What reaction to Boston attack says about today’s America

Interesting thoughts by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker: As always in America, what actually happened today near Boston braided entirely into what was being shown and said, so that the two became inseparable. There were two, and then one, terrorists on the run in a Boston suburb; there were two, and then one, terrorists…

Manufacturing Consent, 25 years on

The classic media analysis book by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman continues its relevance to this day. Herman speaks to The Real News about its impact today, where real investigative journalism will appear and social media:

UN caving to US/Israeli pressure to deny Israeli torture

Disturbing report, via John Lyons in the Australian, that the UN is apparently shielding Israel from the criticisms and punishment it so richly deserves for torturing and abusing children: It would be difficult to imagine a more bizarre press conference. When UNICEF, the UN children’s fund, recently notified journalists in Jerusalem that it was releasing…

When will the NYT call torture by its rightful name, torture?

Cracking writing by Andrew Sullivan on the gutlessness of the supposed paper of record: There was something almost poignant about a… post yesterday… by former NYT executive editor Bill Keller. It’s his way of explaining why he decided the Times could not use the plain word ”˜torture’ to describe torture – when it was conducted by the…

It’s beyond official: America was a torturing nation post 9/11

Comprehensive report that offers yet more evidence that the US instituted a comprehensive program of violence, torture and pain after 9/11. None of the key advocates have faced justice, thanks to Barack Obama (via New York Times): A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist…

Life of an uncharged Yemeni prisoner at Guantanamo Bay

Devastating piece in the New York Times that needs no explanation: GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago. I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not…

US Zionist lobby wants to codify Israeli racism against Arabs

The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald writes about the latest example of Zionist “values” corrupting the concept of democracy, decency and fairness: In order for the US to permit citizens of a… foreign country to enter the US without a visa, that country must agree to certain conditions. Chief among them is reciprocity: that country must allow Americans…

What the Iraq war destroyed for average Iraqis

Riverbend was one of the most prolific and savvy Iraqi bloggers during the 2003 Iraq war. And then, she disappeared, not writing for years. On the 10th anniversary of the invasion, she’s back with a short and devastating post about her country: April 9, 2013 marks ten years since the fall of Baghdad. Ten years…

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