Latest articles
by Gary Brumback / June 21st, 2016
Life is a crap shoot whether walking down the street, driving on the highway and across the bridge, flying overhead, depending on other organizations (besides those that build cars, trucks, bridges and planes), or just plain living. We take our chances no matter how selective and careful we may be.
But the chances get riskier when dealing with any of the more risky organizations or any of the card-carrying corporate members of the Devil’s marriage, the unequal partnership between corporations and subservient government.
Trained as an organizational psychologist I still stay tuned to organizations and their people nearly six decades later. Recently, …
Evolutionary Anthropology of Police Practice in Maintaining a High-gradient Hierarchical Social-class Structure
by Denis Rancourt / June 21st, 2016
Summary: I show that the de facto police practice of constant random harassment by carding and other means, combined with less frequent unprovoked executions and prosecutions using false charges, in containing groups targeted for containment is exactly the most effective and efficient strategy for hierarchical containment developed by evolution and described by primate anthropologists. As such, the said practice should be understood to be an intrinsic feature of the societal dominance hierarchy. The harm from this practice can be mitigated using further knowledge from primate anthropology, to lower the hierarchy gradient and produce a net societal benefit (and less senseless …
by Denis A. Conroy / June 21st, 2016
CEOs of evil are hard to identify, due mainly to the fact that they clothe their style in masquerade. Take the current election fiasco in America, for instance, which goes from ugly to uglier, and one gets the impression that the mask of exceptionalism and faux patriotism projected into the public domain is little more than a joke extended to the 99% by the 1%. It’s just another way of saying, ‘we’re making America great again’, so, ‘shut the fuck up’. After all, capitalism is only for those who possess loads and loads of money! Hegemony means putting rules in …
by Media Lens / June 21st, 2016
Last week, climate scientists warned that:
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will shatter the symbolic barrier of 400 parts per million (ppm) this year and will not fall below it in our lifetimes.
Adding to the sense of urgency, NASA reported that last month was the hottest May on record since 1880. Since October 2015, every month has been globally the hottest ever measured. Meanwhile, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the US say that ‘future summers could regularly be hotter than the hottest on record’.
Dangerous climate change …
by Ron Forthofer / June 20th, 2016
There are dangerous provocations along Russia’s western border that have received little or incredibly one-sided coverage by the U.S. media. Thus the U.S. public is not aware of the possibility of a major conflict between two nuclear-armed powers occurring due to an accident or misinterpretation. The genesis of this current situation goes back in ancient history to 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
After the fall, the U.S., along with the West German leader Helmut Kohl, pushed for the reunification of West and East Germany. The Soviet Union allowed reunification based on the promise made by U.S. Secretary of …
by Brian J. Trautman / June 20th, 2016
In the days following the horrific attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando – one of the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history, which claimed the lives of 49 people (50 counting the shooter) and left over 50 wounded – evidence began to mount that the gunman likely possessed multiple motives. This evidence is not surprising in light of what research has revealed about the origins of violence, which includes the knowledge that most people who commit violent acts are driven by a complex, multifaceted and intertwined set of factors. The underlying root causes of violence, then, cannot be …
by Bill Quigley / June 20th, 2016
“Even from prison, you can still light a candle”.
Waleed Abu al-Khair began to practice law in Saudi Arabia in 2007. He quickly earned an international reputation as one of the most respected human rights lawyers in one of the world’s most repressive countries. Within a year he joined in a high profile critique of the ruling monarchy. He repeatedly and openly advocated for democracy. He controversially defended the human rights of women, dissidents, and prisoners targeted by the authorities.
Waleed Abu al-Khair
Before long, the government called his …
by John V. Walsh / June 20th, 2016
Until recently the progressive mind has been resolutely closed and stubbornly frozen in place against all things Trump.
But cracks are appearing in the ice. With increasing frequency over the last few months some of the most thoughtful left and progressive figures have begun to speak favorably of aspects of Trump’s foreign policy. Let us hear from these heretics, among them William Greider, Glen Ford, John Pilger, Jean Bricmont, Stephen F. Cohen and William Blum. Their words are not to be construed as “endorsements,” but rather an acknowledgement of Trump’s anti-interventionist views, the impact those …
Charles Foster’s Being a Beast
by Christy Rodgers / June 20th, 2016
The renowned biologist E.O. Wilson gave us the term “biophilia,” which he defined as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” As the world’s human population goes on expanding and walling itself up in cities, and the Sixth Extinction gathers steam, this urge is often expressed as an increasingly desperate kind of nostalgia. It drives support for conserving wild places many will never visit, as well as pastoral landscapes in which most will never work. Not to mention the proliferation of pretty floral, animal, and landscape images on our laptops and phones.
We know we’re missing something – we …
by Center for Citizen Initiatives / June 20th, 2016
On June 16, the New York Times reported:
More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war.
The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird …
by John R. Hall / June 19th, 2016
Confucius is credited with saying “When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” Likely much was lost in translation, given the language difference and passage of 2500 years, but I think I catch the drift. For those of us who find ourselves constantly at odds with a vast majority of our contrary neighbors, it follows that our lives should be a never-ending series of self-examinations. Maybe I don’t do so often enough. In truth, it would be more accurate to say almost never.
It’s far too easy to be smug and self-righteous when you try so …
The law will have a "chilling effect" on Palestinian minority’s solidarity efforts with Palestinians under occupation
by Jonathan Cook / June 19th, 2016
Wearing a T-shirt, chanting songs at a demonstration or donating clothing could be enough for Israel’s large Palestinian minority to fall foul of a newly passed anti-terrorism law, civil rights groups have warned.
The legislation, applied in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, has been condemned as a “dangerous” threat to civil liberties. It dramatically broadens the range of offences to include sympathising with, encouraging and failing to prevent terrorism.
According to legal experts, it also gives Israeli police sweeping new powers to arrest suspects and deny them access to lawyers. Courts will be required to hand out long jail sentences.
Leaders of Israel’s …
by Michael Perino / June 19th, 2016
The 2016 presidential election presents the American working class with a historic moment. No, I am not talking about the possibility of the first rich, neoliberal woman president. Nor am I talking about the social democrat masquerading as a socialist. Nor am I talking about the arrogant, racist, borderline fascist Donald Trump.
The historical moment is not in the outcome of the election itself. After all, the State is subservient to capitalist elites. So long as economic power is concentrated in the hands of a privileged few, the State will always act to safeguard the private property and power of the …
by Gary Leupp / June 19th, 2016
In his quasi-concession speech last Thursday, broadcast without a live audience (probably due to the fear of loud boos), Bernie Sanders began with the observation: “Election days come and go. But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end.”
In other words: Even if I concede, I want the movement I generated to continue.
Citing various ongoing mass movements, he declared: “And that’s what this campaign has been about over this past year. That’s what the political revolution is all about.”
Subtext: It’s all about bringing you kids into the Democratic Party—in order to change it.
Then comes the now-familiar …
by Vacy Vlazna / June 19th, 2016
In April, President Abbas, true to form, buckled under international pressure to sacrifice the integrity of the land of Palestine on the altar of another bogus ‘peace’ initiative by friends of Israel.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) had been circulating to UN Security Council members a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements when the French government effortlessly convinced Abbas to cease and desist the demand to protect diminishing Palestinian land being razed for settlement expansion until after France held its Paris talkfest.
Well, the Paris shindig, attended by foreign ministers from Europe, Arab States and the US has come and gone with notable diplomatic …
by Nauman Sadiq / June 18th, 2016
In order to understand the hype surrounding the phenomena of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, we need to understand the prevailing global economic order and its prognosis. What the pragmatic economists have forecasted about the free market capitalism has turned out to be true; whether we like it or not. A kind of global economic entropy has set into motion. The money is flowing from the area of high monetary density to the area of low monetary density.
The rise of the BRICS countries in the 21st century is the proof of this tendency. BRICS are growing economically because the labor in …
Dirty Tricksters Swing into Action
by Stuart Littlewood / June 18th, 2016
The question whether to remain in the EU or leave has been distorted beyond recognition by political pimps and spivs on both sides of the argument. They were not invited into our living rooms but set themselves up as our advisers all the same.
Every political party (except UKIP) has hitched its waggon to the EU. They can’t afford to lose. The public therefore cannot rely on their politicians for a balanced view. Here are some of the silly things they are telling us to justify their insistence we remain enslaved to Brussels.
A vote to leave is to put our freedom …
by Julian Vigo / June 18th, 2016
In Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), Susan Sontag writes:
A painting or drawing is judged a fake when it turns out not to be by the artist to whom it had been attributed. A photograph—or a filmed document available on television or the internet—is judged a fake when it turns out to be deceiving the viewer about the scene it purports to depict.
This quote seamlessly speaks to the reaction to the events at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida and the ways in which various media pundits are attempting to label this tragedy through politically divisive and problematic terms. What …
by Eric Walberg / June 17th, 2016
The Orlando shooting on June 12 has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with US policies, both domestic and foreign.
By domestic, I’m referring to “soft power”* cultural destablization, intended for export around the world to keep the natives distracted and happy. Think Disney on steriods. By foreign, I’m referring to “hard power” US imperialist policies, neoliberalism (in former days, anti-communism).
Omar Mateen was part of the jetsam washed up on US shores as a result of the US-sponsored ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He was born in New York and grew up as a product of the …
by Kathy Kelly / June 17th, 2016
Since 1983, Sharon Tennison has worked to develop ordinary citizens’ capacities to avert international crises, focusing on relations between the U.S. and Russia. Now, amid a rising crisis in relations between the U.S. and Russia, she has organized a delegation which assembled in Moscow yesterday for a two week visit. I joined the group yesterday, and happened to finish reading Sharon Tennison’s book, The Power of Impossible Ideas, when I landed in Moscow.
An entry in her book, dated November 9, 1989, describes the excitement over the Berlin Wall coming down and notes that:
Prior to the Wall’s removal, President Reagan assured …
by subMedia / June 17th, 2016
This week we catch up on the multi-layered insurrection taking place in France, where the state is struggling to get a handle on things, amidst regular protests, strikes, fuel shortages, and the general drunken chaos of soccer hooliganism.
For the musical break, we’ve got Skalpel (of Première Ligne), with Le Rap, La Soul, La Vie…
Next up, check back in on the fearless militants of the CNTE, who have gone on strike in Mexico, and check out the Paro Nacional that has brought Colombia to a standstill. Finally we wrap things up with an interview …
Terror in Orlando, Birstall and Sydney
by Binoy Kampmark / June 17th, 2016
Much of Britain is recoiling in the wake of the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed on Thursday in broad daylight outside the public library in Birstall to the shouts of “Britain first!” It was the first killing of a serving MP since Ian Gow, whose life was taken by Irish Republicans in 1990.
The suspect, Thomas Mair, was said to have carried what was an “old-fashioned” possibly homemade gun, and also brandished a knife in the attack. At around 1 pm, the shots and blows rained down upon Cox, who was declared dead less than …
by Robert Hunziker / June 17th, 2016
“Obliteration” is intentionally Machiavellian, and over-reaching, but the hard truth is that obliteration (extinction) could really, truly happen, assuming certain things happen, or not, depending….
In such case, in order to gain a full understanding of Arctic ice loss as it relates to obliteration, query the world’s foremost Arctic expert, Peter Wadhams, professor of Ocean Physics, University of Cambridge.
All of which brings to fore a fascinating fact: How many people have traveled under the ice of the North Pole?
Well, other than sailors on nuclear submarines, probably nobody, other than Professor Wadhams, who over the past 40 years, traversed Arctic ice, submarined …
by Edward S. Herman / June 16th, 2016
The double standard in the media’s treatment of U.S. plans and actions (“us”) and those of our allies, on the one hand, and enemy/target plans and actions (“them”), on the other hand, applies at many levels. The United States has been intervening and fighting wars abroad almost continuously since World War II. This has involved frequent aggressions, using standard definitions of the word, with many of them extremely destructive, and with effects often not consistent with claimed objectives and very costly to U.S. taxpayers. But these cannot be designated “aggression” in our well-honed propaganda system. That word is reserved for …
by Adam W. Parsons / June 16th, 2016
A new report by leading sustainability experts has reaffirmed the case for a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems – fundamental to which is a call for redistributing power back into the hands of those who feed the world.
*****
An alternative vision of farming and food systems has long been upheld by civil society groups and small-scale producers around the world, based on the science of agroecology and the broader framework of food sovereignty. But while many reports and studies have shown how less intensive, diversified and sustainable farming methods can have far better outcomes than …
by Ramzy Baroud / June 15th, 2016
“(At dawn) … I will resist … (Since) upon the wall there is still a white sheet … And my fingers are yet to (completely) dissolve.”
This is a translated verse from Mu’in Bseiso’s “Three Walls of the Torture Chamber”. He was, and remains, one of Gaza’s most influential intellectual and renowned poets.
After Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, he lived in exile for the rest of his life, hopping from one country to another. Many of Gaza’s great intellectuals were exiled as well; others languished in jail or were assassinated.
Bseiso died in some London hotel in 1984. …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / June 15th, 2016
The referendum on whether Britain leaves or stays in the European Union is just eight days away. A glossy leaflet dropped through my letterbox headed: “Vote Leave – The European Union and Your Family: The Facts.”
The Vote Leave campaign has a Board and Committee comprising of – broadly – the sort of far right “Little Englanders” that comedies derive from. There are a handful of Lords, there is Iain Duncan Smith who called for the invasion of Iraq within two months of September 11th, 2001, who by November 2001 was holding meetings on the topic with then Vice President …
by Matt Peppe / June 15th, 2016
In the aftermath of the horrific mass murder at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando over the weekend in which 50 people were killed, media including CNN, USA Today, NPR, NBC News, and CBS News, all reported that the gunman called 911 during his murderous rampage and pledged allegiance to ISIS. None of the journalists writing for any of these news outlets heard the call themselves; they all cite the FBI as their source.
The U.S. government has been engaged in a war against the self-professed Islamic State for the last two years. …
Panic in high places as unthinkable 'Brexit' suddenly looks possible
by Stuart Littlewood / June 15th, 2016
With a week to go, the UK’s referendum on whether to stay in or leave the EU (European Union) is finely balanced and, some pollsters say, leaning towards ‘Leave’. This has caused consternation in the marbled corridors around Westminster.
The gruesome assortment of self-appointed ‘champions’ on either side of the argument enjoy scant respect, have no entertainment value and are not the sort of people you would ever consider buying a used car from, let alone an economic future. The British public have quickly become bored with their unconvincing threats of hardship and disaster for households, businesses and public services if …
by David Boyajian / June 14th, 2016
For several decades the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other leading Jewish American organizations (AIPAC, AJC, B’nai B’rith, and JINSA) have deliberately colluded with Turkey and Israel to defeat U.S. Congressional resolutions on the Christian Armenian Genocide and to diminish the factuality of that genocide.
Yola Habif Johnston, a director at JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), once admitted that “the Jewish lobby has quite actively supported Turkey in their efforts to prevent the so-called Armenian genocide resolution from passing.”
The hypocrisy is breathtaking given these organizations’ loud, endless demands for recognition of, and legislation on, the Jewish Holocaust….
