Captain ‘cops’ cop: Blood-Red Whitewash on a Blue Sea

By Linn Washington, Jr.

Remember the Vincennes?

That’s the name of the U.S. Navy warship that shot down an Iranian airliner with missiles in 1988, killing all 290 people aboard that airplane.

That shootdown, where 60 children perished, was an accident, according to the U.S. Navy’s official report. However, many, including military personnel, considered that report a whitewash.

That U.S. military attack on a civilian airliner occurred during a time when the administration of then U.S. President read more

It’s the Emoluments, Stupid. Impeach for Iran.

The constitutional ban on receiving gifts or benefits while in office from the U.S. government or state governments (domestic “emoluments” – Article II, Section 1) is absolute, not waivable by Congress, and not subject to proving any particular corrupting influence.

President Trump’s lease of the Old Post Office Building in Washington D.C. for his Trump International Hotel violates the General Services Administration lease contract which states: “No … elected official of the Government read more

Tomgram: David Bromwich, What It Means to be “Great” on a Planet Going Down

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

I watch NBC Nightly News regularly to get a sense of what version of our world a slice of America is regularly offered. In recent weeks, most of those newscasts — which usually begin with Lester Holt exclaiming, “Breaking news tonight!” — led with unprecedented rainfall, read more

Talk Nation Radio: Stephen Roblin on What Moves People Against War

Stephen Roblin is a scholar of U.S. public opinion towards U.S. war and conflict. He is committed to using his research to support activists, NGOs and policymakers working to mitigate and prevent the human costs of war. His research examines the effect of civilian harm by the U.S. military and anti-war messaging on U.S. public opinion. He is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at Cornell University. Prior to attending Cornell, he earned his masters at the University of Maryland School read more

Confronting Censorship in Ireland

According to exit polls from late May, an impressive 82% of Irish voters say Ireland should remain a neutral country in all aspects. But Ireland is not remaining a neutral country in all aspects, and there’s no indication of whether Irish voters know that, or specifically what they think of the fact that the United States military, year after year, ships large numbers of troops and weapons (and occasionally presidents) through Shannon Airport on their way to endless disastrous wars.

When peace read more

Forget Russiagate, now it’s US-gate! US Election Meddling Extends to Britain

By Dave Lindorff

So now we have porcine Mike Pompeo, America’s current Secretary of State, on a visit to the UK, assuring a group of British Jewish leaders in a closed-door meeting that the US would work to prevent Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from becoming prime minister if his party were to win enough votes in the next national parliamentary election to get the opportunity to try and form a new British government.

In a recording leaked to the Washington read more

Anyone who’d rather not be shot should read this book

Thom Hartmann has long written and spoken on the topic of guns in the United States, along with many other topics. Of those topics he’s dealt with that I know anything about, I have not always agreed with him on every detail, but on most I’ve found him highly informative and persuasive. His new book, The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment, is possibly the best book I’ve ever seen on its topic, both to read, and to pass along to anyone in the United States, whatever read more

What is it about dandelions?: Americans’ Extinction Denial Syndrome

By Dave Lindorff

I was talking yesterday with a woman at HealthGuard, a water testing firm we’ve used in the past to test the water in our artesian well for contaminants. We hadn’t done it in five years because the last test showed it to be free of anything nasty, from coliform bacteria to pesticide traces and heavy metals — so pure in fact we could bottle it and sell it.

We decided to test the well again because although we live on 2.3 wooded acres and don’t use read more