I normally associate terms like “treason” and “sedition” with right-wing know-nothings like the American Legion. So it’s eye-rollingly painful, in cases like the letter to Iran from Tom Cotton and 47 other Republican senators, to hear self-described progressives seize on those terms. By way of background, the Congressional GOP recently invited ultra-hawkish and ultra-racist Israeli…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Kevin Carson‘s “Education and the “Progressive” Corporate State” read by Ian Anderson and edited by Nick Ford. The official White House happy talk, predictably, takes the corporate state’s assumptions for granted: “In our growing global economy, Americans need to have more knowledge and more skills to compete — by 2020, an estimated 35 percent…

You can’t kill an idea. Ideas are bulletproof. They’re more powerful than guns. This is something we’ve all been told. But just because you can’t destroy an idea or an ideology, it doesn’t mean you can’t twist it and use it as an engine for your own purposes. It’s not controversial to suggest that much…

“Quando a legislatura pretende regular as diferenças entre mestres e seus trabalhadores, seus conselheiros são sempre os mestres”, escrevia Adam Smith em A Riqueza das Nações. O presidente dos Estados Unidos Barack Obama reafirma esse insight com sua intervenção na disputa entre a indústria naval e os estivadores na costa oeste. Essa intervenção ocorre a…

If it seems like only months ago that America’s warmongers were claiming there would be no need for US boots on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), that’s because it was. When the politicians initially decided to promote IS to the position of threat du jour, they promised that threat could be eliminated without sacrifice of American…

Watching Fox News’s recent coverage of the Islamic State’s Twitter-hack left me shaking my head in disbelief, as usual. The latest act alleged to have been carried out by IS is the group’s takeover of several Twitter accounts belonging to the wives of US military servicemen. Among the threatening tweets issued by IS through the hacked…

“Whenever the legislature attempts to regulate the differences between masters and their workmen,” Adam Smith noted in The Wealth of Nations, “its counsellors are always the masters.” US president Barack Obama reaffirms this insight with his intervention in the dispute between shipping industry employers and longshore workers on the west coast. That intervention comes at the behest of…

“Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismay’d? Not tho’ the soldier knew Someone had blunder’d: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson The reason for the…

It’s frustrating to hear US president Barack Obama receive kudos from the beer community simply because of his fondness for the beverage. Between his 2009 Beer Summit, his occasional beer in public, and his recent quip that he’s the first president to brew beer at the White House since George Washington, Obama has successfully cultivated a…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Thomas L. Knapp‘s “Shutdown Theater (Off-Off Broadway Follies)” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. When even “progressive” Democrats like Elizabeth Warren threaten “shutdown” to get their way, it’s just too obvious that there’s no real shutdown in play. Per Chekhov, “[i]f you say in the first chapter that there is a…

Speaking in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 9 US president Barack Obama unveiled an initiative to provide two years of community college tuition-free, nationwide, to anyone meeting attendance and grade requirements. The idea, inspired by a similar program in Tennessee, aims to make two years of college as universal as high school is now. Obama’s proposal is in…

El sábado, el campo de detención de la Bahía de Guantánamo puso en libertad a cuatro de las 136 personas detenidas allí sin cargos. Después de seis años, Barack Obama está un poco más cerca de cumplir su promesa: “He dicho repetidamente que tengo la intención de cerrar Guantánamo, y voy a seguir adelante con…

O lamentável ataque terrorista à sede do jornal satírico francês Charlie Hebdo, que causou a morte de 12 pessoas e feriu outras 11, estimulou diversas reações, do público, de jornalistas sensibilizados e de governantes que pretendem extrair ganhos políticos da situação. No meio do pânico, a histeria islamofóbica novamente dá o ar da graça (devido…

Partisan combatants have quickly taken up sides in the public debate over US president Barack Obama’s preemption of a wedding planned by two US Army captains at a course at which he wanted to golf. Obama’s defenders stress that the White House was unaware of the planned wedding until after scheduling the president’s game. They…

Doug Bandow discusses the U.S. government’s partnership with the repressive Egyptian regime. Wendy McElroy discusses statolatry. Michael Brenner discusses the CIA. Melvin A. Goodman discusses lies and spies. Greg Grandin discusses how the Iraq War became in Panama. Johanna Fernandez discusses the anti-police brutality movements. Justin Logan discusses a new neocon book. Jesse Walker discusses…

No sábado, o campo de detenção da Baía de Guantánamo liberou quatro de seus 136 detentos que não haviam sido acusados de qualquer crime. Com seis anos de atraso, Barack Obama está próximo de manter sua promessa: “Eu já afirmei repetidas vezes que pretendo fechar Guantánamo e vou concluir esse objetivo”. Quanto à promessa de…

On Saturday, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp released four of its 136 uncharged detainees from custody. Six years late, Barack Obama is inching closer towards keeping his promise: “I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that.” But as for the pledge to restore habeas corpus that accompanied his making an anti-Guantanamo…

The Colbert Report‘s windup completes its namesake’s shift from the gadfly who tore into George W. Bush at an official White House event to the court jester who gave softball publicity to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It is thus the perfect symbol of the evolution of American liberalism from the tail ends of the administrations…

El resumen mínimo, parcial y fuertemente redactado del informe del Senado de Estados Unidos sobre el programa de tortura post-9/11 de la CIA ya es público. La recepción de ese informe por los medios tradicionales es al menos tan demostrativo de la problemática que aborda como el propio informe. Tal como lo diría amablemente cualquier…

È stato pubblicato un sommario minimo, parziale, fortemente censurato del rapporto che il senato americano ha redatto sul programma di torture della Cia dopo l’undici settembre. Il modo in cui i media di regime hanno accolto il rapporto illustra il problema in questione non meno del rapporto in sé. Come direbbe un tossicodipendente che cerca…