Torture: Effectiveness vs. Morality
In my post following the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture, I raised some doubts about the committee’s finding that torture had never been effective since 9/11. I suggested that the majority Democrats on the committee may have overstated their ...
Read MoreThe Right on Obama and the Terrorists
President Obama has come under fire from the right lately for his failure to use phrases like “Islamic radicalism” in characterizing the terrorist threats facing the West. Obama knows what he’s doing. To characterize the threats as “Islamic” would play ...
Read MoreBittman’s Wisdom
I’ve never paid any attention to Mark Bittman–not out of hostility, just that I don’t normally read about food. But I couldn’t help noticing his op-ed in today’s NY Times, and I was impressed. I especially want to point to ...
Read MoreThe Statesman, the Senator and the Agitators
Last week Henry Kissinger was expatiating before a Senate committee when he was rudely interrupted. A bunch of females suddenly swarmed around the elder statesman, dangling handcuffs around his head and proclaiming him a war criminal. They were quickly whisked ...
Read MoreMoulitsas on Obama
I always enjoy reading stuff by well-known commentators that more or less repeats stuff that I’ve been saying for years. So, I was happy to see Marcos Moulitsas, the founder of the popular Daily Kos website, reflecting on the uncharacteristic ...
Read MoreThe Greeks Say “Enough”
You don’t often find Paul Krugman and the Wall Street Journal editorial page in agreement, but this morning they did agree on one thing: the austerity that has been inflicted on Greece has been short-sighted and destructive, and the smashing ...
Read MoreIt’s Official: Republican Senators Deny Science, 49-5
In a series of resolutions introduced in the Senate, Democrats have used the debate over the Keystone pipeline to get Republicans to go on record on their views on climate change. Remarkably, practically all Senate Republicans are willing to acknowledge ...
Read MorePresident Obama on the State of the Union
President Obama in his SOTU address has proposed a number of worthwhile initiatives that he knows have no chance of passage. Many Republicans were outraged. Doesn’t he know that he lost the last (midterm) elections? How dare he propose ...
Read MoreThe Problem of Police Racism
In my last post I noted without elaboration that the problem of police racism is neither simple nor straightforward. Now I’ll try to explain. First, we need to consider the nature of contemporary racism in the United States. For centuries, ...
Read MoreDe Blasio and the Police (III)
An op-ed in today’s New York Times, “Why we’re so Mad at de Blasio,” provides a good, reasonable statement of the NY police case against the mayor. But it’s not good enough. The author is Steve Osborne, a retired NY ...
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