Dylan Charles – The Deep State Institutions That Couldn’t Care Less Who You Vote For

The American people are again fully enthralled in the puppet show of national elections, and while arguments grow ever-more heated and partisan, the fact remains that no matter which way we vote there will remain a deeper state which represents the real and unchanging forces driving the destiny of this country and of the world. Even veteran politician such as the …

Bill Moyers – We, the Plutocrats vs. We, the People

Sixty-six years ago this summer, on my 16th birthday, I went to work for the daily newspaper in the small East Texas town of Marshall where I grew up. It was a good place to be a cub reporter — small enough to navigate but big enough to keep me busy and learning something every day.  I soon had a …

Rob Verchick – Our Energy Grid Is Incredibly Vulnerable

When I dream about Hurricane Katrina (and I still do), it always starts with the refrigerators. Kenmore, GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Amana. Hundreds of thousands of these abandoned appliances stood duct-taped shut on the curbs and yards of homes throughout New Orleans. Many were spray-painted with whimsical or forbidding messages. “Funky. Not in a good way.” “Free Beer and Maggots.” “Smells …

Andrea Germanos – In ‘Tacit Admission’ of Cruelty, DHS Says It Too May End For-Profit Prisons

On the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) “important and groundbreakingdecision” to phase out the use of private prisons, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just signaled that it may follow in those footsteps—a move that would heed human rights advocates’ call for the agency to end “prison profiteers in our inhumane immigration system.” In a statement …

Children Caught In Sweep as Feds Begin Mass Deportations

The New Year was just hours old when the administration of President Barack Obama began rounding up and deporting at least 121 people, some reportedly as young as four years old, presumably back to the drug wars and violence they are fleeing in predominantly Central American countries. The coordinated raids over the weekend focused mostly in Georgia, Texas, and North …

EXCLUSIVE: TSA Chief Sacked for 95% Failure Rate By JUSTIN FISHEL, PIERRE THOMAS, MIKE LEVINE and JACK DATE

The series of tests were conducted by Homeland Security Red Teams who pose as passengers, setting out to beat the system. According to officials briefed on the results of a recent Homeland Security Inspector General’s report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with Red Team members repeatedly able to get potential weapons through checkpoints. In one test an undercover agent …

Smart Show – 05.11.15

Jamie McIntyre is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist for Al Jazeera America.  Jamie joined Al Jazeera America from NPR, where he served as a newscaster for “All Things Considered.” Prior to that, James was the Senior Pentagon correspondent for CNN. You can find Al Jazeera America in southern California on Time Warner Channel 445, AT&T U-Verse 1219, DirecTV 347 and Dish Channel …