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Amazon Deal Taxpayer Costs “Far Understated, Exceed $4.6 Billion”
“The taxpayer costs of these two deals is high, both in absolute terms and on a per job basis, contrary to Amazon’s artful spin. Together, we believe they exceed $4.6 billion and the cost per job in New York is at least $112,000, not the $48,000 the company used in a selective and incomplete press release calculation.”
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Paul Ryan Tries to Keep Saudi Attack on Yemen Going
“Tuesday evening, in a classic Nixonian dirty tricks maneuver of the Washington swamp, Paul Ryan’s House Rules Committee approved a rule for consideration of H.R. 6784, the ‘Manage our Wolves Act,’ that would ‘de-privilege’ H. Con. Res. 138, the Khanna-Massie-Smith-Jones-Pocan Yemen War Powers Resolution to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi regime’s war-blockade-famine-genocide in Yemen.
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Amazon HQ2: “Massive Transfer of Wealth from Taxpayers to Shareholders”
“We don’t know the cost per job. But we do know that both deals were negotiated in secret, without any public input. We also know that past U.S. ‘megadeals’ have cost an average of $658,000 per job. At that price, taxpayers can never come close to breaking even. Such deals convey a massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to shareholders.”
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* WWI * Shootings and Militarism * Armistice Day
“On this anniversary, we need to celebrate not the politicians and generals who led the world into the carnage of 1914-1918, but the brave, outspoken people of that time who had the wisdom to know that the war was a catastrophe and should be stopped. They included Americans like pioneer social worker Jane Addams and labor leader Eugene V. Debs — who was sent to prison for speaking out. They had counterparts in all the warring countries, and these are the men and women we should be honoring on this centennial.”
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Trump’s “Nuclear Option” Against a Free Press
“Assange has never been charged with a crime in Sweden. At the secret urging of the UK government, Sweden refused for several years to question Assange in London regarding sexual assault allegations. That kept the case in ‘preliminary investigation’ limbo, while Sweden also refused to guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the United States, where he is likely to face prosecution for his work as a publisher.”
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As Millions in Yemen Face Starvation, Protests at Saudi Consulate at UN
“The United Nations warns that some 14 million people, half the population of the country, are on the verge of starvation as war pushes the country toward the biggest famine the world has seen in 100 years. … Reporting for the New York Times, Declan Walsh writes that the Saudi-UAE led coalition is using economic strangulation as a weapon of war, targeting jobs, infrastructure, food markets and the provision of basic services.”
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Trump Going to France; 100 Years After World War I: Who to Celebrate?
“November 11 is the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War. The most destructive conflict the world had yet seen, it killed more than 9 million soldiers, wounded another 21 million, left millions of civilians dead as well, and left a toxic legacy of bitterness that led to an even greater war. It is impossible to imagine the Second World War happening without the First.”
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Trump’s “Populism” and How Big Money Drives Elections
“While agreeing that racial resentment and sexism were important influences, the paper shows how various economic considerations — including concerns about imports and job losses, wealth inequality, social welfare programs, and starved infrastructure — helped Trump win the Republican primary and then led significant blocs of voters to shift from supporting Democrats or abstaining in 2012 to voting for him. It also presents striking evidence of the importance of political money and senators’ ‘reverse coattails’ in the dramatic final result.”
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“Rocks Are Not Guns”
“According to Border Patrol Victim’s Network, the Border Patrol has killed over 100 people since 2003. This trial will be the first time a Border Patrol officer has been criminally indicted since Nicholas Corbett was tried twice in 2007, both times ending with a hung jury.”
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Israeli Influence on Full Display; Russiagate MIA
“The influence of the Israel lobby is pervasive and detrimental to the cause of peace and democracy. Israel has also provided a proving ground for heinous policies, like shooting children who may throw stones. Quite predictably, Trump is proposing adopting this practice now along the U.S.-Mexican border. This highlights the authoritarian alliance between Netanyahu and Trump, but it builds on support that liberals have given Israel for decades. Standing against all this are activists. The film we’re releasing today documents some of the Israeli government’s efforts at silencing them.”
Blog
“With a tiny staff, it has managed to place on the air and in newspapers, points of view otherwise excluded from the national debate.”
Howard Zinn