War Is A Crime

The U.S. government was created with the mandate to not establish any state religion or to forbid any religion. There were a couple of ways this could have gone.

Here’s one path that was not taken. The freedom of religion and the separation of religion from the state could have encouraged a widespread understanding of what a crock of malarkey religion all is. If no religion can actually persuade everyone of its claims, if people choose their various and sundry religions based on factors wholly read more

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

The Age of Disappointment?
Or How the American Century Ends
By Tom Engelhardt

Let me rant for a moment. I don’t do it often, maybe ever. I’m not Donald Trump. Though I’m only two years older than him, I don’t even know how to tweet and that tells you everything you really need to know about Tom Engelhardt in a world clearly passing me by. Still, after years in which read more

If you can do activism, do it around policies in a principled manner, and steer clear of elections.

If you can do funding, fund principled activist organizations, not political candidates.

If you must divert your energies and money into elections, I have a recommendation for how best to do it (not that you’ll necessarily listen to me, having already ignored my first two paragraphs, but what the heck):

Part of getting better governance out of Washington, D.C., will have to come from shifting power read more

Jake Johnston is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. His research has focused predominantly on economic policy in Latin America, the International Monetary Fund, and U.S. foreign policy. Jake Johnston co-authored a report in March on the role of the Organization of American States in the coup in Bolivia in November of last year. The New York Times has recently admitted that OAS claims of fraud in last year’s Bolivian election read more

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

There was only one time in my life when I might actually have been jealous of Donald Trump. That’s when — as TomDispatch jock culture correspondent Robert Lipsyte, author of read more

Here’s the text of a new bill in Congress: PDF.

Here’s a petition from Code Pink promoting it.

Needless to say, this is the best bill introduced into Congress in decades.

Here’s the ending:

“Congress supports moves to reduce the priority given to war in our foreign policy and our current war-based national economy by using significant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000 as detailed above, from current budget plans, while using the funds to increase our diplomatic capacity and for domestic programs read more