Richard Silverman Our president is not a religious man. But it’s suitable to quote a verse from what his Christian allies call “the Scriptures:” For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind… I will send a fire upon his cities, And it will devour their castles. –Hosea Wreckage after U.S. drone attacked…
Stuart Lyle A Constitutional crisis has come… and gone – but few have noticed. Americans have great confidence in their form of government. From an early age they are taught – and, of course, they come to believe – that the Constitution forms the unbreakable backbone of an exceptional democratic system, unmatched in the world.…
Richard Silverstein Fresh off his anti-Semitic barnstorming spree in Florida, in which he called his Israeli-American audience “brutal killers,” Pres. Trump is trying to make it up to us. He’s tied up a nice holiday package in bows and ribbons and left it on the doorstep of Kenneth Marcus, head of the Education Department’s civil…
Stuart Lyle The denouement of a week of public testimony in the US House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry was Adam Schiff’s closing statement. He alternated between sneering at the Republicans and getting furious with their character assassinations and stonewalling. In contrast with Devin Nunes’ obscurantist approach, Schiff quoted the Republican Ranking Member of a different…
Stuart Lyle Mainstream news media have worked hard, if unwittingly, to undermine one of the foundations of democracy: a free and critical free press. It may sound contradictory, but it is the press itself that has failed to grasp the White House strategy that is intended to make the news media redundant. While conscientiously laboring…
b. traven Over 100 years ago Carl von Clausewitz wrote his definitive analysis of war vs. peace. One of his key mandates to those under attack went something like this “When under a strong attack, a stronger counterattack is called for.” That is how we and our allies won WW II in less than four…
Stuart Lyle How many fingers am I holding up, Winston? If that quote sends shivers through you, then you know it’s provenance, George Orwell’s 1984. “How many fingers am I holding up, Winston,” says the interrogator, while ostentatiously holding up 4 fingers, “if the party says that it is not four but five…?” Those in…
Richard Silverstein You can forget that claim you hear from Trump, Netanyahu and MBS that Iran is the greatest sponsor of state terrorism in the world. That award goes to Saudi Arabia hands down. First, it spent and wasted billions building up ISIS and arming it in order to topple the Syrian Alawite regime. It…
b. traven Traven asked an American ex-pat who lives in England to explain what is goimg on in the British Parliament, particularly on the inability of the Tory and Labour parties to come up with a viable plan for Brexit (British exit from the European Union). Leaving the EU will totally disrupt England’s trade relationship…
Richard Silverstein Donald Trump presented his second State of the Union speech tonight and it was a phantasmagoria of Trumpian grandeur, and not in a good way. For future generations, it should be used as a model for what not to do when preparing and delivering such an address. It was significant both for what…
The Contrary Perspective 