The US Congress yesterday revoked press credentials for the Russia-backed RT America television station, claiming RT's new "foreign agent" status disqualified it from conducting journalism on Capitol Hill. RPI Director Daniel McAdams appeared on RT's The Ed Shultz Show to criticize the move on the grounds that the US government should not attempt to prevent Americans from viewing whatever media they choose. The move is really an attempt by Washington's neoconservatives to prevent any criticism of US interventionist foreign policy, he told RT... read on...
Daniel McAdams, executive director at Ron Paul Institute, says that Haley is behaving more like a “bull in a china shop” than a diplomat.
RT:What do you make of Nikki Haley's remarks on North Korea, and how could it affect this standoff?
Daniel McAdams: As usual, Haley is not a diplomat, she is a bull in a china shop, so to speak. She is repeating all the neocon talking points at the UN. The idea of kicking North Korea out of the UN? The UN is a forum for diplomacy; it was designed to help avoid war. The idea of kicking them out of that forum just shows what her real agenda is. It is the same agenda that we heard from Lindsey Graham, as a matter of fact word for word: "if war happens, it’ll be North Korea’s fault." If war happens, it will be that the US has decided to attack North Korea. Frankly, I don’t think that is going to happen, but they are trying to ramp it up to the very closest point to war. That is the problem because it could lead to many mistakes. read on...
This week, Project Veritas posted two videos containing hidden camera footage of some Washington Post employees talking about the Post and its coverage of and editorializing on various matters. While Project Veritas presents the videos in packaging suggesting the videos are a great threat to the so-called American newspaper of record, the innocuous videos seem better suited to helping protect the Post from significant criticism.
Expectations are pumped up in the packaging of the two videos. The first video released is provocatively titled “BREAKING: Undercover Video Exposes Washington Post’s Hidden Agenda.” In his introduction to the second video, James O’Keefe of Project Veritas says that Project Veritas is an “existential threat” to the Post and “the entire media establishment.” read on...
The news about the wars the U.S. is waging all over the world is unreliable. The same statements of progress are repeated year after year. The official numbers, be they of civilian casualties or deployed troops, are mere lies. Every news presentation should be engraved with a warning: "Assertions and numbers are not what they appear." Consider, for example, the various "turned corner" statements officials have made about Afghanistan. read on...
If you heard mention of people being shackled on the deck of a ship out in the ocean for weeks or months exposed to the elements and with only a bucket for a bathroom, you might assume the full story is about the cruel actions of pirates or slave traders from centuries past. However, as reporter Seth Freed Wessler recounts, the United States Coast Guard routinely subjects individuals alleged to be involved in the transport of cocaine between South America and Central America to such conditions. read on...
A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues is out. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud. read on...
The US has overtly lied about troop levels in Syria consistently throughout their deployment. Less than a month ago, Gen. James Jarrard told reporters the US had about 4,000 troops in the country, though the Pentagon at the time claimed he was wrong and the real number was only 503. read on...
Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. That quote is worth bearing in mind when assessing the chances of the latest United Nations peace plan for Libya.
Every autumn, along with the falling leaves, comes a new UN plan for ending Libya’s civil war, now into its fourth year.
Like the plans before it, the current version of the United Nations Support Mission for Libya has superficial attractions.
It proposes a new slimmed-down version of the government the UN itself installed in Tripoli two years ago, cutting the number of its presidency from nine members to three, one chosen from each of the country’s three regions. read on...
The momentum is behind marijuana legalization in America, with majority public support countrywide, legalization approved in eight states and Washington, DC, and legalization expected soon in more jurisdictions via both ballot measures and legislature votes. Backing this momentum is people’s recognition that the sky has not fallen either where legalization has been implemented or in the many additional places where state and local governments have adopted lesser measures of medical marijuana legalization and marijuana decriminalization.
State and local governments opting out of aspects of the war on marijuana also can have an influence beyond the borders of the United States, as exemplified Wednesday in comments by Conservative Party Parliament Member Crispin Blunt in the British House of Commons.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, where Prime Minister Theresa May is subjected to questions from Parliament members, Blunt offered a critique of the war on drugs, referencing the legalization of marijuana in parts of America in support. Blunt said he wished to draw May’s attention to the fact that “global policy” in regard to drug prohibition “is beginning to change” and asked May if, “in the face of the evidential failure of the policy since the 1961 UN [Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs],” May would “look at the evidence that is going to emerge from the United States and Canada on the legalization and regulation of cannabis markets there as well as decriminalization in Portugal and elsewhere.”
May, who is a member of the same political party as Blunt, indicated she has no interest in budging from her prohibition support. “I take a different view,” concluded May in her response to Blunt, “I think that it’s right that we continue to fight the war against drugs.” read on...
Charlie Rose’s presence on national broadcast television has been suspended and may be over. On Monday, CBS News, where Rose has been a cohost of CBS This Morning and has been a correspondent at 60 Minutes, announced it has suspended its relationship with Rose because of allegations that Rose sexually harassed employees and potential employees of Charlie Rose, Inc., which produces the Charlie Rose interview show that Rose hosts. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has suspended its taping and airing of the Charlie Rose show, and PBS has suspended its distribution of the show. read on...
