The word fascism has reappeared in the American popular lexicon thanks to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The word is used to keep progressive Democrats in a state of fear should he win, but its existence in this country right now is rarely discussed. Continue reading
The entire world witnessed American police murder, but time stopped for black people when Alton Sterling and Philando Castille died on camera. Alton Sterling was killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, shot to death as he lay subdued and helpless. The trauma of that moment was still fresh when Philando Castille was shot after he told police he had a licensed handgun. His partner Diamond Reynolds was composed enough to film the scene. Castille lay dying but she understandably felt compelled to address his killer as “sir” as she and her four-year old child were treated like criminals. Continue reading
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, did not intend to be in the position that others coveted so badly. According to one former campaign staffer, he planned to finish no higher than second place behind one of the establishment candidates. Little did he anticipate that his appeal to white nationalism would mean more to the Republican rank and file than proposals to cut taxes for rich people or defund Planned Parenthood. Continue reading
This week the world has to be thankful for hubris and political miscalculation. These two factors have temporarily thrown a wrench into the imperialist project. No one in the British or American establishment foresaw the “Brexit” vote that called for a United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union. Continue reading
Contrary to press reports, the killing of 50 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida is not the worst mass shooting in American history. Where to begin? Continue reading
Donald Trump is the ill spoken, boorish, graceless version of every American president in modern history. He differs from them only in his unconcealed appeals to white nationalism. But Democrats aren’t much better. They pretend to work on behalf of human, civil and economic rights but those claims are lies. They are meant to hide their partnerships with corporate America, very wealthy individuals and the worldwide imperialist project. Continue reading
When the Civil War began in 1861 the total value of enslaved people in the United States was “worth more than all of America’s manufacturing, all of the railroads, all of the productive capacity of the United States put together. Slaves were the single largest, by far, financial asset of property in the entire American economy. The only thing worth more than the slaves in the American economy of the 1850s was the land itself.” Myriad institutions owed their existence to the vast fortunes created by chattel slavery. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s ascension to the Republican presidential nomination has created an enormous rift between the Republican elites and the rank and file. This process is a welcome development that could lead to the end of that party. Continue reading
With only eight more months in office, Barack Obama shows no signs of giving up his role as the most aggressively imperialist American president in modern history. Liberal Democrats rightly point fingers at Hillary Clinton’s bellicosity, yet they say nothing about Obama as he continues on a path of destruction around the world. Continue reading
“Only Bernie Sanders can break the power of capitalism in the U.S.” So read a bizarre headline in an online edition of the Guardian. It is just one example of the drivel, magical thinking, misplaced concerns and out and out lies produced by liberal love for Bernie Sanders. Continue reading
Barack Obama’s last nine months in office will provide plenty of opportunity for him to spoon feed his scribes in the corporate media. Under the pretense of writing history, they will serve as one collective pro-Obama mouthpiece between now and January 20, 2017. The process is a delicate one however. The president will also have to explain those policies that did not produce the outcomes he wanted. Such is the case with any discussion of his role in destroying Libya. Continue reading
The worst criminals on earth are not the poor who sit behind bars in jails and prisons. The biggest thieves are found among the rich. The 1% can buy legislation, politicians and the media to carry out and hide their dirty work. If they can’t change the laws to benefit themselves in their homelands they simply send their money elsewhere through shell holding companies. This transfer of wealth, much of it diverted from what ought to be tax payments, is an open secret. Panama, the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Luxembourg and Switzerland are known for securing the money and secrets of the rich and the well connected. Continue reading
The Obama “legacy” will likely include the appointment of a U.S. Supreme Court justice that Republicans would welcome—if only Obama hadn’t been the appointer. Federal judge Merrick Garland is a former prosecutor whose politics suits Obama’s core conservative instincts. The president is leaving office just like he came in, pulling a “bait and switch” on his Democratic base and blaming the Republicans for making him do it. Continue reading
When Melissa Harris-Perry publicly announced her resignation from MSNBC, the cable network that serves as the Democratic Party’s house organ, she vowed not to be tokenized or silenced. But of course, the rich owners can silence whomever they want with the flip of a switch, just as Harris-Perry tried “to silence black people” and Edward Snowden “if doing so suited the purposes of the system in general or the Obama White House in particular.” Continue reading
On January 20, 2017, someone other than Barack Obama will become president of the United States. Many people, this columnist included, long for the day when the national nightmare will be over. Black people might once again resume their proud tradition of leading American left politics. But this won’t happen until most of them are deprived of the illusory good feelings provided by the sight of a black president. We might be able to again work for self-determination and pursue full citizenship rights with the zeal that was once commonplace. Continue reading
America’s grand fantasy of a Project for a New American Century has experienced a serious setback. Yet this country still isn’t dissuaded from pursuing the imperial effort. For five years, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad stood his ground and ignored Barack Obama’s refrain that he “must go.” Fortunately Assad didn’t leave or give up the fight. Russian president Vladimir Putin finally stood beside him in deed and not just in words. The alliance is a textbook case of how nations ought to behave within the parameters of international law. Continue reading
The love that many self-described leftists have for Bernie Sanders seemingly defies logic and political sense. Or perhaps it should be said that the idol worship fits a long standing pattern that ought to die once and for all. Simply put, many people who call themselves leftists are nothing of the sort. They are merely Democrats who live in hope that their party will be a tiny bit liberalish but not actually make meaningful change. Devoid of any true political leanings they really just long for someone to love. Every four years they follow a candidate down the road to hell while declaring they are on the way to heaven. Continue reading
Americans are browbeaten and propagandized into believing they live in a democracy. The word democracy is bandied about with such consistent ferocity that the expression “protesting too much” comes to mind. The story of the tainted Flint, Michigan, water supply is Exhibit A in the prosecution of the American system. The sad story reveals the lie of government by and for the people. Continue reading
It must not be forgotten that the United States government has an established practice of luring black American and Middle Eastern individuals into committing or appearing to commit terrorist acts. The Newburgh Four and the Liberty City Seven are among those now serving long prison terms under these circumstances. The individuals convicted usually carried out their handlers instructions and in some cases didn’t commit a crime at all. They were said to have pledged an oath to al Qaeda or plotted a terror attack entirely concocted by an agent provocateur. In other cases, such as that of the so-called underwear bomber in 2009, inexplicable plots make the case for more war and interventions abroad. Continue reading
There is no dispute in the scientific community. The world is getting hotter and humans are to blame. To be precise, the extraction of fossil fuel as a means of producing energy is the cause. The production of the greenhouse gas C02 is making the earth hotter and millions of people will suffer and die because of it. Continue reading
The United States and its allies seem determined to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I by starting World War III. Some of the same players are involved and their motives are as ignoble in the 21st century as they were in the 20th. Continue reading
The New York Times is called the newspaper of record for good reason. It chronicles what the powerful and well-connected think and do and it is able to because it colludes with them on a regular basis. The Times can boast of some good reporting, but it generally falls short when asked to take on the task of scrutinizing United States foreign policy. Continue reading
Americans are perhaps the most deluded people in the world. Facts are habitually ignored in favor of wishful thinking. Fantasies are created by white supremacy and the ruling classes in order to minimize the numbers of people willing to point out that the emperor has no clothes. One of the most pernicious false beliefs is the statement “America is a rich country.” Continue reading
Black neighborhoods were once red-lined, cut off from the capital needed to develop them, but are now declared “hot.” As if by magic the developers and bankers made a 180-degree turn and pumped cash into places they had long spurned. The result is gentrification, the displacement of one group of people by another. That dynamic is repeating itself at an accelerated pace in America’s large cities. In this country the displacers have historically been white and those forced out have been black. Continue reading
The United States does not have a monopoly on the lynch law murder of black people. Israel, both America’s client state and master, is awash in racist state-sponsored violence. Palestinians are usually the intended targets, but Africans are inevitably caught in this terrorism too. The mob murder of Mulu Habtom Zerhom reveals everything that the world needs to know about Israeli apartheid and the settler mentality which it exemplifies. Continue reading
Workers in the United States have learned some painful lessons: that they live on less than their peers in much of Europe and are woefully insecure in their jobs and retirements—if they have jobs and retirement plans, at all. What U.S. workers have not learned—or have forgotten—is how to fight. They can take some tips from the French, who “throw down the gauntlet at any mention of job loss or pay cuts.” Continue reading
The mendacity of the United States and its allies has been on full and transparent display as the pace of events quicken around the world. On September 28, 2015, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin each made his case before the United Nations General Assembly and both were true to form. Putin said that America should respect other nations’ sovereignty. Obama exceeded his allotted speaking time by twenty minutes only to say that he didn’t care about anyone else’s sovereignty. Continue reading
If the peevish expression on Barack Obama’s face was any indication, Vladimir Putin is a force in the world who cannot be ignored. Ever since Russia annexed Crimea in response to the United States- and NATO-backed coup in Ukraine, Obama and the corporate media have falsely declared that Putin is isolated from the rest of the world. They claim he is a monster, a despot and an irrelevance on the world stage. Continue reading
“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.” Continue reading
While the United States has repeated and very publicly stated its intention to bring down the Assad government in Syria, the Russian Federation has declared its intention to protect it. Russia uses air space over Iran and Iraq as a route to send equipment and advisers to Syria. Both nations have given permission for these flights to take place and that should be the end of any questions. But the American press hysterically follow Obama administration talking points and claim that none of these nations has rights that the United States need respect. Facts are omitted from so-called journalism if they call official narratives into question. Continue reading
The ongoing migrant crisis in Europe is a direct result of American and NATO interventions and aggressions in the Middle East. Had those partners in crime not exacted regime change in Libya, that country would not be a magnet for human trafficking and an embarkation point for desperate people. The plan to produce the same result in Syria has failed thus far but there is still chaos and suffering on a mass scale. These refugees exist because of imperialism which has laid waste to nation after nation. Continue reading
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Freedom Rider: The Clinton and Powell war criminal charade
Posted on August 25, 2016 by Margaret Kimberley
Despite her best efforts and those of her friends in the corporate media, Hillary Clinton cannot escape her email scandal. In an attempt to comingle her responsibilities as secretary of state with her influence peddling at the Clinton Foundation, she used a private server to conduct all of her official, classified government duties. Continue reading →