C4SS Senior Fellow and Chair, Sheldon Richman, interviewed on the Rare show “Swapped Taliban detainees: Terrorists or prisoners of war?” hosted by contributor Kurt Wallace. https://soundcloud.com/rare-us/interview-with-sheldon-richman

A few days ago I read Christopher Dickey’s “What the D-Day Veteran Told Obama at the 70th Anniversary Commemoration” (The Daily Beast, June 6). In attendance along with Obama were French president Hollande and Russian president Putin. Most of the article discusses the leaders’ speeches of the day and the awkwardness of having both Obama and…

C4SS Feed 44 presents J. Edward Carp‘s “No, You Cannot Have My Dead” read by Stephen Ledger and edited by Nick Ford. But the mattress sales and the barbeques are not why I hate Memorial Day. When my father called me the day Walter died, he wept with me. When the President solemnly intones his “gratitude” at Arlington…

Roman Catholic leaders from Cardinal Maradiaga to Pope Francis himself have made news this year in their criticisms of supposed free market economies, likening them to a form of idolatry that exploits and denies access to the poor. Because Catholic social teachings emphasize stewardship and aid to the less fortunate, clergymen such as Maradiaga have…

The “fog of war” is a reference to the moral chaos on the battlefield as well as the rampant confusion. Individuals kill others for no other reason than that they are ordered to. Things deemed unambiguously bad in civilian life are authorized and even lauded in war. The killing and maiming of acknowledged innocents —…

The release and return of American POW Bowe Bergdahl started off as simply cause for relief and celebration for his family and friends. Thanks to politics, it keeps taking on additional layers of interpretation for others. The revelation that Bergdahl questioned the continuing mission in Afghanistan prior to his capture has many of the same people who usually…

Discussions of technological change in the media are generally coupled with discussions of technological unemployment and the increasing polarization of wealth. A good example is a piece by Eduardo Porter in the New York Times (“Tech Leaps, Job Losses and Rising Inequality,” April 15). Amid talk of all the technological wonders issuing from Silicon Valley,…

If I had to describe “The Conscience of an Anarchist” in one word, it would be beautiful. Gary Chartier’s 100 page anarchist manifesto concisely and elegantly explains the way anarchists analyze public policy discussions, such as foreign policy, the drug war, regulation, subsidies, education, the two party system, infrastructure, the criminal justice system, police violence,…

Two years ago my wife and I lost a baby. We went to the 20 week ultrasound, expecting to hear if we were having a boy or a girl. Instead, we did not hear a heartbeat. The pain was sharp and immediate, though it has dulled with time. In our grief we sought comfort in…

In one of comedian Louis CK’s standup routines, he talks about the vile things that come out of his mouth directed at other drivers when he gets behind the wheel. “In what other scenario,” he asks, “would a person feel comfortable saying such foul things to others?” Put a little distance and a scrap of…

In the military, we learn to leave no one behind. Whatever the cost, whatever the situation, everyone comes home: unharmed, wounded, or dead. The importance of this principle is drilled into us from the very beginning of basic training, when our PT formations loop around to pick up those who fall out and the entire…

C4SS Media presents Jonathan Carp‘s “Fernando Teson Doesn’t Learn” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. Of course, our brothers and sisters in Ukraine do not have the option of staying uninvolved. The wolf is at their door, it seems. While we of course wish them well, a sober analysis of the military situation does…

Recently we heard from Ukraine of a flyer distributed by Russian separatists in Donetsk. The flyer ordered the Jews of the city to register and pay a fee as a penalty for the support of Jewish leaders for the new government in Kiev. The flyer was denounced by American secretary of state John Kerry and…

Il quindici aprile sembra diventata una sorta di festività per i progressisti, che ogni volta inevitabilmente tirano fuori la frase di Oliver Wendell Holmes, secondo cui le tasse sono “il prezzo che paghiamo per la civiltà”, e ci ricordano tutte le grandi cose – strade, scuole e altro – che le tasse producono. A ben…

C4SS Media presents William Gillis‘ “The Retreat Of The Immediate” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. The world is not a simple place and simplistic abstractions (even in the form of “shit’s too complicated” or “we’re sure to lose”) do violence through irresponsibility. Further they signal a cognitive surrender to the ossified and sweeping logic…

Over at Bleeding Heart Libertarians, Fernando Teson is once again pounding the drums for … something. Presumably after being so hilariously, catastrophically, historically, possibly even supernaturally wrong on Iraq, Teson has decided not to overtly pound the drums of war. He’s just vaguely calling for “moral clarity” now, which is progress for Teson. After all,…

C4SS Media presents Jonathan Carp‘s “Wars and Rumors of Wars” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. What we want is peace and freedom — no war but class war — but to get there we must understand our enemy.

C4SS Media presents Kevin Carson‘s “Tax Day: What Kind of “Civilization” Are We Paying For?” read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. Even if government did tax the plutocracy at 100% and give it back to the public in the form of some kind of guaranteed income, it would be utterly stupid. It would just be…

The second part of Richard Ebeling’s discussion of individual self-determination vs Russian or Ukrainian or Russian nationalism. Andrew J. Bacevich reviews The Education of an Anti-Imperialist: Robert La Follette and U.S. Expansionism. Justin Raimondo compares the American invasion of Afghanistan with the Russian invasion of Crimea. Philip Giraldi discusses Gareth Porter’s new book titled Manufactured…

In 1915, my country said, “Son- “It’s time to stop rambling, there’s work to be done.” So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun. And they sent me away to the war. Today is ANZAC Day, the 99th anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli campaign. ANZAC was originally the…