politics, history, force
The Republican Party of Wisconsin, a private organization, is conducting a daring attack* on behalf of its benefactors and co-conspirators. Their target is not a budget line item or an unfunded mandate but the legitimacy of public resources. Theirs is but the most recent campaign in an ongoing effort to undermine the ideology at the [...]
I remember exactly where I was when I read the obituary for the music industry on the front page of the Wall Street Journal: it was a gray and cold morning in March of 2002 and I was standing in line to get a coffee at the Atlas Cafe in San Francisco. While the report [...]
The movie series Carlos is a must-see thriller for anyone born in the last half-century. It fits neatly alongside other chronicles of political terror like Munich and The Baader Meinhof Complex – or, obliquely, The Falcon and the Snowman. As only a movie can, Carlos transports the viewer into the foreign world of the recent past. [...]
Matt Taibbi: Yet the case still somehow ended in acquittal — and the Justice Department hasn’t taken any of the big banks to court since. All of which raises an obvious question: Why the hell not? …Criminal justice, as it pertains to the Goldmans and Morgan Stanleys of the world, is not adversarial combat, with [...]
A few minutes ago, I was sitting near two men in their 50s at an airport in Chicago. They were talking current events, headlines. The economy, the dollar. One was wearing a Cleveland Indians jersey. The other denim shorts. Their light banter, over light beers, drifted to immigrants. There was no vitriol, just frustration. Can’t [...]
I began this current journal, XSML, with the intent of reducing my own notes to extra small, XML-friendly updates. Increasingly, I have been drawn by the allure of the 140 character limit of Twitter. I may get a round Tuit and synchronize my use of Twitter with this blog. For now, here’s a dump of [...]
Here’s a headline you don’t want to miss, from January 18, 2007: MIDDLE EAST: Population growth poses huge challenge for Middle East and North Africa – – International Herald Tribune. More from the Arab Planning Institute: Currently, an estimated 2 million Egyptians are out of work. The overall unemployment measures, high as they are, do [...]
I wrote the following last Saturday, with the state of Arizona on my mind, in a fit of anger. Soon after, I decided against posting it. I am doing so now that the far more thoughtful Jill Lapore has expanded on my closing gripe. Like the Irish, Scottish, German and English indentured servants as well [...]
From Matt Taibbi’s tour de force portrait of John Boehner as a shill for highest bidder: “He cries sometimes when we’re having a debate on bills,” grumbled Nancy Pelosi. “If I cry, it’s about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics — no, I don’t cry.” [...]