







In
today’s On the News segment: Republicans in the Michigan State House
passed a new law that will allow Gov. Snyder to break union contracts, slash
budgets, and sell off parts of the commons to for-profit corporations; in the
wake of the Connecticut school shooting, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
told reporters that it is not the time to talk about gun violence; the European
High Court of Human Rights condemned the extraordinary rendition programs of
George W. Bush; and more.
Watch
the Video and Read the Transcript
Starving
for Recognition: The Plight of Palestinian Political Prisoners
Pam
Bailey, Truthout: Earlier in the year, the US media extensively covered
the 66-day hunger strike of a Palestinian named Khader Adnan, who risked his
life to protest his detention without charge or trial. Today, there are five
more prisoners protesting with their empty stomachs. Yet virtually no one is
covering their cases. Why?
Nation
Reels as Shooting Details Emerge
James
Barron, The New York Times News Service: More details emerge in the
nation’s second-deadliest school shooting, but officials offered no hint of what
had motivated the shooter.
President
Obama Speaks on the Shooting in Connecticut
President
Barack Obama, The White House Website: “We’ve endured too many of these
tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news I react not as a
President, but as anybody else would – as a parent”
Watch
the Video and Read the Transcript
Four
Ways to Stop Gun Violence
Benjamin
Van Houten, Yes! Magazine: The nation is grieving after yet another
fatal mass shooting. Aren’t there ways to curb this ongoing national
tragedy?
Not
Just Union-Busting: Other Things Michigan Did in the Lame Duck
Lauren
Kelley, AlterNet: We’ve heard a lot about the union-busting bill that
passed in Michigan, but several other legislative items slipped through with
barely a peep from the media. Want to know what else the Michigan legislature
was up to recently?
War
on Science: Evolution, Climate Change, and the Curious House Committee on
Science
Ken
Morris, Truthout: What do many Republicans in the House of
Representatives have in common with the 17th century Spanish Inquisition? Both
have waged a war on science.
Nobel
Laureate Goes to Afghanistan to Demand Ceasefire and
Negotiation
Mairead
Maguire, War Is A Crime: “I say, ‘Sorry to the Afghan people for what
the governments of the US and NATO and other governments have done to the Afghan
people, and I say, ‘Not in my name.'”
Watch
the Video and Read the Transcript
Is
ALEC Anticipating an IRS Audit?
Brendan
Fischer, PRWatch: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
appears to be anticipating an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit, after
multiple complaints challenging the “corporate bill mill’s” charitable
status.