Talk in the Town Barbershop

Joseph Zaccardi Poetry of Joseph Zaccardi
Poet Joseph Zaccardi, Laureate of Marin County, explores the local chit-chat, reminding us it’s also about what folks don’t want to say or hear.

Here’s How the 2020 Candidates Stack Up on War and Peace

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies Independent Media Institute
What hope is there that one of the Democrats seeking the presidency in 2020 could be a real peace candidate? Could one of them bring an end to these wars and prevent new ones? Walk back the brewing Cold War and arms race with Russia and China?

15 Years After the Iraq Invasion, What Are the Costs?

Stephanie Savell OtherWords.org
We spend $32 million per hour on wars started during the Bush administration. The economic costs of the war on terror has cost Americans a staggering $5.6 trillion since 2001, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

As EU Elections Approach, Europe Confronts a Cliff

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
With the hard right running left and the center-left abdicating, Euroskeptics could accelerate a continent-wide crisis. Global migration is on the rise as climate change drowns coastlines, river deltas and drought drives people out of arid climates.

Keywords That Reinforce Class Control

Oliver Eagleton Counterfire
Carrying on from Raymond Williams' Keywords, the classic study of capital's appropriation of words for its own ends, the book under review looks at contemporary linguistic usage that serves and reinforces dominant class interests.

The Measure of Our Happiness

H. Patricia Hynes Common Dreams
The highest-ranking countries in the World Happiness Report are those that have “strong social welfare systems and an emphasis on equality.”