YOU CAN LEARN PLENTY FROM THIS JULIAN BOND QUOTE

The earthly passing of civil rights pioneer, political leader, researcher and educator Julian Bond will certainly spark recitations of a half-century old era—marches, institutional agitation and societal change from a White supremacist-dominated landscape. But Bond’s lifetime dedication to equal rights, inclusive of his latter-day work, should illuminate two important realities we can learn from. First, […]

TERROR, IN THE NAME OF LIBERTY

Remember when I began to drop strong hints almost a year ago about Islamic State’s curiously sudden rise and its violent annexation of land in Iraq and Syria? I felt my hunch back then about ISIL being disposable jihadists was justified: … [I]ntelligence may not have every square inch of the Middle East and Central […]

BACK TO WHY TRUMP IS WINNING

(Laughing) After Thursday night’s Party of No Brains Presidential debate, are you ready to call Donald Trump’s campaign a damn thing yet? I made this pre-debate assessment about Trump’s chances for staying in the race: …if Americans saw a President in a man known more for his acting ability than his public policy chops in […]

HIROSHIMA WMD ATTACK, 70 YEARS LATER

As we remember the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, consider an idea which history books will never tell you: the US did not have have to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. This makes the decision to use A-bombs to kill 200,000 people and permanently damage thousands of […]

DONALD TRUMP—AMERICAN ‘HERO’ FOR THE TIMES

I find the mainstream media and politicians’ response to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the recent widening of his lead (pdf) above his clown car of fellow Republican opponents odd. Well, sort of. It’s not surprising that Trump’s campaign was initially met with dismissal, before it was treated with forecasts of his ephemeral potency — […]

LOOK AT THIS CECIL THE LION STORY AGAIN

Some followers of the Black Lives Matter movement are livid over the general public’s apparent preference in discussing a Zimbabwe lion’s recent death at the hands of an American big game hunter, as opposed to discussing the problem of race in America. My response to the Black Lives Matter movement: don’t you see the 2,000-pound […]

BIBI AND CONGRESS ARE ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING DUMB

Before discuss the highly stupid thing some US politicians and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are doing to kill the nuclear deal Iran just signed with the P5+1, let’s quickly review what happened since July 14. Even with the absence of any current evidence which points to Iran owning, developing or even desiring a nuclear […]

CONGRESS VOTED TO SHUT DOWN YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE THE GMO FOODS ARE

Have any of you noticed the way Congress creates bill names which are the complete opposite of what the legislation will actually do? Remember the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996? Removing Welfare recipients from the rolls and telling them to “Find a job” in the absence of relevant skills or training […]

YOU IGNORE THAT SANDRA BLAND DIED OVER A CIGARETTE

A few years ago, I shared a Reuters story about a restaurant owner in Turkey who was shot dead after he tried to stop customers from smoking in his establishment. Some Americans laughed at the killing, as if to say “That’s Turkey for ya.” I suppose their dismissal was code for “This could never happen […]

HILLARY’S MINIMUM WAGE DANCE AND MIDDLE CLASS SHUFFLE

2016 Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton turned in another mass-market political performance of saying a lot and committing to nothing during her nuanced response to the movement for increasing the national minimum wage to $15: “I think part of the reason that the Congress and very strong Democratic supporters of increasing the minimum wage are […]