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Chiefs Declare Keystone XL Invalid, Walk Out on State Department Officials

ICTMN Staff Indian Country Today
Elders and chiefs of at least 10 sovereign nations walked out of a meeting with U.S. State Department officials in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Thursday May 16 in which the government was attempting to engage in tribal consultation over the Keystone XL pipeline.

How America Became a Third World Country 2013-2023

Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford TomDispatch
How America Became a Third World Country TomDispatch regulars Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford of the invaluable National Priorities Project look at the "homeland" a decade into the future, as the effects of Congress's austerity policies sink in. Put the two together and what a grim scene you have: a country investing in war in distant lands as it crumbles here at home.

Media Bits & Bytes - Hacking, Stalking and Spying Edition

Portside
Kochs to Buy L.A.Times? Unions Say "No!"; Massive Biometric Database Proposal Hidden In Immigration Bill; NSA Releases Guide to Internet Spying; Scandal Sheets on the DoJ/AP Leak and Bloomberg Reporters Stalking Their Customers; Hollywood Challenges Books for the Blind; Girl Coder Beats the Boys in Hackathon Competition

Unpacking the idea of “Islamophobia”

Merdith Tax openDemocracy 50.50
The term “Islamophobia” is everywhere, but its meanings work at cross purposes - to liberals, it refers to discrimination and hate crimes that can be addressed through existing laws, but to fundamentalists, it refers to offenses against religion that must be addressed through censorship or death.

Monsanto Protection Act May Soon be Repealed

Anthony Gucciardi Nation of Change
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland actually went and released a statement apologizing for allowing the Monsanto Protection Act through and vowing to fight against GMOs and Monsanto.

What Comes After Hope

Rebecca Solnit Tomdispatch.com
Civil society is our power, our joy, and our possibility, and it has written a lot of the history in the last few years, as well as the last half century. If you doubt our power, see how it terrifies those at the top, and remember that they fight it best by convincing us it doesn’t exist.

Is This Virtual Worm the First Sign of the Singularity?

Alexis C. Madrigal The Atlantic
"But until you can quantify and put the whole thing into a computer and simulate it and show your computer model can behave in the same way as the real one, I don't think you can say you understand it."