The New York Times ran a cover story today detailing a moment during the insurrection in which seven strangers worked together to attack Capitol Police officers. The profile on the insurrectionists, which the paper of record still refers to as Americans involved in a “riot,” as opposed to an attempted coup, is part of a […]
Tag: terrorism
Charged with Terrorism for Speaking Truth to Power
One of my colleagues has been named a terrorist by the Egyptian government. Authoritarian regimes, it turns out, don’t like it when human rights organizations criticize their efforts to quell dissent. For now, my colleague is safe, as he lives in the United States, yet in retaliation, Egypt has jailed and tortured his cousin and […]
The Formation of Paramilitary Forces within the United States
Much has been written about the recent rise of authoritarian power here in the “free world,” but when we live it day-in and day-out, it’s also easy to dismiss these claims as alarmist. That’s fair on some level; we live in a world where every “memetic” moment is driven by some degree of hyperbole, and […]
Five Reasons Americans Prefer a COVID-19 Death
I don’t understand why anyone is surprised that Americans are incapable of following “stay at home” orders. This is the country of “Honey Boo Boo,” anti-vaxxers, Joe Exotic, and Neo-Nazis holding public office. We aren’t exactly the cream of the crop, as countries go, even though we think we are. Here in New Jersey, while […]
Some Thoughts for a Good Friday
The world has become ugly and dark. Terrorist groups slaughter. The wealthy grow wealthier as the poor remain poor. The planet itself is slowly but surely dying off, we’re told. Our most precious resources are grown increasingly scarce. Our best politicians follow the money instead of the heart. And for most of us that’s just […]
A Full Picture, or the time a Moroccan tried to bomb the U.S. Capitol but was in no way representative of Morocco
One of the major goals of the Peace Corps, if not also one of the sole reasons for its existence, is simply to educate folks back home about the countries we live and work in during our two-year tenure. If I had ended up in Peace Corps Eastern Caribbean like I was supposed to, I […]
Some Brief, Not-So-Classified Thoughts
I’ll keep this one even shorter. Yes, Osama bin Laden is dead. People ask me here if I’m happy about this. Most of them are, it seems. I just respond, “I never rejoice when anyone dies.” That’s not a lie. It’s unfortunate that bin Laden is just one more death in a war I wish […]
On Progress and Development
I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to say this, so here it is: regarding recent world events, ranging from the bombing in Marrakesh or the death of Osama bin Laden, I am not at liberty to comment. So, I’ll probably comment. I’d been on the road a lot lately, and when you say “on the […]
saunterings 