In his seminal 'Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization,' Bryan Ward-Perkins writes, "Romans before the fall were as certain as we are today that their world would continue forever... They were wrong. We would be wise not to repeat their complacency.” [...]

Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump predicts tough times ahead for the US economy. If something bad were to happen, better it happen during the Obama administration, than the next one, according to Trump. "Remember the word bubble? You heard it here first," Trump told a 1,200 crowd in Iowa on Saturday. [...]

Ami on the Street: Do we really need the 1st Amendment? Ami visits the Yale University campus with a petition to repeal the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Surely they will laugh him off of campus...right? US political satirist and filmmaker Ami Horowitz approached the students at one of the most prestigious universities in the world asking its attendees to sign a petition in favor of [...]

Libya’s air force said in a Facebook post that 20 US commandoes arrived at Wattiya airbase and disembarked “in combat readiness,” only to be told to leave. Pentagon sources confirmed the US had sent a special forces unit to Libya as part of a mission. [...]

Martin Shkreli ‒ the pharmaceutical CEO infamous for jacking up drug prices 5,500 percent ‒ has been charged with securities fraud. The arrest is unrelated to his raising the price of life-saving pills exponentially, but to his time at a hedge fund. [...]

The existing US missile shield is incapable of withstanding a massive strike of Russian nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops said at a press conference. The analysis of Russian military experts has found that “neither the firepower potential, nor the data computing capacity of the currently deployed US missile defense” i [...]

Amid the nation’s terrorism fears, President Barack Obama's approval rating has plummeted to nearly a record low. It now stands at 43 percent, as seven in 10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll. [...]

Hillary Clinton has extended her lead in the race for the White House, beating Bernie Sanders in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll by 30 points in the battle for Democrat contender. But it's her email account that's making headlines here in the UK. Specifically, emails from George W. Bush's secretary of state Colin Powell ahead of Britain joining the American war on Iraq. [...]

Patrick Schmidt was unemployed and living in California when he bought an old school bus for $4,500 in March. He drove it to Vegas where he and his father renovated it into a home on wheels. They spent $9,000 to turn the bus into a house, before Patrick took it for a spin all the way to Florida, traveling through 30 states. [...]

As the leader of the international coalition against Islamic State, the US failed to ensure the implementation by its Turkish allies of the Syria air safety agreement, which was signed between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Ministry says. [...]

Donald Trump is no moron; he just plays one on TV. He spouts vile nonsense, but even his most ardent detractors concede that he is one clever dude – diabolical, calculating and shrewd. Does he promote stupidity only to win over the dumbest and the vilest voters, the Republican base?   That would be the most likely explanation. He seems to have figured out what they want to hear, and he is f [...]

Watchdog groups are sounding the alarm after two of the oldest and largest corporations in the United States—DuPont and Dow Chemical—announced Friday plans to merge into a $130 billion giant, thereby establishing the world's biggest seed and pesticide conglomerate. The new behemoth, named DowDuPont, would then be split into "three independent, publicly traded companies through tax-free spin [...]

Millennials are disillusioned about the American dream, don't trust the government and don't think much of the current presidential candidates. They also want more boots on the ground to fight Islamic State… but they want other Americans to serve. Americans ages 18 to 29 ‒ nicknamed the millennial generation ‒ account for 23 percent of the US population, or 73 million people. As such, t [...]

New investigative reporting from McClatchy has exposed the hidden legacy—and "enormous human cost"—of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, providing "an unprecedented glimpse of the costs of war." The reporting, which comes as the nation prepares to upgrade its aging nuclear arsenal to the tune of $1 trillion over the next 30 years, reveals the abundant health and safety risks from radiation e [...]

In the muddled midst of last week’s mass killing in San Bernardino, California, a few words skittering across my Twitter feed gave me pause. “On this awful shooting: Is U.S. culture evil? Enemy of our civilization? Must all Americans apologize? Should we bar U.S. tourists as dangerous?” asked Simon Kuper, a columnist with the Financial Times. [...]

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is taking a bold step against biotech giant Monsanto and genetically modified seeds at large. In a new address to the Russian Parliament Thursday, Putin proudly outlined his plan to make Russia the world’s ‘leading exporter’ of non-GMO foods that are based on ‘ecologically clean’ production. [...]

Islamic State’s campaign of terror in Iraq and Syria is being aided by the weapons indirectly supplied by the very countries trying to fight them, with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 giving the terrorist group access to “a large and lethal arsenal.” he claims were made in a study by Amnesty International, entitled ‘Taking Stock: The arming of Islamic State,’ which was released o [...]

What is the connection between the US Empire’s contempt for law and truth-telling and neo-liberalism? And how is it that citizens can be so passive in the face of evident government prevaricatio… Deciphering the meaning of Neo-liberalism as a historical force and societal form requires the energies and know-how of a sagacious sleuth like Hercule Poirot. Wendy Brown, a philosophy professor a [...]

Major defense contractors Raytheon, Oshkosh, and Lockheed Martin assured investors at a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week that they stand to gain from the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Bruce Tanner told the conference his company will see “indirect benefits” from the war in Syria, citing the Turkish military’s rece [...]

On November 22, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, GA at the 25th annual protest of the School of the Americas to memorialize the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives at the hands of the U.S. Empire’s brutally repressive juntas it used to rule Latin America by force. The dictators and death squad leaders, who committed acts of genocide, were trained within the gates [...]

Moscow carried out the first successful flight test of its new anti-satellite missile last month, becoming just the second nation to arm its military with space warfare weapons. Russia's direct ascent anti-satellite missile, known as Nudol, was successfully tested on November 18, according to defense officials familiar with reports of the test. [...]

A mass shooting just occurred hours ago in San Bernardino, California, around 11:00am local time on December 2nd, 2015. As sad as this loss of life is, with all these events it’s important to question everything right from the start. This may be yet another false flag operation with the same old purposes of scaring the public, justifying martial law (school and hospital lock-downs) and pushing t [...]