by Phil Smith This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE: The bipartisan congressional budget agreement to keep the federal government operating through September contains exactly no money for the Justice Department to wage war on medical marijuana in states where it is legal. The agreement reached Sunday instead […]
TSUKERMAN: What is behind attacks on Russian opposition leaders?
By Slava Tsukerman On April 27, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was opening his headquarters in the Russian Siberian city of Barnaul. Unexpectedly he was doused with a bright green liquid, so called “Zelionka”, by an unknown assailant. Zelenka is an inexpensive medicine, commonly used in Russia as a go-to antiseptic for scrapes and cuts. An attacker […]
KEISLING: Kids for Cash in Luzerne County. (Could it happen here?)
The Luzerne County Courthouse Bribery Scandal Reconsidered (aka Kids for Cash) by Bill Keisling Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from a draft of Bill Keisling’s forthcoming book on corruption in Pennsylvania, ‘special legislation’ and the participation and complicity of the media. Anyone wishing for insights into the wholesale corruption of Pennsylvania government and its courts, […]
LETTER: Prominent Republican Charlie Munger: “We Should Have Single-Payer Medicine.”
I thought you might find the memo below of interest. It was sent to the all-Republicans list in the US House of Representatives by John Conyers. It is about Charlie Munger and his business partner Warren Buffett’s comments on healthcare and the need for a systemic change. Here is a video of what they said […]
Ad Buyers Have a Say in Whether Real News Survives (in Philadelphia)
NEW YORK TIMES: …Here in Philadelphia, reporters at The Inquirer and The Daily News got an email with instructions on how to go about reapplying for jobs in a reorganized newsroom, the latest chapter in their corporate parent’s mad dash to retool the papers for survival in a world dominated by Google and Facebook. […]
MILLER: Budget leaves everything to be desired
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Ten months into Pennsylvania state government’s current fiscal year, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf looks less likely to win re-election next year. Now in the third year of his first term, he has yet to win a major victory in tussles with a Republican (and stubborn) legislature. GOP opposition stymied […]
Who ‘the hell’ is Robert Field to criticize LNP, the current Steinman Family and Dale High?
Robert E. Field was born in 1937, raised in the Philadelphia area, and relocated with his family to Lancaster in 1967. He graduated from the University of California – Berkeley,’59, with a major in economics. (Offered a two year graduate fellowship to Cambridge University, he declined it to enter the business world.) At 28, […]
Democratic Engagement in America? Activists in Lancaster
THE NATION: …When you’re trying to create a populist political movement from scratch, however, you don’t get a lot of down time. And so Michelle Hines and her partner, Daniel Levin, are out knocking on doors and telling their neighbors about the new grassroots group in town. Hines, a young white woman who works a […]
Good News: Trump Will Not Nominate Rep. Marino as Drug Czar
May 3, 2017 – By Bill Piper Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: According to news reports President Donald Trump will not be nominating Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) to be director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (colloquially referred to as the “drug czar”). This is a major victory for the Drug Policy Alliance, which […]
TSUKERMAN: Are Russians Happy?
By Slava Tsukerman On April 26, Russian official International Information Agency RIA Novosti reported that the share of Russians who feel happy has reached a historic high (sociological measurements of happiness have been made in Russia since 1990). According to a survey of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, today 85% of […]
MILLER: Gambling politics in Ohio-PA border counties
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS Second of a series about contrasting Ohio-PA border politics. State and national Democrat parties have written off Western Pennsylvania politics. To deflect boredom, we Keystoners follow happenings in the Mahoning Valley – Mahoning and Trumbull counties through five Youngstown TV stations. These Ohio counties form the west side of the […]
Trump’s Apparent Drug Czar Pick Would Double Down on Failed Drug War, Take Country Backward
April 14, 2017 – By Bill Piper DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: President Donald Trump is expected to soon nominate Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) to be director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (colloquially referred to as the “drug czar”). Marino, a former prosecutor with no background in health or treatment, supports a punitive, 1980s style […]
TSUKERMAN: Chechen Anti-Gay Scandal Keeps Growing
By Slava Tsukerman My two articles about mass repressions against people of “non-traditional sexual orientation” in Chechnya were published in NewsLanc on April 5 and April 19 (https://newslanc.com/tsukerman-anti-gay-repression-in-chechnya/ and https://newslanc.com/tsukerman-chechen-gay-scandal/ ). The scandal about these repressions was started by a publication in the Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” (New Newspaper). The reaction of Chechen […]
Comparing Ohio-PA border politics
By Dick Miller: – FIRST OF TWO PARTS. WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Since state and national Democrat parties have written off Western Pennsylvania, politics around here are akin to watching paint dry. Fortunately, southwestern Crawford, northwestern Lawrence and nearly all of Mercer County are part of the Youngstown TV market. Politics is still drama in this rapidly dwindling […]