Americans were fortunate among people of the Earth to have lived in a nation that, for 236 years, avoided being taken over and controlled by religious extremists. It is a sad commentary, but now that the Republican Party has been taken over by evangelical fundamentalists as a result of Republican demigod Ronald Reagan giving the religious right the keys to …
Tim DeChristopher – Sunny Climate Nonsense
omehow, Jonathan Chait’s New York Magazine article entitled “The Sunniest Climate Change Story You’ve Ever Read” left me feeling pretty dark. I knew why I was angry at Chait’s blatantly ahistorical article that attempted to erase the climate movement from the struggle against climate change. He was devaluing the people who have actually been fighting to stop climate change in …
Gleb Tsipursky – The reality TV star and first-rate attention getter knows how to manipulate the media — and our emotions
Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee — at least, if all the media attention paid to his candidacy has anything to do with primacy and caucus results. A recent analysis found that he has received over 50 percent of the summer media coverage of Campaign 2016. Yet Trump’s position in the polls for the Republican nomination is far lower …
David Sirota – Prosecution of White Collar Crime Hits 20-Year Low
Just a few years after the financial crisis, a new report tells an important story: Federal prosecution of white-collar crime has hit a 20-year low. The analysis by Syracuse University shows a more than 36 percent decline in such prosecutions since the middle of the Clinton administration, when the decline began. Landing amid calls from Democratic presidential candidates for more …
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh – The Age of Finance Capital—and the Irrelevance of Mainstream Economics
Despite the fact that the manufacturers of ideas have elevated economics to the (contradictory) levels of both a science and a religion, a market theodicy, mainstream economics does not explain much when it comes to an understanding of real world developments. Indeed, as a neatly stylized discipline, economics has evolved into a corrupt, obfuscating and useless—nay, harmful—field of study. Harmful, …
Dr. Gary G. Kohls – 9/11 Truth: De-Bunking the Neocon 9/11 Narrative. The Workings of “Big Lie Propaganda”
“You unpatriotic ‘9/11 Truthers’ can have annual conspiracy conventions on 9/11, with a host of speakers. To use a Russian expression, the dogs may bark as the train roars along. You are the dogs, and we are the train. Keep whining. We will keep on declaring ourselves unconvinced. We still own the TV, we still own the military, and you …
Carey Wedler – 50 Defense Dept. Whistleblowers Slam “Stalinist” Pentagon Officials For Lying About ISIS
The Pentagon has erupted in “revolt” amid claims from 50 intelligence analysts that senior defense officials manipulated intelligence reports to downplay the severity of the Islamic State’s increasing upper-hand in the Middle East. According to allegations made in an official complaint with the Department of Defense Inspector General, the officers in question doctored reports — among other things — in order …
Josh Fox, Lee Ziesche – What the Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About Fracking
When we hear politicians and gas companies extoll the virtues of fracking, jobs created by drilling is usually high on their list of talking points. But the jobs created by fracking are not the kind of quality jobs American workers deserve. They are not the kind of jobs American laborers have fought and died for throughout our country’s history. They are …
Nat Parry – ‘Regime Change’ Strategy Spreads Chaos
It has long been an article of faith that despite whatever slipups it might make along the way in pursuit of its foreign policy, the United States is always motivated by a sincerely held desire to promote democracy and human rights around the world, which, in turn, is seen as vital in ensuring global stability and prosperity. The roots of …
Dave Murphy – University Scientists Caught Conspiring With Biotech Industry to Manipulate Public Opinion on GMOs
What happens when a private company with a long history of producing some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet and now produces our food starts facing public pressure from a growing national grassroots movement to label their products to conform with basic principles of democracy and transparency? Well, if the company in question is Monsanto, then you take …