Marc Jampole: To Those In Favor Of Torture
According to a study by the Pew Research Center a few years back, only about 24% of all Americans think that the authorities should never engage in torture, no matter … Continue reading
Human Rights Watch: Israeli Police Abusing Detained Children
With Arrests Spiking, Growing Concern JERUSALEM – Israeli security forces are abusing Palestinian children detained in the West Bank. The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces has more … Continue reading
W.J. Astore: Lying and Deception in the Iraq War – and Today
This is part 2 of 2 of an essay dealing with lying, politics, and war, inspired by Hannah Arendt’s writings on The Pentagon Papers. For part 1, click here. After … Continue reading
Video: The Panama Papers, An Introduction
Behind the email chains, invoices and documents that make up the Panama Papers are often unseen victims of wrongdoing enabled by the shadowy offshore industry. This short video, underwritten by … Continue reading
W. J. Astore: The Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, and Lying
In November 1971, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt published “Lying in Politics: Reflections on the Pentagon Papers” in the New York Review of Books. Earlier that year, Daniel Ellsberg had … Continue reading
Chris Hedges: The Lie of Patriotism
BALTIMORE—When Rory Fanning, a burly veteran who served in the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion and was deployed in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2004, appeared at the Donald Trump rally in … Continue reading
Marc Jampole: Mainstream Media Portrays War Contractors As Unsung Heroes
We really don’t know what Matt Sherman exactly did as a federal government contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite a long article about him in the Washington Post and a … Continue reading
W.J. Astore: Why Are PTSD Rates So High Among Veterans?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major problem among veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA government web site explains that “OEF/OIF service members are at risk for … Continue reading
Audio: Allen Ginsberg reads “America”
“America” appears in Allen Ginsberg’s first collection Howl and Other Poems (1956). Much of the poem consists of various accusations against the United States, its government, and its citizens. Ginsberg … Continue reading
Chris Hedges: We All Are Islamic State
Revenge is the psychological engine of war. Victims are the blood currency. Their corpses are used to sanctify acts of indiscriminant murder. Those defined as the enemy and targeted for … Continue reading
Alice Friman: At the Gates
Paris in June and we are in love. Delacroix, wine, late nights at the Louvre. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. And each and every morning Camembert and apricot confiture on a hunk … Continue reading
W. J. Astore: “Members of the jury, you have just found Jesus Christ guilty”
Remembering the Catonsville Nine In May 1968, nine Catholic activists set fire to draft records in Catonsville, Maryland, in a deliberate act of sabotage and protest against the Vietnam War. … Continue reading
Matthew Arnold: Dover Beach
The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; – on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of … Continue reading
Daniel R. Cobb: America Looks in the Mirror and Sees Donald Trump
No doubt about it, Donald Trump represents a great tragedy and a threat for the American political system. But in spite of the GOP’s feigned reaction of horror to Donald, … Continue reading
