{"id":12005,"date":"2014-01-25T23:29:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T07:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=12005"},"modified":"2014-01-25T23:38:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T07:38:20","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-draft-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-draft-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Expropriate the Expropriators!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"alpine<\/a><\/p>\n

Alpine CA teachers authorize strike\u00a0<\/strong>The Alpine Teachers Association has approved a strike authorization measure.
\nTeachers union President Gayle Malone announced the decision to trustees at the Alpine Union School District board meeting Thursday night in the Alpine Elementary School auditorium.
\nMalone reported that 83 percent of the membership of the teachers union attended a meeting Thursday afternoon, then held a secret pencil and paper vote. More than 80 percent voted in favor of the measure.
\nThe action does not mean that the 91 teachers in the school district are on strike or that there will be an imminent work stoppage. Rather, it gives permission to the union\u2019s executive board to call a strike \u201cat such time as it believes necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portland Students Fight Back for Teachers \u00a0<\/strong>High school students from Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon are joining their teachers in the fight against a reduction in benefits and worse working (and learning) conditions.
\nThe campaign began with a walkout of about 200 students from the high school on last Friday, January 10th, and continued with a forced interruption of a meeting convened by Portland Public School district (PPS) on Monday evening.
\n“If you strike, we do too,” chanted a group of students and parents outside of the building, in solidarity with the teachers. The district meeting was quickly cancelled, and school board members moved into a closed-door executive session.
\nThe protesters had gathered out of fear that PPS was going to ram through a contract that would have eased limits on classroom sizes and made it more difficult for teachers to secure health insurance through the district. Currently, the school district is hoping to uncap the current limit of 180 students per teacher for six to seven classes, and let it rise all the way up to 50\/1 per class, as has happened in nearby Beaverton school district after officials removed such limitations. Furthermore, the changes to the district’s health insurance policy may end up costing each teacher about $11,000 more in coverage over a four year period. \u00a0http:\/\/www.alternet.org\/activism\/high-school-students-portland-protest-behalf-their-teachers<\/p>\n

One hundred years ago–the Mother Jones riot: \u00a0<\/strong> Hundreds of strikers turned out for the Trinidad funeral of Nick Ricardo, a striker who died from typhoid fever. Later in the week, 200 women, \u201cmany with babes in arms,\u201d flooded the lobby of the Columbian Hotel, also in Trinidad, to confront state Adj. Gen. John Chase, the field commander of the militia. The women were demanding the release of labor icon Mary Harris \u201cMother\u201d Jones. Jones had returned to Trinidad and was quickly arrested under martial law. She had been transported to San Raphael Hospital, where she was kept under house arrest. Chase spoke to the women and said that Jones was \u201can inciter of riots\u201d and that her incarceration was Gov. Elias Ammons\u2019 idea. Chase said Jones was being well-fed and taken care of, and she could leave if she did not re-enter the strike district. – See more at: www.chieftain.com\/news\/2174855-120\/week-chieftain-pueblo-1914#sthash.8TbpjgWi.dpuf<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"mother<\/a><\/p>\n

Marx: The working class ought not to exaggerate to themselves the ultimate consequences of these everyday struggles. They ought not to forget they are fighting with effects, but not with the causes of those effects; \u2026that they are applying palliatives, not curing
\nthe malady. They ought therefore, not to be exclusively absorbed in these unavoidable guerrilla fights\u2026instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead\u00a0 of using their organised forces as a lever for the fnal emancipation of the working class, that is to say, the ultimate abolition of the wages system.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Education<\/a>Table of Contents
\nBarbarism Rising: Detroit, Michigan, and the International War of the Rich on the Poor
\nRich Gibson, San Diego State University
\nE. Wayne Ross, University of British Columbia
\nKevin D. Vinson, University of The West Indies
\nResisting Neoliberal Education Reform: Insurrectionist Pedagogies and the Pursuit of Dangerous Citizenship
\nJulie Gorlewski, State University of New York, New Paltz
\nBrad Porfilio, Lewis University
\nReimaging Solidarity: Hip-Hop as Revolutionary Pedagogy
\nTimothy Patrick Shannon, The Ohio State University
\nPatrick Shannon, Penn State University
\nLearning to be Fast Capitalists on a Flat World
\nBrian Lozenski, Zachary A. Casey, Shannon K. McManimon, University of Minnesota
\nContesting Production: Youth Participatory Action Research in the Struggle to Produce Knowledge
\nBrian Lozenski, Zachary A. Casey, Shannon K. McManimon, University of Minnesota
\nSchooling for Capitalism or Education for Twenty-First Century Socialism?
\nMike Cole, University of East London
\nClass Consciousness and Teacher Education: The Socialist Challenge and The Historical Context
\nCurry Stephenson Malott, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
\nThe Pedagogy of Excess
\nDeborah P. Kelsh, The College of Saint Rose
\nUndermining Capitalist Pedagogy: Takiji Kobayashi\u2019s T\u014dseikatsusha and the Ideology of the World Literature Paradigm
\nJohn Maerhofer, Roger Williams University
\nMarxist Sociology of Education and the Problem of Naturalism: An Historical Sketch
\nGrant Banfield, Flinders University of South Australia
\nThe Illegitimacy of Student Debt
\nDavid Blacker, University of Delaware
\nHacking Away at the Corporate Octopus
\nAlan J. Singer, Hofstra University
\nA Tale of Two Cities \u00ac\u2013 and States
\nRichard Brosio, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
\nSDS, The 1960s, and Education for Revolution
\nAlan J. Spector, Purdue University, Calumet \u00a0 networkedblogs.com\/SrLbJ?ref=nf<\/a><\/p>\n

Kidnapping your boss works! \u00a0<\/strong>Striking workers at a Goodyear tire plant in France agreed on Wednesday to accept severance pay that they said was three times as much as the company had initially offered, clearing the way for the facility to close after a bitter conflict that escalated into a \u201cboss-napping.\u201dThe agreement provided \u201csignificant improvements in benefits\u201d for the 1,173 employees of the plant in Amiens, 150 kilometers, or about 90 miles, north of Paris, Goodyear said in a statement. In return, the dominant union at the facility, the C.G.T., agreed to end the occupation of the plant and halt legal action meant to delay its closing. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/23\/business\/international\/goodyear-reaches-deal-to-end-strike-in-france.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140123&tntemail0=y<\/p>\n

\"Ravitch-Van-Roekel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

above, NEA boss Van Roekel ($465,000 a year +) applauds shifty reactionary Ravitch<\/em><\/p>\n

Against Ravitch \u00a0<\/strong>Here is Ravitch\u2019s take on why people must support union executive Weingarten: \u201cI have read many comments on the (her) blog that are critical of Randi. I let readers have their say, but this I believe. It serves no purpose for those of us opposed to teacher-bashing and corporate reform to fight among ourselves. We must stand together so that we will one day prevail over those who want to destroy public education and the teaching profession. We can’t win if we are divided. I will do nothing to help those who pursue a strategy of divide and conquer. They want us to fight among ourselves. I won’t help them.\u201d
\nRavitch wraps three lies in one paragraph:
\n(1) opposing \u201ccorporate reform,\u201d to defend \u201cpublic education,\u201d means defending a myth and backing a corporate state. The myth is public education\u2013never public but always capitalist, always segregated, always teaching, above all, falsehoods (nationalism, racism, religious \u201ctolerance,\u201d etc)
\n(2) We must unite with union bosses, which means uniting with even bigger bosses.
\n(3) The teaching \u201cprofession\u201d\u2013an appeal to baseless elitism: teachers have never set their own hours, wages, determined the curriculum or methods of study, nor the number of people who can get the job. And it is a job, a working class job. dianeravitch.net\/2013\/07\/10\/my-friend-randi-weingarten\/<\/a>
\nGood cop, bad cop\u2013patriotic, religious, nationalist, class collaborationist rats\u2013Ravitch\/Weingarten. One way elites rule is to choose the leaders for the propertyless. Let us choose otherwise. \u00a0http:\/\/richgibson.com\/ravitch2014.htm<\/p>\n

Everything you need to know about Ravitch’s false flag opposition to the Common Core \u00a0<\/strong>richgibson.com\/againstravitch.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"capitalist<\/a><\/p>\n

In Capital’s UC System, Boss’ Pay is Pretty Swell\u00a0<\/strong> The UC regents on Thursday hired an executive of a Canadian investment fund to be the chief manager of the university system’s $82 billion in endowment and pension investments and will pay him more than $1 million a year if he achieves good returns.
\nAlthough that pay package triggered little public discussion, the salary for another new executive hire attracted more opposition at the regents meeting here. Some regents opposed the $450,000-a-year salary for Claude Steele, who is becoming UC Berkeley’s provost and second-in-command. They complained that the pay is higher than that of some chancellors.
\nwww.latimes.com\/business\/la-me-uc-investments-20140124,0,6627219.story#ixzz2rIliq0lj<\/a><\/p>\n

San Diego State Bosses Want another Fee Hike (Prezzie got a $100,000 pay hike) \u00a0<\/strong>San Diego State students are back on campus for the start of spring semester Wednesday. One of the first questions they\u2019ll face is whether they\u2019re willing to increase the student fees they pay already by $200 to $500 per semester. (Fees have more than doubled in 7 years) www.kpbs.org\/news\/2014\/jan\/22\/sdsu-students-asked-fund-faculty-hires\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Arne Duncan: The Education Agenda is a War agenda \u00a0<\/strong>But as the international PISA results demonstrate, our progress isn\u2019t enough. Other countries are leapfrogging us at a time when education is vital to economic health in a global competition for jobs and innovation. Among the 65 countries and education systems that participate in PISA, the United States was surpassed by 27 in math and 14 in reading . That\u2019s unacceptable. \u00a0 www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/arne-duncan-better-education-starts-with-honesty-about-achievement-gaps\/2014\/01\/23\/7f276928-7ed2-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\"busted\"<\/a>Capitalist Schooling IS Cheating–Philly \u00a0<\/strong>Over the course of a year, the district found disturbing patterns in parts of the system that resulted in three principals being fired last week for test cheating in one of the largest such scandals in the country.
\nSome administrators were giving answer keys to teachers who passed them on to students. In other cases, principals took completed exams home at night and doctored the answer sheets. And in some schools, teachers and administrators gathered secretly in conference rooms with test booklets, pencils and erasers and changed wrong answers.
\n\u201cAny time you\u2019ve got cheating going on by adults, that\u2019s egregious,\u201d said Michael A. Davis, general counsel to the Philadelphia school district, who described some of the findings of the inquiry.
\nThe tests spanned three years, from 2009 to 2011, and involved 138 educators at 27 schools, three of them public charter schools. The three principals fired last week \u2014 Deidre Bennett at Lewis C. Cassidy Elementary, Michelle Burns at Kensington Urban Education High School and Marla Travis-Curtis at Lamberton Elementary School \u2014 were the first to be disciplined by the district. Twenty other educators have retired, resigned or been laid off for economic reasons, and another 37 are still employed by the district, awaiting disciplinary action. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/24\/us\/erased-answers-on-tests-in-philadelphia-lead-to-a-three-year-cheating-scandal.html<\/p>\n

In Front of Detroit’s “Elite” Cass Tech High–Heroin Dealers work in Broad Daylight (video too) \u00a0<\/strong>Dietz shows heroin being peddled in broad day light after school, with addicts lining up to buy.
\nStudents and parents expressed concern.
\n“The police, where are they?” asked senior Kayla Alexander in the report.
\nDietz reports:
\nKids keep their head down and don’t make eye contact as they make their way to the school bus, because in the Detroit’s Cass Tech High School, drug dealers are free to sell heroine on the streets in broad day light all day, every day, right in front of hundreds of school children.
\n“If the bus doesn’t come fast enough they’ll attack you, interrogate you with questions, make you feel uncomfortable,” said senior MaKayla Nixon.
\nDuring the report, an unidentified person for WDIV called police about the drug dealing.
\nDietz reports police did not respond.
\nDietz reported that in 2001, WDIV did a similar report about drug dealing outside Cass Tech and police then cracked down. They also showed a video of the then-Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan talking about cracking down on the problem. \u00a0http:\/\/www.deadlinedetroit.com\/articles\/7923\/dealers_peddle_heroin_outside_cass_tech_detroit_police_ignore_calls_for_help?utm_source=Deadline+Detroit+Newsletter&utm_campaign=406da70138-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4d2ad8703-406da70138-73197837#.UuArJUvgERR<\/p>\n

Cass Tech (above) QB Bodyslams Security Guard on Job 2 Days (video inside) \u00a0<\/strong>Four-star quarterback and Michigan State football recruit Jayru Campbell is in custody after he body slammed a security guard at Detroit Cass Tech High School.
\nCampbell, a junior and quarterback at Cass Tech, is shown on video slamming the security guard to the ground in a school hallway on Wednesday.
\nMichelle Zdrodowski, a spokeswoman for Detroit Public Schools, said Campbell will be disciplined internally according to the student code of conduct. Outside of the school, Zdrodowski said Campbell could be charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. \u00a0http:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/detroit-cass-tech-football-star-jayru-campbell-slams-school-security-guard-to-ground\/-\/1719418\/24066600\/-\/su4el6\/-\/index.html<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

Bourgie New Yorker Now backs test boycotts (new methods, old lies?)\u00a0<\/strong>Allanbrook has changed her approach to testing. This year, while tests will be still administered at B.N.S., and children in the third and fourth grades will have as much practice taking them as they ever have, the school is actively and vocally preparing to support families who decide to opt children out of the testing. Alternative activities will be provided on those days, as will alternative ways of measuring children\u2019s progress. (Among other methods, kids who opt out of state tests will be given alternative tests produced by the Department of Education, one in English language arts and one in math, each lasting just forty-five minutes.) Allanbrook says that her decision to speak out was motivated in part by thinking about the fifth-grade social-justice curriculum at the school, in which children who are about to graduate are asked to consider the question \u201cWhat are we willing to stand up for?\u201d \u201cAs parents and educators, this is the very question that we could be asking ourselves,\u201d Allanbrook wrote in a letter to parents this week. \u00a0 www.newyorker.com\/online\/blogs\/comment\/2014\/01\/the-defiant-parents-testings-discontents.html?mobify=0<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z_x-RTI1kyA<\/a><\/p>\n

The Toll Of 5 Years Of Drone Strikes: 2,400 Dead \u00a0<\/strong>As the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a U.K.-based non-profit, details on its website, five years ago the CIA conducted the first drone strikes of the Obama presidency. Although there were reports of suspected “militants” killed, at least 14 civilians also died that day.
\nAfter those initial mistakes, TBIJ notes, Obama rapidly ramped up the drone program in Pakistan and increased its use in Yemen and Somalia, two countries where al Qaeda affiliates expanded their presence during Obama’s presidency.
\nObama recently told The New Yorker that he “wrestle[s]” with civilian casualties. But, he said, he has “a solemn duty and responsibility to keep the American people safe. That\u2019s my most important obligation as President and Commander-in-Chief. And there are individuals and groups out there that are intent on killing Americans — killing American civilians, killing American children, blowing up American planes.”
\nHuman Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a pair of reports in October fiercely criticizing the secrecy that shrouds the administration’s drone program, and calling for investigations into the deaths of drone victims with no apparent connection to terrorism. In Pakistan alone, TBIJ estimates, between 416 and 951 civilians, including 168 to 200 children, have been killed \u00a0http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/01\/23\/obama-drone-program-anniversary_n_4654825.html<\/p>\n

\"dr-strangelove-still-580\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Schlosser: Almost Everything in Dr Strangelove was True \u00a0<\/strong>Despite public assurances that everything was fully under control, in the winter of 1964, while \u201cDr. Strangelove\u201d was playing in theatres and being condemned as Soviet propaganda, there was nothing to prevent an American bomber crew or missile launch crew from using their weapons against the Soviets. Kubrick had researched the subject for years, consulted experts, and worked closely with a former R.A.F. pilot, Peter George, on the screenplay of the film. George\u2019s novel about the risk of accidental nuclear war, \u201cRed Alert,\u201d was the source for most of \u201cStrangelove\u201d \u2019s plot. Unbeknownst to both Kubrick and George, a top official at the Department of Defense had already sent a copy of \u201cRed Alert\u201d to every member of the Pentagon\u2019s Scientific Advisory Committee for Ballistic Missiles. At the Pentagon, the book was taken seriously as a cautionary tale about what might go wrong. Even Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara privately worried that an accident, a mistake, or a rogue American officer could start a nuclear war.
\nCoded switches to prevent the unauthorized use of nuclear weapons were finally added to the control systems of American missiles and bombers in the early nineteen-seventies. The Air Force was not pleased, and considered the new security measures to be an insult, a lack of confidence in its personnel. Although the Air Force now denies this claim, according to more than one source I contacted, the code necessary to launch a missile was set to be the same at every Minuteman site: 00000000. \u00a0http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/online\/blogs\/newsdesk\/2014\/01\/strangelove-for-real.html<\/p>\n

Vets Hit Retired Generals Supporting Pay Cuts \u00a0<\/strong>Veterans groups are taking aim at a group of retired generals and admirals who support the budget deal passed last month that cuts military retirement payments.
\n“Those who earn the most in military retirement shouldn’t side against the masses who also served and who are now being asked to sacrifice again,” said Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis. “The COLA penalty needs to be eliminated for all.” \u00a0http:\/\/m.military.com\/daily-news\/2014\/01\/16\/vets-hit-retired-generals-supporting-pay-cuts.html?ESRC=army-a.nl<\/p>\n

Cockburn on the Farcical Arab Spring\u00a0<\/strong>What would Ahmed think of the Libyan revolution now? An interim government is nominally in control but the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi have been full of militia checkpoints manned by some of the 225,000 registered militiamen whose loyalty is to their commanders rather than the state that pays them. When demonstrators appeared outside the headquarters of the Misrata militia in Tripoli on 15 November demanding that they go home, the militiamen opened fire with everything from Kalashnikovs to anti-aircraft guns, killing 43 protesters and wounding some four hundred others. This led to popular protests in which many militias were forced out of Tripoli, though it\u2019s not clear whether this is permanent. Earlier the prime minister, Ali Zeidan, was kidnapped by militia gunmen without a shot being fired by his own guards to protect him. (He was released after a few hours.) Mutinying militias have closed the oil ports to exports and eastern Libya is threatening to secede. The Libyan state has collapsed, for the simple reason that the rebels were too weak to fill the vacuum left by the fall of the old regime. After all, it was Nato airstrikes, not rebel strength, that overthrew Gaddafi.
\nIt\u2019s a similar story elsewhere in the Middle East. The uprisings of the Arab Spring have so far produced anarchy in Libya, a civil war in Syria, greater autocracy in Bahrain and resumed dictatorial rule in Egypt. In Syria, the uprising began in March 2011 with demonstrations against the brutality of Assad\u2019s regime. \u2018Peace! Peace!\u2019 protesters chanted. But \u2018if there was a fair election in Syria today,\u2019 one commentator said, \u2018Assad would probably win it.\u2019 www.lrb.co.uk\/v36\/n01\/patrick-cockburn\/hazards-of-revolution<\/a><\/p>\n

\"torture<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hidden History of the CIA’s Black Prison in Poland\u00a0<\/strong>The CIA prison in Poland was arguably the most important of all the black sites created by the agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was the first of a trio in Europe that housed the initial wave of accused Sept. 11 conspirators, and it was where Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-declared mastermind of the attacks, was waterboarded 183 times after his capture.
\nMuch about the creation and operation of the CIA\u2019s prison at a base in one of the young democracies of Central Europe remains cloaked in mystery, matters that the U.S. government has classified as state secrets. But what happened in Poland more than a decade ago continues to reverberate, and the bitter debate about the CIA\u2019s interrogation program is about to be revisited. \u00a0… in December, the European Court of Human Rights heard arguments that Poland violated international law and participated in torture by accommodating its American ally; a decision is expected this year.
\n\u201cIn the face of Polish and United States efforts to draw a veil over these abuses, the European Court of Human Rights now has an opportunity to break this conspiracy of silence and uphold the rule of law,\u201d said Amrit Singh, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which petitioned the court on behalf of a detainee who was held at the Polish site. \u00a0Agency executives tapped Mike Sealy, a senior intelligence officer, to run the Polish black site, according to former CIA officials. He was called a \u201cprogram manager\u201d and was briefed on an escalating series of \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d that were formulated at the CIA and approved by Justice Department lawyers. These included slapping, sleep deprivation and waterboarding, a technique that involved pouring water over the shrouded face of the detainee and creating the sensation of drowning. \u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/the-hidden-history-of-the-cias-prison-in-poland\/2014\/01\/23\/b77f6ea2-7c6f-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html<\/p>\n

\"Cheater<\/a><\/p>\n

Cheater Cheater Nuclear Eater \u00a0<\/strong> Top military officials were quick to voice outrage over revelations last week that 34 officers responsible for launching the nation\u2019s nuclear missiles cheated on monthly proficiency tests, but few expressed surprise.
\nCheating has been a fact of life among America\u2019s nuclear launch officers for decades, crew members and instructors said. \u201cWhen I saw that they got something wrong, I would say, \u2018Go back and look at No. 5 again,\u2019 \u201d said Brian Weeden, a former launch officer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana who said that he routinely asked new crew members to show him their test answers before they turned them in. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/23\/us\/harsh-penalties-prompt-rampant-test-cheating-nuclear-officers-say.html<\/p>\n

Puppet Karzai Cuts a few strings (remember Diem, Hamid?) \u00a0<\/strong>Mr. Karzai\u2019s growing antipathy toward the United States is no secret, and civilian casualties have proved to be one of the most corrosive issues between the allies. Yet the photographs and the video, handed out by Mr. Karzai\u2019s office last week, have injected a new level of vitriol into the relationship and shown how the Karzai government\u2019s political speech has been increasingly mirroring that of the Taliban \u2014 including the insurgents\u2019 habit of twisting facts, or simply making them up when necessary.
\nThe purpose of the dossier, according to other Afghan officials, was to justify Mr. Karzai\u2019s stalling on signing a long-term security agreement with the United States and to improve the chances for peace talks with the Taliban by showing that he is no American stooge, as the insurgents have often derided him. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/26\/world\/asia\/government-dossier-accusing-us-in-carnage-amplifies-doubts-about-karzai.html?hp&_r=0<\/p>\n

Ukraine: Fascists Battle Militarists as barbarism rises \u00a0<\/strong>Protesters have armed themselves like Crusaders with plywood shields, often painted with a cross, against the stun grenades and rubber bullets from police lines. They broke up the pavement on nearby streets and squares, lobbing the chunks toward the police.
\nThey also hurled firebombs, firecrackers and fireworks at riot police officers, many of whom were injured when firebombs spilled burning fuel on their uniforms and helmets. Meanwhile, pro-opposition websites have alleged that the police are wrapping their stun grenades with nails and pieces of metal in order to inflict injuries.
\nMany protesters are protecting their heads with helmets and even colanders. One man came in Medieval battle armor, and another fashioned himself a bow and arrow for the fight. One group of men made a massive catapult from boards to pelt firebombs a longer distance; when it was burned down in a police attack, they rebuilt it the next day.
\nRead more here: www.miamiherald.com\/2014\/01\/24\/3890207\/in-ukraine-protests-resemble-medieval.html#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/a><\/p>\n

Oxfam: World’s Richest 1 Percent Control Half Of Global Wealth \u00a0<\/strong>Just 1 percent of the world’s population controls nearly half of the planet’s wealth, according to a new study published by Oxfam ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.
\nThe study says this tiny slice of humanity controls $110 trillion, or 65 times the total wealth of the poorest 3.5 billion people.
\nOther key findings in the report:
\n\u2014 The world’s 85 richest people own as much as the poorest 50 percent of humanity.
\n\u2014 70 percent of the world’s people live in a country where income inequality has increased in the past three decades.
\n\u2014 In the U.S., where the gap between rich and poor has grown at a faster rate than any other developed country, the top 1 percent captured 95 percent of post-recession growth (since 2009), while 90 percent of Americans became poorer. \u00a0http:\/\/www.npr.org\/blogs\/thetwo-way\/2014\/01\/20\/264241052\/oxfam-worlds-richest-1-percent-control-half-of-global-wealth<\/p>\n

\"Richest<\/a>In the US, the wealthiest one percent “captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009,” Oxfam reports. The bottom 90 percent actually lost wealth. \u00a0http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2014\/01\/the-worlds-85-richest-people-are-as-wealthy-as-the-poorest-3-billion\/283206\/<\/em><\/p>\n

Jp Morgan’s Jamie Dimon (famous for saying to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s desperate beg for help during the financial collapse: “I would do anything for the United States but not at the expense of JP Morgan”) does ok\u00a0<\/strong>JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) gave Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon a 74 percent raise to $20 million last year, bringing his pay closer to where it stood before he was penalized for faulty oversight of botched derivatives bets.
\nThe board\u2019s compensation package for Dimon, 57, who also serves as chairman, included $18.5 million in restricted stock, the New York-based lender said today in a regulatory filing. His salary was unchanged at $1.5 million and he got no cash bonus, according to the filing.
\nBoard members decided to keep Dimon\u2019s pay below previous peak levels after criminal and regulatory probes cost JPMorgan more than $23 billion in settlements during 2013. \u00a0http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-01-24\/jpmorgan-increases-dimon-s-total-pay-to-20-million-for-2013.html<\/p>\n

Obamago<\/strong>gue care Impact<\/strong>: US Retail Giant Target Eliminates Health Coverage for Part-Time Workers \u00a0Target has become the latest large retailer to eliminate health care benefits for its part-time workers. The Minnesota-based retail chain\u2019s decision follows similar moves at Home Depot, Trader Joe\u2019s and Forever 21. The move takes effect April 1.
\nIn a statement on its web site, Target directly cites the launch of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the main driver of its decision. Its move is one more indication that the implementation of the health care overhaul commonly known as Obamacare is undermining the employer-sponsored health care system in the US\u2014the means by which the majority of the population receives health benefits.
\nTarget cynically claims that the company is doing its part-time employees a favor by dropping their insurance, stating, \u201cThe launch of Health Insurance Marketplaces [ACA] provides new options for health care coverage that we believe our part-time team members may prefer.\u201d
\nThe retail giant claims that \u201cby offering them insurance we could actually disqualify many of them from being eligible for newly available [ACA] subsidies that could reduce their overall health insurance expense.\u201d The statement also notes that \u201cless than 10 percent of our total team member population participates in our part-time plan,\u201d arguing that the impact on the workforce will be minimal. www.globalresearch.ca\/obamacare-impact-us-retail-giant-target-eliminates-health-coverage-for-part-time-workers\/5366141<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mao<\/a>when will the RCP sell some Gold Mao replicas? And, where is the Gold Avakian?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Leaked Records Reveal Offshore Holdings of China\u2019s Elite….Files shed light on nearly 22,000 tax haven clients from Hong Kong and mainland China. \u00a0<\/strong>Close relatives of China\u2019s top leaders have held secretive offshore companies in tax havens that helped shroud the Communist elite\u2019s wealth, a leaked cache of documents reveals.
\nThe confidential files include details of a real estate company co-owned by current President Xi Jinping\u2019s brother-in-law and British Virgin Islands companies set up by former Premier Wen Jiabao\u2019s son and also by his son-in-law.
\nNearly 22,000 offshore clients with addresses in mainland China and Hong Kong appear in the files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Among them are some of China\u2019s most powerful men and women \u2014 including at least 15 of China\u2019s richest, members of the National People\u2019s Congress and executives from state-owned companies entangled in corruption scandals.
\nPricewaterhouseCoopers, UBS and other Western banks and accounting firms play a key role as middlemen in helping Chinese clients set up trusts and companies in the British Virgin Islands, Samoa and other offshore centers usually associated with hidden wealth, the records show. For instance, Swiss financial giant Credit Suisse helped Wen Jiabao\u2019s son create his BVI company while his father was leading the country. \u00a0http:\/\/www.icij.org\/offshore\/leaked-records-reveal-offshore-holdings-chinas-elite<\/p>\n

Argentina: First to Fizzle? \u00a0<\/strong> Cities across Argentina are still unnerved by all the looting that broke out last month after police officers went on strike, protesting salaries eroded by rampant inflation. Residents fumed over blackouts that left them sweltering during a recent heat wave. Then the currency plunged this week, the steepest decline since the nation\u2019s economic collapse in 2002, stirring fears that another major financial crisis could be around the corner. \u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/25\/world\/americas\/argentina-eases-currency-controls-but-citizens-are-not-reassured.html?hp<\/a><\/p>\n

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Surveillance<\/a><\/p>\n

Alfred McCoy on Surveillance and Scandal\u00a0<\/strong>What exactly was the aim of such an unprecedented program of massive domestic and planetary spying, which clearly carried the risk of controversy at home and abroad? Here, an awareness of the more than century-long history of U.S. surveillance can guide us through the billions of bytes swept up by the NSA to the strategic significance of such a program for the planet\u2019s last superpower. What the past reveals is a long-term relationship between American state surveillance and political scandal that helps illuminate the unacknowledged reason why the NSA monitors America\u2019s closest allies.
\nNot only does such surveillance help gain intelligence advantageous to U.S. diplomacy, trade relations, and war-making, but it also scoops up intimate information that can provide leverage — akin to blackmail — in sensitive global dealings and negotiations of every sort. The NSA\u2019s global panopticon thus fulfills an ancient dream of empire. With a few computer key strokes, the agency has solved the problem that has bedeviled world powers since at least the time of Caesar Augustus: how to control unruly local leaders, who are the foundation for imperial rule, by ferreting out crucial, often scurrilous, information to make them more malleable. \u00a0http:\/\/www.tomdispatch.com\/post\/175795\/tomgram%3A_alfred_mccoy%2C_it’s_about_blackmail%2C_not_national_security\/#more<\/p>\n

Polling on the NSA-as-Stasi Scams\u00a0<\/strong>For all the attention generated by the controversy over Edward Snowden’s disclosures of U.S. spying operations, much of the public has paid little attention to the details of the policy debate over government surveillance, polls have shown.
\nThe latest evidence comes from a new Pew Research Center poll showing that half the public said they had heard nothing at all about President Barack Obama’s speech Friday outlining new restrictions on the National Security Agency. Only 8 percent of those surveyed said they had “heard a lot” about Obama’s plans.
\nOf those who said they had heard at least a little bit about the speech, the overwhelming majority said they thought the president’s plans would have little impact either on protecting privacy or on hindering the government’s fight against potential terrorist plots. About 1 in 5 said Obama’s plans would increase the protection of individual privacy and about 1 in 8 said it would make fighting terrorism more difficult.
\nRead more here: www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/01\/20\/215165\/public-largely-tunes-out-nsa-surveillance.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n

Oakland County (rich, Michigan) chief exec Brooks Patterson on Detroit: “Anytime I talk about Detroit, it\u2019s not positive. Therefore, I\u2019m a Detroit basher. The truth hurts, you know? Tough s—.
\nI made a prediction a long time ago, and it\u2019s come to pass. I said,
\n\u2018What we\u2019re going to do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and corn.’<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 www.mlive.com\/news\/detroit\/index.ssf\/2014\/01\/oakland_county_executive_l_bro_16.html<\/a><\/p>\n

NYTimes Editor: Obamagogue Administration most secretive ever \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. \u00a0“How secretive is this White House?” which I think is the most important question. I would say it is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering, and that includes \u2014 I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush’s first term.
\nI dealt directly with the Bush White House when they had concerns that stories we were about to run put the national security under threat. But, you know, they were not pursuing criminal leak investigations. The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It’s on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with. \u00a0http:\/\/america.aljazeera.com\/watch\/shows\/talk-to-al-jazeera\/interviews-and-more\/2014\/1\/21\/jill-abramson-talkstojohnseigenthaler.html<\/p>\n

Solidarity for Never<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"NySut<\/a>Richard C. Iannuzzi, President, NYSUT, and Arne Duncan, U.S. Education Secretary, head a round table with teams of teachers about reform and pilot program on teacher evaluations, at NYSUT headquarters (NYSUT is deeply in debt but the union boss keeps getting double digit raises–while a small war between opportunists rages in NYSUT)<\/p>\n

Alternative Visions \u2013 Boeing Workers Tell Their Story of Force Concessions \u2013 01\/08\/14 (audio and video) \u00a0<\/strong>prn.fm\/alternative-visions-010814\/<\/a><\/p>\n

President Barack Obama declared himself to be one of Boeing\u2019s top salesman, and asked the company\u2019s CEO to award him a gold medal. <\/strong>\u201cI expect a gold watch from Boeing at the end of my presidency because I know I\u2019m on the list of top salesmen at Boeing,\u201d he told numerous business leaders at a meeting of his CEO-heavy Export Council. \u00a0http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2013\/09\/19\/obama-demands-gold-medal-from-boeing\/<\/p>\n

89% of People are NOT in Unions. Where should the organizing targets be? \u00a0<\/strong>In 2013, the union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were \u00a0members of unions–was 11.3 percent, the same as in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor\u00a0Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to\u00a0unions, at 14.5 million, was little different from 2012. In 1983, the first year\u00a0for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1\u00a0percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers. \u00a0Highlights from the 2013 data:
\n–Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (35.3 percent) more
\nthan five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.7 percent).
\n(See table 3.)
\n–Workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective
\nservice occupations had the highest unionization rate, at 35.3 percent for
\neach occupation group. (See table 3.)
\n–Men had a higher union membership rate (11.9 percent) than women (10.5
\npercent). (See table 1.)
\n–Black workers were more likely to be union members than white, Asian, or
\nHispanic workers. (See table 1.)
\n–Among states, New York continued to have the highest union membership rate
\n(24.4 percent), and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.0 percent). (See
\ntable 5.) \u00a0Among occupational groups, the highest unionization rates in 2013 were in education,
\ntraining, and library occupations and protective service occupations (35.3 percent
\neach). Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (2.1 percent) and sales and
\nrelated occupations (2.9 percent) had the lowest unionization rates. \u00a0http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/union2.nr0.htm<\/p>\n

Eye on the Counterfeit Left: the Postmodernist Rot of Grace Lee Boggs <\/strong>Pseudo-left groups such as Detroit\u2019s Boggs Center, named after Grace Lee Boggs, have supported the drive to return society to its \u201cagrarian roots\u201d for years. They use Orwellian terms like \u201csustainable activism\u201d to describe their retrograde plans, which are deeply hostile to Detroit workers. In fact, the grandparents and great-grand parents of many current-day Detroit workers escaped impoverished agrarian regions in the US and around the world to strive for a higher standard of living in the Motor City, which once employed hundreds of thousands in the auto industry.
\nThe Boggs Center has written against the Hantz purchase on the grounds that Hantz is not a legitimate \u201ccommunity member\u201d and that the urban farm should not be run by such a transparently elite businessman. Instead, the organization would no doubt prefer the land be handed over to aspiring \u201curban farming\u201d entrepreneurs and Green capitalists with whom the Boggs Center is associated.
\nDetroit once had the highest standard of living in the US because of the efficiency of the assembly line and mass production on the one hand, and the militancy of the working class on the other, which fought many bloody battles to wrest rights and concessions from the ruling elite in an earlier period. The idea that urban gardens and farms can provide jobs and food to masses of people is a reactionary pipedream, aimed at blocking any struggle against the banks and corporations, which decimated the city through deindustrialization and are now trying to loot it through the bankruptcy process. \u00a0 www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2014\/01\/22\/hant-j22.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Spy versus Spy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Surveillance<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Are the Intelligence Budgets a State Secret?<\/strong>\u00a0You can dig all you want through the trillion-dollar spending bill just approved by Congress and still not learn how much the country is spending on each of the intelligence agencies. That\u2019s because those amounts are a state secret, and nowhere in President Obama\u2019s call for greater oversight and transparency on Friday did he propose changing that status.
\nThat was a missed opportunity. Not only do taxpayers not know where their money is going, or whether it is well spent, but most members of Congress don\u2019t know, either. The amounts are closely confined to a few lawmakers who have the right security clearances. There is no public debate about the budgets, and no opportunity for outside groups or experts to weigh in.
\nAs the 9\/11 Commission report said, \u201cwhen even aggregate categorical numbers remain hidden, it is hard to judge priorities and foster accountability.\u201d \u00a0http:\/\/takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/17\/why-are-the-intelligence-budgets-a-state-secret\/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&emc=edit_tnt_20140118&tntemail0=y&_r=1<\/p>\n

In live chat, Snowden addresses Obama’s NSA reforms
\nRead more here: www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/01\/23\/215536\/in-live-chat-snowden-addresses.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cracks in the Empire \u00a0<\/strong>The Justice Department has filed a detailed complaint in a whistleblowers\u2019 lawsuit it joined against a company that conducts security-background checks for nearly half of potential U.S. government hires, adding new detail to accusations that the firm knowingly conducted flawed investigations of individuals seeking security clearances.
\nThe filing against Falls Church, Va.-based USIS includes information about alleged shortcuts the company took in reviewing security-clearance candidates and about a cavalier and joking approach taken by some USIS employees to submitting files to the government that had not undergone a full review. \u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/justice-department-joins-lawsuit-against-usis-over-background-checks\/2014\/01\/23\/db16e244-8432-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html?hpid=z4<\/p>\n

The Magical Mystery<\/strong><\/span> Tour<\/strong><\/p>\n