Yes, Donald Trump, a sexual predator, a misogynist, a racist, a liar, a cheat, a con man extraordinaire, and a narcissist, who has never held public office and may not even be as rich as he claims, will, barring anything unforeseen, become president of the United States on January 20, 2017. Continue reading
It occurred to me in recent years that the act of being progressive is not a political position but rather a mental state. Continue reading
Why would the American people elect a racist, misogynist, narcissistic, criminal to the presidency of this country? Continue reading
A populist wave that began with Brexit in June became a tsunami as Trump’s cyclone hit Washington Tuesday night, leaving the capital in a shambles. His is a story straight out of Grimm’s fairytales. the peasants rose up. The phony civility of the neoconservative nightmare that Americans (and the world) have endured for years is cracking. Continue reading
One likely winner to come out of the 2016 US presidential election: accuracy in polling. Obviously not past but future polling! Continue reading
Roche AG, a Swiss multinational health-care company, needed to trial a new anti-malaria drug, Mefloquine, also known under the brand name Lariam, in malaria-prone areas of Africa. This was despite known serious side effects, including long-term health problems such as depression, hallucinations, anxiety and neurological effects such as poor balance, depression and impaired mental health. Continue reading
In a report reminiscent of science fiction, U.S. Air Force scientists said this week that sending electric pulses to soldier’s brains is an effective technique to improve attention span and cognitive ability. Continue reading
The earthquake in Oklahoma on Sunday that damaged dozens of buildings near the pipeline epicenter of Cushing is further proof that fossil fuel extraction activities are too dangerous to continue, environmentalists said Monday. Continue reading
There has just been a generational political earthquake in the United States and the after shocks are potentially going to be huge. Indeed, on November 8, 2016, against all odds, the Republican candidate Donald Trump (1946- ) was elected to serve as the 45th American president, repeating ad nauseam his main slogan, “Make America Great Again.” He will be the first American president since Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) to occupy the White House without having personal political experience. Continue reading
This columnist did not see a Donald Trump victory coming. The degree of disgust directed at an awful candidate was more than I had predicted. Neither the corporate media, nor Wall Street, nor the pundits, nor the pollsters saw this coming, either. Their defeat and proof of their uselessness is total. Those of us who rejected the elite consensus and didn’t support Hillary Clinton should be proud. Continue reading
I will not be surprised if President-elect Trump changes the national motto from e pluribus unum to capto per naturale eius debent (grab them by the pussy). This will show the rest of the world that our leader is a celebrity and we may do whatever we want, not that the rest of the world doesn’t already know the Empire feels this way, just clarifying. Continue reading
Well, the angry white vote did the trick and Ms. Killary went down in defeat. One hopes that many will realize that this election was not about what people voted FOR . . . but rather AGAINST. Continue reading
The Fatah movement is involved in a massive tug-of-war that will ultimately define its future. The conflict is between current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and once Gaza strongman, Mohammed Dahlan. Continue reading
Louis XVI needed a revolution; Napoleon needed two historic military defeats; the Spanish Empire in the New World needed multiple revolutions; the Russian Czar needed a communist revolution; the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empire needed World War I; Nazi Germany needed World War II; Imperial Japan needed two atomic bombs; the Portuguese Empire in Africa needed a military coup at home; the Soviet Empire needed Mikhail Gorbachev . . . What will the American Empire need? Continue reading
Elections come and go but when “The Don,” Barack Obama, meets with his inner circle of Capos every Tuesday morning its breakfast with drones as in the Murder Incorporated assassination program. Continue reading
“What’s he talking about?” you might be thinking, “didn’t America lose the war?” Continue reading
In the last week of October, civil society came another step closer to achieving a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. Delegates from many large social movements and networks met alongside state representatives at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, to further proceedings for an open-ended intergovernmental working group set up two years ago. Despite considerable opposition from Western powers to a binding treaty in any form (particularly the United States, United Kingdom and other countries of the European Union), activist groups are now ramping up the struggle as part of a Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples’ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity. Continue reading
This week we learned that Jewish institutions insist upon the Protestant Church apologising for its founder’s views of the Jews. The Jewish Algemeiner writes that “the 500th anniversary of the Reformation would be the ‘perfect time’ for Protestant leaders to recognise and apologise for the ‘horrific antisemitism’ of their movement’s founder, Martin Luther.” Continue reading
Interest groups and lobbyists have been busy peddling their client’s interests since 1816 when Delaware manufacturer Isaac Briggs teamed up with his colleagues in an attempt to convince federal lawmakers to impose tariffs on the import of foreign made manufactures. Continue reading
Here is the reason why we are currently even closer to a civilization-ending nuclear war than was the case during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 . . . Continue reading
Our world is on the cusp of a new era. Traditional taboos are being smashed. Respect has become an old-fashioned word. Nothing is too low or too dirty to be ignored, overlooked or even applauded by some. Continue reading
Throughout this trying election season, we’ve been told how much is at stake with our vote. But the success of any democracy depends on continuing to pay attention long after we cast our ballots. Continue reading
As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds. Continue reading
For those who might wonder why foreign policy makers repeatedly make bad choices, some insight might be drawn from the following analysis. The action here plays out in the United States, but the lessons are probably universal. Continue reading
It is impossible to count the myriad ways in which the media botched FBI Director James Comey’s Friday announcement that the agency had found a cache of emails that seemingly (a key word) pertain to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server. I heard the news via CNN at an airport while waiting to board a plane. No one needs to be told that CNN is a journalistic disgrace—a textbook case of the decline of American media, all the more depressing because, unlike Fox News and MSNBC, it purports to be a real news organization. Instead, it is a ratings machine, and it is beyond contemptible. Continue reading
As U.S. officials continue to accuse Russia of meddling with the U.S. presidential election, an accusation that they have provided no evidence whatsoever to support, let’s review some of the U.S. government’s history of meddling with elections in others countries. Continue reading
As millions prepare to do just what Smith warns against, including hundreds of thousands who think themselves dedicated to ending such control, it’s time we understand American mind management’s great success at reducing voters to herds of human cattle whether from a conservative right, a liberal left, or trapped in the middle of the political desert called the two party system under one class control. Continue reading
With less than a week until the election, just about every voter in the swing states has received dozens of robocalls, e-mails, letters, postcards, and exposure to almost-uncountable radio, TV, digital, satellite, and social media ads. Most are attack ads, with similar messages. Continue reading
The first “Battle of Kunduz” took place from April to October 2015 for control of the city, where Taliban forces were playing cat and mouse for months and finally overran the city, forcing government forces to flee. The capture marked the first time since 2001 that the Taliban had taken control of a major city in Afghanistan. The Afghan government claimed to have largely recaptured Kunduz by October 1 in a counterattack. But by 6 October, the Taliban had recaptured substantial portions of Kunduz. Continue reading
Last July, the Palestinian Authority took the unexpected, although belated step of seeking Arab backing in suing Britain over the Balfour Declaration. That ‘declaration’ was the first ever explicit commitment made by Britain, and the West in general, to establish a Jewish homeland atop an existing Palestinian homeland. Continue reading
When 95-year-old Rosanell Eaton first registered to vote in the Jim Crow South, she was forced to pass a written literacy test and recite the preamble of the Constitution from memory. Seven decades after becoming one of the first African American voters in her county, Eaton once again found herself facing obstacles undermining her access to the franchise. Continue reading
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What happened in this election?
Posted on November 11, 2016 by John Chuckman
Brushing away the extreme claims and rhetoric of much election analysis, there are some observations which deserve attention. These unfortunately mostly provide hard lessons and not a lot of encouragement for people who hold to principles of democracy, enlightenment, and progressivity. Continue reading →