Stuart Littlewood

These last two days the airwaves have been awash with eye-dabbing tributes to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. She has been elevated almost to sainthood by commentators, political hacks and former colleagues. Such near-hysterical adoration, it seems to me, is a measure of the wretched scarcity of leadership talent in Britain over the last 50 years.

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Eric Zuesse

Part of the Obama Administration’s promise to the American people regarding Obamacare was that the enormous waste in America’s medical expenses would be reduced. The reversal of that promise has already begun.

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by Stephen Lendman

Societies perhaps are best judged by how they treat prisoners, their most disadvantaged and children.

On March 20, Israeli soldiers mass arrested about 30 children. Obama arrived the same day. Every child passing Tareq Bin Zeyad street was seized. They were heading for school in Hebron.

They were taken to Kiryat Arba police station. They were interrogated with no adult present. Israel's Youth Law requires it. Shin Bet pays it no heed. Children are isolated from parents. They're terrorized. It's standard Israeli practice.

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By Robert Singer

Let’s say you wanted to create negative energy in the media [as if there weren’t enough already]. How would you do it?

Sandy Hook, I think everyone will agree, created a lot of negative energy.

Are we sure we know what really happened? Here are four possible scenarios.

1. Adam Lanza, a scrawny, socially awkward 20-year old, really wakes up on December 14, goes to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and really shoots 20 innocent children (and six adults) with assault rifles and handguns that his cheerful, self-reliant mother purchased for self-defense and target shooting. The massacre, the latest episode of a lone-nut gunman going on a rampage-killing spree, is the worst school shooting in U.S. history and is exploited by Obama so he can get political support for a ban on assault weapons. Wayne LaPierre, responding to a full-scale attack on the 2nd Amendment calls for armed cops to be placed in every school rather than allow anyone to take away our AK47s. Everyone who didn’t already have an assault rifle for hunting, runs out and gets one: Negative energy created in the mainstream, above, below and alternative media = 50 joules, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton-metre. Conclusion: No Conspiracy


2. Adam Lanza, a scrawny, socially awkward 20-year old, mind controlled patsy, is part of a joint government-media operation false flag event, really wakes up on December 14, goes to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and really shoots 20 innocent children (and six adults) with assault rifles and handguns that his cheerful, self-reliant mother purchased for self-defense and target shooting. The massacre, the latest episode of a lone-nut gunman going on a rampage-killing spree, is the worst school shooting in U.S. history and is exploited by Obama so he can get political support for a ban on assault weapons. Wayne LaPierre, responding to a full-scale attack on the 2nd Amendment calls for armed cops to be placed in every school rather than allow anyone to take away our AK47s. Everyone who didn’t already have an assault rifle for hunting, runs out and gets one: Negative energy created in the mainstream, above, below and alternative media = 100 joules, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton-metre. Conclusion: Conspiracy


3. Adam Lanza, a scrawny, socially awkward 20-year old, wakes up on December 14, but has nothing to do with the shooting of 20 innocent children (or six adults and his mother, who is not a teacher at the school) with assault rifles and handguns that his cheerful, self-reliant mother purchased for self-defense and target shooting. The massacre, the latest episode of a lone-nut gunman going on a rampage-killing spree, is the worst school shooting in U.S. history and is said to either be a LIHOP or MIHOP by Obama so he can get political support for a ban on assault weapons. Wayne LaPierre, responding to a full-scale attack on the 2nd Amendment calls for armed cops to be placed in every school rather than allow anyone to take away our AK47s. Everyone who didn’t already have an assault rifle for hunting, runs out and gets one: Negative energy created in the mainstream, above, below and alternative media = 150 joules, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton-metre. Conclusion: Conspiracy within a Conspiracy


4. Adam Lanza, a scrawny, socially awkward 20-year old, mind controlled patsy isn’t able to wake up on December 14 and go to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and shoot 20 innocent children (and six adults) with assault rifles [still in the trunk of his car] and handguns that his cheerful, self-reliant mother purchased for self-defense and target shooting, because, according to the Social Security Death index he died the day before on December 13. The massacre, the worst school shooting in U.S. history was FEMA staged with crisis actors and made to look like a joint government-media operation false flag event, so Obama could get political support for a ban on assault weapons and water down the 2^nd amendment. Wayne LaPierre, responding to a full-scale attack on the 2nd Amendment calls for armed cops to be placed in every school rather than allow anyone to take away our AK47s. Everyone who didn’t already have an assault rifle for hunting, runs out and gets one: Negative energy created in the mainstream, above, below and alternative media = 400 (4 x 50 joules, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton-metre. Conclusion: A Conspiracy to make you believe it was a Conspiracy

Which explanation best fits the Sandy Hook Event?

1. a lone-nut gunman who really killed 20 innocent children. Negative Energy = 50
2. a lone-nut mind-controlled gunman who really killed 20 innocent children, Negative Energy = 100
3. a lone-nut mind-controlled gunman who didn’t really kill 20 innocent children. Negative Energy = 150
4. a lone-nut mind-controlled gunman who doesn’t even exist and therefore could not kill 20 innocent children. Negative Energy = 400

Still not sure? Keep reading.

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by Stephen Lendman

Since 2008, America, Britain and other European nations force-fed austerity harshness. Neoliberal and imperial priorities take precedence.

Bankers, war profiteers, other corporate favorites, and privileged elites alone benefit. Ordinary people lose out entirely. Public needs go begging. Human misery grows. Things go from bad to worse. Nothing ahead looks promising.

Britain made things harder. Parliament imposed the largest welfare cuts in modern times. More on them below.

They come when Prime Minister David Cameron wants UK nuclear defenses upgraded. He wants billions of pounds spent doing so. He claims Britain faces threats that don't exist. An "ultimate weapon" is needed, he says.

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by Stephen Lendman

In summer 2010, sporadic protests began. In mid-February 2011, major ones erupted. Bahrainis want democracy. They want King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalif's repressive regime replaced.

They rally courageously. They defy government diktats. They brave beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets, live fire, arrests, torture and disappearances. They persist. They refuse to back down. They want freedom replacing police state terror.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) promotes civil, political and economic freedom, ending racial discrimination, disseminating human rights culture, and protecting victims' rights.

Any Bahraini doing so risks life, limb and freedom. Al-Khalifa despots spurn human rights, justice and other democratic values. Iron-fist governance is policy.

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by Ellen Brown

Cyprus-style confiscation of depositor funds has been called the “new normal.”

Bail-in policies are appearing in multiple countries directing failing TBTF banks to convert the funds of “unsecured creditors” into capital; and those creditors, it turns out, include ordinary depositors. Even “secured” creditors, including state and local governments, may be at risk.

Derivatives have “super-priority” status in bankruptcy, and Dodd Frank precludes further taxpayer bailouts. In a big derivatives bust, there may be no collateral left for the creditors who are next in line.

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by Stephen Lendman

Obama, Republicans and most democrats are in lockstep. They claim Medicare and Social Security are going broke. They lie saying so. When properly administered, both programs are sound. Modest adjustments only are needed to assure it.

They're federally mandated. They're not entitlements. They're contractual obligations. They're for eligible recipients who qualify. Payroll taxes fund them.

Social Security provides retirement, disability, survivorship, and death benefits. It's America's most effective poverty reduction program. It's worked remarkably well since inception.

It provides secure inflation-adjusted retirement or disability income. Personal savings aren't risked. It's not going bankrupt.

The same holds for Medicare.

It's America's largest health insurance program. Payroll deductions defray costs. Tens of millions rely on it. It covers eligible recipients aged 65 or older, some disabled ones under age 65, and people of all ages with end-stage renal disease.

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by Stephen Lendman

Thatcherism represents Chicago School fundamentalism writ large. She’s gone. She won’t be missed.

She launched a corporatist revolution. She headed Britain down a slippery slope toward unfettered predatory capitalism.

She transferred public wealth to private hands. She privatized British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways, British Steel and other state enterprises.

She force-fed deregulation. She cut social benefits. She enacted corporate-friendly tax cuts. She cracked down hard on non-believers. She waged war on labor.

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Khaled Amayreh in Hebron

Palestinians are convinced that Arafat Jaradat was tortured to death, whatever Israel claims.

Thousands during the funeral of Jaradat in the West Bank town of Saeer, near Hebron (photo: AP)

Tension continues to flare all over the occupied Palestinian territories following the untimely death in an Israeli jail of Arafat Jaradat earlier this week.

Jaradat, 30, died ostensibly as a result of intensive physical torture and was laid to rest in his native town of Saeer east of Hebron amid angry and impassioned scenes as the Palestinian Authority (PA) sought to prevent the tension from evolving into an all-out uprising.

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