Is Science Investment Always a Good Thing?The worship of science is a peculiar feature of our age, especially given the incredibly broad and non-specific nature of the term, and the vast quantitative and qualitative differences in outcomes from various types of research within the scientific disciplines.
To a certain sort of modern personality, reverence for science is an unchallenged and unchallengeable religion that has the unfortunate effect of both conveying a sense of smug superiority and, rather ironically, of reta... (more)
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Perpetual Fear Under EmpireLots of Americans are extremely upset about ISIS. They're not sleeping well, and they're pacing the floors. They are convinced that ISIS is coming to get them, drag them from their homes, cart them away to some Arabian desert, and behead them.
There is something important to keep in mind about all this: This is the way of life under an empire, especially one whose foreign policy is based on hundreds of military bases in foreign countries, meddling in the political and economic aff... (more)
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Would Appointing a War Criminal as Commissioner Redeem the NFL?Former NFL star Ray Rice pleaded guilty of abusing a woman whom he later married, and was fired by the League after a video of the crime was made public.
Former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice was an architect of an illegal war of aggression that resulted in the slaughter of a half-million people, the displacement of millions more, trillions of dollars in debt, and the crea... (more)
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Barack Obama: TerroristNational Public Radio (NPR) led its “Week in Politics” program of September 12 off with analysis of US president Barack Obama’s address to the nation on the Islamic State. Various journalists and talking heads disc... (more)
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Russell Brand: Will Obama's Bombs Stop Beheadings?
Comedian Russell Brand points out the hypocrisy of Obama's war on ISIS. Funny and entertaining!
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Shorter Obama War Speech... The Top Five ListDidn’t have time to listen to Obama outline his plans for a major new US war in the Middle East? Here are the top five take-aways from the September 10 speech:
1) Obama officially adopts Bush Administration’s pre-emptive war doctrine.
Obama:
If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States. ..we ha ... (more)
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Obama Follows Bush's Iraq PlaybookU.S. politicians are exploiting the gruesome beheadings of two American journalists to whip up war fever against ISIS, the "criminal gang" masquerading as an organization of devout Sunni Muslims that controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. The American propaganda campaign seems to be working if recent polls are accurate.
No decent person is anything but appalled by those executions. But are they grounds... (more)
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'Obama Snubbed at Top Golf Clubs'With a headline like that, Huffpo wanted to imply that the clubs rejected El Jefe for race reasons. In fact, the clubs didn’t want their courses destroyed by the army of snipers, food tasters, bodyguards, doctors, techs, communications trucks, the presidential armored toad, military vehicles, ambulances, and the rolling hospital that always accompany the Emperor. Also, the clubs would have had to toss out the... (more)
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Drug Warriors Claim Colorado Going to PotAs we moved into the second half of 2014, I was eager to learn if marijuana legalization in Colorado was succeeding. At first there was little being reported, but eventually reports started appearing in the news. Business Insider reported that "Legalizing Weed in Colorado Is A Huge Success," although they did temper their report with a "Down Side" as well. Jacob Sullum reported th... (more)
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Obama Considers Going After ISIS As Public Opinion Tide Turns In Favor Of InvasionThings are looking up for the military industrial complex and neocons who never weary of war against Muslims and Arabs. On Sunday Obama told Meet the Press he will give a speech on ISIS later this week.
The American people are coming around to a idea that the United States must attack ISIS in Iraq and Syria and this may include sending ground troops.
Rasmussen conducted a survey following Obama’s strategically planned “we don’t have a strategy” speech last month. It... (more) "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." - H. L. Mencken |
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Portrait of a PoliticianThroughout human history people have often made incredibly bad choices when choosing their leaders. It seems there exists in human nature the desire to be ruled by infallible god-like beings. The modern day professional politician is aware of this and every attempt is made to create the perception of infallibility.
It should be no surprise that narcissistic sociopaths are attracted to the great power that political office holders possess in the modern super-state. In fact, it is ... (more)
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How to Provoke a CrisisThere is no one more capable at provoking a crisis than the U.S. national-security establishment. They are absolute experts at doing so. They have to be. Their survival and ever-increasing tax-funded bounty depends on it.
Consider, for example, a recent altercation between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet near the coast of Japan.
According to an article in the New York Times, U.S. officials filed a formal complaint with China accusing the Chin... (more)
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The United Police States of AmericaFerguson, Missouri’s police department has released its report on the August 9th shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, a redacted document that ACLU attorney Tony Rothert says violates Missouri's Sunshine Law by omitting key information.
Brown's death at the hands of a Ferguson police officer provoked impassioned demonstrations and debates on police brutality and the very nature of policing in the United States, leading many observers to wonder if Americans are now living in a... (more)
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The "C" in "Cop" Stands for "Cruelty" and "Corruption"Is there no end to cops’ cruelty and corruption? (Rhetorical question as we all know there isn’t.) While we focus on cops’ cruelty in Ferguson, their brothers elsewhere uphold the standards on corruption. Houston’s fleece taxpayers, on some of whom they already literally commit highway robbery, with scams for overtim... (more)
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The Ferguson Shooting: Identified Gang Member Kills Possible Gangster Wanna-beMichael Brown may have committed a strong-arm robbery prior to his fatal encounter with Officer Darren Wilson. The evidence for that charge is inconclusive. Like many other teenagers, Brown apparently had regrettable taste in popular music (assuming that term encompasses the genre called "rap") and it's possible he was attracted to the gangster milieu.
In any case, Brown had no crimi... (more)
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Abolish the Police The tragic chaos in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of an unarmed teenager and massive protests has prompted a discussion police power and how far it should extend. For the anarchist, the answer is simple: police power shouldn’t exist.
“But what would you do with all the psychopaths and violent people?”
This is perhaps the most common question posed to anarchists. After all, most people view the state and its monopoly on force as the method by which socie... (more)
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By the Numbers: How Dangerous Is It to Be a Cop?Defenders of police militarization such as that on display in Ferguson, Missouri, often claim that it’s necessary to provide military gear to cops, given how dangerous law enforcement has become.
Indeed, in the name of the War on Terror and theWar on Drugs, th... (more)
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Furious About Ferguson? Work to Free Shaneen AllenWhatever we eventually learn about what happened in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, Michael Brown is beyond mortal help. The same is not true of Shaneen Allen, a 27-year-old working mother of two and robbery victim who faces an eleven-year prison term for the supposed offense of carrying a legally licensed firearm.
Like the late Mr. Brown, Allen – a resident of Philadelphia, Pen... (more)
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Did Michael Brown Steal Cigars -- Or Pay For Them?If Michael Brown committed a felonious strong-arm robbery at a convenience store just minutes before he was shot, why didn’t anybody from the store call 911? The report was made by a customer following what appeared to be an altercation between the 6’4″ Brown and a much smaller store employee.
According to the store’s owner, police didn’t issue a subpoena for the store’s surveillance ... (more)
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If You're Ever Charged With A Crime, Don't be Your Own Worst EnemyI cringe to think how many times clients come into my office to discuss their criminal matter with me only to learn they have done possibly irreparable damage to their case. I have found few people who are aware of their constitutional rights.
Your awareness of some simple concepts may serve you well in the event you or a loved one is the unfortunate subject of a criminal investigation. First of all, always remember, you are not required to talk to the police. There may be occa... (more)
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Police States and Inner-City EconomicsThe recent civil disobedience, rioting, and police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri reminds us of what happens when police states and bad economics are mixed together.
Devastated by decades of ruinous economic policies, the economies of many inner cities continue to languish as the self-ownership of local residents is treated with contempt by the police and any attempt at building a small business-based or wage-based economy is hobbled by government regulation.
The... (more)
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Why the Lights of America are DimmingThroughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. - Ayn Rand,“The Soul of an Individualist,” For the New Intellectual
You cannot create passion and talent. But you can destroy them. When people are punished for their virtues, such as the drive to excel a... (more)
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The State's Greatest Success StoryAmidst the endless series of disasters, debacles and crises produced by America's welfare-warfare state, there is one huge success story that should not go unnoticed: the state's educational system, specifically the extent to which the state has succeeded in indoctrinating so many Americans into believing they actually live in a free society.
What could be better than a society of serfs -- controlled, monitored, manipulated, and directed by the state -- honestly believing they're ... (more)
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The War on Poverty and the War on DrugsAs an apparently war-minded people, Americans (or at least, our American political leaders) have been comfortable framing parts of the domestic policy agenda as wars for decades. Two of the most prominent have been the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs.
Despite the similarity in their names, there is an important difference between the two. The War on Poverty is not a real war. The War on Drugs is.
The War on Poverty is not a real war because there is no enemy tha... (more)
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"It's Strictly Business": Inside the Prohibition RacketIn addition to being an engine of misery, corruption, and bloodshed, the War on Drugs should be seen as a multi-tiered criminal enterprise.
At the top echelon are found the political figureheads who recite pious bromides. That’s likewise where we encounter the bureaucratic scribes responsible for crafting those cynical pronouncements and the legislation that gives them substance. The operational level consists of federally subsidized, hyper-aggressive law enforcement agencies tha... (more)
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