Cuba’s lung cancer vaccine and other medical breakthroughs

Those who follow Cuba know that despite the harsh embargo that the US has imposed on that nation for over 50 years out of sheer spite because it is no longer a US client state, that country has managed to maintain a free universal health care system that is even able to send nurses and doctors to other developing countries in the world and to deal with emergencies, such as the recent Ebola outbreak in west Africa when it sent hundreds of medical professionals.
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Winning legally but losing politically and vice versa

By the end of June, there will be two rulings by the US Supreme Court that will have wide-ranging consequences. One involves Obamacare and deals with whether the subsidies provided by the exchanges set up by the federal government in those states that chose not to set up their own is constitutional. The other deals with same-sex marriage and involves two issues: whether states can ban same-sex marriages and whether they can refuse to recognize those conducted in other states.
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Russ Feingold seeks to regain US Senate seat in Wisconsin

Russ Feingold has just announced that he is seeking to regain the Wisconsin US Senate seat that he won in 1992 and lost in 2010 in that Republican wave election. I think he has a good chance to do so since Ron Johnson, the person who replaced him, seems vulnerable and the negative effects of Republican governor Scott Walker’s policies are likely to become highly manifest in 2016, hurting the Republican brand. Recent polls support that view.
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Ordinary people doing extraordinary things: The amazing story of the people who broke into an FBI office and exposed its crimes

On March 8, 1971 some people broke into the FBI offices in Media, PA, stole all the files, and then released to the media those that blew the lid off all manner of outrageous and illegal activities that the FBI was engaged in to spy on and harass and even murder people in the anti-war and civil rights movements. I wrote about this back in January 2014, when some finally came forward to identify themselves as the ones who carried out the burglary.
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The forgotten Move fiasco

When we think of past encounters between anti-government groups and the authorities that ended in tragedy, Ruby Ridge and Waco are the names that come to mind. But today marks the 30-year anniversary of a major tragedy that has been largely forgotten, and that was the dropping of a bomb on the members of the strange cult-like group known as Move. Alan Yuhas takes us back to that day.
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How money talks

I have been railing against the Cleveland Indians’ use of the racist Chief Wahoo logo (and I am pleased to report that they still have the worst record in their division, the American League, and close to the worst record in the major leagues). But let us not forget another abomination, and that is the name of the NFL team associated with the city of Washington DC. The team’s owner Dan Snyder has vehemently defended the use of the name and refused to change it in spite of widespread opposition. He used the usual ‘it’s tradition’ and I think it actually honors Indians’ and ‘if I don’t intent it to be offensive it can’t be offensive’ arguments favored by the fans of such things in defending the indefensible.
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The secret TPP deal that Obama wants to impose on us

I always get nervous when Democrats and Republicans in government work together on something. This is because we have reached the stage in politics in the US where oligarchic control is so extensive that it seems like the only force that can overcome the sheer pettiness, greed, and ambition of the elected representatives who are so divided on social issues. So signs of bipartisanship that are so revered by the establishment are for me warning signs that moves are in the works that the oligarchy is pushing strongly for and that will be bad for the rest of us. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) issue provides a case in point.
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