Tag: USA Politics,

“Go West.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. Dr. Cornel West, the moral philosopher and civil rights activist, has formally announced he is running for president on the People’s Party ticket. Cornel will be a singular voice for serious social and political change in an electoral system saturated with corporate money and

“Murder King.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. Idolatry is the primal sin from which all other sins derive. Idols tempt us to become God. They demand the sacrifice of others in the mad quest for wealth, fame or power. But the idol always ends by requiring self-sacrifice, leaving us to perish

Tyre Nichols is seen leaning against a car during a brutal attack by five Memphis police officers on January 7, 2023. Photo courtesy the City of Memphis/AP. On January 7, 2023, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was savagely pummeled, beaten, and electrocuted with a 50,000-volt Taser weapon by five

Photo by Glenn Halog/Flickr The year 2022 was the deadliest year on record in the United States for fatalities at the hands of law enforcement. According to the Washington Post’s police shootings database, law enforcement officers shot and killed 1,096 people last year. In comparison, there were 1,048 shooting fatalities

“Russell Banks.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. The deep malaise that defines American society—the rage, despair and widespread feelings of betrayal and loss—is rarely captured and almost never explained in the pages of newspapers or on screens. To grasp what has happened to the United States, the savage economic and emotional

“Macdeath.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. Our political class does not govern. It entertains. It plays its assigned role in our fictitious democracy, howling with outrage to constituents and selling them out. The Squad and the Progressive Caucus have no more intention of fighting for universal health care, workers’ rights or

“The Body Politic.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. The bipartisan project of dismantling our democracy, which took place over the last few decades on behalf of corporations and the rich, has left only the outward shell of democracy. The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting,

Photo by Marco Verch/Flickr The television broadcasting of the select congressional committee hearings on the January 6 Capitol riot confirms what we already knew, though with a lot of gory details added. Donald Trump is a criminal to a degree that deserves greater punishment than what a house thief or

“Elephants in the Womb.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. The Supreme Court is relentlessly funding and empowering Christian fascism. It not only overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a constitutional right to an abortion, but ruled on June 21 that Maine may not exclude religious schools from a state tuition program. It

Members of the Uvalde Police Department pose for a photo, August 2018. Photo from Facebook. Eighty minutes passed between the first call to the Uvalde Police Department and the killing of the gunman inside Robb Elementary School, where nineteen students and two teachers were slain on May 24. For residents

“With this Ring.” Illustration by Mr. Fish. The Democratic Party—which had 50 years to write Roe v Wade into law with Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama in full control of the White House and Congress at the inception of their presidencies—is banking its electoral strategy around the expected

In just the past decade alone, cities across the United States spent in excess of $3 billion to settle police misconduct lawsuits. Illustration by Jared Rodriguez/Truthout. The second-degree murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd has already re-ignited the debate around body-worn

A QAnon flag waves at a Second Amendment rally in Virginia, January 2020. Photo by Anthony Crider/Flickr. According to QAnon supporters, most of whom live in the United States, the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles. Among the nefarious practices of this ruling elite is the

Protesters gathering outside the United States Capitol before a riot and violent attack carried out by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, January 6, 2021. Photo by Blink O’Fanaye/Flickr. Last week, we got the show of our dreams. A kind of insurrection, though far from a coup, it

A man draped in a Trump flag looks on while demonstrators march to the United States Capitol building to protest President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, January 6, 2020. Photo by Tyler Merbler/Flickr. Like many people, I disagree with the vast majority of the beliefs and ideals that have been attributed to

Protesters gathering outside the United States Capitol before a riot and violent attack carried out by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, January 6, 2021. Photo by Tyler Merbler/Flickr. Fascism is imperialism brought home. No more evident was this than Trump supporters’ breach of the United States Capitol

Art by Mr. Fish/Scheerpost Joe Biden and the systems managers of the deep state and empire are returning to power. Trump and his coterie of buffoons, racists, con artists and Christian fascists are sullenly preparing to leave office. US pharmaceutical corporations are starting to disseminate vaccines to mitigate the globe’s

Street art poster depicting Donald Trump. Photo by Lord Jim/Flickr. Voting turnout during the 2020 United States presidential election—around 65 percent, the highest since 1960—was astonishing, and all the more so considering the context in which the vote took place: racist, violent and deadly repression, white supremacist vigilante horrors, a

The dome of the United States Capitol building at night. Photo by Andy Feliciotti/Unsplash. The once-powerful United States is teetering on the edge of political collapse because millions find themselves unrepresented. The record-setting 160 million votes cast in the presidential election which would ordinarily indicate heightened political engagement actually hides

US President Donald Trump delivers a press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic at the White House, August 5, 2020. Image courtesy of the TODAY Show on NBC. The 2020 United States presidential election is both over, and yet isn’t. Donald Trump lost. Yet, on two scores the election is not