Even if John Stewart is Gone, We all Need to Keep taking on FOX and all the Media

I am going to put a lot of John Stewart videos in the comment section, like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_om3iK9kE

• Reports Accuse Bill O’Reilly of False “War Zone” Claims

You probably heard the great news – after a few years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show–but the Boycott Must Go On!!

Ten years ago, Media Matters launched with a revolutionary mission: to systematically monitor the U.S. media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. We’ve been calling out right-wing lies for a decade — and we’re not done yet. Will you contribute now to help us raise $10,000 for our 10th anniversary?

For ten years, we’ve successfully fought back against the bad actors that poison our media with right-wing lies and smears. It’s been an amazing beginning, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

We’re in this for the long haul. Make an anniversary gift today to kickstart the next ten years of media accountability.

Dear Kevin,
You probably heard the great news – after two years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show.
Beck was targeted after he slandered President Obama by saying, “This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don’t know what it is… This guy, I believe, is a racist.”
Activists at ColorOfChange, Media Matters, StopBeck, FoxNewsBoycott, and of course Democrats.com responded with a boycott of advertisers on Glenn Beck’s show. Ultimately over 300 advertisers pulled their ads from Beck, costing FOX over $40 million.
Advertiser boycotts work! And it’s time to boycott all FOX News advertisers:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
We’re starting our boycott of all FOX News with Proactiv, which sells acne medicine to teenagers and young adults. Why?
First, there are lots of other acne treatments. Second, young adults above all are hurt by FOX News, which promotes right-wing policies on race, education, healthcare, the environment, and war. Let’s get our future leaders to lead the fight against FOX News!
Sign the petition to Proactiv and enter the email address of every young adult over 18 you know:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Beyond President Obama, FOX regularly slanders nearly everyone: Democrats, unionized workers, the unemployed (including veterans and 99ers), environmentalists, feminists, blacks, Hiics, Jews, Muslims, progressives, scientists, and any other group it disagrees with.
FOX News broadcasts rightwing extremist slander, incitement to violence, political propaganda, and outright lies to promote its rightwing political agenda. This is not “news,” but rather a never-ending “war on news” – and it’s all documented in our petition.
Why would any decent company want to fund it? Tell Proactiv to stop advertising on FOX News:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik

GLEN BECK ADMITTED in 2007, “I Am RACIST and Barack Obama is very White” THIS MAKES Boycotting FOX NEWS needed NOW

By Kevin Stoda

Dear, American supporters of the Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) news networks.

AMERICANS are getting less tolerant of your racism and stronghold on our major media.

For example, we have noted that in his 2007 TV program from FOX (See on You-Tube), Glen Beck admitted he himself was racist. Further, Beck then, in contrast to 2009, called Barrack Obama much more white than black. (Apparently, Beck now he has other nonsense to mush men’s minds.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tgvWxC_6A

Using a major news platform to promote racism and to tell people to disrespect a whole presidential administration through mixed truths, outright lies, and xenophobia, is not to be tolerated any more.

On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman asked Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP what he thought of Wal-Mart’s pull-out from advertising on the Glen Beck program on FOX.

NOTE: Goodman had simply asked , “The whole attack by Glenn Beck that drove this (resignation)? In your response from the NAACP to Van Jones, it says, ´The only thing more outrageous than Mr. Beck’s attack on Van Jones is the fact that there are sponsors that continue to pay him to provide this type of offensive commentary.` Do you support the continued boycott of companies like Wal-Mart of Beck’s show on Fox?”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/8/white_house_environmental_adviser_van_jones

This is a particularly important point because Glen Beck´s HATE CAMPAIGN ON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION led recently to a great American policy maker, Van Jones, quitting the government this week.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/06/van-jones-resigns/

Mr. Jealous said, “We certainly support them (Walmart) choosing with their dollars who they’re going to support. I mean, it’s—Glenn Beck is somebody who’s told a seven-year-old girl, a seven-year-old black girl, that he would buy her a ticket back to Africa, that she needed to go back to Africa. And then he comes out, and he says that healthcare is the beginning of reparations. I mean, this guy plays the race card on a weekly basis. He does it very aggressive—you know, in a very hateful way.”

Recall, first, that Van Jones is one of the most important and thoughtful men in America—however, the FOX (Fascist Oddball Xenophobic) news network chose to support a man, like Glen Beck, rather than seeing that tens of millions of Americans need to get health care from promoters like Jones and that our America economy needs to move starting today to the kind of economy that its competitors worldwide are already doing.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/95963/what_will_the_green_economy_look_like/

Let’s quote the wisdom and influential words of Van Jones on the absolute necessity to green the American economy NOW!

“I think it’s really important to point out that we’re sort of at the end of an era of American capitalism, where we thought we could run the economy based on consumption rather than production, credit rather than creativity, borrowing rather than building, and also, most importantly, environmental destruction rather than environmental restoration.”

Jones continued, “We’re trying to make the case in this book that that era is over. We now have to move in a very different direction. And key to that will be basing the US economy not on credit cards, but based on clean energy and the clean energy revolution that would put literally millions of people to work, putting up solar panels all across the United States, weatherizing buildings so they don’t leak so much energy and put up so much carbon, building wind farms and wave farms, manufacturing wind turbines. We argue you could put Detroit back to work not making SUVs to destroy the world, but making wind turbines, 8,000 finely machine parts in each one, twenty tons of steel in each wind tower, making wind turbines to help save the world.”

Finally, Van Jones wisely noted, “So we think that you can fight pollution and poverty at the same time. We think that you can actually power our way through this recession by putting people to work, but we’re going to have to start building things here and re-powering, retrofitting, retooling America, and that that’s the way forward both for the economy, for the earth and for everyday people.”

Note: These statements came from a program on DN from October of last year:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/28/van_jones_on_the_green_collar

Van Beck has written a book of the same title, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061650758/The_Green_Collar_Economy/index.aspx

America needs such voices as Van Jones in government leadership in America—not Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) types.

Clean up the American airwaves of all its fascism and racism, today.

http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com/a-petition-against-fox-conservative-host-glenn-beck.aspx

NOTE: One way to change the noise of Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) media moguls is to support alternative media organizations

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/index

and alternative monitoring websites.

http://americas.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/64380

Another way, is to demand that local radio and TV channels put better programming on, such as Democracy Now or news sources promoted by serious progressive journalists:

http://www.tacomapjh.org/progressive_news.htm

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We mistakenly believe that to forgive we must forget–I learned in Rwanda that it is actually remembering that leads to real forgiveness

Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place…

Exodus 13:3

We mistakenly believe that to forgive we must forget. I learned in Rwanda that it is actually remembering that leads to real forgiveness. I visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial and asked the guide how he could lead this tour daily.  He responded, “Seeing this daily reminds me that this kind of evil resides in me as well. We must memorialize in order to recover and remind ourselves to choose a better way.”

Jonathan Brooks aka “Pastah J” serves as Senior Pastor at Canaan Community Church in the West Englewood community on Chicago’s south side as well as the Chicago City Director for Mission Year. Jonathan and his wife, Michéal, have two beautiful girls Jasmine and Jade and reside in West Englewood on the same block as the church campus.

West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, soon perhaps Arizona, and elsewhere: American Red State teachers are instructing us all about a tale of denial for which we’ve paid a heavy price

April  2018 Tomgram: Steve Fraser, Teaching America a Lesson[Note for TomDispatch Readers: I have a special offer for you today. TomDispatch author Steve Fraser’s newest book, Class Matters: The Strange Career of an American Delusion, has just been published. Of it, Barbara Ehrenreich writes, “a bold and brilliant account of how the subject of class was expunged from American consciousness and culture. I finished it with regret, because there were no more fascinating pages to read, but also with delight, because I had found someone new to learn from.” The Washington Post calls it “intriguing, provocative, and revealing… shot through with illuminating passages.” As for me, I just say: go read Fraser’s chapter on the Statue of Liberty and you’ll know why we call her “lady.” His book is a history of why class has mattered in this country from Jamestown to late last night (with a splendid side trip into the world of the proletarian cowboy) of a sort I haven’t seen before. And for a limited period, TomDispatch is offering a signed, personalized copy of the book to any reader who will give this website a $100 donation ($125 if you live outside the USA). Check out our offer at our donation pageand, whether you give to TomDispatch or not, don’t miss Fraser’s book. Tom] At almost 74, of all the people in my life, it may be the teachers I remember most vividly. Mrs. Kelly, my first grade teacher (who began it all); my fourth grade teacher Miss Thomas (who, when I approached her that initial day in class and said “Hey, you,” assured me in the kindest possible way that I would never call her anything but “Miss Thomas” again); Mrs. Casey, my sixth grade teacher, who inspired such an urge to read, to learn, to explore that I’ve never forgotten her (nor the way I madly waved my hand in class in my excitement to have her call on me); and finally, Mr. Shank, who, in high school, turned me on (a phrase of which he wouldn’t, I suspect, have approved) to literature, to journeys into worlds I would never otherwise have known and might never have stumbled upon. What would my life have been like without them? I can’t begin to imagine or to express my gratitude all these decades later. To a child, each of them seemed so important, so self-possessed, so almost regal, how could I ever have imagined that they, like the teachers walking out of classrooms or going on strike in protest today across red-state America, were actually workers, proletarians, members of a class that made, at best, modest salaries and stood not at the peak of our world but somewhere toward its bottom. In recent weeks, both students and teachers from America’s embattled schools have stunned the nation by taking to our schoolyards, streets, plazas, and squares, to the press, TV, and social media to protest an ever more weaponized version of America and a new gilded age country in which the 1% are always the winners and, tax cut after tax cut, there is invariably ever less funding for peripheral matters like schools or infrastructure. It’s been inspiring to watch the way those students and teachers grasp just how they’ve been confined in our society and how they are refusing to accept their places in the present scheme of things or the world that goes with them. Today, Steve Fraser, author of the just-published book Class Matters: The Strange Career of an American Delusion, takes a look at how confused so many of us have been when it comes to the realities of class, in and out of the classroom, in an American world that seems to be growing more unequal by the moment. It’s time for all of us to go back to school and learn again from this country’s teachers (and students) about how that world actually works. Tom Class Dismissed  Class Conflict in Red State America  By Steve Fraser Teachers in red-state America are hard at work teaching us all a lesson. The American mythos has always rested on a belief that this country was born out of a kind of immaculate conception, that the New World came into being and has forever after been preserved as a land without the class hierarchies and conflicts that so disfigured Europe. The strikes, rallies, and walkouts of public school teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, soon perhaps Arizona, and elsewhere are a stunning reminder that class has always mattered far more in our public and private lives than our origin story would allow. Insurgent teachers are instructing us all about a tale of denial for which we’ve paid a heavy price. Click here to read more of this dispatch.

Civic Education Programs

Allow us to introduce The League of Kansas Municipalities’ Youth Civic Education Program!

We look forward to your students participating in the 2081-2019 If I Were Mayor Contest! Visit www.lkm.org for contest details, interactive lesson plans, and templates.

Our Program Includes: Check out these materials online as interactive PDFs or download for FREE! Civic Learning Path: A challenging progression of civic growth Interactive Lesson Plans: Elementary, Middle School, and High School* Civic Resource Guide: Educational web resources & online civic games Activity Book: Local Government crosswords and puzzles “If I Were Mayor” Writing contest: Details, instructions, and templates Pinterest & Instragram: Visual examples of local gov @LeagueKSMunis *All materials align with KSDE guidelines for social studies and civic learning

Find Out More

“Reality Show Violence in the Age of Trump: Striking Syria” & Other History you need to get straight

Links to Recent Articles of Interest

Note: In the last H-PAD Notes mailing, an incorrect link was given for Chris Appy’s New York Times op-ed, “What Was the Vietnam War About?” Click here for the correct link. 

 

“Reality Show Violence in the Age of Trump: Striking Syria”

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted April 14

The author teaches history at the University of Michigan.

 

“A Tale of American Hubris, or Five Lessons in the History of American Defeat”

 By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, posted April 12

 

“America Can’t Be Trusted Anymore”

By Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy, posted April 10

The author teaches international relations at Harvard University.

 

“What Happens When a Few Volunteer and the Rest Just Watch: The American Military System Dissected”

By Andrew J. Bacevich, TomDispatch.com, posted April 10

The author is a professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University.

 

“Gunboat Diplomacy and the Ghost of Captain Mahan: Or How China and the U.S. Are Spawning a New Great Power Naval Rivalry”

By Alfred W. McCoy, TomDispatch.com, posted April 8

The author teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

“Steve Coll’s Directorate S is a Disturbing Account of U.S. Mistakes after 9/11”

By Mark Perry, The American Conservative, posted April 5

A review essay on Steve Coll’s new book on the Afghanistan war

 

“Is Saudi Crown Prince’s ‘Recognition’ of Israel Anything New or Positive?”

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted April 3

 

“’Hey Hey General Mackymacker, Ho Ho Mr. Lovitt’: Woody Guthrie’s Forgotten Dissent from the Atomic Bomb to the Korean War”

By Jeremy Kuzmarov, Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, posted April 1

The author teaches history at the University of Tulsa.

 

“Marilyn B. Young 1937–2017”

By Mary Nolan, History Workshop Journal, April 2018 issue

The author teaches history at New York University

 

“The Largest Mass Deportation in U.S. History”

By Erin Blakemore, History Channel, posted March 23

This article is about “Operation Wetback” during the Eisenhower administration 

 

Thanks to Bob Hannigan, Rusti Eisenberg, and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles for the above list. Suggtestions can be sent tojimobrien48@gmail.com.

One million immigrants have obtained legal driver’s licenses through the successful implementation of AB 60 — the California driver’s licenses for all law

Dear Kevin, WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS! Now more than one million immigrants have obtained legal driver’s licenses through the successful implementation of AB 60 — the California driver’s licenses for all law.1 This incredible achievement was made a reality thanks to the powerful work of Presente members like you who fought hard to pass the law and have been advocating for more driver’s license access for the last 3 years! Increasing access to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants allows our community members to better participate and contribute to the economy, access employment, drive our kids to school, run errands, go to the doctor, and legally operate a vehicle — without fear. We thank our partners in our coalition who made this victory possible!2 Contribute to help get more folks on the road safely and legally! We’re thrilled that more than a million Californians are now driving with an AB 60 license to meet their basic needs. This milestone was achieved thanks to the powerful and inspiring work of immigrant community members educating, empowering, and advocating for each other every step of the way. For almost 20 years, immigrant communities have organized against car impoundments and successfully advocated to ensure that anyone, regardless of status, could apply for a driver’s license. During the implementation of AB 60, community members were crucial in providing feedback to make the application process more efficient and more responsive to unique community needs. As the community celebrates this milestone, we also acknowledge the heightened anti-immigrant attacks from the federal government. We remind community members that the decision of whether to apply for an AB 60 license is a personal choice, based on individual circumstances and needs. More than ever, new AB 60 applicants will need to weigh the benefits and risks — especially those who have had prior contact with law enforcement — including ICE and Border Patrol. Community members may wish to consult with an immigration attorney to talk about their options.3 Chip in and accelerate our rights. Immigrants are a critical part of California. This milestone demonstrates that CA is driving forward pro-immigrant, progressive, common-sense policies that matter to millions. CONTRIBUTE Onward! – Matt, Elisa, Favianna, Erick, Reetu, Oscar, Erica, Kelly, and the Presente.org team. P.S. Can you donate $5 to support our work? We rely on contributions from people like you to see campaigns like this through. References: [1] “More than a million undocumented immigrants have received California driver’s licenses.” The Sacramento Bee. April 4, 2018. [2] “About.” DriveCA.org. Retrieved April 9, 2018. [3] “AB 60 in an Era of Resistance: Know Your Rights.” DriveCA.org. Retrieved April 9, 2018.

Missouri seniors living on fixed incomes are seeing their out-of-pocket expenses rise every year, but the Social Security benefits they’ve earned just aren’t keeping up

Missouri seniors living on fixed incomes are seeing their out-of-pocket expenses rise every year, but the Social Security benefits they’ve earned just aren’t keeping up. It’s unbelievable to me that the minimal cost-of-living adjustments seniors see today in their Social Security checks are based on the same basket of goods from 1973—a whole lot has changed since then, and it’s about time we change this too. I’m fighting to make that change. Today, seniors spend two to three times as much on health care as younger consumers, but the annual adjustment in their Social Security benefits don’t keep up with those rising health care expenses. That’s not right, and our seniors deserve better. That’s why I’m pushing legislation that would make this commonsense fix to help our seniors today, and put Social Security on stronger footing for generations to come. It’s part of my commitment to the promise that was made to Missourians—that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can retire with respect and dignity. And it’s one I’ll fight to keep. All the best,

An elder led community restorative justice system and you need restoration, too

If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness…

Galatians 6:1

In post-genocide Rwanda, the challenge was to deliver justice, punish perpetrators and restore the fabric of society. The government initiated Gacaca, meaning grass, an elder led community restorative justice system. Gacaca brought together survivors, perpetrators and witnesses before locally chosen judges to establish truth and determine consequences. Perpetrators who confessed served half of their sentence in community service to survivors. Those not confessing served their full sentence in prison.  I learned in Rwanda that true forgiveness make things right, punishment alone won’t lead to restoration.

Jonathan Brooks aka “Pastah J” serves as Senior Pastor at Canaan Community Church in the West Englewood community on Chicago’s south side as well as the Chicago City Director for Mission Year. Jonathan and his wife, Michéal, have two beautiful girls Jasmine and Jade and reside in West Englewood on the same block as the church campus.

 

Get rid of these loser Congressmen, like Bridenstine

An investigation and review of public records by the Project On Government Oversight shows that, prior to his time in Congress, Bridenstine led a small non-profit organization into hefty financial losses. How Trump’s NASA Nominee Used a Nonprofit He Ran to Benefit Himself Rep. James Bridenstine (R-Okla.) is a former Navy pilot with virtually no management experience in any large organization. But the Oklahoma Republican has been tapped by President Donald Trump to take over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency with a budget of $18.5 billion, 18,000 federal workers, and over 60,000 contract employees. An investigation and review of public records by the Project On Government Oversight shows that, prior to his time in Congress, Bridenstine led a small non-profit organization into hefty financial losses. Some of the losses involved the use of the non-profit’s resources to benefit a company that Bridenstine simultaneously co-owned and in which he’d invested substantial sums of his own money. Read more See coverage of our analysis: Trump’s NASA Nominee, Jim Bridenstine, Confirmed by Senate on Party-Line Vote | The New York Times NASA Finally Gets a New Leader | The Atlantic Senate Confirms Climate Change Denier To Lead NASA | HuffPost Trump’s NASA Nominee Inches Forward Despite Criticism, Controversy And Scandal | Science As Fact New War Authorization Bill Does More Harm Than Good The Congress needs to vote on a war authorization that doesn’t cause yet more erosions to their Constitutional responsibility and will create a real debate in this country over whether we should still be conducting these wars. Read more Public Interest Group Wins Legal Fees in Transparency Lawsuit In a landmark decision, a California court recently awarded thousands of dollars in legal expenses to a public interest organization that successfully fought a government contractor’s attempt to block the release of public records. Read more POGO’s Outsized Tax-Day Impact For 37 years, POGO has worked—frequently behind the scenes—to help stop the federal government and private contractors from wasting your tax dollars. Our investigations have found billions of dollars in actual and potential savings. Read more Bad Actors Among Border Wall Contractors The past conduct of three contractors who built border wall prototypes should concern contracting officers, and prompt stronger oversight in future contracts to ensure that these companies play by the rules. Read more What the Senate Needs to Ask Gina Haspel If Senators confirm Haspel to head the CIA without demanding answers, it will be a strong signal to CIA agents that there is no professional downside to taking part in grave human rights violations, or the destruction of evidence. Read more The Navy’s Incredible Shrinking Drone The tale of the MQ-25 Stingray tells us a lot about risk, and how much the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon are willing to take these days. It illuminates the basic challenge of military technology: leapfrog everybody else, with all the risk that entails? Or take the easier path, and risk being left behind? Read more POGO Testifies Before Congress Mandy Smithberger, Director of the Straus Military Reform Project at POGO, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. She called for strengthening Congress’s ability to conduct oversight over classified programs by providing compartmentalized clearances to staff on key oversight committees. Read her testimony or watch it (starting at 51:00) Recent Letters to Policymakers 35 Former Elected Republicans and Former Judges and Prosecutors Call on Congress to Protect the Special Counsel POGO Supports House Efforts to Preserve Special Counsel’s Work POGO Urges Congress Not to Confirm Nominee Who Used Nonprofit for His Own Benefit We Need Your Input! As part of our effort to better showcase POGO’s investigative reporting, we’re conducting a short online study. Responses to the study will help us find ways to make our resources easier to navigate. Your input is important to us, so we appreciate your willingness to help! It shouldn’t take longer than 5 to 10 minutes. You may access the study by clicking here. Videos: 2018 Ridenhour Prizes POGO’s Danielle Brian hosted the annual Ridenhour Prizes. Watch speeches from this year’s winners: Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico Lauren Markham, author of The Far Away Brothers “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower,” directed by Joe Piscatella POGO in the News The New York Times Trump’s NASA Nominee, Jim Bridenstine, Confirmed by Senate on Party-Line Vote On Wednesday, the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog organization, raised questions about Mr. Bridenstine’s actions as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010, before he ran for Congress. One of the events that he organized as executive was an air show in 2010 featuring races by rocket-powered airplanes — by a business he had personally invested in. That could be considered “self-dealing,” where a nonprofit official directs money from the organization toward a commercial venture the official has a stake in. Nick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at the watchdog organization, said Mr. Bridenstine’s actions at the museum raise concerns given that the administrator oversees an agency with a $20 billion budget and more than 18,000 employees. “Someone in that position needs to set a strong ethical tone, from the top, about the proper use of taxpayer dollars,” Mr. Schwellenbach said in an interview. The Atlantic NASA Finally Gets a New Leader Bridenstine now joins the ranks of other Trump appointees whose credentials have been criticized as inadequate or irrelevant for the jobs they’re taking on. He may soon join another, more specific club: Trump appointees swirling in controversy over ethical misconduct. On Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported that Bridenstine allegedly used the resources of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum to benefit a company he co-owned, citing a review of public records by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan, Washington-based watchdog group. “Evidence of Bridenstine’s self-dealing dates back to December 2008, when the Museum, under his leadership, put its own cash reserves on the line to bring the struggling Rocket Racing League—a company set up to race rocket-powered aircraft before live audiences—to an air show in Tulsa in 2010,” the publication reports. A Bridenstine spokesperson denied the allegations on Thursday. Playboy The Strange Saga of the World’s Most Expensive Weapon It’s ultimately Congress that controls the purse strings to fund a program like the F-35. That’s why Lockheed and other contractors have generously donated to candidates in both parties—as well as set up facilities in key congressional districts. “They have spread out the subcontracts for the F-35 all over the country, so it’s built in 46 different states, probably 350 congressional districts,” explains [POGO’s Dan] Grazier. “It’s virtually impossible really to get an adequate number of votes in Congress to kill something like the F-35 because, from the beginning, the creators of the program designed it to be that way.” […] “Despite all the technological advances, the human eyeball is still the absolute best visual instrument that’s yet been discovered,” Grazier argues. “But to give the pilot the ability to use his own eyeballs to see what’s going on around him doesn’t make money for Rockwell Collins. Rockwell Collins gets a lot of money if we design in a subsystem for an F-35 where a pilot needs to use this really complicated camera system to provide images, that are really far less resolution than his own eyeballs, to get a good look at the world around them.” […] “His initial instincts on these programs are actually pretty good. Questioning the F-35 is a good instinct.” Grazier tells Playboy. “[But] the information that reaches him is very filtered. He talks to generals and the Secretary of Defense, and they’ll feed him the information that they want him to see. I think there’s a lot of that going on.” The Washington Post New inspector general report points to recurring government problems Yet even as inspectors general have widespread support, there have been a number of long-standing IG vacancies under Republican and Democratic administrations. There are 14 vacancies, according to the Project on Government Oversight. The number of days vacant, as of Tuesday, ranged from 137 at the Department of Homeland Security to 3,340 at Interior. Now there is one more — the IG position at the Government Publishing Office became vacant last month. The Washington Post The Daily 202: Barbara Bush and Donald Trump responded very differently to the AIDS epidemic A review of a nonprofit Bridenstine led before joining Congress suggests evidence of self-dealing, the Daily Beast’s Nick Schwellenbach and Adam Zagorin report: “Bridenstine led a small non-profit organization into hefty financial losses. Some of the losses involved the use of the non-profit’s resources to benefit a company that Bridenstine simultaneously co-owned and in which he’d invested substantial sums of his own money. … [Bridenstine] has vehemently denied mismanaging the non-profit: the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. His stake in the separate company, the Rocket Racing League, has been well known. But the fact that he was using the Museum’s resources to benefit that company has not previously been covered by the press and now raises red flags for tax law experts.” The Washington Post Trump once claimed Syria could lead to ‘World War III.’ Good thing he wised up. La Rocque’s Center for Defense Information, a think tank devoted to criticizing U.S. military spending, produced a 1983 documentary about nuclear weapons, “War without Winners.” Narrated by Paul Newman, it invited viewers to “contribute to preventing World War III.” BuzzFeed EPA Broke The Law When It Spent $43,000 On A New Phone Booth For Scott Pruitt, Government Watchdog Says Following the new report, the agency may need to do more staff training or secure more funding for Pruitt’s office, according to Scott Amey, general counsel for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight. “The EPA should report the interior decorating violations to Congress and the President and take the necessary remedial actions,” Amey told BuzzFeed News by email. “Someone at EPA might need more training on spending taxpayer dollars and the agency might need funds to cover Pruitt’s office alterations.” Mic This week in Trump-Russia news: Storm brewing over White House as Trump rages over Cohen raid Such a dramatic move could have serious implications for his presidency and could possibly even trigger impeachment proceedings, according to Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight. “I have confidence that if he were to take that step, you would see not just an uprising from people on the left, but you would see Republicans saying that this has gone too far,” Brian said by phone Thursday. New York Post Trump’s trade rep spends $1M on new furniture, blames Obama Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said the purchases raise “concerns,” especially since Trump campaigned on running Washington differently. “Just because you can spend $31,000 on a (dining) table or close to a million dollars on a remodel, there should be some people asking the question: Is this the best way to utilize taxpayer dollars?” Amey told the Post. Arizona Daily Independent USAF Moving Quickly To Mothball A-10, Public Misled Dan Grazier, Jack Shanahan Military Fellow, with the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) stated, “This entire episode shows to what lengths Air Force leaders will go to rid themselves of an aircraft and a mission they have always viewed with contempt. Their actions here hurt not only the taxpayers, but more importantly put the lives of our men and women on the ground at risk.” Science As Fact Trump’s NASA Nominee Inches Forward Despite Criticism, Controversy And Scandal An investigation and review of public records by the Project on Government Oversight reveals that back in 2008, Bridenstine used the non-profit Tulsa Air and Space Museum’s own cash reserves to bring his struggling company, the Rocket Racing League, to a 2010 air show in Tulsa. The show was a boost for Bridenstine’s rocket racing company, which was disappointing investors at the time. “This is a classic example of the use of a charity’s assets for private benefit,” Marc Owens, an expert on tax law, told The Daily Beast. “This could have jeopardized the Museum’s status as a tax-exempt organization.” Splinter The Companies Vying to Build the Border Wall Seem Shady as Hell In a report released Tuesday, DC-based group The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) identified three contractors—Caddell Construction, W.G. Yates & Sons, and Fisher Sand & Gravel—who have been hit with multiple allegations of mismanagement and criminality. The report found that one of the contractors, Caddell Construction, faced “debarment”— which prevents companies from extending, renewing, or bidding with any federal agencies—on multiple occasions. Caddell Construction, which was hired to design two border wall prototypes, faced debarment by both the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Air Force. Politico Huddle POLITICO Huddle: GOP Fundraising Woes Continues FORMER GOP OFFICIALS URGE SENATE REPUBLICANS TO PROTECT MUELLER — Nearly three dozen former elected Republicans and Republican-appointed federal judges and prosecutors are calling on Senate Republicans to pass a bipartisan bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from an unjustified termination. In a letter sent Tuesday, they said it’s “in the best interest of our country” that Mueller complete his investigation “without undue interference.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, has said the chamber won’t vote on the bill. McConnell said the legislation is “not necessary” and Trump would never sign it. The letter: https://politi.co/2J7WGxG Unredacted FOIA Federal Advisory Committee Recs Will Help Agency FOIA Shops Pass “Common-Sense Test”: FRINFORMSUM 4/19/2018 A Project on Government Oversight investigation, informed in part by FOIA-released records, show that half of the contractors that built border wall prototypes had shaky track records, including one that the Army Corps of Engineers felt in 2014 “was too risky to do future business with.” The contractor, Caddell Construction, was investigated by the Army for defrauding the government across multiple contracts. The Corps recommended that the Army’s Procurement Fraud division debar Caddell. The border wall contracting process was also the subject of a separate USA Today FOIA investigation, which in 2017 shed light on the “unusually confusing and haphazard process” of contractors bidding to build border wall prototypes. Nearly 200 pages of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) documents revealed communications with companies seeking clarity on a rushed, murky bidding process that initially only gave companies 12 days to submit proposals for 30-foot high prototypes that could lead to a $300-million five-year contract.

Did you know that the arrangement of the Old Testament in Christian Bibles is not original? Along with all ancient Jews, Jesus encountered the Scriptures as a three-part collection of scrolls known as the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, or “TaNaK” for short.

TaNaK / Old Testament

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Did you know that the arrangement of the Old Testament in Christian Bibles is not original? Along with all ancient Jews, Jesus encountered the Scriptures as a three-part collection of scrolls known as the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, or “TaNaK” for short. In this video we’ll explore why this matters, and what happens when you read the Hebrew Scriptures in the traditional Jewish order

It’s Not So Easy to Party with Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia News Today Weekly Columns See below for a brief overview of last week’s columns, written by fibromyalgia patient specialists. Click through to read each piece in its entirety: It’s Not So Easy to Party Distracting Yourself from Pain

It’s Not So Easy to Party Apr 18, 2018 09:00 am | Christine Lynch This week, a friend of mine held a cocktail party for those of us who offered her assistance while her husband was hospitalized at the same time she’d had the flu. Little did she know what a thrill it was for me to have been able to help on the day she needed me. I’d […] The post It’s Not So Easy to Party appeared first on Fibromyalgia News Today. Read More Distracting Yourself from Pain Apr 17, 2018 09:00 am | Robin Dix When in a lot of pain because of fibromyalgia, focusing on the pain can make you feel so much worse, both physically and emotionally. Thankfully, lots of great ideas are out there to keep you distracted. Here are some of them: Laughter: It is truly the best medicine. Watch your favorite comedian on YouTube, or catch a […] The post Distracting Yourself from Pain appeared first on Fibromyalgia News Today. Read More