Nationalism and Its Discontents: The Meaning of Trump

Justin Raimondo, January 25, 2016

I have many disagreements with Trump, but unlike his many enemies on the left and especially on the right I understand that his nationalism contains elements that are useful, instructive, and even admirable. Unlike Buchanan, he is certainly no intellectual, but then again the last intellectual to inhabit the White House – Woodrow Wilson – was an unambiguous disaster for the cause of peace and liberty, and so I don’t hold that against The Donald. There is surely a demagogic element to his astonishing rise, which his opponents – particularly those on the right – make much of. The recent jeremiad against him launched by the neocons over at National Review was filled with comparisons to Mussolini, Juan Peron, Hitler (of course!), and even Andrew Dice Clay, this latter barb a direct appeal to the smug snobbery that characterizes our urban elites. “He’s “vulgar,” he’s “rude,” etc. etc., and those were some of the gentler ways they characterized him personally.

Yet demagoguery didn’t bother them when it was deployed by George W. Bush as he marched us off to a disastrous war – a war Trump opposed,

Read More

Hillary's Future? We Can Only Hope!

While the country has been fixated on Donald Trump’s tormenting his Republican primary opponents and deeply concerned about the government’s efforts to identify any confederates in the San Bernardino, California, killings, a team of federal prosecutors and FBI agents continues to examine Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state in order to determine whether she committed any crimes and, if so, whether there is sufficient evidence to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Read More

The Truth About Islamic Fundamentalism versus U.S. Policy

The excerpt below is from a text of talks given by Noam Chomsky, the full text of which is available here. I highly recommend downloading this PDF and reading the entire thing. Chomsky's views are readically defferent from anything you'll hear in the drive by media or even from most patriot and libertarian sources. In fact while I have no reason to know if George Carlin and Chomsky ever met, Carlin's historic rant about who really owns this country and your miniscle place in it can be found here with all the foul language in tact and perfectly, if colorfully, similarly reflects Chomskys point of view - remember the truth will set you free!

Keep in mind that this statement from Chomsky was made in the early 1990's and is as true today as it was then. When then, cannot the candidates including Mr Trump and his idiotic companions in crime come close to a statement like this. Perhaps it is because they like keeping you in a state of willful ignorance.

Editor

Questioner: Dr. Chomsky, I have a question. Would you agree that in this attack on the less powerful people of the world generally, there is also a secret, vicious war being waged on the Muslim people? And what do you think is in store for Muslims in general in the world?

Well, it does happen to be the case that plenty of Muslims have been getting it in the neck from the United States - but that's not because they're Muslims, it's because they're not sufficiently under control. There are plenty of white Christian people who are also getting it in the neck. In the 1980s, the United States fought a vicious war in Central America primarily against the Catholic Church - and that means European priests, not just priests from indigenous origins - because the Church had started working for what they called "the preferential option for the poor," therefore they had to go. In fact, when Americas Watch [a human rights organization focused on North and South America] did their wrap-up study on the 1980s, they pointed out that it was a decade framed by the murder of the Archbishop in 1980 and the murder of six Jesuit intellectuals in 1989, both in El Salvador-yeah, that wasn't accidental.

Read more ...

What the Islamophobes Won’t Say About the West’s Destruction of the Mideast

Gee Mr. Trump, you want a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.” Besides admitting in your statement that you haven't figured out what is going on, perhaps you should read someone who can explain a little history to you.

by Muhammad Sahimi, December 14, 2015

The Islamophobia “industry,” dormant for several years, has returned with a vengeance. There are books to be rewritten about those “scary Muslims,” a lot of money to be made, and most importantly primary presidential elections to be won.  Donald Trump’s statements about Muslims and what he would do if he is elected President would make the 1930s European fascists proud. With every statement he makes his polls improve. After all, he has been endorsed by the Daily Stormer, the most popular Neo-Nazi news website. Ted Cruz, the other conservative and borderline fascist declares that if he is elected President, he will bomb the Middle East so relentlessly that we will all learn whether “sands can glow in the dark.” He is also surging in the polls.

So, there seems to be no downside to being an Islamophobe and even fascist, right? Wrong! There is a downside, and we the ordinary people pay for it with our flesh, blood, and money, not to mention our freedom. The Islamophobes and fascist politicians do not, however, explain why this is so.

Read More

The Pale Blue Dot...the only home we've ever known

Just in case we forget where we stand in the immensity of the universe, Carl Sagan reminds us here.

Rohrabacher Statement on Turkey’s Clash with Russia

WASHINGTON – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, on Saturday issued the following statement concerning Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian jet fighter on the Turkey-Syria border.

... Russia should be applauded. Instead, it is being castigated for doing what our government is unwilling to do to confront the terrorist offensive now butchering innocent human beings from Africa, to the Middle East, to the streets of Paris.
If being in NATO means protecting Erdogan in this situation, either he shouldn’t be in NATO or we shouldn’t.

Read More