By John Frederick Kaufman Fists and Flags “America first!” the president cried and raised his fist to punch the sky while someone punched a fascist in the head: the fist is […]
A Poem: “Fists and Flags”
John Kaufman
Why it’s Realistic to Ban Nuclear Weapons and Why U.S. Should Lead
Talks are underway this week at the United Nations in New York on a possible global treaty to officially ban all nuclear weapons. More than 120 nations are participating, but not surprisingly […]
Much Ado About Legs and “Leggings”
Americans are today up in arms about legs. Specifically, whether or not it is appropriate for girls/women to wear tight-fitting “leggings” or yoga pants when flying on airplanes. Until now […]
“War is the Health of the State”–But Not People
How’s this for a grand generalization? The United States is not great at providing health care and really good at waging war. And by “good” I do not mean effectively. We wage […]
Rumple Oxbridge: “Playing the Trump Card”
By Rumple Oxbridge (imaginary imaginer at The Pacific) House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke Donald Trump “is not conservatism.” Thus many Repubs are chumps because they think the Donald is the purest […]
House Speaker Ryan offers no “alternative” except a worse one
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin did some major speaking out yesterday, saying he wants to offer “a complete alternative to the left’s agenda.” Exactly which “left” agenda he was referring to […]
In Guns We Trust, Again and Again
Surely it’s time to refute the great American myth our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. so believe in: an armed citizenry and war abroad will protect us from criminal and terrorist violence. There is a sort […]
Who’s afraid of the GOP?
To coin a phrase, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself and the Republican Party. Or at least those Republicans for whom foreign terrorists and Syrian refugees (and even […]
“Is public virtue dead?”: Shelley’s “Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things”
By John Frederick Kaufman What better poem to turn to than one recently discovered in England, a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1811 when he was just 18 and a student at Oxford […]
Let’s just build a wall around Wisconsin
Since the building of really big walls for the good of the nation is now a popular idea among some Americans, especially Republican presidential candidates and a former Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin Republicans […]
After Paris terrorist attack, it’s either war or “appeasement” many say
Arguing against military retaliation/intervention is not appeasement or surrender; it is an attempt to limit violence everywhere . . .
Debate in Wisconsin? Let’s talk about Patriotgate
One question not heard at last night’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee was anything about what we might call “Patriotgate.” This has nothing to do with deflated footballs but does include the New England Patriots, as […]
Resist the “Instapoets”: a quick poem for the young
There are some things, like poetry, that cannot come easy if the thing is likely to last. Some advice: don’t enter a building or a poem (or any long-term relationship) that is not carefully constructed for […]
“VOT_ for Republicans!”– An Issue Ad for Our Times [Satire]
We at the Wisconsin Institute for Insisting that Issue Ads are Not About Electing Anybody (WIII . . .) have teamed up with the Wisconsin Club for Circumventing Justice and the Wisconsin […]
“Killing Blindly in the Endless War” by Kathy Kelly
“These are people who had been working hard for months, non-stop for the past week. They had not gone home, they had not seen their families, they had just been working in […]
The Novelist & the President: what a true democracy is
When the American novelist/essayist Marilynne Robinson sat down with President Obama for a chat on matters literary, religious and political, President Obama asked her to — “Tell me a little bit about […]
Bombing Hospitals All in a Day’s Work
[From the Institute of Policy Studies via Common Dreams] By Phyllis Bennis The destruction of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, with 22 dead so far, including doctors, other staff […]
More perpetual war: Afghanistan again
Speaking of perpetual war, the NY Times is reporting that the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which, despite a major withdrawal of troops, was never entirely over, has erupted again as the U.S. launched […]
Both China & U.S. need to improve the human rights of women
Yesterday, at a U.N. summit meeting on women’s rights hosted by, of all nations, China and its president, Xi Jinping, we learned that China will “reaffirm our commitment to gender equality and […]
And the very next day, the House Speaker resigns . . .
Perhaps inspired by a genuinely religious (that is, generally liberal) sermon, House Speaker John Boehner decided the next morning he had nothing more to say politically and told House Republicans and the nation yesterday that he is quitting […]
Congress gets schooled in some liberal religion
At present the “golden rule” of many in Congress is he who has the most gold is the most to be loved and pandered to, so it was no doubt a bit of a […]
Rumple Oxbridge: “In Ignorance We Cannot Trust”
By Rumple Oxbridge (imaginary rhymer-in-residence) What Gov. Walker learned, at last, is this: ignorance is only bliss if ignorance is all there is — “In God We Trust” will soon go bust if you […]
