US facing sanctions after defying WTO trade rulesReuters / Nacho Doce The United States could soon be facing sanctions as a result of a ruling handed down by the World Trade Organization this week concerning an American meat labeling law contested by officials in Mexico and Canada.
DHS insider gives final warningU.S. is a captured operation. The lie is bigger than most people realize or are willing to confront Under the cover and amid the distraction of the Christmas bustle, I had my last “official” contact with a source inside the Department of Homeland Security known as “Rosebud” in my writings.
The FBI Director’s Evidence Against Encryption Is Pathetic – The InterceptFBI Director James Comey gave a speech Thursday about how cell-phone encryption could lead law enforcement to a “very dark place” where it “misses out” on crucial evidence to nail criminals. To make his case, he cited four real-life examples – examples that would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic.
States and corporations grab for reins of the InternetSan Francisco (AFP) – As the US steps back from overseeing the group entrusted to essentially run the Internet, states and corporations are grabbing for the reins. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has gone from being behind the scenes tending to the task of managing website addresses to being center stage in a play for power on the Internet.
Everything We Have Been Taught About Our Origins Is A LieIn June 1936 Max Hahn and his wife Emma were on a walk beside a waterfall near to London, Texas, when they noticed a rock with wood protruding from its core. They decided to take the oddity home and later cracked it open with a hammer and a chisel.
Why Phone and Cable Companies Want to Kill the Web’s Most Democratic RightNet Neutrality - the principle that protects Internet users’ free speech rights - is censorship. Did you get that? You did if you happened to be reading the Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages. Former Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell recently wrote a screed claiming that Net Neutrality supporters have taken a turn “toward undermining free speech.”
Full Show: Too Big to Jail? | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.comBILL MOYERS: This week on Moyers & Company, the crusading Bill Black. WILLIAM K. BLACK: No one can claim with a straight face that if we prosecuted bankers, as opposed to banks, that it would have any negative effect. It would have huge positive effects in sending the right message of accountability and the right message of deterrence.
The Fake Terror Threat Used To Justify Bombing Syria – The InterceptAs the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.”
Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb – The InterceptEighteen years after it was published, “Dark Alliance,” the San Jose Mercury News’ s bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, and African American neighborhoods in California, remains one of the most explosive and controversial exposés in American journalism.
Machiavelli and Oligarchic DemocracyMachiavelli wrote that when we are trying to understand politics and the history of human societies, much can be explained in terms of the eternal conflict between two fundamental desires. One is the desire of the – that is, the super-rich and the super-powerful – to protect their wealth and power, and to accumulate more wealth and power.
The coming era of unlimited – and free – clean energyIn the 1980s, leading consultants were skeptical about cellular phones. McKinsey & Company noted that the handsets were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, coverage was patchy, and the cost per minute was exorbitant. It predicted that in 20 years the total market size would be about 900,000 units, and advised AT&T to pull out.
’Another planet’: Washingtonians & average Americans ‘couldn’t be more different’, study findsWith Americans expressing some of the lowest opinions of the three branches of government ever recorded, it turns out that Washington at the same time does not hold the American electorate in high esteem, two academics discovered.
US school districts given free machine guns and grenade launchersSchool police departments across the US have taken advantage of free military surplus gear, stocking up on mine-resistant armoured vehicles, grenade launchers and scores of M16 rifles. At least 26 school districts have participated in the Pentagon’s surplus program, which is not new but has come under scrutiny after police responded to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, with teargas, armour-clad military trucks and riot gear.
School police across the country receive excess military weapons and gear(Note: This post was updated on Sept. 17 and Sept. 19 to reflect a review of data from more states and comment from several institutions. All five of the grenade launchers identified earlier this week are in the process of being disposed of or returned.)
Navy nurse faces expulsion after refusing to force feed Gitmo detaineesA Navy nurse who refused to force feed hunger-striking Guantanamo detainees over the summer, once threatened with court-martial, could now lose his career. READ MORE: Military lawyer resigns in protest of ‘show trial’ of accused 9-11 mastermind The nurse, a Navy lieutenant who has never been publicly identified, refused to force feed hunger strikers shortly before July 4 at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay prison complex.
The Politics of Empire / James PetrasTHE POLITICS OF EMPIRE The US, Israel and the Middle East James Petras ISBN: 978-0-9860731-0-6 $18.95 / 196 pp. / 2014 ORDER E-BOOK: $16.00 978-0-9860731-1-3
The 2001 Anthrax Deception: The Case for a Domestic Conspiracy“Finally, a book has come out that explodes the FBI’s anthrax letters case. Not only is there no evidence linking Army scientist Bruce Ivins to the crime–it turns out his famous flask of anthrax was never proven to be related to the attack spores!
An Economic Hit Man Speaks Out: John Perkins on How Greece Has Fallen Victim to “Economic Hit Men”John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, discusses how Greece and other eurozone countries have become the new victims of “economic hit men.” John Perkins is no stranger to making confessions.
Bernanke’s Helicopter, and a Note About 9/11You won’t believe the idea that America’s quintessential foreign policy establishment organ is floating now. Or maybe you will. Foreign Affairs is the journal of the Council of Foreign Relations, the organization that seems to drive much of the consensus foreign policy of the country, and from whose membership the top officials of Republican and Democrat administrations are regularly drawn.