This is where ‘patriots’ and others accuse me of hating the West and America. Good. Our inflated sense of being the ‘good guys’ and on the right side of history shields us from the monstrous atrocities that have been and are being committed in our name. The very truth
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Views from the Beltline: How Do You Wash Your Hands When There’s No Water?
Handwashing is a lifesaver. As we are being reminded constantly in these days of pandemic, thorough handwashing with soap and water is one of the most effective barriers to the spread of disease. Unfortunately, according to the UN, 40 percent of humanity are without basic handwashing facilities, i.e. soap and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "There Was No Rain"
Climate change refugees are on the march and they’re coming not just from Africa or the Middle East or some low-lying atoll in the South Pacific, they’re migrating poleward in the Americas too. Todd Miller went to southern Mexico to interview climate migrants. Where are they from? Where are they
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Cold War Latin America, The ‘Gulag’ of the United States – John W. Dower
The crimes humans commit against each other have numerous justifications and rationalizations, to most of us in North America, we hear more about the atrocities of our enemies, that we do of the ones we commit in our name. John Dower examines the Cold War period in history and concludes
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Plenty. When construction crews begin digging a new canal this month across Nicaragua, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic, it’ll be a boon to global shipping and, the government says, to the economy of the second-poorest nation in the Americas. But activists, scientists and others are increasingly alarmed by the environmental
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Feed’Em or Weep
They’re finally figuring it out. An editorial from The Dallas Morning News warns that unless the US launches a major food relief effort to Central America, the country faces a tsunami of refugees fleeing to the US to escape famine. The swarm of immigrants who came across the border this year,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Famine In the Americas
Red Cross food relief for central Mexico When we think of famine, we tend to think of Africa. Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan seem to come to mind. FEWS Net, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, has identified Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and central Nicaragua as countries most at risk of severe
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Think Twice About Central America
So much for my plans of a once-in-a-lifetime motorcycle trip from Panama to Vancouver Island. That route, it seems, has become Murder Alley. While we’re all becoming aware of violent crime in Mexico, it’s actually Honduras that is now the murder capital of the world. There the latest murder rate
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