Occupy Des Moines protesters decide it’s high time to occupy the Democratic headquarters, and they won’t be the last; Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” gets more viewers than Fox News; and one of America’s most visible poets fell out of grace thanks to a racist poem. These discoveries and more below.
On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.
The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.
Obama’s war on civil liberties
Obama may prove the most disastrous president in our history in terms of civil liberties.
TSA Seeks to Expand the Airport Experience Into Everyday Life
The Los Angeles Times reports on the TSA’s VIPR program, in which roving teams of security agents bring the joys of the airport security experience into bus and train stations, highways, the subway, and other transportation facilities around the country.
The End of Free Will? Neuroscience and the law
The field of neuroscience evolved so rapidly in the past twenty years that it will pose unprecedented challenges to the legal system in the decades to come, changing the way we understand crime and punishment, says neuro-pioneer Joy Hirsch, director of the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center at Columbia [University].
Money makes the world go ’round
Another sign of the failure of mainstream economics (one among an ever-increasing number) is the proliferation of new schools of monetary theory in the economics blogosphere.
A Green New Deal?
Seven weeks before Jill Stein declared her candidacy for president, the Lexington, Mass., physician outlined her priorities in a plan she called the “Green New Deal” – jobs, climate change, universal health care and peace.
Contractors’ Role Grows in Drone Missions
After a U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed at least 15 Afghans in 2010, the Army officer investigating the accident was surprised to discover that an American civilian had played a central role: analyzing video feeds from a Predator drone keeping watch from above.
OWS Fights Back Against Police Surveillance by Launching ‘Occucopter’ Citizen Drone
The police may soon be watching you in your garden picking your vegetables or your bottom. As police plans for increasing unmanned aerial surveillance take shape, there is a new twist. Private citizens can now buy their own surveillance drones to watch the police.
How to Save Venice: Make It Float
Everyone knows that on a sinking ship, you want to pump water out. But what do you do with a sinking city? In this case, the plan might be to pump water in.
As Deportations Rise to Record Levels, Most Latinos Oppose Obama’s Policy
Latinos disapprove by a margin of more than two-to-one of the way the Obama administration is handling deportations of unauthorized immigrants, according to a new national survey of Latino adults by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.
The Mystery of Vachel Lindsay
How did the most visible poet in America—and a father of the Beats—become nearly forgotten?
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Political chaos breeds the worst kind of tyrannical fascism. If you’re still alive to see it when it comes, be sure to remember to pat yourselves on the back, dumbasses.
The economy would be in much better shape, if the repugs would have worked for the people, rather than trying to defeat President Obama.
They have filibuster everthing in the last three years if Obama considered it. That’s the reason they haven’t passed a budget, changes to the tax code, ect.
We need more progressives. We have to get rid of the repugs.
Occupy Minnesota did the same thing last week. The Occupy MN went to the Obama HQ on University Ave in St Paul. It was closed.
So we protested for about 2 hours, left lots of posters etc. With messages about the NDAA and other things. My fav was Abandon All Hope (and Change) All Who Enter Here.
For some reason, the corporate media were not interested.
Massive Wildfire Rages in New Mexico
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By JDmysticDJ, January 2 at 12:44 pm Link to this comment
Political chaos breeds the worst kind of tyrannical fascism. If you’re still alive to see it when it comes, be sure to remember to pat yourselves on the back, dumbasses.
Report thisBy eps62, January 2 at 12:25 pm Link to this comment
The economy would be in much better shape, if the repugs would have worked for the people, rather than trying to defeat President Obama.
They have filibuster everthing in the last three years if Obama considered it. That’s the reason they haven’t passed a budget, changes to the tax code, ect.
We need more progressives. We have to get rid of the repugs.
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, January 2 at 12:25 pm Link to this comment
Occupy Minnesota did the same thing last week. The Occupy MN went to the Obama HQ on University Ave in St Paul. It was closed.
So we protested for about 2 hours, left lots of posters etc. With messages about the NDAA and other things. My fav was Abandon All Hope (and Change) All Who Enter Here.
For some reason, the corporate media were not interested.
Grin
Report thisBy bpawk, January 2 at 9:38 am Link to this comment
I bet the Dems now see these former Obama voters turned occupiers as insurgents! How dare they protest in front of our headquarters! Arrest them!
Report thisBy Robespierre115, January 1 at 5:20 pm Link to this comment
Let’s be honest though, in 2012 Stewart’s show will no doubt become part of the Obama campaign.
Report this