Corporatism and Fascism

Iraq Today: America's Imperial Legacy

by Stephen Lendman

US imperial wars reflect mass slaughter, widespread destruction, ecocide, resource theft, exploitation, unspeakable human pain, suffering and misery, as well as permanent occupation.

Washington came to Iraq to stay. US military and other security elements infest the region. It's the oil and unchallenged Middle East dominance, stupid.

Mission Creep Toward Full-Scale War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman

On May 20, Secretary of State John Kerry headed back to the Middle East. It's his fourth regional visit since January. 

On May 21, he met Oman's Sultan Qaboos. An air defense system/weapons sale, Syria, and related issues were discussed.

https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson/talk-nation-radio-carl-gibson

Carl Gibson is currently engaged in a Green Jobs March from Philadelphia to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., as part of a campaign called ShutTheChamber.org.  You can join the march virtually by uploading a photo on their website, or you can join in reality at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce across from the White House at 10 a.m. Friday, May 24th.  Gibson is lead organizer of ShutTheChamber and cofounder of USUncut.  He discusses the damage the U.S. Chamber does to our political system pushing environmental destruction, wars, and the plutocratic concentration of wealth.  Gibson says that small businesses paying dues to local chambers that themselves have little in common with the U.S. Chamber end up funding assaults on small businesses, as the local chambers fund the state chambers which fund the U.S. Chamber -- an institution that also serves to funnel vast quantities of unaccountable corporate money into politics.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

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By John Grant

PREFACE

Obama's War on Free Expression

by Stephen Lendman

It's the most fundamental right. Without it all others are endangered. Obama's waging war to destroy it. He's done so throughout his tenure. 

He targeted AP. He did so unjustifiably. A previous article discussed it.

Are Japanese Bonds Signaling Trouble?

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed the disconnect between soaring markets and troubled economies. Liquidity driven markets only skyrocket so long.

What can't go on forever, won't. No one's sure when. Eventually the music stops. When that happens, watch out. Signals provide clues.

Reinventing Guatemalan History

by Stephen Lendman

History reinventors support despots. Social democrats are vilified. Crimes of war, against humanity and genocide are sanitized. They're whitewashed. They disappear in plain sight.

Wall Street Journal columnist Mary O'Grady tried reinventing Guatemalan history. She failed. More on that below.

Supreme Court Colludes with Monsanto

by Stephen Lendman

It's no surprise. Michael Parenti calls America's High Court its "autocratic branch." 

It's notoriously pro-business. It's longstanding. In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railway (1886), it granted corporations legal personhood.

By Dave Lindorff

           (This article was originally written forWhoWhatWhy News)

America: A Modern-Day Sparta

by Stephen Lendman

Permanent war is longstanding policy. America deplores peace. Throughout its history, it's waged war annually at home and/or abroad. Today it does so globally.

Giving peace a chance is loathed. Direct or proxy wars rage in multiple countries. 

Guantanamo Force-Feeding Constitutes Torture

by Stephen Lendman

Guantanamo detention constitutes torture, abuse and ill-treatment. Long-term detention compounds it. 

Force-feeding increases unconscionable pain and suffering. Doing so violates core rule of law principles.

Disconnect: Soaring Markets/Troubled Economies

by Stephen Lendman

Forget everything you learned about markets, economics and finance. Perhaps Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin, Freud, Einstein, and other noted figures were wrong.

Central banks run today's world. Major ones matter most. Money printing madness controls everything. Love doesn't make the world go round. Liquidity-driven markets reflect the power of bankers to do it. 

America Honors Its Worst

by Stephen Lendman

Presidential Medals of Freedom are awarded annually. They mock what they claim to represent. Many go to deplorable recipients. 

Previous dishonorees include GHW Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates, Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair, Shimon Peres, Margaret Thatcher, Alvaro Uribe, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, and Alan Greenspan among others.

IRS Scandal Headlines: More Than Meets the Eye

by Stephen Lendman

More than targeting political enemies is involved. More on than below. The practice is longstanding. Republican and Democrat administrations use the IRS abusively.

During the Coolidge administration, Republican Senator James Couzens investigated the IRS' predecessor - the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). 

Putin v. Obama et al

by Stephen Lendman

On May 16, the Wall Street Journal headlined "Russia Raises Stakes in Syria," saying:

By Linn Washington, Jr.

Federal authorities publicly plot encouraging bounty hunters to kidnap a fugitive black radical from a foreign country for return to prison in the U.S. to achieve long-delayed justice.

This sounds like the FBI action on May 2, 2013 in placing former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list – the first female to have that dubious distinction.

Stop and Frisk: NYPD Racial Profiling

by Stephen Lendman

The Fourth Amendment states: 

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

By Alfredo Lopez

"Paranoia," said Woody Allen, "is knowing all the facts." By that measure, we're becoming more and more "paranoid" every day.

Russia Catches CIA Spy Red-Handed

by Stephen Lendman

CIA agents operate most everywhere. They don't promote friendly relations. They're up to no good. Some pose as diplomats. 

Diplomacy provides cover for why they're sent. Christopher Fogle was caught red-handed. He was assigned to Washington's Moscow embassy political section. He was third secretary.

Obama's Contempt for Venezuelan Democracy

by Stephen Lendman

It's no surprise. He exceeds the worst of George Bush. He abhors democratic values. He defiles rule of law principles. He governs by diktat authority.

He's waging war on humanity. He targets all independent states. He wants puppet pro-US regimes replacing them. 

Turkey: US Imperial Tool

by Stephen Lendman

In 1999, Nobel laureate/outspoken anti-war critic Harold Pinter minced no words denouncing NATO's Yugoslavia war.

"Let us face the truth," he said. "The truth is that neither Clinton nor Blair gives a damn about the Kosovar Albanians. This action has been another blatant and brutal assertion of US power using NATO as its missile."

Eroding Freedom in America

by Stephen Lendman

US democracy is illusory. America never was beautiful. It's not the land of the free and home of the brave. It wasn't created that way. More than ever, it's not now.

Freedom is a four-letter word. It's fast disappearing. It's an endangered species. Wealth, power and privilege alone matter. America's war on terror priorities advance them. 

Thirdworldizing America

by Stephen Lendman

Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker calls poverty America's "new growth industry." The state of today's America is deplorable.

Malcolm Shabazz's Suspicious Death

by Stephen Lendman

On May 9, Amsterdam News (AN) headlined "Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X, killed." 

By John Grant

It was the summer of 1981. I was working on an ambulance in Philadelphia, transporting a cancer patient to a hospital for radiation treatments. The man was in his sixties, and I felt he knew his days were numbered.

In my conversations with the man, it came up that I was a Vietnam veteran. He told me he was in the CIA in Saigon in the early 1970s.

“What did you do?” I asked.

Fannie and Freddie in Good Hands with Mel Watt

by Stephen Lendman

On May 1, Obama nominated Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). 

It replaced the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD).

By Alfredo Lopez

This Summer, a team at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has undertaken a remarkable project: to recreate the first web site and the computer on which it was first seen.

America and Israel: Imperial Partners in Crime

by Stephen Lendman

Longstanding ties remain firm. Both nations are imperial partners. Naked aggression is official policy. Regime change in Syria is planned. Daily events head inexorably toward full-scale intervention.

Honduras: State-Sponsored Death Squad Terror

by Stephen Lendman

Adrienne Pine is American University Professor or Anthropology.  She's worked in Honduras. She's written about state-sponsored violence.

US-Style Free Trade in Good Hands with Michael Froman

by Stephen Lendman

On May 2, Obama named Froman his new US trade representative. He's a former Harvard law school classmate. He's currently a key adviser. More on him below.