It is becoming clear that U.S. neoconservatives have succeeded in creating a warmongering, anti-Russian mood in Europe through an unprecedented information war, the consequences of which will take some time to assess. It is, however, possible to identify the signs of what is to come. Continue reading
In an effort to keep up with the times and serve a profitable market segment, southern-style comfort-food restaurant chain Cracker Barrel recently added a new item to its menu. Continue reading
On August 5, a major oil storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba, 65 miles east of Havana, was hit by lightning. A tank that contained 25,000 cubic meters of crude oil caught fire after being struck. Since then, an enormous fire has been raging in Matanzas. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ávalos Jorge, deputy head of Cuba’s fire department, said that it was impossible to estimate when the fire would be completely extinguished. This tremendous explosion and hard-to-control fire has led to several people being reported missing (including firefighters), many others injured with severe burns, and hundreds more evacuated from their homes. Continue reading
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to answer questions from New York Attorney General Letitia James about his business dealings, explaining he was invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Continue reading
WASHINGTON —Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando has added his voice to those of other union leaders warning about the right-wing threat to democracy. Continue reading
Nancy Pelosi is a member of the United States Congress. She isn’t just any member either, she is Speaker of the House of Representatives, an important leadership position in U.S. politics. She is also third in line to the presidency. If something should happen to the president and vice president she would lead the executive branch of government. Continue reading
In 2015, after the economy began to fully recover from the Great Recession, the tech industry witnessed an explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area. This resulted in an influx of people in the Bay Area, driving housing costs up and displacing the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) residents from their homes in cities like Oakland—a trend that continues in 2022. Continue reading
PALM BEACH, Fla.—The law is moving ever closer to Donald Trump for his crimes before, during, and after his tenure in the Oval Office. Continue reading
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” Donald Trump raged Monday evening after FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, and broke open a safe, apparently looking for documents that Trump illegally took from the White House. Continue reading
Having declared victory over the “economic blitzkrieg” of Western sanctions in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin must contend with continued Western financial support to Ukraine as it combats Russian forces. In addition, the Kremlin will be forced to finance the reconstruction and integration of conquered Ukrainian territory. Continue reading
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent tour in Africa was meant to be a game changer, not only in terms of Russia’s relations with the continent, but in the global power struggle involving the US, Europe, China, India, Turkey and others. Continue reading
We finally have a real third party in the United States that the mainstream media is willing to talk about. I bet they’ll give them ballot access and everything. And this new party has nothing to do with the Democrats or the Republicans, right? Continue reading
Recent revelations that MI5 outlet Bellingcat was involved in a Keystone Cops plot to hijack Russian planes should give their primary targets pause for thought regarding MI5’s Ukrainian machinations. Although fighter pilots have defected from other theaters in the past, this twist in a hoary old Hollywood plot is important because given that the players, clowns like Zelensky and Bellingcat, are so innately stupid, we must examine why MI5 employs such cretins. Continue reading
You don’t have to go to a gun shop or even a gun show to find a gun in the USA. You don’t even have to leave your house, just do a web search like “guns for sale.” Continue reading
On August 2, voters in Kansas rejected an amendment to the state constitution which would have increased the legislature’s power to regulate (or ban) abortion. Continue reading
You’ve heard about corporations being treated like people. It’s one of the outrages of the Citizens United decision some years back by the Supreme Court, that corporations have a right to free speech just like individuals and therefore can contribute unlimited money to candidates running for office. Bye-bye, democracy. Continue reading
Donald Trump is, by far, the worst president of the United States in its 246 years of existence. All of the living presidents have pretty much said so. So have most legitimate historians and scholars of the presidency. But what would have those who served long ago as president think of the person who has become so reviled as the worst in their ranks? Some of America’s past presidents were no shrinking violets when it came to tossing barbs at those they despised. From Dwight Eisenhower’s dislike of Senator Joseph McCarthy to Thomas Jefferson’s contempt for John Adams, past presidents let it be known, in no uncertain terms, what they thought of their adversaries. Therefore, in examining the historical record, it can be deduced what past presidents would have thought of and said about president number 45. Continue reading
The return of Chris Cuomo to television is the latest reminder that there is little accountability to speak of in corporate news media. Chris was ousted at CNN in late 2021 amidst an ethics investigation that claimed he utilized his position at the cable news juggernaut to consult his brother, then governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. At the time, the governor was facing a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Chris was using his professional connections to identify what reporters knew about the allegations, and then using that information to consult Andrew on how to respond, all while hosting Andrew on his daily CNN program. In July 2022, Cuomo returned to television to promote his podcast The Chris Cuomo Project. Cuomo appeared on Dan Abrams show on NewsNation (where Cuomo recently secured a position and I have served as an expert guest) and Real Time with Bill Maher. Continue reading
Alex Jones’ decades-long career of serving up conspiracy theories cloaked in lies and violent rhetoric may be coming to an end as a jury has just awarded $4 million in damages, plus $45.2 million in punitive damages, to the parents of a 6-year-old killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Continue reading
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came under fire Thursday for suspending Andrew Warren over the state attorney’s pledges not to prosecute people for violating restrictions on abortion or gender-affirming care. Continue reading
Alan MacLeod has a new article out with Mintpress News showing how most of the supposedly independent “fact-checking” organizations which Facebook has partnered with to police the information people are allowed to see on the platform about the war in Ukraine are, in fact, funded by the United States government. Continue reading
In 1980 we produced a report titled How to Appraise and Improve Your Daily Newspaper: A Manual for Readers, authored by David Bollier, one of our precocious interns, who had just graduated from Amherst and went on to become an expert on the Commons (See, bollier.org). I thought about this past initiative to empower readers/consumers while contemplating what is happening in recent months to the print edition of the New York Times. Continue reading
Three months before the 2022 general election, momentum is tangibly growing for holding Donald Trump and Trump Republicans legally accountable for a range of criminal activities tied to their ultimately violent effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading
Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana blocked Democrats’ attempt Wednesday to pass legislation that would protect doctors who provide legal abortion care from right-wing threats and attacks. Continue reading
Multiple potential candidates for the GOP’s 2024 presidential primary race support former President Donald Trump’s plot to make it easier to purge civil servants deemed disloyal to their prospective administrations, Axios revealed Wednesday. Continue reading
This is what it means to go back-to-school in America today. Continue reading
Until recently, Israeli politics did not matter to Palestinians. Though the Palestinian people maintained their political agency under the most demoralizing conditions, their collective action rarely influenced outcomes in Israel, partly due to the massive discrepancy of power between the two sides. Continue reading
Kansas voters Tuesday reflected the refusal of people across America to accept the tyranny of right-wing Republicans determined to tell them when, where, and how to have and raise their families. The message was clear: No politicians, women said as they streamed to the polls in record numbers in Kansas, are going to make the decision about what they do with their bodies. Continue reading
Kansans voted by a decisive margin on Tuesday to reject a proposed amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s constitution and empowered the Republican legislature to advance a total ban. Continue reading
Our country may be divided on the issue of abortion. But when it comes down to it, most Americans believe that it’s a pregnant person’s right to decide for themselves whether to continue a pregnancy. Continue reading
On July 29, 2022, the FBI raided the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida and the Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The raids were connected with the indictment of a Russian national who is accused of attempting to “cause turmoil in the United States” by engaging with “Unindicted Co-Conspirators” to act as agents of the Russian Federation. Continue reading
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The real motive behind the GOP’s “culture war”
Posted on August 12, 2022 by Robert Reich
Why do Putin and the Republican Party sound so much alike? Simple: Their culture wars have similar agendas. Continue reading →