The Nation has continued extensive and thoughtful coverage of the recent WikiLeaks documents release. Now on his thirteenth day, Greg Mitchell has been "Blogging the WikiLeaks" each morning, with updates on new revelations in both the media and the documents themselves. Mitchell appeared on MSNBC’s Countdown last week with guest host Chris Hayes to discuss how the WikiLeaks release may actually save lives rather than endanger them. Watch that segment here, and check back daily at The Nation‘s Media Fix blog to learn more.
This week on The Nation on GRITtv, Laura Flanders sat down with Nation contributing writer Ari Berman and Democratic strategist Karen Finney to discuss the situation in DC—and how WikiLeaks has shifted its attention to foreign policy issues in the final days of the lame duck session. Find that conversation here. Also this week, Jeremy Scahill joined Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on Democracy Now! to talk about his most recent piece The (Not So) Secret (Anymore) War in Pakistan. Scahill explains how much of his reporting has been confirmed by released diplomatic cables and that US policies—not WikiLeaks—are endangering lives. Watch here.
Jeremy Scahill had the opportunity to testify before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday on the US’s shadow wars in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond. He boldly told Congress, "The current US strategy can be summed up as follows: We are trying to kill our way to peace. And the killing fields are growing in number." Scahill called on Congress to fulfill their oversight functions and to do what’s best for the US and for those populations in nations where the US is waging war. Scahill’s full testimony can be found here.
Also this week…
PRIZE: Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship
On Monday, The Nation Institute hosted a dinner to honor the 2010 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship to Cecille Richards and Bill McKibben—the first year the prize has been awarded to two recipients. Richards is president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), and McKibben is a remarkable environmentalist whose writing and organizing have galvanized thousands to understand the crisis of global warming and need for a new and sustainable energy path. There to speak and congratulate the recipients were Benjamin Jealous, President of the NAACP and director/filmmaker Rob Reiner, who has been involved in fighting Proposition 8 in the courts. A big congratulations to both Cecile Richards and Bill McKibben for continuing to challenge the status quo creatively and courageously. Read more about the Puffin/Nation Prize here.
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CLIMATE SUMMIT: A Slideshow and Conversation
In response to the Climate Summit in Cancun, Laura Flanders sat down with Puffin/Nation prize winner and founder of 350.org Bill McKibben on The Nation on GRITtv. In this one-on-one chat, McKibben addresses the state of the climate justice movement and Obama’s failure to act on comprehensive climate change policy. To find out what you can do to help, catch that segment here. Also, be sure to check out a Nation slideshow, In Denial: The GOP’s Climate Science Skeptics. From Rand Paul to Pat Toomey, this important slideshow sheds light on the problems with GOP talking points and global warming deniers.
SPECIAL ISSUE: Ending the War on Drugs
After reading The Nation‘s special issue this week on ending the war on drugs, take a look at our slideshow, From Prohibition to Prog 19, which assembles a collection of articles and images from our archives. Also, be sure to listen to an important Nation conversation with National Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske on the chances of reform under Obama. Sasha Abramsky talks to Kerlikowske about the possibility of a more progressive drug policy. You can find that conversation here, and for more, read Abramsky’s piece Altered State: California’s Pot Economy in this week’s issue.
ARTICLE: On Frank Lewis
Lastly, as many of you know, our brilliant crossword puzzler for over sixty years, Frank W. Lewis, died on November 18th at the age of 98. The New York Times published an obituary this past week citing Lewis’s fame for the "freewheeling, idiosyncratic approach he took in the pages of The Nation." Take a moment to read this moving piece on the life of the master of the cryptic crossword puzzle.
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