Brick TeeVee's Coup d’Etat SPECIAL!

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COUP d’ETAT SPECIAL For DECADES the U.S. government has used various forms of destablization tactics across the globe to make its own citizens believe legitimately-elected governments elsewhere are a "threat to democracy" that are in direct conflict with "American strategic interests" and use their bought-n-paid-for U.S. Corporate Media mouthpieces to sway citizens to think that these "regimes" are somehow "evil" (reference Naomi Klein's SHOCK DOCTRINE and John Perkins' CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN) IF you haven't read these books along with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present get thee to a library! More on this in a bit. THIS SUNDAY instead of tuning in Press The Bob et. al. WATCH Thursday's THE BIG PICTURE with Thom Hartmann AND Ring of Fire's MIKE PAPANTONIO! GOOD ITEM! NEXT Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher report for The Intercept Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks and Its Supporters Top-secret documents from the National Security Agency and its British counterpart reveal for the first time how the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom targeted WikiLeaks and other activist groups with tactics ranging from covert surveillance to prosecution. The efforts – detailed in documents provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – included a broad campaign of international pressure aimed not only at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but at what the U.S. government calls “the human network that supports WikiLeaks.” The documents also contain internal discussions about targeting the file-sharing site Pirate Bay and hacktivist collectives such as Anonymous. One classified document from Government Communications Headquarters, Britain’s top spy agency, shows that GCHQ used its surveillance system to secretly monitor visitors to a WikiLeaks site. By exploiting its ability to tap into the fiber-optic cables that make up the backbone of the Internet, the agency confided to allies in 2012, it was able to collect the IP addresses of visitors in real time, as well as the search terms that visitors used to reach the site from search engines like Google. Another classified document from the U.S. intelligence community, dated August 2010, recounts how the Obama administration urged foreign allies to file criminal charges against Assange over the group’s publication of the Afghanistan war logs. A third document, from July 2011, contains a summary of an internal discussion in which officials from two NSA offices – including the agency’s general counsel and an arm of its Threat Operations Center – considered designating WikiLeaks as “a ‘malicious foreign actor’ for the purpose of targeting.” Such a designation would have allowed the group to be targeted with extensive electronic surveillance – without the need to exclude U.S. persons from the surveillance searches. .......... In a statement to The Intercept, Assange condemned what he called “the reckless and unlawful behavior of the National Security Agency” and GCHQ’s “extensive hostile monitoring of a popular publisher’s website and its readers.” “News that the NSA planned these operations at the level of its Office of the General Counsel is especially troubling,” Assange said. “Today, we call on the White House to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the extent of the NSA’s criminal activity against the media, including WikiLeaks, its staff, its associates and its supporters.”.............. The system used by GCHQ to monitor the WikiLeaks website – codenamed ANTICRISIS GIRL – is described in a classified PowerPoint presentation prepared by the British agency and distributed at the 2012 “SIGDEV Conference.” At the annual gathering, each member of the “Five Eyes” alliance – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – describes the prior year’s surveillance successes and challenges. In a top-secret presentation at the conference, two GCHQ spies outlined how ANTICRISIS GIRL was used to enable “targeted website monitoring” of WikiLeaks (See slides 33 and 34). The agency logged data showing hundreds of users from around the world, including the United States, as they were visiting a WikiLeaks site – contradicting claims by American officials that a deal between the U.K. and the U.S. prevents each country from spying on the other’s citizens. ............ GCHQ refused to comment on whether ANTICRISIS GIRL is still operational. In an email citing the agency’s boilerplate response to inquiries, a spokeswoman insisted that “all of GCHQ’s work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight.” But privacy advocates question such assurances. “How could targeting an entire website’s user base be necessary or proportionate?” says Gus Hosein, executive director of the London-based human rights group Privacy International. “These are innocent people who are turned into suspects based on their reading habits. Surely becoming a target of a state’s intelligence and security apparatus should require more than a mere click on a link.” The agency’s covert targeting of WikiLeaks, Hosein adds, call into question the entire legal rationale underpinning the state’s system of surveillance. “We may be tempted to see GCHQ as a rogue agency, ungoverned in its use of unprecedented powers generated by new technologies,” he says. “But GCHQ’s actions are authorized by [government] ministers. The fact that ministers are ordering the monitoring of political interests of Internet users shows a systemic failure in the rule of law.” ...... Click over to The Intercept for much more detail AND see DN! below for an interview with Julian Assange and his attorney Mchael Ratner! NUKE NEWS: Karen McVeigh in New York for theguardian.com reports Nun, 84, sentenced to three years in jail for nuclear break-in An 84-year-old nun was handed a 35-month jail term on Tuesday for breaking into a US nuclear weapons plant and daubing it with biblical references and human blood. Sister Megan Rice was sentenced alongside two co-defendants, Greg Boertje-Obed, 58, and Michael Walli, 64, who both received 62-month terms. At an earlier hearing in January, a judge ordered the three Catholic anti-nuclear protesters to pay $53,000 for what the government estimated was damage done to the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, regarded as one of the most secure in the world. All three defendants were convicted of sabotage after the 2012 break-in, on charges that carried a maximum sentence of up to 30 years. The government had asked for the trio to be given prison sentences of between five and nine years. ............ On 28 July 2012, the three activists cut through three fences before reaching a $548m storage bunker. They hung banners, strung up crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like storage facility for uranium material, inside the most secure part of complex. They painted messages such as "The fruit of justice is peace" and splashed small bottles of human blood on the bunker wall. Although the protesters set off alarms, they were able to spend more than two hours inside the restricted area before they were caught. When security finally arrived, guards found the three activists singing and offering to break bread with them. The protesters reportedly also offered to share a Bible, candles and white roses with the guards. The Department of Energy's inspector general wrote a scathing report on the security failures that allowed the activists to reach the bunker, and the security contractor was later fired. Some government officials praised the activists for exposing the facility's weaknesses. But prosecutors declined to show leniency, instead pursuing serious felony charges. ........ Jeffery Theodore, the assistant US attorney general for the eastern district of Tennessee, told the court that the three "pretty much celebrated their acts". ..... REMEMBER No Insurance Cover For Nuclear Damage From Now On Insurance Companies in the United States have begun notifying customers they will no longer have ANY coverage whatsoever for anything relating to nuclear energy claims. Fallout, radiation sickness, property damage from radiation – all EXCLUDED. According to Turner Radio Network "Fukushima Radiation causing U.S. Insurance Companies to EXCLUDE all Coverage for Radiation Claims". This begs the question: If the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan is as harmless to Americans as the government and “scientists” are telling us, why are Insurance companies specifically EXCLUDING coverage for nuclear energy related claims? (Hint: The government is lying about the danger.) TRN has a PDF of one such notice being sent by Traveler’s Insurance Company. You can read it for yourself below. Letters being sent by U.S. Insurance companies are notifying policy holders of an important change to their coverage. Letter sent by one major insurance company read as follows: ............. The letters further make clear: “Property damage” includes all forms of radioactive contamination of property.” That last item, about radioactive contamination of property, THAT’s the “biggie.” THAT is the issue that will shortly become evident to people who live on the west coast of north America. One day, when folks in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego wake up and hear evacuation orders on radio and TV telling them to run for their lives because the radiation levels from the Pacific Ocean have made their homes uninhabitable, THEN all those folks will understand the implications of this nasty little change in Insurance coverage. ....... And let's not forget the Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility ....... Exelon’s top executives were early and frequent supporters of Mr. Obama as he rose from the Illinois State Senate to the White House. John W. Rogers Jr., a friend of the president’s and one of his top fund-raisers, is an Exelon board member. David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s longtime political strategist, once worked as an Exelon consultant, and Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayor and Mr. Obama’s former chief of staff, helped create the company through a corporate merger in 2000 while working as an investment banker. With energy an increasingly pivotal issue for the Obama White House, a review of Exelon’s relationship with the administration shows how familiarity has helped foster access at the upper reaches of government and how, in some cases, the outcome has been favorable for Exelon. White House records show that Exelon executives were able to secure an unusually large number of meetings with top administration officials at key moments in the consideration of environmental regulations that have been drafted in a way that hurt Exelon’s competitors, but curb the high cost of compliance for Exelon and its industry allies. ......... So while the nuke industry rolls on with the $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration blessing Exelon's 'Nuclear Guy': No New Nukes in a March 2012 Bloomberg report: Nuclear power is no longer an economically viable source of new energy in the United States, the freshly-retired CEO of Exelon, America’s largest producer of nuclear power, said in Chicago Thursday. And it won’t become economically viable, he said, for the forseeable future. “Let me state unequivocably that I’ve never met a nuclear plant I didn’t like,” said John Rowe, who retired 17 days ago as chairman and CEO of Exelon Corporation, which operates 22 nuclear power plants, more than any other utility in the United States. “Having said that, let me also state unequivocably (<---made up word haha) that new ones don’t make any sense right now.” ....... Okay then. Sure. IN OTHER NUKE NEWS MARTIN FACKLER at NYT's Asia/Pacific desk tells us Worst Spill in 6 Months Is Reported at Fukushima TOKYO — About 100 tons of highly radioactive water leaked from one of the hundreds of storage tanks at the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator said Thursday, calling the leak the worst spill at the plant in six months. The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the leak, discovered on Wednesday and stopped on Thursday, happened far enough from the plant’s waterfront that none of the radioactive water was likely to reach the Pacific Ocean, as has happened during some previous spills. Still, the leak was an uncomfortable reminder of the many mishaps that have plagued the containment and cleanup efforts at the plant, as well as the hundreds of tons of contaminated groundwater that still flow unchecked into the Pacific every day. The company, known as Tepco, said it had traced the latest leak to a pair of valves that were left open by mistake. ......... Each liter of the water contained, on average, 230 million becquerels of particles giving off beta radiation, the company said. About half of the particles were likely to be strontium 90, which is readily taken up by the human body in the same way that calcium is, and can cause bone cancer and leukemia. That means the water was about 3.8 million times as contaminated with strontium 90 as the maximum allowed under Japan’s safety standards for drinking water. It also showed levels much more radioactive than a worrisome groundwater reading that Tepco announced earlier this month. That reading — five million becquerels of strontium 90 per liter — which was detected at a location closer to the ocean than the latest spill, prompted criticism of Tepco because the company waited five months to report it publicly. Critics have assailed the company since the accident, saying that it has been slow to acknowledge problems at the stricken plant and that it has disclosed too little information about the conditions inside. Even so, the government has left the company largely in charge of the cleanup work there....... VIDEOS! Washington's Blog has this from last November We’re In The Most Dangerous Moment Since the Cuban Missile Crisis .......... Award-winning scientist David Suzuki says that Fukushima is terrifying, Tepco and the Japanese government are lying through their teeth, and Fukushima is “the most terrifying situation I can imagine”. Suzuki notes that reactor 4 is so badly damaged that – if there’s another earthquake of 7 or above – the building could come down. And the probability of another earthquake of 7 or above in the next 3 years is over 95%. Suzuki says that he’s seen a paper that says that if – in fact – the 4th reactor comes down, “it’s bye bye Japan, and everyone on the West Coast of North America should evacuate. Now if that’s not terrifying, I don’t know what is.” ............. Tepco is incompetent and corrupt, and has been in cover-up mode since day one. As such, it is the last company which should be in charge of the clean-up. Top scientists and government officials say that Tepco should be removed from all efforts to stabilize Fukushima. They say that an international team of the smartest engineers and scientists should instead handle this difficult mission. ......... Go watch all the imbedded videos! We would be remiss if we didn't mention Construction begins on new nuclear reactors in Georgia John Upton reports at GRIST.org Advocates of building a low-carbon economy with nuclear power can rejoice: Construction is underway to build America’s first new nuclear reactors in 30 years. But any residents of Waynsboro, Ga., who are concerned about the threat of radiation leaks or meltdown at the nearby nuclear plant will soon have twice as much reason to worry. Plant Vogtle, where two nuclear reactors have operated since the late 1980s, is expanding. Two new reactors are scheduled to be up and running by 2018 — assuming there are no more delays, which would be an unwise assumption. The project is backed by an $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration. ........... The plant was originally envisioned as a four-reactor facility, and opponents of the project are not thrilled to see this old vision become a modern reality. From the website of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which opposes the project:

Plant Vogtle was one of the last and most costly nuclear plants built in the country. Original estimates for four reactors were $660 million. Eventually, only two reactors were built, costing more than $8 billion, resulting at the time in the largest rate hike in Georgia. Unfortunately, Georgia utilities are venturing down this costly and risky path again.

.......... Gregory Jaczko, former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was the only member of the five-person commission to vote against approving the Vogtle plant last year. “I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened,” Jaczko said at the time of the vote. But his colleagues disagreed, and now here we are.
Christian Science Monitor staff writer Patrik Jonsson has this update In North Carolina coal ash spill case, feds eye Southern regulators Did a cozy relationship between Duke Energy, America’s largest electric utility, and politically-connected state regulators in North Carolina contribute to the massive coal ash spill into the Dan River near the Virginia border earlier this month? Judging by a series of federal subpoenas and affidavits, that’s an emerging line of questioning as US attorneys and the Environmental Protection Agency take a tough look at the regulatory environment in the Tar Heel State, and whether regulators went easy on Duke Energy with regards to its inventory of aging and seeping coal ash lagoons that now “threaten the long-term health of the Dan River” and other waterways, according to lawsuits now filed by the state. Court documents refer to a “suspected felony” in the case. “It’s an unusual case: federal authorities scrutinizing not only a company that polluted but also state regulators,” writes reporter Craig Jarvis, in the Raleigh News & Observer. On Feb. 2, some 39,000 heavy metal-laced tons of coal ash spilled out of a holding pond and into the Dan River, which eventually flows into Kerr Lake, a critical reservoir on the Virginia-North Carolina border. The spill created a 75-foot-long “coal ash bar” near the broken pipe, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service says they’ve spotted evidence of the spill 70 miles downstream. The federal investigation comes amid heightened awareness of major inland spills. A toxic mix of chemicals bled into West Virginia’s Elk River in early January, causing officials to warn residents against even washing their hands in tap water. .......... Environmental regulations have long been seen as more lax in Southern states, where business advocacy sometimes leads to laissez-faire views on environmental costs of doing business, often when profit expectations squeeze expensive environmental protection or remediation requirements. In that light, the federal probe into whether the company and regulators acted responsibly now “raises the stakes considerably,” Amy Adams of the conservation group Appalachian Voices told the Charlotte Observer. Also notable is that the investigation is being led by US Attorney Thomas Walker, who has made a priority of prosecuting criminal cases of environmental pollution. Court documents do not make it clear whether Walker was investigating the relationship between Duke and state regulators before the spill. Piquing the federal interest is that the current chief of the state regulatory agency was appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory, who worked for Duke for 28 years.
Specifically, according to court records, federal prosecutors want detailed inspection records for the coal ash sites, as well as copies of all enforcement actions against those sites. More critically, investigators are trying to understand the connections between Duke Power officials and dozens of state regulators, and whether any graft ever took place. This week, Gov. McCrory, a Republican and former mayor of the Southern banking center of Charlotte, briefly raised hopes among environmental groups when he told an audience that Duke should be forced to move the coal ash storage sites out of harm’s way, which is what environmental groups ultimately want. Later in the day Mr. McCrory’s office said the governor meant that moving the sites – an extremely expensive proposition – was merely “one option” for Duke. Of course Gov. McCrory denies Duke coal ash deal involvement reports MICHAEL BIESECKER of the AP via Boston.com North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory denied Friday he had any talks with Duke Energy executives or lobbyists about his administration’s scuttled deal to settle environmental violations at two of the $50 billion company’s coal ash dumps for $99,000. McCrory was asked about the agreement at a public event after his office had not responded to questions from The Associated Press. Federal prosecutors on Monday served the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke with grand jury subpoenas demanding records as part of a federal investigation into the spill, which contaminated the river so badly the state has advised against prolonged contact with the water or eating fish. ‘‘I have had no conversations with Duke Energy about the lawsuits or about the federal action,’’ McCrory said. ........... McCrory worked at Duke 28 years before retiring to make his first run for governor in 2008. In that time, campaign finance reports show Duke Energy, its political action committee, executives and their immediate families have donated at least $1.1 million to McCrory’s campaign and affiliated groups that spent on TV ads, mailings and events to support him. On a state ethics form last year, McCrory indicated that his investment portfolio includes holdings of Duke stock valued in excess of $10,000, though he is not obligated to disclose the specific amount. Asked Friday if he would voluntarily disclose the total amount of his investment in the company, McCrory suggested his holdings were part of his 401K from his years at Duke. But he did not reveal the full value of his stake. ....... Huh. Ya think? Be sure to read ClimateProgress's Rebecca Leber on this Report: River Contaminated With High Levels Of Lead, Arsenic, Mercury After NC Coal Ash Spill When we mention "CLICK ANYTHING AND BE INSTANTLY SMARTER" it's not just some cheeky slogan (well, yes it is haha) but these next items really highlight why we stress click-thru's to any links all the time. So pay attention as we go to The Center for Economic and Policy Research's International Communications Director Dan Beeton who gives us this update from Venezuela Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern Venezuela’s latest round of violent protests appears to fit a pattern, and represents the tug-and-pull nature of the country’s divided opposition. ........ As CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot has explained, then – as now – the strategy is clear: a sector of the opposition seeks to overturn the results of democratic elections. An important difference this time of course is that Venezuela has its first post-Chávez president, and a key part of the opposition’s strategy overall has been to depict Nicolás Maduro as a pale imitation of his predecessor and a president ill-equipped to deal with the country’s problems (many of which are exaggerated in the Venezuelan private media, which is still largely opposition-owned, as well as the international media). ............... Defeated at the polls, the anti-democratic faction of the opposition prepared for a new attempt at destabilizing the elected government, and promoted relatively small, but often violent student protests in early February. They then called for a massive protest on February 12, Venezuela’s Youth Day in the center of Caracas. The demonstrations have been accompanied by a social media campaign that has spread misinformation in an attempt to depict the Maduro administration as a violent dictatorship instead of a popular elected government. Images of police violence from other countries and past protests – some several years old – have been presented on social media as having occurred in recent days in Venezuela. A YouTube video that has been watched by almost 2 million viewers presents a one-sided portrayal of the situation and falsely states that the Venezuelan government controls all radio and television in the country, among other distortions. ............... Venezuela’s opposition receives funding from U.S. “democracy promotion” groups including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and core grantees such as the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The NED, which the Washington Post noted was set up to conduct activities “much of” which “[t]he CIA used to fund covertly” has made a number of grants directed at empowering youth and students in Venezuela in recent years, and USAID has also given money to IRI, NDI and other groups for Venezuela programs. These organizations have a history of destabilizing elected governments and working to unify and strengthen political opposition to left-wing parties and governments. IRI notably played a key role in destabilizing Haiti ahead of the 2004 coup there, and also has engaged in activities aimed at weakening Brazil’s governing Workers’ Party, to name a few. In Venezuela, they funded groups involved in the 2002 coup, and IRI spokespersons infamously praised the coup after it happened. The Haiti example is instructive. ...............The U.S.-funded destabilization of Haiti in the early 2000s also offers lessons as to the endgame of this strategy. As the New York Times reported and as scholars such as Peter Hallward and Jeb Sprague have documented, the IRI counseled its Haitian partners not to accept any compromises from the Aristide government (which made many concessions, including agreeing to a power-sharing arrangement), but to continue to press further. But the Maduro government is of course in a much stronger position than Haiti’s government ten years ago. A key factor is that while Aristide was relatively isolated politically, Latin American governments, through UNASUR and MERCOSUR, have condemned the violent protests and the opposition’s calls for Maduro to leave office and have expressed support for the Venezuelan government. In this case, when the Obama administration continues to signal that it sides with the violent protests, it is an outlier in the region.
What does Venezuela have to do with The Ukraine?
Professor Michel Chossudovsky explains how the U.S.-led IMF Sponsored “Democracy” in The Ukraine using many of the same alphabet soup outfits IRI, NED, NDI & USAID (and more you've never heard of but have nice-sounding names) to destabalize the country. The mechanisms of interference are in some regards different to those of 2004. The protests are supported directly by Brussels and Berlin (with EU officials actively involved) rather than by Washington. There is a long history of colored revolutions in Ukraine going back to the 1990s. The protest movement in Kiev bears a marked resemblance to the “Orange Revolution” of 2004 which was supported covertly by Washington. The 2004 “Orange Revolution” led to the ousting of the pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, spearheading into power the Western proxy government of President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko. Once more Viktor Yanukovitch is the target of a carefully staged “pro-EU protest movement”. The latter was launched following president Yanukovitch’s decision to cancel the “association agreement” with the EU. The mechanisms of interference are in some regards different to those of 2004. The protests are supported directly by Brussels and Berlin (with EU officials actively involved) rather than by Washington: ........ The following article first published in November 2004, focuses on the October-November 2004 “Orange Revolution” directed against then prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, while also providing details on the insidious role of the IMF and the World Bank in imposing the neoliberal economic policy agenda on behalf of the “Washington Consensus”. He is not only supported by the IMF and the international financial community, he also has the endorsement of The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) , Freedom House and the Open Society Institute , which played a behind the scenes role last year in helping “topple Georgia’s president Eduard Shevardnadze by putting financial muscle and organizational metal behind his opponents.” (New Statesman, 29 November 2004). The NED has four affiliate institutes: The International Republican Institute (IRI) , the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) , and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS). These organizations are said to be “uniquely qualified to provide technical assistance to aspiring democrats worldwide.” See IRI, http://www.iri.org/history.asp )
In the Ukraine, the NED and its constituent organizations fund Yushchenko’s party Nasha Ukraina (Our Ukraine), it also finances the Kiev Press Club. In turn, Freedom House, together with The Independent Republican Institute (IRI) are involved in assessing the “fairness of elections and their results”. IRI has staff present in “poll watching” in 9 oblasts (districts), and local staff in all 25 oblasts: ........................ Under these circumstances, why would Yushchenko, who was closely associated with the process of economic destruction and impoverishment be so popular? Why has the public image and political reputation of an IMF protégé, namely Mr. Yushchenko remained unscathed? What the neoliberal agenda does is to build a consensus in “the free market reforms”. “Short term pain gain for long term gain” says the World Bank. “Bitter economic medicine” is the only solution, much in the same way as the Spanish inquisition was the consensus underlying the feudal social order. In an utterly twisted logic, poverty is presented as a precondition for building a prosperous society. This consensus presents a World of landless farmers, shuttered factories, jobless workers and gutted social programs as a means to achieving economic and social progress. To sustain the consensus and convince public opinion, requires “turning the World upside down”, creating divisions within society, distorting the truth and ensuring, through a massive propaganda campaign, that no other viable political alternative to the “free market” is allowed to emerge. Why is Yushchenko so popular? For same reason as George W. Bush, running on his record of war crimes is popular......... Geez just click over to read the rest of the U.S.-sponsored train wreck that continues right now in Ukraine and Venezuela. WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Imperial Conquest: America’s “Long War” against Humanity Michel Chossudovsky, Berlin, January 11, 2014 The world is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The US has embarked on a military adventure, “a long war”, which threatens the future of humanity. This “war without borders” is being carried out at the crossroads of the most serious economic crisis in World history, which has been conducive to the impoverishment of large sectors of the World population. The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. The military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of the world simultaneously. The concept of the “Long War” has characterized US military doctrine since the end of World War II. Worldwide militarization is part of a global economic agenda. Militarization at the global level is instrumented through the US military’s Unified Command structure: the entire planet is divided up into geographic Combatant Commands under the control of the Pentagon. US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska plays a central role in coordinating military operations. According to former NATO Commander General Wesley Clark, the Pentagon’s military road-map consists of a sequence of war theatres: “[The] five-year campaign plan [includes]… a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.” (Democracy Now, 2007) ............ The geopolitics of oil and oil pipelines is crucial in the conduct of these military operations. The broader Middle East- Central Asian region encompasses more than 60 percent of the World’s oil reserves. ................ While the US has intervened militarily in major regions of the World, the thrust of US foreign policy is to have these wars fought by America’s allies or to resort to non-conventional forms of warfare. The thrust of this agenda is twofold.

1) US military might is coupled with that of “Global NATO” including Israel. We are dealing with a formidable force, in terms of advanced weapons systems. US military bases have been established in all major regions of the World under the geographical command structure. A new African command has been established. 2) Military action supports powerful economic and financial interests. A strategy of “Economic Warfare” under the neoliberal agenda is implemented in close coordination with military planning.

The purpose of warfare is not conquest per se. The US lost the Vietnam war, but the ultimate objective was to destroy Vietnam as a sovereign country. Vietnam together with Cambodia today constitute a new impoverished frontier of the global cheap labor economy. The imperial project is predicated on economic conquest, implying the confiscation and appropriation of the wealth and resources of sovereign countries. In the Middle East, successive wars have been geared towards the confiscation of oil and gas reserves. Countries are destroyed, often transformed into territories, sovereignty is foregone, national institutions collapse, the national economy is destroyed through the imposition of “free market” reforms under the helm of the IMF, unemployment becomes rampant, social services are dismantled, wages collapse, and people are impoverished. The ruling capitalist elites in these countries are subordinated to those of the US and its allies. The nation’s assets and natural resources are transferred into the hands of foreign investors through a privatization program imposed by the invading forces. ............................. In the wake of 9/11, the creation of this “outside enemy” served to obfuscate the real economic and strategic objectives behind the American-led wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. Waged on the grounds of self-defense, the pre-emptive war is upheld as a “just war” with a humanitarian mandate.
Pre-emptive war directed against “Islamic terrorists” is required to defend the Homeland. Realities are turned upside down: America and the Western World are under attack. In the wake of 9/11, the creation of this “outside enemy” served to obfuscate the real economic and strategic objectives behind the American-led wars in the Middle East and Central Asia, which encompasses more than 60 percent of the Wortld’s oil and gas reserves.. Waged on the grounds of self-defense, the pre-emptive war is upheld as a “just war” with a humanitarian mandate. Propaganda purports to erase the history of Al Qaeda created by the CIA, drown the truth and “kill the evidence” on how this “outside enemy” was fabricated and transformed into “Enemy Number One”. What the media does not mention is that the terrorists in substance are paid killers, supported by the US and NATO.......... You must click over and read all of this to get a full historical reading of what is really going on behind these "color" revolutions and the so-called “Washington Consensus” which is on display on virtually every Beltway Bubala show every Sunday which has its roots in The Myth of American Exceptionalism as explained by ForeignPolicy.com's Stephen M. Walt The idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous may be comforting to Americans. Too bad it's not true. ............... This unchallenged faith in American exceptionalism makes it harder for Americans to understand why others are less enthusiastic about U.S. dominance, often alarmed by U.S. policies, and frequently irritated by what they see as U.S. hypocrisy, whether the subject is possession of nuclear weapons, conformity with international law, or America's tendency to condemn the conduct of others while ignoring its own failings. Ironically, U.S. foreign policy would probably be more effective if Americans were less convinced of their own unique virtues and less eager to proclaim them. What we need, in short, is a more realistic and critical assessment of America's true character and contributions. In that spirit, I offer here the Top 5 Myths about American Exceptionalism. ...... YES! READ ON!
For more insight and background info do read Andrew Basevich's Washington Rules (American Empire Project) GOOD ITEM! This week's BTV LAST WORD goes to Netfa Freeman at BlackAgendaReport.com (h/t maddy) Thinking for Ourselves About Venezuela ...... The political plan for Venezuela took stage in the streets of Washington DC February 15, 2014. Passers-by on Georgetown’s 30th Street on a freezing Saturday were perplexed at the standoff between two groups assuming opposite sides of the street. One ethnically mixed group of mostly Latino, Black, and White had taken the side of the street in front of the Venezuelan Embassy to show solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. The group on the other side was the all white, privileged youth of the Venezuelan elite residing in the U.S. who want to see their country’s return to the days when they dominated the economic and political process. The latter are hoping that the recent unrest in their country signals the end of the Bolivarian process and the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, successor to the late President Hugo Chavez. The protest they staged at the Embassy was to help this become so. The current situation started in Venezuela February 12, 2014 with violence perpetrated against the democratically elected government and civilians resulting in three deaths, 61 persons wounded and 69 detained. This followed what were, for the most part, peaceful marches marking the 200th anniversary of the battle of La Victoria, in which students played a critical role in a victory against royalist forces during Venezuela’s war of independence......... .......... While the Obama Administration and capitalist news media want everyone to believe a repressive Venezuelan government is attacking peaceful protests, there are videos of protestors using fire and rocks against the police. The Merida state governor, Alexis Ramirez released a photo on twitter showing one of the armed protestors. “The governor also alleged that one student who had been arrested claimed that he had been paid 150 bolivars by far right opposition leader, Villca Fernandez to protest. Almost all students protesting wore balaclavas.” This is the general blueprint used for essentially the same brand of regime change in Libya adapted for Venezuela. Particulars between the two countries may be different but this general strategy of U.S. imperialism is the same. Imperialism uses hidden hands to instigate incidents in countries that take anti-imperialist stands. Then it uses its media and official spokespersons to make things look to the rest of the world as if they are other than they are, demonizing the actual victims. .............. A recording of a telephone conversation surfaced that appears to show two former right wing officials discussing or planning the implementation of the violence Wednesday, a day before it began. The two former officials – Fernando Gerbasi and Mario Carratu Molina – compared what was to come to April 11, a reference to the beginning of the 2002 coup attempt against former President Hugo Chavez, that was ultimately defeated by a massive popular uprising in defense of the socialist government.” ................ It is important to know and understand the machinations of imperialism so we are never caught off guard or fooled by its modus operandi or its propaganda. It has perfected this regime change strategy of causing unrest in places to get the target government in question to react with violent repression. Then fanning social media and news media reports that accuse and depict said government of being the aggressor in the hope it can maneuver things toward their ultimate goal. Over the last decade or so we have seen this strategy attempted in Zimbabwe, Libya, Iran, and Syria. So, “what is going on in Venezuela” is the typical attempts by neo-colonial, imperialist backed forces inside a country to seize power by destabilizing the country away from its revolutionary path and if possible create a pretext for more direct imperialist intervention. We see it over and over again in countries taking an anti-imperialist stand and asserting their sovereign right to national self-determination. Countries like Zimbabwe have so far been able to fend off such assaults. Others like Libya were not successful. Had counter demonstrators not been in Washington standing in solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian Government, surely the media spin of what took place would have been different. It would have been one of a traumatized Venezuelan exile community desperately seeking justice and the restraint of the needlessly violent government. Instead the coddled class of Venezuelans showed their true selves and how much of the disposition they share in common with those of them back home who can’t civilly accept the progressive course democratically chosen by the masses in their country. ................ There is a real chance to make sure Venezuela does not go the way of Libya by thinking for ourselves, equipping others with the information to do the same, then taking a stand against U.S. imperialism against Venezuela. To wrap up WATCH Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University on DN! Thursday's show explain A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup who explains .....But as for the immediate crisis, let’s ask ourselves this: Who precipitated this crisis? The American media says it was Putin and the very bad, though democratically elected, president of Ukraine, Yanukovych. But it was the European Union, backed by Washington, that said in November to the democratically elected president of a profoundly divided country, Ukraine, "You must choose between Europe and Russia." That was an ultimatum to Yanukovych. Remember—wasn’t reported here—at that moment, what did the much-despised Putin say? He said, "Why? Why does Ukraine have to choose? We are prepared to help Ukraine avoid economic collapse, along with you, the West. Let’s make it a tripartite package to Ukraine." And it was rejected in Washington and in Brussels. That precipitated the protests in the streets....... AND George Ciccariello-Maher political science prof at Drexel University Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt by U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups to Oust Elected Government? who tells us .....Sure. Well, the Obama government continues to fund this opposition even more openly than did the Bush—than did the Bush regime. If you look at the budget there, you know, Obama specifically requested funding for these Venezuelan opposition groups despite—you know, despite anti-democratic activity in the past, despite the fact that López and others were involved in signatories of the coup in 2002 and engaged in violent actions that they were brought up on charges for in 2002. And so, for López to come now and to claim that he’s an actor for democracy in the streets is really quite—you know, quite laughable. But what he is trying to do is to really seize control of this opposition away from the more moderate elements...... Absolutely nuts, isn't it? The Brick TeeVee Crew is GEARING up for the 56th running of The Great American Race Daytona 500! AND we're getting our spring greens seeds started indoors NOW for the early spring planting when they like it cold and wet! Lots more at the BTV regulars: Brad, Bob, Max, Stacy, Peter B, Sam, Pap, Thom, Amy, Scott!
The NEOH music scene lost one of our own Devo guitarist Bob Casale, 61, dies of heart failure Bob Casale, guitarist and keyboardist for the Akron-born band Devo, died unexpectedly Monday of heart failure at the age of 61. He was known by fans of the band as “Bob 2,” a play on the fact that Devo had two guys named Bob, Casale and Mothersbaugh, also known as “Bob 1.” While singers and songwriters Mark Mothers­baugh and Gerald Casale were the band’s nominal front men, Bob Casale’s musical and technical contributions were strong.... Thank You Bob 2. Our most heartfelt condolences to the Casale family and the extended DEVO family.





R.I.P. Bob Casale








Robert Edward "Bob 2" Casale Jr.

July 14, 1952 – February 17, 2014

WE ARE DEVO

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

Headlines Monday, February 17, 2014

• Michael Skolnik, editor-in-chief of GlobalGrind.com The Killing of Jordan Davis: Michael Dunn Faces 60 Years After Split Verdict in 'Thug Music' Trial
  
• Clarence Lusane, author of "The Black History of the White House" Untold History: More Than a Quarter of U.S. Presidents Were Involved in Slavery, Human Trafficking READ his most recent article Missing from Presidents’ Day: The People They Enslaved at huffingtonpost.com
  
• Michael Copps, former member of the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 to 2011 Former FCC Commissioner Warns About Comcast-Time Warner Merger, "Mindless" Media Consolidation
  

Headlines Tuesday, February 18, 2014

• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange Julian Assange on Being Placed on NSA "Manhunting" List & Secret Targeting of WikiLeaks Supporters
  
• Jesselyn Radack Attorney for Edward Snowden Interrogated at U.K. Airport, Placed on "Inhibited Persons List"
  
• Radack & Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights Spying on Lawyers: Snowden Documents Show NSA Ally Targeted U.S. Law Firm
  
• Steven Greenhouse, labor and workplace reporter for The New York Times Republican-Funded, Anti-Labor Campaign Succeeds in Tennessee as Volkswagen Workers Reject UAW Union
  

Headlines Wednesday, February 19, 2014

• Activist CeCe McDonald, Actress Laverne Cox "Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack": Freed Activist CeCe McDonald, Actress Laverne Cox Speak Out After serving 19 months in prison, the African-American transgender activist CeCe McDonald is free. She was arrested after using deadly force to protect herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of Minneapolis. Her case helped turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of color. We’re also joined by one of CeCe McDonald’s most well-known supporters, Laverne Cox, actress, producer, activist, transgender woman, who was there with CeCe McDonald the day she left prison.
  

Headlines Thursday, February 20, 2014

• Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup
  
• George Ciccariello-Maher, author of "We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution" Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt by U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups to Oust Elected Government?
  
• John Carlos Frey, investigative reporter Excessive Force? Migrant Shot Dead by U.S. Border Agent Near San Diego After Throwing Rock
  
• Democracy Now! BIRTHDAY! Democracy Now! Celebrates 18 Years On Air To celebrate our 18th birthday, we are asking our listeners and viewers to submit a photo or video that describes why Democracy Now! is important to you, starting with "I need Democracy Now! because…" Take a picture of yourself holding a sign or shoot a 30-second or shorter video telling us your name, where you live and why you tune in to Democracy Now! Click here to submit your photo or video. We’ll highlight our favorites online, live on air, or on our social media networks.
  

Headlines Friday, February 21, 2014

• Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept.org & Letta Tayler, senior researcher on terrorism/counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch Turning a Wedding Into a Funeral: U.S. Drone Strike in Yemen Killed as Many as 12 Civilians
  
• Tyrone Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California Silencing the Scientist: Tyrone Hayes on Being Targeted by Herbicide Firm Syngenta
  
• Lee Fang, a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute The Shadow Lobbying Complex: How Corporations Are Hiding Vast Influence Peddling Efforts Read his new in-depth cover story for The Nation "The Shadow Lobbying Complex"
  

GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Ana María Archila: Low Wage Workers are Paving the Way to Democracy Bill de Blasio campaigned on ushering in a new era in New York City and actively pursued low-wage voters. Now that he is Mayor, what can the people who elected him do to influence what happens next? ......... more!

BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» Sochi Winter Olypics on NBC See TV Listings
»»» NASCAR on FOX It's the The Great American Race from Daytona International Speedway for the historic 56th running of the Daytona 500! Austin Dillon on The Pole! Coverage begins at 1 pm et
»»» NBA on TNT Thursday Doubleheader! Knicks @ Heat 8 pm et then Nets @ Nuggets 10:30 pm et

BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

Our permit to occupy public squares and parks is in The First Amendment, which affirms "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." When people across the Middle East occupied public squares, leaders in Washington mostly cheered those protesters and warned Middle Eastern governments not to use force to clear them. Those other societies don’t have a First Amendment. Yet Washington affirmed the universal right to assembly and protest. We do have a First Amendment. The force being used to clear nonviolent protesters from public squares in our country is unacceptable. It must stop.

StrikeDebt.org & RollingJubilee.org! A bailout of the people by the people Rolling Jubilee is a Strike Debt project that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it. Together we can liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal. Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits. ADDENDUM: Naked Capitalism reports Top Tax Expert Confirms Our Doubts About Occupy Wall Street’s Debt Buying/Forgiveness Scheme

STOP the ACHE NEW WEBSITE! AcheAct.org and Appalachian Community HEALTH EMERGENCY Advocating for government action and protection of the public from the health crisis in mountain top removal communities. The A.C.H.E. Act Is Re-Introduced In The 113th Congress!

Washington, DC – Today a group of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (ACHE Act, H.R. 526) to protect Appalachian families and communities from the nation’s most extreme form of coal mining, mountaintop removal. The Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act’s leading sponsors are Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), joined by original cosponsors Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Rep. Janice Schakowksy (D-IL), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Rep. Jared Polis (DCO).

Community-Wealth.org community-wealth.org a project of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland Community-Wealth.org brings together, for the first time, information about the broad range of community wealth building activity. Featuring Overview: The Cleveland Model—How the Evergreen Cooperatives are Building Community Wealth Something important is happening in Cleveland. The Democracy Collaborative—the host of C-W.org—in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Shorebank Enterprise Cleveland, the City of Cleveland, and the city's major hospitals and universities—is helping to implement a new model of large-scale worker-owned and community-benefiting businesses. The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation's decaying economy. Increasingly, this model is being referred to nationally as The Cleveland Model. Initial planning is now underway to assist other cities in Ohio and nationwide to replicate and adapt this innovative approach to economic development, green job creation, and neighborhood stabilization. Find more many resources at Community-Wealth.org!

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.com Declaration of Internet Freedom Tired of fighting bad bills like SOPA, PIPA and CISPA? Want to stand up against those who are trying to control what we do and say online? It's time for something different. A group of more than 1,500 organizations, academics, startup founders and tech innovators has come together to produce a Declaration of Internet Freedom, a set of five principles that put forward a positive vision of the open Internet. Our goal: Get millions of Internet users to sign on to this Declaration. Build political power for Internet users to make sure that we get a seat at the table whenever, and wherever, the future of the Internet is being decided. It's time to stop playing defense and start going on the offensive. The open Internet is central to people’s freedom to communicate, share, advocate and innovate in the 21st century. But powerful interests want to censor free speech, block the sharing of information, hinder innovation and control how Internet users get online. And all too often, people in power are making political decisions behind closed doors about how the Internet should operate — and they're doing this without the involvement of actual Internet users. The result: policies that could close down the open Internet and destroy our freedom to connect. It’s time for us to reclaim the Internet for its users. Take action now and sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom. ACTION! Tell the FCC: Restore Net Neutrality An appeals court just dealt the latest blow to the open Internet. The court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order because of the questionable legal framework the agency used when it adopted its Net Neutrality rules in 2010. This ruling means there is no one who can protect us from ISPs that block or discriminate against websites, applications or services. But there’s hope: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler can correct the agency’s past mistakes and truly protect our nation’s communications infrastructure. The agency must take the necessary steps to make broadband networks open, accessible, reliable and affordable for everyone. Tell the FCC to start treating broadband like a communications service, and to restore its Net Neutrality rules.

NEW!!! Stop Media Consolidation! Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to change the agency’s ownership rules to pave the way for Murdoch to get exactly what he wants. Worse, Genachowski and Murdoch are keeping this all very hush-hush, hoping you won't notice.3 These changes wouldn’t just benefit Murdoch. If the FCC proposal passes, one company could own the major daily newspaper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in your town. And that one company could be your Internet provider, too. What is the FCC thinking?!? We can still stop the agency from taking this perilous step — but we have less than a month to do it. By taking action, you’re joining a movement of millions who are working to stop big media from getting even bigger. Please take action today. Click HERE to view our infographic and send a message to the FCC! More info at Another FCC Cave-In: Julius Genachowski’s Media Consolidation Christmas Gift to Murdoch at StopTheCap.com! And Sign Senator Bernie Sanders petition to the FCC Protect Media Diversity: Stop Media Consolidation!

CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org

MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! And check out more actions on the Move to Amend Calendar for more! UPDATE! Legalize Democracy Film Premieres on Free Speech TV Jan 21 Move to Amend is thrilled to announce that the premiere of our mini documentary, Legalize Democracy, will be airing on Free Speech TV (FSTV) next week to coincide with the "anniversary" of Citizens United. Legalize Democracy is a 28 minute film by Dennis Trainor, Jr. about the movement to amend -- why it is needed, and how you can get involved. Watch live on our website here. Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net GET INVOLVED! And Alan Grayson is BACK in the 113th Congress! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com and check out his latest effort DontAttackSyria.com!

REPRESENT.US IT’S TIME TO GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS SO THE GOVERNMENT CAN REPRESENT US. Represent.Us is a fresh campaign to pass the American Anti-Corruption Act: a law that would overhaul campaign finance, impose strict lobbying and conflict of interest laws, and end secret political money. We are mobilizing millions of Americans — conservatives and progressives, young and old, every issue group fighting K Street, online and offline — to join this campaign. Represent.Us is not just building a movement to pass the Act. The campaign will use hard-hitting accountability tactics to unseat politicians who fail to endorse the Act. If passed, the Act will completely reshape American politics and policy-making and give people a voice. See this Guest Blog at Greenpeace by Executive Director Josh Silver The $6 Billion Auction: Finally, A Plan to Get Money Out of Politics for more information!

SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org and Bradley Manning Support Network From the Bradley Manning Support Network Announcing the Private Manning Support Network! August 26, 2013, By attorney David Coombs and the Private Manning Support Network (formerly the Bradley Manning Support Network). Additional clarification on PVT Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning's request regarding her gender and name. With your continued support, our network will continue its advocacy efforts in support our heroic WikiLeaks whistle-blower through this new phase of her life. ....... UPDATE! Chelsea Manning Awarded Sam Adams Integrity Prize for 2014 January 22, 2014. By the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII). Chelsea Manning has been awarded this years's Integrity in Intelligence award for "casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq; human rights abuses by U.S. and “coalition” forces, mercenaries, and contractors; and the roles that spying and bribery play in international diplomacy." ..... AND Update 2/20/2014: Jesselyn Radack asked at Heathrow Airport "Who is Bradley Manning?" Edward Snowden's lawyer Jesselyn Radack was recently detained while going through customs at London’s Heathrow Airport and was subjected to "very hostile questioning" about Edward Snowden and Pvt. Chelsea Manning. .....

DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

CELLULAR PHONE TASK FORCE EDUCATION, ADVOCACY, SUPPORT at CellPhoneTaskForce.org The Cellular Phone Task Force is dedicated to halting the expansion of wireless technology because it cannot be made safe. We provide: education to the public concerning electromagnetic pollution (electrosmog); advocacy for an electromagnetically cleaner environment; support for individuals disabled by radiation from wireless technology and other sources. WATCH THIS MOVIE at Top Documentary Films Resonance: Beings of Frequency Now we live an an ocean of electromagnetic radiation. It’s all around us now, invisible, but we know it’s there. Every time you lift up your mobile phone you know it’s there. It is very hard to turn the clock back, in fact it is impossible, but we need to be aware of the adverse health effects so that we can have the choice of taking precautions against the exposures. How we could have possibly thought that putting microwaves to our brain was safe. We just don’t fully understand what we’re doing. "Resonance: Beings of Frequency" is the first documentary to investigate the actual mechanisms by which mobile phone technology can cause cancer. The film takes a deeper look at how humanity is reacting to the most profound environmental change the planet has ever seen. Read more HERE!!

B R I C K T E E V E E

The essential guide for watching government propaganda!
THEY report. YOU throw bricks.©
Get your Foam Bricks at ThrowThings.com HERE!
IRAQ: 4,486 US Military Dead as of April 21, 2012
AFGHANISTAN: 2,313 US Military Dead as of Feb 21, 2014
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
MOCKINGBIRD: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA
Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media at informationclearinghouse

• This Week (ABC) Host George Stephanopoulos
  • latest on the political turmoil and violence in Ukraine
  • former President George W. Bush with decorated Marine Corps veteran and Team Rubicon co-founder Jacob Wood
  • ROUNDTABLE: Democratic strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile, ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman, and Weekly Standard editor and ABC News contributor William Kristol.
  

  
  

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
  • Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
  • Margaret Brennan, CBS News’ State Department Correspondent
  • Bobby Ghosh, Time Magazine’s World Editor
  • Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD) and Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)
  • ROUNDTABLE: Jonathan Martin, national political correspondent for The New York Times, Dan Balz, chief correspondent for The Washington Post, Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report, and our CBS News political director John Dickerson.
  

  
  

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • The Fox 'News'-ification of CBS News and '60 Minutes': 'The Cleantech Crash'
  • Coming Up Sunday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT
  • A hero speaks against school shootings
  • Best art forger in history?
  • Liam Neeson opens up about wife's death
  

  
  

• Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory
  • Microsoft, NBC News Dissolve MSNBC.com Joint Venture NBC is buying Microsoft's 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount. MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com. Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news service this fall. Although he declined to provide many details about the operation general manager of MSN.com Bob Visse said the news staff will be about the same size as the roughly 100 people who created original content for the MSNBC.com. "There is no question that we are going to have more flexibility to make our own decisions," said Vivian Schiller, NBC News' chief digital officer. "This is really an amicable breakup. We think competition will make us better." Okay then.
  • National Security Adviser Susan Rice
  • PIPELINE DEBATE: Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune
  • ROUNDTABLE: New York Times columnist David Brooks, New York Times White House Correspondent Helene Cooper, Co-Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour Judy Woodruff and Host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” Chris Matthews.
  

  
  

• State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN) Sunday at 9 am ET and Noon ET.
  • GUVNOR ROUNDTABLE: Govs. Mike Pence (R-IN), Dan Malloy (D-CT), Rick Perry (R-TX), and Jay Nixon (D-MO)
  • Actor Joe Morton of ABC’s “Scandal”
  • Politics Roundtable: Robert Costa of the Washington Post, Democratic Strategist Penny Lee, and the National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru.
  

  
  

• HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid
  
  Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of Conversation Radio call our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email bob [at] headonradio [dot] com during the show!
  • FRONT PORCH FRIDAY! Pull up a cold one! Featuring the Skype listeners club! Listen here: NOW HERE - Friday, February 21st, 2014 (mp3)! Amen to the White Rose Society! Bob's show archives at the White Rose HERE! Keep Bob on the air! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
  

  
  

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen!
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment! BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!
  • 'Green News Report' - February 18, 2014 GNR's 5th Anniversary Edition! IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama's plan to keep on truckin'...with much less oil; Secretary of State John Kerry goes 'weapons grade' on climate change; PLUS: It's GNR's 5th anniversary! So to celebrate, the Sunday network news shows all finally covered climate change --- really badly... All that and more in today's Green News Report! IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links at site): Fracking boom spews toxic air emissions on Texas residents; CA city fights 'environmental racism'; NC coal ash spill found 70 mi. downstream; Gov. McCrory denies involvement in Duke Energy sweetheart deal; Brazil: land disputes escalate over illegal mining; BP Oil Spill giving tuna heart disease; Arctic on track to warm 23 degrees F ... PLUS: Michigan: Vast Spill Of Liquid Manure Hidden Under Snow ... and much, MUCH more! ...
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! Network Sunday Shows 'Debate' Climate Change After a year-long drought in coverage, all four network Sunday 'news' shows add more heat than light to the rising tide of global warming-related disasters...
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! VIDEO! Republican Ad Attacks McConnell as 'Bully', 'Democrat' Hot Republican on Republican action for the Republican Senate Minority Leader...
  • BRADCAST! Brad AND Desi on Abby Martin's 'Breaking the Set' [WATCH] Desi Doyen of BRAD BLOG's Green News Report with Brad on RT America to connect climate dots from CA's drought to WV & NC's coal waste spills to UK's flooding and beyond..
  

  
  

• The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!
  
  Listen at PeterBCollins.com!
  The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.
  • Holiday Break and Website Changes
  
  To my valued listeners: We are making some changes to the website and our terms, effective in January. We will continue to offer free podcasts–my new daily news and commentary. Our in-depth interviews will be available for $1 per episode, or to subscribers who pay $5 per month or more. Loyal listeners who simply can’t afford it should send an email to peter@peterbcollins.com, as we will be offering a limited number of scholarships to our friends who are hurting during these tough times. More information will be posted as we complete the revisions. I’m grateful to each of you for listening and supporting this work, and hope that the new model will enable us to keep it going well into the future. All the best, -pbc
  • Peter B Collins, Truthout | Op-Ed An Insider's View of the Progressive Talk Radio Devolution
  • Special Appeal for New Audio Equipment! As you may have noticed, the audio in our podcasts has been a little uneven recently. About 2 weeks ago, a critical amplifier fritzed out, and since then we’ve had intermittent distortion and other problems. My personal tech guru, Raul Velez, is on the way with a new mixer and other gear. Can you help me with this unexpected expense?
  • PBC News & Comment 18 Feb 2014 PBC News & Comment: Top Spook James Clapper has Regrets Intelligence Director James Clapper says he regrets that NSA didn’t reveal domestic spying plans right after 9/11, when fear ruled….
  • PBC News & Comment 20 Feb 2014 PBC News & Comment: Obama Withdraws Proposal to Cut Future Social Security Payments ObamaCo abandons its unilateral “Grand Bargain” scheme that included cuts to future increases in Social Security…it’s about time!….
  • PBC Standard Podcast February 19, 2014 Former Nun Calls Out Pope Francis on Sex Abuse Scandal
  • PBC Standard Podcast February 21, 2014 Education Policy Experts Murnane and Duncan Talk About Common Core and Fighting Inequality
  

  
  

• Ring of Fire Radio
  
  Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder
  Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.
  This Weekend on Ring of Fire Radio! February 21, 2014 Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern.
  • Best selling author Jim Hightower will tell us why the 1% are terrified of a populist uprising in America.
  • Senate candidate Shenna Bellows will tell us about her campaign against Maine Republican Susan Collins.
  • Attorney Daniel Nigh will explain the dangers of topical testosterone treatments.
  • And Free Speech TV host David Pakman will join me to talk about the buried stories of the week.
  • NEW! This Week on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV! February 22, 2014 Sundays at NOON!
  »» David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show, will talk about how independent, citizen’s media is forcing the corporate media to address the big issues of the day.
  »» Attorney Daniel Nigh will tell us how big pharma is pushing testosterone medication on men who don’t really need it.
  »» Attorney Mike Burg will explain the problems that GOP obstruction is having on our court systems, leaving vacancies all over the judiciary.
  »» Best-selling author Jim Hightower will talk about the need for a true, populist movement in America, and why now is the perfect time to do it.
  • Ring of Fire’s Weekly Rewind Posted on December 21, 2013 by Joshua Schwitzerlett - Ring of Fire’s top stories from the past week.
  • VIDEO! THE HISTORY OF CORPORATE CORRUPTION & FRAUD with Robert Kennedy Jr & Mike Papantonio “Call us if you have a personal story about Fraud on Taxpayers or False Claims for Payment made by Corportations at 1-866-389-FIRE (3473) or contact us by email at info@ringoffireradio.com if you have evidence of fraud that robbed taxpayer dollars. If our government is paying too much due to fraud by a corporation, Ring of Fire wants to do a story on it.” Also see Papantonio & Kennedy on Corporate Corruption and Fraud — Pt. 1/4
  • Ring of Fire’s Weekly Rewind Posted on February 22, 2014 by Joshua De Leon
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: The Wall Street Secret Society (VIDEO) Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio and progressive radio host David Pakman discuss the story of a New York Magazine reporter that crashed a ‘Kappa Beta Phi’ meeting of Wall Street tycoons.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Time To Get Aggressive On Judicial Appointments (VIDEO) Mike Papantonio and Thom Hartmann discuss the growing problem of judicial vacancies, and how extremists like Marco Rubio are holding the judiciary hostage just because they hate the President.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: GOP Obstruction Is Killing The Judiciary (VIDEO) Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio appears on The Thom Hartmann Program to discuss how the GOP is using various avenues of obstruction to create a judicial crisis.
  • Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the "Podcast" tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up! Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 7-10 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
  

  
  

• Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 12 NOON et @ Majority.fm!
  
  • MONDAY 2/17/14 Michael Mann: Stop Keystone XL, Maine Senate Candidate Shenna Bellows & For Members: Suzanne Mettler
  • TUESDAY 2/18/14 Ethan Rome: Healthcare & TPP, Shannon Brownlee: Why We Are Overtreated, Simon Lazarus: SCOTUS & ACA
  • WEDNESDAY 2/19/14 Lauren Coodley: Upton Sinclair, Jonathan Voss: Progressive Policy Is Popular, Max Ritchman: Preserve Social Security & Medicare
  • THURSDAY 2/20/14 John McDonough: Vermont Single Payer, Cheryl Phillips: Hot Spotting, Robert Kraig: Scott Walker, For Members! Triumph The Insult Comic Dog
  • MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityfm.libsyn.com!
  

  
  

• KEISER REPORT Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!
  
  "HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"
  WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts "The Truth About Markets" on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s "People & Power" series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.
  • VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!
  • MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV
  • KEISER REPORT ON FACEBOOK STACY SUMMARY: For once and for all, here are our real Facebook pages, the other ones are fake. But if you feel like chatting to the fake ones, by all means, go ahead.
  »» Max Keiser
  »» Keiser Report
  »» Stacey Herbert
  • Assange: How cryptography is a key weapon in the fight against empire states by maxkeiser - READ What began as a means of retaining individual freedom can now be used by smaller states to fend off the ambitions of larger ones (guardian.co.uk)
  • Why Banks Are Doomed: Technology and Risk by Charles Hugh Smith - t’s not just that banks are no longer needed–they pose a needless and potentially catastrophic risk to the nation. To understand why, we need to understand the key characteristics of risk. The entire banking sector is based on two illusions ......
  • Jumpers and ‘high-endurance suicides’ by Stacy Herbert - READ Twelve deaths in eight months, by suicide & otherwise, among the CEO classes (americablog.com)
  • A 34% pension hit for Detroit retirees in debt dealby Stacy Herbert - I seem to recall that the average annual pension for a Detroit retiree is $19,000 per year. If so, then they’d be taking an annual haircut of $6460. READ Robert Snell (@RobertSnell_DN) February 21, 2014: Here is section spelling out 34 percent pension hit for #Detroit general retirees in bankruptcy debt-cutting plan pic.twitter.com/BtMuMVItP8
  • ALASDAIR MACLEOD: GOLD CARTEL CAN NO LONGER MANAGE THEIR RETREAT! by The Doc - London Gold expert Alasdair Macleod joins the SD Weekly Metals & Markets this week as a special guest host, discussing: True Chinese gold demand in 2013 was a minimum of 2,800 tons- falsely reported by the bullion bank apologists at under 2,000 tons; Why a sudden shortage of physical gold in March-April of 2013 forced essentially a gold default by 2 Dutch banks; Bullion & Western Central banks are out of gold & near the end of the line- Macleod explains why the cartel can no longer manage their retreat: We’ve got a situation where the central bankers don’t have any idea how to get out of the situation they’ve created for themselves; Gold & silver close at their highs for the week- setting up a big rally next week? Click here for the SD Weekly Metals & Markets With The Doc, Eric Dubin, & Alasdair Macleod!
  • KEISER REPORT [KR556] Keiser Report: Print or Taper? We discuss the print, taper, print, taper talk that has led to the economic and financial chaos that finds the Financial Times opining that one should do like the Bundesbank did and demand physical delivery of your gold before your wealth becomes pixellated. In the second half, Max interviews John Mauldin, author of CODE RED: How to Protect Your Savings From the Coming Crisis, about money printing, inflation/deflation, gold prices and wages.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR564] Keiser Report: France’s Financial Horror Movie We critique Francois Hollande’s B Movie for France. Turning to America for economic advice is a classic trope of the B financial horror movie and the President of France was in Silicon Valley drumming up support for French industry while neglecting to mention the bossnapping trend. We also look at the posh suburbs in London where residents are turning their homes into Fort Knox in order to defend themselves from moped riding ram raiders. In the second half, Max interviews French journalist, Pierre Jovanovic of Jovanovic.com about the ménage a trois of fraud, the Days of Rage and Francois Hollande as the enemy of the finances of the French people.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR565] Keiser Report: How to Steal Money in the Future & Benefit Today We discuss the last contagion in London, where even if an investor lives 200 fricking years, he’ll never discover the vampire squid’s true nature. They also cover the spate of banker suicides and the wholesale merger of high finance with heavy industry. In the second half, Max interviews a Green Party member of the Greater London Authority, Jenny Jones about Boris Johnson, the Bankers’ Mayor.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR566] Keiser Report: Zero-Sum World We discuss the new game called the Hunger Gains. In a financialized zero sum world, Housing Gains plus Hunger Pains equals The Hunger Gains. This game is sponsored by China, however, and if they withdraw their sponsorship by dumping their trillion in US Treasuries, a new game called working may have to happen. In the second half, Max interviews Alasdair MacLeod of Goldmoney.com about the redemption of emerging market currencies into the US dollar mirroring pre-WW1 bank runs, except on a global scale. With this ongoing global bank run happening, it is China that is buying up all the gold.
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1304] The Truth About Markets – 01 February 2014 Download show HERE (mp3)
  • Donate to ResonanceFM here!
  

  
  

• The Scott Horton Radio Show
  
  Scott Horton is host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles and KUCR 88.3 in Riverside, and the Scott Horton Show on No Agenda Radio. (You can listen live Monday through Friday from 3-5 PM Eastern HERE.) Plenty of archives too!
  • Scott Horton Radio Show Progress Report: All right, yall, welcome back to the show to the inaugural Scott Horton Show progress report! It’s been an eventful year since the show and I (amicably) parted ways with Antiwar.com, so I thought I would highlight just a few of the show’s important milestones, as well as preview some of the exciting projects to look for in the near future. ........ The show on Pacifica KPFK 90.7 FM in L.A., still called Antiwar Radio, has now moved to join their Sunday morning public affairs line up (8:30 am pt), and remains the largest source of listeners, with 15,000-20,000 people tuning in weekly. The future: Liberty Express Radio is growing and bringing me along for the ride. The great Charles Goyette hooked me up with Alan Butler and the Liberty Express earlier this year, and what has been the daily replay there from 3-5 eastern time has become my best listened-to show. And now they’re adding my friend Tom Woods to the lineup from 2-3 PM. That does it. I’m making the switch! Starting Monday, October 14, the live show is moving to 3-5 PM Eastern time on LibertyExpressRadio.com, as well as NoAgenda and my own stream.......
  • Scott Horton Radio Show 01/31/14 Kevin Zeese: Attorney and political activist Kevin Zeese discusses his article “Is Syrian ‘Peace” Conference Laying the Foundation for War;” the exclusion of Iran and various (non US-supported) opposition groups from the talks; John Kerry’s lies and warmongering; the secret law that allows the government to arm “moderate” Syrian rebels; and CNN’s single-sourced report on torture by the Syrian government.
  • Scott Horton Radio Show 02/18/14 Corey Hutchins: Journalist Corey Hutchins discusses the Red Cross’s call to eliminate nuclear weapons once and for all; the “War is Boring” collection on medium.com; and the vested interests inside the nuclear industry preventing disarmament.
  • Scott Horton Radio Show 02/19/14 Philip Giraldi: Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the March 7th National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel “Special Relationship;” the nonexistent US national interest in Ukraine; avoiding unnecessary conflict with Russia; and why John McCain is delusional about supporting the “good guys” in Syria.
  • Scott Horton Radio Show 02/19/14 Trita Parsi: Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council, discusses his article “US-Iran deal: Compromise is key,” and the possibility Iran won’t have a normalized nuclear program or be completely free from sanctions for 25 years.
  • Visit his blog Stress. See ScottHorton.org for archives! Send emails to Scott at scotthorton.org to help Scott keep his podcast going!
  • Older interviews at Antiwar Radio!
  

  
  

• fauxnews
  • Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Majority Whip
  • Sen Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
  • Gov Scott Walker (R) of Wisconsin
  • Gov Peter Shumlin (D) of Vermont
  
  
  

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