The ultra-rich will happily march us into a dictatorship if we let them. “The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread in the law courts and to the army, and finally, when even the sword became…
Why Can’t America Build Enough Weapons?
The debasement of the U.S. defense industrial base began, ironically, under Ronald Reagan, and won’t be reversed until we abandon the free-market fundamentalism he introduced. Published June 23, 2024 in Washington Monthly On the morning of August 1, 1943, a strike force of 178 B-24 four-engine bombers lifted off from airfields in North Africa to…
What a fool believes: Donald Trump and America’s bogus respect for “faith”
How religious “freedom” has been twisted into an all-out attack on critical thinking and the rule of law PUBLISHED JUNE 9, 2024 in Salon.com Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult. Now … they’re everywhere.— “Conan the Barbarian“ Last summer’s federal indictment of Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021,…
Reich is Wrong: A Revolt Against Laissez-Faire Did Not Make Fascism Popular
Racism and xenophobia fanned by GOP propaganda are what have brought us to the brink. Published May 21, 2024 in Commondreams Robert Reich is one of the good guys in public life. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor, Reich was a consistent advocate for the average worker. When he left office, he refrained…
Merrick Garland, Donald Trump and the fall of France
Garland’s plodding, cautious investigation undermined itself from the start — and played into Trump’s hands Published April 6, 2024 in Salon.com During the past three years, there have been numerous critics of the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland’s leadership. I have been among them. It did not seem encouraging that in one of his…
How Donald Trump reduced the GOP to groveling sycophants
The GOP made the same bargain the Prussian generals made in 1933 — and the consequence is their total destruction PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 4, 2024 in Salon Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion.— George Orwell, 1939, reviewing Bertrand Russell’s “Power: A New Social Analysis” It was said that Prussia, the nucleus of the German…
Liberal cowardice, Trump and the Constitution: Surrender is not an option
Is the center-left establishment too scared of Trump to stand up for the rule of law? That won’t end well PUBLISHED JANUARY 14, 2024 6:00AM (EST) Salon I worked as a congressional staff member during the protracted, nerve-wracking run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. Readers will recall a time of peak national hubris, with…