By Rebecca Gordon | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently a friend who follows the news a bit less obsessively than I do said, “I thought George W. Bush was bad, but it seems like Donald Trump is even worse. What do you think?” “Well,” I replied, “in terms of causing death and destruction, I suspect […]
Trump’s Plan to Pardon War Criminals is Outrageous, but the Higher-Ups were Never even Charged
By Rebecca Gordon | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Memorial Day has come and gone and President Trump did not issue his pardons after all. There was substantial evidence that he was planning to use the yearly moment honoring the country’s war dead to grant executive clemency to several U.S. soldiers and at least one military contractor. […]
How the Mideast Officer Corps and Trump derailed the Arab Spring– and Hope
( Tomdispatch.com ) – “Al-Shebab,” said my student Jerry early in the fall 2010 semester. “We’re calling our small group al-Shebab. It means ‘The Youth.’” From his name alone, I wouldn’t have guessed his background, but he was proud of his family’s Egyptian roots and had convinced his classmates to give their group an Arabic […]
The Exceptionalism of the Warmongers: John Bolton and Mike Pompeo Defy the International Criminal Court
(Tomdispatch.com) – Events just fly by in the ever-accelerating rush of Trump Time, so it’s easy enough to miss important ones in the chaos. Paul Manafort is sentenced twice and indicted a third time! Whoosh! Gone! The Senate agrees with the House that the United States should stop supporting Saudi Arabia in Yemen (and Mitch […]
A Well-Regulated Militia in the Hands of an Out-of-Control President: Is Nat’l Guard his Toy?
(Tomdispatch.com) – A young friend is seriously considering joining her state’s National Guard. She’s a world-class athlete, but also a working-class woman from a rural background competing in a rich person’s sport. Between seasons, she works for a local farm and auctioneer to put together the money for equipment and travel. Each season, raising the […]
Trump’s Republic of Lies: Once to every nation comes the moment to decide
( Tomdispatch.com) – In one of the Bible stories about the death of Jesus, local collaborators with the Roman Empire haul him before Pontius Pilate, the imperial governor of Palestine. Although the situation is dire for one of them, the two engage in a bit of epistemological banter. Jesus allows that his work is about […]
Life at Trump Speed: Mental Whiplash and Forgotten Outrages
San Francisco (Tomdispatch.com) – I took my first hit of speed in 1970 during my freshman year in college. That little white pill — Dexedrine — was a revelation. It made whatever I was doing absolutely fascinating. Amphetamine sharpened my focus and banished all appetites except a hunger for knowledge. I spent that entire night […]
What Happens in Vegas may Swing the Senate Blue
San Francisco (Tomdispatch.com) – It’s what campaigners say every November, I know, but this year’s election really is as important as it gets. Will U.S. voters choose to halt the progress of Donald J. Trump’s slow-motion coup? Or will the tide just continue rolling over us? So much depends on what happens in Nevada — […]
No one, not Psychologists or Supreme Court Justices, should be Helping with Gov’t Torture
San Francisco ( Tomdispatch.com) – Sometimes the good guys do win. That’s what happened on August 8th in San Francisco when the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA) decided to extend a policy keeping its members out of the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The APA’s decision is important — […]
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