British trade union laws are the most restrictive in the developed world. This is a legacy of the Thatcher years, with legislation passed between 1979 and 1997, which made it harder for unions to gain recognition and raised the bar for ballots on strike action, requiring 40 percent turnout, making it much harder for unions to go on strike.

British trade union laws are the most restrictive in the developed world. This is a legacy of the Thatcher years, with legislation passed between 1979 and 1997, which made it harder for unions to gain recognition and raised the bar for ballots on strike action, requiring 40 percent turnout, making it much harder for unions to go on strike.

On July 1st, CNN reported that “President Barack Obama’s top aides, including David Axelrod, communicated with Hillary Clinton at her private email address while she was secretary of state,” and that, “Obama officials — including Axelrod — had said they were unaware Clinton was using a personal email address.” CNN provided no linked source for their allegation that Axelrod didn’t know (nor juxtaposed his statement which contradicted it); however, what CNN said there was indeed accurate, so far as it went, as one can tell simply by clicking onto this link:

In Part One, I dealt at length with America’s relationship with “Lesser” or “Third World” powers because that is where we have been most active since the Second World War. I now turn to America’s postwar rivalry with the other “Great” power, the Soviet Union, and offer some thoughts on our growing relationship with China.

Don’t fool yourself into believing that the Supreme Court will never again allow a wartime violation of civil rights like it did in allowing internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II, those are the powerful words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his address to law students at the University of Hawaii and they couldn’t portray a more honest truth about where we are headed in the near future.

Welcome to the latest chapter in a long tale of unspeakable cruelty.

Israel’s military thugs are once more raiding mercy ships on the high seas in an effort to prevent humanitarian aid reaching the 1.8 million souls in shattered Gaza.

By Brandon Turbeville

Just one day after Turkey’s announcement of plans to invade Syria by implementing a “no-fly zone” or “buffer zone,” Jordan has now announced that it is considering doing the same...

The Syriza government is backing down after the realization that Brussels will declare economic war on Greece by deliberately trying to plunge the country into total ruin, far worse than the sanctions imposed on Russia. This is a sad day for the entire world. It is a terrible example that the Troika is the new equivalent of a Roman Triumvirate – the death of democracy. Europeans will remember this day for it is when national sovereignty died.

How do you change the way people think? You start by changing the words they use.
In totalitarian regimes—a.k.a. police states—where conformity and compliance are enforced at the end of a loaded gun, the government dictates what words can and cannot be used.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fancied the violent 2011 “regime change” in Libya such a triumph that her aides discussed labeling it the start of a “Clinton Doctrine,” according to recently released emails that urged her to claim credit when longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed. And Clinton did celebrate when Gaddafi was captured and murdered.

A court in the United States has ruled that the National Security Agency can continue with the systematical collection of Americans’ domestic phone calls records.

In cities across the United States, we have seen how the militarized mold of policing and the supply of armored vehicles, assault weapons and the like have resulted in police forces who no longer see their role as one of protecting and serving, but as an occupying army.

The Confederate Flag everybody is up in arms about is the Naval Jack.

There’s much talk of reforming the criminal justice system: libertarian-ish GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul is making the unfairness of sentences that have a disparate impact on minorities a major theme of his campaign, which is all to the good.

British trade union laws are the most restrictive in the developed world. This is a legacy of the Thatcher years, with legislation passed between 1979 and 1997, which made it harder for unions to gain recognition and raised the bar for ballots on strike action, requiring 40 percent turnout, making it much harder for unions to go on strike.

Ukraine is Exhibit A for everything a nation shouldn't be. It's run by illegitimate, Nazi-infested putschists - lunatics risking war with Russia. It's a brutal dictatorship by any standard.

Its US-anointed president is an oligarch mega-crook war criminal. Its top officials look like an FBI most wanted list.

Corruption is the national pastime. So is police state ruthlessness and naked aggression on its own people.

Poroshenko finds new ways to disgrace himself. Earlier he claimed 10,000 Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory.

It’s been found that year after year, more Americans are leaving the United States and renouncing their citizenship. It’s a trend that, while small, has been seeing explosive growth. Just a few years ago only a couple of hundred Americans took that course of action. But last year, a record 3,415 Americans said goodbye to their citizenship.

Of course, that number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the population. However, moving to a new country is often a tedious an expensive process. If it were easier, how many people do you think would be willing to leave this country? A new survey conducted by the peer-to-peer money transfer service known as TransferWise, asked that question to 2000 American residents and citizens. They found that 35% of them would consider leaving the good old US of A.
(read more)

The gestapo continues to steal everything from us, including our money. Instead of “cops and robbers,” here’s a case of cops or robbers, because I can’t tell who is who here.

When a passenger simply tried to take a bag filled with $75,000 in cash onto a flight at Richmond International Airport, the TSA searched his “bulky” bag and found the money.

They quickly confiscated it.

The guy was not under suspicion for any real crime other than having that much cash on himself at an airport. Apparently just having large sums of cash these days automatically equals a crime that allows the government to steal from you?

Adding insult to theft injury, one of TSA’s spokespeople decided it would somehow make the agency look that much better to then Tweet a snarky photo of the guy’s money-filled bag.

(read more)

The growing movement in the United States to isolate Israel is an effective strategy to force the “fascist” regime to retreat from occupied Palestinian territories, according to a researcher in South Africa.

If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it….

A new report for the United Nations has found that the British government’s policies are stripping children of their rights.

70% of all the money spent on British prison contracts goes directly to G4S and Serco following a recent increase in spending, it has emerged.

The recently published fourth edition of the UK Justice Policy Review has also identified prison overcrowding and the continued cuts to funding as a major cause of increased prison violence, as well as questioning the decisions which see the two firms gain increasingly strong positions within the industry – in spite of an ongoing criminal investigation.

In this video Luke Rudkowski interviews whistleblower and research Richard Grove of tragedyandhope.com. Richard describes how he whistleblowed and how the TPP really comes from the agenda of secret societies.

The real issue holding things up is whether the Americans have the "political will" to make that leap, to agree in writing to its obligations (without 100 caveats) and the courage to face their sprawling bureaucracy whose bread-and-butter is the 'sanctions industry' and the 'Iranian enemy.' says Sharmine Narwani

It’s D-Day in Vienna, and the parties sitting across the negotiating table still haven’t ironed out terms to settle a 12-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. Expect this deadline to be missed. And prepare for a lot of hot air to fill its space.

The “hot air” is calculated narrative-spin from a range of players that seek to 1) scuttle a deal, 2) increase pressure/create leverage at the negotiating table, or 3) frame an upcoming agreement in language favorable to one side.

Activist and author Eugene Puryear challenges the Fair Labor Standards Act and the president’s claims that this will indeed be a benefit to working people.