The Truth About Fukushima

The world is in utter denial about what’s going on at the Japanese nuclear plant; a policeman shot and killed a North Carolina teenager who had schizophrenia; and Glenn Greenwald answers a few questions about the Omidyar project on his blog. 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.

Fukushima, A Global Conspiracy Of Denial Does anyone in authority anywhere tell the truth about Fukushima?

Cop Shoots Schizophrenic Teen Who’d Already Been Tasered, After Saying ‘We Don’t Have Time For This’ A schizophrenic teen was fatally shot over the weekend in North Carolina by police officers.

Glenn Greenwald: Answers to Questions About the New News Site– First Look– and NSA Reporting An email exchange Glenn Greenwald had with a reader over questions he asked about the new venture and the reporting being done in the NSA story, which Greenwald is publishing with his permission.

Council Member Kshama Sawant at Inauguration: ‘I Wear the Badge of Socialist with Honor’ Oh man are the folks at Fox News going to go apoplectic over Council Member Kshama Sawant’s inauguration speech.

Spam, and the Challenge of Chasing Shadows This dialogue was inspired by Kevin Driscoll’s insightful book review in the L.A. Review of Books, of Finn Brunton’s superb new book, Spam: The Shadow History of the Internet.

Scientists May Have Decoded Your Social Circle “You can imagine the different layers,” he says by Skype from Oxford, where he’s a lecturer in complex systems (with a background in theoretical condensed matter physics) at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

Boycott ‘Greatest Threat’ Facing Israel, Leaders Say While Israeli hasbara (propaganda) initiatives continue to bravely deny that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is having any impact, two statements from prominent politicians indicate otherwise.

Oldest Known Fossil of Flowering-Plant Getting caught “doing it” is embarrassing enough, but imagine being frozen in flagrante delicto for a hundred million years.

America’s Most Important Israel Argument Is Happening on Campuses For almost a century, the Hillel Foundation has been the principal Jewish organization on the campuses of American universities.

Pick Up a Spot Welder and Join the Revolution In January of 1903, the small Boston magazine Handicraft ran an essay by the Harvard professor Denman W. Ross, who argued that the American Arts and Crafts movement was in deep crisis.

Ezra Klein, Glenn Greenwald and the Odd Rise of Personal Brand Journalism Journalists are increasingly branching out on their own, but it’s a risky business that has yet to really show profitability.