Talk Nation Radio: Margaret Kimberley on the 45 Worst Presidents Ever

Margaret Kimberley has been Editor and Senior Columnist for Black Agenda Report since its inception in 2006. Her first book, Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, will be published by Steerforth Press on February 4, 2020. She is a contributor to the OR Books anthology, In Defense of Julian Assange. She has also produced original work for Consortium News, Counterpunch, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Herald Tribune. Ms. Kimberley read more

Even the Most Progressive U.S. Foreign Policy Blames Foreigners

When it comes to foreign policy, it ought to go without saying that Trump, Biden, and Buttigieg are walking catastrophes. A bit of research suggests that Elizabeth Warren is pretty much a true believer in slightly modified catastrophe. But what about Bernie Sanders?

I think that, as he is right now, Sanders would, overall, if pressed a typical amount, be a dramatic improvement over 45 out of 45 past U.S. presidents. But that’s a low bar. I’m delighted with his domestic policies and with the read more

A 70-year-old Baby Boomer has some advice for his elders: Wake Up Older Voters Backing Biden! He’s Going After Your (and Your Grandkids’) Social Security

By Dave Lindorff

 Over the last few months I have written a couple of pieces, one aimed at Baby Boomers (my demographic cohort, as I’m 70), and one aimed at the Millennials (a group which includes both my kids, aged 26 and 35).  Now I want to talk to those of you who are older than even myself — let’s call you the pre-Boomers  — folks born before 1945 and all in your mid-70s to 80s and 90s (and maybe a few centenarians!).

I want to address you because polls keep reporting that a fair read more

Democrats need backbone on militarism to win in 2020: Iran is NOT Responsible for US Dead in Iraq

By John Grant

Who exactly is responsible for US casualties in Iraq during the Iraq War? The question has been raised thanks to President Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian General Qessim Suleimani.

On January 13, the New York Times published a front-page story about a lawsuit filed against Iran in federal court by US veterans and veteran families; it charges Iran with wounding or killing these men. The crux of the lawsuit is that the explosive devices that killed and maimed these read more

Tomgram: Danny Sjursen, Mad Policies for a Mad World

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

What’s the value of an American life in the age of Donald Trump? If you were judging by the death of Nawres Hamid, an Iraqi-American contractor killed in late December after an American base in Iraq was mortared by a Shiite militia believed to have ties to Iran, the answer would be obvious: enough to risk read more

What happens when people no longer want our money?: Papering the World with Benjamins

By Allen Baker

Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor and a brilliant thinker. But even he would be amazed at the vast profits that arise simply from printing his portrait on the U.S. hundred-dollar bill.

Here’s how it works: Each year, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing rolls out roughly a billion crisp new hundreds bearing Franklin’s image. (Think of a goose laying golden eggs.) It then sells those bills to banks. The U.S. pockets, well, $100 billion read more