Imperial Presidency

Pepe Escobar: El comandante has left the building

"Compare it with US President Barack Obama - in what sounds like a dormant cut and paste by some White House intern - reaffirming US support for 'the Venezuelan people'. Would that be 'the people' who have been electing and re-electing Chavez non-stop since the late 1990s? Or would that be 'the people' who trade Martinis in Miami demonizing him as an evil communist? El Comandante may have left the building - his body defeated by cancer - but the post-mortem demonization will go on forever. One key reason stands out. Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: El comandante has left the building

Top 5 moments of Rand Paul’s filibuster

"It was a long, hard slog for viewers and participants in the filibuster of the vote to confirm new CIA chief John Brennan, most notably for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who, we are sad to say, found time to invoke Hitler and the Nazis, but never in the 13 hours of testimony, resorted to reading aloud from the latest edition of the Ron Paul Family Cookbook. Here are a few highlights of the filibuster, which, although clearly futile in that Brennan’s appointment is all but inevitable, we hope will be entertaining enough to help you weather the disappointment of not having Rep. Ron Paul’s family recipes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop 5 moments of Rand Paul’s filibuster

The Filibuster in Two Minutes

"A decent compilation. Sen. Paul referenced at least two videos during his speech. Here are two of them. Progressive WH spokesman Gibbs says that the president should be free to murder children. And Lindsay Graham of the Great State of South Carolina declares the Fifth and Sixth Amendments null and void." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Filibuster in Two Minutes

McCain blasts Rand Paul’s filibuster as a ‘political stunt’

"Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tore into Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) 'ridiculous' 13-hour filibuster, chastising the junior senator for a speech that was 'not helpful' and not in keeping with Republican orthodoxy on the terror war. McCain also quoted from a Wall Street Journal editorial that mocked Paul. 'If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in college dorms,' the editorial jibes. Still, McCain emphasized that 'if someone is an enemy combatant, that enemy combatant has nowhere to hide: not in a cafe, not anywhere.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMcCain blasts Rand Paul’s filibuster as a ‘political stunt’

Will Grigg: The Stalinist in the White House

"Until the filibuster staged by Senator Paul – who, despite his plentiful shortcomings, has proven that he has learned much from his heroic father – no Senate Republican had rejected the Stalinist premise that the President can order the summary execution of U.S. citizens. What about the Professional Left – the people who, like then-Senator Obama, were so agitated over the Bush administration’s crimes against the Bill of Rights? They’re too busy debating such weighty matters as the proper honorific by which to address the Dear Leader, or helping the Southern Poverty Law Center draw up 'kill lists' of domestic 'extremists.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill Grigg: The Stalinist in the White House

President Obama’s Brother Loses Election in Kenya

"President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Abong’o Malik Obama, won’t be the second member of his family to launch a political career. Mr. Obama was defeated in his bid to be governor of Kenya’s Siaya County this week by what seems to have been a very large margin. Mr. Obama is the eldest child of President Obama’s father. They have different mothers. Mr. Obama served as the best man at the president’s wedding to Michelle Obama in 1992." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPresident Obama’s Brother Loses Election in Kenya

More Sanctuaries for All You Ron Paulians, Vets, Pro-lifers and Anti-Leviathan Types

"Michigan’s Senate unanimously passed legislation to protect its citizens – and, we’ll presume, any American refugee who flees to the Mitten State – from Obummer’s 'legalized' kidnapping and 'indefinite detention,' a.k.a., the NDAA. 'No member of the Michigan national guard on active state service shall aid an agency of the armed forces of the United States in any investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person pursuant to section 1021 of the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2012.' Obummer’s grab for such dictatorial power has suffered a slew of defeats lately in Montana, Indiana, Colorado and Arizona." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMore Sanctuaries for All You Ron Paulians, Vets, Pro-lifers and Anti-Leviathan Types

The Similarity Between American & Iranian Media

"Apparantly Iran's State TV photoshopped sleeves onto Michelle Obama's dress when she was busy propagandizing at the Oscars. How horrible, right? Blatant censorship. Perhaps the neocons are right...the 'force for good' must do battle with 'the axis of evil'. The 'force for good' must (with bombs and tanks) set those poor citizens free. Their government only portrays to them what their government wants them to see. Over on this side of the Earth, where 'the force for good' resides, we have 'freedom of the press' and tolerance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Similarity Between American & Iranian Media

U.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

"The Obama administration will release a new national nuclear-weapons strategy Tuesday that makes only modest changes to U.S. nuclear forces, leaving intact the longstanding U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons first, even against non-nuclear nations. But the new policy will narrow potential U.S. nuclear targets, and for the first time makes explicit the goal of making deterrence of a nuclear strike the 'sole objective' of U.S. nuclear weapons, a senior Obama administration official said Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

U.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

"The Obama administration will release a new national nuclear-weapons strategy Tuesday that makes only modest changes to U.S. nuclear forces, leaving intact the longstanding U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons first, even against non-nuclear nations. But the new policy will narrow potential U.S. nuclear targets, and for the first time makes explicit the goal of making deterrence of a nuclear strike the 'sole objective' of U.S. nuclear weapons, a senior Obama administration official said Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]