Category Archives: Commentary

There is increasing chatter among mostly European diplomats that their nations’ displeasure about President Donald Trump would best be shown by staging a diplomatic boycott, namely, recalling ambassadors in Washington and leaving only chargés d’affaires in charge. This type of measure has been used in the past to show opposition to the domestic and foreign policies of foreign governments. Recently, Saudi Arabia led such a boycott, albeit for spurious reasons, against Qatar. Many nations have recalled their ambassadors to Israel following moves by that country against Palestinians. Continue reading →

Trump’s unwillingness to denounce the white supremacists who came to Charlottesville last weekend bent on violence has been part of his political strategy from the start. Continue reading →

There are many, many people in the United States right now wondering how we got to this point. How we could have a president of the United States unwilling and unable to clearly and firmly condemn white supremacy in his country? How we could have a president of the United States so devoid of humanity, insight and fundamental decency? And, I say “we” as a citizen of the United States. Continue reading →

On August 1, the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb was destroyed for the 116th time. As soon as Israeli bulldozers finished their ugly deed and soldiers began evacuating the premises, the village resident immediately began rebuilding their homes. Continue reading →

This presidency is unconstitutional. The Constitution says you have to be at least 35 to serve in our highest office and our incumbent tantrum-in-a-suit is emotionally 6 years old. Continue reading →

The mass media is being used by the neo-Nazi and neo-Confederate movements to give greater exposure to far-right leaders like Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler, Jack Posobiec, Preston Wiginton, and the most recent self-outed Nazi, broadcaster Alex Jones, to mainstream them and their dangerous ideology. This is similar to the methods used by Adolf Hitler to increase his exposure from a few beer-and-urine-reeking halls in Munich to all of Germany. Continue reading →

The title of this article is a quote from Mark Bray, an historian of human rights, terrorism and political radicalism in modern Europe who is currently a lecturer at Dartmouth College. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” Continue reading →

The scoundrels and misleaders in the Democratic Party are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to escape responsibility for their ignominious defeats. There is no evidence of the Russian government “hacking” the election. Instead evidence points to a leak at the Democratic National Committee which revealed the gory details of their corruption and incompetence. Continue reading →

Did they hug and kiss?? That would have made the day! Neither did they hold hands! The pope, while looking just glum never permitted any other niceties, much less holding hands. Continue reading →

In Colombia visiting narco-terrorist/Nobel Peace Prize winning President Juan Manuel Santos, Pence threatened Venezuela, saying, “President Trump has made it very clear that we will not stand by while Venezuela collapses into dictatorship.” Continue reading →

US President Donald Trump is certainly taking a different approach from his predecessor in tackling the threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons. He has adopted the type of macho language used by George W. Bush’s Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who warned Pakistan in the aftermath of 9/11 that if it didn’t cooperate it would be bombed back “to the Stone Age.” Continue reading →

In 1937, Orwell was shot in the neck during the Spanish Civil War. Known mostly as a political allegorist, Orwell was also a master at describing all that is see¬n, heard and felt, so in Homage to Catalonia, you can read about his near death experience, “Roughly speaking it was the sensation of being at the center of an explosion. There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all around me, and I felt a tremendous shock—no pain, only a violent shock, such as you get from an electric terminal; with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shriveled up to nothing. The sandbags in front of me receded into immense distance. I fancy you would feel much the same if you were struck by lightning. I knew immediately that I was hit, but because of the seeming bang and flash I thought it was a rifle nearby that had gone off accidentally and shot me. All this happened in a space of time much less than a second.” Continue reading →

I don’t know about you but I’m pretty fucking calm right now. Maybe even slightly giddy. You see, I was raised in the Baptist Church. Sunday school. Bible school in summer. I memorized so much scripture I was rewarded. Honored to carry the American flag from point A to point B in the auditorium. March, march, marching in obedience. Church. Sermons that scared the Hell right out of me. I attended more than a few tent revivals in Kentucky. Got dunked when I was 12 or so, I think, because my sister made that faithful decision to turn her life over to Christ and I wanted in on the act. As Dr. Phil would ask, “How’s that working for you?” Until this moment not so great. But I digress. Continue reading →

Two days late, Donald Trump has finally condemned violent white supremacists. He was pushed into it by a storm of outrage at his initial failure to do so in the wake of deadly violence to Charlottesville, Virginia. Continue reading →

Enough. Continue reading →

Washington already is waging political and economic war on the country, along with months of CIA-orchestrated street violence, responsible for scores of deaths, hundreds of injuries and numerous arrests made in an attempt to restore order. Continue reading →

Every twittish utterance from our AIC* is likely to get a full panic response from Imperial Control and its lapdogs in government and media, and his latest blurtings about fire and damnation if North Korea were to attack is no different in essence, but worse in substance. While his dimness is to be expected, reactions from alleged liberals, progressives and much of what passes for an American left speaks for historically underprivileged mentalities that make Trump’s own formed-by-popular-media consciousness seem almost sophisticated. Continue reading →

That was from the song And Flowers Die, by prolific composer Michael Palermo and this writer as lyricist. How appropriate to compare this song with the ‘death song’ of our Military-Industrial Amerikan Empire, now in only its 72nd year of prominence. How great and powerful our empire was for so long. We controlled the economies and governments of so many countries, even continents. Now it is the autumn of our status as Number One. The Asian rim, as many refer to it, being led by China and all those other nations in that region, will become the future economic powerhouse of this planet. Continue reading →

The violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday is a national calamity. It is a product of white supremacists and home grown terrorists. Continue reading →

You’ve probably heard the story. It’s said that in ancient Rome, the emperor had a member of the Praetorian Guard who, amid all the pomp and all the accolades, would stand behind him and murmur: “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.” Continue reading →

American workers have been completely crushed by capitalism. That is the goal of the capitalists after all, but working people in this country have fallen further and faster because they are without any political friends and because they declare allegiance to a compromised political party. The evidence can be seen in the vote against union representation at the Renault-Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi. Additional proof of the assault can be seen in the decision by the state of Wisconsin to promise electronics giant Foxconn $3 billion in subsidies to create 3,000 jobs. Continue reading →

While President Trump’s impulsiveness and erratic behavior is clearly bringing America closer to war with North Korea, the real root of the Korean crisis lies not with him but rather with the Pentagon and the CIA, whose overwhelming power within the federal governmental structure is what really governs foreign policy, especially with respect to Korea. Continue reading →

President Donald Trump’s pathological behavior at home is evidenced in his tweets and speeches. His communication with the “outside world” is typically acerbic and vengeful. His recent “fire and fury” threat to North Korea was belligerent, foolhardy and dangerous. The president simply does not understand, or care, that his words matter. In this instance, financial markets around the world were rattled for a time. Moreover, Trump’s biblical sounding threat came a day before the US dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Continue reading →

What kind of civilization have we developed when two mentally unstable national leaders, in an escalating confrontation with each other, threaten one another―and the world―with nuclear war? Continue reading →

The pro-Israeli Zionist “brain trust” Donald Trump has named to be his guiding force on Middle Eastern policy, plunged Trump into one crisis, the Saudi/United Arab Emirates blockade of Qatar, and almost into another, Trump’s moronic criticism of Lebanese Hezbollah, while standing next to the Lebanese prime minister who owes his job to the Shi’a organization. Trump takes his Middle East advice from principally his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a contributor to and member of the board of the “Friends of the IDF,” an American non-profit that raises funds for the Israeli armed forces. Continue reading →

There is something immoral in Washington, D.C., and its consequences can be dire for many people, particularly for the health of US democracy. Continue reading →

You know what’s wrong with American politics? It’s that there just aren’t enough ways for giant corporations and mega-rich political donors to funnel their big bucks into our elections and buy our government. Continue reading →

Whether one loves or despises any singular choice in President Trump’s cabinet, I have come to realize that some of us had a glimmer of hope in the possibility Rex Tillerson would have a chance to become US’ most successful secretary of state in three decades. A glimmer cut short, however, in the reality of Tillerson being sandwiched between a narcissist clown as a boss and a bipartite Congress obsessed with empire as its mission; coupled, of course, with a neocon hawkish ideology in both State Department and Pentagon—ideology that has operated on autopilot for over two decades no matter the circumstances or which party occupied the White House. Continue reading →

The mainstream media is trumpeting the “FACT” that North Korea has developed a miniature sized nuclear warhead that could be placed inside a missile. Continue reading →

Since before the election, poor white voters largely have been blamed for the rise of Donald Trump. Although their complicity in his election is clear and well established, they’re continually targeted as if their actions are the primary reason Trump won. But in fact, higher-earning, college-educated whites supported him at even greater rates. Continue reading →

Too often, congressional legislation does far more harm than good, especially since the neoliberal ‘90s—NAFTA and other unfair “free trade” policies noted examples, along with the disastrous 1996 Telecommunications Act discussed below. Continue reading →