John Edward Simms: Dirge
The Republican Party I grew up with was built on the two principles of family values and fiscal responsibility. Donald Trump is not the great leader he believes he is, because he lacks two essential qualities: Character and Competence.
Mike Vargo: ‘Cat’s Cradle,’ Community, and Fascism
Maybe Bokonon had a point. Bokonon, for those not familiar, is a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle. On a fictional Caribbean island, a holy man lives in the mountains. … Continue reading
Rebecca Gordon: Yes, We Have Home-Grown Fascists
Are Queer People the New Jews?
Abby Zimet: Banning Eagle Song, Dragons Love Tacos, A Thai Lullaby and Pink! To Protect the Children
The nationwide rush to “protect the innocence of children” from the perils of thinking for themselves accelerated last week…
Thom Hartmann: This Is the Dying Phase of Reaganism–and It’s Hideous
The question today is whether we as a nation and a people will recover from Reaganism, or if it will, as Reagan promised, destroy the American experiment of pluralistic liberal democracy.
Vox Populi: The 15 most popular posts of 2022
During 2022, Vox Populi published 737 posts including poetry, essays and short films. Here are the fifteen most visited.
Video: My Descent into America’s Neo-Nazi Movement — And How I Got Out
At 14, Christian Picciolini went from naïve teenager to white supremacist — and soon, the leader of the first neo-Nazi skinhead gang in the United States. How was he radicalized, and how did he ultimately get out of the movement? In this courageous talk, Picciolini shares the surprising and counterintuitive solution to hate in all forms.
Joan E. Bauer: Dear Federico
Tonight, we’re watching Amarcord,
your dream-mix of homage, fable & satire.
The boisterous half-grown schoolboy Titta,
the fiery father, the long-suffering mother.
Peter Makuck: Day on the River
It was during Christmas vacation that I first met Mr. Talbot. His son, Jean-Luc, was my good friend and classmate at a small Franciscan college in a French-Canadian enclave in … Continue reading
Christine Skarbek: A journey into self or what Auschwitz can do to the soul
I saw the cell where the Jesuit priest Maximilian Kolbe starved to near death as he attended to nine others, all Jews. He was later executed. The space isn’t bigger than my walk-in closet.
Bill Moyers: We Hold This Truth to Be Self-Evident — It’s Happening Before Our Very Eyes
The man in the White House has taken all the necessary steps toward achieving the despot’s dream of dominance.
Stephen Dobyns: Fly
They can hide. What’s the point of hiding?
They can run. Why bother running?
They feel defeated by the world’s terrors.
Paul Celan: Death Fugue
Black milk of dawn we drink it in the evening
we drink it at noon and in the morning we drink it at night
Sylvia Taschka: Trump’s America shines bright for Europe’s radical New Right
Trump has helped make the New Right’s way of looking at things much more politically and socially acceptable – in a way none of its members had likely dared to dream before the election of November 2016.
