Progressive Commentary Hour – 06.28.16

On the “Progressive Commentary Hour,” Gary speaks with Nicholas Schou and gets deep into the CIA’s games and we learn more about Gary Webb and how the CIA has its claws in everything. Here is a bio of Nicholas. Enjoy.

Nicholas Schou is an award winning investigative journalist whose articles have resulted in the release from prison of wrongly convicted people. He is currently the managing editor of OC Weekly, an alternative news publication in Southern California. In the past he has written for LA Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and other publications. Nick is the author of the best seller “Kill the Messenger” about the CIA’s cocaine operations and the courageous investigative reporting of Gary Webb. The book was made into a major movie featuring Jeremy Renner. His most recent publication is “Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood,” which has received excellent reviews by Peter Dale Scott, whistle blower John Kiriakou, Oliver Stone and others. His websites are FocusFeatures.com and OCWeekly.com

John Kiriakou – The Very Existence of the NSA Is Illegal

he Washington Post reported last week that the National Security Agency soon would begin providing local law enforcement with data on American citizens intercepted without probable cause and without a warrant. This data has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. It apparently will be used mostly in drug cases, although it could conceivably be used against any American for any reason. Most …

John Kiriakou – The [Redacted] Truth about the CIA

It’s no secret that the CIA isn’t always up front with the public about its operations. You may even be kept in the dark if you’re an elected official. But did you know the agency even lies to its own employees? That’s the subject of a recent Washington Post report on aheretofore unknown practice at the CIA called “eyewashing.” Before moving to the …

John Kiriakou – The Chinese in the US Virgin Islands, Be Concerned

Chinese oil company is poised to take over one of the 10 largest oil refineries in the world – a refinery in a U.S. territory – threatening livelihoods, the environment, and U.S. national security. The Virgin Islands Senate recently approved the sale of the HOVENSA oil refinery and storage facility for $420 million to ArchLight, the alter ego of Sinopec, …

John Kiriakou – Now This Is Really Criminal

Congress has created an average of 50 new crimes per year for the past decade. The media is fond of calling out our “do-nothing Congress.” Indeed, our national lawmakers’ last term was one of the least productive in history. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. According to author John Whitehead, Congress has created, on average, 50 new crimes …

John Kiriakou – Saudi Arabia and the UN’s Human Rights Scandal

audi Arabia has completed its first three months as Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council. If anything exemplifies the irrelevance of the United Nations and the body’s seeming inability to put its collective foot down on human rights abuses around the world, it is having Saudi Arabia as the leader of the UN body that is supposed to …

Paul Buchheit – 5 Depressing Signs America Just Isn’t the Country It Used to Be

While Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou are vilified [3] for revealing vital information about spying and bombing and torture, a man who conspired [4] with Goldman Sachs to make billions of dollars on the planned failure of subprime mortgages was honored by New York University [5] for his “Outstanding Contributions to Society.” This is one example of the distorted thinking leading to the demise of a …

Saddam-style: ISIS oil exports worth $500m a year ‘conducted through Turkey’

The lion’s share of Islamic State illegal oil exports is conducted through Turkey and Kurdish areas. Although Washington could curb the illegal traffic, it has chosen to focus on other issues, a former CIA officer told the Sputnik news agency. “It’s a question of priorities. They have never allocated enough resources to do so. Other goals and missions have been …

POLITICAL SMEARS IN U.S. NEVER CHANGE: THE NYT’S 1967 ATTACK ON MLK’S ANTI-WAR SPEECH

John Oliver’s Monday night interview of Edward Snowden — which in 24 hours has been viewed by 3 million people on YouTube alone — renewed all the standard attacks in Democratic circles accusing Snowden of being a traitor in cahoots with the Kremlin. What’s most striking about this — aside from the utter lack of evidence for any of it — is how identical it is to whatNixon officials said …

The CIA’s Double Standard

The  new poster child for the CIA’s double standard is none other than former CIA director General David Howell Petraeus, who escaped a jail sentence despite providing eight notebooks of highly classified information, including names of covert operatives, to his biographer-mistress Paula Broadwell.  The fact that he lied to the FBI about providing classified information to his mistress should have …