On Monday, June 8, 2015, US District Court Judge James Brady ruled that the Angola 3’s Albert Woodfox be both immediately released and barred from a retrial. The next day, at the request of the Louisiana Attorney General, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay of release set to expire on Friday, June 12.
… society appeals to an individual exploiting a commons to restrain himself for the general good–by means of his conscience.
—from Tragedy of the Commons, by Garrett Hardin
The journalist interviewed an ancient miner, a man who was used as a tool in the depths of the darkness of mines his entire life. The color of his skin, the sound of his breath, the sadness in his eyes — these human characteristics were the characteristics of the mine itself, as if the inhumanity of the mine had overcome the humanity of the person.
Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of The Bubble and Beyond (2012), Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1992 & 2009) and of The Myth of Aid (1971).
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I have been amazed by the rosy images so many Chinese youth hold of the West. Chinese Communist Party (CPC) officials are faced with an unenviable task. The CPC needs to provide jobs and a decent standard of living for the Chinese people, and these goals can come in conflict. The CPC has delivered in terms of improving the economy and pulling hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. However, the environment has suffered as a consequence. The CPC does not hide this fact (it is after all pretty hard to hide air pollution and water pollution) and publishes regular air quality reports.
A leading spokesperson for the lobbying reform community predicts the 2016 election will galvanize fresh anti-corruption initiatives.
Let’s be honest. The activities of our economic and social system are killing the planet. Even if we confine ourselves merely to humans, these activities are causing an unprecedented privation, as hundreds of millions of people-and today more than yesterday, with probably more tomorrow-go their entire lives with never enough to eat. Yet curiously, none of this seems to stir us to significant action.
DC on BFP #66 | Tom Secker joins Guillermo to discuss the shooting in Garland, Texas allegedly carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS): the questionable circumstances, heightened security, FBI foreknowledge and years-long surveillance of one of the alleged shooters, and the potential for it to have been a "Gladio-style" false flag event.
Doug Hughes, a mailman from Florida who recently made headline news for flying his gyrocopter onto the West Lawn at the U.S. Capitol Building, will be in Washington DC for his first court hearing on May 21. Hughes has been charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national airspace, which can potentially land him up to four years in prison, plus fines. I had the chance to interview him about his cause of getting money out of politics.
Medea Benjamin: Can you tell us a little about yourself?
RadioWHO #6 | Shawn Carrie, a journalist based in New York, shares his story of covering the Baltimore riots and being shot in the head by a police pepperball and then arrested and held without charge. Carrie recounts how Baltimore police were quick to remind him that under a State of Emergency your rights "go out the window."
