Ahead of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night rally in West Virginia, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a highly anticipated new rule that would roll back restrictions targeting greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, and enable states to set their own standards. Continue reading
Offering a stark warning to the world, a new report out Monday argues that the reticence of the world’s scientific community—trapped in otherwise healthy habits of caution and due diligence—to downplay the potentially irreversible and cataclysmic impacts of climate change is itself a threat that should no longer be tolerated if humanity is to be motivated to make the rapid and far-reaching transition away from fossil fuels and other emissions-generating industries. Continue reading
The Trump and Netanyahu regimes want pro-Western puppet rule replacing Iranian sovereign independence. Continue reading
Trinh Cong Son, the great song writer, poet and soul of Saigon, said that he got his heart and mind revving each morning by watching frantic life unfurling all around him, while sitting in a sidewalk cafe. Lesser Vietnamese do exactly the same, however, for to be among one’s own kind is practically an hourly necessity here. The second they’re free to do so, most head straight for the nearest café, eatery or beer joint, which is, still, most likely on the sidewalk, or open to it. Continue reading
William Blum shares with us his correspondence with Washington Post presstitute Michael Birnbaum. As you can tell from Birnbaum’s replies, he comes across as either very stupid or as a CIA asset. Continue reading
Democratic candidates up and down the ballot in this year’s mid-term election campaign are discovering the added bonus of Republican endorsements to add to favorable polling numbers. The candidates for governor of Florida will be decided on August 28, however, former Democratic U.S. Representative Gwen Graham, the daughter of former governor and senator Bob Graham, is leading in polls. Continue reading
Since March 30, Palestinian Great March of Return demonstrations have been all about contesting Israel’s unlawful blockade of the Strip, along with denying them all their fundamental rights. Continue reading
There are now more than 700 million obese people worldwide, 108 million of them children, reported the New York Times in 2017. In Brazil, food giant Nestle sends vendors door to door hawking its high-calorie junk food and giving customers a full month to pay for their purchases. Such a deal. Nestle calls the junk food hawkers, who are themselves obese, “micro-entrepreneurs.” Right. Continue reading
Ellie Holman, a Swedish resident of the UK, who was detained at Dubai airport with her four-year-old daughter for three days, claimed she was offered unpalatable food and forced to clean toilets simply for consuming a glass of wine with her meal on the flight. Continue reading
In this day and age, with instant information, how does a politician succeed in double-talking, in bragging, in scapegoating and in shamefully distorting the truth, most of the time, without being unmasked as a charlatan and discredited? Why? That is the mysterious and enigmatic question that one may ask about U. S. President Donald Trump, as a politician. Continue reading
Ecological economists, such as Herman E. Daly, stress that as the external costs of pollution and resource exhaustion are not included in Gross Domestic Product, we do not know whether an increase in GDP is a gain or a loss. Continue reading
On an otherwise sleepy August day, President Trump signed the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act. Named for the dying Arizona senator who’s championed military budgets for his entire career, the bill increases U.S. military spending to an astonishing $717 billion. Continue reading
Washington is hostile to world peace, stability, and cooperative relations with other countries—seeking global dominance for unchallenged control over planet earth, its resources, and populations. Continue reading
During a recent gay pride parade in Philly, a transgender woman was arrested for attempting to burn a Blue Lives Matter flag. The charges against ReeAnna Segin were arson, causing/risking a catastrophe and other misdemeanors. After Segin was released, however, her case smoldered on, for he/she claimed that his/her human rights and dignity were violated since he/she was locked up for four hours with male inmates, that is, with other humans cursed or gifted with a penis. Continue reading
The institution of Donald Trump’s scattershot tariff policies are having a negative effect on consumer prices at the supermarket even as the White House paints a rosy picture of the nation’s economy. Although Trump promised American workers wage increases arising from his giveaway tax breaks for billionaires, few laborers have seen any increase in their take-home pay. This has resulted in a mild form of “stagflation,” which occurs in an economy suffering from inflation with no commensurate increase in wages. Because unemployment is low, the traditional definition of stagflation—inflation with high unemployment—does not fit the current economic environment. Instead, some economists are calling inflation with low-paying jobs with low unemployment “slumpflation.” Continue reading
It has become way too easy to lockdown this nation. Continue reading
Djibouti has been landlocked Ethiopia’s only access to the sea and depends on port taxes paid by Ethiopia for most of its income and with the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab on the Red Sea about to open finds itself faced with losing most of the Ethiopian trade it has enjoyed a monopoly on for the past twenty years. Continue reading
In cahoots with dark forces in Washington, Facebook is an anti-social media censoring machine. Continue reading
When Mike Treen, the national director of the ‘Unite Union’ in New Zealand arrived at the airport in the capital, Auckland, on August 1, a group of people were anxiously waiting for him at the terminal with Palestinian flags and flowers. They hugged him, chanted for Palestinian freedom and performed the customary native Haka dance. Continue reading
On Tuesday, Caracas, Venezuela-based Latin American broadcaster Telesur reported the following: “Telesur’s English’s page has been removed from Facebook for the second time this year without any specific reason being provided.” Continue reading
Less than a week after Argentine lawmakers rejected a bill that would have legalized some abortions, the apparent first casualty from their action has emerged: a woman died from complications from an at-home abortion. Continue reading
Corporate media in this country deliver a steady onslaught of anti-Venezuelan propaganda. The Washington Post fumes about Venezuelan “pirates,” while the New York Times reports that Ecuador is overwhelmed by desperate Venezuelan migrants. Unfortunately the propaganda has succeeded to a large degree. “Socialism doesn’t work, just look at Venezuela,” is an all too common trope. It is rare that anyone with a public platform reveals a simple truth. Venezuela’s problems were created by the United States government, first during the Obama administration and now continuing under Trump’s. Continue reading
V. S. Naipaul, the Nobel winning author who just died, was, like so many people, an enigma, at least in his writing. Lauded for his prose style and exquisite way with words, he was seriously criticized for his demeaning of Islam, women, Africans, and others in post-colonial countries, including the Caribbean from whence he came. Such criticism was amply justified. He seems also to have been bigoted and irascible personally, while charming when he wished. A strange character, many of whose political and cultural views I find abhorrent. Continue reading
From the age of nine (1942) I was allowed to attend the Saturday afternoon matinee at the Killester cinema in Dublin where we children were exposed to the diet of Hollywood junk projections spreading throughout the world at that time. Continue reading
The white nationalist immigration policy established by Donald Trump’s policy adviser, Stephen Miller, and his former U.S. Senate boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is putting in jeopardy a number of governments-in-exile and political leaders receiving asylum in the United States. Since World War II, the United States has been one of the few countries in the world that extended a welcome to governments overthrown in coups and military invasions. However, under the Trump administration’s policy of reviewing the status of permanent resident immigrants in the United States, the welcome mat may soon be pulled out from under a number of exiled governments and their leaders. Continue reading
During a closed-door and off-the-record meeting last week, top Facebook executive Campbell Brown reportedly warned news publishers that refusal to cooperate with the tech behemoth’s efforts to “revitalize journalism” will leave media outlets dying “like in a hospice.” Continue reading
To understand how screwed-up America is, consider that patriotism is now associated with the suppression of dissent. Continue reading
When Trump’s not blaming foreigners for everything that ails America, he’s blaming regulations. Continue reading
Monopolies aren’t merely un-American—they’re virulently anti-American. They suppress our fundamental values of fairness and opportunity for all. Continue reading
The federal arrest and indictment for insider stock trading of Representative Chris Collins (R-NY), the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president, had a familiar air about it. Indicted along with Collins were his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins’s fiancee. Continue reading
Android and iPhone users may be under the impression that Google is not tracking their location data if they’ve turned off “Location History” on their devices. Continue reading
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How Trump might win reelection with the continued help of the Democrats
Posted on August 22, 2018 by Jack Balkwill
It’s difficult to see how President Trump could be reelected if he stays on his current path, pushing capitalism to excess (leaving no billionaire behind). After all, it was his lurch to the left which got him the presidency, as many of the Rust Belt working class believed the Democrats had abandoned them. Continue reading →