‘National & World News’ Archives
The Banning of Books
By Michael Cavna Art Spiegelman sees the new ban of his book ‘Maus’ as a ‘red alert’ Click on image for Wikipedia article on this book Art Spiegelman didn’t set out to write an educational aid for young-adult readers. A half-century ago, he simply wanted to better know his own origin story, discover more about his parents’ histories — and hear from his father, a Polish Jew and a survivor, how some of their relatives were killed in the ... Full Story
Trump Election Probe Advances
By Janell Ross Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Ga., began investigating the possibility of criminal interference in Georgia’s November 2020 election in early February last year, several weeks after a recorded phone call during which former President Trump asked Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” over 11,000 votes. (Repeated tallies, recounts and audits have shown that now President Joe Biden beat Trump by about 12,000 votes in ... Full Story
Waiting For Hitler
By Mel Gurtov If there is one thing I have learned as a political analyst, it is that there is no such thing as "never again." Use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians as well as soldiers? Widespread hostility toward immigrants? Ethnic cleansing and genocide? Putting autocrats in power by popular vote? A US president who is antidemocratic, criminal, and uncaring about human rights? And now, how about a new Hitler in the heart of Europe? Seems inconceivable, but a ... Full Story
If John Bolton Is Right, Pearl Harbor Was Perfectly
John Bolton, President Trump's new (and improved) National Security Advisor argues a nuclear first strike against N. Korea is "legal." I am just a country lawyer, but I read the Nuremberg Judgments to condemn aggressive war. Hitler was allegedly guilty of aggressive war when he launched first strikes against other countries. The USA hanged some of his followers for following Hitler's orders to do so. In fact, the USA hanged some of his followers for planning and ... Full Story
Cancer with political clout
By Robert C. Koehler A suicide bomber inflicts hell at a concert hall in Manchester, England that’s full of children, as though that was the point — to murder children. The horror of war . . . well, terrorism . . . doesn’t get any worse. And the media, as they focus on the spectacle of what happened, as they cover the particulars of the tragedy — the suspect’s name and ethnicity and apparent grievances, the anguish of the survivors, the names and ages of the victims — ... Full Story
No Exit? The NY Times and North Korea
by Mel Gurtov Three opinion pieces on US policy toward North Korea have appeared in the New York Times in the past week. They deserve critical comment. The writers are all very capable people who share a deep concern about Korea’s security and the possibility of a major blowup that would cause enormous human and material losses throughout the Asia Pacific. As a longtime student of Korean affairs, however, I find that these commentaries—which reflect ... Full Story
Mad About THAAD: An Untimely Decision
by Mel Gurtov The US decision, supported by the South Korean government, to deploy an antimissile system known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) may be one of the most thoughtless strategic moves in a generation. The official US argument is that close-in defense against North Korean missiles is necessary. But the deployment has resulted in the following: an argument in China for increasing its nuclear weapons stockpile; an incentive in North Korea for moving ... Full Story
Ethics: Trump already sees himself above law
by Lawrence M. Hinman Ethics is about flourishing, about developing both the personal characteristics and the social conditions that allow individuals to live full, satisfying lives together. When it functions at its best, ethics is largely invisible: individuals live good lives together, trusting one another and cooperating in ways that would be impossible without such internalized social norms. Ideally, individuals impose ethical restraints on themselves first and foremost, and only in ... Full Story
Trump does Wall Street’s bidding
betraying campaign promises By Steve Benen More so than any modern Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump positioned himself as an opponent of Wall Street. In fact, as regular readers know, the GOP candidate spent months insisting that it was Hillary Clinton, not himself, who’d do the financial industry’s bidding. Clinton, Trump said, is “nothing more than a Wall Street puppet.” Her campaign is “paid for by her bosses on Wall Street,” he added. The public ... Full Story
5 Big Trump Lies
5 Things Donald Trump Attacked Hillary Clinton Over—But Is Currently Doing Himself By Michelle Ruiz The Trump presidency thus far has been a bona fide progressive nightmare, but at the very least, the new commander in chief has been widely credited with delivering on his campaign promises—seemingly, all of his campaign promises. Among them: ordering the much-hyped wall on the Mexican border (thus alienating a longstanding U.S. ally), enacting a sweeping travel ban on Muslim-majority ... Full Story