President Trump has threatened to "obliterate" parts of Iran if "anything American" is attacked by the country. This, combined with "all options on the table" clearly suggests the use of nuclear weapons. In an article in today's American Conservative, former US Marine and nuclear weapons inspector Scott Ritter shows how last year's US Nuclear Posture Review outlines scenarios that make this nightmare a possibility. Watch today's Liberty Report... read on...
Government that actually serves the interests of the people who are governed has two essential characteristics: first, it must be transparent in terms of how it debates and develops policies and second, it has to be accountable when it fails in its mandate and ceases to be responsive to the needs of the electorate. Over the past twenty years one might reasonably argue that Washington has become less a “of the people, by the people and for the people” and increasingly a model of how special interests can use money to corrupt government.
The recent story about how serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein avoided any serious punishment by virtue of his wealth and his political connections, including to both ex-president Bill Clinton and to current chief executive Donald Trump, demonstrates how even the most despicable criminals can avoid being brought to justice.
This erosion of what one might describe as republican virtue has been exacerbated by a simultaneous weakening of the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights, which was intended to serve as a guarantee of individual liberties while also serving as a bulwark against government overreach. In recent cases in the United States, a young man had his admission to Harvard revoked over comments posted online when he was fifteen that were considered racist, while a young woman was stripped of a beauty contest title because she refused to don a hijab at a college event and then wrote online about her experience. In both cases, freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment was ruled to be inadmissible by the relevant authorities. read on...
At his wrap-up press conference in May, Robert Mueller sternly underscored what he called "the central allegation" of the two-year Russia probe. Namely, that the Russian government engaged in, "multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election, and that allegation deserves the attention of every American." read on...
Enough already. Enough with the distractions. Enough with the partisan jousting. Enough with the sniping and name-calling and mud-slinging that do nothing to make this country safer or freer or more just. We have let the government’s evil-doing, its abuses, power grabs, brutality, meanness, inhumanity, immorality, greed, corruption, debauchery and tyranny go on for too long. read on...
Today's appearance of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller before the House Judiciary Committee to discuss his report on Trump Campaign collusion with the Russian government may be a last ditch effort to make the election all about impeachment proceedings against the president. Will this strategy fall flat on its face? Is Mueller falling flat on his face? Russiagate? Watch today's Liberty Report... read on...
Recently released secret documents from Chinese company Huawei provide insights into how the US Empire rules the world. According to the Washington Post, the documents reveal that Huawei secretly helped North Korea “build and maintain the country’s commercial wireless network.”
What’s wrong with that? you ask.
It violates US sanctions against North Korea!
What do US sanctions have to do with commercial relations between a Chinese company and North Korea?
Well, as the ruler of the world — or, in common parlance, as the world’s sole remaining empire — the US Empire’s rules and regulations apply to everyone in the world. If anyone anywhere in the world is caught violating them, he will be summoned to the United States to face criminal and civil prosecution.
What about President Trump’s lovefest with North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-Un? read on...
The Ukraine, translated as “the borderlands,” lies between core Russia and the Europe's western states. It is a split country. Half the population speaks Russian as its first language. The industrialized center, east and south are culturally orthodox Russians. Some of its rural western parts were attached to the Ukraine only after World War II. They have historically a different culture. read on...
While Iran’s seizure of a British tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday was a clear response to the British capture of an Iranian tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4, both the UK and U.S. governments are insisting that Iran’s operation was illegal while the British acted legally.
The facts surrounding the British detention of the Iranian ship, however, suggest that, like the Iranian detention of the British ship, it was an illegal interference with freedom of navigation through an international strait. And even more importantly, evidence indicates that the British move was part of a bigger scheme coordinated by National Security Advisor John Bolton.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the Iran seizure of the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero “unacceptable” and insisted that it is “essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region.”
But the British denied Iran that same freedom of navigation through the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4. read on...
This year's Intelligence Authorization bill contains language drafted by the CIA itself designed to make it a criminal act to reveal the name of undercover agents whether stationed overseas or at home, whether working or retired. The measure is designed - in the CIA's own words - to prevent the kind of transparency that was provided by Wikileaks. It is a war on the free press! We have the details in today's Liberty Report... read on...
The latest neocon scheme is to push US allies to send warships to join a US-led mission to keep the Strait of Hormuz "free and clear" for shipping. In reality it is a trigger for war. Thus far the US has no takers for this clear escalation. Will Bolton's brigades begin peeling away EU hold-outs? The US is sending troops to Saudi Arabia and building up a massive airbase. Meanwhile, Iran claims to have broken up a CIA spy ring in country. War drums beating. Watch today's Liberty Report... read on...
