Whenever one needs a good laugh there is almost always an obliging politician who can come up with something that makes the rest of us smile. Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, frequently noted scowling with a face radiating hostility that could curdle milk, chairs the...
Will No One Challenge Obama’s Executive Orders?
President Obama’s state of the union pledge to “act with or without Congress” marks a milestone in presidential usurpation of Congressional authority. Most modern presidents have used executive orders to change and even create laws without Congressional approval....
Bomb School Blows Up; 45 Killed, 97 Wounded Across Iraq
The Folly of Arming Israel
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Last year, Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Russia’s pledge to sell advanced antiaircraft weapons to Syria, noting that it would have "a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the...
How a CIA Whistleblower Survives Behind Bars
It’s been one year since former CIA analyst and counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou was sentenced to prison for 30 months, the first American official to do time for the government’s torture policies during the Global War on Terror. This is what whistleblower...
Diagnosing Sochi Media Coverage: Virulent Russophobia
Any illusions some naïve soul may have had about the objectivity of the US media has been dispelled by their embarrassing performance at the Sochi Olympics: the chorus of whining complaints might as well have been written for them by the US State Department –...
Clashes and Attacks Across Iraq Leave 44 Dead, 31 Wounded
Fresh Clashes, Bombings Kill 36, Wound 69 Across Iraq
The al-Qaeda Menace: A Tale of Two Headlines
What exactly is al-Qaeda?Is it a group of committed jihadists previously led by Osama bin Laden? Or it is a “brand?” Is the enemy just the so-called “core” al-Qaeda, or it is now an amorphous conglomerate of affiliates, franchisees and enthusiasts? If “core al-Qaeda”...
Candidate Among 32 Killed in Iraq; 70 Others Wounded
At least 32 people were killed and 70 more were wounded in the latest violence. A number of the casualties occurred in Anbar, but the worst single attack took place in Tuz Khormato. Also, a man running for a post in Baghdad was assassinated. Scores of air strikes...


