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Israeli “General’s Son” Facing Sentencing, on U.S. Election
Peled’s sentencing takes place on Nov. 8th — Election Day in the U.S. He says, “The 2016 elections give Americans an opportunity to speak up against the $38 Billion boondoggle in foreign aid to Israel. Israel is a fully developed country that neither needs nor deserves foreign aid. Much of this money will go to activity that contravenes U.S. laws, yet both major candidates wholeheartedly support it.”
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Coup in Venezuela?
“The fact is that democratic institutions in Venezuela have been expanding, even to including methods of direct democracy, like the commune. Far from being a dictatorship, Venezuela had the opposition win the legislature last year — and now the opposition seems set on using that to overthrow the democratically-elected Venezuela government.
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Affordable Care Act: “Imploding and Beyond Repair”
“Premium increases for 2017 under the Affordable Care Act are being reported in a number of states (e.g. 59 percent in Minnesota up to 119 percent in Arizona), typically associated with reduced choice of health plans as more insurers exit the market. The costs of health insurance and health care already exceed $25,000 a year for a family of four on an average employer-sponsored plan as these increases become unaffordable and unsustainable for a growing part of our population.”
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Iceland: Pirate Party Victory?
Fontaine said today: “This time around, we have a party dominating the polls that is touting itself as a genuine alternative to the old order, and the international press has been quick to run with this narrative. If you read the platform of the Pirate Party, there definitely is a lot about it that pushes against the grain; in particular, their emphasis on government transparency, direct democracy and increased democratic participation, and finishing up that new constitution already.
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AT&T&Time&Warner vs Democracy
It could also spur a new wave of mergers between other content and distribution companies, encouraging an already highly concentrated media system to become more consolidated. In the coming weeks and months, we will no doubt hear from industry representatives that such a merger would provide many public benefits. But historically this has rarely been the case.
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On the Stealing of U.S. Elections
As for voter-eligibility, it is deliberately narrowed through the time-honored practice of using ‘states’ rights’ to impose racist agendas. Most states deny voting rights to ex-convicts, a practice that currently disenfranchises some six million citizens, disproportionately from communities of color. More recently, targeting the same constituencies, many states have passed onerous and unnecessary voter-ID laws.
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Clinton’s “Incredibly Dangerous” Nuclear Brinkmanship
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Mosul and the “Shadow Wars”
“With significant advance warning, the ISIS leadership in Mosul will likely now be long gone, having moved across into northern Syria to strengthen forces in and around Raqqa and thus help accelerate the fragmentation of what remains of the nation state of Syria.
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Did the U.S. Assist the Disastrous Bombing of a Funeral in Yemen?
“When AlterNet asked U.S. Air Force spokesman Shane Huff, he conceded that the U.S. refueled coalition fighters the weekend of the bombing — including the day after the bombing — but denied that USAF fueled any aircraft on the day of the bombing. When asked why the U.S., which typically refuels coalition aircraft, would provide fuel that weekend but not the day of the bombing, Huff replied, ‘I do not know the answer to that question.’
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The “Second-Most Important Vote” On Election Day
Studies show that campaigns are less negative in cities that use ranked choice voting. Rewarding candidates who seek to earn every voter’s support is a win for the people of Maine and American democracy as a whole. Ranked choice voting is a nonpartisan reform supported by Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We all recognize the need to make our country a better place for future generations. It begins with how we elect and hold our leaders accountable.
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“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