Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
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
The Story of the U.S. Regime Change Plan in the Philippines / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Dan_Steinbock
As long-needed economic reforms are taking off in the Philippines, regime change plans have been prepared in the US State Department against a democratically-elected president who enjoys very high popular support. During the Philippine presidential campaigns in spring 2016, U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg sided visibly with anti-Duterte forces, which led to several high-profile confrontations. After the controversial Ambassador left the Philippines, he wrote a “blueprint to undermine Duterte within 18 months.” Last month, the plan was leaked to The Manila Times, the oldest English-language daily in the Philippines.
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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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Sunday, January 15, 2017
'Deep State' CIA Director States We are Not NAZI's, Warns Trump Does Not Understand Russian Threat / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The outgoing Director of the US secret police spy agency, John Brennan defended the CIA against Donald Trumps response (tweets and press conference) to the CIA's leaking of fake intelligence to the the likes of CNN by effectively stating the the CIA were not Nazi's and warning that Donald Trump does not understand the true nature of the Russian threat (Manchurian candidate?).
Sunday, January 15, 2017
One China Policy Nonnegotiable, Says Beijing / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Stephen_Lendman
The one China policy was first mentioned in the Shanghai Communique on February 28, 1972 during Nixon’s visit to China - stressing the importance for both countries to normalize relations.
On January 1, 1979, the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations agreed to by Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiaoping formally established bilateral relations, ending official recognition of Taiwan, announced by Carter in December 1978.
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Saturday, January 14, 2017
Ushering In a Totalitarian Police State in Cashless “Smart Cities” / Politics / War on Cash
By: Jeff_Berwick
From Scandinavia to Amsterdam to India and elsewhere, the trend of going “cashless” is gaining traction.
We have been covering the shortcomings of what is rightly called the War On Cash here at TDV for a while now and have shown just how negative the effects can be on an unsuspecting nation’s people.
Chandigarh, India, which is the capital of the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, is like one of India’s labrats. Indian officials are working hard toward making it into India’s first cashless city.
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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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