Talk Nation Radio: Richard John on the Past and Future of the U.S. Postal Service

This week on Talk Nation Radio, we discuss the past and possible future of the U.S. Postal Service. Our guest, Richard John, is a historian who specializes in the history of business, technology, communications, and American political development. He teaches and advises graduate students in Columbia University’s Ph.D. program in communications, and is member of the core faculty of the Columbia history department, where he teaches courses on the history of capitalism and the history of communications. read more

Tomgram: Karen Greenberg, So Long to American Exceptionalism

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

It’s old news by now that President Trump has compared the arrival of the coronavirus in America to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and al-Qaeda’s 9/11 assault on key symbols of this country — the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and possibly even the White House read more

How Many Revelations Does It Take to Make a Light Bulb Go Off?

The U.S. government is certainly in the running for worst handling of coronavirus on earth. Where did this grotesque incompetence and indifference to human lives come from so suddenly?

What if it was always there?

What if it’s to be found in long-standing U.S. policies on environment, energy, labor, healthcare, education, and retirement?

What if U.S. policy on climate collapse is just as catastrophic as on coronavirus, but the clown car simply hasn’t yet reached the edge of the cliff it’s been read more

Talk Nation Radio: Saving a Native American Capital

This week on Talk Nation Radio we discuss efforts to save the site of a Native American capital.

Greg Werkheiser is a founding partner of Cultural Heritage Partners. He’s an attorney and educator and is working on a campaign to save Rassawek, the site of the historic capital of the Monacan Indian Nation in what is now Virginia.

http://CulturalHeritagePartners.com

Rufus Elliot is a Monacan tribal member, and he was the Tribal Administrator until late last year. He’s been coordinating the Section read more

I Wish There Really Were a Plot to Create a Global Government

I saw a criticism of NPR for reporting on claims that coronavirus is being used to set up a world government. The criticism was that NPR never mentioned that the claims are nonsense lacking any documentation. I have an additional criticism: neither NPR nor its critics mentions that it might be a very good thing if such claims were true.

There’s nothing completely new here. Often the very best ideas in U.S. politics are things that paranoid rightwingers allege are happening. But it’s worth explaining read more

Antiwar Congressional Candidates 2020

In September 2018, I wrote an article about four women who were running for Congress in four separate districts, each speaking against wars and militarism in highly unusual ways. They later all won their elections, joined together, and called themselves a squad. Since taking office, they’ve all been far superior to the average Congress member, and often been real standouts.

Who are likely to be the big-party, general-election, antiwar candidates in 2020? It’s possible that there will be more read more

Do Not Meet With Mike Pence, Go to Jail, or Join the Military

We don’t know what the long-term damage is of coronavirus in those who recover. We don’t know who will die among those who catch it. We do know that we each have a responsibility to avoid catching it and avoid spreading it. Here are some ways to do that.

1) If you can’t relocate to a well-run country, do get booked for a meeting with Donald Trump or Mike Pence, so that you qualify to be tested; but don’t actually go to such a meeting because,

a) The White House is a hotbed.
b) The read more