We have ripped the natural world apart, degraded our conditions of life, surrendered our freedoms and prospects of contentment to a compulsive, atomising, joyless hedonism, in which, having consumed all else, we start to prey upon ourselves. We have destroyed the essence of humanity: our connectedness.

Hobbes’s pre-social condition was a myth. But we are entering a post-social condition our ancestors would have believed impossible. Our lives are becoming nasty, brutish and long.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/14/age-of-loneliness-killing-us?CMP=fb_gu

Dozens of alumni and former staff members of an elite Jerusalem high school have stated their refusal to serve in the Israeli military, and call on future graduates of the Israel Arts and Sciences Academy to reject the draft.

Conscientious objectors face prison time for refusing compulsory Israeli military conscription orders.

“Refusing to serve in the Israeli military is not an easy choice, but a moral stance against a collective mood manifested in racism and violence on every street these days,” the letter, published yesterday, states.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/alumni-elite-israeli-high-school-call-army-draft-refusal

It is not by accident that America has become both the most unequal developed nation in the world, and the nation with the largest prison population. We’re number one in police killings, incarceration and inequality—not Russia, not China. Our national self-image so steeped in the idea of freedom has not caught up with these ugly realities.

Racism is has been with us for centuries, but something very new happened in America around 1980 that set the stage for these police killings. Something very big is transforming us into the first democratic police state in human history...

http://empathyeducates.org/how-runaway-economic-inequality-and-racism-are-linked-to-police-killings/

How many white supremacist groups are there right now?

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the United States, estimates that there are a little more than 930 such groups in the country right now. Most of these are white supremacist groups or white nationalist groups, according to Potok, a senior fellow at the SPLC.

Is that more groups than there were recently? Fewer groups? Give me some context.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/30/the-current-state-of-white-supremacist-groups-in-the-u-s/

"In just about every vibrant progressive social movement, there comes a moment when a psychologically or emotionally disturbed person, an agent provocateur, or a political extremist commits an atrocious act that is seized upon by the state and/or the Right to try to discredit or outright repress the movement. Regardless of the motivation behind the action, it is sufficiently heinous that confusion develops within the movement.

It is here that the movement can lose both its momentum and a segment of its less committed or more ambivalent supporters.

With the recent killing of two New York City police officers, the movement against police violence is in a pivotal moment..."

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/12/nypd-killings-garner/

"Cops cheer NYPD Officer Richard Haste, charged in death of teen Ramarley Graham"

Malcolm and her husband, Franclot Graham, sobbed throughout the Bronx Criminal Court hearing where Haste softly pleaded innocent on his 31st birthday. The weeping Graham faces Father’s Day without his son.

Yet the assembled cops still applauded their brother in blue, who faces up to 25 years in prison, in a salute that struck the Graham family like a slap in the face.

“There is nothing to cheer here,” said Graham family lawyer Jeffrey Emdin. “A young man lost his life, and that is the man who took that life.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-officer-richard-haste-surrenders-face-charges-on-duty-killing-ramarley-graham-article-1.1094739

Dec. 10:
"THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – “I can’t breathe!” — the exclamation made by a black man, Eric Garner, while being placed in a police chokehold — was chosen as the most notable quote of the year in an annual list released by a Yale University librarian.

It was one of several quotes chosen for the list released Tuesday that reflect tumult over race in the United States in 2014.

Fred Shapiro, an associate director at Yale Law School’s library, said he had already completed the list without Garner’s quote but revised it as protests grew following a grand jury’s decision last week to not indict a white officer in his death. Garner had gasped “I can’t breathe” on July 17 as he was being arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes."

http://thenews.com.mx/index.php/world-articulos/29077-I-cant-breath-tops-notable-quotes-list

Source: Reuters

Greek left-wing opposition party Syriza's poll lead over the ruling conservatives has narrowed slightly to 3.0 percentage points, according to a poll published after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras proposed a Jan. 25 parliamentary election.

The survey conducted by Marc for Alpha TV showed the anti-bailout Syriza party would get 28.1 percent of the vote if an election were held now, versus 25.1 percent for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's New Democracy party.

Support for the co-ruling Socialists was 4.6 percent.

A poll by the same pollster published last week showed Syriza was leading New Democracy by 3.5 percentage points.

The poll was published hours after lawmakers failed to elect a president on Monday, triggering the dissolution of parliament and an election next month.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/30/us-greece-vote-poll-idUSKBN0K80F620141230

---

This could be big!
It is admittedly a very small lead, but what a statement if Syriza would win.

According to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now this morning, if they win, it would be the first time an anti-austerity party won in Europe.

Perhaps set the stage for a reversal of austerity policies all over Europe?

I know it would not be easy. Because "the powers that be" have the money and the arms and they will do anything to retain power.

Still, I am excited.

I have a young adult student who has never learned to read;
he went to a school for "special education" and was taught to read using the sight method.
so he can read about 10% of any passage.

Today I'm going to the library to see if they have any graphic novels.(for adults)

I'm interested in any other teaching aids people have found.

thanks.

Now that Steven Colbert is gone, has Jon Stewart left too?
I can't find him on tv.