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Blacks to be treated differently with blood pressure meds: Racism Alive and Well in New Medical Guidelines
By Jess Guh
With this article, ThisCantBeHappening! welcomes Dr. Jess Guh to our collective. You can read about her background by clicking on the "Who, and What, Are We?" button just below our masthead.
In Midst of ExxonMobil Climate Denial Scandal, Company Hiring Climate Change Researcher
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Caught in the crosshairs of an ongoing New York Attorney General investigation exploring its role in studying the damage climate change could cause since the 1970's and then proceeding to fund climate science denial campaigns, ExxonMobil has announced an interesting job opening.
What will it take to close it?: Indian Point Nuke Plant Emergency Shutdown Follows Power Loss
By Paul DeRienzo
The latest in a series of troubling mishaps at the aging Indian Point nuclear power plant a week ago Saturday prompted a shutdown or “trip” of one of the two operating reactor units on the site and the dispatch of inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Exposed: ExxonMobil Funding Influential Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Regime change in Chicago!: Cover-Up of a Police Murder Requires Resignation of Chicago Mayor Emanuel
By Linn Washington, Jr.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a bold yet belated move when he fired his embattled police superintendent in the wake of a national uproar surrounding the release of a chilling video that captured the police killing of a teen--a ward of the city of Chicago.
Where’s the truth, and how can you find it?: The US Corporate Media are Essentially Propaganda Organs of the US Government
Are the American corporate media largely propaganda organs, or news organizations?
Warmongers & Peacemongers: Learning How Not to Rule the World
By John Grant
[Al Qaeda’s] strategic objective has always been ... the overthrow of the House of Saud. In pursuing that regional goal, however, it has been drawn into a worldwide conflict with American power.
Obama Administration Approves Pipeline Expansion Set to Feed First Ever Fracked Gas Export Terminal
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
The Obama Administration has quietly approved expansion of a major pipeline carrying fracked gas destined for the global export market.
TransCanada's Next Move After Keystone XL: Flood Mexico with Fracked Gas with State Department Help
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
TransCanada, the owner of the recently-nixed northern leg of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has won a bid from Mexico's government to build a 155-mile pipeline carrying gas from hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in the United States to Mexico's electricity grid.
No more veterans!: November 11 or Armistice Day Began as a Time to Contemplate Peace, Not to Celebrate War and Warriors
By Dave Lindorff
The proof is in the proofs: US Spy Sats See Everything, Except when the Government Says They Didn’t
By Dave Lindorff
There is something fishy going on in the way the US is talking about civilian plane crashes that are in some way linked, or said to be linked to Russia.
Candidate Bernie Sanders’ silence speaks volumes: Budget Deal Fine Print Axes Benefit for Married Social Security Beneficiaries
By Dave Lindorff
Are Americans too passive?: Ben Carson and the Cult of First Responders
By John Grant
Dr. Ben Carson rocked the presidential campaign TV circus by suggesting the victims of the Roseburg, Oregon, shooting were too passive in responding to the lunatic gunman who shot and killed his writing professor and eight classmates. Carson received derision from the left and from liberals like Chris Matthews; on the right, he was defended by Bill O’Reilly and others.
Domestic surveillance blimp goes AWOL: The Spy That Quit and Ran
By Dave Lindorff
Most Americans living in the northeastern and Midatlantic region of the country probably didn't realize that for the last year or so they've been being spied on from the sky by a sophisticated 'eye-in-the-sky' blimp tethered to the ground in Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Regulating trade and restricting communications: The TPP is an Attack on the Internet
By Alfredo Lopez
The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, initialed by the delegations of the 12 participating countries in early October, is one of the most talked-about mysteries of our time. The moment the treaty was announced, there was a tidal wave of commentary and criticism: most of it based on previous versions, speculation and a few leaks. Because it won't be published for months (even years perhaps), nobody really knew what the document actually said.
New TCBH! Poem: Tipis in the City
Drums.
Do you hear them?
Around the block,
Just around the glass and marble corner.
Smell the smoke
Flipped out: Last Mexican of Venice
The latest from ThisCantBeHappening!:
Last Mexican of Venice
By Rip Rense
Trans-Atlantic abuses and protests: Police Brutality Unites Demonstrations in Paris and D.C.
By Linn Washington, Jr.
Protests against rampant police brutality occurred recently in the respective capitals of France and the United States – two nations that proclaim strict fidelity to the rule of law yet two professed democracy-loving nations where officials routinely condone rampant lawlessness by law enforcers.
Europe’s privacy rules conflict with NSA spying: EU Court Declares NSA Surveillance Illegal
By Alfredo Lopez
As expected, the European Union court has thrown out an agreement, forged in 2000, that allows virtually uninhibited data sharing and transfer between the United States and EU countries and is the legal basis for National Security Agency's on-line surveillance and data capture programs.
New TCBH! poem by resident poet Gary Lindorff: 'Bombs of Love'
Let us bomb your neighborhood
Guided by our intelligence.
Let us erase your neighbor
Out of love.
Congress-backed Interstate Oil Commission Called 911 When I Came To Ask About Climate
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
On October 1, I arrived at the Oklahoma City headquarters of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) — a congressionally-chartered collective of oil and gas producing states — hoping for an interview.
‘We’re sorry’: America’s Latest War Crime is the Murderous Destruction of a Hospital in Afghanistan
By Dave Lindorff
Really? The best that Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama can do after the US bombs and destroys a hospital in Afghanistan, killing 22 people, including 12 volunteer doctors from Doctors Without Borders, is to say, “We’re sorry”?
Of scientists and charlatans: Noted Argentine Chemist Warns of Climate Disaster
By Robert M. Nelson
Republican presidential aspirants Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Rick Santorum all describe themselves as devout Catholics and, like most Republican candidates, they argue that religion should play an expanded role in American politics and government. However, on matters related to global warming, Messrs. Bush and Rubio both agree with Mr. Santorum, stating that we should, “...leave science to the scientists.”
The L.A. Times goes to Cuba: OMG! The Food’s So Proletarian, and Pets are Hard to Find
By Rip Rense
The L.A. Times sent one of its managing editors to Cuba a few months ago, to report on the status of the society, culture, etc. Good that they sent a big gun, instead of just a run-of-the-mill reporter. Here are two of the stunning findings from this report. Brace yourself!
Split between Europe and the U.S. just got wider!: EU Court Advocate General Deals Severe Blow to NSA Surveillance
By Alfredo Lopez
A legal case, virtually unreported in the U.S., could very well unhinge a major component of this country's surveillance system. In any case, it certainly challenges it.
Mainstreaming the Preferential Option For the Poor: Pope Francis Drops a Bomb on Washington
By John Grant
A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk.
-- Pope Francis speaking to the US Congress
Apartheid law enforcement in the US: Standing While Black in New York Can Get You Attacked by NYPD Thugs
By Dave Lindorff
If tennis great James Blake had done the obvious thing and resisted being tackled by an apparent thug on a New York sidewalk who didn’t identify himself as a cop before attacking him, he would probably be dead today like Eric Garner, or at least seriously injured or tased.
