Republican Governor of Kansas Followed Koch Brothers' Advice and Implemented Massive Tax Cuts for the Wealthy — And Destroyed The State's Economy

This clown wants to be president?

By Joe Conason
...What makes the [Gov. Sam] Brownback blowup feel so familiar is that the same experiment was mounted more than three decades ago, on the federal level, under the rubric of Reaganomics -- by some of the same people. It crashed miserably then, too. But the Republican right has a special knack for dressing up old mischief as fresh policy. To put this one over, Brownback has enjoyed heavy support from the Koch brothers -- chief financial backers of the ultra-right tea party -- whose industrial empire is headquartered in Kansas.

The statewide tax cut that Brownback pushed through the legislature in 2012 certainly benefited the most wealthy Kansans -- people just like the Kochs -- while inflicting higher taxes on middle-income and working-class families through sales and property tax increases. Proceeding with the expert advice of Arthur Laffer, author of the "supply-side" theory underlying the Ronald Reagan tax cuts, the gung-ho governor promised that these regressive changes would promote rapid economic growth. He predicted that his plan would produce 23,000 new jobs and over $2 billion in new disposable income for Kansans. Their tax payments were supposed to offset the loss of nearly 8 percent of state revenues.

But the results have yet to justify the hype. Today, the fruits of Brownback's experiment include a state budget deficit of nearly $340 million this year; a decision by Moody's to lower the rating on Kansas bonds; a growing gap in education funding at every level, from kindergarten through college; a ruinous reduction in state and local workforces across the state; and a future that promises even larger deficits and service cutbacks to come.

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Al Qaeda: Friend or Foe? The US Cannot Have It Both Ways

The US government needs to be confronted with the untenable position of maintaining al Qaeda as America’s enemy while for decades it has been creating, funding and promoting al Qaeda.

What’s it going to be? Friend or foe? Trick or treat? Ally or enemy?

This line of questioning has no greater relevance than the US government’s rather ambiguous relationship to the so called al Qaeda terrorists.

By Joachim Hagopian

On the one hand, war criminals Bush and Cheney insisted al Qaeda was the identified enemy that changed our world forever on 9/11, when allegedly 19 box cutting al Qaeda Moslem terrorists killed nearly 3000 Americans. Bush and Cheney convinced Americans that al Qaeda was the reason behind the US invading Afghanistan in October 2001 and less than a year and a half later Iraq. Al Qaeda is the reason President Obama is still justifying fighting that same war in Afghanistan thirteen years later. Al Qaeda is the reason why the Department of Homeland Security was suddenly created to make sure those al Qaeda enemies were kept out of the US, dedicated and committed to protecting American citizens from another 9/11.

Al Qaeda is the enemy of America, and that has not changed from the early Bush days right up to the present Obama presidency. You ask any American over the last decade and a half who the enemy is in the global war on terror and virtually every one of them will readily rattle off “al Qaeda.” Repeatedly drilled into our brains, the American public has been forever reminded that it is the al Qaeda terrorists who are America’s longtime sinister nemesis constantly plotting to kill us Americans every chance they get.

RELATED STORY: 'The Power of Nightmares' — Brilliant Documentary Describes How Western Governments Control and Direct Their Citizens by Fabricating
the Threat From 'Global Terrorism'

This is the commonly accepted explanation given by the US government to promote and justify waging America’s longest lasting wars in its history, fighting and dying on multiple war fronts and allocating unprecedented amounts of US taxpayer dollars bleeding a shaky, faltering economy dry, while financing annual Defense budgets greater than the entire rest of the world combined. That’s how much al Qaeda is our sworn enemy. Giving away our hard earned tax dollars to the detriment of a shrinking middle class and a swelling underclass of disenfranchised poor increasingly unable to make ends meet. The American public has made a very grave self-sacrifice in its post-9/11 lost civil liberties, all for the sake of so called security at home so American Empire can keep us safe from those swarthy mean looking Muslim terrorists who will gladly die for Allah just to kill us.

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE: A Documentary on a Nationwide Child Sex Abuse Ring, Produced for the Discovery Channel and Censored at the Last Minute — The Film Implicated Members of the Reagan Administration

Screen captures from YouTube video.

By Ronald Jackson
Conspiracy of Silence features intrepid investigator John DeCamp, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and 16-year Nebraska state senator. The documentary reveals how rogue elements at all levels of government have been involved in systematic child sex abuse and pedophilia.

RELATED STORY: The Franklin Cover Up & Johnny Gosch Story

Originally produced for the Discovery Channel, the documentary was scheduled to air on May 3rd 1994 but was blocked at virtually the last minute after pressure was brought to bare by influential members of Congress. The producers were reimbursed for their expenses and instructed to destroy all copies of the documentary.  However, one copy was secretly kept and was subsequently posted on the Internet many years later.

For additional resources and information on Conspiracy of Silence click here

Rick Ross Cleared for Use of Ex-Drug Kingpin's Name

The 'fake' Rick Ross, William Leonard Roberts, (left) and the real 'Freeway' Ricky Ross. The 'real' Rick Ross
was peripherally and unknowingly involved in the Iran-Contra Cocaine for Guns operation run by Colonel
Oliver North for the Reagan Administration. Ross' drug network helped the North gang initiate a national
crack cocaine epidemic, the purpose of which was to raise funds to arm right-wing mercenaries in Latin
America. (Left: Photo by A Continuous Lean; Right: Screen capture from video)

LOS ANGELES (CN) - The former cocaine kingpin who claims that rapper Rick Ross stole his name and identity cannot sue, a California appeals court ruled.

Ricky D. Ross gained some notoriety in the 1980s for running a massive drug-dealing operation, selling as much as $3 million worth of cocaine daily. Freeway, as he was known, served two stints in prison for his crimes, which is where he read a magazine article about then-up-and-coming rapper who shared his name.

In 2008 it was revealed that the chart-topping performer born William Leonard Roberts II had actually been a former correctional officer before adopting the name Rick Ross and rapping about the gangster lifestyle.

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Connections Between Freeway Ricky Ross, The Bush Administration,

and The Crack Cocaine Epidemic