Even the hapless saps of Weimar put up a better fight than this
Imagine living in this universe — much less being an actual politician working in DC today — and thinking that Donald Trump would ever, under any circumstances, make a “centrist” choice for the Supreme Court. Just imagine being that naive, that jejune, that blind, that clueless, that completely and utterly, wilfully ignorant of reality. […]
The Gates of Hell are Closing Behind us: US-Saudi Horror Show Heats up in Yemen
So here we are. The Saudis — their brutal aggression armed, funded and guided with “target intelligence” by the United States and Great Britain — have finally begun their assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. This is where almost all humanitarian aid — and indeed, 70 percent of the nation’s food, medicine and other supplies […]
Pulling Strings But Losing the Thread: All Day Permanent Red
The title of one of poet Christopher Logue’s series of translations/transformations from the Illiad struck me long ago as the best description of our age of endless anxiety and emergency: All Day Permanent Red. Its salience and relevance grows more hideously apt with each passing day, as deliberately stoked strife and fear blend with seething […]
Art News for an Age of Goonery
The latest painting from noted 21st century artist, G.W. Bush: “Project for a New American Gothic.”
Alchemical Reactions: Transmuting Death-Dealing Dung Into PR Gold
One simple point: if the US/UK/France really believed the building they targeted (and hit) in a heavily populated civilian area of Damascus was actually making chemical weapons, what do they think would have happened if all that toxic material had been dispersed by explosions throughout the surrounding neighborhoods? Hundreds if not thousands of civilians would […]
Stumbling Blocks: Tim Kaine and the Bipartisan Abettors of Atrocity
I’ve written a lot about Yemen over the past few years. And I knew the US Senate would never vote to end our direct participation in the Saudi war crime there that has led to the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII. I knew they – like 60 Minutes and the rest of the US — […]
Unbrinkmanship: Even Dubious Chance of Peace Rattles Militarist Elites
Compiling a few tweets (with an additional paragraph) on Trump’s announcement of his intention to meet Kim Jong-un: It’s funny to watch the Establishment freak-out about Trump’s meeting with Kim (which might never actually take place, of course). For months, they’ve been saying we’re on the edge of apocalypse; but when something happens that might move […]
Tell Ol’ Bill: Conservative Goons Gunning for Student Survivors
Noted sex pest Bill O’Reilly has now joined the chorus of conservative tongue-waggers denouncing the high school students who are seeking some mild gun control measures that might reduce in some small measure the likelihood of their being shot to death while going to class. Some conservatives, like Trump’s friend and adviser Alex Jones, are […]
Return of the Repressed: The Roots of a Resurgent Racist Notion
I. In recent years, we have seen a resurgence — and great expansion — of a sinister trope that has always simmered near or just below the surface of many a Southerner’s thoughts: to wit, that slavery was not really all that bad for the slaves, that most enjoyed a decent enough life, supplied with […]
Get Behind Me Satan (Way, Way Back)
Ghostly sounds from the ruins in a godforsaken land….