- — I Love America
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at 7/10/25 7:47amWe bombed Iran and, despite a temporary cessation of hostilities, its likely that President Donald Trump and his counterpart in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, intend to drag the United States into yet another destabilizing effort in the Middle East, perhaps the most dangerous one yet. As an Iranian American, I feel as if my greatest fears are now being realized. Like many Iranian Americans, I love this country and the many blessings that its provided my family so much so that I proudly chose to wear the uniform of its Navy. I’ll never forget the immense sense of pride I felt, on July 31st, 1996, when I was sworn into the United States Navy, or the unparalleled... Read more Source: I Love America appeared first on TomDispatch.com.- — Illness and Endless Wars
- at 7/8/25 7:32amWar kills in so many ways. These days, Americans are bombarded with images from Gaza and elsewhere of people or broken bodies being ferried on stretchers from the rubble of homes and hospitals, by rescue workers whose thin bodies and stricken faces suggest they are barely better off than those theyre helping. Social media and journalists make us eyewitnesses to emaciated children too weak to cry. And yet, compared with air raids that crush and bloody instantaneously, a slower disaster, more difficult to capture (especially given our made-for-TikTok attention spans), consists of the hours that many people in war zones spend wasting away from infectious diseases of one sort or another. Let me count a few of the ways. In... Read more Source: Illness and Endless Wars appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Lessons UnLearned
- at 7/6/25 3:32pm“I must say,” Donald Trump commented, “I wish we had an occupying force.” It was June 1, 2020. The president, then in his first term in office, was having a phone call with the nation’s governors to discuss the ongoing Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests taking place nationwide in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman. He was urging the governors to call in the National Guard in response to BLM protests in their states. Otherwise, he threatened he would do so himself. “You have to dominate,” he told them, while labeling the protesters “terrorists.” Otherwise, he claimed, “they are going to run over you.” Later that morning, Trump left the White House... Read more Source: Lessons UnLearned appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Chilling Parallels
- at 7/3/25 7:28amIn early June, the Washington Post published a follow-up to earlier stories on a Trump administration plan to remove thousands of photographs from Defense Department websites because of DEI-related content. Illustrated with more than a dozen samples of the targeted photos (which the Posts reporters were able to find reproduced on non-government websites), the Posts new story offered more details on the images marked for deletion because they were deemed to touch on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues overwhelmingly depicting subjects identified as gay, transgender, women, Hispanic, and Black. The headline over the story didnt mince words: Here are the people Trump doesn’t want to exist. Identified from a database obtained by the Associated Press, the targeted subjects included... Read more Source: Chilling Parallels appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Feeding the Warfare State
- at 7/1/25 7:36amThe Senate is on the verge of passing the distinctly misnamed “big beautiful bill.” It is, in fact, one of the ugliest pieces of legislation to come out of Congress in living memory. The version that passed the House recently would cut $1.7 trillion, mostly in domestic spending, while providing the top 5% of taxpayers with roughly $1.5 trillion in tax breaks. Over the next few years, the same bill will add another $150 billion to a Pentagon budget already soaring towards a record $1 trillion. In short, as of now, in the battle between welfare and warfare, the militarists are carrying the day. Pentagon Pork and the People It Harms The bill, passed by the House of Representatives and... Read more Source: Feeding the Warfare State appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Cow Most Sacred
- at 6/29/25 3:35pmIn defense circles, “cutting” the Pentagon budget has once again become a topic of conversation. Americans should not confuse that talk with reality. Any cuts exacted will at most reduce the rate of growth. The essential facts remain: U.S. military outlays today equal that of every other nation on the planet combined, a situation without precedent in modern history. The Pentagon presently spends more in constant dollars than it did at any time during the Cold War this despite the absence of anything remotely approximating what national security experts like to call a “peer competitor.” Evil Empire? It exists only in the fevered imaginations of those who quiver at the prospect of China adding a rust-bucket Russian aircraft carrier... Read more Source: Cow Most Sacred appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Republicans and Climate Change
- at 6/26/25 7:32amIn the annals of national suicide, the present dismantling of the American state will surely rank high. It may not reach the apogee attained by Russia in its final Tsarist days or by Louis XVI in the run-up to the French Revolution, but Great Britains Brexit hardly smolders compared to the anti-democratic dumpster fire of the Trump regime. Countless governmental, scientific, educational, medical, and cultural institutions have been targeted for demolition. The problem for the rest of the world is that the behavior of Trumpian America is more than suicidal it’s murderous. The deaths are mounting. By one accounting, the disruption of overseas food and drug shipments from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including life-saving HIV,... Read more Source: Republicans and Climate Change appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — How Will Your Data Be Deployed
- at 6/24/25 7:26amSometime in the late 1980s, I was talking with a friend on my landline (the only kind of telephone we had then). We were discussing logistics for an upcoming demonstration against the Reagan administration’s support for the Contras fighting the elected government of Nicaragua. We agreed that, when our call was done, I’d call another friend, “Mary,” to update her on the plans. I hung up. But before I could make the call, my phone rang. “Hi, this is Mary,” my friend said. “Mary! I was just about to call you.” “But you did call me,” she said. “No, I didn’t. My phone just rang, and you were on the other end.” It was pretty creepy, but that was how... Read more Source: How Will Your Data Be Deployed appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — This Is What Democracy Looks Like!
- at 6/22/25 3:02pmHow strange. Ive been going to demonstrations for a long, long while now. I began once upon a distant time in opposition to the nightmarish all-American war in Vietnam. And almost 60 years later, that war, in some sense, has come home. Hence, the other day, I found myself at the No Kings demonstration in New York City, one of more than 2,000 (yes, 2,000!) across this country of ours at which millions yes, again, literally millions! of Americans reportedly turned out. These days, in New York where I live, such demonstrations are often launched from Bryant Park, right behind the classic 42nd Street library on Fifth Avenue, and the marchers normally walk down Fifth for perhaps 20... Read more Source: This Is What Democracy Looks Like! appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — America’s New Industrial Revolution
- at 6/19/25 7:46amHe lived over 1,000 years ago, but King Canute’s life still has some important lessons for our own time. After conquering England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, he forged a vast North Sea empire that made him, by the year 1030, the greatest of all the Viking kings. At that peak of power, he ordered his courtiers to place a throne on the seashore. There, according to a contemporaneous account, he shouted at the rising tide: “Thou, too, are subject to my command, as the land on which I am seated is mine and no one has ever resisted my commands with impunity. I command you then not to flow over my land, nor presume to wet the feet... Read more Source: America’s New Industrial Revolution appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Resistance Works
- at 6/17/25 7:38amAt a time when many may feel that good news has gone the way of the dodo, look no further than the homeland of that long-extinct bird Mauritius for a dose of encouragement. There, among the islands of the Indian Ocean, news can be found about the power of resistance and the ability of small groups of people to band together to overcome the powerful. Amid ongoing slaughter from Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan and the Congo, the news also offers a victory for resolving conflicts through diplomacy rather than force. Its a victory for decolonization and international law. And it’s a victory for Africa, the African diaspora, and indigenous and other displaced peoples who simply want to... Read more Source: Resistance Works appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Approaching the End of Liberal Internationalism
- at 6/15/25 3:29pm“We’re back,” I tell the room. It’s January 21, 2029, and I can barely contain my excitement. “America is back!” I expect applause, but there is none. I try again, louder this time. “After four long years, America is finally back! Were ready to resume our international obligations!” The members of the U.N. Human Rights Council are looking in every direction except at me. I feel a tug on the sleeve of my suit jacket. I glance down and note that the representative from Morocco is passing me a slip of paper. All I see are numbers. “This is… a bill?” She nods. “Your international obligations.” “Fifty-two billion dollars?” “Four years of non-payment of U.N. contributions. We rounded it... Read more Source: Approaching the End of Liberal Internationalism appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Ending Manhood in the Hall of Shame
- at 6/12/25 7:36amThanks to our current misbegotten model of manhood, we are once again arguing about this moral question: Should former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame? In a sane time, the proper answer would be: Are you kidding? Maybe many of you reading this couldnt care less. Unfortunately, you probably should care because the real question in these chaotic times of ours is: What does the Hall of Fame stand for? In the same way, you might now wonder what America stands for and whether, in our moment, Pete Rose bully, liar, cheat, sexual predator, and fan-favorite superstar athlete has, in fact, become a sports surrogate for Donald Trump. Back in... Read more Source: Ending Manhood in the Hall of Shame appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Freedom of Movement and Global Apartheid
- at 6/10/25 7:36amIn an aphorism sometimes attributed to Leo Tolstoy, sometimes to John Gardner, all literature relies on one of two plots: a person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. Let me offer my own version. We might summarize the entire history of the human race in two words: people move. Everything else is just elaboration on that basic plot. Some of history’s worst atrocities can be attributed to certain people trying to control other people’s movements, whether by capturing them, herding them into prison camps (concentration camps, strategic hamlets, model villages), enslaving and transporting them, or warehousing them in besieged countries or regions while barricading the borders of anyplace to which they might want to flee, often... Read more Source: Freedom of Movement and Global Apartheid appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Is Nuclear Winter a Climate Issue?
- at 6/8/25 3:26pmThirty-five years after the start of the nuclear age with the first explosion of an atomic bomb, I visited the expanse of desert known as the Nevada Test Site, an hour’s drive northwest of Las Vegas. A pair of officials from the Department of Energy took me on a tour. They explained that nuclear tests were absolutely necessary. “Nuclear weapons are like automobiles,” one told me. “Ford doesn’t put a new automobile out on the highway until they’ve gone through a lengthy test process, driving hundreds of thousands of miles.” By then, in 1980, several hundred underground nuclear blasts had already occurred in Nevada, after the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty required that atomic testing take place below the earth’s... Read more Source: Is Nuclear Winter a Climate Issue? appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — A World Without iPhones?
- at 6/5/25 7:32amRecently, Ive been turning off my iPhone all the way off! for 10 to 30 minutes at a time. I leave it somewhere in the house, while I try to liveIRL (“in real life”), washing dishes, hanging up laundry, or even going for a walk, phoneless. In this hyper-connected world of ours, doing so, even for such a short time, often feels like an enormous act of self-deprivation no podcasts, no long-distance communication with those Im closest to, no social media, no para-social relationships, no steps of mine being counted, or micro-health-tracking going on.So much, in other words, missing in action.I’m not a digital native. In fact, I am what they call a late adopter. I didnt... Read more Source: A World Without iPhones? appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — The War on Trans People
- at 6/3/25 7:29amThis year, Pride Month arrives at an especially dire moment for the LGBTQ+ community. Under the second Trump administration, homophobic vitriol and violence are on the rise. On Elon Musk’s X platform, a “deepfake” video of Donald Trump canceling Pride Month has gone viral. And even as Pride celebrations continue as planned (in many places without as many corporate contributions), the attacks against LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender people, seem to be on steroids. After all, since taking office a second time, Trump has issued executive orders that ban transgender women in sports and transgender troops in the military, while limiting federal recognition to two genders. And his executive actions are only the spear tip of a significantly larger legislative attempt... Read more Source: The War on Trans People appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Upside-Down World
- at 6/1/25 3:45pmBelieve it or not, I had a transcendent experience at this year’s Border Security Expo, the annual event that brings Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) together with private industry. I hesitate to describe it that way, though, because I was on the exhibition hall floor and instantly found myself in the very heart of the U.S. border-industrial complex. It was early April and I was surrounded by the latest surveillance equipment camera systems, drones, robodogs from about 225 companies (a record number for such an event) displaying their wares at that Phoenix Convention Center. Many of the people there seemed all too excited that Donald Trump was once again president. You might... Read more Source: Upside-Down World appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — Is Trump’s Axis of the Plutocrats Marginalizing Israel?
- at 5/29/25 7:35amColorful career criminal Willie Sutton once may (or may not) have been asked why he robbed banks. “Because that is where the money is,” he supposedly replied. A similar principle may explain the first foreign trip of President Donald J. Trump’s second term, which was not to a traditional U.S. ally in Europe. Rather, he set off to visit the capitals of the Gulf hydrocarbon potentates Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. In royal palaces there, he feasted and was offered hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in American companies and opportunities for the Trump Organization, too. Qatar even courted controversy by giving him a $400 million Boeing 747-8 plane to serve as a future Air Force... Read more Source: Is Trump’s Axis of the Plutocrats Marginalizing Israel? appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — The End of Human Rights?
- at 5/27/25 7:30amThe Trump administration seems intent on undermining America’s ability to make human rights a significant element of its foreign policy. As evidence of that, consider its plan to dramatically reduce policy directives and personnel devoted to those very issues, including the dismantling of the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and Labor. Even worse, the Trump team has attacked a crucial global institution, the International Criminal Court, and put it under crippling sanctions that have ground its operations to a halt all for telling the truth about Israel’s illegal and ongoing mass slaughter in Gaza. The Trump administration’s assault on human rights comes against the background of years of policy decisions in Washington that too often cast aside such... Read more Source: The End of Human Rights? appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
- — The Self-Liquidation of U.S Global Leadership
- at 5/25/25 4:03pmWith the Oval Office looking more like a middle school classroom every day, let’s recall the way, once upon a time, we responded to childhood taunts from a playground bully. You remember how it goes. Your nemesis says mockingly that you’re a this-or-that and you shout back: “Takes one to know one!” Indeed, it does. This month, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said of his fellow billionaire Elon Musk: “The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.” Elaborating, Gates explained that Musk, as head of his self-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had decided to put “U.S.A.I.D. in the wood chipper” by cutting 80% of its global humanitarian programs and that, he pointed out,... Read more Source: The Self-Liquidation of U.S Global Leadership appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
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