Articles by M
We found 35315 results.
NATO: From Covert Sponsor to Artillery Provider for Terrorists in Syria
Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation - TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Mar 2020
28 Feb 2020 – NATO member Turkey was recently caught out providing artillery support for terror groups in Syria’s Idlib province. As Syria’s endgame closes, the protagonists and their proxies are coming more clearly into focus. NATO’s covert shadowy connection with the jihadist insurgents it has sponsored for regime change is being flushed out as the Syrian army and its Russian ally home in on the last stand of the terror groups.
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Persistence of Coronaviruses on Inanimate Surfaces and Their Inactivation with Biocidal Agents
G. Kampf, et al. | Journal of Hospital Infection – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Mar 2020
6 Feb 2020 – Currently, the emergence of a novel human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has become a global health concern causing severe respiratory tract infections in humans. Human-to-human transmissions have been described with incubation times between 2-10 days, facilitating its spread via droplets, contaminated hands or surfaces. We therefore reviewed the literature on all available information about the persistence of human and veterinary coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces as well as inactivation strategies with biocidal agents used for chemical disinfection, e.g. in healthcare facilities.
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Michelangelo (6 Mar 1475 – 18 Feb 1564)
Biography – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Mar 2020
In his youth, Michelangelo Buonarroti had taunted a fellow student, and received a blow on the nose that disfigured him for life. Over the years, he suffered increasing infirmities from the rigors of his work; in one of his poems, he documented the tremendous physical strain that he endured by painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Political strife in his beloved Florence also gnawed at him, but his most notable enmity was with fellow Florentine artist Leonardo da Vinci, who was more than 20 years his senior.
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Julian Assange Must Be Freed, Not Betrayed
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
On 24 FEBRUARY, Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange FACES A COURT to decide WHETHER OR NOT HE IS TO BE EXTRADITED TO THE UNITED STATES and a living death.
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Bernie Sanders to Skip AIPAC Conference on Political Reasons
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
23 Feb 2020 – The Vermont senator made it clear that he will not attend the AIPAC event for political, not agenda-related, reasons. “I remain concerned about the platform that AIPAC offers to leaders who express intolerance and oppose the basic rights of Palestinians. For that reason, I will not be attending your conference.”
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Extradition and Trial of Julian Assange
Anthony Judge | Laetus in Praesens - TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
19 Feb 2020 – The following items have been progressively accumulated as an addendum to an earlier document elaborated as a speculative dramatisation of the legal process against Julian Assange in several Christian countries. Given the probability of his extradition, trial and conviction in the USA, a further document was produced to offer Christians the possibility of collectively determining his punishment — in the spirit of that dramatisation.
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Marchers Support Assange ahead of London Extradition Hearing
Jill Lawless | AP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
22 Feb 2020 – Hundreds of supporters of Julian Assange marched through London today to pressure the U.K. government not to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States in hearing due to begin in a London court on Monday 24 Feb. Famous backers, including Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, editor in chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsonn, Assange’s father John Shipton, Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters, and Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde joined the crowd.
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Journalists Speak Up for Julian Assange
Posted by Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – Julian Assange, founder and publisher of WikiLeaks, is currently detained in Belmarsh high-security prison in the United Kingdom and faces extradition to the United States and criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. He risks up to 175 years imprisonment for his part in making public the leak of US military documents from Afghanistan and Iraq, and a trove of US State Department cables.
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West Point Prof Pens Blistering Takedown of U.S. Military Academies
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos | The American Conservative – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
17 Feb 2020 – What do you call a civilian law professor who, after successfully filing for federal whistleblower status to keep his job teaching at West Point Military Academy, proceeds to write a bombshell book about the systematic corruption, violence, fraud, and anti-intellectualism he says has been rampant at the historic institution for over a hundred years?
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Large Parts of China Relax Coronavirus Curbs, Many Places Report Zero New Cases
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
24 Feb 2020 – Figures released by the national health authority today showed 24 out of China’s 31 provinces and regions – including Beijing, Shanghai and populous provinces such as Henan and Anhui – reported zero cases of new infections on Feb. 23, the best showing since it began publishing nationwide figures on Jan. 20. Yesterday, Sunday, President Xi hailed the positive trend, and urged businesses to resume work and safeguard jobs.
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Tariq Ali Speaks Out on Assange’s Case and US Wars
AcTVism Munich – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
In this 4 Feb 2020 speech in a public rally for Julian Assange at the Royal National Hotel in London, author, writer, filmmaker and public intellectual Tariq Ali speaks about Julian Assange and contextualizes his case by focusing on U.S. wars pointing out the double standards observed when it comes to the application of international law. Ali emphasizes the importance of collective action around the plight of Julian Assange.
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(Français) Le sort de Snowden, Manning, Harrison et Assange devrait susciter la même indignation mondiale que celle de Mandela
Geoffroy de Lagasnerie | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
13 Fév 2020 – L’association Carta Academica a remis le 29 janvier à Bruxelles ses premiers Academic Honoris Causa à Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden et Sarah Harrison. Durant la cérémonie, le philosophe Geoffroy de Lagasnerie a expliqué qu’ils incarnent tous les quatre ce que Derrida appelle le « destin de l’humanité ».
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Weaponizing Lawfare in the Philippines
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
22 Feb 2020 – Rodrigo Duterte, despite leaving by now a long trail of blood-stained abuse, retains an approval rating of more than 80%. As in the United States, we ask the question that prompted the leading thinkers in ancient Athens to abandon democracy—‘how can we trust the citizenry if they are drawn to support demagogues whose policies are self-destructive for the political community?” If not, the people, then whom? Surely, not the financial oligarchs. Plutocracy is not the answer.
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Trump Pardons White Collar Ruling Class Elite Criminals
Patrick Martin | WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – Trump issued 11 pardons on Tuesday [18 Feb], expunging the lawbreaking records of billionaire financier Michael Milken, the “junk bond king,” and billionaire real estate magnate Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. He also pardoned former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, convicted of tax fraud and perjury, and commuted the 14-year jail term of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, impeached and then convicted on multiple corruption counts, including attempting to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama after Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008.
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(中文 – Chinese) 世卫组织总干事在慕尼黑安全会议上的讲话
世卫组织总干事谭德塞博士 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
此时此刻，需要事实，而非恐惧。
此时此刻，需要理性，而非谣言。
此时此刻，需要团结，而非污名化。
World-Wide Journalists Condemn Court Action against Julian Assange
Posted by Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – 1242 journalists from 99 countries (as of 21 Feb 2020 10:30 a.m. GMT) have released a joint statement today in defence of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, in the lead up to proceedings in a UK court to extradite him to the United States to face the espionage charges. The court case begins on 24 February.
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Munich Conference Reveals East-West Divide
Pepe Escobar – Asia Times,
24 Feb 2020
19 Feb 2020 – Few postmodern political pantomimes have been more revealing than the hundreds of so-called “international decision-makers,” mostly Western, waxing lyrical, disgusted or nostalgic over “Westlessness” at the Munich Security Conference.
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How COVID-19 Spreads
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | U.S. Department of Health & Human Services – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
17 Feb 2020 – Current understanding about how the virus that causes coronavirus disease spreads is largely based on what is known about similar coronaviruses. On 11 Feb the WHO announced an official name for the disease that is causing the current outbreak of coronavirus disease, COVID-19. CDC will be updating our website and other CDC materials to reflect the updated name.
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More than 1300 #JournalistsSpeakUpForAssange
JournalistsSpeakUpForAssange – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
24 Feb 2020 – More than 1300 #JournalistsSpeakUpForAssange and demand that #Assange be released immediately from #prison, that the #UK government and judiciary refuse to permit a politically-motivated #extradition, and that the #US government drop the charges of #espionage.
→ read full articleWar and Peace in the Globalized World (Part I)
Naresh Jotwani – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
Money-on-tap gives them virtually unlimited purchasing power – and purchasing power is power. They buy the most expensive manpower and assets that money can buy, in effect behaving like “Sultans” of all that they survey. Almost anything can be purchased for a price, after all. Thus money-on-tap is the latest innovation to create the illusion of “conquering the world”.
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Portugal: Parliament Approves the ‘Death with Dignity’–Euthanasia Right
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – Despite protests from fundamentalist religious groups, Portugal’s Parliament today took the first step in favor of the decriminalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill people. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has also to approve the law.
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“War Is a Racket”
Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
War Is a Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book, by Smedley D. Butler, a retired US Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. Based on his extensive military experience, Butler discusses how business interests commercially benefit, profiteering from warfare. He made a nationwide U.S. tour in the early 1930s giving this speech.
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Australia World’s Leading Polluter of Greenhouse Gas Per Capita
Dr Gideon Polya – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
18 Feb 2020 – The Australian Government’s backing of new coal mines, new gas exploitation, new highways, two new gas-fired power stations, and new coal-fired power stations flies in the face of science and of an ever-worsening Climate Emergency reflected in catastrophic bushfires and apocalyptic wild life loss. Unfortunately the fossil fuel Lobby has the political upper hand, most notably in climate criminal America under climate change denialist Donald Trump and in its pro-coal, pro-gas lackey Australia.
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How India’s Modi Is Playing on Trump’s Ego to His Advantage
M.K. Bhadrakumar | Independent Media Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
Trump’s remarks on his India visit Feb 24-25: “We’re not treated very well by India, but I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot. And he told me we’ll have 7 million people between the airport and the event. And the stadium, I understand, is sort of semi under construction, but it’s going to be the largest stadium in the world. So it’s going to be very exciting. But he says between the stadium and the airport, we’ll have about 7 million people. So it’s going to be very exciting. I hope you all enjoy it.”
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Mistrial Is another Blow to U.S. Coup in Venezuela–Our Work Continues
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | Popular Resistance – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
16 Feb 2020 – Last week, we along with Adrienne Pine and David Paul were unsuccessfully prosecuted by the Trump administration for our protection of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC from April 10 to May 16, 2019. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision and so we remain innocent of the charge of interfering with the protective functions of the US Department of State. The judge declared a mistrial.
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Europe’s Human Rights Watchdog Opposes Assange’s Extradition
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States because it would have a chilling effect on press freedom, a European human rights chief said today. The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organization, with 47 member states including Britain, all of which are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.
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(Português) Ética e Espiritualidade face aos desastres ecológicos atuais
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
15 fev 2020 – As grandes chuvas com inundações desastrosas que afetaram muitas cidades do Brasil e paralelamente os incêndios fenomenais na Austrália, seguidos imediatamente de inesperadas inundações, constituem sinais inequívocos da Terra de que nela algumas mudanças importantes estão ocorrendo. É praticamente consenso de que estas mudanças para pior se devem à ação irresponsável dos seres humanos (a era do antropoceno).
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What You Need to Be Warm
Neil Gaiman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
A baked potato of a winter’s night to wrap your hands around or burn your mouth.
A blanket knitted by your mother’s cunning fingers. Or your grandmother’s.
COVID-19 at Munich Security Conference
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus | WHO Director-General – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
15 Feb 2020 – Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous… The greatest enemy we face is not the virus itself; it’s the stigma that turns us against each other. We must stop stigma and hate! … It’s easy to blame. It’s easy to politicize. It’s harder to tackle a problem together, and find solutions together… We will all learn lessons from this outbreak. But now is not the time for recriminations or politicization. This is a time for facts, not fear. This is a time for rationality, not rumours. This is a time for solidarity, not stigma.
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Compassion
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
Mother Teresa was bandaging an old man with an advanced stage of leprosy.
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(Português) Harrison Ford Muda Alimentação pelo Bem do Planeta
David Arioch | Vegazeta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 fev 2020 – Durante sua participação no programa The Ellen DeGeneres Show, o ator Harrison Ford disse que decidiu fazer mudanças na sua alimentação pelo bem do planeta. O anúncio foi feito um ano após ele criticar líderes mundiais que ignoram o impacto das mudanças climáticas. Ford revelou que já não consome mais nenhum tipo de laticínios ou carne, com exceção de peixe, e que tem priorizado os vegetais.
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Cartoon: 2020 Senate Republican Class Photo
Joe Kandra and Kathie MM | Engaging Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
Republican Democracy
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Another Brick in the Wall (Music Video of the Week)
Pink Floyd – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
The official video for Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd taken from the album ‘The Wall’ originally released in 1979.
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Can Dems Be Part of the Solution at AIPAC?
Diane Perlman | Medium – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
23 Feb 2020 – A coalition of progressive organizations is pressuring Democratic candidates to boycott the AIPAC-American Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference in Washington, March 1–3, 2020. Skipping AIPAC would be a huge mistake and a loss for the candidates, the party, our democracy, and AIPAC.
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Rocky and Ravi — Stories of People and Films
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
17 Feb 2020 – When a child is born in some rural or less urbanised part of India, the parents, grandparents or some Guru in whom the family has faith, give the baby a name that they feel is appropriate to their God, season or nakshatra—-the position of some planets.
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The United States Is Formally Accused of Crimes against Humanity at the International Criminal Court
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza arrived in The Hague (Netherlands) today to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the United States and its sanctions. Arreaza: ‘US Coercive Measures Are Mass Destruction Weapons.’
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Wall Street Celebrates Milken Pardon
Nick Beams | WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
20 Feb 2020 – The decision by Donald Trump to pardon the financial criminal Michael Milken is being celebrated on Wall Street and for good reason. He was a pioneer of the methods and financial mechanisms that have led to the greatest accumulation of wealth by the financial oligarchy ever seen in history, at the expense of the jobs and social conditions of broad sections of the working class.
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Collected Essays, Volume V
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
A New Freely-Downloadable Book – The book contains articles on the serious problems that are facing the world today.
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The Shocking Death of Rwandan Gospel Singer and Dissident Kizito Mihigo
Ann Garrison | San Francisco Bay View – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
19 Feb 2020 – The West’s major media, New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, the BBC, etc. have reported on the shocking death of Kizito Mihigo, a gospel singer and political dissident in the tiny Sub Saharan African country of Rwanda. But will it do anything to erode the West’s support for Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the tyrant and war criminal who no doubt ordered his execution? Probably not, because Kagame is their gateway to the riches of the Congo.
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Who Is Right, Lyn or Pam? Using Conflict Resolution Scenario Methods to Resolve an Organisational Conflict
Ivana Milojević | Journal of Futures Studies – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
11 Feb 2020 – Lyn and Pam (names have been changed) are co-workers in an Australian organisation. They are in the middle of a conflict that has been brought to their director’s attention. The director is not sure whether to engage with this conflict, as it appears rather trivial. Like most people do when it comes to conflicts, the director is hoping that the quarrel will dissipate and disappear on its own. Also like most people, she habitually uses a style of conflict resolution that she learned in her family of origin; she applies it to all conflicts, regardless of the context.
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As Usual, Western Media Grossly Distort Syria’s Conflict
Editorial | Strategic Culture Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
21 Feb 2020 – It is by now untenable for Western corporate media to spin the fictional narrative about “moderate rebels” fighting against a “cruel dictatorship”. The dominant component is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly Al Nusra Front, an offshoot of Al Qaeda, like Islamic State. Unable any longer to launder the bloody image of the terrorists and retail them as “moderate rebels”, the mainstream media are now laying on the “humanitarian emotion” as a way to undermine the sovereign right of the Syrian Army to defeat and rid the country of the terror scourge.
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Duterte Does the Right Thing for a Change
Walden Bello | Foreign Policy In Focus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
19 Feb 2020 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s termination of a key military pact with the United States, the Visiting Forces Agreement, which governed the deployment of US troops in the country, has evoked varied responses. He might be the devil incarnate, but Duterte is beginning the process of ending over 120 years of colonial subjugation.
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COVID-19 Contagion: Reality and Myth
Catherine Offord | The Scientist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
21 Feb 2020 – Scientists’ Latest Understanding of the Facts, the Suspicions, and the Discounted Rumors of SARS-CoV-2’s Transmission from Person to Person
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Painting a True Christ
Edward Curtin | Behind the Curtain – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
A Review of Terrence Malick’s Film “A Hidden Life”- Franz, a devout Roman Catholic, is deeply disturbed by the rise of Hitler and the thought of participating in his immoral killing machine.
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(Português) Civetas são alimentadas à força para produzir o café mais caro do mundo
Giovanna de Castro - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais,
24 Feb 2020
Os animais são mantidos em gaiolas apertadas e sujas. O café é fabricado a partir das fezes desses mamíferos na Indonésia e vendido por €500 ou US$700 ou 2.330 Reais o kilo.
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Christian Zionist Archaeology: A Tool of Palestinian Subjugation
Mimi Kirk – Al Jazeera,
24 Feb 2020
16 Feb 2020 – Archaeological projects in Palestine led by US evangelical Christians contribute to Palestinian dispossession.
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Eye Sight
Unknown – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
A man goes to his doctor and says, “Please help me, doctor. I think my eyesight is really worsening.”
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Gandhi’s Ahimsa: A Critical Review at the Critical Time of War against Terrorism
M Abdur Rahman Malik, et al. | International Journal of Business and Social Science – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
Abstract: This paper will seek to understand what is meant by the term that Gandhi refers to as Ahimsa. This research will also seek to evaluate the term from both theoretical and practical angles and will establish that Ahimsa is not possible in its virtual meanings. The critique on Ahimsa and Gandhi’s ideology will also be discussed. Finally this paper will propose that the concept of Ahimsa can be of any use for humanity only if it is defined in a broader framework.
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COVID-19: Fighting Panic with Information
Editorial | The Lancet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
22 Feb 2020 – As governments and health officials worldwide grapple with the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, new developments in the accounting of and response to cases are occurring as part of a swiftly evolving crisis… There may be no way to prevent a COVID-19 pandemic in this globalised time, but verified information is the most effective prevention against the disease of panic.
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‘Victory for Farmers’ as Jury Awards Grower $265 Million in Damages from Drift of Monsanto’s Dicamba
Andrea Germanos | Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Feb 2020
17 Feb 2020 – German chemicals giant Bayer announced today its intention to “swiftly appeal” a U.S. jury’s decision to award a Missouri peach farmer over $265 million in compensation for years of crop losses as a result of drifting dicamba weedkiller. “This verdict is just the tip of the iceberg.”
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UN Blacklist: The 112 Companies Operating in Palestine’s Israeli Settlements
AP – Times of Israel,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – The UN Human Rights Council today published a database of 112 companies that are conducting business in West Bank settlements. The overwhelming majority is Israeli, 6 are based in US, including Airbnb, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Motorola.
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(Português) Portugal: Centenas de Pessoas Manifestam-se no Porto pela Libertação do Whistleblower Rui Pinto
Observador – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
15 Fev 2020 – Mais de 500 pessoas manifestaram-se esta tarde frente ao Tribunal da Relação do Porto para pedir a libertação de Rui Pinto, o whistleblower português que publicou o Football Leaks e o Luanda Leaks, este último expondo Isabel dos Santos, a bilionária filha do ex-Presidente angolano.
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A Hard Look into the Genesis of Myanmar’s Genocide
Maung Zarni | Anadolu Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – Genesis of sustained, institutionalized destruction of Rohingya is anchored in group’s identity as Muslims. This faith-based framing of Rohingya, a borderland population, as a threat is precisely what qualifies Myanmar’s policies as genocidal.
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Brazil’s ex-President Lula Inspired by His Meeting with Pope Francis
teleSUR – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
14 Feb 2020 – Increasing global inequality, environmental crisis, and forging solidarity-driven alternatives for the economy were some of the topics Brazil’s ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Pope Francis discussed on Thursday [13 Feb] at the Vatican. “I hope I can have the same drive as Pope Francis to fight for a better world,” Brazil’s ex-president said after meeting.
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Kicking the Habit
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – The Industrial Revolution marked the start of a massive human use of fossil fuels. The stored energy from several hundred million years of plant growth began to be used at roughly a million times the rate at which it had been formed. The effect on human society was like that of a narcotic. There was a euphoric (and totally unsustainable) surge of growth of both population and industrial production.
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‘All We Can Offer Is the Chain’: The Scandal of Ghana’s Shackled Sick – Exposé
Tracy McVeigh – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2020
3 Feb 2020 – For the families of Ghanaians with mental health or substance abuse issues, shackling their loved ones can seem the only option, as faith healers compete to fill the mental health void.
→ read full articleCan Masks Protect against the New Coronavirus Infection?
World Health Organization (WHO) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Wearing a medical mask can help limit the spread of some respiratory diseases. However, using a mask alone is not guaranteed to stop infections. Their use should be combined with other preventive measures. Watch this short video to find out more.
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Meeting Grand Ayatollah 41 Years Ago
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
15 Feb 2020 – In February 1979, along with two others, I had a meeting with Ayatollah Khomeini. The post below is an edited text of an interview by two Iranian journalists, Maryam Khormaei & Javad Heiran-Nia, which was published a few weeks ago in Iran. As few Westerners had such an opportunity to meet the leader of the Iranian Revolution in a relatively relaxed atmosphere and for an ample length of time, there seemed interest in Iran and elsewhere in my recollections of that meeting.
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UN’s Nils Melzer on Assange: «A Murderous System Is Being Created before Our very Eyes»
Daniel Ryser | Republik – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
31 Jan 2020 – A made-up rape allegation and fabricated evidence in Sweden, pressure from the UK not to drop the case, a biased judge, detention in a maximum security prison, psychological torture – and soon extradition to the U.S., where he could face up to 175 years in prison for exposing war crimes. For the first time, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, speaks in detail about the explosive findings of his investigation into the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
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Pompeo: US Rejects UN Database of Israeli Settlement Companies
Al Jazeera News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today said the US government would not furnish any information for a database of companies operating in the occupied West Bank that the United Nations’ human rights office released. “The United States has long opposed the creation or release of this database,” he said in a statement.
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What Is Happening to Assange Will Happen to the Rest of Us
Chris Hedges | Truthdig – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – The global security state, which is not bound by the rule of law, will target all who defy it.
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Deaths of 16 Rohingya at Sea Raises Fears Trafficking Ring Has Been Revived
Kaamil Ahmed – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – Activists fear a dangerous transnational trafficking network is being revived after at least 16 Rohingya refugees drowned in the Bay of Bengal yesterday morning. Smugglers responsible for mass atrocities in Thailand may be linked to capsized boat carrying refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia.
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The Golden Age of White Collar Crime
Michael Hobbes, Matt Giles, et al. | HuffPost – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – Elite lawbreaking is out of control. This is the grotesque story of an existential threat to American society. One of the most conspicuous aspects of white-collar cases is the doting, near-veterinary care with which judges try to prevent defendants from facing harsh punishment. 32% of American managers said they were comfortable behaving unethically to meet financial targets. –Ernst and Young Global Fraud Survey
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Save the Insects, Save Ourselves: Researchers Sound Alarm on Bugpocalypse
Andrea Germanos | Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – Global conservation scientists drew renewed attention to the “insect apocalypse” underway with two companion papers published Sunday [9 Feb] underscoring how the fate of human beings and that of insects is intertwined and the available solutions to address the crisis.
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Bolivia: An Election in the Midst of an Ongoing Coup
Vijay Prashad | Independent Media Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – On May 3, 2020, the Bolivian people will go to the polls once more. They return there because President Evo Morales had been overthrown in a coup in November 2019. Morales had just won a presidential election in October for a term that would have begun in January 2020. The Organization of American States claimed that there was fraud in the election and Morales was prematurely removed from office.
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Putin Proposes 2020 Summit with Leaders of Russia, France, China, U.S. and UK
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
23 Jan 2020 – Russian President Vladimir Putin today proposed holding a summit between the leaders of the UNSC P5 in 2020 to discuss the conflict in Libya and other global problems.
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All about That Bass (Music Video of the Week)
PostmodernJukebox – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
The incredibly talented young performer is Kate Davis, and she’s the real deal. Not only does she possesses the kind of voice that will take you back to the days of Billie Holiday, she can also shred on the upright bass.
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On 41st Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Has Trump’s Belligerence Strengthened the Iranian Government?
Farhang Jahanpour | Informed Comment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
11 Feb 2020 – The current impasse in Iran will either result in a much more hard-line government, similar to the one led by President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, or even in a military coup led by the IRGC. Either scenario will push back the possibility of democratization in Iran by many years, and might even lead to a devastating war. The neocons who have been pushing Trump to pursue these policies have not served him, the United States or Iran well.
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Bat and Hyena
Mazin Qumsiyeh | Popular Resistance – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
15 Feb 2020 – What a baseball bat and a murdered pregnant hyena have in common? Please read on…
→ read full articleWhat Next — A Discourse on the Present and the Future
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Hinduism talks of karma and after life; if a person is kind, does good deeds in his/her present life, their next life will be better, enjoyable and rewarding as a consequence of karma. A natural question that arises is what are the factors or reasons for this dispensation of people in various walks of life to think about what next and how to do better in future. This is difficult to answer satisfactorily but it seems that in the contemporary world, insecurity and competition weigh heavily on peoples’ minds and on their behaviour.
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It’s High Time to End Medical Complicity in Torture
Dr. William Hopkins – Al Jazeera,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – As a psychiatrist and as a human being, I know that we can and must do better. Those responsible for these horrifying actions, such as James Mitchell, must be held to account. Our humanity depends on it.
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Haiti Ten Years after the Earthquake
Resumen | Haiti Action Committee – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – January 12 marked 10 years since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 300,000 people and left an estimated 1.3 million more homeless. Much of the greater Port-au-Prince region laid in ruins, including the presidential palace, 17 of 19 ministries, and many schools and hospitals. Entire neighborhoods leveled, power outages, roads blocked with rubble, some still not removed. The United States government militarized the emergency aid. They sent in thousands of troops to provide “security,” when Haitians needed food, water, and medical care.
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A Plague of Locusts Has Descended on East Africa–Climate Change May Be to Blame
Madeleine Stone | National Geographic – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
14 Feb 2020 – A plague of locusts is spreading across the East Africa region threatening the food supply of tens of millions. City-sized swarms of the dreaded pests descend on crops and pasturelands, devouring everything in a matter of hours. The outbreak, which now affects seven countries, is like nothing in recent memory. Human activity has made an ocean circulation pattern misbehave—triggering a weird confluence of events that has caused the infestations.
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New Religion Journalism Award
María-Paz López | International Association of Religion Journalists – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Dear TMS editor, I would like to draw your attention to a new journalism award, and to kindly ask you to disseminate the information below to forward it to journalists that may have an interest in submitting entries to the contest. Perhaps also contributors to TRANSCEND can be interested in applying.
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What Does the Myanmar Provisional Measures Order by the International Court of Justice Mean for ASEAN?
Maung Zarni | FORSEA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – It is long overdue for ASEAN to sync its policies towards Myanmar with international opinion, legal and human rights, and the global public. It needs to prove that it is a part of the solution, rather than being a Bystander in yet another genocide in its backyard after Khmer Rouge genocide four decades ago.
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(Português) Os mercados de espécies silvestres de animais são uma bomba-relógio para epidemias
Fátima ChuEcco - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais,
17 Feb 2020
14 fev 2020 – “A criação intensiva de espécies silvestres, caçadas na natureza e mantidas enclausuradas, leva a um ambiente propício para o surgimento e proliferação de diversos vírus, como a recente pandemia de coronavírus”, segundo World Animal Protection.
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Trump Budget Gives Top Priority to New Generation of Nuclear Weapons
Patrick Martin | WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
11 Feb 2020 – The most ominous feature of the new budget document issued yesterday by the Trump administration is the prominent place given to the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons, including so-called low-yield weapons, smaller than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which are widely regarded as more likely to actually be used in combat.
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Your Thoughts Create Your Future
Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana dasa) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
This will show how your thinking creates your consciousness and how to help control it. It provides evidence so that you can see how your life unfolds according to what you draw to it, as dictated by your consciousness and thoughts. By taking the responsibility for yourself and your thinking process, you can make your life more positive and uplifting, reducing or negating the influence of any hurt or negative energies you encounter.
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How Distressed and Injured Indonesian Civets Are Locked in Tiny Cages and Force-Fed Beans to Make the ‘World’s Most Expensive Coffee’
Chris Pleasance – Daily Mail,
17 Feb 2020
The Abuse behind Your Trendy Caffeine Fix – Animals eat and digest the coffee before the beans are ground up and sold for €500 or US$700 per Kilo.
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Breaking with Washington: Arabs and Muslims Must Take a Stance for Palestine
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – A negotiated solution to the ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict’, at least the way envisaged by successive US administrations, has failed. Now, Palestinians and their allies would have to explore a whole new path of liberation that does not go through Washington.
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Nobel Peace Prize 2020 – Full List of Qualified Nominations
Fredrik S. Heffermehl - The Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
11 Feb 2020 – A new page on Facebook, Nobel Peace Prize Watch, has been established to present the 36 nominations found qualified for 2020 and permit public exchange and debate around the candidates. Please follow, comment and encourage others to follow.
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The Mushroom Hunters
Neil Gaiman – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Science, as you know, my little one, is the study
of the nature and behaviour of the universe.
It’s based on observation, on experiment, and measurement,
and the formulation of laws to describe the facts revealed.
Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (22 Feb or 1 Mar 1810 – 17 Oct 1849)
Barbara Smolenska-Zielinska | Our Chopin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
The musical talent of Fryderyk became apparent extremely early on, and it was compared with the childhood genius of Mozart. Already at the age of 7, he was the author of two polonaises…. In the summer of 1849, Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa, the eldest sister of the composer, came from Warsaw to take care of her ill brother. On 17 October 1849, Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis in his Parisian flat in the Place Vendôme. He was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
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(Português) Bangladesh, o País que Menos Consome Carne no Mundo
David Arioch | Vegazeta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
8 fev 2020 – Localizado no Sul da Ásia, e com uma grande população de 164,7 milhões de pessoas, onde 86,6% dos habitantes se identificam como muçulmanos, a Nação Bengali, como também é conhecida, não tem uma cultura de alto consumo de carne como ocorre principalmente nas nações mais industrializadas e ricas.
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China’s Position on Putin’s Proposal of P5 Emergency Summit
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
24 Jan 2020 – Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Remarks on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Proposal to Hold a Meeting of the Heads of State of the Five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council
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‘Burned at the Stake’ – The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Demolishes the Fake Claims Targeting Julian Assange
Media Lens – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – Vested interests may appear to hold all the cards – they work hard to give that impression – but this is only an appearance. The very fact that they work so relentlessly to shape public opinion indicates the precarious nature of their dominance. The problem is inherent, structural – a ‘democratic’ society that subordinates the needs of the many to the needs of the few is a society based on lies. Propaganda obfuscating those lies can be disseminated endlessly, day and night, but it will always be vulnerable to individuals and groups with genuine expertise motivated by genuine concern for others.
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More Damning Evidence of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Cover-up in Syria
Editorial | Strategic Culture Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
14 Feb 2020 – More evidence has emerged to indict the OPCW in carrying out a despicable cover-up in Syria. Even more damning is that the cover-up has been orchestrated in response to pressure from the US and Western allies. This is a grave matter considering the UN-affiliated body is supposed to be a neutral, technical watchdog overseeing the implementation of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention banning the use of such weapons of mass destruction.
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Mexico’s Fight for National Banking Revives a Forgotten History
Matthew Ehret | Strategic Culture Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
14 Feb 2020 – In [TRANSCEND member] Ellen Brown’s brilliant new article “Mexico’s AMLO Shows How It’s Done”, the researcher and national banking advocate made the powerful point that the only way to properly fight the neo-liberal order is for nations of the west to follow the lead of Mexico’s current President Lopez Obrador who recently announced the creation of a new network of national banks
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Why Be a Pacifist?
Sarah Freeman-Woolpert | Waging Nonviolence – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
From developing a pacifist economy to addressing structural injustice, author Tim Gee discusses the challenge and potential of pacifism in the 21st century.
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Fully-funded Rotary Peace Fellowship
Sarah Cunningham | Rotary International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – The Rotary Foundation is now accepting applications for the fully-funded 2021 Rotary Peace Fellowship. Up to 130 peace and development leaders are selected globally every year to earn either a master’s degree or a professional development certificate in peace and conflict studies at one of seven Rotary Peace Centers at leading universities around the world. Application deadline: 31 May.
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Drought and Hunger: Why Thousands of Guatemalans Are Fleeing North
José García Escobar and Melisa Rabanales – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2020
7 Feb 2020 – The threat of famine and the battle for dwindling natural resources are increasingly being recognised as major factors in the exodus.
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Look to the United Nations to Find Solace in Trump’s Wind of Madness
Douglas Roche | The Hill Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
12 Feb 2020 – In the UN Charter, we find the truths to guide us, such as saving humanity from the scourge of war, reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, and the dignity of the human person.
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Outside China, Coronavirus Transmission ‘Iceberg’ May Not Be as Big as Feared
UN News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – As infections from COVID-19 coronavirus continue to rise, a senior UN health expert today said that there were some indications that disease transmission outside China might not be the tip of the “iceberg” that had been feared.
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Is Climate Change an Apocalypse in the Making?
Kedar Neupane – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
15 Feb 2020 – Unprecedented wildfires across Australia, USA, Amazon, record temperatures, extreme storms and floods across the continents, melting Arctic, sinking low-lying island nations like Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, the Marshall and the Polynesian Islands due to rising sea water and temperatures do indicate something have already changed in our surroundings. Such periodic weather events of the recent past over a period refer to Climate Change.
→ read full articleDilemma
short.funny – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Two donkeys are standing at a roadside, one asks the other: So, shall we cross?
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Arendt, Eichmann and the Banalization of Blame
Michael Brenner | HuffPost – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Hannah Arendt, who originated the term “banality of evil” in her provocative writings, was not interested in explaining Eichmann’s blandness per se. She had more profound thoughts to convey. He was a symbol of something much deeper. Her forcefully argued conclusions that ordinary people can commit horrific crimes created a furor – a blazing fire of argument and recrimination whose embers smoldered for decades.
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Making a Difference: 20 Years of Conflict-Resolving Media
Jake Lynch | The Peace Journalist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
“In my reportage, taking from the course, I always stay focused on stating facts, the truth and let the voice of the people dominate the narrative as opposed to political parties or ‘elite sources’ as you call them. These sources tend to have vested interests that I avoid. I focus on people’s stories, the human-interest ones. Solutions are not what I intentionally work towards, but they can be inevitable outcome of any such endeavour and I hope for that”.
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I Had a Dream…
Banksy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
Subverting the Status Quo
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Journalist Abby Martin Sues State of Georgia over Law Requiring Pledge of Allegiance to Israel
Alan Macleod – MintPress News,
17 Feb 2020
10 Feb 2020 – After refusing to sign a pledge of allegiance to the state of Israel, the state of Georgia shut down a media literacy conference featuring journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin at Georgia Southern University. “This censorship of my talk based on forced compliance to anti-BDS laws in Georgia is just one level of a nationwide campaign to protect Israel from grassroots pressure.” — Abby Martin
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Temperature in Antarctica Soars Past 69°F/20ºC as NOAA Reports Last Month Was World’s Hottest January on Record
Jessica Corbett | Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Feb 2020
13 Feb 2020 – As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today announced that last month was the hottest January ever recorded, the Guardian reported that Brazilian scientists logged a new record-breaking temperature of 20.75°C, or 69.35°F, at Seymour Island in Antarctica on Feb. 9. They called the new record “incredible and abnormal.”
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