These things happened in the United States this year. An unarmed man was killed by police, supposedly for stealing some cigars. Those who took to the streets simply seeking truth, among them some looters, were denounced by some conservatives and an entire news network as "thugs" and "lynch mobs." Just months earlier, a Nevada tax […]

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the target of the latest right-wing slander du jour. In an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, Pelosi blamed Hamas for initiating the current war in Gaza and reiterated U.S. support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. As to why Hamas sponsor Qatar was included in truce negotiations, the number one […]

With the body count growing daily in Gaza, the conservative commentariat has predictably circled the wagons around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud government. "Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity," Charles Krauthammer declared this week and repeating Bibi's mantra about his Hamas enemies. "We're using missile defense to […]

If conservatives are furious about the Taliban prisoner exchange that freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the members of Team Bush are absolutely frothing at the mouth. Writing in the Washington Post, former Bush speechwriters Michael Gerson and Marc Thiessen suggested that at best, President Obama does not have the attitude that "we will fight you as […]

Back in April, right-wing politicians, pundits and press denounced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) when he labelled the well-armed mob at Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch as "domestic terrorists." With three people--including two police officers--murdered in Las Vegas by white supremacist Bundy followers, an apology to Reid from the conservative commentariat is due. Make that […]

In December 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld lectured American troops worried about vital equipment shortages plaguing U.S. combat forces in Iraq. "You go to war with the army you have," Rumsfeld pontificated, "not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." Now, Republicans are learning, Rumsfeld's condescending maxim applies to […]

Republicans are predictably foaming at the mouth over the news that the Obama administration secured the release of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Even more predictable, the right-wing rage is unfounded. As Lt. Col. Robert Bateman explained, throughout its history the United States has engaged in prisoner […]

There are tragedies and then there are scandals. The killings of four Americans in Benghazi, as investigations by the State Department and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have already confirmed, was a tragedy, and likely a preventable one. But the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture was both a tragedy and a scandal. The […]

The Bundy Ranch controversy has now divided Nevada's two United States Senators. While Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) referred to Bundy's armed supporters as "domestic terrorists," his Republican colleague Dean Heller praised them as "patriots." Their disagreement begs the question: What do you call someone who owes the United States government a million dollars and […]