Justice for sale—to the highest bidder
In 1986, California State Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird was voted out of her office after a vigorous campaign that, on the surface, was all about her refusal to support the California death...
View ArticleWhy aren't the Republicans serious about the presidential race?
Because they know that the real battle will be in the states. And the Republicans also know that they don’t need the White House.While the Democrats must win the presidency to act as a stop-gap against...
View ArticleA review of 'The ISIS Apocalypse' by William McCants
Okay, I confess that prior to the Paris attack, I had paid little attention to the terror gang known as ISIS. I was aware of the Syrian civil war, what our government was saying and doing, and what the...
View ArticleHillary Clinton is a Democrat.
Still on the fence, I am thrilled to have two such remarkable candidates leading the field in the Democratic Presidential primary race. They are both so good in very different ways, that I will almost...
View ArticleBooks! weatherdude's 'Extreme Weather Survival Manual'
A little over six years ago, Dennis Mersereau published his first diary here at Daily Kos under the user name of weatherdude. It took him a couple of months before his diary, You Know You’re Addicted...
View ArticleThe women of Daesh
Earlier this month, Kurdish forces retook the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from the Daesh fighters that had held the territory since 2014. They found two mass graves in and near the town that was once...
View ArticleTed Cruz, the perfect candidate for the coming Christian caliphate
Ted Cruz is so much more than a Tea Party Republican who believes that the best way to balance the budget is to get rid of the Departments of Energy, Commerce, Education, and Housing and Urban...
View ArticleConservative radio just loves to hate—and it's turning on the GOP
I don’t listen to much radio. There isn’t much radio to listen to where I Iive, and outside of a few shows like our own Kagro in the Morning, it seems that most talk radio is geared to a more...
View ArticleRepublican candidates, lost in 'The Wilderness'
The first political process book that I remember reading is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Making of the President 1960, by Theodore H. White. Before John F. Kennedy took office 55 years ago, he wrote this...
View ArticleTop 10 news stories that did not appear in 2015 (but I really wanted to read)
It is traditional at the end of the year to look back at the year’s events and rank them according to significance or popularity. In my youth, I used to enjoy the news reports that focused on the...
View ArticleIt sucks to be a woman in the United States
When the moderator proceeded with his questions even though Hillary Clinton was not back onstage at the last Democratic presidential debate, I thought, briefly, that he could have waited for her...
View ArticleRuth Bader Ginsburg: An icon for the millennial generation
I was probably 11 years old when I saw Inherit the Wind and realized that when I grew up I wanted to be Clarence Darrow as portrayed by Spencer Tracy. Reading Clarence Darrow for the Defense did little...
View ArticleIn celebration of Roe v. Wade, #ShoutYourAbortion
January 22 will mark the 43rd anniversary of what’s perhaps the single most important Supreme Court decision for women. For it was on January 22, 1973 that women were finally granted the right to...
View ArticleJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, long may she rule!
If you are looking for someone to suggest that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ought to step down from the United States Supreme Court so that a Democratic president can appoint her successor, you are...
View Article'What's Going On? 1969-74' by Ken Light
Do you remember the iconic photograph by Robert Cohen for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Edward Crawford wearing an American flag shirt as he tossed the tear gas canister back at Ferguson police while...
View ArticleEssential reading: Jane Mayer's 'Dark Money'
Indian Wells is a posh desert town in the Coachella Valley, neighbor to Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, and known as much for its tennis stadium and golf courses as for its multimillion dollar homes....
View ArticleU.S. military to assess and manage risks of climate change
Back in the early 80s there was a breeding colony of least terns, near the mouth of the Santa Margarita River, that occasionally hosted the endangered Western snowy plover. During the nesting season,...
View ArticleNo, Bernie Sanders is not a modern-day George McGovern
Thom Hartmann wrote that Bernie Sanders should not be compared to George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee who was buried by Nixon’s CREEP in a landslide. I happen to agree—and while...
View ArticleBooks! A mystery by a fellow Kossack—'Stilled Lives: The T-Town Murders'
Going through my diary drafts I stumbled upon a few incomplete and unpublished diaries, including this one about a mystery written by one of our very own community members. (I will allow her to...
View ArticleAbout that fresh fruit you love so much
On January 1, 1996, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, with the goal of eliminating barriers to trade and investment between the three signatories: Canada, Mexico and the...
View Article