The U.S. in the Middle East: A Remarkably Rich Menu of Foreign-Policy Failures

Charles Freeman, Jr., Middle East Policy Council
In a recent speech, noted retired U.S. diplomat, Charles Freeman Jr., offers a frank assessment of the “remarkably rich menu of U.S. foreign-policy failures” in the Middle East. Most, he says, are due to America’s noisy but strategy-free approach, adding, “don’t just sit there, bomb something” isn’t much of a strategy. But, to cure the dysfunction in U.S. Middle East policy, Freeman says, we must cure the dysfunction and venality of our politics.

Israel’s Left Must Grab the Outstretched Hand of Its Arab Citizens

Haggai Matar and Yael Marom +972 Magazine
With 14 seats, the Arab Joint List became the third-largest party in the next Israeli Knesset. But Israel’s Jewish majority, disdaining the outstretched hand of the Arab minority, soundly rejected the Joint List’s message against racism and division and for equality and democracy. Consequently, in the election aftermath the Israeli Left must prioritize the Jewish-Arab partnership as it confronts a wave of racist legislation and policies.

Why Are White People "Expats" When the Rest of Us Are Immigrants?

Mawuna Remarque Koutonin The Guardian
In the Western lexicon of human migration there are still lot of remnants of a white supremacist ideology, with hierarchical classes of words created to differentiate white people from the rest of humanity, with the purpose of putting white people above everyone else. One of those remnants is the word “expat.” What is an expat? And who is an expat? Expat is a term reserved exclusively for western white people who go to work abroad.

The Republican Plan to Shred the Social Safety Net in 2016

Susan Greenbaum AlJazeera America
The Republic majorities in both chambers of Congress have crafted their 2016 budget proposals. In the near term, the proposed cuts would hurt millions of poor people, a large share of them veterans, children and the elderly. Two other factors guarantee the pain could get much worse over the next five years: the sequester caps on spending and a plan to convert Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) into state block grants.

Documentary: Peace Officer

Peace Officer is a documentary about the increasingly militarized state of American police as told through the story of “Dub” Lawrence, a former sheriff who established and trained his rural state’s first SWAT team only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law.

Wall Street Bonuses Twice Earnings of All Minimum Wage Earners

Sarah Anderson Institute for Policy Studies
Wall Street banks handed out $28.5 billion in bonuses last year, on top of base salaries, which averaged $190,970 in 2013. Those bonuses are double the annual pay for all 1,007,000 Americans who work full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour; enough to lift all 2.9 million restaurant servers and bartenders, all 1.5 million home health and personal care aides, or all 2.2 million fast food preparation and serving workers up to $15 per hour.

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

henry 7. reneau jr. mandala journal
Fifty years after his assassination, this poem honors El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (aka Malcolm X)

LBJ: Pass the Voting Rights Act

Fifty years ago (March 15, 1965), in the wake of Selma's Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson addressed Congress on the subject of 'The American Promise,' calling for the immediate passage of a voting right act that would end disfranchisement of African Americans.