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Once a Year We Appeal to You to Contribute to Continue this Work

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Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help. And because information is power, in addition to addressing the Big Picture, we are always trying to make what we present easy to read. It's been an extraordinary year. A year of unparalleled dangers, which we won't dwell on, as you know them well.

A Deep Vein of Poverty Runs Through the U.S.

Emma Niles Truthdig
“Alston’s epic journey has taken him from coast to coast, deprivation to deprivation,” Pilkington writes. “Starting in LA and San Francisco, sweeping through the Deep South, traveling on to the colonial stain of Puerto Rico then back to the stricken coal country of West Virginia, he has explored the collateral damage of America’s reliance on private enterprise to the exclusion of public help.”

In Honduras, Calls Rise for New Presidential Elections

Jonathan Blitzer The New Yorker
The Honduran Presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla has called for a recount after the country’s electoral tribunal declared the incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernández, the winner.

Steven Spielberg’s Ode to Journalism in “The Post”

Anthony Lane The New Yorker
Starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as Ben Bradlee and Katharine Graham, this drama about the Washington Post is squarely aimed at our current moment. The movie, written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, sprouts from this rift between the true state of affairs and the alternative facts that are presented to the public. As is common knowledge, it was Ellsberg’s conscience about the rift that led him to steal—or, if you prefer, to liberate—a hulking stash of incriminating documents, which came to be called the Pentagon Papers.

Tax Bill’s Cost Could Hit $2.2 Trillion Over Next Decade

Joel Friedman Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Congressional Republicans chose to use a special fast-track budget process known as “reconciliation” for their tax bill, but every credible analysis shows that the bill won’t come close to paying for itself.

To Stop Trump, Learn from Tea Party - Build at the Grassroots

Ezra Levin, Leah Greenberg And Angel Padilla The New York Times
Today is the first day of the 115th United States Congress. In less than three weeks, this Congress will join with President-elect Donald J. Trump to claim a mandate they do not have for policies that most Americans do not support. Together, they will seek to enact a bigoted and anti-democratic agenda, threatening our values and endangering us all.But Americans have the power to resist this dangerous turn. We know because we've seen it before.

Top Prosecutor in Leonard Peltier Case Urges Clemency in 'Extraordinary' Move

Sam Levin The Guardian
An open letter to Obama, penned by US attorney involved in the case against the Native American activist, is a stunning development in his bid for freedom. A senior US attorney who was involved in the prosecution of Native American activist Leonard Peltier has requested that Barack Obama grant clemency, with a rare plea that has energized the campaign to free the high-profile indigenous prisoner.