Archive | Politics

How US gun control compares to the rest of the world

By John Donohue on September 4, 2015 in Law, Op-Ed, Politics 0

The Charleston murders have renewed the sporadic debates over whether gun control might have prevented this latest of tragedies.

To quote President Obama the day after the shooting in the AME Church,

“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. It is in our power to do something about it.”

So far, however, the US has not done “something about it.”

The National Rifle Association (NRA), it seems, has so much power over politicians that even when 90% of Americans (including a majority of NRA members) wanted universal background checks to be adopted following the Newtown killings of 2012, no federal action ensued. Certainly, it’s unlikely that any useful legislation will emerge in South Carolina.

The NRA stranglehold on appropriate anti-crime measures is only part of the problem, though.… Read the rest

Where Feminism Left Me

By Good German on September 4, 2015 in Op-Ed, Philosophy, Politics 0

From 2011, David Ker Thomson writing at CounterPunch:

I’ve been with feminism for two decades. Where does it leave me?

Friends, employers, family, and so on, seem to have gathered enough information about me to have decided, to their satisfaction, that I am of a certain race, class, age, and gender. Am I not, after all, white, middle, middle, and male?

Of course at the literal level I put no stock in any of this. I’m pale this time of year, but every August my pelt is the same color as that of the “leader” my friends have chosen to conduct the latest wars in the wrack of the dune planet Arakkis. I suppose for comparison purposes we would both need to unveil our torsos at the same time (mine rich in vitamin D, his in history).

“Middle,” for its part, does not seem to describe my most significant relationship to bankers and the world of men, since at eighty-two years of age I will be past any sort of middle when I will have finished paying off the mortgage that I and my wife—if she is my wife—have contracted in whatever fit of nesting exuberance governed our actions at the point of contract.

… Read the rest

Is the Age of Reason Dead?

By Emily Baker on September 4, 2015 in Education, Literature/Poetry, Philosophy, Politics, Religion 0

Enlightenment’s Wake

Many assume Enlightenment values will triumph over violence and prejudice. But in the wake of ISIS and Charlie Hebdo, victory seems less inevitable and the age of reason less secure. Might history not be on our side after all? Do we need more passion to combat zealotry’s allure or will reason alone win in the end?

The Panel

Philospher and theologian Christopher Hamilton, author of Contesting the Saudi State and visiting professor at LSE Madawi al-Rasheed, and editor of Spiked Online Brendan O’Neill push reason to the extreme.

Watch more videos on iai.tv

… Read the rest

Satirical Illustrations of How World Leaders Perceive Justice

By Incognito Chupacabra on September 4, 2015 in Art, Politics, Satire 0

Gunduz Aghayev is a painter who creates satirical illustrations ranging from pop culture to religion and human rights around the globe.

This time he is taking on the concept of Justice seen through the filter of different nations revolving around the allegorical Roman goddess of justice, Justitia.

Let’s get to it, folks!

We’re #1!!!

Rule, Brittania

Made in China? Enslaved in China.

And Iran, Iran so far away…

Last, but certainly (under pain of death) not least.

You can see more of this series HERE. Be sure to check out some of his older series, Holy Selfie, Just Dictators and Global Police.

… Read the rest

The CIA and the Media: 50 Facts the World Needs to Know

By Chaos_Dynamics on September 3, 2015 in Corporate Skeptics, History, Politics 0

Prof. James F. Tracy via Global Research:

Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story–indeed, one that media historians are reluctant to examine.

When seriously practiced, the journalistic profession involves gathering information concerning individuals, locales, events, and issues. In theory such information informs people about their world, thereby strengthening “democracy.” This is exactly the reason why news organizations and individual journalists are tapped as assets by intelligence agencies and, as the experiences of German journalist Udo Ulfkotte (entry 47 below) suggest, this practice is at least as widespread today as it was at the height of the Cold War.

… Read the rest

Mutually Agreed Peace: Ending The Doctrine of Perpetual War

By Chaos_Dynamics on September 3, 2015 in Economics, News, Politics 0

Peace-a-Chance-Nuke Ethan Indigo Smith via Waking Times:

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” ~ Pericles

Everything is ultimately political these days, but everything is firstly biological. Yet, ignoring our biology and our humanity, the military-industrial complex, with all its toxic modalities, still claims to operate in our best interests.

The fact is, modern politics has become the imposition of institutional formality where individuals and truth once were. Increasingly favoring institutional privilege over individual rights, politicians on all sides of the game act to reinforce and advance the standing of corporations at the expense of our physical world. They embark on resource wars for profit, destroy our environment for energy, construe zealotry as patriotism, and steer a culture of social competition – not cooperation – all the while hiding behind veils of secrecy and meaningless rhetoric.

It does not matter what caste you were born into, whether you are wealthy or poor, victor or victim of the system; as far as the big picture goes, we live in a world where commerce, politics and war are dominant and inseparable forces.

… Read the rest

‘Refugees Welcome': As EU Slams Door on War Survivors, People Show Another Way

By Sarah Lazare on September 2, 2015 in Politics 0

This post originally appeared on Common Dreams. See more of Sarah Lazare’s articles here.

In response to the worst refugee crisis since World War II, European governments are tightening their borders and preparing to escalate military targeting of so-called human smugglers. But many people within the European Union are modeling a different approach by holding rallies and opening their homes to welcome refugees of war and poverty who survive the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

Over 20,000 people marched through Vienna on Monday to protest the horrific treatment of refugees, the week after the bodies of 71 people were found in a truck on a highway between the Hungarian border and Vienna. In what was billed as a welcome rally, marchers carried signs which read: “I don’t want Europe to be a mass grave.” The crowd included numerous parents carrying children and erupted into Austrian pop songs as they were cheered by enthusiastic passersby.… Read the rest

Militarism Run Amok: How Russians and Americans are Preparing Their Children for War

By Good German on September 1, 2015 in News, Op-Ed, Politics 0

Lawrence Wittner writes at CounterPunch:

In 1915, a mother’s protest against funneling children into war became the theme of a new American song, “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier.” Although the ballad attained great popularity, not everyone liked it. Theodore Roosevelt, a leading militarist of the era, retorted that the proper place for women who criticized war was “in a harem―and not in the United States.”

Roosevelt would be happy to learn that, a century later, preparing children for war continues unabated.

That’s certainly the case in today’s Russia, where thousands of government-funded clubs are producing what is called “military-patriotic education” for children. Accepting both boys and girls, these clubs teach them military exercises, some of which employ heavy military equipment. In a small town outside St. Petersburg, for example, children ranging from five to 17 years of age spend evenings learning how to fight and use military weapons.

… Read the rest

Captured Agency: How The FCC Is Dominated By The Industries It Regulates

By Lloyd Burrell on August 31, 2015 in Corporate Skeptics, News, Politics 0

A new report published by Harvard University claims the telecommunications industry has unlimited access to shape Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policies at the expense of public health, consumer safety, privacy, and consumer wallets.

The Corrupted Network

The report claims that the FCC, which is a government agency that is supposed to act as a regulator, sits at the heart of a “bipartisan Washington web of institutional corruption” that has for many years been championing corporate interests often at public expense. This industry stranglehold extends from:

Its well-placed campaign spending in Congress
Control of the FCC‘s Congressional oversight committees
Persistent agency lobbying.

The report goes even further by saying that in the case of wireless radiation health issues industry control extends beyond Congress and regulators, to basic scientific research.

Troubling Body Of Evidence Linked To Negative Health Effects

Whilst guardedly describing the EMF science as “controversial” the report admits that “a troubling body of evidence suggests exposure to even low emission levels at typical cellular frequencies between 300 MHz and 3 GHz can have a wide range of negative effects.”

The report goes on to cite some of the numerous studies that link wireless exposures to adverse health effects:

A 2002 study that compared the health of people living at different distances within 300 meters of cell towers with those living more than 300 meters away ―Results indicated increased symptoms the closer a person lived to a tower.… Read the rest

The making of an Islamic caliphate

By Mandelbrot on August 31, 2015 in Education, News, Politics, Religion 0

The situation in the Islamic world is very grave. I can tell you that when the situation with ISIS is over, we will see the rise of a very militant regime in Iraq. There are different paramilitary factions within Iraq battling ISIS, each of them following the belief that the word of their religious leader is holy, all power is vested in him and he makes law. When this militant state is erected in Iraq after the defeat of ISIS, it is probable that Iraq shall join a union with other Islamic nations, a sort of Islamic Soviet Union.

Yesterday I witnessed the extraordinary sight of hordes of suicide bombers, dressed in black and brandishing Kalashnikovs, marching through the slums of Baghdad.

Grouped into makeshift platoons – some wearing white shrouds to denote their readiness to die – they demonstrated their deadly skills in an astonishing display by ‘detonating’ the bombs they carried.

… Read the rest

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