Madhav Joshi: There’s no easy exit for the US in Afghanistan
While the steps of a successful peace process do not need to unfold in a particular order, my research and that of others shows that there are several clear steps that any process should take to maximize the chances of success.
Mandy Smithberger: Creating a National Insecurity State
At $1.21 trillion, the actual national security budget is essentially twice the size of the announced Pentagon budget… Yet those calling for higher budgets continue to argue that the only way to keep America safe is to pour in yet more tax dollars at a moment when remarkably little is going into, for instance, domestic infrastructure.
Daniel Burston: Anti-Semitism on the Left
Many Left wing activists disparage the majority of American Jews, saying that we enjoy all the perks of White privilege, and therefore seek to “uphold”, rather than to oppose or dismantle White Supremacy; the very thing far-Right activists insist that we are secretly intent on destroying.
Video: Tom Lehrer | The Vatican Rag & Send the Marines
What do we do? We send the Marines!
For might makes right,
And till they’ve seen the light,
They’ve got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
‘Till somebody we like can be elected.
Kazu Haga: Why the moral argument for nonviolence matters
The civil rights movement was led largely by leaders who believed in nonviolence as a moral imperative. It was not only the most effective thing, but also the right thing.
Rebecca Gordon: Torture’s Legacy
If one administration can get away with confining detainees in coffinlike boxes and torturing them in myriad other ways, why shouldn’t a later one go unpunished for, to take but one example, putting migrant children in cages?
Connie Post: How to Sort the Living from the Dead
Forget all the nonsense
about eyes opened or closed
or breathing
or brain waves
Walt Whitman: When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d
For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands—and this for his dear sake,
Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,
There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.
Mel Packer: A History of Deadly Meddling
In this essay, we hear a first-hand account from Mel Packer who was one of the Americans who visited Iran during the hostage crisis of 1980.
Video: For Sama (full film)
NOW AN ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Michael Simms: The Democratic Field Narrows to Three Candidates
Although the Iowa Caucus was an epic fail, it did make a few things clear.
Erin McCarley: An Open Letter to the DNC From an American Centrist
I respectfully encourage the DNC to abandon its corporate allegiance, re-configure its membership and shift into alignment with the will of the people.
Ralph Nader: It Should Be Easy to Defeat Trump, But Corporate Democrats Look Ready and Willing to Blow It
Trump should be the most defeatable president in history.
