Most of mainstream American media echo the official U.S. position that Russia is the only aggressor in Ukraine. Here is a collection of articles and quotations from senior U.S. diplomats, academics, military personnel, think tanks, and journalists that explain U.S. responsibility for provoking the crisis. I hope the collection is useful as a resource for […]
Politics
Unscientific ad served by facebook
FB served me this rather silly ad, which questions the science of evolution and which appears to make the case for intelligent design. I’m sharing it here so we can chortle at it. FB serves me all sorts of right wing ads; I will follow up this article with one listing some of those ads. […]
Psst! Wanna buy a bridge?
For documentation of the claims see Playing Russian Roulette in Ukraine With Rep. Adam Smith, or the detailed How the U.S. provoked Russia in Ukraine: A Compendium. When I share content that exposes U.S. culpability in the crisis in Ukraine, some people attack me, saying that I am parroting Putin’s propaganda, etc. It’s going to […]
Republican states have higher rates of teen births, gun deaths, suicides, poverty, crime, and divorce; and they die younger and are less educated
Using data from reliable public sources listed below, I plotted charts showing the relation between the percent of voters that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 in each state and various per capita rates: gun deaths, poverty, teen births, suicide, crime, divorce, several sexually transmitted diseases, longevity, and education. The results show that states that […]
Something liberals and conservatives can agree on
Liberals tend to dislike suburban sprawl and over-dependence on cars. Conservatives tend to dislike regulations and lack of freedom. Here’s a policy change that should satisfy both liberals’ desire for more walkable, self-sufficient neighborhoods and conservatives’ desire for more freedom. The proposal is to loosen zoning regulations so as to allow homeowners to open small […]
Stopping crime by helping SADs
You are already paying for the drug habits of people with substance abuse disorder. Why not treat addiction in a more humane way that reduces crime, defunds drug gangs, better helps the addicted people, and saves society money? Lots of people complain about crime, especially property crime. People complain especially on websites such as nextdoor. […]
Blowback: Ten ways America’s aggressive foreign policy causes blowback and political instability
U.S. sanctions on oil-producing countries Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Russia raise energy prices worldwide. U.S.-sponsored coups and proxy wars in Latin America overthrew democratically elected governments and provoked refugees to flee poverty and oppression. Likewise, U.S. wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in Asia and Africa since 9/11 have caused at least […]
Blowback: Eight ways America’s aggressive foreign policy causes inflation and political instability
U.S. sanctions on oil-producing countries Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Russia raise energy prices worldwide. U.S.-sponsored coups and proxy wars in Latin America overthrew democratically elected governments and provoked refugees to flee poverty and oppression. Likewise, U.S. wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in Asia and Africa since 9/11 have caused at least 38 […]
Why James Kirchick is wrong about the war in Ukraine
James Kirchick’s essay How the Anti-war Camp Went Intellectually Bankrupt in The Atlantic is a defense of U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. The essay consists mostly of name-calling and of ridicule of cherry-picked arguments made by antiwar commentators from the left (e.g., Noam Chomsky), from the right (e.g., Ron Paul), and from what […]
Guilt by Association: How the Peace Movement is hindered by antiwar MAGA Republicans like Joe Kent
Tonight I went to a fundraiser for Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who is running for Congress in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Perez’s opponent is Joe “America First” Kent, a far right MAGA Republican endorsed by Donald Trump. Kent appears frequently with Steve Bannon and with Tucker Carlson. He supports crazy conspiracy theories. He has called the […]