The Coming Storm

** This article was published on  SocialistAction  April 7, 2019 ** Skepticism is Essential When Assessing Official Propaganda On April 7, 2018, the U.S and its NATO allies accused the Syrian government of carrying out a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma, outside Damascus. A week later, President Donald Trump, with the support of French and British allies, ordered the launch of 103 missiles. ABC News quoted Defense Secretary James Mattis as saying that the strike was necessary to demonstrate international resolve to prevent the use of chemical weapons, and that he was "confident the Syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people in the last week." According to ABC News , President Donald Trump asserted, "The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead," referring to Syrian President Bashar ...

 ** This article was published on SocialistAction  April 4, 2019 ** When you corner a rat, it lashes out. The rats in charge of the U.S. empire are cornered by the contradictions built into their own system: increasing economic inequality, regular depressions and recessions, declining profit rates, perpetual austerity, and endless wars promoted to stave off increasing global competition. The current vicious U.S. assault on Venezuela—along with the ongoing attacks on working people here at home—are what it looks like when the imperial rat lashes out. The Trump administration has openly declared the goal of regime change in Venezuela. Such an aim is illegal under international law. The mere threat of aggression is “not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” But U.S. hostility toward that sovereign, independent nation did not begin with th...

 ** This article was published on  Counterpunch  February 6, 2019 ** Ruling elites have united behind the Trump administration in its illegal, unjust and brutal attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of Venezuela. Democrats and Republicans alike have fallen in line, revealing the degree to which the two parties march in lock step when the geopolitical prerogatives of the one percent are at stake. The governments of some 20 countries, including Canada, Britain, Spain, Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, Israel and Argentina, have all pledged fealty to the U.S. and its hand-picked puppet in Venezuela. The New York Times , champion of the “liberal” wing of the ruling rich, editorialized in support of the Trump administration’s transparent coup plotting on January 24 insisting, “the Trump administration is right to support Mr. Guaidó.” Pretend socialist and Democrat Bernie Sanders shed crocodile tears , decrying violence and economic disaster in Venezuela while failing ...

               ** This article was published on  Counterpunch  January 11, 2019 ** Chances are, most of what you’ve learned about taxes and the economy is wrong. In fact, the key principles at work in our economic system are very different from what we’re taught.  If you find you’re one of those who’s been misled, it’s not your fault. A system such as ours – where  eight individuals control as much wealth   as half of all humanity – can only be maintained with force and deception. As the industrialist Henry Ford is  said   to have opined, “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” It’s commonly believed that: ·        Today’s money has intrinsic value. (It doesn’t.)  ·        Taxes fund government spending. (They do...