By Stephen Lendman

The latest plot involves five subjects allegedly planning to bomb a Cleveland area bridge. More on it below.

Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officials or agents induce, influence, or provoke crimes that otherwise wouldn't be committed.

It doesn't apply if subjects willingly act lawlessly. Government aiding, abetting, or facilitating them is considered lawful.

Entrapment involves government operatives initiating the idea. If individuals go along under pressure despite no intent or desire to do so, they committed no crime. To convict, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that subjects weren't entrapped. Otherwise, judicial fairness requires exoneration.

That's not how things turn out today. Innocence or guilt doesn't matter. Once charged, prosecutorial misconduct and right-wing courts convict. Juries are pressured and intimidated to go along even in cases with no plot, no crime, or intent to commit one.

Attorney Eric Holder defends the practice. He calls stings a vital tool. He stops short of admitting entrapment. He must because it's illegal. It's nonetheless repeatedly used to convict innocent people. As a result, hundreds rot unjustly in America's gulag.

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By Stephen Lendman

Last October, Obama told ABC News:

"The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded."

"And that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded."

His key words were: "we are on their side."

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by Stephen Lendman

Independent observers knew it long ago. Today's global economic crisis provides added confirmation. In 2008, a staunch champion of the system expressed second thoughts. More on him below.

An ideology based on inequality, injustice, exploitation, militarism, and imperial wars eventually self-destructs or gets pushed.

Growing evidence in America and Europe show systemic unaddressed problems too grave to ignore. They remain so despite millions without jobs, savings, homes or futures.

Imagine nations governed by leaders letting crisis conditions fester. Imagine voters reelecting them despite demanding change. OWS aside, one day perhaps rage will replace apathy in America. The latest jobs report alone provides incentive enough to try and then some.

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