The Mass-Murdering U.S. Government Steps Up Persecution of Julian Assange for Helping Expose Its War Crimes—and Takes Aim at ALL Investigative Journalists
Imagine a society in which journalists or publishers are threatened by the government with life in prison for reporting on massive war crimes. Actually, you don’t have to imagine this nightmarish scenario. This is now the reality in America 2019, with the May 23 indictment of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, for working with Chelsea Manning to bring to light U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as troves of other information relating to treatment of detainees at Guantánamo, diplomatic cables with details about U.S. relations with its allies, and more.
Wars and Wars and Wars
What’s the matter with us
that we allow
Endless wars, new wars
Wars, wars and more wars?
Venezuela
As U.S. threats against Venezuela continue with the U.S. selection and then recognition of non-elected Juan Guaido as the interim president, there have been threats by Guaido supporters, again backed by the Trump/Pence Regime, to take over the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC.
When is Enough, Enough?

If you believe Trump is so isolationist that he wouldn't use the tremendous military force he controls to attack, invade, occupy, change regimes or worse, you've been bamboozled. This is the guy who used the "mother of all bombs" and wants to know "if we have nukes, why can't we use them?"
American Fascism Inspires White Nationalist Movements in Countries Around the World
Curt Wechsler | April 7, 2019
The membership of American white-nationalist movements has grown by more than 600% since 2012, found extremism researcher J.M. Berger in a 2016 study. "Today, they outperform ISIS in nearly every social metric, from follower counts to tweets per day." Through an unrelenting barrage of daily outrages and twitter outbursts, the Trump/Pence regime is radically remaking society - step by step hammering into place a vicious American fascism. This is not insult or exaggeration, it is what they are doing.
As Trump Orders US Out of Afghanistan, Notorious CIA-Backed Units Will Remain
Marjorie Cohn, Truthout | January 6, 2019
Politicians and pundits alike have roundly criticized Donald Trump for stating he will pull our troops out of Syria and cut US forces in Afghanistan by half. James Mattis immediately resigned as secretary of defense, writing in a letter to Trump, “you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours.”
As the US military kills civilians in Syria and CIA-led Afghan forces continue to commit war crimes, it appears Trump is doing the right thing in pulling out military troops. But the CIA will remain and grow stronger after the US troops leave. “[A]s American military forces are set to draw down, the role of the Central Intelligence Agency is only likely to grow in importance,” according to The New York Times.
A Measure of How Much has Changed in Two Years
Curt Wechsler | January 9, 2019
Mr. Trump's first Oval Office address felt like a non-event agree The New Yorker writers John Cassidy and Masha Gessen.
"A measure of how much has changed in two years -- how far we have fallen -- is that commentators have stopped saying that Trump is 'Presidential' when he manages to read from the teleprompter," says Gessen. "This isn't because Trump has changed or the commentators have changed. It's because he has redefined what 'Presidential' is."
The Violence Of The U.S. War On Terror
This is not a film review. But see "Vice," starring Christian Bale as "Dick" Cheney. You'll look at this photo differently after seeing the film.
One of the remarkable features of the film is the startling, realistic jumps to the violence of the U.S. war on terror precipitated by Cheney's actions. Cheney co-ordinates the build-up to the attack on Iraq and suddenly the screen is filled with Iraqis being bombed. Cheney authorizes the rendering of a cleric in one of the Baltic states, and bam, the cleric is thrown into a van within seconds, gagged and disappeared. The concepts of human rights and democracy, U.S. style, get brought sharply to the viewer, as a public service.
Close Guantanamo
Rule of Law, Not Rule of Trump
January 11, 2019, marks the 17th anniversary of the opening of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, which was established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It also marks the start of the prison's third year under the direction of the Trump administration. At the beginning of the Trump administration 41 people remained imprisoned at Guantanamo. Over the last two years, the Trump administration has released just one individual, leaving 40 people in detention while, at times, signaling interest in expanding Guantanamo. What will happen to the prison and its detainees in the remaining years of the Trump administration? Will anyone else be released? Will the prison ever close?
Is Trump "anti-war"?
Looking to the storms coming in 2019, we consider, how is Trump the same as other U.S. presidents, and how is his regime markedly different, requiring concerted action from us?
Each of the three "war on terror" presidents were and are completely committed to the US empire's domination of the globe through military supremacy. Each declared victory in the illegitimate endless war in their own way. George “W” Bush proclaimed "mission accomplished" (2003), Obama did it with "air strikes… taking out ISIL leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure," promoting a "network of partners" instead of invasions (2015) and, Trump bluntly declared victory over ISIS in Syria, saying "now, we've won" (2018).
Corrupt Spineless Iraqi Legislators Are Right
You’ve got 5,000 armed foreign troops stationed in your country. You don’t say a word until the idiot foreign emperor stages a surprise visit. Then you’re outraged principally because he didn’t notify you or meet with you or put up any pretense that your country belonged to you in any way. At that point you demand that the U.S. occupation of Iraq finally be brought to a bitter better-late-than-never end. And you’re damn right.