Over the past decade, states have slashed workers’ compensation benefits, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the costs of workplace accidents to taxpayers. Michael Grabell and Howard Berkes Dennis Whedbee’s crew was rushing to prepare an oil well for pumping on the Sweet Grass Woman lease site, a speck of dusty plains rich with crude in …
Are Pilots Deserting Washington’s Remote-Control War?
There are roughly 1,000 such drone pilots, known in the trade as “18Xs,” working for the U.S. Air Force today. Another 180 pilots graduate annually from a training program that takes about a year to complete at Holloman and Randolph Air Force bases in, respectively, New Mexico and Texas. As it happens, in those same 12 months, about 240 trained pilots quit and the …
Spy Agencies Used ‘Giant Vacuum Cleaner’ To Collect Data Across Pacific
New documents from the cache of files leaked by Edward Snowden show that New Zealand’s intelligence agency has been collecting in bulk the cell phone, email, and internet files of people across the Pacific Island nations and handing that data over to the U.S. National Security Agency in an operation one angered lawmaker now describes as a “giant vaccum cleaner …
Ignore the Drumbeat of Doom, the NSA’s Call Records Program Didn’t Stop a Single Terrorist Attack
The director of US national intelligence, James Clapper, spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday and warned that if the Patriot Act was not renewed, lawmakers would be to blame if another 9/11-style attack occurs. (Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) Do you hear that? It’s starting. The predictable drumbeat of dire warnings about what will happen if …
Obama Lied About Obamacare
Obamacare Increases Insurance-Rate by 87.7%/85.4%, or 2.7% Since 2008 Obamacare Increases Insureds from 85.4% up to 87.7% Candidate Obama’s Promise of “Universal” Meant 100% Obamacare started being available on 1 October 2013 and has now been available for 16 months. When candiate Obama was running for the Presidency, he promised “universal coverage,” which is what exists in virtually all other …
Pentagon announces U-turn on use of depleted uranium in Iraq and Syria
Since the decision to deploy 12 A-10 Thunderbolt II gunships to the Middle East as part of Operation Inherent Resolve last December, concerns have been raised that the US would once again use DU in Iraq – already the world’s most DU contaminated country. Just months before the deployment was announced, Iraq had called on [http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/iraq-calls-for-treaty-ban-on-depleted-uranium] the United Nations for technical assistance …
The Obamacare Challenge We Need? Improved, Expanded Medicare for All
As a primary care pediatrician who sees children of low-income families in Washington, D.C., I am reminded every day of the vulnerability of our children’s health to the ill-informed whims of our lawmakers and courts. Those children will be on my mind as I gather with others outside the Supreme Court today. Just yesterday, I saw my 16-year-old patient Mary, …
Obama Initiative Seeks to Get 4 Million Fourth Graders Exploring America’s Public Lands
With the backing of President Obama, the National Park Foundation has launched a new program encouraging kids to get outside to play, learn and explore. The initiative, Every Kid in a Park, seeks to connect 4 million fourth graders and their families to enjoy America’s public lands and waters. In their campaign message, they put the onus on adults by reminding them that—via our tax dollars—we actually …
Private Police: Mercenaries for the American Police State
“Corporate America is using police forces as their mercenaries.”–Ray Lewis, Retired Philadelphia Police Captain It’s one thing to know and exercise your rights when a police officer pulls you over, but what rights do you have when a private cop–entrusted with all of the powers of a government cop but not held to the same legal standards–pulls you over and …
Surveillance Valley: Why Google Is Eager to Align Itself With America’s Military Industrial Complex
The following is an excerpt from Yasha Levine’s ongoing investigative project, Surveillance Valley, which you can help support on KickStarter [3]. Oakland, California: On February 18, 2014, several hundred privacy, labor, civil rights activists packed Oakland’s city hall. It was a rowdy crowd, and there was a heavy police presence. The people were there to protest the construction of a citywide surveillance center …