EARLIER THIS year, West Point’s Defense and Strategic Studies Program invited me to participate in a panel discussion on the future of warfare. For historians, and particularly for Vietnam War students like me, such requests seem fraught with peril. Given the contentious debate that continues to surround America’s involvement in Vietnam, now fifty years after Lyndon Johnson’s fateful decision to …
The Democrats May Have Just Aligned Themselves With Test and Punish – We Are Doomed – Steven Singer
Almost every Democrat in the US Senate just voted to keep Test and Punish. But Republicans defeated them. I know. I feel like I just entered a parallel universe, too. But that’s what happened. Some facts: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a disaster. It took the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – a federal law designed to ensure all schools get …
When a Black Swan Flies Over Wall Street’s House of Cards By Jerry Kroth
A black swan is Wall Street lexicon for an unpredicted event. The author of that concept, Nassim Taleb, opines that most of the major moves in stock market history originated as black swan events coming out of nowhere, with a random, stochastic disorderliness that pushes markets into wild gyrations and implosion. But subliminally, everyday, CNBC and Bloomberg market mavens reassure …
The Bernie Bubble: How Long Will It Last? By Steven Rosenfeld
How long will the Bernie bubble last? Right now, Bernie Sanders is drawing [3] bigger crowds than any other presidential candidate. His economic populism [4] is bringing in millions in contributions that will carry him into next year’s opening caucuses and primaries. In short, Bernie has been campaigning in a way that has served him well for years—as a blunt retail politician whose calls [5] for economic fairness and …
The Anglo-American empire is preparing for resource war – Nafeez Ahmed
Last week, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff released the new National Military Strategy of the United States of America, 2015. The report’s main theme is that “globalisation” and “demographics” are pushing forward trends that are undermining US military superiority, including its capability to sustain “international order”. It sets out how the US military intends to keep ahead of those trends. Although …
Hillary’s Neocon Legacy: Coups, Dictators, Corruption, Chaos, Executions and Assassination By David William Pear
Hillary Clinton has on her liberal mask. She is all smiles and is trying hard to “out Bernie” Bernie Sanders. She is hitting all the populist talking points about helping others: Immigration, campaign finance reform, voting rights, gay marriage, economic equality, and middle class families. But she has accumulated a lot of baggage over her political career of 40 years.Hillaryand …
Greece Says “NO” to Austerity and Their Global Loan Shark Predators By Dr. Gary G. Kohls
Predatory lenders “work to bankrupt the countries that received those loans so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would be easy targets when we needed favors, including military bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural resources.” – John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” I’ve been on the side of …
Feds Awarded Colorado Charter Schools $46 Million Because of “Hiring and Firing” Rules By Jonas Persson
Between 2010 and 2015, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded Colorado $46 million under the Charter Schools Program. Part of the reason the state landed the competitive grant was that charters are free to hire unlicensed teachers and then fire them at will, documents reviewed by CMD show. Designed to create and expand “high-quality” charter schools, the quarter-billion-dollar-a-year program …
Sanders Bullshit Meter Goes Off the Charts in Portland, Maine By Bruce K. Gagnon
I spent two hours yesterday holding a banner (joined by eight others with signs and a 2nd banner) outside the Bernie Sanders for President rally in Portland, Maine that reportedly drew about 9,000 people. It was an impressive crowd for someone who once claimed he was a ‘socialist’. People began lining up before 5:00 pm for the 7:00 event and …
Fossil Fuel Funding Boycott Puts Spotlight on Clinton Campaign – Lauren McCauley
Progressive groups have a challenge for presidential hopefuls: Put your money where your mouth is on the climate, and swear off contributions from fossil fuel companies. To affirm their commitment to taking on the climate crisis and “standing up to the corrupting influence of fossil-fuel companies,” the campaign, launched on Monday by The Nation and 350 Action, is calling on 2016 presidential …