I don’t think Allen offers any new information, but, like all purveyors of productivity porn, repackages basic truths discovered so far back in History that we have no way of assigning proper credit. This is not to suggest that Allen is a hack or in any way misappropriating others’ ideas. Basic truths must be reinterpreted [...]

From Ian Welsh’s Golden Laws of Prosperity 1. Implement policy which is as good for as many people as possible. 6. Enforce the doctrine of first sale. 10. Do not allow the private sector to pillage the social sector. 25. Enforce accountability on decision makers, especially corporate decision-makers. 31. Reduce barriers to entry in new [...]

Matt Taibbi writes: If you’ve ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you’ve ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or “drug paraphernalia” in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me. Breuer [...]

Thomas Frank writes: There is a scene I always recall when I try to remember the exhilarating effect that Occupy Wall Street had on me when it was first getting going. I was on a subway train in Washington, D.C., reading an article about the protests in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. It was three years [...]

What can they do to you? Whatever they want. …How can you stop them? Alone, you can fight, you can refuse, you can take what revenge you can but they roll over you. It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after [...]

Mumia Abu-Jamal tells Chris Hedges: When I first got out in the yard and I heard groups of men talking about how Sarah was going to marry Jim or how Frank had betrayed Susan, I thought, Damn, these cats all know each other and their families. That’s odd. But after a few minutes I realized [...]

Glenn Greenwald writes: [W]hat was most striking to me as I traced the recent history of this phenomenon is how explicit it has become. Obviously, those with money and power always enjoyed substantial advantages in the US justice system, but lip service was at least always paid to the core precept of the rule of [...]

Glenn Greenwald writes: All of that is standard, principle-free partisan jockeying. It goes without saying that if this were Condoleezza rather than Susan Rice, the two sides would have exactly opposite positions on whether these inaccurate statements should be held against her. None of that is worth examining. But what is remarkable is how so [...]

Roldo Bartimole writes: Our pro-business, anti-union Gov. John Kasich is now trying a fast sprint to seem reasonable. He wants de-emphasize the use of corporate subsidies, according to the Columbus Dispatch. A bit late, Gov. The New York Times recently ran a major three-part series on how states are giving massive amounts of money (mostly [...]

Robert Reich writes: Among Rove’s investors was Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who owns the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Adelson invested more than $100 million in the election, mostly on Republicans who lost – including $20 million that went to Romney’s super PAC “Restore Our Future,” $15 million to another super PAC that almost single-handedly kept [...]

Roldo Bartimole writes: How much confidence do I – or you – have in the Cleveland Board of Education getting a fair price for the sale of its a gem of a historic downtown administration building on East 6th Street: Minus zero. Actually less. This celebrated building sits on 1.75 acres of the best situated [...]

Brandon Blackwell writes: Irony stung the Occupy Cleveland movement in October 2011 when about a dozen of its members were arrested in Public Square. Protesters were taken into custody for violating curfew near the statue of Cleveland’s 35th Mayor Tom L. Johnson — an effigy erected as a testament to free speech and assembly. But [...]

This is the movie not to see… Glenn Greenwald’s updates (at the bottom) are vital for understanding the meta of this film: That so many reviewers walked away with a pro-torture message from the film – that torture was key to finding bin Laden – means that large numbers of viewers likely will as well, [...]

Glenn Greenwald writes: If you want your country to rule the world as an aggressive and militaristic empire, then accept the inevitable consequence of that: that there will be huge numbers of people in the world who resent and even hate your country for that behavior. Don’t cheer while your country constantly kills, invades, occupies, [...]

Robert Reich writes: Even this larger debate is just one part of what should be the central debate of our time — why median wages continue to drop and poverty to increase at the same time income and wealth are becoming ever more concentrated at the top, and what should be done to counter the [...]

Paul Krugman writes: Let’s get one thing straight: America is not facing a fiscal crisis. It is, however, still very much experiencing a job crisis. It’s easy to get confused about the fiscal thing, since everyone’s talking about the “fiscal cliff.” Indeed, one recent poll suggests that a large plurality of the public believes that [...]

[Update at 1647 -- Anastasia Pantsios weighs in on the story: People involved in the "Save the Plain Dealer" campaign are asking "Where will we get our news?" Maybe we should respond, "Well, where do we get it NOW?" The PD may currently publish seven days a week and have a staff a third larger [...]

Generally I don’t care for the Q&A (Playboy interviews — I still have the photocopy my dad gave me of October 1967 interview with Jim Garrison with all the cartoons block out –notwithstanding) format because I find the questions mostly innane and the answers nearly always lifeless and well rehearsed from too oft asking. While [...]

When asked how I managed to shed 80 pounds in nine months my first response is always: I stop eating junk food. Watching Emily Bazelon’s presentation on girls with Autism lead me to this quote from Clifford Nass: Our research shows a link between face-to-face contact and good relationships because that’s the best way to [...]