Category Archives: Fascism

Mosses from The Old Manse

While Montaigne initiated the literary form of the personal essay, and did it so well that millions of writers since then have followed his lead, I confess that I’m no Montaigne. I find inspiration for setting out my ideas, half-finished … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Empire, Fascism, Global, Police | Leave a comment

We Can Try Our Best and Still Fail

If we take the idea seriously, that the United States has not become an empire, but always, since its founding, has been an empire, we could be situated, I believe, better to evaluate its present position. If ever there is … Continue reading

Posted in Brian Willson, Dan Handelman, Don Gavitte, Economics, Education, Empire, Fascism, Global, Inequality, Permaculture, Ronald Reagan, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, War | Leave a comment

The Fine Line between Prediction and Paranoia

  James Petras is a commenter with whom I find myself frequently agreeing.  In a good way, it’s something akin to how I feel about Paul Krugman (with whom I have plenty of disagreements, of course; but I’m generally on … Continue reading

Posted in Afghanistan, Bradley Manning, Brian Willson, Dan Handelman, Empire, Fascism, Global, Inequality, John Schweibert, Pacific Green Party, Ronald Reagan, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, US Senate, War | Leave a comment

Lessons from Colonialism

While my two teenaged sons, Michael Kepler and John Dominic, were attending the much-anticipated Free Speech pro-Trump rally in front of City Hall this last weekend, getting onto the front page of the British newspaper the Guardian, I went to … Continue reading

Posted in Bradley Manning, Brian Willson, Dan Handelman, Economics, Education, Elections, Empire, Fascism, Free Speech, Inequality, John Schweibert, Lloyd Marbet, Police, Ronald Reagan, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Yet Another Unnecessary Death

So far we have only the police story, which goes as follows. May 10, 2017 23:10 The Portland Police Bureau and East County Major Crimes Team are in the early stages of an officer-involved shooting investigation that occurred early Wednesday … Continue reading

Posted in Dan Handelman, Fascism, Inequality, John Schweibert, Local government, Police, U.S. Constitution | Leave a comment

The Bombing of Syria, on general principles

I don’t have a lot to say about the most recent American war crime. It does go to show, however, how little it mattered in the 2016 election (you recall, I hope, how in that election, as in every single … Continue reading

Posted in Afghanistan, Bradley Manning, Brian Willson, Dan Handelman, Elections, Empire, Fascism, Iran, Israel, John Schweibert, Ronald Reagan, Saudi Arabia, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, Vali Balint, War | Leave a comment

Deaths from Despair

Frequently in this space, a graph is more eloquent than anything I might have to say. Here is the graph from the most recent Deaton-Case study on the death rates, by age cohort, of white with only a high-school education … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Education, Elections, Empire, Fascism, Healthcare, Inequality, Permaculture, Spiritual life | Leave a comment

Same Old, Same Old

Green Party activists, especially those motivated by anti-war sentiment, have no difficulty demonstrating the alignment between the Republican and Democratic parties, upholders both of the American Empire, through brutal military means. David Swanson imagines Trump’s budget originating in the thought, … Continue reading

Posted in Afghanistan, Bradley Manning, Brian Willson, Dan Handelman, Economics, Elections, Empire, Fascism, Gar Alperovitz, Global, Inequality, Iran, Israel, John Schweibert, Marxism, Pacific Green Party, Permaculture, Police, Ronald Reagan, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, US Senate, War | Leave a comment

Mass Incarceration Here and Now

  My friend Shane Greene, whom I’ve known since we were locked up in Multnomah County Jail last year for months together, came to visit me the other day; he’s been out of state prison for three months now, and … Continue reading

Posted in Bradley Manning, Cameron Whitten, Dan Handelman, Elections, Fascism, Free Speech, Friendship, Inequality, John Schweibert, Local government, Oakland, Police, Ronald Reagan, Spiritual life, U.S. Constitution, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Why We Were Attacked

  Despite Donald Trump’s questioning of our condition of endless, eternal warfare during the course of the recent campaign season, we are still fighting a worldwide (the word used to be “global”) War on Terror.  Our plans to co-operate with the … Continue reading

Posted in Afghanistan, Bradley Manning, Brian Willson, Elections, Empire, Fascism, Global, Inequality, Ronald Reagan, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Constitution, War | Leave a comment