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ACLU v. Clapper
by Stephen Lendman
Clapper
On June 5, London's Guardian headlined "NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily."
On June 6, a follow-up article headlined "NSA taps in to systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and others, secret files reveal."
Numerous reports followed based on information Edward Snowden revealed. He connected important dots for millions.
Institutionalized spying on Americans isn't new. It's longstanding. Little was revealed publicly. Too few people knew. It's far more invasive than most suspect. Core constitutional rights are violated.
On June 11, the ACLU filed suit. It challenged "the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's mass collection of Americans' phone records.
Deal in Geneva: Hold the Cheers
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article asked if it matters? Longstanding hardline US/Israeli policy won't change.
Sanctions Iran most wants removed remain in place. Stiff new ones may follow later on. For now they're postponed.
America is duplicitous. It's deals aren't worth the paper they're written on. Will this one be different? Don't bet on it. Interpretations differ on what was agreed on. More on that below. Obama is no peacemaker. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's done so from day one in office. He broke every major promise made. That's key.
He shows no signs of changing policy. He hasn't throughout his tenure. He remains hardline on Iran. His softer rhetoric reflects deception. Tehran got too little in exchange for major concessions.
The Decline of the US (and Everyone Else …)
James Petras
The world political economy is a mosaic of cross currents: Domestic decay and elite enrichment, new sources for greater profits and deepening political disenchantment, declining living standards for many and extravagant luxury for a few, military losses in some regions with imperial recovery in others. There are claims of a unipolar, a multi-polar and even a non-polar configuration of world power. Where, when, to what extent and under what contingencies do these claims have validity?
Bubbles and busts come and go - but let us talk of ‘beneficiaries’: Those who cause crashes, reap the greatest rewards while their victims have no say. The swindle economy and the criminal state prosper by promoting the perversion of culture and literacy. ‘Investigatory journalism’, or peephole reportage, is all the rage. The world of power spins out of control: As they decline, the leading powers declare “it’s our rule or everyone’s ruin!”
Global Configurations of Power
Power is a relationship between classes, states and military and ideological institutions. Any configuration of power is contingent on past and present struggles reflecting shifting correlations of forces. Structures and physical resources, concentrations of wealth, arms and the media matter greatly; they set the framework in which the principle power wielders are embedded. But strategies for retaining or gaining power depend on securing alliances, engaging in wars and negotiating peace. Above all, world power depends on the strength of domestic foundations. This requires a dynamic productive economy, an independent state free from prejudicial foreign entanglements and a leading class capable of harnessing global resources to ‘buy off’ domestic consent of the majority.
Life in Occupied Gaza
by Stephen Lendman
After Hamas won January 2006 elections, Israel imposed embargo conditions. In mid-2007, siege followed.
It has nothing to do with Israeli security. It's collective punishment. It's occupation harshness writ large. It's making an entire population suffer.
It's doing it maliciously. It reflects slow-motion genocide. It's lawless. It's ruthless. World leaders turn a blind eye. Doing so makes them complicit.
Gazan suffering continues. An Oxfam update calls conditions worse than ever. Gazans are trapped. They're largely isolated. More from Oxfam below.
Crisis conditions persist. Over 80% of the population depends on humanitarian aid. Blockade devastated Gaza's economy.
JFK: Paradox or Conspiracy?
By Robert Singer
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The assassination of the President of the United States on national television by the “lone” assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald—who according to authorities used an obsolete bolt-action WWI rifle that was not capable of firing bullets fast enough to wound John F. Kennedy—who is then assassinated the next day by another “lone” assassin, is so stupid that whoever is behind the assassination didn’t expect you to believe it.
Why would the conspirators, with the ability to plan and manage the JFK Assassination—involving the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, Police Departments and Coroners offices in two cities—come up with such a senseless plan riddled with mistakes, anomalies and discrepancies (Errant Data)? And then, to add a feather to your tin-foil hat, inexplicably allow that same Errant Data to be exposed in the media ad nauseam for everyone to question for the last 50 years.
- Does anyone have an explanation for why the conspirators would come up with such a convoluted plan, when a much simpler plan would accomplish the same goal? If the goal was to simply kill the president, why not have it done by a rogue agent from the CIA, FBI or Secret Service? Anyone of those could have quickly killed, JFK in the middle of the night, out of sight of any witnesses or, in those days, cameras.
- Does anyone have an explanation for why the conspirators would allow the mistakes, anomalies, discrepancies and the holes in the “official story” [Errant Data] to find it’s way into the official institutional record and then allow that same data to be aired on national television for all to question?
- Does anyone have an explanation for how trivial it would have been for the conspirators to change or falsify the alleged discrepancy or anomaly and avoid the stupid “mistakes?” Consider how easy it would be for these master criminals to just keep the Errant Data from being aired on national television, compared to the magnitude of the criminal acts they are alleged to have committed.
Put another way, isn’t it obvious that the JFK Assassination was a conspiracy to make you believe in a conspiracy:
The CIA killed JFK; the Mob killed JFK; the CIA and the Mob working together killed JFK; last but not least, Fidel Castro contracted with the KGB to have JFK killed.
All of the conspiracy theories, except mine, ha-ha (The 1961 JFK Speech that Kicked the American Dream into High Gear), are nonsense but that’s not the point.
Report: US Bullying at TPP Negotiations for Big Pharma Profits
from KBZeese, originally published on
popularresistance.org
Stanford McCoy of the US Trade Rep. His bullying tactics seek to prop up
inflated pharmaceutical profits at the expense of thousands of lives.
Outrageous US bullying by US Trade Representative Stan McCoy on intellectual property and health. McCoy puts profits of pharmaceuticals ahead of the lives of people.
“The world should stand up to the United States. US corporations are not more important than people’s lives.”
A key dispute in the TPP negotiations is the patents on pharmaceutical drugs and medical procedures. Long patents inflate the profits of the pharmaceutical industry by not allowing less expensive generic drugs on the market. This means that people around the world will not be able to afford critical, often life-saving, drugs and medical procedures. It also means that countries like Japan, Australia and New Zealand that have national health care systems will see the cost of healthcare rise to a breaking point, undermining some of the best health systems in the world.
In order for the US to get its way, Stan McCoy, Assistant US Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation, is chairing the meetings on intellectual properties and medicines. He has been using bullying tactics to force countries to agree to positions that will harm people in the countries negotiating the TPP, including the US.
Israel Wants Walls, not Peace
by Stephen Lendman
Imagine! Israel has no constitution. It has no declared borders. Its policies reflect racial and ethnic supremacy.
Lawless occupation harshness is longstanding. Belligerence is a way of life. Institutionalized racism is official policy. So is state terror.
Jews are afforded rights denied Muslims. Palestinians are viciously persecuted. Crimes of war, against humanity and slow-motion genocide persist daily.
They're longstanding. They're out-of-control. They continue during ongoing so-called peace talks. They've been dead on arrival for decades.
They'll achieve nothing this time like before. Long time Israeli collaborators continue the charade. Sham talks deny reality.
Pretense substitutes for peace. The dirty charade persists. So does the worst of occupation harshness.
Imagine talking peace while prioritizing war. Imagine media scoundrels regurgitating the Big Lie.
Imagine them repeating it every time new talks begin. Imagine deceiving their readers disgracefully.
No Breakthrough in Geneva
by Stephen Lendman
After two days of nuclear talks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there's no point involving P5+1 foreign ministers unless negotiators appear close to a deal.
Asked how things are going, he said: "We haven't made any progress. (W)e haven't reached the stage to discuss the text (of a deal) seriously."
Resolution depends on "the other side show(ing) the necessary flexibility, and we can then reach an agreement on the text rapidly. (E)nrichment is our redline, and will not be stopped at all."
"No agreement will be accepted in which enrichment doesn't exist from the very beginning to the end."
Iran is firm. Enrichment is its legitimate right. Details alone aren't resolved. Whether it's possible remains to be seen.
Permanent US Afghanistan Occupation
by Stephen Lendman
Washington didn't attack, invade and occupy Afghanistan to leave. Permanent occupation is planned.
NBC News headlined "Endless Afghanistan? US-Afghan agreement would keep troops in place and funds flowing, perhaps indefinitely," saying:
"While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key US-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC News shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces." "The agreement reflects an open-ended military commitment. It involves "thousands of American troops (and) billions of US taxpayer dollars."
Draft "Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement Between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" provisions state in part:
"The Parties acknowledge that continued US military operations to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates may be appropriate and agree to continue their close cooperation and coordination toward that end."
America's Afghan war has nothing to do with defeating Al Qaeda or other nonexistent terrorist threats. More on that below.
The 1961 JFK Speech that Kicked the American Dream into High Gear
By Katherine Smith, PhD
Our American dream of shopping for useless toxic stuff, an environmental nightmare, went into high gear after JFK was killed in 1963.
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Would the planet be at serious risk, according to a massive United Nations Environmental Report, due to “the dangers of climate change, water scarcity, dwindling fish stocks and the pressures on the land and the extinction of species,” had John F. Kennedy not been assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963.
The answer is NO, keep reading to find out why.
The 1961 Speech That Got JFK Killed
By Katherine Smith
A video excerpt of John F. Kennedy’s address to the press at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City is making its way around the Internet on the anniversary of his death:
"For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system that has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, and no secret is revealed" (Kennedy 1961).
One cannot miss JFK’s veiled reference to the Skull and Bones society at Yale University, a branch of the Bavarian Illuminati; the Bilderbergers; The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); and the other secret societies that rule the world from behind the scenes; a.k.a., The Powers That Be (TPTB). G. William Domhoff, a Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, first coined the non-conspiracy acronym TPTB (Who Rules America? 1967, The Higher Circles 1970, The Powers That Be (TPTB) 1979, Who Rules America Now? 1983).
Our consumer society didn’t just happen; it was planned. Not in 1910, or 1954, but in the year 1832, the year William Huntington Russell and fellow classmate Alphonso Taft founded the Skull and Bones society at Yale University (Lee 2010). Members, known as “Bonesmen,” include Rockefeller, Kuhn, Loeb and Morgan. The Bonesmen are all connected to the House of Rothschild’s global financial empire and are founders of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, France, and Germany or, for that matter, any central bank anywhere in the world. In theory, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, one of the most important domestic acts in the nation’s history, took the power to create money from the people and gave it to the Bonesmen for profit.
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