USA

More Brutal Than Previously Revealed

The torture report from our shoulder to shoulder allies and fellow NATO and NORAD hegemon is in.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=fullcomment.nationalpo...

 Bullshit excuses for Torture. Those USA military types consent to waterboarding, and they know you'll stop if asked, these people did not.

 Millions of people are into S&M too, but that doesn't mean you could take a whip to POWs either. Consent is key here.

You are right - the obscene silence of our so-called 'representatives' is very telling. Of course we should never forget, that as Hannibal Lector's helpful little demi-devils in this criminal co-conspiracy, calling instead for harsher sanctions on Syria, Russia, Libya etc, they got /get in return, to share some of the imperial table-scraps...It will be up to ordinary Canadians to register a response or not, not America's good doggies in Ottawa...

Facing Justice: UN, HRW, Amnesty Call For Prosecuting US Officials For Torture (and audio clips)

http://rt.com/usa/212935-un-us-justice-torture/

"As a matter of international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice,' the UN's Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, Ben Emmerson, said in a statement issued in Geneva.

'The US Attorney General is under a legal duty to bring criminal charges against those responsible.

It is now time to take action. The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today's report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.'

Foreign Minister John Baird Dodges CIA Torture Questions

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/12/10/foreign_minister_john_bair...

"Foreign minister refuses to answer questions on Canadian authorities' ability to use information gleaned from CIA torture."

"We detained and handed over for severe torture, a lot of innocent people. Many were just local people: farmers, truck-drivers, tailors, peasants, random human beings in the wrong place at the wrong time." - Richard Colvin, Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan, 2009

NDPP wrote:

It will be up to ordinary Canadians to register a response or not, not America's good doggies in Ottawa...

Likely not.  There is no mechanism available in the world today that has been able to address Israel's crimes against humanity.  As much as we might welcome it, I don't expect an uprising in Canada or anywhere else anytime soon that would seek to bring our leading criminals to justice.

Like you, I don't expect any 'uprising' here anytime soon either. These things have to be organized for and this isn't being done. US Presidents and other war criminals come and go in my city with more people lined up to pay outrageous ticket costs to hear them speak, then protest their appearance. Some countries still have civil societies which are capable of some response to such things. Apparently this isn't one of them. USA has more activism - it will be interesting to see if this goes anywhere.

The Canadian Torture State  -  by J Baglow

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/j-baglow/2014/12/canadian-torture-state

"Let the US be the US, that godawful prison-house continuing on its downward spiral. But no one should imagine for one moment that it is alone in using torture as a routine implement of policy.

Let us not be too smug, then, about the horrific revelations south of the border. Because to put it bluntly, we torture too -- and under Stephen Harper, torture has been officially and publicly sanctioned.

Compliments of the season everyone."

Report on CIA Torture Opens Door to Prosecutions of Top Bush Officials (podcast)

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/12/10/the-us-senate-report-on/

"there are renewed calls for the prosecution of top officials in the Bush administration and in the Agency, even as a Canadian caught in the same net asks about accountability, among those Canadians who may have indirectly [or DIRECTLY!] aided the US program.

Abdullah Almalki is a Canadian who was arrested and tortured in Syria. He was in Ottawa *starts at 15:24 min.* 'Maybe  Canada has its own program...'

Dr. Evil speaks:

http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/nbcNewsOffsite?guid=mtp_03cheney_...

Imperialism and the Politics of Torture  -  by James Petras

http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=2018

"The Senate Report's revelation of CIA torture of suspects following the 911 bombing is only the tip of the iceberg..."

US Targeting Hundreds of Millions of Russian Civilians  -  by Robert Barsocchini

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/12/us-targeting-hundreds-millions-ru...

ter-or-ism

nown

the use of violence or intimidation in the pursuit of political aims

"White House officials are openly expressing happiness with their siege/war tactics that they say are throwing Russia into an economic collapse, and are, as a scholar defending the siege notes, 'hurting the Russian public's ability to buy food or heat homes.'

This eagerness to starve and freeze children is particularly relevant given the recent publicity of the US's tactics of starving and freezing innocent detainees as well as people claimed to be 'suspects'..."

What is in the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Torture: Part 3  -  by Eric London

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/22/tort-d22.html

"This is the third of three articles summarizing the contents of the unclassified executive summary. The first article was posted December 16, the second on December 20..."

all linked here

The Prison State of America  -  by Chris Hedges

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_prison_state_of_america_20141228

"The roughly one million prisoners who work for corporations and government industries in the American prison system are models for what the corporate state expects us all to become.

If corporate power continues to disembowel the country, if it is not impeded by mass protests and revolt, life outside prison will soon resemble life in prison..."

Congress Seeks Netanyahu's Direction  -  by Robert Parry

https://consortiumnews.com/2015/01/22/congress-seeks-netanyahus-direction/

"Conservative Pat Buchanan once got in trouble by calling Capitol Hill 'Israeli Occupied Territory', but even he might not imagine what's happening now - with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited to address a joint session of Congress to decry President Obama's foreign policy.

Boehner made clear that Netanyahu's third speech to a joint session of the US Congress - scheduled for Feb 11 - was meant to counter Obama's  assessments. 'There is a serious threat in the world and the President last night kind of papered over it,' Boehner said on Wednesday. 'And the fact is that there needs to be a more serious conversation in America about how serious the threat is from radical Islamic jihadists and the threat posed by Iran."

http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/23/awesome-life-american-congressman/

EXCEPTIONALISM ON THE ROPES?

Quote:

Recently a man, expecting to lose his job at the very least, landed a little bicycle-helicopter at the U.S. Capitol to try to deliver requests to clean the money out of elections. He cited as his motivation the "collapse of this country." Another man showed up at the U.S. Capitol with a sign reading "Tax the 1%" and proceeded to shoot himself in the head. Polls suggest those are not the only two people who see the problem -- and, it should be noted, the solution.

TPP: The Case For Treason  -  by Mark Ash

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/30480-tpp-the-case-for-tr...

"Clearly the United States is engaged in what can only be described as an ongoing series of wars. George W Bush's 'War on Terror' as he called it, was in reality an extension of the Natural Resource Procurement Wars the US has been engaged in off and on, mostly on, for over a century. [somewhat longer actually - from the getgo]

However, nothing that has gone before has matched the scope of the 21st century Global, National, and Energy Resource Wars.

Against that backdrop comes the effort by the Obama administration in concert with Congressional Republicans, to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement..."

The 'Democratic' side of the Usian kleptocracy are a little concerned that not enough 'progressives' will opt in by bothering to vote in the next election, considering Stooge Clinton with all of her bloody baggage is their top contender.  Cue the latest version of hope and change...Bernie Sanders...in case the main pick isn't enough to re-animate the so called 'liberal' faction of the zombie electorate.

More on that bulk collection of data ...

Obama Goes Full Stalin: Tells Secret Court To Ignore Law He Signed 4 Hours Earlier, Extend Illegal NSA Surveillance

Quote:

Just when we thought the absurdity that marks every single day of Obama's reign could not possibly be surpassed, we learned that 4 hours (3 hours and 47 minutes to be precise) after the US president vowed to sign a new law banning bulk data collection by the NSA (named, for purely grotesque reasons, the "USA Freedom Act"), the Obama administration asked the secret Fisa surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months.

Which one, Hudson?

American Empire Imploding Both At Home and Abroad  -  by John Wight (and audio)

http://rt.com/op-edge/266824-america-empire-decline-washington/

"As with the Roman Empire centuries before it, Washington is learning that the only thing permanent in this world is impermanence, especially imperial power resting on foundations of hypocrisy and injustice."

America's Electoral Farce  -  by Chris Hedges

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_electoral_farce_20150616

"...Every action we take now must be directed at ripping down the structures of the corporate state. This means refusing to cooperate. It means joining or building radical mass movements.

The corporate state seeks to get us to participate in the political charade of choreographed elections.

Political theatre works because many in America have been systematically indoctrinated and severed from reality..."

I'm sorry so much good information and potential discussion will be forever lost under a thread title that is so generic as to be utterly meaningless.

But here's a good ol' American flag:

I know this is exceptionally unlikely to happen, but the U.S. would be a good candidate to split.  Right along the Mason-Dixon, with perhaps a two or three year transitional period in which Americans north or south of the new line can choose to emigrate to the other side, if that suits them.  Alaska and Hawaii could choose who to align with on the basis of a referendum.

Of course the Northern States would need a new flag with, if nothing else, fewer stars.   The Southern States seem to be good to go.