Economy

By Juan Cole Calling the bottom of a river a “bed” is a metaphor. Imagine the river restlessly sleeping on its muddy mattress. But when we’ve so internalized a metaphor that we forget it is a figure of speech, as with the phrase “river bed,” it is called a “dead metaphor.” Labor Day is, alas, […]

Mitch McConnell caught Promising Billionaires he’ll Enrich them at our Expense

By Nicole Girard via Liberals Unite Mitch McConnell really does not care about our problems. The way he talks about the needs of average Americans, you’d think we were his sworn, personal enemy. At a Koch Brothers Summit in Dana Point, California this summer, the conscience-less, corporate shill basically promised our country’s head on a […]

Apartheid

The Israeli assault has caused $150 million damage to Gaza food industry

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Israeli offensive on Gaza has caused “huge losses” for the already-struggling food industry in the coastal enclave, a national industry association said . . . [last week]. A delegation of the Palestinian Food Industries Union that visited factories that sustained damage in the month-long military assault estimated that around $150 […]

Product Placement takes over the Media & subverts the News (John Oliver)

By John Oliver “The line between editorial content and advertising in news media is blurrier and blurrier. That’s not bullshit. It’s repurposed bovine waste.” HBO: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Native Advertising

Proposition 1: How to Swindle the Middle Class

By Cathy Stripe Lester On August 5, Michigan taxpayers will be asked to vote on Proposition 1, which is being presented in commercials as a way to “help small businesses and create 15,000 new jobs … without raising taxes!” If that sounds like a conjuring trick, it is – smoke’n’mirrors, my friends. And if you […]

Apartheid

Gaza and Soweto

By Juan Cole On June 16, 1976, some 20,000 students rose up to protest in the slum of Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Here is a summary of the June 18 NYT article on the repression of the protests: “Rioting continues for 3d day in Soweto, black township outside Johannesburg, with rioters, mostly young, […]

Besieged and Blockaded: What Gaza is fighting Back Against

Ed. note: When war breaks out there is a tendency to focus on the nitty-gritty detail of tit for tat. But all wars have a back story. The inhumane and frankly creepy Israeli treatment of the Palestinians of Gaza is the back story for today’s conflict. AFSC explained the situation as it unfolded toward the […]

Wealth Gap Costing US in Growth (John Oliver)