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Eroding Freedom in America
by Stephen Lendman
US democracy is illusory. America never was beautiful. It's not the land of the free and home of the brave. It wasn't created that way. More than ever, it's not now.
Freedom is a four-letter word. It's fast disappearing. It's an endangered species. Wealth, power and privilege alone matter. America's war on terror priorities advance them.
International, constitutional and US statute laws are spurned. Rogue state ruthlessness replaced them. Boston's unprecedented lockdown suggests what's coming. It covered a two hundred square mile area. An important threshold was crossed. Martial law terrorized city residents. Constitutional rights were suspended. Perhaps it was prelude to what's coming. It can happen anywhere across America. It can show up nationwide.
Fearlessness Grows From the Grass Roots
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
As more people see that the government represents Wall Street and concentrated wealth, instead of them; that the government continues to give the banksters who crashed the economy a break while cutting access to basic necessities, that the government continues to put big energy profits ahead of protecting the planet – more people are becoming fearless.
Last week, front-line environmental groups including climate justice activists, opponents of tar sands, mountaintop renewal and many others who oppose the extraction economy that poisons our land, water and air while risking climate change, announced “Fearless Summer.” They announced a week of actions from June 24 to 29 to begin “an epic summer of actions.” The rising tide of courage in the environmental justice movement is one we also see growing in many communities on many issues.
When people stand up against the destructive extraction industries of big energy interests, we gain community support and sometimes we win. This week in New York communities got a lot of power when a court upheld their right to ban fracking. This happened because people stood up for their communities.
Foreclosure Inferno, Florida Homeowners, and HB 87
Michael Collins
Justice and basic concepts of law are sacrificed to allow banks greater ease and efficiency in taking possession of your home.
A bill passed last week by the Florida legislature offers efficiencies and advantages to banks that may launch a major increase in foreclosures in the state known for its volatile real estate market. The only thing standing in the way is a veto by Governor Rick Scott. (Image: Nathan Rein)
HB 87 shifts the burden of proof from the plaintiff, typically a bank, to the defendant, the homeowner. If the bill is signed into law, homeowners must prove that the bank lacks the legal right to take your home within 20 to 45 days of the date that the bank served the foreclosure notice. The reduced timeline restricts the ability to gather evidence from the bank and test it (Does the bank actually have a legal record of your mortgage?). Without the time to discover evidence, homeowners are at a major disadvantage at the initial hearing or appealing a decision, presuming there are funds for an appeal.
The bank-friendly bill, H.B. 87, was passed by the Florida Senate 27 to 13 and House of Representatives 87 to 26 in partisan votes with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. However, when Democrats in the Florida Senate had opportunities to stop the bill due to rules violations, none spoke up. The party line vote was a sideshow that masked the bipartisan assent without objection to what may be the most pro-bank legislation in any major state.
EARLY CREATION Facebook Pages: Real, Fake or Really Fake
By Robert Singer
As is becoming more and more common in the Internet age, right after a disaster (e.g., the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Sandy Hook shooting and now the Boston Bombing), the online community starts buzzing with gossip about the event.
These wild rumors and conspiracy theories are always based on the errant data related to the disaster that seems to show up in the online world … right after the event.
Fortunately we have a number of reliable common sense websites, also showing up right after the disaster, which are ready, willing, and able to debunk these rumors and conspiracy theories.
One of the most popular fact-checking and debunking websites is www.Snopes.com.
David and Barbara Mikkelson are the unassuming California couple who act as honest referees to help us, “ordinary folks,” sort out “the ‘news’ that isn’t fit to print.” News from the 24-hour cable gasbags, partisan talk radio hosts, chain e-mails, blogs and Web sites. [1]
Ordinary folks can fire off an email to the Mikkelsons and the Snopesters stop whatever debunking they have going on and with common sense and logic show us that these tragedies happened just the way the media has reported.
The Conspiracy Theorists always rely on the holes and errant data in the “official story” as proof that some sinister force conspired to commit an illegal act (the “event”) and the follow up (the “cover up”). However, what the Conspiracy Theorists consistently ignore (and rarely does anyone point out including the Mikkelsons) is how simple it would be for the criminals to change or falsify the alleged discrepancy or anomaly {errant data). The act of doing so would be trivial compared to the magnitude of other acts the theorists claim the conspirators committed.
Claim: Websites and social media pages set up as donation sites or memorials for victims with date-stamps before the shooting are proof that there was “prior knowledge of the event by some sinister force (usually said to be the government) intent on deflecting blame away from the "real" perpetrators). [2]
Discussion: These days you can’t swing a cat or open your mailbox without being hit by a flood of emails about the memorials, tributes, condolences, and donation sites for the victims of these tragedies that the conspiracy theorists say were created -- not right after the event, but right before the event.
Anti-Assad Rhetoric Intensifies
by Stephen Lendman
US-led anti-Assad efforts continue. Obama's going all out to topple him. He's heading America for more war. His imperial strategy prioritizes it. Rule of law principles are discarded. Unchallenged global dominance alone matters. America's longstanding permanent war agenda advances it. Syria's now being ravaged. Assad's wrongfully blamed for US proxy death squad crimes. Ad nauseam propaganda claims otherwise. Facebook and Twitter have Stop Assad campaigns.
UK-based Media Lens reports reliably on media bias. On May 8, it headlined " ' This Madman Must Be Stopped' - Syrian Chemical Weapons."
COINTELPRO, Assata Shakur, and Obama’s FBI
By Larry Pinkney
History is important. If you don’t know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it.”—Howard Zinn
The infamous U.S. government’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) was established to “discredit, frame, neutralize, imprison, and kill” Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow political activists in this nation who dared to question and oppose the unjust policies, official narrative, lies, and hypocrisy of the U.S. power elite.
Turning Mirage Recovery into Real Recovery
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Recently, news reporters have been sounding almost giddy, saying that unemployment is dropping, housing prices are rising and the stock market is growing to new highs. But, these reports do not ring true with what people see around them. When you look beyond the sunny headlines, the sad reality is mirage recovery
The economy is limping along with unemployment and underemployment remaining at high levels while the number of new jobs is still way too low. This is especially true for US youth, many of whom will soon be graduating. Increased housing prices represent Wall Street taking advantage of cheap loans from the Fed and profiting from the collapse by buying up real estate. It is another massive transfer of wealth to the wealthiest. What economists have been emphasizing throughout the collapse remains true today – until the job market strengthens dramatically there will be no real recovery. Here is the latest on jobs, housing, health care and Obama's appointments.
The bottom line is that recovery will come from grassroots efforts to build local sustainable economies and put real pressure on those in power.
Malcolm Shabazz's Suspicious Death
by Stephen Lendman
On May 9, Amsterdam News (AN) headlined "Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X, killed."
AN said he was killed in Tijuana, Mexico. Unconfirmed reports said "he died early Thursday morning, May 9, 2013, from injuries sustained after he was thrown off a building or shot as he was being robbed."
Family members acknowledged his death. They haven't confirmed where or how.
Talking Points Memo (TPM) said it "independently confirmed his death through a (non-family) source with close knowledge of the situation." It said he "was beaten during a robbery Wednesday night in Mexico City."
Obama's Syria Game Plan: Libya 2.0
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's already waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's heading America for more. Media scoundrels support it. They back all US aggression. They're beating the drums again now. They're manipulating public sentiment for support.
Russia, China and most other nations want peace. May 8 commemorates Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). Russia's toll was greatest. For many, war horrors still echo.
On May 9, Russia commemorated Victory Day. Ceremonies included an elaborate Red Square military parade. Vladimir Putin spoke on the occasion. He's mindful of Washington's imperial plans. He stressed Russia's commitment to peace, saying:
"We remember what the tragedy of war means, and we will do everything, everything that we can to ensure that no one ever dares unleash another one, to ensure that no one threatens our children, our home, our land."
Hawking Boycotts Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Hawking was invited to participate in a June 18 - 20 Israeli Presidential Conference. Initially he accepted. In early May he declined. He's boycotting. He's protesting Israel's occupation. More on that below.
Hawking's a renown British physicist. His web site says he's the "former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge."
His books include "A Brief History of Time
It's described as a "groundbreaking new work." It's based on Hawking's 40 years of research and recent "extraordinary astronomical observations and theoretical breakthroughs to reveal an original and controversial theory."
Hawking remains active at Cambridge. He retains an office in its Department for Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics. He's university Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.
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