By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Donald Trump-Jeb Bush tiff over whether George W. Bush “kept us safe” is another example of how Donald Trump is better than Karl Rove at politics. Rove had some success with his doctrine of attacking people on their strengths. Like a spiteful child, Trump attacks […]
Former Detainees Sue CIA Torture Psychologists
By Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks) | – – “Ten months after the Senate released its report on the CIA’s illegal torture program, the ACLU is getting involved. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian (The Point), hosts of the The Young Turks, break it down. “Three former CIA detainees are suing over […]
Is the Syrian Crisis Nearing the point where Diplomacy Can make a Difference?
Jo Comerford and Mattea Kramer | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Introduction by Tom Engelhardt : Whatever happened to the “imperial presidency”? In mid-September, in the midst of the serial collapse of a $500-million Pentagon program to train “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), President Obama suddenly claimed, through White House Press […]
200 Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village with firebombs
Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said. During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones […]
‘Putin of Arabia’ hugely popular among Iraqi Shiites
By Jean-Marc Mojon with Raji Nasser in Najaf | ( Your Middle East ) | – – The new Iraq Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighbouring Iraq, where some await “Hajji Putin” like a saviour. Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad […]
Palestine: Death of a Stone-Thrower: Intifada 3.0
VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “Tension builds in Israel and the West Bank with three new stabbing attacks on Israelis reported on Saturday, and the funeral for a young Palestinian stone-thrower killed by Israeli forces in Nablus. VICE News attends the funeral, where grief turns to rage and calls for revenge.” VICE […]
Big Win For Fair Use In Google Books Lawsuit
By Corynne McSherry | (Electronic Freedom Foundation) | – – In a long-anticipated ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed Google a clear victory today, soundly rejecting the Authors Guild’s claim that the Google Books Project infringes copyright. In the process, the Court also confirmed what we’ve always known: fair use promotes “copyright’s very […]
Study: Miami, New Orleans Can’t Be Saved From Rising Sea Levels
GeoBeats News | – – “According to a recently published study, Miami, New Orleans, and a number of other US cities are already beyond the point of being saved from rising sea levels. As the world’s temperature continues to increase, the West Antarctic ice sheet is under threat, and carbon emissions are still being produced […]
While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org | – – In terms of support from financiers, ‘no other candidates came close to Clinton and Bush’ “She’s gonna all of a sudden become Mrs. Wall Street if she’s elected,” one banker said of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. While the 2016 U.S. presidential election fundraising […]