MEDIA ROOTS – You often hear the term Gulag and think of a secret prison in a third world dictatorship, where its purpose is to break you down, humiliate and torture you. This style of imprisonment has been frequently used by members of the US military in Afghanistan, Gitmo and Iraq. Torture and ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ fall outside of the … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – The feverish hysteria of the “red scare” during the 1950s and 1960s prompted the Central Intelligence Agency to do some dirty deeds, not the least of which was a pet project called Operation Midnight Climax. The C.I.A. conducted the operation in the hopes of finding a truth serum by dosing civilians with psychotropic drugs, namely lysergic acid … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS — The San Francisco Bay Area, particularly Berkeley, is known as one of the progressive or revolutionary regions of the USA, being the home of the 1946 Oakland General Strike, the Free Speech Movement, ‘60s counterculture, the Black Panthers, and the listener-sponsored free speech radio model popularised by Berkeley’s KPFA and its Pacifica Radio Network (later bastardised by … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS — In a 2004 campaign stop for George W. Bush, former vice president and war criminal Dick Cheney was asked what he thought about same sex couples. He responded with the following: “Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with….With the respect to the question of relationships, my general … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – The Obama administration has the worst track record when it comes to prosecuting whistleblowers. Obama once claimed he’d work hard to have a transparent government, but many have faced retaliation for revealing controversial government information. One of the most startling whistleblowing cases is Sibel Edmonds, Iranian born former FBI translator, who has been called the “most gagged … Read More
