As America prepares for the Second Inaugural of its first African-American president and as demands grow for some commonsense gun control after a horrific school massacre the Right is arming itself amid hysterical rhetoric about the need to “shoot tyrants,” ex-CIA…
Category: Politics
Slanting the Case on Iran’s Nukes
From the Archive: The New York Times reports UN nuclear monitoring chief Yukiya Amano is dampening hopes for new nuclear talks with Iran by demanding access to its Parchin military base. But the press still ignores evidence Amano is no honest broker,…
‘Fixing the Debt’ on Average Folks
Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein and other tycoons behind “Fix the Debt” want average folks to expect less from Social Security and other safety-net programs but are doing all they can to protect their special interest tax breaks and dodge the slightly higher tax rates…
America’s Bloody Price for Power
Waking Up to Iran’s Real History
Americans have a deeply distorted understanding of Iran and what has driven that country’s political change over the past six decades. This false history has become the backdrop for a possible new war, as David Swanson notes in reviewing a…
Anti-Hagel Bullies Meet Resistance
Washington’s neocons came out with all their rhetorical guns blazing against Chuck Hagel as a prospective Defense Secretary, with Elliott Abrams even smearing the Nebraska Republican as “an anti-Semite.” But the old bullying for once has met some principled resistance,…
The Grilling that Brennan Deserves
Exclusive: When President Obama’s national security nominees reach the Senate, the toughest challenge is expected against Chuck Hagel for Defense, but CIA Director-designee John Brennan has more to explain about his work over the past decade on the terror war’s “dark…
Keystone Pipeline’s March to the Sea
Progress continues on the Keystone XL pipeline as it overcomes creative protests and legal challenges in East Texas. But opposition also is building with big-name environmentalists, like Robert Redford, urging the Obama administration to stand up against global warming, reports…
Where Rachel Maddow Dares Not Tread
From the Archive: On domestic politics, MSNBC has provided some balance to the hard-right bent of Fox News, but the liberal-oriented network won’t diverge much from Washington’s hawkish foreign policy orthodoxy, especially on the Middle East, a reality that Marquette professor…
The Moral Challenge of ‘Kill Lists’
From the Archive: In naming counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be the new CIA director, President Obama praised Brennan’s work ethic, but there are other more pressing ethical issues tied to this promotion, like the morality of “kill lists” that Brennan maintained, as ex-CIA analyst…