War Is Hell. Why Are We Waging an Endless One?

Saturday, August 03, 2019 [War Is Hell. Why Are We Waging an Endless One?]( William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Friday marked the 29th anniversary of Operation Desert Shield, the military action that heralded the onset of the Gulf War in Iraq. That conflict, shifting from one iteration to the next, never ended, and was joined by our ongoing war in Afghanistan 17 years ago. The cost to all involved has been incalculable. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Reimagining Justice for Immigrant Survivors Through VAWA]( Monica E. Ahmad-Yee, Truthout While the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) places an emphasis on abuses in an intimate partner setting, it carries an implicit recognition of the potential imbalance of power in mixed-status interactions. By centering the personhood and emergence of survivors, VAWA's immigration provisions are a remarkable invitation to imagine transformative justice. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Rejecting Politics of Fear, Marginalized Puerto Ricans Led the Uprising]( Oscar Oliver-Didier, Truthout The uprising in Puerto Rico was unprecedented in its creation of a new visual language of protest based on those same marginalized groups of Puerto Ricans historically oppressed and reviled by a heteronormative and elitist colonial culture. The creative and performative nature of the uprising helped sustain its momentum and is now being used to call for a more radical transformation of Puerto Rico's political, economic and cultural framework. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- With your support, Truthout can expose the powerful forces threatening the country and the planet. [Donate Now →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Indigenous Groups Applaud Return of Grizzly Bear to Endangered Species List]( Julia Conley, Common Dreams Native tribes and their supporters on Friday defended their push for the continued inclusion of the grizzly bear of Yellowstone National Park on the endangered species list. The bear was officially returned to the list created by the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday, nearly a year after a federal judge found that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority when it attempted to remove the species. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [How Trump's Political Appointees Overruled Tougher Settlements With Big Banks]( Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica Since Donald Trump's election, federal white-collar enforcement has taken a big hit. Fines and settlements against corporations have plummeted. Prosecutions of individuals are falling to record lows. Two settlements with giant banks over financial crisis-era misdeeds provide a window into how the Trump administration has eased up on corporate wrongdoers. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [We Need Independently Run Presidential Debates]( Julie Hollar, FAIR With its ESPN-like introductions to the candidates, and its insistence on questions that pit candidates against each other, CNN took an approach to the debates more befitting a football game than an exercise in democracy. But worse than the entirely unhelpful format was the heavy reliance on right-wing assumptions and talking points to frame the questions. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [The Fight for a Green New Deal Can Start With Your Union Contract]( Jared Odessky, In These Times News coverage of the Green New Deal portrays organized labor as a major obstacle to its enactment. But recent polls suggest union members overwhelmingly favor the proposed reforms. Despite the political stalemate in Washington, labor leaders have an immediate way to translate member support for the Green New Deal into tangible wins: bargaining green union contracts. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [As the Far Right Goes Global, So Do Anti-BDS Bills]( Rachel Hodes, Foreign Policy in Focus An increasingly global campaign to tar the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement as "anti-Semitic" comes as Israel's staunchest global defenders are increasingly anti-Semites themselves. For example, in May, Germany's government passed an anti-BDS resolution. The far-right party Alternative for Germany, whose sympathy for the Nazi party has led to its denunciation by German Jewish leaders, proposed the strictest version of the bill. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In Case You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [The U.S.'s Immigration Crackdown Began Decades Ago Under Clinton]( Michelle Chen, Truthout The inhumanity we are witnessing at the southern border, the spikes in ICE raids, the deportations -- these are all continuations of policies established under the Clinton administration, taken to unprecedented levels of cruelty under Trump. To dismantle the current anti-immigrant dragnet, we must begin by repealing the 1996 laws that criminalized immigration and facilitated racial profiling, while simultaneously restricting judicial discretion on deportation waivers. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [When Trump Calls People "Filth," He's Laying Groundwork for Genocide]( Nicholas Powers, Truthout Mass killing does not happen instantly. It needs the sort of ideological groundwork that Trump is laying down with the cooperation of the Republican party and right-wing media. From his rhetoric of "filth" about immigrants to his dehumanization of non-white people, Trump is reviving the ideology of genocide upon which this country was founded. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Like what you're reading? Support Truthout's independent news and analysis by making an automatic monthly donation. [Donate Now →]( Connect With Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Donate]( Truthout is a reader-supported, nonprofit organization; donations are tax-deductible. Truthout is a proud member of the Newspaper Guild/CWA, Local 36047. Please add messenger@truthout.org to ensure you receive our messages. [Subscribe]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy](