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
Monsanto is one of the most reviled corporate predators for good reason. Continue reading
Donald Trump promised to be America’s dealmaker-in-chief, touting his “extraordinary” ability to negotiate. But so far, Trump has shown he can’t make a deal. Continue reading
The Trudeau government has been caught by surprise. What may seem like a run-of-the-mill critical tweet penned by Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs boomeranged badly. Saudi Arabia’s reaction to being ‘ordered’ to release jailed activists ‘immediately’ was swift and punitive. Continue reading
On August 9, a U.S.-supported Saudi airstrike bombed a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa’ada, a city in northern Yemen. The New York Times reported that the students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa’ada health department, the attack killed at least forty-three people. Continue reading
There is little doubt that Donald Trump despises California. California’s environmental regulations have become national and international standards. Trump, who is guided only by revenge in his decision-making process, has California in his gun sights. Continue reading
An astounding 10,000 2- and 3-year-olds in the U.S. are on drugs like Ritalin and Adderall for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder it was reported in 2014. Pediatric “psychopharmacology” treating conduct disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and more has become a gold mine for Pharma. Pre-school kids are even “diagnosed” with schizophrenia. Fifty percent of pediatricians prescribe kids insomnia drugs. Children are ideal patients because they have to do what their parents, teachers and doctors tell them. Continue reading
In cahoots with US dark forces, Facebook wants truth-telling on vital world and national issues censored, content diverging from the official narrative suppressed. Continue reading
As many readers of this website have noticed, the United States has lost its character and become a dysfunctional society. In place of a largely homogeneous population once united in veneration of the Constitution, there exists today massive diversity which Identity Politics has used to disunite the population into separate interest groups. Continue reading
As a result of pressure exerted on Donald Trump by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the U.S. to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, and the European Union on international controls over Iran’s nuclear program and the appointment of neo-con war hawk John Bolton as U.S. national security adviser, the Trump administration has imposed a set of new economic sanctions on Iran. Continue reading
In a huge win for everyone concerned about the devastating effects corporate consolidation has on local media outlets and independent journalism, Tribune Media announced on Thursday that it is terminating its proposed $3.9 billion merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group and suing the right-wing media giant for “breach of contract.” Continue reading
What a mess. Continue reading
The father of 11-year-old, Abdul Rahman Nofal contacted me, asking for help. His son was shot in the leg during Gaza’s ‘Great March of Return’ protests. The Strip’s dilapidated health care system could not save the little boy’s leg, as it was later amputated. Continue reading
From inception, democracy in America was pure fantasy. No rule of the people ever existed—governance of, by, and for the privileged few alone at the expense of most others. Continue reading
Across Africa, outside nations are vying for influence as the economic and military power of the United States decreases on the continent. Post-colonial spheres of influence established over newly-independent African states are no longer relevant. Replacing paternalistic former colonial overseers like France, Britain, and the United States are China, Russia, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in what resembles the most frenetic “scramble for Africa” since the Congress of Berlin concluded in 1885. Continue reading
Americans schooled by films, comics, sitcoms and other forms of capital media might well believe Russia invaded the USA during our 18thcentury revolution and that’s why we’ve been enemies ever since. Actually, the USA and its future European lap dogs, along with Japan, invaded Russia in 1918 under various pretenses covering the need to destroy an uprising that had the gall to replace a holy family of royal wealth with some stupid ideals about ending poverty and promoting actual rule by a democratic majority. Continue reading
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Trump’s tariffs are driving inflation on supermarket shelves across the country
Posted on August 17, 2018 by Wayne Madsen
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 →