A Seismic Shift In Our Schools: College Prep, Career Readiness, And The Common Core Revolution (LIVESTREAM)

I think the real goal of this "Seismic Shift" in education is to sanitize it so none of the information imparted upon students will inflame passions leading to social movements or threats to the status quo.
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What's Holding Back Medical Progress? (LIVESTREAM)

Better question: Why hasn't there been a significant cure of any disease since Polio in 1955?



Well, that's pretty easy, in a For Profit Health Care and Pharmaceutical dynamic diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, MD, MS, ALS, etc... are all revenue streams. Cure a disease and you cook the Golden Goose.



In short, expect costly treatments, but forget about cures, because the Market can't afford them.
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For Top Executives, An Unstoppable Climb In Pay

Yep, these Corporate Masters of the Universe are doing quite well until you factor in finite life expectancy.
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Supreme Court Rejects Petition To Halt Gay Marriages In California

“We have never before upheld the standing of a private party to defend the constitutionality of a state statute when state officials have chosen not to,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the Supreme Court's majority opinion. “We decline to do so for the first time here.”



California Governor Jerry Brown and California Attorney General Kamala Harris paved the way for this ruling and are to be commended for taking a stand in defense of equal protection under the law.
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U.S. Spying On Europe: EU Confronts Washington Reports Of Spying On Allies

While the US Corporate Media turns the Snowden Revelations into a meaningless narrative over whether he is a hero or traitor or whether Glenn Greenwald is really a journalist or not ... the rest of the enlightened world is looking at the substance of the leaks and not appreciating what they see. The release if these intelligence documents coupled with the WikiLeaks Diplomatic cable leaks has completely reconfigured the perception of the United States from benevolent power to one that is hyper predatory. It is going to be extremely difficult for our allies to trust what our officials say, and the United States self-imposed role as "Leader of the Free World" has been shredded.



Post WWII America should have allowed itself to be led by its better angels, but a different path was chosen. The path of American Imperialism was possible as long as we had the USSR to use as a blind, but now that the United States motivations have been laid bare we are compromised. Had we chosen a path of brotherhood rather than domination we would be looking at a far prosperous future than we are. Americans look down their nose at the other people's of Earth at their own peril. Crossing allies is unwise.
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Egypt: Protesters Gather Nationwide To Demand Morsi's Ouster

Basic Rule: If The People are enraged enough to depose an entrenched Dictator, any group that rises to fill the power vacuum better have the best interests of The People as their prime motivator or they are heading for the garbage disposal too.
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National Organization For Marriage President Brian Brown: DOMA Decision 'Absolute Travesty'

Here's an idea for dejected proponents of DOMA & Prop 8 ... find a new cause that isn't rooted in bigotry & hate.
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Antonin Scalia's North Carolina Bar Association Address Questions 'The Sanity' Of Having 'Moralist' Judges

Scalia is just a lowly right wing politician masquerading as a Judge.
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Third Metric Redefines Success (INFOGRAPHIC)

If people understood there was no such thing as "Winning" the Game of Life, we would all enjoy a happier existence.
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Today's NSA Brought to You By a Decade of Republican Fear-Mongering

It wasn't a decade of Republican Fear-Mongering that brought today's NSA ... it was the Contracting clause in EO12333 that Ronald Reagan signed in 1981:



2.7 CONTRACTING



Agencies within the Intelligence Community are authorized to

enter into contracts or arrangements for the provision of goods or

services with private companies or institutions in the United

States and need not reveal the sponsorship of such contracts or

arrangements for authorized intelligence purposes. Contracts or

arrangements with academic institutions may be undertaken only with

the consent of appropriate officials of the institution.



http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo12333.htm



It is the outsourcing of US Intelligence work to Transnational Intelligence Firms that the US Government has -zero- oversight over that has brought us to this place.
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From Istanbul to Rio to Philly, This Democracy Thing Is Broken

Most nation's that claim to be Democracies aren't ... the label "Democracy" is a fig leaf deployed to cover all manner of societies that are actually Plutocracies or Corporate Oligarchies like the United States. So it's really not that Democracy is Broken, it's that Democracies truly aren't in place as advertised.
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Food Stamp Cuts Might Come With Drug Testing

Republicans truly hate rural whites, who are the primary recipients of food stamps, and form their party's base.
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Obama Will Speak On NSA In The Coming Days, Says Denis McDonough

Let's be clear here ... only a Fascist would defend global surveillance of the American people as "for their own good."
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Jeb Bush On 2016: 'Split Ballot' Between Parents On Presidential Run

Just what this F'ed up Country needs is more Bush. The bowl is already full, time to flush.
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Inside 'Prism' Success: Even Bigger Data Seizure

Since the origins of the Terrorists that currently vex us was Reagan's Mujaheddin Freedom Fighters, and those "Freedom Fighters" started as a project by Zbigniew Brzezinski during the Carter Administration to set up Radical Islamists as the protagonists in countering the Soviets in Afghanistan (that project being run by the CIA/ISI out of Peshawar Pakistan, where both Osama Bin Laden, and Hamid Karzai were fundraising for the Mujaheddin) then I think we can all be pretty confident that "The Terrorists" we trained up know the CIA's methods and are operating off the grid.



Recall when we lost that Blackhawk Helicopter in Mogadishu? We lost it to a spin off of Afghan Mujaheddin Fighters. Guess what the CIA/ISI taught the Mujaheddin Fighters to do? Bring down Soviet Helicopters with RPGs. So, in terms of knowing what the Intelligence Agencies do ... and are capable of doing ... the Terrorists of Al Qaeda are likely the best educated demographic on Earth.



Final note ... Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's trial continues in fits and starts, with the Trial Judge concerned about alleged tampering in the process of the trial by US Intelligence. Why would they be concerned about KSM? Perhaps because they are afraid that even though they waterboarded KSM over a hundred times, they didn't succeed in rendering him mentally incompetent like they did other Al Qaeda subjects they tortured, Perhaps enough of KSM's memory remains to recollect working for US Intelligence. That would be my guess.
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Facebook And Microsoft Corp. Get Broader Surveillance Revelations

This program, though outed, is still classified ... so anything Tech companies say on it is dubious.
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Reformist Hassan Rowhani Wins Election To Become Iran's Next President

A sad day in NeoCon land ...
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How College Costs Are Skyrocketing Out Of Middle-Class America's Reach (In 1 Chart)

Look, I understand that America's inbred, pedigreed Elite is barely sentient ... but that is not a reason to denude the intellect of everyone else in the United States. We need to find a way to ensure that the best and the brightest of us have a clear path to the highest levels academic and intellectual attainment, instead of rigging the game, as it is now, so that our most talented students graduate universities into indentured servitude.



The rest of the world is going to pass us by with this self-defeating dynamic ... and they most definitely should, because the United States of America is obviously tapped out.
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Bank of America Lied To Home Owners, Former Workers Allege

Let's be clear here ... the United States Government permits this behavior from the Banks. I am confident that every TBTF Bank engages in this, because the MBAs that run these Banks all came out of the same Business School Pez Dispenser, conditioned to the same level of moral and ethical bankruptcy. It is revelations like this that makes me laugh when I hear Government Officals decrying Snowden's breach of his "Oath." Everything in this desiccating society is built on a spongy foundation of situational morality.
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The Snowden Principle

From Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"



"Wouldn't he remember his first home, what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners, and consider himself happy and them pitiable? And wouldn't he disdain whatever honors, praises, and prizes were awarded there to the ones who guessed best which shadows followed which? Moreover, were he to return there, wouldn't he be rather bad at their game, no longer being accustomed to the darkness? Wouldn't it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it's not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead them up, wouldn't they kill him?"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave
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Darrell Issa's IRS Investigation Is Falling Apart

A sliver of Sondheim for Darrell Issa:



"Isn't it rich?

Isn't it queer?

Losing my timing this late

In my career?

And where are the clowns?

Quick, send in the clowns.

Don't bother - they're here."
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Loretta Sanchez, Dem Rep, Says NSA Revelations Only 'The Tip Of The Iceberg' (VIDEO)

There are millions of Americans cheating on their spouses ... that information has been captured. There are millions of Americans who bet through illegal bookies and have winnings that they never reported to the IRS ... that information is captured. There are millions of Americans who buy recreational drugs through friends ... that information is captured. All business correspondence .... captured. All lawyer-client privileged communication ... captured. All video conferences ... captured. Confidential Medical Information ... captured. Every gun and ammo sale ... captured.



Folks, let me tell you something, the N.S.A is not building a behemoth data center in Utah to capture meta-data ... and it isn't even just the US Government who has access to this data since they retain third party contractors to provide the services,



The "Oh, it's no big deal,they've ALWAYS done it" crowd needs to ask themselves if they ever sent a text message, email, or made a phone call containing information that they wouldn't want revealed since 2002 ... if you have ... you're had, for if somebody wants it, they can find it.
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Roger Goodell Defends Redskins Name In Letter To Members Of Congress, Reporter Still Takes Stand

So, did the Commissioner's letter read ...



'Listen, we raped their woman, murdered their children or turned them into slaves, stole their lands, slaughtered their buffalo, burned their crops, destroyed the continuity of their cultures, or, eliminated them entirely, infected them with diseases, and starved them ... in that light, calling a Football team "The Redskins" is actually a complement.'



?
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'Fix The Debt' Companies Would Reap Up to $173 Billion From New Territorial Tax System, Report Finds

This Simpson/Bowles nonsense has always been an Elitist Con-job ... like that "Fair Tax" trash.
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James Clapper: I Gave 'Least Untruthful' Answer Possible On NSA Surveillance

Clapper, being a former Booz Allen Executive, is kind of in a rough spot with this crisis.
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David Brooks Is Pretty Sure That Cynicism Is The Real Threat To Our Nation

I think folks like Brooks need to decide if we are to be a nation of rugged individuals who don't need government, or a nation of mindless conformists that assume the lordosis position before the government.



We can't be both.
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Harry Reid: If Lawmakers Didn't Know About NSA Surveillance, It's Their Fault

The politicization of this issue aggravates me. All of these politicians are transitory, so whatever political issue that works them up about this Surveillance State revelation is irrelevant. Ultimately all of these politicians, from President on down, will be gone, but we still have to live in this country. The Founding Fathers didn't want the American People to be spied upon, willy nilly, by their Government, and that is why they included the 4th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. You don't think the Founding Fathers were as concerned about terrorism as we are? The Red Coats burned down Washington in 1812, remember? The 13 Colonies were surrounded by hostiles on all sides. Do you really think the United States is under greater existential threat from the ad hoc attacks of Al Qaeda today, than the newly founded US was in the 18th and 19th Century? Wake up. DESPITE, the threats facing the United States at the time of the Revolution the Founders STILL included the 4th Amendment protections to privacy in the US Constitution. The difference between them and us, is that we are cowards who hide behind trite political games rather than fighting for the core principles of the country we claim to so "Patriotically" defend.



Pathetic.



Obama doesn't matter; Bush doesn't matter ... Democrats and Republicans don't matter ... Right and Left doesn't matter.



The Bill of Rights of the US Constitution? That matters.
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NSA Surveillance: Telecom Companies Spend Millions Lobbying Congress To Protect Their Interests

The private sector angle is even more disconcerting than the Federal Government in this Surveillance State dynamic. Theoretically the Federal Government is there to protect the American People, I don't feel the same way about entities in the Private Sector. Things that we need to know, but are probably classified Top Secret as well are:



- Do the contractors that the US Government employs operate under an exclusivity agreement, or are they free to contract their services out to other entities as well to Foreign Governments, Transnational Business, private individuals?



- What rights do the Private Sector entities who gather data have to leverage financial benefit from gathered sources in the Free Market? IE - could a law firm investigating a case retain a Government information gathering entity to rifle through emails of witnesses in a court case?



In short, even though these Programs are classified as "Government Programs" they actually aren't for they use private sector businesses to engage in the information gathering. What oversight does the US Government have over these contractors, or do they even bother with oversight?



These questions should be asked, but I am 100% confident that no one in the Federal Government has the lawful right to answer them.
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NSA Leak Highlights Key Role Of Private Contractors

So, besides the US Government, who can hire these private sector intelligence firms? Multinational Corporations? Foreign Governments? Billionaires? Despots? Dictators?



Are there any exclusivity agreements, or are our intelligence assets and capabilities available to the highest bidder?
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Obama, China Make Climate Change Agreement

Heard some concerns about Obama selling out the Philippines territorial claims.
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Justin Stanfield Thomas Shot, Killed Accidentally By 4-Year-Old Son In Arizona

Doesn't the #NRA owe the kid some sort of prize?
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NSA Spying Controversy Complicates Cybersecurity Efforts

Rip the Patriot Act out by the roots and jam it into the wood chipper ... while we're at it, do the same for the Department of Fatherland Security as well.
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Dianne Feinstein Says NSA Phone Records Surveillance Has Thwarted Terrorism, 'But That's Classified'

The Senators forget who they work for ... we shouldn't.
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Nancy Pelosi: Congress Is 'Rigged' To Maintain The Status Quo

Refreshing. I'm glad I voted for her.
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America's Cowboy Days Are Over

Totally agree, Mr Douglas ... and people forget that America's REAL Cowboy Days were never as fun or romantic as the movie versions of them. We need to think like adults when we address real world gun issues, not like ten year-olds at a Saturday Matinee showing of a Western. Thank you, sir, for sharing your reasoned opinion.
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Lindsey Graham Unsure Whether Bloggers Deserve First Amendment Protection

The 1st Amendment is not the "Journalists Amendment". The 1st Amendment guarantees free speech protection to ALL Americans. To say that there is a protected sub class of Americans that the 1st Amendment exists for ... journalists ... is not an honest reading of the Constitution.



Now listen, I understand why Senators Durbin and Graham are concerned with bloggers ... it makes perfect sense ... they are owned by wealthy corporations and individuals who have spent a fortune gaining control of the media so that they can control the narrative in the country. Bloggers, commenters, tweeters ... what have you ... have blown the doors off media control, and information dissemination, and the individuals and entities, that Senators of both parties rely on to keep them in their seats, are unhappy that competing information and narratives are fouling their aspirations.
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Sheldon Adelson's Woes Mount With Grand Jury In Las Vegas Sands Money-Laundering Probe

Wasn't this the reason Adelson went all in on the 2012 election to get a sympathetic Republican in the White House?
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Amid IRS Mess, Democrats Try To Make A Scandal Out Of Issa

Not wanting to help the Republicans out, but Darrell Issa is a big problem for them strategically. The problem Republicans have with Issa is that he has brought so many high profile investigations of this Administration on spurious issues that go nowhere. It's not like Clinton with Whitewater ... that invoked "Watergate" in the public mind ... that was a pointless investigation but yielded the aura of scandal because of its prolonged focus. The American people got used to Whitewater, and many sat on the edge of their seat waiting for the payoff ... which only resolved to the tangential sexing of an intern in the Oval Office.



With Darell Issa you have an impatient narcissist. He wants the payoff of the investigation right away so he captures the spotlight. Because of his need for immediate gratification he can't stick to one scandal, and doesn't bother building a case that is resilient. Issa has gone through so many "Presidency Ending Crisis's" at this point that amounted to nothing that he has assumed the role of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. At this point even if a meaningful issue worthy of investigation emerged no one would buy it for the sport Issa has turned oversight investigations into. The guy even has the cartoon avatar of a cop on his twitter account.



Darrell Issa is a caricature, a clown, a Performance Artist ... not a credible investigator. If I were the GOP House Leadership, I would replace him.
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Mitch McConnell Charges 'Culture Of Intimidation' On Obama Nominees

The only thing McConnell and the Republicans should worry about is how the state of California's economy is turning around since Democrats took complete control of the state government. Jerry Brown is doing so well in California, that the "Liberal" Main Stream Media all but ignores the state. Add to that the very good premium numbers for Obamacare's Insurance Exchanges, as even Forbes noted, and the Golden State is very bad for Republican's leading states that are flailing.



Worry about California, Mitch ... forget about the DC Circuit.
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Medicaid Expansion Denial Will Cost States Billions: Report

California, Oregon and Washington State will be the Republicans worst nightmare in terms of ACA implementation. Even Forbes acknowledges the numbers look even better than contemplated. What the Red State Republicans are looking at down the road is an improvement in the Health Care situation in the States I mentioned, as the situation in their own States gets more dire ... and at some point Red State constituents are going to be asking their Republican representatives:



"WTF!?!"
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Marco Rubio: Immigration Reform Doesn't Have 60 Votes

Republicans would never agree to reasonable legislation that helps minorities. This outcome was preordained.
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Issa Stirs Echoes Of McCarthy As Obama's 'Best Friend' In IRS Probe

Considering Issa is just another Right Wing puppet ... I'd say he stirs echoes of Charlie McCarthy.
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John Boehner Was Allowed To Remain House Speaker Because God Spoke To Republicans, They Claim

"The cabal quickly fell apart when several Republicans, after a night of prayer, said God told them to spare the speaker."



That has got to be the most cynical political statement ever uttered, Bravo!
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Republican Governors Face Early Challenges Ahead Of 2014

If you are interested in voting for the fuzz on the Koch Brother's testicles by all means vote for these Tea Party "Patriots".
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China Reaps Biggest Benefits Of Iraq Oil Boom - NYTimes.com

Don't forget with Bush's Labor Security, Elaine Chao, having business, and personal ties through her father to the Communist Chinese leadership ... all of the negotiations to leverage China's economic benefit of its USA proxy's war in Iraq could be done beyond the prying eyes of Congress or the Press.
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Marsha Blackburn: Women 'Don't Want' Equal Pay Laws

Remember, Marsha Blackburn is kept by wealthy Right Wing Billionaires, as are the rest of the Republican caucus ,,, so as she speaks on any subject understand her personal needs are already met.
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The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill

Why is US medical care so expensive? Because maximizing profit for investors is the overriding goal of the system.
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Istanbul Protests Grow In Size As Demonstration Enters 5th Day

"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that police may have used tear gas excessively in attempting to disperse demonstrators, but he was mostly defiant in his response to the violent clashes. "Wherever you go in the world, in places like this ... governments would take measures," he said, according to Reuters."



... and sometimes these measures are successful, and at other times they fail. One thing we can all, happily, count on is that there is always another roll of the dice.
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