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The Most Important Day of the 21st Century

Peter Gleick Science Blogs
One day, sometime around the middle of this century, during the lifetime of people now alive, the population of the planet will be smaller than it was the day before. Global population growth is slowing, will level off, and one remarkable day, decline.

Susan Rice at the UN - Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Carl Bloice black Commentator
The timing of Rice’s announcement is eerily reminiscent of what occurred a decade ago when Powell was at the Bush Administration’s foreign policy helm. Then, as now, the decision to escalate the conflict came amid feverish international effort to prevent war

You are the Target! Lessons of the Snowden Revelations

Alfredo Lopez Counterpunch
You have the right to meet, plan and organize without having the government looking over your shoulder (or tracking your calls and stealing your email) because all power in the government’s hands can and eventually will be abused in the absence of strong “checks and balances”.

A Brazilian Autumn?

Miguel Borba de Sa Jacobin Magazine
The movement is battlefield, highlighting all the contradictions of Brazilian society.

Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong

Marvin Zalman Proving Innocence
The cumulative effect of Convicting the Innocent is stunning. Almost all of the 250 DNA exonerations occurred in murder or rape cases. Murder and rape amounts to less than 1% of all felony convictions. The errors typically flowed not from malicious motives but from the normal cognitive biases that lead detectives and prosecutors to be convinced that they have the right person. The result must be thousands of erroneous guilty pleas and trial convictions each year.

The Great Gandolfini

Tom Carson The American Prospect
James Gandolfini's genius was his knack for humanizing but not sentimentalizing his tough guy characters.

Friday Nite Videos -- June 21, 2013

Portside
Why the World Cup should not be Brazil's priority. Flashmob Carmina Burana. John Oliver, immigration and pro wrestling. Gandolfini's other work: Wartorn. Movie: How to Make Money Selling Drugs. Dance-off at the office.