A Reality-Show Coup with Real Fascists Inside

The MAGA insurrection will be a forever reality show for recruiting new right-wing activists

On January 6, Donald Trump’s spectacular MAGA insurrection radiated far beyond Capitol Hill. It was screened everywhere, over every known medium—broadcast, social, antisocial, what have you. The events and their meanings have been stockpiled in a cornucopian arsenal of propaganda, digital weaponry that is not done ravaging the world.  The videos ...
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A Reality-Show Coup with Real Fascists Inside

None Dare Call It Treason

Is calling for a military coup Michael Flynn’s payback for his pardon?

On the evening of December 2, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn-- whom Trump recently pardoned after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office-- retweeted a news release from ...
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None Dare Call It Treason

A Political Paradox

Power, fallibility, and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment was ratified on February 10, 1967, in the wake of the Kennedy assassination and a period of great anxiety about nuclear weapons. The first section deals with a vacancy in the presidency, the second section with a vacancy in the vice presidency. But it is Sections 3 ...
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A Political Paradox

When the Trump Circus Came to Town

The fallout from a 2019 visit to Greenville, North Carolina

Trump’s propaganda machine was running full tilt in the summer of 2019, in the weeks leading up to a rally Trump would hold in Greenville, North Carolina, the town where I live and work (teaching at Eastern Carolina University). The year before, the administration had abruptly implemented a brutal policy ...
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When the Trump Circus Came to Town

Sick From Work

COVID-19 and the crisis of occupational safety and health in meatpacking

“The guy at the plant said they had to work to feed America.” That’s what The New York Times reported Willie Martin said about his mother, Annie Grant. She had been one of the latest of a growing number of meatpacking workers to contract the coronavirus: in her case, it ...
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Sick From Work

Fighting for a Better World

The fight for abortion access is up to us

“Life is winning in America.” Mike Pence’s words echoed across the national mall, where thousands of anti-abortion activists (antis) gathered for their annual March for life in January 2017. Since those early days in office, the Trump administration has delivered on its campaign promises, such as allowing states to deny Title ...
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Fighting for a Better World

2017: A Year of Reaction and Resistance

What About 2018?

Last year, 2017, began with President Donald Trump lying about the size of his inauguration crowd and ended with his lying about the size of the benefits he’ll get from the new tax bill. The year began with the largest protest marches in American history -- the five million strong ...
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2017: A Year of Reaction and Resistance

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

How I Can’t Stop Worrying About the Bomb and the Threat to Democracy in America

So it’s Donald Trump’s birthday today. Too bad Marilyn Monroe isn’t around. Nothing less than her famous greeting to John F. Kennedy would satisfy his outsized ego. His needs are profoundly disturbing, as indicated by the spectacle of the first meeting of his full cabinet. I strongly recommend that you view this ...
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Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Pink Out the Capital

Roughly 500 women and a few men gathered on the east lawn of the US Capital building on March 29 to declare that "I Stand With Planned Parenthood."  The Senate was due to vote on a resolution to permit the states to deny federal family planning funds to health care ...
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Pink Out the Capital

Veeps, Beach-Going, and the Olympic Doping Scandal

Past Present Episode 45

On this week's episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the changing role of the vice presidency, the history of beach-going, and the Russian doping scandal overshadowing the Rio Olympics. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have picked Tim Kaine and Mike ...
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Veeps, Beach-Going, and the Olympic Doping Scandal