Search results for: obama

A Top Obama-Biden Aide Slams Trump for Missing the Moment for “Economic Dignity”

A Top Obama-Biden Aide Slams Trump for Missing the Moment for “Economic Dignity” May 18, 2020 David Corn Washington, DC, Bureau Chief Bio | Follow photo above: Susan Walsh/AP WN: This is lovely to hear. Everyone on the Planet yearns for “economic dignity”. Of course, this is the very essence of “democratic socialism”. excerpt: Gene […]

Under Donald Trump, drone strikes far exceed Obama’s numbers

By S. E. Cupp May 8, 2019 photo above: In this 2013 file photo, an X47-B Navy drone grabs the wire as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Virginia coast. | AP Photo/Steve Helber WN: This is, I believe, the first article I have highlighted about Trump’s […]

Obama’s Imperial Presidency

September 14, 2018 by Carl Boggs photo above: The U.S. Army | CC BY 2.0 WN: It is astounding that Obama (no less Hillary Clinton) was through and through a warmonger on a grand scale exceeding both Bushes, and far more so far than Trump. This is laid out in the article below. Obama is […]

As Trump Carves Path of Destruction, Nader Asks Obama: Where Are You?

While list of programs and rules under attack grows, a call for former president to fight back against “Trump-led assault on our weakening democracy” Tuesday, October 10, 2017 by Common Dreams  by Jake Johnson, staff writer photo above: President Obama and president-elect Trump in the Oval office on November 10, 2016. Picture: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APSource:News Corp […]

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas JUNE 2, 2017 by PAUL STREET WN: The review below of the recent massive biography of Barack Obama is scathing with reference to Obama’s supreme narcissism (matching Trump’s one could argue, though not in constant bombast). Paul Street powerfully demonstrates how Obama, in a long line […]

Obama: Prevent nuclear war!

From Avaaz: What’s the scariest thing about Trump?? He’s completely unpredictable, and if he decides to launch US nuclear weapons — there’s nothing that can stop him. That’s cause once the President says “go”, there’s just 4 minutes til launch. It’s a crazy dangerous system that started in the Cold War and is totally unnecessary today […]

An Open Letter to Michelle Obama, October 13, 2016

 WN: A friend reminded me, in response to that below, that none of us in the first world is untainted vis à vis violence. And with that taintedness is a bending at least towards hypocrisy and Pharisaism – which my friend also reminded me about. So with that mea culpa, please read on.: Dear […]

Marjorie Cohn: President Obama: ‘Patron’ of the Israeli Occupation

Marjorie Cohn: President Obama: ‘Patron’ of the Israeli Occupation – Truthdig Posted on Sep 29, 2016 By Marjorie Cohn President Obama has without fanfare pursued some of the most evil policies of any previous president: • creation of a permawar culture in Washington with consequent thousands into the millions of victims slaughtered in the Greater Middle East […]

How Obama Helped Lay the Groundwork for Trump’s Thuggery

His refusal to prosecute torturers and his Wild West assassination of bin Laden show how moral complacency can all too easily degenerate into full-blown corruption. By Rochelle Gurstein August 23, 2016 11:25 am photos above: Thugs an excerpt: Trump’s particular brand of maliciousness—his belief, as lazy as it is insolent, that he need not abide […]

In Transparent Act, Obama Administration Erases Civilian Deaths From Drone Strikes

photo above: President Barack Obama convenes a meeting in the Situation Room to discuss the latest on the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. Photo by the White House on Flickr. Obama and his administration are not only outright liars: they are mass serial killers with impunity. Under either Clinton or Trump, the […]

Rwanda Dispatches May 18 to July 12, 2018

At 30 years on to this day, April 7, 2024, the Rwanda Genocide broke out, that saw more than 1 million Rwandans murdered. CBC did the interview you see below. 30 years after Rwandan genocide, Roméo Dallaire feels ‘rage’ amid global crises | Watch (msn.com) Roméo Dallaire led the UN’s peacekeeping mission when more than […]

Easter Song and Reflections on the Resurrection

***NOTE: Please check out the footnotes for additional, more detailed commentary. Also, there are poetry and songs in the final footnote; and four additional songs below that.*** Please also see two great sermons, one on Good Friday, the other on Easter Sunday, by my colleague Randy Klassen: both in the context of criminal/restorative justice. Easter […]

Comments On: Amazing Disgrace

By Sarah Posner Illustration above by Brian Reedy. Think of the illustration in conjunction with this hugely ironic quote, one that said far more about Christian Nationalist sentiment than the good reverend knew: “We put God right at the center of the White House.” —Paula White, speaking at an Evangelicals for Trump event at Solid […]

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020, 356 pages WN: This is one of the few times I also posted a book review to this Blog. This is a highly disturbing–and informative–book. In an interview with Religion […]

Focus On: Mapping Militarism 2020

by David Swanson May 6, 2020 WN: The article highlighted below represents a brilliant and multiplex presentation of the worldwide realities of the premier world blight of militarism. One could call it the Ultimate Virus, the Unremitting Pandemic–that few even recognize for the Monstrous World Nightmare it is. The other day I was forwarded an […]

Reflections on “Drone Strikes and Torture Will Cause Big Blowback”

November 5, 2021 by Brian Cloughley photo above: AK Rockefeller – CC BY 2.0 WN: It is ominous to read at the end of the highlighted article: Although the long-term consequences are measureless, there is no doubt that “explosive events” will blow back for a long time to come. The military-industrial complex has been manufacturing […]

Josh McDowell steps back from ministry after controversial remarks on black families

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter September 23, 2021 photo above: Josh McDowell speaks at Talbot Chapel at Biola University in California on January 21, 2020. | YouTube/Biola University WN: Meanwhile, 82 years and 150 books in, Christian “intellectual” McDowell has finally learned something about Black History in America? Thank God we’re never too old […]

Engelhardt, A Hellfire World

By Tom Engelhardt photo above: ‘THEY ARE ALL DEAD’: Harrowing leaked footage shows US drone strikes in Afghanistan as pilot admits killing two civilians & child by mistake; Imogen Braddick WN: What can one say? God damn the monstrous capacity of the West (of course elsewhere too!) to cold-bloodedly commit mass murder via drone strike […]

9/11 was a test:

Essay by Carlos Lozada Illustration above: by Patrik Svensson Sept. 3, 2021 WN: Below are excerpts from an outstanding essay by a Pulitzer Prizer winner for criticism in 2019. But the last lines, though intended to be hopeful, ring perversely hollow–especially given what one can read on this website about the horrors of American Expansionism/Exceptionalism/Empire: […]

Bomber Biden Sends in B-52 Bombers in a Tantrum over Taliban Advance

August 12, 2021 by Dave Lindorff photo above: AC-130 Spectre gunship rains random death from the sky in the name of America (US Air Force photo) WN: So much for “Mr. Nice Guy Biden”–who is just one more of a long line of Presidential mass murderers. The West fawns over his repeated–indeed admirable–rising above personal […]

Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire

SEARCH and ARCHIVES options are at the bottom of all website pages. The website is dedicated to: The Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire.     More on Empire below. PLEASE NOTE: the Sitemap. There is also a list of all Book Reviews separately, and alongside each post. You may search the Blog too. Please consider […]

House approves Juneteenth holiday, sends bill to Biden’s desk

By Marty Johnson – 06/16/21 WN: So momentous! And this announced on Thursday the 17th!: The federal government will give employees the day off on Friday after President Biden signs a bill making Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in America, a federal holiday. “Today @POTUS will sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, […]

Mass Psychosis May Follow Cheney’s Ouster

By Community May 11, 2021 WN: There have been many voices that point to Trump as a would-be despot, tyrant, totalitarian leader. The  article below turns specific in discussing how that might play out/is playing out right now in the United States. I take it very seriously. You may wish to first view the video […]

Alfred McCoy, How Washington Lost the Ultimate Drug War

May 6, 2021 By Alfred McCoy photo above: Afghan War Kills 3 Children a Day: Report | Common Dreams News WN: The folly and futility of American Empire Wars know no bounds. This applies to Canada too and the West in general–all bundled together by greed, fear, will to domination, xenophobia, and arrogant incompetence. Democracy?–not […]

Trump’s Secret Rules for Drone Strikes Outside War Zones Are Disclosed

By Charlie Savage May 1, 2021 photo above: Targeted killings away from conventional war zones have been a central feature of the sprawling war on terrorism, raising legal and policy questions that remain in flux. Credit… Janis Laizans/Reuters WN: Of course the use of drones–as any aerial bombing–invariably murders civilians–often vast numbers. Two classic studies […]

Empire Politician:

The new president’s paper trail reveals a man who has often betrayed his own bedrock principles. Jeremy Scahill April 28 2021 WN: The article highlighted pulls no punches in underscoring Biden’s war-hawk and pro-police brutality policies over a lifetime as a politician. He–as anyone–still may change! But not his brutal record, as laid out in […]

Almost Everything Biden Said About Ending the Afghanistan War Was a Lie

April 27, 2021 by Sonali Kolhatkar image above: Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair chart below: The Washington Post, Fatal Force WN: Ethicist A. J. Coates writes in The Ethics of War: The moral prohibition of lying, for example, makes good sense in the context of personal relations, but no sense at all in affairs of […]

How Trump Unleashed a Domestic Terrorism Movement—

“He tells them what to do. He tells them why they’re angry.” Mark Follman March+April 2021 Issue photo above: Nate Gowdy WN: Trump continues to inspire hatred and acts of violence worldwide. His is the height of White Grievance Politics–and so tragic for the millions of victims who fall prey to such xenophobia. A rewording […]

His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage.

By Peter Manseau Feb. 19, 2021 photo above: Michael Sparks, far left, stands with other Trump supporters as they are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate chamber on Jan. 6. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) WN: The article highlighted is an anatomy of a Trump cultist who stormed the Capitol. It did not turn […]

Killing Nora: The Real Reason Trump Should Have Been Impeached

January 22, 2021 by Nicky Reid cartoon: too true! WN: What is true of the Criminal Justice System is also “too true” in general of our living “normal lives” in the West. And it extends: to us in the West aware enough of what being in league/lockstep with Western powers (Five Eyes, NATO, NORAD etc., […]

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity.

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity. By Christine Mungai, Truthout Part of the Series: Religion’s Role in the Struggle for Justice December 16, 2020 photo above: howafrica.com WN: This is the central theme of this website! A significant portion of what follows is from the previous highlighted part. There is […]

Trump Has Pushed Ahead With Drone Strikes, Putting US Citizens in the Crosshairs

Trump Has Pushed Ahead With Drone Strikes, Putting US Citizens in the Crosshairs by Adam Hudson, Truthout Published December 5, 2020 WN: This excerpt from the article highlighted is devastatingly the case, one that gives the lie to the strictly compartmentalized/schizophrenic “decency” of Biden: Where does that leave Biden and where does he stand? Biden has […]

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism?

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism? Donald Trump has revealed the depths of the country’s prejudice—and has inadvertently forced a reckoning. by Ibram X. Kendi September 2020 Issue Ideas image above: The Atlantic WN: I love the ironic optimism of this piece! As you will see excerpted in context below, I […]

Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS

Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams (11/19/2020) November 20, 2020 WN: “Collateral damage” has always meant huge numbers of civilians–aged and young, noncombatants of both sexes, etc.–indiscriminately slaughtered during U.S. drone strikes and other bombings the world over. American military […]

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election?

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election? I’m a Democrat, they’re Republicans. Healing the political divide will be America’s next challenge. Updated 11/13/2020 By Jenn Merritt, Special To HuffPost     WN: The article highlighted below holds special sadness for me, given a similar concern in our family with some […]

The World Order That Donald Trump Revealed

When it comes to foreign policy, the president’s most important characteristic is not amorality or a lack of curiosity; it is naïveté. Story by Tom McTague and Peter Nicholas Photo illustrations by Rohan Hande October 20, 2020 Global WN: This analysis is fascinating and insightful. While one celebrates America’s loss of hegemonic power, its sting […]

An Open Letter To Joe Biden

Dear Mr. Biden. If I might be so bold, I wonder about connecting some dots at this incredible kairos moment of U.S. and world history. I was moved by your empathetic videoed message to the Floyd family during the funeral service in Houston. You have deeply suffered multiple losses as this article sensitively points out: […]

Editorial: Dolan delivers the church to Trump and the GOP

Editorial: Dolan delivers the church to Trump and the GOP Apr 28, 2020 by NCR Editorial Staff photo above: New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan celebrates Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral April 12 during the coronavirus pandemic. (CNS/Reuters/Jeenah Moon) WN: The article highlighted below shows American Catholic leadership in relation to Trump and his party […]

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus by Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear, Mark Mazzetti and Julian E. Barnes of . photo above: © Erin Schaff/The New York Times “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion,” President Trump said […]

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package By Mike Ludwig, Truthout December 12, 2019 WN: And this is the “Land of the Free and Defender of worldwide Human Rights?!” The sheer obscenity of such military spending is exponentially staggering. The country since inception, and astronomically beyond comparison with any other State in world […]

In a polarized world, dialogue is a radical act

Julie Schumacher Cohen Julie Schumacher Cohen is Director of Community and Government Relations at The University of Scranton. She is the former Deputy Director of Churches for Middle East Peace, Senior Fellow for the Telos Group and a facilitator for Soliya’s Connect Program. December 03, 2019 photo above: iStock  WN: A very wise and hopeful […]

Uncovering Russiagate’s Origins Could Prevent Future Scandals

There are legitimate grounds to probe the intelligence officials behind the all-consuming Trump-Russia affair. By Aaron Maté October 28, 2019 photo above: Trump shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr before taking the podium in the East Room of the White House in September. He was awarding police officers and civilians for their role in […]

Crises in Iraq and Haiti Expose the Failure of Militarized Neoliberalism

It should be no surprise that the new governments installed by all these U.S. wars and coups are among the most corrupt regimes on earth.  Published on Thursday, October 10, 2019 by Common Dreams by Medea Benjamin and by Nicolas J S Davies photo above: Not only are they reeling from protests against government corruption […]

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century The Real Cover-Up: Putting Donald Trump’s Impeachment in Context Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 7:28am, October 8, 2019. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: Mr. Bacevich I find always on target and persuasive. excerpts: As this process unspools, what politicians like to call […]

Impeachment, Brought to You by the CIA

October 4, 2019 by Rob Urie photo above: Photograph Source: Master Steve Rapport – CC BY 2.0 WN: There is always more going on geopolitically than meets the eye! This account is to be taken seriously. excerpts: For the first time in half a century, the political left in the U.S. is ascendant. Bernie Sanders […]

Beyond Impeachment: Remove This Regime from Below

October 1, 2019 by Paul Street photo above: White House – Public Domain WN: This is a powerful broadside against the Ultimate Bad Guy on the Planet: the Evil Empire of the United States of America! The vehemence is found not only in the colourful language, but even in the typos . . . Mr. […]

John Bolton’s Ouster Makes the World Safer

But only a little. Trump’s clownish foreign policy shouldn’t be used to discredit diplomacy. By Jeet Heer September 11, 2019 photo above: John Bolton talks to reporters about outside the White House on May 1, 2019. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) WN: This analysis strikes as reading Trump all too well: thereby accentuating Trump’s continued […]

Why Did Bush Go to War in Iraq? The Answer Is More Sinister Than You Think

Why Did Bush Go to War in Iraq? The Answer Is More Sinister Than You Think No, it wasn’t because of WMDs, democracy or Iraqi oil. Published on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 by Ahsan I Butt Al-Jazeera English photo above: (From left) Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick […]

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout Published March 14, 2019 photo above: CNN Politics WN: The article highlighted below describes a continuing horror story… Lord, have mercy. Then, I must confess that this article makes me hopping furious for another reason! I’m livid about the majority of […]

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER) Step Toward Fascism?

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER)1 Step Toward Fascism? By Mark Bray, Truthout February 15, 2019 photo above: VALENCIA, SPAIN – MARCH 19, 2017: Photo with blurred background Ninot sculpture representing of Donald Trump placing a brick on the wall with mexico   WN: The article highlighted is a balanced response to the question above. excerpts: […]

Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America

Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America By Joseph Kishore October 29, 2018 photo above: Reaction to anti-Semitic violence in Pittsburg, October 2018 WN: World News Daily Information Clearing House tends towards right wing distortion. But it carries as well great analysis such as that highlighted below. excerpts: Eleven people were killed in the slaughter in Pittsburgh, […]

Venezuela: The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster

Venezuela: The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster February 6, 2019 by Medea Benjamin – Nicolas J. S. Davies WN: An all-too-familiar story again is playing itself out in Venezuela. Western leadership, the U.S. in particular, foments lies and economic collapse towards regime-change goals. The article highlighted below tells thjat story. Similarly, “US ‘Regime Changes’: The […]

The Cautious Case for Climate Optimism

The Cautious Case for Climate Optimism Believing in a comfortable future for our planet probably means some giant carbon-sucking machines. life after warming Feb. 4, 2019 By David Wallace-Wells   Photo illustration by Joe Darrow Adapted from The Uninhabitable Earth, by David Wallace-Wells, to be published on February 19 by Tim Duggan Books, an imprint […]

Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019

Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019 By Michael I. Niman,Truthout Published January 13, 2019 WN: The article highlighted below is a call to see beyond dystopian rise of fascism in the world to what we Christians call “Kingdom Come”. The article is nonetheless very sobering. excerpts: bitchute.com [su_dropcap size=”5″]T[/su_dropcap]he New Year’s Day […]

What’s Behind U.S. Troop Withdrawals Announced for Syria and Afghanistan?

By Sara Flounders Global Research, December 27, 2018 WN: What is indisputable is the U.S. remains singularly guided in the Greater Middle East (as everywhere else in the world) by unapologetic imperialist impulse. It is also indisputable that Israel is likewise an imperial power which not only does the bidding of the U.S., but also […]

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Bad Character Has Nothing to Do With His Bad Politics

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Bad Character Has Nothing to Do With His Bad Politics Published on Wednesday, October 03, 2018 by T.S. Mendola Rewire.News photo above: usapoliticstoday.org WN: And Hitler was apparently an animal lover… excerpt: Brett Kavanaugh’s politics are bad—not in the sense that they are sloppy or imprecise, but in the sense that they […]

The Kavanaugh Hearings

The Kavanaugh Hearings by John Graham WN: This is very wise commentary — thanks to one of my nieces for sending it our way. Of course, the issue is far greater: ultimate American Empire privilege in a world designed and brutally buttressed to be its oyster. No one in the American political system is exempt, […]

How Israel Spies on US Citizens

A never-shown Al Jazeera documentary on the pro-Israel lobby in the United States reveals possibly illegal Israeli spying on American citizens, and the lobby’s fear of a changing political mood. By Alain Gresh August 31, 2018 photo above: Kids play next to an Israeli flag near the Israel-Syria border at the occupied Golan Heights in […]

Reckoning With John McCain

Respecting the best of McCain requires grappling with the rest of McCain. By Timothy Patrick McCarthy Twitter August 27, 2018 photo above: John McCain in 2007. (Dennis Van Tine / MediaPunch / IPX) WN: In my view, the article highlighted below is a respectful, balanced assessment of Senator McCain, when seen through the lenses of […]

The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism

The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean August 24, 2018 Slavery and the Origins of Capitalism by Louis Proyect WN: I wrote the following in introduction to a book similar in its findings about 19th-century American capitalism to 17th-century colonial capitalism, entitled The Half  Has Never […]

Trump’s War on Regulation Is Just Another Form of Trickle-Down Economics

Aug 14, 2018 by Robert Reich photo above: Economist Robert Reich. (YouTube screen grab) WN: True to expectation, an acquaintance immediately blamed California’s 2018 wildfires on environmental extremists… He is an absolute climate change/anthropocentric climate disruption (ACD) denier offering not a shred of evidence but constant bombastic fundamentalist pronouncements that brook no discussion, no questioning1… […]

Pope revises catechism to say death penalty is ‘inadmissible’

Commits the church to working toward its abolition worldwide1 Aug 2, 2018 by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Theology   photo above: Pope Francis gestures before speaking about the death penalty at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, at the Vatican in this Oct. 11, 2017, file photo. […]

The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya’s Women-Only Village

WN: These are fascinating stories of Kenyan villages where women are in charge. You may notice they are a tad biased against men… One wonders why… Just as of course one cannot imagine why there is bias against white men who have the “burden” to “take care”of their “lesser brethren” when all they offer is […]

The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism

Posted on July 21, 2015 by christian hegemony Challenging Christian Hegemony Practical tools for recognizing and resisting Christian dominance WN: Every time I read an essay so well presented as that highlighted below (and so beyond tragic!), as a committed follower of Jesus, I know that I don’t have to wear the blame, but I […]

And the Trumpie goes to . . .

By Dana Milbank Opinion writer January 5 at 7:48 PM WN: despite what the article highlights below, there is someone I know well enough who accepts every Trump claim as Gospel truth. This staggers comprehension… excerpts: Of all the scandalous revelations in the Michael Wolff book, the most revealing may be the one about the […]

The Pentagon’s New Wonder Weapons for World Dominion

Or Buck Rogers in the 21st Century By Alfred W. McCoy [This piece has been adapted and expanded from Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.]  illustration above: Mongol airships fire disintegrator rays to destroy America. (Buck Rodgers, 2429 A.D., 2-9-1929, Roland […]

Ex-intelligence chief – Trump’s access to nuclear codes is ‘pretty damn scary’

James Clapper questioned the US president’s ‘fitness to be in this office’ after his speech in Phoenix, joining a growing chorus of alarm over his erratic behavior Julian Borger in Washington Wednesday 23 August 2017 16.17 BST excerpts: Donald Trump’s access to the nuclear codes is “pretty damn scary”, a former US intelligence chief has said, calling Trump’s […]

How to Challenge Media Narratives Without Being Called a Conspiracy Theorist

August 12, 2017 John Kiriakou Contributor photo above: President Kennedy minutes before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Also in the presidential limousine: Jackie Kennedy, Texas Gov. John Connally and Connally’s wife, Nellie. (Walt Cisco / Wikimedia) WN: As to the last line of the quote below: You can fool all the people […]

Now Is The Time For Prophetic Moral Action

Published on Monday, July 17, 2017 by Red Letter Christians photo above: arrest of Rev. Barber. “It’s time,” writes Rev. Barber, “for those of us who are called to proclaim and embody God’s Word to put on our clerical robes, take up our holy books, and speak truth in the public square.” by Rev. Dr. […]

The Fallout

Report Climate & EnvironmentHealthJustice July 10, 2017 In St. Louis, America’s nuclear history creeps into the present, leaching into streams and bodies. By Lacy M. Johnson photo above: For the first three months, the AEC didn’t own the property onto which it was dumping. The drivers worked for an independent company; one, Tom Greene, was a […]

Courts Must Hold Executive Branch Accountable for Drone Strikes

Thursday, July 13, 2017 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout | News Analysis WN: Of course all Presidents by definition are mass murderers. Trump is on track to be the worst of them all. an excerpt: Judge Brown Invites Courts to Review the Legality of Drone Strikes In addition to writing the majority opinion, Judge Brown also authored a separate […]

Avaaz: 21 Children vs Trump

Momentum is building! Just last week the court shut down Trump’s latest attempt to kill the case. Let’s send the children to trial with a wave of support — click below: Dear friends, One lawsuit could stop Trump wrecking our planet. And here’s the kicker — it’s a case brought by 21 children! Yup, after […]

Ajamu Baraka, “Uncle Tom,” and the Pathology of White Liberal Racism

AUGUST 24, 2016 by ERIC DRAITSER WN: White Supremacy has many disguised faces. One is “white liberal”, worn by those who supported a Black President because it is the “liberal thing” to be anti-racist, and who smugly know they do the right thing: end of all discourse. But the issue is far deeper – and […]

America’s Iran Hysteria

The Irrationality of Iran Vilification By Danny Sjursen Posted by Danny Sjursen at 7:46am, May 30, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: It is now almost in every geopolitical instance a truism that if the United States says “black” the reality is the inverse – or significantly other. Such is the case in the article highlighted below. America’s view […]

Is Trump Turning to Missile Strikes to Salvage His Failing Presidency?

Friday, April 14, 2017 By Michael Meurer, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: President Donald Trump makes a statement about the American attack on an air base in Syria, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, April 6, 2017. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times) WN: Trump is a colossal failure: at being a […]

Neoliberalism in the Driver’s Seat: Trump and Ryan’s Ruling-Class Schemes

Thursday, April 06, 2017By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout | Interview photo above: House Speaker Paul Ryan looks on as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 28, 2017. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times) an excerpt: Donald Trump ran a campaign to “make America great again,” promising […]

The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria

Glenn Greenwald April 7 2017, 7:43 a.m. WN: “The first casualty of war is truth“, is an adage proved invariably true throughout human history under all kinds of regimes: not least democracies. Or, as author/activist David Swanson tirelessly and convincingly argues: War Is a Lie – not only title of his most recent book, but a reality […]

Fifty Years On: MLK’s Concerns Still Plague Us, Including Militarism

Tuesday, 04 April 2017 photo above: Racism, extreme materialism and militarism are still inextricably linked, and still prevent our society’s becoming anything close to Dr. King’s “beloved community.” (Photo: Susan Melkisethian) KEVIN MARTIN AND REVEREND DR. HERBERT DAUGHTRY WN: The United States has acted like an empire since its inception: its two foundational sins are indigenous […]

Truthdiggers of the Week: Sanctuary Churches, Havens for Undocumented Immigrants

photo above: Members of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, N.J., show support for undocumented immigrants. (Reformed Church of Highland Park / Facebook) Posted on Feb 18, 2017 By Emma Niles an excerpt: Since President Trump took office less than one month ago, fears of increased deportations at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have […]

Trump’s anti-press conference would be funny – if it weren’t so scary

Friday 17 February 2017 15.09 GMT Richard Wolffe If Donald Trump is qualified for any job – and that’s a rather big if, based on this press conference – it’s clear that he wants to be a media critic on Fox News WN: It is extremely painful to continue to post about Donald Trump. A friend […]

Donald Trump Intentionally Lies to Us

He has no mandate. That fact has so unhinged Trump that he is shaming himself and his office by promulgating obvious lies. Picture above: President-elect Trump calls on a reporter during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) By John Nichols January 24, […]

Israeli Ministers Throw Trump-Like Tantrums After U.N. Security Council Slam

Posted on Dec 27, 2016 By Juan Cole / Informed Comment an excerpt: He criticized President Obama:  “The heart aches that after eight years of friendship and cooperation with the Obama Administration — a friendship that did see some disagreements over the Iranian issue and other issues — this is the parting shot; a painful, unpleasant, unfair […]

The Republic Repeals Itself

By Andrew Sullivan WN: The article linked below is one of despair. There is no doubt this is a sentiment joined in by untold millions around the world, not least in America. However, Andrew Sullivan’s painting of the American Republic as an ideal to emulate was only ever that: an ideal with a hollowed-out centre. […]

HOW TRUMP TOOK HATE GROUPS MAINSTREAM

The full story of his connection with far-right extremists. Sarah Posner and David Neiwert Oct. 14, 2016 5:00 AM photo above: Donald J. Trump Credit Randall Hill/Reuters This is the second in-depth look at Trump and hate/white extremists that I have posted on this site. The first is here. Surely with this exposure of the […]

Trump, America, and the Abyss

November 3, 2016 4:47 p.m. By Andrew Sullivan I have decided to post a few articles warning against Trump’s America. It is that dire. The world never has seen a potential evil dictator like Trump, in terms of capacity to do evil like no other before. Period. An evil dictator heading up the most evil […]

Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance

WN: President Obama meanwhile, has committed $1 trillion over 30 years to rebuild the US nuclear arsenal. So much for the Nobel Prize winning President! Quite a legacy… What an obscene tragedy! See schematic of where nuclear weapons are held in Europe alone. an excerpt: At the dawn of the nuclear age, the United States […]

Will Trumpism, Brexit, and Geopolitical Exceptionalism Sink the Planet?

The Mounting Threat to Climate Progress Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Rise of the Right and Climate Catastrophe photo above: In his first major speech on energy, delivered in May, Donald Trump—who has called global warming a Chinese hoax—pledged to “cancel the Paris climate agreement” and scrap the various measures announced by President Obama to ensure […]

How America became a 1% society | The Guardian

Since 1980, the economy has continued to grow impressively, but most of the benefits have migrated to the top. Bill Moyers asks why. Monday 12 September 2016 17.50 BST photo above: idiamonds.blogspot.com The article linked with excerpts below, is incredibly compelling, in the direction of what is ultimately paramount in living our lives: love of neighbour. […]

How Breitbart Conquered the Media

 TA-NEHISI COATES Sep 12, 2016 Politics Why the Media Didn’t Bother to Verify if Hillary Clinton’s Remark About Half of Donald Trump’s Supporters Being ‘Deplorable’ Was True – The Atlantic Political reporters were taken aback by Hillary Clinton’s charge that half of Trump’s supporters are prejudiced. Few bothered to investigate the claim itself. an excerpt: […]

North Korea accused of ‘maniacal recklessness’ after new nuclear test

US Geological Survey records 5.3 seismic event at ground level near nuclear test site Friday 9 September 2016 Martin Farrer and agencies WN: The grand irony is ever there: the US and the Western  world accuse North Korea of “maniacal recklessness” (indeed, absolutely accurately), and we read in the article linked below that “the United […]

The Revenge of Roger’s Angels

How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media. September 2, 2016 7:30 a.m. By Gabriel Sherman photo above: Wesley Mann/AUGUST: Roger Ailes. WN: There is something profoundly disturbing, but in no way surprising, about Roger Ailes, who recently was fired from Fox News, after his decades-long harassment and abuse […]

Best of TomDispatch: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch

photo above from this story Cow Most Sacred Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable By Andrew J. Bacevich introduction to piece: A writer who dares to revisit a snarky article dashed off five-plus years earlier will necessarily approach the task with some trepidation. Pieces such as the one republished below are not drafted with the expectation […]

Three Fact-Checking Websites of Note

Image above: from Politifact: I’ll highlight the All Pants-On-Fire assertions by Donald Trump – there are of course so many such by other politicians too! But PolitiFact did award Trump “2015 Lie of the Year“. I’m sitting back not a little dumbfounded by a recent exchange I had about Obama and the US elections candidates. […]

Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (C.U.R.E.)

Upcoming World Conference Human Rights and Prison Reform Seventh International CURE Conference April 25-29, 2017, San Jose, Costa Rica, Courtyard Marriott Airport Alajuela Theme: Implementing United Nations Mandela Rules in the Americas (the treatment of prisoners in the Twenty First century) Photo above is an Argentine prisoner, the dove of peace is actually a pigeon. […]

The Myth of Trump’s Alternative Worldview

photo above: Supporters attend a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, August 3, 2016. (Reuters / Eric Thayer) His foreign policy isn’t an alternative to US empire. It’s a cruder rendition of it. By John Feffer AUGUST 10, 2016 an excerpt: AN EXCEPTIONAL RULER Let […]

The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 By Chris Hedges an excerpt: College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity—embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy […]

Breaking the Camouflage Wall of Silence

When AFRICOM Evaluates Itself, the News Is Grim By Nick Turse Posted by Nick Turse at 7:45am, August 2, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, outgoing commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), incoming Africom commander, Marine Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman […]

There’s No Business Like the Arms Business

photo above: A mural near the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. (David Holt / CC-BY-2.0) July 26, 2016 Tomgram: William Hartung, How to Arm a “Volatile” Planet Editorial by WN It is a very strange world: Michelle Obama makes a highly impassioned, brilliant speech at the Democratic National Convention – one nearly universally praised, […]

Lawless Drone Killings

By Stephen Lendman Global Research, October 25, 2013 Obama and his advisors are obscene serial killers – with impunity. an excerpt: It bears repeating. Drones are instruments of state terror. Killing is done extrajudicially. America bears most responsibility. Obama’s kill list decides who, where and when. Human lives don’t matter. Nor do rule of law […]

Ex-Seattle Police Chief Condemns Systemic Police Racism Dating Back to Slave Patrols

Thursday, 14 July 2016 00:00 By Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now! | Video Interview an excerpt: On Wednesday, President Obama met at the White House with law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders. President Obama hosted the meeting one week after the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and […]

23 Ways You Could be Killed While Being Black

The video features celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Rihanna. Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn Jul. 13, 2016 6:50 PM In the week after shootings that left two black men dead, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and other notable celebrities have teamed up to create this powerful video on the everyday interactions that can get black people killed in […]

Of Lethal Drones and Police Shootings

Friday, 08 July 2016 00:00 By Kathy Kelly, Consortium News | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators record a crowd of police officers on hand in New York’s Times Square, where a large crowd protested after fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota on July 7, 2016. (Christopher Lee / The New York Times) WN: Police brutality […]

The System That Killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile Cannot Be Reformed

Friday, 08 July 2016 00:00 By Aislinn Pulley, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators protest police violence after Alton Sterling was killed by Baton Rouge police officers in the parking lot of a Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 7, 2016. (William Widmer / The New York Times) an excerpt: There are […]

You Never Die Twice

MULTIPLE KILLS IN THE US DRONE PROGRAM REPRIEVE: Delivering Justice. Saving Lives 2014 And next year, Chief Executive Terrorist Obama will doubtless go on the lecture circuit telling Americans and the world that and how he kept the world safe from terrorists. The hypocrisy is utter: under Obama’s watch, many times over innocents have been […]

It’s Time for the US to Disarm Itself

Thursday, 23 June 2016 07:03 ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons an excerpt: The time has come for extraordinary change. Who we are — this monstrous, planet-destroying entity called America — needs to be decommissioned and reconstructed on a foundation more solid than the present myths […]

Democrats’ War on Due Process and Terrorist Fearmongering Long Predate Orlando

Glenn Greenwald June 21 2016, 6:45 a.m. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took on Attorney General Eric Holder’s legal justification for killing American citizens abroad suspected of terrorism, particularly Holder’s argument that “due process and judicial process are not one and the same.” “Trial by jury, trial by fire, rock, paper scissors, who cares? Due process […]

The Language of War

Posted on June 19, 2016 by wjastore an excerpt: The language of war fascinates me. I was reading President Obama’s response to Donald Trump on whether Obama “gets it” when it comes to the threat of terrorism and came across this passage: “Someone [Donald Trump] seriously thinks that we don’t know who we are fighting? […]

Cornel West: Black Lives Matter Is an Indictment of Neoliberal Power

By George Souvlis, openDemocracy | Interview photo above: Dr. Cornel West speaks at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 3, 2009. (Photo: James Stewart; Edited: LW / TO) an excerpt: George Souvlis: What is the legacy of the Obama administration? Cornel West: We are at a crossroads in American history. We must choose […]

Cornel West and the Fight to Save the Black Prophetic Tradition

Monday, 09 September 2013 09:17 By Chris Hedges, TruthDig | Report photo above: Cornel West. (Photo: TIA / Flickr). an excerpt: There is an insidious and largely unseen effort by the White House to silence the handful of voices that remain true to the black prophetic tradition. This tradition, which stretches back to Sojourner Truth […]

No Welcome Mat for Monsanto: Vietnam Must Draw the Line

Monday, 13 June 2016 00:00 By Dien Luong, Truthout | Op-Ed above picture: A young boy walks through fields of rice in Sa Pa, Vietnam. (Photo: Rory MacLeod) Monsato produced Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, that has devastated at least 3 million lives in Vietnam. an excerpt: Monsanto — the US biotech company that […]

Hiroshima: Like Fr. Arrupe, We Must Pray for Guidance

May 27, 2016/1 Comment/in Voices for Justice /by Christopher Kerr Fr. Arrupe was in Hiroshima the day of The Bomb. Re. bomb dropped: The US President [Truman] said the atomic bomb heralded the “harnessing of the basic power of the universe”. It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first […]

Limit the Next President’s Power to Wage Drone Warfare

image by Brian Stauffer By JAMEEL JAFFER and BRETT MAX KAUFMAN MARCH 8, 2016 And President Obama repeatedly vociferously calls for gun control in America! Obviously, only American lives matter to this murderous President. Though even there, exceptions are made! See below. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took on Attorney General Eric Holder’s legal justification for […]

Drone Strikes Reveal Uncomfortable Truth: U.S. Is Often Unsure About Who Will Die

By SCOTT SHANE APRIL 23, 2015 photo above: The rubble of a building that was destroyed in Yemen by a drone strike in 2011 against Qaeda militants, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the only one of eight American drone victims over all who was a target. Credit Khaled Abdullah/Reuters Can one deny the accusation that President Obama […]

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, America’s Sinkhole Wars

an excerpt: We have it on highest authority: the recent killing of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan marks “an important milestone.” So the president of the United States has declared, with that claim duly echoed and implicitly endorsed by media commentary — the New York Times reporting, […]

Jeremy Scahill: Corporations Are Making a Killing Off US Targeted Killing

Jeremy Scahill authored this recent book: , already covered in my blog here: The Assassination Complex. an excerpt from this most recent interview with the author: Laura Flanders: Let’s start with the meat of the matter, the book. It is based on a mountain of classified documents that you and your colleagues went through. Briefly, […]

In Washington, Why Is Militarism the Only Option?

by Tom Engelhardt This is a brilliant, devastating piece that presents militarism in the United States as their current “drug of choice” worldwide, with devastating results for the global community: the very inverse of human rights, freedom, and democracy. And Obama was once awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?! How ridiculous is that? What a crazy […]

Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald Probe Secret US Drone Wars in New Book

The United States is a world-wide assassin. Plain and simple. They act with impunity as judge, jury, and executioner. They slaughter countless innocent civilians in their assassinations wake. It is morally utterly deplorable, with no end in sight. The book highlighted here is one of the exposés. An excerpt: Major revelations about the US government’s […]

Does Faith Breed Violence?

Book review of Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, New York: Schoken Books, 2015. You may read an interview with the author here: Interview with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. You may find the spoken interview here: Spoken Interview. An excerpt from the book review: Old secularization theories die hard. The twenty-first century […]

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

image above: Benito Mussolini (left) and Adolf Hitler (right), the leaders of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, respectively, were both fascists. WN: Sobering. Canada anyone? See too: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder. Of it: The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces […]

Emperor Bush, Pirate bin Laden, Calvin College, and the Gospel

image above: webpages.uidaho.edu WN: Evangelicals were in bed with former President George W. Bush like never before. They of course are out of sorts with President Obama. The Christian Left however hugely welcomed Obama, who has hardly since in any way (if ever) shown desert of the Nobel Peace Prize. The paper, written during the […]