On Memorial Day, politicians will speak at ceremonies all over the country and repeat their favorite mantra: “Support the troops.”

This pledge is hammered into the American psyche at every turn. But there’s a hidden, dark history that shows that the politicians are in fact no friend to service members–but their greatest enemy.

An easy way to prove this is to look at how they so quickly betray and abandon their soldiers after purposely ruining their lives, and even after using them as literal lab rats. 

In this disturbing chapter of The Empire Files, Abby Martin documents decades of experimentation on unwitting US troops—from nuclear tests to psychotropic drugs—as well as knowingly exposing them to deadly poisons, from Agent Orange to sarin gas.

Most infuriating is that the hundreds of thousands of veterans seeking help from the government for the side-effects of these tests are always met with lies and denial. Be prepared to be armed with info and pissed off about how veterans are really treated in the US Empire.

Used & Betrayed: 100 Years of US Troops as Lab Rats

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FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles & @AbbyMartin

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles

Although the US Empire deems itself the greatest democracy on earth, its election system is rigged so people are given a choice between only two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans.

Despite their differences, both are united around the interests of Wall Street and militarism, working to maintain a system that churns out disaster at home and abroad. Restrictive ballot access, bias corporate media coverage, and pay-to-play campaigns all let this two party dictatorship put a stranglehold on the process by making it nearly impossible for third parties to run.

Having evolved from a coalition of left wing groups in 1984, the Green Party provides one alternative to the status quo, with a program of social and ecological justice. Since 2012, Dr. Jill Stein has spearheaded the party’s presidential campaign–fighting to establish a bottom up movement for real change. While practicing medicine she authored critical scientific studies about environmental toxicity. Witnessing a broken medical system, she became a community advocate for just and equal health care.

In 2002, Stein ran against Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney under the Green Party ticket. She continued to elevate in local government until being chosen to run as the Green Party nominee in the most impossible election of all–president of the united states.

Because the media establishment keeps third-party candidates hidden from all election coverage, I sat down with Dr. Stein to find out why her voice is such a threat.

Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein & Abby Martin – Symptoms of a Sick Society

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FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles // @AbbyMartin // @DrJillStein

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles

With growing attention on the refugee crisis, Obama has pledged to carve out space in the US for those escaping war and violence. But there’s already a humanitarian crisis at America’s doorstep. Due to extreme poverty and violence across Central America, there’s a massive number of people fleeing for their lives.

In 2014 alone, nearly 47,000 children without parents were arrested while crossing into the US from Mexico. Instead of helping these refugees, Obama has taken on the legacy of Deporter-in-Chief, by ejecting humans at higher rate than any US president. During the first five years of his term, Obama oversaw the deportation of two million people, more than Bush’s entire tenure.

Families are being torn apart by these policies. In 2014, 4,500 families were deported between October and November. During the same two month period in 2015, the number skyrocketed to 12,500. Staying up to speed, the Obama administration ordered a new wave of raids to kick off the new year, kicking down the doors of hundreds of sleeping women and children, uprooting countless more families.

To get here, these families risked everything–and most will risk it all again. Beyond the shocking numbers of arrested, jailed and deported, is the hidden side of the war on immigrants. It’s a war that doesn’t just have prisoners, but fatalities. Thousands of them.

The land itself has become a weapon. Before 1994, there were as few as five bodies of migrants found in the Arizona desert per year. Since 1994, state officials have registered over 7,000 human remains–over 200 per year. Many of the bodies are never found.

Originally aired as a two-part series for teleSUR English, The Empire Files team investigates the hidden war on the US Mexico border in this 45 minute documentary. Discover what is not only a shockingly high body count, but a humanitarian crisis manufactured by the US government, criminal tactics by a bloated Border Patrol, a for-profit prison pipeline, and court system that looks more like a slave auction. Featuring hidden camera footage from the Empire’s mass deportation trials ‘Operation Streamline’.

The US Empire’s War on the Border

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FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles // @AbbyMartin // @NoMoreDeaths

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles