Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, December 01, 2014
Who Wants to be U.S. Defense Secretary? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It seems nobody wants to be Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration. The president's first two Defense Secretaries, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, both complained bitterly this month about their time in the administration. The president's National Security Council staff micro-managed the Pentagon, they said at a forum last week.
Former Secretary Gates revealed that while he was running the Defense Department, the White House established a line of communication to the Joint Special Operations Command to discuss matters of strategy and tactics, cutting the Defense Secretary out of the loop. His successor at the Pentagon, Leon Panetta, made similar complaints.
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Sunday, November 30, 2014
Egypt's Military Dicatarship Adding Insult to Injury / Politics / Egypt
By: Stephen_Lendman
Egypt's military dictatorship holds absolute power. Has no legitimacy whatever.
Rules by decree. Controls the media. Ignores fundamental international laws, norms and standards. Its own constitutional law.
Prohibits dissent. Tolerates no opposition. Killed at least 3,000 Muslim Brotherhood members. Imprisoned tens of thousands more. Brutally tortures many.
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Saturday, November 29, 2014
Ferguson Reexamined - Do the Police Recruit Psychopaths? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Few, if any, of the correct questions were asked in the grand jury hearing to decide whether policeman Darren Wilson would be indicted for killing Michael Brown.
The most important unexamined question is whether police are trained to use force immediately as a first resort before they assess a situation or determine if they are at the correct address. Are the police trained that the lives of police officers are so much more valuable than the lives of possible suspects, or a houseful of people into whose residence a heavily armed SWAT team enters, that police officers must not accept the risk of judicious behavior when encountering citizens? If this is the case as all evidence indicates that it is, then the police when they gratuitously murder members of the public are merely doing what they have been trained to do. As police are trained to use violence as a first resort, the police cannot be held accountable when they do.
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Saturday, November 29, 2014
Will Iran Commit Nuclear Hara-Kiri? / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: To no surprise, nuclear talks between Iran and major world powers have become stalemated.
Iran will not sink “to its knees” to win a nuclear deal with the great powers, said its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the failure of six months of talks in Vienna.
However, the talks will continue until at least next March. Pity the poor negotiators: besides being excruciatingly boring, dealing with the tough, savvy Iranians is like pulling teeth. The only nationality I ever saw get the better of Iranians in negotiations were Armenians.
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Friday, November 28, 2014
Britain's Immigration Catastrophe Continues, David Cameron's Impotent Speech on Stopping In Work Benefits / Politics / Immigration
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest immigration statistics out of the ONS reveal the truth of what amounts to continuing out of control immigration of the last Labour governments disastrous policy of importing several million new Labour voters into Britain. Meanwhile all that David Cameron can do is to make impotent speeches in a desperate attempt to fight off the UKIP threat ahead of the next general election, promises of withholding in work benefits to migrant workers for upto 4 years. However virtually all of his proposals CANNOT be implemented and were immediately rejected by European Union bureaucrats as being illegal if implemented.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Perceptions of Reality — And a Failure to Indict / Politics / Social Issues
By: Walter_Brasch
She quietly walked into the classroom and stood there, just inside the door, against a wall.
The professor, his back to her, continued his lecture, unaware of her presence until his students’ eyes began focusing upon her rather than him.
“Yes?” he asked, turning to her. Just “Yes.” Nothing more.
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Friday, November 28, 2014
British Government Publishes UK, Scotland DevoMax Smith Report Suicide Note / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The consequences of the panicking Westminister politicians making unlimited promises of DevoMax in the last days of the Scottish Independence Referendum campaign that sowed the seeds for the destruction of the United Kingdom have now started to become manifest in the Smith report that details the transfer of tax and spending powers to the Scottish Parliament which will amount to approx 50% of governance that would still be coupled with a NET subsidy to Scotland of approx £9 billion per year to be born by predominantly England's Wage slaves where now the Scottish parliament will also be allowed to print billions in debt without inflation or interest rates consequences as the debt will be underwritten by the United Kingdom that sows the seeds for stealth destruction of the United Kingdom as Scotland effectively sucks dry the financial blood of the United Kingdom. Furthermore the whole basis of the SNP argument of an Independant Scotland living off of North Sea Oil has already gone up in smoke following the collapse in crude oil prices!
Thursday, November 27, 2014
The Great Thanksgiving Hoax / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Richard J. Maybury writes: Each year at this time, schoolchildren all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.
It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.
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Thursday, November 27, 2014
The Solutions to Ferguson And All The Worlds Problems Lie Within You / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
On this day, Thanksgiving, which is a celebration of a day centuries ago where Americans welcomed and fed undocumented immigrants... and then those undocumented immigrants went on to wholesale slaughter the early Americans... and with so many problems in the world today from Ferguson, to Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria (note which government is intricately involved in all these and many more conflicts) we thought we'd make today's communique short and sweet.
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Thursday, November 27, 2014
Thanksgiving and Puritan Geopolitics in the Americas / Politics / Social Issues
By: STRATFOR
The first winter took many of the English at Plymouth. By fall 1621, only 53 remained of the 132 who had arrived on the Mayflower. But those who had survived brought in a harvest. And so, in keeping with tradition, the governor called the living 53 together for a three-day harvest feast, joined by more than 90 locals from the Wampanoag tribe. The meal was a moment to recognize the English plantation's small step toward stability and, hopefully, profit. This was no small thing. A first, deadly year was common. Getting through it was an accomplishment. England's successful colony of Virginia had had a massive death toll — of the 8,000 arrivals between 1607 and 1625, only 15 percent lived.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
The Digital World, The Opiate of The People / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Michael_T_Bucci
What leads me to think again about state surveillance and its devastating effects on privacy, freedom and liberty is a recent article posted at Asia Times, "Tomgram: Shamsi and Harwood, An Electronic Archipelago of Domestic Surveillance", (1) which presented just another reminder to Americans and the world of what the U.S.A. is threatening to become: a veritable police state, a totalitarianism and a military/intel controlled nation. In addition to allegations of illegal wars, occupations and assassinations, drone strikes, provocations of Russia, China and the global South; in addition to proposed federal and state neoliberal and neocon policies that promise to further shred the already torn social and welfare fabrics; in addition to its chronic addictions to materialism and consumerism that destroy the environment and deplete the soul; in addition to its racism (officially denied); in addition to reports about legalized forms of mobsterism in financial houses, hedge funds, vulture funds; in addition to its de facto command over nations fearful of its military prowess and financial sanctions; America is also the world's unabashed spy, espionage agent and unrivaled, unabated master of all data it ingests, scans, records, stores and analyzes! And all is done for one and only one purpose: CONTROL But for whom?
Thursday, November 27, 2014
China Strengthening Claim To South China Sea Oil And Gas / Politics / China
By: OilPrice_Com
Not gone and not forgotten, China is ready to solidify its claim to the South China Sea (SCS). Recent satellite imagery confirms China is conducting significant land reclamation operations in the Spratly Islands in the SCS. The SCS is an important fishing ground and is believed to hold large amounts of oil and gas. Undermining the United States' influence in the region, China intends to play the shepherd in one of the world's busiest trade routes.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Socialist France Just Cannot Compete Against Google Freedom / Politics / France
By: Mike_Shedlock
I happen to like the sun. By definition, the earth would not even be a planet without the sun. No one on earth would be alive without free sunshine.
I happen to like Google. I could survive without Google, but like the sun, much of what Google provides is free.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Fraud in Fractional Reserve Banking / Politics / Central Banks
By: Frank_Hollenbeck
Suppose you bring a fur coat to a dry cleaner, and discover that the owner allowed his wife to wear it before cleaning it (which is also the subject of an episode from Seinfeld). Or, suppose you gave your car keys to a hotel valet and, when attempting to pick up the car later, were told your automobile was lent to teenagers who took it for a joy ride while you slept at the hotel. You would not be too happy, and for good reason. When you surrendered your clothes or your car keys it was a bailment. You retained ownership and gave the clothes or car keys for safekeeping. In no shape or form, did you surrender ownership of the items or lend out your property.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
A Message to Ferguson: You Are Fighting The Wrong Battle / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Tensions in the US are high. Hundreds of millions of people have been extorted and many have been kidnapped and beaten. People are frustrated and demanding answers, and to find them they are looking to.... authority figures?
They've been well-trained. But it is not with these authority figures true liberation lies. It would be better for us all, as individuals, to look deep inside ourselves and find an inner calm that runs in all living beings and recognize the true terrorists.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Now The British Are Fleeing America / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Remember when Americans fled Britain and the monarchy? Well, now the British are fleeing from America and its modern tyranny...
Take London Mayor Boris Johnson, for instance.
Johnson has been London’s mayor since 2008 and is even planning on running for Parliament. His big mistake was being born in New York, though. Even though he moved at age 5, the US government wants him to pay capital gains taxes owed by American citizens earning income abroad.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Islamic State Reshapes the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: Nuclear talks with Iran have failed to yield an agreement, but the deadline for a deal has been extended without a hitch. What would have been a significant crisis a year ago, replete with threats and anxiety, has been handled without drama or difficulty. This new response to yet another failure to reach an accord marks a shift in the relationship between the United States and Iran, a shift that can’t be understood without first considering the massive geopolitical shifts that have taken place in the Middle East, redefining the urgency of the nuclear issue.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
60 Minutes Infrastructure Report Was Corporate Propaganda / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: James_Quinn
I rarely if ever watch 60 Minutes, as they have been kissing Obama’s ass since before he was elected in 2008. They are part of the left wing media and are now a joke when it comes to investigative journalism. Last night it came on after the football game I was watching and the opening story was about the infrastructure crisis in this country. I thought I’d give it a chance. After five minutes of propaganda, mistruths, false story lines and interviewing an ultimate insider hack lobbyist for corporate America, I turned on a more realistic truth telling show – The Simpsons.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Once Upon A Time There Were Philosopher Kings / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
Not That Socrates
Newswires report, November 22, that Portugal’s former prime minister, José Sócrates spent another night in detention after a court judge questioned him in an investigation of suspected tax fraud, corruption, and money-laundering during his time in office. For the other Socrates, and Plato, there was only one form of government which would not slip and fall. The Republic which would not dissolve and disappear in corruption, deceit, designer wars to fool (and kill) the people, degeneracy of all sorts and kinds such as cult-food and and money-sport replacing good eating and healthy exercize. A society which would not be lost in a storm of rhetoric and fake logic replacing any kind of debate or discussion. The people could only benefit – but to get it they would have to struggle, moderate their desires and avoid greed.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Defeat of USA FREEDOM Act is a Victory for American Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It will not shock readers to hear that quite often legislation on Capitol Hill is not as advertised. When Congress wants to do something particularly objectionable, they tend give it a fine-sounding name. The PATRIOT Act is perhaps the best-known example. The legislation had been drafted well before 9/11 but was going nowhere. Then the 9/11 attacks gave it a new lease on life. Politicians exploited the surge in patriotism following the attack to reintroduce the bill and call it the PATRIOT Act. To oppose it at that time was, by design, to seem unpatriotic.
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