Even when girls and women say, out loud, that they are experiencing pain, people, including medical professionals, are more likely to minimize or dismiss what they say. I had a headache that lasted for years. It was there when I woke up and there when I went to sleep. I got so used to it that one day, when my …
The hidden Hazzard of viral activism – KHALED A BEYDOUN
Last week, a daring young black woman climbed up the flagpole in Charleston and took down the Confederate flag. Bree Newsome’s rebellious act at the South Carolina capitol followed a white man’s killing of nine black people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, the most recent tragedy that has intensified calls to do away with the Confederate flag – an emblem …
Rumbles of military coup as Greek workers demand end to EU austerity – Alex Lantier
Hours before anti-austerity demonstrators flooded the streets of central Athens on Friday, a number of retired Greek military officers publicly called for a “yes” vote in Sunday’s referendum on the European Union’s demands, defying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s call for a “no” vote. The contrast between masses of workers denouncing EU austerity and the pronouncements of prominent military figures could …
UK Government Caught Spying on Human Rights Organisations By Michaela Whitton
Edward Snowden didn’t just expose the possibility that state surveillance may have intruded into the lives of British citizens. He actually accused U.K. authorities of operating a system where ”anything goes,” and new details revealed this week confirm his suspicion. The U.K. government is one of the main culprits for privacy infringement. Mass indiscriminate surveillance programmes include monitoring of emails, calls, internet …
National Plutocrat Radio – Corporate One-Percenters dominate NPR affiliates’ boards By Aldo Guerrero
For a public radio service, NPR is notoriously known for its lack of diversity within its staff, audience and guests invited onto their shows—problems that NPRhas itself acknowledged (6/30/14). A new FAIR study finds thatNPR’s diversity problem also extends into the board of trustees of its most popular member stations: Two out of three board members are male, and nearly three out of …
FOREIGN POLICY DIARY ‘INSTABILITY ZONE CAUCASUS’ – US-NATO’S WAR INSIDE RUSSIA
ISIS has been raising presence in the Caucasus. On June 23, 2015 ISIS announced the creation of a new governorate, called Wilayat Qawqaz in the Russias North Caucasus, after several senior militants in the area pledged allegiance to ISIS. ISIS has been setting conditions to establish this governorate in support of its regional expansion campaign since at least January 2015. …
A Trojan Horse in the Home of Austerity – Pepe Escobar
Greece invented democracy. Greek mythology forged the way the West looks at itself. Greece even invented the denomination of this Eurasian annex – “Europa”. “For it is only criminals who presume to damage other people nowadays without the aid of philosophy.” Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities. Odysseus/Ulysses took ten years to go back home after the Trojan War. His descendants are now making history …
US health insurers seek huge rate increases for 2016 By Kate Randall
Health insurance companies across the US are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent and more, according to filings by the insurers with state insurance commissions. Insurance companies cite a larger than expected pool of unhealthy enrollees, high drug prices, and diminishing profits as contributing factors requiring the premium hikes. The rate increase requests are the latest demonstration …
America’s Endless Air Wars By Nicolas J S Davies
U.S. Central Command’s latest figures on its aerial bombardment of Iraq and Syria reveal that this is the heaviest U.S. bombing campaign since President George W. Bush’s “Shock and Awe” campaign against Iraq in 2003. In the campaign’s first ten months from August 2014 to May 2015, the U.S. and its allies conducted 15,245 air strikes, or an average of 51 air strikes …
23 Cents an Hour? The Perfectly Legal Slavery Happening in Modern-Day America By Terrell Jermaine Starr
If you thought slavery was outlawed in America, you would be wrong. The 13th amendment to the Constitution states that [3] “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In plain language, that means slavery in America can still …