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The Puppetmasters of Academia (or What the NY Times Left out)

Jonathan Latham, PhD Independent Science News
The Times buried the real story: active collusion between the agribusiness and chemical industries, numerous and often prominent academics, PR companies, and key administrators of land grant universities for the purpose of promoting GMOs and pesticides.

French Secret Service Agent Who Led Fatal 1985 Bombing of Greenpeace Ship Breaks His Silence

John Hudson (NZTV) Democracy Now!
Thirty years ago, French secret service blew up Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior ship in Auckland, New Zealand, killing a Portuguese photographer, as the ship was preparing to head to sea to protest against French nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific. Now the French intelligence agent who led the deadly attack has come forward for the first time to apologize for his actions, breaking his silence after 30 years.

Filter Fish

Oliver Sacks The New Yorker
At life’s end, rediscovering the joys of a childhood favorite.

Where Is the Outcry Over Children Killed by U.S.-Led Forces?

John Horgan Scientific American
Estimating civilian casualties of U.S. military operations is extremely difficult . . . “There was essentially no record kept in Afghanistan and Pakistan for a few years of any U.S.-caused civilian casualties, and most especially the killing of children" . . . “the harm to children in war is also indirect--morbidity and mortality due to the destruction of infrastructure which impairs delivery of medical care, makes drinking water unsafe, and makes food scarce.”

How the Geography of U.S. Poverty Has Shifted Since 1960

Jens Manuel Krogstad Pew Research Center
Over the past 50 years, the poor have increasingly lived in the 20 most populous counties. In 2010, about one-in-five poor Americans (21%) lived in these high-density counties.

Sean O’Casey: Unrepentant Socialist

Lily Murphy CounterPunch
O’Casey changed the way Irish life had been portrayed on stage, from a rural and almost fantasy like setting to a realistic urban one divided by class.

How Can Washington Properly Fund Its Schools? Do What New Jersey Did.

Jen Graves The Stranger
When, in 1976, New Jersey was in a similar situation [to Washington], the Supreme Court shut down the schools for eight days. The fruits of that conflict remain with New Jerseyites to this day, for the need to fund schools more fairly is what led New Jersey in 1976 to adopt a state income tax for the first time.

Attacks on Planned Parenthood Threaten Millions of Women

Lauren McCauley Common Dreams
As the partisan Congressional Republican attack on Planned Parenthood heated up this week, a new study released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute found, "unequivocally that for women in many areas of the country, losing Planned Parenthood would mean losing their chosen provider—and the only safety-net provider around." Safety-net providers provide care and services in low-income, medically underserved, immigrant, and communities of color.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Huge Mandate as Labor’s New Leader

Rowena Mason The Guardian
Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the British Labor party, in a stunning first-round victory that dwarfed even the mandate for Tony Blair in 1994. The election of the anti-war activist and rank and file Member of Parliament means the Labor party now has one of the most leftwing, anti-establishment leaders in its 115-year history. Minutes after his victory, Corbyn said the message is that people are “fed up with the injustice and the inequality” of Britain.