NewsTrust - Politics - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

News articles as assets and paths

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Buzzmachine - By Jeff Jarvis - May. 27 (Opinion) - This is the start of a new project I’m working on to brainstorm new forms, relationships, and (business) models for news. Responding to a current discussion on Twitter among @AntDeRose, @felixsalmon, @jayrosn_nyu & @davewiner about the form of articles, I’m posting it here. The discussion started when Jay challenged Anthony, as a representative of Reuters.

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Bill Maher Fights Birthers With 'Wifers'

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Bill Maher - May. 26 (Comedy News) - Maher introduced the concept of "Wiferism," the belief that Romney is a secret polygamist. Using classic "Birther" rhetoric, he showed just how easy it is to create a controversy out of nothing:

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"What We Do to the Land, We Do to the People"-- May 24 West Virginia Direct Actions Against MTR

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Writing Corner - By Beth Wellington - May. 24 (Opinion) - As part of Mountain Justice Summer Action Camp taking place at the Appalachian South Folklife Center near Pipestem, WV, five members of Mountain Justice and RAMPS boarded a coal barge to protest the destruction of mountains in West Virginia through Mountaintop removal, while other members and their fellow concerned activists blocked coal transport at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 24.

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Malcolm Bull reviews ‘A Perfect Moral Storm’ by Stephen Gardiner · LRB 24 May 2012

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The London Review of Books - By Malcolm Bull - May. 24 (Review) - For the benefit of anyone who has spent the past decade or so on a different planet, the most frequently asked questions about climate change on this one are as follows. Is it getting warmer? Yes, surface temperatures have risen by 0.8°C from pre-industrial levels. Are humans causing it? Almost certainly.

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Today's GOP: Worst Political Party Since the Civil War

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Martin Longman - May. 22 (Opinion) - What about the Jim Crow laws, or the Palmer raids, or the Japanese internment camps, or McCarthyism, or the Vietnam and Iraq wars? But when I started to think about it, I realized that many of the big mistakes our country has made since the Civil War were not really the result of one political party's actions.

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With the Affordable Care Act Hanging by a Thread, It's Time for Single-Payer

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Pearl Korn - May. 21 (Opinion) - Co-written by Jonathan Stone While the Affordable Care Act is being deliberated in the Supreme Court -- with no decision expected until the end of June -- progressives and all other rational human beings should ramp up their efforts to build the movement

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How to peek through Dan Schultz’s Truth Goggles, the B.S. detection software

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Nieman Journalism Lab - By Andrew Phelps - May. 20 (Opinion) - Last November I wrote about Dan Schultz and his Truth Goggles, a piece of software he’s developing in partnership with PolitiFact that highlights suspicious claims in news articles. It’s as simple as spellcheck. Now, as Schultz finalizes his graduate thesis at the MIT Media Lab, he’s conducting a user study to understand how people (anonymously) respond to a prototype of the tool. It’s our first look at the software in action, and he wants you to give it a try.

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How Crazy Is Wall Street, New York Times?

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Daily Beast - By Edward Jay Epstein - May. 20 (Opinion) - The New York Times published an opinion piece on May 12, 2012, concerning the question of whether the rich, from a moral standpoint, are good or bad. The story reported, “A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are ‘clinical psychopaths’ and that they exhibit an ‘unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.’ ” The vivid term “clinical psychopath” brings to mind the berserk buzz-saw-wielding investment banker played by Christian Bale in the film American Psycho. Since some 3.9 million people work in the financial-services industry, a clinically diagnosed horde of lunatics numbering almost 400,000 people would certainly be a matter of public concern, though it might only confirm some journalists’ view of American capitalism.

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Romney Embraces Growth, Leaving Austerity To Europe

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Ward - May. 19 (Opinion) - Austerity is out. Growth is in. And Mitt Romney's campaign has taken notice. Politicians in Europe and in President Barack Obama's administration can't get enough of the G word these days. "Growth must be a priority, at the same time as we put in place some fiscal compact to improve our finances," said the new French President Francois Hollande, during a visit with Obama in the Oval Office on Friday.

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"End This Depression Now"

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Paul Krugman, Amy Goodman - May. 17 (Interview) - Right now, there just is not enough spending, and we need the government, which can do it, to step in and provide the demand we need. ... We’ve had austerity in the face of a recession, in a way that we have never had before since the 1930s. ... And the results are clear: it’s disastrous."

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OpEdNews - Article: Romney, Unzipped & Exposed as Babbitt Clone

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - May. 15 (Opinion) - What if it turns out Romney is little more than Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt on steroids, with more money, clout, and ability to do harm? A classic satire has much to teach about today's politics.

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Occupy Wall Street "Has Created Something That Didn't Really Exist" in U.S. — Solidarity

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 14 (Interview) - Noam Chomsky says the Occupy movement has helped rebuild class solidarity and communities of mutual support on a level unseen since the time of the Great Depression. "The Occupy movement spontaneously created something that doesn't really exist in the country: Communities of mutual support, cooperation, open spaces for discussion ... people doing things and helping each other," Chomsky says. "That's very much missing. There [has been] massive propaganda going on for a century, that you really shouldn't care about anyone else, just yourself ... To rebuild [class solidarity] -- even in small pieces of society -- can become very important, can change the conception of how society ought to function." Chomsky also gives his assessment of President Obama, whom he says has attacked civil liberties in a way that "goes beyond George W. Bush."

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Mitt Romney, the Unlikable Presidential Candidate

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Daily Beast - By Michael Tomasky - May. 13 (Opinion) - It’s been a long time since the country elected a man as personally unappealing as Mitt Romney. Will Americans overlook their deeply held conviction that he’s a jerk? Very few votes are going to be cast on the basis of what Mitt Romney did or didn’t do to John Lauber in 1965. So that, per se, isn’t Romney’s problem. But this is: The story lands as another brick on pile of evidence amassing that he’s just a disagreeable human being. A few days ago I wrote about Barack Obama’s biggest problem, which is that despite all the many areas in which Americans rate him higher than Romney, the one on which they give Romney the edge happens to be pretty important: handling the economy. Now we get to Romney’s biggest problem. The likability factor. He ain’t got it. And he ain’t got much of a way to get it.

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Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like Teen Boys Gone Crazy

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Sara Robinson - May. 12 (Opinion) - 'Make no mistake: all this Ayn Rand libertarian me-first-and-the-rest-of-you-go-to-hell stuff - the there's-no-government-like-no-government theology..

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End Polluter Welfare Act

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Bernie Sanders - May. 11 (Opinion) - 'Our federal government will give away over $110 billion in taxpayer dollars to oil, gas, and coal industries in the next 10 years. Totally absurd.' Bernie Sanders,

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Stewart Analyzes The Evolution Of Fox News' Gay Rights Coverage

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - May. 11 (Comedy News) - This issue is just racism 2.0 and it aligns perfectly with the GOP agenda of rich white males. Justtheobvious: This issue is just racism 2.0 and it aligns perfectly Bingo ! They already have the middle class and poor on their 'fiscal' oppression list. So

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The Political Obstructionism Undermining US National Security

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

thebulletin.org - By Kingston Reif - May. 11 (Opinion) - US congressional Republicans just passed legislation that will hamper implementation of New START as well as the administration's ability to make changes to the US nuclear arsenal. But this isn't a lingering Cold War hangover or an ideological battle.

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Tony Kushner on the Overlooked "Radicalism" and Lessons of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 10 (Interview) - For his latest project, Tony Kushner is writing the screenplay for an upcoming Steven Spielberg movie about Abraham Lincoln. Kushner says an understanding of Lincoln's presidency carries valuable lessons for political life today. "I think [Lincoln's] incredible ability to finesse very treacherous political circumstances and continue to move the country forward in the midst of the most horrendously difficult period in its history, I think, is breathtaking and awe-inspiring." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Structural Unemployment Talk Is Nonsense

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Peter S. Goodman - May. 09 (Editorial) - Remember that unemployment problem we used to have? The one that politicians, pundits and policymakers used to talk about on a regular basis, debating how we might fix it? Well, forget about all that, because the problem is structural, meaning nothing can be done. So sayeth a loud slice of the econo-pundit class.

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Power and Money in America (Noam Chomsky)

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Noam Chomsky, posted by Juan - May. 09 (Opinion) - The Occupy movement has been an extremely exciting development. Unprecedented, in fact. There’s never been anything like it that I can think of. If the bonds and associations it has established can be sustained [...]

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"We Need to Make a Ruckus": Robert Reich Hails Occupy for Exposing Concentration of Wealth and Power

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 08 (Interview) - In his new book, "Beyond Outrage," former Labor Secretary Robert Reich opens with a dedication to the Occupy Wall Street movement. He writes: "To the Occupiers, and all others committed to taking back our economy and our democracy." We speak to Reich about the success of Occupy in reshaping the national dialogue on the economy and why strong grassroots movements are needed to push elected leaders in Washington to enact a progressive agenda. Reich also discusses why austerity is not the answer to the economic crisis at home or in Europe. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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A vital (and unlearned) lesson from Julius Caesar

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 08 (Opinion) - Julius Caesar then stood and noted that Roman law forbids the execution of Roman citizens even for heinous crimes, and that executing the conspirators would thus require the creation of a radical and dangerous precedent: dangerous because to vest the power in the State to kill its own citizens, even if justified in the specific case where it is first done, would be to vest the power generally and thus ensure its inevitable abuse. Thus, even as Caesar professed his boundless contempt for the traitors (“I consider no tortures sufficient for the crimes of these men”), he vehemently argued against allowing passions to lead the Senate to embrace punishments “foreign to the customs of our country” — not primarily on moral grounds but on pragmatic ones:

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The Heartland Billboard Embarrassment and the Dangers of Ideological Ignorance - Huffington Post

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:44:18 -0700

Huffington Post - May. 08 - Mongabay.comThe Heartland Billboard Embarrassment and the Dangers of Ideological IgnoranceHuffington PostThe Heartland Institute, a fiercely conservative/libertarian think tank that champions denial of climate change, briefly ran a billboard in Chicago last week featuring a photo of notorious criminal Ted Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber) next to the message ...Insurers Pull Support For Heartland Institute After Campaign Likens Climate ...Hartford CourantHeartland Institute losing major corporate sponsors after comparing climate ...Mongabay.comABIR, State Farm Pull Heartland Support After Climate Change AdPropertyCasualty360The New American -Examiner.comall 226 news articles »

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Violence, USA: An Interview with Henry A. Giroux

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By Michael Slate, Henry A Giroux - May. 07 (Interview) - if you are at all concerned, if you are at all awake, in the deepest sense of being awake, and you look at the society we live in you really have got to question, what is going on in the society? How does it link to the terrible things that are going on in the world? How does this link to the fact that the world is a horror?

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Dino Farts Warmed The Earth

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Travis Korte - May. 07 - By: Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer Published: 05/07/2012 12:02 PM EDT on LiveScience We might want to rename the Brachiosaurus with the moniker Gassiosaurus, new...

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