Exclusive: The documentary, “Citizen Koch,” was deemed unfit for PBS as the network sidles up to David Koch’s wealth, but the film’s weakness actually is that it doesn’t focus enough on how the Koch brothers have corrupted the U.S. political process,…
Category: Constitution
A Monte Python Circus of Money
The City of London is the UK’s Wall Street, not only in the sense that both are financial centers but they also serve as an intersection for money and politics, especially with the Conservative Party putting access to prominent politicians…
The U.S. Persecution of Sami Al-Arian
The neocon exploitation of the 9/11 attacks led to the disastrous Iraq War but also unleashed anti-Muslim bigotry within the American political/media system and even within the U.S. courts, as the ugly persecution of Sami Al-Arian reveals, reports Lawrence Davidson.
Escalating Domestic Warfare
Between the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, the United States has witnessed a transformation of its law enforcement, from lightly armed neighborhood policemen to militarized units deploying weapons of warfare, including armored personnel carriers, as Brian J.…
Thomas Jefferson: America’s Founding Sociopath
Special Report: For many Americans, Thomas Jefferson is the beloved author of the Declaration of Independence so they broach no criticism of him. But the real Jefferson may have been America’s founding sociopath, a man of racist self-interest and endless hypocrisies, writes…
The Restoration of Plundered Rights
There is cognitive dissonance in the way Americans view their Declaration of Independence of 1776, with pride over its assertion of fundamental human rights but in denial about the hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson and other Founders who owned and abused their…
Does Cell-Phone Case Imperil NSA Spying?
Though the Republican-controlled U.S. Supreme Court often splits 5-4 on partisan and ideological issues, a consensus is emerging against the government’s electronic intrusion on personal privacy, which could portend trouble for NSA spying, says Marjorie Cohn.
A Half-Century Battle for Voting Rights
A half century ago, in summer 1964, brave Americans challenged the entrenched racism of white-ruled Mississippi and overcame bars against black voting. Now, those gains are under attack from right-wing efforts to restrict voting and reverse the legacy of Freedom Summer, writes Brian…
Treating Snowden as a ‘Personality’
The mainstream U.S. media prefers personalities over substance, so it was perhaps not a surprise that its focus at the first anniversary of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks was on his alleged peculiarities, not the frightening prospect of a Big Brother state,…
Learning No Lessons About War
Americans like to think of themselves as a peace-loving people but their record has been one of war-making with the pace of interventions picking up in recent decades as the U.S. military and intelligence services are dispatched around the world, notes…