Altercation Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) My new Nation column is called "The Right Loses It Over Russia—Again" and it notes that "Conservative hysteria over Putin's aggression in 2014 is eerily reminiscent of right-wing reaction to a previous Crimean adventure, at the dawn of the Cold War. Alter-reviews: Spring Quartet at Rose Hall Reed and I did not post last week so I have a number of shows to discuss. As for the headliners, they were a real band despite the generational divide separating the veterans DeJohnette and Lovano from the youngsters, Genovese and Spalding. Jim Caruso's Cast Party A week later, I returned to Jazz@Lincoln Center, this time to the beautiful Appel Room, which is the Allen Room renamed in honor of a multi-million dollar gift, and for a show called "Jim Caruso’s Cast Party." There were too many highlights to even begin to do justice to them. The next American Songbook show will be Mark Mulcahy on March 19 at the Stanley H. Drive-By Truckers
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire The BRAD BLOG John Nichols Protesters in Wisconsin, 2011, where communities are voting to amend the constitution. (Darren Hauck/Reuters) Even as the US Supreme Court attempts to expand the scope and reach of the already dangerous dominance of our politics by billionaires and their willing servants, Americans are voting in overwhelming numbers against the new politics of dollarocracy. The headline of the week with regard to the campaign-finance debate comes from Washington, where a 5-4 court majority has—with its McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision—freed elite donors such as the politically-ambitious Koch Brothers to steer dramatically more money into the accounts of favored candidates, parties and political action committees. The decision makes it clear that the high court's activist majority will stop at nothing in their drive to renew the old Tory principle that those with wealth ought to decide the direction of federal, state and local government. They were not alone. In fact, it wins big.
TomDispatch Naomi Klein Published at The Intercept Now that it seems virtually certain that Donald Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, and the climate movement is quite rightly mobilizing in the face of this latest dystopian lurch, it’s time to get real about something: Pretty much everything that is weak, disappointing, and inadequate about that deal is the result of U.S. lobbying since 2009. The fact that the agreement only commits governments to keeping warming below an increase of 2 degrees, rather than a much safer firm target of 1.5 degrees, was lobbied for and won by the United States. The fact that the agreement left it to individual nations to determine how much they were willing to do to reach that temperature target, allowing them to come to Paris with commitments that collectively put us on a disastrous course toward more than 3 degrees of warming, was lobbied for and won by the United States.
James Fallows This morning I had the privilege of giving the commencement address at the University of Vermont—UVM, home of the Catamounts, in Burlington. My wife Deb and I, and our colleague John Tierney, visited UVM several years ago and wrote about it in our American Futures series, notably with John’s piece about the school’s emergence as a “public Ivy.” Seven Days, the financially-and-journalistically successful weekly based in Burlington (which I’ve also written about), has a story about today’s commencement, here. Go Catamounts! Commencement remarks University of Vermont May 21, 2017 James Fallows President Sullivan, Governor Scott, honorary degree recipients, faculty and staff, friends and family, people of Vermont and beyond, and above all members of the class of 2017 — greetings, and congratulations! Every one of you realizes that not a one of you made this journey entirely on your own. I’ve just completed the first part of my job, which is to celebrate this moment. Let’s go into that case.
Sam Harris Hullabaloo The Official Paul Krugman Web Page News!! I am starting up my Princeton web site. It is at www.wws.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/ It's only partial, but eventually all files will move. I'm back! What's newArticles in FortuneArticles in SlateOther writingStuff that is harder to readAdditional biographical infoWhat I look like My honorary degree ceremony in Berlin (text of talk, audio, video) Special page on Japan (direct links to Japan-related pieces) Some favorite links (updated)The unofficial page (A fan has set this up: I disavow any knowledge of his actions) Welcome to my home page. Most people who have accessed this page probably know who I am, but for anyone else here is a summary. I have written or edited 18 books (I think) and several hundred articles. With any luck, you will find many of these pieces extremely annoying. But read the articles and judge for yourself. Articles Stuff that is harder to read" What happened to Asia? Copyright © 1997 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rolling Stone Politics | Taibblog | Matt Taibbi on Politics and the Economy Thank You, Rolling Stone | BLOG ENTRY Today is my last day at Rolling Stone. As of this week, I’m leaving to work for First Look Media, the new organization that’s already home to reporters like Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras. I’ll have... February 20, 2014 10:35 AM ET Ex-Morgan Stanley Chief Jams Foot in Mouth, Complains of CEO Abuse | BLOG ENTRY There's a ton of interesting stuff going on in the Wall Street sphere of late – I'm trying to find some time to do a proper write-up of the extraordinary lawsuit just filed by the Better Markets... February 13, 2014 5:30 PM ET The Vampire Squid Strikes Again: The Mega Banks' Most Devious Scam Yet | ARTICLE Call it the loophole that destroyed the world. It's 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. Democrats Must Stop Ted Cruz's Hollywood Ending | BLOG ENTRY Having lived in the former Soviet Union for 10 years, I will forever have plastered to the back of my cerebellum the commemorative bumper sticker: "WWSD?"
Chris Hedges, Columnist Chris Hedges Chris Hedges, whose column is published weekly on Truthdig, has written 11 books, including the New York Times best seller “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. Some of his other books include “Death of the Liberal Class” (2010), “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). Hedges previously spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. Hedges began his career reporting on the Falkland War from Argentina for National Public Radio.
Melissa Harris-Perry