The attempt to prosecute Julian Assange for doing journalism is a travesty. If the US is successful in its efforts, then no journalist is safe. All investigative journalist use sources who they are bound to protect. Sometimes those sources have indeed broken the laws of their own country in order to provide the materials they offer to journalists for publication. The case of Daniel Ellsberg is instructive. He, like Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, had legitimate…
"Defend Julian Assange"
I took a friend and went to downtown Oakland on Friday thinking I could pick up my glasses. Oops. Everything was battened down, looked clean but every single store and building window was covered with plywood on Broadway between 8th and 11th St and more… Whatever had happened the night before, by Friday afternoon the streets were clean, calm and mostly empty. But every single piece of plywood had art on it, up and down…
"Say Their Names" Those of us on the left are often told we should vote for this, that or the other person because… she’s a woman! he’s gay! she’s a woman of color! he’s a black man! The Democratic Party shamelessly exploits the matter of identity, using it to mask issues like inequality, or the need to make systemic changes to our politics and our economic system. The strategy has been hugely successful for the past 30 years,…
"Identity Politics" “The past is singular, while the future is myriad.” When we look at the past, it seems self evident that it is fixed, over and done with: it went the way it went, the end. “The moving hand, having writ, moves on” and all that. On the other hand, when we look at the future, it seems there are myriad possibilities. We never know for sure what will happen tomorrow. “The best laid plans of…
"Musings on Past, Present and Future" Democratic establishment politicians (i.e., neoliberals) like to pretend that progressive principles amount to “purity tests”.
"On “Purity Tests”"