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PUBLICITY NOTES: We’re getting more requests all the time for Russ and others to appear on radio shows and podcasts. In addition, we see our articles frequently picked up, cited, or linked to. For example, Daily Kos featured a postabout the “Black Lives Matter” movement and Hillary Clinton, and the first article they link to is ours, about the death of the youth Kalief Browder, by Ralph Lopez.
NOW LIVE ON WhoWhatWhy
The Last Word on Katrina: Treachery at Bush’s FEMA Pays Handsomely
By Russ Baker
In the final part of this five-part investigative series on the real (but still-hidden) backstory to the disastrous FEMA handling of Hurricane Katrina, we learn that no bad deed goes unrewarded, as those who ran FEMA into the ground joined the private sector as “experts,” and cashed in their access.
Russ Baker recaps the Katrina story that will make your blood boil
By Jeff Schechtman
In this week’s WhoWhatWhy Podcast, Russ Baker recounts the backstory behind his five-part series on the corruption, incompetence, contempt, and depraved indifference exposed by the Bush administration’s response to Katrina
WHO
Is the US Ready for an Endless War Against the Islamic State?
Foreign Policy examines the growing gap between the realities on the ground in Syria and Iraq, and the grand plans of policymakers in Washington. The gap was laid bare this week when it was revealed that intelligence reports may have been dressed-up to make it look like US efforts against the Islamic State were having a greater impact than the evidence suggests. It is starting to look like Uncle Sam is on an all too familiar slippery slope.
WHAT
Financial Markets are Not Free – They’re One of the Last Bastions of Socialism
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “you can’t buck the market.” But, as The Guardian points out, that’s exactly what the world’s financial policymakers are doing with zeroed-out interest rates, quantitative easing, and through policies that mitigate much-needed corrections to market bubbles. But they are quickly running out of options and, therefore, Maggie’s Iron Law of the Market may be enforced regardless of their market-friendly approach.
WHY
The Migration Crisis Threatens The ‘Soul’ of Europe. Here Are 6 Figures That Explain Why
As the world focuses on the story of 71 migrants found dead in a truck in Austria, Global Post details the massive flood of migrants and refugees fleeing chaos and despair in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. This year, 340,000 migrants arrived in the EU and 267,121 of them have crossed the Mediterranean Sea. And it is leading to a rising backlash against immigrants in Europe.
Oxford Adds Awesomesauce, Butt Dial, Manspreading, Mic Drop, and More to Online Dictionary
Oxford University Press just unveiled the latest slew of slang terms they’ve deemed worthy of entry into their online dictionary. Oxford looks at a variety of sources to determine whether or not a word has the cultural currency to become part of institutionalized language. Among the words they institutionalized are butthurt, wine o’clock, MacGyver, microaggression and hangry. Hangry refers to that irritable feeling you sometimes get when you are really hungry. It often leads to mircoaggressions — particularly after wine o’clock!
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