the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

While the US and its allies glorify Leopoldo López as a new MLK, the US-backed Venezuelan opposition  collaborates with Colombia’s narco-affiliated, death squad-sponsoring former President Álvaro Uribe.   by Ben Norton   Part 7 - Saving face in photo op with liberal Bogotá mayor   Leopoldo López’s meeting with Álvaro Uribe triggered condemnations from even staunch supporters of the Venezuelan opposition.   The avowedly anti-Chavista Americas director of the billionaire-funded US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, lambasted López for the meeting, calling it a “ grave mistake ” that “ does a lot of damage to his credibility. ”   HRW has spent years heroizing the coup-plotting Venezuelan opposition leader, portraying López as a “ prisoner of conscience ” and “ Venezuela’s most prominent political prisoner ” before he was released in a failed coup attempt on April 30, 2019.  Vivanco is closely allied with far-right forces across Latin America, and has aggressively lob

by Jonathan Cook   Part 5 - Vilification continues   There is a final lesson from the Assange ruling. The last decade has been about discrediting, disgracing and demonising Assange. This ruling should very much be seen as a continuation of that process. Baraitser has denied extradition only on the grounds of Assange’s mental health and his autism, and the fact that he is a suicide risk. In other words, the principled arguments for freeing Assange have been decisively rejected. If he regains his freedom, it will be solely because he has been characterised as mentally unsound. That will be used to discredit not just Assange, but the cause for which he fought, the Wikileaks organisation he helped to found, and all wider dissidence from establishment narratives. This idea will settle into popular public discourse unless we challenge such a presentation at every turn. Assange’s battle to defend our freedoms, to defend those in far-off lands whom we bomb at will in the promotion of the selfi

globinfo freexchange   A recent CBS News poll confirms major divisions among the US working class, something that serves perfectly the capitalist elites. One of the most interesting and disturbing findings shows that Americans overwhelmingly believe that the "biggest threat to America's way of life" is "other people in America", by 54%. That is, more than half of the other reasons combined. On the contrary, only 20% believes that "economic forces" are threatening the American way of life and this is a huge disappointment because after all these blatant systemic failures (especially in the last two decades), most Americans are still unable to identify the root of the problem, which is neoliberalism and financial capitalism. We can assume that this picture satisfies the capitalist elites. And that's because it shows that the corporate media are still able to distract Americans from the real problem by dividing them, through the old (and tested numer

New Economic Thinking   Renowned journalist and author Chris Hedges talks about the many ways traditional media, digital media, and the two political parties have worked to prevent progressive movements and give rise to the growth of the extreme right. 

Teachers, transit and other workers in New York City denounced Tuesday’s police attack on striking warehouse workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx and called for unified action to defend the striking workers and to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in schools and workplaces.   Over 1,400 warehouse and truck drivers walked out on Sunday, January 17, to demand a dollar an hour increase over three years for workers who have suffered more than 400 infections and at least six deaths from the virus. The workers perform backbreaking labor at the world’s largest wholesale food market, where workers handle more than 200 million pounds of food for distribution to grocery stores and restaurants across the region. The market generates $2.3 billion in revenue each year, accounting for approximately 60 percent of produce sales in New York City.  The operators of the produce market, many which received government bailout money, have steadfastly refused to accede to Teamsters

Empire Files   Abby Martin and Mike Prysner bring you up to date about the DC Capital attack with shocking new and hidden details about the seriousness of the operation, the depths of the inside job, and who from the government may land in prison for it (including Trump).  Brian Becker, host of The Socialist Program podcast, joins the conversation with deep analysis about the intervention of the imperialist power structure and the reality of the fascist threat. 

It has started: Greece becomes the blueprint for the 21st century corporate feudalism UBI ... just only to save their capitalism until the next Dark Ages The neoliberal machine mocks Millennials and Gen Xers through a documentary about Bernie's awful mistreatment by the corporate media! The Slow News movement: an answer to Fake News?   When the US imperialist machine is using controversial books to build its propaganda    It has started: Spain decides permanent UBI for its citizens

by Jonathan Cook   Part 3 - Then, a perverse ruling   Her ruling, while deeply disturbing in its political and legal implications, did at least suggest that Baraitser was ready to take a compassionate approach in regard to Assange’s health, even if not his journalistic exposure of western war crimes. He should have walked free there and then, had the US not immediately said it would appeal her decision. Given Assange’s discharge by Baraitser, his team hoped that bail – his release from a high-security prison while the lengthy appeals process unfolds – would prove a formality. They hurried to make such an application after the extradition ruling on Monday, assuming that the legal logic of her decision dictated his release. Baraitser demurred, suggesting that they prepare their case and make it to her more fully on Wednesday. It now seems clear the judge manipulated Assange’s defence team. Apparently like Assange’s lawyers, former British ambassador Craig Murray, who has attended and rep

UK judge Vanessa Baraitser justified CIA spying on Julian Assange by citing a falsehood-filled CNN report. Her judgment highlighted corporate media’s enthusiastic role in a state-sponsored assault on press freedom.   by Ben Norton   Part 3 - CNN’s source: Untrustworthy, paranoid CIA-backed security firm   A closer look at the CNN article cited by Baraitser reveals it rests on a shoddy foundation. Published in July 2019, the CNN story was part of a larger, politically motivated campaign conceived by the US intelligence apparatus and embittered former Hillary Clinton aides that sought to portray Assange, WikiLeaks, and other political rivals as nefarious tools of the Kremlin. Co-authored by Arturo Torres Ramirez, the right-wing anti-Assange and anti-Correa Ecuadorian activist whose work has been supported by organizations funded by the US State Department and British government, the CNN article is based on exclusive access to hundreds of surveillance reports compiled by the Spanish secur

by Jonathan Cook   Part 8 - The Antisemitism Industry   It is worth noting the shared features of the new Antisemitism Industry and Finkelstein’s earlier discussions of the Holocaust Industry. In his book, Finkelstein identifies the “wrong Jews” as people like his mother, who survived a Nazi death camp as the rest of her family perished. These surviving Jews, Finkelstein argues, were valued by the Holocaust Industry only in so far as they served as a promotional tool for the Jewish establishment to accumulate more wealth and cultural and political status. Otherwise, the victims were ignored because the actual Holocaust’s message – in contrast to the Jewish leadership’s representation of it – was universal: that we must oppose and fight all forms of racism because they lead to persecution and genocide. Instead the Holocaust Industry promoted a particularist, self-interested lesson that the Holocaust proves Jews are uniquely oppressed and that they therefore deserve a unique solution: a