APRIL 2017 Political Articles

APRIL 2017 POLITICAL ARTICLES

APRIL 1 THROUGH 10

April 10, 2017

Jeremy Scahill Tears Apart Corporate Media's "Atrocious" Syria Coverage. ... "The media coverage has been atrocious, particularly—and this is across the board on every network—particularly when the strike is happening. It's like they're in awe of the cruise missiles," Scahill said. ... Indeed, media critics pounced on the comments by Zakaria—who called it Trump's "big moment"—and Williams—who called the strikes "beautiful" —as examples of the "classic pundit attitude toward presidential violence." Common Dreams

Why are liberals now cheerleading a warmongering Trump? In just three months, those who vowed to oppose the president are eating out of his hands. Applauding his Syria missile strikes only emboldens him to go further. Guardian

Peace Advocates: If Trump Wanted to Help Syrians, He Would Lift Refugee Ban & Fund Humanitarian Aid. ... Democracy Now

Neoliberalism in the Driver's Seat: Trump and Ryan's Ruling-Class Schemes. ... (Trump) promising the creation of high-paid manufacturing jobs and the restoration of the middle class. Yet, his economic policies will most likely make things worse for average American workers...
Truth Out

Plagiarized comments:
- Interesting that the liberals thought Trump was "Hitler" until he started killing people.

- Trump strikes making the US Feel "normal" again

- Pentagon"probing" if Russia participated in chem. attacks... so we still don't know who did it.

April 9, 2017

The Balance of Probabilities. ... I am therefore for now unconvinced that this was a deliberate use of chemical weapons by Assad forces. I do not rule it out, but it would take much more concrete evidence than currently offered to prove they did something so strongly and obviously against their own interest. But western governments and media have determined to make that the narrative, so the truth is, as so often in modern geo-politics, entirely incidental to the course of future events.
Craig Murray

The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria. ... In every type of government, nothing unites people behind the leader more quickly, reflexively or reliably than war. Donald Trump now sees how true that is, as the same establishment leaders in U.S. politics and media who have spent months denouncing him as a mentally unstable and inept authoritarian and unprecedented threat to democracy are standing and applauding him as he launches bombs at Syrian government targets. The Intercept

The Real Targets of Trump’s Strike Were His Domestic Critics ... Six thoughts on the US bombing of Syria. ...the object of Trump’s Tomahawks was not Syria’s capacity to deploy gas, but domestic liberal opponents who base their resistance to Trump entirely on the premise that he is anti-American because he is too close to Putin, and that he is a traitor to a bipartisan policy of humanitarian military interventionism. He bombs, drones, and kills, but he doesn’t do it, as his predecessors did, in the name of humanity. Until yesterday. The Nation

The US Provided Cover for the Saudi Starvation Strategy in Yemen. ... As Yemen's population has teetered on the brink of mass starvation in recent months, the United States has played a crucial role in enabling the Saudi strategy responsible for that potential humanitarian catastrophe. Truth Out

Canada: Trump’s Terrier at the OAS. ... Outrageous? Shameless? The sheer audacity of what happened a day ago at the OAS defies our vocabulary. But most of all, it was a profound disappointment for those of us who hoped that the government led by Justin Trudeau would have a foreign policy different from, and more honourable than, that of the government led by Steven Harper. Counter Punch

Noam Chomsky on Fascism: Could It Happen Here? ... "fascism" has become a kind of a scare word. But many of the aspects of fascism are not far below the surface. You go back to, say, the 1940s. Robert Brady, great political economist, Veblenite political economist, wrote a book called Business as a System of Power, in which he argued that in all of the state capitalist economies ... here were developments towards some of the institutional structures of fascism.
Democracy Now

Trump Assures Nation That Decision For Syrian Airstrikes Came After Carefully Considering All His Passing Whims The Onion

Pledgerized comments:
- There has been no evidence that Assad pulled off the gas attack. Zero. But who needs evidence anyway, this is America.

- Nobody is as aroused by war as US media. Advertising rates go up as show times extended

- US imperialism is steadfastly hiding images of its own victims while parading the victims of its enemies.

- "liberal" MSNBC has jumped the rails and gone full blown Faux Nooz.

April 8, 2017

WEEKEND READ
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges. ... who has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. ... a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive: “It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. On Amazon

(Note: written April 4th) When Scapegoating Immigrants No Longer Works, Would Trump Stage an Attack to Maintain Power? (When Trump is in political trouble...) Something has to be done to maintain control. The obvious technique is scapegoating. So blame it on immigrants, on Muslims, on somebody. But that can only go so far. The next step would be, as I said, an alleged terrorist attack, which is quite easy. It’s, in fact, almost normal to - like Condoleezza Rice’s mushroom clouds. Democracy Now

The Pandora’s Box of War. War opens a Pandora’s box of evils that once unleashed are beyond anyone’s control. Counter Punch

Whatever the truth about Trump and Russia, the speculation surrounding it has become a dangerous case of mass hysteria. Rolling Stone

Plagiarized Notes:
- If images of dead babies stir the conscious of the world, Palestine would have been free long ago.

- 10 Weeks ago, US UN rep, Rice "We were able to get the Syrian government to voluntary and verify, giving up chemical weapon stockpile". This was after Obama said gas would cross the "red line"... Assad did that and no retaliation.

- All the blather about impeaching Trump, suddenly he's presidential. Quote CNN's Zakaria... "I think Donald Trump became President of the Unites States last night".

- It is amazing that the US thinks all our bombings are for humanitarian purpose... how did that work out? Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya... and of course, Viet Nam, Nagasaki, Cambodia, Laos, etc.

- Brian Williams, ever the war monger, uses words from Leonard Cohen poem to describe "beautiful" attack on Syria.

- The attack was not framed in "international norms", but instead NYT now reports on what's in someone's heart. The future of journalism is psychic scrying.

April 7, 2017

Without Proof or Cause or Consent, 'Impetuous' Trump Bombs Syria. ... 'The impetuousness of this bombing campaign - its impulsiveness - is stunning even by US war-loving standards' ... Without consent of the U.S. Congress or presenting a credible case for its necessity or offering verifiable evidence.. Common Dreams

Gary Trudeau: "... there's continuing questions about who's responsible for these horrible attacks..."

Washington’s Supreme Hypocrisy on Chemical Weapons and Civilian Deaths. ... It is also very suspicious in that the loudest voices of sympathy are the ones closest to the US military industrial complex, which has been regretting the missed opportunity of a Syria War. TruthDig

Blackwater Founder's Latest Scheme: Money Laundering for Libyan Officials Through a Chinese Bank. ... Democracy Now

(Jan 2017) Blackwater Founder Erik Prince, the Brother of Betsy DeVos, Is Secretly Advising Trump. ... revealed Betsy DeVos’s brother, Erik Prince, the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater, has been quietly advising Trump’s transition team, including helping vet Cabinet picks. On election night, Prince’s wife, Stacy DeLuke, even posted pictures from inside Trump’s campaign headquarters. Democracy Now

More Blackwater/Prince stories here

Trump Conspiracy Tweetstorms Are The Infowars Of The Left. ... n increasing number of D-list Twitter celebrities are spewing unhinged takes and loosely-connected conspiracy theories about the still-developing story of Russia’s attempts to interfere in the election. And they’re building sizable online fanbases among frustrated liberals by telling them exactly what they want to hear. Concourse

Free Speech is Not the Issue; Intellectual Power Is. ... abstract rights are in the air. They have recently become the subject of endless obsequious commentary around so-called free speech on university campuses. Many conservatives are using it as a convenient foil to promote reactionary, bigoted pseudo-science, which is bought and paid for by the corporate elite. CounterPunch

A historian explains what Putin, Le Pen and Trump are selling — and why it is so dangerous. ... he easiest way to win votes these days is by selling the past.” So says “Politics Goes Back to the Future” (3/02/2017) in Britain’s The Financial Times (FT). And it links the “nostalgic nationalism” of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” with Brexit’s “Take Back Control” and “Vladimir Putin’s reassertion of Russian power”—see here on Putin’s nationalistic use of the past.
RawStory

April 6, 2017

Blackwater Founder's Latest Scheme: Money Laundering for Libyan Officials Through a Chinese Bank. ... Democracy Now

More Blackwater/Prince stories here

April 5, 2017

Noam Chomsky: Trump Administration Is Aiming to Decimate All Programs to Help Working People.
DemocracyNow

Trump wants visitors from countries like Germany and France to hand over social media passwords. ... Even America’s closest allies may be subject to “extreme vetting.” ThinkProgress and
Guardian

Trump’s Authoritarian Vision. ... Standing before the cheering throngs at the Republican National Convention last summer, Donald Trump bemoaned how special interests had rigged the country’s politics and its economy, leaving Americans victimized by unfair trade deals, incompetent bureaucrats and spineless leaders. LA Times

White House Meeting With Egypt’s Tyrant Highlights Key Trump Effect: Unmasking U.S. Policy. Intercept

Notorious Mercenary Erik Prince Is Advising Trump From the Shadows. ... Erik Prince, America’s most notorious mercenary, is lurking in the shadows of the incoming Trump administration. A former senior U.S. official who has advised the Trump transition told The Intercept that Prince has been advising the team on matters related to intelligence and defense, including weighing in on candidates for the Defense and State departments. The official asked not to be identified because of a transition policy prohibiting discussion of confidential deliberations. Intercept ... Related: Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel. WaPo

April 4 , 2017

CNN: Breaking News Headline: House Intel Panel Meets Today on Russia Probe ...

US Has Interfered in More Elections Than Any Other Nation . ... So what is the point for those writing in to trash our interference in other people's elections? That makes it okay for the Russians to help us down the road to fascism? Or are folks just stuck in the school yard still whining about those who dish it out ought to be able to take it?
The Real News

Congress Seeks to Penalize Peaceful Pro-Palestine Movement, Amid Annual AIPAC Lobbying Blitz. ... The influential pro-Israel group AIPAC is asking supporters to back recently-drafted legislation that seeks to punish a peaceful movement in solidarity with Palestinians.
TruthOut

Israel Steps up Dirty Tricks Against Boycott Leaders. ... Israeli agents subverted the human rights community in the 1970s and 1980s. Their job was to launder Israel’s image abroad. Yoram Dinstein, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, led the local chapter of Amnesty International, the world’s most influential rights organisation of the time, running it effectively as a wing of Israel’s foreign ministry. CounterPunch

FISA Section 702: Is warrantless surveillance national security or a hit to privacy? ... Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act might be necessary to protect U.S. National Security or it might infringe on the privacy rights of Americans – it just depends on who you ask. Intercept

House Republicans vote to curb the EPA’s use of science. ... Critics say the HONEST Act would seriously chill science. ThinkProgress

ICE Retaliates Against Immigrants in Austin After Sheriff Limits Cooperation with Federal Agents. ... Texas U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin said in open court that federal agents had alerted him that ICE would be targeting the area of Austin, Texas. The raids would be retribution for Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s new policy that limited cooperation between local and federal authorities.
DemocracyNow

April 3, 2017

Pushing the Doomsday Clock to the Brink of Midnight. ... Noam Chomsky discussed Trump, Russia, history and the future at the University of Arizona. AlterNet

Trapped and Starving to Death in Mosul’s Old City. CounterPunch/Cockburn

Related: (March 17, 2017) - Missteps in Mosul: Launching an Attack Before Clearing ISIS Safe Zones. CounterPunch/Cockburn

A Nation of the Walking Dead. ... Opioids and experiences that simulate the deadening effects of narcotics are mechanisms to keep us submissive and depoliticized. Desperate citizens in Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel “Brave New World” ingested the pleasure drug soma to check out of reality. Our own versions of soma allow tens of millions of Americans to retreat daily into addictive mousetraps that generate a self-induced autism. TruthDig/Hedges

The Democrats Futile Search for Evidence. ... If there is anyone to blame for the election of Donald Trump, it is not the Russians – it is the Democratic Party and its allies in the MSM. ... It does not take a Trump supporter or a registered Republican to recognize that the Democrats hysterical allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign to influence the election has no merit and are nothing but petty, ideological over-reactions to their humiliating losses throughout the country in the 2016 election. CounterPunch

House Republicans Launch a New Assault on the EPA. ... A Russian loomed over the House of Representatives Wednesday. And it wasn’t Putin. Instead, the figure who came up in two different discussions among House members was Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet agronomist who manipulated data in ways that fit perfectly with the political agenda of Joseph Stalin. Intercept

UN: Americans’ Right to Protest is in Grave Danger Under Trump. ... At least 19 US states have introduced bills that attacks the right to protest since Donald Trump's election as president, an "alarming and undemocratic" trend, UN human rights investigators said this week.
CommonDreams

April 2, 2017

Bernie - We hardly knew ye .. (Nov. 2016)
Vermont Independent

Were the hackers who broke into the DNC’s email really Russian? ... The FBI does, and so do several U.S. intelligence agencies, as they’ve declared repeatedly over the past five months. But among private-sector computer security companies, not everybody thinks the case is proven.
Miami Herald

America Is Barreling Toward Political Anarchy, Not an Organized Fascist State. ... Fascism requires a program and unity of purpose. Moyers

Related: This may be the "unity of purpose" Moyers speaks toward - - Noam Chomsky Claims Trump May Stage Terrorist Attacks to Shore Up Support. ... President may resort to extreme measures in order to infringe on basic rights, Noam Chomsky claims. Haaretz

British banks handled vast sums of laundered Russian money, ,,, Billions of dollars were moved out of Russia in ‘Global Laundromat’ operation, with anonymously owned UK companies playing major role. Britain’s high street banks processed nearly $740m from a vast money-laundering operation run by Russian criminals with links to the Russian government and the KGB Guardian

The unemployed ‘shall not eat’: Texas Republican uses Bible to justify cuts to SNAP benefits. ... In their quest to gut SNAP (food stamps), Republicans often point to unemployed adults as freeloaders straining the system because they choose not to work. RawStory

April 1 , 2017

This week's read: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World. by Peter Wohlleben who shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them. More >

Russian Oligarch in Election Probe Linked to Drug Cartel. ... New evidence indicates that Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who paid $10 million a year to Paul Manafort between 2004 and 2009, has been in business since 2004 in Guyana with a politically powerful crime family involved in international drug trafficking whose most famous member is a drug pilot who had also been the chief pilot of the owner of the flight school in Venice Florida that taught Mohamed Atta to fly..
MadCow

265 Members of Congress Who Sold You Out to the ISPs and for how much....Chump Change.The only people who seem to want this are the people who are going to make lots of money from it. (Hint: they work for companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.)
The Verge
Li'l Stevie Pearce (R-NM) made $20,000 on the deal

Noam Chomsky: Trump's First 100 Days Are Undermining Our Prospects for Survival . ... I don't pretend to have any special insight into the mind of this strange person, though the people around him have been fairly coherent, in particular Steve Bannon, who seems to be the shadowed figure behind the throne. ... What is happening before our eyes appears to be a two-pronged operation, I presume planned.... TruthOut

Pro-Israel Terrorist Group Charged with Hate Crime After Brutally Attacking Arabs, Leftists at AIPAC. ... The Jewish Defense League took credit for the assault in a video posted to Facebook.
AlterNet

You Shouldn’t Blame Islam for Terrorism. Religion Isn’t a Crucial Factor in Attacks. ... Yet according to a report from the New America Foundation, “every jihadist who conducted a lethal attack inside the United States since 9/11 was a citizen or legal resident.” A recent study in Britain, which last week endured its worst terrorist atrocity since 2005, revealed that more than two out of three “Islamism-inspired” terrorist offenses were carried out by individuals “who were either born or raised in the UK.” The Intercept

APRIL 11 THROUGH 21

April 21, 2017

Shocking Exposé Reveals Trump Associates & ISIS-Linked Vigilantes Are Attempting Coup in Indonesia. ... new exposé that reveals backers of Donald Trump in Indonesia have joined army officers and a vigilante street movement linked to ISIS in an attempt to oust Indonesia’s president. Democracy Now

The FBI's Secret Rules. Intercept

In Secret Court Hearing, Lawyer Objected to FBI Sifting Through NSA Data Like It Was Google. Intercept

Trial and Terror - The U.S. government has prosecuted 796 people for terrorism since the 9/11 attacks. Most of them never even got close to committing an act of violence. Intercept

New Behind-the-Scenes Book Brutalizes the Clinton Campaign. ... 'Shattered,' a campaign tell-all fueled by anonymous sources, outlines a generational political disaster. Rolling Stone/Tabbi

"Biggest Humanitarian Catastrophe Since 2003 Invasion": Journalist Anand Gopal on Battle for Mosul. Democracy Now

Kleptocracy?: How Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner Personally Profit from Their Roles in the White House. Democracy Now

“In our culture and society, it’s considered very courageous to send a huge bomb somewhere,” Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist and social critic, says. “Do whatever damage is done, and we all applaud the great heroic achievement of the president. That’s a cultural problem here.” - The Real Effect of the Recent U.S. Bombings in Syria and Afghanistan Truth Dig

April 20, 2017

US Moves Toward Major Intervention in Yemen.
Counter Punch

Israel Celebrates 50 Years as Occupier. ... Israel is to hold lavish celebrations over the coming weeks to mark the 50th anniversary of what it calls the “liberation of Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights” – or what the rest of us describe as the birth of the occupation. Counter Punch

Why the Democrats are Dead: DeLauro Says No to Single-Payer. ... If you want to know why the Democratic Party is dead, dead, dead, look no further than Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut).
Counter Punch

How the Right-Wing Koch and DeVos Families Are Funding Hate Speech on College Campuses Across the U.S. .. Racist, sexist, Islamophobic protesters spark violence and publicity for Koch and Mercer-backed juggernauts. AlterNet

- Coal vs Solar -

Kentucky coal company announces plans to build the state’s largest solar farm
The company says the farm will give jobs to displaced coal miners Think Progress

Oklahoma axes wind subsidies early, continues support for fossil fuels
In 2014, Gov. Fallin signed a bill to extend a low tax rate for oil and gas. Think Progress

Trump’s EPA is reconsidering a rule that limits mercury from power plants
The EPA has asked a court to delay oral arguments?—?where it was supposed to defend the rule. Think Progress

April 19, 2017

Trump Rejects Calls for Transparency, Vowing to Keep Tax Returns & White House Visitor Logs Secret. Democracy Now

The Price of Resistance. ... as a reporter in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, I encountered singular individuals of varying creeds, religions, races and nationalities who majestically rose up to defy the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed. Some of them are dead. Some of them are forgotten. Most of them are unknown. TruthDig

Trump's Missile Attack on Syria Justified With Fake Intelligence, Experts Say. ... Echoes of George W. Bush's disastrous invasion of Iraq. AlterNet

Notorious Mercenary Erik Prince Is Advising Trump From the Shadows. A former senior U.S. official who has advised the Trump transition told The Intercept that Prince has been advising the team on matters related to intelligence and defense, including weighing in on candidates for the Defense and State departments.
Intercept

Trump White House Taking 'Marching Orders' from Hundreds of CEOs: Report. ... 'One of every five of the corporate executives who met with the Trump administration within the first 100 days represented the banking or financial sector' Common Dreams

Lawyer: Trump sanctuary order affects little funds. ... President Donald Trump’s executive order withholding funding from communities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities applies to a small pot of grant money, not the billions of dollars that San Francisco and a California county say is at stake for them, a lawyer with the Department of Justice said Friday.
SF New Mexican

April 18, 2017

America Must Start Looking How to End All the Wars It Has Started. ...This spurt in belligerence (promoting wars) over the last week has as much to do with domestic American politics as any fundamental new development in the rest of the world.
Counter Punch/Cockburn

Will the “Alt-Right” Hijack the Antiwar Movement?. Counter Punch

Women could be forced to sign up to US military draft by 2018. A new measure has been passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and could become law. Independent .

Trump is already using his 2020 reelection bid to line his own pockets. ... In the first three months of 2017, the Trump campaign spent nearly $500,000 at Trump-branded properties. ThinkProgress

Shocking education report reveals taxpayers paying hundreds of millions for unneeded and inferior charter schools. RawStory

New Research Shows Greediest Charter School Operators Looting Taxpayers Via Real Estate Deals. ... They run K-12 public schools, but reap private fortunes. AlterNet

Two Cheers For The Deep State. ... When you actually try to govern, there is a reality to reality, and it pushes back. Huffington

April 17, 2017

Toward a Politics of Ungovernability: Shutting Down American-Style Authoritarianism, ,,, It is impossible to imagine the damage Trump and his white nationalists, economic fundamentalists, and white supremacists friends will do to civil liberties, the social contract, the planet, and life itself in the next few years.
Counter Punch/Giroux

Bernie Sanders, the Company Man, ,,, Senator Bernie Sanders (“I”-VT) is not the independent left politician many progressives claim he is. He’s a Democratic Party company man. Counter Punch

How Trump and Obama are Exactly Alike. ... Short of disclosure of diaries or other documents from these politicians, we can’t know for certain if they planned on reversing much of what they promised or if the political establishment compelled them to change, but they both eventually perpetrated a massive fraud.
Counter Punch

The Republican Party Is Ready to Sell Off Your Internet Privacy at a Level That Boggles the Mind. .. GOP and giant ISPs could make big bucks from your personal information. AlterNet/Hartman

Papantonio: Corporate Sociopaths Are Clearly In Charge Of American Businesses. ... After the bad publicity that United Airlines received when video emerged of a passenger being manhandled, the idea of corporate power over consumers is once again being highlighted. Right of Fire Video

It’s been more than a week since Trump .. of “America first” mode and into intervention mode by dropping 59 missiles on Syrian airfield. ... the American public has been lacking something very important before - and after - that strike. TruthDig

April 16, 2017

Thousands march across the country calling for Trump to release his tax returns. ... An estimated 25,000 marched in Washington, D.C. alone.
Think Progress

Trump is Hiring Lobbyists and Top Ethics Official Says "There's No Transparency". ... In one case, an official working on energy regulation recently lobbied for oil and coal companies—but the White House won’t say whether he received an ethics waiver.
Common Dreams

A Father Describes Saving His Daughter From U.S. Bombardment of Mosul. Intercept

Chocolate Cake, the MOAB and Hexavalent Chromium: Let the Good Times Roll!, Counter Punch

A Critique of ‘False and Misleading’ White House Claims About Syria’s Use of Lethal Gas. TruthDig

Snipers and Infiltrators at Standing Rock: Quashing Protests at Taxpayer Expense. Counter Punch

Silencing Palestine: Prison & Repression – The Empire Files. .. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is an internationally-recognized human rights crime—but those being impacted are harshly punished for not only acts of resistance, but even mere advocacy for their rights. Ring Of Fire

April 15, 2017

WEEKEND READ -
Who Rules the World? By Noam Chomsky. ... a thorough analysis of the current international situation, Noam Chomsky argues that the United States, through its military-first policies and its unstinting devotion to maintaining a world-spanning empire, is both risking catastrophe and wrecking the global commons.

How Jeff Sessions Is Laying the Groundwork for Authoritarian Action. ... The attorney general is courting law enforcement by reducing accountability and renewing a war on people of color. Prospect

New York Times Promises Truth and Diversity, Then Hires Climate-Denying Anti-Arab White Guy.
Intercept

It’s time America explored how to end the multiple wars it has helped cause since 2001, rather than dropping more bombs. ... Moan about Trump all you like, but his approach to Syria was always much more realistic than Hillary Clinton’s. ‘You are fighting Syria, Syria is fighting Isis, and you have to get rid of Isis,’ he said during his election campaign. ‘Now we’re backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who these people are’ Independent

(2014) Womp! This Country Was Named The Greatest Threat To World Peace. Huffington

Fox News creates music video to celebrate Trump bombing Afghanistan. ... “The video is black and white. But that is what freedom looks like.” Think Progress

Trump’s CIA Director Pompeo, Targeting WikiLeaks, Explicitly Threatens Speech and Press Freedoms. Intercept

Democrats were in parise of WikiLeaks until Wiki published the DNC emails showing Sanders was thrown under the bus by his own party. Now they want blood and saying if you are pro-Wiki, you are working for the Russians and don't be surprised if the FBI is watching you.

The Bright Side of Deportation: Private Prison Stocks are Soaring!. Counter Punch

Think sarin gas is bad? The purpose of the "mother of all bombs", from the "arsenal of freedom", is to incinerate your lungs. All the main stream news media couldn't be more excited at that prospect. as well as the politicos form both sides in DC.

Apruil 14, 2017

Trump Reverses Himself On 6 Major Issues In 2 Days .. From currency manipulation to NATO to Syria, Trump is flexible. Huffington

Trump Is Moving "Full Speed Ahead" in War in Yemen, Despite Massive Civilian Casualties.
Democracy Now

Ducking Cameras, Trump Signs Bill Delivering 'Gut Punch' to Millions of Women. .. "If you have to hide what you're doing, then you probably shouldn't be doing it in the first place" Common Dreams

New Revelations Belie Trump Claims on Syria Chemical Attack. ... two new revelations contradict the Trump administration's line ... Truth-Out

Noam Chomsky on Fascism: Could It Happen Here? Democracy Now

After hyping itself as antidote to fake news, New York Times hires extreme climate denier. ... New columnist Bret Stephens dismisses as “imaginary” the climate reality routinely reported by the Times. They can’t both be right. Think Progress

Shell Knew ,,, Emails show senior executives at world’s fifth largest company knowingly took part in a vast bribery scheme that robbed the Nigerian people of $1.1billion. Global Witness

April 13, 2017

Trump Reverses Himself On 6 Major Issues In 2 Days .. From currency manipulation to NATO to Syria, Trump is flexible. Huffington

Trump Is Moving "Full Speed Ahead" in War in Yemen, Despite Massive Civilian Casualties.
Democracy Now

Ducking Cameras, Trump Signs Bill Delivering 'Gut Punch' to Millions of Women. .. "If you have to hide what you're doing, then you probably shouldn't be doing it in the first place" Common Dreams

New Revelations Belie Trump Claims on Syria Chemical Attack. ... two new revelations contradict the Trump administration's line ... Truth-Out

Noam Chomsky on Fascism: Could It Happen Here? Democracy Now

Shell Knew ,,, Emails show senior executives at world’s fifth largest company knowingly took part in a vast bribery scheme that robbed the Nigerian people of $1.1billion. Global Witness

April 13, 2017

Trump Administration Considering 'Back-Door Way' to Cut Social Security. ... 'If Trump proposes this Trojan horse, it would be the newest shot in the ongoing Republican war against Social Security' ... one veteran federal prosecutor described as "fucking horrifying."CommonDreams

F,,ing Horrifying': Sessions Outlines Immigration Crackdown in 'Trump Era' ... Meanwhile, Trump appoints immigration hardliners to key agency posts. Common Dreams

How to Jam the Trump Brand ... If there is one lesson that emerges from all these controversies it is this: Institutions organized around a powerful brand image – often understood as “a promise” from a corporation to its customers – are in big trouble when that image gets battered and the promise appears to have been broken. The Intercept

Shocking Education Report Shows Taxpayers Paying Hundreds of Millions for Unneeded and Inferior Charter Schools
California's dismal record serves as a warning as Trump administration gears up for massive K-12 privatization. AlterNet

Big Pharma Funds “Independent” Advocacy Groups Attacking Drug-Price Reduction Bill.
The Intercept

Forget Sean Spicer — the freak show in the new White House press corps is worse. ... With so many garish spectacles to feast your eyes on at the 33-ring Trump circus, some clowns are easy to miss. Especially the ones performing in proximity to Sean Spicer. Pry your eyes away from the Pagliacci of the Pressroom for a moment, however, and look hard at some of his supporting buffoons. Raw Story

April 12, 2017

The Menace of Trump and the New Authoritarianism: An Interview With Henry Giroux. Trump's brand of populism and politics are a tragedy for democracy and a triumph for authoritarianism. Using manipulation, misrepresentation and a discourse of hate, he is pushing policies designed to destroy the welfare state and the institutions that make a democracy possible. TruthOut

Sessions Giving Free Reign to Police Departments Destroying Years of Work by Obama to Reform Violent Practices. ... Bogus fear campaigns shield abusive practices... So we’re going to try to pull back on [investigating police abuses], and I don’t think it’s wrong or mean or insensitive to civil rights or human rights.... So we’re going to try to pull back on [investigating police abuses], and I don’t think it’s wrong or mean or insensitive to civil rights or human rights." AlterNet

Jeff Sessions Pushes New War on Drugs While Killing Obama-Era Police Reform Measures. Democracy Now and Ex-Seattle Police Chief: Jeff Sessions is Apologist for Worst Type of Policing in Country. Democracy Now

The Department of Education Is Spending a Mind-Boggling Amount of Money to Protect Betsy DeVos. ... Meanwhile the Trump administration plans to slash her department by $9 billion.
AlterNet

Migrants from west Africa being ‘sold in Libyan slave markets’. ... UN migration agency says selling of people is rife in African nation that has slid into violent chaos since overthrow of Gaddafi. Guardian

Notes:Trump's decision to strike Syria was influenced by Ivanka, who was heartbroken by chemical attack. One has to wonder, would Ivanka be heartbroken by this chemical attack?
Read about the girl in the photo here

April 11, 2017

The Airline Industry Is a Starving Giant That’s Gnawing At Our Economy. ... fly the friendly skies
NY Magazine

A New McCarthyism: Julian Assange Accuses Democrats of Blaming Russia & WikiLeaks for Clinton Loss. Democracy Now

Establishment Dems Rage Against Rep. Gabbard – How Dare She Want Peace?! Ring of Fire

Nixon, Reagan and Lies. .. The reason Nixon took a beating from the press and Reagan always lives to smile another day seems simple enough. Nixon thought it necessary to tell lies.
CounterPunch

What could go wrong for the U.S. in Syria? War with Russia. WaPo

How Does the Syria Situation Stack up to the“Factors” that Justified Intervention in Kosovo? ... the United States and its NATO allies relied on a series of factors in 1999 to argue that NATO’s intervention in Kosovo was legitimate. They used these factors to justify their intervention, though the factors served a second function of narrowing the ways in which others could use Kosovo as a precedent. LawFare

House Republicans Launch a New Assault on the EPA. ... Expert witnesses Judith Curry, John Christy, and Roger Pielke Jr., who are frequently called on to present the Republican case for inaction on climate in Congress, all underscored the point that whatever is happening with the climate has been exaggerated and doesn’t warrant serious action, a message that may be particularly welcome to administration officials who have already decided to take just that path.
Intercept

ALEC Serves Corporate Hegemony, Not the Constitution: I Know Because I'm a Member. ... After the 2010 tea party takeover of Wisconsin, it became clear that the real force behind policymaking in Wisconsin is not the voters, but the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the most powerful right-wing policy-making machine in the country. A ménage a trois of powerful corporations, state legislators, and right-wing think tanks, ALEC pushes out model legislation that promotes corporate hegemony. TruthOut

APRIL 22 THROUGH 30

April 30, 2017

Part 1 of 4: - American Imperialism Leads the World Into Dante’s Vision of Hell. ... Before the Tomahawk missiles start flying between Moscow and New York, Americans had better educate themselves fast about the forces and the people who claim that Russia covered up a Syrian government gas attack on its own people. Truth Dig

Part 2 of 4 - How Neocons Push for War by Cooking the Books ... Most Americans outside Washington policy circles don’t know about Team B, where it came from or what it did, nor are they aware of its roots in the Fourth International, the Trotskyist branch of the Communist International. Truth Dig

Part 3 of 4 - How the CIA Created a Fake Western Reality for ‘Unconventional Warfare’ ... The odd, psychologically conflicted and politically divisive ideology referred to as neoconservatism can claim many godfathers. Irving Kristol (father of William Kristol), Albert Wohlstetter, Daniel Bell, Norman Podhoretz and Sidney Hook come to mind.
Truth Dig

Part 4 of 4 - The Final Stage of the Machiavellian Elites’ Takeover of America. ... The recent assertion by the Trump White House that Damascus and Moscow released “false narratives” to mislead the world about the April 4 sarin gas attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria, is a dangerous next step in the “fake news” propaganda war launched in the final days of the Obama administration. It is a step whose deep roots in Communist Trotsky’s Fourth International must be understood before deciding whether American democracy can be reclaimed. Truth Dig

Donald Trump and the Erosion of American Democracy. ... With his attacks on judges, journalists and critics, U.S. President Donald Trump is chipping away at the foundations of democracy. Is the American Constitution strong enough to withstand the assault? Spiegel

"A Land Grab by the Ruling Elites": Trump's Tax Plan Derided for Benefiting the Rich. Democracy Now

April 29, 2017

WEEKEND READ:
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. ... Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump's victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a huge victory for the billionaires who have been pouring money in the American political system.
Dark Money

The U.S. has hundreds of military bases ranging in size from small American towns to tiny outposts across the planet, and yet you could spend weeks, months, years paying careful attention to the media here and still have no idea that this was so.
Tom Dispatch

The North Korean Danger. ... Military technology has moved on since the Vietnam war. The defeat of the United States by an army employing basic artillery and machine guns supplemented by creative use of bamboo, has left an indelible impression on the western psyche. But it is in many ways a false one. Many trillions of dollars have been spent since on military technology, and the gap in resources between the USA and most potential opponents is enormous.
Craig Murray

Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern on the CIA’s History of Disseminating Faulty Intelligence ... “I personally heard Hillary Clinton’s PR person—a woman, [Jennifer] Palmieri is her name—I heard her crow and brag about how, even at the convention, she expended all kinds of efforts to make sure that people focused on the Russians,” McGovern says. “Did WikiLeaks get hacks from the Russians? No way. WikiLeaks got leaks, and there’s a big difference.”
Truth Dig

Brazil Paralyzed by Nationwide Strike, Driven by a Familiar Global Dynamic of Elite Corruption and Impunity. Intercept

House Democrats bury 2016 autopsy ... After nearly five months, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) presented his investigative report to lawmakers during a members-only gathering at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee headquarters Thursday night. Politico

April 28, 2017

Formerly Imprisoned Journalist Barrett Brown Taken Back Into Custody Before PBS Interview.
The Intercept

Thinking Dangerously in Dark Times. ... he conditions that produce the terrifying curse of totalitarianism seem to be upon us and are increasingly visible in President Trump’s denial of civil liberties, the stoking of fear in the general population, and a reckless hostility to the rule of law and a free and critical press. Totalitarian elements of the past are also evident in Trump’s contempt for the truth, and a willingness to create a new political formation through an alignment of religious fundamentalists, racists, xenophobes, Islamophobes, the ultra-rich, and unhinged militarists. Hannah Arendt once argued that all thinking is dangerous. The Philosophical Salon

Chomsky: CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is "Disgraceful Act". Democracy Now

Bribe Cases, a Jared Kushner Partner and Potential Conflicts ... President Trump’s son-in-law, a top adviser, had help building a real estate empire from a member of one of Israel’s wealthiest families
NY Times

Trump’s White House Family Affair Looks A Lot Like The Most Corrupt Nations In The World.
Huffington

While mainstream media has been obsessed with Trump’s latest hijinks, Ben Carson has been doing serious damage. AlterNet

Trump’s order on national monuments decried as corporate ‘give-away’ .. Interior Department given narrow time frame to complete review of monuments. Think Progress

April 27, 2017

There Are No Rape Charges Against Julian Assange in Sweden. There Are Espionage Charges Against Julian Assange in the USA. ... WikiLeaks had after all published the DNC and Podesta emails, which revealed the corruption at the heart of the Clinton campaign and the way the Democratic primaries had been rigged against Bernie Sanders.
Craig Murray

Chomsky: CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is "Disgraceful Act". Democracy Now

The Kochs have already spent over $3 million lobbying for Trump’s anti-environmental agenda
Fossil fuel spending swamps environmental efforts. Think Progress

Trump’s White House Family Affair Looks A Lot Like The Most Corrupt Nations In The World
Presidential advisers Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner are still connected to their own businesses. Huffington

Donald Trump Is Slashing Programs Linking Climate Change to U.S. National Security. Intercept

The Looting Machine Called Capitalism. ... I have come to the conclusion that capitalism is successful primarily because it can impose the majority of the costs associated with its economic activities on outside parties and on the environment.
Counter Punch

Chomsky on the GOP: Has Any Organization Ever Been So Committed to Destruction of Life on Earth? Democracy Now

Obama's $400,000 Wall Street Speech Is Completely In Character. ... Ask all the bankers he jailed for fraud.
Huffington

April 26, 2017

Trump's AP Interview: Unhinged, Bombastic, and "[Unintelligible]". ... President sits down with Associated Press to rail against the media, dismiss his 100-day threshold, and discuss his broken pledges. Common Dreams

Dennis Kucinich Is Back, With His Sights Set on For-Profit Education. ... Former congressman kicks off four-city tour at Ohio statehouse, fueling rumors of political comeback. Common Dreams

Cornel West & Former Sanders Staffer on Movement to Draft Bernie for a New "People's Party" in U.S. Democracy Now

Betraying 'Hire American' Pledge, Trump Rewards Companies Offshoring US Jobs. ... Though he has the power, President Trump has yet to wield his executive authority to stop US jobs from being shipped abroad. Common Dreams

France's censorship demands to Twitter are more dangerous than 'hate speech' ... Few ideas have done as much damage throughout history as empowering the government to criminalize opinions it dislikes Guardian

Neocons ride again! With Paul Wolfowitz whispering in Trump’s ear — and claiming Iraq was not a failure — what fresh hell awaits? .. Bush-era "genius" Paul Wolfowitz claims Trump can make peace in Syria — and should invade Iraq all over again Salon

10 Signs Trump's Top Homeland Security Cop Wants to Drag America Into a Paranoid Apocalyptic Police State. ... Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly tells critics to change the law or "shut up."
AlterNet

Koch Industries and Other Corporations Lobbied for Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks, Filings Show.
Intercept

April 25, 2017

Noam Chomsky: US Is the "Most Dangerous Country in the World" ... If you want to learn something about nuclear weapons and why these issues are not being reported, take a look at the March 1 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, where there is an absolutely spectacular article by two real experts -- Hans M. Kristensen and Ted Postol from MIT. They discuss the new targeting systems that have been invented under the Obama Modernization Program that's now being escalated by Trump, and it's extremely dangerous. What they claim based on disclosed information is that the US missile systems have been improved by such a huge factor that they are now capable of instantly wiping out the Russian deterrent. Truth Out

How US nuclear force modernization is undermining strategic stability: The burst-height compensating super-fuze. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Noam Chomsky: What Trump's Election Means for Humanity's 'Prospects of Survival'
Participants from about 200 countries at the Marrakech climate conference mulled over the incoming U.S. president's affect on the planet. AlterNet

Resistance in the 21st Century and the Futility of Reforming Fundamentally Vicious Systems . ... Out of necessity, organized resistance to the Trump administration's authoritarian and hyper-violent policy agenda is growing rapidly, both domestically and internationally. TruthOut

Cybersecurity for the People: How to Protect Your Privacy at a Protest. Intercept

From Drone Strikes to MOAB: The Strategically Silenced . ... US foreign policy consists of trading bodies for approval ratings, guilt for innocence, absence for life, and strategic silencing, all for fear of a threat both feigned and self-made. TruthOut

April 24, 2017

Sessions won’t rule out prosecuting media outlets besides WikiLeaks. ... The attorney general is leaving the door open for a major assault on press freedoms. ThinkProgress

Why Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Is Unfit to Be Attorney General. TruthDig

The Greatest Obstacle to Anti-Muslim Fearmongering and Bigotry: Reality. ... The think tank New America issued a report today documenting “the lethal terrorist incidents in the United States since 9/11.” It found that a total of 26 Americans have been killed by “deadly jihadist attacks” in the last 14 years, while almost double that number — 48 — have been killed by “deadly right wing attacks.” Intercept

Japan Made Secret Deals with the NSA that Expanded Global Surveillance. Intercept

‘On Contact With Chris Hedges’: Eugene O’Neill Shatters the American Myth in ‘Electra’ ... A culture saturated with artifice and false promises of success and happiness doesn’t easily accommodate the kinds of ideas playwright Eugene O’Neill made it his business to dramatize onstag. TruthDig

How the right-wing Koch and DeVos families are funding hate speech on college campuses across the US. AlterNet

Donald Trump has 'dangerous mental illness', say psychiatry experts at Yale conference. ... Mental health experts say President is 'paranoid and delusional'. Independent

April 23, 2017

US 'Deep State' Sold Out Counter-Terrorism to Keep Itself in Business. .. Since 2001, senior Pentagon and CIA officials have sacrificed American interests in weakening al-Qaeda to pursue their own interests. Common Dreams

It’s official: Top psychiatrists at Yale conference warn that Trump has a ‘dangerous mental illness’. RawStory

Resistance in the 21st Century and the Futility of Reforming Fundamentally Vicious Systems
TruthOut

The Looming Neocon Invasion of Trumpland. ... The ultimate nightmare scenario is still in the offing, however, but could come to pass any day. The ragged remnants of the neo-conservative cabal that came together under George W. Bush is still out there, plotting and scheming, concocting novel new ways to light the world on fire for power and profit.
TruthOut

The Democratic Party’s Anti-Bernie Elites Have a Huge Stake in Blaming Russia. Counter Punch

As U.S. Preps Arrest Warrant for Assange, Glenn Greenwald Says Prosecuting WikiLeaks Threatens Press Freedom for All. Democracy Now

America Commits Acts of Terrorism—Why Is That So Hard to Understand? ... When America bombs, it's rational; when other countries do it, we cry terrorism.
AlterNet

April 22, 2017

WEEKEND READ:
Margaret Atwood Reflects on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ ...People have said when they read The Handmaid’s Tale that it could never happen here. But the fact of the matter is it has happened here. Bill Moyers

Louise Mensch Has A List Of Suspected Russian Agents ... The former British MP leads an outraged online investigation into Trump's connection to Russia. Is it pulling in innocent people?
Buzzfeed (Note: Mensch has become a favorite spokesperson for the DNC)

It’s official: Top psychiatrists at Yale conference warn that Trump has a ‘dangerous mental illness’ RawStory

Trump Is the Endpoint: Henry A. Giroux on Cruelty and Isolation in US Politics. ... As civic culture collapses under the weight of a ruthless mix of casino capitalism and a flight from moral responsibility, crimes against humanity now become normalized in a rush of legislation that produces massive amounts of human suffering and misery while widening the scope of those considered disposable. TruthOut

Resistance in the 21st Century and the Futility of Reforming Fundamentally Vicious Systems.
TruthOut

The Nerve Gas Attack Described in White House Report Did Not Occur, Expert Says of Syria Incident. (Detailed report) Truth Dig Followup: With Error Fixed, Evidence Against ‘Sarin Attack’ Remains Convincing. TruthDig

The UK General Election, Corbyn’s Vilification and Labour’s Possible Fight. ... The context for analyzing this election must first acknowledge that the UK’s media is overwhelmingly rightwing.
Counter Punch (Note the parallels in the US)