On occasion a reader will ask if I can give readers some good news. The answer is: not unless I lie to you like "your" government and the mainstream media do. If you want faked "good news," you need to retreat into The Matrix. In exchange for less stress and worry, you will be led unknowingly into financial ruin and nuclear armageddon.

If you want to be forewarned, and possibly prepared, for what "your" government is bringing you, and have some small chance of redirecting the course of events, read and support this site.

It is your site. I already know these things. I write for you.

The neoconservatives, a small group of warmongers strongly allied with the military/industrial complex and Israel, gave us Granada and the Contras affair in Nicaragua. President Reagan fired them, and they were prosecuted, but subsequently pardoned by Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush.

Ensconced in think tanks and protected by Israeli and military/security complex money, the neoconservatives reemerged in the Clinton administration and engineered the breakup of Yugoslavia, the war against Serbia, and the expansion of NATO to Russia's borders.

Neoconservatives dominated the George W. Bush regime. They controlled the Pentagon, the National Security Council, the Office of the Vice President, and much else. Neoconservatives gave us 9/11 and its coverup, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the beginning of the destabilizations of Pakistan and Yemen, the U.S. Africa Command, the invasion of South Ossetia by Georgia, the demise of the anti-ABM Treaty, unconstitutional and illegal spying on American citizens without warrants, loss of constitutional protections, torture, and the unaccountability of the executive branch to law, Congress, and the judiciary. In short, the neoconservatives laid the foundation for dictatorship and for WW III.

The Obama regime held no one accountable for the crimes of the Bush regime, thus creating the precedent that the executive branch is above the law. Instead, the Obama regime prosecuted whistleblowers who told the truth about government crimes.

The Senate Intelligence Committee released its long-awaited report on CIA torture of detainees and the reaction has been strong. While some still maintain that torture is justified, the emerging details of the program have left most of the country disgusted and ashamed.


Many in the current Administration blame the Bush people for this dark chapter, claiming that President Obama finally put an end to what his predecessor started.

Senator John McCain, an advocate for war and an interventionist foreign policy, has nevertheless been one of the strongest voices opposing torture. He has recalled his time as an abused prisoner of war in Vietnam to argue the importance of facing up to the recent behavior of the US government and making necessary corrections.

He said he knows from personal experience that torture does not produce good intelligence, as the victims will say whatever they believe their captors want to hear to gain some relief from their agony. Torture is morally wrong and it doesn't work, he maintains.

The words "possible criminal actions" by CIA employees are used in the report.

The terms unethical and immoral are mentioned. The criminality of those who ordered these actions at the highest levels of government, however, is not acknowledged.

The actions directed against alleged jihadists are categorized as ineffective in the process of revealing intelligence. This in itself is a red herring. The objective of torture was not to reveal intelligence.

What of course is not acknowledged is that the alleged terrorists who were tortured were framed by the CIA.

Known and documented the Al Qaeda network is a creation of US intelligence. The jihadists are "intelligence assets". Torture serves to perpetuate the legend that the evil terrorists are real and that the lives of Americans are threatened. Torture is presented as "collateral damage." Torture is an integral part of war propaganda which consists in demonizing the alleged terrorists.

This week, we discussed the recent CIA Torture Report, Bart Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted, what we do and don't know about early Christianity, and more.The CIA Torture Report has been a source of much contention in the media and high-up political circles. Listen as we survey the various points of view bandied about: from those who would seek to excuse the criminal and psychopathic methods of the CIA, to others who recognize it as one more attempt to make the American public complicit in its government's machinations.

In the second part of the show, we examine early Christianity: our common historic understanding of who Jesus was and what he did next to the actual facts that much of the Church knows of - and why those facts aren't generally known and understood by those who consider themselves Christian.

Running Time: 01:22:00

Download: MP3

Greenpeace can get a little aggressive with its tactics. That doesn't mean that it's not fighting for a good cause! But after the organization marched through the sacred Nazca Lines etched into the Peruvian desert for a climate protest, capturing it all on camera with a drone, you have to wonder what the hell they were thinking. Greenpeace isn't the best at thinking things through, though.

In fact, this is far from the first time Greenpeace has screwed up, though this latest episode of Greenpeace Being Reckless is particularly atrocious. The environmental group has a long, long history of insensitive or poorly-staged actions, ranging from big - like helping to destroy a GMO crop designed to prevent blindness - to small - like papering a small town with posters the day after a community cleanup.

I have warned that governments always turn against the people. Illinois just made it a felony to film police abuse in the USA. The Spanish government has followed the same course. Despite protests from political, judicial and population, the politicians who are becoming ruthless elite dictators rather than democratic representatives of the people, passed a law which provides extensive fines for protesters who dare to film the abuse of police. They have the audacity to claim filming police is an "offense against public safety" with fines of up to 600,000 euros. It is the police who protect government - not the people. So let's get this straight. "public safety" has become a code word for "government safety" that no longer gives two shits about the people.

Switzerland enacted laws requiring registration of all guns in the country for the first time when. Why? There have not been any incidents of "public safety". They too realize that the people are starting to wake up against the abuse of government everywhere. The people have caused this. As a whole, people watch sports, buy clothes, and go to dinner. Generally at best half even bother to vote. That has sent the signal to government elites the people do not care so corruption has run wild. But now with taxes rising, unemployment rising, pensions vanishing into thin air, and living standards declining, people want real change no words.

Even in the USA, the Republicans wrongly believe their ideas are what the people want. They too raise taxes. This funding bill allowing the banks to repeal Dodd Frank is an example of the corruption behind the scenes. They vote for Republicans because who is ever in power is being tossed out. Come 2016, it will be the Republican's turn as we see a rise in third-party activity. This repeal of Dodd Frank is a John Andrew Boehner special that goes against the conservative T-Party Republicans.

Politicians will be politicians. What is left to say?

The ceasefire in Ukraine is actually being implemented, and both sides of the conflict have acknowledged this in a rare demonstration of accord after months of mutual accusations.

"I have good news," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, currently on a visit to Australia, told journalists on Friday. "Today, for the first time in seven months, there was a real 24-hour-long ceasefire."

"You can't imagine how important this is for us. This has become the first night when I don't have a single soldier either killed or wounded".

Poroshenko admitted, however, the truce has so far been "very fragile" and promised to "pray for the process to carry on."

With CIA torture programs now fully exposed to the world, a common background theme has emerged. The CIA torture report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is a summary of the original report which you can read for yourself. In the first few pages of the Senate report we are quietly reminded that the backdrop which set the stage for the justification of torture is 9/11. More specifically, the 9/11 "official story" narrative. The much questioned, challenged, and refuted official story narrative that is. The report quietly pulls the reader in with a passionate recollection of 9/11:

I recall vividly watching the horror of that day, to include the television footage of innocent men and women jumping out of the World Trade Center towers to escape the fire. The images, and the sounds as their bodies hit the pavement far below, will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Reading down further in the report, the 9/11 official story meme continues fully settling on the clear determined narrative that would be used in the CIA's attempt to justify torture by reminding the audience of the "terrorist plots"

And just like that, the list of countries who want to repatriate their gold just increased by one more, because after Venezuela, Germany, the Netherlands, sorry Switzerland, and rumors of Belgium, we now can add Austria to those nations for whom the "6000 year old barbarous relic bubble" is more than just "tradition."

From Bloomberg:

Austrian Central Bank Mulls Relocating London Gold: Standard

The Austrian state audit court says central bank should address concentration risk of storing 80% of its gold reserves with the Bank of England, Standard reports, citing draft audit report. Court advises central bank to diversify storage locations, contract partners.

Austrian central bank reviewing gold storage concept, doesn't rule out relocating some of its gold from London to Austria: Standard cites unidentified central ank officials. Austria has 280 tons gold reserves, according to 2013 annual report. Austrian Audit Court Will Review Nation's Gold Reserves in U.K.

Washington D. C. - With virtually no warning or debate, the Intelligence Authorization Act for 2015 (H.R. 4681) was rushed to the House floor and passed, containing a dangerous section which, for the first time, statutorily authorizes spying on U.S. citizens without legal process.

Representative Justin Amash (R-MI) made a hastened effort to draw attention to the disturbing bill, only hours before the vote was scheduled. If not for Amash's efforts, the bill would have passed on a "voice vote" - meaning no record would be kept of which Congressmen supported it. Rep. Amash explained in a press release on social media:

"When I learned that the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 was being rushed to the floor for a vote - with little debate and only a voice vote expected (i.e., simply declared "passed" with almost nobody in the room) - I asked my legislative staff to quickly review the bill for unusual language. What they discovered is one of the most egregious sections of law I've encountered during my time as a representative: It grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American." - Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI)

Section 309 contains the language which civil libertarians found disturbing. Rep. Amash rushed out a "Dear Colleague" letter to every member of congress, urging each to vote "NO" on H.R. 4681.