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...
The media frenzy over "Russiagate" seems to get progressively more stupid as desperation takes hold. To sustain the sense of frenzy -- which Russiagate cultists call "drip drip drip" -- they need new sensational bombshells every day. Except there aren't any. So the media makes them up.
Case-in-point this breathless piece from the Capitol Hill rag, The Hill, screeching paranoia over the fact that an advisor to candidate Trump's presidential campaign MET WITH AN ADVISOR TO NATO-ALLY HUNGARY'S PRIME MINISTER!!!! OMG!!! Drip Drip Drip!!! GET ME MUELLER, STAT!!! read on...
A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Saturday. 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...
Three members of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity’s Advisory Board are member of the United States Congress — Reps. John Duncan, Thomas Massie, and Walter Jones. It was a treat to see all three of them challenging the US government’s 16-year war in Afghanistan at a hearing earlier this month of the National Security Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. read on...
