Media conglomerates

The Guardian's Amy Goodman has written the column titled The monstrous merger of Comcast and Time Warner must be stopped - now where she writes about the possibility that Comcast might be allowed to buy Time Warner Cable and how this would be a blow against our democracy. For Comcast to be allowed to go through with this, the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must approve of it. Amy Goodman is an American journalist who has a long history of writing populist, pro-peace commentary throughout her career. She won the Ghandi Peace Award for "significant contribution to the promotion of an enduring international peace". Therefore we can say with a high degree of confidence that she has an agenda which reflects what is best for the good of humanity generally. Goodman is talking in her commentary here to the everyday, ordinary American who will be affected by a merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. She is trying to reason with people who may be able to affect the FCC's decision. The problem is that Goodman believes that there is a possibility that this merger will be approved. One of the reasons she thinks that the government will not stop this is that the chairperson of the FCC is a former lobbyist for cable and internet-provider industries. She shows several examples of why these organizations probably do not have the people's best interest in mind. This is a well-written and well-researched column on an extremely important issue, the amount of people who own the media conglomerates is fast decreasing and these huge conglomerates are gaining more power and influence and unless someone stop this, we will lose even more of our freedom and liberty. Equally important is that this country's beloved capitalism is threatened with a monopoly, which will do no good for Americans or the market, because competition will be impossible.

Taking the NSA to court

Last year, the extensive surveillance that the National Security Agency has been doing was uncovered by Edward Snowden and the Guardian. Right now, some people are trying to make the Supreme Court rule that what the NSA did was unconsitutional. In this article from the Guardian, it details their efforts. The article details similar situations where the court has ruled differently in regards to surveillance without a warrant. This is an important article because many people seem to have moved on from the leaks without so much as a backwards glance and unless someone does something or people start changing their government, then this abuse of power will not only continue but it is likely that the surveillance will become more and more intrusive and violate our privacy even further. Finally, this country -- which freedom so many have died fighting to protect -- will not be free anymore.