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”.

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

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.

'No, I'm Not Going to the World Cup'

This video was recorded right before the recent protests started, but with all of this going on, it becomes even more evident that the World Cup and the Olympics should not be Brazil's priority. 

Flashmob Carmina Burana

The Vienna Volksopera gives a special public performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. The performance is uniquely athletic, spontaneous and energetic.

The Great Gandolfini

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