by Sebastian Rotella | ProPublica In May 1985, a Guatemalan Army lieutenant named Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes deserted, flew to San Francisco and requested political asylum, asserting that leftist guerrillas in his war-torn homeland were gunning for him. The 27-year-old officer described his combat exploits in his application for asylum. He said he
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Canadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The Invisible War: Rape, Sexual Assault Epidemic in U.S. Military (VIDEO)
Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman unpacks ”The Invisible War” a new documentary that examines the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military. She speaks to Trina McDonald and Kori Cioca, two subjects of the film, and the film’s Academy Award-nominated director, Kirby Dick. A recent military survey shows that
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The imagination, art, and activism of Herman’s House
by Chanda Chevannes | Troy Media Last week I attended the Toronto theatrical premiere of Herman’s House, a thought-provoking documentary written and directed by Angad Singh Bhalla. This Canadian film tells the story of an artistic collaboration between Jackie Sumell and Herman Wallace. Sumell is a multidisciplinary artist from New York.
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: The King of Versailles
I watched the documentary “The Queen of Versailles” when it was in the theatres. It’s a powerful piece of work. I had several reactions to it, but I’m going to discuss only one of them here: that North America might not be that far away from a major torches and
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Maude Barlow: Conservatives rejected again… next stop Federal Court!
by Maude Barlow | Council of Canadians The Federal Court rejected the Conservative Party MPs’ motions on security for costs against the ongoing legal challenges in the robocall scandal. You’ll remember the Conservative Party MPs called for the nine individual applicants to put up a total of $260,409 as a
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Canadians to Conservative MP Kelly Block: We Disagree With Racism
by Obert Madondo (@Obiemad) In Canada we hardly confront racism by political figures. As a consequence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s government and Conservative MPs are having a field day practicing racism and creating resentment towards minority groups dominated by persons of color. Earlier this year, Harper’s immigrant-bashing minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Anonymous: The Betrayal Of Wikileaks
Last week, the hacktivist collective Anonymous dumped WikiLeaks. Anonymous accuses WikiLeaks’ beleagured founder Julian Assange of turning the whistle-blowing website into a one man “Julian Assange show”. Below is the full text of Anonymous’ statement explaining the divorce: Greetings World – In December of 2010 Anonymous came to the defense of and began supporting
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Elizabeth May calls for a “Guaranteed Livable Income” in Canada
Today, October 17, is the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada and MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, is calling for a “Guaranteed Livable Income” in Canada. “The theme of the 2012 observance is ‘Ending the Violence of Extreme Poverty’.
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The Nobel Peace Prize is slipping into irrelevance
by Brian Lee Crowley | Troy Media | Macdonald Laurier Institute My mother could have told you why giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union would produce such a predictable and deserved outpouring of derision. An aspiring writer, she took a creative writing course. One of the assignments
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Anonymous Dumps Wikileaks [VIDEO]
Hacktivist collective, Anonymous, has severed ties with long-time ally WikiLeaks. Anonymous announced the divorce via a tweet, and said the Julian Assange-controlled whistle-blowing website had become a one man “Julian Assange show”. The tweet: “The end of an era. We unfollowed @Wikileaks and withdraw our support. It was an awesome idea ruined by Egos.
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Dalton McGuinty’s resignation speech
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has announced his resignation! McGuinty, who has led the Ontario Liberals since 1996 and been premier since 2003, stunned his caucus Monday evening with the announcement and call for a “renewal” of leadership. The following is the text of McGuinty’s resignation speech: Sixteen years ago, when I
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Rolling Stone: Inside The FBI Plot Against Occupy
On this one year anniversary of the Occupy Canada movement, here’s a magnificent piece of reporting by Rolling Stone‘s Sabrina Rubin Erdely, on how the United States government “turned five stoner misfits into the world’s most hapless terrorist cell.” Five Occupy Cleveland activists “who had grown disenchanted with the Occupy movement, which they considered
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Occupied Ottawa to celebrate one year anniversary
Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) activists return to Confederation Park on Monday to celebrate the movement’s one year anniversary with art, performance, music, speeches and educational workshops. Occupied Ottawa, a part of the global grassroots Occupy movement against economic disparity and social injustice, “occupied” the park from October 15, 2011, until
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Mitt Romney’s Bain Made Millions On Big Tobacco In U.S., Russia
Jason Cherkis and Zach Carter of Huffington Post put together this story from the University of California at San Francisco’s Legacy Tobacco Documents library: Mitt Romney’s Bain Made Millions On Big Tobacco In U.S., Russia Romney has also said that Russia is the “number one geopolitical foe” of the United
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Harper must kick Conservative MP Rob Anders out of office: Canadians
Here’s your chance to engage in the noble task of cleansing Canadian politics of incompetent, offensive and bigoted politicians. The likes of Conservative MP Rob Anders. Hundreds of Canadians have signed a petition by Calgary native Harris Kirshenbaum calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the government of Canada to kick the controversial Calgary
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Australia’s Female PM Assails “Misogynist’ Opposition Leader & Sexism
A political master-stroke of epic proportions. That’s my take on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s take-down of opposition leader Tony Abbott in this 15-minute speech on sexism in Parliament. OK, let’s put aside the fact that Gillard’s passionate and personal take-down followed Abbott’s attack on the embattled Speaker of the house,
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: How the Gov’t Is Saddling Parents with College Loans They Can’t Afford
by Marian Wang | ProPublica More than a decade after Aurora Almendral first set foot on her dream college campus, she and her mother still shoulder the cost of that choice. Almendral had been accepted to New York University in 1998, but even after adding up scholarships, grants, and the max
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Christian priest rebukes Harper Gvt for nuking non-Christian prison chaplains
A Canadian Christian priest has condemned the Harper Conservative government for its “bigoted decision” to cancel the contracts of non-Christian chaplains at federal prisons. Father Malcolm French, a priest with the Anglican Church of Canada, says the decision is an “assault on religious freedom.” On Thursday, the CBC News reported
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Justin Trudeau: Full Text Of Montreal Leadership Address
In Montreal Tuesday, Papineau MP Justin Trudeau announced his bid to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. Here’s the full text of his address: “Make no small dreams, they have not the power to move the soul” – Goethe Now that’ll take courage, but more than that, it’ll take hard,
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