Seeking consistent standards for using lethal drones, the Obama administration is drafting a manual to govern when such attacks can be unleashed. But the secret guidelines carry other risks, including the acceptance of assassination as a routine part of U.S. foreign policy,…
Tag: Barack Obama
New Hope for a Second Term
President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address surprised some pundits with his strong messages on climate change, immigration reform, gun safety and other social issues. But whether real action follows will depend on a shift in public consciousness, says Robert F. Dodge.
The Troubling Message of Inaugurals
Pundits talk about presidential Inaugurals as celebrations of democracy, but the pomp and circumstance attended by Marine guards and punctuated by cannon fire carry an implicit message of intimidation that is closer to monarchy than a people’s government, writes Joe…
The Right’s Dangerously Bad History
Exclusive: Reacting to President Obama’s modest executive orders on gun safety and his proposed legislation to Congress, the Right is engaging in hysterical rhetoric about “tyranny” and riling up angry whites to arm themselves. But key Republicans can’t even get their historical…
The Iraq War ‘Surge’ Myth Returns
Exclusive: To win Senate approval as Defense Secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel likely will be forced to bow before Official Washington’s cherished myth of the Iraq War’s “successful surge.” To tell the more nuanced truth would open Hagel to another…
America’s War for Reality
Exclusive: The United States has been on a three-decade binge of unreality, imbibing delusions that began with Ronald Reagan and have continued through the Tea Party. The challenge now is for rational Americans to show they have the toughness and tenacity to…
The Armed Right’s Violent Rhetoric
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…
America’s Bloody Price for Power
Exclusive: “The Untold History of the United States” shakes up the traditional recounting of the last century, forcing Americans to rethink key assumptions, but director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick have not written a people’s history, says Jim DiEugenio…
Reasons for Optimism
From Journalist Robert Parry: The year 2013 could be a turning point in American history. And with your help Consortiumnews.com can continue its work toward getting the nation on the right path. We can keep on challenging the false narratives that the Right…
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,…