December 2018 Political Articles

DECEMBER 2018 POLITICAL ARTICLES

DECEMBER 3 THROUGH 11

DECEMBER 11, 2018

The Heresy of White Christianity. ... There are, as Cornel West has pointed out, only two African-Americans who rose from dirt-poor poverty to the highest levels of American intellectual life—the writer Richard Wright and the radical theologian James H. Cone. TruthDig/Hedges

Here's why Americans know so much about sports but so little about world affairs. ... The way the system is set up, there is virtually nothing people can do anyway to influence the real world. AlterNet/Chomsky

ENVIRONMENT

EPA Withdraws Proposed Safety Rules for In-Situ Uranium Mining. NM Enviromental Law Center

EPA’s New Water Rule Will Gut the Clean Water Act. Intercept

US and Russia ally with Saudi Arabia to water down climate pledge. ... Move shocks delegates at UN conference as ministers fly in for final week of climate talks. Guardian

US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait Launch 'Ludicrous' Effort to 'Sabotage' Support for Key UN Climate Study. ... Politicians, activists, and experts sharply condemned the move, emphasizing that "we are talking about the future of the world." CommonDreams

The GOP's Plot to Destroy Our Democracy Is Coming Into View. TruthDig

The Bomb that Did Not Detonate: Julian Assange, Manafort and The Guardian. CounterPunch

Life at Trump Speed Is About Viciousness and Distractions. TruthOut

How George H.W. Bush Rode a Fake National Security Scandal to the Top of the CIA.
The Intercept

White Supremacy Apologists Are Having a Field Day. TruthOut

DECEMBER 10, 2018

As France was ailing economically, President Macron, like in the U.S., decided the fix was was to make France more attractive to investors and investment. So, he cut taxes on the wealthy and reduced labor protections. Sound familiar? (BTW - what happened to all those auto jobs promised after the industry got massive welfare payments?)

How many of our representatives support any of the demands of the "Yellow Jackets" protesting in France? Yellow Jacket Demands.

French Police Crack Down on ‘Yellow Vests’ With Tear Gas and Over a Thousand Arrests.
NY Times

Republicans are undermining democracy state by state. As Michigan and Wisconsin pass bills stripping newly elected Democrats of power, we need legislative solutions to show the country it’s not business as usual. Guardian
Related:
Republicans Around The Country Are Working To Declare Democrats Unconstitutional. ... The lame-duck power grabs in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina are part of a larger effort by Republicans to delegitimize any opponent. HuffPost

Wall Street's Corruption Runs Deeper Than You Can Fathom. TruthDig

Progressive International: Yanis Varoufakis & Bernie Sanders Launch New Global Mvt Against Far Right. DemocracyNow

A Brutal AP Fact Check Exposes Trump's Intellectual Laziness and Hostility Toward the Truth.
DailyKos

In Europe, Hate Speech Laws are Often Used to Suppress and Punish Left-Wing Viewpoints.
The Intercept

The McCain and Bush Death Tours: Establishment Rituals in How to be a Proper Ruler.
CounterPunch

The Deadly Cost of Pipelines in Native Land: Winona LaDuke on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. DemocracyNow

DECEMBER 7, 2018

Happy 90th Birthday Noam Chomsky!!
"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's really an easy way: Stop participating in it."

Weekend Read:
Deterring Democracy - by Noam Chomsky. ... From World War II until the 1980s, the United States reigned supreme as both the economic and the military leader of the world. The major shifts in global politics that came about with the dismantling of the Eastern bloc have left the United States unchallenged as the preeminent military power, but American economic might has declined drastically in the face of competition, first from Germany and Japan ad more recently from newly prosperous countries elsewhere. In Deterring Democracy, the impassioned dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky points to the potentially catastrophic consequences of this new imbalance. Good Reads Wiki Review

Meet the progressives elected after Trump: America’s new political coalition. ... A year after Trump’s victory, Montana elected its first black mayor, New Jersey elected its first Sikh mayor and Charlotte elected its first black female mayor. Guardian

'Lobbyists Are Here. Goldman Sachs Is Here. Where's Labor? Activists?' Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Pull Back Curtain on Corporate-Sponsored Freshman Orientation. ... "One of the best parts of Ocasio-Cortez's arrival in D.C. as a new leader is that she notices, and is revolted by, the corrupt, corporatist rituals that are so embedded in D.C. culture that most politicians and journalists barely notice them." CommonDreams

Brain scans reveal why Trump supporters are easily manipulated by his fear mongering. RawStory

The bad news on human nature, in 10 findings from psychology. Aeon

U.S. Military Says It Has a “Light Footprint” in Africa. These Documents Show a Vast Network of Bases. Intercept

“The Silence of Others”: New Film Warns Against Spain’s Fascist History Repeating Itself. DemocracyNow

All eyes are on Mueller but here is the list of crimes we already know Donald Trump has committed.
RawStory

How Brian Kemp Illegally STOLE The Georgia Election. ... Brian Kemp purged half a million voters in 2017 ahead of his race for the governor’s office against the Democratic Party’s candidate, Stacey Abrams. He said they left the state. (There must have been moving vans everywhere!) Our experts went through the list name by name and found at least 340,134 voters had never moved. You’re talking a third of a million voters who were canned — with no notice. GregPalast
Related: North Carolina election still undecided amid absentee ballot fraud inquiry.... The state board of elections has refused to certify the Republican candidate’s narrow victory in the ninth congressional district. Guardian

These companies claimed the GOP tax bill would ‘boost jobs.’ Now they’re laying off employees. ... The businesses who led the charge for a massive cut in the corporate tax rate still claim it is working great. ThinkProgress

DECEMBER 6, 2018

POPPY BUSH ALL AMERICAN WAR CRIMINAL

“What really is being demanded is that we all submit to historical revisionism -- hat a false narrative about history and politics be permitted to be erected without challenge or dissent.” - Glenn Greenwald

George H.W. Bush (1924-2018), American War Criminal Intercept

(2014) The First Iraq War Was Also Sold to the Public Based on a Pack of Lies. Moyers

George H.W. Bush Empowered Atrocity Abroad and Fascists at Home. TruthOut

How False Testimony and a Massive U.S. Propaganda Machine Bolstered George H.W. Bush’s War on Iraq. DemocracyNow

Air Cocaine: Poppy Bush, the Contras and a Secret Airbase in the Backwoods of Arkansas. CounterPunch

America Is Headed for Military Defeat in Afghanistan. TruthDig Related: All That's Left for the U.S. to Do in Afghanistan Is Lose. TruthDig

Every wonder why one of the most brutal and oppressive reigms is also one of the largest donors to the Center for American Progress, a major Democratic Party "think tank"? and PAC. Hint: United Arab Emerats. Why is that? Clinton donor list.

Nationalisation Without Compensation. ... When slavery was abolished in the British Empire, taxpayers paid huge sums in compensation to slave owners for the loss of their “property”. No compensation was ever paid to the slaves for the loss of their freedom.
Craig Murray

Can you put a dollar value on nature? WeForum

Yemen ceasefire resolution blocked at UN after Saudi and UAE 'blackmail'. ... Britain had drafted resolution to avert famine... Security council threatened with boycott of Stockholm talks. CommonDreams

'It Is Time for Progressives of the World to Unite': Sanders-Varoufakis Issue Open Call for New Global Movement. ... "Our Progressive International will reclaim our communities, our cities, our countries, and our planet with a bold International New Deal that we will work, together, to deliver." CommonDreams

DECEMBER 5, 2018

The national interest is to the government what the public interest is to the police; mealy mouthed and meaningless words trotted out when there is a cover-up taking place.

George H.W. Bush: The Inconvenient Truth. ... The Intercept’s co-founder Glenn Greenwald joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the difference between hagiography and journalism — and to produce a more accurate and fair obituary of the late former-president George H.W. Bush. The Intercept

How Poppy Bush’s Brother, “Uncle Bucky,” Made a Killing Off the Iraq Wars. CounterPunch

'Donald Trump isn’t an aberration': Paul Krugman reveals how the GOP's 'moral rot' laid the groundwork for Trumpism. ... He's the embodiment of the worst parts of the party. AlterNet

CLICK BAIT 12/5

Sessions: ‘I Am Proud To Have Served White America’ Go >>

White House Security Officials Relieved Ivanka Trump’s Computer Just Cardboard Box With Mirror On It. Go >>

Jim Acosta Immediately Decks White House Intern After Being Let Back Into Press Pool.
Go >>

How the rich are normalizing narcissism — and destroying civilization. ... Documentarian and photographer Lauren Greenfield has been documenting this profound shift in culture.
AlterNet

George Monbiot: Ending Meat & Dairy Consumption Is Needed to Prevent Worst Impacts of Climate Change. DemocracyNow

The Principles of Socialism. CounterPunch

DECEMBER 4, 2018

A Killer Dies, a Teacher Lives: George H.W. Bush v. Noam Chomsky. CounterPunch/Street

The Ignored Legacy of George H.W. Bush: War Crimes, Racism, and Obstruction of Justice. Intercept

Climate report details deep hits to the Southwest. ... Climate change will impact economy, infrastructure and more. High Country News

The End of Illusion. ... In the spring of 2017, the carbon dioxide readings at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawai’i cracked 410 parts per million, an all-time record and a frightening one. CounterPunch

ISRAEL

The Film the Israel Lobby Does Not Want You to See. TruthDig/Hedges

In U.S. Media, Israel Is Untouchable. ... You can attack the Palestinians in America uninterrupted, call to expel them and deny their existence. Just don’t dare say a bad word about Israel, the holy of holies. Haaretz

Police: Indict Bibi for Bribery. ... Development Prompts Immediate Calls For Netanyahu’s Resignation. HuffPost

“It’s Killing the Student Movement”: Canary Mission’s Blacklist of Pro-Palestine Activists Is Taking a Toll. Intercept

Bernie Sanders on Ending Yemen War, Medicare for All, Green New Deal & the Stop BEZOS Act. DemocracyNow

A Leak or a Hack? A Forum on the VIPS Memo
A letter from dissenting members of VIPS, a reply from VIPS, and the results of our independent review. The Nation

CNN Submits to Right-Wing Outrage Mob, Fires Marc Lamont Hill Due to His “Offensive” Defense of Palestinians at the U.N. The Intercept

Exclusive: The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed. ... How US military spending keeps rising even as the Pentagon flunks its audit. The Nation

DECEMBER 3, 2018

CNN claims in an editorial

that George H.W. Bush was the exact political opposite of Donald Trump. It is interesting how everything at CNN relates to Trump. ... Never-the-less, CNN managed to skip over the time Bush pardoned all his aides

who were under criminal investigation by a special counsel so it didn't lead back to him.

The Ignored Legacy of George H.W. Bush: War Crimes, Racism, and Obstruction of Justice.
The Intercept

Bush family hosts Saudi Crown Prince Salman as Riyadh's attempt to toss 9/11 lawsuits fails. Daily Sabah

What if Osama bin Laden Had Legitimate Grievances? TruthDig

Thirty Afghan civilians killed in U.S. air strike, officials say. Reuters

The Military Atrocities We Ignore While We Ring In the Holidays. TruthDig

Killing Asylum: How Decades of U.S. Policy Ravaged Central America, The Intercept

Craig Murray: the Guardian tells “deliberate lies” about Assange and alleged Russia ties.
OffGuardian

Pro-Charter School Democrats, Embattled in the Trump Era, Score a Win With Hakeem Jeffries.
The Intercept

Philosopher who studies truth explains why Trump's lying separates him from other politicians — and how it puts us on the road to fascism Trump's relationship with the truth is different.
AlterNet

Brexit is the equivalent of a major defeat in war. ... Leaving the EU might well be demanded by the victor as a way of ensuring that Britain was permanently weakened. Independent/Cockburn

Navigating our thoughts: Fundamental principles of thinking. ... Humans think using their brain's navigation system: Researchers combine individual threads of evidence to form a theory of human thinking. Science Daily

This is the everyday mechanical mechanism that could define consciousness. ... It sounds like something hippies might have dreamed up.
AlterNet

DECEMBER 12 THROUGH 23

WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 21-23, 2018

Weekend Read:
Resisting Illegitimate Authority: By Bruce E Levine. A Thinking Person's Guide to Being an Anti-Authoritarian Strategies, Tools, and Models. ... The capacity to comply with abusive authority is humanity’s fatal flaw. Fortunately, within the human family there are anti-authoritarians - people comfortable questioning the legitimacy of authority and challenging and resisting its illegitimate forms.
Tattered Cover

Justice for Jakelin: Lawmakers Demand Answers in Death of 7-Year-Old Girl in Border Patrol Custody. DemocracyNow

'We See You Stephen Miller': White House Reportedly Considering 'Despicable' and 'Racist' Plan to Deport Vietnam War Refugees. ... "Let me translate this for you: Trump wants to deport Vietnamese grannies who have been living here for more than 40 years." CommonDreams

Elizabeth Warren Plan Would Allow the Government to Manufacture Its Own Generic Drugs. Intercept

The Trump Administration Just Killed Net Neutrality for Text Messages. TruthOut

“Alexa, Drop a Bomb”: Amazon Wants in on US Warfare. TruthOut

Peoples Vote in Danger of Becoming War Criminal Rehabilitation. Craig Murray

A Prime Minister, a Drug Pilot, an Oligarch, & RussiaGate. Mad Cow

British Security Service Infiltration, the Integrity Initiative and the Institute for Statecraft.
Craig Murray
Related: Foreign Office investigates reports that state-funded body targeted Corbyn. ... Leaked documents suggest Fife-based company promoted anti-Labour tweets.
Guardian

Christian nationalists have a new plan to seize more power — meet ‘Project Blitz’ RawStory

Pelosi Would Sabotage the Progressive Agenda With a Pay-Go Rule. CounterPunch

DECEMBER 20, 2018

World's Journalists Have Never Faced 'As Much Violence and Abusive Treatment' as This Year. ... "Journalists have never before been subjected to as much violence and abusive treatment as in 2018." CommonDreams

Filipino Reporter Maria Ressa on Duterte’s Targeting of the Press & How Facebook Aids Authoritarians. DemocracyNow

Fleeing a hell the US helped create: why Central Americans journey north. ... The region’s inequality and violence, in which the US has long played a role, is driving people to leave their homes. Guardian

Cambodians Who Fled War, U.S. Bombs and Genocide Now Face ICE Raids and Deportations Under Trump. DemocracyNow

Trouncing Biden and Beto, Bernie Sanders Emerges as Clear Frontrunner in 2020 Straw Poll. ... "I think people in Washington are (again) underestimating the potential strength of a Sanders campaign (which could actually be part of his strength again)." CommonDreams

Ringing in a Christian Nationalist 2019 With an Even Larger Legislative Playbook. Rewire

(Hardcore Evangelical) DeVos’s Response to School Shootings? Make School More Like Prison.
TruthOut

Here are the top 10 reasons I don't believe in God
"Does God exist?" is a valid and relevant question. Here are my top reasons why the answer is a resounding, "No." AlterNet

The Bible-Thumping Tech CEO Who’s Proud Of Keeping Neo-Nazis Online. ... Rob Monster claims he helped resurrect Gab because of his commitment to free speech. He also has a lot to say about Jews. HuffPost

The Case that Dare Not Speak Its Name: the Conviction of Cardinal Pell. CounterPunch

DECEMBER 19, 2018

A torrent of ghastly revelations': what military service taught me about America. Guardian

Meet the Texas Speech Pathologist Who Lost School Job for Refusing to Sign Pro-Israel, Anti-BDS Oath. DemocracyNow

Glenn Greenwald: Congress Is Trying to Make It a Federal Crime to Participate in Boycott of Israel. DemocracyNow

Don’t Let Russophobia Warp the Facts on Russiagate. ... Despite the media hoopla, Mueller’s latest filings do not bring us any closer to proving the long-sought Trump-Russia conspiracy. The Nation .

CLICK BAIT

G20 Leaders Attend Saudi Crown Prince’s Informative Seminar On Eliminating Dissident Journalists. Go >>

Trump Hacks Through Thick Central American Jungle In Search Of Entirely New Ethnic Group To Demonize. Go >>

Senate Bill To End U.S. Role In Yemen War Rejected By House Raytheon Executives.
Go >>

Gina Haspel Briefs Senators On Saudis’ ‘Shockingly Uninspired’ Khashoggi Interrogation. Go >>

The Pentagon Failed Its Audit Amid a $21 Trillion Scandal (Yes, Trillion) TruthDig

Kavanaugh’s Court begins its inevitable power grab with Kisor v. Wilkie. ... We're going to miss judicial restraint now that it is gone. ThinkProgress

Pastor John Gray gifts wife $200,000 Lamborghini after making ‘faith deposit’ for wedding anniversary. RawStory

Activists Found Guilty of Terrorism-Related Offense for Stopping U.K. Migrant Deportations. Intercept

As Schumer and Pelosi Offer Up $1.3 Billion, Progressives Say 'Not One Dime' Should Go to Trump's Anti-Immigrant Agenda. ... "Saying it louder for the people in the back: Start and with $0 for Donald Trump's border wall." CommonDreams

DECEMBER 18, 2018

Trump, the Quintessential American
TruthDig/Hedges

Xochitl Torres Small Flips New Mexico’s Conservative 2nd District. MotherJones

Ralph Nader on Single Payer, Climate Devastation, Impeachment & Why Mulvaney Is a “Massive Outlaw” DemocracyNow

'Not the Kind of Moral Leadership We Need': Critics Pounce After Schumer Refuses to Back Medicare for All. CommonDreams

ISRAEL

A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now Mandatory in Many States - so She Lost Her Job,
Intercept

Messianic Jewish Lobbying Group Builds Support for U.S.-Funded Ethnic Cleansing Plan in Palestine. ... A pro-Israel activist group is quietly pushing lawmakers on Capitol Hill and key officials in the White House to embrace a plan that would entail paying Palestinian residents in the West Bank to move abroad. Intercept

The Film the Israel Lobby Does Not Want You to See. TruthDig/Hedges

Police: Indict Bibi for Bribery. ... Development Prompts Immediate Calls For Netanyahu’s Resignation. HuffPost

US and Israeli Police Are Sharing Violent and Repressive Tactics. ... In communities throughout the United States, law enforcement agencies are choosing to send officers to Israel on exchange programs to share violent practices of surveillance and repression. But as communities learn of these trips and their content, they are quickly backing out. TruthOut

U.S. Tech Giant Cloudflare Provides Cybersecurity For At Least 7 Terror Groups. ... Among its customers are the Taliban, al-Shabab and Hamas. HuffPost

Humiliation, homoeroticism and animal cruelty: inside the frathouse. ... Photographer Andrew Moisey uncovered ritual hazing, extreme drunkenness and toxic masculinity on one college campus – from men destined to be America’s future leaders. Guardian

Police Violence and Mass Policing in the U.S. ... The militarization of the police began, not as a coincidence, in the 1970s. Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) “teams” were soon in evidence, as was the gathering of so-called intelligence by police units, a fact well known to Vietnam-era protesters, the movement to which mass policing responded. CounterPunch

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Are the New Congressional Progressives Real? Use These Yardsticks to Find Out.
CounterPunch/Nader

War Crimes in Our Name: A Q&A With Shireen Al-Adeimi. ... The outspoken advocate details the plight of her native Yemen—and explains what needs to happen to avoid further disaster. The Nation

The Persecution of Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Editor Says Media Is Giving the U.S. Cover to Extradite Him. Newsweek

The Russia Investigations: A Case Still Unproven.
NPR

Remember the good old days of Baby Bush? Remember the time someone threw a shoe at him? Here is what happened to that guy: "I spent a year in prison, three months in solitary confinement, tortured me for three days, broke my legs, teeth and nose, beatings and torture with electricity. But it's worth it." Now, there's a true hero.

10 years ago, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at George W. Bush and instantly became a cult figure. Washington Post

REIGN OF IDIOTS

The idiots take over in the final days of crumbling civilizations. Idiot generals wage endless, unwinnable wars that bankrupt the nation. Idiot economists call for reducing taxes for the rich and cutting social service programs for the poor, and project economic growth on the basis of myth. Idiot industrialists poison the water, the soil and the air, slash jobs and depress wages. Idiot bankers gamble on self-created financial bubbles and impose crippling debt peonage on the citizens. Idiot journalists and public intellectuals pretend despotism is democracy. Idiot intelligence operatives orchestrate the overthrow of foreign governments to create lawless enclaves that give rise to enraged fanatics. Idiot professors, “experts” and “specialists” busy themselves with unintelligible jargon and arcane theory that buttresses the policies of the rulers. Idiot entertainers and producers create lurid spectacles of sex, gore and fantasy. TruthDig/Hedges (2017)

Censoring This Documentary Only Plays Into AIPAC's Hands. TruthDig

How much of government budget spent on "defence"
US: 57% ............ Russia: 9.5%
UK: 9% .............. France: 5.3%
Italy: 2.6%........... Japan: 2.2%
Germany: 2.1%.... Israel: 2% ... India: 1.9%

Border Patrol Officer Who Shot Unarmed Teenager on Mexican Soil Is Acquitted. TruthOut

British Security Service Infiltration, the Integrity Initiative and the Institute for Statecraft.
Craig Murray

WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 14-16, 2018

Weekend Read:
How the Rats Re-Formed the Congress - by Ralph Nader Purchase ... If It Takes the Rats to Wake Up Us and Congress, Bring Them On! This Book Shows How! CounterPunch

BREAKING: Senate Votes to End US Role in Yemen War. TruthOut

Get Ready for Mueller’s Phase Two: The Middle East Connection. ... The ‘Russia investigation’ is set to go global. In court filings due to drop in 2019, prosecutors will unveil Middle Eastern countries’ attempts to influence U.S. politics. DailyBeast

New Mueller filings will tie Trump to ‘unsavory’ Middle East operatives: report. ... Special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team is preparing a new series of legal filings tying the White House to Middle East influence. AlterNet

The Quid Pro Quo Was Even Tighter Than I Imagined. EmptyWheel

WAR ON TERRA

As Uprising Spreads Across Globe, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky Among Signers of Open Letter Backing Extinction Rebellion ... "The climate crisis is worsening much faster than previously predicted. This desperate situation can't continue."
CounterCurrents

Thousands Protest at U.N. Climate Summit in Coal-Heavy Poland, Facing Riot Police & Intimidation. DemocracyNow

In Early Holiday 'Gift to Polluters,' Trump Guts Protections for 60 Percent of Nation's Streams, Wetlands, and Waterways. ... "Piece by piece, molecule by molecule, Trump is handing over our country to corporate polluters and other industrial interests at the expense of our future." CommonDreams

“Shame on You!” Protesters Interrupt Trump Admin Promoting Coal & Fossil Fuels at U.N. Climate Talks. DemocracyNow

Rapidly disintegrating Arctic sea ice leaves scientists ‘shocked’. ... And that means faster sea level rise, faster global warming, and more extreme weather for us. ThinkProgress

Climate Scientist: World’s Richest Must Radically Change Lifestyles to Prevent Global Catastrophe. DemocracyNow

Calling Promotion Betrayal of Planet, Groups Denounce Schumer for Giving 'Fossil Fuel Servant' Joe Manchin Top Spot on Energy Committee. ... "Appointing Senator Manchin as ranking member of the Energy Committee is completely at odds with any plan for real climate action."
CommonDreams

U.S. & Other Big Polluters Obstruct U.N. Climate Talks, Stalling Efforts to Reduce Carbon Emissions. DemocracyNow

'Death sentence': butterfly sanctuary to be bulldozed for Trump's border wall. Guardian

Pet abandonment now punishable by law in the UAE. The National.AE

Spanish Congress prepares bill to stop treating animals as objects. El Pais

Rescue at Oakland Slaughterhouse Shows New, Potent Tactics of Growing Animal Rights Movement. The Intercept

DECEMBER 13, 2018

'What a Despicable Sham': MSNBC's Chris Hayes Denounces Five House Democrats as 'Cowards' for Helping GOP to Block Yemen Vote ... "What the hell is the point of Congress? Why are we starving children?" asked the outraged cable news anchor. "Someone make some affirmative argument for the policy, if you think it's so important to continue killing children. But to kill the possibility of a vote in the rules committee? Cowards." CommonDreams

The Guardian offered a bombshell story about Paul Manafort ... It still hasn’t detonated. WaPo

'This Is Why People Hate Congress': With Buried Provision in Must-Pass Farm Bill, House GOP Uses Last Days in Power to Block Yemen Vote. ... "Speaker Ryan is not allowing a vote on my resolution to stop the war in Yemen because many Republicans will vote with us and he will lose the vote," responded Rep. Ro Khanna. "As a result, more Yemeni children will die." CommonDreams

Blacking Out the Yellow Vests on Cable News: Corporate Media Doing its Job. CounterPunch

Establishment looks to crush liberals on Medicare for All . ... The coalition that fought Obamacare repeal has fragmented as the party tries to follow through on campaign promises. Politico

Richard Wolff: There Are No Blueprints for Revolution. TruthOut/Wolff

Mark Curtis reveals Britain is responsible for 10 MILLION DEATHS since WW2. ... historian Mark Curtis reveals that Britain is responsible for around 10 million deaths since WW2. He goes over Britain’s support for repressive regimes throughout the period, bloody conflicts Britain has been involved in and massacres Britain has been complicit in which have been wiped from the history books. RT

DECEMBER 12, 2018

IMF warns storm clouds are gathering for next financial crisis. ... David Lipton says world is unprepared for downturn and Fund needs more resources. Guardian

This Is What It Looks Like When Imperialism Comes Home. TruthDig

How Republicans are turning US states into labs of anti-democracy. The party’s brazen efforts to rewire state legislature poses a greater threat than Trump – and will be all the harder to tackle. Guardian

NYT’s Krugman: US, Russia and Saudi Arabia are ‘new axis of evil’... "There's a new axis of evil: Russia, Saudi Arabia — and the United States," Krugman tweeted, linking to a story about how the three countries all declined to endorse the United Nation's latest climate study. The Hill

CLICK BAIT

Shop Class In Rich School District Just Teaches Students How To Deal With General Contractors. Go >>

GM Announces Money Saved From Layoffs To Fund Massive Investment In Lake Homes, Private Jets. Go >>

News in Brief - ‘We Will Never Speak Of This Again,’ Says Trump To Mohammed Bin Salman As They Dump Khashoggi’s Body Into New Jersey River. Go >>

As Uprising Spreads Across Globe, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky Among Signers of Open Letter Backing Extinction Rebellion. ... "The climate crisis is worsening much faster than previously predicted. This desperate situation can't continue." CommonDreams

In Gaza protests, Israeli troops aim for the legs. ... Israeli forces deployed along the volatile border with the Gaza Strip have fired live rounds at rock-throwing Palestinian protesters ever since demonstrations against Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza began in March. ... And for eight months, Israeli snipers have targeted one part of the body more than any other - the legs. AP News

DECEMBER 24 THROUGH 31

DECEMBER 31, 2018

US Corporations Are Micromanaging Curricula to Miseducate Students. TruthOut

American History for Truthdiggers: FDR and His Deal for a Desperate Time. TruthDig

Between Socialism and Barbarism, the Media Choose Barbarism. TruthDig

The Next Act of the Neocons... Aligning themselves with Hillary Clinton. NY Times

How MSNBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald Colluded With The Failed Clinton Campaign. Medium

(2017) With New D.C. Policy Group, Dems Continue to Rehabilitate and Unify With Bush-Era Neocons. Intercept

The DNC Is Putting Its Thumb on the Scales Again - This Time in the Right Direction. Intercept

The Democrats need a new foreign policy — one that doesn’t sound like Trumpism of the left.
WaPo

New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics
Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election. The Nation

The US is on the edge of the economic precipice – Trump may push it over. ... Government shutdowns hurt millions. Great depressions hurt even more. History suggests real pain is round the corner.
Guardian/Reich

The Left Side of the Church. Jacobin

DECEMBER 28-30 2018

Weekend Read: The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis - by Martha C. Nussbaum. --
Buy at Book Depository Review: Fear and Our Political World TruthDig

Corporate Democrats Are Already Punching the Left Ahead of 2020. ... Well-informed public discussion is a major hazard for Democratic Party elites now eager to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning the 2020 presidential nomination. A clear focus on key issues can bring to light the big political differences between Sanders and the party’s corporate-friendly candidates. One way to muddy the waters is to condemn people for pointing out facts that make those candidates look bad. TruthDig

How MSNBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald Colluded With The Failed Clinton Campaign. Medium

How Come So Many Bernie Bros Are Women and People of Color? ... Despite data to the contrary, the media continues to distort Sanders' politics and the diversity of his supporters.
CommonDreams

Without Notifying Anyone, ICE Dumps Hundreds of Migrants at El Paso Bus Station Around Christmas. DemocracyNow
Related: CommonDreams

Homeland Security Chief Faults Parents, ‘Open Border’ Supporters In Migrant Kids’ Deaths. ... Kirstjen Nielsen ordered an overhaul of medical screening procedures at the Mexican border after Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8, died on Christmas Eve. HuffPost

U.S. Says 8-Year-Old Guatemalan Boy Has Died In Custody. ... This is the second immigrant child to die in detention this month. HuffPost

Denouncing 7-Year-Old's Death, UN Rights Expert Demands US Halt Child Detentions. ... "As repeatedly stated by a series of U.N. human rights bodies, detention of children based on their migratory status is a violation of international law." CommonDreams

'Reckless Disregard for Very Vulnerable People': Just Before Christmas, ICE Quietly Drops Hundreds of Migrants at Bus Stop With Nowhere to Go. ... "ICE, without a scintilla of human empathy, just dropped more than 200 migrants at an El Paso, Texas bus station a day before Christmas, leaving families with no money or food, most of whom do not speak English and have no means of communication." CommonDreams

Innocence Is No Defense: The Intercept’s 2018 Justice Coverage. Intercept

Hate crimes are as American as apple pie. ... The US has a long history of hate crimes, but has seen a rise in recent years. The victims of these crimes should have a voice. Guardian

Report: Private Immigration Prisons Receive $800 Million in Taxpayer Money in 2018 TruthDig

Stop romanticising that viral image of a Palestinian protester – it's not a poetic moment. ... Behind the now famous photograph's palpable kinetic energy and visual dynamism lies one of the most desperate human rights situations in the world.
Independent

Watch: Doc Follows Six Activists Facing Felonies for Exposing Animal Cruelty at Utah Factory Farms. ... The cases have cast a spotlight on the state's Big Ag-friendly laws. CommonDreams

DECEMBER 27 2018

This Must End. Now.': 8-Year-Old Boy Dies in US Border Patrol Custody on Christmas Day. ... "A reminder that, yes, this is who the U.S. is. The U.S. is a country that murders children both directly and indirectly in a myriad of ways."
CommonDreams

Noam Chomsky: Social media outlets have ‘become major forces for undermining democracy’. AlterNet/Chomsky

Between Socialism and Barbarism, the Media Choose Barbarism. TruthDig

Capitalism Is Not the “Market System”. TruthOut/Wolff

WAR

Continued American Occupation of the Middle East Does Not Suppress Terrorism, It Causes It.... There has been no significant Shia Islamic terrorist or other threat against the West in recent years. 9/11 was carried out by Saudi Sunni militants. Al Qaida, ISIS, Al Nusra, Boko Haram, these are all Sunni groups, and all Saudi sponsored. Craig Murray

We Know How Trump’s War Game Ends. ... Nothing unites our political class like the threat of ending our never-ending war.
Rolling Stone

'Disgusting!' Outrage as US Teams Up With Saudis to Undermine UN Resolution Endorsing Yemen Ceasefire. ... "The U.N. Security Council needs to adopt a resolution to save lives now in Yemen because the people of Yemen can't wait. State Department, stop blocking for Saudi Arabia/UAE and get out of the way." CommonDreams

Trump’s “Moderate” Defense Secretary Has Already Brought Us to the Brink of War. Intercept

Trump is right to withdraw US troops from Syria. ... Thousands of troops fighting and dying in yet another Middle Eastern country is not what’s best for America. Guardian

Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media. Syria Propaganda Media

The U.S. War Industry: Fortification, Profiteering & the Opportunity Costs of Needless Spending!! NewsBud

How the Second Amendment’s Militia Became Part of Today’s Standing Army. TruthOut

'he Saudis helped him escape. OregonLive

The British Royals Have Always Been Scum. Jacobin

DECEMBER 26 2018

Before There Was Christmas, There Was the Solstice, and Hope. TruthOut

The Language of Neoliberal Education. CounterPunch/Giroux

Michael Moore's New Documentary Is A Damning Take On Trump And Politics In 2018. ... In Fahrenheit 11/9, filmmaker Michael Moore covers everything from the 2016 election to the Flint water crisis. He also compares Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. BuzzFeed

How Trump Is Stripping Immigrants of Their Citizenship. ... On the 99th anniversary of Emma Goldman’s deportation, the Trump administration is using the same tactics to expel US citizens.
The Nation

CLICK BAIT

Michael Cohen Granted Prison Work Release For New Job With Trump 2020 Campaign
Go >>

Jonesing Nation Demands Trump Tell Them Where, Exactly, Drugs Are Pouring Into Country. Go >>

Report: Those Sensors That Flush Public Toilets Were Also Cameras This Whole Time.
Go >>

That Time Democrats Secretly Used Russian Social Media Tactics. TruthDig

Robert Reich: America's Economic Suffering Is Just Beginning TruthDig

'Bushies' creep into Trump's administration. ... Trump is suspicious of people who have worked for the Bush family, but has little choice but to keep hiring them — to the anger of some hard-core supporters. Politico

The FBI’s Hunt for Two Missing Piglets Reveals the Federal Cover-Up of Barbaric Factory Farms. Intercept

Coal Ash Dumps Are Contaminating Groundwater in 22 States . TruthOut

DECEMBER 25 2018

Banishing Truth. ... The investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, in his memoir “Reporter,” describes a moment when as a young reporter he overheard a Chicago cop admit to murdering an African-American man. The murdered man had been falsely described by police as a robbery suspect who had been shot while trying to avoid arrest. Hersh frantically called his editor to ask what to do. TruthDig/Hedges

Mattis & Why We Need to End Our Self-Destructive, Mindless Wars in Middle East. DemocracyNow

My Daughter Reality Winner Faced Severe Punishment, but Key Figures in the Trump-Russia Scandal Are Getting Off Easy. Intercept

Despite Assurances From Trump, the U.S. Battle Against ISIS in Eastern Syria Is Far From Over. Intercept

WAR ON TERRA

Thousands Protest at U.N. Climate Summit in Coal-Heavy Poland, Facing Riot Police & Intimidation.
DemocracyNow
Related:
“Shame on You!” Protesters Interrupt Trump Admin Promoting Coal & Fossil Fuels at U.N. Climate Talks. DemocracyNow

Until We Confront Capitalism, We Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis. TruthOut

British Government Covert Anti-Russian Propaganda and the Skripal Case. Craig Murray

Maria Butina Case Is Not About Spying. ... Why did U.S. authorities bother to pursue a Russian gun-rights activist for activities they could easily have ignored? The answer should worry you. Bloomberg

DECEMBER 24 2018

Beto O'Rourke is the new Obama. And that's the last thing we need. ... Betomania may have befallen Washington elites, but replicating an Obama presidency would be a tragedy, from healthcare policy to fossil fuel production. Guardian

Glenn Greenwald on Sucker Journalists - and Why There’s No Silver Bullet Coming for Trump.
Observer

Sanders, Feinstein Urge Senate to Reject anti-BDS Bill: 'Threat to Free Speech'. ... Two of the most prominent Jewish members of the Senate warn that the 'Israel Anti-Boycott Act' will harm free speech in the U.S. Haaretz

The Trump Administration Is Holding Thousands Of Migrant Kids In Mass Shelters. ... The federal government has placed most of the 14,300 migrant children in its care in packed detention facilities. HuffPost

How U.S. Policies Punished Central Americans, Long Before Jakelin Caal Maquín’s Death.
DemocracyNow

ISRAEL

The Film the Israel Lobby Does Not Want You to See. TruthDig/Hedges

The Harsh Logic of Palestinian Dispossession. ... Israel’s illegal settlement construction has devastated Palestinians for years. But Israel is now going a step further: requiring Palestinians to destroy their homes themselves, or face prison time. Jacobin

Police: Indict Bibi for Bribery. ... Development Prompts Immediate Calls For Netanyahu’s Resignation. HuffPost

Extensive Interview with ‘Russian Roulette’ Coauthor Isikoff Reveals Big Problems With ‘Collusion’ Theory. Mediate

As Tax Scam Turns One, Critics Say Law Is 'One of the Biggest Transfers of Wealth to Richest 1% in US History'. ... "A year later, we can safely say that Republicans' tax overhaul was a huge payoff to donors, and a scam for average Americans."
CommonDreams

Why Bernie Sanders is (still) the most progressive choice for president. ... With less than two years until election day, no other Democratic candidate has the ability to defeat Donald Trump.
Guardian

Critics Say Bernie Sanders Is Too Old, Too White, and Too Socialist to Run for President in 2020. They’re Wrong. The Intercept