(By Juan Cole) 1. Federal versus local control of land Pakistan The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan is ruled directly from the capital, Islamabad, rather than having an elected provincial government or legislature. The local tribes such as Mehsud, from which the Taliban are recruited, want more local autonomy. Nevada The Federal government […]
Rep. Peter King sees Red over Pulitzers Honoring Snowden, Journalists covering NSA
Rep. Peter King has made it clear that he will stop at nothing to attack anyone who thinks Ed Snowden did something useful. He was one of the first to call for the reporters who revealed the NSA’s surveillance to be prosecuted and has no qualms about…
Screenwriters On Total Info Awareness in “Capn America 2”: “The Whole Society is Corrupt”
(By Scott Huver) BAM! POW! ZAP!: The ‘Winter Soldier’ Screenwriters Dish About Their Story Decisions and Cap’s Future (via Fandango Movie Blog) By: Scott Huver on April 11, 2014 at 3:01PM If you’ve seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier, prepare yourself for a SPOILER-LOADED look at the creative decisions and tempting sequel possibilities faced by screenwriters […]
On Eve of Pope’s visit to Israel, Radical Israeli Settlers attack Christian Village
(By Quinn Coffey) Just weeks before Pope Francis’ first official visit to the Holy Land, a number of Christian holy sites in Israel and Palestine have been targeted in ‘price tag’ attacks by the radical Israeli settler movement. These attacks have been increasing since 2008. Just weeks before Pope Francis’ first official visit to the […]
Top 6 Pulitzer Prize “Traitors” in American Journalism
(By Juan Cole) The Pulitzer Prize committee’s opinion that Edward Snowden is a public servant rather than a traitor or criminal, as evidenced in its award to The Guardian and The Washington Post for their reporting from his trove of government documents, is a scandal on the American Right. But it is not a new […]
Who Rules America Today? – Domhoff
Talk by G. William Domhoff: Who Rules America Today? h/t G. William Domhoff
Mussolini buys Crowds during visit to Libya (1937) – Historical Video of the Day
Italy ruled Libya from 1911 until midway through WW II, with the fascist years being especially harsh. This newsreel gives a sense of how the Italian colonial administration regimented the population (likely with a combination of bribes and threats) for a spectacle during brutal dictator Benito Mussolini’s visit to his colony in the late 1930s. […]
Global Solar Power generation Increased by 1/3 In 2013 Alone (with Charts)
With about 37,007 megawatts (MW) of solar PV power installed in 2013, world solar PV power capacity increased about 35% to 136,697 MW. Whereas Europe had dominated annual growth for years up until 2013 (10 years, to be precise), solar PV growth was…
US Press once again Declines to Call White Terrorism in Kansas, Nevada, White Terrorism
(By Juan Cole) My Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others, judging by the Facebook shares, must be among the more popular pieces I have ever written. It keeps being proven correct by American journalism every day. I get hot under the collar thinking about all the effort the US government is expending to […]