Inauguration 2017 Special Coverage w/ Angela Davis, Naomi Klein, Ralph Nader & More
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Special coverage in the Trump Era
From Public Citizen's Corporate Presidency site: "44 Trump administration officials have close ties to the Koch brothers and their network of political groups, particularly Vice President Mike Pence, White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney."
Dark Money author Jane Mayer on The Dangers of President Pence, New Yorker, Oct. 23 issue on-line
Can Time Inc. Survive the Kochs? November 28, 2017 By Jane Mayer
..."This year, among the Kochs’ aims is to spend a projected four hundred million dollars in contributions from themselves and a small group of allied conservative donors they have assembled, to insure Republican victories in the 2018 midterm elections. Ordinarily, political reporters for Time magazine would chronicle this blatant attempt by the Kochs and their allies to buy political influence in the coming election cycle. Will they feel as free to do so now?"...
"Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America" see: our site, and George Monbiot's essay on this key book by historian Nancy MacLean.
Full interview with The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer March 29, 2017, Democracy Now! about her article, "The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency: How Robert Mercer Exploited America’s Populist Insurgency."
Democracy Now! Special Broadcast from the Women's March on Washington
The Economics of Happiness -- shorter version
Local Futures offers a free 19-minute abridged version of its award-winning documentary film The Economics of Happiness. It "brings us voices of hope of in a time of crisis." www.localfutures.org.
What's New?
November 16, 2012
"War clouds over Gaza Strip again"
From the recent blog by Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, based in Jerusalem since May 2010.
"JERUSALEM, Nov 15 2012 (IPS) – As Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip enters its second day, Palestinians fear that this is only the beginning of another widespread Israeli offensive into the besieged Palestinian territory that would leave them nowhere to hide.
“People are very worried about the coming days. This morning we heard air strikes and up until now, the situation is very tense,” Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) deputy director Jaber Wichah told IPS over the phone from his home near Gaza City Thursday morning.
“People are worried about everything, especially the air strikes and the threats by the Israeli government.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Israel killed Ahmad Jabari, head of Hamas’s military wing, as Jabari was in his car in central Gaza City. The Israeli army spokesperson’s office stated that Jabari was the “first target” of a military campaign that aimed to deter Palestinian fighters from firing rockets towards cities in southern Israel.
In response, Hamas stated that Jabari’s killing would “open the gates of hell” for Israel.
Within the first 24 hours of the large-scale Israeli bombardment, 13 Palestinians were reported killed, including three children and a pregnant woman. In turn, Israeli media reported that Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets at Israel, and that three Israelis were killed when a rocket hit a home in Kiryat Malachi town 25 km north of Gaza.
“Our doctors and medical staff are highly experienced and they are ready to cope with the situation, but the problem is the lack of medicine,” said Dr. Hassan Khalaf, deputy minister of health in Gaza. He said that Gazan hospitals are running with less than 60 percent of the essential drugs they need.
Dr. Khalaf told IPS that while the situation was calm at mid-day Thursday, so far more than 100 Palestinians from all over Gaza have been injured by Israeli fire. He said Egyptian authorities are prepared to facilitate transfer of injured Palestinians through the Rafah border for treatment.
“This aggression against civilians by the Israelis should stop and all the world should stand against the Israeli aggression,” Dr. Khalaf added.
While Israel justifies its military operations as a response to Hamas rocket fire on civilians in Israel, a factsheet released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) paints a different timeline of events.
The latest flare-up of violence began on Nov. 8, when Israeli soldiers invaded the Gaza Strip, and in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian fighters killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy. Palestinian militants later blew up a tunnel along the Israeli-Palestinian border, and fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli army patrol jeep, injuring Israeli soldiers.
Israel then renewed bombings of the Palestinian enclave, while Palestinian fighters launched rockets at southern Israeli towns and cities. In the last week, five Palestinian civilians – including three children – were killed and over 50 others were injured in Israeli attacks.
Israel’s killing of Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabari on Wednesday broke a ceasefire that had been reached between both sides on Nov. 12." ...
Read full posting here
See also: Democracy Now! report from Nov. 16th:
Breaking Truce, Israeli Strikes Kill "Moderate" Hamas Military Chief, Palestinian Civilians in Gaza
And: Published on Thursday, November 15, 2012 by The Nation
Israel Escalates with Attacks on Gaza by Phyllis Bennis
"Tuesday’s Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Gaza and Israel collapsed Wednesday when Israel launched a major escalation. In airstrikes almost certainly involving US-made F-16 warplanes and/or US-made Apache helicopters, Israel’s air force assassinated Ahmad Jaabari, the longtime military leader of Hamas. As the Israeli airstrikes continued, seven more Palestinians were killed and at least thirty were injured, ten of them critically." more