The Burka Avenger is a children’s cartoon about a mild-mannered female school teacher in Pakistan who has an alter ego. As the black-clad Burka Avenger, she takes on oppressive and intolerant Taliban types with the power of education and books. The concept, by rock star Haroon, is full of reversals and appropriations. Thus, the full […]
How a Bill Becomes Law (George Carlin)
George Carlin explains how the United States really works. Warning: some profanity (as is appropriate to the subject). The Clip
Putin as America’s Frenemy: The Snowden Paradox
Russia’s decision on Thursday to grant NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum for one year and allow him freely to live and work in the Russian Federation hit Washington like a hydrogen bomb. Angry politicians called on President Obama to cancel talks in Moscow with Putin scheduled in September. Russia Today covered the decision rather breathlessly: […]
Syrian Regime takes Key Homs Neighborhood in advance against Rebels
The Syrian military has taken an important Homs neighborhood that had been in the hands of the rebels for over a year, as part of its counter-offensive in the strategic center of the country. With the help of the Lebanese militia, Hizbullah, it recently took al-Qusayr, a town near Homs. And now it is taking […]
Red Baraat makes NYC Music with a Punjabi Beat (Video)
Blurb: “New York City’s multicultural population is fertile ground for fusions in art and music. VOA’s Carolyn Weaver reports on Red Baraat, an eight-member band from Brooklyn blending Northern Indian bhangra – a high-energy dance music – with jazz, hip-hop, and other genres.” VOAnews reports:
BOIJ on Pakistan: First the CIA Droned them, Then it Droned the Rescuers (Woods and Yusufzai)
Chris Woods writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (Additional reporting by Mushtaq Yusufzai) A field investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in Pakistan’s tribal areas appears to confirm that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) last year briefly revived the controversial tactic of deliberately targeting rescuers at the scene of a previous drone strike. […]
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Defiant as Government Mulls Dispersing Crowds in Cairo, Giza
There are two places the Muslim Brotherhood is emulating the revolutionary youth of 2011 and occupying a public square– the place in front of the Rabi`a al-`Adawiya Mosque near Nasr City and the Nahda Square in Giza. The interim Egyptian cabinet ominously directed the Interior Ministry on Wednesday morning that it intended to disperse these […]
Afghanistan: If a White House Report on a Massacre isn’t Released, did the Massacre Happen? (Currier)
Cora Currier writes at ProPublica Soon after taking office, President Obama pledged to open a new inquiry into the deaths of perhaps thousands of Taliban prisoners of war at the hands of U.S.-allied Afghan fighters in late 2001. Last month, the White House told ProPublica it was still “looking into” the apparent massacre. Now it […]
‘Every Stroke you Type’: Greenwald Reveals Xkeyscore, Vindicating Snowden
When Edward Snowden went public, he alleged that as a low-level analyst, he could see you type your emails in real time: “I, sitting at my desk . . .” could . . . “wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email”.” […]
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