Fed’s Lofty Profit Becomes Treasury’s Gain. [WSJ.com] – The Federal Reserve turned $76.9 billion of its profits over to the U.S. Treasury last year, close to the record amount transferred to government coffers in 2010 amid gains generated in its expanding portfolio of securities.
In Depth with Chris Hedges
The excellent conversation with Chris Hedges that aired live on Book TV New Year’s Day is now available to view online. This broadcast is three hours long, but it is highly recommended to anyone who cares about liberty (and life) on this planet.
Follow the link below for more.
In Depth with Author and Journalist Chris Hedges. [C-SPAN] – On Book TV’s In Depth, author and journalist, Chris Hedges. The Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent spends three hours taking viewers’ calls, emails and tweets on topics such as terrorism, religion and politics.
Tick Tock
Since The Doomsday Clock first appeared on the cover of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947, it has conveyed how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction, and has monitored the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm. The Scientists announced today that they are moving the clock forward one minute.
Doomsday Clock moves to five minutes to midnight. [Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists] – It is five minutes to midnight. Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed. For that reason, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to midnight, back to its time in 2007.
Whose Work?
Big Money Donors 2012
The 20 Biggest Donors of the 2012 Election So Far. [Mother Jones] – From the casino mogul betting $5 million on Newt Gingrich, to Wall Streeters investing in Mitt Romney, to Obama’s Hollywood pal, Gavin Aronsen and Dave Gilson expose the superwealthy givers trying to sway the race.
EPA to Dimock, PA: Frack You!
Federal Agency Cancels Water Delivery to Pa. Town. [ABC News] – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.
Occupy Chicago Won’t “Sit Down, Shut Up”
Occupy groups urge defeat of proposed law. [UPI.com] -Two Chicago-area Occupy protest groups warned city aldermen that supporting Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “Sit Down and Shut Up” ordinance will be met with resistance.
Shut up, Slave!
Coming soon, to a country near you: another way for the masters to strip troublemakers of our citizenship. Thanks, Joe.
H.R. 3166: Enemy Expatriation Act. [GovTrack.us] – To add engaging in or supporting hostilities against the United States to the list of acts for which United States nationals would lose their nationality.
My Guantánamo Nightmare
This is the chilling account of Lakhdar Boumediene’s rendition and his imprisonment for seven years at Gitmo. He was held without trial, another innocent victim of our War on Terror.
My Guantánamo Nightmare. [NYTimes.com] – The fact that the United States had made a mistake was clear from the beginning. Bosnia’s highest court investigated the American claim, found that there was no evidence against me and ordered my release. But instead, the moment I was released American agents seized me and the five others. We were tied up like animals and flown to Guantánamo, the American naval base in Cuba.
Just Enough
”Any kind of action that relieves people’s distress a little bit, without changing the system, maintains the system. In fact that’s the way the American system – which is very exploitative and very unfair – that’s the way the American system is being maintained…by giving people a little bit, giving enough people, just enough, to keep them from breaking out in open revolt.”
-Howard Zinn
Hat tip to my Fellow Worker, Adam, for posting this quote on Facebook the other day.