Expat Files – 01.22.17

#1- Pornography in Latin America: How much porn can there be in a 98% conservative Christian Culture and its pernicious environment? You’ll be surprised. #2 When Preppers finally get a brain: In time, the more intelligent of the prepper contingency do finally figure out hunkering down in the basement just ain’t gonna cut it. That’s when they get serious and …

Daniel Lazare – How Obama Spread the Mideast Fires

With President Obama down to less than two weeks in office, everyone is busy assessing his legacy. So let’s begin with the Arab world. Not since the Vietnam War, we can safely say, has an administration left a region in ruins the way Obama has left the Middle East (although it’s true that George W. Bush contributed mightily to the mess). But …

PAUL STREET – Beyond Anti-Trump

Let’s be careful about the phrase “anti-Trump coalition.”  The phrase leaves the door open for everything being about the Big Bad Donald and for progressives to get sucked/suckered once again into the ruling class politics of the Democrats. We need to take on the unelected deep state dictatorships of money, class, race, empire, militarism, sexism, and ecocide – the reigning oppression …

Jon Queally – Majority of Americans Unconvinced Trump Can Handle Nation’s Top Job

With his inauguration now less than three weeks away, a new survey shows a majority of the American people are far from confident that Donald Trump, a former reality television star who won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, is up to the major tasks entrusted to the President of the United States. …

Chris Hedges – The Mafia State

Systems of governance that are seized by a tiny cabal become mafia states. The early years—Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in the United States—are marked by promises that the pillage will benefit everyone. The later years—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—are marked by declarations that things are getting better even though they are getting worse. The final years—Donald Trump—see the …

MELVIN GOODMAN – Trump’s Campaign of Militarization

President-elect Donald Trump’s authoritarian style and personality, which attracted an overwhelmingly authoritarian following, is manifesting itself in the selection of his national security team.  The appointment of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the national security adviser is particularly worrisome because of the general’s lack of experience in strategic policy and his controversial stewardship as the director of the Defense Intelligence …

Lauren McCauley – Meet the Islamophobic Black-Ops Master Likely to Head Trump’s National Security Team

Amid the many rumored reports of President-elect Donald Trump’s likely cabinet picks, one name that has risen to the surface is seriously concerning observers of the foreign policy arena. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is the “leading contender” to become Trump’s national security advisor, one of the top posts in the White House, MSNBC reported Thursday. “A source familiar …

When The Shouting Stops

I’ve been trying for some time now to understand the reaction of Hillary Clinton’s supporters to her defeat in last week’s election. At first, I simply dismissed it as another round of the amateur theatrics both parties indulge in whenever they lose the White House. Back in 2008, as most of my readers will doubtless recall, Barack Obama’s victory was …

Jessica Shankleman – China Tells Trump That Climate Change Is No Hoax It Invented

China couldn’t have invented global warming as a hoax to harm U.S. competitiveness because it was Donald Trump’s Republican predecessors who started climate negotiations in the 1980s, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said. U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush supported the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in initiating global warming talks even before China knew that negotiations …