defense, according to court documents and attorneys involved with the case. ... Read more

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Expected To Agree To $1.5 Billion Settlement Over Foreclosure Claims
Reuters | Author | 01/08/13

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley are among a group of banks expected to agree as soon as this week to a $1.5 billion settlement with federal regulators over botched foreclosure claims, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The accord would come on the heels of a separate $8.5 billion settlement announced on Monday with 10 bigger mortgage servicers, including America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Case & Co, Wells Fargo & Co.   HSBC Holdings Inc, Ally Financial Inc, EverBank Financial Corp and OneWest Bank FSB have also said they are in settlement discussions with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. ... Read more

The Woes of an American Drone Operator
spiegel.de | Nicola Abe | 12/14/12

A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore.

For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong, windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the air-conditioning was kept at 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit) and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of the world. ... Read more

Cut Corporate Welfare, Not the Safety Net
readersupportednews.org | Carl Gibson | 01/06/13

In Congress' latest "fiscal cliff" deal that supposedly had to be passed in order to avoid economic calamity, we spent $30 billion on extending unemployment benefits for a year, and $205 billion on corporate tax breaks, subsidies and excessive tax loopholes. Most of these Christmas gifts for corporate America are benefiting major, multi-billion-dollar corporations that haven't paid a dime of US income taxes in years, like GE and Boeing. In other words, taxpayers spent six times more on giving free money to companies making record profits than we did to making sure the people who were laid off by these corporations can still feed their families. $205 billion in corporate goodies was okay with Speaker Boehner, but $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief apparently wasn't. ... Read more

The Hoax of Entitlement Reform
readersupportednews.org | Robert Reich | 01/07/13

It has become accepted economic wisdom, uttered with deadpan certainty by policy pundits and budget scolds on both sides of the aisle, that the only way to get control over America's looming deficits is to "reform entitlements."   But the accepted wisdom is wrong. ... Read more

*The Department Of Homeland Security Is Hard At Work With One Billion New Bullets
businessinsider.com | Robert Johnson | 01/06/13

Last March we found 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition slated for delivery to the Department of Homeland Service and its agencies.   Weeks later we found an additional request for 750 million rounds. The news wasn't reported much, though the order forms are still floating around. ...

... Major General Jerry Curry, (Ret) offered up a good point when the 750 million order became public last fall saying that number of bullets was more than 10 times what U.S. troops used in a full year of Iraqi combat. ... Read more

*Corporate America: A Whale in a Fish Tank
Truthout | Thom Hartmann | 01/09/13

... Consider our food industry. According to Tom Philpott at Mother Jones magazine, agriculture oligopolies exist from farm to shelf. Just four companies control 90% of the global grain trade. Just three companies control 70% of the beef industry. And just four companies control 58% of the pork and chicken industry.   On the retail side, Walmart controls a quarter of the entire U.S. grocery market. And just four companies produce 75% of our breakfast cereal, 75% of our snack foods, 60% of our cookies, and half of all the ice cream sold in supermarkets around the nation. ... Read more

Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, January 10 [14:49]
Australia's hottest day on record hampers wildfire fight (01/08/13) [1:49]
TRNN News
TRNN | Robert Parry: Failure of Current TV could have played a critical role taking on the Bush presidency, (01/09/13) [13:33]
TYT News
*TYT | Climate Change Studies: Less than 1% Reject Global Warming (12/19/12) [4:01]
*TYT | Climate Change Fake? World Has Never Been Hotter (01/08/13) [8:11]
*TYT | We Bailed Out AIG, Now They're Suing Us?! (01/09/13) [4:07]
TYT | Drone Strikes: Where Are Obama's Tears For Those Child Victims? (12/16/12) [8:54]
TYT | Pointless 'Repeal Obamacare' Bill (01/05/13) [2:09]
Rachel Maddow
*Rachel Maddow | Australia has to add new colors to represent extreem heat (climate change) (01/09/13) [0:42]
*Rachel Maddow | AIG no stranger to angering Americans (01/08/13) [1:33], Part 2 [3:45]
Rachel Maddow | Polls: How Congress rates against roaches and carnies (01/08/13) [2:49]
MSNBC Ed Show
Ed Show | America's drone war continues (01/09/13) [7:17]
Ed Show | Republicans take tax reform "off the table" (01/08/13) [6:43]
Ed Show | Bachmann retains house intel committee (01/09/13) [5:02]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart | Satire on gun control Part 1 (01/06/13) [7:07], Part 2 [8:14]
Other Fun Facts
Matt Taibbi: After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Execs Avoid Jail? (12/13/12) [12:05]
The banking giant HSBC has escaped indictment for laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and groups linked to al-Qaeda. Despite evidence of wrongdoing, the U.S. Department of Justice has allowed the bank to avoid prosecution and pay a $1.9 billion fine. No top HSBC officials will face charges, either. We're joined by Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Matt Taibbi, author of "Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History." "You can do real time in jail in America for all kinds of ridiculous offenses," Taibbi says. "Here we have a bank that laundered $800 million dollars of drug money and they can't find a way to put anybody in jail for that? That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector, but to everybody. It's an obvious, clear double standard where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can't break any rules at all without going to jail."
Wells Fargo launders $378.4 billion in drug money - "nobody goes to jail" (05/30/11) [5:33]
More News Articles

Big Oil, Big Ketchup and "The Assassination of Hugo Chavez"
Truthout | Greg Palast | 01/09/13

Chavez himself told me he was stunned by Bush's attacks: Chavez had been quite chummy with Bush Senior and with Bill Clinton.   So what happened to change Clinton's hugs-and-kisses policy to Bush's shoot-to-kill? Here's the answer you won't find in The New York Times:

Just after Bush's inauguration in 2001, Chavez's congress voted in a new "Law of Hydrocarbons." Henceforward, Exxon, British Petroleum, Shell Oil and Chevron would get to keep 70 percent of the sales revenues from the crude they sucked out of Venezuela. Not bad, considering the price of oil was rising toward $100 a barrel.   But to the oil companies, which had bitch-slapped Venezuela's prior government into giving them 84 percent of the sales price, a cut to 70 percent was "no bueno." Worse, Venezuela had been charging a joke of a royalty - just 1 percent - on "heavy" crude from the Orinoco Basin. Chavez told Exxon and friends they'd now have to pay 16.6 percent.

Clearly, Chavez had to be taught a lesson about the etiquette of dealings with Big Oil. ... Read more

Not Even Close: 2012 Was Hottest Ever in U.S.
NYTimes | Justin Gillis | 01/08/13

The numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the Corn Belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the Middle Atlantic States, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States. ... Read more

Other Videos and Documentaries

Wednesday January 09, 2013
International News

Chernobyl Factored In The Fall Of a Corrupt Regime -- Fukushima May Too
http://fairewinds.org | Roger Pulvers | 12/09/12

... What is the true nature of the destruction caused by radioactive contamination in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an area stretching out in a 31-km radius from the plant? And what can we expect to find in a similar zone in Fukushima Prefecture? After all, it has been estimated that the nuclear accident in Ukraine has made human habitation in the zone impossible for 20,000 years. Will the land in Fukushima be equally condemned? ... Read more

CROOKED CLEANUP (1): Radioactive waste dumped into rivers during decontamination work in Fukushima
ajw.asahi.com | Author | 01/04/12

Cleanup crews in Fukushima Prefecture have dumped soil and leaves contaminated with radioactive fallout into rivers. Water sprayed on contaminated buildings has been allowed to drain back into the environment. And supervisors have instructed workers to ignore rules on proper collection and disposal of the radioactive waste. ... Read more

Domestic News

Washington's jaw drops at possibility of AIG lawsuit
Politico | Ben White | 01/08/13

Remember when AIG took a $182 billion bailout only to turn around and hand out seven-figure bonuses to the same guys who tanked their company?

Grab the pitchforks -- it gets better. Now the insurance organization might join a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the terms of the bailout -- saying the deal that saved the company cheated shareholders. ... Read more

Secrets and Lies of the Bailout
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 01/04/13

... It was all a lie -- one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people. We were told that the taxpayer was stepping in -- only temporarily, mind you -- to prop up the economy and save the world from financial catastrophe. What we actually ended up doing was the exact opposite: committing American taxpayers to permanent, blind support of an ungovernable, unregulatable, hyperconcentrated new financial system that exacerbates the greed and inequality that caused the crash, and forces Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk rather than reduce it. ... Read more

Secrets and Lies of the Bailout: One Broker's Story
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 01/08/13

I have a feature in the new issue of Rolling Stone called "Secrets and Lies of the Bailout," which focuses in large part on the seemingly intentional policy of deception in the government's rescue of the financial sector. The government didn't just bail out Wall Street with money: It also lied on Wall Street's behalf, calling unhealthy banks healthy, and helping banks cover up just how much aid they were getting in secret. ... Read more

Movie reveals fracking's unsavory practices
Politico | Trip Van Noppen | 01/08/13

The oil and gas industry is furious at Matt Damon, objecting to the way it is portrayed in his latest film, "Promised Land." But instead of blaming Damon for its PR troubles, the industry should heed this cautionary tale of a community that stands up to a dishonest and powerful company. ... Read more

How Our Government Is Trying to Scare Us into Submitting to Corporate Dominance
AlterNet | Chris Hedges | 01/07/13

... These documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America." ... Read more

There's a Violent World War Going On, with Millions of Casualties -- Oligarchs vs. Everyone Else
AlterNet | Thom Hartmann | 01/07/13

... We have become, in the United States, and increasingly all over the world, a society with only two classes: Those who own, and those who owe.   The owners (or "Takers") own vast wealth, and loan it out at interest to everybody from students to governments. They're continually receiving that interest back in ways that are either tax-free or taxed at very low levels. (Here in the US we call it "capital gains," "Interest," "dividends," and "carried interest." While a working person will pay as much as 39% in federal income taxes, the federal income tax to the Mitt Romneys, Paris Hiltons, and Lloyd Blankfeins of the world is now capped at 20%. As Leona Helmsley famously said, "Only little people pay taxes.") ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Wednesday, January 09 [13:44]
*DN | Australia on Fire: Record-Shattering Heat, Wildfires Engulf World's Largest Exporter of Coal (01/09/13) [12:31]
DN | As Brennan Tapped for CIA, Case of Somali Detainees Highlights Obama's Embrace of Secret Renditions (01/09/13) [13:45]
Fukushima
Katsutaka Idogawa is the mayor of Futaba Town, hosting 5th and 6th Units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It is 3 Km away from the nuclear accident site. Mayor Idogawa was the only mayor in Fukushima prefecture who decided to officially relocate his town's population and the administrative functions outside the prefecture in his authority. Apparently, there is constant pressure on the mayor and the town's administration to relocate the evacuees back to inside Fukushima Prefecture by the Japanese Government and the nuclear interest.
*Mayor of a town that Hosted Fukushima Daiichi Speaks at UN (01/04/13) [13:18]
Fuel pool 4 is subject to collapsing if there is another major earthquake. If fuel pool 4 collapses it is a country ending event (not to mention the northern hemisphere). Almost 2 years after the tsunami, look how far they are in remedying the problem.
Click to zoom

Fairewinds News
Fairewinds | More Lessons From the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Containment Failures and the Loss of the Ultimate Heat Sink (12/17/12) [13:44]
Fairewinds - podcast (01/06/13) [22:45]
*Matt Damon: Promised Land Official Trailer 2013 (HD)
TYT News
*TYT | How Fiscal Cliff Deal Cost Us Trillions (01/06/13) [5:15]
TYT | Why CEOs Love the Fiscal Cliff Deal (01/03/13) [8:38]
TYT | Disastrous GOP Approval Ratings...Mean Reelection? (01/03/13) [3:35]
Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States
MSNBC | Ed Show
Beyond Treason: The True Story of Depleted Uranium [1:28:49]

Tuesday January 08, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Forget Gratitude: AIG Considers Suing U.S. Over Bailout
BusinessWeek | Matthew Philips | 01/08/13

At the behest of its former chief executive, Maurice Greenberg, AIG (AIG) is considering joining a lawsuit filed by its shareholders against the government. On Wednesday, according to the New York Times, Greenberg, 87, will try to persuade the AIG board that the terms of the company's $182 billion government bailout were too onerous, the interest rates were too high, and ultimately, that AIG shareholders got a raw deal. What's that about biting the hand that feeds you? ... Read more

Who Can Stop the People?
HP | Ralph Nader | 01/07/13

... Over the past several weeks, Congress has been the focal point of much controversy for its inability to come together on a comprehensive fiscal cliff deal until the absolute final hour. More and more Americans are becoming aware -- and upset -- about the systemic gridlock in Congress, which results in the failure to solve or even address numerous major problems that plague our country. ... Read more

George W. Bush's legacy grows more impressive
Washington Post | Jennifer Rubin | 01/02/13

The retention of 98 percent of the Bush tax cuts by the most liberal president to hold office reminds us that a mere four years after leaving office, George W. Bush has a legacy that is becoming more impressive with time. ... Read more

Most Underreported Story of 2012?
Washington Post | Bob Woodward | 12/03/12

... So in spring 2011, Ailes asked a Fox News analyst headed to Afghanistan to pass on his thoughts to Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. and coalition forces there. Petraeus, Ailes advised, should turn down an expected offer from President Obama to become CIA director and accept nothing less than the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military post. If Obama did not offer the Joint Chiefs post, Petraeus should resign from the military and run for president, Ailes suggested. ... Read more

Steubenville High School Students Joke About Rape In Video Leaked By Anonymous
HP | Meredith Bennett-Smith | 01/02/13

A chilling video leaked by an Anonymous cell this week has added a new twist to a sordid tale of alleged rape that has shattered the peace of a close-knit Ohio football town.   The disturbing 12-minute video, posted online Tuesday by the hacktivist group "Knight Sec," shows teens making jokes about the events that reportedly transpired on Aug. 22. ... Read more
Leaked Steubenville Big Red Rape Video (01/02/13) [12:29]

Steubenville Rape Crew's: WTOV 9 & WTRF 7 Coverage #OpRollRedRoll #OccupySteubenville (01/02/13) [7:53]

Immigration Enforcement Cost Higher Than FBI, Policing Drugs, Guns Combined: Report
HP | Elise Foley | 01/07/13

The United States spends more money on immigration enforcement -- nearly $18 billion in the 2012 fiscal year -- than on its other law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report released Monday from the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. ... Read more
Immigration Enforcement in the United States (pdf)

6 Strikes, 8 Days, 35 Dead: The U.S. Drone War in Pakistan is Back
Wired Magazine | Spencer Ackerman | 01/08/13

The sixth U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2013 has killed at least eight people, as if to announce the impending arrival at the CIA of the drone campaign's chief advocate. ... Read more

If You Thought Obama's Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait 'Til He's at the CIA
Wired Magazine | Spencer Ackerman | 01/07/13

... If confirmed by the Senate to lead the CIA, John Brennan, to paraphrase Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, will be clothed in immense power. He's already an architect of the CIA's accelerated counterterrorism campaign, the one that launches drone strikes at suspected terrorists around the world. From his perch at the White House, Brennan has been a major advocate for the CIA, perhaps more effectively than the men running Langley, thanks to his close relationship with Obama. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Tuesday, January 08 [10:41]
DN | 4 Years After Vow to Close Gitmo, Why Has Obama Signed NDAA Bill Barring Transfer of Its Prisoners? Part 1 (01/08/13) [10:15], Part 2 [20:50], Part 3 [17:10]
Stephen Cobert | Cobert Report
Stephen Cobert | The Platinum debt ceiling solution (coin) (01/05/13) [3:33]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm President Obama's Second-Term Team 01/08/13 [1hr]
Environmental Outlook: Strategies For Limiting Carbon Emissions 01/08/13 [1hr]
TYT News
*TYT | Obama Tax Cuts - Worse Than Bush Plan? (01/02/13) [14:25]
TYT | Most Underreported Story of 2012? (01/01/13) [11:39]
TYT | Anonymous Outs Steubenville Rape Crew's Disgusting Brags (01/03/13) [6:20]
TYT | Why Did Republicans Prevent Sandy Relief? (01/04/13) [4:23]
TRNN News
TRNN | Obama Signs NDAA Bill Allowing Indefinite Detention; Obama Orders Assassinations with No Oversight (01/06/13) [14:32]
TRNN | Neoliberalizing Nature and Privatizing the Air - Patrick Bond: In 2013 bankers will increase their efforts to make money out of the climate crisis and put a dollar value on everything (01/07/13) [7:34]
Bill Moyers
*Bill Moyers | The Gun Lobby's Firepower (01/07/13) [5:00]
MSNBC | Rachel Maddow Show
Rachel Maddow | GOP Discovers Tax Math in Time to Blame Obama for Cost of Tax Cuts (01/03/13) [8:02]
MSNBC | Ed Show
Ed Show | Will Social Security get chopped in debt ceiling talks (01/04/13) [13:23]
*Ed Show | GOP deception on real consequence of debt ceiling (01/04/13) [6:12]
Ed Show | Debt Ceiling hostage situation (01/04/13) [7:27]
Chris Hayes Show - Oliver Stone, Untold History
*Chris Hayes | Oliver Stone, Untold History, Part 1 (01/05/13) [5:23], Part 2 [5:23], Part 3 [5:33], Part 4 [5:48]
Economist Richard Wolff
*TNS | Richard Wolff: When Capitalism Hits the Fan (Film Screening) and Q&A (03/10/10) [1:44:18]
TNS | Richard Wolff: Opposition to Paying for Capitalism's Crisis (04/02/12) [1:59:45]
TNS | Richard Wolff: Why the Economic Crisis Deepens (10/10/10) [2:02:21]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Monday January 07, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Right-Wingers Who Think They Got 'Rolled' by Obama In Cliff Deal Are Totally Crazy
AlterNet | Joshua Holland | 01/04/13

I thought that by this point, I was beyond the capacity to be shocked by the delusions held by the American Right. But my jaw dropped when I read that a number of high-profile conservatives are outraged about the fiscal slope deal, and believe they have been "rolled" by Obama. The very notion is wildly delusional. ... Read more

The Steubenville Files
localleaks.blogs.ru/ | Author | 01/01/13

On August 27, 2012 two members of the Big Red High School football team in Steubenville, Ohio USA were arrested and charged with the rape and kidnapping of an out of town 16 year old girl that took place on August 11th. At the time of this gang rape, the girl was intoxicated and unconscious. ... Read more
Michael Colin Nodianos Video

Bill Moyers

Ending the Silence on Climate Change
Bill Moyers | Author | 01/04/13

Climate change communication expert Anthony Leiserowitz explains why climate change gets the silent treatment, and what we should do about it. ... Read more

The Elephant in the Room: Climate Change
Bill Moyers | Author | 12/20/12

The most under-reported news story of 2012?   The elephant in the room. Global climate change -- and the failure of our leaders and media to act. ... Read more

PBS Frontline

Fourteen Years Later, Looking Back at a School Shooting
PBS Frontline | Author | 12/21/12

The Killer at Thurston High, which first aired on Jan. 18, 2000, examines Kinkel's childhood in a nurturing family in suburban Oregon and his transformation from a shy, lonely teenager into a methodical killer. The story draws on excerpts from Kinkel's writings, his psychologist's notes and interviews with his sister, schoolmates and family friends. ... Read more

Heat
PBS Frontline | Author | (2008)

Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, fires, floods and droughts. On the eve of a historic election, award-winning producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the world's largest corporations and governments are responding to Earth's looming environmental disaster.   "I have reported on the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the rise of Al Qaeda, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," says Smith. "But nothing matches climate change in scope and severity." ... Read more

Why Soldiers Keep Losing to Suicide
PBS Frontline | Author | 12/20/12

... About 53 percent of those who died by suicide in the military in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, had no history of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according (pdf) to the Defense Department. And nearly 85 percent of military members who took their lives had no direct combat history, meaning they may have been deployed but not seen action. ... Read more

A Defining Moment at the Gulf War's End
PBS Frontline | Author | 02/20/03

As the U.S. stands at the brink of war with Iraq, many are now warning about the potential consequences: the danger of getting bogged down in Baghdad, the prospect of longtime allies leaving America's side, the possibility of chaos in the Middle East, the threat of renewed terrorism. ... Read more

Maddow Discusses How Shell's Arctic Drilling Keeps Getting More Ridiculous
AlterNet | Lauren Kelley | 01/04/13

Rachel Maddow discussed the latest developments in the grounding of a Shell artic drilling rig off the coast of Alaska. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Monday, January 07 [16:14]
DN | Obama's Cheney? "Assassination Czar" John Brennan Brings Legacy of Drone War and Torture to CIA Nod (01/07/13) [8:48]
DN | Chuck Hagel Faces Tough Confirmation from Senate Hawks for Rejecting Party Line on Israel, Iran (01/07/13) [13:44]
DN | Hacker Group Anonymous Leaks Chilling Video in Case of Alleged Steubenville Rape, Cover-Up (01/07/13) [17:57]
Mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears has climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest five times, but when he accompanied FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith into the Himalayas in 2007 for the film Heat, he had a different mission: to photograph Everest from the same vantage point where British explorer George Mallory shot an iconic 1921 photo of the main Rongbuk glacier. With Mallory's photo in hand, he set out to to see how much had changed.
PBS Frontline | Tracking Climate Change on Mt. Everest. () [3:19]







Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers | Remember climate change? The issue barely came up during the presidential campaigns, and little has been said since. (01/04/13) [56:54]
PBS Frontline
PBS Frontline | Fourteen Years Later, Looking Back at a School Shooting (12/21/12) [56:34]
*PBS Frontline | Movie "Heat": Watching the World Change: Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, expanding deserts -- the world is changing faster, more dramatically than ever was anticipated. (2008) (12/20/12) [1:56:19]
Military Suicide Among Soldiers Who Haven't Deployed (12/20/12) [4:54] (audio)
Old but Interesting
The Bush administration insiders who helped define the "Bush Doctrine," and who have argued most forcefully for war, are determined to set a course that will remake America's role in the world. Having served three Republican presidents over the course of two decades, this group of close advisers -- among them Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and perhaps most importantly, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz -- believe that the removal of Saddam Hussein is the necessary first act of a new era.
A Defining Moment at the Gulf War's End (2003) [52:00]
Rachel Maddow | Maddow Discusses How Shell's Arctic Drilling Keeps Getting More Ridiculous. (01/04/13) [4:34]
Jerry Beilinson, deputy editor for Popular Mechanics, talks with Rachel Maddow about the Shell oil rig that has run aground on the Alaskan coast and what it means about Americans' faith that the oil industry is sufficiently competent and capable of drilling in the Artic.
Rachel Maddow | Jerry Beilinson, deputy editor for Popular Mechanics, talks with Rachel Maddow about the Shell oil rig that has run aground on the Alaskan coast (01/04/13) [14:04]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Friday January 04, 2013
International News

Wildfires Hit Australia Amid Worst Heatwave in Decade
BusinessWeek | Edward Johnson | 01/04/13

Wildfires are sweeping through parts of rural Australia as the biggest heatwave since 2001 spreads across the nation bringing near-record temperatures.   State-wide fire bans are in force in the southern island state of Tasmania and in Victoria, while emergency services issued bushfire alerts across South Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology said the heatwave was moving east across the continent, bringing temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). ... Read more

Domestic News

Can We Avert The Coming Debt Ceiling Crisis With A Magic Coin?
HP | Jason Linkins | 01/04/12

Because of the deal made on New Year's Day that averted the immediate impact of the so-called fiscal cliff, America will face a sequel to the debt ceiling hostage crisis that led to the super committee and the sequester and the fiscal cliff and the fiscal cliff solution and the sequel to the debt ceiling hostage crisis that led to the super committee and the sequester and the fiscal cliff and the fiscal cliff solution, et cetera, ad infinitum. ... Read more

Noam Chomsky: The Gravest Threat to World Peace
http://truth-out.org | Noam Chomsky | 01/04/13

Reporting on the final U.S. presidential campaign debate, on foreign policy, The Wall Street Journal observed that "the only country mentioned more (than Israel) was Iran, which is seen by most nations in the Middle East as the gravest security threat to the region." ... Read more

The Case Against Billionaires
http://truth-out.org | Thom Hartmann | 01/03/12

It's time we as a nation have a serious discussion about outlawing billionaires.   This week we learned that 2012 was one heck of a year for the billionaires. The 100 richest people in the world got $241 billion wealthier this year bringing their total net worth to $1.9 trillion. These 100 people have more combined wealth than the entire GDP of nations like Italy, Mexico, Spain, Canada, Australia, and about 170 other nations.

Billionaires exclusive to the United States also had a field day. As the annual Forbes 400 list of 2012 showed, America's richest billionaires saw their wealth increase by $200 billion last year bringing their total net worth to $1.7 trillion. ... Read more

Thom Hartmann: U.S. the next Greece? (01/04/13) [9:18]


DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Friday, January 04 [14:38]
DN | Newly Sworn-In 113th Congress Is the Most Diverse In History, But Not the Most Progressive (01/04/13) [13:15]
DN | A Debate on Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Technique As NY Moratorium May Expire. Part 1 (01/04/13) [16:41], Part 2 [12:51]
TRNN News
TRNN | James S. Henry: Obama's deal with GOP on estate tax ensures very rich families will continue to amass historic levels of wealth and power (01/04/13) [9:12]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Domestic News - Friday 01/04/12
International News - Friday 01/04/12
Frontline & NOVA
The four hours explore the life and death of Jesus, and the men and women whose belief, conviction, and martyrdom created the religion we now know as Christianity.
PBS Frontline | "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" tells the epic story of the rise of Christianity. (12/25/12) [1:49:27]
PBS NOVA | Quest for Solomon's Mines, Archeologists seek the truth about the Bible's most famous king and his legendary riches. (12/25/12) [55:06]
PBS NOVA | The Great Inca Rebellion: Mass graves and forensic evidence reveal a complex truth about how the Inca Empire fell. (05/16/12) [55:06]
Other Videos and Documentaries

Thursday January 03, 2013
International News
Domestic News

New Congress Taking Office With Old Divides
HP & AP | Donna Cassata | 01/03/13

WASHINGTON -- Congress is ushering in the new and the old - dozens of eager freshmen determined to change Washington and the harsh reality of another stretch of bitterly divided government. ... Read more

*8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
AlterNet | Matt Stoller | 01/01/13

Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn't mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what's known as "tax extenders", or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. ...

  1. Help out NASCAR - Sec 312
  2. A hundred million or so for Railroads - Sec. 306
  3. Disney's Gotta Eat - Sec. 317
  4. Help a brother mining company out -- Sec. 307
  5. Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters -- Sec. 328
  6. $9B Off-shore financing loophole for banks -- Sec. 322
  7. Tax credits for foreign subsidiaries -- Sec. 323
  8. Bonus Depreciation, R&D Tax Credit
Read more

Angelo Mozilo, Former Countrywide CEO, Claims He Doesn't Know What 'Verified Income' Is
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 12/28/12

If you were going to assign blame to any single person for the financial crisis, Angelo Mozilo would rank right up there with people like Lehman's idiot CEO Dick Fuld, deranged credit-default-swap peddler Joe Cassano of AIG's Financial Products unit, and deregulatory pioneers like Bob Rubin and Phil Gramm. Mozilo's role, however, was probably the single most shameful, as he represented the conscious decision of mortgage underwriters to abandon lending standards in order to claim ever-larger chunks of market share. ...

... As chief of Countrywide, Mozilo headed the single most corrupt subprime mortgage lender in America during the period preceding the crisis. Charged with mass fraud and headed for trial in October of 2010, Mozilo and the SEC ultimately settled four days before opening arguments were set to begin in Los Angeles. Ultimately, Mozilo got away with no jail time, paying a $67.5 million settlement, $20 million of which was covered by Countrywide, which by then had been acquired by Bank of America, a major bailout recipient. Just in the years between 2000 and 2008, Mozilo made over half a billion dollars -- $521.5 million, according to one corporate research firm. ... Read more

Everything We Tell Ourselves About America and the World Is Wrong
AlterNet | Charles Eisenstein | 12/29/12

Every culture has a Story of the People to give meaning to the world. Part conscious and part unconscious, it consists of a matrix of agreements, narratives, and symbols that tell us why we are here, where we are headed, what is important, and even what is real. I think we are entering a new phase in the dissolution of our Story of the People, and therefore, with some lag time, of the edifice of civilization built on top of it. ...

... From my vantage point, the basic premises of this story seemed unquestionable. After all, it seemed to be working in my world. Looking back, I realize that this was a bubble world built atop massive human suffering and environmental degradation, but at the time one could live within that bubble without need of much self-deception. The story that surrounded us was robust. It easily kept anomalous data points on the margins. ...

... Today we cannot ignore the intensifying degradation of the biosphere, the malaise of the economic system, the decline in health, or the persistence and indeed growth of global poverty and inequality. We once thought economists would fix poverty, political scientists would fix social injustice, chemists and biologists would fix environmental problems, the power of reason would prevail and we would adopt sane policies. I remember looking at maps of rain forest decline in National Geographic in the early 1980s and feeling both alarm and relief -- relief because at least the scientists and everyone who reads National Geographic is aware of the problem now, so something surely will be done. ... Read more



DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, January 03 [14:18]
DN | Will 350.org Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign Be Key Tactic in 2013 Climate Change Battle (01/02/13) [17:02]
DN | Expose Reveals Walmart Blocked Improvements Despite Safety Vows After Deadly Factory Fire (01/03/13) [15:19]
TRNN News
*TRNN | Bill Black: Cliff Deal a "Moderate" Betrayal (01/03/13) [13:39]
TRNN | Gerald Epstein: President Obama did not have to make this deal, it's a debacle being called a win (01/03/13) [5:32]
TRNN | Bob Pollin: With austerity policies in Europe and the USA and slow down in China and India, 2013 needs innovative policies or more recession is likely (01/02/13) [4:14]
60 Minutes News
60 Minutes | Danish spy claims key role in terrorist's death (12/30/12) [13:49]
*60 Minutes | A rare look at the Vatican Library's treasures (12/17/12) [12:25]
*60 Minutes | Tragedy in Newtown (12/17/12) [13:44]
*60 Minutes | Costa Concordia: Salvaging a shipwreck (12/17/12) [13:28]
*60 Minutes | The race to save the tortoise (12/09/12) [12:58]
Other Videos
CNN | Is "Zero Dark Thirty" fact or fiction? (12/23/12) [7:44]
More News Articles

The Fiscal Cliff Deal and the Damage Done
Bloomberg | Peter Coy | 01/02/13

Ordinarily we call a deal in which neither side gets what it wants a victory for democracy. Shared sacrifice produces moderation and probity. But any process in which the Speaker of the House tells the Senate Majority Leader "Go f-?-?- yourself," as John Boehner instructed Harry Reid at the height of fiscal cliff madness, deserves just a bit of examination. ... Read more

Other Videos and Documentaries

Wednesday January 02, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Despite Dubious Evidence of Safety, You May Soon Be Eating Unlabeled Genetically Engineered Salmon
AlterNet | Dan Bacher | 12/28/12

On December 21, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft environmental assessment (EA) finding, in spite of much evidence to the contrary, that genetically engineered (GE) AquaAdvantage salmon pose no risk to the environment.   The document claimed that the fish "will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States." ... Read more

The Finance Industry Has Pried into Every Sector of the Economy, and Has Ended Up Running the Whole Show
AlterNet | AlterNet |12/31/12

Today's economic warfare is not the kind waged a century ago between labor and its industrial employers. Finance has moved to capture the economy at large, industry and mining, public infrastructure (via privatization) and now even the educational system. (At over $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt came to exceed credit-card debt in 2012.) The weapon in this financial warfare is no larger military force. The tactic is to load economies (governments, companies and families) with debt, siphon off their income as debt service and then foreclose when debtors lack the means to pay. ... Read more

Fiscal Cliff Deal Passed By Congress After Republicans Cave
HP | Michael McAuliff | 01/01/13

... The Senate passed a compromise at 2 a.m. Tuesday. The House threatened to blow up the deal, but reluctantly followed suit 20 hours later, ultimately passing a permanent extension of many Bush-era tax cuts by an overwhelming vote of 257 to 167.   The weeks-long debacle of tax negotiations brought into stark relief how focused the nation's Capitol remained on the deficit and debt, while focus on the jobs crisis nearly vanished, along with talk of economic devastation from climate change. ... Read more

Billionaires Worth $1.9 Trillion Seek Advantage in 2013
Bloomberg | Matthew G. Miller | 01/01/13

The aggregate net worth of the world's top moguls stood at $1.9 trillion at the market close on Dec. 31, according to the index. Retail and telecommunications fortunes surged about 20 percent on average during the year. Of the 100 people who appeared on the final ranking of 2012, only 16 registered a net loss for the 12-month period. ... Read more



60 Minutes
*60 Minutes | Breakthrough: Robotic limbs moved by the mind (12/30/12) [13:05]
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm Compromise In Congress to Avert The Fiscal Cliff (01/02/13) [hr]
Wall Street Bust (repeat)
*Too Big to Fail [1:28:43]
*The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers [59:05]
How Lehman Brothers Busted the World Economy, Part 1 [19:57], Part 2 [19:57]
60 Minutes | The case against Lehman Brothers (04/22/12) [13:41]
60 Minutes | Wall Street's Shadow Market (10/05/08 old) [12:04]
Causes and Effects of the Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy (11/27/11) [2:11:00]
60 Minutes | Wall Street: The Speed Traders (10/10/10) [13:36]
Rogue Trader (1999) [1:37:17]
Wealth Inequality (repeat)
The One Percent [1:16:29]
Born Rich - Jamie Johnson Johnson & Johnson [1:07:14]
Other Videos and Documentaries
Wall Street Warriors
Season 1
Wall Street Warriors (S01 E01) [25:03]
Wall Street Warriors (S01 E02) [23:34]
Wall Street Warriors (S01 E03) [23:34]
Wall Street Warriors (S01 E05) [24:05]
Wall Street Warriors (S01 E06) [24:05]
Season 2
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E01) [25:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E02) [25:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E03) [25:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E04) [25:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E05) [23:12]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E06) [24:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E07) [24:02]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E08) [22:42]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E09) [22:52]
Wall Street Warriors (S02 E10) [23:27]
John Maynard Keyenes
Masters Of Money - John Maynard Keynes [58:32]
Friedrich Hayek
Masters Of Money - Friedrich Hayek [58:24]
Hayek on Keynes (1978) []
Karl Marx
Masters Of Money - Karl Marx [58:50]
Jonathan Gray
"Dead Men's Secrets" by Jonathan Gray [4:44:29]
"The Ark of the Covenant" by Jonathan Gray [2:07:31]
"Surprising Discoveries" by Jonathan Gray [42:04]
"The Truth Behind Star Signs" by Jonathan Gray [1:14:12]
"And The Sea Will Tell" by Jonathan Gray [53:34]

Tuesday January 01, 2013
International News
Domestic News

Shell Drill Ship, The Kulluk, Grounds Off Alaska
Reuters | Yereth Rosen | 01/01/13

... The grounding of the Kulluk, a conical, Arctic-class drill ship weighing nearly 28,000 gross tons, is a blow to Shell's $4.5 billion offshore programme in Alaska.   Shell's plan to convert the area in to a major new oil frontier has alarmed environmentalists and many Alaska Natives but excited industry supporters. ... Read more

The Global Religious Landscape
http://www.pewforum.org | Author | 12/18/12

Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion. ... Read more

Click to zoom

click to see the radiation readings around the United States (yellow circles). I was surprised to see the higher levels around the Detroit, MI area. If you see a red circle it means the readings are above 100 and is a warning.

Climate Risks Have Been Underestimated for the Last 20 Years
AlterNet | Glenn Scherer | 12/20/12

Across two decades and thousands of pages of reports, the world's most authoritative voice on climate science has consistently understated the rate and intensity of climate change and the danger those impacts represent, say a growing number of studies on the topic.

As the latest round of United Nations climate talks in Doha wrap up this week, climate experts warn that the IPCC's failure to adequately project the threats that rising global carbon emissions represent has serious consequences: The IPCC's overly conservative reading of the science, they say, means governments and the public could be blindsided by the rapid onset of the flooding, extreme storms, drought, and other impacts associated with catastrophic global warming.This conservative bias, say some scientists, could have significant political implications, as reports from the group ... Read more

The Post-Apocalypse Survival Machine Nerd Farm
Bloomberg | Ashlee Vance | 11/01/12

Marcin Jakubowski sits cross-legged on the dirt floor of a round hut in Missouri farm country, carefully making an open-faced mayo and cheddar sandwich. Inside the hut there's a bed, a small desk, a few plastic containers (including one for food), and, occasionally, mice and snakes. ... Read more



Wealth Inequality in America
Wealth Inequality in America [6:24]
The One Percent: Breaking Down US Wealth Distribution [2:51]
OWS Explained: 1% vs 99% [5:42]
$16 Trillion U.S. DEBT - A Visual Perspective [3:19]
We're Not Broke, Just Twisted: Extreme Wealth Inequality in America (05/18/11) [2:17]
Ed Asner Narrates "Tax the Rich: An animated fairy tale" [7:50]
Is the United States Broke?
"We're Not Broke" movie trailer [1:29], Website
We're Not Broke (rental)
Small Businesses are picking up the tab! [1:22]
What do the CEOs of America's biggest Tax Cheating Corporations Want Now? [1:32]
We're Not Broke directors Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce talk about Corporate Tax Dodging [4:44]
Chernobyl
The True Battle of Chernobyl Uncensored [1:32:59]
A 2006 news report by Australian Nine Network's program "60 minutes" with television journalist Richard Carlton.
Inside Chernobyl [16:21]
Wikipedia - Chernobyl Disaster
Chernobyl 25 years on [9:07]
Timelapse Chernobyl New Safe Confinement (NSC) first lifting operation (11/27/12) [0:33]
Wikipedia - New Safe Confinement ???
Fukashima
Fukushima NHK Documentary: Decontamination: Losing the Sheltering Trees (11/09/12) [48:42]
Fukushima SFP #4 VITAL to Remove Spent Fuel BEFORE COLLAPSE! (05/04/12) [12:10]
Where the U.S. stores 345,000 spent Nuclear Fuel Rods [2:58]
TRNN | US Spent Nuclear Fuel Largest Concentration Of Radioactivity On Planet (03/27/11) [10:43]
60 Minutes | Japan using Fukushima people as human Guinnea Pigs (older) [13:04 ]
Other Interesting Videos
BBC In orbit: How satellites rule our world [58:59]
Over 2,000 atomic bombs have been detonated worldwide since 1945. This is a brief timeline showing every blast on a world map up until 1998.
Nuclear Weapons: A Visual Timeline [4:14]
Other Videos and Documentaries

01.01.2013. 14:05



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

Note: To view a video, click on its name/title
Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
Good YouTube Docs. (big | full screen)

Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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