Tomgram: William deBuys, 12 Ways to Make Sense of the Border Mess

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Who now remembers the classic 1956 sci-fi movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers? In it, alien spores drop to earth in… yes, California (undoubtedly not too far from the Mexican border)… and develop into seed pods that can replicate and then take over any nearby sleeping human being. What a nightmarish film. It certainly scared the hell out of 12-year-old read more

When the Irish Ambassador Talks About Independence in Charlottesville

Here’s the description of an event planned for April 2nd at the University of Virginia:

“His Excellency Daniel Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, will speak as part of the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ Ambassador Series in the Rotunda Dome Room on April 2 from 3:30-4:45 p.m. Ambassador Mulhall will address the relationship between Ireland and the United States with emphasis on the countries’ Declarations of Independence for which Ireland celebrates its 100th read more

Dear World, Here’s How to Close Your U.S. Military Bases

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you live among the Other 96% — that portion of humanity that the U.S. government does not claim to represent, but where the U.S. military maintains some 1,000 major military bases, here are some helpful tips and past examples of success.

First of all, do everything you can to let people in the United States know how much they are paying financially for the bases in your country. While some of us in the United States primarily object to bases because of their use in read more

What Democratic Socialism Is and Is Not

In recent weeks, Donald Trump and other Republicans have begun to tar their Democratic opponents with the “socialist” brush, contending that the adoption of socialist policies will transform the United States into a land of dictatorship and poverty.  “Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism,” Trump warned the annual Conservative Political Action Conference read more

US lets reporters fly but also know they’re being monitored The TSA’s Role as Journalist Harasser and Media ‘Watchdog’

By Dave Lindorff

Sometimes you have to leave the United States to understand how far this country has evolved towards becoming a police state.

I got a good example of this just last week on a trip with my harpsichordist wife to Vienna where she had been contracted to perform on Austrian State Radio in Vienna a concert of music by a leftist Jewish composer who settled in the US after fleeing from Austria just ahead of the Nazi Anschluss that took over and incorporated that country into Germany.

In read more

Speaking Truth to Empire

Speaking Truth to Empire on KFCF 88.1 FM Dan Yaseen interviews Bruce Gagnon who serves as Secretary/Coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He has been working on space issues for the past 30 years and helped create the Global Network in 1992. The focus of the interview is US/Russia relations, No to NATO actions, and Global Network’s upcoming tour of Russia as citizen diplomats.

His website is http://www.space4peace.org. read more

What the New York Times Will Not Tell You About Military Spending

I sent the New York Times this letter on March 20, 2019:

To the Editor,

Peter Navarro’s op-ed “Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry” argues that “Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.” He praises the construction of tanks used in wars in Iraq.

Here is a study demonstrating that military spending produces fewer jobs than other types of public spending, or even than not taxing money from working people in the first place:
“The U.S. read more

Tomgram: Karen Greenberg, Retiring the Statue of Liberty

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I remember him (barely) as a thin, bald, little old man with a white mustache and a cane. As I write this, I’m looking at a photo of him in 1947, holding the hand of little Tommy Engelhardt who had just turned three that very July day. They’re on a street somewhere in Brooklyn, New York, Tommy in shorts and a T-shirt and his grandfather, Moore (that wasn’t his original read more

Five Benefits of Life Without NATO

This week, war industry employee Hans Binnendijk claimed in the weapons-advertisement conveyance Defense News that we all get five big benefits from NATO:

1) Russia refrains from seizing Eastern Europe.
2) The United States gets to have bases in Europe from which to attack the Middle East, and gets to trade stuff with Europe.
3) Europe’s militaries are united into one big happy military.
4) Asian countries refrain from cooperating with each other.
5) The world is at peace read more