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An Open Letter to Meryl Streep
Dear Meryl, I love you, woman. I have probably watched all of your movies, and you are just brilliant. I also agree with every word in that amazing speech. Yes, disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. As a journalist, I especially loved your shout out to protect the press. I could not agree more. However, my dear Linda of the Deer Hunter, you know as well as I do, bullying, violence, oppression of the press did not begin with Trump. You acted like you were just waking up…
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Interview with the Syria’s First Lady
First interview of the Syria’s first lady, Mrs. Asma Al-Assad in eight years. Full video of the interview with the Russia-24, attached above.
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Americans Don’t Read… and that’s Affecting our Elections
In 2013, the Nation’s Report Card showed that only 38% of high school seniors were proficient in reading. With scores like that, the U.S. isn’t likely to earn the “most literate country” award any time soon. So what is America’s international literacy ranking? According to The Washington Post, the U.S. places seventh behind Nordic countries such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Such a score is obtained by looking at newspaper circulation and readership, library availability, education access, reading scores, and computer usage in each nation. The Washington Post bemoans the fact that the leading nation of the free world ranks…
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The Coup in Turkey did not Fail
It was designed to fail. It was planned by Erdogan to grab more power, and the U.S. let it happen. The Turkish Republic endured 5 coup d’états since its inception in 1923. Beginning in 1960, the Turkish military overthrew governments around once every decade, which gave them a lot of experience and expertise in coups. The last one on July 15, 2016 which was digitally aired to the world, is the only one that failed, miserably. When we look at the footage, it was too theatrical to be real. Many people started to call it a “false flag coup” within…
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How Would You Like to Marry Your Rapist?
It is not a fictional idea, depicting the laws of an alien planet. Believe it or not, a rapist marrying his victim after the rape was seen as an appropriate option in many countries, and the idea was supported by the rape laws. From Brazil to Morocco, rapists were able to escape prison simply by saying, “I’ll marry her”. Despite the abolition of these laws in many countries, some are still in effect. Currently, Turkey’s parliament (TBMM) is reviewing a report, completed by the Commission on Divorce, to reinstate this rape law which was appealed in 2005 while the country…
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An Open Letter to Meryl Streep
Jan 9, 2017
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Interview with the Syria’s First Lady
Oct 18, 2016
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Americans Don’t Read… and that’s Affecting our Elections
Oct 17, 2016
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The Coup in Turkey did not Fail
Jul 17, 2016
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How Would You Like to Marry Your Rapist?
May 25, 2016
Action On The Ground
Occupy Convergence: The New Face of Activism?
“Occupy has had to do a lot of soul searching…” That was the response by Occupy New Hampshire organizer Ryan Glen Hirsch, when asked about where the Occupy Wall Street movement is and how it has evolved since its hay-day in 2011. I met with Ryan in Manchester on Tuesday, to discuss the upcoming “Occupy New England (ONE) Regional Convergence (no acronym necessary)” event, scheduled to take place at the end of the month. As I readied my materials to take notes on the conversation, a packet of small black and white leaflets is slid across the table towards me….
Eyewitness Accounts from Meiktila Massacre
(From Assed Baig, Independent U.K. Reporter, on the ground in Burma.) Reports of what actually took place in the Central Myanmar town of Meiktila are still emerging. IDPs are beginning to speak out and tell the world of what they witnessed with their own eyes. “They beat them in front of me. I was watching. I can still see it.” Noor Bi, is crying as she describes the moment when she saw her husband and brother murdered in front of her eyes as she fled Meiktila. The mob out numbered the police and they were unable to protect the Muslim…
ACTION ALERT: Moms Demand Action Twitter Bomb Today
Today, April 2, between the hours of 1PM and 3PM EST, the group Moms Demand Action (MDA) is calling on anyone with access to a computer, smartphone or tablet during those hours – be they Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Cousin, Grandma or anyone covered by the “rational human being” label – to participate in their organized “Twitter Bomb” on the Senate. If you’ve never participated in one of these, they are extremely effective and worthwhile. From the MDA website: “Please Tweet your Senators as frequently as possible between the hours of 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2,…
Featured Headlines
Turkish Police Beat and Arrested Attorneys in Courthouse (Video)
Caglayan Courthouse in Istanbul, Turkey, was a scene of scuffle and disgrace earlier today, when a group of police officers beat up and detained more than 50 attorneys who were in the courthouse to represent their clients. The majority of the attorneys were the legal representatives of some of the protestors who were illegally detained or injured by the Turkish police during the ongoing protests in Istanbul and throughout the country. In a move that casts doubt on the Turkish government’s commitment to the rule of law, an additional 30 attorneys were dragged out of the courthouse by force when…
Is Monsanto Really Wicked or Misunderstood?
Over two million protesters rallied in 300 cities in 44 countries around the world on Saturday, as part of a global protest against the seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces. The debate over genetically engineered food has been going on since the FDA concluded that there was no difference between genetically engineered and non-engineered plants in 1992. Genetic engineering advocates claim that the GMOs could reduce World hunger and increase nutritional quality in foods. Unfortunately, most of these claims have been debunked repeatedly, as Anna Lappe explains in her 2011 article on Civil Eats. The March…
Government Favored Oil Companies Over Shelter For Children
The devastation in Moore, Oklahoma is unimaginable. A deadly F-5 tornado hit this town on May 20th, 2013 and the death toll continues to rise as time passes by. Plaza Towers Elementary school was directly in the path of this horrific storm. Even though Moore, OK, resides in the middle of tornado alley, Oklahoma politicians denied the children of this school, a tornado shelter. These children were denied the freedom to be properly sheltered from Mother Nature’s wrath. Instead, these kids were forced to depend only on the walls of the school to protect them from an F5 tornado. The…
Of Massachusetts And Men: The Burial of Tamerlan Tsarnaev
I realize that, by writing this, I am bringing unnecessary tsuris into my life. So be it. Since when did we become a gaggle of punk haters (read: not punk-haters)? If I understand this correctly, many of you would like to have the body of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev “fed to the sharks” or “mutilated….desecrated” or “incinerated” or “shipped to Russia”. Are we in agreement so far? OK. I’d like to know what I’m missing here because I don’t think this is how we, as Americans, behave. This is not how we treat the dead; yes, even that dead…
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14 Year Old Child Bride Facing Death Penalty for Murdering Husband
14-year- old Wasilat Tasi’u is on trial for the murder of her 35-year-old husband. Nigerian teen was married to a man that she didn’t love. According to Zubeida Nagee, a women’s rights activist in Kano, “She protested but her parents forced her to marry him.” From a poor rural family, Wasilat is accused of murdering her husband, Umar Sani, by lacing his food with rat poison. Forced marriages and child brides common in the poverty-stricken northern Nigeria region. Her case calls into question the legality of trying a teenager for murder under criminal law and the rights of child brides….
BREAKING: New Coal Disaster In West Virginia
Dear Good People of West Virginia: “Freedom” and “Patriot” do not mean what you think they do. We have breaking news today of a new Big Coal disaster in the offing in The Mountain State. Just days after the Dan River coal ash spill affecting North Carolina and Virginia, and mere weeks after West Virginia’s own Freedom Industries Elk River chemical debacle (which cost the citizens of that state over $19 million each day the “do not use” water order was in effect) – here we have another coal behemoth, Patriot Coal, scurrying to “inform” the public about a new…
U.S. Hostage Freed by Colombia’s FARC Rebels (Video)
Kevin Scott Sutay, a veteran of the USA war in Afghanistan who wandered in to territory of the Colombian rebels while backpacking in the region, was taken hostage by the rebel group FARC four months ago. He was quietly turned over to Cuban and Norwegian International Red Cross officials yesterday. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s office issued a statement, saying: “We are pleased about the liberation today of U.S. citizen Kevin Scott Sutay who was in the hands of the FARC.” The statement included gratitude to the Colombian government and President Juan Manuel Santos for their efforts. The…
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