US politics

By Mark Jaycox via Electronic Frontier Foundation The Patriot Act continues to wreak its havoc on civil liberties. Section 213 was included in the Patriot Act over the protests of privacy advocates and granted law enforcement the power to conduct a search while delaying notice to the suspect of the search. Known as a “sneak […]

Barack Obama

Nobel Peace Laureates to Obama: Bring use of torture into the light of day, Never to return

contributors

By Jon Queally via Commondreams.org Twelve Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written to President Barack Obama asking the US to close the dark chapter on torture once and for all. Twelve fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written an open letter to President Barack Obama, urging the 2009 recipient of the award to finally close […]

CIA

Burned: Valerie Plame Wilson’s new Roman a Clef on Dick Cheney’s Great Betrayal

contributors

Bloomberg “Valerie Plame Wilson, author and former CIA officer, discusses her new book entitled “Burned” and national security in the 21st century with Bloomberg’s Pimm Fox on “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)” Channel 4: “Former CIA Agent Valerie Plame Embraces Being ‘Burned’ ”

Economy

Does Fox “News” cultivate Closed Minded “Right Wing Authoritarians”?

contributors

TheLipTV “Is Fox News creating content that appeals to closed minded people of a “right wing authoritarian” mind state? That is the case being argued by a University of Alabama Psychologist, Dr. William Hart, who cites the Republican slanted cable news channel as a mirror for similarly ideologically minded people. Does this create a distortion […]

Militarization

‘Thanks for your Service’ = Silencing the Vets

contributors

By Rory Fanning via Tomdispatch.com Last week, in a quiet indie bookstore on the north side of Chicago, I saw the latest issue of Rolling Stone resting on a chrome-colored plastic table a few feet from a barista brewing a vanilla latte. A cold October rain fell outside. A friend of mine grabbed the issue […]

Bush

For GOP who Question why Iraq didn’t Want US Forces to Stay: “Blackwater Guards Guilty In 2007 Iraq Massacre”

contributors

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks: “Four former Blackwater security guards were convicted Wednesday in the 2007 shootings of more than 30 Iraqis in Baghdad, an incident that inflamed anti-American sentiment around the globe and was denounced by critics as an illustration of a war gone horribly wrong. The men claimed self-defense, but federal prosecutors argued […]

Militarization

You’ll be Surprised which Congressmen get Most Campaign Money from War Industry

contributors

AJ+ “War is a big industry in the United States, but who profits from it? AJ+ breaks down how much money was contributed by defense contractors to members of Congress in 2014 and exactly who got the bulk of that money.” These Congressmen Made A Lot Of Money From War – AJ+

Barack Obama

Double-Edged Sword: Can US overcome its Feelings of Exceptionalism?

contributors

By David Bromwich via Tomdispatch.com The origins of the phrase “American exceptionalism” are not especially obscure. The French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, observing this country in the 1830s, said that Americans seemed exceptional in valuing practical attainments almost to the exclusion of the arts and sciences. The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, on hearing a report […]

Barack Obama

Iran Proposes Axis against ISIL to Iraqi PM Abadi as alternative to US Coalition

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole al-Zaman [The Times of Baghdad] reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has proposed to visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi an anti-ISIL axis including Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq that would be led by Iran, as an alternative to the US-led coalition proposed by President Barack Obama. In essence, this is the same […]