Turning a San Francisco Recall into a Rout for Police Reform

(This article appeared first in FAIR.org, the media criticism web site)   San Francisco voted on June 7 to recall its district attorney, Chesa Boudin, a reformer who had challenged the traditional “lock ’em up” policies of big-city prosecutors. The margin was initially reported as a lopsided  61%–39% landslide, in what major news media across …

$17 billion could buy a lot of food aid:

What’s in the Massive US Military Aid Package to Ukraine?

This article was written for The Edge, a publication of the Ithaca College Park Center for Independent Media The first point that needs to be made in addressing the colossal $40 billion Ukraine arms aid package passed by Congress and rushed by plane to Asia for President Joe Biden’s signature is that it’s not all …

Important history lesson:

NATO is Not a Defensive International Organization But Was Founded to Threaten the USSR

  Reading US reports on the deadly Russian rocket attack on the so-called International Peacekeeping and Security Center in western Ukraine, one could be excused for thinking that the Russians might have been destroying some UN peacekeeping base. In fact, the deceptively named target, as a few US news reports on the attack did note, …

To idiot politicians and pundits calling for a US 'no-fly' zone over Ukraine:

If the US or NATO Put Fighters in the Air over Ukraine We’d Have World War Final

  “Clearly, in the absence of a U.N. resolution, which Russia would veto, a strong coalition of like-minded nations should step in and seriously consider a no-fly zone over the Ukraine.”                               — Sen. Tom Wicker, (R-Miss), Senate Armed Services Committee …

Washington's hypocrisy knows no bounds

How Can the US Accuse Any Nation of Violating ‘Rules-Based International Order’?

Sometimes the hypocrisy of the US government, especially when it comes to foreign affairs, it just too much to let pass. The latest example of this is the Ukraine crisis, where the US pretty much stands all alone (unless you count Britain’s embattled and embarrassed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who parrots US policy like a …

Turning off the tap:

The Pentagon Fails Its Fourth Consecutive Audit

(This artidle was written for The Edge, a publication of Ithaca College’s Park Center for Independent Media.) One of the biggest blacked-out stories of 2021 surely has to be the news, on November 16, that the Pentagon once again had abysmally failed to pass an audit, despite the best efforts of 1,200 top-flight Wall Street …

The Washington money pit:

FLASH! Pentagon Fails Audit! (Again!)

That’s what should have been the biggest news of 2021. Instead, the story, which broke on November 17, was largely ignored or buried. The nation’s two main newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times, have simply ignored it. Other news organizations stenographically quoted Pentagon officials as admitting that they “failed again” but saw …

Virtually everyone supports Social Security…except Congress:

Defend Socialism in One Demographic!

  In the bizarro world of politics in the United States today, probably the most radical government program that exists — the one most close to a socialist idea that actually works and is popular with the vast majority of Americans — is Social Security. Established in 1936 as a pillar of the hugely popular …

Future campaigns will be about women's rights, not saving or overturning a court ruling

If Roe v. Wade Goes away, So Will Easy Re-Elections for Right-Wing Republicans and Neo-Liberal Democrats

  It’s looking like Trump’s three nominees on the US Supreme Court, joining three other Republican appointees to give that court its largest reactionary majority in memory  is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that gave women the right to an abortion. Such a decision in the current case before the High …