Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson Slams U.S. Empire

If this video doesn't knock you on your ass, I don't know what will. 

Let me rephrase that -- many of the people watching this video already get it. But to see and hear a retired U.S. Army colonel, former National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration, former advisor to Colin Powell, dyed-in-the-wool Republican, saying this stuff, pointing out that the emperor is wearing no clothes, that, as he puts it, "this ship is sinking" -- well, I'd like to say it should make an impression on all the naysayers. But in fact I know it won't. 

They'll find a way to discredit him just as much as they discredit people such as Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky. I know it won't make a dent. I'm posting it anyway. I hope people will share it.

Eternal War, or Reason #167 Why Obama is the Second Coming of George W. Bush

Well, as predicted, Obama is once again striving to prove he's just as clueless, blinkered, and warmongering as his predecessor. It's hard to tell anymore who in the stupidity sweepstakes is winning. 

U.S. Military

Edward Snowden, Hero

(Click to enlarge.)

Police State USA: Supreme Court Refuses to Hear NDAA Challenge

The U.S. is a fucking police state. I don't care how many people don't get it, I don't care how many of them have their heads up their asses, the U.S. is a police state. Thank god my activist friends get it; at least I have a few people I can talk to.

The latest from the Supreme Rubber Stampers of the land, via the Rutherford Institute:

Dianne Feinstein the Hypocrite, Part Deux

As I wrote on March 12, 2014, Dianne Feinstein is a hypocrite. She was fine with the egregious, relentless spying on us peons by the "intelligence" agencies, but got her knickers in a twist when that spying was suddenly turned on her.

It's the same with hypocrites everywhere: it's always okay when other people take it on the chin; it's just not okay when you or yours do.

United State of Authoritarianism

Macho posturing with deadly results in the United States of Authoritarianism:

"Now ask yourself: What sort of person would be attracted to a career in law enforcement based on the images and activities depicted in that video? And is that the sort of person you’d want wearing a badge and carrying a gun in your neighborhood?" Balko asked in the online edition of the Washington Post.“

Capitalist

Dianne Feinstein the Hypocrite

Ya know what -- fuck Dianne Feinstein. For years she's been one of the worst shills for the NSA, CIA, and the entire national security state apparatus. It was okay when everyone else was being spied on and abused, but now that the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly it's not okay.

Funny how people get religion only when they're personally affected. Similar to Gabby Giffords, I might add, who now is all in favor of gun control. But until she got shot, she didn't give a shit.

Ted Rall on Sovereignty

Once again, the great Ted Rall (as always, click to enlarge):

Noam Chomsky

"I think what we ought to do is to try to understand the truth about the world. And the truth about the world is usually quite unpleasant. My own concern is primarily the terror and violence carried out by my own state, for two reasons. For one thing, because it happens to be the larger component of international violence. But also for a much more important reason than that; namely, I can do something about it. So even if the U.S. was responsible for 2 percent of the violence in the world instead of the majority of it, it would be that 2 percent I would be primarily responsible for. And that is a simple ethical judgment. That is, the ethical value of one's actions depends on their anticipated and predictable consequences. It is very easy to denounce the atrocities of someone else. That has about as much ethical value as denouncing atrocities that took place in the 18th century."  -Noam Chomsky 

UK court rules against David Miranda -- another blow to civil liberties

As and is if by magic, the latest news confirms the "Fascism" post I put up just an hour ago. From the Guardian:

High court rules against David Miranda over Heathrow detention – live coverage

The UK is just as bad as the US. Gee, why am I not suprised?

Both countries have been inexorably morphing more and more into fascist states since 9/11. Actually, since the so-called war on drugs. But it's heated up since 2001. "Terrorism" is the new bogeyman du jour, just as "Communism" was during the Cold War. Empire is never happy unless it has an enemy on the horizon. Much easier to control people that way. And guess what? Millions of those people are happy to fall into line.

Fascism

Ted Rall Strikes Again

Will somebody give this guy a McArthur already?!

David Simon Nails It Again

I've written before about local and national treasure David Simon (click the tag "David Simon" anywhere on this blog or check out this link). He keeps ringing alarm bells, and people keep ignoring them. Well, lots of people, not all of us. But our overlords are certainly ignoring them.

Rolling Stone: The A-Team Killings -- Torture and Murder in Afghanistan

Rolling Stone has just published a blockbuster article detailing war crimes by American forces in Afghanistan. It's called The A-Team Killings.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! interviewed the author of the article, Matthieu Aikins. In this clip, the first clip, he talks about how the article came about.

In this clip, we see Afghans and Westerners who appear to be Americans torturing a bound prisoner. Yes, it's gruesome. No, there are no thumb screws or cattle prods involved. Torture comes in many forms, not all of them involving medieval devices.

There's also a brief clip of Secretary of State John Kerry in convoluted bureaucrat-speak. In fact, I couldn't even understand what he was saying until Gonzalez and Aikins explained it. Kerry was saying that on the one hand the U.S. respected the Afghan system of justice, the loya jirga, but on the other hand it wouldn't subject any of its forces to that system of justice. Why? Because they and he know that U.S. soldiers have committed war crimes. And they want legal immunity for those crimes.

American Values

"DHS Stupidity Mugs" A Crime Against Empire

Really, you can't make this shit up. Every day, actual news in the U.S. reads like something from The Onion. Only it's not from The Onion; it's real. And it's now become typical. Typical police-state stuff. (Oops -- there I go again, using the dreaded "p" word!)

Yet More Evidence That the U.S. Tortures With Impunity

As I've written so many times, most recently in this post on October 30th, the U.S. has embraced torture. The U.S. cannot pretend to stand for the rule of law or continue to spout platitudes about "democracy," "freedom," and, most gag-inducing, "American values."

And today's news bears that out.

David Simon on American Empire

Baltimore -- and national -- treasure David Simon has done a lot of speaking on the ills that afflict this country and the dark path we're treading. I can't say with authority that his views are sought out more by the foreign press than our own here at home, but it sure seems that way. The Wire, after all, one of the most brilliant series in television history, was repeatedly dissed by the Emmys, while it was devoured by audiences and lauded to the skies in the U.K.