Thomas Knapp

On November 15, US Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and US Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced one of the shortest bills in the histories of their two parliamentary bodies. Shorn of the obligatory “be it enacted, blah, blah, blah” boilerplate, the bill’s content comes to 14 words: “It is the policy of the United States to … Continue reading “How To Stop a Rogue President From Ordering a Nuclear First Strike”

In 1926, a concurrent resolution of the US Congress held it “fitting that the recurring anniversary of [the armistice which brought World War One to an end] should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations …” In 1938, Congress enshrined November 11 … Continue reading “Veterans Day: ‘Appropriate Homage’”

“It is the sense of Congress,” according to the annual Intelligence Authorization Act now working its way through the US Senate, “that WikiLeaks and the senior leadership of WikiLeaks resemble a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors and should be treated as such a service by the United States.” US Senator Ron … Continue reading “WikiLeaks: Hostile Is as Hostile Does”

“U.S. foreign military bases are the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation.” That’s the unifying claim of the Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases (noforeignbases.org), and it’s true as far as it goes. But as a signer of the Coalition’s endorsement form, I think it’s worth … Continue reading “US Foreign Military Bases Aren’t ‘Defense’”

On July 6, CNN reports, “President Donald Trump chided North Korea for its recent missile tests, saying it is ‘behaving in a very very dangerous manner.’” Particularly motivating Trump’s expression of angst was this week’s test of the Hwasong-14, which the North claims (and the US seems to believe) is “capable of hitting any part … Continue reading “Who’s That You Called Dangerous, President Trump?”

I visited Washington, DC for the first time in 1980. I was 13. Jimmy Carter was the president. My family only had one day to see the sights. As I remember it, we went through what seemed a somewhat sketchy neighborhood (I was a country boy, so it may have just been nerves about The … Continue reading “Mourn on the Fourth of July, 2017”

The New York Times reports that US and/or US-allied forces in Syria may be using white phosphorous munitions in the assault on Raqqa, capital city of the Islamic State in Syria. The use of white phosphorous in war is a perennial complaint among human rights activists. And while it’s valid as far as it goes, … Continue reading “The Problem Isn’t Willie Pete – The Problem Is War Crimes”

In December of 2014, The US Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence issued a report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s “inadequate and deeply flawed” interrogation techniques, concluding that those practices were “not effective” and that they were “far more brutal” than the public – or Congress – had been led to believe. The document is commonly … Continue reading “CIA Torture Report: Where’s Our Next Heroic Whistleblower?”

This weekend, Americans will seize the opportunity to sleep in an extra day, fire up the family grill, and maybe – probably not, but maybe – wheel out to a family cemetery, lay flowers on graves, and contemplate the memories of their beloved for a few minutes. Veterans’ organizations will parade in celebration of their … Continue reading “This Memorial Day, Remember the Victims of Democide”

According to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department, the nation’s capital reported 135 homicides last year. One of those homicides, the killing of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich on July 10, 2016, continues to make news ten months later. Who killed Seth Rich, and why? We may never know for sure. On the … Continue reading “Seth Rich, the DNC, and WikiLeaks: The Plot Thickens”