War Is A Crime

Thus far I’m underwhelmed by the candidates seeking to join Charlottesville’s City Council this year, as well as, of course, by the current members. In the wake of the fascist rallies, the electoral system does not seem to be responding particularly well.

I don’t go in for the usual moronic popularity contest wherein we’re supposed to figure out which candidate we’d most like to be friends with. Instead, I try to approximate direct democracy by figuring out which candidate will do the read more

In recent months, advances in the North Korean government’s nuclear weapons program have led to a sharp confrontation between the government leaders of the United States and of North Korea.  This August, President Donald Trump declared that any more threats from North Korea “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”  In turn, Kim read more

 The Afghanistan War documentary by Ken Burns III may someday be set for release in Spring 2074.

Or maybe not. The peace movement in the U.S. made Vietnam, rather than Korea, a topic for Burns. The peace movement is struggling to make people in the United States aware that the war on Afghanistan even exists, much less that it is entering its 17th year — making it something that people who still don’t recognize Native Americans as full humans call “the longest U.S. war.”

If there ever is such a PBS account of Vietghanistan, it will no doubt steer clear of the illegality, the lasting read more

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) — listen to my radio show with one of ICAN’s leaders two years ago here.

It’s conceivable that some Americans will now learn, because of this award, about the new treaty that bans the possession of nuclear weapons.

This treaty has been years in the works. This past summer 122 nations agreed on the language of it, including these words:

Each State Party undertakes never under read more

Official: Trump expected to decertify Iran nuclear deal, the President says ‘we must put an end to Iran’s continued aggression and nuclear ambitions. They have not lived up to the spirit of their agreement’ – Reuters

By decertifying Iran’s compliance but staying in the accord Trump’s Iran gambit keeps `worst deal ever’ intact, sources say – Bloomberg

Tillerson’s secret plan to keep US in Iran deal – CNNPolitics

H.R. McMaster hints he’s not behind Trump on decertifying Iran deal – CNNPolitics

Republicans not unified on killing Iran nuke deal – newsmax.com

More than 180 Dems, led by Jewish lawmaker and early opponent of Iran nuclear deal Deutch, sign letter pushing Trump to re-certify it – TheHill

Cotton says decertifying Iran isn’t necessarily the same as leaving the deal, Congress would act after Trump’s decision to lay out key requirements of a revised Iran agreement – Bloomberg

Sen. Cotton thinks ‘military strikes’ against Iran are ‘credible’ option, en route to speak to Trump calls for pushing Iran, China and Russia out of the negotiating room – ThinkProgress

A read more

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

We tend to think of them as separate and distinct wars: the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq.  Yet it’s not hard to trace the ways in which America’s knee-jerk overreaction to the terrorist attack of 9/11 and the “preemptive” invasion of Iraq that followed in 2003 destabilized read more

Yes, of course, every day that Congress goes on refusing to ban guns is more blood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. It’s immoral, disgraceful, embarrassing, and in large part a function of financial corruption. But it’s also in part a government operating within a culture of violence — albeit one that the same government plays a huge role in creating.

U.S. movies, tv shows, video games, music, news, and schools are uniquely and increasingly violent. Primates’ chief form of behavior is read more

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

I first “met” Noam Chomsky in 1969 by reading these words of his about the My Lai massacre:

“And now there is Song My — ‘Pinkville.’  More than two decades of indoctrination and counterrevolutionary interventions have created the possibility of a name like ‘Pinkville’ — and the acts that may be done in a place so named.  Orville and Jonathan Schell read more