Category Archives: Politics

Political miscellany. I know I’m almost obsessive about this point, but I keep flashing back to Mark Bowden’s willingness to be a front man for security functionaries eager to normalize torture. Bowden’s article assured readers that “harsh interrogation” had reached … Continue reading →

I think if you did a search-and-replace on this David Brooks column, substituting the columnist’s own name every time he mentions Obama, it would be a pretty apt description of Brooks’ calculatedly dishonest approach to commentary.

Alberto Mora was one of the speakers at Swarthmore’s commencement this spring. He gave a short, terse and I thought powerful speech about the decisions he had made as General Counsel for the U.S. Navy and about the consequences of … Continue reading →

Let’s look past Hilary Clinton to think a bit about how this primary season unfolded. I think there’s something important about the votes that went her way. First, yes, there were people who preferred Clinton for sound enough reasons: either … Continue reading →

I am dying to know how the candidates feel about Sacco and Vanzetti, the Teapot Dome scandal, and Boss Tweed. If the Weather Underground is important enough to come up at a debate, surely those are too. Alternatively, I’d settle … Continue reading →