Insouciance Rules The West
by Paul Craig Roberts (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan)
Posted August 22, 2015

Europe is being overrun by refugees from Washington’s, and Israel’s, hegemonic policies in the Middle East and North Africa that are resulting in the slaughter of massive numbers of civilians. The inflows are so heavy that European governments are squabbling among themselves about who is to take the refugees. Hungary is considering constructing a fence, like the US and Israel, to keep out the undesirables. Everywhere in the Western media there are reports deploring the influx of migrants; yet nowhere is there any reference to the cause of the problem.

The European governments and their insouciant populations are themselves responsible for their immigrant problems. For 14 years Europe has supported Washington’s aggressive militarism that has murdered and dislocated millions of peoples who never lifted a finger against Washington. The destruction of entire countries such as Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, and now Syria and Yemen, and the continuing US slaughter of Pakistani civilians with the full complicity of the corrupt and traitorous Pakistani government, produced a refugee problem that the moronic Europeans brought upon themselves. More…

Subverting Illusions: Julian Assange and the Value of WikiLeaks
by Norman Soloman
Posted August 20, 2015

The Obama administration wants Assange in a U.S. prison, so that the only mouse he might ever see would be scurrying across the floor of a solitary-confinement cell. Above and beyond Assange’s personal freedom, what’s at stake includes the impunity of the United States and its allies to relegate transparency to a mythical concept, with democracy more rhetoric than reality. From the Vietnam War era to today — from aerial bombing and torture to ecological disasters and financial scams moving billions of dollars into private pockets — the high-up secrecy hiding key realities from the public has done vast damage. No wonder economic and political elites despise WikiLeaks for its disclosures.

During the last five years, since the release of the infamous “Collateral Murder” video, the world has changed in major ways for democratic possibilities, with WikiLeaks as a catalyst. It’s sadly appropriate that Assange is so deplored and reviled by so many in the upper reaches of governments, huge corporations and mass media. For such powerful entities, truly informative leaks to the public are plagues that should be eradicated as much as possible. More…

Wall Street Front Group Pleads for Government Help in New York Times OpEd
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Posted July 9, 2015

After the U.S. government pumped the secret, astronomical sum of more than $13 trillion into Wall Street during the years surrounding the 2008 financial crisis to bail it out of its own greedy and reckless gambles, Wall Street is shamelessly asking for more government handouts in the opinion pages of the New York Times. The woman pitching this pathetic poppycock, Kathryn S. Wylde, was actually on the Board of Directors at the New York Fed during the crisis – the very institution that sluiced the secret $13 trillion into Wall Street’s coffers.

If you live outside of New York City, you’ve never heard of the Partnership for New York City. Even if you live inside New York City, unless you’re part of the black tie cocktail circuit, you’ve still never heard of the group. So when the New York Times gave a chunk of its opinion pages on Monday to Wylde as President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City to plead for government help for Wall Street, it really needed to do the ethical thing and fess up that this is a brazen front group for the financial services industry. More…

Major Monsanto Lawsuit Completely Blacked out by Media
By Christina Sarich
Posted May 27, 2015

Efforts to publicize a class action lawsuit against Monsanto for false advertising it’s best-selling herbicide Roundup filed in Los Angeles County Court on April 20, 2015 have been rejected by almost every mainstream media outlet.

It’s no different than Fox, NBC, CNN, or ABC refusing to cover the DARK ACT which would give Monsanto legal immunity and disallow states to demand GMO labeling.

You would think that coverage of something the whole world wants to see – the first step toward the successful downfall of Monsanto –would be a hot news item; a newsworthy tidbit that every paper, radio station, and blog would want to spread across their pages with double bold headlines. But wait. . . just six corporations own ALL of the media in America, so there isn’t much luck there. More…

What Are the Biggest Lies and Delusions That Keep People Voting Against Their Own Best Interests?
By Rob Kall
Posted May 15, 2015

This world is being handed over to a few hundred billionaires and transnational predatory corporations gorging themselves in an economic bloodfeast that leaves hundreds of millions, no billions dead or damaged. Yet many of those people– people who go bankrupt because of health care expenses, people who will live their lives burdened by student debt, who face no realistic hopes for a decent job, whose children face even bleaker futures, who are living shallow, meaningless lives focused on consumption of crass, worthless things with brand names, who are eating foods that are beyond unhealthy, to the extent that they reduce lifespan, increase risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and inability to resist infections– continue to vote for corporatist politicians in both major parties in the US, or abroad who vote against their best interests. The question is “why?”

I believe it’s because people are living in a story narrative that has them convinced that it’s the best thing for them and their families. So my question is, “What are the lies, the deceptions and illusions that keep these billions of people complacent, accepting this unjust situation, even supporting and advocating for it.” More…

Inside the Major Political Fight for Broadband Internet That’s Brewing Across America
By David Morris
Posted March 10, 2015

On February 28th the Federal Communications Commission issued two decisions.  One concerned net neutrality, the other municipal broadband.  The first garnered by far the most attention, as it should.  Net neutrality affects everyone and establishes a fundamental new principle for Internet access.

But as another presidential campaign looms the FCC decision on municipally owned broadband may offer more fertile ground for a vigorous political debate on the role of government and the scale of governance.

The decision arose from a petition to the FCC by Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson, North Carolina asking it to overturn state laws that prevent them from extending their highly successful publicly owned networks to surrounding communities eager to connect. The FCC’s decision affects just those two states’ laws but will undoubtedly become a precedent to evaluate most of the other 17 states’ restrictions on municipal broadband.  More…

How to break the corporate media blockade
By Rick Staggenborg, MD
Posted February 27, 2015

Comprehending how we are being lied into supporting chaotic global violence requires understanding how certain powerful interests control information. Few people realize that one of the CIA’s duties is influencing media for propaganda purposes. Various sources have documented a network of media corporations that are CIA fronts, both in the US and overseas. A prominent German media figure admitted to being a CIA employee for years, stating that this was common practice in both Europe and the US.

We now know that claims of WMDs in Iraq were false, as were similar claims in Syria. Seymour Hersh, who uncovered much of the hidden truth of the Vietnam War, revealed the lies about Syrian chemical weapons. Robert Parry, who gave us the facts about Iran-Contra, is now trying to wake up up to the fact that the US is supporting a fascist government in Ukraine. It is not a coincidence that both are no longer New York Times reporters. The Times has set the standard for a media that parrots government lies without question. More…

Truth? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Truth
by Paul Craig Roberts (Asst. Sec.of the US Treasury in the Reagan Administration)
Posted February 11, 2015

Consider the “war on terror.” According to a Nobel economist and a Harvard University budget expert, Washington’s 14 years of war on terror has cost Americans a minimum of $6 trillion. That’s 6,000 billion dollars. This sum, together with the current PayRoll tax revenues is enough to keep Social Security and Medicare in the black for years to come. Without the vast sum wasted on the war on terror, Republicans would not have an excuse to be trying to cut Social Security and Medicare for budget reasons and to privatize the old age pensions and health care of people, thus turning Medicare and Social Security pensions into fee income for Wall Street.

Combating terrorism is the excuse for squandering a minimum of $6,000 billion dollars. What were the terrorist events that serve as a basis for this expenditure? More…

Franc-ly Speaking: What If It Were All A Set Up?
by Mark St. Cyr
Posted January 19, 2015

Back in early 2011 then head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) suddenly was charged with rape, sexual abuse, and unlawful imprisonment. DSK at the time was considered the rising star in the world of European monetary policy and politics. So much so that he was also considered a credible challenge to Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency. In a blink of an eye all that was wiped from the ledgers. And none seemed more surprised than DSK himself. In retrospect – all with good reason.

With little fanfare (for it doesn’t make as delectable a story for the main stream media as the original accusation) DSK was cleared. The case against him? Dropped. His name, career, political aspirations? Gone. As we now know he was replaced with a far more “banker” friendly head Christine Lagarde. Conspiracy? Who knows. However let me put two illustrations of statements for context. One is from 2010 when DSK was in a position of banking power when crisis and words from a “banker” meant far more than just words. More…