John Oliver points out the scandal of for-profit colleges

The amount of accruing student debt is incredibly distressing.   John Oliver has produced this excellent expose on the debt, the politics and the long trail of victims. Thousands of students are running up enormous debt, especially at for-profit colleges.    Thanks to the lobbying efforts of educational institutions, student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy regardless of how bad the track record of the institution for actually placing students into jobs in their fields of education. The marketing strategies of for-profits are especially reprehensible. Excellent job of exposing this dysfunction and fraud.  Once again, we rely on comedians to do the best journalism.

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Lee Camp focuses on Police Militarization and other major issues.

The Redacted Team examines police militarization and how Time, Inc. rates its writers. George W. Bush recalls his torturing days, John F. O'Donnell recalls his history with Hillary Clinton, and Sam Sacks gets a face full of tear gas.

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Myths of Authority in Practice

I’ve been trying to come to terms with Ferguson since it began. The shooting of Michael Browne sparked a response that surprised many people and the counter responses have been equally surprising among certain people, not so much among certain others. Every time I start to write something I find what I intended to say had already been said better elsewhere. [More . . . ]

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Civil Rights Organizations Sell Out

The Nation reports that venerable civil rights organizations are selling out on the issue of Net Neutrality. Literally.

[T]elecoms are desperate for third-party approval, and have even resorted to fabricating community support for their anti–net neutrality lobbying campaign. Perhaps the bigger picture here is how so many of the old civil rights establishments have become comfortable with trading endorsements for cash. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and other telecom companies have donated, either directly or through a company foundation, to nearly every group listed on the anti–net neutrality letters filed last week. We saw a similar dynamic play out with Walmart when the retailer handed out cash to civil rights groups in order to buy support for opening stores in urban areas. Times have changed. Just as Martin Luther King Jr.’s children have embarrassingly descended into fighting bitterly over what’s left of his estate, the civil rights groups formed to advance Dr. King’s legacy seem willing to sell out their own members for a buck.

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Premier episode of Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight

Lee Camp's premier episode of Redacted Tonight begins with a head-on assault upon Monsanto. It's hard hitting and deals with extremely serious issues. Here's the description of the show: "In this episode, Lee Camp bites into Monsanto, which makes him ill, and John F. O'Donnell gets molested by the tentacles of the billionaire Kochtopus. Obama ends the War in Afghanistan with something other than peace, Chilean magician Papas Fritas makes $500 million in student debt disappear. Sam Sacks examines NSA reform - and by "reform," we mean ''business as usual." A second Deutsche Bank video against boasting bankers is mysteriously leaked, and speaking of leaks - radiation is leaking in New Mexico. Tennessee brings back a shocking punishment, and more!"

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