On Thursday, April 2, in Lausanne, Switzerland, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that negotiators had reached an agreement on key elements of...
War and Peace
In Defense of Brian Williams, New Orleans’ Loyal Friend
Now He Really Is Under Fire The veracity of the leading network news anchor, Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, is in question—by his own fault—and now the sharks and wolves smell blood. A feeding frenzy ensues. [ cross-posted at Daily Kos ] Williams has...
Après Charlie Hebdo, Thoughts on Free Expression and Islamic Violence
Will we give the enemy the satisfaction of changing ourselves into something like their hate-filled, illiberal mirror image, or will we, as the guardians of the modern world, as the custodians of freedom and the occupants of the privileged lands of plenty, go on...
Obama Has Plans for ISIS; Now Congress Must Vote
The Guns of August, September, October . . . Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. —Statement by the President on ISIL, Sept. 10, 2014 * Happy 9/11, everyone, on the...
Must We? For Now, But for How Long?
A Reluctant, Tentative Endorsement of (More) U.S. Military Action in Iraq “As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq. . . . American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there’s...
Obama Sends Troops to Protect U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
ISIS supporters rally in Mosul, Iraq. BBC photo. * White House Considers Special Forces to Advise Iraqis; Smells Like “Early Vietnam” Again “The United States has provided a $14 billion foreign military aid package to Iraq that includes F-16 fighter jets, Apache...
Dianne Feinstein Calls Out CIA for Spying on Congress
California Senator, Long a CIA Defender, Charges Obstruction of Congressional Oversight Please join us in calling Senator Dianne Feinstein (202-224-3841 or 415-393-0707) to say thanks and, as we said to her staffer, “keep up the courage” for having spoken out...
Pete Seeger, 1919–2014: A Life of “Defiant Optimism”
“Realize that little things lead to bigger things. . . . there’s a wonderful parable in the New Testament: The sower scatters seeds. Some seeds fall in the pathway and get stamped on, and they don’t grow. Some fall on the rocks, and they don’t grow. But some seeds...
Honoring Mandela
* “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and...
“And Death Shall Have No Dominion”:
A Tribute to President John F. Kennedy
“So Let Us Persevere . . .” “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our...
Congress, Now Is the Time to Vote “Hell No”
Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time Not out of indifference to the plight of the Syrian people, and not from an automatic rejection of any and all military action, but rather out of grave concern about the uncontrollable consequences that a U.S. missile strike upon Syria could trigger—such as, quite possibly, a war between Iran […]
Here We Go Again
Once again, politicians demanding austerity for the American public are leading us—and other people’s children—into war “Just providing arms is not enough.” —John McCain * This should be the mother of all cakewalks. The Obama administration has announced that the U.S. will begin arming certain groups of Syrian rebels because the Bashar al-Assad regime has […]
Easy Listenin’ to ‘The Eve of Destruction’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslV5asj_yM * From “The Eve of Destruction” Lyrics by P. F. Sloan / Sung by Barry McGuire (recorded July 1965) The eastern world it is exploding Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’ You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’ You don’t believe in war but whats that gun you’re totin’? . . . . Think […]
Syria Seen as a Backdoor to War with Iran
It’s a matter of public record that this war with Iraq is largely the brainchild of a group of neoconservative intellectuals, who view it as a pilot project. In August a British official close to the Bush team told Newsweek: “Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.” In February […]
The Life You Save May Be Your Own Child’s
* We see the efforts needed to reduce the slaughter of innocents (of all ages) as comprising three elements: gun control; expanded psychological services; and pressure on Hollywood and video game makers to dial down the ultraviolence. Not only do the citizens of the...
Happy Thanksgiving to You: Much to Be Grateful For
Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you and your friends and family have much to be thankful for this year, and that you’re able to spend the day with people you love. We wish you a festive gathering over a Thanksgiving dinner with good food and drink, and happy memories of...
Jobs, Jobs . . . Senate Republicans Keep Vets Unemployed
“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” “Where is our honor? Where is our valor? Where is our sacrifice?” —Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), leading opposition to Veterans Jobs Corps Act “I care deeply about the...
Bush White House Ignored 9/11 Warnings
The Deafness Before the Storm * Briefly noted, highly recommended: Kurt Eichenwald, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a former reporter for the New York Times, wrote a strong but restrained op-ed piece for the Times yesterday describing in more detail than is...
Tom Hayden, SDS and SNCC Alums:
Happy 50th, Port Huron Statement!
SDS National Council Meeting, September 1963. Tom Hayden stands at far left. [Photo by C. Clark Kissinger] * “We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit. . . . First,...
Todd Gitlin on Port Huron Statement’s 50th Anniversary
Early ’60s idealism: The mimeographed mission statement of a new generation [ Part 1 of a 2-part series | also @ DailyKos ] “The genius of the Port Huron Statement, as it was structured, was placing its declaration of values up front. The movement would not be guided...