We have seen how the Israel lobby dominates the US government. The lobby is aided in this by the way that it can also intimidate journalists. Philip Weiss writes about how reporters from the major western press admit that they self-censor reports from Israel so as not to be ‘savagely targeted’ by both the Israeli government and the Israel lobby that exists not just in the US but in other countries like the UK and Australia a well.
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North Korea has fired off yet another missile, triggering another round of belligerent rhetoric from the US and more joint military exercises with South Korea with Donald Trump also castigating China for doing nothing. Why is North Korea doing this? It is because they have learned the lesson that has been painfully clear as even US intelligence chiefs recognize – that giving up your nuclear capability is an invitation for the US and its allies to invade you.
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There is a new documentary The Problem with Apu by comedian Hari Kondabolu that looks at the role that the iconic character on The Simpsons has played in creating Indian stereotypes.
One of the truths of law enforcement is that if you give police extra powers that are supposed to be invoked only in extreme situations, they will find ways to use those powers more routinely, either to enrich themselves (as we have seen with civil asset forfeiture) or to show off their power and might, as we seen with the use of surplus military style equipment that has been distributed to local police departments. SWAT team that are supposed to be used in extremely dangerous situations are instead used indiscriminately because police love the drama and visibility of SWAT raids. It looks good on the nightly news.
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Her correspondent Michael Rubens tries to understand why Republicans are so infatuated with tax cuts for the rich and with economist Arthur Laffer’s theory that such cuts will lead to massive economic growth.
Can you guess if this man (who was pulled over by a police officer for a minor violation that required him to fix something on his car) is white or black and what kind of location (poor or well-to-do) he resides in? The driver actually tells you the answers in the video but I’m sure that you would have guessed long before he does so.
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We see that the new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has claimed his first high-profile victim. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus has been fired and replaced by the head of Homeland Security John Kelly. If you are keeping score at home, others who have departed within six months include the national security adviser Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, press secretary Sean Spicer, and press aide Michael Short. The scale of this kind of turnover does not happen by chance. It happens because of rot at the very top.
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While all attention has been focused on the Obamacare repeal drama, Russia has finally retaliated against the US for president Obama’s expulsion of Russian diplomats and seizure of properties that he did in the waning days of his tenure.
Russia has retaliated to new US sanctions by telling Washington to cut its diplomatic staff to 455 and barring the use of some properties.
The new US embassy staffing level would be the same as at Russia’s embassy in Washington.
The Russian foreign ministry also said it was seizing holiday properties and a warehouse used by US diplomats.
In the wee hours of this morning, the US Senate voted down the ‘skinny repeal’ of Obamacare bill and then adjourned for the August recess without having achieved their goal of starting the process of dismantling Obamacare. The final vote was 51-49 with three Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain) joining all 48 Democrats in voting against the measure. As one could have predicted, McCain has hogged media praise for his gosh-darned maverickiness in voting against his party at the last minute while Collins and Murkowski, not to mention the 48 Democratic senators who have long held firm, are largely ignored.
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Ryan Lizza reports on the bizarre phone conversation that he had with the new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci that has ricocheted around the media. Scaramucci seems to not have outgrown his frat boy days because he likes to be known by his nickname of ‘the Mooch’. What kind of adult actually revels in such an adolescent label? I bet even Henry Winkler hates to be called ‘the Fonz’. But no doubt the Mooch is a great fit with his frat boy boss ‘the Donnie’ and they are always snapping towels at each other and giving each other noogies and wedgies.
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