By Chris Hedges Joe Sacco and I spent two years reporting from the poorest pockets of the United States for our book “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.”We went into our nation’s impoverished “sacrifice zones”—the first areas forced to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace—to show what happens when unfettered corporate capitalism and ceaseless economic expansion [...]
What the Syrian Constitution says about Assad and the Rebels
By Stephen Gowans, What’s Left The idea that the uprising against the Syrian government is inspired by a grassroots movement thirsting for a pluralist, democratic state is a fiction. The opposition’s chief elements are Islamists who seek to establish a Sunni-dominated Islamic state in place of a Syrian government they revile for being secular and [...]
ARCHIVES: The U.S. Left and Media Politics
Articles of compelling importance you should have read but missed the first time around. Robert W. McChesney, Monthly Review, a fraternal organization ••• American democracy is in deep trouble. Cynicism and distrust of the political system, fueled at least in part by imposed ignorance, have grown steadily in recent years. There are several reasons for [...]
The Unseen Lies: Journalism As Propaganda
JOHN PILGER: One of my favorite stories about the Cold War concerns a group of Russian journalists who were touring the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by the host for their impressions. “I have to tell you,” said the spokesman, “that we were astonished to find after reading [...]
MADISON, WI — DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy today released the results of a year-long investigation: “Dissent or Terror: How the Nation’s Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street.”The report, a distillation of thousands of pages of records obtained from counter terrorism/law enforcement agencies, details [...]
Chronicles of Inequality [TOO MUCH, 20 May 2013)
May 20, 2013 THIS WEEK Oh, please, spare us any more pious declarations. After a week of “IRS scandal,” we simply can’t bear another bogus claim that we’re witnessing one of the “most shameful abuses of government power in 20th-century American history.”We’re witnessing no such thing. Let’s be clear about what’s really happened: An understaffed and overburdened IRS office [...]
BY STEPHEN LENDMAN Permanent war is longstanding policy. America deplores peace. Throughout its history, it’s waged war annually at home and/or abroad. Today it does so globally. Giving peace a chance is loathed. Direct or proxy wars rage in multiple countries. Did you like this? Share it:
The decomposition of American democracy
BY TOM CARTER, WSWS.ORG On Thursday, Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Sheehan told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the war on terror would continue at least another 10 or 20 years. Alluding to last month’s lockdown of Boston, he said the president and the military would continue to assert “wartime” powers, unchecked by Congress or [...]
Warren: Far from a radical firebrand, but enough of a liberal to scare Obama from giving her any power. (Q: why did Warren ever believed she'd get anywhere with this fraud? Her mushy liberalism clouded her judgment, of course.)
Cenk’s latest unmask of Obama’s treachery, especially his contempt for “progressives.” The documentation by now is overwhelming. It simply pours out of this man. What a terrific choice for the vultures that are killing this world. Continue reading »
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
Hardly surprising that MSNBC—by self admission a proud member of the establishment—would find Uygur’s programs too much to take, considering his propensity to let the truth speak for itself.
In his exit from MSNBC, Cenk Uygur is not going quietly. In a teleconference call with reporters, Uygur reiterated his assertion that he was denied a permanent show in the 6 PM slot he has occupied on the the cable news channel since January because he was too challenging to government officials. (In last night’s episode of his own, internet-based program, “The Young Turks,” Uygur broadsided the network for its timidity at speaking truth to power; video below.)
In lieu of a weeknight hosting gig, MSNBC offered Uygur what he says was a lucrative contract for a weekend show plus punditry on the channel’s week-night programs — a deal he turned down. Uygur, who also hosts the Web-based video program, “The Young Turks,” says he walked away from MSNBC because he felt it more important to be able to be truthful with his audience. Network executives, he said, had asked him to tone down his aggressive interviewing style. Continue reading »
By Stephen Lendman
Bachmann: A crazy robot behind those pale blue eyes.
Frances Fitzgerald titled her 2000 book on Reagan’s Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative, “Way Out There in the Blue,” leaving unsaid but letting readers conclude that America during his tenure was run by right wing extremists.
He and most others around him were ideologically hard right, their legacy including:
– disdain for working Americans;
– contempt for the rule of law, civil liberties, human rights, and democratic freedoms; and
– support for concentrated wealth, power and budget-busting militarism. Continue reading »