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One Town's War on Gay Teens

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Sabrina Rubin Erdely - Feb. 04 (News Report) - Sam's death lit the fuse of a suicide epidemic that would take the lives of nine local students in under two years, a rate so high that child psychologist Dan Reidenberg, executive director of the Minnesota-based Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, declared the Anoka-Hennepin school district the site of a "suicide cluster," adding that the crisis might hold an element of contagion; suicidal thoughts had become catchy, like a lethal virus.

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How will technology influence the news in 2012?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Dan Gillmor - Dec. 29 (Opinion) - Predicting the next year's news is a fool's errand, but looking at technological trends could give us a hint At the beginning of 2011, aging dictators ruled Egypt and Libya, and despotism was the nearly unquestioned reality in most of the Middle East. The eurozone was seeing trouble at its edges, but wasn't heading toward collapse. News International had successfully covered up most of its rampant bad acts, and Rupert Murdoch was on the verge of even greater control over British media and politics. Anyone who might have predicted how utterly and rapidly those realities would change might have been branded a lunatic. Which is one reason why the annual journalistic ritual of making predictions about the year ahead is a fool's errand. With that in mind, let me offer instead some observations about the technology and media trends we've seen in past months, and how they might play out in 2012. In many cases, the trajectory is deeply worrisome. But I remain an eternal optimist in the face of ...

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Here comes everybuddy

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Harper's - By Andy Merrifield - Dec. 15 (News Analysis) - The crucial factor is not working in a factory, or with your hands; not is it necessarily anything to do with being poor. Rather, as Berman writes, it is the need "to sell your labor in order to live" -- "to look at yourself in the mirror and think, 'Now what have I got that I can sell?' " One virtue of this definition of the working class is its inclusiveness, its flexibility. By this reckoning, the working class is practically "here comes everybody."

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"Hancock 38" Defendants Found Guilty for Bold Army Base Protest Against U.S. Drone Attacks Abroad

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 02 (News Report) - Thirty-one of 38 accused activists were found guilty on Thursday for their role in a protest against U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The activists were arrested on April 22 at the New York Air National Guard base at Hancock Field near Syracuse, New York, after trespassing to protest the MQ-9 Reaper drones, which the 174th Fighter Wing of the Guard has remotely flown over Afghanistan since late 2009

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Democracy Now! Correspondent Anjali Kamat on Reporting the Revolutions in Egypt and Libya

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Anjali Kamat - Dec. 01 (Special Report) - Democracy Now! special correspondent Anjali Kamat has just returned from Cairo after nearly a year reporting on the revolutions in Egypt and Libya. Anjali was on the ground in Cairo covering the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak and the ensuing crackdowns on protesters opposed to military rule. Kamat also made two trips to Libya to cover the uprising and ultimate overthrow, with the aid of NATO forces, of the Gaddafi regime. "One of the things that was really remarkable over the past year that I saw in both Egypt and Libya is the fearlessness of people," Kamat says. "I was really taken aback by—you know, we’ve seen visually the scenes of crowds of people running into armed tanks, running into vehicles towards them that are opening fire, people just without any fear."

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Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein on Next Steps for the Movement Against Corporate Power

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 25 (News Analysis) - How does the Occupy Wall Street movement move from "the outrage phase" to the "hope phase," and imagine a new economic model? In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we bring you excerpts from a recent event that examined this question and much more. "Occupy Everywhere: On the New Politics and Possibilities of the Movement Against Corporate Power," a panel discussion hosted by The Nation magazine and The New School in New York City, features Oscar-winning filmmaker and author Michael Moore; Naomi Klein, best-selling author of the "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"; Rinku Sen of the Applied Research Center and publisher of ColorLines; Occupy Wall Street organizer Patrick Bruner; and veteran journalist William Greider, author of "Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country." [includes rush transcript]

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Egyptian Revolution Enters New Phase As Thousands Brave Violence to Protest Military Rule

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Amy Goodman - Nov. 22 (News Analysis) - Activists in Egypt are holding their fourth day of massive demonstrations to demand an end to military rule and a transition to a civilian government. The protests continue amidst a massive crackdown and an offer to resign from Egypt’s interim cabinet. Reports from Cairo’s main morgue said at least 33 people have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the military government’s crackdown. The turmoil comes as Egypt is scheduled to begin holding parliamentary elections on Monday. "I can’t see how a legitimate election can take place when you have such state-sponsored brutality happening in the heart of the capital city of the country,” says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who joins us for an update from Cairo. "What many Egyptians have been seeing over these past 10 months has been that the revolution has been abused and stolen and deformed, and that the military council in Egypt has really not lived up to any of its promises in this transitional period, from human rights abuses to just their complete grip on power."

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Occupy PressThink: Tim Pool

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Press Think - By Jay Rosen, Alexis Madrigal - Nov. 21 (Opinion) - “Being a livestream he acts as ‘eyes and ears’ for the viewers. Literally. People will tell him to move the camera somewhere and he’ll do it. They’ll ask for interviews with someone, and Tim will go over and do so… The viewers will ask him questions and he won’t rest until he gets them their answers.” Recently, Alexis Madrigal, the technology editor of The Atlantic and pretty much the smartest young journalist ’round these parts, re-described occupy Wall Street as an API, or Application Programming Interface.

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More on Police Departments' Collusion in Defense of 1%: Who's the Organization Coordinating Those Crackdown Calls?

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - Nov. 19 (Investigative Report) - a little-known but influential private membership based organization has placed itself at the center of advising and coordinating the crackdown on the encampments. The Police Executive Research Forum, an international non-governmental organization with ties to law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been coordinating conference calls with major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs to advise them on policing matters and discuss response to the Occupy movement. The group has distributed a recently published guide on policing political events....

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What to Make of New Polling on Support for the Occupy Movement?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Joshua Holland - Nov. 18 (News Analysis) - All over the country people are hearing that the Occupiers are animals who are masturbating in public and shitting in the streets. The local news is luridly portraying the protests as hotbeds of crime infested with lunatics and drug addicts. That stuff isn't disseminated just for kicks. It's done to poison the minds of the public before they have a chance to identify with the protesters. This is an important point.

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Paramilitary Policing of Occupy Wall Street: Excessive Use of Force Amidst the New Military Urbanism

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Nov. 17 (Interview) - We host a discussion on policing and the Occupy Wall Street movement with Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which helped organize calls among police chiefs on how to respond to the Occupy protests, and with Norm Stamper, the former police chief of Seattle, who recently wrote an article for The Nation magazine titled "Paramilitary Policing from Seattle to Occupy Wall Street." "Trust me, the police do not want to be put in this position. And cities really need to ask themselves, is there another way to handle this kind of conflict?"

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84-Year Old Dorli Rainey, Pepper-Sprayed at Occupy Seattle, Denounces "Worsening" Police Crackdowns

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 17 (Interview) - Police departments across the country are coming under criticism for using excessive force against Occupy Wall Street protesters during the past two months. In Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn apologized Wednesday, hours after an 84-year-old retired Seattle school teacher named Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed in the face during a protest. Photographs of her moments after she was pepper sprayed went viral, showing the chemical irritant and liquid used to treat it dripping from her chin. According to Occupy Seattle organizers, a priest and a pregnant teenager were also pepper sprayed Tuesday night. Dorli Rainey joins us from Seattle. "My problem is not only with police brutality,” Rainey says. “It is with the progressively worse attitude of the police."

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Occupy Wall Street November 17: Journalists Arrested, Beaten By Police

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jack Mirkinson - Nov. 17 (News Report) - As thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters took to the streets on Thursday, journalists once again found themselves a target of police violence and arrests. Reporters took to Twitter and, in some cases, to television to spread the word of the heavy hand police were using against them.

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Police Crackdowns on Occupy Protests from Oakland to New York Herald the "New Military Urbanism"

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 16 (News Analysis) - After a wave of raids across the country in which police in riot gear broke up Occupy Wall Street encampments and arrested protesters, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan acknowledged in an interview with the BBC that she participated in a conference call with officials from 18 cities about how to deal with the Occupy movement. As police forces violently crack down on protests across the United States and Europe, we look at the increasing influence of military technology on domestic police forces. Stephen Graham is professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University in the U.K. His book is, "Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism." "Why the Occupy movement is so powerful, what it's demonstrating, is that by occupying public spaces around the world — and particularly these extremely symbolic public spaces — it's reasserting that the city is the foundation space for democracy," Graham says. [includes rush transcript - partial]

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Occupy Wall Street is "So Important Because It is in the Heart of Empire"

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Arundhati Roy - Nov. 15 (Interview) - Renowned Indian writer and global justice activist Arundhati Roy is preparing to address Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday. She recently joined us in the studio to talk about the Occupy movement. "What they are doing becomes so important because it is in the heart of empire, or what used to be empire," Roy said. "And to criticize and to protest against the model that the rest of the world is aspiring to is a very important and a very serious business. So...it makes me very, very hopeful that after a long time you're seeing some nascent political, real political anger here." She also discussed her new book, "Walking with the Comrades," a chronicle of her time in the forests of India alongside rebel guerrillas who are resisting a brutal military campaign by the Indian government. [includes rush transcript]

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Council asks city to look at its investments

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Times - By Lynn Thompson - Nov. 15 (News Report) - The Seattle City Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution in support of Occupy Seattle that calls on the city to examine its banking and investment practices, home-foreclosure patterns and the financing of local elections.

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Occupy Honolulu: Hawaiian Musician Makana Performs Protest Song to World Leaders at APEC Summit

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 14 (Interview) - within the heavily guarded compound where the summit took place, renowned Hawaiian musician and guitarist Makana carried out his own act of protest. Makana had been invited to play instrumental music at the gala dinner Saturday night. At the dinner, Makana opened his jacket to reveal a t-shirt which read, "Occupy with Aloha." Then, instead of performing the background instrumental he was scheduled to play, he started to sing a protest song he had released earlier that day.

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Legendary Folk Duo Crosby & Nash on Soundtracking Movements From the 1960s to Occupy Wall Street

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 10 (News Report) - Just days after performing at the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Lower Manhattan, the legendary musicians David Crosby and Graham Nash join us live in our studio. For the duo, Occupy Wall Street is the latest in a number of causes they have supported in their historic careers stretching back nearly five decades. They are best known as founding members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a supergroup that performed at Woodstock and sold millions of records. Both are two-time inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Throughout their careers, politics has played a central role in their music. About the Occupy Wall Street movement, Crosby says: “There's an awful lot of people who feel that they are not represented in Congress, that Congress has been bought by the large corporations, and that they are powerless and are getting the short end of the stick.” [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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The Moral Force of OWS is Tackling the Devastating War on the Poor

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Frances Fox Piven - Nov. 07 (News Analysis) - We’ve been at war for decades now -- not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it’s been a war against the poor, but if you hadn’t noticed, that’s not surprising. ... The Occupy Wall Street movement has already made the concentration of wealth at the top of this society a central issue in American politics. Now, it promises to do something similar when it comes to the realities of poverty in this country.

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Occupy Oakland Prepares for General Strike as War Veterans Organize Day of Action at Occupy Camps

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 02 (News Report) - Protesters in Oakland, California, are launching a citywide general strike today that will include an attempt to shut down the nation’s fifth-busiest shipping port. The strike is expected to draw thousands of people to downtown Oakland, many responding to police attacks last week on nonviolent protesters with Occupy Oakland, including two-time Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen.

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Mind Your Manners: The Secrets of Switzerland's Last Traditional Finishing School

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Time - By William Lee Adams - Oct. 24 (Special Report) - If lunch at the Institut Villa Pierrefeu (IVP) often feels like a rehearsal, that's because it is. Under the watchful eye of Rosemary McCallum, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and expert on table manners, 13 female students practice the skills they've studied in courses on European etiquette and table service. As the meal unfolds in a stately dining room with corniced ceilings, McCallum gently reminds the five student servers that they must pick up champagne glasses near the bottom of the stems and offer the pear-and-Roquefort tarts from the left. Back home, four of the five women serving have live-in staffs. But the program requires them to rotate through the service role anyway so they can better train and manage their employees. Vera, a 30-year-old playing the role of hostess, steers the conversation from her work with orphans back home in Lebanon to a Mexican guest's love of horseback riding. All goes well until Vera's fondness for Toblerone mousse leads her to commit a crucial error. "Your husband is still eating, and you've already finished," McCallum says. "Remember to pace yourself." Vera glares across the table at her husband, played by a female classmate from India. "Well," Vera says, "my husband should learn to eat faster."

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The New Libya: Exclusive Video on Challenges Facing a Nation Emerging From Gaddafi's 42-Year Rule

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Anjali Kamat - Oct. 18 (Special Report) - Eight months into the uprising, Libya is peering into an uncertain future. After 42 years under Gaddafi’s rule, Libyans long repressed under his regime are publicly speaking out. However, even Gaddafi’s most consistent critics say the road ahead is paved with serious challenges. In this exclusive report from inside Libya, Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat and Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films speak with former Libyan exiles, Libyan human rights activists, NTC chair Mustafa Abdul Jalil, prisoners held by the rebel forces, and others.

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The Rise of the Regressive Right and the Reawakening of America

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Oct. 17 (News Analysis) - Progressives believe in openness, equal opportunity, and tolerance. Progressives assume we're all in it together: We all benefit from public investments in schools and health care and infrastructure. And we all do better with strong safety nets, reasonable constraints on Wall Street and big business, and a truly progressive tax system. Progressives worry when the rich and privileged become powerful enough to undermine democracy. Regressives take the opposite positions.

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Citibank Arrests Customers for Trying to Close Accounts

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

economicvoice.com - By Richard Henley Davis - Oct. 17 (News Report) - This notion of removing money from the banks in order to bring them down is a genuine threat to the banking industry and we can expect more arrests by banks who are using the police force as their private security to prevent a collapse in their interests through mass deposit withdrawal.

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Occupy Times Square: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Swarm Midtown

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Whitney Snyder - Oct. 16 (News Report) - Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York City's Times Square Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their monthlong campaign against corporate greed.

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