politics

Politics does not dictate our collective cultural mindset as much as it simply reflects it; We've got to look in the mirror sometimes, and we've got one.

Justin Trudeau's Pyhrric Victory
I have long maintained to anyone who will listen (a list that grows shorter by the day) that we are living in the Golden Age of Bullshit.
By Grant Patterson4 years ago in The Swamp
Eliminate the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and Reinvest in Our Communities
By RJ Thomsen As the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the military establishment and the contractors who have raked in the profits as Afghanistan’s civilians suffered immeasurably had already turned their attention to the next war they could use to justify allocating nearly half of the United States’ total discretionary spending on the Military-Industrial Congressional Complex. The process of constructing America’s next “great threat” to justify militarism began with President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia,” which started the U.S.’ current military buildup in the Asia-Pacific region and initiated an era of anti-China legislation that continues to this day. One of the more recent and alarming anti-China initiatives is the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), which would allocate $5.1 billion to the Department of Defense’s $66 billion dollar Indo-Pacific budget for the fiscal year 2022.
By CODEPINK4 years ago in The Swamp
The Brexit Disaster
It's the 7th of September 2021, it's not quite two hundred and fifty days since Brexit officially happened and yet the following has occurred:
By Adebayo Adeniran4 years ago in The Swamp
Is Angela Merkel The Greatest German Chancellor Ever?
In the coming weeks, the curtains will be drawn on the one of the longest serving and competent democratically elected leaders in the world. Angela Merkel, who has spent the last 16 years being Chancellor of Germany will step aside for a successor, who undoubtedly will have very big shoes to fill.
By Adebayo Adeniran4 years ago in The Swamp
Crossroads of Insanity
I set out to write something kind today—I wanted to make a point, but gently. A nudge of persuasion and a sprinkle of controversy. But I realized I was dissembling and dancing around my real concern—which is really more than a ‘concern.’ It is a fear – the sort of fear that you dwell on at midnight when your spouse is asleep, and the world is quiet.
By Farah Thompson4 years ago in The Swamp
Drumbeats of War belong to the U.S.
By Koohan Paik-Mander As a longtime Hawaii resident, I have always scratched my head as to how Grover Cleveland -- the president of the United States – had been so ineffective when it came to foreign policy. His efforts to right the wrong of the unauthorized armed invasion and imprisonment of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893 fell woefully short. Corporate and military forces influenced Congress to undermine the president and successfully orchestrate the overthrow of the sovereign nation of Hawaii.
By CODEPINK4 years ago in The Swamp
Avoiding Political Censorship
BRYCE ON THE MEDIA - Some sage advice for those of you who want to write. So you are a conservative and want to write a political OpEd piece, eh? And you want publishers to print it and social media to promote it. The reality is that it is easier said than done. I do not care how well you write or the importance of your message, it is necessary to form relationships with members of the press. Even conservative publications are tightly controlled by publishers and editors. Frankly, it's a "good ole boy" club you have to contend with. You're best chance for success is to correspond with them to establish some rapport. If they happen to make a presentation somewhere, be sure to attend and introduce yourself sometime during the meeting. Like most people, publishers and editors like to associate a name with a face (remember this, next time you print business cards). If you cannot contact them this way, pick up the phone and call them to discuss your idea for writing.
By Tim Bryce4 years ago in The Swamp
To Counter Terror, Abolish War
By Kathy Kelly On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was among a small group of U.S. citizens who sat on milk crates or stood holding signs, across from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan. We had been fasting from solid foods for a month, calling for an end to brutal economic warfare waged against Iraq through imposition of U.N. sanctions. Each Friday of our fast, we approached the entrance to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations carrying lentils and rice, asking the U.S. officials to break our fast with us, asking them to hear our reports, gathered after visiting destitute Iraqi hospitals and homes. On four successive Friday afternoons, New York police handcuffed us and took us to jail.
By CODEPINK4 years ago in The Swamp
Never Forget Victims of the Drone Program
By Sam Carliner As the mainstream press spent this past weekend once again ensuring that Americans never forget the fear and anger of 9/11 which prompted 20 years of war, 10 of the latest victims of 9/11 were being wiped from historical memory. Just two weeks before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a US drone killed the Ahmadi family, including seven children. In the US-centric writing of history, they have already been forgotten.
By CODEPINK4 years ago in The Swamp
How Can America Wake Up From Its Post-9/11 Nightmare?
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies Looking back on it now, the 1990s were an age of innocence for America. The Cold War was over and our leaders promised us a “peace dividend.” There was no TSA to make us take off our shoes at airports (how many bombs have they found in those billions of shoes?). The government could not tap a U.S. phone or read private emails without a warrant from a judge. And the national debt was only $5 trillion - compared with over $28 trillion today.
By CODEPINK4 years ago in The Swamp
The Great Equalizer Politicians Don’t Understand
How often I sit and watch a news clip and get mental images of vomit and garbage being spewed from a politician's mouth. I am not sure if anyone else has the same experience?
By Dean Gee4 years ago in The Swamp
The Delicate Balance Between Power and Responsibility
What is responsibility? To ‘have responsibility’ is defined as “to be in a position of authority over someone and to have a duty to make certain that particular things are done”
By Dean Gee4 years ago in The Swamp