Ben Norton: Debt ceiling hypocrisy: U.S. boosts military budget while restricting food stamps for poor
The Debt ceiling bill reflects the bipartisan consensus in Washington: cut social spending to further enrich military contractors. -Stephen Semler
How Corporations Won the War on Terror, by William Hartung
"To put such a figure in perspective, the $75 billion in Pentagon contracts awarded to Lockheed Martin that year was significantly more than one and one-half times the entire 2020 budget for the State Department and the Agency for International Development, which together totaled $44 billion."
US reliance on defence contractors led to mission failures: Study, Costs of War
"The stunning Taliban victory last month in Afghanistan is drawing attention now to even graver consequences: the extent to which the US reliance on contractors may have heightened the difficulties of the Afghan security forces."
MLK, Qassem Soleimani and the folly of American exceptionalism, by Jack Nelson Pallmeyer
"MLK's push for nonviolence is something to which we all should aspire."
▶ The Jon Stewart Mysteries Presents: The Case of the Iranian Agent!
Former Vice President Dick Cheney makes an ironic assertion about the legacy and burden of President Obama's administration.
Karen J. Greenburg | Visiting the Torture Museum: Barbarism Then and Now
From the article: “Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.
John Pilger: Why the Rise of Fascism Is Again the Issue
From the article: Above all, they want Ukraine’s mighty neighbour, Russia. They want to Balkanise or dismember Russia and exploit the greatest source of natural gas on earth. As the Arctic ice melts, they want control of the Arctic Ocean and its energy riches, and Russia’s long Arctic land border. Their man in Moscow used to be Boris Yeltsin, a drunk, who handed his country’s economy to the West. His successor, Putin, has re-established Russia as a sovereign nation; that is his crime.
Kim Barker, ProPublica: Pro-Troop Charity Misleads Donors While Lining Political Consultants’ Pockets
Move America Forward has collected millions to send care packages to U.S. troops. But its appeals often rely on images and stories borrowed without permission, and its assets have been used to benefit political consulting firms and PACs. By Kim Barker ProPublica August 5, 2014 | This story was co-published with The Daily Beast In February More
▶ Mark Fiore: Brian Williams and the Frog of War
Fiore: The rear echelon politicians, cheerleaders and war planners seem to have another sort of selective memory [from the fog of war], that’s where the Frog of War comes in. Enjoy the cartoon, and be sure to check out the links behind the cartoon.
Raw Story: New York Times calls for Cheney, Bush officials to be investigated and prosecuted for torture
“These are, simply, crimes. They are prohibited by federal law, which defines torture as the intentional infliction of “severe physical or mental pain or suffering.” Former Vice President Dick Cheney (ABC TOM BOGGIONI RawStory.com December 22, 2014 In a blistering editorial published in the Monday [sic] edition of the New York Times, the editorial page More
Henry A. Giroux: America’s Addiction to Torture
With the release of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's report on the CIA's use of torture, it becomes clear that in the aftermath of the loathsome terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States entered into a new and barbarous stage in its history, one in which acts of violence and moral depravity were not More
Tom Engelhardt: The Senate Drone Report of 2019 — Looking Back on Washington’s War on Terror
Tomgram: Engelhardt, The National Security State "Works," Even If Nothing It Does Works By Tom Engelhardt tomdispatch.com December 18, 2014 It was December 6, 2019, three years into a sagging Clinton presidency and a bitterly divided Congress. That day, the 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s long fought-over, much-delayed, heavily redacted report on More