Rahm Emanuel, the Face of Democratic Fascism, Deserves to Lose

hicago’s mayoral election may look like a local event, and the media mostly cover it as a local event, but the presence of a large, diverse, and energized opposition demanding change on basic issues of fairness and justice gives the city’s local result a potentially important, totemic meaning for the country. The outcome of the April 7 runoff election, which includes 40% …

Confronting Industrialism

Some of the most important questions confronting us are: what should we do about this culture’s industrial wastes, from greenhouse gases to pesticides to ocean microplastics? Can the capitalists clean up the messes they create? Or is the whole industrial system beyond reform? The answers become clear with a little context. Let’s start the discussion of context with two riddles …

Leid Stories – 03.05.15

Venezuela In Crisis: Chavez Coup 2.0 in the Making? Each day the news out of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, it seems, gets worse. A shattered economy, out-of-control inflation, pervasive food shortages and mounting protests in the streets have kept President Nicolás Maduro on edge and on the defensive putting out fires since taking the country’s helm after the death …

Peak Meaninglessness

Last week’s discussion of externalities—costs of doing business that get dumped onto the economy, the community, or the environment, so that those doing the dumping can make a bigger profit—is, I’m glad to say, not the first time this issue has been raised recently.  The long silence that closed around such things three decades ago is finally cracking; they’re being mentioned …

White House Petition Against Mandatory Vaccination Reaches 100,000 Signature Threshold — Will Obama Respond?

The petition up on WhiteHouse.gov against mandatory vaccinations — the one the White House tried to bury — has, at the time of writing this, reached well over the 100,000 signatures needed by March 6th in order to supposedly garner a response from our president’s administration. The petition is short, sweet, and to the point: No human being should be FORCED to be vaccinated against …

Austerity Seen as Culprit in Sharp Rise in Suicide Rate Among Middle-Aged People

I’m surprised, but perhaps I shouldn’t be, that a recent study hasn’t gotten the attention it warrants. It points to a direct connection between the impact of the crisis and a marked increase in suicide rates among the middle aged. This link seems entirely logical, given how many citizens found themselves whacked by a one-two punch of job loss or …

The Real Story on Iran, US, China and Russia

The real story is, and will continue to be, how Iran, the key power in Southwest Asia, is about to be positioned in the nonstop complex ballet between the US, Russia and China. That’s one of the key vectors of the New Great Game in Eurasia. The real story was never about how warmonger Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, a foreign …

Ignore the Drumbeat of Doom, the NSA’s Call Records Program Didn’t Stop a Single Terrorist Attack

The director of US national intelligence, James Clapper, spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday and warned that if the Patriot Act was not renewed, lawmakers would be to blame if another 9/11-style attack occurs. (Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) Do you hear that? It’s starting. The predictable drumbeat of dire warnings about what will happen if …

Obama Lied About Obamacare

Obamacare Increases Insurance-Rate by 87.7%/85.4%, or 2.7% Since 2008 Obamacare Increases Insureds from 85.4% up to 87.7% Candidate Obama’s Promise  of “Universal” Meant 100% Obamacare started being available on 1 October 2013 and has now been available for 16 months. When candiate Obama was running for the Presidency, he promised “universal coverage,” which is what exists in virtually all other …

How American “Free Enterprise Capitalism” rips us all off

Eight of the biggest U.S. technology companies added a combined $69 billion to their stockpiled offshore profits over the past year, even as some corporations in other industries felt pressure to bring cash back home. Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and five other tech firms now account for more than a fifth of the $2.10 trillion in profits that …