Yesterday, Bernie Sanders gave his speech on what he means by calling himself as a Democratic socialist. He identified it squarely with the polices advocated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt following the Great Depression, by Lyndon Johnson as part of his Great Society initiative, and incorporating the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., thus highlighting that his vision of socialism lies well within the mainstream of American politics.
[Read more…]

Is there something in the water in the US that makes it necessary for people to be in a state of perpetual hysterical fear?

There is something truly ugly about the latest manifestation, the anti-refugee hysteria in the US following the ISIS attacks in Paris and Beirut. (Incidentally, why is the media focusing almost entirely on Paris? Or is the answer too obvious to even bother to mention?) Politicians in various states are falling over themselves to grandstand on this issue, stating that they will not accept refugees because they need to keep their residents safe even though they lack the power to stop migration into the country and the movement of anyone across state borders once they are in.
[Read more…]

In a speech at Georgetown University later today, Bernie Sanders will explain what he means by the term ‘democratic socialist’, the label that he chooses to apply to himself.
[Read more…]

So Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal becomes the third Republican candidate to formally drop out of the race for the Republican nomination, joining fellow governors Scott Walker and Rick Perry.
[Read more…]

People may recall the famous interview that Katie Couric had with Sarah Palin when the latter had just burst on the national stage as John McCain’s pick as his running mate in 2008, a choice that will doom him forever as one of the worst judges of running mates in modern politics. In response to an innocuous question as to what seemed like a softball question about what publications she reads to keep up with world affairs, Palin flailed around defensively. But when pressed for specific newspapers, she memorably said “All of them”. That answer sealed the impression that she just does not read much at all.
[Read more…]

Bernie Sanders had a huge rally in Cleveland that attracted tens of thousand of enthusiastic supporters which I unfortunately could not attend and he again hit out at the Bush-Cheney regime for their appalling decision to invade Iraq that is the cause for the present instability and chaos in the region. Watch a short bit of his speech where he dealt with the attacks.
[Read more…]

Now that the immediate shock of the massacres by ISIS in Paris and Beirut, plus the bringing down of the Russian airliner, is easing somewhat, it may be possible to step back and ask oneself: Why now? Why were these horrific attacks unleashed at this point in time?
[Read more…]