( Tomdispatch.com ) – Sometime in the late 1980s, I was talking with a friend on my landline (the only kind of telephone we had then). We were discussing logistics for an upcoming demonstration against the Reagan administration’s support for the Contras fighting the elected government of Nicaragua. We agreed that, when our call was […]
Trump isn’t even Trying to Hide the Racism Anymore
( Tomdispatch.com ) – On May 5th, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute held its annual fundraising gala. The event showcases the extraordinary imaginations of people who design exorbitant clothes and the gutsiness of those who dare (and can afford) to wear them. I’m dimly aware of this annual extravaganza because of […]
Trump Harvests Autocratic Powers Planted by Bush and Cheney
( Tomdispatch.com ) – In 2003, the Macedonian police arrested Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen vacationing in their country. They handed the unfortunate man over to the CIA, who shipped him off to one of their “black sites.” For those too young to remember (or who have quite understandably chosen to forget), “black sites” was […]
Trump rages to snuff out Democracy’s Candle: Will we Rage against the Dying of its Light?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Allow me to stipulate that I do not wish to die. In fact, had anyone consulted me about the construction of the universe, I would have made my views on the subject quite clear: mortality is a terrible idea. I’m opposed to it in general. (In wiser moments, I know that […]
Facing the Rise of Fascism Like Fools for Freedom
( Tomdispatch.com ) – This past weekend my partner and I got together with a group of friends. We’ve been meeting every six weeks or so since 1982. Originally, this group of lesbians convened to talk about sex: what we were doing, what we wanted to do, what we fantasized about doing. But you know […]
Finding Hope in the Negative Spaces of the Trump Era
( Tomdispatch.com ) – The expression “punch-drunk,” Google informs me, means “stupefied by or as if by a series of heavy blows to the head.” Google’s Oxford Language entry then offers a not-terribly-illuminating example of the term’s use: “I feel a little punch-drunk today.” Right now, a better one might be something like: “After November […]
Trump’s Second Coming: “I never realized before that men hate us so much.”
( Tomdispatch.com ) – “I never realized before that men hate us so much.” That was the lesson drawn by one of my fellow organizers in Reno, Nevada, the morning after the 2024 general election. She’d turned 21 during the campaign, a three-month marathon she approached as a daily opportunity to learn as much as […]
If Trump wins, will Anyone ever be able to Afford to Retire?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – The Washington Post headline reads: “A big problem for young workers: 70- and 80-year-olds who won’t retire.” For the first time in history, reports Aden Barton, five generations are competing in the same workforce. His article laments a “demographic traffic jam” at the apexes of various employment pyramids, making it ever […]
This Time, from Climate to Palestine to Trump 2.0, we must listen to our wise Cassandras
( Tomdispatch.com) – A few days ago, my partner and I went in search of packing tape. Our sojourn on an idyllic (if tick-infested) Cape Cod island was ending and it was time to ship some stuff home. We stopped at a little odds-and-ends shop and found ourselves in conversation with the woman behind the […]
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