Skyrocketing wealth inequality isn’t just wrong. It’s also weakening our economy. Continue reading
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Krysten Sinema is the epitome of political corruption
When Bobby Kennedy went after organized crime in the early 1960s, one of the things he learned was that the Mafia had a series of rituals new members went through to declare their loyalty and promise they’d never turn away from their new benefactors. Once in, they’d be showered with money and protection, but they could never leave and even faced serious problems if they betrayed the syndicate. Continue reading
The media’s normalization of Trump’s coup attempt
It comes as no real surprise that on October 2, The New York Times ran what many objective journalists and pundits are calling a puff-piece by Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt on Donald Trump’s “coup lawyer” John Eastman. The sub-text of the headline states: “John Eastman was a little-known but respected conservative lawyer.” Critics of the article point out that Eastman was considered as a fringe attorney not much different than Trump’s “Kraken” lawyer, Sidney Powell, or the clearly unhinged Lin Wood, not to mention the lying drunk and flatulent Rudolph Giuliani. Continue reading
Thousands of police killings are unreported
Police killings of Black people are a feature of American law enforcement and they are deliberately undercounted.
The New York Times and other outlets report that most police killings in this country are “mislabeled.” The sanitized language is worse than an understatement because it implies that these murders are categorized improperly due to ordinary human error. In fact, there is a long and sordid history of covering up these crimes. The initial coroner’s report for George Floyd, whose murder was witnessed by millions of people, reported drug use and underlying health conditions as the causes of death. Continue reading
From JFK-MLK-RFK to the Brooks Brothers Mob to MAGA … America’s fascist coup escalates
America’s long-term fascist coup may have begun on November 22, 1963, with the murder of John Kennedy. Continue reading
Why does Congress fight over childcare but not F-35s?
President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema. Continue reading
The Postal Service is a service—not a business
It’s supposed to deliver mail cheaply and effectively, not turn a profit. And it does.
Corporate ideologues never cease blathering that government programs should be run like a business. Continue reading
We are taking a break
Last week was a grueling week and this one started off no better. Continue reading
Members of the Supreme Court should be investigated for role in insurrection
At least two members of the dominant Trump faction on the Supreme Court are worthy of being investigated for their possible roles in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Justice Samuel Alito was considered the “go-to” member of the court by one-time Donald Trump election challenge attorney Sidney Powell. Powell, whose veracity on a number of issues has been shown to be severely lacking, may have acted out of character by revealing the game plan behind Trump’s encouragement of his supporters halting the congressional certification of the Electoral College count on January 6. Continue reading
A new water source that could make drought a thing of the past
Lack of fresh water is now a global crisis. Water shortages mean food shortages, with hunger creating death tolls substantially exceeding those of the current Covid-19 crisis. According to the United Nations, some 800 million people are without clean water, and 40% of the world’s population is impacted by drought. By one measure, almost 100 percent of the Western United States is currently in drought, setting an all-time 122-year record. Meanwhile, local “water wars” rage, with states, cities and whole countries battling each other for scarce water resources. Continue reading
Baby food alert: Interview with Asian-based food processing consultant
Last year, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation found almost 6,000 food items contaminated with microbes, excessive food additives and agricultural/veterinary drugs –– and memories of melamine in milk and U.S. pet food heighten concerns. Continue reading
The least sympathetic people in the entire world?
They just may be the super-rich who’ve bought mega-million condos in midtown Manhattan’s now infamous needle towers.
Have you heard about the people in that new condo building over at 432? They’re having quite a spat with the developer. Floods from the plumbing. Scary noises and vibrations. The whole building had to empty out for an overhaul of the electrical system, and plenty of folks living there fear getting stuck—for hours—on the elevators. Such a shame. Continue reading
How the “polarized” political parties work together against the public interest
“Polarization” is the word most associated with the positions of the Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The mass media and the commentators never tire of this focus, in part because such clashes create the flashes conducive to daily coverage. Continue reading
Women’s marches Saturday to slam Texas abortion ban
WASHINGTON—Four and a half years ago, half a million people—mostly women sporting pink knitted hats—descended on Washington, D.C., to show loudly and clearly they stood against misogynist GOP Oval Office occupant Donald Trump and for a woman’s reproductive choice. Millions more joined them nationwide. Now expect them again. Continue reading
CIA plot to murder Assange is open season on independent journalism
If Assange is not freed then the war on truth is going to explode. All independent journalism and basic human rights are under threat.
A report that the CIA was plotting to murder or kidnap Julian Assange is credible and it should not be in the least bit surprising that the agency sometimes known as Murder Inc would stoop to such criminality. Continue reading
Native Americans: The first and forgotten slaves
As a full-time substitute teacher in a school system on the Eastern US seaboard, I am assigned to cover for state-certified teachers who are absent from duty. I’ve had many assignments over the past couple of years including working with special education/students with disabilities, and monitoring Spanish, Math, Art, and US History classes. It was the content, or lack thereof, of the US History class that was the impetus for this article. Continue reading
Afghanistan’s impoverished people live amid enormous riches
On September 25, 2021, Afghanistan’s Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammad Hanif said that his government does not want “help and cooperation from the world like the previous government. The old system was supported by the international community for 20 years but still failed.” It is fair to say that Hanif has no experience in running a complex economy, since he has spent most of his career doing political and diplomatic work for the Taliban (both in Afghanistan and in Qatar). However, during the first Taliban government from 1996 to 2001, Hanif was the planning minister and in that position, dealt with economic affairs. Continue reading
On Afghanistan and legitimate resistance
Should Hamas & Hezbollah learn from the Taliban?
An urgent task is awaiting us: considering the progression of events, we must quickly liberate ourselves from the limits and confines placed on the Afghanistan discourse, which have been imposed by US-centered Western propaganda for over 20 years, and counting. A first step is that we must not allow the future political discourse pertaining to this very subject to remain hostage to American priorities—successes, failures and geostrategic interests. Continue reading
“Race norming” and health care Jim Crow
Health care disparities are inevitable when notions of white superiority are guiding principles in every sector of society.
The term “race norming ” ought to be immediately suspected as having a nefarious intent. Anything referred to as norming in a racist society invariably ends with Black people getting the short end of the stick. The concept that Black bodies are anatomically different may be known as “race correction”, “ethnic adjustment”, or “race adjustment” and causes Black people to be undertreated for pain, undiagnosed for serious illness, and denied life saving treatments because of an idea which is inherently white supremacist and very much unscientific. Continue reading
Big money’s war on the Build Back Better plan
The administration’s jobs and infrastructure package is very popular, but corporate lobbyists are fighting it tooth and nail.
Right now, corporations and the ultra-rich are spending millions to derail President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Behind the scenes, they’re hard at work to keep our elected officials from helping our country recover from the pandemic. Continue reading
Big Pharma corporate lobby vs. everyday Americans
Organizers take to the streets to call on Big Pharma to halt its assault on popular reforms to lower prescription drug prices.
Armed with a “STOP PHARMA GREED” banner and a large, menacing image of a greedy industry executive, member leaders from People’s Action rallied in front of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Washington, D.C., headquarters last week to protest drug companies’ relentless pursuit of profits at the expense of everyday people. Continue reading
Trump, Kushner and other real estate thieves should take notice of Berlin
Voters in Berlin not only re-elected a Social Democratic-Green-Left coalition government but also voted for a non-binding referendum that calls for the Berlin government to purchase at a fair market value some 243,000 apartments owned mainly by two German companies, Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen SE. The cost of purchasing the rental units is estimated to be some $45 billion. Housing costs have skyrocketed in the German capital as German real estate companies continue to charge tenants usurious rents. Continue reading
Europe after Angela Merkel: Is the Atlantic era over?
Any answer must begin with France’s role in the EU and include the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Just what shape Germany’s governing coalition will take is still unclear in the aftermath of the September 26 election, which saw the Social Democrats (SPD), led by finance minister Olaf Scholz, come away with just over a quarter of the vote, at 25.7 percent. The balance of power in Germany is now held by the Greens and the Free Democrats, which, taken together, received more votes than the victorious SPD or the Christian Democratic Union, the party of outgoing Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. Continue reading
Voters in four elections reject anti-public health parties
Certain far-right political parties that hoped to capitalize on their anti-vaccine and anti-public health messages to gain power in elections during the last month have come away sorely disappointed. Voters in California, Canada, Germany, and Iceland firmly rejected so-called “populist” parties and their candidates that argued against vaccination mandates and masking in public places. Continue reading
Memo proves real Trump coup was underway Jan. 6
Thanks to the work of the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 and journalists connected with the Washington Post and other outlets, we now know that an actual coup was underway before and on Jan. 6 when the Capitol came under siege from right-wing mobs. The conspiracy went far deeper than just the thugs and gangs that laid siege to Washington, D.C., that day, however. Continue reading
Angela Merkel governed Germany to the left of Bernie Sanders: Why don’t Americans know?
The headline at Fox “News” blares: “German Elections: Big Setback for Merkel’s Conservatives as Center-Left Party Comes Out on Top.” In a single sentence, it summarizes everything wrong with how American media and the American public understand what “conservative” means. Continue reading
2020 election deniers still clinging to conspiracy theories after Arizona debacle
Arizona’s review found Biden won, but raised new doubts. Meanwhile, a closer look at Cyber Ninjas’ report finds false claims and accounting errors.
“Truth is truth and numbers are numbers,” said Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on Friday, September 24, as she summarized the most important finding in the long-awaited report from the body’s pro-Trump contractors to assess the accuracy of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County, where two-thirds of Arizonans reside. Continue reading
The untold story of why Palestinians are divided
The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted, and must not be reduced to convenient claims about the ‘Hamas-Fatah split’, elections, the Oslo accords and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas will advance Palestinian unity by an iota. Continue reading
When will the US break free from the clutches of its grifters?
Trump just unleashed an unhinged, barely coherent rant about the possibility President Biden might reveal what was going on in the White House on January 6, the day Trump tried to finally end, once and for all, any possibility of governmental oversight of his ongoing criminal career. He believed he could follow in the footsteps of grifters before him who’ve taken control of and then drained dry countries from Hungary to Russia, Brazil to Turkey and The Philippines. Continue reading
Germans choose center-left over center-right by big margin
The center-left candidate fighting to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor declared that his Social Democratic Party (SPD) intends to forge a “social-ecological-liberal coalition” after coming in first in Sunday’s election. With 25.7%, the SPD beat the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently in power, which garnered 24.1%, its worst showing in the 70-year history of the party. Continue reading
The China cold war will unstick America’s glue
Can an America that off-shored much of its manufacturing capacity to China, for short-term profit, afford the de-coupling?
Washington isn’t quite sure what to do after the chaotic end to America’s ‘forever’ war. Some in Washington bitterly regret exiting from Afghanistan at all, and advocate for an immediate return; some just want to move on—to the China ‘Cold War’, that is. The cries from the initial Establishment ‘melt down’ and its articulation of pain over the Kabul withdrawal débacle, however, indicates the extent to which the almost obsessive focus on ‘Hobbling China’ nevertheless seems like an humiliating retreat to U.S. hawks, habituated to more global, and unlimited interventions. Continue reading
Racial justice vs. the Israel lobby: When being pro-Palestine becomes the new normal
Posted on October 13, 2021 by Ramzy Baroud
There is an unmistakable shift in American politics regarding Palestine and Israel, a change that is inspired by the way in which many Americans, especially the youth, view the Palestinian struggle and the Israeli occupation. While this shift is yet to translate into tangibly diminishing Israel’s stronghold over the US Congress, it promises to be of great consequence in the coming years. Continue reading →