READING FOR THE WEEKEND (July 4, 2014)

23 totally useless facts you can share with your equally useless friends at your 4th of July BBQ (Buzz Feed)

New York towns can prohibit fracking, state appeals court rules (The Guardian).

As of 2014 the Department of Veterans Affairs was still paying a Civil War pension ... plus 11 other interesting Civil War facts (Ancestry).

Edward Snowden: I was trained as a spy (NBC News).

Frank Rich on the War on Iraq and the myth of the liberal media (Buzz Flash).


NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, AGAIN
Rise of the Machine ... Are the private mercenaries becoming too powerful (NY Times)?

Armed drones guard U.S. interests in Iraq (Yahoo News).

Pentagon preparing for - and funding social scientists who study - mass civil break down (The Guardian).

11 schocking facts about America's militarized police forces (Alternet).


THE PEOPLE WITH MONEY ARE STILL WINNING
Latest Department of Justice agreement lets another big bank, BNP Paribas, off without criminal accountability (Buzz Flash).

The oligarchy's greed knows no end ... New tax cuts for rich families introduced in GOP-led House of Representatives (Buzz Flash).

U.S. Supreme Court deals public unions a blow, arguing that any involvement with a union is inherently political or ideological" (Time).


HOBBY LOBBY IN THE NEWS
Hobby Lobby's hypocrisy (U.S. News & World Report).

Too funny ... U.S. Supreme Court upholds Little Caesar's right to feed Christian employees to the lions (The Atlanta Banana).


GLOBAL ECONOMIC SHIFTS OVER THE YEARS
This has some big pieces missing but it still does a good job of explaining the U.S. economy's shift from production and manufacturing to speculation and gambling (Truth Out).

How the International Monetary Conference helped fuel the 1980s debt crisis (Truth Out).


MISCELLANEOUS
10 old-time taxes that you won't believe (Ancestry).

The city of Oakland announces a pimp-shaming program, with a website of accused pimps and johns (Time).

The GOP death panel (Truth Out).

Dick Cheney's campaign for Iraq War 3 (Truth Out).

Ebola outbreak now the most deadly ever in West Africa (USA Today).

- Mark