MANUEL MADRID – New Report Examines How Country’s Largest Banks Finance the Private Prison Industry

When Donald Trump won and private prison stocks surged, an unexpected cheer came from downtown Manhattan. It’s a great time to be in the jail business. A new report by the progressive advocacy group In the Public Interest reveals the troubling ties between Wall Street and the private prison industry, including hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and revolving …

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON – Donald Trump is bringing torture back: His entire foreign-policy team is comprised of big fans of the worst Bush-era practices

One of the most active conversations these days among political activists who oppose Donald Trump is about the extent to which Democrats should “work with” the new president, considering his white nationalist, authoritarian campaign and the people he has surrounded himself with. It’s both a strategic and a moral question, and the potential complications and rewards run in a number …

Vijay Prashad – Donald Trump’s Middle East Policy Is a Disaster

President Donald Trump will confront a major contradiction: on the one side, he has made noises about tearing up the US-Iran deal, and on the other side, he wants better relations with Russia. Can he have both? Incoherence has been at the heart of a great many of the policies articulated by Trump. He has moved away from his postures …

Robert Parry – New York Times: Apologist for Power

In recent years, The New York Times has behaved as if whatever the Establishment claims is true must be true, failing to show thoughtful skepticism whether the findings are coming from a congressional report, an intelligence assessment, a criminal investigation or even an outfit as disreputable as the National Football League. If some powerful institution asserts a conclusion, the Times …

Trends This Week – The Presidential Reality Show and the markets – 09.28.16

Global forecaster Gerald Celente discounts and explains why the notion that markets rise on the anticipation that a given presidential candidate can influence and even fix the economy. The campaigns, and especially the debates, are rich with attack lines and sound bites, but entirely void of solutions, ideas and the moral grounding necessary to reverse the downward spiral of the country.

Ilya Arkhipov – Putin Blasts Trump and Clinton for ‘Shock’ Campaign Tactics

Vladimir Putin blasted both Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s tactics on the campaign trail but refused to publicly take sides in a U.S. presidential race in which he’s been accused of secretly favoring the New York real estate billionaire. “They’re both using shock tactics, just each in their own way,” the Russian president said in an interview. “I don’t think …

Kristi Culpepper – Is Hillary Clinton Corrupt? An Archive of Financial Improprieties

There has been considerable commentary about media bias in this election, especially from folks on the right. I have had many rounds on Twitter with reporters (who cover politics and other areas) about the lack of scrutiny Clinton receives versus Trump. Granted, Trump invites media attention with his daily parade of own-goals. Coverage of Clinton, however, has become almost laughably …

Steven Rosenfeld – Trump’s Top Campaign Adviser Made Millions From Arms Dealers, Warlords, Dictators and Oligarchs

Donald Trump’s top presidential campaign advisor is a world-class thug. Paul Manafort, who Trump brought on in March as his Republican Convention strategist and recently elevated to campaign chairman, has worked for notorious arms dealers, warlords, dictators and international tycoons who have left trails of unrest, mayhem and death or looted their country’s treasuries, according to a new report by …

Progressive Commentary Hour – 02.09.16

Prof. Laurence Shoup is a historian who has been researching the background and agendas of the Council on Foreign Relations for 40 years. He has taught history, social science and international relations at the University of Illinois, San Francisco State University and other institutions. For five decades Dr. Shoup has been active in human rights struggles, protesting the Vietnam War, marching with Martin Luther King and participating in the union movement. He holds degrees from California State University and a doctorate from Northwestern University. He ran as a Green Party candidate in the city of Oakland and California state and has consulted for many nonprofit organizations. Laurence has written five books, his most recent being “Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics 1976-2014” His website is www.LaurenceShoup.com