May 2013
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ayomeredith asked: thank you so much! :)
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Chicago High School Students Hold Vigil to Stop... →
gadflies-org:
“Today, students, parents, teachers and community members gathered on 61st and Cottage Grove to protest school closings which will have a direct impact on their safety. They called for resources to be given to them, not taken away. Towards the end of the protest, several students and allies blocked traffic in a symbolic die-in and were arrested..” — Sarah-Ji Fotografa
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Nun guilty of nuclear site break-in →
Sister Megan said her only regret was waiting so long to stage her protest. “It is manufacturing that which can only cause death,” she said.
In a statement to the court, Boertje-Obed said: “Nuclear weapons do not provide security. Our actions were providing real security and exposing false security.”
The three activists admitted cutting the fence to get into the site,...
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How ‘Slut Shaming’ Has Been Written Into School... →
Last month, a New Jersey middle school banned girls from wearing strapless dresses to prom. Administrators claimed that the dresses were “distracting” — though they refused to specify exactly how or why. Parents reacted strongly to the rule; some supported the dress code while others deemed it “slut-shaming.” On Friday, the school compromised by allowing […]
April 2013
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On National TV Last Night, The Austerity Movement... →
gadflies-org:
Stephen Colbert lead a triumphant charge through national television, openly mocking the despicable global austerity movement in light of a class paper by grad student Thomas Herndon. It demonstrated that a major study underpinning austerity logic was based on spreadsheet errors. Click for videos.
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Nation Starting To Realize New Era Of American... →
WASHINGTON After nearly a decade of promises that the nation was on the brink of a technological, economic, and scientific golden age, citizens across the country confirmed Monday they are now realizing a bold new era of American innovation is just … (more)
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America declares war on two losers (Spiked) →
“The young men were far more shaped by life in America than the Northern Caucasus – both had lived in the US for more than a decade – and they expressed an alienation from American society. Indeed, their nihilistic act had much in common with mass school shootings by young men in recent times (Columbine, Aurora, Newtown) – that is, it was seemingly motiveless and suicidal violence undertaken by...
A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy; Declines for the... →
The economy is growing, but it’s making little difference to most Americans. Money is continuing to concentrate among the nation’s wealthiest. In this case, much of the rise is due to the booming stock market. It’s long been said that the stock market is almost entirely the domain of the super wealthy elite — these recent findings underline that clearly.
“During the first two years of the...
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A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip - NYTimes.com →
“Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by...
Hunger Strike Begins at Wallens Ridge State Prison →
active-rva:
A hunger strike recently took off at Wallens Ridge State Prison, the sister site of Red Onion, where last year’s hunger strike took place. This strike has produced ten demands, reproduced below. Those of you familiar with last year’s hunger strike will recognize them as identical to the Red Onion hunger striker’s demands.
“We (Prisoners at Wallens Ridge State Prison) demand the...
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“There is a function for the gadfly who poses questions that many specialists...”
– Morris Kline
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“A book should be an axe to break the frozen sea within us.”
– Franz Kafka
March 2013
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Study debunks notion that men and women are... →
Analyzing 122 different characteristics from 13,301 individuals in 13 studies, the researchers concluded that differences between men and women were best seen as dimensional rather than categorical. In other words, the differences between men and women should be viewed as a matter of degree rather than a sign of consistent differences between two distinct groups. Numerous studies have examined...
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“One of the reasons for the extraordinary pressure of consumerism, which goes...”
– Noam Chomsky (via noam-chomsky)
February 2013
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January 2013
3 posts
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The Whistleblower Case of Thomas Drake and the... →
(Just realized this happened a year ago — Drake’s charges were dropped) Thomas Drake disclosed secret NSA documents to the Baltimore Sun, leading to prize-winning articles on “financial waste, bureaucratic dysfunction, and dubious legal practices in N.S.A. counterterrorism programs.” He faces trial this year and could serve 35 years in prison if successfully prosecuted under the relentless...
December 2012
24 posts
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Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World... →
“…the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans. Indeed, the American government has more information on the average American than Stalin had on Russians, Hitler had on German citizens, or any other government has ever had on its people.”
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tansyblue asked: Thanks for publishing. :) I feel dismayed every time people say that only women can be feminists - are we saying that half of the world's population shouldn't be invested in equality between genders? It also goes against the equality at the heart of feminism: women should be treated the same was men, except allowed to be part of a movement that men can't be a part of. My boyfriend...
mohavemamba-deactivated20130208 asked: Sure, i'll look at it. Again, i'm just not comfortable with men taking the title.
"Consumed by Abstraction" – The New Inquiry →
The majority of money has been trapped in this faux marketplace of paper, which is why however much the central bank prints, it never ends up paying for workers or projects or bridges or schools. Productive assets are less profitable than paper – but Wall Street has argued that this is just the way corporate capitalism works.
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Government research generates knowledge of how to... →
Progress is a marvelous thing, isn’t it? We yearn for technology and truth, and it furnishes privileged lives with ever-more comfort, entertainment, and command over the natural world. Add to that list of achievements the knowledge of how to make an airborne version of avian flu - fatal in 60% of human cases. Scientists have been instructed not to reveal the full methodology, fearing the...
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Rape is Rape: How the Culture of Shaming, Stigma,... →
“Almost every piece of news that accompanies a situation of rape focuses on a woman’s appearance, her behavior, whether or not she was participating in drinking or drugs, and her sexual history—not a single one of those facts is mentioned about the perpetrator. If anything, it’s a message of disbelief: “But he was such a stand-up guy! I can’t believe he would have done something like this....
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Dreams in Infrared: the Woes of an American Drone... →
“Did we just kill a kid?” he asked the man sitting next to him. “Yeah, I guess that was a kid,” the pilot replied.
Der Spiegel examines the strange character of remote warfare, offering an inside look at the experiences of the pilots who operate Air Force drones. After a work shift that might include blowing up human beings on the other side of the Earth, these pilots attempt to switch back to...
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“Events like this,…if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by...”
– Roger Ebert, in interview
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“The thing I hate most about advertising is that it attracts all the young,...”
– Banksy