Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Why the State Needs to Increase Taxes / Politics / Taxes
By: Walter_Brasch
Pennsylvanians are justifiably angry at paying the highest gas prices in the nation. The average price per gallon is $2.65, 27 cents higher than the highest price in the other 49 states. An additional eight cent tax was added this month. Until 2019, Pennsylvanians will be paying an additional $2.3 billion a year in taxes and fees—$11.5 billion total—to improve the state’s infrastructure. In addition to the increased tax on gas at the pumps, Pennsylvania motorists will also be spending more for license registrations, renewals, and title certificates.
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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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Friday, January 13, 2017
CIA Tries to Strong-Arm Trump into War With Russia / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Mike_Whitney
Powerful elites are using the credibility of the US Intelligence agencies to demonize Russia and prepare the country for war. This is the real meaning of the “Russia hacking” story which, as yet, has not produced any hard evidence of Russian complicity.
Last week’s 25-page report, that was released by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, illustrates to what extent intelligence is being “fixed around the policy”. Just as the CIA generated false information related to Weapons of Mass Destruction to soften public resistance to war with Iraq, so too, the spurious allegations in the DNI’s politically-motivated report are designed to depict Russia as a growing threat to US national security.
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Friday, January 13, 2017
Trump CIA Like Nazi Germany - Fake MI6 Intelligence leaked to Fake News Mainstream Media / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Nadeem_Walayat
President Donald Trump at his first press conference let rip into the mainstream press (CNN in particular) as he reacted to the CIA secret police's leaking of another MI6 dodgy dossier to the mainstream press, calling it all 'Fake News', fake intelligence by something that could have come out of Nazi Germany. Yes that's right the President Elect of the United States effectively likened the CIA to being like something out of Nazi Germany, pumping out propaganda in only the agencies own self interests which has been the reality for the duration of the spy agencies existence, it's just that to date not even a senior US politician let alone the President himself has ever spoken so candidly of the true nature of the beast that has held an iron grip over the United States, that has subverted democracy for decades by means of time tested tools for destroying lives of anyone who got in the unelected agencies way.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
CIA War On Trump - Leaks Fake MI6 Intelligence to Fake News Broadcast Media / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Nadeem_Walayat
President Donald Trump at his first press conference let rip into the mainstream press (CNN in particular) as he reacted to the CIA's leaking of another MI6 dodgy dossier to the mainstream press, calling it all 'Fake News', fake intelligence by something that could have come out of Nazi Germany. Yes that's right the President Elect of the United States effectively likened the CIA to being like something out of Nazi Germany, pumping out propaganda in only the agencies own self interests which has been the reality for the duration of the spy agencies existence, it's just that to date not even a senior US politician let alone the President himself has ever spoken so candidly of the true nature of the beast that has held an iron grip over the United States, that has subverted democracy for decades by means of time tested tools for destroying lives of anyone who got in the unelected agencies way.
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
13 Contrarian Economic Predictions For 2017 / Politics / Financial Markets 2017
By: John_Mauldin
BY JARED DILLIAN : Everyone likes to compile lists of predictions for the new year.
I don’t.
Did you ever notice that when you look at all the failed predictions in any given December, what ended up happening was the opposite of what everyone predicted?
Given that most predictions end up being wrong, why not just take a look at what passes for conventional wisdom and do the opposite?
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Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Italy, Germany, and the EU Are on the Brink of a Conflict / Politics / European Union
By: John_Mauldin
BY CHEYENNE LIGON AND ALLISON FEDIRKA : As a new year begins, we look at a key forecast that will bridge 2016 and 2017: the Italian banking crisis. In Geopolitical Futures’ 2016 forecast, we said that the focal point of Europe’s financial crisis would shift from Greece to the Italian banking system. For 2017, we forecast that the evolution of this crisis will eventually force a confrontation between Italy, Germany, and the European Union. Here, we establish a starting point for the looming Italian banking crisis in 2017, which will unfold over many months and have a range of consequences.
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
US Intelligence Agencies Try to Strong-Arm Trump into War With Russia / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Mike_Whitney
Powerful elites are using the credibility of the US Intelligence agencies to demonize Russia and prepare the country for war. This is the real meaning of the “Russia hacking” story which, as yet, has not produced any hard evidence of Russian complicity.
Last week’s 25-page report, that was released by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, illustrates to what extent intelligence is being “fixed around the policy”. Just as the CIA generated false information related to Weapons of Mass Destruction to soften public resistance to war with Iraq, so too, the spurious allegations in the DNI’s politically-motivated report are designed to depict Russia as a growing threat to US national security.
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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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Monday, January 09, 2017
Pope Francis Now a International Monetary Guru / Politics / Religion
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Neo-Marxist Pope Francis
As the new year dawns, it seems the current occupant of St. Peter’s Chair will take on a new function which is outside the purview of the office that the Divine Founder of his institution had clearly mandated. Besides being a self proclaimed expert on global warming and a vociferous advocate of societal-wrecking mass immigration, it looks as if “Pope” Francis has entered the realm of global economics specifically, international monetary policy.
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Monday, January 09, 2017
Will Obama's 'Good War' in Afghanistan Continue? / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week, as the mainstream media continued to obsess over the CIA's evidence-free claim that the Russians hacked the presidential election, President Obama quietly sent 300 US Marines back into Afghanistan's Helmand Province. This is the first time in three years that the US military has been sent into that conflict zone, and it represents a final failure of Obama's Afghanistan policy. The outgoing president promised that by the end of his second term, the US military would only be present in small numbers and only on embassy duty. But more than 8,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan as he leaves office.
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Monday, January 09, 2017
PM Theresa May Fears Donald Trump Will Grab Her by the P#ssy When they Meet / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
In a candid interview with Sky news British Prime Minister Theresa May in addition to covering the usual hot topics of BrExit and the NHS, was asked by Sophy Ridge on her thoughts about meeting Donald Trump given that it is on the record that he likes to grab women by the P#ssy.
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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.
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Obama Has 14 Days To Start World War III / Politics / WW3
By: Jeff_Berwick
Barack O’Bomber was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize before he even became President. And he hasn’t had one day of peace in his eight years.
And, he now has 14 days left and appears to be trying to foment World War III with his remaining opportunity.
Long ago O’Bomber accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t do anything to either justify or deserve it. More recently he’s actually done a lot to repudiate it.
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Saturday, January 07, 2017
The World Is Entering a “Localism” Era / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Against all odds, we made it through 2016.
I think future historians will call last year the, “Year of Shattered Concepts.” Obvious truths proved false, and unstoppable trends stopped.
Globalization is a prime example.
The idea that free trade and technology would merge the planet into one Giant Happy Global Economy is mortally wounded. The incoming Trump administration may well deliver the coup de grâce.
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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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