Another Torture Victim on Trial at Guantánamo by Andy Worthington October 29, 2012 In the last two weeks, the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay enjoyed a brief resurgence of interest, as pre-trial hearings took place in the cases of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of directing and supporting the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and in the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national accused of ...
Americans Should Reject Obama-Romney Foreign Policy by Sheldon Richman October 26, 2012 If we needed evidence of the impoverishment of American politics, the so-called debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney gave us all we could ask for. We normally expect a debate to highlight some disagreement, but in American politics disagreement is reserved for minor matters. The two parties — actually the two divisions of the uniparty that represents the ...
Supreme Court Considers the Warrantless Sniff by Wendy McElroy October 24, 2012 Florida v. Jardines and Florida v. Harrisare scheduled to be heard by the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 31. The cases pivot on whether the use of police dogs to detect illegal drugs violates the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of the person being sniffed. General background K-9 ...
Do Libertarians Hate the Poor? by Laurence M. Vance October 23, 2012 The U.S. Census Bureau has released its annual poverty report based on the 2012 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS ASEC is a sample survey of approximately 100,000 households nationwide conducted over a three-month period in February, March, and April. The data reflect conditions in calendar year 2011. The
The 9/11 Trial: Torturing Justice by Andy Worthington October 22, 2012 The last time the U.S. government wheeled out Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four other men accused of initiating and being involved in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was in May this year, and, as is usual, the mainstream media turned out in force. That occasion was the formal arraignment of the men and it was ...
America’s Drone Terrorism by Sheldon Richman October 19, 2012 In the United States, the dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan is of a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the U.S. safer by enabling “targeted killing” of terrorists, with minimal downsides or collateral impacts. This narrative is false. Those are the understated opening words of a disturbing, though unsurprising, nine-month study of the Obama administration’s official, ...
Pretexts and Provocations by Tim Kelly October 18, 2012 Patrick Clawson, Director of Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), attracted some attention last month for his remarks during a briefing on U.S. policy toward Iran. Clawson said, I frankly think that crisis initiation is really tough, and it’s very hard for me to see how the United States president can get us to ...
The Malalas You Will Not Hear About by Wendy McElroy October 18, 2012 Some news stories break your heart. On October 9, in Pakistan, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot twice in the head by Taliban gunmen. She is being treated in a hospital in Birmingham, England, where she was moved for specialized care and personal safety. Doctors say they expect a “good recovery.” Malala was targeted for assassination because ...
The Prospects for Drug Freedom by Laurence M. Vance October 16, 2012 It seems that the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program is allowing too many people to exploit the rules and get more marijuana than they are supposed to. According to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, A person engaged in or assisting in the medical use of marijuana is excepted from the criminal laws of the state for possession, delivery ...
America’s Extradition Problem by Andy Worthington October 12, 2012 Not content with having the largest domestic prison population in the world, both in numbers and as a percentage of the total population, the United States also imports prisoners from other countries, at vast expense. Last week, five men were extradited to the United States from the UK to face charges relating to their alleged involvement ...
Clinton’s Legacy: The Financial and Housing Meltdown by Sheldon Richman October 12, 2012 Bill Clinton is certainly full of himself these days. That might have something to do with the fact that no one is likely to ask why he hasn’t owned up to his share of the blame for the housing and financial bust. The former president is treated like an elder statesman whose tenure in office was so good that even ...
An Economy of Illusions by Tim Kelly October 11, 2012 For the past four years, talking heads, pundits, and other regime apologists have been looking for “green shoots” and other signs of an economic recovery to vindicate the U.S. government’s fiscal and monetary shenanigans. So when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its report on October 5 showing the creation of 114,000 new jobs in September and a reduction ...