Lucy Steigerwald

In America, we do not lock up our murdering politicians. We rarely prosecute or impeach them. The only scandals that stick are sex ones. Serious voters, writers, pundits, and anyone else who feels as if they have deep principles invariably buckle under the partisan weight of the political system. She hasn’t yet been coronated, but … Continue reading “Do Clinton Voters Care About War?”

On May 10, 92-year-old Henry Kissinger was given the Distinguished Public Service Award by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. It does little good to be outraged by this news, in that Kissinger may have the blood of (at least) hundreds of thousands of dead people on his hands, but that seems to bother very few … Continue reading “Taking Responsibility for War”

During the last decade, people have become more and more afraid of the dystopian possibilities of a country – or a world – full of drones. And though drones offer a smorgasbord of grim possibilities in terms of of surveillance, and warfare, the actual technology mostly remains a distraction. (Though one normalized in warfare by … Continue reading “It’s Not About Drones, It’s About Lazy War”

On April 10, John Kerry became the first Secretary of State to visit Hiroshima, Japan. While there, he also toured the memorial and museum dedicated to the 1945 atomic bombing of the city. Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited years before, but Kerry is still a notably high-ranking US official to participate in memorializing … Continue reading “No, John Kerry Didn’t Apologize for the Hiroshima Bombing”

March 19 was the 13th anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq. Today, as noted by Antiwar News’ Jason Ditz, US Marines have been deployed in Kurdistan in order to aid Iraqi forces as they attempt to take back oil fields from the Islamic State. In full, shameless JFK-in-Vietnam mode, the fact that there are … Continue reading “War Is Easy When There Is Nothing to Learn”

While Apple and the federal government duke it out over the encrypted phone of a dead terrorist, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is keeping things old school by advocating that educators start paying close attention to any radical leanings among their students. In January, the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement – a liaison between … Continue reading “The FBI Wants Teachers To Go Stasi On American Kids”

One grim party game for election 2016 involves the question, which candidate will be the least bloodthirsty? There is no answer to be found, just educated guesses. Sen. Bernie Sanders and wildcard Donald Trump might be the least overtly, specifically hawkish candidates left, but neither of them can be trusted not to continue the warmonger … Continue reading “On Killer Bipartisanship”

In spite of all the podium-slapping cries for melting ISIS into the sand, the odd thing about campaign 2016 is how often candidates have failed to mention to the audience, the moderators, and each other whether they support ground troops sent into Syria or Iraq. Mostly, when the topic comes up with specificity, the answer … Continue reading “It’s True – The US Already Has Boots on the Ground”

For hundreds of years in America, women did not have the same rights as men. They – more or less – do now and for some, the final flourish of equality is seen in decisions such as the Pentagon’s 2015 choice to open up all combat jobs to females. While the military exist, it makes … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton, Conscription, and Militarized Feminism”

Every candidate running for president accepts war as a necessity. Sens. Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders are on the lower end of this terrible scale, but they are still ready to bomb ISIS, and unwilling to stop the drone wars respectively. Every single politician and every good schoolchild knows that soldiers are good, and they … Continue reading “The Grim Fight Against War”