The Raw Story

A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Big pharma is America's new Mafia

© iStockphoto Pharmaceutical companies have more power than ever, and the American people are paying the price—too often with our lives.By now you have probably seen John Oliver's comic take on the pharmaceutical industry's influence on doctors' prescribing habits. Media outlets from Mother Jones to the Wall Street Journal commented admiringly, and even the American Medical Association felt compelled to declare they were "committed to transparency"...

Israel opens floodgates forcing hundreds of Gazans to evacuate

© Reuters / Ibraheem Abu MustafaPalestinians ride horse carts as they evacuate their animals in the village of Al-Moghraga after it was flooded by rain water, near central Gaza Strip February 22, 2015. Over 80 houses have been flooded and hundreds of Palestinians forced to evacuate after Israel opened the gates of several dams on the border with the Gaza Strip, inundating the Gaza Valley in waters up to 3 meters high.In the wake of a recent severe...

North Carolina lobbyists can officially screw politicians legally

© Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast A clandestine sexual relationship between a lobbyist and a government official they lobby may sound unethical, but the North Carolina Ethics Commission says it's perfectly legal.North Carolina government officials who are having secret sex with lobbyists need fear no more: The state's ethics commission has decided such illicit relationships are completely fine. Yes, what could go wrong?Joal H. Broun, the secretary of...

America's prison system looks more and more like its torture sites

© AFP 2015/ CHANTAL VALERY In the years following the beginning of the Bush administration's "war on terror," a series of revelations have exposed the horrific torture practices used against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, CIA "black sites" and other prisons abroad, as a matter of state policy.These barbaric practices, which were documented in stomach-churning detail in the CIA torture report released last year, are rooted in the aims of US imperialism...

Putin to the rescue: Bilateral agreements with Russia give Greece a strategic spot in the EU's 'energy landscape' - is more to come?

While mainstream media promulgate a fictitious message of Russian threats in the Baltic, Vladimir Putin's next big play lies far to the south, writes Oliver Tickell. The gross intransigence of the EU, the IMF, the European Central Bank and Germany are forcing Greece into a powerful new economic and energy alliance with Russia that will reshape Europe - and for the better.We could see Greece simply renouncing its manifestly unpayable and unjust...

The war on personal liberty ramps up: California bill seeks to end vaccine exemptions

© unknown Despite its notoriety for being one of the least free states in America, California does still have some lingering freedoms in certain regards. Ever since California mandated that all teachers and students be vaccinated against polio in 1961, the state made sure to allow certain exemptions. In fact, California has some of the best vaccine exemption laws. Residents living there are allowed to keep their children vaccine free, for either...

Elderly Indian man temporarily paralyzed after being body slammed by Alabama police for walking on the sidewalk

© Sarah Cole/Paul Huggins An elderly man was recently visiting Alabama from India when he found himself beaten by police who left him paralyzed.Madison, Alabama police brutalized the 57-year-old Indian citizen who had committed no crime, he was only going for a walk on the sidewalk outside of his son's home. Now, one officer is being charged for leaving Sureshbhai Patel temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae, as a result of...

Keeping Fear Alive: As DHS shutdown looms, Jeh Johnson Issues Terror Warning To Mall of America Customers

Just as the DHS congressional Feb 27th budget deadline and possible shutdown nears, a conveniently timed new domestic terror alert was issued today by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Two weeks ago Jeh Johnson also warned that a lapse in funding would cause a “terrible disruption,” and “A shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in these times is frankly too bitter to contemplate, but we have to contemplate it,”Could this be another...

Not enough fear: Mall of America terrorist threat

© Ariana Lindquist/BloombergMall of America, the nation’s biggest shopping center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Visitors to the Mall of America must be "particularly careful" after a terror group threatened the Minneapolis-area tourist attraction, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary said.Jeh Johnson's comments during an interview Sunday on 's "State of the Union" program followed the release of a video Saturday by the terror group al-Shabaab that...

The rebellion in Ukraine is reversing the Maidan revolution - der Spiegel tells Poroshenko he must 'cave in, in order to win'

© Reuters / Baz RatnerRebels walk near a building damaged during fighting in the village of Nikishine, south east of Debaltsevo February 17, 2015. Most western media are 'soft-controlled' by the government and in end effect by Washington. For starters, the editors and journalists hired can be trusted to follow the cultural-Marxist party line, no need to 'control' them explicitly.So if for instance der Spiegel writes something, you can expect it...

Muslim anti-anti-Semitism: Norwegian Muslims form human chain around synagogue

© Reuters/Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB ScanpixMuslims join hands to form a human shield as they stand outside a synagogue in Oslo February 21, 2015. Muslims in Oslo formed a human chain around the city's main synagogue, chanting "No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia." Over 1,000 people took part in the rally to show solidarity with Jews just a week after a fatal shooting in a Denmark synagogue.Muslims in Norway, many young women, formed what they...

Muslim anti-anti-Semitism: Norwegian Muslims for human chain around synagogue

© Reuters/Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB ScanpixMuslims join hands to form a human shield as they stand outside a synagogue in Oslo February 21, 2015. Muslims in Oslo formed a human chain around the city's main synagogue, chanting "No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia." Over 1,000 people took part in the rally to show solidarity with Jews just a week after a fatal shooting in a Denmark synagogue.Muslims in Norway, many young women, formed what they...

More healthy reasons to come to the yoga mat

© ethnichealthtips.com For more than 5,000 years humans have practiced the ancient Indian art of yoga. Long revered for its spiritual and mental benefits, yoga is fast becoming equally valued for its benefits in reversing the effects of modern chronic diseases.A new study from Harvard University finds that yoga has particular benefits for your heart.In a meta-analysis of 32 randomized controlled trials, researchers concluded that a yoga practice...

Warning over toxic fumes in plane cabins

© CascadeRichard Westgate died in 2012 after claiming he had been poisoned by toxic cabin fumes. Toxic fumes in cabin air pose a health risk to frequent fliers and aircrew, a coroner has said in a landmark report.Stanhope Payne, the senior coroner for Dorset, said people regularly exposed to fumes circulating in planes faced "consequential damage to their health".Mr Payne, who is inquiring into the death of Richard Westgate, a British Airways pilot,...

More mad science! Feds approve GMO apple

© nytimes.com A new genetically modified apple that doesn't brown when cut open or bruised finally has been cleared to be grown in the U.S.An arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday — after a three-year wait — that the Okanagan Specialty Fruit's Arctic Apple in Golden and Granny varieties doesn't pose any harm to other plants or pests. The apple won't be at grocery stores yet, though this was its last major regulatory hurdle. The company...

7 Snowy owls from the Arctic seen in New York City

The owls are native to Canada, Scandinavia and northern Russia. Humans may be staying inside for the frigid temperatures of the polar vortex, but the gust of arctic weather has brought unexpected guests to New York City.Seven snowy owls have been spotted this year in the city, which reached a 60-year low of 1F for February 20 on Friday morning.The birds are generally seen along the water in Brooklyn and Queens, but one was found on Governor's Island...

Forced socialization: The story of St. Michael's Residential School through the eyes and voice of a survivor - Demolished but not forgotten

On Wednesday, Feb. 18 The Tyee's Katie Hyslop reported on the demolition of St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay, British Columbia. A day-long ceremony honoured St. Michael's survivors with prayer, speeches and song.Though the building is set to disappear from the landscape, the experiences of these survivors will not be forgotten. This video piece by Ed Carswell captures a personal account of survivor Verna Flanders, as told to...

Over 380 people evacuated in Naples, Italy after massive sinkhole opens up

A sinkhole opened up in the middle of a street in Naples, Italy early Sunday morning. Residents in Naples, Italy woke up this morning to a massive sinkhole that opened up in the middle of a street.Officials say the sinkhole started off as a depression in the road and is most likely caused by a broken sewer.'It was 5 this morning when I heard a huge thud. I looked out and saw the road collapse and swallow a car,' a woman who lives in a neighboring...

The "too big to fail" have stopped being banks. They have become huge criminal enterprises involved in market manipulation

© William Banzai No Longer Focused On Deposits Or LoansBloomberg reported last month:"Banks don't have a need for deposits, and the demand for loans by households and firms is weak," Niels Storm Stenbaek, chief economist at the Danish Bankers Association, said in a phone interview.Wait ... ?Banks don't need ? They're not giving many ? Isn't that what banks ?If they're not collecting deposits and making loans, what they doing?In reality, big banks...
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)