Return of the Ferguson War Zone? Missouri Enacts State of Emergency Ahead of Mike Brown Grand Jury (Democracy Now!)

"It is Officially Open Season on Black Folks": Legal Expert Decries Handling of Wilson Grand Jury (Democracy Now!)

Class 13 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 12 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 11 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 10 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 09 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 08 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 07 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 06 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 05 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 04 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 03 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 02 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Class 01 Reading Marx's Capital Vol I with David Harvey

Udo Ulfkotte "European Media Writing pro-US Stories Under CIA Pressure." (RT)

Stephen Cohen "NATO games in Ukraine push world 5 minutes before nuclear midnight" (RT: SophieCo)

Crime: Gangs, Drug Dealers, Decline of the Economy of Detroit

The Story The Chinese Government Tried To Silence (Journeyman Pictures)

Ebola : Inside the Deadly Outbreak (Documentary 2014) (National Geographic)

How Would A Global Pandemic Really Happen? (Journeyman Pictures)

‘World losing battle with Ebola’ – Doctors Without Borders Chief. (RT: Sophie Co)

Fighting To Contain Sierra Leone's Ebola Epidemic. (Journeyman Pictures)

After Censorship of History Course, Colorado Students & Teachers Give a Lesson in Civil Disobedience (Democracy Now!)

J: A Short Story (Review and Sample)

Gene Ogorodov

Pettis-Lovell Independent Publishers Ltd. the parent company of Pine Flag Books has recently published a short story by a promising new author. D.E. Roberts' "J: A Short Story" is a subtle reexamination of what it means to be religious. Far too often contemporary people assume that religion by its very nature is consciously irrational. For most of the history of religion the assumption has always been the reverse.

Putting aside the execution of Socrates and the forced recantation of Galileo, the finer nuances of the phenomenology of western religion have developed to make religion more consistent with common perceptions of reality rather than in opposition. Simplistic religion was the domain of simple uneducated people, not the power brokers and intelligentsia of a civilization.

Accused of Stealing a Backpack, High School Student Jailed for Nearly Three Years Without Trial (Democracy Now!)

Bill Moyers Retires.

By Gene Ogorodov

Moyers and Co. recently released a statement by Bill Moyers saying that he would be leaving journalism. After decades of being the leading voice in Public Broadcasting for the common man, he leaves a void that will never again be filled by one person. 

Honesty, decency, and journalistic integrity have defined his career in an era where journalism has become increasingly about ratings and careerism. He was a kind soft voice that created the similitude of a personal report through the television screen who never shied away from asking the tough questions. 

People like Bill Moyers give us hope that through hard work we can live in a better world, a more just world, a world with a sense of humanity and common decency. Bill, you will be sorely missed.

Bart Ehrman Freedom From Religion Foundation Lecture

Noam Chomsky "Nightmare in Gaza!"

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza Conflict, Hamas Goals and Iron Dome Myth. (RT America)

Noam Chomsky "Israel On The Road To Self-Destruction"

Noam Chomsky on Media’s "Shameful Moment" in Gaza & How a U.S. Shift Could End the Occupation. (Democracy Now!)

"Sadistic & Grotesque": Noam Chomsky on How Israel Limits Food & Medicine in Occupied Gaza. (Democracy Now!)

The Rise of ISIS: US Invasion of Iraq, Foreign Backing of Syrian Rebels Helped Fuel Jihadis' Advance. (Democracy Now!)

Hundreds Arrested as Growing Fast-Food Workers' Movement Strikes for Living Wage, Unionization (Democracy Now!)

Ukraine Ceasefire Takes Hold, but an Expanding but an Expanding NATO on Russia's Borders Threatens Nuclear War. (Democaracy Now!)

How Google Now Plays Cop, Gets People Arrested (RT America: The Resident)

What Did Bill Clinton Lie About? Christopher Hitchens on the Values of the Worst Family. (1999)

The Roots of the New Cold War (RT: The Big Picture)

Jimmy Dore "Your Country is Just NOT That Into You." (RT: The Big Picture)

Everything You Know Is Wrong...about the Rapture? (RT:The Big Picture)

Food for Thought

Hating Arabs is antisemitism too. Yes, Fox News I am calling you Nazis.

Linda Greenhouse and Dahlia Lithwick "Is the Surpreme Court Out of Order?" (Moyers and Co.)

Inside ISIS and the Iraq Caliphate (Journeyman Pictures)

Stephen F. Cohen "Current situation in Ukraine and the Anti-Russia Lobby."

James Randi "Fighting the Fakers"

James Randi "Secrets of the Psychics." (NOVA)

James Dobson Distorts Research...Again!

Richard Dawkins Debates Rowan Williams at Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford 2012

Obama Endorses Use of National Guard to Suppress Protests in Ferguson. (PressTV)

NPR on Ferguson

By Gene Ogorodov

NPR recently had a piece questioning whether the militarization of police in the United States is the byproduct of military gear that has adorned forces around this country. They asked, appropriately, if a militaristic mentality encouraged the acquisition of military gear rather than the more commonly assumed reverse. 

However, they ignored the important question of cui bono? Answering that question goes beyond the chicken and the egg and get to the heart of the corruption on our system of policing. The answer to that is self evident--military contractors, the lobbyists they hire to keep the their profits in the stratosphere, and the politicians they have bought. 

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens Audio Book - P6

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens Audio Book - P5

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens Audio Book - P4

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens Audio Book - P3

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens Audio Book - P2

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens - Audio Book - P1

An Open Letter to the Market Basket Empoyees on Strike.

To The Market Basket Workers:

For too long the American worker has been enslaved to the wealth of others. The unbridled greed and indifference to humanity of a microscopically small minority has forced billions of people world wide into desperate conditions of wage slavery, and they are doing the same thing in the United States. The high standard of living that we as Americans once enjoyed has been under concerted attack for the past forty years by an unscrupulous tyranny. Without reaping the benefits of the profit motive the worker's time and labor is ground into the dust by the jackboot of cutting costs.

Greater Boston Video: Market Basket Employees Protest CEO Firing

Meet Nadia, Made Homeless by Televangelists

Water is a Human Right: Detroit Residents Seek U.N. Intervention as City Shuts Off Taps to Thousands (Democracy Now!)

Arkansas: The Worst Place to Rent in America (Vice News)

A Plan Only Banksters Will Love: WikiLeaks Reveals Trade Deal Pushing Global Financial Deregulation (Democracy Now!)

Elizabeth Warren & Thomas Piketty Discuss Nature & Income Inequality. (The Huffington Post)

Too Big to Fail and Getting Bigger (Moyers and Co.)

How Tax Reform Can Save the Middle Class (Moyers and Co.)

Gore Vidal "Understanding America's Terrorist Crisis."

Tea Party America (BBC)

The Billionaires Tea Party Documentary

Interview with Gore Vidal for "The Great Depression"

How Tax Reform Can Save the Middle Class (Moyers and Co.)

How to Start a Revolution. (2011)

Does the USA Sponsor Revolutions? (Journeyman Pictures)

Boston Bombing -- What You Aren't Told. (RT: The Truthseeker)

US plans 'first strike' on Russia. (RT: The Truthseeker)

NATO's Secret Armies (2009)

The Lost Diary of Dr Livingstone. (Secrets of the Dead)

(Since PBS doesn't like putting their content on YouTube.com for free, here is a link to the video on the PBS website.)

One of the most popular sermons of the late D. James Kennedy, one of the bright and shining stars of the Evangelical World, was one entitled "The Secret of Commitment." This piece chronicled the testimony of David Livingstone, and used him as an example of unwavering commitment to the missionary cause. It is not necessary to observe that the accounts given by this PBS documentary and Dr. Kennedy are at variance.

Ambassador Jack Matlock "How Myths and Ideologies Led America Astray and How to Return to Reality."

An Open Letter to Ralph Nader on Climate Change.

Dear Mr. Nader:

I recently listened to the March 12, 2014 interview that you gave with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, and I am very concerned with the way you plan to ween the United States off fossil fuels. Although I agree that the earth has reached a crisis point because of human pollution and drastic steps must be taken to save our planet and the human race, cutting American access to carbon based and nuclear energy, without transforming American life to be less dependent on energy, will have devastating repercussions which will undoubtedly plague this continent for centuries to come.

Ralph Nader "Senate's Climate Stance, 'Insanity' of U.S. Nukes, & Why Obama's Min. Wage Hike Falls Short." (Democracy Now!)

Jack Matlock "NATO expansion to Ukraine will be grievous mistake for US." (RT:Sophie Co.)

Ex-Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal "West scared of BRICS as it has no control over it." (RT: Sophie Co.)

Alex Callinicos "The Politics of Leninism (Part 3): The Problem of Organisation."

Not One More: Some Facts and Figures about Gun Violence

By Brandon Luper

All the reader will get by reading this short article are some facts and figures about gun violence in the United States. My hope is that, having crammed all these calculations and statistics into her brain, the reader’s picture of what America’s gun culture is really like will go from snowy screen analog to crisp, digital high definition.

 If the reader is up for such a journey, let’s get started. During the 2013-2014 school year, there were 47 school shootings in the United States.  That’s one every four school days. 31 people have been killed in these shootings, many more injured. And, despite Eliot Rodgers’ misogynistic rampage at University of California Santa Barbara on May 23, it should be noted that this is a down year.

Alex Callinicos "The Politics of Leninism (Part 2): Imperialism and Revolution."

Alex Callinicos "The Politics of Leninism (Part 1): The Primacy of Politics."

Alex Callinicos "Leninism in the 21st Century."

David Harvey "The End of Capitalism."

David Harvey "Neoliberalism and the City."

RWW News: Bundy Ranch Speaker Promises "Civil War On A Vast Scale"

Sergei Lavrov " Americans are not ready to admit they cannot run the show." (RT: Sophie Co.)

Ray McGovern "Europe will now think twice before following Washington's orders." (RT: Sophie Co.)

Southeastern Ukraine: Crisis Diary (RT Documentary)

An Open Letter to Sen. Chris McDaniel of Mississippi

The following is an open letter to one of the newest stars of the Tea Party, Sen. Chris McDaniel of Mississippi. He is currently running against incumbent Thad Cochran to be the Republican nominee for US Senate.

Dear Sen. McDaniel:

I listened to a piece on NPR about your campaign against Sen. Cochran to become the Republican candidate for US Senate for the State of Mississippi. In one of clips of a speech you gave you said that you wanted to reduce Federal subsides to Mississippi. Speaking as someone who lives in Massachusetts, a state which contributes a fair amount of its Federal tax dollars to Mississippi and other poorer states, I appreciate your concern for our expense. 

Stephen Cohen "We Are Not Beginning a New Cold War, We Are Well Into It." (Democracy Now!)

Fast Food Protest in Boston

Photo taken from RT.com <http://rt.com/in-vision/fast-food-global-strike/massachusetts-fast-food-protest/>

Fall of Eagles: End Game (13 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: The Secret War (12 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: Tell The King The Sky Is Falling (11 of 13) (BBC)

Addendum to "How Did We Get Here?"

By Gene Ogorodov

On May 10, 2014 Dr. Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, emphatically denied the possibility of Russian intervention in Ukraine, in an Op-Ed for RT. I will concede that conventional hot war between the US and Russia is not necessarily an "absolute certainty" as I said earlier. Avoiding war will require a spectacular amount of diplomacy (and more than a few very successful intrigues). The United States wants war with Russia, and it will get a war, even if Ukrainian troops have to retake Crimea and invade the undisputed territory of the Russian Federation. I don't believe that Russia has the tools at its disposal to stressfully avoid war.

How Did We Get Here?

By Gene Ogorodov

Recent events have forced The Boston Pine Flag to focus more on Ukraine than would seem justifiable in comparison to the lack of commentary on the other major events of the few years. The civil unrest and nascent civil war in Ukraine qua war hardly compares with the human suffering produced by the Syrian Civil War. The underhanded machinations and state backed terrorism of the United States directed at Iran coupled with its flagrant mendacity about its actions make the shameless actions towards Ukraine and Russia seem legal and honest. However, one should not compare and contrast these three political stages as different crimes of the Evil Empire. They are part of the same objective--to destroy the resurgent power of the Russian Federation before China is prepared to compete for thalassocracy in the Pacific.

Fall of Eagles: Indian Summer of An Emperor (10 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: Dress Rehearsal (9 of 13) (BBC)

A Left-Wing Hero Speaks.

By Gene Ogorodov

Chris Hedges has finally written on the ramification of the Roberts Court's refusal to hear Hedges v. Obama, his lawsuit challenging the NDAA. His Op-Ed entitled "The Post-Constitutional Era" can be found at Truthdig.com. This article lives up to Hedges reputation as a writer and an activist. It is one of the finest critiques of Corporatistic Totalitarian Era that our country has entered that I have ever read. All Americans (and anyone interested in the United States) should read this essay. Read this essay for yourselves, share it among friends and family, but most importantly make sure the truth in this article is know in every community in the United States of America. Ubiquitous access to accurate information is essential.

Fall of Eagles: The Appointment (8 of 13) (BBC)

Washington's Ukraine

By Gene Ogorodov

At this moment Pro-Russian Paramilitary Forces have massed in American State of Nevada. This might come as a shock to most Americans including the several hundred armed militia members at the Bundy Ranch to whom I am referring. Most of them would probably be insulted by an insinuation that they are in the pay of a "Communist" country like the Russian Federation, which there is no evidence to support. However, the fact remains that they and the Kremlin share a common interest in a weaker American Government.

Fall of Eagles: Dearest Nicky (7 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: Absolute Beginners (6 of 13) (BBC)

Heaven is for Real 2014: A Review

By Gene Ogorodov

When I watched the movie Heaven is for Real my expectations were low. The overtly predatory nature of American religion, especially Evangelical Protestantism, suggested that this film existed for the sole purpose of manipulation and extortion. Yet, even with already jaded perspective Heaven is for Real stooped below my lowest expectations.

Silly, sappy, and dishonest are adjectives which come far to readily to mind when describing this film. The genre of Evangelical testimonial which forms the basic structure of the plot discredits the validity of the story out of hand. Cherry picking past events to construct a plausible support for supernatural intervention is the complete opposite of an unbiased and objective history. Also, using the biased overly spiritualized formulations of the average Testimony a less than creative writer could make Joseph Stalin appear to be one of the most pious Evangelicals of the Twentieth Century. What could possibly be a more radial spiritual transformation than going from a gangster to founding a State Church?

Fall of Eagles: The Last Tsar (5 of 13) (BBC)

In Defense of RT

By Gene Ogorodov

Several days ago Secretary of State John Kerry lashed out against the quality reporting found at RT.  I do not work for RT. (The turkeys wouldn't give me a job; I'm too much of Marxist-Leninist for their tastes.) However, let me set the record strait. 

In researching current events one cannot depend solely upon one news outlet. One needs to read reports from the area in interest. For example, if one wants to know what the people of Crimea think you need read Crimean news. If there is a clear impetus for partisan bias it is necessary to read both sides and try to piece together an objective opinion. I'm a news junkie, and I have done due diligence on the Crisis in the Ukraine, and RT is the only major news source that I have found to represent the opinions of the Ukrainian and Crimean people and accurately represent the facts on the ground. 

Fall of Eagles: Requiem For A Crown Prince (4 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: The Honest Broker (3 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: The English Princess (2 of 13) (BBC)

Fall of Eagles: Death Waltz (1 of 13) (BBC)

The Harmony of History.

By Gene Ogorodov

For the next several weeks The Boston Pine Flag shall be showing the BBC miniseries Fall of Eagles. You might ask--what does this have to do with politics and current events? Plenty. A century ago the world was plunged into a suicidal war that wiped away a thousand years from the map of Europe and killed untold millions of people--mostly working men. What sirens song lured the crowned heads of Europe into that mass lunacy? Super Profits. Today our leading madmen have been beguiled by the same illusive prise into measure their swords and threatening to drag the whole world into a Thermonuclear war. The names of most of our countries and the titles of their rules changed during the 20th Century, but the insatiable, predatory appetite of the bourgeoisie has not abated at all. We cannot understand our own era without understanding how the ruling class played its part in the past. Furthermore, the struggle of the working class a century ago is the struggle of the working class today. Their lessons should be our lessons, and we can hope that as the storm clouds gather, as they did a century ago, a new dawn for the Revolution is not far behind. 

И вновь продолжается бой. (The battle continues.)

Chris Hedges "Our Only Hope Will Come Through Rebellion."

Are Any Plastics Safe? Industry Tries to Hide Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Containers (Democracy Now!)

Part Two included below.

The Fifteenth Anniversary of the End of the Soviet Union: Recollections and Perspectives. (Woodrow Wilson Center)

Six Degrees Could Change the World. (National Geographic)

David MacKay "Sustainable Energy--Without the Hot Air"

Ralph Nader "I Told You So."

Bill Gates "On the Future of Energy." (WSJ)

Thomas Drolet "Thorium Reactors and their Feasibility" (Cambridge House)

President Obama: Brussels Speech.

The most frightening thing about this diatribe is not the mendacity of Pres. Obama, but that he believes that we should believe this rubbish, and cast our lives away upon its platitudes. Just to set the record strait, the real threat to the democratic values and way of life in Europe is not the Russian Federation but the United States. The United States has never in living memory pursued the interests of the people. It is a country designed to be the plaything of the super-rich, and all the cant about human rights, as Edward Snowden and Pvt. Manning have exposed, are worth less than nothing when the cameras are off. In the last twenty years the United States has maintained its tenuous hold on international hegemony through destabilizing region after region of the world.

Likewise NATO has shed its cloak of anti-communism and has supported American power as a criminal organization engaging in countless war crimes and violations of international law. I have already dealt in depth with the reality of American involvement in Ukraine. There is no need to re-address the despicable nature of Washington's hyper-power.

Though there is a irony here that needs to be addressed. It is in the interest of the United States to curtail its foreign obligations and manage problems at home, not becoming entangled in Ukraine. It is in the interest of the Russia that the US stay out of central Europe. It is in the interests of the EU that America observe from a distance rather than dictate what is essentially internal policy to European states. In short everyone who can have an stake in Ukraine has a vested interest in the United States bending on Ukraine. Yet, the US is still going to meddle in Ukraine for years to come, provoking the Russians and in good time the Poles and the Germans. I would like to see the President answer this question--Why?

Sean Gervasi "How the US Terminated the USSR."

Stephen F. Cohen "US Betrayal of Russia."

Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt By U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups To Oust Elected Government? (Democracy Now!)

Some Thoughts on Russia's Annexation of Crimea.

By Gene Ogorodov

The incorporation of the Autonomous Region of Crimea into the Russian Federation is a flagrant violation of the Budapest Memorandum, which ensured the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Since this action by the Kremlin contravenes international law it is a justification for war between US and Russia. The danger to the entire globe of such a course cannot be over stated. I soundly condemn the behavior of the Russian Federation.

A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup. (Democracy Now!)

A Theological Analysis of Ken Ham

By Gene Ogorodov

Early in February the Creation Museum hosted a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham. Both of these people are notorious for their outspoken support for their own world view. Ken Ham has been the world's leading proponent of Intelligent Design for several decades, and in 2013 Nye sparked a firestorm among Christians in the US when he (rightly) compared Creationism to Astrology. Although falling far short of the sensationalism of either the Scope's Trial, or even Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover, once again America has demonstrated the indefatigably of bad ideas, with overwhelming popular appeal. Spontaneous creation of earth and all its "kinds" six to ten thousand years ago should have died in the mid 1850's, but alas one and half centuries later the proliferation of this stupidity, like our universe, is expanding ever faster.

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham

USS Liberty: Dead In The Water (BBC)

Quentin Skinner "A Genealogy of Liberty."

Richard Sennett "The Decline of the Skills Society."

David Simon "The Audacity of Despair."

The Unforgiveable Sin.

By Gene Ogorodov

In the past couple of weeks the Western media has committed the unforgivable sin of likening the Russian Federation to the Third Reich. With regards to Russia, political punditry has left the realm of reasonable biased apologetics, and entered the turbulent seas of pure emotive manipulation usually reserved for dictatorial right-wing nut jobs on Fox News. 

This accusation may seem hypocritical since here on The Boston Pine Flag we have frequently labeled Western Governments as Fascist, but we have an excuse--by any reasonable definition they are. Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler and United Russia is certainly not the National Socialist Party. Furthermore, the Russian Federation is much more scrupulous about international treaties than Nazi Germany ever was.

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth: The Mask of Eternity."

An Open Letter to Democarcy Now!

The following letter was sent to Democracy Now! during the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.

Dear Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez:

The current social unrest in the Ukraine is disadvantageous to both the Europeans and the Russians. Even though Yanukovych won in 2010 on a pro-Russian ticket, since 2011 he had been making clear and orderly steps to implement the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement. Considering that Germany gets most of its oil and natural gas from Russia through Ukraine and Putin has had little fear in the past of stopping the flow when Ukraine has become openly hostile to Russia, both Germany and Russia had a vested interest in maintaining the former status quo. If Germany faces an energy crisis, its economy will go into recession and bring the EU down with it.

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth: Love and the Goddess."

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth: Sacrifice and Bliss."

Democracy Now!'s 18th Birthday

In honor of Democracy Now!'s 18th Birthday they are inviting viewers to created pictures or videos why DN! is important in their lives. It goes without saying that the work of Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales and the whole DN! team produces some of the finest Alternative Media in the US. Their hard hitting investigative journalism is a credit to American liberalism. We at The Boston Pine Flag wish Democracy Now! "Happy Birthday." Keep up the good work; it is an inspiration to the rest of us.

By the way, here is our picture for DN!

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth:The First Storytellers."

Quid Pro Quo in Ukraine

By Gene Ogorodov

After the dramatic failure of US policy in Syria this fall, due, primarily, to the diplomatic work of Pres. Vladimir Putin, it was obvious that America would look for a way to strike back at the Russian Federation. Then, as if on cue, this winter saw Kiev erupt in violent protest against the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, which ended on February 22 with a coup ousting the elected government in favor of a pro-American provisional government.

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth: The Hero's Adventure."

Joseph Campbell "The Power of Myth: The Message of the Myth."

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Why Science Literacy Matters (Moyers and Company)

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science, Religion and the Universe (Moyers and Company)

My House Shall be a House of Prayer

By Gene Ogorodov

As much as it may surprise many of our readers, I have friends who live in the US South. This morning one of them shared a news flash about a Southern Baptist Church that resides in her town. This church has been constructing a gaudy monstrosity to house a new gymnasium for the past several months. The inclement weather that has characterized this January and February in the South has forced the contractors to get behind schedule. In response to the delay the Baptist Church has been paying the workmen to work overtime during the evenings and weekends. Saturday and Sunday have now become part of the workweek.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on the New Cosmos (Moyers and Company)

The Mickey Mouse Revolution

By Gene Ogorodov

This morning as I was browsing through the news on Truth Dig I was struck by the proliferation of articles on faux news casts from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Is this news? Is the sum total of reformist activity in the US comedians cracking jokes? It is a common hobby-horse among liberals to berate the mainstream media as being less than worthless, but I will add that if this what alternative media looks like then it too is a pathetic joke. People like Chris Hedges and Amy Goodman cant about changing the system, but, although I admire there work, I am forced to wonder how serious they really are in the face of this non-journalism. The United States is dying, and the liberally minded American public deserves accurate and in-depth information about the state of the country. 

North Carolina: Battleground State (Moyers and Company)

State of Conflict: North Carolina (Moyers and Company)

Karen Armstrong "Charter for Compassion" (TED)

Frank Schaeffer and Eric Elnes Discussing Convergent Christianity

Chomsky "Obama's Imperialist Policies"

Noam Chomsky "Hypocrisy of US Foreign Policy"

The State of the Union 2014

The Boston Pine Flag doesn't usually post either comedy or fiction, but out of respect for Pres. Obama we have decided to make an exception for him. It never ceases to amaze me how delusion, willfully ignorance, and just plain stupidity passes for political nous in the US. The only two things that the President's State of the Union address said was that: firstly, he and his advisors are completely oblivious to the legion of catastrophic crises that are wracking the United States, and, secondly, that Sec. of State Kerry recognizes that Putin has the Obama administration over a barrel. Congratulations Pres. Putin and FM Lavrov on forcing the US to concede closing GITMO and Iranian sanctions--at least in Tuesday's State of the Union.

Noam Chomsky "The Future of American Power"

Wage Crisis--The USA's New Underclass (Journeyman Pictures)

How Detroit Became America's Warzone (Journeyman Pictures)

Nixon Library's Oral History with George McGovern

Gore Vidal in Conversation with Melvyn Bragg

Gore Vidal "American Presidency"

Gore Vidal "The State of the Union"

Chris Hedges "The Myth of Human Progress and the Collapse of Complex Societies"

Consumed (Journeyman Pictures)

Will South Africa ever recover from Apartheid? (Journeyman Pictures)

The South African Shack Dwellers Trying to Find a Voice (Journeyman Pictures)

The original post for Monday January 6, 2014 "Is Mandela's Dream of Freedom in South Africa Fading?" by Journeyman Pictures has gone off-line. The current film addresses similar issues to the previous one. We at the Boston Pine Flag apologize for the inconvenience.

The Colony Collapse Disorder (Eco Terrorism)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

from The Boston Pine Flag

and 

the 101st Post

After an exciting first year of providing a voice for unsung issues, liberal commentary, and inflammatory op-eds The Boston Pine Flag has gone beyond 100 posts. Our small but loyal audience has supported us reaching this landmark and for that we thank you our reader. We look forward to bringing you more documentaries, lectures, and frank critique of American policy in the new year.