Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Writing as Resistance

Doomed writers buried their accounts of the Warsaw ghetto in the hope that they could teach whoever unearthed the documents about good, evil, indifference and the importance of the truth as an act of resistance. They have left us a trove of papers on how to construct a life of meaning.
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations unit in Los Angeles, June 2025. Photo: DHS

American Gestapo: The Worst Takes Time But It Comes Around Fast

Barton Kunstler maps the largest ICE detention camps and the private contractors running them, and asks how far the buildup has to go before it counts as what it resembles.
The Israeli settlement of Peduel in the occupied West Bank. Britain has announced a ban on goods produced in settlements like this one. Photo: Avner, via Wikimedia Commons

Britain Finally bans Goods from the Israeli-Occupied West Bank

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who once led Britain's Union of Jewish Students, made the announcement in the House of Commons.
A photojournalist wearing press identification and protective gear. Photo: Tony Webster / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Israeli Strikes Wound Journalists in Lebanon and Gaza amid “Ceasefires”

The strikes come days after ceasefires were announced in both Gaza and Lebanon.

How the Loser-in-chief sabotages the midterm – better a trumped up martyr than disaster-driven...

Haranguing, bonkers and beset,/ “Victim” Trump makes his riskiest bet.

Magical thinking about Biden 2024 paves the way for another Trump presidency

Biden's approval plummets as key demographic support wavers: staffers voice concern over Gaza policy.
An 1865 world map using the Mercator projection, which shrinks Africa relative to its true size. Photo: Alvin Jewett Johnson, public domain

UN Wants to Right-Size Maps; Would it have Saved Trump from Iran Catastrophe?

Juan Cole argues that map projections which shrink Africa and the Middle East help explain why Washington keeps misjudging the size of the countries it goes to war with.

The dark side of ecotourism: When green travel exploits people and the planet

As luxury eco-retreats and voluntourism surge, experts warn that without systemic reform, the industry may be doing more harm than good.
Demonstrators call for freedom in Iran at a solidarity rally. Photo: alisdare1 / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Iran: Ongoing Unlawful Execution Campaign Against Protesters

At least 60 more protesters face imminent execution, Human Rights Watch says, after summary trials relying on torture-tainted confessions.
The US Capitol at dusk. Photo: Sven A Rajala / CC BY-SA 4.0

The second worst MAGA Trump calamity – more than equal to its Constitutional concussion

Robert S. Becker on the deeper, still-unfolding costs of Trumpism beyond its constitutional violations.