If you really want a lesson in how the Western popular press works, this is it. Without question, Germany is the leading power in Europe. ZDF is its state broadcaster and most popular channel. Together with sister network ARD; German's are obliged to pay €17.98 per month to fund it. [...]

Today on The BradCast, we discuss the Iowa caucuses and examine how the mainstream corporate media have decided for themselves which candidates are and are not acceptable for American voters. Jim Naureckas of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting joins us to discuss the marginalization [...]

The UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks, which began on Friday in Geneva, will be boycotted by the main Syrian opposition group which has insisted that Russia stop bombing its positions while negotiations are conducted. To appreciate how ridiculous these demands are, one would have to imagine a similar scenario taking place in the United States. [...]

People ask what can be done about the elite control system. The answer lies with taking concrete steps toward understanding where the control truly is. Done sneakily, or under the illusion of democracy, in recent times more oppressive laws have been made than ever before. Between us being subjected to more and more ordinances, rules, restrictions and outright laws then demonizing our dissension [...]

“One of the greatest stories of the 20th century was that we doubled the life expectancy of adults,” Terry Fulmer, head of the John A. Hartford Foundation, remarked recently. In the last quarter-century, Washington has helped fight this trend. Consider the dark news Health Affairs delivered this month. Mexico saw a “decline in life expectancy from 2005 to 2010 among men nationwide,” mai [...]

The Gracchus brothers of Rome, Indian Emperor Ashoka, and Jesus were all left-wingers, former Uruguayan president José Mujica told RT, as he shared a fascinating history lesson on the constant struggle between liberal and conservative ideas. [...]

When a crackdown on excessive dispensing of prescription painkillers took place in the U.S., an unexpected consequence took root: a new epidemic of heroin use. Betty Tully has firsthand experience with the devastating effects of prescription opiate addiction. [...]

As public anger toward America’s self-interested establishment bubbles into a boil, the mainstream media has grown frantic appealing to the masses to “stay sane,” reject populism — especially Bernie Sanders’s variety — and renew the establishment’s lease on the White House, as Norman Solomon notes. For a long time, as he campaigned for President, a wide spectrum of establishment m [...]

Few Americans understand the ugly history behind the Nazi-affiliated movements that have gained substantial power in today’s U.S.-backed Ukrainian regime. Western propaganda has made these right-wing extremists the “good guys” versus the Russian “bad guys,” as Jonathan Marshall explains. The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine, one of the leading journals in its field, offers a tw [...]

The Post, Owned by Man Worth $53.2 Billion, Really Doesn't Like Bernie Sanders. The Washington Post has been on something of an anti-Sanders kick lately. Its latest editorial, Bernie Sanders’s fiction-filled campaign, is somehow worse than its last one, [...]

Teachers and students at one New Jersey school said they hit the jackpot with one of their teachers who’s been with the school for more than 20 years. As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, they call her Granny and she’s been named the oldest living and working teacher in the United States. At 102 years old, Agnes Zhelesnik certainly doesn’t act her age. “I feel like, maybe 95,” she s [...]

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio admitted that he would love to play Vladimir Putin onscreen if provided with such an opportunity. Dicaprio said that for him bringing the image of the Russian president onscreen would be a ‘very, very interesting task.’ [...]

Most in America were happy when Tehran promptly released ten US sailors, who were detained when their two boats drifted in Iran's territorial waters on Tuesday; but US hardliners were furious. "If you think about the [US] bases that surround Iran, you can understand why [the Islamic Republic] would be concerned when a heavily armed naval vessel ventures into Iranian territory," political analys [...]

Whatever happened to the days when the primary purpose of journalism was to hold our government accountable for its stupid actions, like when the US Navy, for example, strays into the territorial waters of an Islamic nation at the worst possible time? Just how long and deep America has snorted from the cracked mirror of imperial power, intoxicating the nation with delusions of grandeur and exce [...]

On New Year's Eve the German city of Cologne witnessed mass organized sexual assaults on hundreds of German women. For five days following the assaults the German media failed to report them. When under public pressure they eventually did, it turned out that a string of similar assaults had also happened simultaneously in various other German cities. [...]

Why is the economy barely growing after seven years of zero rates and easy money? Why are wages and incomes sagging when stock and bond prices have gone through the roof? Why are stocks experiencing such extreme volatility when the Fed increased rates by a mere quarter of a percent? It’s the policy, stupid. And here’s the chart that explains exactly what the policy is. [...]

The world's warm ocean waters are experiencing some very unusual hurricane behavior right now, meteorologists say. Right now in the eastern Atlantic, Hurricane Alex is headed towards the Azores, and it's the first hurricane to form in month of January since 1938. With sustained winds of over  85 mph, the Category 1 hurricane is even stronger than the hurricane of '38. [...]

In his final State of the Union address, Barack Obama refrained from unveiling major policy initiatives, offering instead his bold vision for America's future, but the speech, apparently meant to be uplifting, has apparently mixed some fact with fiction. In his speech, Obama painted a picture /* */ Continues Here... [...]

Russian activists are requesting permission to install a monument near the US embassy in Moscow dedicated to the genocide of American Indians. A member of the Russian Public Chamber says the move could soon get official support. The activists have launched a petition in support of the monument on the change.org website. [...]

Abby Martin Breaks the Set on the NYPD's iPhone Campaign, Resisting the War Tax, Injustice for Torture Victims, and a Former Marine's Views on Empire. On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin remarks on the NYPD's recent efforts in promoting the Apple iPhone's new security features, even though phone hackers can easily override the phones new fingerprint scanner. Abby then talks to Ed H [...]

Campbell Soup's announcement that it will become the first U.S. company to begin labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in its products garnered accolades on Friday from food and safety groups, who heralded the development as a "significant win" for transparency. "The decision by Campbell’s sends a clear message to Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association which have spent hu [...]

There was once a time – perhaps just a brief moment in time – when American journalists were cynical and responsible enough to resist being jerked around by U.S. government propaganda, but that time has long since passed if it ever existed, a reality that William Blum describes. Vulgar, crude, racist and ultra-sexist though he is, Donald Trump can still see how awful the American mainstream [...]