The ongoing India-US rapprochement has been couched in terms of a pact between the “two largest democracies in the world” and similar superlatives. While geographically-challenged Americans may be forgiven for not recognizing their immediate northern neighbour as both a larger nation and a better democracy, mnemonically-challenged Indian pundits should nonetheless subject India-US ties to trend-based reality checks. Continue reading
Presenting the 2018 National Defense Strategy of the United States last Friday at the Johns Hopkins University, Secretary of Defense James Mattis painted a picture of a dangerous world in which U.S. power—and all of the supposed “good” that it does around the world—is on the decline. Continue reading
No one is safe. Continue reading
It’s common knowledge that our political system is awash with money. And that money, despite some flimsy legal barriers, comes with strings attached. Continue reading
The great GOP tax cut heist was never about boosting economic growth and jobs creation—entirely about transferring America’s wealth from ordinary people to corporate predators and super-rich households. Continue reading
The Safari Club, formed by the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia, Israel, France, Iran, Egypt, and Morocco in 1976—with a “wink and a nod” from the Central Intelligence Agency—was responsible for much of the West’s clandestine operations against the Soviet Union in conflict zones extending from Afghanistan to Somalia and Angola to Nicaragua. It is ironic that a group of intelligence agencies and guerrilla groups supporting the Houthis in Yemen is now taking a page from the old Safari Club to combat against the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and their proxies in Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and the greater Middle East. Continue reading
If it can be said that any one person is responsible for Donald Trump’s election, then Robert Mercer is the clear choice. The founder of Renaissance Technologies hedge fund is a billionaire, backer of Republican politicians to the tune of $25 million in 2016, and patron of the effort to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union. When Trump’s campaign was foundering under the onslaught of Hillary Clinton’s $1 billion, Mercer brought him a lifeline of cash and staff like Steve Bannon. Continue reading
On January 15, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day. His famous speech, ‘I Have a Dream’ was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society. Continue reading
The set was real but illusionary: A legendary old New England hotel dressed festively for Christmas and the holiday season. Norman Rockwell’s magical realism. The lobby full with merriment, the cozy fire dancing to the sweet sound of violin and piano Christmas music mixed with a subtle alcoholic fragrance. Main Street, U.S.A. Snow on the street and the classic strains of “White Christmas” in the inner air. A mythic setting for meeting a legendary actor. Continue reading
In September, the giant retail monopolist Amazon announced its intention to build a second corporate headquarters in Someplace, North America. Continue reading
Vice President Mike Pence is an embarrassment to the office he holds—a neocon Christian fascist, an evangelical lunatic, a hate-mongering Islamophobe. Continue reading
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has broken his silence to expose that years of US mediation in the peace process was a farce designed to keep his people subdued, dangling on a hope and a prayer. Abbas has finally done away with diplomatic-speak to frankly disclose what he has long known to be true. The Oslo Accords is nothing but a sham existing purely on paper. Continue reading
America has never had a president as deeply unpopular at this stage of his presidency, or one who has sucked up more political oxygen. This isn’t good news for the Republican Party this November or in the future, because the GOP has sold its soul to Trump. Continue reading
Indoctrinated for decades by relativism, we’re supposed to consider all life styles equal and never pass judgments. There must be legitimate reasons for a culture to embrace, for example, child marriage, bride kidnapping, female circumcision, Oprah Winfrey or universal, all day long access to pornography. Continue reading
The main function of the National Security Administration is to collect the dirt on members of the House and Senate, the staffs, principal contributors, and federal judges. The dirt is used to enforce silence about the crimes of the security agencies. Continue reading
Gallup surveyed in 134 countries in 2017, and on January 18 reported that: Median approval of U.S. leadership across the 134 countries surveyed in 2017 reached 30%, the lowest point since Gallup began tracking this measure annually in 2007. Disapproval of U.S. leadership increased almost as much as approval declined. The 43% median disapproval, up 15 points from the previous year, was a new record as well, not only for the U.S. but for any other major global power [there were three others—Germany, Russia, and China—that] Gallup asked [this question] about in the past decade. Continue reading
The US Supreme Court may be about to make a second Trump term inevitable. Continue reading
A new report released Thursday details how American anti-choice activists have used their “insidious power” to chip away at reproductive rights, infiltrate the Trump administration, and advance “their fringe agenda” nationwide. Continue reading
“What much of the Left does not sufficiently appreciate is that the two-party system is a SYSTEM, that the parties operate in tandem, that it is the ROLE of the Democratic Party to be the lesser-of-the-two evils, to move to the Left when the masses begin to become radicalized so as to prevent the formation of a true people’s party. In that sense, the theory of the lesser-of-the-two evils is the greatest evil.” Continue reading
Do you overeat? Did your boyfriend just break up with you? Does no one return your emails? Do you fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning? If so, you may be suffering from mental illness! Mental illness is a highly stigmatized, life-long condition, that millions do not even realize they have and only a pharmaceutical drug can fix says Pharma and its operatives. Continue reading
Cruelty and recklessness—those are the two sins of which attorney Joseph Welch accused Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954 when, having had enough of the Republican’s redbaiting smears, Welsh famously asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” Continue reading
Last year on January 20, Donald J. Trump was sworn into office as America’s 45th president. Continue reading
The United States’ global standing has plummeted under the Trump administration, according to Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) annual report and an international Gallup survey regarding the country’s reputation as a world leader. Continue reading
The evidence is in: The biggest beneficiaries of the Trump-Republican tax plan are shareholders. Continue reading
When the US Supreme Court consisted of civil libertarians such as William Douglas, William Brennan, and Thurgood Marshall, Republicans argued that the Supreme Court was coddling criminals and inventing rights. To prevent legislation from the bench, it was necessary, Republicans said, to elect Republican presidents who would appoint a different court that would respect the Constitution. Continue reading
Just as Republican George W. Bush invented the pretext of “weapons of mass destruction,” in 2003, to deceive Americans and the rest of the world and to justify a military invasion of Iraq, Donald Trump seems to follow in Bush’s footsteps in actively searching for a pretext for another military confrontation in the Middle East, this time against Iran. George W. Bush had even claimed, at the time, that religion was behind his military interventionism when he said, in the summer of 2003, in a bout of hubristic delusion, that “God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq.” Continue reading
Ahead of its orchestrated 9/11/73 coup in Chile, replacing democratic governance with fascist tyranny, Washington made its economy scream. Continue reading
Not a day passes without a prominent Israeli politician or intellectual making an outrageous statement against Palestinians. Many of these statements tend to garner little attention or evoke rightly deserved outrage. Continue reading
I’m tired of liars, scoundrels and cheats. Continue reading
On January 11, the Trump administration issued a cruel announcement: If you can’t find a job, don’t count on being able to get health care. Continue reading
America’s relations with nations around the world are in free fall mode. Donald Trump’s frequent xenophobic and racist outbursts, unprecedented in modern history, have resulted in foreign ministries around the world calling in senior U.S. diplomats for explanations about Trump’s comments. Trump’s actions have had even greater consequences for U.S. foreign policy and global stability. Continue reading
RSS
The violently familiar
Posted on January 29, 2018 by Missy Comley Beattie
We drove through Dotard country before anyone called him a dotard. Saw signs in yards: “PROUD DEPLORABLE.” Now, weeks after the Christmas decorations, the life-sized crèches and the flashing red and green lights dancing around windows, have been dismantled and entrusted to the basement or attic ‘til next year, those homages to Trump still stand, like monuments to a Confederate hero. Continue reading →