Politics and Leadership (2014)

© 2016 Peter Free

 

Seeing Democracy as a Defense against Torture and Unnecessary War Is Naive — A Comment about Henry Giroux’s “Radical Democracy” (19 December 2014)

 

 

Depressing Decades Culminate with the Torture Report — Stephan Richter and Patrick L. Smith Draw the Only Historically Reasonable Conclusion (18 December 2014)

 

 

American and NATO Propaganda in Regard to Russian Aerial Probing — Has Deadly Potential to Bite Us Later (16 December 2014)

 

 

The Torture Report Has Motivated a Few Insights — Take William Rivers Pitts — on Our Shared Ability to Nourish the Paranoia of American Cowardice (12 December 2014)

 

 

Andrew Bacevich’s Recent Few Paragraphs about Torture Summarize What Needs to Be Said — about the American Republic’s Decline into Fomenting Perpetual War (11 December 2014)

 

 

When We Torture, We Stoop into Weakness — Effective Torture Is beside the Point — an Example Demonstrating Why, Using Saddam Hussein as a Hypothetical (10 December 2014)

 

 

American Foreign Policy Is Not What it Seems — Mike Whitney’s Take — and Mine (02 December 2014)

 

 

Budgeting the Military Industrial Complex and Other Juxtapositionally Humorous Indications of Our Anti-Strategic Stupidity (24 November 2014)

 

 

Alexander Nekrassov Writes Appealingly Dry Columns about the Varied Idiocies of Our Age — The Former Kremlin Adviser Is Worth a Read for those Bored by the American Media’s Blanket Ignorance(20 November 2014)

 

 

Professor Jonathan Gruber Said Something True about Voting Stupidity — and the Lack of Government Transparency that Fosters and Takes Advantage of It — Now, Democrats Are Trying to Pretend that Deception in Writing the Affordable Care Act Never Crossed their Minds (17 November 2014)

 

 

Another Go Round between the Two Camps of Self-Promoting Narcissists in Washington DC — Immigration Reform — the Mechanics of Intentionally Never Getting Anything Constructive Done (15 November 2014)

 

 

When Your Adversary Sees You More Clearly than You Perceive Yourself, Can Trouble Be Far behind? — A Surprisingly Accurate Chinese Perspective on the United States (07 November 2014)

 

 

Jeb Lund Wrote Some Insightful Words about the 2014 Mid-Terms — regarding the Democratic Party’s Puke-Prompting Wimps (06 November 2014)

 

 

The 2014 American Mid-Term Election Result Probably Justified Oligarchs’ Feelings of Superiority (05 November 2014)

 

 

A Meaningless 2014 Election — Comprised of Competing Narcissist Clones — Governor Chris Christies Cynically Theatrical Photo Op — and Americas Continuing Aversion to Dealing with Anything that Actually Matters (30 October 2014)

 

 

Max Boot’s Article about “More Small Wars” — Is a Good Overview of What Needs to Change — It Can Be Summarized in Just One Phrase (27 October 2014)

 

 

Detroit’s Water Shutoffs to the Poor Have Caught the United Nations’ Attention (22 October 2014)

 

After Screwing the Middle East Up — for Seemingly Ever — the United States Is Now Provoking NATO Ally, Turkey (20 October 2014)

 

 

Secretary of State John Kerry’s Unfortunately Ridiculous Strategic Justification — for Letting the Syrian City of Kobane Potentially Fall to ISIL — When We Act Brain Dead, it Would Be Better to Hide (Not Trumpet) the Fact (09 October 2014)

 

 

American Bumbling in the Middle East Illustrates Andrew Bacevich’s Washington Rules at Play — Plus a Psychological Explanation for Our Self-Destruction from Paul Verhaeghe (06 October 2014)

 

 

Agriculture Has Increased Its Overwhelmingly Medically Unnecessary Use of Antibiotics by 16 Percent — during an Era that Supposedly Was Trying to Corral Escalating Antibiotic Resistance (04 October 2014)

 

 

Dallas Is Not Looking Medically Competent — America’s Probably Indicative Screw Up with Ebola — even after Lots of Advance Warning (03 October 2014)

 

 

Imran Khan’s Comment about the Non-Existence of a Group that Calls itself Khorasan — American Lemmings Off to War (02 October 2014)

 

 

Welcome to the Autocracy — Implies FBI Director James B. Comey (29 September 2014)

 

 

Three Smoking Paragraphs from Retired Colonel Douglas MacGregor PhD — an Example of Superbly Pointed Writing — regarding American Anti-ISIL Military Action in Iraq and Syria (25 September 2014)

 

 

The President’s Casual Disrespect for Other People’s Sacrifices May Have Slipped through with His Latte Salute — or Not (24 September 2014)

 

 

Confirmation from the New England Journal of Medicine — as Things Stand, Ebola Is on Its Way to Endemicity in Africa (23 September 2014)

 

 

The United States Is Finally Trying to Regain Its Abandoned Human Spacefaring Capability — but Why Did NASA’s “CCtCap” Contract Give (Proven) SpaceX — Substantially Less Money than (Unproven) Boeing? (22 September 2014)

 

 

Questionable Risk Analysis by the Obama Administration — Prioritized but Unworkable Strategy against the Islamic State — versus — Under Reaction to the West African Ebola Epidemic (19 September 2014)

 

 

Ian Millhiser’s Observation — about Georgia’s Eagerness to Arm Criminals — Is a Good Metaphor for Americas Accelerating Slide into Sheer Lunacy (26 August 2014)

 

 

White Denial and Apathy Constitute Racism — an Illustration of Ethically Rotten Culture Taken from Michael Brown’s Apparent Murder at Police Hands in Ferguson, Missouri (20 August 2014)

 

 

Matthew Hoh’s Illumination of the Lie that Constituted American Involvement in Afghanistan — U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene’s Symbolizing Death by Insider Attack (15 August 2014)

 

 

Alex Kane’s and Chris Hedges’ Cautionary Perspectives on Gaza Can Be Understood More Universally — Both Are about the Global Trivialization of Evil for Profit (14 August 2014)

 

 

William Rivers Pitt’s Assessment of President Obama’s Excuse for America’s Torture Program Parallels My Own — Cowardly Platitudes (09 August 2014)

 

 

Leonid Bershidsky’s Observation — that Leaders of the Developing World Emulate President Putin’s Authoritarian Ways — Is Insightful — as Is His Comment that American Hypocrisy Has Itself to Blame(06 August 2014)

 

 

Three Eloquently Cogent Antidotes to Americas Self-Defeating Support of Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza(05 August 2014)

 

 

Political Liberal Christopher Ketcham’s Essay in Favor of Bearing Arms — Is a Thoughtfully Core Defense of the Second Amendment (01 August 2014)

 

 

Comrade President Putin apparently Shot Himself in the Behind by Supporting Separatists in Ukraine — After Those Cretins Evidently Shot Down a Malaysian Airliner — so Much for Putin’s Visions of Adroitly Conducted Russian Expansionism (19 July 2014)

 

 

Does Self Loathing Explain Why Poor and Middle Class Americans Vote against their Interests? — Edwin Lyngar’s Autobiographical Essay Implies So (16 July 2014)

 

 

A Surprisingly Good Editorial about Foreign Policy from Senator Rand Paul — In this Instance, Usually Unworkable Libertarian Philosophy Gets It Right (15 July 2014)

 

 

Consider the Broad Cultural Significance of Kentucky Republican State Senator Brandon Smith’s Cartoonish Comments about Mars and Earth (10 July 2014)

 

 

Speaking of Monkey Brains — a Map of Influential American Fools from ThinkProgress — and Some Surprising Numbers from CJ Werlman about the Prevalence of Idiocy in US Culture (03 July 2014)

 

 

Ecologist Enric Sala’s Portrayal of His Awakening regarding Global Warming — Illustrates Why We Are Not Going to Do anything Effective to Ameliorate It (03 July 2014)

 

 

Dick Cheney and John McCain Illustrate the Brain Block Conundrum — Namely, “We Could Not Possibly Be Wrong, so You Have to Be — No Matter What Reality Says” — A Good Illustration of Why Experience Is Wasted on Human Beings (18 June 2014)

 

 

Ron Fournier’s Paragraph about President Obama’s Failed Leadership Puts the Commander in Chief into Early Historical Perspective (10 June 2014)

 

 

The Obama Administration Remains Silent over Egypt’s Tyrannical Imprisonment of Three Al Jazeera Journalists — Business as Usual for America’s Pet Totalitarian Regimes (09 June 2014)

 

 

On this 2014 Commemoration of D Day — It Should Be Obvious that General Shinseki’s Resignation Alone Will Not Fix Veterans Affairs — So What Is Our Self-Involved Commander in Chief Going to Do about It? (06 June 2014)

 

 

The American Judiciary already Has More than Its Share of Ideologically Driven and Unrealistic Fools — Let’s Not Add Michael Boggs (05 June 2014)

 

 

A Nation of Sheep Tolerates Its Liar in Chief — American Combat Troops Are Going to Stay in Afghanistan because It Pleases the Military Industrial Complex (01 June 2014)

 

 

The Increasing Hold of Capital on Wealth Is so Obvious that Criticisms of Thomas Piketty’s Bad Math in Proving the Proposition Are the Moral Equivalent of Laughable (30 May 2014)

 

 

Memorial Day 2014 — A Continuing Failure of Leadership regarding Caring for Our Military Veterans(26 May 2014)

 

 

Time to Boot Eric Shinseki from the Veterans Administration — It Is Way too Late for Him to Say that He Did Not Know about VA Appointment Backlogs and Cover Ups (19 May 2014)

 

 

Liberal Commentator Thom Hartmann Noticed Something Subtle about American Politics — which Explains Excessive Partisanship’s Nation-Wrecking Qualities (16 May 2014)

 

 

America’s Irresolute Abandonment of Its Space Shuttle Program — Deservedly Came Back to Haunt Us during the Ukraine Dustup (15 May 2014)

 

 

Senator Marco Rubio Demonstrated How Partisanship Trumps the Ability to Make Intelligent Points Hidden in One’s Theme — Is This a Sign of Stupidity or Intellectual Laziness? (12 May 2014)

 

 

A Paragraph by C J Werleman — Illustrates How to Make a Point before Losing Audience Attention (09 May 2014)

 

 

The Globalist’s Stephan Richter Captured the Silliness of American Foreign Policy — in Two Essays about the Ukrainian Situation — It May Be Impossible to Be too Cynical about the Money Driven Stupidity of US Leadership (07 May 2014)

 

 

President Obama’s Initiation of a New Cold War —  Paradoxically Aggravates Problems for the Russian Periphery Nations (05 May 2014)

 

 

A Pummeling Paragraph from Renee Parsons Sums the Obama Administration (01 May 2014)

 

 

Propping Regimes that Finance Anti-American Terrorism Works to the Military Industrial Complex’s Advantage — another Manifestation of Manipulative Corporatism (30 April 2014)

 

 

What Happens to Democracy when Nobody Cares enough to Preserve Its Efficacy? — The Triumph of the Greedy Minority Is Probably Inevitable (16 April 2014)

 

 

Economist Ha-Joon Chang Made Some True Statements about Economics — which Consistently Escape Most Economists and Politicians (11 April 2014)

 

 

An Angry Column from Andre Vltchek Attacks Western Hypocrisy in Regard to Ukraine — by Pointing to the Indefensible Things the West Has Done around the World — If You Can Get Past His Enraged Presentation, Much of What He Says Is True (03 April 2014)

 

 

The Associated Press Reported that No Air Force Generals Were Punished for Proficiency Test Cheating in Three Missile Squadrons —the Message Being that Air Force Generals Are Responsible for Nothing and Accountable for Nothing (28 March 2014)

 

 

The Commander in Chief’s Unskillful and Crisis Escalating Trash Talk about Russia Continues — Donald Rumsfeld’s Critique of the Administration’s Too Public Foreign Policy Was Exactly on Point (26 March 2014)

 

 

The Out of Context Quoting of Donald Rumsfeld’s “Trained Ape” Comment — regarding the Obama Administration’s Undiplomatic Handling of Afghanistan President Karzai — Perfectly Demonstrates Robert Reich’s Hypothesis about Destructive American Tribalism — and Probably Equally Well Illustrates Chris Cilizza’s Observation that Americans Historically Have only Read Headlines — Ignorance’s Debilitating Brew Served Hot (25 March 2014)

 

 

US and European Reactions to the Crimean Situation Are Poorly Thought Out — and May Be Pushing Russia into another Territorial Expansion (21 March 2014)

 

 

Senator Dianne Feinstein Got a Taste of Her Spying Prescription for the Rest of America — and She Doesn’t Like It — Funny How that Works with Power-Hungry Narcissists and Vegetatively-Dead Legislators (12 March 2014)

 

 

Genius of Right Wing Brainlessness Can Nowhere Be Better Summarized than in US Representative Paul Ryan’s Statement about a Boy and a Free School Lunch — I Make a Point that Goes beyond that Made by the Rest of the Media (11 March 2014)

 

 

Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley Teed off on the American Judiciary — in His “Constitutional Tipping Point” — Separation of Powers — Testimony to Congress (08 March 2014)

 

 

Comrade Putin’s Revenge? — A 2013 WIN/Gallup International Global Poll Showed that the US Is Internationally Seen as the Biggest Threat to Peace — and Nicolas J. S. Davies’ Essay — 35 Countries Where the U.S. Has Supported Fascists, Drug Lords and Terrorists — Gives the Polled Perspective Credence (06 March 2014)

 

 

Short Sighted American and European Tactics regarding Russia in Crimea May Backfire (03 March 2014)

 

 

American Trash Talk — against Russia’s Military Movements in Crimean Ukraine — Demonstrates again that Drawing Lines Is Foolishly Provocative — when We Cannot Effectively Back Our Threats Up (01 March 2014)

 

 

Moral Hypothetical — Is It Better to Trash School Lunches — or Continue to Give them to Poor School Kids — Whose Families Are behind in Paying? (03 February 2014)

 

 

When You Cannot Be Genuinely Decent in Your Own Right — Point to Someone Who Is and Implicitly and Vicariously Claim His Courage and Fortitude as Your Own — President Obama’s Cynical Use of Maimed Army Ranger Sergeant Cory Remsburg — as an Applause Prop at the 2014 State of the Union Speech (29 January 2014)

 

Finally — the Republican Party’s National Committee Passed a Resolution — Calling on the NSA to Stop Mass Surveillance of Citizen Communications (24 January 2014)

 

 

It Is Occasionally a Bad Idea to Irritate a Smart Guy — as David Brooks Will Have Discovered — in Arguing that Orders of Magnitude of Socio-Economic Inequality Are Not a Real Problem — Robert Reich’s Perfect One-Liner in Response (19 January 2014)

 

 

Absurd Twists of Modern American Life — 5,893 Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks Found in the District of Columbia — and a Comparative Risk Imagining that May Come True (16 January 2014)

 

 

Israel’s Penchant for Self-Isolating Provocations — Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s Diplomatically Outrageous Comments about America’s Secretary of State, John Kerry (14 January 2014)

 

 

Benjamin Wallace Wells at New York Magazine — and Dana Milbank at the Washington Post — Got Governor Chris Christie for Something that Actually Matters — and It Is Not the Bridge Lane Closures(13 January 2014)

 

 

A Super Big Deal for a Few Minutes in American Politics — then Predictably Completely Forgotten — for Example Governor Chris Christie’s Allegedly Politically Directed Bridge Slow Down Payback to Fort Lee, New Jersey’s Mayor — and a Comment on Leadership (09 January 2014)

 

 

George Will’s Book Review regarding Ilya Somin’s Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter — Is a Seemingly Persuasive Argument — until You Look Back at the Historical Record (02 January 2014)