The motives of Stephen Paddock, the person who killed 58 people and injured hundreds in a shooting spree in Las Vegas, remain a mystery. Investigative journalist Greg Palast writes that he went to school with Paddock and recounts his impressions of him from that time. He says that he and Paddock lived and went to school in a poor part of the greater Los Angeles area, where their proximity to the elites of Beverly Hills constantly rubbed their noses in the fact of the sheer unfairness of class privilege that some were born into and which opened many doors for them, and others were not.
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The Republicans made the issue of US deaths in the Libyan town of Benghazi the centerpiece of multiple investigations of Hillary Clinton as part of their sustained effort to discredit her and thus undermine her candidacy. But this news item has received surprisingly little coverage from US media.
When four US special forces soldiers died in an ambush earlier this month in scrubby desert in western Niger, attention was suddenly focused on one of the most remote and chaotic war zones on the planet.
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Donald Trump has decided to cut the federal subsidies that helped make the insurance premiums on the health exchanges more affordable. But the people who will be most adversely affected by this move tend to live in states that voted for Trump last year.
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It used to be considered that the phrase ‘Israel lobby’ was considered too hot to mention in the US media. The activities of the Israel lobby in the US, once also considered an untouchable topic, are now being reported on more openly. Aida Chavez and Ryan Grim at The Intercept write about what happened when Al Jazeera sent reporters undercover to expose the workings of the lobby both in the UK and in the US. The Israeli government complained to the UK media watchdog, which cleared Al Jazeera of all the charges.
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Donald Trump hates it when others look down on him and it is clear that Rex Tillerson calling him a moron rankles deeply. In an interview, Trump challenges Tillerson to an IQ test, which is the kind of response one has come to expect from this man-child. But it is interesting how Trump worded it: “I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.” (My italics)
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The Dutch investigative journalism team Zembla has been looking into Donald Trump’s shady business history, especially his dealings with dubious characters in Russia and Eastern Europe who may be involved in organized crime and money laundering. I linked to part 1 and part 2 of the documentary series and they have now released the third part.
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I had expressed some surprise at the fact that Donald Trump agreed to deals with the Democrats on raising the debt ceiling and funding the government at least through December 12 without demanding anything in return. I had expected him to demand funding for his precious border wall as part of the deal. He also indicated that he was willing to do something to accommodate the so-called Dreamers, those undocumented immigrants who had been brought here as children and had led normal lives here.
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