From The Suffocation of Democracy – Christopher R. Browning If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in … [Read more…]
Washington Post Obituary for Jalal Mansur Nuriddin
A post in the New York Review of Books by James Kirchick sums up Trump’s penchant for the weird (conspiracy theories) and his far-right beliefs. We can read it here.
In the NY Times, a review of a study from by Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama, found that the enormous number of guns owned by Americans was the major correlation in mass killings. In rankings, Yemen is second to the US in both mass killings and gun ownership. Why are we … [Read more…]
Daily Alta California > 3 December 1857 — Information was given at the Police office yesterday, that a negro had been robbed by a hackman whose name we did not learn, but who is known by the name of “Sinbad,” an appropriate name, if the account given of him is correct. It appears that the … [Read more…]
Sonoma Democrat, 17 December 1857 We take the following account of the execution of three murderers at Sonora, Dec. 12th, from the Sonora Correspondent of the Morning Call: “The all-absorbing topic of conversation at this time is the hanging of Lyons, Poer and McAuley, for the murders perpetrated by them some time back. At ten … [Read more…]
An interview by Mark Karlin, Truthout magazine, with writer Nancy MacLean, who’s book ‘Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America’ shines a light on the work of economist James McGill Buchanan who’s work inspired the Koch brothers, among others. If you have the nerve after 6+ months of … [Read more…]
Another piece from the NY Times today, July 18, 2017, this one by Fran Quigley (Health and Human Rights Clinic at Indiana University McKinney School of Law) and the full article can be read here. How’s this for a great deal? The United States government funded research and development of a new vaccine against Zika. … [Read more…]
Always good to read Chompsky’s views and, as usual, he clarifies the issues in today’s State of the Union. From the New York Times, July 5, 2017. On nuclear war, actions in Syria and at the Russian border raise very serious threats of confrontation that might trigger war, an unthinkable prospect. Furthermore, Trump’s pursuit of … [Read more…]
Sonoma Democrat, 10 December 1857 Indians.— On Tuesday last, some twenty of the native Indians passed through this place on their way to the Reservation. They had been living, as they informed us, near Bodega, and becoming satisfied that the lot of those living on the Reservation, was more desirable than their own, had concluded … [Read more…]