Politics
Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to examine the constitutionality of Obama’s executive use of powers. During the hearing, titled “The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws,” experts discussed the president’s role in our constitutional system. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that Obama has been altering and changing laws enacted by Congress, and has overstepped his legal authority…
On Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013, Michael Cannon, Cato Institute’s Director of Health Policy Studies, testified before a congressional committee about the dangers of the president’s failure to uphold his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the nation’s laws
Filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick talk about their mini-series “The Untold History of the United States.” The two also address the latest news about NSA surveillance, drones, and Wall Street greed. And Oliver Stone explains why he feels like a dissident against the US empire.
Journalist Will Potter reports on the arrest of an undercover animal rights worker who filmed animal abuse in the livestock industry. Potter’s website, GreenIsTheNewRed.com, compares the contemporary “Green Scare,” in which environmental and animal rights activists are labeled “domestic terrorists,” with the “Red Scare” of the mid-twentieth century.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org), a public interest technology watchdog group, is maintaining an extensive database on NSA surveillance that it is making available for public research. The site includes NSA primary sources, information on key officials and agencies involved in the creation and perpetuation of NSA surveillance, legality authorizations, a surveillance timeline, and much, much more.
Ben Swann takes a look at new support for a lawsuit claiming that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because of how the bill originated.
Abby Martin calls out Hawaii State Representative Tom Brower for his crusade against the homeless, highlighted by the smashing of shopping carts with a sledgehammer. Abby contrasts Brower with the heroic actions of citizens of New Orleans and Boulder, Colorado who have staged ‘sleep-outs’ in order to build awareness of homeless issues and raise money for the cause.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to the growing chorus of voices calling for the expansion of Social Security benefits. She suggested that Social Security benefits should be raised to levels that account for the impact of inflation on seniors, which grows quickly under the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ experimental CPI-E metric.
Best-selling author and activist, Marianne Williamson, joins Barnet and Freeman for a dynamic and powerful conversation about her vision of becoming a Congresswoman. This visionary leader holds a sense of possibility that is distinctly different from the current trajectory our country is heading in. She shares her ideas, along with her reason for running for public office, in this compelling episode of Cutting Edge Consciousness. For more information about Marianne’s work and her bid for Congress, please visit: http://www.marianneforcongress.com/
Ever wonder where those poor animals in research labs come from? They could have been domestic pets, according to this post by Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The newest round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations begin today in Salt Lake City, Utah, where trade representatives will work towards finalizing the text of this sprawling secret agreement. Last week’s publication of the controversial “Intellectual Property” chapter by Wikileaks confirmed our worst fears: the TPP carries draconian copyright enforcement provisions that threaten users’ rights and could stifle innovation well into the 21st Century. Public opposition to the TPP continues to grow as a result of the leaked document.
Journalist Chris Hedges was present in the federal courtroom for the sentencing of hacktivist Jeremy Hammond. His crime: revealing to the people of the United States the truth about their government’s collaboration with the corporate elite toward the goal of replacing democracy with elite capitalist tyranny.
The latest Fox News poll finds 55 percent of Americans now disapprove of President Obama’s general job performance and 61 percent specifically disapprove of his health care handling, the highest numbers since they first began asking these questions in 2009. Not even during the IRS or AP scandals, NSA revelations, or Syria debacle did Obama’s favorability ratings take such a hit.
If you think the Monsanto Protection Act was bad, watch out for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade agreement being negotiated in secret, which subverts national sovereignty for corporate rule. On Nov. 13, WikiLeaks released the August version of a section of the TPP, the Intellectual Property chapter, which addresses not only traditional creative copyrights, but also genetic and pharmaceutical patents, as well as surgical procedures.
Economist William K. Black discusses the secretly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the catastrophic consequences for public health if it should be ratified. Black calls upon former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, to denounce the TPP and call attention to the public health crises that it will create, in the interests of enriching the pharmaceutical industry and corporate America.
