Category: US Politics
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Friday, August 30, 2024
US COUNTING DOWN TO CRISIS, CATASTROPHE AND COLLAPSE / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed, they must rely exclusively on force.” – George Orwell
“The future’s becoming muddled. The lines of vision are narrowing. But now they’re desperate. All paths lead into darkness.” – Frank Herbert – Dune
Trying to decipher the path ahead becomes more difficult by the day. We are purposefully bombarded with misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda by the ruling class, designed to distract us from their real purpose, real agenda, and real plans to imprison us in their techno-gulag, eating zee bugs in our container sized hovels, using our government issued CBDCs to subsist, unless we dared to question the approved narrative – resulting in our social credit rating dropping into the domestic terrorist zone – getting us banned and shunned from society. This is the New World Order the Davos crowd has designed and will implement as a Great Reset, if they succeed in retaining and increasing control over the U.S. and the rest of the Western World in the next six months.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Want to make sense of the U.S. midterms? Watch this... / ElectionOracle / US Politics
By: EWI
Hi,
Well, it happened again: Here in the U.S., election pollsters have egg on their face. In the midterm elections, a "red wave" -- Republicans winning by a landslide -- didn't come ashore.
What we got instead was a strong show for the status quo: a Senate hold for Democrats and a narrow House majority for Republicans.
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Friday, April 01, 2022
Neither the FED nor US Government Can Print “Trust” / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
In this period of great economic, financial, monetary and geopolitical uncertainty, Borge Brende, the current president of the World Economic Forum, stated that countries need to prepare for the next crisis today. Mr. Brende more importantly stated that “We have to focus on rebuilding trust. There is a lot of lack of trust”. That is a very insightful and timely observation. Stateside and nearer to home, a recent University of Michigan survey notes that confidence in US government policies is at its lowest since 2014.
At the same time, available statistics show that 84% of the people in China trust their government, while 81% of Indonesians and 79% of the people in India trust their governments. How does one explain, that those countries which the western world criticizes for being oppressive or lacking freedom, when polled rank higher in trust of their governments than western democracies?
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Thursday, March 03, 2022
Will There Be A 2024 US Presidential Election? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed, they must rely exclusively on force.” ― George Orwell
“Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.” ― George Orwell
The smell of tyranny is in the air. The level of propaganda, disinformation, and mistruth has reached astounding heights, as the ruling oligarchy/Deep State/globalist cabal are thrashing about violently because their frauds are being exposed on a daily basis. This shift to the tyranny of force has massive implications for everyone on the planet. When every quote from Orwell’s 1984 applies every day to everything swirling around us, you begin to realize we are in the midst of a dystopian nightmare which gets more ghoulish by the day.
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Friday, November 26, 2021
Federal Reserve Asks Americans to Eat Soy “Meat” for Thanksgiving / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Let’s talk about the sudden setback in precious metals markets.
Metals got hammered on Monday and Tuesday. Gold prices fell back below the $1,800 level and silver is back down under $24.
Platinum and palladium also got hit hard. Interestingly, though, copper and most other commodities are holding up well.
The price takedown that was focused on precious metals specifically may have been a knee-jerk reaction to news from the White House.
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Sunday, March 28, 2021
A Nation of Sheep Ruled by Wolves, Owned by Sheep - Who is Shaking the Jar Part 2 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part 1 of this article I documented the never ending false narratives used by those shaking the jar to keep us at each other’s throats. I will now show how 2020 was a turning point in history, with an accelerating decline of our empire in progress.
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Monday, February 01, 2021
US Fourth Turning Detonation / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Americans today fear that linearism (alias the American Dream) has run its course. Many would welcome some enlightenment about history’s patterns and rhythms, but today’s intellectual elites offer little that’s useful. Caught between the entropy of the chaoticists and the hubris of the linearists, the American people have lost their moorings.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
“The ancients believed that each cyclical extreme, mirroring the hopes and fears of the other, helps generate the other. The night longs for the day, the day for night. In war, people yearn for relief from strife, leading to peace. In peace, people yearn to champion what they love, leading to war.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
When I started thinking about my annual beginning of the year article in early January, I tried to formulate a catchy title. Knowing we have entered the thirteenth year of this Fourth Turning, with the intensity of the crisis reaching an unparalleled level since November 4, I decided upon Fourth Turning Detonation. I immediately thought that might be too dire and figured I would change it later. After the first few weeks of the new year, I now think it might be grossly inadequate to describe what is coming in 2021.
It is easy to get distracted by the daily gyrations, ceaseless media propaganda, political theater, false narratives, and delusional beliefs of both the left and right, as this military empire built on debt and deceit spirals towards its fiery cataclysmic climax. Opposing forces have gathered themselves into position focusing on defeating their domestic enemies, with the left seeming to have strategic advantage but led by hubristic dullards, while numerous foreign adversaries circle like hungry vultures ready to pounce on the dying beast of an empire.
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Monday, January 25, 2021
The Dark Forces behind American Insurrectionists / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
On January 6, 2021, a mob of white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol, presumably to overturn Trump's defeat. Their final goal may have involved assassinations of elected officials, however.
After the “failed insurrection,” dozens of the mob were found to be watch-listed in the FBI Terrorist Screening Database. Most are suspected white supremacists. But the ultimate goals of some may have been even darker.
In a court filing, federal prosecutors have targeted one of the mob’s most colorful figures, Jacob Anthony Chansley; the shirtless “QAnon Shaman” with a headdress of coyote skin and buffalo horns. "The intent of the Capitol rioters,” the prosecutors believe, “was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the US government.”
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Wednesday, January 13, 2021
CONgress "Insurrection" Is Just the Latest False Flag Event from the Globalists / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
On 6 January 2021, a horny small-time actor with a crazy hairdo tried to take control of the USSA Capitol. Along with the rest of the band of merry misfits who are now on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
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Sunday, January 10, 2021
An Urgent Message to All Conservatives, Right-Wingers and Patriots / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
For the past ten months on social-distance-media, every time someone dared to raise concerns about the Covaids insanities and inconsistencies, they were instantly accused of being right-wing Trumpist conservatives. Or conspiracy theorists. All of which are apparently the same thing.
Worried about the effects of a vaccine with a rate of adverse reactions already 50x higher than a flu shot? You must be a denialist reactionary. A CONSERVATIVE! Gasp.
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Friday, October 02, 2020
The Demise of American Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
When the highest representatives of a community are eager to throw mud at each other. When arguments merely serve as a façade to convey anger, mockery or contempt, then history has just turned a corner. One period has come to an end, a new one begins. Since September 29, 2020 we know that in the United States of America democracy is undergoing a process of rapid disintegration – it is being torn apart by diverging forces.
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Tuesday, September 29, 2020
The Only Thing Systematic Is The Destruction Of America / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” – Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was describing willful ignorance based upon who butters your bread. The rampant corruption of our society, as power has been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands, has resulted in our political, financial, cultural and economic systems being captured by a billionaire class who use their wealth to dictate the path we are forced to follow – or lose everything.
The sociopath class include the Silicon Valley social media titans, the billionaires running the six mainstream media companies, the rogue billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg who fund chaos and foment insurrection, the Deep State surveillance agency operatives like Clapper, Brennan, Comey and Mueller doing the bidding of the oligarchy, Wall Street criminals like Dimon, Paulson, and Blankfein doing god’s work, and last but certainly not least – Powell, Yellen, Bernanke and slimy Kashkari priming the pump for the never ending systematic pillaging of the nation’s wealth.
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Wednesday, September 02, 2020
If this is the brave new America ... / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Shoot a Black man in the back in cold blood by a merciless Kenosha, Wisconsin cop named Rusten Sheskey and watch the city burn; watch the right-wing rise; watch President Trump and his ministers of propaganda exploit; exacerbate an already hardened “base” with incendiary and threatening tweets; give credence to armed militias.
Two bold markers need be placed on the dates of the Kenosha shootings: the one for Jacob Blake and the other for Kyle Rittenhouse. While I might claim it has been “open season” on Black men for years by killer-cops and right-wing White supremacists, that season has now been expanded to include protesters. Clearly, the message from 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse to militias across the country—and to protestors—was delivered by his cynical act and, I predict, it won’t stop here, and hasn’t.
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Thursday, July 02, 2020
US Fourth Turning Reaches Boiling Point as America Bends its Knee / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” ― H.L. Mencken
After writing a particularly depressing article where I come to a logical conclusion, based upon the factual evidence of all previous Fourth Turnings, I always wonder whether I’m being too pessimistic and peddling doom, like many of the clickbait websites. The conclusions I reached at the end of my last two articles were particularly gloomy and made me wonder whether I was going too far. I thought maybe I was too pessimistic and my predictions of civil chaos and global disorder were overblown.
“A failure to meet the challenges ahead with bravery, grit, good judgement, adherence to our Constitutional principles, and a fair amount of luck, could lead to a defeat from which we will never recover. No one knows how and when the climax of this Crisis will play out, but the acceleration towards our rendezvous with destiny is in motion.” – Fourth Turning Accelerating Towards Climax – May 10
It just so happened I published my last article on May 24, predicting a 2nd Civil War. I figured we might have a couple years to prepare, as there is likely five to ten years before this Fourth Turning reaches a climax. Little did I know a black man with a long criminal background, high on fentanyl and resisting arrest in Minneapolis, would be killed by a white police thug named Derek Chauvin, who had seventeen complaints against him over his illustrious career, on the day after my article was posted. Oddly, it seems this murder will be our Fort Sumter/Pearl Harbor of this Fourth Turning.
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Thursday, July 02, 2020
Roosevelt 2.0 and ‘here, hold my beer' / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
In accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 2, 1932, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of a “new deal for the American people” who had been ravaged by the Great Depression.
After winning the 1932 election by a landslide, FDR, as he came to be known during World War II, took immediate action to bring about economic relief to the unemployed through public works programs, and to undertake reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, hydroelectric power, labor and housing.
Roosevelt’s New Deal, which lasted from 1933-39, also vastly increased the scope of the federal government in the economy.
Agencies such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps were established to provide short-term aid, as well as temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in national forests.
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Tuesday, June 09, 2020
US Red Shirts and the Boogaloo / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
The race riots seen around the United States over the past few days are troubling for sure, but they are nothing new.
If there is one thing uniting the 50 American states of the union, historically, it is divisions over race, primarily Caucasian versus African American. It is disturbing to note that 157 years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and many decades after the race riots of the 1960s ushered in an era of equal opportunity and affirmative action, the United States is still struggling with questions of justice and inequality pertaining to its large black population.
Yet there is a marked difference between what is happening now compared to 100 years ago. During the period leading up to the 1920s, it was usually white people who instigated and participated in race riots. The purpose of these violent demonstrations was to assert white dominion rather than to express black anger and frustration.
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Wednesday, June 03, 2020
The Corona Riots Begin, US Covid-19 Catastrophe Trend Analysis / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
President Trump recently successfully bullshitted the gullible mainstream media into believing that he was self medicating on the anti malaria Hydrosychloroquine, that includes side effects such as paranoia, delirium and herat attacks, so unlike Vitamin D, definitely not to be taken on a whim, bur rather after considering the evidence in its favour of actually working to combat a coronavirus infection for which there is a building case against as previous tweets by nut jobs have been exposed as being BS.
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Tuesday, April 07, 2020
US Coronavirus Blacktop Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Benjamin Franklin once said; “Out of adversity comes opportunity.”
The adversity the United States now faces with the coronavirus pandemic is the worst national emergency the country has faced since World War II, more serious, far more deadly, than any natural disaster, 9/11, the War on Terrorism, the Korean War, maybe even Vietnam.
As of this writing, there are 211,143 cases and 4,713 deaths. More coronavirus patients have now died in the United States than in China, the pandemic epicenter, where extraordinary measures were taken to successfully contain it, including locking down entire cities (pop. 50 million), and contact tracing tens of thousands of people connected to those infected, so they could self-quarantine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he believes the virus could kill 100,000 to 200,000 before it is done ravaging the US population. That “middle of the road” estimate is at least double the 58,200 American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
Depending how long this goes on, the economic fallout from covid-19 could be twice as bad as the Great Recession. A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance last week. If that keep up, one in three will be jobless by summer - more than during the Great Depression.
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Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Coronavirus Fourth Turning - No One Gets Out Of Here Alive! / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I exposed the numerous false narratives being peddled to the masses, as this Fourth Turning is entering the intense phase headed towards an unknown climax.
I’ve been expecting the next shoe to fall in this Fourth Turning for years, but the financial elite have pulled the debt levers to keep the Ponzi scheme alive far longer than a reasonable person would expect. We are only six weeks into 2020 and it seems like a year’s worth of major events have already occurred. The year started with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.
For the next week the world was awash in rhetoric about World War III and possible revolution in Iran. Accusations of Trump using the Wag the Dog method to deflect the negative press from the impeachment hearings were rampant among the half of the country that despises Trump. Soleimani was lauded as a hero by the left and a terrorist by the right. Now, the entire episode seems like ancient history, as more interesting squirrels have arisen for the propaganda media to chase.
The entire month of January was occupied by the ongoing coup/impeachment against Donald Trump. Schiff, Nadler and Pelosi doing their best impression of the three stooges, conducted a laughable prosecution in the House, revealing this was nothing more than a desperate attempt to avoid losing to Trump in a November landslide. The predictable trial in the Senate resulted in an acquittal and Trump’s popularity soaring to all-time highs, as independents realized the Democrats misused the power of impeachment for purely political purposes. Trump’s SOTU address infuriated Pelosi to such an extent it provoked her into acting like a petulant child, tearing up the speech. Future campaign ads wrote themselves.
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Monday, February 10, 2020
The US Constitution IS the Crisis / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
A Review of Murray N. Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty, Vol. 5
The posthumous release of Murray Rothbard’s fifth volume of his early American history series, Conceived in Liberty, is a cause of celebration not only for those interested in the country’s constitutional period, but also for the present day as the nation is faced with acute social, economic, and political crises. The fifth volume, The New Republic: 1784-1791, stands with Boston T. Party’s 1997 release, Hologram of Liberty, as a grand rebuttal of the cherished notion held by most contemporary scholars, pundits on the Right, and, surprisingly, many libertarians who believe that the US Constitution is some great bulwark in defense of individual liberty and a promoter of economic success.
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Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Deep State 2020 – A Year Of Living Dangerously! / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.” Tacitus, Publius Cornelius
The shocking crime being committed during this century under the unscrupulous initiative of a few evil men is ongoing and no longer hidden from those willing to open their eyes and see the truth. As conspiracy theorists have proven to be right through the sacrifice of Snowden, Assange, and other patriots for truth, the Deep State psychopaths have double downed and are blatantly flaunting their power and control over the levers of government, finance and media.
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Friday, November 15, 2019
America’s Exceptionalism’s Non-intervention Slide to Conquest, Empire - and Socialism / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
When America established its new nation in 1776, its actions were guided by a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution which included a government subject to the consent of its people, liberty, and freedom of speech, religion, property, and assembly. As a new nation narrowly escaping oppression from England, it originally would not conquer any other nation. It was not going to follow the practice of colonialism and oppression that so many European nations embraced at that time. But somehow, over decades, America abandoned its original principles of non-intervention and ultimately became an empire ruling most of the world. It is the forces, causes and timing of this abandonment from its original exceptional principles of non-intervention to outward expansion, conquest, and its eventual consequences that is scrutinized in this article.
Herein, the term “exceptionalism” is applied to America’s form of government, its Constitution, and original principles of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries. However, the term “exceptionalism” was first used and popularized through Joseph Stalin in 1929 to portray America, which because of its capitalism and high standard of living was highly resistant to communist goals for advancing socialism in this country – and therefore was characterized as an exceptional nation. As we will read in this article America easily and rather quickly gave up its exceptionalism to embrace conquest.
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Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Impeachments & Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
Many Democrats really want to impeach President Trump. According to a Pew Research poll conducted after the latest round of Democratic debates, 40% of Democratic respondents said that beating Donald Trump was the number one issue in the upcoming election. It’s not domestic policies, not foreign policy, not protecting any class of people, but simply making sure that, come January 2021, his name is not on the White House door.Obviously, this goes far beyond wanting one’s political party to win. I’m not going to list out reasons why. We’re all well-versed in the current political battles. But focusing on removing him from office either before or during the election leaves precious little time to discuss national issues.
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Monday, October 14, 2019
America's Ruling Class - Underestimating Them & Overestimating Us / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Do not underestimate the ‘power of underestimation’. They can’t stop you, if they don’t see you coming.” ― Izey Victoria Odiase
During the summer of 2008 I was writing articles a few times per week predicting an economic catastrophe and a banking crisis. When the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression swept across the world, resulting in double digit unemployment, a 50% stock market crash in a matter of months, millions of home foreclosures, and the virtual insolvency of the criminal Wall Street banks, my predictions were vindicated. I was pretty smug and sure the start of this Fourth Turning would follow the path of the last Crisis, with a Greater Depression, economic disaster and war.
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Saturday, September 07, 2019
Baghdad Donald / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
For Donald Trump, it seems that these are the best of times except that they are the worst of times. How else to explain his contradictory demand that the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 100 basis points despite his repeated claims that our current economy is "the best in the history of the United States?" That kind of "break glass in case of emergency" monetary policy is something that even the eldest among us have only seen once or twice. And those times have certainly been desperate.
As has been showcased in recent days, Trump can flip-flop faster than anyone in Washington. He wants capital gains indexing on Monday, only to abandon the idea on Tuesday. At breakfast, he wants expanded background checks for firearms, but drops the idea by lunch. But in his call to slash interest rates in a "great" economy, the president flip-flops in the same sentence.
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Sunday, August 25, 2019
Trump Floats Payroll & Capital Gains Tax Cues to Forestall Recession / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Gold and silver markets test some near-term technical support levels late this week, investors are focused on takeaways from the Jackson Hole symposium.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell headlined a list of other central bankers, academics, and financial elites at the annual Wyoming gathering. Powell was widely expected to signal a rate cut ahead during his speech on Friday. But many on Wall Street and in Washington were hoping he would make a bigger, broader commitment to monetary stimulus.
For his part, President Donald Trump is urging the Fed to slash rates by 100 basis points.
On Tuesday, President Trump also said he would consider new tax cuts to stimulate the economy. The following day, he appeared to change his mind, saying we don’t need tax relief after all because “we have a strong economy.
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Wednesday, August 07, 2019
The Fourth Turning Trump Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I laid out the unsustainable economic conditions which will drive the next phase of this Fourth Turnings and detailed the economic factors which drove the previous three American Fourth Turnings.
Strauss and Howe, when writing The Fourth Turning in 1997, did not know the exact circumstances and events which would propel the next Turning. But their study of economic and demographic trends along with the attitudes of generations and historical precedents in prior Fourth Turnings, led them to conclude the driving factors of this Crisis would be debt, global disorder and civic decay.
As I watch what is currently happening in this country and around the world, it is evident to me they nailed it. The volcanic eruption in 2008 unleashed a torrent of molten lava, which continues to flow along channels of distress, but is currently threatening to burst free of these channels and wreak worldwide financial and physical devastation. A multitude of possibilities described by Strauss and Howe below are already happening or will happen in the next few years.
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Monday, August 05, 2019
A Tale of Two Cummings / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Last weekend, I noticed that two of the main newsmakers were both named Cummings, one in the US, the other in the UK. At first glance they don’t look like family, but I’ll readily admit I can’t be sure of that. What I do know is that both are symbolic of what’s wrong with the political systems they figure in.
Also last weekend, I saw a comment somewhere, think it was Twitter, that said something in the vein of: let’s hope the British don’t make the same mistake with Boris Johnson that the Americans made -and make- with Donald Trump, that is, labeling every single thing he does as “Bad”, because then they would lose all of their credibility, fast.
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Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Foreign Policy Betrayal of America / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Very little has changed when it comes to the elites who control public policy. Foreign affairs have been shaped by an un-American tribe of Judas' who seek to rule over real patriots. America has been systematically sold out for well over a century by deviants of our culture, economics, politics and especially religion. A legitimate foreign policy, above all, needs to protect our own country and her own people. Abdicating those responsibilities to benefit Israel is treason. Regretfully, most of the populace is so afraid of being labeled an anti-Semitic that they eagerly suspend rational thinking to be a kosher supporter.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Why The Government Has Screwed Us Again / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
I’ve got friends on both sides of the political aisle.Some are huge Trump supporters. They’re giddy over his tweets about “The Squad.” They think, why not call out people who demean the country? And if they don’t like it here, why don’t they just go anywhere else?
And how about enforcing the rule of law once in a while by sticking to our immigration policies? We’re not rounding up migrants because they come from other countries; we’re demanding that they comply with the law, which means leaving the country when their asylum claims have been denied after a hearing.
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Friday, July 26, 2019
Trump Kills the Tea Party / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
After claiming to be the greatest at just about everything, Donald Trump has finally found an area where he can stake a credible claim. By negotiating a disastrous budget deal with Democrats, the President could become the greatest creator of government debt in the history of the country. While Trump is selling the two-year deal as a major victory because it increases military spending and removes the possibility of a government shutdown for two years, in reality, the agreement to suspend the debt ceiling and push annual deficits even further above the trillion dollar mark may only succeed in destroying the Republican Party as we know it.
The Tea Party wave of 2009 and 2010, a Republican movement born in reaction to the budget blowouts of the Obama Presidency, is now officially dead. It's ironic that as Trump hammered the final nail into the Tea Party's coffin, no one seemed happier than the corpse itself! There was hardly a word of discomfort from all the Republican Senators and Congressmen who had so loudly railed against debt when the other party occupied the White House. There is simply no legitimate way that Republicans will ever be able to argue again that they are the party of fiscal discipline. They may try, but only the most partisan and credulous voters will buy it.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Iran and the Dying Days Of the US Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Something’s been nagging me for the past few days, and I’m not sure I’ve figured out why yet. It started when Donald Trump first called off the alleged planned strikes on targets in Iran because they would have cost 150 lives, and then the next day said the US would do sanctions instead. As they did on Monday, even directly targeting Trump’s equal, the “Supreme Leader Khameini”.
When Trump announced the sanctions, I thought: wait a minute, by presenting this the way you did, you effectively turned economic sanctions into a military tool: we chose not to do bombs but sanctions. Sounds the same as not doing a naval invasion but going for air attacks instead. The kind of decisions that were made in Vietnam a thousand times.
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Wednesday, June 19, 2019
We’re All Socialists Now / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Despite being probably robbed of the Democratic Party’s nomination by the Clinton political machine, the success of the Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign with his advocacy of “democratic socialism” was an ominous sign of things to come and, in some sense, more telling of the political climate than Donald Trump’s improbable victory in November, 2016. The millions of votes garnered by Sanders in the Democratic primaries has emboldened other socialists to seek political office while socialist ideas are openly spoken of with little fear of political recriminations.
Sanders has doubled down on his advocacy of democratic socialism in a recent speech at George Washington University, calling for the completion of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s:
Today I am proposing we complete the unfinished work of Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party by putting forth a 21st century economic bill of rights.*
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Tuesday, June 04, 2019
Democrats Double Down on Trump Show Trial / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
A majority of the public by now is sick of the witch hunt. Just imagine the fatigue and revolting sentiments that ordinary Americans have for the elitists and brainwashed libtards that want to impeach President Trump. Interminable Congressional hearings with no reasonable chance for Senate removal from office are in itself an abuse of legislative provocative. The William Jefferson Clinton impeachment demonstrated that a Republican Senate had a prearranged agreement to acquit before the trial began. If two-thirds of Senators could be mustered to convict, the RINO Republicans would need to demonstrate they are closet NeoCons.
The show trial that the establishment 'Never Trumpers' would more likely be one of continued trashing by committees and endless media presstitute reporting. The Show Trials in the USSR had the purpose of protecting Stalin. The Marxist Democrats are the Amerika version of Bolshevism. Their aim is to maintain the Deep State in power. Maintaining the totalitarian culture of collectivism by systematically destroying our Constitutional Republic has reached a point of no return.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2019
The Deep State vs Donald Trump - US vs Them Part 2 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part I of this article I discussed why the “Us versus Them” mindset permeates society and how Trump has become a lightning rod for hate. Now I will assess his progress in fighting the Deep State and try to peer into a murky future.
In addition to not being Hillary, the main reasons I voted for Trump was he promised to build the wall, he promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, he promised to end our foreign military interventions, he said he would bring fiscal sanity to the budget, he said the Federal Reserve had blown an immense stock market bubble, he questioned the fake economic data spouted by government drones, and he called out the fake news bullshit media. When I regularly assess his progress on these issues, the standard response from Trump acolytes is “Would you rather have Hillary?”. No, I would not. But that doesn’t get Trump off the hook for his failures in my book.
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Thursday, May 09, 2019
The Global Consequences of U.S. Executive Power / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
(Or How Carl Schmitt Took Over the 21st Century White House) Since the Nixon era, the lure of executive power has increased in the White House. After decades of global integration, misguided policy decisions, legitimized in the name of ‘national security,’ can derail economic prospects in America and worldwide. The doctrines share a dark history.
The first administration to make explicit reference to the "Unitary Executive" was the Reagan administration. Typically, the practice has evolved since the 1970s, when President Nixon decoupled U.S. dollar from the Bretton Woods gold standard and trade deficits began to rise.
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Wednesday, May 08, 2019
Mueller Never Wanted The Truth / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Zero Hedge ran an article about omissions from the Mueller report and/or investigation. It’s instructive, but there is more. First, some bits from that article:
Major Mueller Report Omissions Suggest Incompetence Or A Coverup
Read full article... Read full article...Robert Mueller’s 448-page “Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” contains at least two major omissions which suggest that the special counsel and his entire team of world-class Democrat attorneys are either utterly incompetent, or purposefully concealing major crimes committed against the Trump campaign and the American people.
First, according to The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland (a former law clerk of nearly 25 years and instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame) – the Mueller report fails to consider whether the dossier authored by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele was Russian disinformation, and Steele was not charged with lying to the FBI.
“The Steele dossier, which consisted of a series of memorandum authored by the former MI6 spy, detailed intel purportedly provided by a variety of Vladimir Putin-connected sources. For instance, Steele identified Source A as “a senior Russian Foreign Ministry figure” who “confided that the Kremlin had been feeding Trump and his team valuable intelligence on his opponents, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.”
Monday, May 06, 2019
Is Trump Foreign Policy Designed Backwards to Disrupt the Empire? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
According to US conservatives, Donald Trump’s MAGA has served to sharpen the bristles of US foreign policy reigning in the competing global powers with sanctions and far reaching power-plays in trade and weaponry, way beyond Obama and even Clinton.Even the death zombie Dems have to applaud Trump at times, when he bombs Syria on fake news or sanctions Russia even more or tries to overthrow the Venezuelan government with gangster tactics. The billionaires’ media finally finds its President then.
So, the self-serving assessment in Washington is that Trump the Terrible has been successfully compromised into fully supporting Empire games of endless war and chaos, just like his recent predecessors. The conclusion becomes there is simply is no resisting the US intelligence agencies that are the spearpoint for Congress’ faithful alliance with the Merchants of Death, 1tr a year and vastly growing.
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Wednesday, May 01, 2019
America’s Gradual Slide, Experience and Withdrawal From Vietnam - Part 2 / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
Continuation from Part1 - Vietnam, Part I: Colonialism and National Liberation
The Kennedy Years
Before he became President, a tour of Vietnam convinced John Kennedy that the US must align herself with the emerging nations, and that Communism could never be defeated by relying solely of force of arms. His Indochina experience led him to that conclusion, as did a dinner conversation in New Delhi with Jawaharlal Nehru, who called the French as an example of doomed colonialism and said Communism offered the masses “something to die for” whereas the West promised only the status quo. War would not stop Communism, Nehru warned him; it would only enhance it, “for the devastation of war breeds only more poverty and more want.” In 1957 JFK declared in a Senate speech “The most powerful single force in the world today, is neither communism nor capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile – it is man’s eternal desire to be free and independent.”
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
Joe Biden Works for Donald Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Joe Biden is working for Donald Trump, right? I haven’t heard either of them say it outright, but it’s the only reason I can see that would explain why Biden is running for president. And if Biden works for Trump, that means he works for Putin, because Trump is Putin’s puppet, no matter how often Robert Mueller denies it.
Then again, if we would suggest, purely hypothetically and for entertainment purposes only, that Biden is neither Putin’s nor Trump’s puppet, what on earth drives him to declare his candidacy as the oldest ever presidential candidate in US history? Biden will be Trump’s punching bag. There is so much wrong with and about the man, Trump’s not even laughing, just saying: “oh yes, please, bring it.”
Biden has the Anita Hill boondoggle to his name, there’s a huge nascent story concerning Ukraine, where he interfered, while vice-president, to benefit his son, and there are tons of women who will come with groping tales. This will be a very long list, as long as his career in Washington. Biden bumbles and stumbles for a living. Someone’s going to write a book about that someday.
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Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Mueller Report - Cover-up for Real Crimes / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
If one listens to the Democrats or the mainstream media, the impression that is being fed to the American public is that the Trump investigation will just intensify. The sacred Grand Inquisitor, Robert Mueller once the darling of the witch hunt, is now a spineless hangman who failed to topple the king. After this tortured process of the Deep State cover-up, the central concocted reason for finding collusion with some imaginary Russian plot to fix the 2016 presidential election never provided the evidence to prove this establishment narrative. Pray tell; no boot licking toady would ever admit that the U.S. imperial empire ever intervened or staged subversion into foreign elections or governmental overthrows.
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Saturday, April 20, 2019
Is Political Partisanship Killing America? / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights was reportedly made “after getting a quick history lesson during a conversation on a different subject,” states a news story that has been making the social media rounds lately. It showed up on my Facebook feed.
Curious, I clicked on the link. The Reuters article went on to explain how ‘The Donald’ made the snap decision at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. The referenced conversation was between himself, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Both men are Jewish. No bias there.
“I said, ‘Fellows, do me a favor. Give me a little history, quick. Want to go fast. I got a lot of things I’m working on: China, North Korea. Give me a quickie.” Trump recounted to the amiable crowd.
Was the history lesson objective, giving a fair account of both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, leading the listener – Trump - to draw his own conclusion? Not a chance.
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Saturday, April 20, 2019
Trump - They Were All Lying / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A dear friend the other day accused me of defending Trump. I don’t, and never have, but it made me think that if she says it, probably others say and think the same; I’ve written a lot about him. So let me explain once again. Though I think perhaps this has reached a “you’re either with us or against us’ level.
What I noticed, and have written a lot about, during and since the 2016 US presidential campaign, is that the media, both in the US and abroad, started making up accusations against Trump from scratch. This included the collusion with Russia accusation that led to the Mueller probe.
There was never any proof of the accusation, which is why the conclusion of the probe was No Collusion. I started writing this yesterday while awaiting the presentation of the Mueller report, but it wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other: the accusation was clear, and so was the conclusion.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019
America Dancing On The Crumbling Precipice / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Dancing on the crumbling precipice The rocks are coming loose just at the edge Are we laughing? Are we crying? Are we drowning? Are we dead? Or is it all a dream?
The bombs are getting closer everyday “That can never happen here” we used to say Have these wars come to our doorstep? Has this moment finally come? Or is it all a dream?
Rise Against – The Violence
This recent song by Rise Against, inspired by the turmoil since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, captures the feeling of angst and uncertainty engulfing the world today. This Fourth Turning is entering its most violent stage, where blood will be spilled in vast quantities as an epic conflict between good and evil plays out across the globe. Eighty years ago, the bloodiest conflict in human history began, as the social mood turned dark and compromise was no longer a viable option.
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Friday, April 05, 2019
Warning Mr. Trump - Know Your Enemies / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500.
Mr. President,
I write to you because I’m seeing something unfold that concerns you, and I have no way of knowing if you’re aware of it, nor have I seen anyone else mention it. That is, sir, you are being set up, a trap is being set for you, and unless you are aware of it, you may well walk into that trap eyes wide open.
It may not be in your briefing this morning, but the WikiLeaks organization has reported that high-ranking Ecuadorean state officials have told them Julian Assange will be expelled from their London embassy in a matter of “hours to days”. Now, I don’t know what your personal opinion is of Mr. Assange, maybe you think he deserves punishment for leaking secret files to the public.
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Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Progressives in Denial as Mueller Clears Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
All the fanfare with the release of the Mueller Report three page summaries has the corporatist and defiance media in a tizzy. The deranged progressive zombies that follow every word that Rachel 'MAD' Maddow, bleeds out are wiping their own tears that the preordained narrative to bury the Trump movement is premature. Sorry, no celebration for the duped, delusional dregs in search of the most dangerous obstacle to their Marxist redistribution wonderland. The hate machine that trashes all things Trump has perfected the 'Big Lie'. Accepting all the news that is unfit to print or the social media trolls which reinforce the 'Fake News' propaganda that the enlightened leftist cable toadies read off their Teleprompters, is like overdosing on a feel good drug before the inevitable crash.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Vietnam, Part I: Colonialism and National Liberation / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
By late 1960’s America’s involvement in the Vietnam War had become the most divisive issue in the nation’s history since the Civil War of the1860s. This involvement extended over the terms of six Presidents making it America’s longest war. President Truman and his Secretary of State Dean Acheson believed that if Southeast Asia is swept up by Communism, as had China, and if Vietnam was allowed to fall, other countries in a domino fashion would follow suit.
The American people, born of anti-colonial revolution, were hostile to colonialists by tradition. President Roosevelt in his early years in public life had been a proponent of imperial control. Echoing very much the French mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission), FDR thought it justifiable and necessary for the United States to impose the blessings of her civilization on the more backward and less fortunate peoples, by force if necessary. But by the time of Pearl Harbor he had become a committed anti-colonialist. European colonialism had helped bring on both the First World War and the current one, he was convinced, and the continued existence of empires would in all likelihood result in future conflagrations. He went so far as to say that Western sway over much of Asia and Africa was no less threatening to world stability than German expansionism. Therefore, all colonies should be given their independence. FDR never retreated from his belief that the continued existence of European colonial empires undermined the peace of the world.
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Thursday, March 14, 2019
US Conservatism / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Commenting on my own essays has never been my favorite activity, because before you know it you land into Russian doll territory. But a few recent comments from readers have me rethinking that, for once.
Of course I understand that my expressed views over the past two years and change on the era of Donald Trump and his presidency do not please everyone out there, whether they’re long time Automatic Earth readers or new to the site. It’s just that a surprising -to me- number of people let their thoughts and opinions be shaped by media that primarily follow the color of politics and money, not objective facts.
Or perhaps it shouldn‘t be all that surprising, given the amount of attention the mainstream media still manages to gather. Then again, if the MSM would have been right on more issues, there would never have been a place for the Automatic Earth and many other ‘alternative’ media sources. So yeah, I’m a bit of two minds on that.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Authentic American Populism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
In the age of President Trump the public characterization of an American First movement bears the sharpest criticism and condemnation from the Deep State and foreign enemies. Those sincere patriots who retain a valid historic understanding of the post World War II era, recognize that the New World Order was the actual victory of that contrived conflict. With the death of the American Republic, the globalist international community of oligarchs has imposed a planetary enslavement. Part of their goal is to obliterate independent nation states and destroy indigenous cultures. Genuine populism is the foe of this elite demonic crime syndicate, who is promulgating hell on earth.
Friday, March 01, 2019
US House of Representatives Hits A New Low / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Perhaps against better judgment, I just can’t keep silent about the Michael Cohen’s in da House show performed on February 27. I was watching it and increasingly fearing for the future of America. We had all been able to read his prepared statement before he opened the party with it, and therefore we all knew there was nothing there. So why did this thing take place, and why were all the cameras and reporters there? Do we live in split realities these days?
Both before and after the gruelling -for the viewer- session, words like ‘explosive’ and bombshell’ were all over, so I thought I’d watch, since I might have missed something, but no, there was nothing, there wasn’t even a there there. Apparently, US House members are by now immune to being revealed as nutcases frantically phishing for evidence of accusations they formerly made but could never prove.
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Thursday, February 28, 2019
The US Constitution Myth / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
One reason for the failure of the modern conservative and libertarian movements to scale back, in even a miniscule way, the now gargantuan US welfare/warfare state has been the misinterpretation of the US Constitution. Many conservatives have a slavish devotion to the document, placing it on a par with the Ten Commandments and New Testament.
A typical misunderstanding of the Constitution’s history and content appeared in this recent op-ed:
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Wednesday, February 27, 2019
The Green New Art of the Deal / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There are lots of people talking about how they much disagree with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, how silly she is, how dumb and impossible and irresponsible her Green New Deal is, but I think they’re missing a point or two. First of all: what’s the alternative? Who would you trade her for? Hillary? Feinstein? Pelosi? Bernie Sanders? Cory Booker?
Would you rather things stay the same? I can see that from the Hillary Pelosi camp, but not from any other Democrats – nor, obviously, Republicans. Three quarters of America must be dead sick of that cabal, the 50% that are GOP, plus the half of Democrats that would also prefer to vote for someone below 75 years old because 90% are themselves younger than that.
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Saturday, February 16, 2019
Schumer & Sanders Want One Thing: Your Money / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer have proposed legislation that would stop public companies from paying dividends or buying back their shares unless they first meet certain conditions.The senators aren’t worried about viability (companies are financially stable before they send cash back to their shareholders). Instead, they want to verify that companies have done enough to support employees before they give anything back to investors.
That’s not so subtle code for, “Make sure you redistribute wealth before giving anything back.”
The senators make their case by pointing to last year’s tax reform and how much of the corporate windfall was spent on stock buybacks (almost $1 trillion), even as companies refused to invest, closed locations, and fired employees.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2019
A Government of Socialists / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Brace for the most bizarre government that Congress has ever seen in your lifetime. The Democrats installed a band of untested novices bent on adopting a socialist utopia. The House of Representatives has become a chamber of horrors that only libtard groupies could embrace and the Senate reflects the bluest of blue from metropolis and the coastal cultures. The gangland underworld families that make up the Deep State and are controlled by the Shadow Government elites have shifted tactics for electing the next generation of Federal legislators.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
US Border Barrier Solution / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Rational discourse has been the overriding casualty of the border war. The break down in language is more than semantics. It has elevated into a divergence of culture that no longer shares a common value system or a cherished dream. The camps of discontent reside in separate and distinct jurisdictions. Government has failed at every level. People have become so polarized that trust in a community of citizens has been discarded for the purity of totalitarian globalism. The continued controversy over a border barrier differentiates more than a line between two countries.
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Trump's Impeachment? Watch the Stock Market / Politics / US Politics
By: EWI
Will Negative Social Mood Oust Trump? Watch the Stock Market
Special Q&A With Alan Hall on Elections and Impeachment
At the end of this article you'll have the opportunity to hear Alan discuss his impeachment research with ETV Correspondent Dana Weeks.
You cannot afford to miss Alan's insightful political analysis. Please login to view the interview after reading the article.
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Tuesday, January 01, 2019
2019 From A Fourth Turning Perspective / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
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Monday, December 31, 2018
How to Fund Trumps Border Wall While Saving Lives / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
President Trump and Congressional Democrats have decided to enliven the Christmas season with a game of chicken over President Trump’s proposed “border wall.” As a result, the federal government is partly shut down until the issue is resolved.
The President wants $5 billion to start building the wall. Democrats have offered just $1.6 billion. If the problem truly is money and not that the Democrats oppose a wall under any circumstances, there is a place in the federal budget to find all the money the President wants while saving thousands of lives a year in the process.
More than 700,000 Americans are afflicted with kidney failure. Of those, almost 30 percent live with transplant kidneys with the remaining 70 percent on dialysis. Under a 1972 law, the federal government pays for kidney dialysis for every American whose private insurance does not cover treatment. In 2016, the latest year for which data are available, Medicare spent $35.4 billion on patients with kidney failure (read: end stage renal disease).
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Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Political Theater Goes into Overdrive as US Government Shutdown Looms / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
The Democratic party will be moving back into the control room in the House of Representatives.
Congress may commemorate the return to split government with a partial shutdown. The feud over construction of a border wall looks like it will not be resolved in time. It could be the first of many political dramas in 2019.
The debate over funding for the wall is theater, make no mistake.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
US Government Works Better When Divided / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The results of the U.S. mid-term elections were good news for not only the winners, but for most Americans. Yes, the federal government works better when divided, not unified. The 116th Congress—with the House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats and the Senate and White House under Republican command—may work better than the unified 115th Congress did.
The idea and evidence supporting this somewhat counter-intuitive idea was first presented to me many years ago by my good friend and collaborator, the late William A. “Bill” Niskanen. Bill was sharp as a tack. Indeed, he was one of Secretary of Defense McNamara’s “Whiz Kids” during the Kennedy-Johnson years. At the ripe old age of 29, Bill had a civilian rank equivalent to that of a brigadier-general. Bill was one to speak his mind, too. His sharpness and outspokenness occasionally landed him in hot water. Famously, while operating as the director of economics at Ford Motor Company in the mid-1970s, Bill publicly opposed U.S. government restrictions on the imports of Japanese automobiles, demonstrating why the restrictions would hurt Ford. For that infraction, Bill was sacked.
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Saturday, November 24, 2018
Trump's America, Front and Center / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Public infrastructure in the U.S. is in bad shape and has been so for many years. Washington has fingered the importance of doing something about the decrepit state of America’s infrastructure for decades. It’s the bipartisan thing to do.
President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers devoted a lengthy chapter in its 2016 Annual Report to the Nation’s infrastructure problems. Enter President Trump in 2017. The first thing out of his box was infrastructure. But, the “i” word faded away as rapidly as it entered President Trump’s lexicon. There was a little problem: the White House didn’t really have a fully developed infrastructure plan and most certainly had no legislative action plan. With last week’s elections, President Trump once again trotted out infrastructure, as did Nancy Pelosi—the most likely Speaker of the House, which will be controlled by the Democrats in the 116th Congress.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018
US Economy Ten Points or Ten Miles to ‘Bridge Out’? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
In what has already been a very interesting week, we’ve witnessed distractions galore. Allegations of election fraud by pretty much everyone except the people who should be winning some of these elections if Americans truly wanted a different future. We already digress. Cognitive dissonance is fully on display. Just below the surface has been the buzz about DeutscheBank – probably the biggest elephant in the room right now. Well, check that. Make it the second biggest elephant. It’s been propped up for nearly a small dog’s life by powers that know if DB folds, their plans to consolidate more wealth from the small people of the world would be disturbed and they’d have to run Act III. Maybe, like QE, there are many more Acts yet to unfold.
It is a pretty certain bet that absolutely nothing will be done to change America’s destiny for the next two years thanks to a gridlocked government. Not that it had been doing much to change destiny anyway. There are certain ironies here, which are so rich, we’ve been compelled to write them down for perhaps another day, but not this one. Dragging names into this will only cause people to shut down, mentally running into their corner in the biggest binary brain battle ever.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Nationalists and Patriots / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
If and when a former Rothschild banker starts telling us what the words in our respective languages actually mean, beware. Even if he has dozens of professional speech writers and spin doctors to do it for him. And even if the meaning and interpretation of words, though they may seem easily translatable, differ between English, French, German, Russian, Chinese to such an extent that Lost in Translation may appear to be an understatement.
But if you’re that Rothschild banker who became president of France through a process that nobody will ever understand, and you host the 100th commemoration of perhaps the worst war ever in history, to be ‘celebrated’ with ‘leaders’ none of whom have exhibited any memory through their actions of the ‘This must never happen again’ that the war ended with, you can expect to get away with bending both history and language.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Mike Pompeo and John Bolton: Trump’s Tag Team of Death and Destruction! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
With the welcome departure of war mongering UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the Trump Administration’s neocon tag team of death and destruction – Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor (NSA), John Bolton – have enthusiastically taken up where the repellent Haley has left off. It is highly doubtful that the former Ambassador will meekly return from under the rock in which she crawled, but will reappear possibly as a primary challenger to her former boss in 2020, and, most certainly, as a Presidential contender in 2024.
Last week, Messrs Pompeo and Bolton were dutifully carrying forth Haley’s promises of mayhem to anyone opposed to US hegemony even if those “enemies” have never taken hostile action against the US mainland. Of course, threats and attacks against nations which have done nothing to America have never much mattered to the foreign policy establishment!
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Monday, November 12, 2018
What Is the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans? / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
In Minnesota, democrat Keith Ellison had domestic assault charges lodged against him. His accuser filed a police report and exhibited bruising around her face. The accuser’s own adult son verified the assault. The voters of Minnesota elected Mr. Ellison as their attorney general.
In New York’s District 14, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won the unopposed House of Representative seat after republicans withdrew support of their candidate, Anthony Pappas. Why? Mr. Pappas was accused of domestic violence. Apparently ‘believe the women’ only applies to democratic women with an ax to grind against republicans. So, logically, accusations lodged by women are fungible and dependent on political affiliation?
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Wednesday, November 07, 2018
The Fourth Turning & War Of The Worlds / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – The Fourth Turning– Strauss & Howe
The paragraph above captures everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen during this Fourth Turning. It was written over two decades ago, but no one can deny its accuracy regarding our present situation. The spark was a financial crash. The response to the financial crash by the financial and governmental entities, along with their Deep State co-conspirators who created the financial collapse due to their greed and malfeasance, led to the incomprehensible election of Donald Trump, as the deplorables in flyover country evoked revenge upon the corrupt establishment.
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Thursday, November 01, 2018
Trump Is America’s National Piñata / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s been quite a while since I first wrote that I resented the MSM (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC etc etc) for effectively monopolizing the entire discussion about Donald Trump. Don’t remember exactly when I wrote that, do remember Jim Kunstler sent a mail and thanked me for saying it. Because he felt- and feels- the same way.
The 24/7 daily Trump bashing machine that was unleashed in late 2015/early 2016 meant that people like us had a choice of criticizing Trump where he needed to be criticized, but that would put us in the MSM camp, where we don’t want to be. And we don’t want to not criticize him either, because there’s so much that needs scrutiny.
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Friday, October 19, 2018
Savings – Not Tariffs Will Make America Great Again / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
While the farcical Kavanaugh confirmation hearings dominated the news cycle for the past couple of weeks, little mention was made of a disturbing economic headline – the August US trade deficit. Despite all the bluster from the Trump Administration about “winning trade wars” and “trade wars are easy,” America’s trade imbalances for August were the highest ever and its deficit with its most contentious partner – China – reached an all-time high.
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Wednesday, October 03, 2018
U.S.- Mexico - Canada Trade Agreement / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Now that the most disastrous aspects of NAFTA have been removed from the new U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement; traders, business managers and the public will get to see the true sentiments of the globalists, who will feel the pain of losing their special commercial protections. Restricting genuine free trade has always been the main objective of the corporatists and internationalists. The basic question: has President Trump bucked the financial monopolists and transformed commerce with a dose of business reciprocity or is USMCA just a back door to establish a North American Union?
Monday, September 24, 2018
Destroy America with Information Warfare / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The populace has been misled for decades by the information that comes from the establishment. Most people believe that foreign powers are the primary providers of disinformation. Few are willing to confront the reality that the most destructive culprits are the international monopolists who dominate the global economy. These plutocrats may be part of boards of public companies that are listed in the U.S. but their allegiance is with the globalist model of transnational economic hegemony. This commercial pattern supersedes any nationalistic obligation to accept President Trump's goal of making America great again.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The Ritual Burial of the US Constitution / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
In the wake of a number of the Lehman and 9/11 commemorations in America, and as a monster storm is once again threatening to cause outsize damage, we find ourselves at a pivotal point in time, which will decide how the country interacts with its own laws, its legal system, its Constitution, its freedom of speech, and indeed if it has sufficient willpower left to adhere to the Constitution as its no. 1 guiding principle.
The main problem is that it all seems to slip slide straight by the people, who are -kept- busy with completely different issues. That is convenient for those who would like less focus on the Constitution, but it’s also very dangerous for everyone else. Americans should today stand up for freedom of speech, or it will be gone, likely forever.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Obama's Zombie Followers / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Barack Hussein Obama has emerged from his crypt. One of the time-honored practices when a President leaves office has been that they fade into the obscurity of retirement. As witnessed with George W. Bush, the public has not been burdened with his political involvement or wisdom of his years as commander and chief. The same cannot be said about Obama, the perpetual narcissist former head of state. This globalist CIA President caused severe damage to the Republic that any rational citizen would readily admit. Yet, this failed X-President has never shed his vision of grandeur. If anyone doubts about this assessment just reflect on his latest 64-minute speech. President Barack Obama Rips President Donald Trump: Full Speech 9/7/2018.
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Thursday, August 30, 2018
Social Media vs the Constitution / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
An ancient Latin saying goes: “Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi” (what is permissible for Jupiter, is not for an ox). It feels very much on topic when social media are concerned. And as the heat over their censorship is turned up, it may well be the decisive factor.
Reuters reiterates today that on May 23, Manhattan US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that Donald Trump’ Twitter account is a public forum and blocking Twitter users for their views violates their right to free speech under the First Amendment. The same, says the ruling, applies to other government officials’ accounts.
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Monday, August 27, 2018
Remembering Thousands of Children that Died Because John McCain Advocated Bombing Them / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Let’s try a different angle. How about the world through the eyes of children’s? I don’t want to dwell on John McCain, too many people already do today, but I would suggest that your thoughts and prayers are with the souls of the hundreds of thousands of children that died because McCain advocated bombing them. Or, indeed, 50-odd years ago, were bombed by him personally. I wanted to leave him be altogether, don’t kick a man when he’s down, but I can’t get the image out of my head of him singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”.
To remember that, perhaps the most vile and infamous thing he’s ever done (it’s in the top ten), and then see someone like Ocasio-Cortez say he was an “unparalleled example of human decency”, it’s almost comedy. But not as funny as when in the 2008 campaign the woman in the red dress asked him if Obama was an Arab, and he responded: “No, ma’am. No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about”.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2018
When the Constitution Hurts the US / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
I’m not a fan of small spaces, and MRIs give me the willies.I understand that there’s no way the giant machine could collapse, and no possibility that I’ll run low on air, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.
Maybe President Trump has a similar issue, although not with small spaces.
Instead, the smell of new car leather might make him sweat.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2018
The Shape of Trump to Come / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I thought I’d make list of things we can expect to emanate from the White House over the coming year or so. I’m sure you will agree, wherever you stand on the political roller coaster, that there’s little chance things are going to be boring going forward. Here goes:
Trump will end the ‘monopolies’ of Facebook, Google, Twitter et al. The intelligence community will hate this, but they already hate him anyway, so why bother? And besides, it’s the only thing to do that makes any sense. The AT&T model might be useful, essentially creating Baby Bells, though the international reach of the companies may add a layer or two of complications.
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Friday, August 10, 2018
The Forrest Gump of All Future Democrat Election Losses / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Julian Assange has received an letter from the US Senate asking him to testify in front of them. What to make of that is not entirely clear. Far as I know, Assange offered such testimony multiple times, under the ‘right standards’. The Senate ostensibly wants this to take place behind closed doors, and it’s hard to see how that would fit Assange’s standards. But who knows?
What struck me was that the letter was signed by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Mark Warner (D-VA). and especially the latter runs like a red thread through everything that has to do with Assange and the US. It reminded me of what John Solomon said in his June 25 piece ‘How Comey Intervened To Kill Wikileaks’ Immunity Deal’ about Assange lawyer Adam Waldman, who according to Solomon has a ‘Forrest Gump-like penchant for showing up in major cases of intrigue’.
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Saturday, August 04, 2018
Red States vs Blue States - Breaking Down Trump’s Trade Wars / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
There’s ideology.And then there’s reality and outcomes.
Unfortunately, the trade war overtures in the name of fairer competition, disfavors jobs in the red states far more than in the blue ones.
In Thursday’s issue, I looked at how curbing immigration is likely to be a major factor tipping us into the next recession.
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Thursday, July 19, 2018
Trump Manchurian President Embarrasses Putin By Farcically Blowing his Russian Agent Cover / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Trump effectively blew what little cover he had left of being Czar Putin's Manchurian President, as he lavished praise on the Russian Dictator whilst deriding his own law enforcement and Intelligence agencies and their evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, as Trump chose to side with Putin by following the Czar's script rather than the growing volume of evidence of Russian interference in the election that just days earlier had prompted the US to indict 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking of DNC servers. That were a likely response to Trump's own statements made during the campaign for the Russians to to hack and leak Hillary's emails as he continued with the theme at the Press conference in Helsinki.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Trump or Putin - who is the Master in the Art of the Deal? / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
As summits go, this Trump/Putin melodrama has been billed with the lowest expectations. Style versus substance has been the focus of the Fake News Press. Low energy and boring is the assessment. Trump missed a great opportunity to lay out Putin on the carpet of public opinion. He got trumped by the wily KGB operative. So goes the coordinated condemnation by the U.S. media and talking heads. The internationalists in the foreign policy establishment suffer another blow in their plan to fire up the tension and brinkmanship with the Russian Bear. This attitude is vividly exemplified by that deranged spook and former director of the CIA, John Brennan: Trump's press conference with Putin 'nothing short of treasonous'.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Trump Treason? Get A Life! / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Yeah, just keep ’em coming, right, so that when the last one falls flat on its face people will have already forgotten about it and instead focus on the new one. It’s been the modus operandi of the US MSM ever since Donald Trump emerged as an actual presidential candidate, and they haven’t let go.
They realize by now that it divides the nation, it costs them a large chunk of their potential readers and viewers, and creates chaos all around, but the bottom line is it makes them money. Because those people who fall into the echo chamber trap, tumble into it fast and furious, and will gladly pay to read yet another installment of how bad the man really is.
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Sunday, July 15, 2018
The True Meaning of Russian ‘Collusion’ / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The indictment by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose task it is to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and ‘Russians’, that was released yesterday by Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, raises so many questions one has to be picky.
Many people have already stated that the report contains no proof of anything it claims, and that Mueller doesn’t have to prove a thing, because the 12 Russians he accuses will never show up in a US court. Many of course also have at least questioned the timing of the release, 3 days before the Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki, of information Mueller and Rosenstein have allegedly been sitting on for months.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Failure of US Supreme Court Opinions / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Now that Brett Kavanaugh has been selected by President Trump to be the next Supreme Court Justice, the gladiator games of the confirmation process begins. Much of the attention will focus on the bitter hysteria that the Never Trump lunatics exhibit as they regress even further into denial. Those supporters who demand a Living Constitution are in a panic. They see the gains they have made over decades are fading with a court of Originalists and fear that Textualism will become the standard for the Supreme Court. The self-proclaimed enlightened zealots contend they are social justice warriors. In actuality they protect the corrupt institutions, practices and policies that progressives profess they oppose.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2018
America a Nation Built on Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men — men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” – Ellen G. White
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Independence From What? / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There’s something wonderfully -though at the same time sadly- ironic in simultaneously contemplating America’s Independence Day and Greece’s NO! (OXI!) vote three years ago that was subsequently defeated by it own prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, at the behest of the European Union’s powers that be.
Where Americans managed to break free of their yoke in 1776, the Greeks did not. Indeed, they were betrayed by their own. There are certainly plenty of similarities with the Declaration of Independence to be made, plenty voices and forces that sought to defeat the Founding Fathers. In the end, the result is simple: the Americans succeeded in breaking free, the Greeks did not.
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Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Open Borders Nihilism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The nihilists that have debased our popular culture are composed of leftist hypocrite's hell bent on destroying our country. Hollywood weird is one of the most perverted lineage examples of tribal interlopers who produced the entertainment industry. No one should be surprised when the privileged rapists of our civilization become the loudest exponents of open borders. While they reside in gated citadels they depend on their feudal serfs to do the manual labor and chores to maintain the fantasy land existence in their virtual reality castles.
Imposing the purity of progressive intolerance upon the deplorables is written into film screenplays, TV series and music videos. The guardians for a utopian sanctuary society have no room to mix with family oriented producing citizens. The goal for the beautiful people is to eradicate the middle class and open the flood dikes to gate-crashers so that the tech obsessed and media elites can strip the nation of its independence and self-determination.
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Outrage at What the United States is doing to Children Across the World! / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Yes, you have every right to be outraged at the disgraceful treatment of children on America’s borders. But that does not give you the right to NOT be outraged by what America has done and is today still doing to children in, just to name a few places, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Be outraged, but don’t make it an echo chamber issue. Because if you do, you, too, are in a cage.
So if you see the wives of former presidents speak out about the child separation policies, ask yourself where they get the moral authority to speak out on such issues, after their husbands have bombed the crap out of many countries, killing many many children in the process. And don’t let’s get started about Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State.
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Sunday, May 27, 2018
How Trump’s Ditching of Iran Nuclear Deal Affirms American Unipolarity with Obama’s help / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
The Trump White House plans to break the Iran deal by sanctioning companies from Europe and Asia doing business in and with Iran. Ironically, President Obama paved the way to unilateral sanctions.For three years, the comprehensive nuclear accord (JCPOA) has offered Iran relief from US, UN and multilateral sanctions on energy, financial, shipping, automotive and other sectors. But recently that era came to a halt. “The United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” President Trump said on May 8.
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Sunday, May 27, 2018
Blackstone, BlackRock or a Public Bank for California’s Money? / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
California needs over $700 billion in infrastructure during the next decade. Where will this money come from? The $1.5 trillion infrastructure initiative unveiled by President Trump in February includes only $200 billion in federal funding, and less than that after factoring in the billions in tax cuts in infrastructure-related projects. The rest is to come from cities, states, private investors and public-private partnerships (PPPs). And because city and state coffers are depleted, that chiefly means private investors and PPPs, which have a shady history at best.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Trump “Victories” on Trade are Anything But / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Earlier this year when President Trump began beating the drums loudly, causing fear of a trade war (and assuring us that such a conflict could be easily won), I cautioned that he had no idea the trouble he was courting. Based on his spectacular misunderstanding of the power dynamic built in to international trade, he was also in danger of bringing a knife to a gunfight.
As the year has progressed, the underbrush has gotten thornier, Trump’s progress on trade has slowed, and now it has likely stopped altogether. Despite that, in true Trumpian fashion, the President has declared resounding victory. But a quick look back reveals the opposite to be true.
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Monday, May 21, 2018
Is Political Decentralization the Only Hope for Western Civilization? / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
A couple of recent articles have once more made the case, at least implicitly, for political decentralization as the only viable path which will begin to solve the seemingly insurmountable political, economic, and social crises which the Western world now faces.
In the last few months, over 3,000 millionaires have fled the hopelessly corrupt and bankrupt state of Illinois. When asked, 47% of Illinoisans would like to leave the state which, over the last decade, has seen over a half million of its residents flee. Naturally, this exodus has exacerbated the Land of Lincoln’s financial straits to catastrophic levels.*
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Friday, May 18, 2018
Bringing the Wild West back to Alaska / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
Amid Alaska's deep recession with no end in sight, it is the city of Anchorage that suffers the most. Beyond losing jobs and longtime residents on a sharp curve downward, Anchorage has been afflicted by a spike in crime, including violent crime. Downtown Anchorage is dying slowly.
That is quite a conundrum for a place that fate seemed destined to reward as beautiful and prosperous forever, given what the natural world already provides. The remedy I'd like to suggest for Southcentral Alaska is one that has brought sudden, massive economic growth to places far less likely to succeed than Anchorage.
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Thursday, April 19, 2018
The Civil War Is At Home in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Dr. D: Wonderfully said. Since no one will report, here’s what happened to that airstrike. The one where we declare a victory and go home (or try to).
They targeted 10 sites, yet after the Pentagon said it was a perfect mission, they only reported on 4. Who were the other 6?
Read full article... Read full article...Duwali airbase – 4 missiles fired, 4 shot down
Dumayr airbase – 12 missiles fired, 12 shot down
Baley airbase – 18 missiles fired, 18 shot down
Shayrat airbase – 12 missiles fired, 12 shot down
Marj Ruhayyil airbase – 18 missiles fired, 18 shot down
Damascus international airport – 4 missiles fired, 4 shot down
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
WINTER IS COMING - The Ongoing Fourth Turning Crisis Part2 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning the way you might today distance yourself from news, national politics, or even taxes you don’t feel like paying. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted. The Fourth Turning necessitates the death and rebirth of the social order. It is the ultimate rite of passage for an entire people, requiring a luminal state of sheer chaos whose nature and duration no one can predict in advance.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
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Tuesday, April 17, 2018
‘Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own’ / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
Neil Young pinned those lyrics to his song, ‘Ohio’. The tin soldiers were the National Guard and Nixon was the President. The song was about the Guard’s execution of four students at Kent State in 1970. But today, these lyrics seem truer than ever. Governments for the governed have turned on the governed. Governments conduct the business of governed in secrecy for the benefit of the government. Governments initiate acts of aggression against other peoples who have no representation in their government. The media is a propaganda arm of the government. The governed have no idea what is really happening. How do we ‘know’ anything today? In a vacuum of leadership, it does feel like ‘we are finally on our own.’
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Sunday, April 08, 2018
America 2.0 / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s Dr. D again. Told you he’s on a roll. He remains convinced America can re-invent itself. If only because it must.
Dr. D: Herbert Stein’s Law states “What Can’t Go On Forever, Doesn’t.” This is a neat summary of the present trade and currency imbalance. China makes real goods and the U.S. consumes them by typing digits on a keyboard. This is the very definition of what cannot go on forever.
• How long do you expect a nation can make nothing and consume everything?
• How long do you expect a nation without manufacturing, without a workforce, and now without a viable military to remain pre-eminent?
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Thursday, April 05, 2018
Trump Anti-Gun, Pro War, Big Government, Attacks Private Enterprise / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Donald Trump has declared war on the free market, taking to Twitter again to bash Amazon for doing what he infamously and righteously did for decades: avoid paying extortion.
It seems Darth Hater is hellbent on forcing the wildly-successful e-retailer to fork up their profits because they used the notoriously inefficient and bankrupt Post Office to deliver goods to their millions of customers.
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Monday, March 26, 2018
The Future Is Uncertain And The End Is Always Near / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Spending a week driving around a western state 1,700 miles from my stomping grounds in Pennsylvania provides a different perspective on the level of economic, social and political degradation impacting the country. With a daily commute along the crumbling, crummy, gridlocked deathtrap roadways into West Philadelphia, the squalor and decomposition of our civilization is self-evident.
I live in a corrupt state with the highest gasoline taxes, highest tolls, massively underfunded government pension liability, failing government run public schools, suburban sprawl dotted with ghost malls, vacant industrial parks, and urban ghetto shitholes plagued by drugs, murder, welfare mentality, excessive taxes, and left wing politicians.
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Saturday, March 17, 2018
The War on the Post Office / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
The U.S. banking establishment has been at war with the post office since at least 1910, when the Postal Savings Bank Act established a public savings alternative to a private banking system that had crashed the economy in the Bank Panic of 1907. The American Bankers Association was quick to respond, forming a Special Committee on Postal Savings Legislation to block any extension of the new service. According to a September 2017 article in The Journal of Social History titled “ ‘Banks of the People’: The Life and Death of the U.S. Postal Savings System,” the banking fraternity would maintain its enmity toward the government savings bank for the next 50 years.
Friday, March 16, 2018
Nationalism, Not the Russians, got Trump Elected / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
Nationalism. Populism. Nativism. All of these words have been used to describe the reason for Donald Trump's unlikely rise to power, and while each is defined a bit differently, they all share the same over-arching principle: that Trump tapped into an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with status quo politics, of excessive liberalism, of pandering to minorities, of Washington insiders doing the bidding of high-paid lobbyists, and most importantly, a sense that Americans were losing their country to elites who no longer represented the majority.
In early February, 13 Russians and three Russian companies were charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election, adding fodder to the theory, often espoused by the left, that Russian intelligence agencies conspired to change the outcome of the election because they favored Trump over Hillary Clinton. The indictment said that Russians created bogus Internet postings, posed as American political activists, and bought advertisements, all with the intent to “sow discord in the US political system.”
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Tuesday, March 06, 2018
Jeff Sessions the Mr. Magoo Buffoon / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Pick your poison for the Trump administration's biggest failure. Russian demonization by the State Department, movement of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem or adopting the threat of an aggressive use of nuclear weapons are all high on the list. All of these topics deal with foreign policy. However, the country ignores or dismisses such concerns because the bombs are not yet hitting our shores.
What does impact every inhabitant is that the rule of law has become an utter joke, especially under the regimes of the last three Attorney Generals. Sadly President Trump got snookered by former Senator Jeff Sessions when he was picked to lead the Department of Justice, better described as UNJUSTICE by anyone who has half a brain left to admit the true condition of the top cops, head attorneys or government pseudo magistrates.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2018
More State Regulations and Higher Minimum Wage / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Disputing that the economy is healthy has been an occupational job for decades. Still the government unemployment stats paint a picture that full employment is upon us. Undercounting the permanently discouraged may just be the largest category of growth that goes under reported. However the empirical data for the real causes and disincentives of both the employer and employee are usually glossed over. No doubt the shift in actual job requirements are constantly changing, but the effects of switching the ground rules makes some state governments non-competitive with other jurisdictions.
The New York Law Journal digs into the weeds to illustrate a proposed regulation that cannot help improve the plight of labor in 'No Help Wanted': The Regulation and Elimination of Retail Positions outlines an absurd example of governmental interference.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Goofy Indictments Divert Attention from Criminal Abuses at the FBI and DOJ / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
“If the election is ‘disrupted’ by voters changing their votes due to Russians posting on Facebook, then the problem is not that Russians are posting on Facebook, the problem is that voters are changing their votes based on posts they read on Facebook.” Bill H, comments line Sic Semper Tyrannis “God help America. We’ve lost our damn minds.” Publius Tacitus
Robert Mueller’s Friday night indictment-spree, is a flagrant and infuriating attempt to divert attention from the damning revelations in the Nunes memo (and the Graham-Grassley “criminal referral”) which prove that senior-level officials at the FBI and DOJ were engaged in an expansive conspiracy to subvert the presidential elections by spying on members of the Trump campaign. The evidence that the FBI and DOJ “improperly obtained” FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign affiliate, Carter Page, has now been overshadowed by the tragic massacre in Parkland, Florida and the obfuscating indictments of 13 Internet “trolls” who have not been linked to the Russian government and who are being used to conceal the fact that the 18 month-long witch hunt has not yet produced even one scintilla of hard evidence related to the original claims of “hacking or collusion”.
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Tuesday, February 13, 2018
GOP Adopts Democrat Big Deficit Spending / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
If you ever had doubts that the Federal Government experiment has failed, the bipartisan busting of the budget has made it clear that Congress abdicates their sacred duty to defend the nation from internal enemies of the people. Forget the preposterousness argument that the United States must have the most expensive military to expand the evil empire that has been built up since the end of World War II. Real national defense starts at our own water's edge and needs to relinquish any absurd notion that our own safety is enhanced by having deployments to every corner of the globe. As long as the State Department expands their interventionism, diplomacy is scarified upon the alter of continuous military bombing. Eliminating the restrains of sequesters to tamp down the size and intrusions of gun boat intimidation are a step backward. Actual national defense is diminished by the garrison bases located far from our own homeland.
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Hostilities - Bitcoin, Stocks, America.... / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
I don’t like going to the movies. Too much hassle, too many commercials and previews, too expensive, and 90% of the movies are worthless drivel, SJW inspired crap, or government buoyed propaganda. Last weekend was my wife’s birthday and she wanted to see a movie. When she shockingly suggested a western, I reluctantly agreed. So my wife and one of my sons got in the car and headed to an old Franks theater in Montgomeryville that only charges $8.50. I had seen a brief review of Hostiles on-line and saw it got a decent rating on rotten tomatoes. I was looking forward to being mildly entertained.
The next two hours and fifteen minutes of this dark, somber, violent, morally ambiguous treatise about the old west cannot be described as enjoyable. But I did find it riveting and thought provoking. Christian Bale, as Captain Joseph Blocker, mournfully carries out his duties without a single smile crossing his bearded countenance for the entire movie. The tone, atmosphere and message of this film reminded me of my favorite western and subject of the final part of my five part series based on Clint Eastwood movies – Unforgiven. One of the soldiers in Hostiles even has dialogue almost matching Will Munny’s foreboding exchange at the end of Unforgiven:
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Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Kalifornia Open Warfare on Business / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The People's Republic of Kalifornia is a prime example of centralized technocratic planning under the protection of a monolithic legislature that is entirely rooted in a Marxist "global warming" climate of totalitarian collectivism. Business in this cage of redistribution exists to support the extortion demands of the Sacramento commissars. Decades of reporting definitively conclude that the Golden State has depleted their wealth creation resources because of persistent disincentives and outright penalties for conducting legitimate business. The citadel of punitive regulations has been claimed by California, the undisputed champion of anti-capitalism.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Worse than Watergate - Release the Memo - Investigate Uranium One / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The utter farce of the Mueller investigation into Trump collusion with Russia demonstrates the most obscene and overwhelming pattern of government deceit and deflection in decades. Enough has been written on this trolling probe to convince sincere and honest people that the protection racket thugs are running a confidence game against the populace and has abandoned any prospect of justice. Still, the fake news gatekeepers that select what is suitable for the apathetic public to hear see or read keeps the fairy tale narrative going to prevent looking into the true crimes committed by the cabal of establishment globalists.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Oprah for President, Really? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Being president isn’t like hosting a talk show or running a media brand. Oprah’s success in her field is no more indicative of her potential to be a good president than Trump’s success in real estate was. You can’t criticize Trump for having no relevant experience or evident understanding of public policy, then say that the solution for Democrats is just to throw up their hands and find their own celebrity to promote.— Paul Waldman, “Get a Grip, People. Oprah should not run for President”, Washington Post
Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Failure of War Party Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The continuous foreign policy failures of the entrenched establishment goes back well over a century. Notwithstanding, the missed opportunity with the collapse of the Soviet Communism has emboldened the war party of the American Empire to become the main existential threat not only to our own country, but to much of the rest of the world. The militarists who chant "Thank You for your Service" are actually committed to expand the Wounded Warrior dupes, who are expendable. The United States never learned the lessons of Viet Nam. Volunteering to fight in unnecessary foreign adventures has caused more gratuitous suffering than any improvised explosive device that blows off limbs.
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
“The lie is the rock on which this republic rests.” / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
I stole this quote from Andrew Jackson whose actual quote was, “The Bible is the rock on which this republic rests.” Of course, the United States is not the country, or republic, that is was when the extraordinary genius of Andrew Jackson graced the presidency. Jackson also once said, “One man with courage makes a majority.” With that courage, President Jackson exterminated the plague of a central bank, balanced the country’s budget, and left the US taxpayers owing no debt to anyone on the planet. Without Jackson’s courage, the country has been growing debt since he left office in 1836. Plantation slavery has been replaced with debt slavery and sovereign rule has been replaced by bankster domination. We can only pray, ‘Please Lord, send us another leader with Jackson-like courage’.
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Nader Explains the Ongoing Collapse of the Democratic Party / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right." John Kenneth Galbraith
The last presidential election was obviously, and by choice of the parties, a contest between the lesser of two evils. The Democratic candidate was the choice of the party insiders, and the Republican of people who had just had enough, and were willing to believe the unabashed nonsense of a conman in their desperation.
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Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Masters of Economic and Political Illusion – in Taxes, Debt, Government, and Markets / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
We are a gullible people, and have become more so with the evolution and development of ever more persuasive propaganda. We accept many commonly popular economic or political “established facts” as truth almost without question. We forget or are ignorant of the fact that there are large well financed organizations in whose interest it is to provide us with information and views that will polarize our own thinking and values to parallel those of these powerful influences. In effect we are provided with the scaffolding for an illusion which we fill in according to our own personal, but mainstream media propaganda and other organization-channeled input. In creating such illusions it seems appropriate to paraphrase President Reagan’s comment: it’s not that we are ignorant, but that we know so much that simply isn’t so.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
The Unbearable Slowness Of Fourth Turnings / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire. The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
When Civil Liberties are Violated by Government / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Behold, who really cares about civil liberties in a society that puts government as the final arbitrator of authority? Well, sadly the prospects for a rebirth in recognizing that individual liberties are the basis for a civilized union are more remote now than at any time in the last half century. Most people view civil liberties as defined by protecting the personage. Notwithstanding, constitutional freedom has an important component is maintaining a just and functioning government regime. Sinking into a despotic authoritarianism is the expected risk when governments go amok. However, inadequate attention is given to the discussion and study of what constitutes a responsible state power.
Monday, November 06, 2017
Donald Trump tells me our best days are ahead. Once his tax cut plan is passed... / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Donald Trump tells me our best days are ahead. Once his tax cut plan is passed, the future will be so bright I’ll have to wear shades.
Sometimes a single chart reveals the truth being obscured by the Deep State propaganda machine, working overtime selling their economic recovery narrative. The economy most certainly is booming for Wall Streeters and D.C. parasites sucking on the teet of Federal government largess. But for the average working deplorable, this supposed recovery has passed them by.
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Friday, November 03, 2017
Charts Showing Extreme Social Fragmentation in the US / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
I’m going to show you three graphs that sum up the study discerning political polarization that has been conducted since 1994.
These three charts look at the years 1994, 2004, and 2017. Even as late as 2004, notice the broad crossover between the median Democrat and median Republican. And then notice how wide the divide is today.
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Saturday, October 28, 2017
CIA and FBI Prevent Trump Releasing JFK Assassination Smoking Gun Files / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Despite much fanfare and great expectations, President Trump barely released 10% of the files that were supposed to have been released on the JFK assassination after the FBI and CIA arm twisted Trump into withholding the full release of some 28,000 files under the excuse of impacting on National Security, protecting long dead sources, despite the fact that by law ALL of the files should have been released.
Monday, October 09, 2017
EU Officials Out Of Step With Reality, Europeans Don’t See What’s Coming at Them / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Imagine the following scenario.
Texas votes to secede from the United States, sparking bitter tension between Austin and Washington. A neo-Nazi party wins seats in the California legislature.
Cook County, home to Chicago, threatens to break away from Illinois to form its own state. Worried about losing such an economically vibrant region, government officials try to prevent the election from taking place.
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Monday, October 09, 2017
Donald Trump: Warmonger-in-Chief! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
If a world conflagration, God forbid, should break out during the Trump Administration, its genesis will not be too hard to discover: the thin-skinned, immature, shallow, doofus which currently resides in the Oval Office!
This past week, the Donald has continued his bellicose talk with both veiled and explicit threats against purported American adversaries throughout the world. In a cryptic exchange with reporters during a dinner with military leaders, he quipped:
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Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Why Left Wing Nuts Get Away with Murder / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
"Once Upon A Time, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away" the left wing of the political spectrum were the vanguard of opposing the globalist warfare matrix. The anti-war movement changed the world in the 1960's and stopped the bloody carnage in Viet Nam. Judging by today's standards, that world is forgotten and the replacement culture has an attitude that preserving the empire is necessary no matter how trumped up the rationale is to maintain perpetual conflict. Choose the newest enemy; Jihad Islam, Russian nationalism, Chinese supremacy or North Korean belligerence and any dedicated internationalist can spin an argument why fighting the next war is necessary.
Monday, September 25, 2017
A Constitutional Anniversary to Forget / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
While not a jubilee year, last week marked the 230th anniversary of the US Constitution. Naturally, most of its devotees enthusiastically praised the document which by now is seen on a par with Holy Writ itself. An editorial from Investor’s Business Daily provides an example of such hagiography:
Read full article... Read full article...The Constitution’s beauty is that it not only delineates our rights
as Americans, but expressly limits and defines government’s ability
to interfere in our private lives. This equipoise between citizens’
duties, responsibilities and rights makes it the defining document
or our nation’s glorious freedom.
But America is wonderful largely because of the Constitution and
those who framed it . . . .
What we have is too precious to squander . . . .*
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Really Bad Ideas, Part 4: US Federal Flood Insurance / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Rubino
As Hurricanes Harvey and Irma wreaked their havoc over the past couple of weeks, several interconnected questions popped up, the answers to which make us look, to put it bluntly, like idiots.
Why, for instance, are there suddenly so many Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes? Is this due to man-made climate change and is this summer therefore our new normal? The answer: Maybe, but that misses the point. There have always been huge storms (like the one that wiped Galveston, TX off the map in 1900, long before global warming was a thing), and barring another ice age there always will be. So the US east coast will remain one of Mother Nature’s favorite targets.
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Tuesday, September 12, 2017
September Will Be The Most Politically Unstable Month Of This Year / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
This month will be busy for us macro monitors.
The FOMC meets September 19–20 and will likely hike rates another notch, launch its balance-sheet-reduction plan, or both. I will be very surprised if they don’t do either.
The greater suspense is elsewhere in Washington.
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Monday, September 11, 2017
The United States of Hubris / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
If anyone should have any questions about whether the United States of America is not the most aggressive, warlike, and terroristic nation on the face of the earth, its latest proposed action against the supposed rogue state of North Korea should allay any such doubts.
Last week, the US circulated a draft resolution which it intends to present to the UN Security Council that would give the American Navy and Air Force the power to interdict North Korean ships at sea to determine if they were transporting “weaponry material” or fuel and that US forces would be given “the right” to use “all necessary measures” to “enforce compliance.”*
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Only Political Dividing Line Left, Roots Based Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Because of the rise of Globalism in the late 20th century the U.S. and Western Europe have recently seen stirrings of nationalist awakenings. Terrorism, turmoil in the Middle East and waves of Muslim refugees have fueled the trend.
Wikipedia says this about Nationalism; “a nation should govern itself, free from unwanted outside interference, and is linked to the concept of self-determination. Nationalism is further oriented towards developing and maintaining a national identity based on shared characteristics such as culture, language, race, religion, political goals or a belief in a common ancestry. Nationalism therefore seeks to preserve the nation's culture. It often also involves a sense of pride in the nation's achievements, and is closely linked to the concept of patriotism.”
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Monday, September 04, 2017
Christopher Columbus and the Falsification of History / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
The Los Angeles City Council’s recent, crazed decision* to replace Christopher Columbus Day with one celebrating “indigenous peoples” can be traced to the falsification of history and denigration of European man which began in earnest in the 1960s throughout the educational establishment (from grade school through the universities), book publishing, and the print and electronic media. It is amazing that, as of yet, the federal holiday commemorating the Genoese explorer’s world- changing voyage has not come under attack. It is doubtful that in the current radicalized leftist ideological atmosphere, the national government’s recognition of Columbus will survive much longer.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2017
The Swamp Strikes Back / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Browne
On August 21st many Americans witnessed the moon cast a historic but short-lived shadow across the United States. One day later, President Trump reversed his previously stated position on the 16 year old Afghan War, thereby eclipsing the possibility that the United States would finally come to its senses and rethink a failed strategy that is likely to fail for years, perhaps decades, to come. The abrupt change, in what had been a central plank in candidate Trump’s appeal to voters thirsting for change in American foreign policy, came hard after the departure of Steve Bannon from the White House. As a self-avowed nationalist, Bannon had represented a true break in interventionist Republican thinking that had entangled the United States in intractable conflicts around the globe. To put an exclamation point, Sebastian Gorka, the last remaining proponent of the Bannon perspective, was forced out of the White House. The counter-revolution appears to be complete.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Trump’s Fall - The Eclipse of the Presidency? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
As violent demonstrations linger domestically and nuclear risks loom abroad, the White House has flamed new domestic divisions, while paving the way for international trade wars. The coming fall will be the hottest - and potentially most violent - in decades in America. America is amid a great unease. While Charlottesville’s white supremacists and violent riots brought forward old race divisions and seemingly new hate groups, North Korea’s nuclear threats prevail.
In the fall, the White House and the Congress must also cope with a set of political time bombs, including the impending fight for the nation’s debt ceiling (US debt amounts to $20 trillion, or 105% of GDP), the 2018 federal budget, polarizing tax reforms, infrastructure spending and possibly another effort to overthrow Obamacare (i.e., The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ACA).
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Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Donald Trump Terrorist in Chief, “We Aren’t Nation-Building Again, We Are Killing Terrorists” / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Fear not, Donald Trump is just trying to rid the world of those pesky terrorists. But, wait a minute, if he’s using violence to annihilate the “terrorism” the US government created with the help of the CIA, Mossad, and Saudi Arabia, then who really are the terrorists?
That was a rhetorical question; we already know that all wars are a complete racket and that the major aim of all this violence is to continue to destabilize the middle eastern countries and continue to prop up the military industrial complex. Oh, and guard the poppy fields of course.
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Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Power Elites Launches Civil War Against Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
What you are witnessing is a full court press to remove Donald Trump from the Presidency. The endless dribble from every corner of the gate keeping controlled media, the careerist bipartisan hacks, the diseased swamp ridden bureaucrat rats and the cowards who wave the flag of the establishment globalist order, all have banned together to take out the America First agenda. Trump was elected by populist discontent, but is now being betrayed by every faction who fears meaningful change in a corrupt political system that rules over the common man. Make no mistake about the stakes. A forced resignation, a contrived impeachment or an assassination for all to see are now in play. The establishment will not settle for anything less. The people be damned, it is time to show just who rules the United States.
Friday, August 18, 2017
US Civil War - FUNCTIONAL ILLITERATES TRYING TO ERASE HISTORY / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them the desire to do right is precisely the same.” ― Robert E. Lee
I consider myself a student of history. I’ve always been fascinated by the personalities who drove events throughout history. I probably would have been a history major in college if I didn’t feel the need to make enough money to support myself and my family. I chose a business major and decided studying history would be my hobby. Over the years I’ve taken a particular interest in the Civil War. You could even call me a Civil War buff.
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Friday, August 11, 2017
Chicago is America’s Next Black Hole / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
The Windy City is famous for a lot of things, including the biting winter breeze off Lake Michigan and blowhard politicians.Whether Chicago got its pet name from one or the other doesn’t really matter, since both fit.
But soon, the place also called the Second City will be known as something else: The municipal black hole.
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Thursday, August 10, 2017
North Korea Nuclear War Threat - It's Time to Support Your President / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A Guardian headline today shouts: “Trump Has Taken Us To The Brink Of Nuclear War. Can He Be Stopped?”. And I’m thinking that is such obvious nonsense, how dare you print it? The North Korea nuke build up has been going on for decades, and neither Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush nor Obama ever took any decisive actions against it. And now it all falls into Trump’s lap. But that doesn’t mean he’s ‘taken us’ anywhere at all. The last thing Trump wants is this.
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Wednesday, August 02, 2017
Trump, the CIA and the Yokeldom / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The western world is mired in a mile-deep political crisis and nary a soul seems to notice, or rather: everyone just sees their own little preferred echochamber tidbits of it. Which is not a good thing, because that crisis is bound to trigger other bigger crises that are much more damaging. And I’m sorry to say it, but Donald Trump is not your main problem. Not even close.
The main problem is the collapse of western political systems. While that is what brought Trump to power in the first place, he didn’t cause the collapse. The collapse is also what ‘gave you’ Brexit, and Trump didn’t cause that either. Moreover, in the next step, on the far end of all this, Trump may well be the only thing standing between you and CIA warfare. I know, who wants to hear that, right?! Who’s ready for that next step?
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Monday, July 31, 2017
Exposing the US Government As Terrorist Organization / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
I recently had the opportunity to speak on Iran’s PressTV channel. It was great being able to speak a bit of truth about the state of the world and evil transgressions perpetrated by the US government on a relatively well-known network.
The first thing I was asked about was what kind of repercussions the US sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea will have? I responded by bringing up the great anarchist, Frederick Bastiat’s, quote “When goods don’t cross borders, Soldiers will.”
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Sunday, July 30, 2017
Hacker Cracks US Voting Machine - If Politics Seem Messy Now, Just Wait / ElectionOracle / US Politics
By: John_Rubino
It’s already widely understood that the electronic voting machines used by a growing number of US states are easy to hack. But just how easy may not be clear. Consider this from today’s Wall Street Journal:
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Saturday, July 29, 2017
America – Then and Now – Part 1 / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
Yesterday Andy had a chance to go on Liberty Talk Radio and talk about what is going on economically. We decided that despite what we felt was a great show, that it didn’t even scratch the surface in terms of the differences between how things used to be and how they are now. Particularly disturbing is the relative lack of understanding or willingness to even accept the changes that have taken place by the majority of the population. The latter is called ‘normalcy bias’. It is something ingrained in each of us as a human and either reinforced or stunted by our experiences. We aren’t sure how far down the road of ‘Then and Now’ we’ll get in today’s installment. There may be future installments.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Congress Is Hopeless Against Trump’s Plans To Impose Trade Sanctions / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
Trade is the global economy’s bloodstream. The more freely it flows, the better for all.
As David Ricardo explained 200 years ago, different peoples have unique characteristics that enable them to produce certain goods at lower opportunity costs than others can. Free trade gives consumers access to the best goods and services at the lowest prices.
However, what we now call “free trade” is not what Ricardo had in mind. We have instead managed trade designed to benefit certain favored parties and to disadvantage others.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Trump’s “America First” Trade Frictions Are About to Begin / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the US-Sino Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, trade issues are alienating not only China and America’s NATO allies – but its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico.As the Trump administration’s first US-Sino Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) ended in Washington, it could only agree on three no’s: canceled news conferences, no joint statement and no new announcements on market access by the US to China, or by China to the US.
A simple scenario is that the CED has paved way to a major trade conflict between the US and China. Yet, despite tough political rhetoric, economic realities do not seem to support such a view, at least yet.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
GOP Leadership Betrays Trump Voters on Obamacare & Debt / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
The single-digit approval rating of Congress means precious few people still expect much from the politicians running Washington DC.
Expectations should now ratchet even lower as representatives once again demonstrate just how far their words are from their deeds.
We’ll start with healthcare. The U.S. Senate failed in yet another effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. The prospects for reform any time soon are approaching zero.
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Monday, July 24, 2017
Macbeth, King Lear and Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Mea culpa. Yesterday I wrote Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?, and not long after publishing it, I figured I missed the target I was going for. Not 100%, and it’s not all bad, as people’s reactions have confirmed, but…
The thing is, Trump’s nomination of Anthony Scaramucci as White House Communications Director was not the main point of my piece. Tempting, because everybody knows the Queen song, but not the main one, and it certainly shouldn’t have been the title of the piece.
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Sunday, July 23, 2017
Scaramucci Trump's Phase2 - Scaramouche, Scaramouche, Will You Do the Fandango? / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
So sorry to see Sean Spicer go, even if I never watch TV, so I only got snippets of his acting performances -and Melissa McCarthy’s. One of the very few SNL and other ‘comedy’ shows skids that was actually funny, in the same way that very few of the New York Times and Washington Post ‘articles’ on Trump have been actually news.
As I wrote to a friend earlier today, sure Spicer’s gone, but there’ll be other entertaining characters to replace him. Say what you will about the Trump administration, but never a dull moment. Having Mike Pence become president would kill all the fun.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Discover Why A Major American Revolution Is Brewing / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
I have written many articles on how extremely polarized our politics has become in the last decade. I’ve dedicated several Leading Edge newsletters to the topic. I talked about it at our 2016 Irrational Economic Summit. I even discuss it briefly in my new book, Trump, Brexit, and the Next Civil War, which will be available around mid-August.I talk about it so much because it’s related to the mega 250-Year Revolution Cycle sweeping over us right now. We’ll feel the effects of this cycle for decades to come… which I detail in my new book.
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Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Accepting a Society of Government Tyranny / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Rational thinking and moral conduct are rare in a society that has no respect for other individuals or succumb to the dictates of an all powerful government. Without free will, the dignity of the person is removed from the social relationship. Tyranny is not simply a state of mind, but is an imposition of compulsion designed to control the behavior of subjects of whatever form of government claiming legitimate rule.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
California Communists at War with America / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
There has always been a distinct California disconnect from the heartland. Anyone who has travelled the lower 48 knows that the allure of El Dorado panned out when the gold mines ran out of bullion. That appeal transformed into a fantasy stargaze that has little to do with the values and traditions of our long history as a nation. In order to understand the query, California Dreaming or a Nightmare?; one needs to appreciate the reasons why the population migration has shifted over time.
Tuesday, July 04, 2017
Shadow Government Hates America's Independence Day / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The only conclusion any honest American citizen can come to is that the Republic is dead. Once again the flags wave and the songs play as the parades march to celebrate another 4th of July. Picnic meals are eaten while children frolic in the warn sunshine of summer. Few people reflect on the true meaning that established the solemn commemoration of the nation's birth. The reality of this post federation of independent state sovereignty is that a centralized federal behemoth has superseded the original intent of Thomas Jefferson's vision: "That government is best which governs least". Today the society that exists demands compliance or compels obedience by way of punishment.
Monday, July 03, 2017
Nikki Haley: Warmonger Extraordinaire! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
It must now be a prerequisite of those who become an American ambassador to the UN to possess certain characteristics and traits, the most important of which are rabid warmonger, child killer, and outright liar.
Remember it was Madeleine Albright when asked about the US blockading Iraq which prevented medicine and medical equipment from entering the country that resulted in the estimated death of a half a million children who coldly responded: “I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.” Then there is Colin “Weapons of Mass Destruction” Powell who told a bald-face lie about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities which paved the way for the US destruction of the country.
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Monday, June 19, 2017
Trump White House Under Siege / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
Washington is planning to extend sanctions against Russia, once again. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is getting ready to cope with a special counsel’s investigation which seems to focus as much on Trump as Russia.
Last Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that Congress should not pass any legislation that would undercut "constructive dialogue" with Russia. Yet, the Senate voted 97-2 to advance a bipartisan agreement to launch new financial penalties on Russia and to let the Congress intervene before President Trump can lift sanctions. Afterwards, Trump tweeted that he is the subject of the “single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history,” and one that he said is being led by “some very bad and conflicted people.”
Monday, June 12, 2017
US-China Ties in the Shadow of the Mueller Investigation / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
In the foreseeable future, the Trump administration will be constrained by the special counsel’s Russia investigation. How will it impact the White House’s relations with China?It was a strange month. First, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who the center-right Democrats blame for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 electoral loss. In turn, the center-left Sanders-supporters attribute the loss to Hillary Clinton’s gross abuse of public office and funds, Bill Clinton’s corrupt Global Initiative, collusion with the Democratic Leadership Committee (DLC) and mainstream media.
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Monday, June 12, 2017
Will Trump Get Away With All of It? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
The good news for Trumptarians is that Donald J. Trump is not going to be legally impeached, indicted, removed from office or otherwise until his protectors and enablers are weakened first: Congressional Republicans. And they won’t be weakened until mid-term elections in 2018. In “Washington time” that might as well be the next century.
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Tuesday, June 06, 2017
Donald Trump is an Economic Ignoramus! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Not surprisingly, Donald Trump has followed in the infamous footsteps of his presidential predecessors in the transition from candidate to chief executive. Invariably, every candidate for the presidency makes a whole host of promises, the vast majority of which are horrible and typically only exacerbate the problems they attempt to resolve. Among the proposals, however, there is an occasional bright spot. Yet, once elected the stupid polices are eagerly pursued while the good ones are quickly discarded.
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Monday, June 05, 2017
Regime Change in the Trump White House? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
No U.S. postwar president has managed to reset relations with Russia. Now the Trump administration must cope with a special counsel’s investigation. In the past, US efforts at regime change targeted foreign countries; today, the White House. How will it impact Trump’s stalled policy agenda?As I argued in spring 2016 (TWFR, April 25, 2016), US election is a global risk and it would continue to be fought after the Trump election win. But recently, these political struggles moved to an entirely new phase.
First, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), reportedly only days after his request for increased resources to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the election. Barely a week later, DOJ appointed Robert Mueller, former director of the FBI (2001-13) as special counsel overseeing the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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Saturday, June 03, 2017
In Defense of Trumpian Diplomacy / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Browne
Given the media's obsession with some of the President Trump's communication challenges, it was utterly predictable that the President's declaration that his trip to Europe and the Middle East should be considered a "home run" was met almost universally with ridicule. In truth, the President actually did accomplish a series of victories overseas, or at least laid important groundwork that should help advance American interests in ways that prior Administrations have failed to do. It's a shame that these developments have been ignored among the din of partisanship.
Friday, June 02, 2017
Trump's 'Arab NATO' Vision is a Desert Mirage / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Ever since Teddy Roosevelt began a tradition of overseas state visits when he headed to Panama to check on his canal project in 1906, American presidents have chosen the destination of their first overseas visit with foreign policy theater in mind. The majority, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama, stayed close to home to focus on North America or the Caribbean Basin. Others, from Woodrow Wilson to Jimmy Carter, crossed the Atlantic amid wars hot and cold. Donald Trump, however, is the first to choose the Middle East for his foreign debut. His reach, in this case, may well exceed his grasp, especially when it comes to the concept of building an "Arab NATO" to manage the region.
Thursday, June 01, 2017
President Trump’s Impending Resignation and Declaration of Victory / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
This is what I predicted the day after Trump’s election.He has the impulse control of a grease fire. And he certainly can’t admit when he’s wrong, even though he changes his mind on one policy or view after the next.
There’s something disturbing about that. More disturbing than Richard Nixon’s paranoia that led to the Watergate scandal. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Trump’s Predatory Infrastructure Privatization Scheme / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Straightaway in office, Trump proved he’s an imperial/predatory corporatist tool - his rhetorical populism pretense, not real, his agenda hugely harming ordinary people at home and abroad.
Days after his election, Ellen Brown exposed his phony promised economic change, saying “his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same - privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people.”
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Thursday, May 25, 2017
Rosenstein and Mueller: the Regime Change Tag-Team / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Let’s say you own a big US corporation but need help managing your domestic accounts. So you hire a bright, young man named Bruno who just graduated from Harvard Business School with a Masters in corporate finance. And the first day on the job, you discover that Bruno has secretly employed a private detective who has obtained subpoena power to dig through all of your business accounts, all your investments past and present, all your taxes going back decades, and any personal transactions you might have made in the last 20 years or so. And, oh yeah, and he also has the authority to interview anyone he chooses, including people who might have a grudge against you or who lost money on one of your dodgy real estate deals or who simply doesn’t like the way you comb your hair. And, of course, Bruno knows that the information he gathers is going to be deliberately tweaked to look as suspicious as possible, then it’s going to be leaked to the press and splashed across the headlines, then it’s going to be presented as evidence to a Grand Jury, and then, finally– after months of excruciating testimony and nonstop mud-slinging– it will be used in criminal proceedings that will lead your removal as CEO of your corporation.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Ian Bremmer: Trump Faces a Far More Dangerous Risk Than Impeachment / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
by Patrick W. Watson : The words "Trump" and "impeachment" are often seen in the same sentence now. Few think it would happen. But there's no question another presidential impeachment attempt would be a wrenching experience for the nation.
Geopolitics expert and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer doesn't worry about impeachment. Speaking at the Mauldin Economics Strategic Investment Conference on Tuesday, Bremmer said he sees a different and more worrisome risk.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2017
America's Southern Heritage is a Threat to the Deep State / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
In an age where the accounts of history are no longer taught or the chronicles of past generations are lost to the consciousness of the current culture; all that is left is a fairy tale of deception designed to confuse, indoctrinate and eliminate critical thinking. Astute students of the War of Northern Aggression understand that the cessation of hostilities set into motion the forces of imperialism and the perversion of a Constitution with the addition of harmful amendments. Liberty was the primary causality of all the bloodshed and the institution of a totalitarian statist regime became the permanent outcome of the conflict.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
The “Political Coup” Was Just Initiated In Washington D.C.! / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Vermeulen
The financial markets have already “priced in” huge tax cuts, reducing red tape regulations and a massive increase in infrastructure spending.
Perhaps, the markets are now believing that the agenda is not going to occur with Al Green asking for Trump impeachment? This could result in a significant downturn for stocks if it were to unfold.
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Thursday, May 18, 2017
US Stock Market Slumps on Establishment / CIA Trump Impeachment Coup Plan / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The mainstream financial press as is nearly always the case in hindsight looked and found the smoking gun for Thursday's stock market Dow plunge of 372 points. As the latest attempts of the ruling establishment elite to entrap President Trump manifested in chaos so that he can be removed from office and replaced with a far more docile Mike Spence at their bidding. And so the establishment press directed by the CIA have been busy pumping out reams of Anti-Trump propaganda that paints a broad strokes picture that Trump really IS Putin's Manchurian candidate, a traitor even who gives America's darkest secrets to Czar Putin of Russia, who is playing his own game with glee.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Sinister NYT Plot to Oust Trump from Office / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Likely colluding with anti-Trump dark forces, Times editors said his authority as president “does not extend to obstructing a federal investigation.”
No credible evidence proves it - only an alleged Comey memo not seen outside the Justice Department if it exists.
It cites him quoting Trump supposedly saying “I hope you can let this go,” referring the witch-hunt federal investigation into possible improper Michael Flynn connections to Russia - what never should have been initiated in the first place.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Long Knives Out for Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
He’s a longtime establishment figure. How else could he become super-rich, able to be the GOP standard bearer, then president?
Yet he’s portrayed as an outlier. Undemocratic Democrats and media scoundrels despise him for preventing Hillary from getting the nation’s top job.
An unrelenting blitzkrieg persists to demonize, weaken and delegitimize him, a softening up process aimed at ousting him from office by forced resignation, impeachment or more sinister means.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2017
GOP Establishment Elite Plots Trump Removal / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Russia, Russia and all things Russia!
The drum beat never ceases. Only the most dense and easily manipulated buy into the bogus narrative that Trump is a Russian asset subject to blackmail. After all these pathetic months of disinformation from the Beltway District of Criminals, the absence of factual reality has become the most rare commodity in the public arena. The establishment panic over the enactment of a robust America First policy administration has the bi-partisan ranks of dedicated Statists scheming to remove President Trump from office by any means necessary. It should be obvious that marginalizing his presidency started the day of his election. Now the ground work is being set to trump up some phony story, absent of any definitive proof, that will entice the GOP never Trumpers, to join in with the deranged Democrats to remove their most threatening nemesis.
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Sunday, May 14, 2017
Trump Administration Shakeup Coming? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
The world’s most powerful position can be its most lonely, frustrating, unrewarding and dangerous when US dark forces oppose the chief executive’s agenda, key parts thereof - or if the incumbent is perceived to be too independent.
The “mess” Trump said he inherited is America’s debauched system, its ruthlessness, its war on humanity at home and abroad, its deep state power, presidents either serving its interests or else.
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Sunday, May 14, 2017
Revving Up War on Trump, Risks of Coup d’etat / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Instead of criticizing him for the right reasons, media scoundrels bash him for the wrong ones.
Dark forces in Washington want him weakened, delegitimized, ousted, and replaced by neocon Pence, an easily controlled establishment figure, their sinister agenda in good hands with him as president.
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Thursday, May 11, 2017
There’s a New Mafia in Town, American Dream Dead? / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
Just look at this chart!
If you were born in 1980, you only have a 50% chance of making more money than your parents.
But if you were born in 1950, you had a 79% chance, according to research that Raj Chetty and his team of economists did.
That’s one heck of a drop!
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Comey and the End of Conversation / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
You might have thought, and hoped, that recent events, such as the election of Trump as president of the US, or Brexit, or the rise of Marine Le Pen and other non-establishment forces in Europe, would, as a matter of -natural- course, have led to increased conversation and discussion between parties, entities, whose divisions were material in sparking these events.
Monday, May 08, 2017
Trump’s Conversion into a Warmongering Neo-con - The Horror! The Horror! (Part Three) / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One and Part Two of this article I detailed the decades of propaganda, false flags, and misinformation campaigns used by the Deep State to gain power and control over the U.S. government. When war or a financial crisis is necessary to keep the profits flowing, events will be steered to such an outcome. With the latest financial plundering operation running out of steam, the Deep State is pushing the world toward global conflict.
If at first you don’t succeed with a false flag gas attack, try try again. Knowing a vast swath of the American populace is incapable of critical thinking or able to discern between fake news and factual events, the Deep State and their media lackeys unquestioningly promoted the story of children being killed by a sarin gas attack by Assad. The photos of rescue workers helping victims without gloves immediately invalidated the narrative, as the rescue workers would be dead if they handled sarin gas victims without protective gear.
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Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Save Liberty, Shut Down the Government / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Congress ended the week by passing a continuing resolution keeping the government funded for one more week. This stopgap funding bill is designed to give Congress and the White House more time to negotiate a long-term spending bill. Passage of a long-term spending bill has been delayed over objections to Republican efforts to preserve Obamcare's key features but give states a limited ability to opt out of some Obamacare mandates.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2017
What Trump’s Next 100 Days Will Look Like / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Reva Goujon : U.S. President Donald Trump approaches his 100-day benchmark on Saturday, a media deluge has already begun bemoaning the demise of the liberal order, celebrating waves of deregulation or simply blaming the president's rocky start on the "disaster" he inherited on taking office. Rather than wade into that predictable morass, we prefer to focus instead on what the next 100 days hold in store.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Real Reason Trump Why Reversed His Stance On NATO, China, and Mexico / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
By Allison Fedirka Donald Trump has recently reversed his stance on a number of key foreign policy issues: NATO, Russia, China, and Mexico. From a geopolitical perspective, Trump’s remarks validated that limitations exist in the real world—even for the US president.
These limitations explain why he has backtracked on some of his key campaign promises.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Trump Is Among The Institutionally Weakest National Leaders In The World / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
By George Friedman : During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump advocated for a more disengaged US foreign policy. Involvement in the world would be limited to actions in the interest of the United States.
On the surface, this was not an irrational argument. American involvement—chiefly militarily—has not yielded the outcomes the US hoped for in recent years.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Fed Drops MOAB on Wall Street, Swamp Creatures Sack D.C. / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Pento
Wall Street and our central bank are in for a rude awakening very soon! The idea that the US economy is on stable footing and about to experience a surge in growth is ridiculous. Hence, the consensus that the Fed can normalize interest rates and its balance sheet is nothing short of a bad joke...and it's on them.
For starters, the government's fiscal deficit for the month of March came in at $176.2 billion, which means the deficit 6 months into fiscal 2017 is $526.9 billion and running 15% over last year. If not for the calendar timing of receipts and payments, our government's deficit would be a year-to-date $564.0 billion or 23% above last year. In addition, there was an 18% decline in corporate income tax collection. We all know there was no corporate tax reform passed. So the credible conclusion must be reached that corporations are not growing there profits...they are actually shrinking.
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Monday, April 24, 2017
Candidate Trump: 'I Love Wikileaks.' President Trump: 'Arrest Assange!' / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
"I love Wikileaks," candidate Donald Trump said on October 10th on the campaign trail. He praised the organization for reporting on the darker side of the Hillary Clinton campaign. It was information likely leaked by a whistleblower from within the Clinton campaign to Wikileaks.
Back then he praised Wikileaks for promoting transparency, but candidate Trump looks less like President Trump every day. The candidate praised whistleblowers and Wikileaks often on the campaign trail. In fact, candidate Trump loved Wikileaks so much he mentioned the organization more than 140 times in the final month of the campaign alone! Now, as President, it seems Trump wants Wikileaks founder Julian Assange sent to prison.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
US War on Whistleblowers / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Truth-telling in America is endangered. Free and open expression is our most fundamental right, all others threatened without it.
Exposing government wrongdoing is courageous and essential. Obama waged war on press freedom and whistleblowing. Trump continues his outrageous agenda.
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Wednesday, April 19, 2017
On the Commemoration of World War I: From Woodrow Wilson to Donald Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
It is altogether fitting that the US attack on a Syrian airport, the dropping of a MOAB on defenseless Afghanistan, and the potential outbreak of nuclear war with North Korea have all come in the very month one hundred years earlier that an American president led the nation on its road to empire. President Trump’s aggressive actions and all of America’s previous imperialistic endeavors can ultimately be traced to Woodrow Wilson’s disastrous decision to bring the country into the First World War on April 6, 1917.
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Saturday, April 15, 2017
Trump 2013 is Against Everything That Trump 2017 Does / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
In 2013, Donald Trump could have almost been mistaken for a Dollar Vigilante subscriber. He was against almost anything Obama was doing, was against all the wars and occupations, was against Obamacare and constantly pointed out all the corruption, criminality and waste in government.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Preparing for the Reign of the First Widow / Politics / US Politics
By: Stewart_Dougherty
We believe the 6 April 2017 Tomahawk missile attack on Syria indicates that Donald Trump has concluded that the fiscal, economic and political situations in the United States are beyond repair, and that without continued, massive military interventionism and spending, U.S. GDP will plunge, taking all of his campaign commitments down with it. Therefore, he has capitulated to the agenda of the Deep State looters and war profiteers. Trump’s capitulation has profound personal and financial implications for the citizens of the United States and the world.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
United Airlines "Just Kill Him" - A Symptom of New Fascist Reality In America / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
I’ve never understood airlines overbooking their flights. What other industry does that?
“Hi, I’m here to pick up the painting I bought from you online.”
“Oh, there are two other people here who bought it too. I guess I sold it too many times, sorry. I’ll just have some armed men escort you out!”
It sounds crazy, right? But, when it comes to airlines it happens all the time.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Trump Supporters Winning Gold Medal In Mental Gymnastics Trying To Justify His Actions / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Donald Trump said one thing to get elected and then, once elected, did the other.
The fact that people are surprised is, in itself, the surprising part.
Hasn’t that been the history of democracy and politics since it was created?
Democracy is one of the most bizarre systems ever created, to begin with. Here is how you would explain it to a newbie:
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Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Cost of a Trump Presidency / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Last Thursday’s wanton attack on a Syrian air field by the US and its bellicose actions toward North Korea have brought to the forefront the real cost of candidate Trump’s landslide victory last November.
Unlike most laymen, accountants, and financial analysts, economists look at cost differently. For economists, cost or more specifically, “opportunity cost,” means “a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action. Stated differently, opportunity cost represents an alternative given up when a decision is made.”
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Tuesday, April 11, 2017
The Trump-Xi Summit Paves the Way to New Realism in US-Chinese Trade / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
Despite preliminary pessimism, the Trump-Xi Summit showed greater trade pragmatism than initially expected, even though it was overshadowed by a raw display of US military power.President Donald Trump says he developed a "friendship" with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. However, U.S. missile attacks against Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria overshadowed the meeting. Apparently, the White House hoped to kill two birds with one stone: to show to al-Assad who was in control and to Xi what might happen to North Korea if China would not intervene more decisively.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Trumpism is the First Casualty of the War Party / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Are you starting to feel that you have been here previously and have gone through this same drill before? Wagging the kosher tail in front of the controlled media is a rerun that the gullible public never gets tired of. Those who question the orthodox narrative are condemned as disloyal or agents of a foreign power. However, for those who are "stuck on stupid", that alien country is never allowed to identify the Zionist cabal as the real force behind the imposition of the war party's continuous conflict in avoidable bloodshed. The Pavlovian trained domestic wieners that contest any suggestion of a false flag formula, refuse to face facts. The drum beat for Armageddon always works to divert from the true defiler that operates as a fifth column against the genuine national interests of America.
Monday, April 10, 2017
After Trump's Syria Attack, What Comes Next? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Thursday's US missile attack on Syria must represent the quickest foreign policy U-turn in history. Less than a week after the White House gave Assad permission to stay on as president of his own country, President Trump decided that the US had to attack Syria and demand Assad's ouster after a chemical attack earlier in the week. Trump blamed Assad for the attack, stated that "something's going to happen" in retaliation, and less than two days later he launched a volley of 59 Tomahawk missiles (at a cost of $1.5 million each) onto a military airfield near where the chemical attack took place.
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Sunday, April 09, 2017
Trump is the New Hillary - Attacking Syria Could Start World War III / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Donald Trump Warns That Attacking Syria Could Start World War III
Yes, you read the headline right. Donald Trump has warned that attacking Syria could lead the US into World War III!
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Friday, April 07, 2017
US Syria Missile Attack and Symbols of Strength / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I don’t know anything more than anyone else does, outside of the decision makers’ circle, about the reasoning behind the Tomahawk missile attack on a Syrian airport. Have the US neocon warmongers won over Trump and the White House, as I see suggested? Have the Goldmanites? Is that the same group of people? If Trump has conceded to the warmongers, will Putin be next in line? Should Russia have pushed through when it had the upper hand in Syria, and ‘finished’ the job?
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Sunday, April 02, 2017
The Russia US Election Hacking Fiasco: No Evidence Required / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Here’s what bugs me about the Russia hacking story: Why would the media, whose credibility is already at its lowest point ever, go after Trump when they had no facts to back them up?
Why?
Do the media bosses really think that if they set their hair on fire and run around yelling, “The Russians did it, the Russians did it”, the American people will sheepishly nod in agreement?
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Wednesday, March 29, 2017
John McCain’s New World Order Is Under “Enormous Strain” / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Decades ago, John McCain was in Asia trying to kill people he didn’t know while living off the largess of money (taxes) stolen from hard working people in the US.
In any other reality but our current one he’d be considered a thieving mass murderer.
Unfortunately, in our current reality, some people call him a “war hero”.
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Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Foundation And Empire: Is Donald Trump The Mule? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I analyzed the similarities of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy to Strauss & Howe’s Fourth Turning, trying to assess how Donald Trump’s ascension to power fits into the theories put forth by those authors. Now I will compare Trump to the most interesting character in Asimov’s classic – The Mule.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Trump Watershed Budget / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
You have never seen an attempt to change direction in the Federal juggernaut, as outlined in the Trump budget to revamp discretionary spending. Bob Adelmann of The New American provides an apt appraisal in Trump’s “Blueprint” Budget Is a Policy Statement; Real Budget to Follow. For a full reading of this framework review the White House document. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, has delivered a bold variation from the normal accommodation to the political careerists and influence peddlers.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Angela Merkel in Washington / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Friday, March 17, 2017
The Only Article You Need to Read to Understand the Trump Phenomenon / Politics / US Politics
By: Graham_Summers
The following is an attempt to explain the Trump phenomenon. It is NOT a pro-Trump article; it is simply an explanation for how Trump accomplished what he did, and why so few predicted his success and the impact of his economic policies.
There’s a simple reason so few people in the media and in finance understand the economic impacts of a Trump Presidency.
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Thursday, March 16, 2017
Red States Have Had Their Say… It’s Now the Blue States’ Turn / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
We’ve not seen this level of political polarization since the Civil War. And it’s not unique to the U.S. It’s happening around the world… a backlash against globalization.
The red states scored a massive victory when President Donald Trump won against the odds. Six states switched from borderline blue to borderline red during that election.
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Monday, March 13, 2017
The Trump Reset - Regime Change, Russia the Over Hyped Fake News SuperPower (1/2) / News_Letter / US Politics
By: NewsLetter
The Market Oracle Newsletter29th December, 2016 Issue # 33 Vol. 10
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Sunday, March 12, 2017
Rediscovering Community Wizard / Politics / US Politics
By: Rob_Kirby
We all live in and with a debt based system, so in the spirit of Keynesianism – perhaps we might want to try “borrowing” something of very great value from the past.Catherine Austin Fitts is former asst. sec. Federal Housing Administration [FHA] at HUD in the Bush I Administration. It was during her time in government that Fitts realized government finances needed to be re-engineered from the ground up – one locality at a time. When she left her post in government, she formed Hamilton Securities, which became a contractor to FHA.
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Friday, March 10, 2017
Trump Counter Revolution vs the Deep State / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One and Part Two of this article I revealed how the Deep State’s fake data and fake news propaganda machine can be overcome by opening your eyes, observing reality, understanding how Fed created inflation has destroyed our lives, and why the election of Trump was the initial deplorable pushback to Deep State evil.
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” – H.L. Mencken
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Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Sound Money Is Rising at the State Level / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Inflation is the most pernicious of taxes levied by our government. Officials systematically devalue the Federal Reserve Note "dollar," then levy capital gains taxes on assets when their dollar price rises.
The "gains" are largely illusory. Rising asset prices over time reflect the fact that the dollar buys less of everything. But the tax obligations triggered by this inflation are very real.
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Monday, March 06, 2017
This Map Shows How Much Four US States Depend On Mexico / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
Eighty-five percent of goods traded between the US and Mexico are transported by truck or railway, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Two-way trade across the border totals $1.4 billion per day and takes place at 25 major ports of land entry between the US and Mexico.
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Monday, March 06, 2017
Trump To Continue Bankrupting The US Through Foreign Wars / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Remember pre-election, how the theme was that a Killary presidency meant certain war? And, how a Trump presidency would mean friendship with Russia and bringing many of the troops home?
Well, so much for that! Trump is just as oriented toward war as Hillary. The difference is one of geography. Trump’s wars are located particularly in the Middle East. He is already looking even worse than Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack O'Bomber or George “Victory in Iraq” Bush.
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Friday, March 03, 2017
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Trump... / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
...Follow the money, Sens. Collins and McCain.
“We are well past the time for any political niceties or benefits of the doubt. We need an independent and thorough investigation of Russia’s meddling in our democracy and its ties to the President and his allies,” wrote veteran CBS newsman Dan Rather on March 2. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
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Thursday, March 02, 2017
Trump Before Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
His Tuesday address was long on making America safe for Wall Street, war profiteers and other corporate predators, short on what’s most needed to serve all Americans equitably and promote world peace.
He focused on increased military spending at a time major cuts are needed, combating terrorism without explaining ISIS and likeminded groups are US creations, used as imperial foot soldiers.
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Monday, February 27, 2017
Hillary Planning a 2020 White House Run? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
She tried and failed twice. Does she have another run in mind?
Reports suggest she may launch a TV talk show, featuring her as host, perhaps intending it to be platform for a third presidential campaign.
She considers herself party leader in exile, likely seeks revenge for losing to Trump. A TV show would be a way to bash him and serve as a self-promotion vehicle.
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Monday, February 27, 2017
The Border Adjustment Tax Will Make The Jobs Problem Worse / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
Under the border adjustment tax (BAT) plan, imports will be penalized and exports rewarded… which theoretically, in a perfect world without pushback, would leave our economy nicely balanced and undisrupted.
But I doubt it will happen that way, because the importers and exporters are not the same businesses. I’ve written extensively about this topic in my three part series, "Tax Reform: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly" in Thoughts from the Frontline. (subscribe here for free.)
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Sunday, February 26, 2017
Trump Relinquishes Control of Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
The war party is back in power and the odds of normal relations with Russia have dropped to zero.
The appointment of Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster to the position of national security adviser indicates that Trump has done an about-face on his most critical foreign policy issue, normalizing relations with Russia. General Michael Flynn– who recently stepped down from the post following allegations of lying to Vice President Mike Pence –was the main proponent of easing tensions with Moscow which is a position that had been enthusiastically embraced by President Donald Trump. But McMaster does not support normalizing relations with Russia, in fact, McMaster sees Russia as a “hostile revisionist power” that “annex(es) territory, intimidates our allies, develops nuclear weapons, and uses proxies under the cover of modernized conventional militaries.” So, what’s going on? Why has Trump put a Moscow-hating hawk like McMaster in a position where he’ll be able to intensify the pressure on Russia, increase the provocations and, very likely, trigger a conflagration between the two nuclear-armed superpowers?
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Friday, February 24, 2017
When Was America’s Peak Wealth? / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A few days ago, I wrote an essay entitled “Not Nearly Enough Growth To Keep Growing”, in which I posited, among many other things, that “..the Automatic Earth has said for many years that the peak of our wealth was sometime in the 1970’s or even late 1960’s” along with the question “..was America at its richest right before or right after Nixon took the country off the gold standard in 1971?”
That same day, I received an email from (very) long time Automatic Earth reader and afficionado Ken Latta, who implied he thought the peak of American wealth was even earlier. That turned into a nice conversation. I really like the way his head works to frame his words. And Ken knows what he’s talking about by grace of the fact that he was a witness to it all.
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Friday, February 24, 2017
California, Nestle and Decentralization - CalExit / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Nestle USA has announced that it will move its headquarters from Glendale, California, to Rosslyn, Virginia, taking with it about 1200 jobs. The once Golden State has lost some 1600 businesses since 2008 and a net outflow of a million of mostly middle-class people from the state from 2004 to 2013 due to its onerous tax rates, the oppressive regulatory burden, and the genuine kookiness which pervades among its ruling elites.* A clueless Glendale official is apparently unconcerned about the financial repercussions of Nestle’s departure saying that it was “no big deal” and saw it as an “opportunity,” whatever that means!
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Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Why the US Democratic Party Is Dead / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
One more time.
My fear is that well-meaning people will focus on 'getting rid of Trump,' without considering what sort of leadership will replace him.
Hillary Part Deux? Or some other corporatist stooge from the GOP who runs a smoother, more polished con on the working class?
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Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Trump Chooses Hawkish National Security Advisor / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
On Monday, Trump named hawkish Army Lt. General HR McMaster to replace Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor (NSA).
Political pressure lead to his unfortunate sacking for harmlessly discussing sanctions with Russia’s US ambassador.
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Sunday, February 19, 2017
Deep State Power v. Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
America’s deep state is divided on Trump. He couldn’t have been elected without enough support.
Post-inauguration, things changed. The balance of power shifted against him, leaving him vulnerable, already weakened this early in his tenure, unprecedented for a US president.
His record so far in office is another matter, though too soon to judge him definitively. Still, disturbing signs aren’t encouraging. More on this below.
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Saturday, February 18, 2017
The Flynn Fiascom, the Trump Revolution Ends in a Whimper / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
The Flynn fiasco is not about national security advisor Michael Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador. It’s much deeper than that. It’s about Russia. It’s about Putin. It’s about the explosive rise of China and the world’s biggest free trade zone that will eventually stretch from Lisbon to Vladivostok. It’s about the one country in the world that is obstructing Washington’s plan for global domination. (Russia) And, it’s about the future; which country will be the key player in the world’s most prosperous and populous region, Asia.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
NSA, CIA, FBI, Media Establishment 'Deep State' War Against Emerging 'Trump State' / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest actions in the established military, intelligence corporate, media complexes systematic war on the Trump Presidency was to takedown the Presidents National Security advisor, Michael Flynn following leaks of conversations recorded between Michael Flynn and the Russian Ambassador by the intelligence agencies to the New York Times amongst other establishment media outlets. With the Democrats jumping on board the lynch mob bandwagon with cries of Treason!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Trump A New Jacksonian Era? The Fourth Turning (2) / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I documented the populist administration of Andrew Jackson and similarities to Donald Trump's populist victory in the recent election. I'll now try to assess the chances of a Trump presidency accomplishing its populist agenda.
The Trumpian Era
Read full article... Read full article..."But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes." - Andrew Jackson
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Americans Will Pay For Trump’s “America First” Plan / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
Jared Dillian says the American consumer will pay for Trump’s “America First” plan.
In a recent video interview with Mauldin Economics, Jared Dillian notes that Trump’s new “America First” trade policy is anti-free trade. Plus, given the Republican Party has been the champion of free trade for decades, Trump’s new trade policy does not sit well with many in the party.
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Monday, February 13, 2017
Trump a New Jacksonian Era? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!" - Andrew Jackson
Thursday, February 09, 2017
Trump Plays Cat and Mouse with Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Why is the Trump administration threatening Iran?
On February 1, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn announced that the administration was “putting Iran on notice” after it tested a ballistic missile which the US sees as a violation of Iran’s treaty obligations. Flynn’s frigid tone made it clear that the administration is considering the use of military force. But why?
Under current UN resolutions (Resolution 2231), Iran is forbidden “to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” Read that over again. Iran is not forbidden from testing ‘all ballistic missiles’ just missiles that are ‘capable of delivering nuclear weapons.’ The resolution could not be clearer. There’s no gray area here, none at all. Flynn is just fudging the resolution’s meaning, so he can rattle a saber. But, why? And why are other members of the administration, including the president himself, making equally belligerent remarks? In a tweet last week, Trump said, “I won’t be as ‘kind’ to Iran as Obama” which was followed by a speech by US Defense Secretary James Mattis who called Iran “the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.”
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Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Trumpin' and Thumpin' Back to the 1930s / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
With the Trump White House, America and a global economy will enter a highly divisive period – as evidenced by the debate about his economic, trade and infrastructure plans.
As long as Republicans sustain some unity in and between the White House, the Senate and the House of the Representatives, Trump will benefit from an unprecedented execution power.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Fake and False and Just Plain Nonsense News / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Two and a half weeks after the inauguration, and yes it’s only been that long, the media still don’t seem to have learned a single thing. They help the Trump campaign on an almost hourly basis by parroting whatever things, invariably judged as crazy, he says. One day it’s that negative polls are all fake news, the next it’s some list of underreported terror events. All of it gets an avalanche of attention provided by the very people who claim to be against Trump, but greatly help his cause by doing so.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Left Coast Liberals Dream for Secession / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
As the consequences of losing control of the federal government seeps into their delusional entitlement, the ultimate statists of the Left scamper to find a method to regain power. A concept, whose day is gaining acceptance, is the Nation of Pacifica. With the incompatibility between the Trump Nation deplorables and the intolerant collectivists of Leftist state worshipers, the end game is rapidly approaching a final conflict that easily could erupt in a real civil war. Leave it to the beautiful people; their fantasia screen play scripts a peaceful dissolution of the disjointed union. A sample of their dialectic:
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Red States vs Blue States - What’s Next: A Third and Potentially Lethal Trigger / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
This past Monday I updated my Boom & Bust subscribers about an important new development in the civil war that I see brewing… or at least the possibility that the United States of America won’t remain the way we know it for much longer. We’re certainly no longer united. In fact, we’ve not been this polarized and divided since the Civil War.Unfortunately, the state we find ourselves in today has been painted on the wall for a long time! And my hierarchy of cycles – which includes the Spending Wave Cycle, the Technology Cycle, the Geopolitical Cycle and the Boom/Bust Cycle – have shown me for many years now what we have in store. And now a near 100-year cycle in globalization has peaked, much like the last one did when World War I started.
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Thursday, February 02, 2017
How Misconceptions Are Driving the US to Sociopolitical Disaster / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
Throughout history, bad ideas such as those espoused by Marx have taken hold in the public arena and become institutionalized. This occurred despite the inherent violence required by a system in which individuals are forced to be subservient to the state. I’ve discussed issues like this previously, but I find it continues to be relevant today.
The iconic socialist revolutionary, Che Guevara, made the case that in a true socialist revolution, large swaths of the population had to die.
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Thursday, February 02, 2017
Trump Voters And The News Media Have Something In Common / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Donald Trump won the White House for two main reasons.
First, in the last 20 years, new technology and globalist “free trade” agreements combined to destroy millions of middle-class jobs. Particularly, manufacturing jobs. I’ve written about the future implications of this trend in Connecting the Dots (subscribe here for free).
Second, our political and business elites didn't recognize this was happening—or just didn't care. In either case, they failed to respond adequately. President Trump is a direct result of their negligence.
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Thursday, February 02, 2017
Pass the Gatorade - How Much Did the US Election Really Matter? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
We’ll start out this week by prepping you. This article is going to annoy quite a few people. We’ll warn you up front that neither of us subscribes to the idea of political parties or platforms. We have the Constitution; that is good enough for us. We credit people like Dr. Paul Craig Roberts for having the backbone to be one of the early people to break out the box of pins to pop the balloon of idiocy that has been floating around the past few months. What we’re talking about is the kind of idiocy we haven’t seen since 2008 when one side of the political spectrum swamped into Washington DC and absolutely trashed the place. We’ll see if the other side can do better.
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Unrest Is The Only Growth Industry Left / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Benoît Hamon won the run-off for the presidential nomination of the Socialist party in France last weekend. The party that still, lest we forget, runs the country; current president François Hollande is a Socialist, even if only in name, but he did win the previous election. Hamon ran on a platform of shortening the workweek from 35 to 32 hours, legalizing cannabis and ‘easing’ the country into a universal basic income of €750/month per capita. He’s way left of Hollande, who has a hilariously low approval rating of 4%.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
A Better Solution Than Trump's Mexico Border Wall / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Just one week in office, President Trump is already following through on his pledge to address illegal immigration. His January 25th executive order called for the construction of a wall along the entire length of the US-Mexico border. While he is right to focus on the issue, there are several reasons why his proposed solution will unfortunately not lead us anywhere closer to solving the problem.
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Monday, January 30, 2017
Brace Yourself For The Battle Of the Senate Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : On Jan. 20, Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. For Trump (as with every president before him), all that he said up until that point consisted of promises.
But now, the focus must shift... from what he will do, to what he is doing. (Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, This Week in Geopolitics, and stay informed on the most important geopolitical developments)
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Monday, January 30, 2017
10 Things I learned From Meetings With Trump’s Transition Team / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
I was in Washington, DC, on Inauguration Day.
That gave me the opportunity to set up a few meetings with members from Trump’s transition team (many of whom read my free weekly letter, Thoughts from the Frontline).
During those talks, I gained some insight into what the first 100 days, the first six months, and the first year of the Trump administration might look like.
Here’s a summary of my impressions.
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Sunday, January 29, 2017
Are Green Card Holders Safe From Trump’s Muslim Immigration Ban? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
His anti-Muslim order caused a firestorm of outrage nationwide, from relatives of affected individuals, activists, human rights groups, as well as state and local officials.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Trump’s order “doesn’t include green card holders going forward,” then reversed himself, saying “of course it does.”
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Sunday, January 29, 2017
Trump Muslim Green Card Ban Avoided Through Trump Golf Course Membership / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Trump trumpeted his blanket refugees and muslim bans from 7 mostly Islamic nations Friday that even includes partners in the war on terror such as Iraq that as Trump was busy signing the executive order with his shrunken hand were busy fighting ISIS in Mosul.
Apparently the muslim ban includes green card residency holders, so anyone from the 7 target nations AND other muslims nations in for 'extreme vetting' finding themselves outside the United States are now unlikely to find themselves able to get back into the United States. And the ban extends to third nations i.e. UK passport holders who originate from one of the 7 banned nations are also banned from entry into the United States.
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Friday, January 27, 2017
This America, beacon on the hill, will survive this challenge / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
This is a globalized world. There is no changing this fact. There is no changing “climate science”. There is no changing the will of the people to be fair, when fairness commands it. There is no changing the slow-moving ascent of multiculturalism, racial integration and sexual equality; and no replacement for secular Democracy. Mr. Trump and the Republicans think it all can be unraveled with the stroke of a pen.
The masters of delusion might have convinced almost half of voters, but the other half will carry the torch into the future. The Women’s March in Washington and countless American cities proved their numbers don’t lie.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Alt Trump Builds that Wall, Bans Muslims But Not Saudi Terrorists / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Trump's pen has been busy this week signing off executive orders left, right and centre, from checking off the fossil fuel industries top 10 wish list, to authorising the start of construction of the "Trump Wall", to starting to implement a ban on muslims entering the United States from 7 nations, supposedly for reducing the risks of importing terrorism. Though the Alt-Facts President Trump chose to turn a blind eye to by far the greatest exporter of terrorist ideology, Saudi Arabia with it's wahabi puritanical ideology that petro-dollars has fuelled the export of since the 1970's. That and 15 of the 19 Sept 11th hijackers were Saudi's. But FACTS don't matter for America's Alt-Facts President for Trump cannot ban rich Saudi's as that will hit custom at his hotels and golf courses.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Police State Tactics Target Independent Journalists Covering Anti-Trump Protests / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
First Amendment rights are too precious to lose. Without them, all others are at risk.
On January 20, six independent journalists were arrested in Washington for doing their jobs - covering protests during Trump’s inauguration.
They committed no crimes, yet face possible prosecution and imprisonment. The affected journalists include documentary producer Jack Keller, independent photojournalist Shay Horse, independent journalist Matt Hopard, free lance reporter Aaron Cantu, Vocativ journalist Evan Enger, and RT America’s Alexander Rubinstein.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Tweetonomics: Implications of @realDonaldTrump / Politics / US Politics
By: Axel_Merk
Faced with a Tweeter-in-chief, how are investors to navigate what's ahead? Is there a strategy behind President Trump's outbursts; and if so, how shall investors position themselves to protect their portfolios or profit from it?
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
The Yoke Of Stupidity Is Strangling America / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
California Governor Brown says the state budget deficit is growing and one of the reasons is the minimum wage increase that state voters just approved. Duh! State government worker pay is tied to minimum wages and as minimum wages go up, so too do government wages. That means the state government has to increase expenses and that calls for even higher taxes. Those extra taxes might be hard to raise as survey out revealed that in states and municipalities that elected to raise minimum wages, 75% of business respondents reported they were cutting back on hours and employees as a result. Duh! Can humans get any stupider? From my last post, the governor and the voters should have listened to the smartest man in California, Simon Salazar.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Does Trump Have a Magic Wand? I Simply Don’t Buy It! / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
As Trump was inaugurated, it seems most people are feeling better about the economy. Even a more liberal analyst said yesterday in an interview that he thought Trump should raise the minimum wage to $15 to stimulate demand!Seriously?!
A Bernie Sanders, far-left strategy in a Republican Congress?
How delusional can you get?
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Monday, January 23, 2017
Trump's Foreign Policy An Unwise Inconsistency? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's foreign policy positions have been anything but consistent. One day we heard that NATO was obsolete and the US needs to pursue better relations with Russia. But the next time he spoke, these sensible positions were abandoned or an opposite position was taken. Trump's inconsistent rhetoric left us wondering exactly what kind of foreign policy he would pursue if elected.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
United States Common Sense - 2017 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I explored Thomas Paine's critical role in the creation of our nation. His Common Sense pamphlets inspired the common people to uncommon acts of courage and heroic feats of valor; leading to the great experiment we call the United States of America. Paine, Franklin and the other Founding Fathers produced a republic, if we could keep it.
John Adams championed the new Constitution precisely because it would not create a democracy, as he knew a democracy "soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself." Their herculean efforts, sacrifices, and bloodshed have been for naught as we allowed our republic to devolve into a democracy and ultimately into our current corporate fascist warfare/welfare surveillance state. Sadly, we were unable to keep the republic Franklin and his fellow revolutionaries gave us.
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Sunday, January 22, 2017
Trump Talks Gibberish at Inauguration then Panic Runs to CIA to Prevent Assassination / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
If you thought Trump was unhinged during the election campaign then you have not seen anything yet for he is truly showing all the hallmarks of turning into an American Pyscho! First we had his inauguration speech, which was far from being presidential, a stream of gibberish inter spiced with "america first" and "make america great again", something a rebellious teenager would have put together.
Now what would a sane President have been focused on following in the inauguration? Getting ones team together to start the hard work to rebuild america? Not Trump, his first order of business was the size of the inauguration crowd!
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Friday, January 20, 2017
The Trump RESET Starts on US Presidential Inauguration Day 2017 - What to Expect / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Donald Trump will be sworn into office at 12 noon today to become the 45th President of the United States that will trigger the 'Trump Reset' on that which has passed for the past 40 years, which my video series seeks to detail the key mega-trend geopolitical consequences of why the US under a Trump Presidency is trending for instance towards an inevitable war with China, economic, cyber and even outright military conflict, something that is deemed to be impossible by most today.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
How To Read Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
As President, Trump has pledged to reset the White House policies on “America First” basis. But will he deliver?
Around the world, there is great apprehension and much speculation about potential Trump scenarios. Nevertheless, not everything that is possible will happen, even with Trump in the White House.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Trump anti-Communist Counter Revolution / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The century anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution occurs this year. Any serious examination of The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union must conclude that the systematic eradications of millions and the ruthlessness of the Communist commissars rule was a miserable failure, even by Marxist postulates. Russia today is quite different from the Gulag Archipelago that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn experienced and wrote about. “And those who, like you and me, dear reader, go there to die, must get there solely and compulsorily via arrest.”
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
The American Crisis - Common Sense 2017 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Thomas Paine was born in 1737 in Britain. His first thirty seven years of life were pretty much a series of failures and disappointments. Business fiascos, firings, the death of his first wife and child, a failed second marriage, and bankruptcy plagued his early life. He then met Benjamin Franklin in 1774 and was convinced to emigrate to America, arriving in Philadelphia in November 1774. He thus became the Father of the American Revolution with the publication of Common Sense, pamphlets which crystallized opinion for colonial independence in 1776.
The first pamphlet was published in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, and signed anonymously “by an Englishman.” It became an instantaneous sensation, swiftly disseminating 100,000 copies in three months among the two and a half million residents of the 13 colonies. Over 500,000 copies were sold during the course of the American Revolution. Paine published Common Sense after the battle of Lexington and Concord, making the argument the colonists should seek complete independence from Great Britain, rather than merely fighting against unfair levels of taxation. The pamphlets stirred the masses with a fighting spirit, instilling in them the backbone to resist a powerful empire.
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Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Obama Leaves, Hope Arrives, Will Stupid Stay? / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
Obama’s presidential term will mercifully expire on 1/19/17. Hallelujah! He can quickly descend to his correct historical position as the second worst leader in american history beside the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. Why is Wilson the worst leader ever? A brief synopsis follows.
1 - Wilson ceded power to the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 (an un-Constitutional act)
2 - Wilson gave us the 16th Constitutional Amendment giving the federal government power and authority to seize taxation from payrolls (another un-Constitutional act)
3 - Wilson injected the US into WWI at the delight of the central bankers who were kind enough to loan money for the butchery of humans around the globe.
4 - Wilson showed the first film in the White House. It promoted the good work of the KKK.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Trump’s First Foreign Visit to Meet Putin? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Citing a London Sunday Times report, The Hill and Bloomberg said Trump’s first foreign trip as president is expected to be a summit with Vladimir Putin within weeks of his inauguration.
If the report is accurate, both leaders will meet in Reykjavik, Iceland. Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer denied it, tweeting “not true - report is 100% false.” A second tweet said “Nope, not true.”
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Saturday, January 14, 2017
President Trump vs the Deep State that Hides in Plain Sight / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The "Deep State" best describes the invisible labyrinth of power which truly controls the United States no matter which party is in power against which a President Donald Trump will find himself doing battle against as the following video illustrates by Mike Lofgren, a congressional staff member for 28 years, who talks with Bill Moyers about what he calls Washington's "Deep State," in which elected and unelected figures collude to protect and serve powerful vested interests. "It is how we had deregulation, financialization of the economy, the Wall Street bust, the erosion or our civil liberties and perpetual war."
Friday, January 13, 2017
2017: Change Can Be A Bitc h / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
2016 brought a lot of changes, or rather, brought them to light. In reality, the world has been changing for many years, but many prominent actors benefitted from the changes remaining hidden. Simply because their wealth and power and worldviews are better served that way.
It’s entirely unclear whether we will ever get a chance to see to what extent the efforts to hide developments have been successful, or even been perpetrated at all, because we don’t know to what extent truth and reality will be accessible in the future.
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Thursday, January 12, 2017
Obama’s Deplorable Last Hurrah / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
On Tuesday evening, Obama delivered his self-styled farewell address - as demagogic and duplicitous as all his others.
A separate article discussed what he left unexplained - the enormous harm he inflicted on humanity at home and abroad throughout his tenure.
His farewell address included a recitation of democratic rights he abhors - “among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” freedoms he spent eight years destroying at home and abroad.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2017
What Obama’s Farewell Address Won’t Say / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
On Tuesday evening, Obama will deliver his farewell address from Chicago, his adopted home city. He’ll lie, deceive and misinform like he always does.
He’ll say nothing about arguably the most disgraceful eight years in US history. He betrayed the public trust from day one.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2017
President Donald Trump Seeks Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor as Mr BrExit / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Golden Globes sparked another twitter tirade from President Elect Donald Trump following criticisms from Meryl Streep for Trumps mocking of a disabled reporter during the election campaign -
"But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It, it sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was -- there was nothing good about it. But it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It -- it kind of broke my heart when I saw it. And I still can't get it out of my head because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."
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Sunday, January 08, 2017
Will Donald Trump Defy Expectations and Be a Peace President? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
It’s hardly likely given America’s rage for endless wars, gorging on them. Neocons infesting Washington demand them.
Enemies are invented to accommodate them. War profiteers depend on them. The indifferent public does nothing to demand they stop.
Yet what US leader in memory said getting along with Russia “is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only ‘stupid’ people, or fools, would think that it is bad!” If Trump follows through on this rhetoric, imagine the possibilities for change.
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Sunday, January 08, 2017
The Trump Reset War With China: 2. The Putin Doctrine / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Trump's US election win amounts to a pressing of the RESET button on that which has passed for at least the past 40 years. Which demands a reappraisal of virtually everything to ascertain not just the impact of Trump but the trend reversal / rebellion underway amongst Western populations against the ruling elites that will impact on the mega-trend drivers of financial market trends for many years if not decades to come.
Friday, January 06, 2017
The Fourth-Generation War / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
Dear Paraders,
Welcome to 2017. As with every new year, or any stretch of 365 days into the future, we can expect surprises. Some good and some bad.
Of course, we can’t know the future. Therefore, we are left to our expectations and, I suppose, aspirations. For example, I await the arrival of President Trump with high hopes and an almost silly level of anticipation.
Oh, how I hope he continues deriding the political class so firmly attached to the carotid artery of the American people. Derision is all they deserve, and Trump does derision particularly well.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
Attempted Coup Against Trump Continues / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Understanding America's Global Role in the Age of Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
By Rodger Baker : The New Year, of course, is a time when many reflect on the past and look toward the future. The past provides potential lessons and cautions for those who would seek to find tomorrow's solutions in yesterday's actions. In his 1994 book Diplomacy, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote: "The study of history offers no manual of instructions that can be applied automatically; history teaches by analogy, shedding light on the likely consequences of comparable situations. But each generation must determine for itself which circumstances are in fact comparable."
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Trump's Self-Inflicted Policy Failures / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Even the most avid and enthusiastic Trump supporter needs to be critical of their most hopeful America First president. For a dose of reality and objective conviction, who better to rely on than Pat Buchanan? His article, Israel First or America First concludes with the fateful warning for President –Elect Trump. “Having America publicly reassert herself as Israel’s best friend, with "no daylight" between us, could have us ending up as Israel’s only friend – and Israel as our only friend in the Middle East. Bibi’s Israel First policy must one day collide with America First.”
Sunday, January 01, 2017
President Donald Trump's 2017 New Year Message, BBC Fake News, Was 2016 a Dream? / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
President Elect Donald Trumps's frank and truthful New Year Message to all americans of what to expect come January 20th. Whilst the mainstream media in a desperate attempt to survive has now decided to embrace fake news as illustrated by BBC. And lastly, did BrExit and Trump really happen? Or was 2016 all just a dream so that we are going to be waking up in a few short hours to January the 1st 2016.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Trump’s Praise for Putin’s Moral High Ground Exposed Obama’s Vindictiveness / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
In response to Obama’s new sanctions on Russia, illegal by any standard, Trump praised how Putin handled his action, tweeting “(g)reat move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart.”
A follow-up related tweet said “Russians are playing #CNN and @NBCNews for such fools…they don’t have a clue! @FoxNews totally gets it.”
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Saturday, December 31, 2016
Barack Obama’s Legacy: War, Debt and Poverty / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
As 2016 winds down, so does Barack O’Bomber’s $80 million in paid vacations and his legacy of war, debt and poverty.
It’s quite amazing how much one man can ruin a country while playing so much golf.
WAR
Just 12 days after being elected, Barack Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He accepted the prize in Oslo on December 10, 2009.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2016
New Year's Resolutions for Donald Trump and US Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
In the spirit of New Year's, here are four resolutions for president-elect Trump and Congress that will enable them to really make America great again:
1) Audit the Fed....and then end it: The Federal Reserve Bank's easy money polices have eroded the American people's standard of living and facilitated the growth of the welfare-warfare state. The Fed is also responsible for the growth in income inequality. Yet Congress still refuses to pass Audit the Fed, much less end it.
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Monday, December 26, 2016
Trump’s Economic Plan is a Betrayal of the People Who Voted for Him / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Trump’s economic plan has sent stocks ripping higher for six weeks straight. But what’s going to happen to stock prices when Congress gives Trump’s plan a big thumbs down? Has anyone thought about that yet?
And what about the Fed? Does anyone seriously think that Fed chairman Janet Yellen is going to sit on her hands while Trump launches a $1 trillion fiscal stimulus package that triggers a sudden burst of growth followed by a sharp uptick in inflation?
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
The Trump Doctrine: A Work in Progress / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
By Reva Goujon : The world is in a "frenzy of study," Henry Kissinger said in a recent interview. At home and abroad, strategists and pundits are trying to piece together a blueprint of American foreign policy under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump from a stream of tweets, some campaign slogans, a few eye-catching Cabinet picks, meetings at Trump Tower, and a pingpong match already underway with Beijing. Highbrow intellectualism can be a handicap in this exercise. Commentators among the Washington establishment have been quick to dismiss Trump's foreign policy moves outright as erratic and self-serving over the past few weeks. In an op-ed entitled "Trump Failed His First Foreign Policy Test," for instance, columnist David Ignatius admonished the president-elect for the "hot mess" his phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen precipitated. Trump makes people uncomfortable. It's what he does best, in fact. But how this quality applies to foreign policy is a question that merits deeper exploration than knee-jerk displays of stricken disbelief. After all, as Kissinger noted in his Dec. 18 interview, "a president has to have some core convictions."
Monday, December 19, 2016
On the 225th Anniversary of the United States’ Bill of Rights / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
This December, 2016, marks the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution which would become known as the “Bill of Rights.” To secure passage of the Constitution, the framers of the document (the Federalists) had to agree that it would contain explicit language on individual rights.
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Sunday, December 18, 2016
Freedom in America Disappearing in Plain Sight / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
The republic was founded “in strict secrecy,” Benjamin Franklin explained. When asked “what have we got, a republic or a monarchy,” he responded “(a) republic, if you can keep it.”
Today he’d say a coup to destroy it is underway in plain sight, the last vestiges of freedom fading with it - a fascist dictatorship emerging, far more ruthless and dangerous than others in world history.
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Saturday, December 10, 2016
CIA Warns Donald Trump is Putin's Manchurian Candidate! / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The CIA playing to their own agenda, one of concentration of power into their own hands let a political bomb off as we countdown to the inauguration of the America's CHANGE candidate Donald Trump. Change which the establishment elite that the CIA are part and parcel of want to try their hardest to limit the extent of materialising.
Monday, December 05, 2016
Carrier Jobs And The Slippery Slope / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences.” – Donald Trump
The reaction to Trump’s deal to keep 1,100 Carrier jobs in Indiana has ranged from outrage to adoration. There are so many layers to this Shakespearean drama that all points of views have some level of credence. I’m torn between the positive and negative aspects of this deal. If you’ve read Bastiat’s The Law and Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, you understand the fallacies involved when government interferes in the free market. Politicians and their fanboys always concentrate on the seen aspects of government intervention, but purposely ignore the unseen consequences.
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Friday, December 02, 2016
Trump Nominee Will Politicize Dept. of Justice / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
In his successful run to the presidency, Donald Trump spent a lot of time talking about the Second Amendment and defending gun ownership. He spent very little time talking about the other amendments, other than to say he supported the Constitution. He knew his core support came from those who could effortlessly repeat a phrase, “Donald Trump supports my Second Amendment rights,” without knowing much more than that.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 01, 2016
America, is it Finally time for us to say Goodbye? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
few months ago my wife and I made a trip into the city from our small rural community for an evening of dining and visiting with some of her old childhood friends. We started our date with just the two of us at a well known vegetarian restaurant. Later we met up with the rest of the crew at a local park near the beach to watch some skits and some dancing while the sun went down over English Bay. It was a beautiful sunset in an amazing setting.
While we’re sitting and chatting in the bleachers of the small amphitheatre my wife’s friend asks us at which restaurant we ate. We told her and with a raised eyebrow she replies: “Really, Francis actually ate in a vegetarian restaurant? Wow. That must have been quite an experience for you!”
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Can President Trump Really Drain the Swamp? / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The glorious and providential intervention that provided the courage and motivation for millions of ordinary Americans to vote AGAINST the globalist system, which is the epitome for national betrayal is a once in a lifetime opportunity to eliminate the traitors in our society. Donald J. Trump is only a man. He is not the savior of our civilization, nor is he a miracle worker. Yet his election provides the last best hope that the forces of human enslavement, within our own power structure, can be defeated. Citizens who actually participate in the political process need to practice RealPolitik, when it comes to influencing or shaping public policy.
Monday, November 28, 2016
President Trump Is Facing Lenin’s Dilemma / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
George Friedman: When the Bolsheviks took power during the Russian Revolution in 1917, their intention was to create the dictatorship of the proletariat. They formed an army to fight a civil war against a counterinsurgency of monarchists who intended to destroy the Bolsheviks.
Vladimir Lenin, who led the revolution, appointed Trotsky to form the Red Army.
One problem was that he had never served in an army, let alone commanded one.
But Trotsky was chosen not because he had experience building an army. He was chosen because Lenin trusted Trotsky wouldn’t betray him.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
Fidel Castro and the American Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
The death of the brutal Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro closes the door, in some respect, on another disastrous page in US foreign policy history. For all the denunciations and criticism of Castro from conservative elements and exiled Cubans, his despotic rule was the outcome of decades of American imperialism which began with President William McKinley’s infamous decision to wage war on hapless Spain in 1898.
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Sunday, November 27, 2016
It's (sigh) President Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
When Sen. Barack Obama was running for the presidency and for most of his two terms, the Tea Party right-wing claimed he was born in Kenya, that he was a radicalized Muslim, and was unfit to be president. The rise of the Tea Party led to a rise of racist ideology and an increase of violence during political rallies.
After Sen. Obama’s election, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, said the Republicans’ primary direction was solely to block whatever the new President wanted to do. Other Republicans chimed in that President Obama was out to destroy the country. The country did not destruct under the Obama Administration.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Trump Moves as America Stands Still / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Ever since the November 8 election, it’s been hard to write anything that makes actual sense, as evidenced by just about everything I’ve read in the past two weeks, little of which was particularly elevating, because just like before the vote, and just like in pre- and post-Brexit Britain, all there is left in the US are deeply dug-in heels.
Everything and everyone is standing still; dug-in heels do that for you. Problem is, of course, that standing still doesn’t get you anywhere. You’re going to have to move or you’ll be left behind. Somehow it’s wonderfully ironic that Donald Trump is the only main character in this play who’s moving, and he does so in more ways than one. It’s like he’s going head first against the latest braindead internet craze, mannequin. If he does it on purpose, I commend him for it.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
A Vote for Trump, Much in Spite of Who He is / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
It’s hard to keep up with all the labels.According to the mainstream media, anyone who voted for Donald Trump is a hate-filled bigot who objectifies women, can’t stand immigrants, denies global warming, has no education, and earns less today than he did in 1999. He must be resentful that a black man occupies the White House today and apoplectic at the possibility that a woman might do the same thing.
That’s a lot to carry around… and it’s not who I am… even though I voted for Trump.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Donald Trump is just an ugly intermission between acts / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Mr. Trump, you have no mandate. You not only lost the popular vote by two million but the disparity between the popular vote and Electoral vote was historically unprecedented.
What you have is a constituency that mostly voted for radical change and who seem gleefully unaware that similar ultra-right, populist movements in the last century produced Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and, in recent decades, third-world banana republic thugs underwritten by Wall Street and the State Department for the purpose of dismantling social democracies to enrich private corporations, bankers and oligarchic nationalists.
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Monday, November 21, 2016
Trump Negotiating NAFTA's Future, Mexico Economic Uncertainty / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
In Mexico, uncertainty abounds over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and, in particular, his promises to change NAFTA. Although the next president will have the power to unilaterally pull out of the trade bloc, as he has threatened to do, congressional opposition and legal challenges from private companies may discourage him from doing so. Aside from the political and legal battles that would doubtless ensue, withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement would be economically painful, disrupting business continuity for companies around the world — including those in the United States. Still, Trump has a few options with regard to NAFTA. Instead of suddenly withdrawing from the deal, he could try to renegotiate certain aspects of it. He may even decide to leave NAFTA alone (although that seems unlikely given the emphasis he placed on the agreement during his campaign). Regardless of which path he takes, Trump will not be acting in a vacuum. His decision will likely depend on the cooperation of the U.S. Congress and of the trade agreement's other signatories, Canada and Mexico.
Monday, November 21, 2016
Donald Trump Grey Champion Assumes Command of America's Fourth Turning Crisis - Part 2 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I discussed the arrival of Grey Champions in previous Fourth Turnings; their attributes, deficiencies, and leadership skills; and why Donald Trump is the Grey Champion of this Fourth Turning - whether you like it or not. Now I will try to make sense of what could happen next.
Read full article... Read full article..."Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Trump Inauguration Day Protests Planned / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Protesting Trump’s inauguration misses the point. I’ve explained many times. America’s criminal class is bipartisan, democracy pure fantasy.
Deep state duopoly power runs things - one-party state governance with two right wings, independents entirely shut out. Media scoundrels are press agents for wealth, power and privilege exclusively.
Election-rigging made Trump president. Power brokers decided Hillary was too scandal-ridden to serve effectively. Her deplorable public record defeated her.
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Sunday, November 20, 2016
Grey Champion Assumes Command of America's Fourth Turning Crisis - Part 1 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
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Sunday, November 20, 2016
Fear and the ‘Good American’ / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
There is no one I know or meet whose life hasn’t been noticeably affected – even interrupted and disrupted – by Donald J. Trump. Many have been thrust into fear by his election.
As a warning signal, fear can prompt vigilance, alertness, caution and preparedness, as it is now doing in many. In this respect, fear is a healthy response to a perceived or potential threat. But, if allowed it can be a self-defeating mechanism that scrambles rational thinking, weakens defenses and disorients reality.
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Sunday, November 20, 2016
Donald Trump, Hollywood Films and End of Liberalism, Globalization and Americans’ Alienation - Global Impacts / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
Men live, work, fight and flourish always under fear and threats. Fear is one of the central themes of so many fictions and other literacy and artistic works, including performing arts and computer games. Hundreds of films, including box office Hollywood Films, and Computer Games have been made on projecting the fear of aliens or beasts, the attack or invasion of aliens from unknown planets or regions with their peculiar faith, dress, culture, practices and languages and finally the emergence of a savior or liberator, sometimes a super human hero, who saves the Humanity and its culture from the inhuman and alien savages.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Good Trump, Bad Trump – What’s Really Going On? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
We expected the Super Shemitah/Jubilee time period (which officially ends on November 20th with the end of the Catholic Jubilee) to be one of dramatic change and chaos.
And, did we ever get it!
Since the beginning of the Jubilee year, in October of last year, two massive events have happened. Brexit and Trump.
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Sunday, November 13, 2016
Trumpnomics – Reinventing Political Economy for America and Its Forgotten People and the World under Donald Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
The core of the economic policies of Donald Trump, on the basis of what he has said so far, is for rebuilding America and empowering its forgotten people. For the last twenty years American economy has been reduced into mere Corporate Economics centered on the Service Sector, ignoring the Primary Sector – Agriculture, Mining, Fishing, Diary and Rural America- and the Secondary or Industrial Sector that are the real backbone of America. As a result, America has acquired several characteristics of a Third World Country. Further, America has created a large number of the victims ,especially the rural people and the blue color workers , known as ‘ the forgotten people of America’ consisting of not only the white, but also the colored, including the Latinos, who made Donald Trump, the President of America.
Friday, November 11, 2016
Trump & The Fed / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Amerman
There is critical information in the first 45 seconds of the Donald Trump campaign video below. Now the election is over, and this nonpartisan analysis is not about campaigns, politics or who should have been elected - but some absolutely fundamental changes that could be on the way.
The video was Trump's closing argument for his election, and was released on November 6th.
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Thursday, November 10, 2016
Midnight in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Stunned political analysts are missing the most plausible argument explaining Donald Trump's unexpected victory. The misreading of the American electorate stems from the political class' acceptance of mistaken (and increasingly insane) economic dogma that has arisen over the past generation. Based on their flawed understanding of economics, the pundits could simply not understand why the electorate had become totally disillusioned.
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
After The Trump Election Triumph / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
The Trump victory was a "stunning surprise" to Washington and mainstream media. But it was very much in line with voter distrust in both Clintons and Washington’s ruling class. Politically, Americans are fed up. In cooperation with the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton campaign had far too cozy ties with Wall Street, neoconservatives and Pentagon contractors, as well as mainstream media organizations; from CNN and New York Times to Huffington Post and Google.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2016
Washington’s Post-Election Gridlock and Africa / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the bizarre 2016 election, Washington faces a slate of legal investigations, a massive political gridlock, the threat of new Cold Wars and possibly a contested election. What does it mean to Africa?Last July, FBI Director James Comey closed the probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails and decided not to pursue charges, which resulted in broad criticism. Recently, Comey re-opened the case following a discovery of new emails. In addition to the Benghazi and FBI debacles, these efforts are likely to include some 50,000 emails from Wikileaks, particularly those of John Podesta, Clinton campaign manager and chair of the Center of American Progress (CAP).
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Monday, November 07, 2016
Regardless of How America Votes, Americans Want a Different Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
I have said throughout this presidential campaign that it doesn't matter much which candidate wins. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are authoritarians and neither can be expected to roll back the leviathan state that destroys our civil liberties at home while destroying our economy and security with endless wars overseas. Candidates do not matter all that much, despite what the media would have us believe. Ideas do matter, however. And regardless of which of these candidates is elected, the battle of ideas now becomes critical.
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Friday, November 04, 2016
This US Election is a Chance for the Republicans to Build a New Coalition / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : The election is far from over, and given the pattern of this election, nothing can be taken for granted. So while (at the moment) Hillary Clinton appears to be winning, less than two weeks remain.
I generally focus on the broad geopolitical forces that shape and reshape the world. But, there are two reasons to be interested in this US election.
First, shifts in the behavior of the US affect geopolitics globally. Second, this election has revealed some profound changes in the underlying dynamics of American politics.
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Friday, November 04, 2016
American Civil War II - Fourth Turning Intensifying (Part I) / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"History offers even more sobering warnings: Armed confrontation usually occurs around the climax of Crisis. If there is confrontation, it is likely to lead to war. This could be any kind of war - class war, sectional war, war against global anarchists or terrorists, or superpower war. If there is war, it is likely to culminate in total war, fought until the losing side has been rendered nil - its will broken, territory taken, and leaders captured." - The Fourth Turning - Strauss & Howe -1997
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Friday, November 04, 2016
The Office of the President of the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Amidst the epic flood of political statements and media commentary that keeps on rolling in and on, there’s something that doesn’t seem to occur to most people, and it should. That is, the unfortunate but apparently inevitable discussion about all the unfortunate and/or illegal things that either candidate may or may not have done, must be seen in the light of the capacity in which -perceived- errors or even crimes are committed. It is essential to this issue.
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Regardless of Who Wins the US Election, Confidence in Washington DC Is ALREADY Shattered / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
It just doesn't matter much whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the election, at least in terms of gold and silver market fundamentals. That said, the contest itself is signaling something important precious metals investors should be watching intently.
This campaign is dragging whatever prestige is still associated with the Office of President into the mud. Few voters on either side bother to spend much time arguing the greatness of their candidate. When both Trump and Clinton carry more baggage than American Airlines, it's easier to focus on their opponent's shortcomings.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2016
The Fight Against The North American Union And Globalism Is In Standing Rock / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
If you are one of the few people left watching the mainstream media, you’d think that the only thing currently going on has to do with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
There is much more going on than that, however. Aside from the ongoing military tensions with Russia and the faltering economy, there is a stand-off currently happening that is barely being reported on in the mainstream.
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Monday, October 17, 2016
Iceland Today, the US Tomorrow? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
During the 2008 economic crisis, Iceland's government froze offshore accounts held by foreign investors in that country's currency, the krona. Recently, the government of Iceland announced it would unfreeze the accounts if the account holders paid a voluntary "departure tax," which could be as high as 58 percent. Investors who choose not to pay the departure tax would have their investment "segregated" into special funds that only invest in CDs issued by Iceland's central bank. These CDs are expected to only provide a rate of return of at most 0.5 percent a year. So investors in offshore accounts can thus choose between having their money directly seized via the departure tax or indirectly seized via the inflation tax.
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Monday, September 26, 2016
Martial Law Rolls Out Across the US As Jubilee Nears / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
As we enter into the last week before the end of the Jubilee Year, the National Guard has been deployed in Charlotte, North Carolina and massive military convoys have been deployed in the streets of New York City.
This is a continuation of last summer’s Jade Helm seven-state military exercise that many in the area saw as a prelude to military occupation. After Jade Helm came the US Army Special Operations Command’s Unconventional Warfare Exercise 16 (UWEX 16) that ran in Texas through June.
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
Black NFL Atheletes - Why Stand for a Country That Can Gun You Down in Cold Blood? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
If black athletes in the NFL honestly think that African Americans who live under Old Glory are as ‘equally protected ‘as whites, then they should stand up during the national anthem and sing-along. But if they know that blacks aren’t getting a square deal, and that blacks can be gunned down at any time by trigger-happy cops who never face the consequences, then they owe it to themselves and their country to demand change by remaining seated.
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Friday, September 02, 2016
American Conservatives Are Turning to Putin / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN: American conservatism has fragmented since 1991. It now looks very little like the movement presided over by Ronald Reagan.
One of these factions seems to be pro-Russian and views Russian President Vladimir Putin favorably. You can see this in Donald Trump’s speech on national security. He explicitly invited Russia to fight Islamist terrorism together. This is a shift.
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Saturday, August 27, 2016
This America, this house divided ... cannot stand / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
In an election cycle that has scored the lowest in human decency, civilized behavior and speech; a cycle characterized by hate, viciousness, competing scandals, voluminous unproven allegations, scapegoats, fear-mongering, incitements to violence, death threats, and general moral decline bordering on decadence, I advise no child be exposed to any of it – none!
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Black Lives Matter - Obama’s Race War is No Accident / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
What will it take for citizens to face up to the nature of the state of terror against the American people? All the attention about Islamic suicide fanatics provides ample cover to ignore the pathetic condition of race relations that has been a hallmark of the Obama administration. If a POTUS person of color was accused of festering discontent, the fable disinformation media would pay no attention to or paint the charges as racist. The liberal sociopaths that project the progressive culture are obsessed with smearing all dissent from their authoritarian oppression as based upon bigotry that objects to the supremacy of their multicolored Marxism.
Monday, July 04, 2016
On July 4th Demand Freedom, Don't Celebrate The State / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As we gather with family and friends to celebrate the July 4th holiday we should remember that we are not celebrating the state, but rather commemorating an act of secession from an oppressive government. We are celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain - a daring move by the Founders inspired by a desire for liberty.
Thomas Jefferson famously said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." That does not only mean that we should be prepared to defend against foreign invaders. Perhaps more importantly it means that we must retain the lessons from the original American revolt and guard against a government that views the people as the enemy.
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Sunday, July 03, 2016
Independence Day Hypocrisy, Not Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
On July 4, 1776, America gained independence from Britain. Everything changed but stayed the same under new management - the way the framers planned it.
Today we'd call them a Wall Street crowd - a deplorable bunch, including bankers, merchants, planters, ship owners, lawyers, politicians, judges, slave owners and traders, speculators, smugglers, privateers, and other type wheeler-dealers.
“We the people,” meant them, not us. They created a government of men, not laws. Property owners alone had rights. Ordinary people didn't matter, entirely left out.
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Monday, June 27, 2016
After 'Brexit,' Can the United States Exit a Few Things Too? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week's UK vote to leave the EU may have come as a shock to many, but the sentiment that led British voters to reject rule from Brussels is nothing unique. In fact it is growing sentiment worldwide. Frustration with politics as usual, with political parties that really do not differ in philosophy, with an economy that serves the one percent at the expense of the rest of society is a growing phenomenon throughout Europe and in the United States as well. The Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena are but one example of a frustrated public sensing something is very wrong with society and looking for a way out.
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Sunday, June 19, 2016
Donald Trump vs The First Amendment / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
If Donald Trump should become president, don’t expect his administration to be a transparent one or one that tolerates dissent and believes in the First Amendment.
At his campaign rallies, even those held at public venues, he forbids, according to his press advisories, “homemade signs, banners, professional cameras with a detachable lens, tripods, monopods, selfie sticks, back packs or large bags.”
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Wednesday, June 15, 2016
The Lies That Sustain US / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
America has one of the best and fastest growing auto manufacturers in the world and no one seems to know the company. Let me explain.
The US D.O.P.E. (Department Of Pathological Embellishment - a.k.a. the ‘Commerce Department’) just put out some great news that was so obviously meant to stem the now 3-day selloff in stocks. The great news is americans are spending money like drunken sailors on leave. Of course, anyone with a brain cell knows very well that the DOPE is simply a vestige of Nazi-ism in that it is a propaganda wing of a regime intent on deceit. So, to make us happy, or to make us believe all is well, we are told that consumers are spending money and the economy is about to take off!!! Isn’t ‘next quarter’ always going to be the quarter the economy heats up?
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Monday, June 13, 2016
Fascism: A Bipartisan Affliction / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
If neoconservatives and progressives truly understood fascism, they would stop using the word as a smear term. That is because both groups, along with most political figures and commentators, embrace fascist ideas and policies.
Fascism's distinguishing characteristic is a "mixed economy." Unlike socialists and communists who seek to abolish private business, fascists are content to let business remain in private hands. Instead, fascists use regulations, mandates, and taxes to control business and run (and ruin) the economy. A fascist system, then, is one where private businesses serve politicians and bureaucrats instead of consumers. Does the modern American economy not fit the definition of fascism?
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Saturday, June 11, 2016
Senators Embedded Within a Brain Fog / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
The U.S. Senate—under the leadership of Mitch McConnell who once said his primary mission was to see that the Senate didn’t agree with anything President Obama said or did, and to limit him to one term—continues to be one of the nation’s leading obstructionists. This time, the Senate isn’t meeting to advise or consent to the President’s nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
Garland was valedictorian in his class at Harvard College and a magna ***** laude graduate from the Harvard law school. He worked in the Department of Justice before becoming the chief judge on the D,C. Court of Appeals, having been confirmed by the Senate, March 1997.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Here’s Where the TSA Got This One Wrong / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
My wife hates to fly. It’s not the planes that bother her, although she’s no fan of turbulence. It’s the security process. There’s something about passing through a low-level X-ray machine that can see through your clothes that gives her the willies. Who can blame her?And then there’s the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agents themselves. Why is it that six or seven seem to be just hanging out while three of them work one security machine, as 200 people wait in line?
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Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Alan Greenspan Warns That Venezuelan Style Martial Law Will Soon Come To The US / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
It seems barely a day passes now without some big name person warning of imminent collapse. The latest is Alan Greenspan.
In an interview on Thursday he told Fox News that Venezuela is now under martial law and that “America is next.” He said that what was happening in Venezuela was inevitably going to take place in the US.
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Monday, May 30, 2016
Long Live the Flags of Dixie! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
On May 19, the House of Reprehensibles passed a proposal that would essentially ban the display of Confederate flags from national cemeteries. The amendment was added to a Veteran Affairs spending bill.
Not surprisingly, House Speaker Paul Ryan allowed the measure to be voted upon in hopes of not disrupting the appropriations process. Yes, by all means Paul, the redistribution of taxpayers’ confiscated wealth should take precedent over a draconian attempt to eradicate a heroic symbol of the country’s past. Hopefully, Ryan will be ousted this November as both Speaker and Congressman for not only his consistent sell out to Obummer and the Democrats on the budget, but his lack of understanding and appreciation of what is arguably the most important period of American history.
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Monday, May 30, 2016
This Is Not The America My Parents Immigrated To In 1957 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Not that I remember what America was like in 1957, as I was not yet five years old. Years later, when I was old enough to understand, they told me their story. Briefly, it goes like this.
Dad was born in Romania (Czernowitz in Northern Bulovina), but he identified (haha) as German because, well, his dad was German, his mom was German, they spoke German and kept German customs, and lived in a German community so, applying the “quacking duck” theory, that’s what he was. Mom was born in Yugoslavia (now, Slovenia), but she identified as German for the same reasons as dad did. The Nazi regime would refer to folks such as my parents as “Volksdeutsche” —- being German as a people or race, regardless of citizenship. More on that here.
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Sunday, May 29, 2016
Memorial Day Crocodile Tears from Those Who Create Wars / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
A few million Americans may be thinking about it, but won’t be celebrating Memorial Day. For them, there’s not much to celebrate or to remember.
They’re the low-wage employees who may have to work all three days, without overtime; about three million workers earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Many work 30 to 35 hours a week, just low enough that their employers don’t have to pay for insurance, holidays, or sick leave. The corporate CEOs, of course, will be enjoying the long weekend at their alternate vacation homes in the mountains, or along the coasts, or at off-shore islands where they have found banks willing to hide their money and avoid U.S. taxes.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Senate Passes Bill Letting 9/11 Victims Sue Saudi Arabia / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
The despotic Saudi regime is guilty of many high crimes. 9/11 isn’t one of them, the mother of all false flags, Washington responsible, perhaps complicit with Israel’s Mossad.
Bin Laden and Riyadh had nothing to do with what happened. Osama was dying in a Pakistani hospital at the time, expiring months later from natural causes.
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Wednesday, May 04, 2016
War, Debt, Default and Socialism - Just Another Day In America / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
I've accepted that there are evil forces in this world that will do what they can to destroy you and your family in order to build globalism. From the Brussels bombings to the Panama Papers to the ongoing Syrian massacres and turmoil in the Middle East and the refugee crises, it is all planned out.
People have a hard time with that insight. It's very difficult to live with the idea that the top controllers of Western society are actively trying to kill you or at least destroy the society you live in.
Wednesday, May 04, 2016
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: Puerto Rico Needs Urgent Action / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew discusses Puerto Rico's debt crisis and corporate inversion deals in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
Lew on the need for urgent action in Puerto Rico: "Puerto Rico doesn't have decades. Puerto Rico has a crisis today. Right now, today in Puerto Rico, you have hospitals that have laid off hundreds of workers, closed beds, closed wings. You have a Zika problem developing without the funds to come in and prevent the disease from spreading. You have schools that are closing. You have broad economic stress that's leading people to leave the island. Almost 100,000 people left Puerto Rico last year. Let's just be clear, there's three and a half million American citizens, many veterans -- American citizens living in Puerto Rico. If Puerto Rico doesn't have a solution, that's three and a half million Americans who are plunged into chaos. That's why the need for action is so urgent."
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Tuesday, April 26, 2016
One Year After: Freddie Gray and ‘Structural Statism’ / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
When Freddie Gray was born in 1989, Baltimore hosted 787,000 residents and 445,000 jobs. By the time his fatal injuries in police custody provoked riots last April, the city’s population had fallen by one fifth, to 623,000, and its job base had shrunk by one quarter, to 334,000.
Little wonder that throughout his life, Mr. Gray had never been legally employed. Nevertheless, friends and family considered him “a good provider,” according to The Baltimore Sun.
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Thursday, April 07, 2016
America’s Ignorant and the Offended / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
“If you've got a business. you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.” - Barack Obama
It takes an ignorant person to offend everyone.
America has become the land of the ignorant and the offended. Citizens remain profoundly ignorant of truth and everyone seems to be chronically offended. Maybe if people weren’t so ignorant, they wouldn’t be so offended.
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Monday, April 04, 2016
Vietnam War at 50: Have We Learned Nothing? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Defense Secretary Ashton Carter laid a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington in commemoration of the "50th anniversary" of that war. The date is confusing, as the war started earlier and ended far later than 1966. But the Vietnam War at 50 commemoration presents a good opportunity to reflect on the war and whether we have learned anything from it.
Some 60,000 Americans were killed fighting in that war more than 8,000 miles away. More than a million Vietnamese military and civilians also lost their lives. The US government did not accept that it had pursued a bad policy in Vietnam until the bitter end. But in the end the war was lost and we went home, leaving the destruction of the war behind. For the many who survived on both sides, the war would continue to haunt them.
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Monday, March 14, 2016
Climate Change Deniers, Loretta Lynch, and the Government War on Free Speech / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
During her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Attorney General Loretta Lynch admitted that she asked the FBI to examine whether the federal government should take legal action against so-called climate change deniers. Attorney General Lynch is not responding to any criminal acts committed by climate change skeptics. Instead, she is responding to requests from those frustrated that dissenters from the alleged climate change consensuses have successfully blocked attempts to create new government programs to fight climate change.
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Wednesday, March 09, 2016
President Obama Peddling Fiction, Ignoring Fact / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
In his seventh, and final, State of the Union address this January, President Obama, clearly looking to bolster his legacy as the president who vanquished the Great Recession, boldly asserted that "Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction." Unfortunately for the President, more and more Americans seem to believe (with an adequate basis in proof) that the fiction is emanating from the White House.
Monday, February 01, 2016
Ron Paul - Is U.S. Congress Declaring War on ISIS...or on You? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Passage of Senator Mitch McConnell's authorization for war against ISIS will not only lead to perpetual US wars across the globe, it will also endanger our civil and economic liberties. The measure allows the president to place troops anywhere he determines ISIS is operating. Therefore, it could be used to justify using military force against United States citizens on US territory. It may even be used to justify imposing martial law in America.
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Thursday, January 28, 2016
Deep State: Inside Washington's Shadowy Power Elite - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
“Our plutocracy, whether the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, Connecticut, or the Internet moguls in Palo Alto, now lives like the British did in colonial India: ruling the place but not of it. If one can afford private security, public safety is of no concern; to the person fortunate enough to own a Gulfstream jet, crumbling bridges cause less apprehension, and viable public transportation doesn’t even compute. With private doctors on call and a chartered plane to get to the Mayo Clinic, why worry about Medicare?”― Mike Lofgren, The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government
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Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Another U.S. Constitutional Convention: An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
In the midst of the seemingly indeterminable presidential electoral campaign, some of the candidates have been asked about the possibility of convening a constitutional convention in the hope of addressing the nation’s most pressing issues, most ominously the gargantuan federal deficit now in excess of $18 trillion.
Governor John Kasich supports such a notion with the explicit purpose of passing a balanced budget amendment.
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Monday, January 25, 2016
Ron Paul Warns Congress is Writing the President a Blank Check for War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
While the Washington snowstorm dominated news coverage this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was operating behind the scenes to rush through the Senate what may be the most massive transfer of power from the Legislative to the Executive branch in our history. The senior Senator from Kentucky is scheming, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham, to bypass normal Senate procedure to fast-track legislation to grant the president the authority to wage unlimited war for as long as he or his successors may wish.
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Sunday, January 24, 2016
Sarah Palin’s Quixotic Quest for Relevance / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
She’s back and tightly holding Donald Trump’s coattails.
That’s right, Sarah Palin, having again found the media spotlight, is casting her shadow across the more thoughtful conservatives.
This past week she declared her undying love and support of Trump’s attempt to seize the presidency from the more experienced and knowledgeable candidates in the Democratic, Republican, and Green parties, and is blathering her way throughout Iowa, New Hampshire, and several early primary states to stir up Trump’s far-right base.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Ron Paul on When Peace Breaks Out With Iran... / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This has been the most dramatic week in US/Iranian relations since 1979.
Last weekend ten US Navy personnel were caught in Iranian waters, as the Pentagon kept changing its story on how they got there. It could have been a disaster for President Obama's big gamble on diplomacy over conflict with Iran. But after several rounds of telephone diplomacy between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, the Iranian leadership - which we are told by the neocons is too irrational to even talk to - did a most rational thing: weighing the costs and benefits they decided it made more sense not to belabor the question of what an armed US Naval vessel was doing just miles from an Iranian military base. Instead of escalating, the Iranian government fed the sailors and sent them back to their base in Bahrain.
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Sunday, January 17, 2016
New US Sanctions on Iran? / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
With Iran celebrating international sanctions lifted on its entirely peaceful nuclear program, the US Treasury imposed new ones unilaterally and illegally - again solely for political reasons.
A Treasury press release said Iran’s ballistic missile program was targeted, unrelated to its nuclear activities.
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address - Brilliant Bullshit! / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
On Tuesday evening I watched president Obama's state of the union address. It was brilliant.
Obama rang all the bells, dotted all the i's, and attacked all the ghosts. At times, he even made sense.
All in all, it was a brilliant effort, possibly his best speech ever, even though his speech was essentially bullshit.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Your Guns Will be Consficated, Disarm Americans Ensure Full-blown Submission / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Ladies and Gentlemen; the Imperial Storm Troopers are ready to neutralize the threat from the American people against the Colonial Empire. Obama has declared war to the cheers of the progressive imbeciles, who are the most avid abettor of the Totalitarian Collectivist society. You may not get a visit from ATF, DHS or FBI any day soon, but you can be sure your society is being SWAT by the government domestic terrorists carrying out the wishes of a tyrannical regime. The political class and the underlings that implement their illegitimate dictates want to disarm the public out of fear the peasants may storm the castle. Guns and bullets are only instruments of protection. The crucial war on populist independence is waged against the minds, hearts and souls of thinking and fearless Americans.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The U.S. Wants to Seize Your Passport…Here’s What You Can Do About It / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a talented Russian writer and outspoken critic of the Soviet Union’s totalitarianism. He helped raise global awareness of the Gulag forced labor camp system.
For his efforts, the Soviet government stripped him of his citizenship in 1974. It did the same - and worse - to many other people it considered internal enemies.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Oregon Standoff: Isolated Event or Sign of Things to Come? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The nation's attention turned to Oregon this week when a group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom seized control of part of a federal wildlife refuge. The citizens were protesting the harsh sentences given to members of the Hammond ranching family. The Hammonds were accused of allowing fires set on their property to spread onto federal land.
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Sunday, January 10, 2016
End Injustices Now, Not Later / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Gary M. Galles writes: Tim Carney recently highlighted how Iowa’s important early role in the Republican primaries has produced “a gravitational pull to pander” on the Renewable Fuel Standard. Its ethanol mandate is “an indefensible subsidy” to Iowans from others’ transportation and grocery budgets for, at best, highly questionable environmental benefits.
Carney cited examples of cognitive dissonance, such as between Chris Christie’s “I want the free enterprise system,” and “we should enforce the Renewable Fuel Standard,” and similarly between Carly Fiorina’s criticism that “government favors … the big, the powerful and the well connected,” and “I support the Renewable Fuel Standard as it currently stands.”
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Wednesday, January 06, 2016
America's Right-wing Fascism, Millennials and why good people must do something. And the time for doing it is Now / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
America is to be judged by its citizens, not its politicians. But if Americans lose contact with one another; substitute real, tangible realities with virtual ones projected on internet and television screens; refuse to engage in the democratic process and choose passivity over involvement, nihilism over hope, fatalism over self-determination; remain complacent about if not ignorant of US actions and wars in the world; adopt definitions of themselves that are crafted by self-serving special interests, profiteers or merchants of war and hate running now for president from both political parties, they lose all concepts of who they are, what they stand for, and what really constitutes American values. As it stands, Americans are on the cusp of recognizing that they are losing their historic identity, or the one they embraced before 9/11. Some might feel "I like it just the way it is." Others might not and blame the government, blame the Fed, blame an ethnic minority, blame Obama, blame the other party, blame the terrorists, blame Islamists or blame today's "Hitler of the Moment", Vladimir Putin, whose endorsement of Donald Trump has signaled alarm bells even among some Kremlin defenders.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Christmas Wins Again! / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
The mythical War on Christmas is over and once again Christmas won.
The war was created out of fairy dust, and then neatly wrapped up and delivered to religious right-wing extremists by pretend-generals Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and a cast of dozens who have seized the public airways.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Ron Paul - If You Want Security, Pursue Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Judging by his prime-time speech last week, the final year of Barack Obama's presidency will be marked by increased militarism abroad and authoritarianism at home. The centerpiece of the president's speech was his demand for a new law forbidding anyone on the federal government's terrorist watch list from purchasing a firearm. There has never been a mass shooter who was on the terrorist watch list, so this proposal will not increase security. However, it will decrease liberty.
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Friday, November 27, 2015
Terrorism on American Soil / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
During this past week a three-year-old boy in Rock Hill, S.C., killed himself when he was playing with a loaded gun in his house.He wasn’t the only one in Rock Hill to die from a gunshot. In July, a man killed himself after shooting his wife, her son and the son’s girlfriend. The following month, someone killed a 30-year-old woman; someone else that same week killed a 27-year-old man.
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Monday, November 23, 2015
Donald Sutherland Confirms Hunger Games is Allegory for the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Here is a short clip featuring Donald Sutherland, who acted in The Hunger Games movie series, to learn in some detail what he thinks about them. He says flatly, it is an allegory pertaining to the United States, which is just what I wrote about a year ago. You can see the Sutherland video clip:
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Monday, November 23, 2015
Who Should Pay For The Syrian Refugees? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the US House dealt a blow to President Obama's plan to resettle 10,000 Syrians fleeing their war-torn homeland. On a vote of 289-137, including 47 Democrats, the House voted to require the FBI to closely vet any applicant from Syria and to guarantee that none of them pose a threat to the US. Effectively this will shut down the program.
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Friday, November 20, 2015
Syrian Refugees and the Republicans’ Rhetoric of Hate and Fear / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Fear, laced with paranoia, is driving the American response against allowing Syrian refugees into the United States.
President Obama has said he would accept 10,000 refugees, all of them subjected to intense scrutiny before being admitted to the country. France, with a population about one-fifth that of the United States, despite the worst attack on its soil since World War II, will accept 30,000 refugees.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
The American Way of Endless Wars / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
America is addicted to endless direct and proxy wars of aggression. Peace is anathema, social justice discarded to devote national resources to warmaking and militarizing the homeland.
Washington’s criminal class is bipartisan. Duopoly power rules, one party with two wings, serving monied interests exclusively, not a single identifiable administration, congressional or top-level judicial profile in courage, all in lockstep with what makes America the most feared and hated of all nations.
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Friday, November 06, 2015
Obamacare - The Gift That Keeps On Taking / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Isn't it interesting the mainstream media makes barely a peep about the ongoing and worsening Obamacare debacle. Healthcare premiums, co-pays and deductibles are soaring, while doctor and plan choices contract to a minuscule level. Recent surveys reveal the hardship being inflicted upon families across the nation. Those who are willfully baffled by the lack of consumer spending need look no further than Obamacare and its impact on the budgets of hard working Americans.
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Thursday, November 05, 2015
Government - The Most Devious Liars In The Room / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
There were a few different stories coming out over the last few days that reveal the true nature of government and the apparatchiks who use disinformation, devious machinations, fraudulent accounting, and taxpayer money to cover up their criminality, lies, and the true state of the American economy. The use of government accounting tricks to obscure the truth about our dire financial straits is designed to keep the masses sedated and confused.
A few weeks ago, to great fanfare from the fawning faux journalists who never question any Washington D.C. propaganda, they announced the lowest annual deficit of Obama's reign of error.
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Monday, November 02, 2015
Sound Money Takes Center Stage in Presidential Campaigns / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Clint Siegner writes: Ron Paul put sound money issues on the national radar screen during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. His push to Audit the Fed introduced Americans to the sordid origins of our central bank. For the first time, large numbers of people began questioning the benevolence and wisdom of an institution, wholly owned by the nation’s largest banks, with total discretion to do whatever it wants in near total secrecy.
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Monday, November 02, 2015
Ron Paul - Save The Apologies, Just Stop Promoting War! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Usually when politicians apologize it's because they have been caught doing something wrong, or they are about to be caught. Such was likely the case with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who recently offered an "apology" for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair faces the release of a potentially damning report on his government's conduct in the run-up to the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq.
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Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Constitution’s Big Lie / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
One of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon Americans at the time of its telling and which is still trumpeted to this very day is the notion that the U.S. Constitution contains within its framework mechanisms which limit its power. The “separation of powers,” where power is distributed among the three branches – legislative, executive, judicial – is supposedly the primary check on the federal government’s aggrandizement.
Monday, October 26, 2015
House Benghazi Hearings: Too Much Too Late / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the US House of Representatives called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear before a select committee looking into the attack on a US facility in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. The attack left four Americans dead, including US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
As might be expected, however, the "Benghazi Committee" hearings have proven not much more than a means for each party to grandstand for political points.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2015
What is U.S. Congress Proposing Now? / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
It's no secret that America's highways and bridges are a sham and the overall transportation system is in desperate need of funding.What is troubling is Congress' latest solution.
We pay for our highways and bridges through a tax on gasoline, which puts the cost of the transportation system squarely on users. Currently, the federal tax on a gallon of gas is 18.4 cents. That tax hasn’t changed since 1993, when gas was $1.16 per gallon, making the tax rate 19%.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Revolutionary Statists Means Lower Living Standards / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The latest crop of government supplicants lick up the promises of expanded social welfare from the charlatans that run for public office. The first Democratic Presidential debate was a deranged rally for the sickest sociopaths that a terminal society could find. The most radical proponents of insanity were not named Clinton, Sanders or O’Malley; no the mentally ill audience and the dullard clones that support the governance directives of the Democratic Party are most in need of professional mental help. Indeed, the ranks have fallen so far, from the standards under John F. Kennedy, that the party is no longer recognizable. With the paragon of their “Great Society”, the successors to FDR socialism have become the ultimate threat to what remains of the Republic.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Tea Party is Drinking Too Much Decaf / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Pento
On December 16th, 1773 the Sons of Liberty in Boston, in protest of the Tea Act, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company, in a political protest referred to as the Boston Tea Party.
Following the Wall Street bail-outs in 2009, a political movement also protesting their lack of representation in government sought a reduction of the U.S. national debt and deficits by reducing government spending and lowering taxes. They were referred to as The Tea Party, named from the aforementioned Boston variety.
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Monday, October 12, 2015
U.S. Politicians Exploit School Shooting While Ignoring Bombing Victims / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Following the recent Oregon school shooting, many politicians rushed to the microphones to call for new gun control laws. President Obama even called on gun control supporters to "politicize" the shooting, while some members of Congress worked to establish a special commission on gun violence.
The reaction to the shooting stands in stark contrast to the reaction to the US military's bombing of an Afghanistan hospital run by the international humanitarian (and Nobel Peace Prize winning) group Doctors Without Borders.
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Monday, September 21, 2015
Blame America? No, Blame Neocons! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Is the current refugee crisis gripping the European Union "all America's fault"? That is how my critique of US foreign policy was characterized in a recent interview on the Fox Business Channel. I do not blame the host for making this claim, but I think it is important to clarify the point.
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Monday, September 14, 2015
9/11 Memory: Fascism & Gold / Politics / US Politics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
The ultimate patriotic act is to invest the life savings in Gold & Silver, which does honor to real money, shows disdain for paper merchants who rule the central banks, and forces nations to put forth honest sound money in usage. It is important to recall the 9/11 event, however based in reality, not the official story. Honor should be given to the 2500 victims of the mass murder event. The official story makes far less sense than the Kennedy assassination, while the two events appear to be front and back bookends of the same Fascist takeover of the United States Govt. The Patriot Act was a fascist manifesto, much like the Enabling Act installed in Germany over seven decades ago. The two acts have a 90% correlation and overlap, yet the American public remains largely in the dark on the similarity in template.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
America’s Descent into Totalitarian Violence is Accelerating / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
America’s descent into totalitarian violence is accelerating. Like the Bush regime, the Obama regime has a penchant for rewarding Justice (sic) Department officials who trample all over the US Constitution. Last year America’s First Black President nominated David Barron to be a judge on the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Hurricane Katrina: A 10-year review of lessons NOT learned / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
This week is the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the southeastern gulf coast by Hurricane Katrina.
More than 1,800 people died. There is no estimate for the number of pets and wildlife. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billion.
About 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded. In Mississippi, the water surge flooded as much as 10 miles from the beaches.
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Monday, August 17, 2015
The Seamless Web of Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Many people think the Internal Revenue Service was violating civil liberties when it harassed tea party groups. After all, the groups were targeted because they wanted to exercise their civil liberty to challenge government policies. However, the specific issue in the IRS case was the groups' application for tax-exempt status, which seems to be an aspect of economic liberty. In fact, the IRS case demonstrates that there is no meaningful distinction between civil and economic liberties. A true friend of the free society defends both civil and economic liberties.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Down with the U.S. Constitution! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
It has been quite an eventful and productive couple of weeks for the forces of statism in the former “land of the free, and home of the brave.”
The federal government’s highest court has enshrined “perversity” into law, guaranteeing untold amounts of future litigation while infringing on the right of freedom of association and, just as important, “disassociation” for those who rightly consider sodomy an abomination which wantonly mocks the Author of the natural law.
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Monday, July 20, 2015
Iran Agreement Boosts Peace, Defeats Neocons / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week's successfully concluded Iran agreement is one of the two most important achievements of an otherwise pretty dismal Obama presidency. Along with the ongoing process of normalizing relations with Cuba, this move shows that diplomacy can produce peaceful, positive changes. It also shows that sometimes taking a principled position means facing down overwhelming opposition from all sides and not backing down. The president should be commended for both of these achievements.
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Monday, July 13, 2015
Greece Today, America Tomorrow? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The drama over Greece's financial crisis continues to dominate the headlines. As this column is being written, a deal may have been reached providing Greece with yet another bailout if the Greek government adopts new "austerity" measures. The deal will allow all sides to brag about how they came together to save the Greek economy and the European Monetary Union. However, this deal is merely a Band-Aid, not a permanent fix to Greece's problems. So another crisis is inevitable.
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Monday, July 06, 2015
For Normal Relations With Cuba, End US Interventionism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week we saw an encouraging sign that the 50 year cold war between the US and Cuba was finally coming to an end. President Obama announced on Wednesday that the US and Cuba would restore full diplomatic relations and that embassies could be re-opened in each country by the end of the month.
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Sunday, July 05, 2015
United States Celebrates the Disastrous Secession From Great Britain / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Remnant Review
Lots of people celebrate July 4. I do not.
The Declaration of Independence justified armed secession. It was signed by a handful of lawyers on July 4, 1776. Secession was a way of transferring a great deal of power to colonial legislatures, where most of these lawyers were members. It was a way of replacing governors appointed by the King with governors elected by men of the colonies.
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Monday, June 29, 2015
Obamacare's Best Allies: The Courts and the Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
By ruling for the government in the case of King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court once again tied itself into rhetorical and logical knots to defend Obamacare. In King, the court disregarded Obamacare's clear language regarding eligibility for federal health care subsides, on the grounds that enforcing the statute as written would cause havoc in the marketplace. The court found that Congress could not have intended this result and that the court needed to uphold Congress's mythical intention and ignore Obamacare's actual language.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Why the TPP Agenda Is Straight out of Alice in Wonderland / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
"Let the jury consider their verdict,’ the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
`No, no!’ said the Queen. `Sentence first–verdict afterwards.’
`Stuff and nonsense!’ said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!’
`Hold your tongue!’ said the Queen, turning purple.
`I won’t!’ said Alice.
`Off with her head!’ the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.
— Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
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Monday, June 22, 2015
Will Seizure of Russian Assets Hasten U.S. Dollar Decline? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
While much of the world focused last week on whether or not the Federal Reserve was going to raise interest rates, or whether the Greek debt crisis would bring Europe to a crisis, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague awarded a $50 billion judgment to shareholders of the former oil company Yukos in their case against the Russian government. The governments of Belgium and France moved immediately to freeze Russian state assets in their countries, naturally provoking the anger of the Russian government.
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Tuesday, June 02, 2015
US Senate’s Patriot Act Betrayal / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Watching the DC establishment respond to Senator Rand Paul’s efforts to sunset important aspects of the Patriot Act is like peeling back the skin of a decaying onion to expose the rot. Members of the Senate all take an oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. Well those “public servants” who are doing their perfected “Potomac Two Step” would have the public believe that next week’s vote on some version of the House passed USA Freedom Act will halt the NSA from their systematic violation of 4th Amendment protections.
Monday, June 01, 2015
Export-Import Bank is Welfare for the One Percent / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This month Congress will consider whether to renew the charter of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank). Ex-Im Bank is a New Deal-era federal program that uses taxpayer funds to subsidize the exports of American businesses. Foreign businesses, including state-owned corporations, also benefit from Ex-Im Bank. One country that has benefited from $1.5 billion of Ex-Im Bank loans is Russia. Venezuela, Pakistan, and China have also benefited from Ex-Im Bank loans.
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Saturday, May 30, 2015
We Need Actual Free Trade, Not the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Ryan W. McMaken writes: Brendan Nyhan at The New York Times seems to be under the impression that the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has something to do with free trade. Nyhan writes that the TPP
Read full article... Read full article...is the latest step in a decades-long trend toward liberalizing trade — a somewhat mysterious development given that many Americans are skeptical of freer trade.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
U.S. Congressional Sellout on TPP Fast Track / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
There is a simple reason why the Congress is held is such ill repute. Leadership in both parties are total agents for the Plutocrats that have systematically destroyed our economy with their globalist corporatist model that results in national impoverishment. The only startling pattern to this bipartisan betrayal is that the public continues to accept their excruciating fraud with only a whimper of discontent. BATR has covered the TPP Fast Track issue intensively. The most consistent observation is that the public, in this sinking economy, has ignored the impact that will accelerate, as the leaks from this secretive agreement become known.
Monday, May 25, 2015
What Memorial Day Do You Honor? / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Many accounts will praise the sacrifices and deeds of those who fought in the American wars. Some versions will emotionally express their thanks and respect, while others will list their heroic actions. There is another viewpoint that seldom gets the attention that it deserves. Simply put, what is the true reason that all this blood was shed and the meaning of continued torment that follows, when the guns are silenced? Some will say, we just need to revere those who served. Others may dare to ask, why and what for?
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Sunday, May 24, 2015
Rethinking Edward Snowden: Unwitting Enabler of the Corporate-Libertarian-Technocratic State? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Simply, I think the conundrum of enigmatic Edward Snowden is beginning to offer glimpses that somewhat validate an early and tentative hypothesis of mine. I supported his actions and even called him another "Paul Revere" (of sorts), a "hero"; but I also suspected his political philosophy would shape an outcome altogether undemocratic and oligarchic. Having voted for an unidentified 3rd party candidate in 2008; Ron Paul in 2012; and is now supporting Rand Paul, Snowden is promoting capitalistic/libertarian movements. Such movements, often wrapped in the flag of the "Republic", singing anthems to "Liberty" and demonizing central government, are enterprises - including those created around Snowden (e.g., Glenn Greenwald) - that exploit anti-government sentiments while whitewashing, even omitting the dangers neoliberalism poses; denouncing government surveillance but silent about the corporate side of the totalitarian state.
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Monday, May 11, 2015
The US Leads All Other Countries In Citizen Defection / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
When it comes to extortion, or as they call it, income tax, the places where you want to be a citizen are colored green on the following map. Those countries have no income tax on individuals. The next best countries to be a citizen of, but not live in (as per the Permanent Traveller/Prior Taxpayer - PT Theory) are the ones shaded in blue. Those countries will charge you income tax if you are a citizen of that country AND also residing there... but if you are not residing there they will not charge you income tax.
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Beyond Baltimore: Political Looting of Nation's Wealth / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Clint Siegner writes: The CVS Pharmacy at the corner of North and Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore is a burnt-out shell. You probably saw the video last week. An angry mob carried the store’s inventory out by the armload, then set fire to whatever was left. Company officials are still deciding whether or not to rebuild.
Looting is not good for business in Baltimore. But it is absolutely fantastic for business in Washington DC.
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Monday, May 04, 2015
Ron Paul Warns USA FREEDOM Act: Just Another Word for Lost Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Apologists for the National Security Agency (NSA) point to the arrest of David Coleman Headley as an example of how warrantless mass surveillance is necessary to catch terrorists. Headley played a major role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 people.
While few would argue that bringing someone like Headley to justice is not a good thing, Headley's case in no way justifies mass surveillance. For one thing, there is no "terrorist" exception in the Fourth Amendment. Saying a good end (capturing terrorists) justifies a bad means (mass surveillance) gives the government a blank check to violate our liberties.
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Saturday, May 02, 2015
U.S.A. Caught In Enormous Policy Vise - ZIRP & QE Destructive Influence / Politics / US Politics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
Today is May Day, the international day of workers celebrated by most communist and deeply socialist nations. To be sure, Obama should come out of the closet with admission of not only his Muslim roots but his Marxist roots. By now, he could have easily promoted the holiday and had it moved from its longstanding September location to the May month. In honor of the holiday, the Jackass will outline the profound damage to the USEconomy, its recent destructive pressures, and the newest dynamics which assure a systemic breakdown. The outcome is being seen in widespread job loss, business shutdowns, a new war waged each year, and civil disorder prompted by a strange phenomenon hardly ever discussed.
Friday, May 01, 2015
Baltimore Riots Whose Fault? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
I’ve seen the liberal lying MSM pondering how WE could allow the riots, looting, burning and lawlessness to happen, as if it is our collective fault. Obama stands before his teleprompter and pontificates about the need for us to end the poverty that supposedly led to Purge Night in Charm City. That term cracks me up. The city has so much charm, its football team once snuck out of town overnight and headed to Indianapolis. It has so much charm its baseball team was forced to play a game with no fans in the stands.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Death of the Republic / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
A republican form of government is one in which power resides in elected officials representing the citizens, and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. In The Federalist Papers, James Madison defined a republic as “a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people . . . .”
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Monday, April 06, 2015
U.S. Democratic Party - Requiem For The People’s Party / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
The Democratic Party of the United States is the oldest political party in the world by far. Some would suggest the Democratic Party is also the most successful political party at any time over modern history. It led the United States, in largest part, from near its beginning into becoming the sole superpower on the planet. Democrats have held a majority in one or both houses of Congress for 124 years of the past 188 years. There have been 15 Democrats elected to the Presidency serving 92 years in office, including 16 of 24 years through 2016. Democrats today control 41 of 99 state legislative chambers along with 18 governorships. Of US voters, 40% favor or lean toward the Democratic Party outpacing Republicans considerably at their 34% of the national vote.
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Tuesday, March 24, 2015
City of London's Ownership of American Colonies / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The misplaced reverence to the ill formulated U.S Constitution and hidden subjugation back to the City of London is one aspect of history that is not taught in government schools or discussed in institutes of higher education. This subject is probably new to most observers of the legacy from the Founding Father’s biggest mistake. Regular readers of BREAKING ALL THE RULES are familiar with the arguments made in the essays, In the beginning: Let there be the Articles of Confederation and Articles of Confederation was Preferable. Now the case for the betrayal of the purpose of the American Revolution needs to be explored.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Ron Paul on America's Twelve Year Mistake in Iraq / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Twelve years ago last week, the US launched its invasion of Iraq, an act the late General William Odom predicted would turn out to be "the greatest strategic disaster in US history."
Before the attack I was accused of exaggerating the potential costs of the war when I warned that it could end up costing as much as $100 billion. One trillion dollars later, with not one but two "mission accomplished" moments, we are still not done intervening in Iraq.
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Monday, March 16, 2015
Green Light for the American Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The American Empire has been long in the making. A green light was given in 1990 to finalize that goal. Dramatic events occurred that year that allowed the promoters of the American Empire to cheer. It also ushered in the current 25-year war to solidify the power necessary to manage a world empire. Most people in the world now recognize this fact and assume that the empire is here to stay for a long time. That remains to be seen.
Empires come and go. Some pop up quickly and disappear in the same manner. Others take many years to develop and sometimes many years to totally disintegrate. The old empires, like the Greek, Roman, Spanish and many others took many years to build and many years to disappear. The Soviet Empire was one that came rather quickly and dissipated swiftly after a relatively short period of time. The communist ideology took many decades to foment the agitation necessary for the people to tolerate that system.
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Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Paradox of America's Electoral Reform / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: We are now in the early phases of selecting the president of the United States. Vast amounts of money are being raised, plans are being laid, opposition research is underway and the first significant scandal has broken with the discovery that Hillary Clinton used a non-government email account for government business. Ahead of us is an extended series of primaries, followed by an election and perhaps a dispute over some aspect of the election. In the United States, the presidential election process takes about two years, particularly when the sitting president cannot run for re-election.
Monday, March 02, 2015
The Absurdity of "Reform" in Washington DC / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
James Bovard writes: In the 1930s, peasants who were starving because of the Soviet regime’s brutal farm collectivization policy lamented, “If only Stalin knew!” Nowadays, American social scientists look at floundering federal programs and lament: “If only Congress knew!” And the solution is the “evidence-based” reform movement which will magically beget a new era of good governance.
Monday, March 02, 2015
Ron Paul - Department of Homeland Security: What is it Good For? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Late Friday night, Congress passed legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security for one week. This vote followed weeks of debate over efforts to attach a prohibition on funding President Obama's executive order granting amnesty to certain illegal immigrants to the Homeland Security funding bill.
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Friday, February 27, 2015
10 Reasons Washington Has War Fever / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
"War is merely the continuation of policy by other means." – Carl von Clausewitz
The political elites, Federal Reserve and special interests that really run the show hiding behind Congress and the president of either party in America's closed two-party monopoly seem to be running scared in many regards. They rightly have many fears for their political future as well as the profits and survival of the major international corporations and banking interests that support the current political leadership and regime.
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Monday, February 23, 2015
U.S. Interventionism Kills Post-Coup Ukraine / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It was one year ago last weekend that a violent coup overthrew the legally elected government of Ukraine. That coup was not only supported by US and EU governments -- much of it was actually planned by them. Looking back at the events that led to the overthrow it is clear that without foreign intervention Ukraine would not be in its current, seemingly hopeless situation.
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Monday, February 16, 2015
Ron Paul Asks How Many More U.S. Wars? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week President Obama sent Congress legislation to authorize him to use force against ISIS "and associated persons and forces" anywhere in the world for the next three years. This is a blank check for the president to start as many new wars as he wishes, and it appears Congress will go along with this dangerous and costly scheme.
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Fourth Turning Shadow Crisis War on Multiple Fronts / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In Part One of this article I explained the model of generational theory as conveyed by Strauss and Howe in The Fourth Turning. In Part Two I provided an overwhelming avalanche of evidence this Crisis has only yet begun, with debt, civic decay and global disorder propelling the world towards the next more violent phase of this Crisis. In Part Three I addressed how the most likely clash on the horizon is between the government and the people. War on multiple fronts will thrust the world through the great gate of history towards an uncertain future.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
US Sinks to 49th in World Press Freedom Index / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
You may click on the chart below, or you may click on this link to the article and a very large, interactive chart with access to data, methodology, etc.
The US was 49th, as compared to 46th in 2014.
The UK was 34th, France was 38th, Spain was 33rd, Australia was 25th, Germany was 12th, and Canada was 8th.
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Texas and the Evils of U.S. Annexation / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Ryan McMaken writes: This year marks the 170th anniversary of the annexation of Texas by the United States government. Although Texas militias had gained de facto independence from Mexico in 1836, negotiations between Mexico and the United States continued for another nine years as the Texas government attempted to work out a long-term strategy for Texas. Most Texans (especially the Anglo ones) wanted union with the United States, and American settlers looking to move to Texas also wanted union to ease emigration and legal issues. Moreover, American slave owners saw the opportunity to admit another slave state to the United States to counterbalance the addition of northern free states from the Louisiana Purchase.
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Delusional America / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Robert Parry is one of my favorite columnists. He is truthful, has a sense of justice, and delivers a firm punch. He used to be a “mainstream journalist,” like me, but we were too truthful for them. They kicked us out.
I can’t say Parry has always been one of my favorite journalists. During the 1980s he spent a lot of time on Reagan’s case. Having been on corporate boards, I know that CEOs seldom know everything that is going on in the company. There are just too many people and too many programs representing too many agendas. For presidents of countries with governments as large as the US government, there is far more going on than a president has time to learn about even if he could get accurate information.
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Sunday, January 25, 2015
Unjust and Undeclared Wars / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Raymond Matison writes: The history of the human race and war seem inseparable. For as long as history has been written, starting with etchings on clay tablets, recording and depiction of war has been an important part of it. Indeed, ancient and modern history books alike generally focus mostly on rulers and their conquests of lands and people. With this long history of warlike behavior, it is easy to believe that war is an endemic part of humans and our society.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
U.S. State of the Union - We’ve Let The Clowns Come Way Too Far / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
In yesterday’s State of the Union, Obama said The ‘Shadow Of Crisis Has Passed’, and the one and the only thing I thought was: ‘Good, so now we can tackle the crisis itself?!’. If speeches like the SOTU last night, and the reactions to it, make anything clear, it’s that the PR guys won the fight against critical thinking. Sure, there are people for whom that shadow has passed, but a president is supposed to be there for all Americans, not just for those who finance his campaigns and those of his successors.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Ron Paul on the Lessons from Paris Attacks / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
After the tragic shooting at a provocative magazine in Paris last week, I pointed out that given the foreign policy positions of France we must consider blowback as a factor. Those who do not understand blowback made the ridiculous claim that I was excusing the attack or even blaming the victims. Not at all, as I abhor the initiation of force. The police blaming victims when they search for the motive of a criminal.
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Monday, January 12, 2015
The U.S. Police Threat “Is Too High” / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The hypocrisy of American police is beginning to bother even law and order conservatives. The New York Police Department is rivaling the black community in Ferguson in keeping alive the murders of their community members.
We are constantly reminded of how dangerous it is to be a police officer. A total of 50 police officers were reportedly killed last year in the “line of duty,” but the police themselves managed to kill 1,029 Americans during the same time period, most of whom were unarmed and innocent of wrongdoings.
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Friday, January 09, 2015
U.S. Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises: Ron Pauls Predictions for 2015 / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege.
It didn't happen overnight. It took many years of neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised -- physical and economic -- the less liberty was protected.
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Wednesday, January 07, 2015
What True U.S. Health Care Reform Would Look Like / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Matt Battaglioli writes: With the relatively recent passing of America’s new healthcare law; the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the topics of healthcare, health insurance, prices and reform have been particularly hot lately. This of course does not mean that the controversies surrounding the American healthcare system are anything new. Healthcare prices are getting higher with many hospital visits for certain conditions totaling bills of millions of dollars. Also, the laws regulating the industry are getting heavier by the day. People have known for a while that a solid reform of the system has been in order, though it is unfortunate that most of these people calling for reform have a tendency to find their influence for such reform across the ocean.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
U.S. Cops Can Enforce Non-Existent Laws With Impunity / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Ignorance of the law is an excuse...if you are a cop. American police no longer need to know what the law says or to enforce it correctly. They can implement a non-existent law with impunity even if it results in the apparent violation of constitutional rights. This may have been apparent to many as a police practice but now it is now officially the law of the land. On December 15, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled on Heien v. North Carolina.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
America's War on Palestine / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
America one-sidedly supports Israel. Both countries partner in each other's crimes. United against Palestinian statehood.
Determined to keep 4.5 million Palestinians subjugated. Hostages on their own land in their own country.
Under militarized occupation rule. Afforded no rights whatever. Congressional members demand Obama veto Palestine's Security Council statehood resolution.
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Sunday, December 21, 2014
Obama's Party Joke Spotlights North Korea / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Don't Obamify His Name
Kim Jon Bama, AKA president Barack Obama delivered his own party joke at what was billed as his end-year conference and Q&A, December 19. This was two day's after Vladimir Putin did his own often light-hearted and boisterous same thing. Commentators warned us to only take what Jon Bama was saying as a last pirouette of presidential power and privilege, before Republicans take full control of the floors of both houses in January. So Obama was witty, formal, stern and forthright about finally ending the 50-year blockade of Cuba, a small island country run as the Castro family firm, and starting a spanking "new" crusade - against equally small and unimportant North Korea. Which has been US-blockaded about 60 years
Thursday, December 18, 2014
The United States and Cuba Begin Restoring Relations / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The United States and Cuba on Dec. 17 took their most assertive step in several decades toward normalizing relations. The most important announcements concerned the resumption of high-level political discussions focused on renewing formal diplomatic ties between the countries, which have been nonexistent since 1961. Cuban and U.S. officials will hold high-level meetings in the coming months, and the two countries will work toward establishing embassies in Havana and Washington. The United States will also immediately relax some sanctions on trade and travel to Cuba. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would loosen certain restrictions on financial transactions with Cuba, remove some restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba, and authorize the export of certain goods to the Cuban private sector. The U.S. State Department will also review Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Obama has the legal authority to immediately implement the measures he announced, but he left the issue of formally lifting the trade embargo up to Congress. Together, the announcements signaled a gradual process of reopening Cuba to the United States.
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Monday, December 15, 2014
CIA, Democracy, Quo Vadis, America? / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Where are you going, America?
I don’t like to discuss politics too much. There are not enough smart, kind and honest people in politics wherever I look in the world for me to want to have anything to do with that game. I’d just spend all my time wondering what kind of mindset it takes to want to tell other people what to do, and be in control of the millions, billions and trillions of dollars that are taken from these people on a daily, yearly, basis.
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Monday, December 15, 2014
Ron Paul - All I Want for Christmas is a Real U.S. Government Shutdown / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The political class breathed a sigh of relief Saturday when the US Senate averted a government shutdown by passing the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. This year's omnibus resembles omnibuses of Christmas past in that it was drafted in secret, was full of special interest deals and disguised spending increases, and was voted on before most members could read it.
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Saturday, December 13, 2014
The American Inquisition - Torture Lobby Be Tortured? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Torture is a crime under both American and international law. The Bush administration repeatedly broke the law from 2002 to 2006 by unleashing a wave of torture, kidnapping, and murder, all under the banner of its faux “war on terror.”
“Terror” is a wonderfully useful propaganda term developed by the Israelis and adopted by the Bush administration to dehumanize and delegitimize America’s violent enemies who were opposing US presence in much of the Muslim world.
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Thursday, December 11, 2014
America Should You Believe What They Tell you or What You See? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Sometimes I wish I could just passively accept what my government monarchs and their mainstream media mouthpieces feed me on a daily basis. Why do I have to question everything I'm told? Life would be much simpler and I could concentrate on more important things like the size of Kim Kardashian's ass, why the Honey Boo Boo show was canceled, the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, whether I'll get a better deal on Chinese slave labor produced crap on Black Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, fantasy football league standings, the latest NFL player to knockout their woman and get reinstated, Obama's latest racial healing plan, which Clinton or Bush will be our next figurehead president, or the latest fake rape story from Rolling Stone. The willfully ignorant masses, dumbed down by government education, lured into obesity by corporate toxic packaged sludge disguised as food products, manipulated, controlled and molded by an unseen governing class of rich men, and kept docile through never ending corporate media propaganda, are nothing but pawns to the arrogant sociopathic pricks pulling the wires in this corporate fascist empire of debt.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
U.S. Police State - Illinois Passes Law Making it a Felony to Video Police Abuse / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
How to Stop Police Abuse
There's one way and one way only to stop police abuse: Criminally prosecute it, then allow civil penalties.
In a podcast today with Chris Martenson, Chris suggested civil penalties should come straight out of the police retirement fund, not taxpayer pockets.
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Tuesday, December 09, 2014
U.S. Declaring War on Russia? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Michael S. Rozeff writes: The U.S. government is a bastion of reckless behavior, constantly and continually. The extent of damage inflicted upon the American people by U.S. governments is huge and incalculable. The latest addition to its record of recklessness is H.R. 758. This resolution passed the House with 95 percent of the House voting “yea”. The vote was 411 to 10 with 13 not voting.
The text of H.R. 758, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 4, 2014, is here. This resolution is directed against Russia. All quotes below are from H.R. 758.
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Monday, December 01, 2014
US Exceptionalism And White Supremacy / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Obama Fumbles and the World Burns
An excellent summary and analysis of why the Obama White House has been overwhelmed by what we can call “legacy policy”, and has become the most paranoid US administration in decades – far surpassing rven Georfe W Bush – is given by professor Joel Migdal in his latest book (' Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East ). Migdal traces the basic problem to US exceptionalism – the cornerstone of foreign policy since Roosevelt and Truman – being totally unsuited to a “multipolar world” in which the US has to engage with and against a shifting set of allies and enemies on constantly changing issues, where today's friend is tomorrow's rival and vice versa. Like others (including Kissinger and Brzezinski!) he divides the post-1945 world into the period ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-90, and what happened after a 10-year “reflexion and incubation period” ending in 2001.
Monday, December 01, 2014
Who Wants to be U.S. Defense Secretary? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It seems nobody wants to be Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration. The president's first two Defense Secretaries, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, both complained bitterly this month about their time in the administration. The president's National Security Council staff micro-managed the Pentagon, they said at a forum last week.
Former Secretary Gates revealed that while he was running the Defense Department, the White House established a line of communication to the Joint Special Operations Command to discuss matters of strategy and tactics, cutting the Defense Secretary out of the loop. His successor at the Pentagon, Leon Panetta, made similar complaints.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
A Message to Ferguson: You Are Fighting The Wrong Battle / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Tensions in the US are high. Hundreds of millions of people have been extorted and many have been kidnapped and beaten. People are frustrated and demanding answers, and to find them they are looking to.... authority figures?
They've been well-trained. But it is not with these authority figures true liberation lies. It would be better for us all, as individuals, to look deep inside ourselves and find an inner calm that runs in all living beings and recognize the true terrorists.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Now The British Are Fleeing America / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Remember when Americans fled Britain and the monarchy? Well, now the British are fleeing from America and its modern tyranny...
Take London Mayor Boris Johnson, for instance.
Johnson has been London’s mayor since 2008 and is even planning on running for Parliament. His big mistake was being born in New York, though. Even though he moved at age 5, the US government wants him to pay capital gains taxes owed by American citizens earning income abroad.
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Monday, November 24, 2014
Defeat of USA FREEDOM Act is a Victory for American Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It will not shock readers to hear that quite often legislation on Capitol Hill is not as advertised. When Congress wants to do something particularly objectionable, they tend give it a fine-sounding name. The PATRIOT Act is perhaps the best-known example. The legislation had been drafted well before 9/11 but was going nowhere. Then the 9/11 attacks gave it a new lease on life. Politicians exploited the surge in patriotism following the attack to reintroduce the bill and call it the PATRIOT Act. To oppose it at that time was, by design, to seem unpatriotic.
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Tuesday, November 18, 2014
On Obama and the Nature of Failed Presidencies / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: We do not normally comment on domestic political affairs unless they affect international affairs. However, it is necessary to consider American political affairs because they are likely to have a particular effect on international relations. We have now entered the final phase of Barack Obama's presidency, and like those of several other presidents since World War II, it is ending in what we call a state of failure. This is not a judgment on his presidency so much as on the political configuration within it and surrounding it.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Obama Lame Duck in a NeoCon Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
That Nefarious Warrior Organism is eager to accelerate the next stage of the master plan. Under an openly NeoCon front, John McCain’s chairmanship of a Senate Armed Services Committee will get to pressure the public into believing that their national security requires vigorous interventionism. Before you think that the Democrats differ from this same post WWII strategy, it would be best to brush up on a necessary history lesson.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Pols, Pundits and Bear Trappers / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
The mid-term election results in Americacan speak volumes if one only could hear the truth within the cacophony created by a hundred political pundits who mix moaning about low voter national turnout (lowest since WWII) with feigned "surprise" over GOP advances; pundits who never are at a loss for impressing the impressionable by mixing their stewardship with bewildering statistics, charts, graphs, demographic breakdowns; all of which, of course, leads pundits to issuing hearty expositions, predictions and projections of the future - a future based on their speculative punditry.
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Monday, November 10, 2014
Ron Paul - What The Mid-Term U.S. Elections Really Mean For Peace and Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Did the election last week really mean that much? I took to my Twitter account on Tuesday to point out that the change in control of the Senate from Democrat to Republican actually means very little, despite efforts by politicians and the mainstream media to convince us otherwise. Yes, power shifted, I wrote. But the philosophy on Capitol Hill changed very little. The warfare/welfare state is still alive and well in Washington.
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Monday, November 03, 2014
Ron Paul - More Guns Plus Less War Equals Real Security / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week's tragic shootings in Canada and Washington state are certain to lead to new calls for gun control. The media-generated fear over "lone wolf terrorists" will enable the gun control lobby to smear Second Amendment supporters as "pro-terrorist." Marketing gun control as an anti-terrorist measure will also enable gun control supporters to ally with those who support any infringement on liberty done in the name of "homeland security."
As with most infringements on liberty, gun control will not only make us less free, it will make us less safe. Respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the original and best homeland security policy. Restricting the right of people to arm themselves leaves them with no effective defense against violent criminals or a tyrannical government.
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Sunday, November 02, 2014
American Tariffs and Wars From the Revolution to the Great Depression / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
James Bovard writes: Fair trade is once again a rallying cry for many Americans. Many contemporary leftists believe that the U.S. government should impose restrictions or tariffs on imported goods that are alleged to have been produced by underpaid or oppressed Third World workers. Few contemporary protectionists are aware of the sordid history of trade conflicts earlier in American history.
Saturday, November 01, 2014
The Day Israel Attacked America / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
One ally attacking another willfully is unheard of. Israel violated its special relationship.
What James Petras called "the first (instance) in modern history in which the imperial country cover(ed) up a deliberate major military assault by a supposed ally."
He referred to the 1967 USS Liberty attack. An intelligence-gathering ship. On June 8. In international waters. About 25.5 nautical miles northwest of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Hillary Clinton Could Be One of the Best U.S. Presidents Ever / Politics / US Politics
By: Metals_Report
Cheap oil prices and the economic prosperity they bring can make politicians and investors look smarter than they are. In this interview with The Mining Report, Stansberry Research Editor Matt Badiali shares the secrets for finding underappreciated commodities and companies before they become overpriced, and names his favorites.
The Mining Report: You have said that Hillary Clinton could go down in history as one of the best presidents ever. Why?
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Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Principle, Rigor and Execution Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
U.S. President Barack Obama has come under intense criticism for his foreign policy, along with many other things. This is not unprecedented. Former President George W. Bush was similarly attacked. Stratfor has always maintained that the behavior of nations has much to do with the impersonal forces driving it, and little to do with the leaders who are currently passing through office. To what extent should American presidents be held accountable for events in the world, and what should they be held accountable for?
Monday, October 27, 2014
Lunatics Running US Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: NEW YORK – Things seemed crazy in the US and Canada last week, with a shooting on normally tranquil Parliament Hill in Ottawa and a grisly hatchet attack on two New York City policemen.
Add in an American doctor who returned to the big city from Ebola-stricken West Africa and proceeded to run around all over town – from the Bronx to the west Village to a bowling alley in Brooklyn – just as he was coming down with the dreaded sickness. New Yorkers are a pretty tough bunch, so panic was mild, but in this crowded city, it was still a big scare.
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Monday, October 20, 2014
National Service is Anti-Liberty and Un-American / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently called on the government to force young people to spend two years either "serving" in the military or performing some other type of government-directed "community service." Neoconservative Senator John McCain has introduced legislation creating a mandatory national service program very similar to Reich's proposal. It is not surprising that both a prominent progressive and a leading neocon would support mandatory national service, as this is an issue that has long united authoritarians on the left and right.
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Sunday, October 19, 2014
Germ Warfare - The US Gave WMD's to Saddam to Attack Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Back in the 1990’s, journalists used to joke, “Of course we know Iraq has chemical weapons. We have the delivery receipts to prove it!”
The joke turned out to be the exact truth.
While covering Iraq in 1990 – just before the first massive US bombing campaign – I discovered the US and Britain had secretly built a germ weapons arsenal for Iraq to use against Iran in the eight year-Iran-Iraq War.
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Sunday, October 12, 2014
Has Obama Changed His Mind About Syria? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
The ISIS siege of Kobane continued overnight while cities across Turkey were set ablaze by Kurdish protestors. At least 19 civilians were killed by Turkish riot police who were trying to disperse angry crowds that had gathered to protest the government’s unwillingness to defend the predominantly Kurdish city. According to Hurriyet, “The worst violence was seen in Diyarbakır during a reported gunfight between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) supporters and Hizbullah, a radical Islamist group whose members are mostly Kurdish and who allegedly aided the state in the torture and killing of Kurdish activists in the 1990s.” (Hurriyet)
Saturday, October 11, 2014
American the Broken State and How to Fix It / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
The United States of America is not what it used to be. Unsustainable mountains of debt, continuous meddling by the government and Fed to “stimulate the economy,” and the US dollar’s dwindling status as the world’s reserve currency are very real threats to Americans’ standard of living. Here are some opinions from the recently concluded Casey Research Fall Summit on the state of the state and how to fix it.
Marc Victor, a criminal defense attorney from Arizona and a staunch liberty advocate, says there’s really no such thing as “the state”—“it’s just some people bossing other people around.”
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Friday, October 10, 2014
America is Truly a Country Run for the Few / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics headline this morning reads: “Payroll employment increases by 248,000 in September; unemployment rate declines to 5.9%.”
How can this be? US corporations are investing in buying back their own stocks, not in new business ventures that produce new jobs.
According to the Census Bureau’s Poverty Report, US real median family income has declined to the level of twenty years ago. Consumer credit and real retail sales are not growing. Construction is limited to rental units. Construction shows 16,000 new jobs, half of which are “specialty trade contractors” or home remodelers.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Obama Abandoning the Saudis for Iran and Dooming the Petrodollar - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Alex Daley, Chief Technology Investment Strategist
I sat down with Jim Rickards, author of many best-selling economics and investing books, including his latest, titled The Death of Money. In this exclusive interview, Jim shares his view on the changes in US foreign policy—the newly announced partnership with Iran to help fight ISIS and recent moves away from the petrodollar deal with Saudi Arabia—and what they mean for the dollar, gold, and investment markets in general.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2014
U.S. State Sponsored Assassination Culture / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The ongoing failures of the Secret Service to provide proper protection for the President have political careerists in a tizzy. Scares that harm could come to the commander-in-chief, also worries the press. Ordinary citizens on principle, accept that the White House should be secure grounds. Rotating blame usually means that the buck does not stop on the oval office desk. Indeed, who could expect any President to be responsible for their own safety? Surely, policy decisions made as a government could not possibly have any bearing on the lunatics that harbor ill will towards our fearless leaders.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Nihilism And The Unknown Future / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Reject Everything
Nihilism, as US president Obama said in August 2014 following the decapitation of journalist Jim Foley is most certainly ISIS in Syria and Iraq - but he called it an ideology, when in fact it is a non-ideology. Nihilism denies all “conventional knowledge” and “conventional reality”. The only possible future, the nihilists say, will be “exalted” or “ecstatic”. Otherwise, there is no future.
Nihilism is the path to nowhere for the punk killers of ISIS who meander from town to town and cut off human heads in town squares, to thrill the crowd here and there, but nothing more than that. Until the “ecstatic moment”, life will be a shadow play, for ISIS of a threatening and macabre type.
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Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The Quick Slide From Hope to Despair As War Returns--If It Ever Went Away / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: On the Sunday, the world came together to demand climate justice with massive marches of solidarity and positivity.
On the Monday, the UN prepared for its global climate summit with more than l00 Heads of State, some there as ornaments, others as advocates for changes in environmental conditions that threaten the survival of many nations and peoples.
On the Monday afternoon, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called climate change Washington’s number #1 priority.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Bread, Circuses and Bombs - Decline of The American Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions -- everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: Bread and Circuses." - Juvenal - Satire (100 A.D.)
Roman satirist and poet Juvenal was displaying contempt for a degraded Roman citizenry that had shunned civic responsibility, shirked their duties of citizenship within a republic, and had chosen to sell their votes to feckless politicians for assurances of bread and circuses. Rather than govern according to noble principles based upon reason, striving for public policies that led to long term sustainability and benefitting the majority of citizens, politicians chose superficial displays and appeasing the masses utilizing the lowest common denominator of "free" food and bountiful spectacles, pageants, and ceremonies in order to retain power.
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Monday, September 22, 2014
Ron Paul - Congress Votes for More War in the Middle East / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week, the House and Senate voted to rubber stamp President Obama's war plans for the Middle East. Both bodies, on a bipartisan basis, authorized the US to begin openly training and arming the rebels who have been fighting for three years to overthrow the Assad government in Syria.
Although the Syrian government has also been fighting ISIS and related extremist groups for three years, the US refuses to speak to the Syrians and has warned Assad not to interfere with the coming US attack on sovereign Syrian territory
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Obama Declares War on Syria, Why the Real Target is Assad Not ISIS / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Invoking the same ominous language as his predecessor, Barack Obama used a prime time presidential address on Wednesday to announce the beginning of a war on Syria. And while there’s no doubt that many Americans will be confused by Obama’s misleading focus on the terrorist organization named ISIL, the real purpose of the speech was to garner support for another decade of homicidal conflicts in the Middle East. The administration is as determined as ever to plunge the region into chaos, erase existing borders, and install its puppets wherever it can. ISIL–which is mainly an invention of western Intel agencies and their treacherous counterparts in the Gulf– conveniently creates the justification for another bloody invasion followed by years of occupation, subjugation, and revolt.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
As More U.S. Bombs Drop, Empire Begins Fall / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
On Wednesday evening, September 10, 2014, hours before the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11, President Obama announced his decision to bomb Syria and deploy more troops inside Iraq. While the February events in Kiev could be seen marking the EU's capitulation to neo-fascism in Europe in submission to Washington's hegemonic diktats, Obama's arrogant militancy as presently expressed should be viewed as the beginning of the fall of American Empire. Whether it falls this year, the next, or in three to five years, it will end through military defeat, economic collapse and by forces from within that will - by necessity - fight for self-survival against their own government and their sectarian political oppressors and opponents. America will then inherit the mantle that Germany endured for over fifty years following World War II. At that, the rotating sphere of world dominance will have completed its cycle. Unipolar will be dead. The sun will have set in the West and risen in the East. Many will die fighting against the inevitable. Many will blame everyone but themselves.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The Scotland Black Swan / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Got a mail from a friend in Scotland late last night that got me thinking. “Unfortunately, using Ireland as a model of fracture, we may start blowing up each other.” I’ve been reading a lot lately, in between all the other things, about Scotland, as should be obvious from my essay (Jim Kunstler tells me I can use that word) yesterday, Please Scotland, Blow Up The EU, and sometime today a thought crept up on me that has me wondering how ugly this thing is going to get. I think it can get very bad.
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Crusaders, Sieges And Fortress America / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
ISIS is More Menacing Than Russia
In a sometimes virulently anti-Russian but sophisticated propaganda piece, 1 September, D. K. Matai tells us that Russia, or Vladimir Putin, and the Islamic State, are “our” two greatest threats (“Islamic State or Russia? Ten Key Questions Towards Pragmatism” .http://tinyurl.com/q3dkq99).
Monday, September 01, 2014
President Obama Has No Middle East Strategy? Good! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week President Obama admitted that his administration has not worked out a strategy on how to deal with the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a dominant force in the Middle East. However, as ISIS continues its march through Syria and Iraq, many in the US administration believe it is, in the words of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a threat "beyond anything we have ever seen."
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
U.S. Empire’s Bumpy Ride / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
If you are one of those defeatist-type Americans, always alarmed over the dire fate of the US economy, actually believing 2 + 2 = 4, it may be best not to shift your glance to the state of US foreign policy today.
Obamaville’s geopolitical stance is harder to grasp than a BLS formula for unemployment is.
And if the thought is, quaintly, of defending the US shores and citizens you are decades behind the curve.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2014
U.S. Self Checkmate in War on Islam / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
The result of this vast U.S. War Against the Muslim World is now so vastly complex, explosive and convulsive every day in new catastrophes that no one can possibly understand where it is all headed or what new cataclysms will erupt today or tomorrow or any time in the foreseeable future.
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Monday, August 25, 2014
Ferguson: The Iraq, Gaza War Comes Home / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
America's attention recently turned away from the violence in Iraq and Gaza toward the violence in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown. While all the facts surrounding the shooing have yet to come to light, the shock of seeing police using tear gas (a substance banned in warfare), and other military-style weapons against American citizens including journalists exercising their First Amendment rights, has started a much-needed debate on police militarization.
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Thursday, August 21, 2014
Obama Fails As Schoolyard Bully / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
When I think about what an American president should do, and should be, the first thing that pops into my mind is (s)he should be a peacemaker. It would seem to be the no. 1 requirement for someone who’s the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet, and therefore the leader of the free world.
If that person is not a peacemaker, if (s)he is not focused on diffusing trouble and violence when and where they rear their ugly heads, how could the entire world possibly not be in a state of perpetual warfare? But here we are, there’s no such American leader in sight, and the prospects of one appearing anytime soon are zero.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Iraq, Ukraine - Oh, What A Tangled Mess We Weave / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
When first we practise to deceive!
The upper echelons in and behind various governments have had on their radar far longer than the media that serve them, and I also realize that Washington wants a leading role in that battle, but even then I still don’t really get what is going on these days.
I think perhaps that’s because I tend to give the American political machine too much credit when it comes to intelligence and insight and other qualities its managerial staff doesn’t exactly seem to be drowning in. But still. I get the idea that most of what Washington does is based on what someone I read today calls ‘solution selling’, and what I know as ‘the completion backward principle’.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2014
America is a Police State : Our Highest-Rated Speech of All Time / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Olivier Garret, Chief Executive Officer
Never in my life have I seen a round of applause like this one… and at an event normally composed of conservative, introspective investors to boot. But most surprising of all - and I must admit in my bias here they were applauding a lawyer. A defense lawyer at that.
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Sunday, August 17, 2014
U.S. Empire of Death and Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Armed humanitarianism 2.0. That’s our new western version of old-fashioned 19th century imperialism, now feminized by President Barack Obama’s lady advisors, painted pink and accompanied by the kind of soft piano music you hear in ads for women’s products.
Last week, the Obama administration latched onto the plight of Iraq’s Yazidis who were being persecuted by those awful ISIS folks - just in jolly good time to divert attention from the massacre in Gaza.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Welcome to the New Crusades / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
A Fine Vacation
President Obama had a plan. Take two weeks and have a fine vacation (not taking his problem to the United Nations) in Martha’s Vineyard, rapidly becoming the Graveyard of US foreign policy. Boots would soon be on the ground in Iraq, about 600 of them to start with, and the Kurdistan he studiously never mentioned as a thing or “near nation” that exists would soon receive US arms shipments. The ISIS or Islamic State which received funding, in Syria, from the USA's NED or National Endowment for Democracy, was now The Enemy. It seems to be threatening oil supplies...
Friday, August 15, 2014
America the Neighborhood Bully Recklessly Throws its Weight Around / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
On June 30, U.S. authorities announced a stunning $9 billion fine on French bank BNP Paribas for violations of financial sanctions laws that the United States had imposed on Iran, Sudan and Cuba. In essence, BNP had surreptitiously conducted business with countries that the United States had sought to isolate diplomatically (sometimes unilaterally in the case of Cuba). Although BNP is not technically under the jurisdiction of American regulators, and the bank had apparently not broken any laws of its home country, the fine was one of the largest ever issued by the United States and the largest ever levied on a non-U.S. firm. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve made clear that unless BNP forks over the $9 billion (equivalent to one year's of the company's total earnings), the U.S. will prevent the bank from engaging in dollar-based international transactions. For an institution that makes its living through such transactions, that penalty is the financial equivalent of a death sentence. The fine will be paid.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Russia, Ukraine - Washington Chokes Truth With Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Are Western propagandists fooling anyone but themselves?
The latest absurdity coming out of Ukraine, the EU and Washington is that the humanitarian aid that Russia and the Red Cross are trucking into the former Russian territories that comprise eastern Ukraine is a trick, a deception, a pretext for Russia’s invasion forces. Such a preposterous lie tells us that Western propagandists have no respect whatsoever for the intelligence of Western peoples.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
ISIS - The Latest Neocon Lies for War / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes:
U.S. air strikes since Friday have opened a corridor through which tens of thousands of Yazidis, trapped and starving on a mountain in Iraq, have escaped to safety in Kurdistan.
The Kurds, whose peshmerga fighters were sent reeling by the Islamic State last week, bolstered now by the arrival of U.S. air power, recaptured two towns. But the peshmerga have apparently lost the strategically important town of Jalawla, 20 miles from Iran, the furthest east that ISIS forces have penetrated.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Writing Off America's Losses In Iraq And Ukraine / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Spend and Defend
It is impossible to get exact figures and numbers on how many Iraqi civilians and American soldiers died in Iraq post-2003, nor on how much it all cost US taxpayers and the Federal government. We can probably say at least 4,500 American lives, over 100,000 Iraqi lives and $1700 billion spent doing what? Although star players in the rush to war in 2003 such as Paul Wolfowitz memorably said that “Iraq floats on a sea of oil – so we had to intervene” the lure of cheap oil was played down as the main war aim. Today, we can pretty much forget all about that. Obama's present fumbling in a so-called humanitarian war against ISIS will help oil prices upward at a time when basic supply-demand metrics are driving its price below the “magic three digit” level of $100 a barrel.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Politics of the U.S. Election Cycle and Policy Spin / Politics / US Politics
By: EconMatters
Political Spin
The Republicans are coming out in force on their criticism of President Obama`s decision to utilize primarily air strikes to thwart ISIS aggression in Iraq towards the Kurds and the minority Christian group the Yazidis.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
Why America is Ungovernable - The Republicans’ Civil War / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Rubino
Back when the republican party was actually the party of small government it was possible for country club moderates (white guys and their trophy wives who love the status quo and want to preserve the tax breaks that make it possible), Christian conservatives (who want the bible to be the template for the US legal system) and libertarians (who want a limited government that exists almost solely to protect property rights and individual freedoms) to coexist. While disagreeing on some major issues like abortion and foreign affairs, they could unite on taxes, regulation, school choice and enough else to hold the party together.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
President Obama Statement on Israel Gaza War / Politics / US Politics
By: MarketOracleTV
President Obama delivers an update on the Gaza situation and U.S. position on Israel including authorisation of use of military force, a ball growing event.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Iraq - Obama's No-Win Doctrine / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Innocent Mr Obama Addresses the Nation
Long ago in politics, in 2011, in his address to the nation from the East Room on March 18 the president said he had to act in Libya. Without international action, he said, there would be "atrocities against [the] people." and "many thousands could die. A humanitarian crisis would ensue. The entire region could be destabilized, endangering many of our allies and partners”. Obama in 2011 also said “The calls of the Libyan people would go unanswered. The democratic values that we stand for would be overrun”.
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
The US Needs to Stop Meddling in Russia-Ukraine Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: EconMatters
West Point Speech & Foreign Policy Philosophy
It is ironic that President Obama in his West Point speech posited that the US couldn`t be the world`s police, and intervene in every single dispute all over the globe; and yet his foreign policy approach has ended up getting involved in every single dispute all over the world.
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
How Obama’s Support of Israel Undermines U.S. Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
Blasting Gaza into rubble has affected the average American in ways that U.S. politicians will learn to regret. The result will be more than simply bleeding hearts for dead Palestinian children (430 at last count). There is a deeper political effect happening, as young and old alike realize for the first time the cancerous lies coursing through the veins of the U.S. media and political system.
Monday, August 04, 2014
We are America, the Exceptional Empire, Above All Law / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
The USA does not rule the Universe. It does not rule the world. It certainly will never rule Russia and China. If America wishes to risk planetary destruction by waging a nuclear exchange to attempt any of the above, it will be stopped by other means. No country ever was, is, or ever will be above the laws of God and man.
Sunday, August 03, 2014
Zionism And The American Dream / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Ideology Trumps Rationality
Zionists like to claim there “no limit expansion” doctrine for Israel is on a twin track with the so-called American Dream so we can ask this question. What about the Global Caliphate dream or nightmare of ISISI? Is that also “historically valid”?
We can forget the short-lived American foreign policy doctrine that Israel must be defended because, for a period of time, it controlled several major transport routes for oil from the Arabian peninsula to America and its allies in Europe. The “oil handle” for US aid of all kinds to Israel was short-lived but support to Israel is a cornerstone of foreign policy, and Congress is at this moment rushing to vote about $225 million to strengthen Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
US Failure: Unintended Consequence / Politics / US Politics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
The contributors are many as actors in the American Tragedy, to cause the systemic breakdown failed state. Faulty monetary policy, economic policy, and political policy have caused the resulting failure. The primary perpetrators are the central bankers, led by Greenspan and Bernanke. These two men have done more to destroy the USEconomy, the US financial structure, the US currency, than any two men of prominence. To be sure, the Bush, Clinton, and Rubin gang played a huge role in the collapse. Their supporting cast of destructive actors is very long, like the serial bank criminals residing on Wall Street. To be sure, the system itself has played a key role in the harmful factors. The two most apparent harmful resident factors are the strong US labor unions and the influential environmental movement, which together encouraged the vast outsourcing of US industry at first to the Pacific Rim, and then fanning across the developing world. Both workmen compensation and OSHEA regulations interfered with US cost settings, but not as much as USGovt corporate taxes. The textile industry went to India and Pakistan, even Bangladesh. Call centers went to India, Philippines, even Costa Rica. The culprits are too numerous to cite.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Rogue States And Loony Tunes / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Term No Longer Exists
According to the semi-official Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, published by the University of Michigan, the term “rogue state” ceased being used by any US agency or politician in year 2000. It says American foreign policymakers had used the terms "rogue," "outlaw," and "backlash" states almost interchangeably as the Cold War reached its end. It says that as early as July 1985, President Reagan asserted that "We are not going to tolerate attacks from outlaw states by the strangest collection of misfits, loony tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich". It was during Clinton's two administrations that “rogue state” had its heyday.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Ukraine MH17 - Washington Thinks Americans Are Fools / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
At this point, you may want to consider making it personal. Your government, wherever you are in the west, but especially in the US, takes you for a bunch of fools they can feed anything at all and fully expect you to believe all of it. As for the media who convey government messages, it’s up in the air whether they too take you for a flock of dimwits, or are just plain fools themselves. As for your families, friends and neighbors, you decide.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Will the US Destroy the World? - Don’t Expect to Live Much Longer / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
European governments and the Western media have put the world at risk by enabling Washington’s propaganda and aggression against Russia.
Washington has succeeded in using transparent lies to demonize Russia as a dangerous aggressive country led by a new Hitler or a new Stalin, just as Washington succeeded in demonizing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Qaddafi in Libya, Assad in Syria, Chavez in Venezuela, and, of course, Iran.
Monday, July 28, 2014
The Israeli Tail Keeps Wagging the US Dog / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: NEW YORK – In 1956, Britain and France were convinced that Egypt’s charismatic nationalist leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was threatening what was left of their Mideast and African colonial empires. London branded Nasser, “Hitler on the Nile.”
So the British and French governments secretly enlisted Israel to invade and annex Egypt’s Sinai. British and French troops were to seize the Canal Zone in a supposed “peacekeeping mission,” march on Cairo, and install a puppet government there. Israel would keep the entire Sinai Peninsula.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
US Government Complicit in Israeli War Crimes Against Humanity / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Paul Findley writes: A section of the barrier — erected by Israeli officials to prevent the passage of Palestinians — with graffiti using President John F. Kennedy’s famous quote when facing the Berlin Wall, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” (Photo credit: Marc Venezia)
Virtually the entire U.S. news media and almost every national politician bends to the desires of Israel’s government regardless of its behavior, a reality that enables the persecution and even slaughter of Palestinians.
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Saturday, July 26, 2014
When the US Supports Israel, What Exactly is it Supporting? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
According to the Congressional Budget Office, “Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $121 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance.” Other special benefits also flow to the Israeli military. Each year, the U.S. pays for about 20 percent of Israel’s overall military spending, and the total places Israel as the 16th largest military spender in the world. “In 2007, the Bush Administration and the Israeli government agreed to a 10-year, $30 billion military aid package for the period from FY2009 to FY2018.” Obama has renewed that pledge.
Friday, July 25, 2014
USrael - Zionists in Control of America's Goyim Brainwashed Second Coming Slaves / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
The U.S. Is the Only Country Which Supports Israel No Matter What It Does
Americans – living in a huge country which has never really been invaded, and as the sole superpower – are famous for being out-of-touch with how the rest of the world thinks.
So my fellow Americans will probably be surprised to learn that the U.S. is more or less the only country in the world which has a favorable view of Israel.
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Friday, July 25, 2014
Never Trust Anyone Over 30 / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
I had reason to rent a vehicle for a day trip to a doctor located some 75 miles from home. I could not help but see a resemblance in the young man taking my application - a college graduate - to journalist Glenn Greenwald. I told him so. He said he didn't know the name. A late fifty-something couple booking a car to Logan airport in Boston didn't know the name either. "Do any of you know the name Edward Snowden?" I asked. They nodded yes.
Monday, July 21, 2014
From Gore-Bore To Gore-War / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Collapse of Concern
Time was, not many years ago when mainstream media was saturated with Al Gore genre material. One theme he particularly worked, to his own financial benefit, was the fear of massive coastal flooding and destruction as the Earth remorselessly heats up because we burned fossil fuels. Certainly for the last two or three years, this genre material and its fear theme have waned and may be dying. One reason was too much media hype, which cooled public interest in and fear of Heat Death. Opinion polls report ever less interest in the global warming issue or supposed issue. Apocalyptic climate change fell off the front pages, helped by what we can call a certain lack of gore.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Sanctions and Airliners - What’s the U.S. Empire’s Agenda? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The unilateral US sanctions announced by Obama on July 16 blocking Russian weapons and energy companies access to US bank loans demonstrate Washington’s impotence. The rest of the world, including America’s two largest business organizations, turned their backs on Obama. The US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers placed ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post protesting US sanctions. NAM said that the manufacturer’s association is “disappointed that the US is extending sanctions in increasingly unilateral ways that will undermine US commercial engagement.” Bloomberg reported that “meeting in Brussels, leaders of the European Union refused to match the US measures.”
Monday, July 07, 2014
America Has Ceased to Exist - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey, Chairman
“America is a marvelous idea, a unique idea, fantastic idea. I’m extremely pro-American. But America has ceased to exist,” says Doug Casey. Watch him in this fascinating interview with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie discuss the political, social, and economic challenges the US must conquer as well as lessons we can learn from failed states.
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Monday, July 07, 2014
Ron Paul - Hobby Lobby Decision Creates Small Island of Freedom in Ocean of Statism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week, supporters of religious freedom cheered the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. The Court was correct to protect business owners from being forced to violate their religious beliefs by paying for contraceptives. However, the decision was very limited in scope and application.
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Monday, June 30, 2014
The Death of Independence - BREAKING ALL THE RULES! / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
July 4th has been the national birth date since the inception of the country. Americans want to celebrate past glories because there are few reasons to believe that the current government or society is worthy of rejoicing. Deifying the Founding Fathers and their wisdom usually is rooted upon the construction of a constitution based on separations of powers and shared authorities with individual states. Lost in this commemoration is the concept of true and lasting independence.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Ron Paul - Celebrate Independence Day By Opposing Government Tyranny / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week Americans will enjoy Independence Day with family cookouts and fireworks. Flags will be displayed in abundance. Sadly, however, what should be a celebration of the courage of those who risked so much to oppose tyranny will instead be turned into a celebration of government, not liberty. The mainstream media and opportunistic politicians have turned Independence Day into the opposite of what was intended.
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Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Is The FDA Laying The Groundwork For Resecheduling Marijuana? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Like on most things the government sits well on the side of tyranny compared to the general public when it comes to marijuana policy. A record number of Americans believe marijuana should be legal:
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Obamacare Obamination: This One-Act Tragedy Is Nothing But a Bill of Goods / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: I’ve never before written anything about the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
That’s because I didn’t want to jump into the debate on one side or the other before letting some dust settle and seeing what there really is to see.
As the old Johnny Nash song goes, “I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.”
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Monday, June 09, 2014
Obama's Foreign Policy Rhetoric Does Not Match US Actions / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama's recent foreign policy speech, delivered at this year's West Point graduation ceremony, was a disappointment to anyone who hoped the president might be changing course. The failure of each US intervention thus far in the 21st century might have inspired at least a bit of reflection.
Monday, June 09, 2014
Taliban Release Video - America Does Do Deals with Terrorists - Surrender in Afghanistan / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The following video clip shows the Taliban releasing Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl to U.S. special forces as they great one another as apparent equals as filmed by the Taliban ahead of which the U.S. released 5 senior Taliban commanders to the luxury of Qatar.
Friday, June 06, 2014
US Foreign Wealth Confiscation Begins Under the Code Names FinCen, FATCA and FBAR / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
We have been reporting on how the US government is using very nefarious and egregious methods on tracking its own citizen's financial information, fining them and even instituting the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as a form of subterfuge capital controls which is closing off international banking to Americans (as we reported yesterday in Mexico)
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
California Top-Two Primary, Inviting ALL to our Election Night Campaign Party / ElectionOracle / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
I sent this update Saturday but in case you missed it: The California top-two primary is June 3. If you live in California, we need your vote! I’m running for state treasurer and Laura Wells is running for state controller on a public bank platform.
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Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Ellen Brown - Infrastructure Sticker Shock: Financing Costs More Than Construction / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
Funding infrastructure through bonds doubles the price or worse. Costs can be cut in half by funding through the state’s own bank.
“The numbers are big. There is sticker shock,” said Jason Peltier, deputy manager of the Westlands Water District, describing Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two massive water tunnels through the California Delta. “But consider your other scenarios. How much more groundwater can we pump?”
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Monday, June 02, 2014
U.S. Mental Health Screening a Good Way to Decrease Liberty, Poor Way to Increase Security / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Americans were shocked and saddened by another mass killing, this one near a college campus in California. We all feel deep sympathy for the families of the victims.
As usual, many people responded to this shooting by calling for new federal gun control laws, including the mental health screening of anyone attempting to purchase a firearm. There are a number of problems with this proposal. Federally-mandated mental health screenings would require storing mental health records in a government database. This obviously raises concerns about patient privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality, as well as the threat of identity theft. Anyone who doubts that these are legitimate concerns should consider the enormous privacy problems with the Obamacare website; some have even suggested that healthcare.gov be renamed indentifytheft.gov.
Sunday, June 01, 2014
California Primary - We Need Your Vote, Ellen Brown and Laura Wells / ElectionOracle / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
Hi, the California top-two primary is June 3. If you live in California, we need your vote! I’m running for state treasurer and Laura Wells is running for state controller on a public bank platform. Only two candidates will go on to the November election, and it’s not possible to reach 37 million people without big money for TV ads; but we’re giving it our best shot!
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Saturday, May 31, 2014
An Open Letter to Edward Snowden - Stand Your Ground / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Dear Edward Snowden,
Rumor has it you are contemplating a return to your beloved country, the country whose crimes against liberty and justice forced you to take a moral, principled position by revealing truths about a surveillance state so wide-sweeping it is totalitarian - ever expanding in lawlessness and reach. Your efforts have been both reviled by the powerful and praised by the powerless. Your life has been threatened. You have been turned into a pariah and criminal by the very agents you sought to expose to divert focus away from them and place upon you. Now, after the rigors and humiliations you experienced you are considering a return to your country which has only persecuted and avenged you; a country led by a President and Congress whose war crimes, militarism, imperialism, desecrations of the Constitution and Bill of Rights will forever by seen as leading America into the greatest crucible in its history from which she may or may not recover her birthright.
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Monday, May 26, 2014
Memorial Day - Why War Is Inevitable / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Memorial Day is when we commemorate our war dead. Like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day is being turned into a celebration of war.
Those who lose family members and dear friends to war don’t want the deaths to have been in vain. Consequently, wars become glorious deeds performed by noble soldiers fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. Patriotic speeches tell us how much we owe to those who gave their lives so that America could remain free.
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Saturday, May 24, 2014
An Infamous Advisor for Obama and Putin / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
Unusual Villain
Some people develop an undeserved bad reputation. It is typically the work of past enemies or the consequence of harsh fortune.
It is quite the unusual person though who develops a bad moral reputation only long after his life has ended, never considered so during his life. In the case of today’s main protagonist his reputation for calculating power-lust and purposeful deceit was earned by the reading of his texts centuries later; not due to any evil deeds of his own. The truly wicked seldom leave confessions of their hidden crimes and thoughts.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Why The US Department of Agriculture Needs Submachine Guns / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: On May 7, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted a notice on the government's Federal Business Opportunities site in order to solicit bids on an undisclosed number of submachine guns. The notice read, in part,
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, located in Washington, DC, pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 13, has a requirement for the commerical [sic] acquisition of submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot burts [sic] trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore grip) and scope (top rear), stock-collapsilbe [sic] or folding, magazine - 30 rd. capacity, sling, light weight, and oversized trigger guard for gloved operation.” [Note: spelling errors in original]
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Sunday, May 18, 2014
Operation American Spring Fails To Restore the Republic / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Christopher Cantwell writes: Suppose I said to you “Let’s get 10-30 million people to go down to Washington DC and force Barack Obama out of office!” What would you say? Might sound like a great idea at first, until you realize that I lack the capacity to organize millions of people to travel to the nation’s capitol on a workday. Especially when I predict people will wind up dead and in prison, it’s not exactly the most appealing thing for people to hire babysitters for.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The Mythology of the U.S. Supreme Court / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Ryan W. McMaken writes: The Supreme Court’s recent decision on prayer at government meetingsreminds me that Supreme Court “season” is upon us, and for the next two months or so, we can expect to see the court decide on a variety of cases that can have profound impacts on the lives of citizens and non-citizens alike. The court’s decision in Town of Greece vs. Galloway has produced a lot of commentary on both sides, with much discussion about the dynamics between justices, and how Justice Kennedy must have been in a pro-prayer mood that day, since his decisions appear to be made on a variety of unknowable whims.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
American Crimes Against Humanity / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Every people has the right to self-determination, but only if it pleases a bunch of self-elected overlords and if it serves their purpose. How else can we interpret the fact that the Donetsk self-organized referendum was rejected by the West and even labeled criminal by the Kiev government that in turn is labeled criminal in Donetsk, all of whom say the May 25 across-Ukraine election is the real and legal thing, as the Donetsk region has already vowed to boycott that election? You can have a referendum to separate yourself from Ukraine, but only under Ukraine law. That is, the law of a government that has threatened to ban your language from being used where you live and that has been put in place, and maintained there, by armed groups that are shooting at you, must decide your right to self-determination.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Ron Paul Asks - What Does The US Government Want in Ukraine? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
In several eastern Ukrainian towns over the past week, the military opened fire on its own citizens. Dozens may have been killed in the violence. Although the US government generally condemns a country's use of military force against its own population, especially if they are unarmed protesters, this time the US administration blamed the victims. After as many as 20 unarmed protesters were killed on the May 9th holiday in Ukraine, the State Department spokesman said "we condemn the outbreak of violence caused by pro-Russia separatists."
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Sunday, May 11, 2014
U.S. State Department Bashing Putin’s Diplomatic Proposal / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
It bears repeating what other articles stressed. Putin represents responsible geopolitical leadership. Obama is polar opposite.
Responses to Putin’s diplomatic proposal didn’t surprise. According to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki:
“(W)e need to see more from President Putin than simply calling for (Eastern Ukrainian referendums) to be postponed.”
Thursday, May 08, 2014
U.S. Gangster State – Where Is America’s Democracy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Anyone who looks carefully behind the veil of words cannot find democracy in America. For years I have been writing that the US government is no longer accountable to law or to the people (see, for example, my book, How America Was Lost). The Constitution has been set aside, and the executive branch is degenerating into Caesarism.
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Beginning of the End for Leaders Of the Free World... Humanity Awakens! / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
The leaders of the "free world" are on the run. In many cases, they can’t go out and travel due to the risk of being arrested, protested or even having a shoe thrown at them.
In just the past few weeks, First Lady Michelle Obama, Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Attorney General Eric Holder have had to cancel appearances due to protests.
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Monday, May 05, 2014
China Displaces America, Ron Paul on Why We are No Longer Number One / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week World Bank economists predicted that China would soon displace the United States as the world's largest economy. The fact that this one-time economic basket case is now positioned to surpass the US is one more sign of the damage done to American prosperity by welfare, warfare, corporatism, and fiat money.
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Sunday, May 04, 2014
Obama And The Multipolar World / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Happy Change to Flaky Change
Its now a long time in US politics since Mr Barack Obama was Mr Happy Changey. His domestic critics love to pummel him with the slogans he used at the time – and tries hard to forget, today. The happy-change theme has gone. One key to this which his critics will never let him forget is that his slogans of the time never had any substance.
Were American supposed to be happy about uncontrollable debt and the stalking fear of the next 2008-style crash, company failures, more unemployment and – of course – massive bailouts and handouts for the real Happy Few? The 1% who predate and feed off everybody else. Who was Obama kidding?
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Saturday, May 03, 2014
Washington Intends Russia’s Demise / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Washington has no intention of allowing the crisis in Ukraine to be resolved. Having failed to seize the country and evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base, Washington sees new opportunities in the crisis.
One is to restart the Cold War by forcing the Russian government to occupy the Russian-speaking areas of present day Ukraine where protesters are objecting to the stooge anti-Russian government installed in Kiev by the American coup. These areas of Ukraine are former constituent parts of Russia herself. They were attached to Ukraine by Soviet leaders in the 20th century when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the same country, the USSR.
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Thursday, May 01, 2014
Karl Marx Makes a Comeback — And That’s Okay / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Rubino
A perfect sign of the times is the unexpected success of a 700-page economics text called Capital in the 21st Century by French college professor Thomas Piketty. As of April 30, it is the best-selling book in the world and is generating the kind of controversy that one would expect for what is reportedly an updating of Marxist theory for the Internet age.
I haven’t read it, so can’t comment on the book itself. But the subject is a good springboard for a look at the actual tragedy of Karl Marx, which is that his ideas got tried out in the real world.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
The Department Of (In)Justice Goes After Guns In Further Capital Controls / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
The US government is attempting every possible angle to ensure Americans don't have access to guns. The latest is a new twist on capital controls being instituted by the Department of (In)Justice.
The DoJ is why financial institutions are refusing services to companies as diverse as gun shops, bitcoin businesses, marijuana dispensaries and even the porn industry.
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Monday, April 28, 2014
Ron Paul - Obama's Drone Wars Undermine American Values / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this month, CIA-operated drones killed as many as 55 people in Yemen in several separate strikes. Although it was claimed that those killed were "militants," according to press reports at least three civilians were killed and at least five others wounded. That makes at least 92 US drone attacks against Yemen during the Obama administration, which have killed nearly 1,000 people including many civilians.
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Sunday, April 27, 2014
US Government Can Kill US Citizens, But Not Strip Their Citizenship / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
While Daniel Swalm researched his family's genealogy, he learned about a particular episode in which his grandmother, born and raised in Minnesota, was stripped of her US citizenship after marrying an immigrant from Sweden.
Under the obscure 1907 law called the Expatriation Act, a US born woman who married a foreigner was required to "take the nationality of her husband."
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Thursday, April 24, 2014
Putin’s Secret Weapon – How Russia Could Take Down America Without Firing a Single Shot - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
Here’s a startling fact most investors have never heard: During the last financial meltdown in 2008, when the U.S. economy was on the brink, Russian leaders met with China to persuade them to dump the dollar – and destroy the world’s reserve currency.
Before they could act, the Fed pumped over $700 billion into the economy and delayed their day of reckoning. Still, the threat remains. China holds over $1.2 trillion in U.S. debt today. And with their Russian allies, they could drop the dollar at any moment. This excerpt from our eye-opening documentary called “Meltdown America” explains the severity of this imminent threat:
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Thursday, April 24, 2014
The U.S. Is Now a Global Satanic Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
The rulers of the U.S. have just celebrated the most holy day of Christianity, Easter, by massive secret murders of Muslims from the skies by firing Hell Fire missiles into their impoverished homes, village gatherings, and old family automobiles.
These massive killings of the poor around the world with Hell Fire missiles from the heavens have become a Satanic Celebration for the U.S. totalitarian rulers. It fills them with blood lust, power lust, and blinding hubris.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
How to Avoid Losing All Your Money / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
You know what's easier than making millions upon millions of dollars? Losing it...
This is the story of one sports great who thought he was investing conservatively. The problem? He was not investing conservatively at all. In fact he was investing in one of the riskiest assets available today - government bonds. His financial advisor did not advise him of that.
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Monday, April 21, 2014
Ron Paul on Nevada Standoff a Symptom of Increasing Authoritarianism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The nation's attention has for the past few weeks been riveted by a standoff in Nevada between armed federal agents and the Bundys, a ranching family who believe the federal government is exceeding its authority by accessing "fees" against ranchers who graze cattle on government lands. Outrage over the government's use of armed agents to forcibly remove the Bundys' cattle led many Americans to travel to Nevada to engage in non-violent civil disobedience in support of the family.
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Saturday, April 19, 2014
America has Become a Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Kourosh Ziabari writes: In the far past, I used to look skeptically at those who believed and maintained that the United States is moving in the direction of becoming a rogue, police state. After all, nearly every single American media outlet propagates this belief that the United States is a “beacon of freedom”, and many people around the globe tend to accept it. Moreover, every year, thousands of people from different parts of the world immigrate to the States in search of a better and more prosperous life, having believed in the hidden power of this beacon of freedom in revolutionizing their lives. But now, I’ve come to the understanding that this is not the whole story, and even those who wishfully move to America to realize their dreams, find after a while that their hopes were in vain.
Friday, April 18, 2014
From Monroe to the Bush-Obama Doctrines, American KARMA is Long Overdue / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
I wait for the first domino to fall on Empire. Will it be a bond collapse? Another total market meltdown? A right-wing/NRA/neo-Confederate fight to the finish against "central government" (Washington) and subsequent martial law? A cathartic race war in New York or Chicago or Detroit or LA against police violence, corrupt politicians, angry white men, phony liberals and decades of exploitation by the middle and upper classes who salute themselves for electing the first African-American president while continuing to institutionalize racism and poverty?
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Monday, April 14, 2014
Another Phony U.S. Budget Debate / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Anyone watching last week's debate over the Republican budget resolution would have experienced déjà vu, as the debate bore a depressing similarity to those of previous years. Once again, the Republicans claimed their budget would cut spending in a responsible manner, while Democratic opponents claimed the plan's spending cuts would shred the safety net and leave vital programs unfunded. Of course, neither claim is true.
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Friday, April 11, 2014
US Moves To Restrict Travelers Taking International Flights / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
The US government is using the Malaysian Airlines flight 370 to tackle the "widespread lack of passport screening in all countries." The US is stepping up their processes. Already each passport of incoming visitors to the US is screened through multiple databases. After flight 370 disappeared, the US has started this process for all outgoing passengers.
"Coupled with this information and the new abilities to act on that information definitely makes air travel a lot safer," according to one government official.
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Monday, April 07, 2014
Ron Paul - Ft. Hood, An Avoidable Tragedy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week we saw yet another tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas, as a distraught Iraq war veteran killed three of his fellow soldiers before killing himself. It is nearly five years after the last Ft. Hood shooting, where 13 people were killed. These tragedies are heartbreaking and we certainly feel much sympathy for the families of the victims.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Obamacare Ship of Fools / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
It was so fitting that Obama sauntered into the Rose Garden on April Fools day to proclaim the wonderful success of Obamacare. We are the fools for allowing this fool and his fellow fools in Congress to further bankrupt our country with this disastrous government run clusterf*ck. He is a dangerous empty suit. The only thing that mattered to him and his sociopathic control freaks in the last two months was hitting an enrollment number that he could tout as success. Making sure there are enough doctors in the plan or ensuring excellent healthcare services once you get sick is not part of their agenda. And they certainly don’t worry about the 7.1 million people paying their premiums. That’s the insurance companies’ problem.
Monday, March 31, 2014
How to Avoid the Obamacare Penalty / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Laurence M. Vance writes: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but better known as simply Obamacare, is a collection of new taxes masquerading as a healthcare law.
Obamacare institutes new taxes on indoor tanning services, drug companies, medical device manufacturers, comprehensive health insurance plans, and health insurers. It increases the employee share of the Medicare tax (currently 1.45 percent) to 2.35 percent on that portion of income that is more than $200,000 for individuals or $250,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly. It also adds a new 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income that will apply to the lesser of one’s net investment income or the amount of adjusted gross income in excess of applicable thresholds.
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Monday, March 31, 2014
Ron Paul - Aid to Ukraine Is a Bad Deal For All / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill approving a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine and more sanctions on Russia. The bill will likely receive the president's signature within days. If you think this is the last time US citizens will have their money sent to Ukraine, you should think again. This is only the beginning.
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Sunday, March 30, 2014
The U.S. Empire vs. Eurasia / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
The U.S. and its puppets, especially the E.U. and Nato, have been trying to weaken the rebuilding Russian empire as much as possible to contain it, while maintaining the U.S. Global Empire.
This has become a vital, crucial goal because of the rapid growth of Chinese power and the ever closer Alliance of Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Central Asia, Pakistan, etc.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Ron Paul, Richard Cobden, and the Risks of Opposing War / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Ryan McMaken writes: Since at least as early as the eighteen century, classical liberalism, and its modern variant libertarianism, have opposed warfare except in cases of obvious self-defense. We see this anti-war position clearly among the anti-federalists of eighteenth-century America (who opposed all standing armies) and more famously within George Washington’s Farewell Address. Thomas Jefferson frequently inveighed against war, although in moves typical for Jefferson, he acted against his own professed ideology on a number of occasions.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Ron Paul - U.S. 'Democracy Promotion' Destroys Democracy Overseas / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It was almost ten years ago when, before the House International Relations Committee, I objected to the US Government funding NGOs to meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine. At the time the "Orange Revolution" had forced a regime change in Ukraine with the help of millions of dollars from Washington.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
An Injunction Against the First Amendment / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Vera Scroggins of Susquehanna County, Pa., will be in court Monday morning.
This time, she will have lawyers and hundreds of thousands of supporters throughout the country. Representing Scroggins to vacate an injunction limiting her travel will be lawyers from the ACLU and Public Citizen, and a private attorney.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Obamas America Starting to Look Like Maos Communist China / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Many like to watch movies or read fiction novels as a way to relax and get away from work and other stresses of day-to-day life. I, on the other hand, find non-fiction to be much more interesting than almost anything dreamed up by a fiction writer. So, when I want to relax and get away from things I like to read and watch non-fiction books and documentaries.
Given what is going on in China lately I have been nearly obsessed learning about China's history. It is easily one of the most interesting cultures on Earth with thousands of years of dynasties, warlords, communism, capitalism, wars and atrocities.
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Monday, March 17, 2014
Ron Paul - Why is Spying on Senate Bad But OK on Us? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The reaction of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to last week's revelations that the CIA secretly searched Senate Intelligence Committee computers reveals much about what the elites in government think about the rest of us. "Spy on thee, but not on me!"
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Sunday, March 16, 2014
President Obama is The Biggest Fraud Ever Perpetrated on America - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Carey Wedler: Join me as I wreck my last artifact of support for the war criminal-in-chief!!
President Obama promised "change you can believe in". As Wedler shows, people believed but there was no change.
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Saturday, March 15, 2014
On Eve of Crimean Vote America Upholds Europe's First Fascist Government Since WWII / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
An autobiography by an America writer, whose name now escapes me, described the day of May 7, 1915. Upon reading news of the sinking of the liner RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat, sudden silence was said to have fallen all around the people.
"Everyone knew this meant war!"
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Sunday, February 23, 2014
Ron Paul Warns - Leave Ukraine Alone! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Ukraine saw its worst violence since the break-up of the Soviet Union over 20 years ago. Protesters occupying the main square in the capitol city, Kiev, clashed with police leaving many protesters and police dead and many more wounded. It is an ongoing tragedy and it looks like there is no end in sight.
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Saturday, February 22, 2014
Obama, Let Them Eat Food Stamps / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Early immigrants fled Europe to America because the New World offered a glistening promise: the classless society. It was not a society without rich and poor because freedom always produces an inequality of results. It was a society in which people were equal under fair laws and they could move fluidly from one class to another. The North American dream said people could rise by merit and hard work into economic independence and become the rulers of their own lives.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The American Public's Indifference to Foreign Affairs / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Last week, several events took place that were important to their respective regions and potentially to the world. Russian government officials suggested turning Ukraine into a federation, following weeks of renewed demonstrations in Kiev. The Venezuelan government was confronted with violent and deadly protests. Kazakhstan experienced a financial crisis that could have destabilized the economies of Central Asia. Russia and Egypt inked a significant arms deal. Right-wing groups in Europe continued their political gains.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The Merger of State and Commerce / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
The Leviathan’s Thumb
Many observers of the US economy have come to the realization there are now few truly free markets left within 21st Century Western capitalism.
It seems all investments today are controlled to unfair advantage in some large way by the governments and financial firms operating the markets, especially the market in money itself. The newly-invented powers of the central banks to buy anything, to fund any bailout, can reach into any area of the economy, either to grant large favors or to inflict great pain, typically with the cooperation of the too-big-to-jail banks that own the Federal Reserve and its policies.
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Thursday, February 13, 2014
U.S. Caught Red Handed Attempting to Topple Ukraine's Democratically-Elected President / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
“In the latest debacle for the US State Department and the Obama Administration, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was caught on tape micro-managing Ukraine opposition party strategies with US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. That the Ukraine regime-change operation is to some degree being directed from Washington can no longer be denied….The taped conversation demonstrates in clear detail that while Secretary of State John Kerry decries any foreign meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs, his State Department is virtually managing the entire process.”– Daniel McAdams, “‘F**k the EU’: Tape Reveals US Runs Ukraine Opposition“, Ron Paul Institute
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Obamacare as a Jobs Killer / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Economic illiteracy is a hallmark of most political policies. The prime example of this principle is the idiocy out of the Obama administration that maintains that the Affordable Care Act is favorable to job seekers. The ranks of progressive euphoria reporting on the joys of Obamacare want to spin the latest Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis as favorable. As these imbeciles push out their demented dreams for a neo Great Society, the facts of trade and industry need to be buried in order to institute the total welfare state.
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Monday, February 10, 2014
Ron Paul Asks Will No One Challenge Obama's Executive Orders? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama's state of the union pledge to "act with or without Congress" marks a milestone in presidential usurpation of Congressional authority. Most modern presidents have used executive orders to change and even create laws without Congressional approval. However President Obama is unusually brazen, in that most Presidents do not brag about their plans to rule by executive order in state of the union speeches.
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Sunday, February 09, 2014
The American Dream is Dead, Obama Killed It / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
If you follow the financial news, you already know that the American people are on an epic downer. Just check out some of these headlines I pulled up in a five minute Internet search and you’ll see what I mean:
Read full article... Read full article...“Gloom and doom? Americans more pessimistic about future” Las Vegas Review
Sunday, February 02, 2014
The State of the States: Post-Bernanke Bellum / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
One can almost imagine ex-chairman Bernanke shaking his head in disbelief. (For the record, I cannot conceive of Simple Ben possessing the capacity for what follows, so this is an indulgence in creative writing.):
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Friday, January 31, 2014
IRA Accounts - Whose Money Is It, Really? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
I don't usually watch the State of the Union address, but when I do, I hear something different than most everyone else. As I recall, the State of the Union Address went something like:
"My fellow Americans, things do not look too good for our collective future.
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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Democracy was Won by the Few for the Many / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
A reply given me by an Obama loyalist - a neighbor - several weeks ago could have been a replay of a reply given me in 2008 and 2012 when I warned Progressives and Democrats that Mr. Obama was not the person he pretended to be, nor the president they projected him to be. "He's disappointing, but he's still better than the opposition," quipped the loyalist.
Monday, January 27, 2014
America Is a Vast Slave and Prison Nation / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
The US has a vastly greater proportion of people than any other nation in various stages and degrees of police and military confinement and state control. These vast government gulags–”prisons” and “labor camps” and confinement camps in Russian–in the U.S. range from death row absolute control, maximum security prisons, all the way down to juvenile detention camps, probation, parole, minimum security prison camps, indictments, trials, jails and so on.
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Friday, January 24, 2014
U.S.Congress working on 2014 Immigration Infrastructure / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew spoke with Bloomberg Television's Tom Keene at the World Economic Forum in Davos today and said he's growing confident Congress will overhaul the nation's immigration system and invest in infrastructure this year, "We have policy differences and those policy differences are legitimate and you have to work your way through them. I'm modestly optimistic that Congress will now want to get things done, whether it's infrastructure or immigration reform, on the model of what they did on the budget."
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Does Everyone America Has a Lawyer on Speed dial ? The Chilling Economic Effect of Litigation / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: McDonald's is being sued again by a California woman who claims she was scalded by their hot coffee. In 1990, a New Mexico woman was awarded $2.9 million in a hot-coffee lawsuit against McDonald's; the award was later reduced to about $500,000. Meanwhile, a continent away, a New Jersey woman is suing a real estate developer for not disclosing the presence of a 'bad' neighbor when she purchased a house.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Popular Manifesto: Solutions For Restoring The United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
Back in late 2004 during the first year of the Hat Trick Letter, my father had a conversation with me on his front porch. He was concerned about a negative streak in my perspective and a critical slant in my analytic work. He actually helped me in writing style, not content, like to correct errors in sentence construction. He pointed out lack of parallels, dangling modifiers, vague antecedents, and competing imagery. Many smaller discussions had taken place about a broken economy, absent industry from offshore efforts, debt buildup, enormous imbalances, the war machine emphasis, banker corruption, and unsound money itself. He always was concerned about the federal debt, citing it many times, and was alarmed later in 2006 when informed that foreigners held more than half our debt. He challenged me to produce solutions to the current difficult situation in the United States, an invitation to embark upon a positive streak. He was warned to be discouraged by the task.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Deregulation, Privatization, and Cheap Labor - Obama’s Corporate Plantations / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
The man who promised to restore hope and bring change to America, has announced a plan to open five corporate plantations in the United States. On Thursday, President Barack Obama, whose policies have resulted in the greatest number of public sector job losses in US History (Public sector jobs have declined by 718,000 jobs since Obama took office.) announced the opening of five “Promise Zones” located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. According to an article in USA Today:
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Business Corporatracy - Twenty Years of NAFTA Sucking Sound / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Ah, what a better world the Free Traders built. With the rush to the bottom, the commemoration of the NAFTA 20th anniversary is a most hollow celebration. Those who have a memory of an actual economic prosperity, lament that H. Ross Perot’s warnings were ignored. Business literates urged the public to elect Perot as President. Establishment corporatist interests and corruptacrat officials joined forces to write a blueprint for economic consolidation and political futility. The fruits of this endeavor only satisfy the appetites of the select cabal of manipulation.
Monday, January 06, 2014
Remember Fallujah? Iraq, the 'Liberation' Neocons Would Rather Forget / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Remember Fallujah? Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US military fired on unarmed protestors, killing as many as 20 and wounding dozens. In retaliation, local Iraqis attacked a convoy of US military contractors, killing four. The US then launched a full attack on Fallujah to regain control, which left perhaps 700 Iraqis dead and the city virtually destroyed.
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Sunday, January 05, 2014
U.S. Congress Legislating Tyranny / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Police state lawlessness reflects official US policy. Numerous examples explain. Congress opposes fundamental freedoms.
It terrorizes most people. So do rogue US administrations. Washington is more ruthless today than ever.
Waging war on humanity is much worse. It's ongoing globally. It's reflected in congressional legislation.
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF - September 2001) approved open-ended permanent wars. They rage out-of-control. They do so at home and abroad.
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Wednesday, January 01, 2014
U.S. Economy 2013 Dense Fog Turns Into Toxic Smog / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In mid-January of this year I wrote my annual prediction article for 2013 – Apparitions in the Fog. It is again time to assess my inability to predict the future any better than a dart throwing monkey. As usual, sticking to facts was a mistake in a world fueled by misinformation, propaganda, delusion and wishful thinking. I was far too pessimistic about the near term implications of debt, civic decay and global disorder. Those in power have successfully held off the unavoidable collapse which will be brought about by their ravenous unbridled greed, and blatant disregard for the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution and rights and liberties of the American people. The day to day minutia, pointless drivel of our techno-narcissistic selfie showbiz society, and artificially created issues (gay marriage, Zimmerman-Martin, Baby North West, Duck Dynasty) designed to distract the public from thinking, are worthless trivialities in the broad landscape of human history.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Ron Paul - Progress Toward Peace But Neo-con Dark Clouds Remain / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It is the time of year we feel a sense of joy and optimism. We are preparing for the holidays and looking to spend time with our families and friends. This year as we look back we see several developments that leave us feeling optimistic.
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Monday, December 23, 2013
Twerking Republican Politicians / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
When Muhammad Ali proclaimed, “I am the greatest,” we knew—and he knew—it would psyche out his opponents, get media attention, and receive a bigger box office. But, in the sport of boxing, Ali probably was the greatest.
When Howard Stern proclaims himself to be the “King of all Media,” he knows—and we know—it’s simply a case of hyperbolic promotion, something some celebrities do to get even more promotion.
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Sunday, December 22, 2013
The Incredible, Shrinking Presidency of Barack Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
According to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, Barack Obama now ranks among the least popular presidents in the last century. In fact, his approval rating is lower than Bush’s was in his fifth year in office. Obama’s overall approval rating stands at a dismal 43 percent, with a full 55 percent of the public “disapproving of the way he is handling the economy”. The same percentage of people “disapprove of the way he is handling his job as president”. Thus, on the two main issues, leadership and the economy, Obama gets failing grades.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Hope and Defiance - A Lot of Hope is Dangerous / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
In the 1st installment of this article – May the Odds Ever Be in Your Favor – The Reaping, I addressed how wealth inequality created by men rigging the system and utilizing media propaganda ultimately leads to rebellion. In Part 2, I will show how hope and defiance can ignite the flame of liberty in the minds of men. Edward Snowden has ignited that flame.
Monday, December 09, 2013
The Reaping of Wealth, Bread, Circuses & Reality TV / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Human history seems logical in afterthought but a mystery in forethought. In every prior Fourth Turning, the catalyst was foreseeable but the climax was not.” - The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe – 1997
We are five years into the Crisis that will not resolve itself until sometime in the 2020’s. No one can predict the specific events that will fundamentally change history over the next decade, but the catalysts of debt, civic decay and global disorder were evident sixteen years ago when Strauss and Howe wrote their prophetic generational history. The volcanic eruption occurred in 2008 when the worldwide financial system blew and the molten lava continues to spew forth and flow along the Federal Reserve created channels, protecting the corrupt establishment while incinerating senior citizens, the working middle class and Millennials. Deep within the volcano the pressure is building again as the mood of the country darkens. It will blow again and the economic, social, political and military distress will catalyze into a catastrophic emergency that will tear the fabric of the country asunder. The existing social order will be swept away and replaced by a new paradigm which could be better or far worse.
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Sunday, December 08, 2013
Defeated By The Taliban, Washington Decides To Take On Russia And China / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The several days of organized protests in Ukraine are notable for the relative lack of police violence. Unlike in the US, Canada, Thailand, Greece, and Spain, peaceful protesters have not been beaten, tear gassed, water cannoned, and tasered by Ukrainian police. Unlike in Egypt, Palestine, and Bahrain, Ukrainian protesters have not been fired upon with live ammunition. The restraint of the Ukrainian government and police in the face of provocations has been remarkable. Apparently, Ukrainian police have not been militarized by US Homeland Security.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Central Banks and Pentagon Wars - Control Via Interlocking Complicity / Politics / US Politics
By: DeviantInvestor
The reality is relatively simple even though the appearance is complicated and confusing. What are we talking about?
- Wars that are hugely profitable for a few individuals and businesses
- Unauditable Pentagon accounting
- Government debt that will never be repaid
- Levitation of S&P and bond markets
- Gold price suppression
- So much more
Monday, December 02, 2013
Ron Paul - You Cannot Negotiate With Iran? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
You cannot negotiate with Iran. That is what they told us for years. The Iranian leadership is too fanatical, they are not rational actors, they are "not like us." One US official even recently said that deception is part of the Iranian DNA. But just over a week ago negotiations between the five permanent UN Security Council Members plus Germany and the Iranians produced an historic agreement that may be first step toward a new era in US relations with the Middle East.
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Sunday, December 01, 2013
Iran Nuclear Deal is Not a Breakthrough But Prelude to War / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Tony Cartalucci writes: “…any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context—both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it.
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Friday, November 29, 2013
The Neocons Want Iranian Blood, Will the Comply? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: When, after the massacres at Newtown and the Washington Navy Yard, Republicans refused to outlaw the AR-15 rifle or require background checks for gun purchasers, we were told the party had committed suicide by defying 90 percent of the nation.
When Republicans rejected amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, we were told the GOP had just forfeited its future.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning / Politics / US Politics
By: Robert_Singer
Thanksgiving commemorates the successful harvest and the time Pilgrims gathered to give thanks. The Pilgrims shared a feast with their Native American neighbors, who had made possible their survival in the New England wilderness.
Writers and textbook publishers of American history have generally omitted or, if mentioned at all, glossed over historic accounts of genocide and inhumane treatment of American Indian populations.
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Thursday, November 28, 2013
TEDDY ROOSEVELT: US Statism’s Seductive Founder / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
A recent work sought to identify and rank in a way the few US Presidents over the past century plus whose policies led to greater freedom in the economy. That list did not include, Theodore Roosevelt, TR, the trust-busting lion and hero of San Juan Hill.
To the consternation of many, the work ranked two Democrats, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman, as possibly the greatest presidential freedom fighters for the economy since 1900. Supporters of several presidents claim other names should have been included, Teddy Roosevelt for one, Ronald Reagan for another and even Bill Clinton.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2013
American Denial, Desperation and Despotism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
With the death of the American Republic, the headstone sums up the epitaph - stuck on stupid. People celebrate a "Politically Correct" mixed-race president as leader for a society of multiracial special interest groups as the maturing of the country. Very few writers describe the ways diverse and culturally conflicting factions clash with traditional values and tested institutions because any serious discussion, automatically presumes to be racist. Such an adolescent and narrow-minded attitude, surrenders to the forces of anti-intellectualism. It is time to liberate the fabricated guilt and face up to the certainty that our nation is a declared SOS zone.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Can Karzai Save America from Afghanistan? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
After a year of talks over the post-2014 US military presence in Afghanistan, the US administration announced last week that a new agreement had finally been reached. Under the deal worked out with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the US would keep thousands of troops on nine military bases for at least the next ten years.
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Sunday, November 24, 2013
The 1961 JFK Speech that Kicked the American Dream into High Gear / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Katherine Smith writes: Our American dream of shopping for useless toxic stuff, an environmental nightmare, went into high gear after JFK was killed in 1963.
Would the planet be at serious risk, according to a massive United Nations Environmental Report, due to “the dangers of climate change, water scarcity, dwindling fish stocks and the pressures on the land and the extinction of species,” had John F. Kennedy not been assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963.
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
America's New Police State Iron Curtain, Shutting Citzens In and Out / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: An iron curtain is slowly descending around the borders of America. When it falls, some people will be shut in; others will be shut out. It will be up to bureaucrats and agents with guns to decide which one of those people you are.
Changes in border policy are in the wind. On June 27th, 2013, the 1,300-page Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act passed the Senate and proceeded to the House of Representatives. Debate on the Act has focused on the path of citizenship being extended to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in America. This is controversial because Republicans fear that the new Americans, and especially Hispanics, will vote Democrat in upcoming elections. Happily, the bill has stalled in the House.
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Monday, November 18, 2013
America’s Chemical Weapons Hypocrisy, Conspiracy and a Forgotten History / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Felicity Arbuthnot writes: “The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.” (J.Edgar Hoover,1895-1972.)
Since the fairy tale about weapons of mass destruction that can be launched against Western targets “within forty five minutes” is well past it’s sell by date, the trans-Atlantic hasbara industry has dreamed up a new Grim Reaper for Syria, their latest quarry: chemical weapons.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
The Economics of ObamaCare / Politics / US Politics
By: Robert_Murphy
Near the end of Human ActionLudwig von Mises declared that it was the “primary civic duty” to learn the teachings of economics. The public’s growing furor over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — popularly known as “ObamaCare” — beautifully illustrates Mises’s point. No one has any business being shocked — shocked! — thatmillions of Americans will losetheir current health insurance (including the present, irritated, writer), because such an outcome was obvious all along. Furthermore, the hilarious snags with healthcare.gov are merely a sideshow; the true problems with ObamaCare run much deeper than a malfunctioning website.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
How to Avoid Second Passport Scams and Traps / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor, International Man
It's a predictable reaction that a government in need of cash will turn to destructive measures, such as currency creation and increasing taxes and regulations.
Unfortunately, those measures are just the hors d'oeuvres before a 10 course meal.
As they become progressively more desperate, governments throughout history and all around the world have always turned to more destructive policies, such as capital controls, price controls, people controls, official currency devaluations, wealth confiscations, retirement account nationalizations, and more.
Monday, November 11, 2013
The Subprime Nation Final Solution / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
The MSM did their usual spin job on the consumer credit data released earlier this week. They reported a 5.4% increase in consumer debt outstanding to an ALL-TIME high of $3.051 trillion. In the Orwellian doublethink world we currently inhabit, the consumer taking on more debt is seen as a constructive sign. Consumer debt has grown by 5.8% over the first nine months of 2013, after growing by 6.1% in 2012 and 4.1% in 2011. The storyline being sold by the corporate MSM propaganda machine, serving the establishment, is that consumers' taking on debt is a sure sign of economic recovery. They must be confident about the future and rolling in dough from their new part-time jobs as Pizza Hut delivery men. Plus, they are now eligible for free healthcare, compliments of Obama, once they can log-on.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
America Rumors of Food Riots, Realities of War / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spent $80M to fortify federal buildings in New York apparently in preparation for civil disturbances and possible food riots on November 1st. The DHS plans included armed private guards who would protect IRS and other buildings against attack by fellow Americans.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
How American Socialism “Works” / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: America isn’t a socialist country, but don’t tell our President that, or Congress, or the Fed, or the too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks. Because to them, it is.
That’s because socialism works for them. And Hells Bells, it’s hard to knock what works.
If you can’t feel the yoke around your neck, or the bit in your mouth, trust me…you will.
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Friday, November 08, 2013
U.S. Government - The Greatest Threat to Life on Earth / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
“No legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its power, position, and prestige.” Dean Acheson , 1962, speaking to the American Society of International Law.
Dean Acheson declared 51 years ago that power, position, and prestige are the ingredients of national security and that national security trumps law. In the United States democracy takes a back seat to “national security,” a prerogative of the executive branch of government.
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Obamacare, Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dysfunctional System Issues / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
The Affordable Care Act is the single most contentious political action of my lifetime since the Vietnam War. It touches everyone in one way or another, and often in profoundly personal ways. Some see it is a godsend and others as an arrow aimed directly at the heart of the American experiment. Some will experience healthcare that is now available for themselves and their families for the first time, while others will experience the loss of a system that had served them well. The story in the Wall Street Journal this week of the cancer survivor Edie Littlefield Sundby, who lost her doctors and affordable care in the middle of a true life-and-death battle, is poignant. It turns out that not only can she not buy insurance that will cross state lines, she cannot buy insurance in California that will cross county lines!
Monday, November 04, 2013
Ron Paul - What Was Not Said About Iraq / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
October was Iraq's deadliest month since April, 2008. In those five and a half years, not only has there been no improvement in Iraq's security situation, but things have gotten much worse. More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq last month, the vast majority of them civilians. Another 1,600 were wounded, as car bombs, shootings, and other attacks continue to maim and murder.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Insurance Companies Profit from Obamacare / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
No one can reasonably deny that the major Insurance Companies were the driving force behind the writing of the Affordable Care Act legislation. "The health care industry spent nearly $500 million lobbying for health care issues in 2012, and $243 million so far in 2013." Obamacare or Corporate-care: The Writing of the Affordable Care Act, sums up the process.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Obama Lies to Merkel on NSA Spying / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
He lied claiming otherwise. He’s a serial liar. He’s a moral coward. He’s a war criminal multiple times over. He did what supporters thought impossible.
He exceeds the worst of George Bush. He plans lots more ways to prove it through 2016. Humanity may not survive the ordeal.
On October 27, Deutche Welle (DW) headlined “Media reports suggest Obama knew NSA spied on Merkel.”
Der Spiegel said NSA’s Special Collection Service (SCS) monitored her cell phone conversations since 2002. Obama lied telling Merkel he knew nothing about it.
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Monday, October 28, 2013
Ron Paul - Saudi Arabia Insists that the U.S. Fight its Battles, a Welcome Reset / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week it was reported that Saudi Arabia decided to make a "major shift" away from its 80 years of close cooperation with the United States. The Saudi leadership is angry that the Obama administration did not attack Syria last month, and that it has not delivered heavy weapons to the Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad government. Saudi Arabia is heavily invested in the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria, sending money and weapons to the rebels.
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013
ObamaCare: What If It Were Fire Insurance? / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
What if ObamaCare were fire insurance? It would be very special. You could buy a policy after a smoke detector in your home started blaring.
When you hear “pre-existing condition,” think “blaring smoke detector.”
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
U.S. Foreign Policy from the Founders' Perspective / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Last week I discussed how the Founding Fathers might view the American debt crisis and the government shutdown. This week I thought it would be useful to consider how the founders might view foreign policy. I argued that on domestic policy they had clear principles, but unlike their ideology, those principles were never mechanistic or inflexible. For them, principles dictated that a gentleman pays his debts and does not casually increase his debts, the constitutional provision that debt is sometimes necessary notwithstanding. They feared excessive debt and abhorred nonpayment, but their principles were never completely rigid.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Temporary U.S. Government Shutdown is Over, But Permanent Closure Would Not be So Bad / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey, Chairman
(Interviewed by Louis James, Casey Research)
The government shutdown is over, and many Americans are breathing a sigh of relief. But there's no reason to take a shutdown seriously in the first place, said famous resource speculator and libertarian freethinker Doug Casey in a recent interview—it was just a paid holiday for useless public employees anyway…
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Thursday, October 17, 2013
Obamacare's Creeping Terror on the Middle Class / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: Over the weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle delivered a stunning message that discourages and demotivates American workers from earning more income and promotes greater government dependency.
It's all thanks to sloppy incentives created by the Affordable Healthcare Act.
The Chronicle reported that Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said last week that workers in California should consider reducing their 2014 income and work hours in order to qualify for Obamacare subsidies.
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Thursday, October 17, 2013
U.S. Government Shutdown Solution: Opt Out of Tyranny / Politics / US Politics
By: David_DeGraw
“All countries are basically social arrangements, accommodations to changing circumstances. No matter how permanent and even sacred they may seem at any one time, in fact they are all artificial and temporary.” – Strobe Talbott
How much longer are we going to protest and post online reports, rants, videos and launch campaigns that will hopefully raise awareness on issue after issue, problem after problem, as the situation gets worse? How much longer are we going to just keep crying about the need for change and pleading with puppet politicians in hopes that they will care about anything other than what their top campaign contributors think? At what point are we going to start acting like free and responsible citizens and stop acting like disgruntled servants waiting for our masters to save us and do the right thing?
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
U.S. Government Shutdown Synopsis And Which Payment Are Due When / Politics / US Politics
By: Sahil_Hafeez
Shutdown synopsis - Here's a summary of where things stand:
October 1 - Day 1 of the administration shuts down. The news shows veterans who can't visit the WWII Memorial, and cancer patients who can't advantage treatment trials at the National Institute of Health.
October 2 - House Republicans send a bill to the Senate that finances national parks, and veterans' programs.
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Monday, October 14, 2013
Ron Paul and the Price of Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
The Gold Report: Doug, we are at your conference in Tucson, Arizona, the day after former Congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul gave the keynote speech to a sold-out crowd. How did you two first meet?
Doug Casey: It was about 30 years ago. Ron used to attend my Eris Society—named after the Greek goddess of discord—meetings in Aspen, Colorado. Everyone from Sonny Barger of the Hells Angels motorcycle club to Burt Rutan, inventor of SpaceShipOne, would meet to discuss ideas.
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Sunday, October 13, 2013
U.S. Government Shutdown, Debt Default a Dress Rehearsal for Privatization of Federal State System? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michel_Chossudovsky
The “shutdown” of the US government and the financial climax associated with a deadline date, leading to a possible “debt default” of the federal government is a money making undertaking for Wall Street.
Several overlapping political and economic agendas are unfolding. Is the shutdown –implying the furloughing of tens of thousands of public employees– a dress rehearsal for the eventual privatization of important components of the federal State system?
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Friday, October 11, 2013
My Antidote to the Dirty Obamacare Pill / Politics / US Politics
By: Don_Miller
I wish I never had to write this article, but I cannot put it off any longer. There are life-threatening secrets you need to know today.
In the fall of 2009, my wife Jo and I went to a town hall meeting in Illinois. The guest speaker was a member of the House of Representatives who served on the committee putting together the law now known as Obamacare. The Congressman stood next to a draft of the bill and answered our questions by reading straight from the text. Most of us left terrified, hoping the bill would never pass.
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Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ron Paul - The End of U.S. Dollar Hegemony / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno, Editor, International Man:
I spent the past weekend in Tucson for the Casey Research 2013 Summit, indeed a memorable and information-packed experience. It was truly a pleasure to meet with everyone who joined us.
Notably, it was extremely encouraging to meet so many intelligent people who had taken concrete steps to internationalize their savings and obtain a second passport—and thus reducing their exposure to whatever happens in their home countries.
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
The Roots of the U.S. Government Shutdown / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
In general, Stratfor deals with U.S. domestic politics only to the extent that it affects international affairs. Certainly, this topic has been argued and analyzed extensively. Nevertheless, the shutdown of the American government is a topic that must be understood from our point of view, because it raises the issue of whether the leading global power is involved in a political crisis so profound that it is both losing its internal cohesion and the capacity to govern. If that were so, it would mean the United States would not be able to act in global affairs, and that in turn would mean that the international system would undergo a profound change. I am not interested in the debate over who is right. I am, however, interested in the question of what caused this shutdown, and ultimately what it tells us about the U.S. capacity to act.
Monday, October 07, 2013
Is Homeland Security Preparing for the Next Wall Street Collapse? / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
The government seems to be getting ready for the next crisis. What about you?
Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup. An article in the Associated Press in February confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. According to an op-ed in Forbes, that’s enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over twenty years. DHS has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious civil unrest. The question is, why?
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Monday, October 07, 2013
Effects of U.S. Government Shutdown on Paying Taxes and Economic Reports / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: Welcome to the decade of the politicization of everything. With the government shutdown in its first week, it is starting to look more and more like this temper tantrum from both sides could lead up to the debt ceiling deadline.
Monday, October 07, 2013
What Government Shutdown? These Facts Prove That Almost Everything Is Still Running! / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Michael Snyder writes:
All of this whining and crying about a “government shutdown” is a total joke. You see, there really is very little reason why this “government shutdown” cannot continue indefinitely because almost everything is still running. 63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this “shutdown”. Yes, the Obama administration has been making a big show of taking down government websites and blocking off the World War II Memorial, but overall business in Washington D.C. is being conducted pretty much as usual. It turns out that the definition of “essential personnel” has expanded so much over the years that almost everyone is considered “essential” at this point. In fact, this shutdown is such a non-event that even referring to it as a “partial government shutdown” would really be overstating what is actually happening. The following are 36 facts which prove that almost everything is still running during this government shutdown…
Monday, October 07, 2013
Man Sets Himself on Fire, The Madness of Crumbling Empires / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
Setting one’s self on fire is a form of the ancient practice of “committing suicide on the head of someone” to blame them for something serious. The modern form of this as a political protest has been world famous since the Buddhist monk’s self-immolation in South Vietnam which helped to galvanize the Buddhist majority against the U.S. and the U.S.-Francophile puppet regime. That single act against the repressors of Buddhists, the majority of people, was a crucial trigger in the national revolt that led to the total defeat of the vast U.S. war machine even thought it cost the Vietnamese many millions of dead, maimed, wounded, MIA’s, and destroyed families and lives. [Gen. Giap, who led that total defeat of the U.S. by a poor peasant guerrilla army died yesterday at 102.
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Saturday, October 05, 2013
Cut the Debt by Ending the Empire - Bring the Legions Home / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: NEW YORK – “Banana Republicans,” sneered the Democrat’s leader, Senator Harry Reid. It’s not certain if Reid was comparing his conservative Republican opponents to monkeys or citizens of a Central American banana republic.
Either way, Reid’s nasty remark captured the bitter animosity surging through the US Congress as the mighty United States faces running out of money on 18 October.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
The Ministry of Truth Wants to Outlaw Free Speech / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Butler Shaffer writes: It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us in trouble. It’s the things we know that ain’t so.- Artemus Ward
I blogged, awhile back, on the comment made by a top federal official who, in responding to Edward Snowden’s Internet release of top-secret NSA documents, said that the government would be able to secure the return of such information. The implication was that the government could order Internet providers to reverse the processes by which such documents were distributed to millions of Internet users. Underlying this claim is the apparent belief that Internet providers function as a kind of storehouse of various kinds of information, to which users apply for access. It is not an exaggeration, in their world, to analogize a provider – such as Google – as a public library, making stored information available to users, and being able to demand its return to the “library.”
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Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Government Shutdown Proves Roads Not Possible Without Government / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
It is often irritating for those of us who don't believe we need violent institutions (ie. government) to keep hearing the same refrain from non-believers over and over again, "But, what about my roads?"
We always reply, exasperated, that pavement is not impossible to have without theft and the fact that roads existed without government even in the US (as Walter Block wrote in "The Privatization of Roads And Highways"). And, TDV's own Gary Gibson has covered the topic many times including, "If One More Person Asks Me About the Roads...".
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Wednesday, October 02, 2013
U.S. Government - What Will "shut down"? / Politics / US Politics
By: Sahil_Hafeez
Democrats and Republicans were unable to intention their contrasts over Obamacare and now the government is closed down.
Republicans in Congress declined to embrace a using bill unless it postponed the Affordable Care Act, the law conveying health protection to poorer Americans, which began to assume Oct. 1. Right away, the new monetary year begins; government authorities won't have the power to use money.
Monday, September 30, 2013
U.S. Government Shutdown - A Grand Bargain for Liberty? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As I write this, it appears that the federal government is about to shut down because the House and Senate cannot agree on whether to add language defunding or delaying Obamacare to the "Continuing Resolution". Despite all the hand-wringing heard in DC, a short-term government shut down (which doesn't actually shut down the government) will not cause the country to collapse.
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Saturday, September 28, 2013
Barack Obama - The Blackberry President / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
TIME MOVES ON
At the height of his short-lived media acclaim and uncritical public support, Obama was happy to show he knew how to use, and liked his Blackberry cellphone. Time has also moved on for Blackberry. Like Nokia it missed the boat for upmarket Internet devices. It was unable to adapt to the surge of new and flashier gimmicks from Samsung and Apple. Blackberry is now a corporate disaster. On its August sales, it lost nearly $24 for every $100 of the dwindling sales it could garner. T-Mobile, the fourth-largest US wireless provider said it will no longer stock Blackberry devices in its shops and will only ship them when people make a written request.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tea Party Capitalism (with Chinese characteristics) / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
- a dialogue
Bill: Jane, the bills need to be paid. The children can go without. I mean they can eat less - maybe one instead of two meals a day. As far as dentist and doctor visits, they can make do. We can't afford these things any longer. The bills come first! That's my politics; that's my ethics; that's my demand. I'm a right-wing Republican, a Tea Party Republican, and people like me are going to bring this country back to its roots - hard work, accountability and good values. If you don't like it, go live in China!
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Rumors Of Strikes Against Syria Are Seriously Exaggerated / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
MARK TWAIN'S EXAGGERATED RUMORS OF DEATH
In 1897, Mark Twain was forced to deny he was dead – persistent rumors claimed he was. President Obama's Syria policy, if it can be called that has died many times in recent weeks. Its last known version was a promise from John Kerry that any military strikes would be “unbelievably small”.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Obama's Tipping Point and Implosion, Liar in Chief / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
With a failed Presidency, Barak Obama is on the verge of becoming a perpetual buffoon in a skit on Saturday Night Live. Even with such public distain, the destructive policies of the rogue government merrily continue. The bipartisan cabal class of careerists operates as if they are permanently immune from public outrage. Up to now, they are correct. The Tea Party was hijacked and went dormant, the bulk of the anti-war opposition is AWOL and the government trolls within the occupied movement are now interning at Goldman Sacks. As for the throngs of Obama cult worshipers, who continue to place their faith in state decency and righteousness, are still on a pilgrimage to cash their loyalty checks. Yet, something has changed, but is it too late?
Monday, September 16, 2013
Ron Paul - Has The Tide Turned Against the Warmongers? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Will the history books record these past couple of weeks as the point when the tide finally turned against our interventionist foreign policy?
We began September with the Obama Administration on the verge of launching Tomahawk missiles at Syria. The missiles were needed, the administration claimed, to punish the Syrian government for using poison gas on its own people. There were reports that in addition to missiles, the administration was planning airstrikes and possibly even more military action against Syria. The talks of a punishing "shot across the bow" to send a message to the Syrian government also escalated, as some discussed the need to degrade the Syrian military to help change the regime. They refused to rule out a US ground invasion of Syria.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Weakest Economic Recovery on Record Means the Rich Get Richer / Politics / US Politics
By: Profit_Confidential
Michael Lombardi writes: According to a study by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics, and Oxford University, the income gap in the U.S. economy in 2012 was similar to what it was in 1920s! (Source: Associated Press, September 10, 2013.)
In 2012, the income of the top one percent of earners increased by almost 20%; for the bottom 99%, their income only increased by one percent.
Monday, September 16, 2013
US Baby Killers Denounce Assad Whilst Putin Prospers / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: President Barack Obama foolishly backed himself into a corner during the growing Syrian crisis by issuing fatwas about mythological red lines. When his bluff got called, the silver-tongued president was left twisting in the wind.
Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize should be rescinded and given, instead, to Vladimir Putin.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
The New American Militarism - How American's are Seduced by War / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
"To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity. The greatness of the human soul is shown by knowing how to keep within proper bounds. So far from greatness consisting in going beyond its limits, it really consists in keeping within it." -
Blaise Pascal
Bacevich is quite insightful. I should point out that the actual talk itself is about 25 minutes or so. The rest of this video is questions from the audience.
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Friday, September 13, 2013
America’s Last Capitalist - U.S. Presidents / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
The 20th Century and since is replete with US Presidents who helped advance the steady march of statism the nation and the world so suffers from today, from Teddy Roosevelt all of the way to Barack Obama. Only four of nineteen US Presidents in office since January 1, 1900 can raise any claim to having advanced freedom in economic affairs in large, substantial ways during their term in office.
One of the four, the first in time, has a quite dubious claim.
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Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Kerry Couldn’t Sell a Used Car / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
After Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that President Bashar al-Assad avoid a war by handing over any chemical weapons his government possesses, Russia quickly seconded the motion, and Assad agreed to it. Just as quickly, aparently panicked by the possible delay or prevention of missile strikes, Kerry’s staff put out this statement:
Friday, September 06, 2013
The Stockman Doctrine On US Imperialism / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
NOT JUST THE ECONOMY, STUPID
David Stockman wades in to the attack on what he calls the “American Imperium”. Published by Lewrockwell.com, he claims that if Congress votes against Obama's war plans against Syria, this can “trigger the end of the American Imperium”. What imperium?
One thing is sure. The downsized US “imperium” certainly has imperial-sized debt, and Stockman knows a lot about how it happened – he was there as Ronald Reagan's OMB budget director in 1981-1985. As we also know, previous and past empires always crippled themselves by taking on real debt and fake wealth in the shape of colonies that weren't filled with gold or oil - but the US never had many formal colonies – Puerto Rico and Guam, for example, are not impressive for a would-be empire.
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Thursday, September 05, 2013
Syria and Second Passports / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno, Editor, International Man
All of us by now have seen the latest sales pitch from the Obama administration for yet another so-called "humanitarian intervention" in the Middle East. It is not hard to see that the case for war is a bunch of rubbish and will likely end in disaster for both Syria and the US.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
US Congress Lines Up Behind Drive for War Against Syria / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Andre Damon writes: Leading members of the US Congress have moved quickly to declare their support for President Barack Obama’s proposed resolution enabling the use of force against Syria.
The move to get a congressional authorization is aimed at providing a fig-leaf of legitimacy to a unpopular war that is based on lies. In this way it is similar to the 2001 Authorization of Use of Military Force, which became the rationale for sweeping military attacks and domestic repression.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Yes, Obamacare Created Jobs. But Guess Who Got Them... / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: One of the real Obamacare facts we've shared with you is how the Affordable Care Act will influence private employers to cut hours and jobs across the nation.
There is one group of workers, however, that is still raking in new job opportunities at a stunning rate, thanks to Obamacare.
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Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Obama Decides It's Safer To Buy Congress Than To Go To War Alone / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
While still claiming dictatorial powers to start a war on his own authority, Obama put his unilateral attack on Syria on hold when he received a letter from more than 160 members of the House of Representatives reminding him that to take the country to war without congressional approval is an impeachable offense and when he saw that no country that could serve as cover for a war crime, not even the puppet British government and the NATO puppet states, would support America’s announced military aggression against Syria.
Monday, September 02, 2013
The Virus of Imperialism / Politics / US Politics
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
In his famous 1898 essay, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain,” the great Yale University libertarian scholar William Graham Sumner argued that America had crossed the Rubicon, so to speak, and had become an imperialistic empire. It had become the Spanish empire. But Sumner was only half right. The conquest of Cuba was an imperialistic war, but so were all other American military adventures since the American Revolution. Apparently, even a man as brilliant and astute as Sumner was somewhat befogged by the endless and pervasive drumbeat of war propaganda.
Monday, September 02, 2013
Ron Paul - Will Congress Endorse Obama's War Plans? Does it Matter? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama announced this weekend that he has decided to use military force against Syria and would seek authorization from Congress when it returned from its August break. Every Member ought to vote against this reckless and immoral use of the US military. But even if every single Member and Senator votes for another war, it will not make this terrible idea any better because some sort of nod is given to the Constitution along the way.
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Saturday, August 31, 2013
Obama - The War Criminal-in-Chief / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Obama, pushed by his Israeli and neocon masters, especially his National SecurityAdvisor, Susan Rice, who, in effect, functions as an Israeli agent, crawled far out on the limb, only to have it sawed off by the British Parliament.
In response, the “socialist” president of France, Hollande, who lacks French support forFrance’s participation in a US/Israeli orchestrated military attack on Syria, has crawledback off the limb, saying that, while everything is still on the table, he has to see some evidence first.
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Saturday, August 31, 2013
Remember Waco? U.S. Use of Gas To Kill Civilians / Politics / US Politics
By: lewrockwell
Mike Holmes writes: One point that needs to be made, but rarely if ever mentioned, is that in the supposed rationale for US attack on Syria to avenge/prevent claimed civilian deaths by government gas attacks, the US government itself has used similar weapons openly as recently as the FBI/ATF attack on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco Texas in the spring of 1993.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
France, America's New French Poodle, Who Used Chemical Weapons in Syria Attack? / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Most unexpectedly the British Poodle snapped at its Master's hand. It may have taken a decade of death, destruction and chaos that followed the doggy dossiers and bare faced lies that spewed from the mouths of Tony Bliar and George Bush as to why Iraq should be destroyed, and over 100,000 killed, all in the pursuit of non existant WMD stock piles that were said to target UK cities within 45 minutes from launch to strike. Virtually all Labour MP's and even some Tories were just not able to suffer the shame a second time of lying to the public in pursuit of an imperialist agenda.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Will Nobel Peace Prizewinner Obama 'Go It Alone' In Attacking Syria ? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
CAMERON FIGHTS DEMOCRACY
In a stunning setback for UK Prime Minister Cameron's hopes for a quick nod through vote by Parliament for his government's war plan against Syria, his march to “punitive limited military action”, opening the potential for wider war in the Middle East hit a brick wall. British MPs defeated the government motion by 285 against 272 votes, August 29, as some MP’s shouted ‘resign, resign’. The junior coalition Lib Dem party of Nick Clegg is almost totally against the military adventure redolent of T. E. Lawrence days when the US, France and the UK could play judge and jury in the Middle East, but veteran Lib Dem party grandee and former Kosovo administrator after the 1995 NATO war against Serbia, Paddy Ashdown, Tweeted on August 30: “In 50 years trying to serve my country I have never felt so depressed/ashamed. Britain's answer to the Syrian horrors? None of our business!”
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Warlordism In The Mena – The Slide Towards World War III / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
NO LONGER A FANTASY
For plenty of commentators like Michael Snyder of the Economic Collapse Blog, August 29, there are so many reasons to believe “punishing Syria” has the potential to spin out of control and spark a large scale international conflict, that we should be amazed TV anchorpeople in the so-called consumer democracies snigger to us about having to wait “just a little longer” for the missile or bombing fun. Before running the endless-brainless publicity or football talk.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
US False Flag - The Liefare Warfare State / Politics / US Politics
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
In his famous essay, “War is the Health of the State,” Randolph Bourne made an important distinction between country and state. One’s country is “an inescapable group into which we re born.” As such, “there is no more feeling of rivalry with other peoples than there is in our feeling for our family.” Country is “a concept of peace, of tolerance, of living and letting live,” wrote Bourne.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Ron Paul - Middle of the Road in Healthcare Leads to Socialism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The ever-expanding role of government in healthcare provides an excellent example of Ludwig Von Mises' warning that "The Middle of the Road Leads to Socialism." Beginning in the 1940s, government policies distorted the health care market, causing prices to rise and denying many Americans access to quality care. Congress reacted to the problems caused by their prior interventions with new interventions, such as the HMO Act, ERISA, EMTLA, and various federal entitlement programs. Each new federal intervention not only failed to fix the problems it was supposedly created to solve, it created new problems, leading to calls for even more new federal interventions. This process culminated in 2010, when Congress passed Obamacare.
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Sunday, August 25, 2013
Ron Paul - Private Property Is the Essence of Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This selection is taken from chapter 10 of A Foreign Policy of Freedom by Ron Paul, available in both print and ebook editions at the Mises Store.
Privacy is the essence of liberty. Without it, individual rights cannot exist. Privacy and property are interlocked. If both were protected, little would need to be said about other civil liberties. If one’s home, church or business is one’s castle, and the privacy of one’s person, papers and effects are rigidly protected, all rights desired in a free society will be guaranteed. Diligently protecting the right to privacy and property guarantees religious, journalistic and political experience, as well as a free market economy and sound money. Once a careless attitude emerges with respect to privacy, all other rights are jeopardized.
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Sunday, August 25, 2013
Government Should Not Define What a Reporter is—or Isn’t / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Sen. Diane Feinstein and a horde of members of Congress of both parties want to decide who is and who isn’t a reporter. Sen. Feinstein says a “real” reporter is a “salaried agent of a media company.”
She mentions the usual suspects—New York Times, ABC News. She dismisses part-time staff. She dismisses freelancers. She dismisses those who write, often without pay, for the hundreds of alternative publications, and often break news and investigative stories well ahead of the mainstream media. She dismisses anyone who, she says, “have no professional qualifications.”
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Sunday, August 18, 2013
Obama and the Egyptian Massacre / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Johannes Stern writes: Wednesday’s massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters by the US-backed Egyptian military junta shatters Washington’s hypocritical claims that its Middle East policy is based on democracy and human rights.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Government / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
On June 12, 1987, in a speech near the Berlin Wall to commemorate Berlin's 750th anniversary, US President Ronald Reagan famously said to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The destruction of the wall would serve as a symbol of Gorbachev sincerely trying to increase freedom throughout the Eastern Bloc.
Today, August 13, marks the anniversary of the day the building of the Berlin Wall began. In honor of that sad day I say, "Mr. Obama, tear down this government."
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Thursday, August 08, 2013
Washington Thinks American's Are Stupid Sheeple / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
There’s the old saying that if the government fears the people, there is liberty, but if the people fear the government there is tyranny. The criminals in Washington not only do not fear us, they do not respect us. Washington looks upon Americans as stupid sheeple.
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Tuesday, August 06, 2013
In Obama's America, the Harder You Work, the Less You Make / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: The harder we work, the less we make. That seems to be the mantra of the Obama recovery. That is, if we have a job.
In the last four years, real median household income has fallen during both the recession and the recovery. Amazing. It's like still standing in the muck after the ebb tide.
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Tuesday, August 06, 2013
The State And Terror - Bentham, Benthics And The All-Seeing Eye / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
In a totally childish tantrum due to Putin's humiliating rebuttal of State Dept. attempts to extract Edward Snowden from Russia, it has issued lurid terror warning and closed nearly two dozen embassy and consulate buildings in “terror plagued” Middle Eastern and Arab countries, especially Yemen. Interpol has been wheeled on stage in this naked diversionary tactic, announcing that as many as 150 extremely dangerous prisoners with Al Qaeda links have escaped from prisons “in countries like Iraq and Libya”. When and how they escaped was not communicated. For European holidaymakers there is now the risk of a bearded terrorist being in the next-door-car to you in those traditional holiday 50-kilometre long, 6-lane traffic jams on highways leading to and from Mediterranean tourist venues. The person sitting next to you in those budget airline flights to the same venues could be a terrorist, armed with an explosive toothpaste tube, killer shoes, or whatever. But absolutely not a boxcutter!
Monday, August 05, 2013
Why Won't They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
In 2001, the Patriot Act opened the door to US government monitoring of Americans without a warrant. It was unconstitutional, but most in Congress over my strong objection were so determined to do something after the attacks of 9/11 that they did not seem to give it too much thought. Civil liberties groups were concerned, and some of us in Congress warned about giving up our liberties even in the post-9/11 panic. But at the time most Americans did not seem too worried about the intrusion.
Sunday, August 04, 2013
Detroit Bankruptcy and the Drive Toward Dictatorship / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
The bankruptcy of Detroit is being widely cited in the media as a model for the use of unelected officials and bankruptcy courts to rip up agreements and impose sweeping cuts on the pensions and health benefits of public employees, not only in Detroit, but in cities across the United States.
The Obama administration has rejected any federal aid to ameliorate the financial crisis of Detroit and counter the effort of state and city officials, fronting for the banks and bondholders, to use bankruptcy to gut workers’ benefits. This makes it clear that the Detroit bankruptcy is part of a broader nationwide policy that is being coordinated by the White House.
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Sunday, August 04, 2013
Washington's Fake Terror Threat / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
They're in various forms. They repeat with disturbing regularity. America's war on terror targets Islam. At issue is duplicitous scaremongering. It advances Washington's imperium.
Saturday, August 03, 2013
It will be madness in America soon, Out of control / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
I bought a copy of USA Today Weekend at the supermarket and wanted to gag. A front-page lead story showing a picture of Edward Snowden's Russian permit was titled: "Welcome, Comrade Snowden" (Is John McCain now writing their headlines?). To read American mainstream news is to collide with an illusory but impenetrable wall of rigid propaganda (rah, rah, America #1; rah, rah, S&P 1700; rah, rah, Washington vs. a world of enemies). In short, the paper's almost one-million readers were encouraged. In so many words, "Don't worry about NSA. Congress has heard the American people and is now moving to reform it. Sleep well tonight, Senator Patrick Leahy is awake."
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Friday, August 02, 2013
How Obamacare Bailouts Work - A Struggling City's Best New Budget Tool / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Diane Alter writes: Call it an "Obamacare Bailout" - while millions of Americans look for ways to opt out of Obamacare, broke Detroit is trying to get its residents signed up as soon as possible.
You see, Detroit has grossly over-pledged its benefits, pensions and fully-funded health care plans to thousands of public sector employees for decades, while its tax revenue dwindled.
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Friday, August 02, 2013
Bradley Manning Still Facing a Lifetime With His Kidnappers / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Yesterday, Private Bradley Manning was charged and faces "up to" 136 years in a cage for being someone Thomas Jefferson would consider a patriot. Considering the world's oldest person died at 116 years old last month it is quite clearly a life sentence. For myself, at 42, I consider anything more than 10 years a life sentence. Not that I couldn't still have fun at 52... but a lot less fun with a lot more viagra.
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Snowden's Dad Confronts Tyrannical Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
July 26, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: Civil Disobedience, Edward J. Snowden, and the Constitution
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Monday, July 29, 2013
How the U.S. Empire Actually Functions / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
ROCKWELL: Well, what an honor it is to have as our guest today on the show, John Perkins. I think that if Hollywood weren’t so connected to the Pentagon, maybe there’d be a movie about him, staring George Clooney. But there’s not a movie because of the sorts of books he’s written, especially Confessions of an Economic Hitman that was on The New York Times best-seller list for a year and a half and translated into 30 languages. He’s also author of The Secret History of the American Empire and his newest book, Hoodwinked.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Snowden Won't Face Torture in the U.S. Maybe / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
WATERBOARDING - MAYBE
US Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter released to 'Wall Street Journal' 26 July and dated 23 July, told his addressee, His Excellency the Minister of Justice of Russia that National Security Agency 'leaker' Edward Snowden would not face the death penalty. Holder also promised he would not be tortured—in a new bid by the Obama administration to persuade Russia not to grant Snowden asylum or refugee status.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
The US Empire Prepares for War on China / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Amitai Etzioni has raised an important question: “Who authorized preparations for war with China?”http://yalejournal.org/2013/06/12/who-authorized-preparations-for-war-with-china/ Etzioni says that the war plan is not the sort of contingency plan that might be on hand for an improbable event. Etzioni also reports that the Pentagon’s war plan was not ordered by, and has not been reviewed by, US civilian authorities. We are confronted with a neoconized US military out of control endangering Americans and the rest of the world.
Friday, July 26, 2013
How the US Became the USSR - Role Reversal / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
I spent the summer of 1961 behind the Iron Curtain. I was part of the US-USSR student exchange program. It was the second year of the program that operated under auspices of the US Department of State. Our return to the West via train through East Germany was interrupted by the construction of the Berlin Wall. We were sent back to Poland. The East German rail tracks were occupied with Soviet troop and tank trains as the Red Army concentrated in East Germany to face down any Western interference.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Is Obamacare Creating a Part-Time America? / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Frank Marchant writes: America has become a part-time nation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that in June part-time employees in the labor force reached an all-time high of 28 million, 3 million more than when the recession began in 2007.
The economy lost 240,000 full-time jobs in June and added 360,000 part-time jobs, the BLS noted. Of the 753,000 jobs created this year, 589,000 were part time.
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Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The U.S. Is a Failed State: Dissolve the Union / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
America is a very sick patient with a curable cancer that, if left alone, will cause death. The cancer is the Union or the state known as the U.S.A. More commonly, the Union and the U.S.A. are referred to as the U.S. government, the federal government or simply the government. It is the body established by the Constitution that administers the powers described in that Constitution. Phasing out and dissolving the U.S. government, which can be done by constitutional means, will remove the cancer and restore a degree of health.
Ending the Union will certainly not cure all of America’s ills, because they trace back to wrong and false ideas. These are like bad habits, genetic and environmental factors that cause cancer. If they are not changed, the cancer will come back. The search for non-destructive politics is as never-ending as the search for health and longevity.
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Monday, July 22, 2013
Obama Arrogance, America, like Rome, Will Cross The Most Dangerous Line / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of Rome, had a lot of time to think about what went wrong to cause the fall of the greatest empire in history. Here, for the first time, in this exclusive essay he tells the full story of the fall and gives Obama sage advice to our Chief Investment Strategist, Keith Fitz-Gerald on how to avoid the same fate in the US. Please forward this to interested friends or family members.
My name is Romulus Augustus. I was the last Roman Emperor. Though I only ruled a few years before giving up my throne on 4 September 476, I lived for at least another 25 years according to the tax records. I drew a pension until at least 507 according to Cassiodorus. And, in doing so, had plenty of time to think about what went wrong.
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Friday, July 19, 2013
The Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman Tragedy - Print the Legend / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
The Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman tragedy has become one of those transcendent events that dominates the national discourse and throws light on dimly lit aspects of our society. Obviously, the case touches most closely on issues of race relations, media culture, and the politicization of the justice system. It also reveals how preconceived emotional commitments to a narrative can consistently trump demonstrable facts. These tendencies are also present in the polarized discussion about the persistent weakness of the U.S. economy. In both cases, the majority of observers have chosen to believe an emotionally comfortable narrative while ignoring a far more likely, ambiguous, and unsatisfying reality.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Washington's New Jobs Strategy: Hire All the Lawyers / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: It's the old saw that Washington seems to have down to an art: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And once again, in an effort to help get the wheels of the US economy turning more briskly, the government has managed to grease the axle and flatten the tires at the same time.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
George Zimmerman, Is This Still America? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Thomas Sowell writes: There are no winners in the trial of George Zimmerman. The only question is whether the damage that has been done has been transient or irreparable.
Legally speaking, Zimmerman has won his freedom. But he can still be sued in a civil case, and he will probably never be safe to live his life in peace, as he could have before this case made him the focus of national attention and orchestrated hate.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
George Zimmerman, Prosecutorial Abuse, and the Sorry Politics of Race / Politics / US Politics
By: William_Anderson
As a somewhat casual observer of George Zimmerman’s show trial, I was surprised that it ended with a “not guilty” verdict, given how the politics of race had so infected the entire saga from beginning to the announcement of the jury’s decision. After all, not only was Zimmerman indicted on charges that assumed he had intentionally pursued Trayvon Martin with personal ill will and animosity with his being in that supposed frame of mind when he shot the teenager, but the very President of the United States already had effectively declared Zimmerman guilty of a racially-motivated murder.
Monday, July 15, 2013
The Global Gulag - Psychotic Militarization of Law Enforcement / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
How did it ever come down to abandoning peace keeping and accepting law enforcement by any means? Even the New York Times expresses alarm in, When the Police Go Military.
"The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally bars the military from law enforcement activities within the United States. But today, some local and city police forces have rendered the law rather moot. They have tanks - yes, tanks, often from military surplus, for use in hostage situations or drug raids - not to mention the sort of equipment and training one would need to deter a Mumbai-style guerrilla assault."
Monday, July 15, 2013
The Unspoken Truth: Coup d’etat in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The American people have suffered a coup d’etat, but they are hesitant to acknowledge it. The regime ruling in Washington today lacks constitutional and legal legitimacy. Americans are ruled by usurpers who claim that the executive branch is above the law and that the US Constitution is a mere “scrap of paper.”
An unconstitutional government is an illegitimate government. The oath of allegiance requires defense of the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” As the Founding Fathers made clear, the main enemy of the Constitution is the government itself. Power does not like to be bound and tied down and constantly works to free itself from constraints.
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Saturday, July 13, 2013
U.S. Arms Egypts Military For Crack Down on Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Bill Van Auken writes: The Obama administration has announced it will go ahead with the shipment of four F-16 fighter planes to the Egyptian military, signaling its intention to ignore US laws requiring a cutoff of aid to countries that have suffered military coups.
This gesture of support to the so-called interim government, which is dominated by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and its top commander, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, comes as the ruling junta is intensifying its police-state crackdown against supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi.
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Latest Obama Outrage: More People on Food Stamps Than Working Full Time / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Frank Marchant writes: This Obama economy has soup lines as far as the eye can see. It also appears that many could easily be standing in two, three or even four lines simultaneously!
There are 103.4 million people currently enrolled in any one of 15 subsidized federal food assistance programs. The most people in our nation's history.
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Tuesday, July 09, 2013
How the US Uses Democracy as a Weapon / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: Understandably, the Muslim Brotherhood is enraged.
Having won the presidency of Egypt in free and fair elections after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, President Mohammed Morsi has been ousted in a military coup and placed under house arrest. Brotherhood leaders, convicted of no crimes, are being rounded up.
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Tuesday, July 09, 2013
America’s Deep Political Crisis / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
America is in deep political crisis. Although the signs of it are abundant, the crisis is not widely recognized. When Americans finally do recognize the crisis, that is, if they recognize it and its causes, they will have not only to clean house but tear the house down and rebuild it. They will have to institute a new order. It will be best if it’s the old order of private property.
Monday, July 08, 2013
Ron Paul - New Egyptian War, Americans Lose Again / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Looking at the banners in the massive Egyptian protests last week, we saw many anti-American slogans. Likewise, the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that was deposed by the military last week was very critical of what it saw as US support for the coup. Why is it that all sides in this Egyptian civil war seem so angry with the United States? Because the United States has at one point or another supported each side, which means also that at some point the US has also opposed each side. It is the constant meddling in Egyptian affairs that has turned Egyptians against us, as we would resent foreign intervention in our own affairs.
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Sunday, July 07, 2013
Jobs Report Shows America in Decline / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Headlines cheered America's June report. Bloomberg said "US Employers Added More Workers in June Than Forecast."
"Employment roared ahead in June." America's "economy is poised for faster growth as it shakes off the impact of tax increases and budget cuts."
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Friday, July 05, 2013
America: In Memoriam / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Christopher Casey writes: “Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” — Richard Henry Lee, June 7, 1776
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Thursday, July 04, 2013
America's Independence Day Hypocrisy / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Ron Kovic's an anti-war activist. He was born on July 4, 1946. Vietnam combat left him paralyzed. He's wheelchair-bound.
His memoir titled "Born on the Fourth of July" became an Academy Award-winning film. Oliver Stone directed it. Tom Cruise played Kovic.
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Thursday, July 04, 2013
What Americans Used To Know About the Declaration of Independence / Politics / US Politics
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
"During the weeks following the [1860] election, [Northern newspaper] editors of all parties assumed that secession as a constitutional right was not in question . . . . On the contrary, the southern claim to a right of peaceable withdrawal was countenanced out of reverence for the natural law principle of government by consent of the governed." - ~ Howard Cecil Perkins, editor, Northern Editorials on Secession, p. 10
Thursday, July 04, 2013
Forbidden Thoughts on the 4th of July / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Every nation celebrates its founding day. Ours is the Fourth of July.
Canadians will not be celebrating the Fourth of July. This may have something to do with the fact that in December 1775, the United States of America, which did not actually exist yet, sent two invading armies into Quebec, which was French Canada, in the hope that they could persuade the French to secede. George Washington thought this was a good idea. It made perfect sense politically, because the American Revolution grew out of the taxes imposed by the British government to pay for the debts it had incurred during the French and Indian War, which had led to the surrender of Quebec to the British by the French government in 1763. That war was started by George Washington in 1754 at the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
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Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Snowden, The Man of Conscience Speaks From Moscow / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.
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Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Will there be Riots Across America if George Zimmerman is Acquitted? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Fred Reed writes: Watching the Zimmerman trial, I wonder whether we may not be in for big trouble. Racial hostility is much higher in the United States than it is allowed to appear. In the Twittersphere there is much traffic from blacks, saying that if Zimmerman walks, they will kill him themselves, riot, or kill random whites. On many sites around the web, whites of a sort not found on NPR are saying, “Bring it on.” This is not your granny’s recipe for domestic tranquility.
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
How the Government Uses Citizenship as a Weapon Against You / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
"The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon," writes whistleblowing hero Edward Snowden, surprising no one who has been paying enough attention in the past few years.
We've been saying this for years now ourselves. The time is coming when the gentle prodding of the USSA imperial police state will become a naked mugging with overt threats of violence and kidnapping. Capital controls and border controls to keep in both money and people are coming. What's happening to Snowden is just a taste of what's coming to Americans that the US doesn't consider nearly as troublesome.
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Monday, July 01, 2013
The End of American Independence Day / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The 4th of July should be a day of historic retrospection. For a proper understanding into the significance of the birth of the nation, start with an examination of the perennial BREAKING ALL THE RULES essay, The Meaning of Independence Day. Then contrast our circumstances and heritage in the article - Independence Day for Whom? Both of these columns are essential. If one forgets from where, how and why our country was created, it is impossible to appreciate the uniqueness of the American Revolution and the meaning of the "shot heard ‘round the world".
Monday, July 01, 2013
Ron Paul - If You Like The Surveillance State, You'll Love E-Verify / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
From massive NSA spying, to IRS targeting of the administration's political opponents, to collection and sharing of our health care information as part of Obamacare, it seems every day we learn of another assault on our privacy. Sadly, this week the Senate took another significant, if little-noticed, step toward creating an authoritarian surveillance state. Buried in the immigration bill is a national identification system called mandatory E-Verify.
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
Washington Is Driving The World Towards The Final War / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
“V For Vendetta,” a film that portrays evil in a futuristic England as a proxy for the evil that exists today in America, ends with the defeat of evil. But this is a movie in which the hero has super powers. If you have not seen this film, you should watch it. It might wake you up and give you courage. The excerpts below show that, at least among some filmmakers, the desire for liberty still exists.
Whether the desire for liberty exists in America remains to be seen. If Americans can overcome their gullibility, their lifelong brainwashing, their propensity to believe every lie that “their” government tells them, and if Americans can escape the Matrix in which they live, they can reestablish the morality, justice, peace, freedom, and liberty that “their” government has taken from them. It is not impossible for Americans to again stand with uplifted heads. They only have to recognize that “their” government is the enemy of truth, justice, human rights and life itself.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
US - UK Digital Totalitarianism. What is to be Done? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
All past warnings about NSA and GCHQ are now confirmed. It is a crisis of American and British democracies. A political columnist writing about an earlier AP spy scandal warned: "Anyone who speaks to the media about any matter has to assume that their phone numbers and contact information have been or could be made available to the government by secret court order."
Monday, June 24, 2013
Latest Obama Outrage - First Family's $100 Million Vacation Trip! / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Frank Marchant writes: How much do you spend on your summer vacation? American households usually spend about $1,200 per person on summer vacations, according to a recent American Express survey.
Presidents spend more on their vacations than you or I. They have to. Air Force One and security does cost more than loading the Honda and heading to the beach.
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Ron Paul - Talking to the Taliban, What We Have Learned From Afghanistan? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the Taliban opened an office in Doha, Qatar with the US government's blessing. They raised the Taliban flag at the opening ceremony and referred to Afghanistan as the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- the name they used when they were in charge before the US attack in 2001.
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Friday, June 21, 2013
NSA Arm of Your Friendly Neighborhood Totalitarian State / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
It makes no difference if Edward Snowden, who had fled to Hong Kong and revealed that the American government was spying upon American citizens, is a traitor or a hero.
Intelligence agencies from China, Russia, England, Israel, and maybe even Lichtenstein, probably already know that the National Security Administration (NSA) is collecting data of all the phone calls and emails of Americans, and linking them to conversations with foreign nationals. What is unsettling is that everything the NSA is doing is legal. Secret federal courts can issue secret warrants to agencies that maintain secret files.
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Friday, June 21, 2013
Even Sesame Street Can't Ignore America's Economic and Social Collapse / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Things have gotten so bad in the US that Sesame Street has its first character, Alex, who has to try to deal with the torment of having his dad in jail. This, believe it or not, is par for the course for Sesame Street.
Sesame Street has helped kids open up about all sorts of serious subjects that are commonplace in the USSA today, from hunger and divorce to their parents going off to commit terrorist acts on the part of the financial and political elite (military deployment). In fact, one in 28 children in the United States now has a parent in a rape camp (jail) -- more than the number of kids with a parent who is sent overseas to commit acts of terrorism (military).
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Thursday, June 20, 2013
U.S. Creates Al Qaeda 2.0 in Syria: The Obama Administration is a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” / Politics / US Politics
By: Michel_Chossudovsky
A major transition in US counter-terrorism doctrine is unfolding.
While Barack Obama, following in the footsteps of George W. Bush, remains firmly committed to waging a “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), his administration is now openly supporting selected rebel units in Syria which are part of the Al Qaeda network.
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
When the Scales Fall - U.S. Government is Losing Credibility / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
That is both an obvious and a useless observation without a sense of the consequences. Maybe, there are none. Maybe, the accumulating doubt concerning Benghazi, IRS intrusions, and NSA confiscation of privacy are wearing thin. If the latter proves correct, how will the people express their disillusion: "Voting with their feet," so to speak? A glaring vulnerability is the gap between falling income and inflation. The government's numbers are propaganda, and seem to have worked. The Fed, Bureau of Labor Statistics, reporters, and the academics who are paid to polish Goebbelism into a scholastic veneer, state that annual price inflation is short of 2%. John Williams, proprietor of Shadow Stats, estimates that if the Bureau of Labor Statistics used the same methodology for calculating the CPI as in 1980, the monthly figure released and disseminated to the public would be 9.4% (as of November, 2012).
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
NSA PRISM, Edward Snowden, Who Are The Real Traitors? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“I'm neither traitor nor hero. I'm an American.” - Edward Snowden
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” - Samuel Adams
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The Fourth Branch of Government is Killing Our Competitiveness / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Greg Madison writes: The United States claims a position as a world leader in many fields. And in a few of those fields, it still is. We like to think of ourselves as leaders in business, the free market, the entrepreneurial spirit. But the country is falling further and further behind in key competitive areas, giving up a lot of ground in the past 10 to 13 years.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Governments Love Secrecy to Hide their Crimes and Totalitarian Ambitions / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
"Governments, like married couples, are entitled to their secrets" has written Richard Cohen a few years back. Which secrets? Lines have to be drawn. A government shouldn't cover up crimes under the mantle of secrecy. It shouldn't conceal wrongful seizures and exercises of power. This government and the preceding one under Bush have concealed the fact that they were collecting information wrongfully, namely, information on private communications. The term "national security" cannot reasonably be invoked as an excuse for doing this because it's too vague, and almost anything can be construed as affecting "national security". The quest for catching terrorists cannot be offered as a reason because there are bounds on searches and invasions of privacy that have long standing and that specifically apply to government and policing activities. These governments have gone way beyond these bounds and then compounded their trespasses by attempting to keep them secret.
Monday, June 17, 2013
United Stasi of America through the Echelon Prism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Signals collection has a long secretive and enigmatic history. The very definition of espionage implies spying, most closely associated with foreign sources. Since the Echelon network, the unified function of data retrieval became a given during the cold war. With the revelation of Prism, advances in sophisticated electronic devices and software algorithms provide a major leap. The article, Is PRISM the US version of Echelon?, sums up the evolution. "With this kind of setup and ambition to capture and evaluate private conversations (well, not so private now), makes Echelon that much more believable, and that PRISM is a reflection of the infamous project, but focused solely on the US."
Monday, June 17, 2013
Ron Paul Warns - Obama's Syria Policy Looks a Lot Like Bush's Iraq Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama announced late last week that the US intelligence community had just determined that the Syrian government had used poison gas on a small scale, killing some 100 people in a civil conflict that has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. Because of this use of gas, the president claimed, Syria had crossed his "red line" and the US must begin to arm the rebels fighting to overthrow the Syrian government.
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Monday, June 17, 2013
NSA Big Brother “Pre-Crime” Artificial Intelligence Program / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
NSA spying whistleblower Edward Snowden’s statements have been verified. Reporter Glenn Greenwald has promised numerous additional disclosures from Snowden.
What other revelations are coming?
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Saturday, June 15, 2013
The US Spy Leviathan, Advice for Edward Snowden / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Thomas Drake, a former intelligence guy at the NSA, was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing secrets about the agency's massive warrantless wire-tapping program. The feds subsequently dropped all but a misdemeanor charge. He says the U.S. government has an "industrial-scale" surveillance system that "the Stasi in East Germany would have drooled over."
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Saturday, June 15, 2013
NSA Neocon Spying Agency - American's are Living in East Germany / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: In June, 1942, the United States Navy achieved one of history’s greatest naval triumphs over the Imperial Japanese Navy, thanks to a combination of brilliant leadership, plain good luck, and code-breaking.
US carrier-based dive bombers led by the intrepid Commander Wade McClusky Jr. swiftly sank three Japanese carriers. A fourth Japanese carrier was sunk soon after.
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Friday, June 14, 2013
The Demographic Death of the GOP / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Next year should be a banner year for the GOP, and may yet be.
Obamacare, a "train wreck" about to happen, says Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, goes into full effect Jan. 1, with the popular IRS as enforcer.
The Obama media feel betrayed by the secret intrusions on First Amendment rights. Libertarians see the National Security Agency's data mining as a massive violation of Fourth Amendment rights.
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
US Secret Police Secrets / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
It's obvious that Edward Snowden was able to copy massive amounts of NSA secret data because at Booz Allen he had access to it. He has specifically said he could have revealed NSA material damaging to the U.S. but chose not to do so. There are reports that "more explosive material" will be forthcoming from The Guardian. [Booz Allen is in reality a CIA-NSA subsidiary now and quite international, but I doubt they deal much with the military docs on the U.S. secret wars around the world.]
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
China Now A Safe Haven From The US Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Gary Gibson writes: As the USSA continues to devolve into a full blown police state empire the ironic keeps becoming the norm. So it is that a whistleblower has to take refuge from the secretive, tyrannical US government in totalitarian socialist China. Ah, but here I'm playing it fast and loose with what is considered to be China. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is actually in Hong Kong, which is technically part of China again though it remains semi-autonomous. Years of British rule left Hong Kong with a Western-stlye justic system that seems to be more in tact than the tattered one barely covering up the empire's naughty bits back in the US.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Mass Surveillance Dirty Secret - NSA Spying Doesn’t Work to Prevent Terrorism / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
William Binney knows as much about spying as anyone alive.
Binney – a 32-year National Security Agency veteran – is the former head of the NSA’s global digital data gathering program, and a very highly-regarded cryptographer.
Binney told Daily Caller yesterday that the spying “dragnet” being carried out by the government is useless:
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Monday, June 10, 2013
NSA Built Back Door In All Microsoft Windows Software Since 1999 / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
In researching the stunning pervasiveness of spying by the government (it’s much more wide spread than you’ve heard even now), we ran across the fact that the FBI wants software programmers to install a backdoor in all software.
Digging a little further, we found a 1999 article by leading European computer publication Heise which noted that the NSA had already built a backdoor into all Windows software:
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Monday, June 10, 2013
Ron Paul on NSA U.S. Government Spying: Should We Be Shocked? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week we saw dramatic new evidence of illegal government surveillance of our telephone calls, and of the National Security Agency's deep penetration into American companies such as Facebook and Microsoft to spy on us. The media seemed shocked.
Many of us are not so surprised.
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Friday, June 07, 2013
America's Stasi Collecting Your Phone Records / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Verizon is being forced by the government to disclose telephone records of all of its customers. Those of us who want our call records to be private are being forced to reveal them to the government. We can't keep them private even if we want to. What is wrong with the government spying on us in this way?
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Obama Warfare / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Redmond Weissenberger writes: Amid varying scandals in late May, President Obama gave a speech on foreign policy at the National Defense University (it's a dismaying sign when a university is dedicated to teaching the art of global war) highlighting his administration's goals when it comes to international conduct. Among flashing cameras and his handy teleprompter, Obama stressed the War on Terror will "come to an end at some point". He finally acknowledged his administration is responsible for the murder of four American citizens without due process - one of which was a sixteen year-old who committed no crime other than having a radicalized father. To top it off, the President assured the public he was going to enact strict measures so the vast killing authority he granted himself would not be abused by future Oval Office holders.
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Monday, June 03, 2013
Ron Paul - Iraq Collapse Shows Bankruptcy of American Interventionism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
May was Iraq's deadliest month in nearly five years, with more than 1,000 dead - both civilians and security personnel -- in a rash of bombings, shootings and other violence. As we read each day of new horrors in Iraq, it becomes more obvious that the US invasion delivered none of the promised peace or stability that proponents of the attack promised.
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Saturday, June 01, 2013
Welcome to the Electronic U.S. Concentration Camp / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
In conjunction with the upcoming release of his new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, John W. Whitehead sits down to discuss several "pressure points" that are threatening the Bill of Rights and undermining our essential freedoms. In part four of this special series, Whitehead examines the collusion between corporations and government officials in erecting a system of mass surveillance aimed at all Americans.
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Escaping from the United States Gulag / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
Argentines have a phrase, "mi lugar," for when you find your special place in this world – the perfect combination of place and people that entirely suits your nature. The phrase translates simply as "my place."
I was very fortunate in my early thirties to be able to spend three years on a quest for paradise on earth, visiting pretty much every country I thought might be a suitable candidate. It turns out, in hindsight, what I was really looking for was not paradise, but mi lugar.
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Monday, May 27, 2013
America's Global Gulag, Congressional Resistance against Presidential Despotism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The authoritarian arrogance of the executive branch is defined by their tyrannical decrees. As any reader of BREAKING ALL THE RULES commentary, knows all too well, the dictatorship of central planning and unlawful administration has hijacked our federalist form of a constitutional republic. The primacy of the legislature over the executive branch was always the intent of our founding fathers. Unfortunately, the exact reverse has taken hold in the den of inequity that holds court in Washington, DC.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Dumbing Down of U.S. Public School Curriculum / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
In addition to shredding civil liberties, launching a utopian global war for democracy, and going on a spending spree that would make LBJ blush, the so-called "conservative" Bush administration dramatically increased federal control over education via the "No Child Left Behind" act. During my time in Congress I heard nothing but complaints about this law from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, students and parents. Most of the complaints concerned No Child Left Behind's testing requirements, which encouraged educators to "teach to the test."
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
The 4th Turning - Millennials Will Replace the Baby Boomers / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
A confluence of events last week has me reminiscing about the days gone by and apprehensive about the future. I’ve spent a substantial portion of my adulthood rushing to baseball fields, hockey rinks, gymnasiums, and school auditoriums after a long day at work. I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed every moment. Watching eight year olds trying to throw a strike for two hours can become excruciatingly mind-numbing. But, the years of baseball, hockey, basketball, and band taught my boys life lessons about teamwork, sportsmanship, winning, losing, hard work, and having fun. There were championship teams, awful teams and of course trophies for finishing in 7th place. As my boys have gotten older and no longer participate in organized sports, the time commitment has dropped considerably. Last week was one of those few occasions where I had to rush home from work, wolf down a slice of pizza and head out to a school function. It was the annual 8th grade Spring concert.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Huge Discrepancy Between Investment Income and Public Liabilities / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
The difficulty of institutions that need cash for payment have grown acute during the chalk-brained professors' zero-interest-rate pogrom. Insurance companies are one victim, pension plans another. Looking specifically at defined-benefit pension plans, the plan sponsor (corporation, maybe, or municipality) is obligated to pay current and future retirees a specific dollar amount from now until a spouses' death.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Is This Obama's "Waterloo"? / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: You're reading it right now.
I'm calling it WII (WHY?), which stands for Washington Insights & Indictments.
Enjoy it.
It's likely to be a single issue.
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Stocks Go Long, Scandal! Keep 'Em Coming, Obama! / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: There's a lot of buzz that President Obama's current scandals - Benghazi, the IRS and the Department of Justice - may bring down the financial markets.
I disagree - if anything, they'll provide fuel for another leg up.
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Ron Paul - The IRS's Job Is To Violate Our Liberties / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
"What do you expect when you target the President?" This is what an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent allegedly said to the head of a conservative organization that was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Clinton. Recent revelations that IRS agents gave "special scrutiny" to organizations opposed to the current administration's policies suggest that many in the IRS still believe harassing the President's opponents is part of their job.
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Big Energy Siezing Landowner Property / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Julia Trigg Crawford of Direct, Texas, is the manager of a 650-acre farm that her grandfather first bought in 1948. The farm produces mostly corn, wheat, and soy. On its north border is the Red River; to the west is the Bois d’Arc Creek.
TransCanada is an Alberta-based corporation that is building the controversial Keystone Pipeline that will carry bitumen—thicker, more corrosive and toxic, than crude oil—through 36-inch diameter pipes from the Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast, mostly to be exported. The $2.3 billion southern segment, about 485 miles from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast is nearly complete. With the exception of a 300-mile extension between Cushing and Steele City, Neb., the rest of the $7 billion 1,959 mile pipeline is being held up until President Obama either succumbs to corporate and business pressures or blocks the construction because of environmental and health concerns.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Could Cuba’s Past Be America's Future? / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Jeff Thomas, International Man
An article was published in Uruguay that has received little notice outside of Latin America. This article refers to Cuban dissident Yoani Sánchez, also little known in the First World. Ms. Sánchez has recently been allowed to travel outside of Cuba for the first time, as a result of the elimination of "exit visas." The requirement for exit visas was imposed in 1961 to stop Cubans who opposed the then-new Castro regime from being able to leave Cuba. (Editor's note: The regime in Washington imposes an "exit tax" for certain Americans who renounce their citizenship.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
IRS as a Political Tax Hit Squad / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
When the Internal Revenue Service admits to violations of law by targeting limited government advocate organizations, you know that the non-divulged crimes are much worse. The discloser in the mainstream media is a pleasant astonishment. The usual pattern of protecting "Big Government" is still intact, while the noise and agency diversion on the abuses of the IRS avoid the fundamental problem with federal taxation, based upon a system of deductions, exemptions, incentives and grants. The extortion and intimidation in the enforcement of the tax code is the entrusted role assigned to the IRS by the political hacks that administer the social engineering experiment that is fundamentally changing America.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Why Obama's Syria 'Red' Line Turns Pink / Politics / US Politics
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Back in August 2012, things were a lot different in Washington DC and in the White House.
The Obama administration was brandishing a confident swagger back then, heading into the elections against a hobbling GOP opponent, and Benghazi had yet to unfold in all of its ugliness.
As Hillary Clinton was jetting around on the US State Department budget promoting her 'Friends of Syria' Middle East and European tours, and as the CIA were busy like bees working in the gray shadows of Benghazi, Washington and London were laying the groundwork for their new WMD case is Syria.
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Monday, May 13, 2013
Ron Paul on What No One Wants to Hear About Benghazi / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Congressional hearings, White House damage control, endless op-eds, accusations, and defensive denials. Controversy over the events in Benghazi last September took center stage in Washington and elsewhere last week. However, the whole discussion is again more of a sideshow. Each side seeks to score political points instead of asking the real questions about the attack on the US facility, which resulted in the death of US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Third World America / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker calls poverty America's "new growth industry." The state of today's America is deplorable.
In his latest May 3 analysis, economist John Williams said "April "employment and unemployment data were nonsense: the economy remains in serious trouble."
About 23% of Americans wanting work can't find it. Most jobs are temp or part-time low pay/poor or no benefit service ones with no futures. Conditions are getting worse, not better.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Americans Increasingly Scared of the US Terror State / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Daniel Patrick Welch writes: Syria, Libya and other US crimes invisible to financially scared Americans.
Watch Out, World! Even America’s Wealthy Are Losing Ground.
Cognitive dissonance among the US sub-elite means more war and death for everyone else.
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Thursday, May 09, 2013
America's Secret Government that Sows Evil Everywhere / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
US stocks continue to climb. The Dow has passed the 15,000 milestone. Gold, meanwhile, got smacked yesterday. It sank back to $1,448 per ounce.
What's ahead?
A mood of prophecy, perhaps brought on by a large helping of osso bucco from our local Italian restaurant, came over us last night. We looked into the future. And there we saw a grim world.
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Sunday, May 05, 2013
The Myth of U.S. Economic Recovery, Social Crisis in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
US stock markets surged Friday to new record highs as Wall Street traders seized on a tepid jobs report to engage in a fresh orgy of speculation.
The official line promoted by the Obama administration is that the United States is in the midst of an accelerating economic recovery. For the corporate and financial elite that runs America, and the section of the upper-middle class that hangs on its coattails, a soaring stock market is indeed what defines economic health. For the vast majority of the population, however, life five years after the Wall Street crash of 2008 is dominated by the daily struggle to make ends meet.
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Proof That Washington Hates America / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: Politics as usual has always been hard on the American people, but with the sequester, Washington has crossed the line this time.
All the sequester craziness has proven that our elected officials are not only inept, selfish, money-squandering bozos - they're also willing to actually inflict harm on the American people for political gain.
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Ron Paul - Why Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.
These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Old Are Prospering at the Expense of the Youth / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Billionaire financier and Home Depot founder Ken Langone guest-hosted Bloomberg TV's "Market Makers" today and discussed the U.S. economy, the Obama administration, generational theft, along with Wall Street banks and director pay.
On generational theft: "I like to get a bunch of old geezers in the room and say, you're on an island with your grandchild. You have one meal left. One of you is going to starve to death. What are you as a grandfather going to do? Everyone says, I give the food to my grandchild. They are not doing that now. We are not doing that now."
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
From New York to Boston, They Thought They Were Free / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Jorge Gato writes: ‘Twas an uneasy gut feeling that bid me to leave the Land of Milk & Honey several years ago. Something in the air didn’t smell right. The fascist frog pot has been steaming on low flame for a while now, but it is a slow simmer until you reach that exponential boiling point of no return. The recent turn of events has me somewhat startled (with fascination of course, as I shall fear no evil).
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Economic and Social Abnormality Reigns, American's Loving Their Servitude / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does. They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.” – Aldous Huxley – Brave New World Revisited
Monday, April 22, 2013
Ron Paul - How Congress Exploits Our Fears to Take Our Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week, as Americans were horrified by the attacks in Boston, both houses of Congress considered legislation undermining our liberty in the name of "safety." Gun control continued to be the focus of the Senate, where an amendment expanding federal "background checks" to gun show sales and other private transfers dominated the debate. While the background check amendment failed to pass, proponents of gun control have made it clear they will continue their efforts to enact new restrictions on gun ownership into law.
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Friday, April 19, 2013
Protect Your Wealth by Internationalizing Your Assets / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
Since writing The International Man in 1976, I've had quite a bit to say about internationalizing yourself. The book's subtitle was Making the Most of Your Personal Freedom and Financial Opportunity Around the World; but in going over past editions of our newsletters, I find that most of what I've written in recent years has been about the financial aspects of expatriation. Now seems a good time to confront the rest of the subject head on – the reasons to very seriously consider leaving your home country, and to do so now, not next year.
The International Man is long out of print, of course, and only available through used bookstores and finders (including amazon.com). While I'm obviously biased, it's actually still an excellent read, although the world is a different place and I've learned a few things since 1976. The book was directed to Americans, but found a fairly broad international market – becoming, among other things, the biggest-selling book in the history of Rhodesia. That, in and of itself, provides a bit of an object lesson in how things can change, I think.
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Sunday, April 14, 2013
Ron Paul - Why Can't We All Travel To Cuba? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this month, entertainers Jay-Z and Beyoncé were given a license by the US government to travel to Cuba. Because it is not otherwise legal for Americans to travel to Cuba, this trip was only permitted as a "cultural exchange" by the US Treasury Department. Many suspect that the permission was granted at least partly due to the fame, wealth, and political connections of the couple.
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Sunday, April 14, 2013
The Great U.S. Postal Fraud / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"One of the things the government can’t do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.” – Lee Iaccoca
You may have heard that the U.S. Post Office lost $16 BILLION last year. You may also have heard that Congress snuck a requirement into a bill that had nothing to do with the Post Office, mandating that they must deliver on Saturdays, even though eliminating Saturday delivery would save the Post Office $2 BILLION per year. Congress evidently can’t read a financial statement or interpret a chart. I’m sure the trends detailed on this chart will reverse themselves shortly.
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Quantifornication and the American Spring / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Ironic isn't it? A record number of people on food stamps yet new highs for stock indices. Below is an interesting question posed by Michael Snyder. The answer is very important to your future.
Read full article... Read full article..."If the economy is getting better, then why does poverty in America continue to grow so rapidly? Yes, the stock market has been hitting all-time highs recently, but also the number of Americans living in poverty has now reached a level not seen since the 1960s. Yes, corporate profits are at levels never seen before, but so is the number of Americans on food stamps. Yes, housing prices have started to rebound a little bit (especially in wealthy areas), but there are also more than a million public school students in America that are homeless...should we measure our economic progress by the false stock market bubble that has been inflated by Ben Bernanke's reckless money printing, or should we measure our economic progress by how the poor and the middle class are doing?" - Michael Snyder, infowars.com
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
America's Long War on North Korea / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
On July 27, 1953, the Korean War ended. An uneasy armistice persists. The heavily fortified 2.5 mile Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separates North and South. Occasional incidents occur.
Truman's war never ended. Its origin was misreported. IF Stone's Hidden History of the Korean War explained.
Monthly Review co-founders Leo Huberman and Paul Sweezy wrote in the preface:
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Zombie Apocolypse By Ben Bernanke / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Lance Burnham writes:
Is it a coincidence that the rise in popularity of zombie genre movies and shows( ie AMC Walking dead) is so high? In my opinion, it is a social manefestation of
what is happening economically in all the advanced economies of the west, led by the master of deception Ben Bernanke.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Natural Selection of American Citizens / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Fabian de Silva writes: Recently I read about a poll, which I believe was from Gallup, that asked if the president can target US citizens for assassination without due process on US soil. Seventy-eight percent of the respondents (all Americans) said, “Sure it’s fine with me if the president wants to murder me with a drone.” How nice to have nearly 8 out of 10 Americans be so altruistic, apparently believing that the president must have some valuable reason to murder them, so it’s okay with them to sacrifice their lives in the name of protection against terrorists, or something, I guess. It’s so noble for so many Americans to valiantly offer up their lives as martyrs to the president if their deaths will keep them safer, or something, I guess (72 virgins?).
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Totalitarianism is the New Normal / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: First it was a secret “kill list” on which Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama names those he wishes to be assassinated. The names included American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan who died in a drone strike in Yemen on September 30th, 2011. Neither was indicted or charged with a crime. They were killed as 'terrorists' at the discretion of one man whose signature now constitutes due process.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
America the Great Global Arms Dealer / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
The American imperial system incorporates much more than supporting the occasional coup or undertaking the occasional war. Coups, wars, assassinations and other forms of overt and covert violence and destabilization, while relatively common and consistent for the United States – compared to other major powers – are secondary to the general maintenance of a system of imperial patronage. A “stable” system is what is desired most by strategic planners and policy-makers, but this has a technical definition. Stability means that the populations of subject nations and regions are under “control” – whether crushed by force or made passive by consent, while Western corporate and financial interests have and maintain unhindered access to the “markets” and resources of those nations and regions. Since the 19th century development of America’s overseas empire, this has been referred to as the “Open Door” policy: as in, the door opens for American and other Western economic interests to have access to and undertake exploitation of resources and labour.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Neo-Con War Addiction Threatens America's Future / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
William Kristol knows what is wrong with the United States. As he wrote recently in the flagship magazine of the neo-conservatives, the Weekly Standard, the problem with the US is that we seem to have lost our appetite for war. According to Kristol, the troubles that have befallen us in the 20th century have all been the result of these periodic bouts of war-weariness, a kind of virus that we catch from time to time.
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Friday, March 22, 2013
Israel Lobby Goading a Gullible America Into War / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: As President Obama departed for Israel, there came a startling report. Bashar Assad's regime had used poison gas on Syrian rebels.
Two Israeli Cabinet members claimed credible evidence. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said, "It's clear for us that (gas is) being used. ... This ... should be on the table in the discussions."
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Military Industrial Complex Stimulus Program is Undeterred / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Is there a panic on the Potomac? The Congress has turned into a wailing wall just to hear all the moans about threatened cuts in what is patriotically known as our Defense budget.
Never mind that many of the cuts were ordered from above because the people at the top know how much they have to slash given all the waste, planned obsolescence and other waste they can afford to trim before they cut the bone or some hostile force can bring us to our knees.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Paul Ryan Magical Mystery Chop, Dice, and Slice Budget / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
In 2011, before he was the Republican nominee for vice-president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) proposed a federal budget. He called it, “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise.”
Two years later, now in his second year as chair of the House budget committee, he dusted off and polished his old proposal. He calls this one: “The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible Balanced Budget.” His plan is to cut the federal deficit by $4.6 trillion in four years, reducing the deficit to about $12.1 trillion.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Ron Paul - U.S. Congressional Budget Debate Is Just A Sideshow / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Federal spending once again dominated the debate in Washington last week, as House Republicans and Senate Democrats began work on their ten-year budget plans. Contrary to claims, neither party's budget reduces spending. While the Republican plan increases spending a little less than the Democrat plan, it would still spend $5 trillion in 2023, an almost two trillion dollar increase over this year's budget.
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Sunday, March 17, 2013
America's Criminal War on Iraq 10th Anniversary / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: This month marks the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War.
In October, 2002, I wrote a cover-story about Iraq for the first issue of American Conservative magazine, entitled "The March to Folly." My article predicted the impending invasion of Iraq would be a disaster for all concerned.
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Saturday, March 16, 2013
Sequester Holding Americans Hostage / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Judges who wish to assure that a jury has no outside influence will sequester them.Legally, a sequestered jury is seized by authority and isolated from all outside influences.
The jurors are escorted into and out of the courtroom. They aren’t allowed to read newspapers, listen to radio news, or watch TV news, ’lest they could be influenced by the media. They are escorted to and from meals, and isolated from other customers. They can’t discuss the case with family or friends. They can’t even go home at the end of the day; they’re housed in hotel rooms.
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Friday, March 15, 2013
The Great Society is Dead / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
The complicity by both US political parties in a collaborative zeal to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is now "on the table" for all to view after each group unveiled their budget plans during the week of March 11. As a senior citizen, once an executive making three figures per hour and now living below the poverty line, constricted by multiple sclerosis in a US state run by a Tea Party Express Governor, Mr. "X" says he feels like someone living on death row.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
An Orwellian America, Unsound Money Leads To Statism / Politics / US Politics
By: Gordon_T_Long
Macro Insights - March 2013
As a young man, I voraciously read George Orwell's "1984", Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and Alvin Toffler's trilogy which included "Future Shock", "The Third Wave" and "Power Shift". During the era of the Vietnam War, I wondered seriously about the future and how it was destined to unfold. Now being considerably older, I have the vantage point to reflect back on my early ruminations and expectations. Unfortunately, I am too old to alter the lessons that are now so painfully obvious. Instead, I pass the gauntlet to those who can understand and take action on what I have unavoidably come to expect for America.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Economic Zombie Apocalypse, End of Civilisation is Here! / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Gary Gibson writes: The end of civilization is already here. Most of humanity has been turned into an unthinking mass of economic zombies that are looking to feast on the still living flesh of the few survivors. This may explain the increasing popularity or obsession with all things zombie. From fiction to pub crawls, the zombie apocalypse seems to be on a lot of minds, probably as an unconcious manifestation of economic reality.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Ron Paul on Congress, Drones, and The Imperial Presidency / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the US Senate took a break from debating the phony cuts known as "sequestration," for Senator Rand Paul to hold a 13-hour filibuster to force the Obama administration to state whether it believes the President has the right to kill American citizens with drones on US soil. I find it tragic that there has to be a discussion on an issue that should be so self-evident.
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Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Economics of Gun Control / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Money and guns, often goes together. Sometimes used for the protection of cash, other times made on the sales and use of guns and ammo. Manufactured and sold openly, weapons of every description are a stable in the marketplace. Yet, firearms seem especially targeted for ownership extinction by law-abiding citizens. Ironically, the public purchases of personal pistols, rifles and shotguns are systematically restricted and regulated, while law enforcement officials add the latest in advanced ordinances to their arsenals. The obvious message is that the government is preparing for war against their own citizens.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Is the U.S. Becoming a Banana Republic / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Pento
It is sad to say there are just two reasons why the U.S. is not yet a banana republic. The first reason is that the US dollar has not yet lost its world’s reserve currency status, which is helping to keep interest rates at record low levels. If the dollar, yen and euro were not involved in a currency war, the dollar’s intrinsic decline would become much more evident, causing domestic inflation to soar, and our bond market to immediately collapse.
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Monday, March 04, 2013
Ron Paul - Sequester 'Crisis', What Should Be Done / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Despite what the media and politicians would have us believe, the United States did not collapse last Friday when the package of spending reductions known as "sequestration" went into effect. The financial markets hardly blinked, as they have come to be more skeptical about these periodic government-hyped "crises."
What had been portrayed as a drastic reduction in government spending was merely a decrease in the projected rate of increase in government spending over the next decade. Under sequestration, government spending increases by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion without it.
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Friday, March 01, 2013
Washington's Biggest Sequestration Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: Though we've come to expect no better from our leaders in Washington, the sequestration lies rank among the most blatant whoppers ever to come out of the nation's capital.
Sequestration, of course, is the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to go into effect at midnight Friday.
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Friday, March 01, 2013
U.S.A A.D. 2013 - The Worst of Times? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
We got a rare moment today – it’s what I’m going to call a truth nugget. Anyone who reads this column or any one of several hundred others already knows this, but as you all well know there is nothing to see until the mainstream press declares it to be so. Today we were finally told that no, there will be no exit from the not-so-USFed’s quantitative easing program. Ever. Like I said before, this is no revelation; anyone with even the slightest of brainwaves could easily figure this out without the watchful, benevolent guidance of CNBC.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Inflation and Taxes…More and More Coming / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Ed Bugos writes: “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” — Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book, 1964)
I don’t think anyone can truly understand the idea of freedom without understanding why a shrinking group of Americans cherish their 2nd amendment rights so passionately. Obama says that the voices of dead children compel change, by which he means to disarm Americans at a faster pace.
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Machine Gun Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: Investment_U
Andrew Snyder writes: The soldier’s hands never moved from the butt of the machine gun as his patrol slowly passed by. And yet nobody in the camo-clad group would make eye contact with me. It was a sign their duty was symbolic – true killers wouldn’t mind the life behind a person’s eyes; they only see a target.
But the patrol did its job. As the soldiers drove off into the dusty Mexican countryside, I was intimidated. I knew the government controlled the streets. And somebody was willing to kill to keep it that way.
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Ron Paul on U.S. Tyranny for the Good of its Victims / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
When They Came for the Raw Milk Drinkers...
While I oppose most gun control proposals, there is one group of Americans I do believe should be disarmed: federal agents. The use of force by federal agents to enforce unjust and unconstitutional laws is one of the major, albeit overlooked, threats to liberty. Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Murderers Decorated With Medals / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Laurence M. Vance writes: "Murder decorated with a ribbon is still murder." ~ Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
In my previous article ("Hero or Murderer?") I said that a soldier from a country thousands of miles away who travels to the United States and kills Americans is a murderer. But I also said that American soldiers who do the same thing are not heroes but murderers. I said that foreign soldiers should not be excused no matter who told them to go or why they went. But I also said that American soldiers should not be excused either.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Why the Power Elite Will Lose Power / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
The best description of the reversal of fortune is Mary's Magnificat, recorded in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 46-55. "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (v. 52).
This was a fundamental theme in the Old Testament. We are told that those who hold their position by means of political power and corruption always lose their position. They are always overthrown. They look unbeatable. They are always defeated. The prophets of Israel came before kings and commoners with this message. Isaiah 1 is a good example. Isaiah even identified a major technique of the power elite: inflation. "Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water" (Isa 1:22).
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Obama's State of the Delusion Speech, US Adrift At Sea / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”– Friedrich Nietzsche
The big story this past week, besides the annual State of the Delusion speech by Barack “It won’t add a cent to the deficit” Obama, was the fate of the passengers on the Carnival Triumph as their skyscraper sized ship was left adrift at sea for days without power. This 900 foot long, 100,000 ton goliath is one of the largest passenger cruise liners in the world, carrying 3,400 passengers and 1,100 crew members in luxurious splendor through warm Gulf of Mexico seas to sun drenched exotic isles.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Ron Paul on the U.S. Drone Threat / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week, Senators threatened to put a "hold" on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director over his refusal to answer questions about the use of drones to kill Americans on US soil. That the president's nominee to head the agency that has used drones to kill perhaps thousands overseas could not deny their possible use at home should be shocking. How did we get to this point?
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
Pentagon Creates Medal to Honor Drone Killers / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
John Glaser writes: The Defense Department has decided to create a medal to honor US soldiers who sit at a computer and operate armed, unmanned vehicles bombing people thousands of miles away.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday announced that the Pentagon can award the Distinguished Warfare Medal to drone operators, because although they are far from any battlefield, they have a direct impact on combat operations.
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Saturday, February 16, 2013
The Educated Socialism of Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: DailyWealth
Porter Stansberry writes: In Wednesday's essay, I laid out the "great lie" that is bankrupting America.
At the heart of this lie – told by so many of our political leaders and believed by so many of my fellow citizens – is a horrifying turn of events. As I mentioned, the drive for freedom and a better life through hard work, saving, and independence has been replaced by a craven need for the illusion of security.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Notes from the New War Generation / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
I was born in 1991. I’ve lived over half my life in a nation at war.
Starting in 2001, when I was just ten years old, the War on Terror and it’s two biggest projects to date, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, have shaped my view of war as a regular facet of life, a part of being an American. It’s just something that we do. This puts me in an unfortunately un-special class of about 90 million U.S. citizens who can lay claim to this bitter benchmark, one that grows each year as more blood is shed and lives torn apart in the fog of perpetual war. Though we’ve seen no bombs fall or bullets fired in front of our eyes, we are most certainly a product of war’s specter, albeit in a different sense than our grandparents were.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
President Obama's State of the Union Address Fuzzy on Maths / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night was high on rhetoric but short on math.
As with most Obama speeches, it was beautifully delivered. However, even where I agreed with the ideas, I couldn't quell a nagging suspicion that the numbers simply didn't add up, and indeed likely missed by a lot.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
U.S. Rogue State Business / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
Noam Chomsky's new book with David Barsamian 'Power Systems' keeps up appearances in what we can call Rogue State Business, Chomsky's line of business for more than 30 yeas. This business is perhaps in a downturn, but not yet in recession. Defining the difference is easy: being glad when the neighbors lost their jobs, and you didn't, is the American definition of an economic downturn but not, definitely not a recession. Only when you lose your job, is it a recession.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Obama’s Expanding Kill List / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Prosecutors always expand laws far beyond their intent. Attorneys in civil cases do the same. For example, the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was passed in order to make it easier for the government to convict members of the Mafia. However, the law, despite its intent, was quickly expanded by prosecutors and attorneys and used in cases against pro-life activists, Catholic bishops, corporations accused of hiring illegal immigrants, and in divorce cases. “Junk bond king” Michael Milken, a person with no ties to organized crime, was threatened with indictment under the RICO Act. Prosecutors have found that the asset freeze provision in the Act is a convenient way to prevent a defendant from being able to pay attorneys and, therefore, makes it easier for prosecutors to coerce innocent defendants into a guilty plea.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Obama's State of the Union Speech to Disguise True Agenda / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler wrotes: In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, U.S. President Barack Obama will risk the ire of Republicans by telling the nation the government needs to spend more money to restore economic prosperity.
President Obama will spend much of his fifth State of the Union address outlining several new initiatives aimed at bringing relief to middle-class Americans hard hit by the Great Recession, White House officials have told several major news organizations.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Should Americans Emigrate or Defect? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Anyone planning to permanently leave the US should give deep thought to whether they are emigrating or defecting.
The two concepts have so much in common that they tend to blur together. They may be best viewed as two extremes of the same axis upon which people can 'grade' themselves. But there is a significant difference between the attitude, motives, and actions of a straightforward emigrant versus a defector. And where you stand on the axis affects the most important aspect of who you are: How do you evaluate yourself?
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Monday, February 11, 2013
The 7 Biggest Obamacare Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: As more of the 2009 healthcare reform law becomes reality, Americans are learning the hard way that many of the biggest Obamacare promises were Obamacare lies.
In retailing, they call this sort of thing "bait-and-switch," and it's against the law.
In Washington, it's called "business as usual."
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
Ron Paul Warns - Beware The Consequences of Pre-Emptive War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last year more US troops died by suicide than died in combat in Afghanistan. More than 20 percent of military personnel deployed to combat will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some 32 percent of US soldiers reported depression after deployments. More than 20 percent of active-duty military are on potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs; many are on multiple types. Violent crime among active duty military members increased 31 percent between 2006-2011.
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Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Is America a Police State Yet? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: If you need to ask the question, then the answer is “yes”. But that is a glib response and I do not feel glib about America's slide through the nine rings of political hell.
A police state is generally defined as a totalitarian government that exerts extreme and pervasive social, political and economic control over peaceful citizens. Ayn Rand called it “the ultimate inversion...the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission.”
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Tuesday, February 05, 2013
United Statism of Amerika / Politics / US Politics
By: Gordon_T_Long
In 'The Road to Serfdom', F.A. Hayek showed how governments, supported by a collectivist mindset, always tend towards totalitarianism. Even the most libertarian government thus far created, the government of the United States, has slipped incrementally towards totalitarianism over the past two centuries, more noticeably since 911 and most alarmingly since the 2008 financial crisis. This is because it is an inherent trait of a government. Planned or random crisis events inevitably accelerate the process.
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
The Potemkin Village In New Orleans / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
With this year’s Super Bowl it looks like the Powers That Be realized they could stop pretending that the Super Bowl had become anything but a chance to unite their financially, ethically, and spiritually bankrupted subjects in worship of the militaristic imperial state and into acceptance of the state's push toward complete power over their lives. The whole show has become an embarrassing parallel of the circuses of the late Roman Empire.
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Ron Paul Warns Immigration 'Reform' Will Turn the US into a Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Whenever the federal government decides to reform something we can be fairly sure that the problem is about to get worse, especially if they call the plan bi-partisan. The bi-partisan immigration reform proposal launched last week in the US Senate will be no different.
The new plan, introduced by Sens. McCain and Schumer, would provide a path to citizenship for many of those in the United States illegally. This would only begin after the borders are deemed secure and applicants have paid fees for their illegal entry. They must also pay back taxes on their earnings while working here without government permission. Those on a path to citizenship would be subject to background checks and would be monitored while in the US.
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Monday, February 04, 2013
How the Soviet Union Nearly Lost Russia It's Vodka / Politics / US Politics
By: Pravda
Russian vodka is a word combination that everyone is familiar with. Vodka is a product that represents Russia on the international market. Around the world, many people believe that vodka can be only Russian. However, there was an incident, when Russia had to prove its "copyright" for the beverage at court. At first, the brand attracted the attention of descendants of Russian immigrants. Afterwards, Poland stated that vodka was its national product.
Monday, February 04, 2013
The Real History of US CIA 60 Year Aggression Against Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
David Swanson writes:
According to one theory, U.S.-Iranian relations began around November 1979 when a crowd of irrational religious nutcases violently seized the U.S. embassy in Iran, took the employees hostage, tortured them, and held them until scared into freeing them by the arrival of a new sheriff in Washington, a man named Ronald Reagan.
From that day to this, according to this popular theory, Iran has been run by a bunch of subhuman lunatics with whom rational people couldn't really talk if they wanted to. These monsters only understand force. And they have been moments away from developing and using nuclear weapons against us for decades now. Moments away, I tell you!
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Friday, February 01, 2013
Restoring the Articles of Confederation America’s Last Chance to Control Washington / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
Americans demanding a return to limited government, a balanced budget and an end to spiraling sovereign debt have been voting for the GOP for decades and the result has been total failure on all counts. To accomplish these goals we really must turn the government structure back to our first government model, the Articles of Confederation, so the centers of real power are at the state rather than the federal level. Since 1913, it has been very easy, between maintaining the two-party monopoly and buying off Congress, for the power elite to control leviathan from the top down. This would be far more difficult if power, authority and programs were decentralized and returned to control of the individual states.
Friday, February 01, 2013
Too Late to Leave the U.S.? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: The Ex-PATRIOT Act lies like a coiled snake on a table in the U.S. Senate. The longer title of this unenacted bill from 2012 is the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy Act. Its self-description is, "A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that persons renouncing citizenship for a substantial tax avoidance purpose shall be subject to tax and withholding on capital gains, to provide that such persons shall not be admissible to the United States, and for other purposes."
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Trillion Dollar Babies / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Redmond Weissenberger writes:
“Million dollar baby, Billion dollar baby, Zillion dollar baby, Trillion dollar baby.” — Alice Cooper, 1973
With the US Congress once again chomping at the bit to raise the limit on government borrowing, it has become exceedingly comical to watch as what was once the world’s leading economic power print, borrow, and spend its way down the path of failed states. For all their talk of scaling back Leviathan, Republicans in the House of Representatives tucked in their tails and voted to raise the debt ceiling to ensure Wall Street and welfare clingers will still get paid. If this sad display of dishonesty isn’t enough to convince you the dollar is on its way out, I don’t know what will.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The Failure of the Iranian Sanctions / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
In light of President Barack Obama’s nomination of Senator Chuck Hagel for U.S. Secretary of Defense, the issue of Iran — and the economic sanctions, in particular — promises to stay in play. Hagel has been lambasted by the neo-conservatives and some hard-line supporters of Israel for daring to question (in the past) that sanctions are the best way to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Well, as it turns out, the sanctions have failed to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. Indeed, sanctions have a long history of failure.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Ron Paul - U.S. Action in Mali is Another Undeclared War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama last week began his second term by promising that "a decade of war is now ending." As he spoke, the US military was rapidly working its way into another war, this time in the impoverished African country of Mali. As far as we know, the US is only providing transport and intelligence assistance to France, which initiated the intervention then immediately called Washington for back-up and funding. However, even if US involvement is limited, and, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, US boots on the ground are not being considered "at this time," this clearly is developing into another war. As usual, the mission is creeping.
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Obama's Endless Nonsense About Equality When Inequality is the Clear Fact / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: "Second Term Begins With a Sweeping Agenda for Equality," ran the eight-column banner in which The Washington Post captured the essence of Obama's second inaugural. There he declared:
"What binds this nation together ... what makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago."
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
President Obama Falls for a Fallacy / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
In his second inaugural address, President Obama made a series of direct and indirect references to the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents to make his case for collective (read: state) action. In doing so, he fell into the fallacy of argument ad antiquitatem – an illegitimate appeal to ages past in order to justify present and future actions.
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Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wall Street Kow Tows To Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
In 2008, Goldman Sachs executives and employees were the largest single Wall Street backers of the president, but by 2012 things had changed. Obama had "meddled with the free market", or perhaps had not been generous enough with billion dollar bailouts, the chemistry wasn't right. Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street heavyweights gave $21 million to Mitt Romney, more than any other presidential candidate since the USA's modern campaign system began in 1976, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
USA 2013 - The Existing Social Order Will be Swept Away / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
After digesting the opinions of the shills, shysters and scam artists, I am ready to predict that I have no clue what will happen during 2013. The weekend weather last week was a perfect analogy for attempting to forecast the future. The professional highly educated meteorologists predicted sunny warm weather, just as the PhD Wall Street paid economist mouthpieces assure the multitudes 2013 will be the year when zero interest rates and $1.2 trillion deficits will finally lead to sunny economic skies. Instead, the weekend was overcast and damp. As I was writing this article and watching the miraculous Baltimore Ravens comeback against Denver, I received a two minute warning from my wife. I had to pick up my son and his buddies at the Montgomery Mall. As I pulled the car out of the garage, I backed out into fog that was thicker than pea soup. I’ve driven the roads to the Montgomery Mall hundreds of times, but the fog was so thick I couldn’t see ten feet ahead. I drove hesitantly, wondering what might be just over the horizon or what might dart out from a side street. I see 2013 as a year of maneuvering through thick fog with startling apparitions lurking to surprise us and force a deviation in our normal course. As I proceeded cautiously through the murky mist there were few cars on the roads and the strip centers and fast food joints resembled haunted houses and grave yards. I expected to see Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and Wolfman panhandling on the corners.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
American's Don't Worry About Your Guns, There Is Nothing Left To Defend / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Jim Karger writes: "And, to you tough-talking Neo-Cons with your AR-15 rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammo, here is reality: they will take your guns, and no, all your Second Amendment bluster aside, you are not going to do anything about it. You are not going to take on a platoon of Marines with state of the art automatic weapons and the best body armor you cannot buy protected by armed personnel carriers and attack helicopters unless you choose to die that day -- for nothing.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Obama Says We Will Respond To Threat, The Democrats Revenge / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
OBAMA TOUGH ON TERROR
In his inaugural address for his second and last presidential mandate, 21 January, president Obama made it clear he was going to take an aggressive line, for the 1461 days of his second mandate, on what he described as a threat so massive and so grave that "failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.”
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
UK Moves Away from the European Project / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Adriano Bosoni writes: British Prime Minister David Cameron will deliver a speech in London on Jan. 23, during which he will discuss the future of the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union. Excerpts leaked to the media suggest that harsh EU criticism will figure prominently in the speech, a suggestion in keeping with Cameron's recent statements about the bloc. But more important, the excerpts signal an unprecedented policy departure: renegotiating the United Kingdom's role in the European Union. London has negotiated exemptions from some EU policies in the past, even gaining some concessions from Brussels in the process; this time, it is trying to become less integrated with the bloc altogether.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Inaugural Address: What Obama Did Not Say / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
Like many others I listened to President Obama's second Inaugural Address yesterday.There were of some higher moments, broader themes, and an emphasis on the positive. I struggled to find 'the memorable phrase' that would be repeated and quoted in the particular. I have one or two candidates. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 21, 2013
Ron Paul on the Coming Debt Limit Drama: Government Wins, We Lose / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week President Obama bluntly warned Congress that he will not negotiate when it comes to raising the statutory debt limit. If Republicans attempt to use a debt ceiling vote to win concessions on spending from the White House, Mr. Obama threatens simply to raise the limit by executive order or other unilateral action.
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Monday, January 21, 2013
The Institutionalization of Tyranny / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Republicans and conservative Americans are still fighting Big Government in its welfare state form. Apparently, they have never heard of the militarized police state form of Big Government, or, if they have, they are comfortable with it and have no objection.
Republicans, including those in the House and Senate, are content for big government to initiate wars without a declaration of war or even Congress’ assent, and to murder with drones citizens of countries with which Washington is not at war. Republicans do not mind that federal “security” agencies spy on American citizens without warrants and record every email, Internet site visited, Facebook posting, cell phone call, and credit card purchase. Republicans in Congress even voted to fund the massive structure in Utah in which this information is stored.
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Monday, January 21, 2013
President Obama's Inauguration Day / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: What a difference a term in office makes.
Look at the picture yesterday of the President becoming president again in an oval office ceremony surrounded only by his family swearing an oath administered by a Chief Justice he should be swearing at.
Today what fans turn up will cheer him on, but the die seems to be cast.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
Sandy Hook Solutions / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
How do people ever begin to redeem the suffering of twenty tiny souls? What can help diminish the horrible images Americans will long have of that terrible day the week before Christmas at Sandy Hook elementary school?In our modern world the answer, as always, is curative legislation. Legislation is the natural offspring of senseless tragedy wherever it might occur.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
Does it Take Another Civil War? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
To think that twenty young children massacred in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14 would become catalysts to accelerate the continuing disintegration of American society was unconscionable on December 14th - and it remains unconscionable. While the nation fell into shock followed by grief, many wrote on the web, "Obama's gonna take away guns!" The narcissism of "2nd Amen" cultists is without boundaries it appears; to wit: the NRA rallies.
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Friday, January 18, 2013
President Obama Shoots Himself in the Foot on Gun Contro / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
North’s law of knee-jerk politics is this: “When you become a knee-jerk politician, you will eventually shoot yourself in the foot.” This is what President Obama has just done. He has decided that he is going to make gun control one of his two major issues.
The first issue is getting the House of Representatives to raise the debt ceiling. He has made it clear that he will not compromise in any way.
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
Tim Geithner, the King of a Cloud Cuckoo Land Stock Market / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
On January 25, Timothy Geithner will step down as US Treasury Secretary. A lot of people will say and write a lot of things about him at that point, and it sounds like a good idea to be ahead of the game and provide some perspective.
There are voices claiming (there will be many more, promise) that Geithner pulled us out of the recession and the crisis, and saved the economy. That seems presumptuous. It may just as well be true that Geithner has fooled us into thinking that. Just because the stock markets are pulling through so far doesn't mean, let alone prove, that the economy has recovered or been saved. You would need something better, more substantial than that. While acknowledging that relatively strong stock market numbers are at least in potential a great way indeed to fool people about the economy.
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
How Does the System of the Crooks Operate In America and Why Worry About It? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jas_Jain
Early in the morning, I watched an interview on Bloomberg with Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who just became a voting member on FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee, but it is more of a Foul Open Mouth Committee because these days they talk on TV lot more than they deliberate in the meeting, i.e., they are in propaganda business). Bill Cohan (that is the correct spelling according to Bloomberg), who had worked on Wall Street before the Crisis of 2008 and these days he is a Bloomberg commentator after writing a book on the Crisis, was infuriated after the interview because "all that the Fed is doing is enriching the banks." (Rosengren being the most supportive of Fed doing more QE, i.e., he is left of the left interventionist).
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Ron Paul On Obama's New National Security Team, Keep Your Eye on the Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama announced his choices for key national security posts this past week, and there has been both celebration and gnashing of teeth in Washington and around the country. There is widespread belief that either or both of these nominees will have an immediate and profound effect on US policy. However, this belief is really just a mistaken over-emphasis on personnel over policy. We should not forget that cabinet secretaries serve the president, and not the other way around.
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Monday, January 14, 2013
Gun Confiscation - Last Refuge of the Tyrant / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Few polarizing subjects are more hotly debated than gun control. Usually lost in the fray of emotional diatribes to ban guns, are the historic empirical foundations of our forefathers who fought a revolution to escape from imperial tyranny. The true reality in today’s AmeriKa is that individual liberty is the most despised activity that any citizen can exert in their lives. Both the popular state worship culture and the authoritarian hoodlums that run the government are so fearful of armed independent citizens, that they are eager to burn the Bill of Rights. Face it, the government is committed to force you to be a ward of the state and will kill you if you resist.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
“Zero Dark Thirty” Torturing the Facts / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Marjorie Cohn writes: On January 11, eleven years to the day after George W. Bush sent the first detainees to Guantanamo, the Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty is making its national debut. Zero Dark Thirty is disturbing for two reasons. First and foremost, it leaves the viewer with the erroneous impression that torture helped the CIA find bin Laden’s hiding place in Pakistan. Secondarily, it ignores both the illegality and immorality of using torture as an interrogation tool.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Obama's Third Term? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Jim Karger writes: This piece started with a note:
"Karger, they want to make Obama the King (officially) by rescinding the 22nd Amendment. Sounds like a legal issue to me. You want to take it on? — Berwick"
Not really, I thought.
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Friday, January 11, 2013
Robin Hood is Dying, The Assassination Of Chavez / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
On one hand a cruise through business news media like Bloomberg will tell you that the probable near-term disappearance of Hugo Chavez has put at least $7 billion-worth of oil and gas projects in jeopardy, in Venezuela. On the other hand the left-wing and conspiracy-theme media says that the Venezuelan president's previous track record of escaping kidnap and assassination attempts may or may not work another time. He might have received, like Yasser Arafat, a large dose of Polonium 230 or some other beta emitter toxic heavy metal such as radioactive lead, cobalt, cesium, thorium or uranium which are found in the effluent streams and waste ponds of nearly all uranium mines. Supply is no problem!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Is American Justice Dead? / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
Every nation-state has a body of laws woven into the fabric of society. As Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has commented on extensively, the stronger the rule of law, the stronger the economy.
And by "stronger" laws, I mean laws that are impervious to tampering for personal or political gains. The connection between a sound judiciary and economic health is readily comprehensible, except maybe to a politician… businesses and individuals are far more likely to invest capital in a country with understandable laws that are impartially and universally enforced than if the opposite condition exists.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013
America, You're Being Punked / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
We've sort of run out of ways to describe the skewed perceptions and/or skewed realities of the politico-financial world we inhabit. Metaphors like Bizarro World, Kabuki theater and Theater of the Absurd have come and long gone and are now used only by those who missed out first time around.
But that doesn't mean it's all become less weird; if anything, one gets the feeling the media in general are becoming more complacent if not complicit painting a picture for the general public that's at best make believe and in all other cases border on Orwell. There's a veneer an inch thick (and getting thicker fast) that makes things look sort of normal, just check the economy, and below that there's an increasingly nasty brew boiling and a-festering.
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Sunday, January 06, 2013
Institutionalized Inequality in America: Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Millions of Americans face lump of coal harshness this holiday season. It’s no different throughout the year. Annually, things get worse.
Hard times reflect what growing numbers endure. Bipartisan complicity bears full responsibility.
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Sunday, January 06, 2013
Ron Paul on Fiscal Cliff Deal Hypocrite Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
Here is a post on Facebook a couple days ago that is worth a read in entirety. I will post the entire article along with a few thoughts.
We Are Already Over the Fiscal Cliff by Ron Paul
Read full article... Read full article...Despite claims that the Administration and Congress saved America from the fiscal cliff with an early morning vote today, the fact is that government spending has already pushed Americans over the cliff. Only serious reductions in federal spending will stop the cliff dive from ending in a crash landing, yet the events of this past month show that most elected officials remain committed to expanding the welfare-warfare state.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Congress Avoids the Fiscal Cliff by Selling Us Down the River / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
With the possible exception of the New York Times' editorial board (and the cast of The Jersey Shore), everyone on the planet understood that the United States Government needs to cut spending, increase taxes, or both. Instead, after months of political posturing and hand wringing, the Federal Government has just delivered the exact opposite, a deal that increases spending and decreases taxes. The move lays bare the emptiness of budget legislation, which can be dismantled far easier than it can be constructed.
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Monday, December 31, 2012
Ron Paul's New Year's Resolutions for Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
to consider. For the sake of liberty, peace, and prosperity I certainly hope more members of Congress consider the strict libertarian constitutional approach to government in 2013.
In just a few days, Congress will solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. They should reread Article 1 Section 8 and the Bill of Rights before taking such a serious oath. Most legislation violates key provisions of the Constitution in very basic ways, and if members can't bring themselves to say no in the face of pressure from special interests, they have broken trust with their constituents and violated their oaths. Congress does not exist to serve special interests, it exists to protect the rule of law.
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Monday, December 31, 2012
Preppers, Patriots and Pirates / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Now that the prospects of a second Obama administration are hitting home, the pace of a rapid deterioration are confronting all thinking Americans. The radical transformation that is centrally planned for the economy and authoritarianism administrated by the statists that are part of the most tyrannical regime in memory, is taking place before our eyes. Falling off the cliff is more like descending into the abyss of martial law contrived to eliminate the last remnants of independent citizens. Advocating for civil liberties is treated as a criminal act and the gun culture is looked upon as the preview of a terrorist cell.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
No More Left-Right Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
TRASH POLITICS - THE DEFAULT CHOICE
The morph of old-style politics in almost all Western countries brings daily proof of how far the rot has gone. The end result is NAP-No Alternative Politics, an amorphous New Left-New Right mess hiding the basic refusal to govern: for this, voters and taxpayers are supposed to be thankful.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Empires of Illusion and the Credibility Trap / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
I came across a nice, compact interview with Chris Hedges which illuminates his thesis of the decline of the American Empire and the illusory thinking that accompanies it. Can the shock and meltdown of Karl Rove on election night be any better contemporary illustration of the power of selective thinking to delude a group of seemingly rational people to their own downfall?
Friday, December 28, 2012
I love guns. God bless America / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
I want Americans to be armed to the teeth. In addition to practical and constitutional reasons for wanting an armed citizenry, I admit to having an emotional attachment to America’s gun culture. I’ll just come out and I say it: I love guns.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Chicken / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Talk show hosts and other bloviators have spent hours giving their versions of the fiscal cliff. In fewer than 750 words, I’ll explain the truth. Taxes and the deficit are intertwined. If Congress can’t come up with a plan to solve those problems, the U.S. will jump into the abyss of a deeper recession than existed under the latter years of the Bush–Cheney administration.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Hilarious Comedy Behind John Boehner's Fiscal Cliff "Plan B" / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
I am laughing right now, really.
I am laughing because of what happened last week. I am laughing that House Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" for the Fiscal Cliff wasn't even voted on.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Gun Control and Genocide / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Sunday, April 24th marked the 90th anniversary of the first genocide of the twentieth century: the Turkish government's slaughter of over a million unarmed Armenians. The key word is "unarmed."
The Turks got away with it under the cover of wartime. They suffered no greater postwar reprisals for this act of genocide than if they had not conducted mass murder of a peaceful people.
Other governments soon took note of this fact. It seemed like such a convenient international precedent.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Government's Most Dangerous Threat to Your Privacy / Politics / US Politics
By: DailyWealth
Three powerful forces have come together to dismantle the privacy of U.S. citizens...
First, government programs and regulations have formed the foundation of a massive tracking grid for all individuals. It has passed laws that give it sweeping "snooping" authority... It can now legally peer deeper into our daily lives than ever before.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Toxic Nationalism Or Natural Reaction? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
THE RENTACROWD LIBERALS SAY
In a recent 'Wall Street Journal' opinion piece, Robert Kaplan wrote: "Western elites believed that universal values are trumping the forces of reaction. They wax eloquent about the triumph of human rights, women's liberation, social media, financial markets, international and regional organizations and all the other forces that are breaking down boundaries separating humanity". He went on to say this is great for producing Me Tooism - but only for elites - on a global scale. Calling nationalism and national identity "regressive and exclusivist", Kaplan then sheds liberal tears for what happened to the hoped-for liberal western smartphone-enabled 'revolution' that Western journalists thought was happening in Cairo, Tunis, Benghazi and other Arab capitals nearly two years ago, at the start of 2011.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Fiscal Cliff Is Not the Problem, Looking on the Bright Side / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
It is Christmas and not the time for long letters – just a brief note on why the fiscal cliff is not the End of All Things, and to point out a worthy cause led by some good friends of mine who are helping people who truly have no options in life. And we’ll start things off with a movie review of sorts to launch us into a positive take on the year behind and the year ahead.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Ron Paul on Gun Control, Why Government Security is Just Another Kind of Violence / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The senseless and horrific killings last week in Newtown, Connecticut reminded us that a determined individual or group of individuals can cause great harm no matter what laws are in place. Connecticut already has restrictive gun laws relative to other states, including restrictions on fully automatic, so-called "assault" rifles and gun-free zones.
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Sunday, December 23, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Reality / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Political Washington theater continues. Republicans and Democrats agreed years ago to erode America’s social contract en route to eliminating it altogether.
Crisis conditions create opportunities. Former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, explained.
“You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste,” he said. “What I mean by that is that’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Obama's Last Chance To Become A Great President / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Barack Obama has one last, fleeting chance of becoming known to posterity as a Great President.
His first four years were nothing to write home about, but with the burden of seeking re-election gone, you could argue that he can now throw off the shackles that held him back - and down - since January 20, 2009, and at last show his true face and intentions.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
NRA BE DAMNED! / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Several days after the tragic shootings of December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, I spoke to another writer and asked him to share his thoughts and feelings about this horrible event. He, an avowed enemy-of-the-people in the eyes of American Conservatives because he is committed to "Peace"; he, who never owned a gun and wrote occasional pleas advocating controlling the most dangerous of these firearms that George Bush and like-minded Republicans unleashed from restrictions; he, who has given every inch in justifying the Constitutional "rights" of everyone, including gun owners, replied: "The next time I hear someone yell '2nd Amen!' and recite specious propaganda or endlessly repeat conspiracy theories produced for gain by the NRA, I'm going to put down my pen, go out, buy a gun, and I'm going to shoot him! NRA? 2nd Amen? Be damned!"
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition, Slaughter of the Innocents / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: The late December holidays in America used to be known as “the season to be jolly,” with our streets festooned with bright lights, groups caroling, shopping galore, gift-giving and cheer.
This year, there’s a pall over all the light heartedness because of the horrific violence that claimed the lives of 20 young school children and their teachers in a still unexplained shooting incident in Connecticut, the latest of a string of similar events involving widely available deadly weapons often in the hands of mentally ill people.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Al Capone And The Bible, Newtown-Type Terror And Economic Terror / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
According to Dr. John R. Lott, described as one of the USA's leading gun experts, banning gun-free schools, or gun-free zones inside schools, and allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons at all times "could help eliminate mass shootings at schools". For Lott, gun-free schools or zones inside them are like smaller and weaker nations. They become “a magnet” for deranged killers and World Tyrants who hope to burn their names into history books by running up the highest-possible body count.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
American Gun Culture of 2012 / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Jan. 8, 2011, Tuscon, Ariz.: A man had gone to a political town meeting at a supermarket, with the intent to murder Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He killed six and wounded 14, including Giffords, who was shot in the head. On Jan. 25, 2012, Giffords, still in recovery from the shooting, walked onto the House floor to a standing ovation. Congress and the President have no plans to restore the assault weapons ban that expired under the Bush–Cheney Administration or to tighten gun laws.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Mass Murders in American State Schools / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
In my early life [born 1937] I lived all over the U.S. I saw lots of guns. I was present at various gun incidents in arguments and fights. Few ever ended in shootings. My mother's employer threatened my stepfather with a pistol to stop his beating my mother. He stopped. I did know people who were shot or shot other people. A younger brother shot the husband of one of my mother's sisters near the heart to stop him from beating our aunt. [It was a 22. He lived with the bullet in place. My brother was sent to a minimum security camp for months and eventually walked away and came to live with us.] The employer of that aunt caught a robber in the act where she worked and shot him to death with a shot gun.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Obama Questions Extrajudicial Killings / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
DOUBLE STANDARDS
President Obama told the nation it faces "hard questions" in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre. He pledged to "seek answers" in the memory of the 20 children and six adults killed. He added the comment that any society is judged by how well it can keep its children safe and able to lead a normal life.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Obama, Sympathy from the Devil / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
William Norman Grigg writes: "They had their entire lives ahead of them – birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own," intoned the murderer of 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki as he began the liturgy of official mourning for the victims of the Newtown massacre.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
U.S.S. Titanic To Face More Icebergs than the Fiscal Cliff / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
2012 has been the l00th anniversary of the famous Titanic disaster. The Captain of that “unsinkable” ship was warned that there were icebergs ahead but he was too busy, out to set a speed record on the way to New York.
The warnings were ignored and we know what happened. What we don’t know is why other urgent warnings go unheeded.
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Sunday, December 16, 2012
Obama's Crocodile Tears on Newtown Slayings as Dirty Drone Wars Rage On / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
From December 14, world media was saturated with images and comment on the latest mass slaying by a young American male armed with cheap, easily and legally available firearms. These arms increasingly include high powered infantry war-theatre weapons such as US-made M16 and Russian AK47 Kalashnikovs, Heckler & Koch HK416 and 417 assault rifles, the Iraq-made Tabuk sniper rifle, Israeli Uzi submachine guns, and a large range of similar 5.56mm and 7.62mm calibre weapons with a killer firing range of 1 kilometre or more. In the US, sales of these arms always leap after each designer killing but Barack Obama shed a couple of tears on primetime TV concerning the Newtown outrage.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Fiscal Spliff / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Redmond Weissenberger writes: “My stock answer was that medical marijuana would start to be legalized in 10 years and that marijuana would start to be legalized in 20 years, probably during an economic crisis.” — Mark Thornton
Drug laws are probably the most inane (well maybe a close second to environmentalism in today’s world: San Diego Residents Face 6 Years In Prison For Washing Their Car) expression of the power of the state. Typically, the average person rationalizes laws in this way: “I am law abiding, and I respect the law as it is just, therefore I am not worried about the law applying to me.” Also, they generally buy into the state’s justifications of why a particular law has been put in place.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
TSA Tightening Grip on Internal U.S. Travel / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is tightening its grip on domestic travcel. I don't mean the random, unpredictable security checks at bus, subway and train stations which already exist. I mean a coordinated and systematic police control of internal travel within America. Groundwork is being laid.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
U.S. Fiscal Cliff Budget Farce Suggests Term Limits Needed / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Browne
Put simply, the fiscal cliff debate is an illustration of staggering political cowardice. Politicians of both parties are unwilling to ask voters to pay for all of the big government promises that they made on the campaign trail. They would rather risk the country's long term future than risk losing the next election. As a former elected legislator, I can assure them that their offices are not worth the price they are asking us, the voters, to pay.
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Monday, December 10, 2012
Ron Paul - Expanding Covert Warfare Makes Us Less Safe / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the "war on terror."
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Sunday, December 09, 2012
Fiscal Cliff, Why The Rich Will Not Abandon Dividend Stocks / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Shaw
WHO ARE THE RICH? First an apology for using the term “rich”. Because this is about pending tax policy, we are using the Washington D.C. working definition of rich. You know — the movement that began with soak Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, because billionaires don’t pay enough and actually want to pay more — the soak the billionaires movement that quietly became the soak the millionaires movement, that morphed into soak the rich, who we find are those couples who make $250,000 per year or more (and singles who make $200,000 per year or more).
Sunday, December 09, 2012
America’s National Security Vulnerabilities / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Raymond Matison writes: Article I, Section 7 of our Constitution states that “Congress shall … provide for the general Defence …”. At its root, our national security requires for Armed Forces to keep the United States from being invaded by foreign military forces that would harm America and its citizens. According to Wikipedia, the “objective of National Security Strategy is to create a stable situation in the world”. Admittedly, this is a very broad concept in relation to just providing for general defense. Therefore, the very term national security has a meaning that changes with the preferences of the president and other elected and appointed officials then in office. It follows also from this definition that America’s involvement in the affairs of other sovereign countries in the world is dependent on the perceived level of stability sought by the then leaders in charge. Finally, this definition implies that for the purposes of our National Security Strategy, we will take unilateral actions that may be contrary to the interests and desires of other sovereign nations.
Sunday, December 09, 2012
The New Serfdom, Lord Obama Owns You / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Anne Wortham writes: In President Obama's much-discussed speech in Roanoke, Virginia, among his remarks on the source of success was his assertion that
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business – you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.[1]
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Saturday, December 08, 2012
Identity Politics and Political Correctness / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
L: Doug, I hear that a friend of yours, Indian activist Russell Means, has passed away. He was an unusual and interesting character. Are you up to talking about it?
Doug: Yes. You know, I've gotten into the habit of doing obituaries in recent years in The Casey Report – but generally of people I don't like. I know that's considered improper, because you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but –
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Thursday, December 06, 2012
Neoliberal Terror / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
What is neoliberal terror? In a recent on-line article ('Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terror') Henry Giroux claimed that firstly hurricane Katrina, then hurricane Sandy imprinted their "haunting images of the abandoned, desperate and vulnerable", "and for a moment imposed themselves on the collective conscience of Americans".
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Is the U.S. Fiscal Cliff the Result of Psychopath Leaders? / Politics / US Politics
By: Brian_Bloom
In the early hours of this morning – at 3:00 am to be precise – I was lying in bed thinking about how the world got to this point in its history, and I started thinking about the synchronicity of the French Revolution, the American Revolution and the Industrial revolution that began to emerge in England.
“Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” were all about human rights – the right to be given equal opportunity to apply one’s skills without living under a crippling tax burden under the French King Louis XVI. Quote from Wikipedia: “Amidst a fiscal crisis [1789] , the common people of France were increasingly angered by the incompetency of King Louis XVI and the continued indifference and decadence of the nobility.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution )
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Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Is U.S. State Secession a Right? / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Gordon
Grant defeated Lee, the Confederacy crumbled, and the idea of secession disappeared forever, or at least that's what the conventional wisdom says. Secession is no historical irrelevance. Quite the contrary, the topic is integral to classical liberalism. Indeed, the right of secession follows at once from the basic rights defended by classical liberalism. As even Macaulay's schoolboy knows, classical liberalism begins with the principle of self-ownership: each person is the rightful owner of his or her own body. Together with this right, according to classical liberals from Locke to Rothbard, goes the right to appropriate unowned property.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
CIA and Pentagon Fusion Revolutionizes Modern US Covert Action Complex / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Justin O’Connell writes: The Pentagon will expand its spy network over five years to rival the CIA in size, according to US officials, as it constructs the thus far classified Defense Clandestine Service or DCS. The project will “transform” the Defense Intelligence Agency from a Cold War, multiple-war agency to include increased operations against Islamists in Africa, North Korea-Iran weapons transfers, and Chinese military modernization that is now underway. Once completed, the DIA will have approximately 1,600 so-called “collectors” the world over who will be “closely aligned” with the CIA and elite military commando units. As the Washington Post notes, “an unprecedented total for an agency whose presence abroad numbered in the triple digits in recent years.”
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Obama Tells Goldman Fiscal Cliff Deal is Just a Matter of Maths / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Bloomberg TV's Julianna Goldman spoke with President Obama today to discuss the fiscal cliff and his efforts to compromise with Republican leaders. In a lengthy interview in the Map Room of the White House, President Obama told Goldman that he is willing to make further cuts in entitlements, but insists that Republicans accept higher tax rates for top earners in the US. "It's just a matter of math."
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
An American Success Story in Mexico: Jim Bourque Starr / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Q: Jim, when did you first come to Mexico to live, and more importantly, why?
A: In 2004, I moved from San Jose, California, to Mexico City. I was in the States and met a woman from Mexico City. We married and moved to Mexico City. I started a chiropractic clinic there. It was surprisingly easy, because I didn't have to jump through any hoops. I just set up shop.
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Monday, December 03, 2012
All I Want For Christmas Is The Truth / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Eyes blinded by the fog of things
cannot see truth.
Ears deafened by the din of things
cannot hear truth.
Brains bewildered by the whirl of things
cannot think truth.
Hearts deadened by the weight of things
cannot feel truth.
Throats choked by the dust of things
cannot speak truth.”
― Harald Bell Wright – The Uncrowned King
Monday, December 03, 2012
Ron Paul - U.S. Fiscal Cliff Crisis Headed Toward the 11th Hour Compromise / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As the year draws to an end, America faces yet another Congressionally-manufactured crisis which will likely end in yet another 11th hour compromise, resulting in more government growth touted as "saving" the economy. While cutting taxes is always a good idea, setting up a ticking time bomb with a sunset provision, as the Bush tax cuts did, is terrible policy. Congress should have just cut taxes. But instead, we have a crisis that is sure not to go to waste.
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Sunday, December 02, 2012
Our Collapsing Economy and Currency / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Is the “fiscal cliff” real or just another hoax? The answer is that the fiscal cliff is real, but it is a result, not a cause. The hoax is the way the fiscal cliff is being used.
The fiscal cliff is the result of the inability to close the federal budget deficit. The budget deficit cannot be closed because large numbers of US middle class jobs and the GDP and tax base associated with them have been moved offshore, thus reducing federal revenues. The fiscal cliff cannot be closed because of the unfunded liabilities of eleven years of US-initiated wars against a half dozen Muslim countries--wars that have benefitted only the profits of the military/security complex and the territorial ambitions of Israel. The budget deficit cannot be closed, because economic policy is focused only on saving banks that wrongful financial deregulation allowed to speculate, to merge, and to become too big to fail, thus requiring public subsidies that vastly dwarf the totality of US welfare spending.
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Sunday, December 02, 2012
Let's Hold Hands and Jump Off the Fiscal Cliff / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
"I saw my problems and I'll see the light
"We got a lovin' thing, we gotta feed it right
"There ain't no danger we can go too far
"We start believin' now that we can be who we are.
"Grease is the word..."
Saturday, December 01, 2012
US Fiscal Cliff Talks Target the Working Class / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
As the deadline for the so-called “fiscal cliff” grows nearer, the indications mount that, behind the smokescreen of deficit talks and media hype, the artificial fiscal emergency is the starting point of a process for making deep structural cuts in basic social programs that previously would have been considered politically impossible.
Friday, November 30, 2012
The US Is Now a Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
Louis: Doug, after conversations like the one we had last week, we often get letters from angry readers who accuse you of hating America, disloyalty, and perhaps even treason. These people don't know or understand what I do about you – that you love the idea that was America. It's the United State it has become for which you have nothing but contempt. Perhaps we should try to explain this to them?
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Republican Traitors / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Andrew P. Napolitano writes: When President Obama won re-election last month by a larger margin than even his most fervent supporters had expected, though with fewer popular votes than he received in 2008, most commentators initially opined that not much had changed in Washington. The president would remain in the White House for another four years, the Democrats would keep control of the Senate, and the House would stay in Republican hands. Most Republicans re-elected to both houses of Congress had publicly pledged not to vote to raise taxes under any circumstances. And most of those Republicans have adhered to that promise – until now.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Anti-Business US Government Puts a Stop to Intrade Making US Customers Happy / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Reports have been swirling around about the death of another business at the hands of a US government agency. While those reports weren't totally true, as usual, the US Government has squashed any attempt by unfree US citizens to do what they want. Intrade is still alive and kicking (although it probably wouldn't be if it was based in the US), minus its US customers...for now anyway. As of December 23, 2012, all US accounts with Intrade will be suspended thanks to the meddling of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Ron Paul on How to End the Gaza Tragedy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As of late Friday the ceasefire in Gaza seems to be holding, if tentatively. While we should be pleased that this round of fighting appears temporarily on hold, we must realize that without changes in US foreign policy it is only a matter of time before the killing begins again.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Benghazi Affair - Petraeus, Weaponry, Murder, Lies, Sex / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
As a sex scandal the General David Petraeus episode hardly rates a two-star: Youngish, married hotty likes toying with the Big Man on Base when it pleases her and not much liking competition in the role. Big Man ends up playing the fool for all to see.No gory details at all are supplied. Those will be in a book or two fairly soon. Keep watching for the crazed passions of the most overhyped general in the history of the US.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Truckin’ to Treason: The Hot Air of Secession / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
A white Ford F-250 pick-up rumbled through town, a Confederate rebel flag on a pole behind the cab; on the rear bumper were a pro-life and three Anti-Obama stickers, two of which could not be revealed in a family newspaper.
It wasn’t a lone wolf protest; several cars, trucks, and homes in the area sport similar flags and messages. During the summer, when a 4-wheel Jamboree and a Monster Truck rally are held at the local fairgrounds, attracting thousands from a multi-state area, many trucks fly rebel flags, insignia, and political statements. During the annual eight-day fair at the end of September, vendors sell all kinds of items with the Confederate battle flag, most of them made overseas.
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Friday, November 23, 2012
Nobody Won the Last U.S. Presidential Election / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Phil Maymin writes: One guy beat another guy in vote totals this month, but they both lost, even in their combined total, to None of the Above. For the fourth Presidential election cycle in a row, and the 27th time out of the past 30, most eligible voters opted not to vote.
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Friday, November 23, 2012
America, You Can't Secede...Because We're Exiling You! / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Once again we come to you as the humble messenger and past predictor of today’s major issues!
On January 20th of this year we penned an article entitled, “Forced Expatriation Coming to the USSA”. In it we stated, “We can clearly see that the United Soviet States of America is putting in place the necessary tools to be able to strip whoever it likes of the so-called 'privilege' of being a US citizen.” And, yet again, it looks as though it is coming to pass.
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Thursday, November 22, 2012
The Trans-Pacific Partnership as Global Corporate Coup, Why the Secrecy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the most secretive and “least transparent” trade negotiations in history.
Luckily for the populations and societies that will be affected by the agreement, there are public research organizations and alternative media outlets campaigning against it – and they’ve even released several leaks of draft agreement chapters. From these leaks, which are not covered by mainstream corporate-controlled news outlets, we are able to get a better understanding of what the Trans-Pacific Partnership actually encompasses.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Romney Was Right, The Power of Government 'Gifts' For Gaining Power / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: "What the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote, and that strategy worked."
Thus did political analyst Mitt Romney identify the cause of his defeat in a call to disconsolate contributors.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Secession Is America's Pecan Pie / Politics / US Politics
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
"Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession." ~ Ron Paul
Leftists and neocons in the media who tend to agree on the propriety and desirability of an ever-growing welfare/warfare/police state were predictably apoplectic when Ron Paul recently stated on his House Web site that secession is "a deeply American principle." Congressman Paul was alluding to the fact that all fifty states have sent secession petitions to the White House.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
America's War on Children / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
This holiday season, give the gift of freedom. Include a passport among the gifts you give your children this Christmas. Not an American passport, but one from the several countries that make it easy to acquire residency status even if you do not live there. For example, Paraguay requires only a two day visit to apply for a passport, and the residency status so acquired is permanent even for those who never return. While taking a family vacation, you can protect your children from an unpredictable and alarming world.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Patriotic Millionaires Unmasked / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Despite the breathless post-election "think pieces" that have drawn sweeping and deeply considered conclusions about the political drift of the country, at its core President Obama's re-election is easy to understand. He essentially promised millions of middle and working class voters that if he were to be re-elected, they would receive benefits paid for by the rich. You don't need to read a Time Magazine cover story to untangle this political strategy. Now that he has been given a second term, Obama needs to deliver the goods by raising taxes on the rich and only the rich. He will be "asking" them to pay their "fair share," (as if "asking" and "fairness" have anything to do with it). In reality the wealthy already pay taxes at a much higher rate than average Americans and in many cases will now have to pay more than half of their income in federal, state, and local taxes.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
The Trans-Pacific Partnership's Secret Agenda / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
The following is the first installment of a three-part exclusive for Occupy.com on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In 2008, the United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced the U.S. entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks as “a pathway to broader Asia-Pacific regional economic integration.” Originating in 2005 as a “Strategic Economic Partnership” between a few select Pacific countries, the TPP has, as of October 2012, expanded to include 11 nations in total: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia, with the possibility of several more joining in the future.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Ron Paul on U.S. States Secession: Are We Free To Go? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Is all the recent talk of secession mere sour grapes over the election, or perhaps something deeper? Currently there are active petitions in support of secession for all 50 states, with Texas taking the lead in number of signatures. Texas has well over the number of signatures needed to generate a response from the administration, and while I wouldn't hold my breath on Texas actually seceding, I believe these petitions raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Hedges
Gaza is a window on our coming dystopia. The growing divide between the world’s elite and its miserable masses of humanity is maintained through spiraling violence. Many impoverished regions of the world, which have fallen off the economic cliff, are beginning to resemble Gaza, where 1.6 million Palestinians live in the planet’s largest internment camp. These sacrifice zones, filled with seas of pitifully poor people trapped in squalid slums or mud-walled villages, are increasingly hemmed in by electronic fences, monitored by surveillance cameras and drones and surrounded by border guards or military units that shoot to kill. These nightmarish dystopias extend from sub-Saharan Africa to Pakistan to China. They are places where targeted assassinations are carried out, where brutal military assaults are pressed against peoples left defenseless, without an army, navy or air force. All attempts at resistance, however ineffective, are met with the indiscriminate slaughter that characterizes modern industrial warfare.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Is America Israel's Puppet State? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The United States government and its subject peoples think of the US as “the world’s only superpower.” But how is a country a superpower when its entire government and a majority of the subjects, especially those members of evangelical churches, grovel at the feet of the Israeli Prime Minister? How is a country a superpower when it lacks the power to determine its own foreign policy in the Middle East? Such a country is not a superpower. It is a puppet state.
Monday, November 19, 2012
U.S. States Secession Movement Ready to Take Hold / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
All the buzz in the aftermath of the last election is that secession is in the air. Despite the improbable prospects that the globalists, that control the federal government, would allow the upstart masses to leave the dominion of Disunion States, it is promising that the country builds critical mass for dissolution. Secession in this day is not your call to arms in the defense of home. "Honest Abe’s" version of despotism caused many politicians to "Wave the bloody shirt", but today’s crop of brave leaders just asks you to sign a petition to beg for a cordial severance. Just imagine the response from the unprincipled governmental career class. The re-education FEMA facilities are ready to become today’s "Camp Douglas" detention centers.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Ron Paul Never Wielded Any Power / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
On Wednesday, November 14, Ron Paul delivered his final speech at the podium of the United States House of Representatives. It was covered by C-SPAN live, and was later posted on C-SPAN's site. It was soon posted on YouTube, and from there was posted on numerous sites.
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Friday, November 16, 2012
A United Europe? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Alexander Jousse writes: Since the start of the European debt crisis, there has been some growing opposition to the idea of a united Europe. Well, this had to stop, so the best thing would be to label anyone against Europe as neo-Nazi holocaust denier. End of argument. Since the Nobel Mass Murderer Peace Prize was given to the EU, anyone who is against the EU is obviously against peace and the institutions that have worked so tirelessly to prevent the reincarnation of Hitler. If you are against peace in Europe, then you are obviously a pro-Hitler Nazi who loves war and gas chambers; then whatever you say can be comfortably ignored.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Do You Need Institutional 'Weapons' to Defend Against Wealthy Capitalists? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Ed Bugos writes: The anarcho-capitalist movement appears to be tweaking the interest of the young leftist movement, which historically represents the radical side of the political spectrum. Maybe the time has come for "revolutionary politics." In his 1969 essay, "The Death of Politics", Karl Hess concluded that the world was not yet ready to realize that the social problem involved a choice not between different parties but rather politics and freedom:
"Radical and revolutionary movements seek not to revise but to revoke. The target of revocation should be obvious. The target is politics itself."
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
Ron Paul's Farewell Speech to Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor. At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36-year period. My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today: promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.
It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
U.S. States Secession Petitions: Good PR But Bad Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
Tens of thousands of Americans are now petitioning the White House wanting to withdraw from the union. Although peoples and regions around the world are in the process of withdrawing from debt laden, failed central governments including Scotland, Venice, Catalonia, Bavaria, Flanders and others, it won't be as easy here in the USA. While the US petitions generate great PR for the legal right of secession, this is not the way a state or people legally withdraw from the US union.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Should the Republican Party Be Saved? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Clyde Wilson writes: Since the election there has been much discussion of the future of the Republican party. Can it ever again win a national election, or is it doomed to permanent minority status? The most common response has been that the party must "reach out" (i.e., compete in the offer of bribes) to the exploding Hispanic population. Rather neatly and deceitfully avoiding the obvious fact that Republican sponsorship of mass immigration is the cause of their minority status.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Obama Retirement Care / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: How long will starving governments keep their itchy fingers off your private pension funds? Only as long as they can't get away with it. And governments are literally getting away with murder these days. Why not your pension money, too?
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The Petraeus Affair / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
According to the official story surrounding the sudden resignation of Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus, the departure of the former commander of US and allied forces first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan was the result of a personal moral lapse, unrelated to political or intelligence issues.
As the Washington Post, quoting a “senior intelligence official,” wrote on Sunday, “This is a very personal matter, not a matter of intelligence.”
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
From Obama the Stealth Republican a Grand Bargain Betrayal is Coming / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Obama's economic record includes nearly 25 million unemployed, around 23% of working age Americans without jobs, poverty, homelessness, and hunger at record levels or close to it, and the greatest wealth disparity in US history.
Privileged elites benefitted enormously on his watch. They'll get plenty more ahead. Others are enduring protracted hard times. Bipartisan complicity calls for making things worse, not better. Huge budget cuts loom. Social programs will be hit hardest. More on that below.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
To Romney and the GOP Elites: What Goes Around Comes Around / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
On November 6th a large percentage of the Ron Paul supporters (10% of the GOP electorate) in the primary season exited the corrupt GOP voting process, stayed home, watched our television screens (like I did) and followed through with our warning to the GOP establishment. No Paul = No Vote in November.
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Why Did CIA Director Petraeus Really Resign? / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
The Deeper Questions Behind the Ambassador’s Murder … and the CIA Boss’ Sudden Resignation
While the GOP is attacking (and Dems defending) the Obama administration in connection with the murder of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, there is a deeper story.
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist? / Politics / US Politics
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
"Who freed the slaves? To the extent that they were ever ‘freed,’ they were freed by the Thirteenth Amendment, which was authored and pressured into existence not by Lincoln but by the great emancipators nobody knows, the abolitionists and congressional leaders who created the climate and generated the pressure that goaded, prodded, drove, forced Lincoln into glory by associating him with a policy that he adamantly opposed for at least fifty-four of his fifty-six years of his life." Lerone Bennett, Jr., Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’ s White Dream, p. 19
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Why Obama Must Align himself with China’s New Leaders / Politics / US Politics
By: InvestmentContrarian
George Leong writes: We are at a major point in the history of China as the country gets ready to welcome its new leadership group that will dictate what China does, especially with its economic growth, for the next decade. Moreover, it will be critical for President Obama to establish a stronger relationship with whomever will run China during his second term in office, as it could set up how the world looks in 10 years.
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
Right America, "Post-Democracy", and the US Troika / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
In many states, November 6 was a good day for blue and identity politics, but said nothing about big national issues of war vs. peace; Wall Street vs. Main Street; Constitutional rights vs. restrictions; Democracy vs. Oligarchy. It said nothing because nothing was said about these issues by either candidate for President or by the media. The debate was over degrees of pain to inflict through austerity, to inflict on other nations through expanding wars, on how to insure future funding of the military machine unleashed abroad and soon, no doubt, to be used at home. Your Street, Your Constitution, Your Civil Liberties, Your Democracy are not subjects for debate any longer - or for mentioning.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Obama Four More Years, A Dangerous World Begins / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
There have been many competing analyses of the results of the election last Tuesday. I am still trying to absorb the longer-term implications. One of the more thought-provoking pieces I read was from my friends at GaveKal. Four of their writers give us their initial thoughts, and not surprisingly (for them!) they don’t agree. But the piece does give us a broader take on the ramifications. And I love the first line in the lead paragraph (different dreams, indeed):
Friday, November 09, 2012
Hurricane Sandy Disaster, Another Reason to Leave the U.S. / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Alice Liberte writes: New York City is many things, but it is not the place you live if you want to build savings, live freely, or have a sense of physical security. The city is synonymous with cosmopolitan, modern, metropolitan, efficient, cutting edge, on the pulse, high-tech, see and be seen—bright lights, plethora of opportunities, trendy cafes, fabulous shopping, fast-paced lifestyle, a must-visit destination, drawing tourists from all over the world and those who want to start a new life, with the hope and dream of success. Anyone who's lived here long enough know that that's mostly hype.
Friday, November 09, 2012
The Long View / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
"Communications" ended with the long view advocated by a nine-year old. An adult may slot the family of Henry VIII as a model for modern dysfunctionality; while a child, unburdened by classification and definition, may see to the heart of the matter. Human tendencies echo across time under somewhat similar circumstances. "Somewhat" is where art and concentration must divine the applicable (or not).
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama 4 More Years, Get ready for real trouble / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Andrew P. Napolitano writes: Only in America can a president who inherits a deep recession and whose policies have actually made the effects of that recession worse get re-elected. Only in America can a president who wants the bureaucrats who can't run the Post Office to micromanage the administration of every American's health care get re-elected. Only in America can a president who kills Americans overseas who have never been charged or convicted of a crime get re-elected. And only in America can a president who borrowed and spent more than $5 trillion in fewer than four years, plans to repay none of it and promises to borrow another $5 trillion in his second term get re-elected.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama Trumps Romney But Bernanke Is The Ace To The Hole / Politics / US Politics
By: Brady_Willett
President Obama won another 4-years thanks to a convincing 303-206 electoral college tally (Florida is still not finalized). Mr. Romney was slow to concede but when he did he was gracious. The same cannot be said about billionaire Donald Trump (Twitter):
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama Wins, But the People Can Still Lose / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: A year into his presidency, Barack Obama began to plan his reelection bid. Having assessed the lessons of 2008, it was clear that grass roots mobilizations would be essential to assuring a turnout the next time around.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
America Say Hello to Your Same as the Old Murder In Chief / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
As I write I am flying through the air at 600mph in a reclining chair on my way to Santiago, Chile. At the same time I am watching a documentary on one of, if not the most, prolific advancers of human knowledge and quality of life in history, Nikola Tesla.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
U.S. Elections, Gridlock and Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The United States held elections last night, and nothing changed. Barack Obama remains president. The Democrats remain in control of the Senate with a non-filibuster-proof majority. The Republicans remain in control of the House of Representatives.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
RIP America, Born 1776, Died 2012 / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Craig Maus Submits:
Dear Patriots,
Tonight, this Country’s Special Interest Groups, by a narrow margin, decided that their own self- interests were more important than that of the Country’s and in so stating said: to hell with the Country as long as the Feds and Obama provide me with more continued Free-Bee’s.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Lunacy of FEMA Hurricane Insurance Subsidy / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
One of the most ludicrous fantasies of the self-indulgent is that a property owner has an entitlement of subsidized government flood insurance. The inherent risk of building along the ocean shoreline is self-evident. The benefits that enhance the pleasure of proximity to the seaside seem unending. However, when the forces of nature thrust her fury and a wall of water inundates pristine dwellings, the first question asked after the storm usually involves rebuilding. The cost of repairs and renovated construction, once paid by private insurance, now normally requires a federal guaranty.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Obama Wins A Second Term: Now What? / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
I'm certainly glad the election is finally over. While I have loved politics my entire life, this presidential election has gone on for over three years, including the GOP primaries, and I've had my fill of meaningless slogans and counter-slogans, lies and counter-lies. I had to quit watching political news the last few weeks, as I thought I would become physically sick if I watched any more establishment political "experts" give their required opinions and propaganda bites.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Ron Paul's U.S. Presidential Election 2012 Lesson: Obeying the Constitution, No Sure Path to Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Justin O’Connell writes: What is one to deduce from the 2012 Presidential elections? In my opinion, it is that obeying the Constitution is no sure path to freedom, and that voting is a real waste of time. The campaign of Ron Paul was by far one of the most popular campaigns in recent memory. It made the third party runs of Ross Perot (18% of the vote in 1992; 8.4% of vote in 1996) and Ralph Nader (.38% of the vote in 2004) appear tiny. Nobody in recent memory has captured the heart of a lost-but-looking-USA quite as much as has Paul.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
U.S. Presidential Election, Which Slave Master Do You Want? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." ~ Søren Kierkegaard
Ah, election season! If there is any one time that guarantees a radical libertarian a barrel of laughs, it is the periodic selection of slave masters, masquerading as a key component of freedom. For the record, selecting which arrogant, well-connected megalomaniac will: kill foreigners (supposedly) on your behalf; redistribute your money to whomever he pleases ostensibly on behalf of helping those who cannot help themselves; and, maintain the cash cow that fictitious property – otherwise known as intellectual property – has provided for firms like Microsoft and Apple, all via the barrel of a gun, is not a practice endemic to freedom. It is exactly the opposite.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2012
How the State Subverts Responsibility / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
[The following post is by Menno Troyer, TDV Subscriber and a pioneer of the Free State Project] : One of the most destructive influences of "the State" upon society, is the way it subverts responsibility.
In order to understand the nature of this subversion, one has to understand what "the State" really is, and the irrational paradigm in the minds of its subjects which its agents rely upon to sustain their diabolical power to rule over others without individual consent.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Hurricane Sandy, the Economics of Disaster / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Hurricane Sandy was one of the worst natural disasters the east coast has ever seen. Clean-up and recovery will take months, if not years and estimates run in the tens of billions of dollars. Parts of New York and New Jersey will never be the same. Entire seashore communities have been wiped out, but the determination to rebuild has been lauded as courageous and admirable. Yet as with all natural disasters, Sandy raises uncomfortable questions about the extent to which taxpayers should fund the cleanup and the extent to which government programs create moral hazards.
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Monday, November 05, 2012
Bludgeon Constitution Replaced By Fiat Edicts / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The rule of law is an empty memory of the past. The powers that rule are globalists that control governments and use their media outlets to write the first version of history. They pull the strings of the intelligence agencies that function as over throwers of non-compliant regimes. Constitutional restrictions that limit impulsive or capricious dictates once protected citizens. With the utter eradication of separations of power and the "Federalist", form of distinct roles and authority of independent States, the core legitimacy of the United States vanished.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Hurricane Sandy Draws Out Political and Economic Fallacies / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Gary Gibson writes: Throughout the next few days in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy you will repeatedly hear two great untruths:
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We need government to protect us from natural disasters.
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Natural disasters are good for the economy.
Monday, October 29, 2012
How Immoral Government Creates the Perfect Investment / Politics / US Politics
By: Investment_U
Alexander Green: If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, you really have to wonder about California Governor Jerry Brown.
The two-time Democratic Governor is calling for a 3% tax hike on the state’s richest 1% to help pay for the state’s perpetually cash-strapped education system. He calls it “a moral issue.”
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Saturday, October 27, 2012
A Message From the 1%, Why Vilification of Wall Street is Disgusting / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Billionaire financier and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone told Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan on "Street Smart" today that he is "proudly part of the 1%. I worked like hell to become part of the 1."
Langone said that, "I have been in Wall Street all of my life. I love it. It has been good to me... This vilification of what is going on in America today is disgusting."
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Friday, October 26, 2012
How Many Bubbles in a Bar of Soap? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Quick, can you name all the people who were in the room when you were born? Could you give the name and number of every supervisor you've ever had? Or tell me the address or addresses of both your parents one year before your birth?
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Do Not Tolerate Domestic Violence / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy wrotes: I am not talking about spousal abuse. I mean the abuse heaped upon you by the United States government. The parallels are striking.
America claims to own you, and so you pay a heavy price for leaving as an expat. It cruelly invades your breasts and genitals through pat-downs at the airport. Then it does the same to your children. America swears it is protecting you while violating your rights at every turn; and you have become so brainwashed that you now mistake a fist in your face for safety. There is no respect and no honesty in the relationship the government offers you – only a self-serving contempt that erupts into violence. Your response is to return a love of country along with the money you earn, all the while making excuses for America's bad behavior. Or, perhaps, you even defend America to critics.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Internet Liberty Revolution / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Until the late 1990s, individuals interested in Austrian economics, U.S. constitutional history, and libertarian philosophy had few sources of information. They had to spend hours scouring used book stores or the back pages of obscure libertarian periodicals to find the great works of Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and other giants of liberty. Local library and university collections ignored libertarian politics and economics.
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
Phony Terrorism Scam From the State's Secret Police / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
How misleading can a "news" article get? Try this headline: "Federal Reserve bombing plot foiled in NYC". There never was a plot to foil. There never was a plot independent of the FBI to foil. The plot was of the FBI's own devising and instigation. There never was an ongoing crime for the FBI to detect and stop.
Foil means counteract. To say something is foiled means there has been an action to counter-act. What? Did the FBI counter-act its own action? We should give the FBI credit for devising a plot and then stopping its own plot? We should credit some inept terrorist for threatening to make a touchdown when he couldn’t get beyond the five-yard line without FBI counseling and guidance and without the FBI pointing out the goal line and supplying the football?
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Why You Should Never Call the Police / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Would you dial up a known criminal, like a murderer or rapist, to come help you after you've been the victim of a crime? No? Then why in the world would you call the police after you've been assaulted, robbed or otherwise violated?
The police do not consider their job to protect you. They used to at least pay lip service to "keeping the peace", but nowadays in the USSA it is clear their job is to enforce the law. In fasco-communist America, the law stopped being about your protection decades ago. The law is about the expansion of state power and control. That's why there are so many of them, with more coming all the time.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Voting is A Fool’s Game! / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Gary D. Barnett writes: The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. ~ Charles Bukowski
Voting is a fool’s game. Many might find that statement offensive, but considering our plight, I can’t imagine why. There are so many who have been fooled into thinking that voting is a sacred right, and one that guarantees freedom. The opposite of course is the case. The fooled among us seem completely willing to embrace this ruse; thus allowing the many to continue to be ruled by the few. The result then of voting in this country is oligarchy, making it one of the most worthless endeavors of mankind.
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Monday, October 15, 2012
The Real Reason America Nuked Japan / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
Atomic Weapons Were Not Needed to End the War or Save Lives
Like all Americans, I was taught that the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end WWII and save both American and Japanese lives.
But most of the top American military officials at the time said otherwise.
The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey group, assigned by President Truman to study the air attacks on Japan, produced a report in July of 1946 that concluded (52-56):
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Monday, October 15, 2012
Will the US Disintergrate? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Jack D. Douglas writes: An essay by Simon Black, sent to me by Wes Drawdy down in South Carolina, is a very good overview from the ground up of what's happening in the Spanish Financial Crisis and is very similar to what is already happening in Greece, Italy and Portugal and will likely soon be happening in France and northward. He emphasizes the "capital flight" he could see all around him, people rushing to get their money out of the Spanish banks before emergency laws impose severe restrictions on withdrawals, as has already begun in less drastic ways in Italy, and getting it out of Spain, especially to nearby Andora. The financial Media are covering this, but they are emphasizing the banks' massive borrowing to the de facto insolvent Spanish government, which makes the banks de facto insolvent, while all officials are pretending this is not yet at the critical level which could produce a full scale banking panic any day. The Media also do not catch the sense of growing panic among the people in general, as Black does.
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Friday, October 12, 2012
Turkey, Washington's Puppet, Illustrates America's Moral Degeneracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
On May 31, 2010, the Israeli right-wing government sent armed military troops to illegally board in international waters Gaza aid ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief. The Israelis murdered 8 Turkish citizens and one US citizen in cold blood. Many others were wounded by the forces of “the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Barack Obama's Power Elite Roots / Politics / US Politics
By: Lewrockwell
Anthony Wile writes:
We track power elite dominant social themes large and small. As part of this effort, we've uncovered what we believe to be patterns of "directed history" leading toward ever-bigger government at both national and international levels.
Elites love government because they control society via mercantilism, the use of public power to enhance private advantages.
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Monday, October 08, 2012
The Great American Empire - Decline, Decay, Denial, Delusion & Despair / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
The majority of Americans seem OK with just waddling through life, accepting the lies and misinformation blasted from the boob tube and their various iGadgets by their owners, gorging themselves to death on Twinkies and Cheetos, paying 15% interest on their $10,000 rolling credit card balance, and growing ever more dependent on the welfare/warfare state to provide and protect them from accepting personal responsibility for their lives. A minority of critical thinking people have chosen to question everything they see and hear being spewed at us by the propagandist mainstream media, the corporate fascist government, and the powerful banking cabal that has an iron grip upon our throats as they choke the life out of the global economy in their never ending desire for more riches and more power.
Friday, October 05, 2012
The Ugly Truth About the Promise of the JOBS Act / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Last week I wrote about how the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) can be a pathway to funding brand new businesses as well as small operating companies to further American entrepreneurship and create jobs.
I even called the legislation, signed into law on April 5, 2012, a "light at the end of the tunnel" in terms of its potential to stimulate the economy.
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Friday, October 05, 2012
Why American's Need a Second Passport / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
"Thus, far and wide, they migrate either to the Goths or to the Bagaudae, or to other barbarians everywhere in power; yet they do not repent of having migrated. They prefer to live as freemen under an outward form of captivity, than as captives under the appearance of liberty. Therefore, the name of Roman citizens, at one time not only greatly valued, but dearly bought, is now repudiated and fled from, and it is almost considered not only base, but even deserving of abhorrence." - Salvian the Presbyter
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
The Occupation of America / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
"A people should know when they are conquered." Maximus responds, "Would you, would I?" – From the movie, Gladiator
One hundred years ago the American republic was overthrown and captured by financial elites and money power during the Taft and Wilson administrations, the first Republican and the second Democrat. Both the Federal Reserve and federal income tax were born and you know the rest of the story consisting of two world wars, the Great Depression and stock market crash, the rise of communism and fascism and the Cold War. Since that time directed current events, history and financial markets have ruled at the expense of free markets and free people.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Big Oil Funding U.S. Politics / Politics / US Politics
By: OilPrice_Com
U.S. Rep. John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, received nearly twice as much financial support from donors tied to the energy sector than did the next-closest recipient, a report from the National Wildlife Federation finds. The 20-page report highlights the role it says oil companies play in U.S. politics, stating energy companies are working behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to influence legislation in favour of oil, natural gas and coal policies. The NWF report finds that the current 112th U.S. Congress has voted one out of every five times against legislation drafted in favour of environmental issues.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Netanyahu, Israeli Leader Shamelessly Meddling in U.S. Election / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: NEW YORK – Hell week! That’s what this city’s angry, frustrated taxi drivers call each year’s opening of the United Nations. It was even worse than that in the last two weeks.
Narrow, congested island of Manhattan became a nightmare of gridlocked traffic, blocked streets, blaring horns and fuming drivers. Convoys carrying visiting bigwigs, large staffs and bodyguards tried to force their way through the impossibly congested streets, blue lights flashing, sirens howling. A VIP lane was created, shades of the USSR’s Leonid Brezhnev.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Banksters Buying Love / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: Remember Tim Pawlenty, the former two-time Governor of Minnesota?
Remember when he made a bid for the Presidency this go-round, but bowed out after a poor showing in Iowa?
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Romney and the Neocons Courting Nuclear Disaster / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Chinese and Japanese vessels prowl menacingly in the sea around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands as Beijing and Tokyo exchange threats.
A few wrong moves could spark a clash between China and Japan that would likely draw in Tokyo’s ally, the United States, which, under a 1960 defense treaty, is bound to defend Japan if it is attacked.
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Monday, September 24, 2012
When Is A Terrorist No Longer A Terrorist? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Question: When is a terrorist a terrorist?
Answer: When the US government says so.
When the Mujhadeen in Afghanistan were assassinating members of their government and the Russian troops dispatched to support it, they were, in Washington’s view, freedom fighters, even as their enemies branded them terrorists.
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
America Wake Up and Reject the Two-Party Plutocracy / ElectionOracle / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
Here we go again. Millions of Americans will soon vote for either the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate not because they deeply believe that he is absolutely the best possible president the country needs and can have. No, they will know that they are compromising and choosing the lesser of two evils, mainly because most people know that both major parties and their candidates stink. The lesser evil is still a loser.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, September 21, 2012
Food Stamp America, Poverty’s Roll Call / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Increases in taxes and, to a lesser extent, reductions in spending, the infamous $600 billion “Fiscal Cliff” that’s looming in the new year, will reduce the US federal budget deficit by 4 - 5.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
But at what cost?
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Seeds of Conflict: Anglo-American Axis and Chinese History / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
"It is this Anglo-American axis (a 'special relationship') that has dominated the Western world for the past 150 years. It is a secretive and closely guarded group of families and individuals with enormous wealth derived from the implementation of mercantilist central banking. In recent years, America has provided the military power and to a large extent the corporate vehicles that have projected the 'one world' vision of the Anglo-American elite throughout the West, and even to Africa and Asia." – The Daily Bell, Glossary
Monday, September 17, 2012
Ron Paul - Consequences of U.S. Interventionist Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The attack on the US consulate in Libya and the killing of the US Ambassador and several aides is another tragic example of how our interventionist foreign policy undermines our national security. The more the US tries to control the rest of the world, either by democracy promotion, aid to foreign governments, or by bombs, the more events spin out of control into chaos, unintended consequences, and blowback.
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Monday, September 17, 2012
Twin Demons of War and Central Banking / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
The twentieth century was the century of total war. Limitations on the scope of war, built up over many centuries, had already begun to break down in the nineteenth century, but they were altogether obliterated in the twentieth. And of course the sheer amount of resources that centralized states could bring to bear in war, and the terrible new technologies of killing that became available to them, made the twentieth a century of almost unimaginable horror.
Monday, September 17, 2012
How to Correct the Course of America / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
For every person, answering the question how to correct the course for America, there is a personal viewpoint that often varies upon circumstance. However, the underlying premise is that something is wrong that needs fixing. The couch potatoes drift through life voluntarily removing their involvement from the political process as much as possible. All one needs to upset this tranquility is to strike up a conversation with a stranger and dare bring up any political or social issue and ask for their opinion. Most seldom reflect upon specifics and even fewer are able to lay out a sound and cogent thought for righting the ship of state. Moreover, to the horror of any intelligent citizen, a very significant segment of the public is content with the status quo and sees no reason to change anything.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Short, Miserable Life of American Prosperity / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Kozy
To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.”— Friedrich Nietzsche
History is not always progressive; there have been many instances of extensive regression. Immoral institutions can more easily become worse than better. When the Capitalists have accumulated all the wealth there is and have the means to take away any that is subsequently created, what will the mass of mankind have become? Dignified people enjoying the good life? Wherein does mankind’s fate lie?
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Thursday, September 13, 2012
Israel on the Offensive In Bid To Press President Obama To Attack Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: It feels like Iran Week in the USA.
Using an exaggerated if fictive Iranian threat to create nuclear weapons as their pretext, Israeli politicians are blatantly and publicly inserting themselves in America’s Presidential elections, demanding that President Obama do their bidding by articulating so-called “red lines” to further threaten Tehran.
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Ron Paul - U.S. is a Republic, Not a Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week marked the conclusion of the grand taxpayer funded spectacles known as the national party conventions. It is perhaps very telling that while $18 million in tax dollars was granted to each party for these lavish ordeals, an additional $50 million each was needed for security in anticipation of the inevitable protests at each event. This amounts to a total of $136 million in taxpayer funds for strictly partisan activities - a drop in the bucket relative to our disastrous fiscal situation, but disgraceful nonetheless. Parties should fund their own parties, not the taxpayer.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The Declining West: Tragedy or Comedy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
During the Vietnam War, Sweden was an independent country with a moral conscience, and Sweden gave sanctuary to US war protestors who refused the draft. Washington realized the cost to itself and purchased the Swedish government in order to prevent a reoccurrence of moral conscience on the part of any Western government.
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Monday, September 10, 2012
Rewarding Idiots with Democratic Totalitarianism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Now that the Democrat Party convention concluded their class warfare rally, those with saner minds are left with the task of identifying the magnitude of the sociopathic disease that infects the vast mindset of the worship government sect. The rhetoric of the Left has little trouble with identifying the ills of the world, but when the collectivists start to rattle off their measures to make the world safe for democracy, the ugly fascist face of totalitarianism emerges. The bond among statists, span all ideological spectrums. Commies and Nazis share the same gene. In Amerika, that same defiled DNA proliferates in all the half-wits that still believe that government is or can be a force for good. Essentially, the people are a herd of corruption enablers.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Character, Policy and the Selection of Leaders / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The end of Labor Day weekend in the United States traditionally has represented the beginning of U.S. presidential campaigns, though these days the campaign appears to be perpetual. In any case, Americans will be called on to vote for president in about two months, and the question is on what basis they ought to choose.
Many observers want to see intense debate over the issues, with matters of personality pushed to the background. But personality can also be viewed as character, and in some ways character is more important than policy in choosing a country's leadership.
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Monday, September 03, 2012
Is the Ron Paul Revolution Over? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Allan Stevo writes: At 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Mitt Romney became the GOP nominee for President.
At about the same time, 5:15 p.m., I watched a man involved with Ron Paul’s Louisiana victory box up phones at an outpost of the Ron Paul Revolution – a place from which some of the dispersed grassroots campaigns were run. Boxing up those phones marked the end of the 2012 phone-banking effort in that remote location. A room that I had seen abuzz with volunteer activity for months from early morning until whatever hour it is that Hawaiians start to no longer accept political phone calls was now being packed into a few small boxes and being shipped away. A few small boxes of equipment, a few hundred dollars to keep the lights on, and a dream for freer times ahead filled rooms like that across the country night-after-night. Tuesday that was all packed up.
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Monday, September 03, 2012
How the Council on Foreign Relations Controls Conservative Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
I sent a stripped-down version of my movie review of 2016 to my Tea Party Economist list. I knew it would outrage some of them.
Why did I do it? To make sure D'Souza sees it. The list is large. Someone will send it to him. I want him to know that the Old Right isn't buying his thesis that Obama's agenda is somehow uniquely wrong because it is anti-colonialist. Obama is a defender of the American Empire as Bush was. His agenda is that of one of the factions of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is not in bed with the neocons, meaning big on Israel, but the dominant foreign policy objectives of the CFR were pro-oil and therefore pro-Arab long before 1948, let alone the late 1960s, when the neocons showed up.
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Sunday, September 02, 2012
Don’t Count Out the Labor Movement / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Almost every conservative political columnist, pundit, commentator, blogger, and bloviator has written about the decline and forthcoming death of the labor movement.
They happily point to Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker shortly after taking office in January 2011 took advantage of a Republican majority in the House and Senate to ram through legislation that stripped numerous collective bargaining rights for public employee unions. Among collective bargaining rights are those that assure decent working conditions and a fair grievance process to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory discipline.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2012
U.S. On the Highway To Hell / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Kitze
Monty Perlerin / EconomicNoise.com
The Role of The Government in The Economic Crisis
Read full article... Read full article...At this point, everything the government is doing – and not just the US government but governments everywhere − is not only the wrong thing but exactly the opposite of the right thing. They’re passing more laws, raising taxes, creating more currency and incurring more debt. They should be doing the opposite. We’re currently still in the eye of the storm. Their actions guarantee that when we go back into the hurricane − the trailing edge of the hurricane − it’s going to be much worse and will last much longer than what we saw in 2007 to 2009. Doug Casey
Sunday, August 26, 2012
America’s Descent Into Poverty / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The United States has collapsed economically, socially, politically, legally, constitutionally, environmentally, and morally. The country that exists today is not even a shell of the country into which I was born. In this article I will deal with America’s economic collapse. In subsequent articles, i will deal with other aspects of American collapse.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Inventing an Iranian Threat / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Iran threatens no one. Western and Israeli leaders know it. So do over 100 Non-Aligned Movement countries coming to Tehran. They'll be there from August 26 - 31. They'll participate in NAM's 16th summit.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
America Goes Fundamentalist / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The unfunny thing is that it was fundamentalist, already. The Todd Akin's definition of "legal rape", the death of Neil Armstrong removing an ikonic symbol of American technological prowess, and a recurring spate of gory killings have all been given the usual mix-and-mingle media treatment to tweak out the most sensational fundamentalist themes, to a backdrop of news from Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan and elsewhere that runs along the same lines. Outside America, the world is run by scary, violent, bearded and begowned religious nutjobs who know nothing about technology. But inside the USA the fundamentalists are clean-shaven, wear a suit and tie and are techno geeks: the US media tells its witless viewers and listeners that America is so very different.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
If you Like NAFTA, You’ll Love the Trans Pacific Partnership / Politics / US Politics
By: Rudy_Avizius
We, the transnational corporations and the ruling elites are on the verge of a wonderful new dawn that will bring us immense power and untold wealth.
We have been secretly negotiating a new agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and are nearing completing the final details of this agreement. We have had 600 of our corporate lobbyists providing input and have successfully excluded Congress, our own corporate media, and the general public from the negotiations. Once implemented, this agreement will hard code corporate dominance over sovereign governments into international law that will supercede any federal, state, or local laws of any member country. This agreement will grant new corporate privileges and rights, while limiting governments and protective regulations. This agreement will far exceed anything we have been able to achieve with NAFTA, CAFTA, or any other free trade agreement.
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Welcome to Soviet America, Naomi Wolf on the Crackdown of Dissent / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Naomi Wolf: With the world watching the case of Wikileaks Julian Assange, Russia Today sat down with American author Naomi Wolf to discuss why journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to publish information the US government doesn’t want them to. Indeed, the Pentagon has been ordered to begin monitoring major news stations in the US to see if any media outlets are disclosing classified information. With the entire government now over-classifying everything, it's a heavy-handed attempt to silence truth tellers and whistle blowers with threats of imprisonment, or worse. Wolf's reaction is: "My immediate take is a profound feeling of nausea and a sense that somehow, the United States has collapsed into the Soviet Union circa the mid-1930s. This was horribly foreseeable, but I can’t believe it’s come to this."Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Who Rules America? Class Warfare in 2012 / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The media are filled with stories claiming that the Obama vs. Romney race is all about class warfare. I have my doubts. Here is why.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, in their then-anonymous tract, The Manifesto of the Communist Party(1848), began chapter 1 with these words: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles."
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Power Politics vs. American Prosperity / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
I had one of those “Aha!” moments recently.
I was engaged in an e-mail dialogue with a moderately prominent individual active in America’s international trade relations. He’s a former high-ranking public official, important enough to matter but not a household name. You might recognize him if you follow trade politics closely. Democrat, left-of-center, but nothing radical.
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Monday, August 20, 2012
U.S. Extortion Against Standard Chartered Bank Shows Bias Against Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Is This Incident A Retaliation Because A Bank Official Made A Disparaging Comment About US Hostility To Iran?
Johannesburg, South Africa: On the surface, it looked like a simple game of “Gotcha,” when New York Bank regulators blew the whistle on London’s Standard Chartered Bank for laundering money. The fact that the money was allegedly tied to Iran cast a major shadow on the allegations, given the Islamic Republic’s “bad guy” image in American policy circles.
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Saturday, August 18, 2012
Republicans Hope, but Don't Change / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
For much of the past few generations, the debate over balancing the federal budget has been a central feature of every presidential campaign. But over time, the goalposts have moved. As the amount of red ink has grown steadily larger, the suggested time frames to restore balance have gotten increasingly longer, while the suggested cuts in government spending have gotten increasingly shallower. In recent years, talk of balancing the budget gave way to vague promises such as "cutting the deficit in half in five years." In the current campaign, however, it appears as if the goalposts have been moved so far that they are no longer in the field of play. I would argue that they are completely out of the stadium.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 17, 2012
U.S. Unemployment Problem, Congress Are You Listening / Politics / US Politics
By: Toby_Connor
Well, it's that time again. Every two years our senses are assaulted as politicians spew an endless stream of nonsense in the attempt to garner votes from a mostly unsophisticated American population. This year the major topic, not surprisingly, is jobs. Each and every politician would like you to believe that he or she has the cure for the persistent unemployment problem.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The Bernanke Cliff / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Pento
There is just far too much attention being paid to the so called Fiscal Cliff occurring at the end of this year. The expiration of the “Bush era” tax cuts and forced spending reductions taking place because of the Sequestration, really doesn’t amount to much more than a fiscal speed bump. In fact, less government spending is one of the pathways to prosperity; rather than becoming some make-believe economic catastrophe. And although raising tax rates isn’t an optimal solution, there could still be a small benefit if there was a resulting increase in revenue, which then served to reduce annual deficits and began to address our long-term fiscal imbalances.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Signs of Collapse Mr. President, What the Last Roman Emperor Would Tell Obama Today / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
Over the course of 700 years, the ancient Roman Empire grew from a small republic to one that stretched from London to Baghdad at its peak.
As one of the world's first true superpowers, the Empire's achievements included the world's first standing professional army, economic prowess, intellectual growth and governance principles that are commonly regarded as the basis for modern society.
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Tuesday, August 14, 2012
What Does Liberty Really Mean to You? / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
David Galland, Casey Research - For some time now – years actually – I have pondered the nature of liberty. Or more specifically, what liberty actually means to me. And to be extra clear, I am not talking about the meaning in abstract or philosophical terms, but tangibly – in much the same way I might answer if asked what my wife means to me.
The trigger for this entirely personal discourse comes from reading various articles and viewing various YouTube videos and speeches from self-styled champions of liberty (COL). There is even an entire conference, Mark Skousen's FreedomFest, dedicated to the topic.
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Monday, August 13, 2012
Europe's Most Dangerous Politicians: Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, David Cameron.... / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
Der Spiegel has published an inane article about Europe's 10 Most Dangerous Politicians.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
NASA Sends a Golf Cart to Mars / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Bernard Grover writes: All the hype and hyperbole surrounding the Curiosity rover landing on Mars is really quite humorous. Terms like "biggest", "best", "most ambitious", and "powerful" have been landing with thuds as resounding as the rover itself. Frankly, it all calls for a little reality check, which we love to do around here.
Friday, August 10, 2012
President Obama in January 2009 and Now / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_R_Campbell
Why Read: To test the contemporaneous views I expressed four years ago, to observe similarities and differences then and now, and to determine if you agree with my current views.
Friday, August 10, 2012
The Decline of Empire: 'Why America Failed' / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
To say that Morris Berman has a 'dark vision' to share is an understatement.
I think his view is legitimate, but only if you look at one somewhat narrow aspect of the American character, and ignore all the rest. It seems to be singularly focused to the point of distortion by a depressive fatalism.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Ron Paul - U.S. Moving Towards War in Syria / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the House passed yet another bill placing sanctions on Iran and Syria, bringing us closer to another war in the Middle East. We are told that ever harsher sanctions finally will force the targeted nations to bend to our will. Yet the ineffectiveness of previous sanctions teaches us nothing; in truth sanctions lead to war more than they prevent war.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
Obamacare Hidden Taxes Will Cost You More Than You Think / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
The bill for Obamacare is on its way, and guess what? It's addressed to you.
You see, all those great benefits included in the Affordable Care Act don't come cheap, which is why the new healthcare law includes a barrage of new "Obamacare taxes."
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Monday, August 06, 2012
U.S. Says Iran Violates International Obligations, What Are International Obligations? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
What are “international obligations? Does the United States have to uphold them along with other counties? Does Washington even know they are defined as “obligations owed by states to the international community as a whole, intended to protect and promote the basic values and common interests of all.” By this very definition, no one state can decide what’s best for all.
When the United States stepped up its sanctions on Iran last past week, it cited Iran’s failure to adhere to its “international obligations.” There was, of course, no reference to domestic politics where President Obama, under attack from adversary Mitt Romney, criticized his failure to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
The Political Significance of Gore Vidal / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The Gore Vidal legacy encompasses his numerous novels, literary writings, plays and essays. Few 20th century authors can match the volume of his compositions and consistency in the quality of his thoughts. If one can ignore his anti-religious beliefs and get past his complex sexuality, one can justly focus on the significance within his political viewpoints. Not since Oscar Wilde, has there been a man of letter with comparable wit and ridicule, that capsulated the age of his lifetime. Based upon a keen command of history and a flare for original insights, Vidal was the master political polemicist.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Firearms A Virus in the Lifeblood of America / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Several weeks ago on a Friday, Americans were shocked awake by a mass massacre in Aurora, Colorado. Two weeks after, on a Sunday, Americans awoke to a sequel played-out at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin. These are dubbed "mass murders" by law enforcement, the politicians and media. The Sikh massacre on the fifth of August was quickly labeled of a "domestic terrorism-type", with no supporting evidence given by the FBI. One comment left by a poster at Reuters pointed out that while this rampage occurred and received media-wide coverage, five murders were committed in Chicago that very morning and received little media coverage. Anyone who lives in or near an urban center in America knows the truth about underreported murders.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Who do You Trust? President? Congress? Treasury Secretary? Federal Reserve? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” ― J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan
"The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." – Lord Acton
Who do you trust? Do you trust the President? Do you trust Congress? Do you trust the Treasury Secretary? Do you trust the Federal Reserve? Do you trust the Supreme Court? Do you trust the Military Industrial Complex? Do you trust Wall Street bankers? Do you trust the SEC? Do you trust any government agency or regulator? Do you trust the corporate mainstream media? Do you trust Washington think tanks? Do you trust Madison Avenue PR maggots? Do you trust PACs? Do you trust lobbyists?
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Thursday, August 02, 2012
Corporatist Coup d'Etat Led By Think Tanks, Democracy Sold to the Highest Bidder / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
“The mess we’re in now did not begin on Wall Street. Long before the financial collapse, the dismantlement of government regulation was well under way. All the consequences are the result of a brilliantly executed coup. This is the story of the biggest heist in American history.”
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Thursday, August 02, 2012
Obama Tells Entrepreneurs "You Didn't Build That" / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Gary Galles writes: President Obama's "you didn't build that" statement to successful business owners has created a serious backlash. In rebuttal, his defenders point to his more complete statement for "clarification":
Read full article... Read full article...If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Justice Roberts is Right: Obama Healthcare Plan Won't Work / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Now that the Supreme Court has given its narrow blessing to the Affordable Care Act, the big question is whether it will deliver the benefits that its proponents promise. Unfortunately, as it is now constructed, the plan will backfire causing fewer healthy people to buy insurance, raise premiums for those who do, destroy employment opportunities, cripple the health insurance industry, and weaken the economy.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Ignorance of “Intelligence” / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Some years ago, I meet a major in American intelligence, a member of the “Red Cell Unit.”
As he explained it to me, his unit was actually charged with assessing other spy shops by offering other views, critiquing intelligence estimates and perhaps even evaluating security systems like the specialists who test airport systems by probing for their soft spots and vulnerabilities, and seeing if they can beat them.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Ron Paul - Audit the Fed Moves Forward! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed my legislation calling for a full and effective audit of the Federal Reserve. Well over 300 of my Congressional colleagues supported the bill, each casting a landmark vote that marks the culmination of decades of work. We have taken a big step toward bringing transparency to the most destructive financial institution in the world.
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Sunday, July 22, 2012
America's Right to National Bankruptcy and Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Andrew Foy writes: People like me who believe the government should play a less active role in subsidizing healthcare costs are often asked the question "Do you believe healthcare is a basic human right?"
While this is an important philosophical question to ponder, it often lends itself to unexamined answers and political demagoguery. The imprecise answer "yes" to this question by most governments around the world (including the United States) has served mainly to accelerate healthcare-cost growth and benefit the medical-industrial complex at the expense of the public. To appreciate this point, one must consider the reality of what having a right to healthcare, as it is presently understood, actually means, and then consider who wins.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
Brace Yourself, the American Empire Is Over / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Chris Hedges offers an interesting 3 hour interpretation of events that one rarely hears in the mainstream media.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Corruption and Mismanagement See Much of the US Without Power / Politics / US Politics
By: OilPrice_Com
Amidst record-high temperatures and a very anti-climactic 4th of July, power outages have left millions without air-conditioning and even water in rural areas where households rely on electric pumps. At least 52 people have died from heat and three million people are still without power.
No it's not Yemen, where power outages in the capital Sana'a have sparked a new round of protests. It's the United States of America, where corruption converges with a moribund electricity distribution system to produce increasingly frequent blackouts across the Midwest and East Coast.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Disclose Act (s. 3369) Destroying the First Amendment / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits, KrisAnne Hall writes: ALERT: The Disclose Act (s. 3369)has been resurrected and it will further destroy the remnants of our 1stAmendment and diminish the power of our grassroots groups!
It is always shocking to me that those we elect are absolutely clueless to the true government that they were elected to support and defend. Day in and day out we hear our representatives refer to our government as a “democracy.” Our founders did not establish a democracy, they established a republic. At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a women referred to as Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia, “Well, Doctor, what have we, a republic or a monarchy?” It is said that Dr. Franklin, without hesitation, said, “A Republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.” Here we are 225 years later and our own representatives do not know the correct answer to this question.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Exposing Obama, Revealing the Depth of US Government Corruption / Politics / US Politics
By: Pravda
The solution for the United States is not to elect more "good" people to government because they are quickly co-opted and compromised by the corrupt political system.
It may sound cynical, but the solution is to make it politically advantageous for bad people to do the right thing.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Democracy, Tyranny and the 'good American' –the clock is approaching Midnight / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
What is so difficult for the majority of Americans to recognize, and for a majority of critical writers to accept, is that they—the so-called "people"—have turned to stone. They—the so called "people"—have become "good Germans". They—the so-called "people"—have been induced into an authoritarianism that threatens to open the door to tyranny: tyranny in government, in religion, in corporatism, in finance, and in and through a mushrooming military-security state that already is the deadliest toxin permeating every air molecule democracy inhales. Fascism and Totalitarianism are the watchwords of the day. The solution is not a Gold Standard, but a Moral Standard.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Ron Paul on Fractional Reserve Banking, Government, and Moral Hazard / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week my subcommittee held a hearing on fractional reserve banking and the moral hazard created by government (taxpayer) insured deposits. Fractional reserve banking is the practice by which banks accept deposits but only keep a fraction of those deposits on hand at any time. In practice, nearly 100% of deposits are loaned out, yet depositors believe that they can withdraw the full amount of their deposit at any time. Loaned funds are then redeposited and reloaned up to the limit of the bank's reserve requirements, compounding the effect.
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Monday, July 09, 2012
U.S. Iran War Gaming Scenario's as Washington Prepares Plans for Aggression / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
When we hear that the United States government is announcing a new policy, it is usually the result of a detailed process, a calculated weighing of options and scenarios in which planners seek to calculate the likely impact and reaction to policies they are advocating.
The stepped-up anti-Iranian sanctions strategy now underway was not an off the top of the head impulsive decision, but one reached through a process of careful strategizing ---as in, if we do this, what are they likely to do?
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Friday, July 06, 2012
Third World America 2012: A Country At War With Itself / Politics / US Politics
By: Janet_Tavakoli
On the Fourth of July, comedian Chris Rock tweeted: "Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren't free but I'm sure they enjoyed fireworks." Chris Rock disowns the holiday with tongue-in-cheek.
Well right back at you Mr. Rock. My continental European ancestors weren't in the USA when colonists won their independence from England. My grandparents didn't even speak English when they arrived in the U.S., but according to this tweet, their whiteness took ownership of Independence Day from African Americans. Is there nothing those poor European immigrants didn't ruin for real Americans?
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Thursday, July 05, 2012
Hot Air Independence Day, Can Americans Escape the Deception? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Hot Air Day is upon us. On July 4 hot air will spew forth all over the country as dignitaries deliver homilies to our “freedom and democracy” and praise “our brave troops” who are protecting our freedom by “killing them over there before they come over here.”
Not a single one of these speeches will contain one word of truth. No speaker will lament the death of the US Constitution or urge his audience to action to restore the only document that protects their liberty. No speaker will acknowledge that in the 21st century the Bush/Obama Regime, with the complicity of the Department of Justice, federal courts, Congress, presstitute media, law schools, bar associations, and an insouciant public have murdered the Constitution in the name of the “war on terror.”
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Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Supreme Errors by U.S. Supreme Court in Upholding Obama's Health Care Plan / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
In the wake of my last commentary on the horrendous Supreme Court decision upholding Obama's health care plan, several people have pointed out that I erred in saying that the income tax is a "direct tax." While it is technically correct that the Court ultimately declared it to be an excise, not a direct tax, it is important to understand how it arrived at that opinion and why the decision has no practical relevance to the way the tax has been enforced. Just as it has done with Obamacare, the Court came up with a technically constitutional pathway to allow the government to collect a tax in a blatantly unconstitutional manner.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
The Greatest Story Ever Written or Will be Written / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Steve Christ writes:
Ask practically any American this week about their country, and they will likely tell you that - despite its faults - the United States is the greatest nation on earth.
I would even take it a step further by saying the United States is the greatest country there is, ever was, and ever will be...
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Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Audit the Fed Headed for the House Floor! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week supporters of Federal Reserve transparency had a major victory when the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform passed my Audit the Fed bill, HR 459 unanimously with all major audit provisions intact. This clears the way for a House floor vote expected sometime in late July, and with a whopping 263 cosponsors, the chances of it passing have never looked better! This is an unprecedented opportunity for transparency into how the currency of the United States is handled, and mishandled by the Federal Reserve. It is more important than ever that my colleagues in the House and Senate understand what this legislation does and why it is so important.
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Monday, July 02, 2012
Time for the Second American Revolution / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
For well over the last decade BATR has argued that the Republic is dead. Now that the Supreme Court has rendered their decision on Obamacare, there can be no doubt that the funeral for a nation, born out of a revolution for liberty, is over. The country, buried in the ashes of totalitarian despotism, is now history.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
U.S. Healthcare Legal Gimmickry Rescues Obamacare / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Despite the celebrations among Democrats, yesterday a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that the Constitution does not allow the government to force Americans to buy health insurance. However in providing the swing vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) Chief Justice John Roberts broke with the four other justices who shared that view by declaring that the methods chosen to get individuals to buy insurance were not penalties but taxes. He declared that the government wasn't legislating behavior, but simply taxing it. In reaching this tortured decision he erred by declaring the penalties to be taxes and then compounded the mistake by classifying them as "indirect taxes" that are not imposed on individuals. Apparently Roberts feels that these two wrongs will make a right. But his mistake will cost this country dearly.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Washington Neo-cons are Leading the World to Destruction / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
When President Reagan nominated me as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, he told me that we had to restore the US economy, to rescue it from stagflation, in order to bring the full weight of a powerful economy to bear on the Soviet leadership, in order to convince them to negotiate the end of the cold war. Reagan said that there was no reason to live any longer under the threat of nuclear war.
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Day The U.S. Constitution Died / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits: Michael Connelly writes: It is June 28, 2012 and on this day in history five Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court joined with President Obama and members of Congress to declare the U.S. Constitution and our free Republic dead. The justices accomplished all of this by issuing a bizarre opinion on the Constitutionality of the “Affordable Health Care Act” commonly known as Obamacare.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The American War Racket, the No1 Zombie Industry / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
Normandy, France – One of the advantages of moving overseas is that you see home more clearly. We came to France last week. Already, America comes into clearer focus.
The French press seems fascinated by the relationship between Francois Hollande’s two mistresses. The former – a candidate for president herself – dumped him when he took up with the latter. The former is also the mother of Hollande’s 4 children, which complicates things further.
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Monday, June 25, 2012
Ron Paul, U.S. Government is Already Too Involved in Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week the Supreme Court is expected to issue its long-awaited decision regarding the constitutionality of the "Obamacare" law. I recently discussed absurd legal arguments by Obamacare advocates that Congress can compel the purchase of health insurance, and the dismal record of federal courts applying so-called "judicial review" in protecting liberty. It is obvious that Obamacare's legal apologists either are wholly ignorant of constitutional principles, or wholly lawless in their blatant disregard for those principles.
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Saturday, June 23, 2012
Ron Paul Warns Neocons, Hands Off Syria! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Before the US House of Representatives: Statement Introducing HR 5993, The Syria Non-Intervention Act of 2012
Mr. Speaker: The Administration is marching toward another war in the Middle East, this time against Syria. As with the president's war against Libya, Congress has been frozen out of the process. The Constitution, which grants Congress and only Congress the authority to declare war, is once again being completely ignored.
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Saturday, June 23, 2012
U.S. Trickle Up Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
The political left wing has long tried to cast doubt on the fairness, and even the efficacy, of free market capitalism by branding it as a "trickle down" system. This epithet is meant to show how the middle and lower classes are dependent on scraps of wealth that happen to fall from the buffet table of the rich. This characterization of an unfair and inefficient system has helped them demonize policies that lower taxes (if they also extend to the wealthy) and reduce regulation on business.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Hollywood's New Propaganda Movie Hostage Thriller Glamorizes The CIA In Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Earlier this year, I was in Tehran for a conference on Hollywood’s power and impact. It was called “Hollywoodism,” featuring many scholars and critics of the values and political ideologies featured in many major movies with a focus on the way Israel (a.k.a., “the Zionists”) are continually portrayed as if they do no wrong.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Out of Order / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
While JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been credited for a confident and feisty performance today in front of Congress, he was careful to not criticize their efforts thus far to regulate the financial services industry. Given that JP Morgan has been on the receiving end of federal bailouts, this should not be surprising. Last week I showed no such reluctance when I testified in front of the Congressional House Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity. The fact that my firm is unlikely ever to receive a dime from government was undeniably liberating in that regard.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Ron Paul - Congressional Budget Office Sees the Economic Cliff Ahead / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its annual long-term budget outlook report, and the 2012 numbers are not promising. In fact, the CBO estimates that federal debt will rise to 70% of GDP by the end of the year-- the highest percentage since World War II. The report also paints a stark picture of entitlement spending, as retiring Baby Boomers will cause government spending on health care, Social Security, and Medicare to explode as a percentage of GDP in coming years.
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Sunday, June 10, 2012
Conservatives Are the Enemy, They Love, Taxes, Tariffs and the Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
This may sound odd. Conservatives don't love taxes. They want lower taxes. Right? They want lower taxes and smaller government.
I wish that were true. It isn't.
Alexander Hamilton was a crusader for higher taxes and a larger national government in the 1790s. He wanted higher taxes in order to raise money for a higher federal debt. He wanted higher federal debt because he wanted investors in government IOUs to commit to the survival of the United States. Free market economist Thomas DiLorenzo has summarized Hamilton's position, which he accurately identifies as crony capitalism.
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Thursday, June 07, 2012
The fight against the tax-exempt foundations needs to continue / Politics / US Politics
By: Mario_Innecco
In 1982 G. Edward Griffin interviewed Norman Dodd who was the chief investigator for the Reece Committee. This was a U.S. House select committee created to investigate tax-exempt foundations. In this almost hour- long interview Mr Dodd reveals some very interesting information regarding the objectives and the means by which these tax-exempt foundations influence public policy in the United States of America and the world.
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Tuesday, June 05, 2012
How the Banks Use Government To Make Us Suffer / Personal_Finance / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
There are many ways in which human beings have created means of exchange (currency, means of payment, money) that have worked successfully over long periods of time. There is the way that Menger explained, through discovery of a highly marketable commodity. This is the way in which precious metals gained ascendancy. Another way is through banks that have intermediated short-term (90-day) bills of exchange and provided bank notes. This was common for many centuries. Another way is through the deposits of goldsmiths at a bank in exchange for certificates that circulate. Fourth, governments have created tax certificates good for paying taxes, and these have functioned as means of exchange. We should not forget also that there have been many commodities that have been used as means of exchange.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Ron Paul on Washington's War Drums for Syria / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
War drums are beating again in Washington. This time Syria is in the crosshairs after a massacre there last week left more than 100 dead. As might be expected from an administration with an announced policy of "regime change" in Syria, the reaction was to blame only the Syrian government for the tragedy, expel Syrian diplomats from Washington, and announce that the US may attack Syria even without UN approval. Of course, the idea that the administration should follow the Constitution and seek a Declaration of War from Congress is considered even more anachronistic now than under the previous administration.
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Saturday, June 02, 2012
What a Few Thousand Dollars Will Buy You in D.C. / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Let's talk today about the cheap cost of buying favorable legislation in the House, and about how bills are titled to deceive us, even when there's no good reason to lie to our faces.
But first, I have to give a giant shout-out to Kevin Wack, the Capitol Hill reporter for the American Banker, which I read every day, and you should, too.
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Friday, June 01, 2012
U.S. Congress Dumb and Dumber and the Facebook IPO Fiasco / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
You're not imagining things. Congress is dumb and getting dumber.
According to the Sunlight Foundation, the median grade level for Congressional proceedings and speeches has dropped nearly a full grade level from eleventh to tenth grade.
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Capital Controls Have No Place in a Free Society / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The characteristic mark of a tyrannical regime is that it eventually finds it necessary to erect walls to keep people from leaving. This is why we should be troubled by the "Ex-PATRIOT Act," an egregiously offensive bill recently introduced in the Senate. Following a long line of recent legislation and regulations attempting to expropriate more and more wealth from hard-working Americans, this new bill spits in the face of overburdened taxpayers and tramples on the Constitution.
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Saturday, May 26, 2012
Can Obama Stop Casino Capitalism? / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
The recent JPMorgan scandal where billions of dollars were lost in risky bets has re-ignited the move to properly regulate the U.S. banking system.
Among those asking for new regulations is Robert Reich, former labor secretary to Bill Clinton. Recently Reich made a plea of sorts to President Obama, whom he wishes would take the commonsense approach to bank regulation by re-installing the depression-era regulation, the Glass-Steagall Act.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
America today is pro-war, pro-capitalist, pro-empire and in retrograde! / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
I quickly rented a car to meet an emergency medical appointment. Enterprise, the rental agency, sent its 30-something driver who I've known for years. In conversation, Pam (pseudonym), a conservative and Evangelical Christian, called me an "old Democrat". I hoped by "old" she didn't mean elderly, though I am. I hope she didn't mean a Clinton Democrat or a Carter or a LBJ Democrat either (which I wasn't). If she meant a "JFK" one she was close to correct. Thusly, I am a very, very old Democrat, in fact an FDR Dem born two years after he gave up the ghost and passed the atomic bomb to the then "warrior president" Democrat Harry Truman. So I am a child of the Bomb, born and adopted in the year of Roswell.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Ron Paul On Indefinite Detention: The Tyranny Continues / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The bad news from last week's passage of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act is that Americans can still be arrested on US soil and detained indefinitely without trial. Some of my colleagues would like us to believe that they fixed last year's infamous Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA, which codified into law the unconstitutional notion that some Americans are not subject to the protections of the Constitution. However, nothing in this year's bill or amendments to the bill restored those constitutional rights.
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Monday, May 14, 2012
Why U.S. Politicians Are Quiet About Europe's Meltdown / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
After the Greek elections struck fear into the hearts of the global banksters, the fallout remains uncertain. If the next Greek election produces an anti-austerity government, Greece will almost certainly make a speedy exit from the euro. If this happens — and it is looking increasingly inevitable — the consequences for the global economy are spectacularly gloomy. Yet U.S. media and U.S. politicians are largely silent on the issue, almost as if nothing were happening.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Ron Paul on Why Bankster Power Must be Eradicated / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Although it has taken nearly a century, it seems that the entire spectrum of the American political establishment has finally realized the destructive power of the Federal Reserve System. Whether left, right, or libertarian, politicians are lining up to attack Ben Bernanke and the Fed's destructive monetary policy. Where there is disagreement or lack of understanding, however, is on why the Fed's monetary policy is destructive, how it harms the economy, and what should be done about it. Today's hearing will examine the various proposals that have been put forth both to mend and to end the Fed. It is my hope that this hearing will spur a vigorous and long-lasting discussion about the Fed's problems, a discussion which will lead to concrete actions once and for all to rein in the Fed.
Monday, May 07, 2012
Number ONE Enemy of the State / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
There is immense confusion about the nature of the State. There is even more bewilderment about what constitutes a patriot. Any discussion in the civic realm begins with a cultural viewpoint. An attitude toward the proper role of the individual’s relationship with government based upon one’s value system and interpretation of civil order is natural. One man’s patriot is another man’s traitor. Where do you stand on the sentiments behind the penning of the below ideas? Quiz yourself and see if you can figure out the name of the author.
Monday, May 07, 2012
Economic Lessons from the Ron Paul vs. Krugman Debate / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
Vedran Vuk, Senior Analyst, Casey Research writes: A few days ago, Bloomberg held the debate many readers have been wanting for a long time: Paul Krugman vs. Ron Paul. To be fair, Ron Paul didn't have a slam-dunk debate moment – but neither did Krugman. Still, the fact that a medical doctor from Texas armed with a little Austrian economics and a lot of common sense can stand up to a Nobel-Prize-winning economist is impressive. If the roles were reversed and the conversation was on medicine, Krugman would have likely sounded like a village idiot in the discussion. In case you haven't already seen it, click on the frame below for the video.
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Monday, May 07, 2012
War Is Unholy, But we're supposed to think that God is on our side? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Gary D. Barnett writes: The drums of war now beat continuously in the land of the "free" and the home of the "brave." The sound of those drums is deafening to those few who understand the real nature of war, but silent to most of the rest of American society, a society consumed by the practice of false patriotism.
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Monday, May 07, 2012
Iceberg Ahead: The Big Money That Is Sinking Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
I keep thinking of that clear April night 100 years ago when the unsinkable HMS Titanic steamed towards New York. It was actually on its way to dock just a few blocks from where I live at what are now the Chelsea Piers. There was a sense of optimism abroad as a new record for a speedy transatlantic passage was about to be set.
There was music, dancing and fine wine. That is, until they saw that iceberg high in the water. The Captain and his mates were aware that 80 percent of it was underwater and out of sight. They didn’t react in time.
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Sunday, May 06, 2012
U.S. Government Using Police Powers to Protect Hydralic Fracking, Being Fracked by the Merger of Government and Big Business / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
Fracking is polluting water all over the country. A new study published in the journal Ground Water predicts that the highly-toxic fluids used in fracking can migrate to aquifers within a few short years.
The government has officially stated that fracking can cause earthquakes. And see this. Some fracking companies now admit this fact.
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Sunday, May 06, 2012
American's Fed Disinformation On Every Front / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Some readers have come to the erroneous conclusion that the Matrix consists of Republican Party disinformation as if there is no disinformation from the left. Others think that propaganda is the business of Obama and the Democrats. In fact, propaganda from the right, the left and the middle are all part of the disinformation fed to americans.
If I may give some examples: The other day Chuck Colson, one of the Nixon officials imprisoned for Watergate crimes, died. This gave NPR the opportunity to relive the Nixon horror.
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Saturday, May 05, 2012
New Private Equity Opportunities Are Coming Thanks to the JOBS Act / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
An exceptional entrepreneurial company structure tainted unfairly by the actions of misnamed leveraged private equity buyout firms.
"Their new label became 'private equity,' a name that turns the facts upside-down: A purchase of a business by these firms almost invariably results in dramatic reductions in the equity portion of the acquiree's capital structure compared to that previously existing." – Warren Buffet
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Saturday, May 05, 2012
Americans Are Losing Trust In All U.S. Institutions / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
The signs are everywhere: Americans have lost trust in our institutions.
The Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index published yesterday shows that only 22% of Americans trust the nations financial system.
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Thursday, May 03, 2012
Americans and Their Totalitarian Government / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Scott Lazarowitz writes: Morning in American - That was Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign slogan, which manipulated the voters to give Reagan a second term of deficit-spending, expanding the welfare/warfare state, and further enlarging Big Government.
Barack Obama will do similar manipulating of the masses.
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Wednesday, May 02, 2012
A National Network for U.S. Manufacturing Innovation? / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
It’s no secret American manufacturing is in crisis, and that its problems form a significant component of our present economic mess. I’ve written before about how the Obama administration may (may!) be starting to get serious about the problem.
Another small but significant data point on the question of whether the administration is serious took place this last week: the government’s new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation held its first conference, designed to elicit public input on how this program will be designed and run.
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Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Brewing a Conflict with China, Military-Industrial Complex's Latest Dastardly Scheme / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Washington has pressured the Philippines, whose government it owns, into conducting joint military exercises in the South China Sea. Washington’s excuse is that China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries concerning island and sea rights in the South China Sea. Washington asserts that China’s territorial disputes with the like of Indonesia and the Philippines are a matter of United States’ national interests.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Ron Paul on the Costs of War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This month Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced the addition of some 1,900 mental health nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to its existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff in attempt to get a handle on the epidemic of suicides among combat veterans. Unfortunately, when presidents misuse our military on an unprecedented scale - and Congress lets them get away with it - the resulting stress causes military suicides to increase dramatically, both among active duty and retired service members. In fact, military deaths from suicide far outnumber combat deaths. According to an article in the Air Force Times this month, suicides among airmen are up 40 percent over last year.
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
Obama’s Veil Of Tears / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
Has a new leader of a great nation ever held such unlimited potential for his country and for the world?
The celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night after the 2008 campaign was by far the highest milestone in the magical Barack Obama movement so far, full of hope and equality, across all boundaries of people, all aimed at ending the special interest blockades in Washington that have stopped effective solutions for far too long. It seemed the nation was united in a rolling tide this young family man had somehow created from pure passion and intellect. Barack Obama had crushed the Republicans and even the Clintons. He was the peace candidate for the world.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
U.S. Military Drones Reported Operating Across the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: It’s easy to understand why Presidents, politicians and the military love robots. They don’t talk back. They follow orders. You press a button and they do what they are told. They are considered so efficient, and so lethal.
These modern killing machines represent science fiction reborn as science ‘faction.’
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mencken Was Right, American's Should be Skeptical of all Institutions / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant." - H.L. Mencken
H.L. Mencken was a renowned newspaper columnist for the Baltimore Sun from 1906 until 1948. His biting sarcasm seems to fit perfectly in today’s world. His acerbic satirical writings on government, democracy, politicians and the ignorant masses are as true today as they were then. I believe the reason his words hit home is because he was writing during the last Unraveling and Crisis periods in America. The similarities cannot be denied. There are no journalists of his stature working in the mainstream media today. His acerbic wit is nowhere to be found among the lightweight shills that parrot their corporate masters’ propaganda on a daily basis and unquestioningly report the fabrications spewed by our government. Mencken’s skepticism of all institutions is an unknown quality in the vapid world of present day journalism.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bernanke’s Plan for the Middle Class Fattening Wall Street, Starving Main Street / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Do you want to understand what the Fed is doing, but don’t have time to wade through volumes of tedious economics writing?
Well, now the pros at dshort.com have made all that possible. They’ve reduced 4 years of monetary policy into one chart that illustrates exactly what the Fed is up-to and who benefits from the policy. Here’s the link.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Ron Paul on CISPA is the New SOPA / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this year, strong public opposition led by several prominent websites forced Congressional leaders to cancel votes on two bills known in Washington as "SOPA" and "PIPA." Both of these bills threatened search engines and websites with possible shutdowns if the Justice Department deemed them insufficiently cooperative with our phony "war on terror," or if they were merely accused of copyright infringement. Fortunately the American public flooded Capitol Hill with phone calls and Congressional leaders dropped both bills.
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
The JOBS Act: Washington Takes One Step Back Toward Capitalism / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
I know my editorial credibility and reader confidence will suddenly collapse when this goes to print but I have some good news out of Washington and Congress. Yes, I know what you are getting ready to do but don't hit the delete button just yet!
The JOBS Act is actually good news for start-up and private company investors that will provide more liquidity, create an IPO boom and may be the beginning of a trend by Washington away from more regulatory and bureaucratic solutions holding down a nation and economy that simply can't compete with the rest of the world.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Unplugging Americans From The Matrix / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Americans, the British, and Western Europeans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the representatives of freedom, democracy, and morality in the world. The West passes judgment on the rest of the world as if the West is God and the rest of the world are barbarians in need of chastisement, invasion, and occupation. As readers know, from time to time I raise questions about the validity of the West’s extreme hubris. (See for example, the following articles: Washington’s Insouciance Has No Rival and Is Western Democracy Real or a Facade? ). China is often a country about which Washington’s moralists get on their high horse. However, China’s “authoritarian” government is actually more responsive to its people than America’s “elected democratic” government. Moreover, however incomplete on paper the civil liberties of China’s people, the Chinese government has not declared that it can violate with impunity whatever rights Chinese citizens have. And it is not China that is running torture prisons all over the globe.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Top Individual Income Tax Rates and the GDP Growth: Exposing the Lies of Rush Limbaugh and Right-Wing Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Jas_Jain
I am sick and tired of propagandist Rush Limbaugh claim, almost on a daily basis, that lower taxes, and he means the rate on the top individual income tax bracket, or marginal tax rate, leads to higher growth. Most right-wing Republicans believe in his lies and never bother to check the facts with the benefit of the hindsight. There is no subject related to the economy in America that has more propaganda than taxes because over time trillions are at stake.
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Salvaging Your Retirement Savings from the U.S. Government Ponzi Scheme / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
"It is unbelievable. Goldman Sachs? No one has any criminal convictions. The whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme." - Bernie Madoff
What is your average person to do? The governments who purport to own them and take half of their production every year also borrow on "their behalf" and have put not only them, but their children and grandchildren into levels of debt that can only be described as slavery. Meanwhile, the entire economy is so distorted by government regulations, taxes, tariffs, laws and legislation that calling it a "free market" is like calling Shaquille O'Neal a petite, pretty white girl. And, to top it off, the monetary system forced upon us by legal tender laws is a system based, at its core, on counterfeiting and price (interest rate) fixing.
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Monday, April 16, 2012
U.S. Constitution from Sneaky Beginnings to Encroachment on Liberty and Free Markets / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey, Casey Research : Legendary contrarian investor and the original International Man Doug Casey takes aim at the US Constitution, from its sneaky beginnings to its encroachments on individual liberty and free markets.
Louis: Doug, we've threatened to talk about the Constitution many times. Since there's increasing interest in the country's economic and political future, maybe now is a good time to put that into a fuller historical context..
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Battle for The “Soul” of Occupy Fear of Co-optation Leads to Self-Destructive Polemics / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Perhaps my problem is that I live in too many worlds at the same time, while many political eras live in me.
That may be why I responded so negatively to a recent polemic wrapped up in a poetic communique from AdBusters, the culture jammers in Canada, who do so much good work (and often so creatively) battling the consumption virus promoted by big corporations many of us have grown to despise.
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Friday, April 13, 2012
Obama's Real Goal is to Make Us Poorer by Any Means Possible / Politics / US Politics
By: William_Anderson
California regulators recently announced their plans to try to force people to live in dense housing developments rather than single-family homes, which environmental bureaucrats believe are wasteful and contribute to dread global warming. Likewise, the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has issued an order that effectively will keep electric power companies from building new coal-fired power plants, which will mean even higher electricity prices.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
I'm Worried About America's Future / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
I debated with myself about what to send as this week's Outside the Box. I have decided on a recent short but important post from my friend David Kotok, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Cumberland Advisors. He calls it "I'm Worried." There are some very thought-provoking ideas here, but what makes it particularly interesting is that I'm running into this sentiment more and more as I travel around the US; and when I'm abroad I also hear from people who are worried about the US. These are folks who rightly realize the world needs a strong US, both as an economic engine and as a leader –a chairman of the board, if you will –of a growing world. (Can the world grow and prosper without us? Of course, but not as easily, and the transition will not be pretty.)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Moloch State, When Government Safety Nets Break / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
The West's governments are going to default, one way or another. Politicians cannot bring themselves to stop spending money the governments do not have.
The deficits of the major Western governments are now so great as to be irreversible. The governments must now borrow money to be used to pay interest on money already borrowed. In the housing market, this is called a backward-walking mortgage. It invariably spells default. The subprime mortgages were mostly of this type.
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Monday, April 09, 2012
Ron Paul In Praise of Private Charity / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
One of the great fallacies of our time is that if government doesn't do something, no one will. Its corollary is that if you are opposed to the government doing something, that you are opposed to anyone performing that function at all. These disastrous fallacies color much of our national debate concerning heath care, education, poverty, housing, and disaster relief, and other issues.
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Monday, April 09, 2012
Obama's Supreme Court Rebuff / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Many Americans still revere the Supreme Court. As one of the three branches of the Federal government, confidence in their conduct and authority is usually higher than Congress or the Presidency. Yet when a real or contrived constitutional crisis develops, the screams and indignation arise and point to a convenient culprit. The current Obamacare case before this court has all the trappings of a full-blown confrontation. The reason is simple. The underlying question before the Supremes is not purely a legal matter. At stake is whether this country is actually a government under laws. Alternatively, is it an authoritarian dictatorship nuisance by irritating lawful restraints?
Sunday, April 08, 2012
America's Middle Class is Being Wiped Out, Soon to be a Nation With a Very Tiny Elite / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
End of the American Dream writes: The middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in the United States today. America is a nation with a very tiny elite that is rapidly becoming increasingly wealthy while everyone else is becoming poorer. So why is this happening? Well, it is actually very simple. Our institutions are designed to concentrate wealth in the hands of a very limited number of people. Throughout human history, almost all societies that have had a big centralized government have also had a very high concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. Throughout human history, almost all societies that have allowed big business or big corporations to dominate the economy have also had a very high concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. Well, the United States has allowed both big government and big corporations to grow wildly out of control. Those were huge mistakes. Our founding fathers attempted to establish a nation where the federal government would be greatly limited and where corporations would be greatly restricted. Unfortunately, we have turned our backs on those principles and now we are paying the price.