The American people are grasping the bias of mass media. When Gallup first asked Americans in 1972 “how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media,” 68 percent of polled individuals answered either a “great deal” or a “fair amount.” Over the ensuing decades this positive response has plummeted, garnering just 31 percent in the most recent polling conducted in September.
Continue readingA majority of United States House of Representatives members voted on September 25 to approve a resolution (H.Res. 1469) condemning 15 members of the executive branch “for their role in the Biden-Harris administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and noncombatant evacuation operation, which led to the injury and death of United States servicemembers, injury and death of Afghan civilians, abandonment of American civilians and our Afghan allies, and harm to the national security and international stature of the United States.”
Continue readingWe are now a year into the Israel government’s military action devastating the people and infrastructure of Gaza and since expanded into escalating violence against countries including Lebanon and Iran. Yet, even today, United States Senate members are repeating flagrant lies produced in the war’s early days to trick Americans and others around the world into supporting Israel’s war.
Continue readingOn Thursday, I wrote about the testimony of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks at a Tuesday meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Assange’s testimony provided an informative overview of his persecution for helping expose disturbing government secrets.
In his testimony, Assange stepped back at times from the particulars of his story to address broader issues related to government that are important for proponents of freedom of speech and press, and opponents of warmongering, to understand. Then, in his answering of questions after his testimony, Assange provided some insightful description of a dangerous government tendency that it is important for people to understand.
Continue readingIt 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.
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