Essays

The Pentagon, CIA, and NSA Are in Charge

"Surrounding himself with generals and giving the national-security establishment carte blanche to do anything it wants to protect 'national security,' Trump, for all practical purposes, has been absorbed by the national-security establishment, even permitting the CIA to continue keeping its long-secret, 50-year-old JFK-assassination records secret from the American people. It is safe to say that for the balance of Trump’s term in office, his actions in foreign affairs will be no different than anything that Hillary Clinton, who undoubtedly would have been a loyal servant of the national-security establishment, would have done with respect to foreign affairs. What gives? Why the dramatic shift in Trump?"

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In North Korea, Black Markets Are Saving Lives

"Initially, these markets consisted of disorganized traders meeting in fields, facing seizure from police if they did not come up with a bribe. Today, the jangmadang practice has led to fully-fledged markets, complete with stalls selling street food, smuggled electronics, ingredients, and clothes; certain markets allegedly grew to encompass upwards of a thousand stalls. Today, the markets remain a crucial element of survival for many North Koreans, with some reports estimating that around 5 million (around a fifth of the overall population) are 'directly or indirectly dependent on the markets'."

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‘We the People’: The New Permanent Underclass in America

"It’s not just the government’s endless wars that are bleeding us dry. We’re also being forced to shell out money for surveillance systems to track our movements, money to further militarize our already militarized police, money to allow the government to raid our homes and bank accounts, money to fund schools where our kids learn nothing about freedom and everything about how to comply, and on and on. Are you getting the picture yet? The government isn’t taking our money to make our lives better."

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Napolitano: What if Government Steals Liberty and Fails to Deliver Safety?

"What if this bulk surveillance is about power and control and not about safety? What if the use of intelligence data for political purposes and not for safety is a profound danger to democracy? What if government can't keep us safe? What if we falsely think that it does keep us safe? What if that delusion makes us less safe? What if government's bulk acquisition of private data makes us less free? What if government works not for us but for itself? What do we do about it?"

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Trick or Treat: Is Trump a Blessing or a Curse to the Deep State?

"Trump has done nothing to wrest control of the government from the Deep State, that shadowy elite group of powerbrokers and corporations who call the shots in Washington. Trump has done nothing to prevent the government from continuing to plunder and steal from the American taxpayer. In fact, his administration has paved the way for even more theft in the form of civil asset forfeiture. Trump has failed to end the government’s endless wars. To the contrary, he has fallen in line with the military industrial complex. Most of all, Trump has proven to be as deaf, dumb and blind as every president before him when it comes to the plight of the citizenry."

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If the Law Is This Complicated, Why Shouldn’t Ignorance Be an Excuse?

"America’s judges still cling to the proposition that it’s perfectly fine to lock people up for doing something they had no idea was illegal. But it’s not fine, and the justifications for that palpably unfair rule have only grown more threadbare with time."

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