Month: August 2016

Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

September 26, 2014 by CHARLES R. LARSON WN: There is someone of my acquaintance who rails against the US Black community for its violence of Black on Black, while almost completely downplaying police violence against Blacks. He also rails against them for their poverty: they just are not enterprising, and therefore deserve their state, end […]

Platform – The Movement for Black Lives

photo above (from this article): A sign marking the number of days activists have occupied Freedom Square, an encampment across the street from the Chicago Police Departments’s “black site” of Homan Square. (Photo: Sarah Ji) Released August 1, 2016 Click on each of the six categories below “DEMANDS” to read the much fuller statements. an […]

Why Solidarity Between the Movement for Black Lives and Palestine Makes Sense

By David Palumbo-Liu, Truthout | News Analysis Image above: Lauren Walker / Truthout an excerpt: Why is the claim that the common causes of Black Americans and Palestinians are centered on rights, and that the broader view that social justice issues for people of color in the US “intersect” with those of the Palestinians such […]

This Rio Olympic Medalist Risked His Life to Show Solidarity | The Nation

With one gesture, Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa seized the Olympics spotlight and educated the world.  By Dave Zirin August 25, 2016 an excerpt: “If I go back to Ethiopia, the government will kill me.” This is not usually what you hear after an Olympian shocks the running world by winning a silver medal in the marathon, but […]

Nearly 15 Years and $70 Billion Later, US Troops Still Endlessly Fighting Taliban | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Monday, August 22, 2016 by Common Dreams Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said mission would be ‘temporary,’ but would not say how long it would last, citing ‘security reasons’ by Nadia Prupis, staff writer photo above: Sources in Helmand say about 130 U.S. troops have arrived to their base in the region. (Photo: Kenny Holston/flickr/cc) an […]

US War Crimes or “Normalized Deviance”

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 09:22 By Nicolas J.S. Davies, Consortium News | Op-Ed photo above: 1986 launch of the doomed spaceshuttle Challenger, with reference to the “normalization of deviance” in the NASA culture that led up to the disaster, an expression coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan [WN] This is as succinct and compelling a statement […]

There’s a Bigger Problem at the Border Than Trump’s Proposed Wall

We live in fear of Trump’s plan for the Mexican border—not realizing that much of it already exists. By Todd Miller August 23, 2016 12:02 pm photo above: US Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks out over Tijuana, Mexico, along the old border wall at the US-Mexico border ending at the base of a hill […]

How Obama Helped Lay the Groundwork for Trump’s Thuggery

His refusal to prosecute torturers and his Wild West assassination of bin Laden show how moral complacency can all too easily degenerate into full-blown corruption. By Rochelle Gurstein August 23, 2016 11:25 am photos above: Thugs an excerpt: Trump’s particular brand of maliciousness—his belief, as lazy as it is insolent, that he need not abide […]

Best of TomDispatch: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch

photo above from this story Cow Most Sacred Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable By Andrew J. Bacevich introduction to piece: A writer who dares to revisit a snarky article dashed off five-plus years earlier will necessarily approach the task with some trepidation. Pieces such as the one republished below are not drafted with the expectation […]

Special Investigation: My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard

by Shane Bauer July/August 2016 issue of Mother Jones This is a highly poignant story, at once courageous and deeply unsettling. With the news August 18, 2016, that the US federal Justice Department will shut down private prisons over the next five years, this is a great victory. Though the story by Truthout posted here […]

Diaspora Jews Are Joining Palestinians in Nonviolent Resistance to the Occupation

There’s a power in using our privilege as American Jews to stand for peace and justice. By Ilana Sumka August 17, 2016 photo above: Protesters march in an annual demonstration to reopen Shuhada Street to Palestinians, Hebron, West Bank, February 2015. an excerpt: The entire premise of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence is that there’s […]

The Scary History of Trump’s Second-Amendment Call to Action | The Nation

In North Carolina, we have heard this before, and lived through the bloody consequences of white terrorist rhetoric. By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II photo above: Top: Donald Trump. Bottom: A group of rioters pose outside the ruins of the Record building in Wilmington, 1898. (Top: Reuters / Carlo Allegri; bottom: Library of Congress) […]

Three Fact-Checking Websites of Note

Image above: from Politifact: I’ll highlight the All Pants-On-Fire assertions by Donald Trump – there are of course so many such by other politicians too! But PolitiFact did award Trump “2015 Lie of the Year“. I’m sitting back not a little dumbfounded by a recent exchange I had about Obama and the US elections candidates. […]

Islamic Law: Europe’s Shari’a Debate

Below is a link to a nuanced scholarly article on Europe and Sharia Law, and some mention of North America. I could not find a date when posted. an excerpt: Conclusion Europe has many incentives to accommodate some aspects of shari’a law into its legal systems and societies. As already recognized by the British government, […]

An Open Letter to Ivanka Trump From Michael Moore: ‘Your Dad Is Not Well’

Posted on Aug 11, 2016 By Michael Moore / AlterNet an excerpt: Dear Ivanka: I’m writing to you because your dad is not well. Every day he continues his spiral downward—and after his call for gun owners to commit acts of violence against Mrs. Clinton, it is clear he needs help, serious help. His comments […]

Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (C.U.R.E.)

Upcoming World Conference Human Rights and Prison Reform Seventh International CURE Conference April 25-29, 2017, San Jose, Costa Rica, Courtyard Marriott Airport Alajuela Theme: Implementing United Nations Mandela Rules in the Americas (the treatment of prisoners in the Twenty First century) Photo above is an Argentine prisoner, the dove of peace is actually a pigeon. […]

An ‘American Holocaust’

Dr. Stannard, by most accounts, published in 1993 a meticulously researched, powerful book about genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas: in fact by far the greatest generations long genocide in the history of the world; primarily promulgated by white Christians. See. for instance, the Kirkus review that sums up the book thus: Genocide on […]

Eat Me: The Cannibalistic Origins of the State

David Gornoski Friday, August 05, 2016 This an outstanding piece, especially in the writer’s powerful juxtaposition of Jesus’ invitation to a common meal of his “flesh and blood”,and our otherwise consuming each other in ongoing acts of mimetic rivalry. However, I take serious note of this caveat: Eat Me: The Cannabilistic Origins of State – […]

The Olympics Are a Colossal Waste and a Shameful Distraction

photo above: The Olympic torch being carried in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue on the way to the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5. (Felipe Dana / AP) Besides what we read in the article linked below, the origin of the Games in ancient Greece was […]

Gaza’s Sick Pay Price of Blockade

photo above: Gaza has had chronic shortages of medicines as a result of political division between the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Israel’s siege. Eyad Al Baba APA images Friday, 12 August 2016 00:00 By Isra Saleh el-Namey, The Electronic Intifada | Report an excerpt: “The wellbeing of our patients is our first priority,” […]

The US Government Can’t Stop Loving Nukes​

Thursday, 11 August 2016 06:17 ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt: In essence, nuclear deterrence — a.k.a., M.A.D. — depends not only on having a nuclear arsenal ready to go, but having a president perceived by the other guys to be ready to use it, kind of like we imagine President Trump […]

The Myth of Trump’s Alternative Worldview

photo above: Supporters attend a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, August 3, 2016. (Reuters / Eric Thayer) His foreign policy isn’t an alternative to US empire. It’s a cruder rendition of it. By John Feffer AUGUST 10, 2016 an excerpt: AN EXCEPTIONAL RULER Let […]

‘They’re Coming for the Ones You Love’: My Weekend of Gun Training in the Desert

photo above: “John Wayne,” an active- duty serviceman, watches his trainer demonstrate a “controlled pair”—two shots to the center of a target. (Evan Simko-Bednarski) At Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, fear is a booming business. By Patrick Blanchfield August 9, 2016 WN: John Lott published a book that has gone through two reissues, most recently […]

The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today

Just as past public policies created the racial wealth gap, current policy widens it. By Joshua Holland AUGUST 8, 2016 WN: The poor are invariably blamed for their poverty. This article, applicable to other “democracies,” challenges this perverse blaming of victims. excerpts: [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]f current economic trends continue, the average black household will need 228 years to […]

The Neocon Project for a New Democratic Party

photo above: White House Monday, 08 August 2016 08:45 J.P. SOTTILE FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt: Unlike Hillary Clinton, of course, which brings the whole thing back to the miasma of confusion hanging over this strange election. Hillary is on the Neocon team — if not in name, certainly in deed. She will “stand up” […]

The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 By Chris Hedges an excerpt: College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity—embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy […]

Henry A. Giroux | Donald Trump and the Plague of Atomization in a Neoliberal Age

Monday, 08 August 2016 00:00 photo above: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a crowd during his campaign rally at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 6, 2016. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / The New York Times) I have recently returned to reading Leo Lowenthal, particularly his insightful essay, “Terror’s Atomization of Man,” first […]

How a new source of water is helping reduce conflict in the Middle East

Scientists and others look to desalination as a way to unite longtime enemies in a common cause. photo above: Sorek Desalination Plant. Photo courtesy of IDE Technologies July 19, 2016 Writer Rowan Jacobsen @rowanjacobsen Author specializing in food, sustainability and natural systems an excerpt: Desalination used to be an expensive energy hog, but the kind […]

Nuclear disarmament: back on centre stage

by Elizabeth Renzetti The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Aug. 05, 2016 6:00 AM EDT Last updated Friday, Aug. 05, 2016 9:27AM EDT an excerpt: Could Donald Trump accidentally be the best friend of the nuclear disarmament movement? This may sound like Dr. Strangelove-level madness, but the prospect of the Republican presidential candidate anywhere near […]

Dear Donald Trump: This Is Why Nuclear Weapons Are Bad

Wired: Author: Issie Lapowsky  Business Date of Publication: 08.03.16. Donald Trump is incredibly dangerous! PERIOD. an excerpt: This morning on his show Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said that according to one of Donald Trump’s foreign policy advisors, the Republican nominee recently asked why the United States can’t use nuclear weapons. “Three times he asked […]

The Decay of American Politics

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pseudo-Election 2016 Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 7:50am, August 4, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. An Ode to Ike and Adlai By Andrew J. Bacevich an excerpt: So while a Trump presidency holds the prospect of the United States driving off a cliff, a Clinton presidency promises to be the equivalent […]

Cold War, Détente, Neo-McCarthyism, and Donald Trump

August 2, 2016 By Stephen F. Cohen What’s going is that the United States and its neocon war hawks are flirting dangerously with the possibility of real war with Russia, as Michael Klare and Stephen Cohen have noted. As Ignatius certainly knows but most Americans may not, the United States was deeply involved in agitating […]

Teargassing of Indigenous Youth in Australian Detention System Reeks of Colonialism

photo above: Activists display a sign decrying the murders of Aboriginal Australians in prison at an Invasion Day march and rally in Brisbane, Australia, on January 26, 2007. (Photo: David Jackmanson) Wednesday, 03 August 2016 00:00 By Leila Nasr, IC Magazine | News Analysis an excerpt: During the peak of colonial conquest in Australia, the […]

Marc Maron Speaks on the Rush of Shameless Hate Motivating Trump Voters

Wednesday, 03 August 2016 10:48 BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: Marc Maron Regarding the election, “I can’t understand what the decision is to vote for a man like that. Look if you don’t want to vote, fine. I suggest you vote. If you don’t like Hillary, fine. But whatever you got to […]

Sovereignty? The UK Government Will Sell Us to the Highest Bidder

Tuesday, 02 August 2016 00:00 By George Monbiot, The Guardian | Op-Ed photo above: George Monbiot What does it mean to love your country? What does it mean to defend its sovereignty? For some of the leaders of the Brexit campaign, it means reducing the United Kingdom to a franchise of corporate capital, governed from […]

Breaking the Camouflage Wall of Silence

When AFRICOM Evaluates Itself, the News Is Grim By Nick Turse Posted by Nick Turse at 7:45am, August 2, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, outgoing commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), incoming Africom commander, Marine Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman […]