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Hello everyone, the weather here is still unbearable. Don’t think bears could stand this.

International Politics

Overall

– Max Blumenthal & Rania Khalek: “How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl’s Resignation”

– Pew: Nearly one-in-ten countries have police who uphold religious law

– The head of NATO said that Russia is the “gravest threat to Europe security.”

– A watchdog for the world’s chemical weapons said 45 percent of chemical weapons in Syria have been shipped out

– The Pentagon announced its multinational training exercise will take place in Ukraine, I wonder why…

Middle East

– Part one of two with David Sheen on The Real News on how non-Jewish African refugees are continually harassed by the Israeli government

– It’s been 11 years since the Iraq War, one of the most infamous events in the history of the country. Unfortunately, the U.S. media apparently doesn’t feel it is significant

– Israel approved the construction of 184 new settlement homes in the West Bank

– Newly leaked cables found Hezbollah wanted to ensure Israel it would not attack them

– In eastern Afghanistan, two people were killed by a bicycle bomb

Asia and Oceania

– China will be using drones to fly through the smog to catch companies polluting

– Relatives of those missing on MH370 grow more frustrated and angrier as no new information is being released

Africa

– When Gaddafi was overthrown the plan was to make Libya into a stable, pro-West state. But what has occurred, in what is no surprise for those around in 2011, is a state becoming more unstable and a lack outseide help for the government

– At the same time, the UN Security Council authorized the ability to board rebel-held Libyan oil tankers

– In Egypt clashes between police and demonstrators left 10 people dead

Europe

– A piece remembering the legacy of Irish political prisoner Bobby Sands

– Ukraine has announced it will remove its soldiers and their families from Crimea, under Russian pressure

Latin America, Caribbean and Canada

– In Venezuela the ruling socialists in the congress called for a treason investigation against an opposition leader

Surveillance Planet

– The senior lawyer for the NSA said, contrary to what private companies are saying, groups like Google knew about widespread collection of data

– Twitter, despite Snowden’s advice to Americans to encrypt, will not be going through with it for direct messages

Financial Matters

– Gallup: 28 percent of Americans say it’s a good time to go looking for a quality job

– Debts for an average 25-year-old in the U.S. exploded over the past few years, but the challenge is getting an organized response

– Henry Giroux: “Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation“; A related article here on neo-liberalism and climate change

– It seems the Fortune 100 companies got $1.2 trillion from the government in corporate welfare

– It seems Silicon Valley companies are avoiding taxes with offshore accounts as well as getting government payouts on top of that. How swell!

– Toyota agrees to pay $1.2 billion for lying to regulators and covering up a defect in its cars

– With the Government Accountability Office (GAO) set to release a report on big banks and their borrowing ability which could change the way they are regulated, large banks are seeking to stop any regulation

– The Federal Reserve cut another $10 billion from its economic stimulus as Janet Yellen reorganizes the Fed, but it seems interest rates may rise next year

Labor’s a-Brewing

– In Chicago and Seattle, the fight for $15/hour is growing among the working class

Politics US

Washington USA

– The Congressional Progressive Caucus has a proposed budget rejecting austerity and advocating job creation; I think this is for show for when they run for re-election, whether this year or 2016; Here’s a good article responding to their budget and the incorrect focus on deficit reduction

– President Obama is worse than Ronald Reagan on the issue of nuclear weapons as he wants more money than Reagan for research, development, testing and production of them

– Medea Benjamin and Alli McCracken: “CODEPINK Snow Day at the Department of Homeland Security”

– Sen. Dianne Feldstein (D-CA): I am against the legalization of cannabis for recreational purposes

Anytown USA

– Qunnipiac: Despite 65 percent of New Yorkers optimistic about the next four years with Mayor Bill de Blasio, only 45 percent approve of his job

– A woman who went to jail pens a piece on why she should get her right to vote back as prisoners are disenfranchised once they head to prison

– A well-needed piece criticizing U.S. mainstream journalism for not doing a good job covering significant events thereby getting blood on their hands; A related article discusses an AP reporter rejecting claims of far-right nationalists in government in Ukraine

– A federal judge ordered the Election Assistance Commission to help Kansas and Arizona with their Voter ID laws

– The spokesman for al-Qaeda after Sept. 11 talks at his own trial on why he did the things he did

We Don’t Need No Education

– The reality is the cliché of the college student eating low-cost food is becoming true, some of them go hungry

Health, Hunger and Homelessness

– A new study found 49 percent of Americans believe in at least one health conspiracy theory

– A homeless veteran was arrested for trespassing in Harlem and was taken to Rikers Island. He died the following week from overheating

The Second Sex

– It’s alarming to see “stillborn” deaths going to court clashing with the rights of women

Planet Earth

– Gallup: 50 percent of Americans say the environment is getting worse compared to 42 percent saying it’s getting better

– Pew: 61 percent of Americans support building the Keystone XL pipeline with 49 percent of Democrats in favor of building it (compared to 38 percent opposed)

– Meanwhile, opponents of Keystone are focusing also on natural gas exports

– Not tomorrow, not next week, not a year from now, not five, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years from now. It’s now that we are seeing climate change having devastating effects

– After experiencing earthquakes there, Ohio environmentalists are calling for a ban on hydrofracking

– The risk of wildfires in California grows becuase of the horrific drought in the state

– I’ve stopped posting ledes of stories at the request of readers for analysis, but this is too hilarious to pass up. “The Obama administration hopes to fight global warming with the geeky power of numbers, maps and even gaming-type simulations.” Here’s the best part: they do this so we can do something. This is by far my favorite article of all-time. Please share it among your friends. I’m legitimately laughing at how pathetic this is.

Mixed Bag

– “Families Of Missing Flight Passengers Just Hoping Media Gets Closure It Needs”

– It seems dogs are able to recall the scent of their owners, makes sense as they have amazing noses

Break Time

– The Magic Clap