San Diego Reader on a company that has thrived, despite major controversies, since 9/11. Almost the definition of disaster capitalism: … Last week, Gail Collins, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, wrote a story about privatization. In the… article, Collins describes privatization efforts that haven’t gone so well. Some examples she listed were privatizing prisons,…
Showing all posts tagged United States
Finally some sense on showing Zionist love
Stand back, world, America has spoken: Congress today passed a bipartisan bill requiring Americans to add Israel’s Star of David to the U.S. flag for the week of July 4th. Rep. Hugh Llewellyn III (R-Alabama) and Sen. Dale Wentworth (D-New Jersey) introduced the legislation during a special session. … Citizens who own American flags should…
My 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture on free speech and why it matters
The following is published today as the lead piece by ABC’s The Drum: The two-hour drive from Islamabad to Peshawar is along a surprisingly smooth road. Mud-brick homes sit amongst lush, green fields. Police checkpoints are set up routinely to stop unwanted visitors. I am asked why I want to see the troubled Pakistani town…
How private prison operators game the system and demand longer sentences
The apocalyptic future is here (via Justice Policy Institute): Over the past 15 years, the number of people held in all prisons in the United States has increased by 49.6 percent, while private prison populations have increased by 353.7 percent, according to recent federal statistics. Meanwhile, in 2010 alone, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)…
One huge BDS victory at a time
US Jewish newspaper Forward reports: Controversy over the Israeli army’s use of Caterpillar Inc. bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes was a “key factor” in a corporate rating agency’s decision to drop the American manufacturer from its list of socially responsible companies. The ratings agency, MSCI, downgraded Caterpillar in February, dropping it from several indices in…
Hands up who thinks Saddam had WMD in 2003?
Words fail (via Jim Lobe at IPS): Yes, it’s apparently true: 63% of Republicans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded it in 2003. That, according to a… remarkable new survey… on foreign policy attitudes of self-identified Republicans, Democrats, and independents that was noted by… Dan Drezner… in his blog today and released…
West loves Saudi repression on a daily basis
Yes (via Salon’s Glenn Greenwald): For all the righteous talk about human rights oppression and violent assaults on democratic protesters in the Muslim world, any honest ranking would place Saudi Arabia… near… or at… the top… of that list. This week, the long-time head of the deeply repressive Saudi Interior Ministry, Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, died.…
Drone killings; justice must be done soon
This is Barack Obama’s legacy (via the Guardian): The US policy of using aerial drones to carry out targeted killings presents a major challenge to the system of international law that has endured since the second world war, a… United Nations… investigator has said. Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions,…
Our privatised world grows with barely any media or political protest
One (via the Guardian): Private companies will be running large parts of the UK’s… police… service within five years, according to the world’s biggest security firm. David Taylor-Smith, the head of… G4S… for the UK and Africa, said he expected police forces across the country to sign up to similar deals to those on the table in the… West Midlands…
Melbourne Triple R radio on PEN lecture and freedom of speech
This week I gave the 2012 Free Voices PEN lecture in Melbourne. I was interviewed about the issues on Melbourne’s … Triple RRR Spoke program: