By David Swanson | War is a Crime | May 20, 2013

The New York Times’ Disunion series has an excellent essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne by Cynthia Wachtell, author of “War No More: The Antiwar Impulse in American Literature, 1861-1914.” In 1863, Hawthorne wrote to an English friend: “The war-party here do not look upon me as a reliably loyal man, and, in fact, I have been publicly accused of treasonable sympathies.”

By Andrew W. Griffin | Red Dirt Report | May 19, 2013

OKLAHOMA CITY – A new documentary film, Nuclear Savage, by documentary filmmaker Adam Jonas Horowitz, should have been shown on PBS this month, but may be running into resistance by persons unknown at the publicly-funded U.S.-based public-television network that includes World Channel content.

The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf has written a good post on an unfortunately seldom-made argument against so-called “humanitarian intervention” – namely that there are huge opportunity costs.
“Almost every time someone calls for a war to be entered on humanitarian grounds, there’s a way to save more lives more cheaply and reliably with philanthropic spending,” he explains.

By Stuart Littlewood | Palestine Chronicle | May 19, 2013

The Church of Scotland’s revised report ‘The Inheritance of Abraham?’ has now been released ahead of their Assembly.

Daylin Leach-- the Pennsylvania state Senate's "liberal lion"-- is running for the open congressional seat in Northeast Philadelphia/Montgomery County (PA-13) that Allyson Schwartz is giving up so she can run for governor. Blue America has already endorsed Daylin.

Coordinated bombing attacks resumed today. At least ten blasts were seen in the capital alone, and a pair of rare explosions occurred far south in Basra. Both Sunni and Shi'ites targeted in them. Overall, at least 116 people were killed and 240 more were wounded, but the figures are likely to rise. Some of the dead and wounded were Iranian pilgrims.

By Ronald Muñoz – Ciudad CCS – May 19, 2013

Never before in the history of Venezuela has a politician been so promoted and supported by the media as Henrique Capriles has been, and now more than ever. Never before has a politician received so much coverage, and such fawning attention from the media, especially given that we are talking about someone who isn’t even president.

According to Peter Scheer, a lawyer and executive director of the First Amendment Coalition (FAC), “the real outrage about the Justice Department’s use of secret subpoenas for the phone records of Associated Press journalists is that…it was probably legal.”

By Carlos Miller | Photography is Not a Crime | May 18, 2013

New York City police officers arrested a woman who was video recording them from a public sidewalk as they conducted some type of “vehicle safety checkpoint.”
The officers apparently stole a memory card from a camera, which turned out to be the wrong one, allowing us to view the video.

Netanyahu has been  to China and Russia. Both Netanyahu and Secretary of State John Kerry wanted Russia to back down from their support for Syria. And fortunately for us, they were sent home with a stern warning. The Russians have sent 12 additional ships into the Mediterranean to emphasize their dissenting view.

RT | May 19, 2013

Brazil has added 30 US military robots to the Israeli drones and ‘Robocop-style’ glasses with face recognition cameras to its arsenal after the country allocated $900 million to make 2014 World Cup “one of the most protected sports events in history.”

Saturday Ken Cuccinelli got a Lt. Gov. nominee just as extreme and out of step with Virginia as he is. Bishop Earl Walker "E.W." Jackson is, basically, a slick-talking religionist crackpot and well-practiced far right ideologue.

RT | May 19, 2013

Many tourists hoping to visit the West Bank are finding it impossible to do so – because Israel requires certain visitors to have an entry permit. Obtaining permission is anything but easy, because Tel Aviv doesn’t explain the process, Haaretz reported.

Ma’an - 20/05/2013

BETHLEHEM – Israelis from a Negev kibbutz attacked a Bedouin village on Sunday, setting fire to a tent, a Ma’an reporter said.
Residents from the Kibbutz of Retamim attacked the adjacent Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj and set fire to a tent belonging to Eid Abu Habbak, head of the local village council, Salman Ibin Hamid, told Ma’an.
Abu Habbak filed a complaint with Dimona police department.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 057. I was on The Peter Mac Show on May 12, 2010, with my fellow Libertarian Standard co-blogger Rob Wicks. We discussed a variety of matters, including whether libertarians should use the word “capitalism,” also anarchy, IP and other topics.

A policy has to be judged by its results, and by that standard interventionism is a complete and total failure, as a look at the day’s headlines reveals. We’ve heard several public officials say Al Qaeda has been effectively dismantled, with its top leadership – including Osama bin Laden – out of commission. But that [...]

Hamid Karzai has let the Pentagon’s cat out of the bag — to the displeasure of the Obama Administration. The Afghan president revealed inside information about President Obama’s war plans after all U.S. “combat troops” completely withdraw in 17 months at the end of 2014. As was known in recent years, the Obama Administration actually [...]

The Grayson Takano No Cuts letter is the gold standardThe House doesn't usually stay in sessions Fridays, let alone take serious votes, but this past Friday, as we mentioned yesterday, Boehner and Cantor kept the Members in town to repay a promise they had made to their Wall Street masters to further weaken the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.

Although Iraq is enjoying a respite from major bombings, small arms attacks appear to be on the rise. Anbar province, in particular, saw gun violence targeting police. Also, two more kidnappings were reported. Overall, at least 44 people were killed and 25 more were wounded.

The interior of the seven-story townhouse at 80 Washington Place, priced to move at $28.9 mil, making it "the highest-priced single-family townhouse in all of Greenwich Village""Village brokers and buyers alike have reported an acute shortage of luxury homes, and fierce bidding wars for fine homes."-- from Andrea Swalec's DNAinfo.com report, "Most Expensive

Until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That now hold our brothers
In Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa
In subhuman bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed,
Everywhere is war…

Barbaric, primitive priests spread fear and hatred in GeorgiaYesterday I wrote about how primitive, Bronze Age notions regarding the subjugation of women in the patriarchal societies of the 3 major Abrahamic religions, still leads to thousands of brutal murders and barbaric treatment of women all over the world.

Photo by Maria Izaurralde
Adam Kokesh got his start in anti-government activism as an Iraq Veteran Against the War. He admirably broke Army military rules by protesting the war in his U.S. Marine uniform, and was soon discharged as punishment.

"Good night, thou false world!"

It is Sunday... It is a long weekend here in Canada...

What to make of this visit ?Unannounced meeting with PM Netanyahu and senior Israeli figures comes amid concerns over Syrian weapons

Missile Defense Agency
May 16, 2013
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System Completes Successful Intercept Flight Test
====
This test exercised the latest version of the second-generation Aegis BMD Weapon System and Standard Missile, providing capability for engagement of longer-range and more sophisticated ballistic missiles.
Other Aegis BMD intercepts have employed the ABMD 3.6 and 4.0 with the SM-3 Block IA missile, which is currently operational on U.S. Navy ships deployed across the globe.

====
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Anatole France: Selections on war
Michel Corday: Selections from The Paris Front
====
Michel Corday
From Under the Rose (1926)
Translated by J. Lewis May

As we saw last night, Scott Garrett is a Wall Street shill and one of the most extremist Republicans left in the Northeast.

By Peter Jenkins | LobeLog | May 17, 2013

Listening, on 15 April, to the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on US policy towards Iran put me in mind of the inscription Dante imagined over the entrance to Hell: “Abandon hope all you who enter here”.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 056. I was a guest on the May 9, 2010 episode of BlogTalkRadio’s show Anarchy Time, hosted by James Cox. Other guests included C4SS Development Specialist Mariana Evica, Wilt Alston, and Stefan Molyneux (also podcast at Freedomain Radio #1659: “The Immigration Roundtable – BlogTalkRadio with Stephan Kinsella, Wilt Alston and Stefan Molyneux: A […]

Press TV – May 19, 2013

A court in Spain has formally charged 22 Spanish riot police officers with causing serious harm to a man when they fired rubber bullets at protesters in Barcelona.
Judge Josep Majo, who is leading the investigation, has filed charges of grievous bodily harm against the officers, who are accused of injuring the man during a general strike on March 29, 2012.

Press TV – May 19, 2013

Israeli President Shimon Peres says no “compromise” should be made with Iran in the course of the negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of world powers.

Ma’an | May 19, 2013

BETHLEHEM – Picnickers in northern Israel were surprised Thursday when they saw anti-Arab racist slogans printed on T-shirts of a guide affiliated to a religious youth movement Ezra.
“Torching Arabs for education,” was written on the guide’s shirt, families who were picnicking in the north told the Israeli daily Maariv.

By Dr. Kevin Barrett | Press TV | May 19, 2013

The USA, once one of the most free countries on earth, is no longer free. It is rapidly becoming a militarized gulag society – a giant open air prison.”
Nearly 1,000 American military bases occupy every corner of the planet. US troops have killed more than a million people in various countries during the past decade. Officially, this is all being done in the name of “freedom.”

"What do you expect? 'Crook' is my middle name"Last election cycle the Wall Street banksters poured $83,722,946 into campaign contributions for congressional candidates, $55,447,942 for Republicans and $28,077,244 for Democrats. Their #1 agenda item was to get Congress to further water down Dodd Frank.

At least 40 people were killed and 45 more were wounded in mostly small attacks across Iraq. Also, as many as 13 people were kidnapped across Anbar province.

James Corbett of corbettreport.com and Broc West of apperspective.net are pleased to bring you the latest edition of their monthly video series, “The Asia-Pacific Perspective.” In this episode, we cover:
STORY #1:
Queensland government considering unprecedented police powers for next year’s G20 Summit
http://ur1.ca/dw2k8
Queensland police to use surveillance drones to “combat crime” ahead of G20 conference

My guest for this interview is Prof. Edgar Andrews, Emeritus Professor of Materials Science at the University of London. With his book "Who Made God?" as our focus, we explore the explanatory limits of the natural sciences and discuss how his concept of the God Hypothesis offers a coherent explanation of reality. Prof.

My guest for this interview is Prof. Edgar Andrews, Emeritus Professor of Materials Science at the University of London. With his book "Who Made God?" as our focus, we explore the explanatory limits of the natural sciences and discuss how his concept of the God Hypothesis offers a coherent explanation of reality. Prof.

Off-the-Marc: Episode 3 (view clip at link)Look who shows up at Marc's door! Says Marc: "The character in the show is not exactly my father. My dad's name is Barry; the character in the show is Larry.

My conversation with Jeff Bliss, the Duncanville High School sophomore who spoke out against the spirit-crushing and mind-numbing monotony of public schooling.

Covered:
-Jeff Bliss imposters?
-The history and agenda of public school
-John Dewey
-Ron Paul and media manipulation
-John Taylor Gatto
-the proper Alex Jones dosage
-collectivism and using "we"
-the futility of reform
-the GED and college

Bumper Music:
Geto Boys, "G Code (Instrumental)"

My conversation with Jeff Bliss, the Duncanville High School sophomore who spoke out against the spirit-crushing and mind-numbing monotony of public schooling.

Covered:
-Jeff Bliss imposters?
-The history and agenda of public school
-John Dewey
-Ron Paul and media manipulation
-John Taylor Gatto
-the proper Alex Jones dosage
-collectivism and using "we"
-the futility of reform
-the GED and college

Bumper Music:
Geto Boys, "G Code (Instrumental)"

My conversation with Jeff Bliss, the Duncanville High School sophomore who spoke out against the spirit-crushing and mind-numbing monotony of public schooling.Covered:-Jeff Bliss imposters?-The history and agenda of public school-John Dewey-Ron Paul and media manipulation-John Taylor Gatto-the proper Alex Jones dosage-collectivism and using "we"-the futility of reform-the GED and collegeBumper Music:Geto Boys, "G Code (Instrumental)"Look Closer:Jeff Bliss Video: Texas High Schoo

By Lawrence Wittner | May 17, 2013

Although many Americans believe their universities are places where administrators and faculty members coexist on a fairly equal basis, the reality is that this is far from the case.

Last summer the cover-up of the epidemic of military rapes at Lackland-- engineered by House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon-- began to unravel, due, primarily, to the tireless efforts by Protect Our Defenders. POD battled McKeon's determination to cover up the scandal and keep it out of the public view. At all times, he insisted on closed briefings rather than the public hearings this kind of scandal demanded.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 055. This is from The Voluntary Life, Author Interview: Stephan Kinsella on Against Intellectual Property (March 20, 2010; also podcast as Episode 1616 of Freedomain Radio, as Stefan Molyneux joined in too). See also their interesting episode Against Intellectual Property: A Follow Up Discussion.

After watching him as a freshman senator, I never believed Obama would be a vehicle for Hope and Change. I voted for him in 2008 anyway. I couldn't force myself to do it again last November. Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, is someone who I have actually bought into right from the start. I donated to her campaign and helped promote her cause. This week, her first proposed legislation has made me-- and thousands of others across the country who backed her-- proud.