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NAACP Bombing Shows Failure of Mainstream Media

Ben Branstetter The Daily Dot
Even with the world's attention focused on the tragic events in Paris, the failure of the mainstream media to cover the bombing of the NAACP office in Colorado Springs is nonetheless a glaring example of the U.S. media's treatment of social movements. Colorado Springs residents had to learn of the NAACP bombing through social media. The complete lack of coverage of the NAACP attack shows the mainstream media is ready to move past the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Black and White in the War on Drugs

Michele Alexander (The New Jim Crow) discusses race, law and culture: how drug and other laws are enforced unequally, how criminal convictions have unequal consequences, and how this inequality remains invisible to many white people.
 

Punishing the Palestinians for Going to Court

Robert Fisk The Independent
On January 2, Palestine became the 123rd state to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In response, after first orchestrating the rejection of a UN Security Council resolution to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land by 2017, the U.S. and Israel announced their intent to punish the Palestinians. Signing the Rome treaty to abide by international law and seeking recourse to international law “is entirely counterproductive,” the U.S. says.

One Million Food Stamp Recipients to Lose Benefits in 2016

Ned Resnikoff AlJazeera America
According to a new report, roughly 1 million of the nation’s poorest people will be cut off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the course of 2016, as states move to limit food stamp benefits for unemployed adults who aren’t disabled or raising minor children. These individuals, most of whom don’t qualify for other help, will lose their food assistance benefits after three months regardless of how hard they are looking for work.

Greece’s Syriza Party: The Antidote to Europe’s Austerity Disease

Paul Mason Channel 4, UK
Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's Syriza Party (Greek Coalition of the Radical Left) and the Parliamentary Opposition is interviewed by British reporter Paul Mason. Tsipras and his anti-austerity Syriza Party are favored to win the January 25 parliamentary elections, which would send shock waves throughout the European Union. “We want a state that stands by its citizens,” Tsipras says.

Remembering the Conviction of Guatemala’s Gen. Rios Montt

Pamela Yates North American Congress on Latin America
In anticipation of the new genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, the North American Congress on Latin America is running free episodes from the web series Dictator in the Dock directed by Pamela Yates. Yates recalls Rios Montt’s first conviction in 2013 upon which the film is based. On Monday, Guatemalan Judge Janeth Valdez was forced to recuse herself from the second trial. All proceedings are suspended until a new tribunal is formed.

Friday Nite Videos -- January 9, 2015

Portside
Koch Industries' Mysterious Swiss Bank. Black and White in the War on Drugs. The Courage of Stuart Scott. Why Are There No Women in The Hobbit? Jerusalem's Most Contested Neighborhood.

Koch Industries' Mysterious Swiss Bank

You may have heard of the Koch brothers, but you've probably never heard of Arteva Europe, a Koch Swiss branch that makes hundreds of millions of dollars, pays very little tax, and has no staff. The Guardian goes to Zurich to find out what happens at this lucrative office.

The Courage of Stuart Scott

Stuart Scott (1965-2015) was a long-time ESPN anchor who was a trailblazer in the freewheeling style of sports coverage. Keith Olbermann tells how Scott had to face down his hidebound bosses to win the right to speak in his own voice.

Why Are There No Women in The Hobbit?

SFF author Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), at Chicago's pop culture event C2E2, talks about why images of women are so often absent or distorted in scifi, video games and other media, and what to do about it.