"Politicians are more likely than people in the general population to be sociopaths. I think you would find no expert in the field of sociopathy/psychopathy/antisocial personality disorder who would dispute this... That a small minority of human beings literally have no conscience was and is a bitter pill for our society to swallow — but it does explain a great many things, shamelessly deceitful political behavior being one."

— Dr. Martha Stout, clinical psychologist and former instructor at Harvard Medical School

Twenty years ago, a newspaper headline asked the question: "What's the difference between a politician and a psychopath?"

The answer, then and now, remains the same: None.

There is no difference between psychopaths and politicians.

Nor is there much of a difference between the havoc wreaked on innocent lives by uncaring, unfeeling, selfish, irresponsible, parasitic criminals and elected officials who lie to their constituents, trade political favors for campaign contributions, turn a blind eye to the wishes of the electorate, cheat taxpayers out of hard-earned dollars, favor the corporate elite, entrench the military industrial complex, and spare little thought for the impact their thoughtless actions and hastily passed legislation might have on defenseless citizens.

Psychopaths and politicians both have a tendency to be selfish, callous, remorseless users of others, irresponsible, pathological liars, glib, con artists, lacking in remorse and shallow.

Charismatic politicians, like criminal psychopaths, exhibit a failure to accept responsibility for their actions, have a high sense of self-worth, are chronically unstable, have socially deviant lifestyles, need constant stimulation, have parasitic lifestyles and possess unrealistic goals.

It doesn't matter whether you're talking about Democrats or Republicans.

Political psychopaths are all largely cut from the same pathological cloth, brimming with seemingly easy charm and boasting calculating minds. Such leaders eventually create pathocracies: totalitarian societies bent on power, control, and destruction of both freedom in general and those who exercise their freedoms.

Once psychopaths gain power, the result is usually some form of totalitarian government or a pathocracy. "At that point, the government operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups," author James G. Long notes. "We are currently witnessing deliberate polarizations of American citizens, illegal actions, and massive and needless acquisition of debt. This is typical of psychopathic systems, and very similar things happened in the Soviet Union as it overextended and collapsed."

In other words, electing a psychopath to public office is tantamount to national hara-kiri, the ritualized act of self-annihilation, self-destruction and suicide. It signals the demise of democratic government and lays the groundwork for a totalitarian regime that is legalistic, militaristic, inflexible, intolerant and inhuman.

Monday marks the thirteenth day since Turkey began its third cross border military operation in Syria ironically named "Operation Peace Spring". In the past two weeks civilian and militant lives on both sides have been lost, a large exodus has taken place, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution that opposes US troop withdrawal, a five-day ceasefire was brokered between Turkey and the United States, and Kurdish militias have withdrawn from the "safe-zone".

On Wednesday, there was overwhelming bipartisan approval for a measure that opposes President Trump's U.S. forces withdrawal from Syria. The resolution was introduced by Reps. Michael McCaul, Republican from Texas and Eliot Engel, Democrat from NY and it calls on the White House to put forth a plan for the "enduring defeat" of Daesh and demand that Turkey cease its military operations in Syria.

The measure which passed 354-60 with four members voting present, and all sixty of the nays coming from Republicans, stated, "An abrupt withdrawal of United States military personnel from certain parts of Northeast Syria is beneficial to adversaries of the United States government, including Syria, Iran and Russia."


It's absurd that there's outrage about ending a war and allowing Syria to handle its own domestic affairs. However, nothing of the sort happened when Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US President Barack Obama was bombing seven countries and creating some of the wars that President Trump has inherited including Syria. Bipartisan support for carrying on with endless wars is mindboggling.

The US' so-called "maximum pressure" campaign targeting Tehran is certainly having a lasting effect on the people of Iran and its economy, but it may not be having its intended effect of squeezing Iran into total submission.

Under the surface, there are at least three signs that suggest, despite the draconian nature of the sanctions regime hitting the Islamic Republic, Iran may in fact be able to weather the storm (for now).

Iran's resilient economy

Firstly, Iran's currency regained 40 percent of its value in the past year, recovering from the all-time lows it had reached since Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the plug on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, said the economy had grown over the past year even in the face of sanctions and the repeated threats of war. It bears mentioning that when it comes to Iran, the threat of war comes from multiple venues at multiple times in the day. If it isn't Israel, Saudi Arabia, or the United States threatening to attack Iran, there is always the potential for the on-the-ground situations in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to result in a breakout of war which could cross over into Iran's territory.

President Donald Trump doubled down on his defense of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) on Monday after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to suggest that the Democratic presidential candidate is an asset that the Russians are "grooming" in preparation of the 2020 election.

"Hillary Clinton, I don't know if you've heard of her, she's the one accusing everybody of being a Russian agent," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting. "Anybody that is opposed to her is a Russian agent — that's a scam that was pretty much put down."

"I don't know Tulsi, but she's not a Russian agent," he continued. "I don't know Jill Stein. I know she likes the environment. I don't think she likes Russians. If she does like them, I know she's not an asset — [Clinton] called her an asset of Russia. These people are sick. There's something wrong with them."

US forces that crossed into Iraq after pulling out from Syria can only use its territory for transit and do not have permission to stay, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of military vehicles carrying American troops crossed into the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq in a long convoy on Monday.

The Iraqi statement adds more uncertainty to a vision of what will actually happen to the troops after their withdrawal from Syria. In the last few days, the American military were simultaneously reported to be "going home" - that's according to President Trump - and continuing their mission in Iraq to conduct operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in a plan outlined by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper. He also mentioned some soldiers may remain in Syria to protect oil fields from IS takeover.

On Tuesday, Esper told reporters during his stop in Saudi Arabia that his troops would make preparations in Iraq to go home from there - without specifying how long they would stay. "The aim isn't to stay in Iraq interminably, the aim is to pull our soldiers out and eventually get them back home," the defense secretary said in front of a Patriot missile battery at the Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh.

US President Donald Trump is "fully prepared" to use military force against Turkey if "needed," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared, qualifying the statement by insisting Washington prefers to use its "diplomatic powers."

"We prefer peace to war," Pompeo told CNBC in a taped interview that aired Monday afternoon.

But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action.

He stopped short of revealing what action on Turkey's part would constitute such a "need."

Justin Trudeau's Liberals have retained enough seats to govern with a strong minority in the House of Commons as the result of a robust showing in Ontario, bringing an end to an acrimonious campaign and ushering in the uncertainty of a divided Parliament and a country split along regional lines.

The Liberals face significant challenges as they enter their second mandate: They won the most seats in the House, but lost the popular vote to the Conservatives. About 6.2 million Canadian voters - or 34.4 percent - chose Mr. Scheer's party over the 5.9-million voters - or 33.1 percent - who opted for Mr. Trudeau's Liberals. They were shut out in Alberta and Saskatchewan.


The minority situation will force the Liberal Prime Minister, who swept to power in 2015 as a champion of progressive values but became tainted by ethical scandals and broken promises, to negotiate political alliances with the NDP or the Bloc Québécois to maintain power. Mr. Trudeau will face a resurgent Bloc, which was elected in 32 of Quebec's 78 seats late Monday, and the Conservatives holding a tight grip in the Prairies, where anger mounted at the Liberals for failing to get the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built in their first four years in government and introducing new legislation that changed the rules for environmental reviews.

"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." — Mayer Anselm Rothschild, 1790

Thirty-eight years ago when I was in charge of United States domestic economic policy, the US Treasury and President Reagan believed that the purpose of economic policy was to serve the country, not Wall Street and the banks or the corporations or any of the various organized interest groups. Our idea was that policy could not be for this or that part of the economy. It had to be for everyone.

This changed in the last year of the Reagan administration after I was gone. The George H.W. Bush Republicans, who by then had taken over the Reagan administration, decided that economic policy had to serve the election of Bush as Reagan's successor. They created the "Plunge Protection Team," consisting of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Its purpose was to stand ready to intervene in financial markets and to support financial prices in the event of a stock market downturn for which the Bush Republicans had set themselves up to be blamed.

Reagan was elected because the post-war Keynesian demand management policy of pumping up consumer demand with money supply growth and easy credit, while maintaining high tax rates on work and investment, had broken down. The result was the rising inflation and unemployment trade-offs known as stagflation.

Russian diplomats have taken a swipe at NATO after the "purely defensive" alliance placed an order for 78,000 camouflage kits suitable for military operations in the freezing-cold Arctic.

NATO's Support and Procurement Agency is poised to buy "snow camouflage for winter operations," that includes 78,000 sets of trousers and jackets, along with the same number of backpack covers. The uniform, as outlined in the bid request, should withstand temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius, while shielding servicemen from "strong winds and snow drifts."

The request was originally posted in June and has seen no lack of bidders. Between July 1 and September 30, NATO awarded the lucrative contracts to the tune of €70 million to three companies from the UK, Greece and Slovakia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening announced he had failed to muster a coalition after almost four weeks of effort, and therefore returned the mandate to form a government to President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu's 28-day deadline for building a government was due to expire on Wednesday.

Rivlin is now expected, probably on Tuesday morning, to charge Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz with the task of trying to muster a coalition that can win a Knesset majority. Blue and White said it was determined to build the "liberal unity government, led by Benny Gantz, that the people of Israel voted for."

Gantz now has 28 days to try and do what Netanyahu could not. If he fails, any MK will have 21 days to obtain the support of a Knesset majority to form a government. If no one succeeds, elections will be initiated automatically — a third round inside a year after April's and September's inconclusive votes.