War Is A Crime

I’m old enough to remember a video of a New York Times reporter who let slip that she’d been instructed never to say the president of the United States had lied, even if he (George W. Bush) was just blatantly lying. Not that she objected to the policy. It made perfect sense to her. Now I can’t find that video because the internet is so weighted down with accounts of Trump and Biden lying.

But I was quite pleasantly surprised when the only local daily here in Charlottesville, the read more

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When some government program fails utterly, you’d think top officials would consider transferring at least part of the taxpayer funds they’re spending on it to programs that might actually do some good. When it comes to the U.S. military, however, as TomDispatch regular Andrea Mazzarino makes all too clear today, no such luck. And really, it just couldn’t be stranger.

At read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 15, 2024

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty declares that NATO members will assist another member if attacked by “taking action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force.” But the UN Charter does not say anywhere that warmaking is authorized for whoever jumps in on the appropriate side.

The North Atlantic Treaty’s authors may have been aware that they were on dubious legal ground because they went on twice to claim otherwise, first read more

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

I was by nature the mildest and least courageous of young men. And yet, in April 1968, I well remember standing with two friends on the Boston Common, amid a large demonstration of young people, and turning in my draft card to protest America’s brutal read more

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Today, TomDispatch regular Jane Braxton Little writes about the “news deserts” spreading across rural parts of America. These are often the same regions hit hard by the unparalleled fires, floods, and fierce storms that are increasingly part of a world read more

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

Once upon a time, in another era, maybe even another universe, the head of a university refused to call on the police, the National Guard, or even federal troops in the face of student and other protests. Instead, he opened the doors of his school to the demonstrators.

I’m thinking of Kingman Brewster, who was the president of Yale University on May 1, 1970, as read more

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

Despite the lack of televised coverage of Donald Trump in court, the trial of the century — or do I mean of the month, week, day, minute, or second? — has caught our attention. And yes, a crucial witness is indeed likely read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 6, 2024

I fervently hope, dear reader, that you do not agree that every person in Israel deserves to die. But I know some of you do, and I hope to suggest a better way of looking at it. I know that you’re even more unlikely to agree with me that nobody ever anywhere “deserves to die.” But the closer you can get to agreeing with that, the better!

Have you heard people calling the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel a “success,” despite the perfectly predictable read more