Criminal Nation: Obama and Trump Both Should Be Jailed for War Crimes

Submitted by Glen Ford on

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

The corporate media feed us fake news and the lawyers provide us with fake legality. A group of former Obama White House lawyers -- the same guys that defended the U.S. bombing of Libya, drone wars, and the “proxy” war against Syria -- say Trump has not legally justified his attack on a Syrian airbase. The truth is, the U.S. has waged illegal wars with impunity for most of its existence. Obama’s former lawyers want only to whitewash the crimes.

Freedom Rider: Democratic Party Death Spiral

Submitted by Margaret Kimberley on

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

The Democrats are locked in a fatal contradiction: they cannot serve the people and their rich paymasters, too. The people want higher wages, affordable education and the right to healthcare. Instead, the Democrats “engage in wishful thinking that the same tired nostrums would work one more time.” The Democrats only run for office so they can “make deals on behalf of the corporate interests which feed them.”

War, Militarism and No Mainstream Opposition: Different Administration, Same Story

Submitted by Ajamu Baraka on

by BAR editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka

If asked, most Americans will say they want peace. But they consistently vote for the two parties of war. “Imperial privilege” allows “the U.S. public to ‘shrug off’ the consequences of U.S. wars. They will destroy whole societies while ostensibly rescuing a few “beautiful babies” -- preferably white ones. We must build a new politics around the provable principle that killing other people is dangerous to one’s own moral and physical health.

Bernie Sanders: Loyal Democrat, Stalwart for Empire

Submitted by Danny Haiphong on

by Danny Haiphong

Bernie Sanders will never break with the Democratic Party and its finance capitalist masters. Progressives have no choice but “to take the genuine demands for a living wage, socialized healthcare, and free higher public education out of the two-party duopoly and into the streets.” Sanders is also totally useless in the fight to save the planet from nuclear conflagration; he “has made his peace with war.”

2 Poems - About How and Why Some Things Work. And Some Others Don't

Submitted by Raymond Nat Turner on

By BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

In two works of poetry this week, Turner offers cogent observations on two phenomena, one that pretty much works as intended, and another enterprise that despite the wishes of many consistently and predictably goes awry.

Diana Johnstone: Financial Elite Created France's New President, Emmanuel Macron



Submitted by Ann Garrison on

An interview by Ann Garrison



Three out of four of the top vote-getters in the first round of French elections ran against the economic policies of the European Union. Yet the French and U.S. corporate media claim the election was all about race and “fascism.” Emmanuel Macron is “the whole globalizing elite’s own special candidate” – and bad news for the working class.

An Opening to Challenge Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Conviction

Submitted by Linn Washington on

by Linn Washington and Dave Lindorff

Thirty-five yeas after his conviction in the death of a Philadelphia policeman, Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, may have a shot at overturning the verdict, A judge has begun a process that could throw out the results of the original trial. “Supporters of Abu-Jamal are calling Judge Tucker’s discovery order a rare victory in a lengthy string of appeals.”

Review: Black Subjugation in America

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

by Kim Scipes

On a recent visit to Ho Chi Minh City’s (Vietnam) War Remnants Museum I was reminded Americans have never come to grips with our invasion and war on Vietnam. They have also never come to grips with our own history, specifically how Europeans stole this land from Native Peoples and then built this country on the backs of of African slaves, while institutionalizing white supremacy.

Zuma and the Real Story of the Capture of the ANC and the State

Submitted by Dale T. McKinley on

by Dale T. McKinley

The continuity of corporate capture, of corruption, of the arrogance of state and executive power, of the demobilization of the grassroots, is crucial to understanding what Zuma has done and will continue to do. And this rot did not start with the rise of Zuma to the throne. It is deeply rooted in the politics of the ruling ANC party post-apartheid.

The Challenge in Jackson Mississippi: to Govern or to Transform?

Submitted by Bruce A. Dixon on

A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by Bruce A. Dixon

The political organization of Jackson's first Mayor Lumumba was divided. Some wanted to embed themselves in Mississippi's black political class, while others aimed for a far reaching transformation of the local economy, relying on collective uplift and cooperative enterprises. It's been three years. The eyes of black and working class America are on Jackson Mississippi once again. Will the city be merely governed, or will it be transformed?

Study Shows School Vouchers Hurt Students – But Trump and DeVos Couldn't Care Less

Submitted by Glen Ford on

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are old school “segregation academy” politicians with strong ideological investments in private school vouchers. They will not be deterred by a new study that shows the Washington DC school voucher program actually detracts from student achievement. The people of DC never wanted vouchers, but school privatization has nothing to do with democracy.

Freedom Rider: Obama Gets Paid

Submitted by Margaret Kimberley on

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Obama opposed reparations for Black slavery, but gladly pockets payback for his work in ensuring that banks are “too big to jail.” Obama has been on the Lord’s of Capital’s payroll, coming and going, having won the presidency with the largest contributions from Wall Street in history. “The fact that his defenders so casually shrug their shoulders and defend kleptocracy ought to be debated.”

Trump's First 100 Days: The War Party Lives On

Submitted by Danny Haiphong on

by Danny Haiphong

Donald Trump has been brought to heel, as Hillary Clinton might say. “Trump has learned in his first 100 days in office that war is the primary marker of Presidential legitimacy.” The War Party’s anti-Russia campaign has crushed any hopes of lessening international tensions. “Where Obama succeeded in neutralizing the left, Trump is succeeding in dropping all so-called populist pretenses in favor of the warm embraces of the ruling elite.”

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