The traditional Christmas story is about an unmarried, pregnant, Jewish girl named Mary who, on a freezing night in Bethlehem, seeks a warm place to rest and give birth. Nobody would allow the girl a bed. Today, it is unlikely that such a person would not be shunned as much as the Biblical Mary, as we allow people to die in the Land of the Free when they fall to the bottom of the capitalist ranks where there is a dearth of mercy. Continue reading
I used to think $200,000 was a good salary for a president, who, after all, has a mansion, servants, resort home and a great many other benefits at public expense, leaving the 200 grand as spending money. But Congress decided to double the presidential salary to $400,000 in 2001. Continue reading
The bullet that came through my front window, some thirty years or so ago, told me I have every right to keep a gun for self-defense. I’d received four death threats in the weeks preceding, from someone opposed to my anti-nuclear weapons writing. At the time I was writing for Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and editing a monthly PSR publication for which I received an award at their national meeting in Washington. Continue reading
Whether the Democrats or Republicans had the congressional majority, the conservatives have ruled for decades. The system is rigged by having conservative Democrats vote with Republicans for an enduring majority. Continue reading
I suppose I could have been dreaming it, but my conversation with Donald Trump was as real as anything. He walked into my bedroom like he owned the place, and startled me, still in bed but I felt wide awake. Continue reading
When I look into whether or not the economy is doing well, the first statistic I use is homelessness. Continue reading
If one more person tells me the Russians are to blame for Trump being president, I’m going to vomit on them. I know who fixed the election, and I will explain it in this article. Continue reading
Joe Biden is using Republican talking points to attack single payer health care. One wonders why he doesn’t just run as a Republican. Continue reading
The entire corporate media is in cardiac arrest over “socialists” it sees running for president as Democrats. None of them are actually socialists—not one has called for the control of the means of production to be put into the hands of the people, but facts never matter much in corporate media propaganda. Their job is to keep the masses as ignorant as possible on behalf of the ruling Forces of Greed (FOG)—the plutocrats and their subordinate oligarchic corporations. Continue reading
Trump is a coward. I took his place in Vietnam, so I should know. Continue reading
If our leaders were not fascists, and we didn’t have a fascist press, all inside a fascist system, perhaps an average citizen could see more distinctly what is happening, rather than missing the forest for the trees as so many do. Continue reading
The bear’s large claws gently slid down my face, his mouth within inches of my own, and I recall a horrible stench in his breath. My back was pressed against a tree, and there was no escape, as the bear reared up on his hind legs to look me over, face to face. Continue reading
The pitiful Pompeo, in his latest attempt at boot licking, proclaimed God sent us Trump, with whom to solve the problems of the Middle East. Perhaps Pompeo has mistaken porn star Stormy Daniels for God? There is no evidence that God hangs with the Trumpster, but Stormy knows Trump, well, biblically. Continue reading
Tuesday morning CNN went all out, as a member of USA state propaganda, to continue to participate in support of a Venezuelan coup. Continue reading
I would like to encourage everyone who wants to stop our Empire from destroying Venezuela’s democracy to watch Abby Martin’s important video on what is really happening there (about 40 minutes). Continue reading
Before the USA can destroy Venezuela, it must convince the American people of a number of lies to get them behind another war for oil. The TV networks are hard at work doing this, just as they spread the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lies to get support behind the illegal invasion of Iraq. Continue reading
I met Uncle Sam in a parking garage off 14th street, midway between the Capitol building and the White House. The meeting was arranged by a certain Madam X, who claims to have had an affair with Uncle Sam and prefers to remain anonymous, as the wife is unaware, but, according to Madam X, “a spiteful bitch who can overthrow your regime in a heartbeat.” Continue reading
Watching cable news, one notices that any mention of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez requires a statement that she is “too far to the left.” Several of the Democratic Party candidates for president are also identified as “too far to the left.” Continue reading
I began to learn about Haiti long ago when I interviewed President Aristide, and he told me that thousands of Haitians were being murdered by assassins paid by the CIA. Haiti has long been controlled by the USA, since the slave revolt in Haiti overthrew the French. Continue reading
My grandfather was an illegal alien. During the 1800s he travelled from England, where he was born, to Canada, which was British territory in those days, so he wasn’t required to have a passport. He travelled to the Canadian West, then crossed the border into Idaho, to be known, thereafter, as an American. Continue reading
When one considers the aphorism, “It’s a man’s world,” one should realize that world lies within a female order. We fly through space at 1.3 million miles per hour within a galaxy of billions of stars known as the Milky Way, after the nurturing female secretion. Continue reading
We are headed toward a catastrophic election in 2020 that must be addressed if humankind is to have a chance at survival. Continue reading
With a devout follower of President Trump having been active at placing bombs in the US mail directed at Trump’s perceived enemies, corporate media have missed the most important fact in the story, that Trump has inspired a huge number of his admirers to commit violent acts against people in this country. Continue reading
The Buddha was said to have predicted the day he would die. When that day approached, his followers, weeping, asked him to stay with them. “I’ve told you that life is about suffering,” he reminded them, “would you have me continue suffering?” With that, his followers let go and allowed their beloved teacher to die in peace. Continue reading
Every person who believes in a free press should pay attention to Facebook’s war with one of their own groups called “LUV News.” Continue reading
Czar Nicholas II believed that he and the Romanovs had a divine right to rule. If the peasants froze or starved to death, that was their problem—he was chosen by god to live a life of luxury, much as American billionaires of today who inherit from the robber barons. No matter how much suffering it causes, they expand their wealth to deprive the masses of so much as a crust of bread. Continue reading
It’s difficult to see how President Trump could be reelected if he stays on his current path, pushing capitalism to excess (leaving no billionaire behind). After all, it was his lurch to the left which got him the presidency, as many of the Rust Belt working class believed the Democrats had abandoned them. Continue reading
Thousands of people have died from taking Big Pharma’s products as directed, with Big Pharma executives aware that their products caused sickness and death. Continue reading
As a boy in the US-Apartheid 1950s I remember being indoctrinated about differences between the races which made white athletes superior. No need to look in any particular place, it was a dominant theme everywhere in U.S. culture. Continue reading
With the retirement of Justice Kennedy from the Supreme Court, abortion rights are about to end, said Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s judicial watcher, this morning. President Trump, bowing to his glassy-eyed religious right minions, will appoint a replacement justice who will vote to abort Roe v. Wade at the earliest opportunity. Continue reading
In their casual rhetoric at election time, Democrats pretend to represent the public interest, saying you should vote for them to stop the Republicans, but never tell you they are the Republicans in a two-corporate-party duopoly made up of clones with two names. Continue reading
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America’s greatest hero: Martin Luther King Jr
Posted on January 20, 2020 by Jack Balkwill
On the occasion of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., I think it’s important to compare his accomplishments to that of others lionized in our culture as heroes. Continue reading →