Nineteen years after more than 3,000 people were killed on 9/11, there remains a bipartisan commitment to fight an endless “war on terrorism,” instigate regime change coups, increase military spending, enhance US nuclear weapons, deport undocumented residents, curtail civil liberties, and militarize the police. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the US have obscured “The Other 9/11,” the US attack on Chilean democracy in the US-backed coup on September 11, 1973. The two 9/11s are connected by what the CIA calls “blowback.” The CIA first used the term in describing the unintended negative consequences of the US and UK sponsored coup against the democratically-elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. The September 11, 2001 attacks were blowback from decades of US intervention in the Middle East. That doesn’t justify the terrorism, but it does explain it. If we want peace and security for our nation, we should respect the peace and security of other nations. Continue reading

By Haig Hovaness A dangerous delusion has taken hold in US political and media circles regarding the prospect of a war with China. In order to avoid the calamitous outcome that would ensue from such a war, the public should be aware of the historic and technical facts that argue against such folly. The following discussion will provide this information and explain the perverse incentives motivating US business, political, military, and media elites in their efforts to present China as a hostile power that must be confronted militarily. Continue reading

U.S. cops are already racist and brutal, and any militia "infiltrators" would feel right at home. "Kyle Rittenhouse was acting like the police who shot and severely wounded Jacob Blake." It is common to see news stories reporting that white supremacists or right wing groups have infiltrated police departments. Such information should always be greeted with skepticism. Law enforcement in this country is very much right wing and inherently white supremacist. There is no infiltration necessary. Any police officers found to be members of the Ku Klux Klan or Proud Boys or any other configuration are outliers only in that they thought it necessary to make their affiliation official. Continue reading

The Republican and Democratic Party conventions showed that both major parties are failing to control the pandemic and protect people, address the climate crisis and clean up the environment, support families and businesses during the economic collapse, prevent police violence or deal with any of the other major problems we face. These were two substance-less conventions. The Democrats focused on criticizing Trump without putting forward an agenda while the Republicans claimed Biden was a front for socialism when he is a deeply embedded corporate Democrat. Trump’s term as president has been a disaster and Biden has been consistently on the wrong side of history over his 47 years in politics. On issues today, both are out of step with the views of the majority of voters. Continue reading

As we warned earlier in the year, the US Postal Service is failing due to a long term effort to weaken it plus the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, recession and intentional efforts by the Trump administration to suppress the vote. Members of Congress and state leaders are starting to take notice because of the magnitude of the crisis and public outcry, particularly over valid concerns that mail-in voting will be disrupted. Now is the time to not only protect the vote but to end privatization and selling off of the US Postal Service and expand it as a critical public institution that provides high-quality jobs and services to all communities, rich and poor, urban and rural, across the country. Continue reading

Large stockpile with global range (dark blue), smaller stockpile with global range (medium blue), small stockpile with regional range (light blue) August 6 is the 75th anniversary of the only time any nation in the world dropped an atomic bomb on people. On August 6, 1945, President Harry Truman ordered Fat Man dropped on Hiroshima. 210,000 people were killed instantly. Three days later, Little Boy was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 more people instantly. Now would be an opportune moment for a major party presidential or US Senate candidate to make the new nuclear arms race a top campaign issue. Instead we hear nothing. Continue reading

Humanity lost a Lion of the Civil Rights Movement in the passing of Congressman John Lewis at the age of 80. Significantly, in his last public moment while dying of cancer, he chose to visit the Black Lives Matter Plaza which leads up to the White House. He came to pay homage, to give honor and encourage the Black Lives Matter movement in his humble way. The first time I saw John Lewis was at the 1963 Great March on Washington. At 16, I had traveled with Father James Groppi and others to that historic gathering. Having wandered away from the Milwaukee group, I ended up about ten feet from the microphone where Dr Martin Luther King gave his iconic “I Have a Dream “ speech. John Lewis, the youngest speaker at 23 had stood out using the word “revolution.” His radical speech was censored by the civil rights movement leadership of which he had a leadership role. John toned it down out of his love for Dr. King. Continue reading

This year, Green-Rainbow Party candidate Charlene DiCalogero is running in a rare open-seat race for State Representative in the 12th Worcester district in central Massachusetts. Charlene is the only candidate in the state from a party outside the Democrat/Republican duopoly. In November she will compete in a three-way race against a Democrat and a Republican. Along with the presidential ticket of Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker, she will give the voters in her district a real choice. The MA state legislature has been dominated by Democrats for decades, and voters mostly get ballots with the incumbents and no challengers on them, year after year. Continue reading

Both in Israel and the US, conversations about reparations and the Palestinian right of return are stifled by arguments explaining why injustice must go on and a yearning for the status quo. The calls “Black Lives Matter” and “Free, Free Palestine,” serve to remind us that Palestine is not free and that if the lives of Black people mattered, there would be no need for the call. In both cases, people are in the grips of a cruel, racist system that refuses to let go. In both cases, people are being hunted down, caged, strangled, and shot to death, and the root cause of their suffering is rarely addressed. Continue reading