US jingoism promotes mindless support for war with Iran:

It’s Our Own Leader, Donald Trump, Who Is ‘Blood-Thirsty’ and ‘Blood-Soaked’

  This is not an article intended to praise Qassem Suleimani, the Commander of Iran’s military who was whacked by President Trump with several Hellfire Missiles fired from a US drone at his vehicle outside the Baghdad Airport. What I do decry, however, is the almost universal characterization of Suleimani as “the baddest of the …

Opening Pandora’s Box in Iraq:

Trump Hit on Iranian Commander Puts a Target on His Own and Top US Generals’ Backs

  As far back as at least the American Revolution, there was an unwritten rule among combatants that you don’t kill the commander in the field of battle. That’s why generals could be seen directing their troops while sitting astride a horse behind the front lines —easy targets for anyone equipped with a rifled barrel …

No ‘Happy New Year’ wish this time:

Hard Times are Coming in 2020 and in the Decade Ahead

  Gentle reader, I am afraid cannot bring myself to offer you the expected “Happy New Year” greeting at the start of this decade. The traditional phrase for today sticks in my craw. It just seems too ridiculous and inappropriate to our reality to be uttered with any sincerity. 2020 and the decade that it …

Blinded by impeachment mania in Washington and the nation's newsrooms:

Giuliani’s a Slimeball but Bribing Maduro to Quit Office was Less Evil than Bolton’s Efforts to Spark a Coup or Civil War

  The latest Trump administration news is a Washington Post article reporting that Trump’s “personal lawyer” Rudy Giuliani, was working a private “back channel” negotiation this past year with embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a failed effort to persuade Maduro to quit his office and leave the country. The Post, and some of the …

American Oligarch:

Mike Bloomberg’s Campaign Staff Doesn’t Work Like Slaves, They ARE Slaves

  Michael Bloomberg, America’s 8th richest billionaire according to the latest annual survey by Forbes Magazine, owns one of this country’s biggest media empires, and is personally currently worth $56.1 billion. That makes him an oligarch, exactly like those oligarchs that the US media and US politicians love to accuse of polluting Russia’s political system. …

Bernie Sanders is the person you used to be but forgot about:

OK Boomers, Wake UP!

  I keep reading that polls show young people — the so-called Millennial Generation aged 23-38— are overwhelmingly backing Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination (along with even younger voters) while the so-called Baby Boom Generation of people now aged roughly 55 to 75 are going for Joe Biden, Mike …

Embedded journalists and news organizations that hire retired generals for commentary don't give the true picture

‘Afghan Papers’ Wouldn’t Be Needed If We Had a Real Independent Newsmedia

    In 1966, during the early years of the America’s war against Vietnam, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law a Freedom of Information Act.  The FOIA wasn’t all that great at the time, though. Indeed, it took the courageous act of two men, Daniel Ellsberg and his co-conspirator, Anthony Russo, to to …

Presidential high crimes and misdemeanors, unchallenged, become the new reality going forward

Conviction and Removal Aren’t the Issue; It’s Impeachment of Trump that is Essential

A lot of pundit verbiage and Democratic Party internal debate as well is being wasted on the question of whether Trump could be convicted successfully in a Senate currently run by a lickspittle Republican majority afr0aid of their shadows and devoid of any concern for the fate of Constitutional government. Let’s accept that the 20-plus …

Billionaire entitlement run amok:

Bloomberg for President? God No!

Michael Bloomberg, according to Forbes Magazine the 9th richest man in the world with a net worth this year of $54.7 billion, isn’t just the real billionaire candidate for President in 2020 (Donald Trump’s net worth is almost certainly not counted in the billions, and could be negative for all we know, since he won’t …

Where was the Senate during the Standing Rock resistance in 2016?

Sanctimonious US Senators Condemn Hong Kong Police Ignoring Far More Brutal US Cops

The Senate, by a voice vote with no opposition yesterday passed a bill condemning the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong police for their brutal treatment of students in the supposedly autonomous Chinese city protesting threats to Hong Kong’s freedoms and it’s promise from China of self rule until 2047. The bill, if signed into …