Even before Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling became known for his racism, he was recognized as one of basketball’s most inept executives with his team rarely making the playoffs. Now, with him banished from the NBA, Bob Katz wonders…
Consortiumnews Needs You!
From Editor Robert Parry: Whenever Official Washington and the mainstream media charge off into another misguided foreign adventure, Consortiumnews.com is there to ask the tough questions and dig out the key facts. And we do it in real time, not months…
Who’s the Propagandist: US or RT?
Exclusive: After Secretary of State Kerry lashed out at Russia’s RT network over its reporting on Ukraine, a senior aide assembled a list of particulars, which have backfired by showing how weak Kerry’s case is and how hypocritical Kerry’s State Department…
Egypt’s Spectacle of Repression
Egypt’s U.S.-backed coup regime has veered further toward political repression of the democratically elected Morsi government, including mass death sentences for its followers. The spectacle has spurred some U.S. opposition to continued military aid, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar notes.
Behind Oklahoma’s Ghoulish Execution
Oklahoma’s Gov. Fallin, who pushed for Tuesday’s execution of Clayton Lockett, is promising an “independent” review of the ghoulish process that left him writhing in pain as panicked officials pulled the shades on witnesses and later said he died of a heart…
Kerry’s Propaganda War on Russia’s RT
Exclusive: Secretary of State Kerry, who has bumbled through a string of propaganda fiascos on Ukraine, decries Russia’s RT network as a “propaganda bullhorn” that Americans should ignore — just trust what the U.S. government tells you, an idea that ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern rejects.
FCC’s Threat to Net Neutrality
President Obama has been a vocal defender of “net neutrality,” but a recent leaked report suggests that Obama’s FCC chairman is planning to divide the Internet into one with faster and slower speeds, as Free Press’ Craig Aaron told Dennis…
Finding a Way to Execute
From the Archive: After getting a judge’s stay reversed, Oklahoma officials pressed ahead with Clayton Lockett’s lethal injection, only to have the botched execution leave him writhing in pain before finally dying of an apparent heart attack. In March, Richard L. Fricker…
The Fat Cats of Fast-Food
Pay inequity has worsened across the U.S. economy, but perhaps nowhere more than in the fast-food industry where CEOs and other top executives fatten their compensation as their fast-food workers subsist on taxpayer-provided food stamps, as Michael Winship explains.
Kerry Grovels over Israeli ‘Apartheid’
Exclusive: Secretary of State Kerry gets to say whatever half-truth or fiction comes into his head about Syria, Russia or other “designated villains,” but when he cites the inconvenient truth of Israeli “apartheid,” he must scramble as fast as he can…
Killing the Putin-Obama ‘Trust’
Exclusive: Last year, Russian President Putin and U.S. President Obama became a geopolitical odd couple as they worked to cool off hotspots such as Syria and Iran. But U.S. hawks succeeded in killing that collaboration via the crisis in Ukraine,…
Hearing US ‘Allies’ Whine
Official Washington is abuzz with punditry about President Obama showing weakness around the world, with the old-reliable antidote being more Pentagon spending and more foreign military adventures. But this “debate” misses how real U.S. interests are served, writes ex-CIA analyst…
How Mandela and S. Africa Were Freed
History often recounts events through the tales of “great men,” but that is rarely the complete story. South Africa’s overturning of white supremacy is a case in point, not just the personal triumph of Nelson Mandela but the victory of a…
Obama Urged to Show Restraint on Ukraine
Across Official Washington and the mainstream U.S. media, there is a rush to restart the Cold War with all its black-and-white propaganda, ignoring Russia’s understandable concerns and portraying the “U.S. side” as always right. But some U.S. intelligence veterans urge a more adult…
Why Neocons Seek to Destabilize Russia
Exclusive: Any propaganda war starts by planting stories that your target is getting rich, whether he is or isn’t, the latest move in demonizing Vladimir Putin. But the larger question is what might happen if the neocons succeed in destabilizing nuclear-armed Russia,…
Tolerating Israel’s Land Grabs
Secretary of State John Kerry’s Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have reached their predictable collapse, but the U.S. news media still shies away from blaming Israeli intransigence and expansionism nor advocating stern action against the land grabs, as Lawrence Davidson explains.
Marshall Islands v. Nuclear States
Even as the U.S. government threatens to attack Iran if it moves toward building one nuclear bomb, U.S. leaders and those of other nuclear states — have ignored their treaty obligation to work toward nuclear disarmament, a point made in…
Pope Francis Signals Eased Moral Strictures
For decades, the Catholic Church has alienated many followers with its rigid stance on sexual behavior and marriage. But there are indications that Pope Francis is seeking a less judgmental approach toward these issues, as moral theologian Daniel C. Maguire…
Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
John Kerry’s Sad Circle to Deceit
Exclusive: Secretary of State John Kerry is framing the Ukraine narrative to make the U.S. side despite neo-Nazis overthrowing an elected president the good guys and Russians the bad guys. But Kerry’s strident propaganda is a sad ending to a career…
The Iron Law of Oligarchy Returns
America likes to think of itself as a land of the Great Middle Class with a government “of, by and for the people.” But that reality has changed drastically over the past several decades, as money and power have created a…