Voices for Change

“Sleeping on a concrete slab is not going to teach you how to read or write.” The caging of prisoners and the closing of rehabilitation programs guarantees recidivism in America's slave empire.

The security breach at the military complex Y-12 sent shock waves through the national-security establishment. While the three Transform Now Plowshares activists faced federal sabotage charges and up to 30 years in prison, they were still out on bail and free to attend the congressional hearings prompted by their act of civil disobedience.

Lawmakers are shafting the underpaid workers who prepare their meals. Wages are less than $11 an hour, well below the very expensive cost of living in the Washington area.

It is easy enough to denounce the denialists on the Republican side, but the Democratic candidates ought to be asked how they differ in dealing with the most challenging issue of our time: global climate change.

Washington assumes that inequality is something that happened. By contrast, the more obvious story is that inequality is something that was done through policies that redistributed income upward.

There is a new frenzy of ignorance and indignation against the the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. But they'll remain innocent until someone produces credible evidence of wrongdoing—which in this case has yet to be done.

President Obama has announced his new "complicated plan" to deal with ISIL and it involves training a "third force", therefore creating a Free Syrian Army to attack al-Qaeda and ISIL. But is this a practical option to fighting the radical extremists?

Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Gas have such a strong grip on Congress, helping to avoid climate disruption. And that is why President Obama went into his comedic rant against climate denial at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner.

The devolution of the political system through corruption has led to “the death of the party system” and the emergence of what Tariq Ali, part of the royalty of the left, called “an extreme center.” “One is doomed if nothing happens in the U.S.”

While ISIS continues to haunt the nightmares of Western journalists and security analysts, Juan Cole points out some assertions about the "Islamic State" that are truly exaggerated and completely incorrect.