Shane Smith

Losing Tim is a memoir of the deeply personal costs of war, written by a mother about her son, Timothy Eysselinck, that son’s suicide, and an attempt to come to terms with what drove him to such a dark place that he felt that suicide was the only way out. Tim worked in mine removal … Continue reading “An Intimate Portrait of the Human Cost of War”

The War Party is currently desperate for any evidence of Russian aggression in Ukraine. So much so that, as faithful apostle of the Warfare State Senator Jim Inhofe has shown recently, it is willing to embrace fabricated "evidence" to ensure the narrative remains intact. In his argument for arming the Ukrainian government, Inhofe provided pictures … Continue reading “Senator Jim Inhofe, Constant Gardener of the Warfare State”

There’s not much to write about Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton that he hasn’t already said himself. His over-the-top war rhetoric is quickly earning him a reputation as chief warmonger on the planet. He became an online sensation when, in 2006, a letter written by him to the New York Times began making the rounds in … Continue reading “The Bloodthirsty Nativism of Tom Cotton”

John McCain’s crotchety eruption at a group of Code Pink protesters last Thursday, during a Senate hearing convened to allow former Secretaries of State promulgate a theory of interventionism that flatters State power and aligns with his view of government, underscores the dangerous, yet reigning, mindset that looks at any citizen activism undertaken outside officially … Continue reading “Scum! But By What Standard?”

The reaction to the Clint Eastwood film, American Sniper, may, in the long run, be more consequential than the film itself. Immediately after the film received a wide release in the US, praise began pouring in, with Chris Kyle being anointed a hero defending the freedoms of America. Amid the praise, two tweets stood out … Continue reading “The Moore/Rogen Tweets Just Took Our National Temperature”

In response to each terrorist attack or foreign provocation, the depressingly familiar tone of the loudest voices in government and media has noninterventionist activists in despair, wondering just what they are doing wrong when making their case against the rush to war. That tone, the reflexive pro-interventionist agitation for counterattacks and broad military campaigns, is … Continue reading “The Eternal Recurrence of Interventionism”

The images of Heads of State marching at the front of the protests in Paris are enough to trigger one’s gag reflex. Arm in sanctimonious arm, these world "leaders" are seeking to veer the sentiments expressed in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo slaughter in a direction more in tune with the agenda they constantly … Continue reading “Here Comes the Counter-Massacre”