Writing recently in The New York Times Magazine, prominent historian Rick Perlstein attempts to figure out how exactly American conservatism could produce, as if out of nowhere, a candidate and a president of such “intellectual embarrassment” as Donald Trump. What had… Read More ›
By Rumple Oxbridge, The Pacific’s radical rhymer, sometimes referred to as “rhymer-in-residence.” I was going to say a little goes a long way but if I may be so bold why should any sex be sold? Watching nakedness cavort suggests it’s just… Read More ›
Must politicians and journalists succumb to the language of war? Or the flip side: Must we put words like “peace” on weapons of war? I’m thinking of the U.S. nuclear missiles called “peacekeepers.” The “war” on this or that, we say, or… Read More ›
First published February 17, 2017 in The Capital Times If there is any consolation to be found in the election of President Trump, it is the opportunity to make anti-war protest great again. Most liberals/progressives were willing to overlook Hillary… Read More ›
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 first of many lies, grip of welcome weaponized…. Read More ›
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 the nuclear nations (those that own nuclear weapons),… Read More ›
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 war a lot because we can afford to and… Read More ›
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 for of all the raving ranters he’s the… Read More ›
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 he didn’t say, but his initial remarks on… Read More ›
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 of mass mental incongruity going on, a splitting… Read More ›
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 Muslim-Americans in general) are now the scariest things on… Read More ›
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 University. No copy of the poem existed in… Read More ›
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 now governing the state should consider building a… Read More ›
Arguing against military retaliation/intervention is not appeasement or surrender; it is an attempt to limit violence everywhere . . .
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 Supremely Conservative Court to bring you the following… Read More ›
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 how your interest in Christianity converges with your… Read More ›
The Pacific 