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William J. Astore

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On being Black and Blue in America

On being Black and Blue in America

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – As I lived through the nightmare of the election campaign just past, I often found myself dreaming of another American world entirely. Anything but this one. In that spirit, I also found myself looking at a photo of my fourth-grade class, vintage 1972. Tacked to the wall behind our heads was […]

Donald Trump
Trump’s Over-the-Top War Talk is a War Crime: ‘Systematic, Constant, Vicious, Remorseless’

Trump’s Over-the-Top War Talk is a War Crime: ‘Systematic, Constant, Vicious, Remorseless’

William J. Astore

What pops into your head when you hear the number 1,000 in a political-military context? Having studied German military history, I immediately think of Adolf Hitler’s confident boast that his Third Reich would last a thousand years. In reality, of course, a devastating world war brought that Reich down in a mere 12 years. Only […]

Donald Trump
Killing Democracy in America: The Military-Industrial Complex and Forever Wars as our other Pandemic

Killing Democracy in America: The Military-Industrial Complex and Forever Wars as our other Pandemic

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – The phrase “thinking about the unthinkable” has always been associated with the unthinkable cataclysm of a nuclear war, and rightly so. Lately, though, I’ve been pondering another kind of unthinkable scenario, nearly as nightmarish (at least for a democracy) as a thermonuclear Armageddon, but one that’s been rolling out in far slower […]

Dissent
Light ‘Em Up!  How America’s Forever Wars came to our Streets

Light ‘Em Up! How America’s Forever Wars came to our Streets

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com) – From their front porches, regular citizens watched a cordon of cops sweep down their peaceful street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rankled at being filmed, the cops exceeded their authority and demanded that people go inside their houses. When some of them didn’t obey quickly enough, the order — one heard so many times in […]

Donald Trump
How My Dad, Born just before the Spanish Flu, Predicted the Decline of America

How My Dad, Born just before the Spanish Flu, Predicted the Decline of America

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – My dad was born in 1917. Somehow, he survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, but an outbreak of whooping cough in 1923 claimed his baby sister, Clementina. One of my dad’s first memories was seeing his sister’s tiny white casket. Another sister was permanently marked by scarlet fever. In 1923, my […]

Afghanistan
Gone Shopping!  America’s Forever Wars Lumber on Because Americans don’t Know About Them

Gone Shopping! America’s Forever Wars Lumber on Because Americans don’t Know About Them

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – There is no significant anti-war movement in America because there’s no war to protest. Let me explain. In February 2003, millions of people took to the streets around the world to protest America’s march to war against Iraq. That mass movement failed. The administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had […]

Pentagon
The Art of the Deal, Pentagon-Style:  Wars Without Victories, Weapons Without End

The Art of the Deal, Pentagon-Style: Wars Without Victories, Weapons Without End

William J. Astore

By William J. Astore | – (Tomdispatch.com) – The expression “self-licking ice cream cone” was first used in 1992 to describe a hidebound bureaucracy at NASA. Yet, as an image, it’s even more apt for America’s military-industrial complex, an institution far vaster than NASA and thoroughly dedicated to working for its own perpetuation and little […]

Afghanistan
Is American Exceptionalism Killing the Planet?  The Many Abuses of Endless War

Is American Exceptionalism Killing the Planet? The Many Abuses of Endless War

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – Ever since 2007, when I first started writing for TomDispatch, I’ve been arguing against America’s forever wars, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that, despite my more than 60 articles, American blood is still being spilled in war after war across the Greater Middle East and Africa, even […]

Militarization
Killing Me Softly with Militarism: The Decay of Democracy in America

Killing Me Softly with Militarism: The Decay of Democracy in America

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com) – When Americans think of militarism, they may imagine jackbooted soldiers goose-stepping through the streets as flag-waving crowds exult; or, like our president, they may think of enormous parades featuring troops and missiles and tanks, with warplanes soaring overhead. Or nationalist dictators wearing military uniforms encrusted with medals, ribbons, and badges like so many […]

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