January 4, 2016

Chris Hedges: The American Empire: Murder Inc.

from truthdig:


The American Empire: Murder Inc.

Posted on Jan 3, 2016
By Chris Hedges


Terror, intimidation and violence are the glue that holds empire together. Aerial bombardment, drone and missile attacks, artillery and mortar strikes, targeted assassinations, massacres, the detention of tens of thousands, death squad killings, torture, wholesale surveillance, extraordinary renditions, curfews, propaganda, a loss of civil liberties and pliant political puppets are the grist of our wars and proxy wars.

Countries we seek to dominate, from Indonesia and Guatemala to Iraq and Afghanistan, are intimately familiar with these brutal mechanisms of control. But the reality of empire rarely reaches the American public. The few atrocities that come to light are dismissed as isolated aberrations. The public is assured what has been uncovered will be investigated and will not take place again. The goals of empire, we are told by a subservient media and our ruling elites, are virtuous and noble. And the vast killing machine grinds forward, feeding, as it has always done, the swollen bank accounts of defense contractors and corporations that exploit natural resources and cheap labor around the globe.

There are very few journalists who have covered empire with more courage, tenacity and integrity than Allan Nairn. For more than three decades, he has reported from Central America, East Timor, Palestine, South Africa, Haiti and Indonesia—where Indonesian soldiers fractured his skull and arrested him. His reporting on the Indonesian government massacres in East Timor saw him branded a “threat to national security” and officially banned from occupied East Timor. Nairn returned clandestinely to East Timor on numerous occasions. His dogged reporting of torture and killing of civilians by the Indonesian military contributed to the U.S. Congress suspending military aid to Jakarta in 1993. He exposed U.S. complicity with death squads and paramilitary organizations carrying out murderous rampages in El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti. During the 2014 presidential elections in Indonesia, where he spends much of his time, Nairn was threatened with arrest for exposing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s role in atrocities. Nairn’s reporting on army massacres was an important component in the trial of former Guatemalan President Efrain Ríos Montt. Gen. Montt ordered the killing of over 1,700 people in the Ixil region of the country in the early 1980s and was convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. The conviction was later overturned.

Nairn, whom I spoke with in New York, reaches back to the genocide carried out against Native Americans, the institution of slavery and the murder of hundreds of workers and labor union organizers in the 19th and early 20th century to explain the roots of American imperial violence. He noted that, although wholesale massacres have become taboo on American soil in recent generations, the FBI was carrying out selective assassinations of black radicals, including Fred Hampton, in the 1960s. And police show little constraint in gunning down unarmed people of color in poor communities. ........................(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_american_empire_murder_inc_20160103

January 4, 2016

Chris Hedges: The American Empire: Murder Inc.

from truthdig:


The American Empire: Murder Inc.

Posted on Jan 3, 2016
By Chris Hedges


Terror, intimidation and violence are the glue that holds empire together. Aerial bombardment, drone and missile attacks, artillery and mortar strikes, targeted assassinations, massacres, the detention of tens of thousands, death squad killings, torture, wholesale surveillance, extraordinary renditions, curfews, propaganda, a loss of civil liberties and pliant political puppets are the grist of our wars and proxy wars.

Countries we seek to dominate, from Indonesia and Guatemala to Iraq and Afghanistan, are intimately familiar with these brutal mechanisms of control. But the reality of empire rarely reaches the American public. The few atrocities that come to light are dismissed as isolated aberrations. The public is assured what has been uncovered will be investigated and will not take place again. The goals of empire, we are told by a subservient media and our ruling elites, are virtuous and noble. And the vast killing machine grinds forward, feeding, as it has always done, the swollen bank accounts of defense contractors and corporations that exploit natural resources and cheap labor around the globe.

There are very few journalists who have covered empire with more courage, tenacity and integrity than Allan Nairn. For more than three decades, he has reported from Central America, East Timor, Palestine, South Africa, Haiti and Indonesia—where Indonesian soldiers fractured his skull and arrested him. His reporting on the Indonesian government massacres in East Timor saw him branded a “threat to national security” and officially banned from occupied East Timor. Nairn returned clandestinely to East Timor on numerous occasions. His dogged reporting of torture and killing of civilians by the Indonesian military contributed to the U.S. Congress suspending military aid to Jakarta in 1993. He exposed U.S. complicity with death squads and paramilitary organizations carrying out murderous rampages in El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti. During the 2014 presidential elections in Indonesia, where he spends much of his time, Nairn was threatened with arrest for exposing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s role in atrocities. Nairn’s reporting on army massacres was an important component in the trial of former Guatemalan President Efrain Ríos Montt. Gen. Montt ordered the killing of over 1,700 people in the Ixil region of the country in the early 1980s and was convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. The conviction was later overturned.

Nairn, whom I spoke with in New York, reaches back to the genocide carried out against Native Americans, the institution of slavery and the murder of hundreds of workers and labor union organizers in the 19th and early 20th century to explain the roots of American imperial violence. He noted that, although wholesale massacres have become taboo on American soil in recent generations, the FBI was carrying out selective assassinations of black radicals, including Fred Hampton, in the 1960s. And police show little constraint in gunning down unarmed people of color in poor communities. ........................(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_american_empire_murder_inc_20160103

January 3, 2016

Wow, ABC News. Just, wow.

Saturday night, while good Americans were enjoying the blessings of liberty on the fruited plains of the best country God ever created that isn’t named France or Spain or even Canada, this happened:

Militia members protesting a federal prison sentence for two Oregon ranchers convicted on charges of setting fire to federal land have occupied the headquarters of a national park.

The protesters include Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s son, Ammon, and two of his brothers. Also among them is Ryan Payne, who organized snipers to aim weapons at federal officers during the Bundy Ranch standoff last year.

They told OregonLive that they are accompanied by about 150 others and are hunkered down at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. The group is described by reporter Les Zaitz as “hard core militia” who adopted the ranchers’ cause as their own.

“The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds,” Ammon Bundy told Zaitz in a phone interview from inside the headquarters. “We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely. This is not a decision we’ve made at the last minute.”

He would not rule out the possibility of violence.

If that seems confusing, a shorter description would be: heavily armed militants took over a federal building and they are threatening to fight to the death because they don’t recognize U.S. laws.

Wait, that still seems unduly harsh.

Here, let ABC explain it to you via Twitter:



Well now, that seems quaint and delightful and probably fun, doesn’t it? I was so encouraged that I even applied for a job at ABC by showing off my spin chops: “Adorably rambunctious white dads hold campground sleepover and patriotic Constitution hijinks at national park.” ................(more)

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/abc-killed-journalism-saturday-night-by-using-this-one-weird-tweet/

January 3, 2016

America’s Largest Utility Jacks ups Rates Most since 2006 Despite Collapse of Natural Gas Prices

(WolfStreet) “We want our customers and their families to know that we are here to help them make smart energy choices and save money whenever possible,” cooed Laurie Giammona, senior VP and chief customer officer of Pacific Gas and Electric, on Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s, when no one was supposed to pay attention.

It was the propitious day when the beloved utility that distributes gas and electricity in the northern two-thirds of California announced that on January 1st it would jack up its rates.

America’s largest electric utility and the second largest gas utility by number of customers, the utility whose 2010 gas-pipeline explosion in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco, killed 8 people, injured another 66, and burned down 38 homes, the utility that is still digging in its heels after five years since the explosion and is now under investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission because it failed to deliver certain documents, the very same PUC that is being probed by a federal grand jury for potential illegal ties between the regulators and the executives of PG&E in this ballooning corruption scandal … well, this beloved utility now has announced a very special New Year’s resolution.

It will hike natural gas rates for the average residential customer by 4.0% and electricity rates by a stunning 8.5%, for a combined rate increase of 7%, the steepest since 2006.

The average small business is going to get whacked by a combined rate increase of 5.1%. ................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2016/01/01/happy-new-year-americas-largest-utility-jacks-up-rates-the-most-since-2006-despite-total-collapse-of-natural-gas-prices/

January 3, 2016

The Risks of the War on Cash

The Risks of the War on Cash
by Don Quijones • January 2, 2016


“Quick and easy is winning the war.”

By Don Quijones, Spain & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET.

On January 1st, Londoners woke up to a rather perplexing reality: all of the cashless Oyster card readers on the city’s buses, rail and tube stations had stopped working. With cash as good as banished from the London transport system, attendants had little choice but to wave passengers through open ticket barriers and onto buses without paying, until the problem was fixed.

Serious Pause for Thought

Ironically, the costly glitch came on a day that new fare increases were to be introduced, with journey prices going up by an average of 1%. According to research by the UK Labour Party, rail fares have risen at three times the rate of wages since 2010, with campaigners saying ticket prices have become “increasingly divorced from reality.”

While for London’s commuters the glitch offered a welcome respite from ever-spiraling transport costs, the temporary collapse of the Osyter Card system should give serious pause for thought about our growing dependence on electronic cashless payment systems, especially as government, central banks, financial institutions, credit card companies, and large corporations conspire openly to pull the plug on cash [read: The War on Cash in 10 Spine-Chilling Quotes].

Just this week the UK Department of Transport announced plans it is developing with banks, credit card companies, and train groups to extend the London Underground’s cashless payment system across the entire UK rail network. ...............(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2016/01/02/the-risks-of-the-war-on-cash/

January 2, 2016

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Manufacturing and non-manufacturing.

Business in the Midwest Takes Worst Hit since July 2009
by Wolf Richter • December 31, 2015


Ugly, ugly, ugly. Manufacturing and non-manufacturing.

Thank God that manufacturing is just 12% of US GDP, and that it contributes only $2.1 trillion to the economy, and that only 9% of the US workforce is directly employed by it, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. So a swoon in manufacturing isn’t by itself going to crush the US economy. That’s the meme surrounding the ugly reality that has been spreading through US manufacturing.

And the Chicago Business Barometer just added another very ugly detail to the overall image, but this indicator goes far beyond manufacturing.

Caveat: Chicago is already in trouble

OK, this is just one component of the complex and vast national economic scenery, though an important one. It’s regional, and Chicago has its own set of issues, including terrible fiscal problems. Moody’s downgraded the city to junk in May 2015, based on the costs of dealing with its unfunded liabilities, and the strain they will pose on the “city’s financial operations.” Moody’s lamented that “Chicago’s tax base is highly leveraged by the debt and unfunded pension obligations of the city, as well as those of overlapping governments.”

It’s difficult to get gloomier without evoking visions of Detroit. Among the 25 largest cities in the US, Chicago has by far the largest per-capita pension debt: at $18,596 per person, it’s nearly twice that of Puerto Rico, which is now defaulting on its bonds, and New York City, the next two biggest sinners in line, and about three times that of San Francisco and Los Angeles, neither of which is a paragon of fiscal rectitude. .................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/12/31/business-in-the-midwest-takes-worst-hit-since-july-2009/

January 2, 2016

It's Hard Out Here for Homophobic Assholes

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is busy begging and pleading for money as 2015 comes to a close. This is the organization that’s worked hard against marriage equality, calling it a threat to our children and a “lie” of some sort. Now, it’s falling short of its year-end fundraising goal, and working desperately to guilt their supporters into sending more money so it can continue the fight to keep LGBTQ couples down.

Nick Duffy, of the U.K. website Pink News, receives emails from NOM on a regular basis. Over the last several days, those emails have detailed how NOM will fail to reach its fundraising goals. One email, dated Dec. 28, has the subject line, “Not Going To Make It.” That’s also posted to NOM’s blog, and says, in part:

“Dear Marriage Supporter,

I hate to say it, but right now it looks like we are not going to make our end-of-year matching grant.

Most of our budget is supported by our year-end efforts. Each year a few generous donors band together and generously offer to match whatever we can raise to allow us to keep fighting for marriage and religious liberty.

And every year we have made it.

But now, with four days to go, we are way behind. We must raise $97,000.00 before January 1st to make the $200,000 matching pledge.”

How terrible. A group that supports discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is seeing its donations dry up. $97,000 is a lot of money to raise in four days.

Duffy quotes another email as saying:

“As the clock ticks toward the New Year, I find myself anxiously awaiting each fundraising report… Please make an emergency year-end financial contribution to support NOM.”

The desperation is strong in this one. NOM also expressed concern and dismay that many of its supporters had not responded to pleas for their year-end “gifts” of money. Perhaps NOM should just cut its losses. ......................(more)

http://news.groopspeak.com/main-group-responsible-for-anti-gay-marriage-movement-issues-desperate-plea-for-funding/