International
Song of the Day 10/6: Lake Street Dive, “Making Do”
Don’t look now, but while we’re worried about COVID-19 and the future of democracy in the U.S., a more insidious threat to humanity just keeps rolling along. Climate change, the issue on which Republicans first took their science denial out for a spin, remains the greatest long-range problem our political culture refuses to deal with. […]
Song of the Day 9/25: Patti Smith, “People Have the Power”
I’m looking to dispel the air of doomed gloom that pervades progressive spaces these days, so here’s an anthem by Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith from her 1988 LP “Dream of Life.” The tune has special resonance today, because U2 covered it on their 2015-16 tour — and at their Paris concert, they invited […]
Song of the Day 9/18: Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
Let’s say you have two aging rock stars, one a legendary Irish R&B singer, the other a Long Island hair-metal has-been. If I told you one was a virulent anti-masker, which would you think was more likely to be the selfish asshole? If you picked Dee Snider of Twister Sister, sorry, we don’t even have […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020
It’s primary day. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to vote. If you don’t know your polling location, you can look it up here. A Trump-appointed federal judge has ruled that Pennsylvania’s shutdown of businesses and ban on large gatherings are unconstitutional. Gov. Tom Wolf plans to appeal. It’s clear Donald Trump got his notions […]
Song of the Day 5/1: Billy Bragg, “The Internationale”
May Day, though not celebrated in reactionary America, was declared International Workers’ Day in 1889 by the Second International organization of workers’ and socialist parties, which also adopted “The Internationale” as its official anthem. English songwriter and activist Billy Bragg has supported leftist causes since his early career, after being inspired by the Clash. “I […]
Ernest Hemingway on American Fascism
Because I took no books with me on what I thought would be a three-week trip to Paris and Barcelona, I’ve been passing the time by reading old books online. Over the past day I read Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” his novel set in the Spanish Civil War. His protagonist, Robert Jordan, […]
BREAKING: It’s Officially A Pandemic
The World Health Organization has officially designated the Coronavirus outbreak a world pandemic: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/11/coronavirus-live-updates/ The organization cites ‘alarming levels of spread and…alarming levels of inaction’. A congressional briefing on the government’s response is halted due to ‘an emergency meeting at the White House’. White House, of course, says that the meeting’s ‘routine’. Even though Anthony […]
This Is Why Republicans Can’t Turn on Trump
As I guessed more than two years ago, the explanation is a lot simpler than “they’re afraid of his base,” which is true but doesn’t explain why they won’t cut the Orange Albatross loose now that he’s hurting the entire party. The truth is that Russian money, much of it funneled through the NRA, didn’t […]
DL Open Thread 9/20
Iconic arms manufacturer Colt announced it will stop making military-style rifles for the civilian market, explaining that there already are enough of them to go around. That sound you hear is the blubbering of big, strong ammosexuals, and I still think 30-50 Feral Hogs is a good name for a band. Nancy LeTourneau at Washington […]
DL Open Thread 9/19
Why hasn’t the Deep State removed Trump from office? Because they’ve mostly been working around him instead of with him or against him. But apparently Trump promised somebody in his Dictator of the Month Club something so egregious that it prompted a whistleblower complaint, which Republicans are illegally covering up. Still think they aren’t a […]
DL Open Thread 9/18
Anyone who thinks Donald Trump is everything the quisling GOP wants in a president must reckon with the fact that he won’t go to war in the Middle East on the slightest provocation. Most of the GOP Senate is a bunch of bloodthirsty chicken hawks (a few even served), but even the pleading of presidential […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday 9/17
Think the Cold War ended? Think again. Russian codebreakers reportedly hacked into the FBI’s comm systems and interfered with the agency’s tracking ability. Nearly 50,000 General Motors workers are out on a strike that pundits say neither side can really afford, which probably means each side will wait endlessly for the other to cave. House […]
Man Who Stopped New Zealand Massacre Was Good Guy Without a Gun
The so-far unsung hero of the New Zealand massacre was not, per U.S. gun-sissy lore, a good guy with a gun. Abdul Aziz Wahabzadah, a refugee from Afghanistan, was with his four sons at the second mosque the gunman went to. He heard gunshots, looked out a window, and saw the killer, armed with an […]
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