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    The City on the Hill Has Lost Its Shine and Its Bounce

    In a dramatic headline, Yahoo News expresses its surprise if not dismay that a “staggering 62 percent of Americans no longer see America as Ronald Reagan‘s ‘shining city on a hill.’” Yahoo and YouGov published their poll to give an idea of the mood of the nation on this year’s Fourth of July weekend. The […] More

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    Trump’s Ambiguous Battle Against Middle East Turmoil

    On June 24, Al Jazeera’s reporter at the White House attempted to determine President Donald Trump’s position on the Israeli plan to begin illegally annexing occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised to begin operations on July 1.  On the White House lawn, Al Jazeera reporter Chris Sheridan […] More

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    What’s Annexed on Netanyahu’s July Agenda?

    Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, dispenses with illusions in his reading of the likely historical consequences of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to annex up to 30% of the occupied West Bank. Israel is expected to unilaterally proceed with the announced annexations of Palestinian territory in the name of implementing the Trump […] More

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    Who’s the Dealer and What’s the Deal?

    The verdict is in. Contrary to what some have maintained, what COVID-19 has provoked is not just another recession in the eternally recurring cycles of capitalism. Not even a Great Recession, like the one the world began wading through 12 years ago. This time, it is clearly our second Great Depression. And, who knows, it […] More

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    When History in the US Finally Becomes Something to Think About

    With their focus on the present and occasionally on the future (for the visionaries and innovators), Americans have never been enamored of history as a subject of study. They have preferred simply to ingest the simplistic myths transcribed in textbooks produced in Texas that offer them that minimal satisfaction of knowing they share with other […] More

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    The Stirring Case of Mary Elizabeth Taylor

    Although the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, Mary Elizabeth Taylor, was not a high-profile member of the Trump administration, her resignation last week gathered the attention of the media due to the reasons she cited. It was all about what one of the rare black remaining members of the administration was willing to […] More

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    Police Brutality: It’s About More Than Defunding

    Every democratic society takes pride in having open discussion and debate, even when their governments prefer to keep certain subjects off the table if not out of sight. Freedom of thought and expression stands as a fundamental precondition to keep people involved in the business of government. In most modern democracies, the only effective power […] More

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    John Bolton’s Lesson in the American Value of Self-Interest

    In a curious article for The New York Times, John Gans delves into an analysis of the perennially bizarre phenomenon known in Washington by the name of John Bolton. The article uses the case of Bolton, the former national security adviser, to examine what Gans calls “the anarchy” at the core of the Trump administration’s […] More