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Gil Scott-Heron is dead at 62. Ironically, his obituary will not be televised because television news became just what he predicted. In memoriam:

More evidence that Israel derangement syndrome is a malady among the American political class and a narrow sliver of the AIPAC elite, but that most Israelis and most American Jews are far more pragmatic and humane. 57 % of Israelis support Barack Obama’s speech on Middle East peace, and are critical of that of Israeli […]

Dear Tea Party: If all your distrust of the federal government doesn’t cause you to vote against the so-called PATRIOT Act, your tea is weak. Very weak. Spencer Ackerman reports that Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) is worried about a “secret PATRIOT Act”– that is, a set of practices and inquiries into the affairs of private […]

Sen. Rand Paul is among the few in Congress to oppose the 4-year extension of the misnamed PATRIOT Act, which violates the 4th Amendment against baseless and warrantless search of personal effects.

There’s an action alert by a supporter of Rand Paul over at Firedoglake saying that an attempt will be made at 5 pm on Monday in the Senate to extend the misnamed ‘PATRIOT Act’ for four years. There will be an attempt to get unanimous consent for the extension, with just a motion to which […]

Can you connect the dots? Right wing prophet convinces clueless Americans that May 21 is the end of the world. Kentucky legislature offers $42 mn. in tax breaks to fundamentalist Bible theme park scheme, after having deeply cut social services. Qualcomm co-founder decries ‘suicidal’ cuts in education funding in the US. Irwin Jacobs said that […]

Excerpt from USG Open Source Center translation of remarks reported in the pan-Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat [The Middle East] of Egyptian democracy activist Asma Mahfouz on her disappointment in President Obama’s speech. Mahfouz’s video calling for the Jan. 25 demonstration in Tahrir Square went viral and contributed to its success. ‘ Report by Abd-al-Sattar Hutaytah, […]

President Obama’s major policy address on the Middle East got many things right. He pointed to al-Qaeda and terrorism, which targets civilians, as a dead end. He sided rhetorically with the grassroots movements for greater democracy in the region. He condemned outright the longstanding regimes, like that of Hosni Mubarak, that had been US allies, […]