Latest articles
Is the Constitution Becoming Optional?
Rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They’re privileges. That’s all we’ve ever had in this country is a ‘Bill of Temporary Privileges.’ And if you read the news, even badly, you know that the list gets shorter and shorter.
—George Carlin
Disguising its power grabs in the self-righteous fervor of national security, the Deep State has mastered the art of the bait-and-switch.
It works like this: first, the government foments fear about some crisis or threat to national security, then they capitalize on it by seizing greater power and using those powers against the American people.
We’ve seen this play …
Understanding the World’s Conflagrations: Syria
The melodramatic ending to 13 years of a horrific civil war in Syria had an additional drama. Muhammad al-Jawlani, who served five years in a U.S. prison in Iraq for terrorist activities, and was noted as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under U.S. Department of State Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, led the National Salvation Front that achieved the victory.
Muhammad al-Jawlani, as a reformed al-Nusra Front leader, may be an issue, but he is not the principal issue; his shadowy figure illuminates the principal issue — contradictions, dubious reports, manufactured facts, selective fancies, and fitting truths to agendas guide …
Some Clarity on Imperialism Today
Imperialism is not the creation of any one or of any group of states. It is the product of a particular stage of ripeness in the world development of capital, an innately international condition, an indivisible whole, that is recognizable only in all its relations, and from which no nation can hold aloof at will…
— Rosa Luxemburg, The Crisis of German Social Democracy (1916)
The arguments embroiling the left on the nature of imperialism, over whether Peoples’ China or Russia is capitalist or imperialist, whether the pink tide in Latin America is a socialist trend, whether the BRICS …
The Psywar Glossary
Excerpt from the book PsyWar: Enforcing the New World Order.
By means of ever more effective methods of mind manipulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms… elections, parliaments, supreme courts and all the rest… will remain.
The underlying substance will be a new kind of Totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly like they were in the good old days. Democracy & freedom will be the theme of every broadcast & editorial. Meanwhile, the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite will quietly run the show as they see …
It’s All Over Red, White and Blue!
Dylan’s song resonates well with this writer, causing me to come to tears. Why? Well, look around you citizens of this Amerikan empire. Like lab rats running nowhere inside a maze with no exit, working stiffs and the poor and indigent cannot find a way out of this mess. As Walt Kelly put it in his unique 20th century comic strip Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he be us.” Just as with Mr. Hitler and his brown and black shirted Nazis, it was the suckers… sorry, the voters, who gave them license to become despots. Of course, in …
Incomplete Coverage of an Ominous Syrian Situation
When Japan, already considered an enemy of the United States, sent its air force to U.S. territory and bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, the same date on the calendar that former opposition forces of the Iraq government entered Damascus, the U.S. government and media emphasized the more serious situation ─ the U.S. was at war with Japan. Press coverage and U.S. government response to the “fall” of the Assad government distracted from the serious situation ─ Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), successor to former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, which the U.S. labelled a terrorist organization and enemy of the United …
9 December in Anarchist History: The First Intifada
On this day in anarchist history, December 9th 1987, we remember the start of the 1st Palestinian Intifada, a years long decentralized uprising of Palestinians against Israeli colonial occupation.
Sparked by an incident at the Erez Crossing in Gaza where an Israeli military vehicle crashed into a line of Palestinian civilian vehicles, the 1st Intifada quickly spread throughout Gaza and to the West Bank.
For six years, Palestinians, rallied, rioted, withheld taxes and staged armed attacks. While leadership of the Intifada was largely based within Neighbourhood Councils, the corrupt PLO used it as a bargaining chip for peace talks with Israel. While …
With “Friends” Like this Peace Movement Doesn’t Need Enemies
Why did Steven Staples join Pierre Poilievre, Justin Trudeau and other genocide promoters in smearing an anti-NATO demonstration as “antisemitic”?
On Saturday the Council of Canadians Treasurer and board member sent his PeaceQuest list an error filled, anti-Palestinian, power-serving ‘questionnaire’. As Israel’s holocaust in Gaza enters its fourteenth month, Staples published “4 ways to ‘shake off’ antisemitism claims. Can the pro-Palestinian movement take advice from Taylor Swift?” At the top of his smear against those challenging Canada’s complicity in genocide Staples quotes anti-Palestinian bigot Jim Good. A few posts below the one quoted by Staples, Good wrote on Facebook: “…
Who Should Get a Presidential Pardon but Won’t!
President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, after having repeatedly promised that he would not. Biden justifies this act based upon his presumption (likely accurate) that Hunter’s denial of a plea deal was on account of political opposition from Trump Republicans. Nevertheless, Hunter’s consideration for a lenient plea deal was undoubtedly influenced by his status (white privileged son of a prominent politician), whereas such leniency would be far less likely to be considered for a poor racial minority person guilty of similar crimes likewise motivated by the stresses of drug addiction. Similar favoritism for family members manifested: with Bill …
World BEYOND War Reports to United Nations on Canadian Weapons Supplied to Israel
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories called for input for a report to the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council. World BEYOND War has just submitted a report called “Involvement of Canadian Weapons Manufacturers in Commission of International Crimes Connected to Israel’s Occupation, Apartheid, Siege, and Genocide in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The report notes that:
The export of weapons from Canada to Israel takes place via two primary pathways.The first pathway involves direct transfers to Israel. This requires export permits issued by Global Affairs Canada and overseen by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister …
Warring in Syria: New Phases, Old Lies
A new bloody phase has opened up in Syria, as if it was ever possible to contemplate another one in that tormented land. Silly terms such as “moderate” are being paired with “rebels”, a coupling that can also draw scorn.
What counts as news reporting on the subject in the Western press stable adopts a threadbare approach. We read or hear almost nothing about the dominant backers in this latest round of bloodletting. “With little warning last Wednesday, a coalition of Syrian rebels launched a rapid assault that soon seized Aleppo as well as towns in the nearby Idlib and Hama …
U.S. Imperialism and Ukraine
In mid-November, the Biden administration (given his diminished mental capacity, whoever is now in charge) authorized the Kyiv regime to launch Lockheed Martin produced Army Tactical Missile Systems or ATACMS to hit targets 190 miles inside Russia. In response, an ICBM was fired in wartime for the first time when the Oreshnik (“Hazelnut Tree), an intermdiate range, nuclear capable missile, took only 5 minutes to hit Dinipro, Ukraine. The Kremlin gave Washington a 30 minute warning before the launch. Putin called the U.S./NATO bluff and he promised that future retaliation could target “decision making centers” in Kyiv.
This new Russian weapon …
Racism and Palestine
Racism is at the core of Western societies complicity in Israeli’s genocide against the Arab Palestinians. That is self-evident. The United States and Britain are more than accomplices; they are co-belligerents. The behavior of all has been constant over 14 months of graphic depiction day-by-day of atrocities of the most heinous kinds.
Racism, though, is a multifaceted phenomenon. It encompasses a wide range of attitudes and actions. They should be parsed as a precondition for analyzing which have been operative in this case, how they shaped policies and interventions, how reconciled with the values of liberal democracies, and how sustained in …
The Morality Paradox
High Agency Versus Goal Oriented Behaviors
Sometimes, someone will ask me how Jill and I accomplish everything that we do. That is, travel about a third of each month, broadcast on TV and podcasts, write this substack, write books, write articles for other journals, garden, take care of our 20 horses, birds, dogs, and the farm, maintain a certain level of fitness, all the while taking care of our bodies and eating right. It is a lot, and we aren’t perfect. Things often fall through the cracks, emails get missed, and the Friday after Thanksgiving …
American Voters: Ignorant, Insouciant, or Both?
In the US presidential election on 5 November 2024, American voters provided people in the United States and elsewhere a stupendous gift: the ouster of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration. Simultaneously, the voters bequeathed fellow Americans and people of the world the nightmare of four more years of Donald Trump.
Prior to the election, I asked whether Americans would vote for genocide? Clearly, if a voter was paying attention, which is, arguably, a sine qua non for a person about to responsibly cast a vote, then a voter would have been aware that a genocide was (and …
Trump Heads for War Against Some Nations, Alienation Against Others
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump is heading America towards very hot wars against China, Russia, and Iran, and for rather cold wars against Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The difference from Biden-Harris is unclear with regard to the hot wars — Trump has picked a team who overall are as neoconservative as the existing team — but is clearly turning America’s colonies and former colonies (the group that collectively together is commonly refered to as ‘allies’) hostile, because of Trump’s demands regarding tariffs and regarding immigration.
For example, on November 28, CNN headlined “Mexico’s president denies Trump’s claim …
Why Establishment Democrats Keep Getting Tulsi Gabbard Wrong
One of the most-used libelous labels of establishment Democrats is “Russian asset”, a term used to disparage those on the right and on the left opposed to continuing U.S. support for the war in Ukraine. Like many liberal conspiracy theories, such as the now-debunked Russiagate theory, which posited that Russia successfully interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump win, the “Russian asset” trope was, unsurprisingly, the brainchild of one Hillary Clinton. First used to attack Jill Stein following her 2016 campaign for President on the Green Party ticket, Clinton reused the same tired …
Ungrateful Lying Upstarts
The Western Denial of the Eastern Origins of their Civilization
Orientation
Situating my article
Often the rise of China and the Middle East appears to many Westerners as something recent, maybe 30 years old. Before that? Is Western dominance beginning with the Greeks and Romans – right? Wrong, not even close! The rise of the East and the South has roughly a 1,300 year history of dominance from 500 CE to 1800 CE. What is happening in the East today is no “Eurasian Miracle”. With the wind of 1,300 years at its back, it is returning to its long historical prominence …
Gallic Stubbornness: France, Netanyahu and the ICC Arrest Warrants
The comity of nations, at least when it comes to international humanitarian law, took a rather curious turn with the announcement by France that it would regard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity as unimpeachable even before an arrest warrant approved by the International Criminal Court. This view was expressed despite France claiming to be a strong proponent of the ICC and international law.
On November 27, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had mooted the point on Franceinfo radio that France, while being “very committed to international justice and will apply international law based on its obligations to cooperate with …
Canadian Police Treating Nazi Monument as War Memorial – Media
A journalist is facing prison time for allegedly defacing a statue to Ukrainian Nazi collaborators at a cemetery in Alberta
View of the Ukrainian memorial to Nazi military unit, the 1st Galician Division, at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. © Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Police and prosecutors in the Canadian province of Alberta have classed a monument to Ukrainian veterans who fought for Nazi Germany as a protected “war memorial,” for the purpose of charging a journalist who allegedly defaced it, according to news website The Maple.
The Canadian government has previously been accused by Russia of protecting Nazi …
Cavity and Periodontal Disease Prevention
Fluoride, Carbs, and Vitamin D. Emerging data, shifting paradigms
Our teeth are our only permanent body part, so it makes sense that they must be cared for if you are going to live a long, healthy life. Unlike the rest of our body, once formed, they are not continually rebuilt through routine metabolism. Teeth are, under healthy conditions, essentially indestructible, as demonstrated by fossil records and forensic medicine. Yet, as we go about our daily lives, microorganisms constantly assault our teeth. This battle results in dental infections, a universal affliction of humankind — the discomfort caused by these …
Emergency Summit re Antarctic Meltdown
“Runaway ice loss causing rapid and catastrophic sea level rise is possible within our lifetimes.” (Source: “Our Science, Your Future: Next Generation of Antarctic Scientists Call for Collaborative Action,” Australian Antarctic Research Conference, November 22, 2024)
Hundreds of scientists gathered in Australia for an “emergency summit” within the auspices of the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference d/d November 2024. This gathering of 450 mostly “early-career” polar scientists flexed scientific muscles to alert the world to the what’s happening to our planet, taking off the gloves and coming out swinging. They claim we’re got a bigger problem than generally realized: “Efforts …
FIFA is Whitewashing and Sportswashing Israeli Genocide and Sporticide
Israel ‘Defense’ Forces, with unconditional support of the United States, have been waging a genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023, resulting in an unparalleled humanitarian catastrophe. They dropped over 85,000 tons of bombs, exceeding the amount of explosives used in World War II.
More than 44,000 Palestinian have been killed, including over 16,000 children, 190 journalists, 1,000 health workers, 230 United Nations staff members and many others. Over 104,000 are wounded – most of them children and women – while at least 11,000 are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes.
As part of its genocide, Israel is also committing sporticide, killing …
Attention Internet Addicts
How does technology betray humans?
The Public Life of Noam Chomsky
Shame Was The Spur
A man of stupendous brilliance.”
— Norman Finkelstein
“A gargantuan influence.”
— Chris Hedges
“ … brilliant … unswerving … relentless … heroic.”
— Arundhati Roy
“Preposterously thorough.”
— Edward Said
“[A] fierce talent.”
— Eduardo Galeano
“An intellectual cannon.”
— Israel Shamir
“A lighthouse over a sea of hogwash.”
— Kathleen Cleaver
He had a disarming frankness, a toothy grin, a dazzling mind that never rested.
He always felt completely out of tune with the world. At ten, he published his first article (in the school paper) – a lament on the fall of Barcelona to Franco. At thirteen, he was haunting anarchist bookstores in …
Ironic Dependency: Russian Uranium and the US Energy Market
Be careful who you condemn and ostracise. They just might be supplying you with a special need. While the United States security establishment deems Russia the devil incarnate helped along by aspiring, mischief-making China, that devil continues supplying the US energy market with enriched uranium.
This dependency has irked the self-sufficiency patriots in Washington, especially those keen to break Russia’s firm hold in this field. That, more than any bleeding-heart sentimentality for Ukrainian suffering at the hands of the Russian Army, has taken precedence. For that reason, US lawmakers sought a ban on Russian uranium that would come into effect by …
Living in a Free World
Darpa creates LifeLog turns into Facebook
“Voyeurism, Celebrity and Surveillance: A Straight Line”
The Pentagon wants to gather every conceivable bit of information about a person’s life, index it, and make it searchable.
“Big Brother: DARPA’s Control Freak Technology”
Media Finally Reports that Many Canadians Oppose NATO
A large raucous protest put criticism of Canada’s most damaging international accord back on the public radar.
In response to the opening of North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 70th anniversary Parliamentary Assembly in Montreal 1,500 protested Friday to “Block NATO”. The main banner at the front of the night march stated: “Block NATO: Reject Militarism, Imperialism & Colonialism”. For weeks my neighbourhood was plastered with posters saying “Bloquons L’OTAN”. The Convergence des Luttes anti-capitaliste (CLAC) also produced a sticker with that message and a 16-page anti-NATO paper.
The image at the centre of their …