In our too sad department:
4-year-old boy accidentally kills dad in Arizona
I had a snarky comment about the 2nd Amendment, but this is just too sad for levity. The lessons this story contains, one would hope, are obvious.
I have longed all my life to see the demilitarization of our society. I couldn't be sadder that it's gone the other way.
From our WTF? Department:
Obama Nominates America’s Biggest Walmart Cheerleader as His Chief Economic Adviser
Jason Furman thinks Walmart is a “progressive success story.”
On June 10, 2013, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Jason Furman to become the next chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. This is a big-time, highly influential post. So what kind of economist is Furman?
One who thinks Walmart is the best thing since sliced bread.
Alternet
Also this:
The Shocking Amount of Wealth and Power Held by 0.001% of the World Population
The level of inequality around the world is truly staggering.
Many now know the rhetoric of the 1% very well: the imagery of a small elite owning most of the wealth while the 99% take the table scraps.
In 2006, a UN report revealed that the world’s richest 1% own 40% of the world’s wealth, with those in the financial and internet sectors comprising the “super rich.” More than a third of the world’s super-rich live in the U.S., with roughly 27% in Japan, 6% in the U.K., and 5% in France. The world’s richest 10% accounted for roughly 85% of the planet's total assets, while the bottom half of the population – more than 3 billion people – owned less than 1% of the world’s wealth.
Looking specifically at the United States, the top 1% own more than 36% of the national wealth and more than the combined wealth of the bottom 95%. Almost all of the wealth gains over the previous decade went to the top 1%. In the mid-1970s, the top 1% earned 8% of all national income; this number rose to 21% by 2010. At the highest sliver at the top, the 400 wealthiest individuals in America have more wealth than the bottom 150 million.
Alternet
And this:
Secret Trade Agreements Threaten to Undo Our Last Shreds of Food Safety
If you think the U.S. government is doing a sub-par job of keeping your food safe, brace yourself. You could soon be eating imported seafood, beef or chicken products that don’t meet even basic U.S. food safety standards. Under two new trade agreements, currently in negotiation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be powerless to shut down imports of unsafe food or food ingredients. And if it tries, multinational corporations will be able to sue the U.S. government for the loss of anticipated future profits.
More frightening? Negotiations for both agreements are taking place behind closed doors, with input allowed almost exclusively from the corporations and industry trade groups that stand to benefit the most. And the Obama Administration intends to push the agreements through Congress without so much as giving lawmakers access to draft texts, much less the opportunity for debate.
Alternet
From our 'Galloping Police State' department:
Police Trained to Treat Keystone XL Protesters as 'Terrorists'
Peaceful environmental protesters framed as criminals? Guess who’s scared of people power…
It’s often difficult to gauge just how much fear activists instill in the powers that be. But on Wednesday, environmental activists protesting the Keystone XL pipeline saw firsthand how much TransCanada, the corporation in charge of the pipeline, is shaking in its boots.
Bold Nebraska, a grassroots landowner advocacy group, obtained TransCanada's presentation slides (below) via a Freedom of Information Act request to the Nebraska State Patrol. These slides revealed that TransCanada provided training to both federal and local police forces on how to crack down on environmental activists, even going so far as to train them to arrest the activists under anti-terrorism statutes.
Lauren Regan, legal coordinator for Tar Sands Blockade and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center said, “This is clear evidence of the collusion between TransCanada and the federal government assisting local police to unlawfully monitor and harass political protestors.”
Alternet
And this:
NSA Talking Points Issued By House Intelligence Committee Instructs Lawmakers On Defending Programs
The Huffington Post has obtained talking points instructing members of Congress on how to defend two controversial surveillance programs operated by the National Security Agency. The talking points originate from the Democratic side of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) serves as ranking member.
The programs, detailed in exposes published by The Guardian and The Washington Post, have alarmed civil liberties advocates for collecting a wide range of information about citizens who are not suspected of having committed crimes.
The talking points are divided into two documents, one dedicated to a program that allows the U.S. government to collect the phone call records of all American citizens, including the telephone numbers involved and length of calls. The other document is dedicated a program that collects mass metadata on Internet activities, including email, that relate to matters the NSA deems a foreign threat to the United States.
Huffpo
And let's not forget the outright brutality:
12 Shocking Examples of Police Brutality...Just This Month
Decades of the drug war have warped the priorities of many police departments. The results can be tragic.
American law enforcement has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past few decades. The war on drugs, the world's most effective way to fill prisons with minorities while doing nothing to curtail drug use, has warped the priorities and practices of police departments around the country. As Kristen Gwynne has reported on AlterNet, federal funding incentivizes police to go after low-level drug use while neglecting more serious crimes like rape. In city after city, the crackdown on drug crime has expanded police power and pointed it straight at minorities and the poor. It's the reason we're number one when it comes to rates of incarceration. With 5 percent of the population, America has a quarter of the world's prisoners, according to the New York Times.
Alternet
All of this is a terrible idea! Please refer to history.
The Marketing Of Police Militarism
Lenco, Inc., makes the Bearcat, an armored personnel carrier that's popping up in cities, towns, and counties across the country. Last year, Jim Massery, a spokesman for the company, told me they now have Bearcats in 90 of the 100 largest cities in America. They also have them in lots of smaller, even tiny towns like Keene, New Hampshire. These cities and towns are buying the vehicles with anti-terror grants from the Department of Homeland Security, at a cost of a few hundred thousand dollars each.
Critics (like me) say arming every small-town police department in the country with gear more suited for a battlefield is fostering a militarized, aggressive mindset in America's police forces. Moreover, because most small towns will never see a school shooting or terrorist attack, once the gear is in place it inevitably gets used for more mundane police tasks -- mostly drug raids. But because this stuff is "free" -- the federal government foots the bill -- there's usually no local discussion or debate about whether it's appropriate for domestic policing. (There was such a debate in Keene. Residents protested, but the town went ahead with the Bearcat, anyway.)
Huffpo
And now for some really good news for all you stinkin' dissenters out there:
Law enforcement demands smartphone 'kill switch'
A coalition of law enforcement officials, political leaders and consumer groups, called the Secure Our Smartphones (S.O.S) Initiative, wants a “kill switch” installed on all new smartphones that would make them useless anywhere in the world if they are reported stolen.
They want all smartphones equipped with a kill switch by early next year and they don’t want customers to foot the bill for this security technology.
NBC
Of course they would never use that in the event of an OWS-style uprising. I'm sure they would promise not to. I bet they would promise not to lock up American citizens indefinitely without trial too.
Indefinite Detention Of Americans Survives House Vote
The U.S. House of Representatives voted again Thursday to allow the indefinite military detention of Americans, blocking an amendment that would have barred the possibility.
Congress wrote that authority into law in the National Defense Authorization Act two years ago, prompting outrage from civil libertarians on the left and right. President Barack Obama signed the measure, but insisted his administration would never use it.
Huffpo
And get a load of
this:
Texas Students Thrown in Jail for Days ... as Punishment for Missing School?
School tardiness and absences come at a high cost in Dallas, Texas. Gone are the days of detention and writing lines on the chalkboard; now students are fined, even jailed.
The enforcement of the state’s truancy laws, which were strengthened substantially in 2003, have led to a range of abuses, according to a complaint filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Justice:
Students have been taken out of school in handcuffs, held in jail for days at a time, and fines have totaled more than $1,000 for students who miss more than 10 days of school.
The students who are hauled into court to face truancy or lateness charges are not provided with legal counsel. The only lawyers in the courtroom are the judge and a member of the district attorney’s office, unless the student’s family can afford their own representation.
Defendants are charged court fees even if they prevail in fighting the accusations, discouraging people from exercising their right to a full hearing.
Alternet
Yep, throw 'em in jail early. Get them prepared for the rest of their miserable lives. Who cares, right? Why bother to try and provide them an enriched and nurturing environment, one where their concerns and real-life needs are attended to with care and social responsibility? Why not lavish them with the finest possible care and education? Wouldn't that produce a better result? Would that not improve our society? Why on earth would we not do this?
Because papa needs a brand new yacht.
UPDATE: I have edited the the following as, in a fit of honesty, I revealed the personal relationship involved. I'v decided the full context isn't necessary, and I was in error to include it.
In a recent discussion with someone close to me, a conservative, I mentioned an article I had recently read about how much more expensive certain common medical procedures are here than nearly anywhere else in the world.
“You know why, don't you?” he said. “Because when an illegal alien goes to an emergency room, they have to treat them. They have to treat them!”
I didn't say what I wanted to, because I have immense respect for him...for other reasons. I bit my tongue.
What I would have said, had I not thought it more proper to restrain myself, to my also deeply religious friend, is something along the lines of:
Imagine Jesus as a part of this conversation. Is he for or against the treating of the sick? Would he have a judgmental or scornful attitude toward immigrants? Would he show such disdain for humanity as to refer to people as illegal aliens?
As to the ridiculously expensive nature of our out-of-control medical industrial complex, it wouldn't have anything to do with all the greedy billionaires with their fingers in the pie. Now would it?
Honestly, my friend is a good guy...but he's got the sickness (by which I mean conservatism).
From our 'talking out of both sides of your mouth' department:
"I don't think that should be a top priority of us, raiding people who are using ... medical marijuana. With all the things we've got to worry about, and our Justice Department should be doing, that probably shouldn't be a high priority."
(June 2, 2007, town hall meeting in Laconia, New Hampshire)
"The Justice Department going after sick individuals using [marijuana] as a palliative instead of going after serious criminals makes no sense."
(July 21, 2007, town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire)
"You know, it's really not a good use of Justice Department resources."
(responding to whether the federal government should stop medical marijuana raids, August 13, 2007, town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire)
"I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It's not a good use of our resources."
(August 21, 2007, event in Nashua, New Hampshire)
Source
But then, after all that rhetoric, this is what we get instead:
Obama's War on Pot
Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia.
But over the past year, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a multiagency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush. The feds are busting growers who operate in full compliance with state laws, vowing to seize the property of anyone who dares to even rent to legal pot dispensaries, and threatening to imprison state employees responsible for regulating medical marijuana. With more than 100 raids on pot dispensaries during his first three years, Obama is now on pace to exceed Bush's record for medical-marijuana busts. "There's no question that Obama's the worst president on medical marijuana," says Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. "He's gone from first to worst."
Rolling Stone
And this:
Obama Administration Has Spent Nearly $300 Million Cracking Down On Medical Marijuana: Report
An analysis from pro-medical marijuana group Americans For Safe Access found that President Barack Obama's administration has spent nearly $300 million on combatting medical marijuana in states that have legalized the drug.
Huffpo
Sometimes you have to get out of the way of history. Marijuana
will be legal. Thank you
Ben Masel.
And now for current events:
There has been a lot of talk about Edward Snowden being:
a traitor
a liar
a Chinese spy
That's not what Vietnam War era hero, Daniel Ellsberg thinks:
Daniel Ellsberg On Edward Snowden: 'He Made The Right Choice'
The man who 42 years ago leaked to The New York Times the 7,000-page report that became known as the Pentagon Papers called Edward Snowden's disclosure that revealed details of the U.S. government's domestic surveillance programs "as important as any disclosure that's ever been made."
Huffpo
Many people seem to want to believe the whole kerfluffle over the Snowden revelations is much ado about nothing. That group would not include Loretta Sanchez:
Loretta Sanchez, Dem Rep, Says NSA Revelations Only 'The Tip Of The Iceberg'
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) warned that the recent revelations on the government's clandestine national surveillance programs, brought to light by an NSA whistleblower, are just the "tip of the iceberg."
Sanchez spoke to CSPAN's "Washington Journal" on Wednesday, after attending a briefing Tuesday with intelligence officials. While she said she couldn't repeat much of what she and other House members were told, she said they learned "significantly more" than what is currently being reported in the media.
Huffpo
It also would not include Alan Grayson:
The NSA has not denied that it is collecting call records on every America. On the contrary, the NSA sees nothing wrong with it.
I see three fundamental problems with this:
1. This is worse than the proverbial "fishing expedition"; this is like putting the entire ocean through a sieve. It makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment's requirement that government searches be "particular."
2. This assumes not only that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, but that everyone is guilty. The Fourth Amendment limits searches to cases of "probable cause," meaning that a prudent and cautious person would reasonably believe that the search will yield evidence of a crime. Obviously, most phone records have absolutely nothing to do with the commission of any crime.
3. Providing this information to the Department of Defense violates the fundamental principle that our military does not operate on American soil, against American citizens. That principle has been embodied in law since the 1870s. From this perspective, providing this personal call record information to DoD is no different from providing it to the CIA - another agency that is not allowed to operate on US soil.
The news reports also reprinted five pages from an NSA PowerPoint presentation about the NSA's "Prism" program. According to that NSA presentation, the NSA collects information "directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.""What information?", you may wonder. This information, according to the NSA presentation: "E-mail, Chat-video, voice, Videos, Photos, Stored data, VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol], File transfers, Video Conferencing, Notifications of target activity - logins, etc., Online Social Networking details [and] Special Requests."
Uncle Sam = Big Brother? Rep. Alan Grayson email of June 14, 2013
Net enraged yet? You should be. Of course this is just my opinion and I could be wrong. One of us is.
Alan Grayson has a petition:
Petition: "I don't want the Government looking at my e-mails, my telephone records, my website records, or my GPS records. I cherish my freedom and my privacy. I am not a terrorist, and I won't let my government treat me like one. Therefore, I support Congressman Alan Grayson's 'Mind Your Own Business Act.'"
Sign the petition telling the government to mind their own business
And finally, Glenn Greenwald summarizes (h/t LaFeminista):
On PRISM, partisanship and propaganda
Addressing many of the issues arising from last week's NSA stories
How can anyone think that it's remotely healthy in a democracy to have the NSA building a massive spying apparatus about which even members of Congress, including Senators on the Homeland Security Committee, are totally ignorant and find "astounding" when they learn of them? How can anyone claim with a straight face that there is robust oversight when even members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are so constrained in their ability to act that they are reduced to issuing vague, impotent warnings to the public about what they call radical "secret law" enabling domestic spying that would "stun" Americans to learn about it, but are barred to disclose what it is they're so alarmed by? Put another way, how can anyone contest the value and justifiability of the stories that we were able to publish as a result of Edward Snowden's whistleblowing: stories that informed the American public - including even the US Congress - about these incredibly consequential programs? What kind of person would think that it would be preferable to remain in the dark - totally ignorant - about them?
The guardian
I don't know Glenn, I just know there is a boatload of them. Call me an anti-fascist, but personally, I don't care for this one little bit.
The government is telling us that if we've done nothing wrong, we have nothing to fear. I would tell the government, that shit goes both ways. Just WTF are you boys hiding?
From our 'Oh Boy! A new war!' department:
Obama Authorizes Sending Weapons To Syrian Rebels
President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him.
Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," suggesting it would trigger greater American intervention in the two-year crisis.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the strongest proponents of U.S. military action in Syria, said he was told Thursday that Obama had decided to "provide arms to the rebels," a decision confirmed by three U.S. officials. The officials cautioned that decisions on the specific type of weaponry were still being finalized, though the CIA was expected to be tasked with teaching the rebels how to use the arms the White House had agreed to supply.
Huffpo
The CIA to be tasked with teaching the rebels how to use arms, because that worked out so well when we created, trained and equipped Al Qaeda. What could possibly go wrong? Glory hallelujah! The fun just never stops.
And finally, an isolated point of sanity from Thom Hartmann:
It's High Time We Abolished the Department of Homeland Security
It's the path to national sanity.
The surveillance state is even bigger, and scarier, than we thought.
And, as a result, it's time that we broke up the failed national security experiment known as the Department of Homeland Security. Returning to dozens of independent agencies will return internal checks-and-balances to within the Executive branch, and actually make us both safer and less likely to be the victims of government snooping overreach.
Last Wednesday, the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald revealed that the National Security Agency is secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon users. The agency received authorization to track phone "metadata" over a 3 month period from a special court order issued in April.
We now also know that what the Guardian uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg of an ongoing phone and internet records collection program that likely includes almost all major U.S. telecommunications companies.
President Obama - who promised the "most transparent administration ever" - now finds himself and his DHS at the center of yet another civil liberties controversy. That controversy has deepened in the wake of two reports published last night in both the Washington Post and the Guardian that outlined a different NSA snooping program – a data mining initiative code-named "PRISM."
Alternet
And now, in closing, a much welcome uplifting moment, an amazing, sad, yet triumphant story and an extraordinary new talent:
A late addition from the comment thread since we overlooked the all important environment in this edition (my bad), courtesy of crystal eyes: