veterans

How do you motivate men and women to fight and die for a cause many of them don’t believe in, and whose purpose they can’t articulate?

"I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves-- won’t lift a finger-- and expect the federal government to do everything." Although reactionary vulture, Utah scumbag Orrin Hatch said this in regard to the children who count of CHIP (which he helped kill), he might as well have been talking about disabled veterans as well, since he just voted to set the governmen

Fast food nihilism, CRISPR kits and dead head transplants + this day in history w/the murder of Natalie Wood and our song of the day by Ty Segall on your Morning Monarchy for November 29, 2017.

Frank Schaeffer has been traveling around the country meeting with the best progressive candidates for Congress and filming them. Last week he was in Orange County. We saw his talk with Laura Oatman, the progressive woman running for the coastal Orange County district held by Dana Rohrabacher, a few days ago.

Editorial — Are veterans of the U.S. military disproportionately likely to be mass killers in the United States? Asking such a question is difficult, first because of concerns of profiling, discrimination, etc., and second, because it’s hard to answer.

Opinion — Predictably, the news media spent most of the week examining words Donald Trump may or may not have spoken to the widow of an American Green Beret killed in Niger, in northwest Africa, in early October. Not only was this coverage tedious, it was largely pointless. We know Trump is a clumsy boor, and we also know that lots of people are ready to pounce on him for any sort of gaffe, real or imagined. Who cares? It’s not news. But it was useful to those who wish to distract Americans from what really needs attention: the U.S. government’s perpetual war.

Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department’s already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is needed to “support the troops.” If you’re already nodding in agreement, let me explain just where a huge chunk of the Pentagon budget — hundreds of billions of dollars — really goes. Keep in mind that it’s your money we’re talking about.

Watching the Ken Burns-Lynn Novick 18-hour series, “The Vietnam War,” is an emotional experience. Whether you served in the U.S. military during the war or marched in the streets to end it, you cannot remain untouched by this documentary. The battle scenes are powerful, the stories of U.S. veterans and Vietnamese soldiers who fought on both sides of the war compelling.

You want this guy fighting on your side?One of my favorite establishment journalists called today to ask me about Randy Bryce and see if he could find out how he created his brand.

Robot maps, poison papers and the right stuff + this day in history w/MTV's launch and our song of the day by Belle & Sebastian on your Morning Monarchy for August 1, 2017.