November 2011

Occupy 2012

by News Sources 11.30.2011

John Heilemann writes: In just two months of existence, OWS had scored plenty of victories: spreading from New York to more than 900 cities worldwide; introducing to the vernacular a potent catchphrase, “We are the 99 percent”; injecting into the national conversation the topic of income inequality. But OWS had also suffered setbacks. The less [...]

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Senate bill grants power to imprison Americans indefinitely without trial

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The New York Times reports: Defying the Obama administration’s threat of a veto, the Senate on Tuesday voted to increase the role of the military in imprisoning suspected members of Al Qaeda and its allies — including people arrested inside the United States. By a vote of 61 to 37, the Senate turned back an [...]

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Inside Story: Are Egypt’s lines of control being re-drawn?

by News Sources 11.30.2011

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The transformation of Tripoli

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The New York Times reports: Tripoli is no longer the capital of a police state. But what it has become, in just a matter of weeks, can be both exhilarating and disturbing. Hashish dealers are openly hawking their wares in the center of the city, Martyrs’ Square, known as Green Square before Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi [...]

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Turkey imposes sanctions on Syria

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The Washington Post reports: Turkey announced wide-ranging sanctions against Syria on Wednesday in response to the Syrian government’s continuing military crackdown on protests. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu outlined measures including a freeze on Syrian assets in Turkey and a ban on transactions with the Syrian central bank, capping an eight-day stretch in which Turkish [...]

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Britain expels Iranian diplomats and closes Tehran embassy

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The Guardian reports: The foreign secretary, William Hague, has ordered the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from the UK and announced that the UK is closing its embassy in Tehran, saying that the storming of the mission on Tuesday had the backing of the regime. Hague said Iranian diplomats would have to leave Britain within 48 [...]

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The federal judge who kicked the SEC out of bed with the banks

by News Sources 11.30.2011

Matt Taibbi writes: In one of the more severe judicial ass-whippings you’ll ever see, federal Judge Jed Rakoff rejected a slap-on-the-wrist fraud settlement the SEC had cooked up for Citigroup. I wrote about this story a few weeks back when Rakoff sent signals that he was unhappy with the SEC’s dirty deal with Citi, but [...]

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Wall Street is already occupied

by News Sources 11.30.2011

Jesse Eisinger writes: Last week, I had a conversation with a man who runs his own trading firm. In the process of fuming about competition from Goldman Sachs, he said with resignation and exasperation: “The fact that they were bailed out and can borrow for free — It’s pretty sickening.” Though the sentiment is commonplace [...]

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‘We are Egypt’ — The story behind the revolution

by News Sources 11.30.2011

A Documentary project in Cairo, Egypt by Lillie Paquette: Months before the momentous uprising in Egypt, many talked of a revolution – but no one knew when that day would come. What we see in the 75 minute film are the highs and lows of the passionate leaders who toiled for years before seeing success [...]

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Israeli gov’t warns Israelis in U.S. not to marry Americans but come home

by Paul Woodward 11.30.2011

Philip Weiss found this: an Israeli government advertising campaign that’s sure to alienate a lot of American Jews. The series of ads includes one that shows the look of dread on the faces of Israeli grandparents when they hear their grand daughter say she’ll be celebrating Christmas. I happen to live in a part of [...]

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A family’s billions, artfully sheltered

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The New York Times reports: As he stood in the opulent marble foyer of a Fifth Avenue mansion late last month, greeting the coterie of prominent guests arriving at his private art gallery, Ronald S. Lauder was doing more than just being a gracious host. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Neue Galerie, Mr. [...]

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World on track for nearly 11-degree temperature rise, energy expert says

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The Washington Post reports: The chief economist for the International Energy Agency said Monday that current global energy consumption levels put the Earth on a trajectory to warm by 6 degrees Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, an outcome he called “a catastrophe for all of us.” Fatih Birol [PDF] spoke as [...]

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Hank Paulson’s inside jobs

by News Sources 11.30.2011

Felix Salmon writes: What on earth did Hank Paulson think his job was in the summer of 2008? As far as most of us were concerned, he was secretary of the US Treasury, answerable to the US people and to the president. But at the same time, in secret meetings, Paulson was hanging out with [...]

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Funds and refiners ponder oil Armageddon, war on Iran

by News Sources 11.30.2011

Reuters reports: Oil consuming nations, hedge funds and big oil refineries are quietly preparing for a Doomsday scenario: An attack on Iran that would halt oil supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer. Most political analysts and oil traders say the probability of military action is low, but they caution the risks of such an event have [...]

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Images show devastation at Iran base after blast

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The New York Times reports: The large, deadly explosion at an Iran military base in Iran on Nov. 12, which Iranian authorities have called an accident that set back research work there by a few days, appears to have been far more devastating than their description suggested, according to an analysis of newly released commercial [...]

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A new career for Mike Tyson?

by Attention to the Unseen 11.30.2011

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Disappearing dissent: How Bahrain buried its revolution

by News Sources 11.29.2011

Time magazine reports: Every dictator worth his epaulets knows that the best way to nip a revolution in the bud is to have his opponents “disappear.” No body to mourn, no martyrs raised, and of course the ever-useful plausible deniability. But in Bahrain, with its tightly packed population of 230,000 citizens living on a small [...]

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Night raids and death squads in Afghanistan

by News Sources 11.29.2011

What’s the difference between the death squads being operated by the Haqqani network and the night raids by US Special Operations forces? Chances are that the Haqqanis know the names of a much higher percentage of their victims. That isn’t the only difference, but it’s significant. As far as the U.S. and its allies are [...]

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Noosphere — the sphere of human thought

by Attention to the Unseen 11.29.2011

Video — Noosphere by Tatiana Plakhova Music — Singtree by Solar Quest Share

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Kasich, Koch and big-industry bucks: Why Ohio is the next fracking frontier

by News Sources 11.29.2011

Truth Out reports: Fracking opponents in southern Ohio won a victory last week when the United States Forest Service (USFS) withdrew more than 3,000 acres of public lands from a federal oil and gas lease sale scheduled for December 7, 2012. The USFS announced that it needed more time to review the potential effects of [...]

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Banks may have illegally foreclosed on 5,000 members of the military

by News Sources 11.29.2011

Think Progress reports: For months, major banks have been dealing with the fallout of the “robo-signing” scandal, following reports that the banks were improperly foreclosing on homeowners and, in many instances, falsifying paperwork that they were submitting to courts. Banks have been forced to go back and re-examine foreclosures to ensure that homeowners did not [...]

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Israel — still an embarrassment to its friends

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2011

Joe Klein writes: My friend and colleague, the great war photographer Lynsey Addario, has been through a lot this year — kidnapped by the Libyans, difficult assignments in Afghanistan, Somalia and Gaza, and a much less taxing three weeks hanging with me on my annual road trip, all while pregnant… and now she has been [...]

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Secret Fed loans helped banks net $13 billion

by News Sources 11.29.2011

Bloomberg Markets Magazine reports: The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required [...]

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Occupy economics

by News Sources 11.29.2011

Nancy Folbre writes: The Occupy Wall Street movement, displaced from some key geographic locations, now enjoys a small but significant encampment among economists. Concerns about the impact of growing economic inequality fit neatly into a larger critique of mainstream economic theory and its deep faith in the efficiency of markets. Many unbelievers (including me) insist [...]

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