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"American Sniper" - Dishonest, Racist Film Spawns Death Threats against Arabs and Muslims

Alex von Tunzelmann; Rania Khalek; Zaid Jilani
The film piles on Bush-era propaganda and sharp-shoots the facts. The message of American Sniper is that Kyle is the real victim of the war. The Iraqis he shot deserved it, because - as it has established to its own satisfaction - they were savages. As for non-savage Iraqis who may have reasonable grounds to complain about what happened to their country following the invasion, they must be in some other movie.

The Forgotten History of How Automakers Invented the Crime of "Jaywalking"

Joseph Stromberg Vox
It's strange to imagine now, but prior to the 1920s, city streets looked dramatically different than they do today. They were considered to be a public space: a place for pedestrians, pushcart vendors, horse-drawn vehicles, streetcars, and children at play. As cars began to spread widely during the 1920s, the consequence of this was predictable: death.

Understanding the Greek Communists

Nikos Lountos Jacobin
Syriza is not the only left-wing party in Greece, and by some measures it’s not even the largest. In organizational terms, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) is bigger. Ignoring it, as most of the Left is content to do, means ignoring a force with important roots in the trade union movement and the longest history of all surviving Greek parties.

How Propaganda Conquers Democracy

Nicolas J S Davies Consortium News
America’s “managed democracy” has devolved into “inverted totalitarianism,” concentrating power and wealth in the hands of a small ruling class more efficiently and sustainably. Is this a basic test of democracy for the citizens of any country?

MLK’s Radical Vision Got Distorted: Here’s His Real Legacy on Militarism & Inequality

Geoff Gilbert Salon
In the address, Dr. King implored the necessity for the nation to undergo a “radical revolution of values,” explaining, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives, and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Faced With Land Seizures, Defiant Nebraskans Vow to Halt Keystone XL

Nadia Prupis Common Dreams
Landowners from Nebraska's York and Holt counties last week filed suit against TransCanada to stall or even stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline through their state. On Tuesday, they continued to call on President Barack Obama to veto the project altogether.