By Joseph Orosco (June 12, 2017) Two legal news items today that may seem disconnected, but are not. In fact, they are reflections of the deep legacy of white supremacy in the United States. Today is the 50th anniversary of the US Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the 1924 Racial Integrity Act that prohibited whites…
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By Chris Lowe (May 17, 2017) We watch in awe and dismay Donald Trump’s amazing performance art piece Drunken Juggler President. We prepare to duck and dodge when the next plate in the plate spinning part caroms off toward us, and to groan: Noooo, don’t drop the globe! The details are endlessly fascinating, in that recurring monster movie dream time…
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By Chris Lowe (May 13, 2017) Since Comey was fired as FBI director, an increasingly widespread meme has emerge in the commentariat, that the U.S. is in “the biggest political crisis since Watergate.” The question this raises is the nature of the crisis. Is it caused by the actions of Donald Trump? In that case, removing him would resolve it….
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By Mark Naison (May 10, 2017) No one familiar with the history of New York City should be surprised by the scandals that have beset the Trump Administration. No one, I repeat no one, could have had the success Donald Trump had in putting up building after building in New York City during the 1970’s and 1980’s without having ties…
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By Marc Cooper (April 6, 2017) Purely for domestic consumption and with the usual unforeseen consequences. One consequence for sure: This “retaliatory” strike will do absolutely nothing to stop or resolve the war in Syria. It MIGHT be the beginning of a deeper American intervention in days to come but, frankly, I doubt it. And as horrific as the gas…
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By Alexander Reid Ross (April 5, 2017) The important thing about Bannon being kicked off the National Security Council is that the Council is now tracking toward more conventional foreign policy that is removed from Bannon’s provocations and repeated failures. Bannon’s insanely reactionary ideology is particularly dangerous, and I’m glad he’s been ousted from that post even if he still…
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By Ana Castillo (February 20, 2017) In Which the Poet, Somewhat Recovered from an Unannounced Televised News Conference that Might Have been a Chapter Titled “WHITE HOUSE VS. THE MAJORITY OF THE MEDIA” in a Dystopian Novel Draft, Reveals Its Narrator’s Internal Monologue For the Random Reader’s Musing: Republican McCain said it, or at least suggested it: Shutting down the…
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By Ana Castillo (February 14, 2017) In which the poet intervenes on a day meant for love, if only because she hasn’t lost hope; and some remarks on the latest occurrence in a country suddenly run like a Third World sweatshop, recently appropriated by the spoiled heir of private wealth and ( forgive the cliché reference) cronies. So the President…
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By Joseph Orosco (February 7, 2017) Sales of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four are booming across the country and websites are publishing lists of dystopian literature that might help to make sense of life under the Trump administration. Eliana Johnson and Eli Stokols have provided us with what might be called the Bannon syllabus–a guide to the works that seem…
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By Mark Naison (February 4, 2017) One of the many reasons I am appalled by Donald Trump’s world view are his comments about subjects I know first hand. A prime example of this is his apocalyptic promise to end “carnage in our inner inner cities.” Not only do these pronouncement ignore gentrification and the suburbanization of poverty, they come…
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By Chris Crass (February 2, 2017) If what happened at UC Berkeley makes you uncomfortable, I invite you to be in that discomfort for a while. If what happened at UC Berkeley gets you more riled up than the right wing Trump supporting Alt-Right Nazi terrorist in Quebec City who opened fire on a Mosque and killed six people, just…
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