(2 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, May 31, 2016
A Brief and Cheery History of an American Future Besides the entrenched power of the rich, powerful and well-armed, there's no reason we can't have the country we want and deserve. Steve Breyman daydreams about what that world might look like, and how it might come about.

(2 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Questions for Hillary Clinton: Trolling the Candidate on the Campaign Trail Hillary Clinton refuses to hold a press conference. Voters and reporters thus need to show up at her campaign events and ask the questions she'd prefer not answer.

(1 comments) SHARE        Friday, February 12, 2016
Paris Climate Summit: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly World leaders gathered in Paris in December to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol. What emerged is not even close to sufficient to prevent global catastrophe. The main culprits? Republicans in the US Senate who deny the scientific consensus about the causes and consequences of global warming. The clock is ticking, time is short. The simple truth: the world must do more faster.

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, December 10, 2015
In and After Paris: A Climate Justice Agenda The Paris climate change agreement will be a disappointment. But that's no reason for climate justice campaigners to despair. Here's what did and didn't happen in Paris, why it matters, and what comes next.

SHARE        Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Baked Alaska: Obama, Climate Change and the Arrogance of Power President Obama's approach to politics led directly to his inadequate climate policies. It's not too late for the president to embrace climate justice, and broker a strong agreement at the climate talks in Paris next month.

(1 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Fracking Fraud: Natural Gas Dodgery Frackers promised lower natural gas and electricity rates. We've yet to see them in any sustained way in Upstate New York.

SHARE        Friday, July 3, 2015
Being David Brooks: Onward, Christian Soldiers David Brooks actually sympathizes with social conservatives bemoaning the SCOTUS decision on gay marriage. He then proposes a new culture war Christian conservatives might wage: on the "dysfunctions" of poor people ground down by corporate capitalism.

SHARE        Tuesday, June 3, 2014
What's Wrong with Cuomo's Energy Plan? NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo's draft Energy Plan fails to face up to the urgent problems of global warming, health effects from air pollution, or the dangers of nuclear power. The Governor misses the opportunity to build a 21st century energy system, create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, innovate green technology, or assist those displaced by a green energy transition. Howie Hawkins and Steve Breyman set him straight.

(5 comments) SHARE        Sunday, June 1, 2014
The New York Times and Obama's Afghanistan Draw Down: Selling the Never-Ending War on Terror Mark Landler of the New York Times failed to ask a single question of his sources in a recent article about President Obama's plans to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by 2016. He also failed to interview a source from a pro-peace (rather than pro-war) perspective. The report did a disservice to Times readers.

(4 comments) SHARE        Saturday, May 3, 2014
Inside the Fanciful World of Stratfor: Robert D. Kaplan's Geopolitical Bunkum Robert D. Klaplan, "chief geopolitical analyst" for Stratfor, is a shill for American Empire. His recent tour of global political hotspots for Time magazine is full of bad history, obvious oversights, and banal observations. Kaplan's bunk matters, nonetheless, for it informs the people who manage American hegemony.

SHARE        Thursday, May 1, 2014
Climate Change Messaging: Avoid the Truth Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger present themselves as contrarian environmentalists. They're "so serious" about fighting climate change that they embrace nuclear power and fracking for natural gas. Perhaps even worse, they advise pulling punches about the connections between climate change and extreme weather in order enroll "conservatives" in the movement. As if that's ever going to happen.

(2 comments) SHARE        Friday, February 14, 2014
Zen Over Zinn: Avoiding Unpleasant Truths with David Brooks New York Times columnist David Brooks is a pseudo-intellectual soft right victim blaming reality dodger. His latest target that can't hit back? The American “precariat.” Steve Breyman cuts through Brooks’ truth avoidance and moralistic rubbish with the real story about the death for many Americans of the American Dream.

SHARE        Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Governance as Sadomasochism: Obama from the IRS to the Associated Press The Obama administration is sadomasochistic. It enjoys the pain inflicted on it by Republicans and the conservative media (see the controversy over the IRS and the Tea Party) so much, that it voluntarily ups the pain (see AG Holder's criminal investigation of the IRS). And it revels in meting out punishment to whistleblowers and civil servants caught doing their jobs.

(3 comments) SHARE        Monday, May 6, 2013
The Elizabeth Colbert Busch Campaign: Tilting at the Wrong Windmill Wouldn't it be great were Elizabeth Colbert Busch to defeat Mark Sanford in the special election for the First District congressional seat in South Carolina? Not really. Steve Breyman explains why a Colbert Busch victory would be a pyrric victory.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, April 29, 2013
Most Dangerous Waste of Your Tax Dollars This Year? The Case of the B61 Nuclear Bomb Believe it or not, the Obama administration is planning yet more new and refurbished nuclear weapons. Among the most dangerous is the B61, a bomb designed decades ago to stop Soviet tank divisions from rampaging across Europe. Since the end of the Cold War, the two hundred B61 bombs stationed on US airbases in NATO Europe have had NO military mission. It's past time to dismantle them.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, April 22, 2013
Obama v. EPA: Constructing His Environmental Legacy Contrary to Margaret Thatcher's claim, alternatives abound. The Green Party is a good place to find a load of them. A Green EPA would confront the polluters, and privilege human and ecosystem health over corporate profits. This is especially clear in the case of Obama's proposed cleanup standards following a nuclear disaster. Think the government will protect you? Think again.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, March 25, 2013
The Mostly Mainstream Foreign Policy of Rand Paul: Washington Can Sleep Easy Guardians of the Washington foreign policy consensus fear Rand Paul, not least for his allegedly isolationist foreign policy. Steve Breyman looks closely at the Rand's policy and fights it mostly moderate and non-threatening to foreign policy elites.

SHARE        Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Why the War on Terror Endures: Spawning Terror Over There The War on Terror spawns further terror. This is very clear from the Global Terrorism Index which reports that in 2011 the world witnessed four times the attacks it did in 2002. Why continue it? Because terrorism's victims today are almost exclusively non-Americans. Preventing their deaths is someone else's problem.

SHARE        Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Crackpot Pragmatism: Richard Cohen and Torture Even after the horrors of the War on Terror, Richard Cohen remains conflicted and confused about torture. Steve Breyman develops the concept of "crackpot pragmatism" to explain how this could be so.

(3 comments) SHARE        Monday, January 28, 2013
The Times Does Gaza (Again): Oh, no you don't, Ismael Haniya The New York Times does not like Hamas or its leaders, including Prime Minister Ismael Haniya. It shows in articles like that about the Malaysian Prime Minister's recent visit. Unsure whether it's a news article, news analysis, or op-ed, the piece is sure about how it feels about Haniya and Hamas.