National Security State

Bjarne Rostaing | (Informed Comment) | – – American Exceptionalism has an appealing patriotic buzz, though we owe the phrase to Josef Stalin, who was exasperated by American communists and their assumption of special rights and privileges. Manifest Destiny was the 19th century equivalent, and was created by a journalist to support war with Mexico. […]

Bill of Rights

Snowden restores 4th Amendment: NSA halts mass Warrantless spying on your Telephone Records

contributors

By David Greene and Nadia Kayyali | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The NSA’s collection en masse of the call detail records of millions of ordinary Americans ended quietly at midnight November 29. The bulk collection was phased out after a 180-day transition period provided for in the USA FREEDOM Act. The USA […]

Immigration

“Give us Your Huddled Masses.” But Syrians “Need Not Apply.”

Juan Cole

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Perhaps no words more beautifully define who we are as a people than those etched in that emblem of American freedom that has welcomed countless immigrants to our shores, the Statue of Liberty. At its base, it reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your […]

Democratic Party

In Bipartisan display of Bigotry, 47 Democrats Join with House GOP to Refuse Syrian Refugees

contributors

By Jon Queally, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – “Not much is bipartisan these days, but apparently bigotry is something both sides of the aisle can come together on.” “Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill’s supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees,” said Karin Johanson of the ACLU. “In fact, […]

Government surveillance

After Paris, it’s good detective work that will keep us safe, not mass surveillance

contributors

By Pete Fussey | (The Conversation) | – – Before the dust has even settled from the attacks on Paris, familiar calls for greater surveillance powers are surfacing. The desire for greater security is understandable, but that doesn’t mean we should suspend our judgement on the measures proposed to bring it about. In the aftermath […]

Bill of Rights

Why the National Security State Relishes our being Trolled by Muslim Radicals

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | Tomdispatch.com) | – – Honestly, I don’t know whether to rant or weep, neither of which are usual impulses for me. In the wake of the slaughter in Paris, I have the urge to write one of two sentences here: Paris changed everything; Paris changes nothing. Each is, in its own […]

National Security State

No, Sending thousands of US Ground Troops won’t Fix the ISIL Problem

contributors

by DAVID SCHANZER for ISLAMiCommentary David Schanzer Last night’s attacks will increase calls for more vigorous military action than the coalition has mustered to date. But despite the horrific attacks, the reasons against a large-scale land invasion by U.S. and NATO forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria remain. Such an invasion will deepen the […]

Featured

Syria: US Boots on Ground risks Conflict with Turkey, not Russia

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The White House’s announcement on Friday that the US will keep “less than 50” special ops troops at an HQ of the Kurdish YPG in northeast Syria for the purposes of training and strategic counseling raised concerns in some quarters that Russia might inadvertently bomb US […]

Drone Warfare

2016 Campaign and Forever War: Electorate gone to Disney World

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – You may not know it, but you’re living in a futuristic science fiction novel. And that’s a fact. If you were to read about our American world in such a novel, you would be amazed by its strangeness. Since you exist right smack in the […]