Intrepid Report.com

Politics in Mexico and Chicago are similar. Former city Alderman Paddy Bauler long ago said it best: “Chicago ain’t ready for reform.” Continue reading →

Mr. Mulvaney’s title seems uninterestingly bureaucratic—director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). But as Trump’s chief hatchet man extraordinaire, Mugger Mick Mulvaney is easily one of the cruelest, most vicious presidential henchman in modern American history. From his powerful perch next door to the White House, he is carving a bloody trail against tens of millions of Americans who are poor, disabled, frail, and elderly. He has gone after defenseless children and injured or sick patients with little or no access to health care. Continue reading →

Trump promised to be America’s dealmaker in chief, touting his “extraordinary” ability to negotiate. But so far—whether he’s dealing with foreign governments or with Congress—Trump has shown that he can’t make a deal. Continue reading →

We have now had thousands of children ripped from their parents and caged in our names as Americans, state sponsored kidnapping and child abuse, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders is upset because she was asked to leave a restaurant. She was politely asked to leave because the staff was uncomfortable serving an accomplice to child abuse. Continue reading →

On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, effective end of July. Continue reading →

Donald Trump is certainly a motivator for white liberals. That group was quiescent when other presidents committed human rights abuses and war crimes, but they spring into action when Trump does something they don’t like. Continue reading →

For all those who in 2016 closed their eyes, held their noses and took a leap into the unknown by voting for Donald Trump, it is time to pry open those eyelids, gaze upon what they have wrought, and smell the decay pervading the country’s public sphere. And indeed, it seems that growing numbers have, rather belatedly, noticed the signs of moral degeneracy coming from the Oval Office. What took them so long? Continue reading →

Ten years ago, my sister Laura and I were in Greenwich Village at a restaurant near Washington Square Park. We stood all afternoon, hopped up at New York City’s Gay Pride Parade. Continue reading →

Is it possible for the human race to evolve beyond war, extreme income inequality, corporate money’s control of political systems, and other anti-democratic trends? Some people say even hoping for such evolution is too idealistic, even impossible. Others have said if humanity doesn’t evolve it will soon self-destruct. Martin Luther King once said society has to begin to either “love or perish.” 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 →

This past May, United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy at US border crossings. It was a matter of weeks before the new policy began yielding tragic outcomes. Those attempting to unlawfully cross into the US were subject to federal criminal prosecution, while their children were taken away by federal authorities, which placed them in cage-like facilities. Continue reading →

On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 5-4 majority decision in the landmark case of “Trump v. Hawaii”, about President Trump’s commonly misnamed ‘Muslim ban.’ This decision probably established a new precedent: that national security is an interest that overrides the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Continue reading →

Imagine living in a country where armed soldiers crash through doors to arrest and imprison citizens merely for criticizing government officials. Continue reading →

The US Supreme Court has approved Donald Trump’s presumed dictatorial power to ban and imprison any would-be immigrant group he does not like. Continue reading →

America is a land of extremes—unprecedented wealth enjoyed by a privileged few contrasted with deep poverty because of neoliberal harshness, bipartisan force-fed austerity, grievously harming the nation’s most vulnerable. Continue reading →

The Western world never ceases to speak of its “democratic values.” In Western political theory, the way democracy works is by free speech and a free press. By speaking out, citizens and media keep the government accountable. Continue reading →

The US administration’s peace team, led by Jewish colony funders Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, has recently held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, hoping to pave the way for the implementation of President Trump’s mysterious peace plan. Continue reading →

Make no mistake. Trump is a rogue actor, a despicable character, serving his privileged class exclusively at the expense of most others, the nation’s least advantaged harmed most by his hostile agenda, besides unspeakable horrors inflicted on countless millions abroad. Continue reading →

Writing this week for the Chicago Tribune, Steve Chapman called a U.S. government report on the war in Afghanistan “a chronicle of futility.” “The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction” report says the U.S. spent large sums “in search of quick gains” in regional stabilization—but these instead “exacerbated conflicts, enabled corruption and bolstered support for insurgents.” Continue reading →

The election of Colombian narcotics syndicate- and death squad-linked Ivan Duque as president of Colombia will herald the second run of the Pentagon’s and Central Intelligence Agency’s discredited “Plan Colombia.” Plan Colombia saw the systematic murder of farm workers, labor activists, and indigenous peoples by Colombian right-wing paramilitary units like the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and Twelve Apostles, both linked to both former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Medellin drug cartel. Continue reading →

Trump’s extremist agenda is hostile to what equitable societies cherish. Continue reading →

Trump’s most lasting legacy might be his impact on the federal court system. It must be stopped. Continue reading →

In this column I am going to use three of the current top news stories to illustrate the disconnect that is everywhere in the Western mind. Continue reading →

The Koch brothers’ extremist political agenda of empowering multinational corporations to reign as sovereigns has always been inextricably entwined with the profiteering agenda of their wholly-owned, $100-billion-a-year industrial conglomerate. Continue reading →

Hundreds of thousands of unwanted immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are arrested and detained under horrific conditions in America annually. Continue reading →

Most suicides die of natural causes, slowly and in silence. Continue reading →