Though pillage, profit, and plunder have been a mainstay of war since pre-colonial times, there is little contemporary focus on the role of finance and economics in today’s “Drug Wars”–despite the fact that they boost US banks and fill prisons with poor people. They feed political campaigns, increase the arms trade, and function as long-term fixes to capitalism’s woes, cracking open new territories to privatization and foreign direct investment.

Combining on-the-ground reporting with extensive research, Dawn Paley moves beyond the usual horror stories, beyond journalistic rubbernecking and hand-wringing, to follow the thread of the Drug War story throughout the entire region of Latin America and all the way back to US boardrooms and political offices. This unprecedented book chronicles how terror is used against the population at large in cities and rural areas, generating panic and facilitating policy changes that benefit the international private sector, particularly extractive industries like petroleum and mining.

This is what is really going on. This is drug war capitalism. Dawn Paley is a freelance journalist who has been reporting from South America, Central America, and Mexico for over ten years. Her writing has been published in the “Nation,” the “Guardian,” “Vancouver Sun,” “Globe and Mail,” “Ms.” magazine, the “Tyee,” “Georgia Straight,” and “NACLA,” among others.

 

 

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“Bailout “is a jaw-dropping play-by-play of how the Treasury Department bungled the financial bailouts…With a prosecutor’s logic and copious footnotes, Barofsky makes it clear that things are rarely what they seem in Washington.”–“USA TODAY”

At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Neil Barofsky gave up his job as a prosecutor in the esteemed US Attorney’s Office in New York City, where he had convicted drug kingpins, Wall Street executives, and perpetrators of mortgage fraud, to become the inspector general in charge of overseeing administration of the bailout money. From the onset, his efforts to protect against fraud and to hold big banks accountable for how they spent taxpayer money were met with outright hostility from Treasury officials in charge of the bailouts.

In this bracing, page-turning account Barofsky offers an insider’s perspective on the mishandling of the $700 billion TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bailout fund. With vivid behind-the-scenes detail, he reveals the extreme lengths to which our government officials were willing to go in order to serve the interests of Wall Street firms at the expense of the broader public–and at the expense of effective financial reform.

“Bailout” is a riveting account of Barovsky’s plunge into the political meat grinder of Washington, as well as a vital revelation of just how captured by Wall Street our political system is and why the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger and more dangerous in the wake of the crisis.

 

 

 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) performs one of the most important jobs in the world. It surveys climate research and writes a report about what it all means. This report is informally known as the Climate Bible. Cited by governments around the world, the Climate Bible is the reason carbon taxes are being introduced, heating bills are rising, and costly new regulations are being imposed. It is why everyone thinks carbon dioxide emissions are dangerous. What most of us don’t know is that, rather than being written by a meticulous, upstanding professional in business attire, the Climate Bible is produced by a slapdash, slovenly teenager who has trouble distinguishing right from wrong. This exposé, by an investigative journalist, is the product of two years of research. Its conclusion: almost nothing we’ve been told about the IPCC is actually true.

 

 

 

From the Orwell Prize shortlisted author of Freedom for Sale, The Rich is the fascinating history of how economic elites from ancient Egypt to the present day have gained and spent their money. Starting with the Romans and Ancient Egypt and culminating with the oligarchies of modern Russia and China, it compares and contrasts the rich and powerful down the ages and around the world. What unites them?

Have the same instincts of entrepreneurship, ambition, vanity, greed and philanthropy applied throughout? As contemporary politicians, economists and the public wrestle with the inequities of our time – the parallel world inhabited by the ultra-wealthy at a time of broader hardship – it is salutary to look to history for explanations. This book synthesises thousands of years of human behaviour and asks the question: is the development of the globalised super-rich over the past twenty years anything new?

 

 

Frances E. Jensen er lege, professor i nevrologi og ekspert på hjernens utvikling. Men da barna hennes kom i tenårene, opplevde hun plutselig at hun verken kunne forstå eller forutsi hva som foregikk eller hvordan de utviklet seg.
Det ble startpunktet for en undersøkelse av hva som egentlig foregår i tenåringshjernen. For det er ikke slik, som vitenskapen lenge antok, at hjernen utvikles ferdig i løpet av barndommen, den utvikler seg og er i endring gjennom hele livet.

Og forstår vi hva som kjennetegner tenåringshjernen, hva som skiller den fra den voksne hjernen og hva slags prosesser den er i, blir vi også bedre i stand til å forstå tenåringenes liv og verden, og til å hjelpe dem med det som er vanskelig.
Dette er uunnværlig lesning for alle som har å gjøre med tenåringer. Forfatteren samler den beste tilgjengelige kunnskapen om tenåringshjernens utvikling til en tilgjengelig og lesverdig bok, med blikk for de praktiske problemene som gjerne rammer ungdommer og menneskene rundt dem.
Hun skriver med faglig tyngde, klokskap og varme.

 

 

 

An “admirably researched and lucidly written” investigation of the corporate takeover of the media―and what it means for Americans ―that “should serve as a wake-up call” (Daniel Schorr, NPR)

For the residents of Minot, North Dakota, Clear Channel Communications is synonymous with disaster. When a train derailment sent a cloud of poisonous gas drifting toward the small town, Minot’s fire and rescue departments attempted to use local radio to warn residents of the approaching threat. But in the age of canned programming, there was no one at the six local non-religious commercial stations, all owned by Clear Channel, to take the call. The result for the people of Minot: one death and more than a thousand injuries.

Opening with the story of the Minot tragedy, Fighting for Air takes us into the world of preprogrammed radio shows, empty television news stations, and copycat newspapers to show how expanding conglomerate ownership of all media has harmed American political and cultural life―and how malign neglect by the federal government allowed it to happen. In a call for action, Fighting for Air also reveals a rising generation of activists and citizen journalists who are insisting on the local coverage we need and deserve.

 

 

 

Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers?

The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against big government led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system. The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.

The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin s Russia and Hitler s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.

When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible philanthropy.

These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the “Citizens United” decision a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.

The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.

Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.
“Dark Money” is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.

 

 

 

Learn the Hidden Truth About the Banking Industry! What are the big banks up to? Do you have any idea what goes on behind closed doors? Would you like to know the truth? ?Thank God for Money Laundering: Big Banks Sure Do!? describes how drug smugglers, terrorists, and common criminals launder money through our biggest and most trusted banks. Paying special attention to American Express, this book explains how money laundering works, and why it is tolerated by the US Government.

You’ll learn how our modern banking system grew out of the goldsmithing industry and began the “hidden fraud” of fractional reserve banking. This book also explains how the Federal Reserve was created, and how money equals debt. Even more disturbingly, it describes how big banks created the financial disaster of 2008, tricked thousands of homeowners into foreclosing on their mortgages, and faced little or no punishment from our justice system!

This revolutionary book cites many examples of wrongdoing by the nation’s top 20 banks. It explains: How big banks launder dirty money every day The balance of deposit insurance versus government strength Fake debt and false promises American Express Patterns and Practices How and why the 2008 Wall Street Collapse Happened ?Thank God for Money Laundering: Big Banks Sure Do!? helps you understand how one of Wall Street?s most prestigious banks creates fake debt, charges fake fees, and generates fake profits.

These false profits influence stock market prices, meaning your investments might not be worth what you think they are! Here’s a preview of what you can learn from this revealing book: “Did you know that corporate profits at many of Wall Street?s most prestigious institutions may be fake? Did you know that the prices of many familiar stocks sold on Wall Street might also be fake?

And, did you know that the bulk of our money may be fake as well? How about this: Did you know by their own admission and from an accounting standpoint, the US Government is bankrupt and our national banks are nothing more than illusory businesses? No, these are not the words of a crazy man ranting about the evils of money and Wall Street, but interpretations of a natural series of events through history, one step at a time. The problem is that few understand these outcomes; even fewer care.” BUY ?Thank God for Money Laundering: Big Banks Sure Do!? TODAY, and learn what’s really going on behind-the-scenes. It’s a book every American should read!

 

 

 

Democratic liberalism v. authoritarianism ? the ideological divide that defined the twentieth century. But when the cold war ended, ?the end of history? was proclaimed. Soon the fire of freedom would burn worldwide, the experts said. And where markets were freed, human rights would inevitably follow.

Or not. In the last twenty years, nations including India, Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates have disproved the idea that capitalism and democracy are inextricably linked. Emerging middle classes have proven themselves all too willing to sacrifice certain democratic rights ? including free speech, an open media, and free elections ? in exchange for prosperity. But they are not alone. We are all doing it. Alarmingly, Western democracy has adopted some of the attributes of that authoritarianism.

Combining boots on the ground reporting with incisive analysis, award-winning journalist John Kampfner describes this alarming trend ? one which has only been exacerbated by the global economic meltdown ? and what citizens must do to counter it.

 

 

 

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton exposes Obama administration secrecy, secrets, and corruption by providing behind-the-scenes details of what America s leading government watchdog has uncovered in its and successful legal battles to pry loose secret documents from a stonewalling Obama administration.
Judicial Watch, America s largest non-partisan government watchdog, has investigated the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. Judicial Watch is the group that helped impeach Bill Clinton and took the Bush White House secrecy all the way up to the Supreme Court. Since the beginning of the Obama administration, this grassroots group has filed over 700 open records demands and dozens of lawsuits, including a successful fight over the secret Obama White House visitor logs.

In this book, Fitton reveals what Judicial Watch has uncovered in its battles on high-profile issues, such as the bailouts, Obamacare, terrorism, the Black Panther scandal, czars, the ACORN network, illegal immigration and stealth amnesty, the Obama White House s actions against FOX News Channel, and Obama s radical Chicago connections.

The book provides highlights of Judicial Watch s historic role in pursuing corruption and the truth during the Clinton and Bush administrations. “The Corruption Chronicles “comprehensively highlights how the Obama administration, which promised to be the most transparent administration in history, became the most secretive in a generation, and it exposes the inside facts that the Obama administration has desperately fought sometimes in court to keep from the American people. A major feature documentary film is slated to debut nationally in late Spring 2012 and will tie in to and support the release of “Secrets.” Both the film and the book will educate the American public about the Obama White House s creation of a government transparency crisis in Washington, DC.”

 

 

 

There have been warnings from scientists and other experts for years that the Nation’s electrical grid system and other critical infrastructures that have almost complete dependency on electricity and electronic components are highly vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event either from natural or man-made causes.

However, Congress and the administrations of previous and current presidents largely have ignored those warnings. Events such as the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States and then the devastating Hurricane Katrina that revealed vulnerabilities to those infrastructures heightened that concern. Due to the lapse of time and a relatively calm period since those disasters, policymakers have been lulled back into complacency rather than take preventative action against what could be the biggest threat to US national and economic security in our lifetime.

The threat from an EMP attack on our critical infrastructures either from an impending solar storm of serious intensity expected between 2012 and 2014 or a high-altitude nuclear explosion are threats that could have long-term catastrophic consequences for our society and our way of life.

In 2008 a congressional commission studied the consequences of an EMP attack not only the power grid itself but also the consequences to every sector of our economy: telecommunications, banking, transportation, food, manufacturing, construction, and energy.

While these critical infrastructures continue to face such an impending crisis, Congress has basically ignored its own commission report and instead has treated the threat of an EMP event as a political football to be punted whenever expedient for their own gain. To date, still nothing has been done to protect the nation.

Michael Maloof breaks down that threat in his book A Nation Forsaken. He even outlines how our own military is similarly vulnerable to an EMP event due to its 99 percent dependency on the nation’s electrical grid system for electricity and communications, raising the high prospect that it may not be able to function to defend the nation in its time of greatest need.

While an EMP event on our civilian infrastructure could be serious, it can be managed if government at the federal, state, and local levels gives a high priority to undertake preventative action to lessen its impact to recover from such an event. Now is the time for Congress to act and stop forsaking our nation.”

 

 

 

 

Dette er en evidensbasert undersøkelse av påstandene som gjøres om sikkerheten og effektiviteten av genmodifiserte avlinger og matvarer. Den er forfattet av John Fagan, PhD, Michael Antoniou, PhD, Claire Robinson, MPhil, og den er den mest aktuelle sammenfatningen av alle argumentene for og imot genmanipulerte matvarer. I denne boken får vi korte og konsise ekspert-svar på konkrete spørsmål som vi alle lurer på. Genmanipulasjon er en omstridt teknologi, og mange frykter konsekvensene av de til nå ukjente bieffektene av slik fikling med naturen. Denne boken er derfor et viktig korrektiv i den politiske debatten om GMO. Med forord av professor emeritus dr. philos. Terje Traavik fra GenØk – Senter for biosikkerhet.

 

 

From the food we eat, the water we drink to the air we breathe, everything these days seems capable of killing us. Recently we have seen an unprecedented number of deaths due to medications for diseases that may not even exist, obscure cancers caused by our modern devices, and brutal police tactics. All a coincidence? Think again. In Population Control, acclaimed journalist Jim Marrs lays out a stunning case for his most audacious conspiracy yet: the scheme concocted by a handful of global elites to reduce the world?s population to 500 million by whatever means necessary and make a profit from it.

Marrs, the bestselling author of Rule by Secrecy and The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy, pulls no punches in exposing this evil and chillingly effective plan. He explains how a small group of tremendously wealthy and powerful people control virtually every important industry ? guns, oil, pharmaceuticals, food, and of course the media ? and how it uses this vast network of conglomerates to take actions that lead to the deaths of men and women all over the world.

In the explosive Population Control, Marrs lays bare the damning truths corporate owners don?t want you to discover: how they?ve spied on private citizens, intentionally spread disease, and destroyed the planet chasing profits, all to improve the lives of a privileged few while eliminating everyone else. Finally, he offers a citizen?s blueprint for fighting back.

 

 

 

In these Internet-dominated times, the concept of the mainstream media as the gatekeepers of information has been crashed. In many ways this is a positive step, as bloggers, website operators, and activists can spread their messages without using the mainstream media as a conduit. Citizen journalists have been able to expose and report on many important topics, such as the Boston Marathon bombing, the Arab Spring, and police brutality. Grassroots movements, like the Bring Back Our Girls Twitter campaign after the Boko Haram kidnappings, have sprung up to effect positive change.

When it comes to grassroots journalism, however, the grass is not necessarily greenor natural. A method known as astroturfing has exploded in the age of social media, wherein advertisers, companies, and nonprofit organizations create fake online personas and drum up a slanted narrative on an issue. Astroturfing can be used to convince the public that many people support or oppose a certain cause, position, politician, or organization. Lobbyists and organizations often create a false impression of man-on-the-street support. For instance, astroturfing has been used on both sides of the Affordable Healthcare Act/Obamacare.

Astroturfing explores how the positive elements of citizen journalism have been hijacked in favor of more manipulative tactics. Through in-depth examples and anecdotes, it shows how astroturfing has misled the public. Interviews with journalists and editors, academics, nonprofit employees, and government officials bring a wide array of perspectives to bear on this timely issue.