American exceptionalism presents an election made in hell
If the American presidential election winds up with Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump, and my passport is confiscated, and I’m somehow FORCED to choose one or the other, or I’m PAID to do so, paid well … I would vote for Trump.
My main concern is foreign policy. American foreign policy is the greatest threat to world peace, prosperity, and the environment. And when it comes to foreign policy, Hillary Clinton is an unholy disaster. From Iraq and Syria to Libya and Honduras the world is a much worse place because of her; so …
That’s a question currently being asked by legislators in the halls of Congress. Without a muscular pushback from the public, the big airlines could claim the American airspace as their own to tax and regulate, without any significant compensation to the American taxpayer and no oversight from elected officials. Talk about getting skyjacked!
An amendment in the 273-page FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) reauthorization bill? H.R. 4441 ?currently moving through Congress means to remove air traffic control from the authority of the FAA and hand it over to a private, not-for-profit corporation. This new corporate-controlled body would be responsible for the over …
The Gates Foundation, Arnie Duncan, and Bruce Rauner
by John Klyczek / March 11th, 2016
For over twenty years, former Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement for the US Department of Education, Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, has been warning us about the coming corporatization of education through fascistic charter school privatization that will be subsidized by public finances. Iserbyt, author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, has described the charter school takeover, otherwise known as the “school choice” movement, as “[c]ollusion between neoconservatives, corporations, and leftists in education, including former ‘conservative’ Secretaries of Education and the NEA, [which] enabled corporations to take control of American education.”
What was happening inside Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant?
It is nearly impossible to think about the disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant without wondering what it must have been like inside the control center. The first 88 hours after the reactors went out of control were the most critical. It’s when the workers of Fukushima Daiichi met the devil of cataclysm face-to-face.
Now for the first time ever, the public will be able to go inside the control room of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in a documentary drama, Meltdown – The Fateful 88 Hours (“Meltdown”), a NHK Documentary premiering …
Inland Northwest's tree experts rate the state of the region's urban forests
by Paul Haeder / March 10th, 2016
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
? John Muir
Tree Dialogues
Talking trees with the typical Spokane (Washington) “tree surgeon/arboriculturalist” is like speaking to a philosopher/doctor/medicine man/geek all in one breath. These men and women have a passion for trees because they see each community’s health, resilience and psychological well being tied to robust and plentiful trees.
Emblematic of how a community or even family should thrive, a city’s vast mosaic of trees and runs of forests turns our ecosystem into a fully connected biological living history – past, present and future.
On February 28, Hillary Clinton told an audience from the pulpit of a Memphis church: ‘we need more love and kindness in America’. This was something she felt ‘from the bottom of my heart’.
These benevolent sentiments recalled the national ‘purpose’ identified by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, shortly before he flattened Iraq. It was, he said, ‘to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world’.
Clinton, of course, meant North America, specifically the United States. But other places in America are short on love and kindness, too. Consider Honduras, for example.
by Roger D. Harris and Allan Miller / March 10th, 2016
Where to Invade Next riffs off of the idea of critiquing the US war without end. Despite the title, documentarian Michael Moore is not going there in his first film in six years. Rather, Moore adroitly shows positive examples from abroad of what he believes might be done at home if there were the political will this election year.
With Old Glory in tow, Moore’s “one-man army…invades” Western Europe, plus stops in Slovenia and Tunisia, to “steal” good eye-opening ideas to take home:
Gourmet public school lunches in France
Free higher education for citizens and foreigners alike in Slovenia
Decriminalization of drugs and attendant …
That, of course, is not true. The Crazies are here and have been in power since Ronald Reagan was elected President of the USA. Their craziness became obvious when Reagan ignored his personal beliefs and the beliefs of all conservatives and began spending federal money like there was no tomorrow. Fiscal prudence was totally ignored because the USA and the Western World were in the severest economic downturn since the Great Depression and things were getting worse by the day. Workers were getting angry, very, very angry, they wanted jobs and would not stand in soup lines, sell apples on …
The 2016 presidential elections are proving pivotal in U.S. history, although not just for the self-proclaimed socialist-democrat Bernie Sanders, the feminist squabble unfolding around Hillary Clinton, or the larger-than-life wild card Donald Trump.
The elections are revealing more dramatically than ever the corrosive effect of big money on the U.S.’s decayed democracy. In a country founded on the principle that every citizen has an equal voice and an equal vote, how is money stealing center stage in U.S. elections?
Following Citizens United v. FEC, SpeechNow.org vs. FEC, and McCutcheson v. FEC, corporations and the wealthiest in society have been granted the legal right to …
What Happens When You Merge a Psychopath with a Killer?
by Kim Petersen / March 9th, 2016
The United States is, indisputably, the world’s foremost killing entity, and it has been since its genocidal inception. ((Writes Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, “Somehow, even ‘genocide’ seems an inadequate description for what happened, yet rather than viewing it with horror, most Americans have conceived of it as their country’s manifest destiny.” An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Beacon Press, 2014, p. 78. See review.)), ((See Kieran Kelly, “The United States of Genocide,” Dissident Voice, 30 September 2013. )) The killing is relentless — in more recent times wreaking destruction in Iraq ((Abdul Haq al-Ani and Tarik …
Canadian Defamation Law is Noncompliant with International Law (Part Two of a Two Part Series)
by Denis Rancourt / March 9th, 2016
This article was prepared for the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA). It is also posted on ocla.ca.
Overall Summary
Part 1: Defamation law in Canada is contrary to international law, in both design and practice. Under international law, the right to hold an opinion is absolute, and the right of freedom of expression can be restricted “for respect of the rights or reputations of others” solely using written laws that must conform to the “strict tests of necessity and proportionality”. With Canadian civil defamation law, the state has unfettered discretion from an unwritten common law that provides presumed falsity, presumed malice, …
With the TPP cell-door slamming shut, it’s curious how Fox and MSNBC take turns deriding the only two guys prepared to stand in its way.
by Norman Ball / March 9th, 2016
America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.
— Allen Ginsberg, America
Critical thinking in America politics has been edged out by meme-factory conveyor belts and Facebook repeater towers eager to share the latest red-blue molehill with five hundred of their closest friends.
One bit of unexamined kookiness (a favored Fox News trope) is that there’s still such a thing as operative liberals in America. Another, emanating from both sides, is that the country will go down the tubes should Party X prevail against Party Y. Despite decades of tag-team, blue-red empire wars, many still swallow the channelized …
In April 2014 I first visited Syria, going to Homs and Latakia, in addition to Damascus. On each of my three subsequent trips to Syria, speaking moderate colloquial Arabic, I have been able to interact one-on-one with Syrians there, whether in markets, taxis, on the streets or in areas I visited.
In Latakia, many of the over 1 million Internally Displaced Persons from Idlib, Aleppo and surrounding areas who are being housed and supported by the Syrian government spoke of the same heinous kidnappings, beheadings, and other crimes that most media currently only associate with …
Nations Meet to Discuss International Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons
by Lesley Docksey / March 9th, 2016
With the debate going on about whether the UK should renew the Trident missile programme or get rid of it, hardly anything is said about what is happening internationally to rid the world of nuclear weapons – which shows how inward-looking Britain can be, despite claiming a prime position on the world stage.
While national media reported on the Stop Trident demonstration in London, it ignored the discussions taking place in Geneva, or their background including:
three international, government-level conferences, the last in Vienna, on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, which produced
the signing and endorsing of the Humanitarian …
Pluto-Zionism is the three-way marriage of plutocracy, right=wing Zionism and US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a serial war criminal, racist and servant of Wall Street. How did this deadly ménage-a-trois come about? The answer is that a stratospherically wealthy donor group, dedicated to promoting Israel’s dominance in the Middle East and deepening US military intervention in the region, has secured Clinton’s unconditional support for Tel Aviv’s ambitions and, in exchange, Hilary receives scores of millions to finance her Democratic Party foot soldiers and voters for her campaign.
Regardless of the outcome of the American presidential primaries, or even the result of the general elections next November, a frightening phenomenon is under way. The US has decidedly moved to the Right, in fact the Ultra-Right; class differences are more pronounced than ever before, thanks to decades of neoliberal policies, the kind of capitalism that has concentrated the wealth in even fewer hands; racism is on the rise and the unmistakable signs of fascism are evident whenever Donald Trump holds a campaign rally.
Not that Trump’s opponents are any less frightening in their rhetoric, but …
Indigenous women and Treaty 8 First Nations are spearheading the fight against BC Hydro’s Site C mega-dam, which is being aggressively pushed by province.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant New York continually leaks radioactivity into the Hudson River. This has been going on for years. Seriously!
Meanwhile, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo agrees with advocacy groups such as Riverkeeper, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and The Sierra Club to close Indian Point. Why? Environmentalists claim the radioactive leaks are “just the tip of the iceberg.” ((Amy Kraft, “Indian Point Nuclear Plant Called “Disaster Waiting to Happen”, CBS News, February 26, 2016.))
According to CBS News, water at one of the monitoring wells for Indian Point showed a 65,000% increase in tritium, which, according to nuclear industry specialists, …
In the 21st century Americans have been distracted by the hyper-expensive “war on terror.” Trillions of dollars have been added to the taxpayers’ burden and many billions of dollars in profits to the military/security complex in order to combat insignificant foreign “threats,” such as the Taliban, that remain undefeated after 15 years. All this time the financial system, working hand-in-hand with policymakers, has done more damage to Americans than terrorists could possibly inflict.
The purpose of the Federal Reserve and US Treasury’s policy of zero interest rates is to support the prices of the over-leveraged and fraudalent financial instruments that unregulated …
[This is an edited version of a talk given to Common Ground for Texans in Austin, TX, March 5, 2016.]
To avoid being conned, politically and intellectually, it’s important to examine how a debate is framed and what ideology is advanced by that framing. What is the scope of the question? How was the direction of the inquiry decided? Who set the boundaries of the conversation?
Let’s ask those questions in regard to the contemporary conversation in the United States about allegedly dangerous trends on college campuses concerning “political correctness,” “microaggressions,” and “trigger warnings.”
A spirited public discussion of these issues was …
This week we take a look at the nefarious capitalist mechanism called free trade agreements, with a focus on world wide resistance to the TPP or Trans Pacific Partnership plus an update of anti-fascist resistance in Anaheim California.
We continue with an in depth look at the student movement that has been rocking South Africa #FeesMustFall. To listen to my entire interview with Alex Hotz click here (mp3 20mb)
To help pay for legal and medical fees for the brave anti-fascists in California click here.
U.S. Airforce A-10 Warthogs struck Allepo on February 9 when Russian planes were out of the area. Instantly, western propaganda went to work framing Russia, both for wonton aerial bombing of civilians and for destroying two hospitals. There’s nothing new with this.
Blaming a third party to avert responsibility for clearly criminal behavior is not just psychological warfare but standard psychopathic behavior. Framing Russia to provide political cover for U.S. military aggression is standard fare at the Pentagon’s Department of Psychological Warfare, and it’s been going on since its inception way back in 1943.
Worse, the heavily militarized corporate media neglected …
It’s true that Mrs. Reagan has an interest in astrology.
— Marlin Fitzwater, New York Times, May 4, 1988
What is expected of America’s first ladies? Having deposed the king as a suitable head of state, the American Revolutionaries decided to go for a pseudo-aristocratic option with all the spousal trimmings. After a brief flirt with the idea that George Washington might himself be crowned, the Republican model was embraced. The standard White American Male would come with a standard White American Female and inhabit what would, in due course, be the White House.
Check cashing businesses. Cash a $100 check? At Walmart that will be $3. At TD bank non-customers pay $5 to cash a check from their bank.
Nearly 10 million households containing 25 million people do not have any bank account according to the FDIC. Most because they did not have enough money …
Black voters support a fantasy champion for black lives
Over 50 years ago, in a 1963 Chicago protest against school segregation, one of today’s Democratic candidates for president was chained to a black woman and then arrested for resisting arrest. Now that moment appears in an unofficial campaign poster emphasizing the candidate’s commitment to civil rights. That protestor for black rights in 1963 was not Chicago native Hillary Clinton, then a politically active …
In March 2003, just before the US invasion of Iraq, about one hundred CODEPINK women dressed in pink slips weaved in and out of congressional offices demanding to meet with representatives. Those representatives who pledged to oppose going to war with Iraq were given hugs and pink badges of courage; those hell-bent on taking the US to war were given pink slips emblazoned with the words “YOU’RE FIRED.”
When we got to Hillary Clinton’s office, we sat down and refused to leave until we had a meeting with the Senator. Within an hour, Clinton appeared. “I like pink tulips around this …
Mapping the emerging global economic, political and military configurations requires that we examine regions and countries along several dynamic policy axis:
1. Capitalist versus anti-capitalist
2. Neoliberal versus anti-neoliberal
3. Austerity versus anti-austerity
4. War command centers and war zones
5. Political change and socio-economic continuity
6. New Order and political decay
Though many of these dimensions overlap, they also highlight the complexity and influence of local and national versus global power relations.
We will first identify and classify the regimes and emerging movements, …
The words after the Fire of 1889, “We Will Build Spokane Bigger and Better!”
by Paul Haeder / March 7th, 2016
Dog eat dog?
Think of any number of all-American axioms: Survival of the fittest? Winner takes all? Those who have, rule; those who do not have are the reason for their own destitution and undoing? The meek shall inherit the earth?
I have the luxury of being 59, having had dozens of jobs inside and outside my skills sets, experience, and educational background. This 35,000-foot view has also been honed by living abroad in such places as Azores, Paris, Edinburgh, Germany, Vietnam, Mexico, Central America, Canada, and England. The perspectives I have also have been shaped by a career military father, grandparents …
A few days ago I talked to one of my best friends in Mérida, Venezuela. Jose, a former Chavista who, like most of the Chavistas I knew when I lived in that city, is now in opposition to the Bolivarian government without being in “the Opposition.” He’s quite clear the Bolivarian process was a failure, but he’s not sure the Opposition or the United Democratic Roundtable (MUD) is going to be able to do much better. Still, he also finds it a hopeful sign that three-quarters of Venezuela’s voters turned out December 6 last year to vote 2-1 to bring …
