media

It just baffles me that failed Neocons like Dan Senor are still given a hearing inside the Beltway. ABC News actually interviewed Senor, the spokesman for the Bush administration’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq on the Crimea crisis! Senor had the unmitigated gall to blame President Obama for “Iraq unraveling”!! Let’s see. The American […]

media

TYT: MSNBC’s Chuck Todd Rips CNN for “Breaking News” Malaysia Plane Fraud, Discovers MSNBC Doing it Too

Juan Cole

Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks says when she was a guest on another cable news channel, the producer told her, “remember: our viewers are stupid.” The Young Turks: “MSNBC Host Rips CNN Flight 370 Coverage”

censorship

Egypt: Military Rule, Arbitrary Jailing of Protesters, and… Public Silence

contributors

(By Daniel Nour) This article will probably annoy you. Telling the truth about Egypt, speaking frankly – not appropriately, or prudently, but just plain honestly – is fraught with danger. Doing so will place me in one of two equally awkward scenarios. One the one hand, I shall be called a traitor to Egypt, a […]

Dissent

Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Trying to close down social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has been a desperate ploy of dictatorial regimes throughout the world. It doesn’t work very well, since typically users find workarounds. But what is interesting is why authoritarian regimes make the attempt in the first place. At midnight last night, […]

Climate Change

By the Way, Your Home Is On Fire: The Climate of Change and the Dangers of Stasis

contributors

(By Rebecca Solnit via Tomdispatch) As the San Francisco bureaucrats on the dais murmured about why they weren’t getting anywhere near what we in the audience passionately hoped for, asked for, and worked for, my mind began to wander. I began to think of another sunny day on the other side of the country 13 […]

Domestic Surveillance

When it is Feinstein being Spied on, Suddenly she Squawks

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) took to the senate floor on Tuesday to denounce the Central Intelligence Agency for spying on her staff as it undertook an investigation into the CIA torture program conducted under the Bush administration. The corporate media in the US refer to it as an “interrogation” program, often playing […]

Domestic Surveillance

Edward Snowden: The US is Undermining its own Cybersecurity

Juan Cole

SXSW: Snowden Touts Encryption, Swipes at NSA (via slashdot) In a Google Hangout with an auditorium full of South by Southwest attendees, government whistleblower (and former NSA employee) Edward Snowden suggested that encrypted communication should become more ubiquitous and easier to use for the majority of… —– The video: Edward Snowden and ACLU at […]

astronomy and outer space

Journalists should stop ‘balancing’ stories with Science Denialists: Cosmos’s Neil DeGrasse Tyson

contributors

(By David Edwards) Neil deGrasse Tyson tells CNN: Stop giving ‘equal time to the flat Earthers’ (via Raw Story ) Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Fox’s documentary series Cosmos, said on Sunday that the news media should stop trying to “balance” the debate on scientific issues by hosting people who deny science. In an interview […]

Dissent

Censorship: Turkish PM, President tangle over Bruited ban on Facebook, Youtube

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) President Abdullah Gul has rejected a suggestion by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey might ban Facebook and Twitter. Nearly half of Turkey’s 77 million people use Facebook at least once a month and the country ranks 15th in the world for Facebook use. Turkey had banned Youtube 2008-2010. The good news […]