January 2017

The above video, courtesy of TED–Ed’s Noah Tavlin, provides an excellent primer on the difference between simply “authoritarian” and actually “Orwellian.” If we can apply this lesson to our present political situation (even in the current environment, which strongly discourages critical thinking and dissent), I would say that the last two presidents have been authoritarian, in practice. But the worst Orwellian… Read More »Are we still allowed to discuss what Orwell tried to teach us?

HERE, MY GOOD FRIENDS, IS HOW WE UNITE THE LEFT AND WEATHER THE TRUMP YEARS (which we can limit to four, if we’re smart): A. Put massive pressure on the Democratic establishment, now, to support the progressive policies backed by strong majorities of Americans, per poll after poll. Here’s how, practically speaking, we can apply that pressure: Change your voter… Read More »Still tilting at windmills, hoping to bring the left back to its senses…

If we don’t come at the Democratic establishment right now like a horde of rabid Tea Party piranhas, demanding an independent audit of the 2016 “Democratic” primary (performed 100% transparently by a blue-ribbon, internationally-composed panel — with proportionate representation determined by population, including all nations — overseen by Pope Francis, Bishop Tutu, Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Randall Robinson, Mahmood Mamdani,… Read More »Last call, friends…

The response to Trump’s election — with anti-inaugural gatherings of smug hypocrisy and angry denials of reality — is playing exactly into the oligarchs’ hands. The neo-fascist .1% want us unhinged, Divided and Conquered! And that’s where we’re being incomprehensibly stupid, giving them just what they want. We would be much better off touting our common ground with the anti-establishment,… Read More »CONSTRUCTIVE, INTELLIGENT MESSAGING may yet save the day, so protest wisely, my friends…

David Swanson is an outstanding anti-war progressive who I met in 2008 at the CODE PINK House in Washington, DC. He has been an essential voice of morality and clear-thinking in the post-9/11 era, and I highly recommend his blog: http://davidswanson.org/ This recent Facebook post of his simply took my breath away. It’s been nightmarishly sickening watching the left self-destruct in… Read More »David Swanson hits a grand slam home run, urging the left to remember our principles!

In 2005, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s close friend and fellow activist, Harry Belafonte, offered the following prescient words: “We must look through the ravages of the Democratic party to see if there is anything worth salvaging.” As 2017 dawns, it seems to me that Mr. Belafonte’s advice is more poignant and timely than ever. In the wake of the recent string of calamities befalling… Read More »Abandon ship? First, see if it can be saved! (But keep preparing the lifeboats, you fools!)