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The emperor’s new rules
The world is reeling in horror at the latest Israeli massacre of hundreds of men, women and children in Gaza. Much of the world is also shocked by the role of the United States in this crisis, as it keeps providing Israel with weapons to kill Palestinian civilians, in violation of U.S. and international law, and has repeatedly blocked action by the UN Security Council to impose a ceasefire or hold Israel accountable for its war crimes. Continue reading
It’s past time to end U.S. funding of Israeli violence
What else could billions of American tax dollars buy instead of innocent deaths?
At the end of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was continuing to ravage the populations of many nations, Israel stood out as a success story, administering more doses of vaccines to its modest-sized 9-million-strong population than any other country after China, the U.S., and the UK. Today, more than 60 percent of Israelis are vaccinated, which is 20 percentage points higher than the United States—a nation that happens to give more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country in the world. Continue reading
The biggest threat to Israel is the occupation
Netanyahu says, "We must live by the sword"—but he's never tried alternatives.
I first met Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, the Israeli peace and anti-apartheid activist, on a sunny spring Sunday in Jerusalem almost exactly seventeen years ago, in 2004. It was at the end of the second Intifada, and a few of us clambered into a van so that she and a colleague could give us a tour of what it was like to be a Palestinian living in the Occupied Territories. It was revelatory. We’ve remained friends ever since. Continue reading
Advocates hail ruling striking down ‘unconstitutional’ Georgia Anti-BDS law
"This ruling comes at a crucial moment... and makes clear that the Constitution protects participation in the BDS movement."
Free speech and Palestinian rights advocates on Monday hailed a ruling by a federal judge declaring the unconstitutionality of a Georgia law prohibiting the state from doing business with anyone advocating a boycott of Israel. Continue reading
How America went from mom-and-pop capitalism to techno-feudalism
The crisis of 2020 has created the greatest wealth gap in history. The middle class, capitalism and democracy are all under threat. What went wrong and what can be done? Continue reading
The greatest knowledge we can bestow on our youth
The most important thing one may know, in order to function with minimal comprehension amidst the constant shot and shell of contemporary misinformation, is that mainstream media are controlled. Continue reading
‘Terrible news’: Tribune shareholders approve $633 million sale to vulture fund Alden Global
A union leader had urged the newspaper company's second-largest shareholder to vote "no," warning that "Alden ownership would be a disaster for Chicago, democracy, and society at large."
Tribune Publishing shareholders on Friday approved “vulture” fund Alden Global Capital’s $633 million bid to buy the Chicago-based newspaper chain—a development that sparked both confusion about how key ballots were recorded as well as outrage among journalists, union leaders, and readers alarmed over what the future may hold. Continue reading
Africa’s role model: Eritrea’s 30 years of independence
Africa’s role model, Eritrea, located on the Red Sea marked 30 years of independence today, May 24. When a rag tag band of afro coiffed Eritrean rebels drove captured Ethiopian tanks into the streets of our capital Asmara 30 years ago, it marked the first successful armed struggle for national liberation on the continent. Others had fought but only Eritrea took it all the way, defeating the occupying colonial army of Ethiopia and winning power “by the barrel of a gun.” Continue reading
Total tyranny: We’ll all be targeted under the government’s new precrime program
It never fails. Continue reading
Palestinian lives matter
We can’t say we support justice and human rights in this country while supporting violence and expulsion abroad.
I believe that all people share a common cause for basic freedoms. Continue reading
Why Big Pharma’s arguments against patent waivers don’t add up
While President Biden is backing the temporary lifting of COVID-19 vaccine patents, drugmakers are making dire predictions of stifled innovation and eroded public trust. What they really fear is losing profits.
Days after he publicly opposed the waiving of patents for lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates had a change of heart. He released a statement saying, “No barriers should stand in the way of equitable access to vaccines, including intellectual property, which is why we are supportive of a narrow waiver during the pandemic.” His statement came after President Joe Biden, in a surprising move, and in contrast to his European allies, backed a temporary waiver on COVID-19 vaccine patents. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai released a statement saying, “extraordinary circumstances… call for extraordinary measures.” Immediately, the big drugmakers’ share prices fell, and they shot back in anger with a litany of dire predictions. Continue reading
America’s worthless values
“Everyone, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons, deserves to live in dignity,” the State Department pontificates. Everyone? How about Palestinians?
The disproportionate deaths among Palestinians speak of a one-sided slaughter. Over 200 have been killed—almost a quarter of them children—during the past week of violence. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: The Palestine litmus test
President Joe Biden continues to proclaim endless support of apartheid Israel, but millions have decided that defense of Palestinian rights and lives is the only civilized response to barbaric aggression. Continue reading
The bigger picture in Israel-Palestine
My Jewish upbringing taught me to stand with the persecuted and the vulnerable. Today, that means the Palestinians.
Most of the news stories I see about Israel and Palestine focus on recent events. Continue reading
The congressman from hell is a symptom of our rotten political system
Decades of disdain for politics as a civic calling means we get the politicians we deserve.
Picture a member of congress and what do you see? He’s a guy (those in question are usually still men, despite Marjorie Taylor Greene) with an ego the size of the Capitol dome itself, but a strangely fragile and insecure one. He’d run down his grandmother to get his mug on camera and tell the world his profound thoughts, but in private he can be strangely hollow and ignorant when the occasion doesn’t call for prefabricated talking points. Imagine Ted Knight without the lovable charm. Continue reading
The story of how two sisters hurt, hindered, and healed each other
“When my nose was so clotted with blood [from cocaine] that I could not breathe—something that happened routinely—I went to the hospital.” So writes Lisa Scott, half of the sister duo who have authored the new book Hindsight: The Story Of How Two Sisters Hurt, Hindered, And Healed Each Other But this is more than an addiction story. It includes the raw emotions of the non-addicted sister, Sharon Bonanno, who is also buffeted by the forces that cause and result from addiction. Continue reading
Colombia’s rebellion against the capitalist system
Colombia has been burning with the flames of resistance ever since a national strike began on April 28, 2021. The initial impetus for the large-scale demonstrations came from a regressive tax reform. The tax bill came into being due to the necessity of the Colombian state to push down the rising fiscal deficit, which could reach 10% of GDP this year. On top of this, the tight integration of the Colombian economy into the architectures of imperialism has resulted in an external debt of $156,834,000,000 (51.8% of GDP, projected to come up to 62.8%). Continue reading
Unity at last: The Palestinian people have risen
From the outset, some clarification regarding the language used to depict the ongoing violence in occupied Palestine, and also throughout Israel. This is not a ‘conflict.’ Neither is it a ‘dispute’ nor ‘sectarian violence’ nor even a war in the traditional sense. Continue reading
The secret tax loophole making the rich even richer
How do we prevent America from becoming an aristocracy, while also funding the programs that Americans desperately need? Continue reading
Israel’s war on truth-telling media and journalists
Time and again, truth-telling journalism as it should be is a casualty of all things war and related violence. Continue reading
‘Anti-Zionist Naples’: Award-winning Italian Artist speaks about Palestine and why he quit photojournalism
On April 1, a mural appeared in the Southern Italian city of Naples, depicting Palestinian workers lining up at an Israeli military checkpoint near the occupied city of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. It is called ‘Welcome to Bethlehem.’ Continue reading
Looming Texas law would allow anti-choice ‘vigilantes’ to sue anyone who ‘aids or abets’ an abortion
"There's no low these legislators won't sink to in their efforts to gut Roe v. Wade and push abortion care as far out of reach as possible," said one rights advocate.
As part of an unprecedented wave of recent GOP attacks on reproductive rights across the United States, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a bill to not only outlaw ending a pregnancy as early as six weeks, but also allow anti-choice “vigilantes” to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion that violates state law. Continue reading
Poverty and wealth clash in the Hamptons
Homeowners in one of America’s wealthiest zip codes are fighting their impoverished indigenous neighbors efforts to develop.
It’s tough being rich. For one thing, you have to be on constant alert to keep commoners from encroaching on your turf and upsetting your sense of proper social order. Continue reading
Why one state in India is showing promising signs of democracy as the world goes more authoritarian
In Kerala, the re-elected Left government has prioritized making life better for all, even during crises—contrasting sharply with Narendra Modi’s right-wing central government’s devastating mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just before the state elections in Kerala, in southern India, a television channel ran a program called “The Great Political Kitchen.” The anchor went to kitchens across the state to talk to homemakers about their views on politics. In one kitchen, the anchor asked a woman about a dispute surrounding a temple in southern Kerala where the courts had ordered that women must be allowed full access to the temple premises in 2018. For the past five years, Kerala had been governed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which had taken a democratic position over this issue and had supported the entry of women into this famous temple. The right wing claimed this was evidence that the LDF government was against religious freedom; such a claim would not be restricted to the majority-Hindu population but could also be extended to other minority communities in India such as Christians and Muslims. The woman told the TV anchor, “I am a devotee [of the temple], but hunger won’t go away if I cook and eat devotion. That’s all I have to say about it.” Continue reading
NPR at 50—straying from its civic mission?
This month is the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR). Knowing about my work back then with other advocates, to persuade Congress to pass legislation creating NPR and PBS, (which was opposed by most of the commercial radio/TV industry), a friend asked what I think of NPR now. Continue reading
After deranged Marjorie Taylor Greene video emerges, AOC laments colleague is ‘deeply unwell’
"If the shoe were on the other foot, the GOP would be calling for my expulsion," said the New York Democrat.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lamented Friday that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is “deeply unwell” following the emergence of a 2019 video showing Greene—then a private citizen—telling the New York Democrat through the mail slot of her locked office door that she is “bringing God’s judgement on our country” by supporting women’s reproductive freedom. Continue reading
The age of fear: A graduation message for terrifying times
With all that is crashing down upon us, from government-manipulated crises to the blowback arising from a society that has repeatedly prized technological expedience and mass-marketed values over self-ownership and individual sovereignty, those coming of age today are facing some of the greatest threats to freedom the world has ever witnessed. Continue reading
Employers: If you want workers, pay a living wage
It’s not that people don’t want to work—it’s that they don’t want to work for so little.
The sudden shift from “we love our essential workers” to “they’re living off the government dole” seemingly happened overnight. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: The end of low wage work
The combination of unemployment and additional stimulus support has made staying home a better economic decision than working for peanuts under stressful conditions. Continue reading
Democrats are running out of time
The political window of opportunity for Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on their promises to the American people and pass the legislation the country needs, could close at any time. Continue reading
Unregulated digital cryptocurrencies vs regulated national currencies: Is there a danger?
A few years ago, after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, some clever people, whose identity is hidden behind the appellation of ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, devised a decentralized electronic system of payments, which is independent of the existing traditional banking system. It is based on a new form of digital ‘currencies’ or ‘electronic currencies’, the ‘cryptocurrencies’. Some observers have called the cryptocurrency innovation a sort of a new 21st Century digital gold rush. Continue reading
The US and EU vs. Belarus: Pot, kettle, black
Posted on May 27, 2021 by Thomas L. Knapp
On May 23, a fighter jet intercepted Ryanair Flight 4978 as it was about to exit Belarus’s airspace en route from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania. Citing a supposed bomb threat (apparently contrived by regime agents on board the plane), Belarus air traffic control ordered the Boeing 737 to turn around and land in Minsk. Continue reading →