Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed four foreign aid bills that will allocate a combined $95 billion to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and other “national security priorities.” House Republicans followed Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) lead and joined with...
Politics
America is a Democracy (That’s the Problem)
by Brad Pearce | Apr 24, 2024 | Featured Articles, Politics
Our rulers constantly talk about “our democracy,” often while justifying doing things which are profoundly anti-democratic. A common midwit response is, “America is not a democracy, it is a republic.” While your ninth grade history teacher may have felt smart telling...
Senator Bob Graham, 9/11, and the Mirage of American Democracy
by Jim Bovard | Apr 22, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics
Former Senator Bob Graham passed away on April 16 at the age of 87. Graham had been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Iraq War, but his brightest legacy was his perennial fight against the George W. Bush administration’s cover-up of the 9/11 attacks. Graham...
One Hundred Years of IRS Political Targeting
by Jim Bovard | Apr 15, 2024 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles, Politics
One hundred years ago, Senator James Couzens, a Michigan Republican, took to the Senate floor to denounce the Bureau of Internal Revenue for abusing its power and trampling innocent taxpayers. Couzens launched a sweeping Senate investigation of federal tax collectors....
TGIF: Why Isn’t Antifa Marching for Apple?
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 12, 2024 | Criminal Justice, Economics, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I was all ready to don a black mask for the Antifa demonstration when I realized that the self-styled antifascists hadn't planned a demonstration. What are they waiting for? After all, the national government has just started a new fascistic crusade. You'd expect the...
History Last, Polemics First: A Critical Review of Jacob Heilbrunn’s ‘America Last’
by Brandan P. Buck | Apr 2, 2024 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles, History, Politics
The Western commentariat has spilled much ink and expended considerable effort attempting to explain our era of political malaise, particularly the disruptions underway within the Republican Party and the American Right. It is into that maelstrom that Jacob Heilbrunn...
Truth Has No Chance on Capitol Hill
by Jim Bovard | Mar 25, 2024 | Featured Articles, Politics
Americans are encouraged to believe that the U.S. Congress is practically on automatic pilot to serve the public. Happily, most Americans are not so gullible and Congress receives much of the contempt it deserves in public opinion polls. But the media and the...
TGIF: Leave TikTok Alone
by Sheldon Richman | Mar 22, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
This is America, last I checked. Surely, the government would not force the sale of a social-media company or ban its app from the Google and Apple stores. Would it? Well, yes, it would, could (perhaps), and might. A bill in Congress, backed by the government's...