Politics Archives - Page 36 of 112

Politics

In America, Political Violence Is Normal. So Normal It’s Invisible.

The right to petition for redress for grievances enshrined in the First Amendment runs against the grain of the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment

November 29, 2021 • by John Stoehr

It should always be on people's minds. Political violence is on people’s minds now that Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted. According to USA Today, far-right groups celebrated last week’s unsurprising verdict. “Kyle Rittenhouse is the hero we’ve been waiting for” was posted on the Gab profile for VDare, a self-consciously fascist organization headquartered ...

In America, Political Violence Is Normal. So Normal It’s Invisible.

Politics

Belarus Needs Our Help

The United States must stand boldly against the Lukashenka regime and its abuse of human rights

November 29, 2021 • by Valleri Robinson

As the migration crisis provoked by the thuggish President of Belarus subsides on its border with Poland, pro-Democratic leaders in exile along with the underground artists of the Belarus Free Theatre are still working feverishly to draw international attention to the ongoing human rights abuses under Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime. The regime’s atrocities and valiant ...

Activism

White House Rally for Voting Rights

A photo essay

November 23, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

On November 17, roughly 200 people were arrested in front of the White House at a rally for Voting Rights. This was the fifth action in a series of DC protests by a coalition of groups that are pushing for the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill to become law. These groups ...

Activism

Statement about Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict

A letter from the president of The New School

November 22, 2021 • by Dwight A. McBride

Dear New School students and colleagues, I want to take a moment to respond to the verdict that was delivered last Friday afternoon in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, wherein Mr. Rittenhouse was found to be not guilty on all counts. I have heard from many individuals in The New School community ...

Statement about Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict

Politics

How the Right Profanes Valor

The problem of “fallen heroes.”

November 22, 2021 • by John Stoehr

As they say, nothing ever dies on the Internet. That’s how I came across an old clip recently of Ron Colburn on Fox. He’s the president of something called the Border Patrol Foundation. He was explaining why border agents terrorizing asylum seekers with pepper spray was appropriate. “The deterrent they used is OC pepper spray—it’s ...

Politics

The Politics of Infrastructure

How the Lebanese struggle for public infrastructure is a lesson for all

November 17, 2021 • by Joanne Randa Nucho

Last month, Lebanon’s national electricity grid went dark—and this tiny Mediterranean country, known for its elite educational institutions, tourism and banking, but struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and corruption, found itself in newspaper headlines around the world again. The state’s two power plants had run out of fuel. Having ...

Politics

What Kyle Rittenhouse Teaches Us

Whatever the Kenosha jury ultimately decides, the American right’s embrace of citizen violence, and the effects of their propaganda on boys, is far more troubling

November 16, 2021 • by Claire Potter

I watched Kyle Rittenhouse’s testimony last week, and as he crumpled up in tears, I thought: what a sad, stupid story. For anyone who has missed the background to the Rittenhouse trial: this is the guy who, at 17, decided to go to Kenosha, Wisconsin, from his home in Antioch, Illinois, ...

Politics

A CEO (Allegedly) Admitted to the Scam

Was Domo offered millions to stay in Utah—without ever planning to leave?

November 15, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

As readers here well know, a key fact about corporate tax subsidies is that they don’t actually influence corporate behavior: Research shows that nearly all of them simply pay corporate leaders to do what they would have done anyway for other reasons. The trouble is that CEOs and executives like to ...

The Media

Has the Press Corps Learned Nothing?

Journalism, when done right, should change a person

November 9, 2021 • by John Stoehr

Members of the Washington press corps like to tell a story about the heroes of the Washington press corps “holding power to account.” This seems noble, and it can be, but more often than not, it’s not noble. In practice, what “holding power to account” means is countering the dominance over ...

Politics

The Horrifying Right to One’s Own Context

Seven rules of culture warfare

November 8, 2021 • by Ondrej Slacalek

Anybody can become a cultural warrior, even unwillingly. With common grounds diminishing and liberals and conservatives dead-set against each other, is the Left doomed to fail? “Culture wars” has become a rather annoying expression, encompassing far too much while explaining far too little. At the same time, it seems to be ...

The Horrifying Right to One’s Own Context

Activism

Shout Out at the Supreme Court over Abortion

A photo essay

November 2, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Pro-choicers and pro-lifers conducted a non-violent shoving match in front of the Supreme Court, while inside the Court prepared to hear oral argument in the Texas abortion ban. For the most part, only words were used. As is common when there are opposing groups, the U.S. Capitol Police allowed separate ...

Shout Out at the Supreme Court over Abortion

Politics

The Power of Empty Terms

The increasingly militant culture wars divide the public into two irreconcilable camps

November 2, 2021 • by Zora Hesová

Unlike a historical dispute or ideological debate, the “politics of morality” is primarily about power, a concept with American origins, now playing out in Europe. But what lies even further behind central Europe’s growing disagreement over same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and immigration? The Czech Republic has recently caught up with the ...