Author: nick

[ad_1] Fay Williams. A Recollection of Fay Williams in Indianapolis in 1974 and Some Lessons She Taught 2026 is the sixty-second year since Civil Rights Summer, that remarkable upsurge of practical action intended to break the grip of the political oligarchy that had ruled the states of the old Confederacy through terror and violence since the end of Reconstruction.   Its objective in 1964 was to empower the African American community in the South by reinvigorating the right to vote.  Many people braved brutal reactionary violence in 1964 and 1965 to restore voting as the most basic American right.  Their political…

[ad_1] Arizona criminal harassment law provides, in relevant part: A person commits harassment [a class 1 misdemeanor] if the person knowingly and repeatedly commits an act or acts that harass another person or the person knowingly … [c]ontacts or causes a communication with another person by verbal, electronic, mechanical, telegraphic, telephonic or written means…. “[H]arass” means conduct [excluding] a {lawful demonstration, assembly or picketing} [1] that is directed at a specific person and [2] that would cause a reasonable person to be seriously alarmed, annoyed, humiliated or mentally distressed and [3] the conduct in fact seriously alarms, annoys, humiliates or…

[ad_1] In Minnesota, Anthony Stephen Israelson was found guilty of two misdemeanors for driving a school bus drunk. The case stemmed from a 2024 incident when he drove a school bus containing more than a dozen children, between kindergarten and 10th grade, with a blood alcohol level of 0.161, more than four times the legal limit for commercial drivers. Israelson was sentenced to 364 days in jail on each count, with all but one day suspended. He must also complete two years of supervised probation and will be subject to random drug and alcohol tests. The post Brickbat: Who's Gonna…

[ad_1] The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States guarantees the right to free speech. This right has long differentiated the United States from other Western nations like the United Kingdom and Canada where laws against so-called “hate speech” laws exist and are enforced. Thankfully, America is different. In our country, even alleged hate speech is protected speech to ensure democratic principles and debate. In a 1929 dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that the Constitution secured “freedom for the thought that we hate.” In 2011, Chief Justice John Roberts…

[ad_1] Photograph Source: U.S. Air Force – Public Domain Sixty years ago, opposition to America’s war in Vietnam, a major attack concerned the costs of diverting U.S. resources away from social spending to the military, what was called Guns and Butter. I was the junior member of the Columbia University triumvirate headed by Seymour Melman and Terence McCarthy. We lectured widely, wrote in magazines such as Ramparts and newspapers. The New York Tribune still existed as an alternative to The New York Times, and regularly published our critiques in its interviews and on its editorial pages. Those mid-1960s were the…

[ad_1] Today’s guest is the legendary actor and director Andy Serkis, who has played everyone from Gollum to proto-punk icon Ian Dury to King Kong to Marvel villain Ulysses Klaue. His latest project is a controversial animated adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which he directed and is out on May 1 from Angel Studios. He talks with Nick Gillespie about the new movie; what, if anything, ties together some of his signature roles; and whether technology advances or undermines art. 0:00—Why Serkis wanted to direct Animal Farm 4:30—The corrupting nature of power 7:35—Are we in a better place than…

[ad_1] The fastest-growing branch of Al Qaeda today is in West Africa. Earlier this week, former rock star Iyad Ag Ghali and his followers, known as JNIM, launched a massive uprising in the African nation of Mali, capturing several cities, killing Defense Minister Sadio Camara, and threatening Bamako, the capital. This lightning offensive by Al Qaeda had an unlikely source of support: Ukrainian-trained drone pilots. For at least two years, Ukrainian spies have been supporting Azawad, an unrecognized ethnic Tuareg secessionist state, in its fight against the Malian government, which is backed by Russian troops. This week, the Azawad Liberation…

[ad_1] Just when sensible people might conclude that American or European members of Ukraine’s sycophantic fan club cannot become even more detached from reality, a prominent member of the club proves the opposite.  This time, it is conservative pundit David French, who wins the prize in his April 26, 2026, New York Times column, “Meet the New Leader of the Free World.”   That leader is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. French contends that “A remarkable thing has happened on the world’s battlefields. Ukraine – a nation that was supposed to dissolve within days of a Russian invasion – has fought Russia…

[ad_1] David Morens, a former top advisor to COVID Czar Tony Fauci was indicted this week and “charged with conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting,” according to the Justice Department press release. Morens allegedly helped top federal health officials cover up the potential role of federal grants in spurring the COVID pandemic. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires federal agencies to preserve and disclose federal records with some narrow exceptions. In early 2021, Morens emailed a colleague, “I learned from our…

[ad_1] May 1, 2026 Becky Grant CounterPunch surpassed 2.7 million readers in 2025 — a milestone we could not have reached without the support of our readers. The website has seen a steady uptick in readership since Jeffrey St. Clair, our long-time editor-in-chief, first built it about 25 years ago. That steady growth has come with an equal increase in the cost to maintain the site. Our financial supporters — donors, subscribers, or both — are doing heavy lifting. Each of our 6,663 supporters carries the weight of 405 readers who don’t contribute. If we could double that number of…