Snowden’s Legal Counsel: Forget About Orwell, Worry About Kafka
The ACLU's Ben Wizner discusses his growing concern with our surveillance state, what could happen if NSA programs aren't rolled back and the deep impact of Edward Snowden’s revelations. Continue...
View ArticleWhen Euphemism Disguises Truth: George Orwell’s Foresight
In light of the CIA torture report, it's the perfect time to read Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language." Continue reading The post When Euphemism Disguises Truth: George Orwell’s...
View ArticleTrump’s Second Gilded Age: Overcoming the Rule of Billionaires and Militarists
This post was first published on CounterPunch. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump made it clear that he liked the uneducated and that once he assumed the presidency, he would appoint a...
View ArticleGeorge Orwell and the Power of a Well-Placed Lie
Last week, I reached for my Philip Roth ― his splendid novel, The Plot Against America. This week, I reached for my George Orwell. In 1946, as Europe was digging out from the ruin of World War II ― a...
View ArticleRevisiting Orwell’s ‘1984’ in Trump’s America
In a strange but revealing way, popular culture and politics intersected soon after Trump first assumed the presidency of the United States. On the side of popular culture, George Orwell’s dystopian...
View ArticleOur President Is Up to No Good
Earlier today President Trump let fly a stunning poisoned-tip tweet: Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is...
View ArticleThe Management of Unleashed Insanity
Richard Nixon lied about wars and cover-ups, but otherwise his evasions and spins were in the mainstream of American political discourse. He was not in the regular practice of calling black white. By...
View ArticleGeorge Orwell on Sean Spicer
The Trumps’ nine-day journey outside the United States was “incredible, historic…because it truly was an extraordinary week.” It was “unprecedented.” “We’ve never seen before at this point in a...
View ArticleImportant Lessons From Orwell and Churchill for Resisting Authoritarian Rule...
Donald Trump’s reactionary presidency and Silicon Valley’s spying on online users is pushing the nation and world in dangerous directions comparable to past eras, where authoritarian rule and...
View ArticleFor Trump, Words Are Stupid Things
In Britain late last week, Conservative Member of Parliament Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill, described Donald Trump as a “daft twerp.” Not quite the soaring rhetoric of his illustrious...
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