Stephen Lendman

It's long past time America was held accountable.

Give credit when deserved. It happens all too seldom. The Guardian is an establishment publication. It's been around since 1821. It's credentials are well-known. It published other notable scoops. It was out in front on Rupert Murdoch's News International phone hacking scandal. It caused an uproar in parliament. Related police corruption was revealed. So did information about Murdoch's son James, as well as other News Corp executives and editors having private meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron never disclosed.

Guardian contributors told readers what they need to know. They told enough to matter. They're reporting responsibly on Snowden. They're doing what journalists are supposed to do - their job. They broke news about Snowden's revelations. Follow-up reports explained more. Expect others ahead.

A previous article discussed Guardian editorial opinion on Snowden. It bears repeating. It headlined "Edward Snowden: in defence of whistleblowers," saying: He's no traitor. America's First Amendment matters. It "prevents prior restraint and affords a considerable measure of protection to free speech."

Obama violates its letter and spirit. He's done so by

"show(ing) a dismaying aggression in not only criminalising leaking and whistleblowing, but also recently placing reporters under surveillance - tracking them and pulling their phone and email logs in order to monitor their sources for stories that were patently of public importance."

Whistleblower Thomas Drake revealed

"a vast, systemic institutionalized, industrial-scale Leviathan surveillance state that has clearly gone far beyond the original mandate to deal with terrorism."

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Stephen Lendman

He's waging war on freedom. He wants it destroyed.

Obama represents the worst of rogue governance. He does so lawlessly. He serves monied interests. They own him. Whatever they want they get. He violates core rule of law principles. He mocks democratic rule.

He looted the nation's wealth. He handed it to Wall Street, war profiteers, and other corporate crooks. He destroyed hard won labor rights. He wrecked the economy. He lets popular needs go begging. He ignores growing poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and despair. He's commodifying education. He wants it made another business profit center.

He targets Muslims, Latinos, African Americans, environmental activists, animal rights defenders, truth-tellers and whistleblowers. He pronounced Bradley Manning guilty by accusation. Doing so assures conviction. His trial continues secretly. It reflects the worst of kangaroo court justice. It violates constitutional law. He governs by diktat.

He's waging multiple imperial wars. He's doing so on humanity. He plans others. He permits lawless torture. Global renditions persist on his watch. He institutionalized tyranny. He authorized indefinitely detaining anyone called a national security threat without charge or trial (including US citizens). He heads America's Murder, Inc. agenda. He prioritizes targeted assassinations anywhere. He authorized killing US citizens abroad. He deployed special forces death squads globally. They operate covertly in 120 or more countries.

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Johannes Stern & Alex Lantier

The ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, following four days of nationwide mass protests, has placed power in the hands of a military junta which is committed to the defense of the economic interests of the country’s ruling class and to the geo-political aims of American imperialism.

The removal of the hated Mursi regime has evoked jubilation. However sincere and deeply felt this sentiment may be, the fact is that Mursi’s overthrow has placed the army, not the masses, in power. None of the essential demands that motivated the mass protests—for decent jobs, livable wages, adequate social services, and democratic rights—will be met by the military regime.

The military has intervened for one overriding purpose: to pre-empt and suppress the growing political movement of the Egyptian working class. The coalition government that it unveiled last night is in no way a genuine expression of the democratic strivings of the working class. Rather, the new ruling structure is a sinister coalition of reactionary forces, which includes long-time henchmen of Hosni Mubarak, various Islamic politicians, and several liberal politicians with close connections to the US-based International Monetary Fund. None of the individuals and organizations has either a mass social base or advances a popular social program.

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Bill Van Auken

The forcing down Tuesday night of President Evo Morales’s jet on suspicion that it was carrying Edward Snowden to asylum in Bolivia is part of a descent into imperialist lawlessness unprecedented since the 1930s.

France, Portugal, Italy and Spain all refused to allow the plane to cross their air space, rescinding approval of its flight plan after it had been airborne for three hours and forcing it to make an emergency landing, with its fuel running low, in Vienna, Austria.

In La Paz, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the French embassy, throwing stones, burning the French flag and shouting, “Hypocrite France!” As if to prove their point, France’s Socialist Party President François Hollande claimed Wednesday that it had all been a misunderstanding, and had he known Morales was aboard, the plane would have had no problem.

The lives of Morales and other senior Bolivian officials were placed in imminent danger as they returned from a summit of gas-exporting nations in Moscow, where the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor has been trapped in an airport transit zone for 11 days, with no country yet willing to receive him. Afterward, the Bolivian president was essentially held hostage in Vienna until the next morning, when the European countries lifted the flight ban.

These methods amount to state terrorism and air piracy. While they were carried out by European governments, there is not a shred of doubt that their real author was the Obama administration in Washington, which is waging a relentless, extralegal manhunt for Snowden in retaliation for his exposure of the NSA’s secret and unconstitutional spying program against millions of people in the United States and all over the world.

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Mike Adams

Throughout human history, most slavery has been enforced physically -- with whips and chains. You either did what you were told or they beat you into submission.

Most modern people mistakenly believe slavery has been largely eradicated across our world. They don't see people shackled in chains or being ordered what to do by their owners. Modern culture no longer accepts overt slavery, right? ...Or does it?

As it turns out, slavery is alive and well on our planet, and its shackles are made of numbers, not steel. Those who are enslaved under this new system are people who fail to understand simple math: numbers, compounding interest, loans, investments and so on. You show me a person who can't do math, and I'll show you someone who functions as a slave to the system. In this article, I show you how to escape mathematical slavery and live as a free person. But first, you need to understand how mathematical slavery really works. Let's begin with WAGES.

Wages - There's a good reason why people who earn incomes reported on IRS W-2 forms are often called "wage slaves." It's not a derogatory term; it's more of a cry for help. "Help! I'm a slave to my paycheck and I can't get ahead!"

There's a reason you can't get ahead: the banks and the government have fine-tuned your "payments" to them (taxes, loans, fees, etc.) in order to extract the maximum amount from your paycheck while leaving you so little of your own that you can never get ahead enough to stop working.

Your car payment and house payment, for example, are precisely calculated to make sure you can't pay either of them off ahead of schedule. They're mathematically selected to guarantee you can only "squeak by" and barely pay more than the monthly interest, thereby extending your loan principles into the far distant future.

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Stephen Lendman

Snowden acted heroically. He did so at great risk. He exposed lawless US spying. He represents a noble tradition. Others did before him. Allies do it now. Legions more are needed. Hopefully they'll be emboldened to help. Doing so exposes fascist state governance. People need to know. America's by far the worst. Activists want Snowden helped. More on that below. He released a statement, saying:

"One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful. On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic 'wheeling and dealing' over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions. This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me. For decades the United States of America has been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum. In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be. I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many. - Edward Joseph Snowden"

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John Glaser

Obama is trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support for foreign security forces that commit human rights violations.

As it continues to proclaim its commitment to human rights and democracy abroad, the Obama administration is openly trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support for foreign security forces that routinely commit human rights violations.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced its decision to directly send weapons to the rebel fighters in Syria; a departure from standing policies that authorized direct military training of select rebels and the delivery of arms from countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar via the CIA.

The president claims the arms will only be delivered to “vetted” rebel groups, avoiding the hundreds of other rebel factions said by United Nations investigators to have committed war crimes. But it’s virtually impossible to funnel weapons into a chaotic civil war without them getting into the wrong hands.

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James Petras

Introduction: In an electoral system, run by and for a corporate oligarchy, deception and demagoguery are essential elements - entertaining the people while working for the wealthy.

Every US President has engaged, in one fashion or another, in ‘play acting’ to secure popular approval, neutralize hostility and distract voters from the reactionary substance of their foreign and domestic policies.

Every substantive policy is accompanied by a ‘down home’ folksy message to win public approval. This happened with President ‘Jimmy’ Carter’s revival of large-scale proxy wars in Afghanistan in the post-Viet Nam War period; Ronald Reagan’s genocidal wars in Central America, George Bush Sr.’s savaging of Iraq in the First Gulf War; ‘Bill’ Clinton’s decimation of social welfare in the US while bombing civilians in Yugoslavia and deregulating Wall Street; George Bush Jr.’s invasion and partition of Iraq and Afghanistan, the attempted coup in Venezuela and massive tax cuts for the rich; and Barack Obama’s staggering bailout of the biggest Wall Street speculators, unprecedented launching of five consecutive wars, and arrest and deportation of millions of immigrant workers. Each President has elaborated a style in order to ingratiate himself with the public while pursuing his reactionary agenda.

In rhetoric, appearance and in public persona, it is ‘de rigueur’ for US Presidents to present themselves as an ‘everyman’ while committing political actions – including war crimes worthy of prosecution.

Each President, in his ‘play acting’, develops a style suitable to the times. They constantly strive to overcome the public’s suspicion and potential hostility to their overt and covert policies designed to build empire as domestic conditions deteriorate. However, not all play acting is the same: each President’s ‘populist’ style in defense of oligarchic interests has its characteristic nuances.

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Stephen Lendman

NSA spies globally. Enormous amounts of meta-data and data content are collected. It's been ongoing for decades. Post-9/11, it intensified. It's out-of-control today. It's lawless. It's menacing. It persists.

Spying domestically isn't for national security. Nor is monitoring allies. It's about control. It's for economic advantage. It's to be one up on foreign competitors. It's for information used advantageously in trade, political, and military relations.

On June 30, London's Guardian headlined "New NSA leaks show how US is bugging its European allies. Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers reveal 38 targets including EU, France, Italy. Berlin accuses Washington of cold war tactics."

One document includes 38 embassies and missions. It calls them "targets." Extraordinary spying methods are used. Bugs are planted in electronic communications gear. They monitor cable transmissions. They do so with "specialised antennae." Targets include EU nations, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey. China, Russia, Iran, and numerous other countries are spied on intensively. One bugging method is codenamed "Dropmire." According to a 2007 document, it's "implanted on the Cryptofax at the EU embassy, DC." It refers to "a bug placed in a commercially available encrypted fax machine used at the mission. (It's) used to send cables back to foreign affairs ministries in European capitals."

NSA spying disclosures long pre-date Snowden's revelations. He connected important dots. He provided additional information. He made millions aware globally. Previously they didn't know. America's allies and enemies do. Perhaps they now know more. Maybe they criticized privately. Likely they were silent. They do the same things.

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Eric Peters

Photo: Hoboken is superhero saturated and I personally love a bit of the eccentricity in the Mile Square. Over this weekend, Hoboken Spiderman was pulled over by the Hoboken Police Department and issued a ticket or tickets according to an anonymous source. As a result of being pulled over the diminutive super hero had to unmask himself in order to deal with the officer. It was mentioned by the source that the police officer gave Hoboken Spiderman a ticket for driving his electric vehicle without a license and a helmet. It is The Boken’s understanding that such a small electric vehicle does not require a motorcycle license. We are unsure if a regular driver’s license is required to operate an electric bike of this size and power.

Few of us like to interact with cops – like scabies, they are best avoided entirely. But when do you have a choice – and when don’t you have a choice about interacting with a costumed enforcer? When are you legally required to identify yourself? To produce ID? Laws vary, state to state, but here are some general things to know:

■ The (so-called) “consensual” interaction

This generally applies to pedestrians and so on – people out in public, but not operating a motor vehicle. A cop may – like anyone else – approach you at any time and ask you questions. He is not required to have “reasonable suspicion” a crime has been committed – much less “probable cause” suggesting that a crime has been committed.

Most people – because they have been taught to defer to people wearing state-issued costumes – will answer a cop’s questions, even though they would rather not – and probably would not have, if the person asking were just an ordinary citizen as opposed to a costumed enforcer. They feel pressured. Some will show their IDs, if asked – and even grant permission to let the cop rifle through their possessions.

Arguably, all of this is less than consensual, real-world-wise, if not legally speaking. Because it can be intimidating to find yourself face to face with one of the state’s costumed (and armed) enforcers. Absent the costume (and the gun) you might be inclined to tell the person to piss off and leave you the hell alone.

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Connor Boyack

An independent thinker is an incredible threat to the state.

For this reason, statists throughout history have attempted, through propaganda and brute force, to shape and subdue society by controlling the education of the rising generation. As Hitler himself said, “He alone who owns the youth, gains the future.”

Of course, the oppressive state is not threatened by an ignorant, innocent, and vulnerable child. The child is no match for the state’s subtle tactics, wherein it wraps its power grabs in emotionally persuasive language. A child does not have the wisdom and experience to understand history and recognize its repeatedly occurring patterns today. He is not aware of how despots and central planners have worked throughout the ages, and therefore is unable to resist their efforts in his own life.

As I explain in Latter-day Responsibility, the nuclear family has long been the interposing institution to protect children from the state. Strong families defend their young from the state’s attempts to snatch them away—physically, intellectually, or morally. They provide an environment in which the innocent child can better learn truth, and prepare to combat falsehood.

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Stephen Lendman

America governs lawlessly. Out-of-control rogues run things. Conditions go from bad to worse. Tyranny threatens everyone. So does possible global war. Fear-mongering, saber rattling, hot wars, proxy ones, drone ones, geopolitical ones, financial ones, anti-populist ones, mass incarceration, censorship, lawless sanctions, subversion, sabotage, targeted assassinations, mass murder, cyberwar, and horrific draconian harshness reflect out-of control governance gone mad. Lying is official policy. So is state terror. Independent governments aren't tolerated. They're targeted. Regime change is prioritized. World peace is threatened. Humanity's menaced. Survival's uncertain.

War is called peace. State-sponsored assassins are called freedom fighters. Real ones are called terrorists.

Capital has divine rights. Monied interests run things. Plundering the earth for profit is prioritized. Popular needs go begging. Social America's dying. Poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and human misery go unaddressed. Corporate rights alone matter.

Democracy's a four-letter word. Out-of-control power is unaccountable. Rule of law principles are mocked. Tyranny's the law of the land. Advancing America's imperium matters most.

Workers are exploited. They're unprotected. Human and civil rights are sacrificed. Wealth, power and privilege are served. Militarized control supports them. Nonbelievers aren't tolerated.

Torture is official policy. Gitmo is America's public face. Innocent detainees suffer. So do many others. Thousands of political prisoners fill America's gulag. It's the world's largest. It operates globally. Mercy isn't in Washington's vocabulary.

Diktat power rules. Police state terror threatens everyone. Freedom's fast disappearing. Dissent's not tolerated. Heroic whistleblowers are criminalized. Even retired four star generals aren't safe.

Journalists are spied on. So is everyone worldwide. Big Brother watches everyone. It's no longer fiction.

Censorship prevents truth and full disclosure. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Students are debt entrapped for life. Millions have no futures. An entire generation's lost.

Madness substitutes for sanity. Unconscionable wrongdoing persists. America's unsafe to live in. Oblivion awaits. Most people are too out of touch to notice. Others are dismissive.

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John Pilger

It is in popular culture that the fraudulent “ideal” of America as morally superior, a “leader of the free world”, has been most effective.

In his book, 'Propaganda', published in 1928, Edward Bernays wrote: "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."

The American nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays invented the term "public relations" as a euphemism for state propaganda. He warned that an enduring threat to the invisible government was the truth-teller and an enlightened public.

In 1971, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg leaked US government files known as The Pentagon Papers, revealing that the invasion of Vietnam was based on systematic lying. Four years later, Frank Church conducted sensational hearings in the US Senate: one of the last flickers of American democracy. These laid bare the full extent of the invisible government: the domestic spying and subversion and warmongering by intelligence and "security" agencies and the backing they received from big business and the media, both conservative and liberal.

Speaking about the National Security Agency (NSA), Senator Church said: "I know that the capacity that there is to make tyranny in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law... so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

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