Germany, 1918: “A scraggly band of child rebels, we met secretly in attics … We were taught by men who claimed they were deserters from the navy to hate the rich, to tell the poor they must rise in a body and fight …” U.S.A., 2014: “I know a lot of people think that […]

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  When 400,000 protesters descended on New York City for the People’s Climate March in September, organizers placed groups in a sort of environmental degradation hierarchy as the crowd snaked up Central Park West. In the front of the 30-block-long starting line were citizens who hailed from “impacted communities,” people whose lives and homes were […]

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  The recent 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation from office gives us a useful perspective on the calls by right-wingers for the impeachment of President Barack Obama. The grounds they claim are vague, if not incoherent. In July, for example, Sarah Palin, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Tea Party favorite, charged him […]

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  At 10 a.m. on July 16, Texas Republican Pete Sessions called the House Rules Committee to order, and for two hours, members of the committee heard three accomplished constitutional scholars debate the principles of representative government established by the framers of the Constitution in 1776 and reaffirmed by the men who gave their last […]

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  I was in Paris when news broke of mass demonstrations following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Images filled the media of police dressed in helmets and camouflage, wielding heavy artillery, riding in tanks, tear gas and smoke bombs exploding among crowds, huge dogs snapping and snarling and straining their leads. I […]

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