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More than two millennium ago, back when The Roman Empire ruled a hefty portion of the world, one of its citizen poets coined the phrase “panem et circenses”, or “bread and circuses”.  What Juvenal was referring to was the manner in which the local yokels were distracted and controlled by those in power.  It was simple.  Just make sure the poor bastards had three square meals daily, coupled with a dazzling array of entertainment.  By that point in history, it had already been proven time and again that the average human cares about nothing more than having a full tummy, a few thrills, and an occasional good laugh.  Feed ’em, entertain ’em, …

If you don’t already know what’s going on in Arizona, and in Maricopa County in particular, you’re bound to hear more about the voter suppression that took place last week, on March 22, during the state’s presidential primaries. The local papers promptly reported that the county provided just one polling place per every 21,000 voters. Indeed, we suffered greatly in Maricopa due to the decrease in polling sites—down from 200 in 2012, to only 60 sites last week. Passing a downtown polling place, I spotted a line that seemed at least 100 people long. They wrapped the corner well after …

Since terrorism’s tragedy is again in the news, it is timely to revisit perhaps one of the biggest acts of terrorism in modern history — the illegal invasion and destruction, ongoing, of Iraq.

March 20th marked the thirteenth anniversary of an action resulting in the equivalent of a Paris, Brussels, London July 7th, 2005, often multiple times daily in Iraq ever since. As for  September 11th, 2001, there has frequently been that death toll and heartbreak every several weeks, also ongoing.

America and Britain have arguably engaged in and generated the legacy of one of the longest recorded attacks of terrorism since …

What is Capitalism? The dictionary defines it as “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” While accurate enough, this definition fails to capture the essential characteristic which distinguishes capitalism from other economic systems, past and present. For one thing, even in the quintessential capitalist economy – our own – the state intervenes significantly in trade and industry; for another, there have been non-capitalistic economic systems in which trade and industry (or more precisely, craftsmanship) were in private hands, be they those of yeomen, …

For decades, American and Saudi officials have been calling each other allies. In countless occasions, though, Saudi officials shun the term “ally” and opt for “partner”. Why partner, not ally?  But the hyper-imperialist superpower has also been conferring the grand tile of ally to Israel, Japan, Persian Gulf sheikdoms, Egypt, Jordan, and, of course, to all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Do these members see NATO as a defensive alliance, offensive organization, or partnership for peace? Does their view of NATO coincide with that of the United States? Does Saudi Arabia fit in an alliance or partnership …

Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court marks a continuation and deepening of the lopsided ethno-religious representation in the US judicial system. If Garland is appointed, Jewish justices will comprise 45% of the Court, even though they represent less than 2% of the overall population. Roman Catholics comprise the other 55% of the Court – even though they represent approximately 30% of the population. Protestants (historically the authors and signers of the country’s foundational documents, and the major confessional group) are totally absent from this august body of jurists.

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Mistreatment often—usually?—has consequences, and of a negative nature.  Let me limit myself here to just two examples.

First, humans have—especially since the Agricultural Revolution of millennia ago, and more particularly since the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century—been perceiving themselves as apart from, rather than a part of, Earth System.  They have, for example, perceived Earth as a mere resource to be exploited rather than as their home—a place, therefore, to respect, and treat with care.

This attitude toward Earth System has led them to engage in activities that have impacted Earth System negatively; and as their activities have increasingly had the …

Is there political life outside of electoral politics?

Is it possible to be “political” in the United States and not get involved in electoral politics? For most of human history there have been “high politics” of kings and aristocrats and “low politics” of peasants, artisans and proletarians. Yet before roughly the 20th century, staging elections was not part of the political process. The root meaning of politics is “policy” which means setting a course or direction. A deeper meaning of politics is to “steer” the way a ship is navigated through dangerous currents and weather conditions. With this in mind I …

In her oily, cringe-inducing and totally predictable speech to AIPAC on March 21, Hillary Clinton argued that, since (according to her) “anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world… we must repudiate all efforts to malign, isolate and undermine Israel and the Jewish people.” In other words, we must do what we can to shut down any legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. A reliable means of doing so is to conflate said criticism with anti-Semitism and thus vilify the critic in question. This particular strategy has been perfected and institutionalized for decades, and was perhaps best deconstructed by Norman Finkelstein …

If some intelligent extraterrestrial beings were circling over our planet in their spaceship, monitoring for decades and centuries all that has been and is taking place on its surface, they would, most likely, be horrified by our brutality, and shocked by the countless contradictions, double standards and inconsistencies.

For instance, after registering the recent loss of lives in Brussels, visitors from outer space would immediately detect the enormous amount of activity all over the Belgian metropolis: police cars, the military, ambulances, and media vans. More than 30 people were killed at the airport and at the metro station, while over 200 …

There are among us today, as there always have been, those who act against the scheme of things that degrades them, and in the process of action everything we have accepted out of fear or insensitivity or ignorance is shaken before us and examined… More important, from this total questioning of what has previously been unquestioned, we learn. And such a process is not beyond the common man.

— Arthur Miller, “Tragedy and the Common Man”, 1949

Mass media would like to print neat-and-tidy articles about Donald Trump’s ascendancy, tracing the roots of his meteoric popularity to former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. …

Recently the New York Times produced another propaganda gem. This article, entitled “A New Libya, With Very Little Time Left,” led with the “grisly” description of the death of “dictator” Muammar Gaddafi. Interesting that there was no condemnation of the grisly anal rape and gangland execution of the former president. I suppose this is the vaunted objectivity of the Times rearing its own “pock-marked head.” The article also noted Hillary Clinton’s vulgar moment of levity after receiving word of Gaddafi’s death on her mobile (“We came, we saw, he died.”) But in the spirit of journalistic impartiality the paper of record declined to record …

I have been filming in the Marshall Islands, which lie north of Australia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Whenever I tell people where I have been, they ask, “Where is that?” If I offer a clue by referring to “Bikini”, they say, “You mean the swimsuit.”

Few seem aware that the bikini swimsuit was named to celebrate the nuclear explosions that destroyed Bikini island. Sixty-six nuclear devices were exploded by the United States in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958 — the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for twelve years.

Bikini is silent today, mutated and contaminated. …

One might expect that only historians would care to revisit the 1948 war that created Israel. And yet the debate about what constitutes truth and myth from that period still provokes raw emotions.

Much rests on how those events are reconstructed, not least because the shock waves have yet to subside. Israelis fear, and Palestinians crave, a clearer picture of the past because it would powerfully illuminate the present. It might also influence the international community’s proposed solutions for the conflict.

That is why the unearthing of an Israeli soldier’s letter from 1948 detailing what was probably the war’s worst massacre – …

In the past year, some progressives have explained why they are not supporting Bernie Sanders.  Last summer, Bruce Dixon from Black Agenda Report presented a “sheepdog” theory suggesting that people who join the Bernie campaign will eventually be herded into supporting Hillary.  More recently, Chris Hedges wrote “We must focus exclusively on revolt” and break with the establishment parties. Steven Salaita criticized Sanders’ lack of a radically different foreign policy, especially regarding Israel and Palestine. While there is some truth in all these criticisms, I think it’s important to support Bernie Sanders. Here is why.

Sanders is not …