Back in 2010 Newt Gingrich explained that US president Barack Obama lies “outside our comprehension” unless we use his “Kenyan, anti-colonial” ideological orientation as a reference point for understanding his bizarre actions. Obama has been amazingly successful at concealing his deep-seated hatred of colonialism — to the point of praising Europe, in a speech last…

More than a decade ago, neoconservative bloggers coined the term “Fisking” for the polemical device (originally demonstrated against left-leaning journalist Robert Fisk) of taking apart a commentary, sentence by sentence,  analytically ripping each part to shreds. Although the neocon positions in this debate range from misguided to repugnant, the technique itself is a good one….

Nell’ambiente dei movimenti libertari dominanti l’accusa di “statalismo” è solitamente rivolta contro una serie di obiettivi facilmente immaginabili. Chiunque lamenti il razzismo, il sessismo o altri argomenti di giustizia sociale, lo sfruttamento economico dei lavoratori o il degrado ambientale è automaticamente accusato di statalismo sulla base del ragionamento secondo cui lo sfruttamento, l’ingiustizia e l’inquinamento…

A recent article by Deborah Small at Salon raises some genuinely valuable points about the likely pitfalls of prison reform and the broad scope of the problem of criminalization. Yet the headline, and the later paragraphs, package these important and interesting points into yet another one of the “progressives should fear and despise libertarians” pieces…

In the mainstream libertarian movement, accusations of “statism” typically focus on a fairly predictable set of targets. Anyone who complains of racism, sexism or other social justice issues, the economic exploitation of workers or degradation of the environment is reflexively accused of statism on the assumption that exploitation, injustice and pollution could only be problems…

La maggiore organizzazione del Tea Party in America, Tea Party Patriots, ha recentemente celebrato il suo quinto anno di attività promettendo di raddoppiare gli sforzi per ottenere il pareggio del bilancio federale e il ripagamento del debito pubblico. L’effetto, immagino non intenzionale, sarebbe la distruzione del capitalismo come lo conosciamo oggi. Il capitalismo corporativo, fin…

A forthcoming “NASA study” that predicts medium-term collapse has gone viral on the Internet, based entirely on Nafeez Ahmed’s advance writeup for The Guardian (“NASA-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?,” March 14). To start with we should note, just in passing, that it turns out not to be quite a “NASA study” after…

If you oppose mass incarceration, you should oppose empire. If you oppose imperialism and militarism, you should oppose the prison state. Empire and incarceration are two related institutions of brutal state violence, and they are mutually reinforcing. A new article by my friend Henia Belalia argues that immigrants’ rights should be understood in a context…

Joel Schlosberg discusses how privacy and sausages are unlike laws. Patrick Cockburn discusses the road from hell in Syria. JP Sottile discusses drones. Ryan McMaken discusses crony capitalism and the transcontinental railroads. Justin Raimondo discusses Israel and the conservative movement. Stephen Kinzer discusses the end of American hubris. Ted Snider discusses 21st century coups. Kenan…

C4SS Media presents Thomas L. Knapp‘s “The Problem Isn’t ‘Patent Trolls.’ The Problem Is Patents.,” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. “Apple’s complaint, in its essentials, is that patent “trolls” just buy up patent “rights,” then search for infringement to cash in on, rather than going to the trouble of making real products. But why…

This is the final part of a trinity of posts on Lynn Stuart Parramore’s recent Atlernet article called “3 Things That Make Libertarian Heads Explode“. The first two posts in the series dealt with selective contentions about her thoughts regarding the libertarian attitude towards inequality and public goods. This one is about her thoughts on…

The largest Tea Party organization in the U.S., Tea Party Patriots, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with promises of redoubled efforts to balance the federal budget and pay down the national debt. Of course this would have the — presumably unintentional — effect of destroying capitalism as we know it. Corporate capitalism, since it coalesced…

C4SS Media presents Grant Mincy‘s “Which Side Are You On?” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. “The challenges that face Appalachia are indeed great. To solve them, one must question why our “national interest” still lies in an “above all” energy policy. One must question how so much wealth has been extracted from the…

Liberals are prone to conflate all forms of decentralism and self-organization with the right wing, framing the range of possibilities as a stark contrast between their own managerial-centrist approach on the one hand and Paul Ryan, Marvin Olasky and Newt “Culture of Dependency” Gingrich on the other. A good example is Mike Konczal’s recent column…

Matthew Yglesias may be the most left-libertarian friendly liberal commentator out there. Not only is he unusually open to free market ideas, but he’s also repeatedly shown strong sympathies for open-source and post-scarcity approaches to economic organization. In fact, he’s practically built his brand around setting himself against the two defining features of American liberalism…

Lynn Stuart Parramore recently wrote an Alternet article titled “3 Things That Make Libertarian Heads Explode“. She identifies three areas where our heads will supposedly explode. They are inequality, public goods, and regulation. She evidences no awareness of the existence of left-wing market anarchists or any other type of libertarian leftist. In her world, the…

Dit is zo’n tijd geweest waarin een reeks willekeurige, schijnbaar losstaande gebeurtenissen allemaal een algemene les voor mij hebben versterkt. Allereerst werd op 21 januari gemeld dat Canadese en Amerikaanse veiligheidsdiensten—Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), de Mounties, de FBI, Homeland Security, en provinciale, staats- en lokale politie—nauw hebben samengewerkt met Enbridge, TransCanada en andere energieleveranciers…

These days, some policy makers are discussing rolling back America’s system of mass incarceration. Figures from Eric Holder to Rand Paul are proposing eliminating many mandatory minimum sentences. States like Colorado are legalizing marijuana. But while some policy makers talk about shrinking the prison state, prison expansion continues to be pushed and passed by legislators….

Shamus Cooke discusses Obama’s far right foreign policy. Cory Massimino discusses the relationship between liberalism and libertarianism. Patrick Cockburn discusses how war has changed. Brian J. Trautman discusses endless war. Casey Given discusses how the anti-gay bills are not libertarian. Dave Lindorff discusses the U.S. lecturing of Russia about international law. John Bew discusses the…

De acordo com seu próprio relatório e com o que disse o colunista do Washington Post Howard Schneider (“Communists Have Seized the IMF“, 26 de fevereiro), o Fundo Monetário Internacional aparentemente amenizou sua posição sobre o “redistribuição de renda”. Isso, porém, é falso. Tanto o relatório do FMI (“Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth“, IMF Discussion Note…