86 Million Not In Labor Force, Russia Threatens Premptive Strike, More Drone Strikes, NATO Lockdown In Chicago
May 5th, 2012 - by: Danny
WATCH FOR THE SUPERMOON THIS WEEKEND Guardian: Photo of The Day RT: Anastasia Churkina, Political Correctness Gone Mad. I was intereviewed for this story. •Fluent: ‘Bitter election campaign ends in France’ •BBC:’** ‘Mass poverty’ warning for Greeks ** NATO Decides On Missile Shield and Then Offers to Discuss With Russia I was on Press TV last night talking about the arrogance and imperial bluster associated with this Missile shield designed to “protect” against Iran, a country that has not threatened to fire missiles. The Russians see it as the threat it is against them. This military-industrial complex boondoggle will not be operational before 2020. Washington Times” Russia’s most senior military officer said Thursday that Moscow would preemptively strike and destroy U.S.-led NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe if talks with Washington about the developing system continue to stall. •Fluent: ‘Panetta tells troops that bad behavior fuels the enemy, damages US standing in the world’ Plans to keep residents and dignitaries ‘safe’ during the NATO Summit include a no-fly zone, with a shoot-to-kill warning for those who break the ban. As CBS 2 reports, the US government is informing small plane pilots that if they enter the no-fly zone during the summit, they might be shot down. This is no joke. It will be enforced for May 19 to May 21. The flight advisory was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. The advisory bans non-commercial aircraft from flying within 10 nautical miles of downtown Chicago at altitudes below 18,000 feet. Security Plan Shuts Down Roads, South Loop For NATO Summit Weekend (For Our Own Protection!) A large security zone around McCormick Place will be off limits to Chicagoans, and the Museum Campus, Lake Shore Drive and several major expressways and streets will be shut down before or during the NATO Summit, under a plan revealed on Friday. All of this comes on top of a large restricted air space zone above the city. Anybody violating that airspace could be shot down. Metra and South Shore commuters will be able to ride the trains that run under McCormick Place. They may be subject to TSA-style pat downs and screenings and they can expect delays for security sweeps. WAR: Another Drone Strike in Pakistan. 9 “militants” dead. Pakistan issues New Afghan Policy. Did you know: CLG: U.S.-Afghan pact ‘does not rule out drone strikes? The pact between the United States and Afghanistan could leave the door open for continued drone strikes against insurgent targets [AND civilians, US citizens] in Pakistan after 2014, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker indicated Wednesday. “There is nothing in this agreement that precludes the right of self-defense for either party and if there are attacks from the territory of any state aimed at us we have the inherent right of self defense and will employ it,” he said. Crocker was responding to a question about controversial drone strikes on Taliban and ‘Al-Qaeda’ targets in Pakistan at a briefing on the deal signed in Kabul overnight by U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. BKarin Friedemann, TMO: Iraq’s Radiation: Not Going Away The Economy Takes Another Blow CNN: 86 Million Americans NOT in the Labor Force Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge: People Not In Labor Force Soar By 522,000, Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981 it is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to
88,419,000. This is the highest on record. The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%. Economic Policy Institute: CEOs made 231 times more than workers did in 2011 NY Times: Why Job Growth Is Slowing •The Atlantic: The Politics of Youth •Fluent: ‘Voter registration down among Hispanics, blacks’ •Reuters: Obama tells Hispanics he’s ready to fix immigration laws •Politico: How Elizabeth Warren bungled first controversy •LA Times: Students Pepper Sprayed at Santa Monica College About 100 students protesting a plan to offer high-priced courses at Santa Monica College this summer tried to storm into a meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening. A handful of protesters suffered minor injuries as campus police tried to prevent dozens of students chanting, “Let us in, let us in” and “No cuts, no fees, education should be free,” from disrupting the meeting during a public comment period. [Updated, 10:06 p.m.: Campus police confirmed late Tuesday that two people suffering the effects of pepper spray were taken to a hospital. It was unclear if they were students.] Several were also overcome when pepper spray was released just outside the meeting room as officers •Politico: Rand Paul has a quick fix for TSA: Pull the plug •Fluent: The American Professor Helping Chen In China Global Economic Intersection: Japan Now Without Nuclear Power Econintersect: Tomorrow (5 May 2012) Japan will be without any operating nuclear power plants for the first time in 46 years. The final power plant, which had been operating, will be shut down for maintenance. Some are asking if there will be any nuclear power for Japan going forward. Opposition has been strong and growing as the extent of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear facility, following the 11 May 2011 earthquake and tsunami, has become more apparent. More than one year later the radiation levels around the facility remain at fatally high levels. CBS News has reported that lack of cooling is still a problem and stability of the nuclear core of one of the reactors is still problematic. The shutdown plants in Japan may not ever reopen due to public opposition which grows as the lack of control of the Fukushima meltdown becomes more and more apparent. Four students were killed and nine wounded in the shootings on May 4, 1970 that followed days of demonstrations on the campus after disclosures of a U.S.-led invasion of Cambodia that signaled a widening of the war in Southeast Asia. Kent State was shut for weeks after the shootings and student strikes closed down schools across the nation. A command to fire has never been proven and guardsmen said they fired in self-defense. Criminal charges were brought against eight guardsmen, but a judge dismissed the case. Wounded students and families of those slain later received a total of $675,000 after civil lawsuits. The shootings also spawned an investigative commission, numerous books and Neil Young’s song, “Ohio,” which became an anti-war anthem. A Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a teenage girl kneeling over the body of one of the slain students became an enduring image of the tragedy. In 2010, Alan Canfora, one of the wounded students and director of the nonprofit Kent May 4 Center, asked the Justice Department to review the enhanced recording, which was taken 250 feet from the guardsmen when they fired their shots in 1970. Wayne Madsen: May 4-6, 2012 – Wisconsin Governor Walker a member of the Bush-Walker clan A cousin of Wisconsin’s unpopular Republican Governor Scott Walker, who is running in a rare recall election, has informed WMR that Walker is a member of the Bush-Walker family of former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George Walker Bush. Governor Walker’s cousin does not support his cousin’s gubernatorial bid in Wisconsin. Scott Walker, like George Herbert Walker and George Walker Bush, is a descendant of George Herbert Walker, a wealthy banker originally from St. Louis. Walker eventually became the President of the W. A. Harriman & Co. in New York. Walker’s daughter Dorothy married Prescott Bush. Dorothy and Prescott were the parents of George H. W, Bush. George Walker owned a number of railroads, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad, that employed Walker relatives throughout the West, including Colorado. In 2010, Scott Walker jokingly referred to George W. Bush as his “cousin” because of their close political views. However, Scott Walker, who was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a descendant of the same Walker-Bush clan that sired Presidents Bush. Governor Walker is obviously trying to downplay his family connection to Bush, especially since Wisconsin voted for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004 against George Walker Bush, before the June 5 recall election. The HILL The Right Is Pushing the Pipeline Republicans say Obama running out of excuses to delay Keystone
Republicans on Friday ramped up pressure on President Obama to quickly approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline after developer TransCanada Corp. formally reapplied for a key federal permit. “Today there is just one person standing in the way of tens of thousands of new American jobs: President Obama,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement. “After nearly four years of review, delay and politics, he is out of excuses for blocking this job-creating energy project any longer.” Republicans know their efforts are unlikely to persuade the president to immediately approve the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Related: Bill McKibbon Responds to Critics Who Beieve He Wants to Co-opt them 1) the original article sent around is, of course, wrong. Our work at 350 is not directed by the Democratic party, or by foundations, or by anyone but ourselves–the mistakes we make, in other words, are on me. Given that we organized the largest demonstration against the president in his first term, the kind of stuff in this anonymous article strikes me as the sort of divisiveness that teeny tiny quarters of the left often take some kind of perverse pleasure in. John says, for instance, that Martin Luther King would be “rolling in his grave” at the work 350 has done. I don’t think this is true; at any rate, it is Dr. King’s work more than any other that serves as our touchstone. We’ll keep doing as best we can. 2) for people interested in actually working on the issues, we’re having a giant day of action tomorrow–since it’s tomorrow some places already, images of rallies and demonstrations are already pouring in to 350.org. I hope you’ll find actions in your neighborhood, and if your neighborhood happens to be British Columbia, I hope you’ll consider joining the civil disobedience action on the tracks of Warren Buffett’s coal trains scheduled for tomorrow. UN: US Should Return Stolen Lands To Native Americans CBS: Government Wants Websites To Open Back Door To Surveillance The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance. In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned. The FBI general counsel’s office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly. “If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding,” a person who has reviewed the FBI’s draft legislation told CNET. The requirements apply only if a threshold of a certain number of users is exceeded, according to a second person briefed on it Washington Times: AOL to Scale Back Ariana Role At Huff Post NY Observer: Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys Dies at 47 Your Comments Welcom: Write dissector@mediachannel.org
Greek socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos says his country faces a choice between austerity and “mass poverty” in elections on Sunday.
Speaking of NATO, CLG reports: Shoot-to-Kill Order to Enforce No-Fly Zone During NATO Summit
FAIR: Obama, Bill Clinton and the Need To Move Rightward
Kent State survivors seek new probe of 1970 shootings
KENT, Ohio (Reuters) – Survivors of the shooting of 13 students by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University in 1970 called on Thursday for a new probe into the incident that came to define U.S. divisions over the Vietnam War.
On the eve of the 42nd anniversary of the shootings, four students wounded that day asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate digitally enhanced audio evidence they believe proves an officer ordered the guardsmen to fire on the unarmed students.
Read the story here.
Adam Yauch, better known to some as MCA of the Brooklyn rap group The Beastie Boys, passed away today after a long battle with cancer, reports RollingStone.com. Mr. Yauch was a founding member of the group, along with Mike D (Michael Diamond), Mix Master Mike (Michael Schwartz), and Ad Roc(Adam Horovitz).
- About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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