It was wonderful news to many people last week when word came that Julian Assange would speak publicly this week. For a long time it seemed that such a day would never come as Assange suffered in harsh conditions in a British prison under the threat of extradition to the United Sates where he would likely remain captive in similar harsh conditions until death.
Continue readingDonald Trump likes to talk about how he puts America first. Last night, Trump’s presidential race running mate J.D. Vance made it clear that Vance has other priorities. In answer to the first question of the vice-presidential debate, Vance asserted that his allegiance is to Israel first. Indeed, he suggested that America does not even come in second.
Continue readingIn March, I wrote about eight United States Senate members sending a letter to President Joe Biden declaring that Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 requires the termination of offensive military aid to the Israel government because the Israel government “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.” This declaration seemed then and continues to seem now true to observers of the situation where Gazans suffer from the deprivation of daily needs including food and medical supplies as they also suffer from bombs and bullets. Still, the US military aid flow to Israel has continued at a high rate.
Continue readingIn late June, Julian Assange returned to Australia a free man after years of suffering in harsh conditions in a Britain prison with the threat of extradition to the United States hanging over him. Since then, the WikiLeaks founder, who the US government sought to prosecute for exposing US dirty secrets including related to US military actions, has not spoken publicly. That will change by October 1.
Continue readingUnited Sates President Joe Biden has spent most of his presidency refusing to talk with Russia President Vladimir Putin. This is despite — or maybe because of — the fact that such discourse could have led to an agreement ending the US government’s proxy war against Russia.
Continue readingA newly reported on March of 1973 recording of a private conversation of then President Richard Nixon with some of his executive branch aides includes Nixon commenting that marijuana is “not particularly dangerous.” He also stated that penalties related to marijuana should be evaluated to make sure they are not too harsh. Nixon, as an example, described as “wrong” a Texas 10 year prison term for a marijuana offence.
Continue readingGlenn Greenwald is a skilled communicator regarding media bias. He delivered in a new video monologue an insightful and succinct rundown of ways in which the Tuesday presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was moderated with an extreme bias toward aiding Harris and hindering Trump. In short, declares Greenwald in the video, “the debate structure was so blatantly designed to favor [Harris].”
Continue readingAt his Peter Schiff Show, host Peter Schiff specializes in throwing cold water on the assertions of politicians and people in the media concerning American economic matters. Though partial to Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race, Schiff is still quick to rebut Trump when Schiff sees Trump offering proposals that are economically ignorant and destructive.
Continue readingIn August, the news arrived that United States military forces and assets had been removed from Niger. Writing about this development, I opined on August 6 that “the US would be well served to start initiating the withdrawal of its military from many additional countries.” A month later, it looks like an agreement is in place for such a withdrawal from another country — Iraq.
Continue readingWhen Donald Trump debated Joe Biden in June in their one and only debate of this year’s presidential contest, the outcome was monumental. Biden’s very diminished state shone through clearly, leading to him being forced out of the race by people in his own party.
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