By Aviva Chomsky | – Three years after the end of World War II, diplomat George Kennan outlined the challenges the country faced this way: “We have about 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real […]
Washington Should Think Twice Before Launching a New Cold War: A History Lesson for Our Desperate Moment
By >William D. Hartung, Nick Cleveland-Stout, and Taylor Giorno | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – A growing chorus of pundits and policymakers has suggested that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks the beginning of a new Cold War. If so, that means trillions of additional dollars for the Pentagon in the years to come coupled with a […]
From Drought to Deluge: Those Who Contribute the Least to the Climate Crisis Suffer the Most
By Jane Braxton Little | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Greenville, CA — Snow began falling on December 24th, big fluffy flakes that made lace on mittens before melting. Within hours it had coated the ashes, the brick chimneys that the flames had left behind, and the jagged remains of roofs strewn across my burned-out […]
Holy War, American-Style: Reaping What We Sow
By Kelly Denton-Borhaug | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Lately, random verses from the Bible have been popping into my mind unbidden, like St. Paul’s famous line from Galatians, “A person reaps what they sow.” The words sprang into my consciousness when I learned of the death of the 95-year-old Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace […]
The Antiwar Movement That Wasn’t Enough: The Wars We Couldn’t End
By Nan Levinson | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – When I urge my writing students to juice up their stories, I tell them about “disruptive technologies,” inventions and concepts that end up irrevocably changing industries. Think: iPhones, personal computers, or to reach deep into history, steamships. It’s the tech version of what we used to […]
Why Is Ali the Last American Hero? Who Else Is There?
By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – At least once a week, a stranger writing a book, magazine article, newspaper feature, or blog; representing a documentary film, radio serial, or podcast; researching a paper for middle school, high school, or college asks me for an interview about Muhammad Ali. I’m on the short […]
The Pentagon We Don’t Think About: A New Perspective on the Department of Homeland Security
By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – A relative of mine, who works for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) compiling data on foreigners entering the United States, recently posted a curious logo on his Facebook profile: a white Roman numeral three on a black background surrounded by 13 white stars. For those […]
A Tour Guide to Hell on Earth, Small Town-Style: Climate Change, Up Close and Personal
By Jane Braxton Little | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Half a mile south of what’s left of the old Gold Rush-era town of Greenville, California, Highway 89 climbs steeply in a series of S-turns as familiar to me as my own backyard. From the top of that grade, I’ve sometimes seen bald eagles soaring […]
The Costs of War (to You): Where So Much of Our Money Really Went
By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – As a Navy spouse of 10 years and counting, my life offers an up-close view of our country’s priorities when it comes to infrastructure and government spending. Recently, my husband, a naval officer currently serving with the Department of Energy, spent a week with colleagues touring a […]