Military
Ever heard someone argue that war is good for the economy? Here’s a rebuttal to that inherently flawed thinking…
As every good general knows, the key to a successful campaign is to so weaken the opponent so “he” is no longer able to fight. In our war, there are so few opponents (approx. 7000 of us per opponent) that they would have no chance whatsoever to maintain their dictatorship if we acted in unison. Their principle weapon is guilt, blaming & debt, which they brandish so effectively by fomenting fights among us facilitated by the media they control.
Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier serving a 35-year military prison sentence for leaking official secrets, has been threatened with indefinite solitary confinement for having an expired tube of toothpaste in her cell and being found in possession of the Caitlyn Jenner Vanity Fair issue, according to her lawyers and supporters.
Here we are, 70 years after the nuclear obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki & not one step closer to a moral reckoning with our status as the world’s only country to use atomic weapons to slaughter human beings. Will an American president ever offer a formal apology and will we as citizens stop rationalizing that somehow lives were saved by ultimately killing at least a 1/4 of a million people? Since then, we have had massive military build up, a cold war,
Given the last seven decades of perpetual militarization and nuclear “modernization” in this country, the answer may seem like an obvious no. Still, as a historian, I’ve been trying to dig a little deeper into our lack of national contrition. As I have, Real love often requires the strength to apologize and make amends.
We can live at peace with one another. But that’s going to take basic changes.
“There is massive propaganda for everyone to consume. Consumption is good for profits and consumption is good for the political establishment.” Noam Chomsky
It is no coincidence that the U.S. and its allies fight their own creations, for it is chiefly its own actions that manufacture terrorism. What do Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS all have in common? They were all—at one point—allies to the United States. By creating a situation for such groups to exist, the U.S brings to life a pretense that justifies involvement in the region—and it is precisely that pretense that allows it to maintain legitimacy as it slaughters human beings for corporate profit
Some of the facilities, like the infamous Area 51, are well-branded into our collective imagination; other are less known and considerably more vexing. It stirs and scares the mind to think about an entire underground network of tunnels connecting giant government facilities. Yet they are out there, down there, controlling this nation’s future military responses and engaging in technological and weapons testing that most of us cannot even begin to fathom.
Ron Paul: As we celebrate our Declaration of Independence from England, have we lost the spirit that drove the revolt? Or do we still have that irate, tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom that Samuel Adams spoke so thoughtfully of?
The Associated Press recently reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has been flying at least 100 planes across the country that are equipped with video and audio surveillance equipment. This includes the controversial StingRay cellphone surveillance technology. Even more interesting is the fact that these planes are operated by fake front companies used by the government and are rarely given judicial approval.
Crisisactors.org, the website established to represent the collaboration between the Visionbox professional actors studio and FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute has been dormant since August 2014…This is according to information obtained from Internet Archive on June 15, 2015. Producers Jennifer McCray Rincon and John Simmons formed the group to demonstrate emerging security technologies, help first responders visualize life-saving procedures, and assist trainers in delivering superior hands-on crisis response training…The actors can play the part of the shooters, mall employees, shoppers in the mall, shoppers who continue to arrive at the mall, media reporters and others rushing to the mall, and persons in motor vehicles around the mall.
The Trident safety whistleblower, William McNeilly, says he has been dishonourably discharged from the Royal Navy to protect its public image. In a nine-page report posted online, the former nuclear submariner attacks “military deceivers” and naval “spin doctors” for downplaying his allegations about multiple safety and security lapses. “It is shocking that some people in a military force can be more concerned about public image than public safety,” he says. McNeilly has not been heard from since he handed himself in to the police at Edinburgh airport on 18 May, the day after his story broke. While absent without leave, he had posted a dossier online alleging 30 flaws on the submarines that carry Britain’s nuclear warheads and warning that Trident was “a disaster waiting to happen”.
he U.S. military, says a special report from the LA Times, “is gradually becoming a separate warrior class…that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting.” Almost half of our 1.3 million active-duty troops come from just five states (California, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia), and only a quarter of Americans admit to closely following news of war. War does not bring freedom. It is an invitation to young men and women to begin a journey into their own personal worlds of terror.
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has received government permission to field test its HELLADS laser weapon system. “The technical hurdles were daunting, but it is extremely gratifying to have produced a new type of solid-state laser with unprecedented power and beam quality for its size,” DARPA program manager Rich Bagnell said in a statement cited by the agency’s website… It is intended for use as a protection system for aircraft…The statement adds however, that the laser could also be used for attack: “Laser weapon systems provide additional capability for offensive missions as well—adding precise targeting with low probability of collateral damage.”
A new report on the assassination of Osama bin Laden by famed journalist Seymour Hersh has been garnering major criticism from mainstream press outlets. Ben Swann speaks with investigative journalist Gareth Porter about the flaws in Hersh’s report and where the mainstream media has been failing the public.
