Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
Dear Theresa, What’s In a Name?
Or rather, what’s in your name? In yours, there’s a litany of puns just waiting to be made. For every policy you discuss, every decision you make, every stand you take, there’s a May-based epithet hurled upon you in headlines, hashtags and everything in between. Like it or not (and really, who would?), the nicknames you’ve been bestowed thus far are equal parts clever, obvious and, in most cases, deceptively enlightening. To name just a few...
By Rachel G. David8 years ago in The Swamp
Angleton and Buckley's 'Spytime'
James Jesus Angleton is one of those enigmas that could only have come out of the Cold War era. The long-time head of the CIA's counter-intelligence wing after serving with the agency's precursor organization during World War II, few figures could claim to have had as much of an effect on the secret wars that marked the Cold War as he did. He was a man who remains highly controversial due to his methods, claims of massive Soviet infiltration of Western intelligence agencies, and dozens within the CIA who had their careers affected by his molehunt.
By Matthew Kresal8 years ago in The Swamp
First, They Came for Robert E. Lee
I mean, let’s be fair, didn’t the old general choose the Confederacy because his loyalty was to Virginia before America? There’s a lot to be said for regionalisation but I don’t want to go there this time. And didn’t he go on to say that he would free all the slaves if he could prevent war? Maybe that’s splitting hairs. Lee and the South did a very bad thing so we must remove all bad things from the past disturb or offend us, right?
By Richard Winnington8 years ago in The Swamp
Dear Mr. (Fake) President
Dear #45, It’s hard to choose the words to communicate with you. I don’t have any comparable person in my life as an example to gauge how to proceed. Because, unlike you, the majority of people I know and routinely interact with are kind and moral. They have a sense of right and wrong, they have empathy and a conscience too.
By Tauna Pierce8 years ago in The Swamp
On Punching Nazis
Do you know when there's a fashionable idea going around, but there's something that feels a bit “off” with it? I spend a lot of time in skeptical and atheist circles, and there is always some real-world issue reduced to a vague abstraction, to be resolved with “logic.” Inevitably, the removal of any human element leads to a completely abhorrent solution, and yet the “rationalists” stand by it even when the consequences of their thought experiment are revealed in horrifying technicolor. This never-ending quest for simple, neat solutions completely ignores the fact that life is messy and does not lend itself to unambiguous certainties.
By Katy Preen8 years ago in The Swamp
On the North Korean Crises and the New Silk Roads
A recent informal discussion among several academics and civic leaders outside of the United States trying to understand and analyze emerging trends in light of emerging crises touched on a very disturbing geopolitical possibility, a probability according to some but mere speculation according to others, a healthy split in opinion. The possibility discussed was that the recent series of Korean crises were instigated by the United States as a means of derailing Sino-Russian advances towards the creation of a Eurasia-centric economic market including new transportation paradigms but also a dollar-free alternative international financial structure.
By Guillermo Calvo8 years ago in The Swamp
I Beg Your Pardon! And, Me. Oh, Me, Too, Please. Pardon Me! Pardon Me! Pardon Me!
By HAL MOUNTSAUERKRAUTEN, Alternate Reality News Service Justice Writer The Grey House was in emergency crisis (for the third time this afternoon) mode when allegations were made that the President was becoming more... Canadian.
By Ira Nayman8 years ago in The Swamp
Dear Kim Jong Un
Dear Kim, Why? Why are you doing this? What good could it possibly do? Why are you putting yourself and everyone you love at such great risk? Why are you putting the world at an even greater risk? Why do you want destruction and fury? Why don't you care about the fate of your own people? What makes you so angry that you think this is the only option? I have so many questions to ask you, but the main one is, "Why?"
By Chelsea B. Kendrick8 years ago in The Swamp
A Soviet Britain?
The Cold War gave rise to many pieces of fiction looking at the decades long conflict between East and West. Few writers, though, seemed to have taken the time to have imagined what it might be like if the East came forth to occupy one of the major Western powers. One who did was prolific thriller writer Ted Allbeury who created a vision of a Britain under Soviet occupation with his 1982 novel All Our Tomorrows.
By Matthew Kresal8 years ago in The Swamp
Charlottesville 'Rally' Turned Riot
One dead and 19 injured during a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12th 2017. The protest was directed towards the removal of confederate monument in the city centre, where the "Unite the Right" group feel pride towards their confederate heritage and the counter-protesters feel, that as liberals, they should leave Virginia's confederate past behind them. A car ran into a crowd of counter-protesters after clashes occurred between the two groups.
By Charlemagne Griffin - Anker8 years ago in The Swamp
