The Useful Idiot:
02/28/2021 By S.V. Dáte, HuffPost US illustration above: Rebecca Zisser/HuffPost; Photo: Getty WN: I can only add: I have two close relatives who belong to that cast of Deplorables highlighted below. That is agonizingly incredible!. . . Sigh. . . excerpts: The following is excerpted from “The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican […]
10 Years After His Passing, Howard Zinn Remains a Threat to the Status Quo
By Anthony Arnove, Truthout Published January 27, 2020 photo above: wikiwand.com WN: Trump and white nationalists, for starters, would not be pleased . . . Jesus’ message too is ever a call to see the world upside down–consequently right-side-up Ultimate Reality. . . For that, we need the right lens . . . Invariably, this […]
How the Military-Industrial Complex Gets Away With Murder in Contract After Contract
January 23, 2020 by Mandy Smithberger illustration above: Matt Wuerker (Politico/Reddit) WN: In short: reducing military spending/international arms sales/wars is ever an American non-starter. It will remain so as long as the United States–regardless of which party–remains in thrall to militarized neoliberalism/capitalism. As Nick Turse’s The Complex makes abundantly clear, it is, since World War […]
On Misreading Victory
Tomgram January 7, 2020 By Andrew Bacevich illustration above: lindsaysocialstudies.weebly.com (President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.“) WN: There is great wisdom in the article highlighted. “Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh when will they ever learn?”–Peter, Paul and Mary excerpts: Thirty years ago this […]
There Is No Christian Case for Trump
January 30, 2020 Peter Wehner Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC photo above: President Trump speaking to evangelical supporters in Miami, Florida on January 3, 2020.Eva Marie Uzcategui / Reuters WN: There are multiple reasons for critiquing “Christian” behaviour in America. Especially egregious is white Evangelical embrace of Trump. In this […]
Technology of Death:
March 26, 2020 by Ramzy Baroud photo above: Sgt. Paul L. Anstine III, U.S. Marine Corps – Public Domain WN: Israel is a brutal Empire, only less so than the U.S in one respect: scale. excerpts: The Middle East region, battered by wars and adjoining humanitarian crises that have left millions of people stateless, hungry […]
Christians as Dangerously Empathic Good Samaritans
January 8, 2021 by Gary Olson image above: The Good Samaritan Painting by Tissot WN: In short: for us in the wealthy West, Jesus makes us, at minimum, squirm. . . excerpts: Is the idea of Christians becoming political radicals, a far-fetched one? To state my case from the outset: Whatever other differences may exist […]
His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage.
By Peter Manseau Feb. 19, 2021 photo above: Michael Sparks, far left, stands with other Trump supporters as they are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate chamber on Jan. 6. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) WN: The article highlighted is an anatomy of a Trump cultist who stormed the Capitol. It did not turn […]
Daily Wisdom
February 19, 2021 WN: Read the devotional below, then read a much longer and powerful reflection: Living in Communion: AN INTERVIEW WITH FATHER THOMAS HOPKO. ♦ What heals the wounds of division is love. Love unites, unifies and heals the wound of the divided self. It overcomes the deep wounds of our alienation. It simplifies […]
The Prognosis
October 2020 | Pandemic By David Cayley WN: There are recent posts and others here, that inform you about David Cayley. Cayley is a powerful prophet crying, perhaps in the wilderness. . . excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]t is striking how often historical events arrive with their meanings plainly legible. When Napoleon clattered by Hegel’s window in […]
Vancouver Police Have Reduced Street Checks. They Should Stop Them Altogether, Say Advocates
Jen St. Denis Today | TheTyee.ca Jen St. Denis is The Tyee’s Downtown Eastside reporter. Find her on Twitter @JenStDen. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. photo above: Vancouver police report they dramatically reduced the number of street checks in 2020. Photo by Jen St. Denis. WN: When every study conducted […]
Pandemic Revelations
December 4, 2020 WN: I recently posted an article about David Cayley. There have been a few others. So I will not repeat what I have shared earlier. Except: he is arguably one of the most informed thinkers in Canada–and across multiple disciplines. I’ll highlight the second reflection that Cayley did on his website. That […]
Neoliberalism –
Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative? George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot Fri 15 Apr 2016 photo above: ‘No alternative’ … Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher at the White House. Photograph: Rex Features […]
Weather messed with Texas —
POLITICO Nightly Tomorrow’s conversation, tonight. Know where the news is going next. By MICHAEL GRUNWALD–With help from Renuka Rayasam and Myah Ward 02/17/2021 photo above: People stand in line outside an HEB grocery store in the snow Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The store did not have milk, eggs, meat or refrigerated items. […]
Frederick Douglass’ Hope
Gerald McDermott January 25, 2021 WN: This highlighted article is about challenge and hope. excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]n January 1862 Frederick Douglass, former slave who became America’s greatest socio-political prophet of the nineteenth century, declared that America was facing Armageddon. “The fate of the greatest of all Modern Republics trembles in the balance.” God was in […]
Not Everyone Was Surprised by the Attack on the Capitol
Crime and Justice February 16, 2021 Abigail Weinberg Mark Helenowski photo above: Rev. Dr. William Barber II at an interfaith service in 2020. Amy Katz/Zuma WN: Dr. Barber together with his family are amazing civil rights activists and leaders. This interview is powerful! excerpts from article about it: Let our journalists help you make sense […]
Legalizing All Drugs Is Just the Beginning of a Compassionate Drug Policy
By Maya Schenwar, Truthout Published February 13, 2021 photo above: Dr. Carl Hart WN: The contention discussed in this article has been demonstrated repeatedly in many other countries. See for instance a review of: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. And please see as well […]
This Valentine’s Day, Celebrate Love as Growth and Liberation
By adrienne maree brown, Truthout Published February 14, 2021 photo above: Participants take part in an event organized by Love & Protect to lift up the names and celebrate the lives of Black women and girls who have been killed by state violence at Rekia’s Tree in Douglass Park, Chicago, on June 13, 2018. Sarah-ji […]
Earth Matters: Fossil fuels kill 8.7 million people a year; climate crisis an eco-justice issue
By Meteor Blades February 13, 2021 Earth Matters is a weekly compendium of wonderful, disturbing, and hideous news briefs about the environment. WN: As many point out. Even if one discounts the all the ACD/ACC science, the earth’s beauty would blossom astoundingly; cityscapes would clear remarkably; and species on the brink of extinction would stand […]
On Some Bad House Manager Language
February 12, 2021 by Paul Street photo above: Backbone Campaign – CC BY 2. WN: The highlighted article is a succinct dismantling of any notion that the United States is a democracy. We Canadians and other democracies are plagued by some of the same issues. But the so-claimed “oldest democracy” was never intended to be, […]
The Incomparable David Cayley
WN: Introduction Below is a clickable list of many of David Cayley’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) about 50-minute-long podcasts. They were presented between 1980 and 2012, the latter date when he retired. Who is David Cayley? To quote theologian Brad Jersak, Clarion Journal‘s curator: I think he’s truly among Canada’s greatest thinkers. Few who know his […]
Reckoning with the Toxicity of Christian Nationalism
By Bill Berkowitz February 8, 2021 WN: The article highlighted below is very disturbing for followers of the one Mark Lewis Taylor dubs The Executed God (book review here, with the subtitle: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America). I stand in perpetual amazement at how the New Testament Jesus is read to be […]
On the Relative Vileness of George W. Bush and Donald Trump, Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene
February 10, 2021 by Gary Leupp photo above: via The Huffington Post WN: One can imagine with the above photo Trump himself readily carrying out family separations at the border . . . The writer of the article below however makes a compelling observation about U.S. leadership and comparative “vileness.” My only quibble is: he […]
AOC’s Stirring Call to Reject Insurrection Amnesia
Going against Republicans, the media, and some on the left, the New York representative makes the case for accountability. By Jeet Heer Twitter February 3, 2021 photo above: uproxx.com WN: Amen! excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]O[/su_dropcap]n Monday night, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke on a live video on her Instagram page about her fears during […]