Why Samantha Power Should Not Hold Public Office, by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
January 27, 2021

It took a variety of approaches to market the 2003 war on Iraq. For some it was to be a defense against an imagined threat. For others it was false revenge. But for Samantha Power it was philanthropy. She said at the time, “An American intervention likely will improve the lives of the Iraqis. Their lives could not get worse, I think it’s quite safe to say.” Needless to say, it wasn’t safe to say that.

Chris Hedges: How Republicans, Democrats, and the Media Have Weakened US Democracy

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

New Economic Thinking on Jan 19, 2021

Renowned journalist and author Chris Hedges talks about the many ways traditional media, digital media, and the two political parties have worked to prevent progressive movements and give rise to the growth of the extreme right.

Danny Haiphong, Margaret Kimberley and Ajamu Baraka: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the American Empire

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Dandelion Salad

with Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley

Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens on Jan 18, 2021

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is often celebrated without any regard for his radical political legacy.

Chris Hedges: Biden Admin-Redux: Deep State, Empire and Censorship

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jan 16, 2021

On this show this week, Chris Hedges talks to Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald about the incoming Biden administration and what it will mean for a country in crisis, ravaged by a pandemic it cannot control, hostage to corporate power and bifurcated into warring factions.

Chris Hedges: America Has The Tinder To Ignite Social Uprising

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Dandelion Salad

“The problem is not just Trump’s ineptitude and he was inept, the problem is the for-profit health care system. We don’t have an infrastructure that can cope with a national health crisis because our health care structure is designed only for one thing and that’s to make money.”

Exploiting the Chaos to Impose More Surveillance and Censorship, by Rainer Shea

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by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist
January 12, 2021

Welcome to the latest stage in the process of reaction that’s occurring within the U.S. ruling class amid Washington’s imperial decline. This is the stage where after Trump’s personality cult has escalated a petty political dispute into violence, the liberal technocrats who will soon have control over the White House are escalating their war against dissent.

Warnings from Weimar + The Corporate State is Not Our Friend, by Kenn Orphan

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by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
January 10, 2021

Without a doubt, the people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6^th are not ashamed. They have been emboldened. Egged on by a wannabe proto-fascist, his endless stream of lies about a stolen election, and driven by a relatively new cultish religion called QAnon, this mob breached the Capitol of the wealthiest and most powerful imperial power in human history. This mostly white crowd, already coming from a place of enormous privilege, did something no Black or Indigenous person could ever dream of in America. Yet there they were, being allowed into the historic building by members of the Capitol police, who some would later take selfies with. At the end of the day, four people would be dead, including a woman who was trying to break into the building. She is being referred to by some on the far right as a “martyr for the revolution.” A police officer would be dead a short time later from his injuries.

Top 10 Questions for Avril Haines, Neera Tanden and Antony Blinken, by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Dec. 30, 2020
January 2, 2021

Before Avril Haines can become Director of National Intelligence, Senators must approve. And before that, they must ask questions. Here are some suggestions for what they should ask.

The Nature of the American State: Corporate Dictatorship, Mass Incarceration, and Imperialism, by Yanis Iqbal

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by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
December 29, 2020

“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”

— George Jackson, Blood in My Eye (1990): xvii

US War Machine Masquerading as Country, by Finian Cunningham

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by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Ireland
Crossposted from Sputnik, Dec. 21, 2020
December 22, 2020

The late and not-so-great Republican Senator John McCain once provocatively described Russia as “a giant gas station masquerading as a country”.

Mitt Romney, the former presidential candidate and fellow Republican Senator, was quoted in US media over the weekend channeling McCain’s contemptuous description of Russia.

Vijay Prashad: The Democratic Party and the War Machine

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Dandelion Salad

theAnalysis-news on Dec 18, 2020

The roots of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy are found in WWII, the atomic bombing of Japan and militarization during the Cold War. Biden supported the Iraq War but fought for the nuclear agreement with Iran. What should we expect from his administration? Vijay Prashad joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

John Pilger: The New Cold War With China, American Exceptionalism, Biden’s Victory and Covid-19

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Dandelion Salad

with John Pilger

goingundergroundRT on Dec 19, 2020

On this season finale episode of Going Underground, we speak to legendary journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. He discusses the devastating impact of Coronavirus in the U.K., rising poverty and militarism, the Western logic for the new Cold War with China, the victory of Joe Biden over Donald Trump and why not much will change with Trump leaving the Presidency, the Yemen War, the survival of Venezuela despite crippling international sanctions, mainstream journalism vs real journalism and much more!

Abby Martin: Biden’s Scary Foreign Policy Picks

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Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Dec 17, 2020

A breakdown of Biden’s new defense cabinet and what it means for war & peace. Who is Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Avril Haines, Lloyd Austin and Linda Thomas-Greenfield?

Chris Hedges: There is Massive Interference in Every Electoral Campaign in the US by a Foreign Power and that’s Israel

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

“Both sides of the elites are culpable in refusing to acknowledge because they’re both responsible for the rage that is legitimately ripping across the country. And so they use this notion of foreign interference as a way to deflect attention from their own complicity in de-industrialization and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny oligarchic elite and trade deals and programs of austerity and wholesale surveillance and militarized police and the largest prison system in the world, 25% of the world’s prisoners although we’re four percent of the world’s population so it’s a familiar tactic.” — Chris Hedges

NATO Craving Conflict, by Finian Cunningham

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by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Ireland
Crossposted from Sputnik, Dec. 7, 2020
December 8, 2020

The US-led NATO military alliance is like a war junkie – it needs to inject conflict and tensions in order to get a “fix” for its existence.