On January 23, an overcrowded smuggling boat capsized off the coast of Aden in Southern Yemen. Smugglers packed 152 passengers from Somalia and Ethiopia in the boat and then, while at sea, reportedly pulled guns on the migrants to extort additional money from them. The boat capsized, according to The Guardian, after the shooting prompted panic. The death toll, currently 30, is expected to rise. Dozens of children were on board. Continue reading
When out-of-town friends visit, I like to take them to Camden. With its high crime, horrible government and general wretchedness, it’s the worst of America’s present and, if all goes according to plans, our stereotypical future. Soon as you cross into Collingswood or Gloucester, however, the graffiti, trash, abandoned houses, sagging pants and neck tattoos disappear. In fact, South Jersey is dotted with quaint boroughs featuring relatively active Main Streets. Continue reading
The staid financial and political news magazine The Economist is not prone to publish outlandish news stories and headlines. For that reason, the magazine’s readers around the world have taken notice of its annual Democracy Index for 2017. The magazine’s 2016 Index warned that the United States had dropped from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy.” Continue reading
From February 1-7, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica, US-allied countries, serving privileged interests exclusively, exploiting others, the way America operates. Continue reading
On November 18, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt spoke about how Google will help to defeat Russia. He said that Google helps in this effort not by “censoring” Russian news media, but by “deranking” them in Google web-searches, so that web pages from these sites, which he calls “propaganda,” will show so far down in the rankings in any Google-search, so that users of Google will not encounter (or will be vastly less likely to encounter) Russian sites—or any other non-mainstream sites (such as this one), which refuse unquestioningly to trumpet government lies. Continue reading
Although the genocide of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has gathered greater media attention in recent months, there is no indication that the international community is prepared to act in any meaningful way, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded in border camps between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Continue reading
I’ll be honest: I didn’t watch Trump’s State of the Union address when it aired. Continue reading
In the ravaged streets of Gaza and the shrinking hills of the West bank, Palestinians—in desperation—scream his name. On the walls of the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon his name is spray painted—in hope—beneath yellow flags baring the logo of Hamas. In prayer services across Palestine his name is invoked, begging for his return, the return of Palestine and . . . salvation from the increasing horrors of occupation. Continue reading
I watched the sentencing of Dr. Nassar, convicted of molesting under the age of consent Olympic athletes. CNN ran the court drama for hours, interjecting comments from their regular panelists telling us what a monster Nassar was, sometimes concluding that he is the worst child molester of all. Continue reading
History has a funny way of circling back on itself. Continue reading
Lukasz Niec is a Polish born green card holder and Wisconsin physician. He is now held in immigration detention because of juvenile crimes and adult interactions with police which didn’t result in convictions. Despite the minor nature of his offenses he is deportable. But it must be pointed out that his plight was not caused by Donald Trump. Continue reading
Donald Trump, like other autocrats, clearly rejects the trappings of a democracy. Trump has demanded total loyalty from the Department of Justice and security apparatuses like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and he has set about on a course to purge them of anyone who fails to toe his political line. Trump also rejects the independence of the federal courts and has sought to pack federal benches with unqualified sycophants. Continue reading
It is well known that effective propaganda works through slow, imperceptible repetition. “The slow building up of reflexes and myths” is the way Jacques Ellul put it in his classic, Propaganda. This works through commission and omission. Continue reading
Trump heads a neocon infested police state, a fantasy democracy, a warrior nation waging endless wars of aggression, raping and destroying one country after another—exploiting people at home and abroad, wanting dominance over all other nations. Continue reading
Fresh off passing massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, Trump and congressional Republicans want to use the deficit they’ve created to justify huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Continue reading
Governors and mayors insist that giving our tax dollars to corporations to lure them to move to our cities is good public policy. The corporations create jobs, those workers pay taxes, and—voila!—the giveaway pays for itself! Continue reading
The goldfish and koi started surrendering to the surface around Halloween. Bass, crappie, catfish and the distinctive sunfish/bluegill hybrids that inhabited the pond for 140 years followed. Soon the 5.2 acre South Pond in Chicago’s Lincoln Park sported a slick of shiny, golden and still moving fish, kind of like a macabre woman’s drink. Continue reading
It is upsetting and angering to see, time after time, so-called “leftists” refer to international banking with the name of the Rothschilds, a Jewish family. Continue reading
Israelis should be the last people on earth to indulge in open racism and bigotry when many of their forefathers were victims of discrimination, forced resettlement, pogroms and Nazi genocide. Continue reading
Imagine waking up to the shock, the excitement of the new Germany in 1933, when Hitler became chancellor. An earthshaking moment, promising a new Germany, for Germans. Overnight, the new flag is raised everywhere, children don uniforms, fascist supporters face off against the communists and social democrats. Continue reading
Back-to-back hurricanes that devastated Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 and a false ballistic missile attack warning that traumatized Hawai’i have these “Ignored Abroad” territories and one state looking at separation from the United States. Although independence can be a costly endeavor, the Trump administration’s lack of empathy and support for Puerto Rico, forty percent of which is still lacking electrical power four months after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island commonwealth’s infrastructure, the Puerto Rican independence movement is receiving a fresh look from many Puertorriqueños. Continue reading
Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed voice of American working people, has decreed that the prices of washing machines and solar panels shall rise. Continue reading
Amid nonsensical claims by congressional Republicans, including Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Representatives Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and John Ratcliffe (R-TX), that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is hosting a “secret society” intent on ousting Donald Trump from the presidency comes word from our Middle East sources that the founder of the infamous Blackwater mercenary firm, Erik Prince, is creating a secret army in the Middle East with strong links to the secret fascist Roman Catholic sect, Opus Dei. Prince runs a number of private military firms based in the Sheikh Zayed Military City, located outside of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and in nearby Dubai, the UAE’s financial hub. Continue reading
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now has access to a nationwide license plate recognition database—a trove of billions of records that’s growing by the day. Continue reading
Recently, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) revealed a small but significant risk of breast cancer with regular hormonal birth control pills. The longer women take them, the higher the risk. Yet, says the FDA about one popular hormone-based birth control pill, “Most studies suggest that the use of oral contraceptives is not associated with an overall increase in the risk of developing breast cancer.” Continue reading
Peter Jenkins, a former British ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, expresses concerns about the decisions of France, Germany, and the UK to appease President Trump on fixing “flaws” in the Iranian nuclear agreement. It is worth a read to see that the European governments are still Washington’s toadies despite the “hate Trump” attitude that allegedly prevails among Washington’s European vassals. Continue reading
Trump to global CEOs and financiers in Davos, Switzerland: “America is open for business.” We’re now a great place for you to make money. We’ve slashed taxes and regulations so you can make a bundle here. Continue reading
Indeed the people of Lebanon have seen too much war. Though their military has not in its history set foot on foreign soil, remaining in the minds of the Lebanese are one bloody civil war and three separate wars of invasion in 1982, 1999, and 2006. Now it would appear that a new war is brewing again on its southern border. Continue reading
Thirty states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form. The herb has been shown to have significant therapeutic value for a wide range of medical conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, lung disease, anxiety, muscle spasms, hepatitis C, inflammatory bowel disease, and arthritis pain. Continue reading
Count the ways—Trump’s rage for endless wars of aggression, his contempt for ecosanity, his disdain for ordinary Americans he vowed to serve equitably—his willingness to use nuclear weapons for the first time since 1945, today’s weapons infinitely more powerful than Fat Man and Little Boy. Continue reading
Back in 2007, just a month and a half after I was first elected president of the Writers Guild of America East, we and our friends and colleagues at the Writers Guild West were plunged into a strike against the networks and studios. For me, it was one hell of an initiation. Continue reading
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Trump’s divide-and-conquer strategy
Posted on February 6, 2018 by Robert Reich
If Robert Mueller finds that Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election, or even if Trump fires Mueller before he makes such a finding, Trump’s supporters will protect Trump from any political fallout. Continue reading →