October 16, 1995, will forever be etched in my heart — not just as a moment in history, but as a defining moment in my own life. I was a 19-year-old senior at Coatesville Area Senior High School, just outside…
MAGA is making America dizzy again
In 2015, a military training exercise called Jade Helm became the basis for a right-wing conspiracy theory which claimed that under President Barack Obama, the federal government planned to impose martial law. Conservatives went crackers over an unfounded prospect that…
Lisbon to Auschwitz to Alligator Alcatraz: Cruelty and the human face of evil
There are few things more characteristic of the Trump regime than cruelty, often gratuitous cruelty. It is the human face of evil in one of its most repellent forms. Susan Nieman, in her masterful work Evil In Modern Thought: An…
Cracks in the fascist facade
A remarkable thing happened this week. I don’t know how to explain it or what to do with it. Last Friday, my grandson Sam (a high school senior in Charlotte) texted me a question: “What do you say when people…
It’s not just the Young Republicans we need to worry about
Despite how often you hear that America no longer is racist, we remain a racist culture. The difference between the racism of 1950 and 2025: Racism then was proudly displayed in public. The language, the signs, the laws, the culture…
The Young Republicans are old enough to know better
Vice President JD Vance’s comment about the outrageous 29,000 text messages sent by the New York Young Republicans being about “kids” acting foolishly does not hold up under thoughtfulness. First, many of those involved are at least 20 years old….
Trump’s poop-bomb video shows us what his base wants
I recently witnessed, in the course of a few hours, a stunning contrast between three presidents. First, our nation’s current president shared an AI video depicting himself as a crown-wearing fighter pilot who bombs No Kings Day protesters with liquified…
Jesus is being tear gassed at Broadview
What follows is an open letter from more than 100 Chicago-area clergy issued Friday, Oct. 17. “Can I use my pastoral expense account to buy a gas mask?” It’s a question dozens of Chicago pastors asked our church boards…
United Methodist pastor violently arrested in Chicago
United Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon of United Church of Rogers Park, Ill., was violently arrested along with eight others at a peaceful protest at the Broadview ICE facility this morning. Kardon was part of a clergy group that was to…
The patriot’s glossary of MAGAtarian doublespeak, part 1
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt concluded the ideal subjects of authoritarians are not necessarily their most convinced partisan followers, but “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and…
Big Tech must take a page from the auto industry
When I was born in 1979, my parents brought me home in a bassinet that sat, unsecured, on the back seat of their Honda hatchback. They did this not out of reckless disregard for my safety, but because it was…
Two myths that must be discarded
In this moment in American history, two dominant myths must be discarded. This is especially true in light of the shocking revelations about leadership of some Young Republican groups and their “private” text messages. First, the myth that private speech…