Donald Trump for president! Yes, Trump is a blowhard, but he is not blowing smoke about taxes in his 2016 campaign for the presidency. Violating Republican orthodoxy, Trump would raise taxes on billionaires like himself. He also told Alan Rappeport, reporter for the New York Times, he would lift taxes by such a hefty margin that his populist tone has alarmed the GOP. But … [Read more...]
Whistleblowers absurdly called threat to national security
Now we have President Obama warring on whistleblowers, bringing ridiculous charges in nine cases involving alleged misuse of classified information. John Hanrahan, in an analytical article for Truthout, declares that both parties “have either kept silent or cheered on the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. On the question of keeping Americans … [Read more...]
Obama wages war in Middle East for show
President Obama continues to follow the pattern of his presidency: propose or do one good idea and push two bad ones. He introduces a rule making millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay to fight the dastardly employer trick of misclassifying workers as contractors. His National Labor Relations Board recently allowed minimum-wage workers to organize a union in the … [Read more...]
Injustice Department: Obama all show and no go
Criminal justice is not to be had under President Obama. As usual he talks big but acts small. He recently visited El Reno, a medium security prison in Oklahoma, speaking passionately about the failings of a criminal justice system that has damaged a generation of Americans with far longer sentences than necessary. So our noble president commuted the sentences of 46 … [Read more...]
‘Exceptional’ America lacking global essentials
The typical vision of America as a great country is blurred. Take Obamacare. Better than nothing. However, the president’s so-called affordable care doesn’t match the developed world’s single-payer health coverage. Universal health costs less and provides better care. Another problem that Larry Schwartz points out in an AlterNet op-ed: the miserable maternity leave policy … [Read more...]
Weekly outrage, cheers for Sanders and fraudulent voter ID
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch rightly detests cellphones and cameras being punched and flashed while he is acting. The Digital Age has long since become the Insensitive and Discourteous Age. During his recent performance of “Hamlet” at the Barbican in London, Cumberbatch was about to deliver the “To be or not to be” soliloquy when a red light flashed from the third … [Read more...]
Ban trophy hunting worldwide as gross inhumanity
Trophy hunting is dreadful whether it occurs in the United States or the rest of the world. It should be banned everywhere. The worldwide outrage over the killing of Cecil, beloved lion of Zimbabwe citizens, was justified. Trophy hunting is inhumane. It is unsportsmanlike. The case of Cecil is particularly abhorrent. An American trophy hunter lured him to his death from … [Read more...]
Puerto Rico strangled and subjugated by U.S.
Puerto Rico is a small Caribbean territory of the United States forsaken by presidents and Congress. “Although Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1919, America continues to exploit, oppress and war on its people,” Mark Karlin of Truthout writes. “It was liberated by Spain only to be subjugated by America.” Nelson Denis, author of “War Against All Puerto … [Read more...]