Peace on Earth and goodwill toward all — in a world of conflict, ’tis the season of peace. Sadly, this holiday season the United Nations released a study indicating that 2014 is among the worst years on record for the world’s children. Chronicled in the report is another disturbing history of war and state violence. An estimated…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Ryan Calhoun‘s “Jon Stewart, Jester for the Warfare State” read by Erick Vasconcelos and edited by Nick Ford. The difference between Carlin and Stewart is that Carlin was not beholden, he kept nothing as sacrosanct and by the time of his death had at one point offended the sensibilities of every demographic on the…

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…

We are fascinated by the image of rebellion. The present generation came of age amidst global unrest and upheaval, from the Arab Spring to the anti-austerity movements in the West. Its immediate impulse has been to identify with those in the streets, even in the case of ill-fated and dubiously progressive movements. The image of…

The US Senate’s minimal, partial, heavily redacted summary of its report on the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program is out. That report’s reception by establishment media turns out to be at least as demonstrative of the problem it addresses as the report itself. As any recovering addict will helpfully inform you, the first step is admitting the…

If you shoot a person dead, you are rightly held accountable for their death. What happens if you press a button to initiate a machine that shoots a person, are you just as responsible? How accountable are you, if you are in the room at the same time that the process is occurring and you…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Trevor Hultner‘s “Paul Krugman: “Leave Obama Alone”” read by Christopher B. King and edited by Nick Ford. http://youtu.be/eBs0x9ieCp8 Krugman believes that the president has “[changed] the country for the better,” despite bitter opposition from the GOP in Congress and people from the left, right and center on the outside. Krugman believes that the supposedly…

At this moment, governments have stockpiled at least 17,300 nuclear weapons, for leverage in disputes with other governments. Powerful men in suits calmly talk things over while memories of mushroom clouds and mass-murder stand in the back of the room like a silent muscleman. In the words of ethicist Germain Grisez, those who own these…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Chad Nelson‘s “Challenging the Motives Behind War” read by Christopher B. King and edited by Nick Ford. But in war, all the war-making murderer needs is a place where he or she claims bad people exist. To hell with other details or circumstances. The rest of the war-making murderer’s conduct gets blanket immunity so…

La mattina del sei novembre l’Fbi ha annunciato la chiusura del sito Silk Road 2.0 e l’arresto del suo presunto gestore, Blake Benthall. In questo modo, l’Fbi ha dimostrato una volta di più che la guerra alla droga non ha niente a che vedere con quello che sostengono i suoi propagandisti. Se la criminalizzazione della…

Hillary and Henry sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G-E-R! It says a lot about former secretary of state and presumed presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton that she’s a member of the Henry Kissinger Fan Club. Progressives who despised George W. Bush might want to examine any warm, fuzzy feelings they harbor for Clinton. She has made no…

È capitato ultimamente che persone all’interno delle forze armate hanno parlato di una carenza di droni che avrebbe rallentato la guerra contro Isis. Questo dopo che il presidente Obama aveva detto che le restrizioni imposte alla guerra condotta con i droni per minimizzare le vittime civili non sarebbero state applicate in Siria e Iraq. Secondo…

US military insiders recently reported a shortage in drones has slowed the war against ISIS. This after President Obama stated that restrictions imposed on drone warfare to minimize civilian casualties will not be applied to the situation in Syria and Iraq. Analysts conclude that if the drone shortage forces the US to send troops to Syria and Iraq we can expect…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Ryan Calhoun‘s “There is No Hope/The Anarchist as Lover” read by Trevor Hultner and edited by Nick Ford. Music: Despair and Triumph, Danse Morialta, and Reawakening, by Kevin MacLeod. incompetech.com “The war culture is all-enveloping and there is no end. The American resolve against war does not exist beyond an Internet fad, entirely obliterated…

I don’t know when this column will see print, but as I write it people all over the world are celebrating — with rightful enthusiasm — the fall of the Iron Curtain 25 years ago. During the Spanish-American War, William Graham Sumner gave a speech on “The Conquest of the United States by Spain,” in…

China just announced a regional infrastructure plan to promote the integration of Asian markets under Chinese leadership — sparking predictably hypocritical outrage from the United States (“China’s Pouring $40 Billion Into a New ‘Silk Road,’” The Blaze, November 9). Chinese President Xi unveiled the Silk Road Fund to leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan as…

Professional fools are an ingrained aspect of our image of the medieval royal court system. Fools, more commonly known as jesters, were permitted to be asses for the amusement of heads of governments. While professional and respectful conduct was expected of most members of the court, the Fool existed to give an image of laxness….

Political satire has a long and honorable history: Aristophanes, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift; W.S. Gilbert; George Orwell; Tom Lehrer, David Frost, and That Was the Week That Was; George Carlin; Spitting Image, Yes, Minister; the Smothers Brothers; the early Saturday Night Live, Dave Barry, The Onion, South Park, Family Guy, and so many more. Unfortunately,…

On the morning of November 6 the US Federal Bureau of Investigation trumpeted its takedown of the Silk Road 2.0 website and the arrest of  alleged operator Blake Benthall. In so doing the FBI demonstrated, once again, that the War on Drugs has nothing to do with anything its propagandists claim it’s about. If drug criminalization is a…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Kevin Carson‘s “You Had One Job, UN” read by Paola Delfino and edited by Nick Ford. To paraphrase Lysander Spooner’s quip about the Constitution, either the UN was created to enable these crimes by the world’s largest and worst aggressor (in which case it is pernicious), or it has been unable to stop…