Speaking Truth to Empire

Speaking Truth to Empire on KFCF 88.1 FM independently owned and locally operated since 1975 in Fresno, California. Dan Yaseen interviews Jeff J. Brown; he is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy, which consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China”, “China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations and “China Is Communist, Dammit!-Dawn read more

The attack on Medicare for All is on: Saying Government-Funded Healthcare’s Too Costly is Nuts…Unless You Think the US Uniquely Can’t Do It

y Dave Lindorff

The new corporate media and conservative Democratic argument against front-runner Bernie Sanders’ eminently logical proposal for creating a single-payer government health insurance program that he calls “Medicare for All” is that it would destroy the huge health insurance industry and put 1.8 million insurance industry employees out on the street.

That is about the stupidest argument for not making an urgent reform of an outrageous pirate-capitalist system I can read more

Speaking Truth to Empire

On “Speaking Truth to Empire” on KFCF 88.1 independently owned and locally operated since 1975 in Fresno, Dan Yaseen interviews Miko Peled an Israeli-American peace activist and author. He grew up in a Zionist family, his grandfather was a signer on the Israeli Declaration of Independence and his father was a general in the Israeli Army.

Miko has dedicated his life to writing, speaking and activism focused on transforming the racist Zionist regime in Palestine into one democratic state with read more

What’s a social democratic political program really mean?: Truly Remaking Social Security is the Key to Having a Livable Society in the US

By Dave Lindorff

Social Security is back in the news, as both Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg, two emblematic one-percenter oligarchs, raise the issue of its future as part of their campaign strategy.

Trump (a faux wannabe billionaire) has put Americans on notice that while he may have promised during his 2016 campaign “not to touch” the New Deal’s most lasting legacy program, on which some 70 million Americans –- the elderly and the disabled as well as dependent children of those read more

Democrats need backbone on militarism to win in 2020: Iran is NOT Responsible for US Dead in Iraq

By John Grant

Who exactly is responsible for US casualties in Iraq during the Iraq War? The question has been raised thanks to President Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian General Qessim Suleimani.

On January 13, the New York Times published a front-page story about a lawsuit filed against Iran in federal court by US veterans and veteran families; it charges Iran with wounding or killing these men. The crux of the lawsuit is that the explosive devices that killed and maimed these read more

Speaking Truth to Empire

On “Speaking Truth to Empire” on KFCF 88.1 independently owned and locally operated since 1975 in Fresno, Dan Yaseen interviews Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange. Topics of discussion include worsening U.S. – Iranian crisis and the fallout from Trump’s ill-advised murder of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Medea is a human rights advocate, an author and a peace & justice activist. She has worked for social justice and human rights in Asia, the Americas, and read more

Rogue president, rogue nation: Trump Tells Iraq Order US Troops Out and I’ll Freeze Your Central Bank’s Account at the Fed

By Dave Lindorff

President Trump’s actions in the Middle East are becoming increasingly unhinged.

A week ago, he nearly triggered a catastrophic war between Iran and the US when, acting seemingly on a whim or in response to the advice of two of his nuttier advisors, fundamentalist Christian “Rapture” believers Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, he ordered the assassination by drone of the commander of Iran’s military, Qassem Suleimani.

Fortunately for American troops, sailors and pilots, and for read more

The reality we must face: Our Country, the United States, is a Rogue Nation and Our Leaders are Criminals

By Dave Lindorff

For as long as I’ve been alive, my country has been a rogue state.

Actually, the US became a rogue state four years before my birth in 1949 when, in 1945, Washington decided to bomb two militarily insignificant cities in Japan with its new super weapon, the atomic bomb, instantly incinerating several hundred thousand Japanese civilians, including many, many children, and condemning at least that many more to slow agonizing deaths from resulting cancers and birth defects.

From read more

US jingoism promotes mindless support for war with Iran: It’s Our Own Leader, Donald Trump, Who Is ‘Blood-Thirsty’ and ‘Blood-Soaked’

This is not an article intended to praise Qassem Suleimani, the Commander of Iran’s military who was whacked by President Trump with several Hellfire Missiles fired from a US drone at his vehicle outside the Baghdad Airport.

What I do decry, however, is the almost universal characterization of Suleimani as “the baddest of the bad,” or as the NY Times labeled him in Sunday editorial condemning read more

Opening Pandora’s Box in Iraq: Trump Hit on Iranian Commander Puts a Target on His Own and Top US Generals’ Backs

By Dave Lindorff

As far back as at least the American Revolution, there was an unwritten rule among combatants that you don’t kill the commander in the field of battle. That’s why generals could be seen directing their troops while sitting astride a horse behind the front lines —easy targets for anyone equipped with a rifled barrel on their long gun to pick off.  The reason they felt relatively safe doing so was that it was that both sides understood that if commanding officers were read more