Sections
-
Recent Posts
Search Results for: free free
The UN fails Cuba, again
The UN wants Cuba’s freedom to occur only on U.S. terms—through foreign intervention and against the will of the Cuban people. Continue reading
Assange prosecution relied on false testimony from a diagnosed sociopath and convicted pedophile
The Icelandic newspaper Stundin reports that a key witness in the US prosecution of Julian Assange has admitted in an interview with the outlet that he fabricated critical accusations in the indictment against the WikiLeaks founder. Continue reading
Words alone will not end anti-Muslim terror in Canada
The killing of a Muslim family on June 6 in Ontario, Canada, again presented an opportunity for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to brand himself as a voice of reason and communal harmony. However, Trudeau’s amiable and reassuring language is designed to veil a sinister reality which has, for many years, hidden the true face of Canadian politics. Continue reading
‘Putting lipstick on a pig’: Why Washington is fawning over Israel’s new government
When former US President Barack Obama used an old cliché to denigrate his political opponent, the late US Senator John McCain, he triggered a political controversy lasting several days. Continue reading
‘We’re not going away!’ Nonviolent protest over voting rights ends with arrests in DC
"We're saying across this country, it's time for people... to march on these Senate offices," declared Rev. William Barber.
Activists with the national Poor People’s Campaign were arrested Wednesday after blocking a street in front of the Hart Senate building in Washington, D.C. to demand passage of the For the People Act, a popular voting rights expansion bill that Republicans successfully filibustered just 24 hours earlier. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: Biden, Putin and the press
The corporate media claim that President Biden went easy on Vladimir Putin outside the G7 meeting, but that’s only because Biden preferred to sic the imperial press hounds on the Russian president. Continue reading
One nation under greed: The profit incentives driving the American police state
If there is an absolute maxim by which the American government seems to operate, it is that the taxpayer always gets ripped off. Continue reading
‘Rules-based international order’ means Washington-based international order
The US government has shut down multiple news media websites based in the Middle East, including Iran’s state-owned Press TV, and al-Masirah TV which is owned by the Houthi group Ansarullah in Yemen. The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it had seized 36 Iranian-linked websites, claiming without evidence that they were associated with “either disinformation activities or violent organizations” and were shut down for a violation of US sanctions. Continue reading
A bipolar nation in danger of destruction
We’ve reached the “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” moment.
Not that you asked, but I’m fine, thanks, how are you? Elated, energized, depressed or indifferent? Lately, it feels as if the country is going through a lengthy bout of bipolar disorder. Each highlight of our glorious post-Trump, semi-post-pandemic lives is countered by moments so dismal it sometimes feels as if we may never come out of the hole of anger, despair, and bigotry he and his followers created. But we can. Continue reading
With covid shutdowns over, can class reunions be far off?
We love to hate class reunions and hate to love them. First of all, they are not a true cross section of the class because only people who did well in life show up–a concept called “survivorship bias” in science. Where are the people who failed economically, professionally, socially, romantically and bodily? They don’t show up! And that’s not counting the people who really can’t show up because they are listed in the In Memoriam section of class handbook. “Those no longer with us” are a wakeup call to how old we are that no one wants to think about. Continue reading
The capitalist pandemic, the assault on consciousness, and America’s status as chosen people of the planet
The new CEO fronting for America Inc. completed his first meeting among our Euro lapdogs—officially known as NATO—and had a more important meeting with Putin in which, according to media servants of market forces, he let him know who’s boss of the universe. Politely, of course, because even this glorified clerk understands the danger of provoking a world war which would spare few of us if any. An unedited interview of the Russian president, available online if American authorities of freedom and democracy haven’t already removed it, clearly reveals the infantile ignorance of a network assailant posing as objective reporter and the often amused reactions of the Russian statesman and leader of a nation once hanging on the ropes under the abuse of global capital now a world power again and much of that due to his leadership. It, like so many other examples, glaringly highlights the descent of the American empire with little global power remaining but its ability to blow up earth and commit mass murder more effectively than any other nation. But it is also susceptible to almost as much horror as it might inflict on powerless nations by powerful nations now able to retaliate in kind, which we can all be thankful for since it’s the only thing stopping us from attempted greater slaughters than we already conduct which we sell as advancing the cause of peace and democracy. Continue reading
America’s greatest danger isn’t China. It’s much closer to home.
China’s increasingly aggressive geopolitical and economic stance in the world is unleashing a fierce bipartisan backlash in America. That’s fine if it leads to more public investment in basic research, education, and infrastructure—as did the Sputnik shock of the late 1950s. But it poses dangers as well. Continue reading
The truth about the U.S. border-industrial complex
The story you’ve heard about immigration, from politicians and the mainstream media alike, isn’t close to the full picture. Here’s the truth about how we got here and what we must do to fix it. Continue reading
Making Juneteenth a holiday was the easy part—will real justice follow?
The horrors of slavery and the harms from subsequent racial injustices cannot be met with symbolic gestures like holidays. Real restitution must come in the form of reparations—which neither party seems interested in.
After the United States Senate and House in quick succession passed a federal bill to make “Juneteenth” a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery, President Joe Biden wasted no time in signing the bill into law. “Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a major step forward to recognize the wrongs of the past,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, expressing what has come to be his party’s standard performative gesturing toward historic racial injustices by a party that likes to set itself apart from Republicans via lip service to liberal ideals. Continue reading
With Bezos at the helm, democracy dies at the Washington Post editorial board
In the Soviet Union, everybody was aware that the media was controlled by the state. But in a corporate state like the U.S., a veneer of independence is still maintained, although trust in the media has been plummeting for years.
WASHINGTON—The Washington Post’s glaring conflicts of interest have of late once again been the subject of scrutiny online, thanks to a new article denouncing a supposed attempt to “soak” billionaires in taxes. Written by star columnist Megan McArdle—who previously argued that Walmart’s wages are too high, that there is nothing wrong with Google’s monopoly, and that the Grenfell Fire was a price worth paying for cheaper buildings—the article claimed that Americans have such class envy that the government would “destroy [billionaires’] fortunes so that the rest of us don’t have to look at them.” Notably, the Post chose to illustrate it with a picture of its owner, Jeff Bezos, making it seem as if it was directly defending his power and wealth, something they have been accused of on more than one occasion. Continue reading
Until the people collar the Congress, it’s the iron collar of the corporate state
It's your Congress, People! Reclaim it from the corporatists. It's in your hands. Lives, healthcare, livelihoods, your descendants and the planet will be so much better off if you spend a fraction of the time you spend on your hobbies holding your two senators and representatives accountable to the people first.
Back in the mid-nineteen-fifties, the prolific, progressive political economist, Harvard’s John Kenneth Galbraith, developed his “theory of countervailing powers.” He asserted as big business got bigger, its overreach would be constrained by strong labor unions, regulators, and antitrust enforcement. Inside the realm of large companies, big retail chains could check the power of large manufacturers. Continue reading
There is no labor shortage, only labor exploitation
Conservatives and corporate employers are weaving an insidious web of myths, lies and exaggerations to justify maintaining low-wage jobs.
For the past few months, Republicans have been waging a ferocious political battle to end federal unemployment benefits, based upon stated desires of saving the U.S. economy from a serious labor shortage. The logic, in the words of Republican politicians like Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, goes like this: “the government pays folks more to stay home than to go to work,” and therefore, “[p]aying people not to work is not helpful.” The conservative Wall Street Journal has been beating the drum for the same argument, saying recently that it was a “terrible blunder” to pay jobless benefits to unemployed workers. Continue reading
The FBI’s Mafia-style justice: To fight crime, the FBI sponsors 15 crimes a day
Almost every tyranny being perpetrated by the U.S. government against the citizenry—purportedly to keep us safe and the nation secure—has come about as a result of some threat manufactured in one way or another by our own government. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: How not to celebrate Juneteenth
Juneteenth has become the latest iteration of liberal capture of Black politics, opportunistic virtue signaling, and the intentional misrepresentation of America’s history. Continue reading
Peru heading for showdown with war hawk Samantha Power
As Peru’s Marxist presumptive president-elect, Pedro Castillo, stands on the verge of being named certified as the official victor of the president election, he is heading for a showdown with the interventionist Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the United Nations under Barack Obama. While at the UN, Power was a major proponent of U.S. military intervention in the Syrian, Yemeni, and Libyan civil wars. Continue reading
Why democracies in G7 & NATO should reject U.S. leadership
The world has been treated to successive spectacles of national leaders gathering at a G7 Summit in Cornwall and a NATO Summit in Brussels. Continue reading
Reporters do a better job when they do not ignore civic groups
Connecting the civic community with the mainstream media is no minor endeavor. Historically, this connection has been essential to a functioning democracy. The citizenry is the taproot of democracy and a key source for journalists’ declared function of informing the people. Continue reading
New Israeli government, same Israeli apartheid
After 12 years, Israel finally inaugurated a new prime minister. While being hailed by many as the opportunity for a fresh start, Naftali Bennett is at best a continuer of Netanyahu’s policies and at worst an ideologue whose positions are to the right of Netanyahu’s. Continue reading
The difference between totalitarian regimes and free democracies
In totalitarian regimes they have massacres and wars. In free democracies they have humanitarian interventions. Continue reading
The simple fix our tax code so urgently needs: sunshine!
Income tax disclosure ought to be the law of the land, not a criminal offense.
America’s super rich are seeing red over ProPublica’s bombshell release of data from their tax returns—and so are America’s tax collectors. Treasury Department officials have already referred this “illegal” and “unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information” to the FBI. Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, has pledged to lawmakers that finding the source of the leak to ProPublica “will be at the top of my list.” Continue reading
So much for ‘The Squad’—much-hyped new U.S. Progressive bloc has caved to corporate power
People who want structural change in the U.S. will have to develop new channels and networks to overcome the established power system.
I signed up for the COVID-19 vaccine on a public health website and got my two shots at a Salvation Army facility on the northwest side of Chicago. The site was efficiently and competently run. The experience provided a small glimpse into how a true national health care system—like they have in other developed countries—might look and feel. No one demanded to see my insurance card or sent me a bill. Continue reading
The war over genetic privacy is just beginning
“Guilt by association” has taken on new connotations in the technological age. Continue reading
Global fascists seize on Trump’s election fraud dogma
Fascist candidates around the world have challenged their own electoral losses as the result of “election fraud,” with their parties and supporters using Trumpian language like “Stop the Steal” and “fake election” in attempts to substantiate their groundless claims. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: The truth about defunding police
“Defunding” the police has often turned out to be an accounting trick, but community control of police—a righteous demand—must also ensure that all government functions address human needs. Continue reading
International leaders join call for end to all legal barriers to abortion
"Women must have the right to decide about their own bodies—that is a human right."
Several international lawmakers and leaders joined rights activists Wednesday in a call for all legal barriers to abortion care to be removed worldwide, demanding clinics that were shut down during the pandemic be reopened and for a “global campaign of factual and unbiased information” to counter well-funded anti-choice groups. Continue reading
There’s no ‘labor shortage.’ There’s a wage shortage.
To find workers, there’s a free-enterprise solution right at employers’ fingertips: raise pay, improve conditions, and show respect.
At a recent congressional hearing on America’s so-called “labor shortage,” megabanker Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, offered this insight: “People actually have a lot of money, and they don’t particularly feel like going back to work.” Continue reading
Mike Gravel: fond recollections
Posted on June 29, 2021 by Wayne Madsen
Last week, when I received an email from former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel’s wife, Whitney, I figured the news would not be good. Mike, whose longshot presidential campaign I supported after he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination on April 17, 2006, had been transferred to hospice care in California. Sadly, Mike succumbed on June 26 to multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood plasma cells. Mike’s family and I were hoping he would, at least, make it to June 29—today—the 50th anniversary of his reading of the then-classified Pentagon Papers in the Senate and, thus, into the Congressional Record. Continue reading →