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Entries by Tom Engelhardt from 02/2013

The American Lockdown State

| Posted 02.05.2013 | Politics
Read More: Civil Liberties, US Foreign Policy, National Security, Drone Warfare, 9/11, Inauguration Security, Drones, Osama Bin Laden, War on Terror, Politics News

One subject, at least, got remarkably little attention during the inaugural blitz and, when mentioned, certainly struck few as odd or worth dwelling on. Yet nothing better caught our changing American world.

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Did the Republicans Shoot Down the Keystone XL Pipeline?

| Posted 02.11.2013 | Green
Read More: Republican Party, Susan Rice, Susan Rice Keystone, Republicans Keystone Pipeline, Gop, Keystone Pipeline, Republicans Keystone, Keystone XL, Green News

Think of it as a prospective irony: in a spirit of pure, blind partisanship, the drill-baby-drill folks in the Republican Party may have done themselves in.

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Dumb and Dumber

| Posted 02.12.2013 | World
Read More: Media Drone Coverage, Saudi Arabia Drone Base, Drone Warfare, Saudi Arabia, John Brennan, Yemen Drone Strikes, US Drone Bases, Drones, World News

The CIA pushed for and built the base; the White House clearly accepted it as a fine idea. An informal network of key media sources agreed that it really wasn't worth the bother to tell the American people just how stupidly their government was acting.

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How to Gain Expertise in Recognizing Torture: Go to Law School

| Posted 02.18.2013 | Politics
Read More: Latin America Torture, John Brennan, American Torture System, US Torture Program, Torture Network, Waterboarding, American Torture, Torture, Extraordinary Rendition, Politics News

There was a scarcely noted but classic moment in the Senate hearings on the nomination of John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism "tsar," to become the next CIA director.

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What If the Iranians Waterboarded an American?

| Posted 02.25.2013 | World
Read More: US Waterboarding, u.s. Torture, Iran, American Waterboarding, Waterboarding, Water Torture, Torture, World News

They strip him, put a dog collar and leash on him. They hood him, loose dogs on him. They subject him to freezing cold water and leave him naked on cold nights.

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How Not to Police a Society

| Posted 02.26.2013 | Crime
Read More: Militarization of Police, Police Militarization, Police, Police in Schools, School Safety, School Security, Crime News

It was, in a sense, so expectable, so leave-no-child-behind. I'm talking about the arming of American schools. Think of it as the next step in the militarization of this country, which follows all-too-logically from developments since September 11, 2001.

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My Homeland, 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of...

| Posted 02.28.2013 | Politics
Read More: Department of Homeland Security, Security, Homeland Security, Homeland, Politics News

Once upon a time, "homeland" was a word of little significance in the American context. There was a reason: "homeland" had a certain ring to it and anyone would have known at once just what that ring, that resonance, was.

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