Files from the CIA show the American government was aware Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons against Iran but officials did not intervene; right wingers aren’t upset Fox News’ co-owner is Saudi, but they are in an uproar over Al-Jazeera America; meanwhile, Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are disgruntled with the Supreme Court. 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.

CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran The U.S. knew Hussein was launching some of the worst chemical attacks in history — and still gave him a hand.

The Right’s Bigoted Crusade Against Al Jazeera America Jingoists aren’t so angry about other foreign-owned media like Fox News and its Saudi co-owner.

Grumpy Old Justices Scalia and Ginsburg are really disappointed in the Supreme Court. But only one of them is right to be.

US Attack on Syria Will Achieve Nothing To attack or not to attack — that is no longer the question.

A Second Ecological Revolution? The summer of 1988 was long and hot.

America’s Orchestras are in Crisis How an effort to popularize classical music undermines what makes orchestras great.

We Need a Digital-First Curriculum to Teach Modern Journalism At the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, one panel addressed adding programming skills to the curriculum: “Why All Your Students Must Be Programmers.”

Colombia Nationwide Strike Against ‘Free Trade,’ Privatization, Poverty A nationwide strike in Colombia—which started as a rural peasant uprising and spread to miners, teachers, medical professionals, truckers, and students—reached its 7th day Sunday as at least 200,000 people blocked roads and launched protests against a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and devastating policies of poverty and privatization pushed by US-backed right-wing President Juan Manuel Santos.

Syrian Rebels Manufactured Chemical Weapons Outside The Syrian military have discovered a warehouse with chemical agents in a suburb of Damascus.

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