Walk through any art museum and you’re likely to see a mix of the classical and contemporary, impressionist and surrealist, refined and raw, beautiful, eerie, and provocative. Looking at art allows me at least a few moments of relief from the “that’s just the way it...
Originally posted at TomDispatch. This editor’s note introduced the single article that took up almost every inch of space in the August 31, 1946, New Yorker magazine: “TO OUR READERS: The New Yorker this week devotes its entire editorial space to an...
Remember way back when? President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantánamo prison, restore the United States' moral standing, and end the practice of torture. It was two years ago. In January 2009, as one of his first acts as president, Obama signed an executive...
Operation New Dawn. That is the name the U.S. military will give its operations in Iraq when U.S. military operations in that country end this September. Wait, what? Okay, once more, a little more slowly. The United States has nearly 100,000 military personnel in Iraq...
Massive ordnance penetrator. Sounds powerful, right? This bomb is also known by its initials: MOP. About a month ago, Congress gave $68 million to the Boeing Corporation to accelerate the purchase and development of 10-12 "massive ordnance penetrators." The...
The official results of Afghanistan's presidential elections won't be known for weeks. The ballots cast around the country need to be brought to Kabul -- some by donkey and helicopter -- and counted. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have rushed to celebrate the process,...
The phrase "Obama has a lot on his plate" is the understatement of the year. The president has a to-do list a mile long, and every day a new crisis (like the coup in Honduras) gets added to the list. Can we really fault him if he sneaks the occasional smoke?...
