Reject Plan to Continue War on Afghanistan

David Swanson World Beyond War
President Obama’s decision to leave actually ending, as opposed to officially “ending,” the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan to his successor (barring Congress developing the nerve and the decency to act) illustrates our collective and his personal failure to overcome what candidate Obama once called the mindset that gets us into wars.

After the Ankara Bombing: Turkey and NATO’s Strategy in Ruins

Onur Erem with Tariq Ali CounterPunch
Turkish journalist Onur Erem interviews noted political commentator Tariq Ali on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Syrian policy in the aftermath of the October 10th terrorist attack which killed more than 100 peace demonstrators in Ankara. According to Ali, Erdoğan has been one of the principal supporters of the Islamic State as a new force to bring down Syrian President Assad’s regime. But Turkey and NATO’s strategy in the region is now in ruins.

Friday Nite Videos -- October 16, 2015

Portside
Seth Macfarlane Introduces Bernie Sanders. Eve of Destruction. 'My Kind Of America' With Jack Black. This Changes Everything -- Movie. How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain.

Seth Macfarlane Introduces Bernie Sanders

Family Guy Creator Seth Macfarlane introduces Bernie Sanders in Los Angeles (Oct. 14, 2015). What other candidate identifies climate change as the most pressing national security question?

Eve of Destruction

50 Years Ago: War, Music, Crisis. Eve of Destruction was written by P.F. Sloan in 1965; the Barry McGuire recording reached #1 in September. Fifty years, but the lyrics still resonate.

'My Kind Of America' With Jack Black

Stephen has created the greatest political anthem of all time and it’s free for any politician to use. Lincoln Chafee, this could be your moment.

How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. Fireworks go off in the musician's brains.

Israel: The Settlers' Prussia

Uri Avnery Gush Shalom
There is only one group in Israel that is strong enough, cohesive enough, determined enough to take over the state: the settlers. The process is already well advanced. The new police chief is a kippah-wearing former settler. So is the chief of the Secret Service. More and more of the army and police officers are settlers. In the government and in the Knesset, the settlers wield a huge influence.

Movement to Get Saturday Night Live to Dump Trump Gains Momentum

Dennis Romero LA Weekly
SNL has scheduled Donald Trump as host on Nov. 7, shocking Latino leaders. "It's hypocritical of them to go back and put Donald Trump on as the face of the program, given that NBC said it would terminate its relationship with Trump over his comments about Mexican immigrants," says Juan Escalante, a Venezuelan immigrant who has launched a petition urging the network to drop Trump.