Don’t believe anything NRATV says

The National Rifle Association's media outlet sent a pro-censorship message on social media and then went ballistic when people called it pro-censorship NRATV, the National Rifle Association's media operation, caused a stir on Twitter Thursday afternoon after sending a tweet that read, "It's time to put an end to this glorification of carnage in pursuit of ratings because it's killing our kids. It's time for Congress to step up and pass legislation putting common sense limitations on #MSM's ability to report on these school shootings."

Keeping patients in the bucket

The Boston Globe reports on a hospital system in Boston accused of steering patients to stay within the corporate boundaries even when the patients' doctor tried to send them elsewhere: A whistle-blower lawsuit filed against Steward Health Care exposes a part of medicine largely hidden from patients: the behind-the-scenes pressure health care companies put on doctors to keep patient referrals in-house.

The Lajes Vector: Congressman Nunes Gets Stiffed

As was the case with Congressman Nunes' memo and his decision to prematurely end the superficial House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigation into the Russian active measures and cyberwarfare campaign against the US, Congressman Nunes didn't seem to accomplish much as a result of the DOJ briefings he demanded yesterday. From the AP : It was unclear how much information was given to lawmakers.

Five by Five

I couldn't wait to post this because A.) we live in a dystopian world of shit and B.) ALL BIRDS PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR: There were five eggs, and I see five little noggins, including the emo teen facing the back of the bus listening to Dashboard Confessional while worrying about worms.

5/24/2018

"Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30--particularly on August 20, 2011," Mr. Stone wrote to Randy Credico, a New York radio personality who had interviewed Mr. Assange several weeks earlier. Mr. Stone, a longtime confidant of Mr. Trump, had no formal role in his campaign at the time.

Trump (and AL Sec. of State) Violating Free Speech Rights on Twitter: ‘BradCast’ 5/24/2018

Guest: Univ. of KY law professor Joshua A. Douglas; Also: 'Dotard' Prez nixes NK summit : Plus: ZOMBIE ALERT!... EPA locks out media; TX chem plant explodes; Lava at HI power plant; WI frack sludge spill; Closed coal plants' immediate health benefits; PLUS : NPS' uncensored climate study... Repub House Science Comm denies sea level rise; NASA finds humans changing global water supply; Britain to launch plastic tax; PLUS: Ex-con coal baron Blankenship is back!... Guest: Gun safety advocate Cliff Schecter on shootings in TX, FL, Vegas and how to prevent them; Also: Trump dangerously clueless in advance of planned summit with NK... EPA's Pruitt, facing 12 probes, grilled in Senate; Extreme storms kill 5 in Northeast; King County, WA files suit against oil companies; PLUS : Air pollution dangers extend into womb... EPA blocking water contamination report; Global warming intensifying storms; ... (more)

The Phantom Menace Effect

In honor of the latest entry in the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, I decided to take a closer look at what's called, in these parts, the "Phantom Menace Effect." I don't know if Scott coined the term, but he certainly uses it a lot, and the argument boils down to this; Star Wars films tend to get high reviews when initially released, then crater in evaluation later in their life cycles.

“Skirmishes”: Israel’s Syria Blitz

A key 'mainstream' media theme in covering the Israeli army's repeated massacres of unarmed, non-violent Palestinian civilians protesting Israel's military occupation in Gaza - killing journalists, a paramedic, the elderly and children - has been the description of these crimes as 'clashes'. This has been a clear attempt to obfuscate the fact that while two groups of people are involved, only one group is being killed and wounded.

Patriotism Is Earned By A Nation That Lives Up To Its Promises: Just Ask Sterling Brown

The debacle of the new NFL policy penalizing teams whose players take a knee or "do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem" in order to protest a system of institutionalized oppression and brutality in the policing of communities of color - aka "white supremacy at its finest" in its punishing of "the definition of patriotism " - is that much more grotesque coming the same day that Milwaukee police released video showing a hostile swarm of cops tasing and arresting the Milwaukee Bucks' Sterling Brown for the crime of parking sloppily.

Senate Bill 22 Only a Half Measure to Fix Gerrymandering

On Tuesday, May 22nd the Senate State Government Committee took a small step in the right direction toward fixing our broken redistricting process, but there is much more work to be done. Committee Chairs Mike Folmer, Anthony Williams and their colleagues responded to the outcry of Senator Lisa Boscola, concerned citizens, and reformers to fix the dysfunctional way Pennsylvania handles the drawing of congressional and legislative districts.

The Wholesale Attack on Brazilian Sovereignty: An Interview With Former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim

For the past 25 years, Celso Amorim has been Brazil's most important diplomat, serving as Foreign Affairs Minister in the governments of Itamar Franco and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , and Minister of Defense for Dilma Rousseff . Born in 1942 in the port city of Santos, Amorim graduated at the top of his class at the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian government's diplomacy school, in 1965.

How the Korean Peninsula Could Become a Bright Spot in a World Gone Mad

People watch a TV screen showing images of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. When, in early March, Donald Trump agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the Washington foreign policy elite nearly suffered a collective heart attack.