Author: nick
Throughout his nascent tenure, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has positioned himself as a champion of Big Apple small businesses. Just two weeks onto the job, he declared: “You cannot tell the story of New York without our small businesses.” He went on to decry costly city regulations that have “long made it too hard for these same businesses to open their doors.” Perhaps on account of his love for food, Mamdani has shown particular adoration for NYC’s network of independently owned bodegas: “I can’t imagine New York City without bodegas. They represent our hustle and entrepreneurial spirit.” But so far,…
We are the Joke – by Mr. Fish The retreat into satirical attacks on Trump and his supporters fuels the solidification of fascism. Chris Hedges The buffoons who orchestrate fascism, with its quack science, idiocy, penchant for violence and grotesque hypermasculinity, are ripe for satire. It is easy, as late-night comics do — and as the cabarets did for the Nazis in Berlin — to pillory the goons, misfits and mediocrities who hold power and spew fascist bile. But this form of satire blinds opponents to its destructive power and murderous core. It ignores the real centers of power.…
After years of lawsuits against agrichemical companies and battles over environmental regulations, the nation’s highest court is expected to rule this summer on a case that could significantly alter the pesticide industry. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on whether lawsuits can be brought against pesticide and herbicide makers over claims their products have caused cancer. The court heard arguments in the case in April, and the justices appeared split. With a ruling weeks away, here are five things to know about the topic of pesticide use and cancer. 1. Geographic correlation between heavy pesticide use…
July 4, 2026, is the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence. It seems like a moment for this nation’s civic and educational institutions to celebrate. But I detect a certain ambivalence and uncertainty about how to mark the occasion. At a time when the American political system is under great strain and the future of democracy is up for grabs, this 4th of July should be a time to recommit to the American project envisioned at the founding of this country. That project was to establish a nation committed to the principle that “all men are created equal.”…
Frank Church / River of No Return Wilderness. Photo: Great Old Broads for Wilderness. After a year of secret, behind-closed-door negotiations, the U.S. Forest Service recently authorized massive amounts of gas-powered chainsaw use in the largest contiguous Wilderness in the Lower 48 with no opportunities for public comment, no environmental review, and no regard for federal laws, including the Wilderness Act. Incredibly, the chainsaws in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness will not be fired up by Forest Service personnel, but by private commercial outfitters and guides. Making matters worse, based on internal Forest Service documents Wilderness Watch obtained through the…
Trump signs the MOU on Iran at Versailles. Screengrab from video posted to X. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 19 times …” What are we even talking about?! Why are we swallowing one bit of the “peace deal” allegedly negotiated between the U.S. and Iran? Have we lost our minds? We are a year-and-a-half into Second Empire Trump, and we haven’t figured out yet that every word out of his mouth is a lie or a manipulation? Every action a distraction or deception, or even pure fiction? When are we going to realize that Trump is the…
Destruction of the East Wing of the White House on Oct. 21, 2025. (Photo from White House employee obtained by The Washington Post. Public Domain.) The American taxpayer has become the cleanup crew for the American Police State. We pay for the constitutional violations. We pay for the wars. We pay for the lawsuits, the settlements, the cover-ups, the damage control, the reconstruction, the overreach, the incompetence and the corruption. And when government officials are finally called to account for their misconduct, we pay for that, too. That is the dirty little secret of government accountability in America: even when…
Image by Unsplash. There’s no denying America’s Black community is at an impasse. Black Americans are upset with every branch of our government for a plethora of reasons. Like others, I have, and continue to develop, personal qualms with the weaponization of our legal system throughout history. Currently, my boiling “Black-owned” anger, and continuously-sinking disenfranchisement with the country stems from the double-standards that our government seems to institute in every situation related to a darker-colored individual, like myself. Karmelo Anthony was found guilty of murder on Tuesday, June 9, under a Texas jury, and his sentence is 35 years. It’s…
In July, 2012, my two favorite public intellectuals, Alexander Cockburn and Gore Vidal, died within 10 days of each other. Despite their origins on different continents – Cockburn hailed from Ireland, while Vidal was born in the United States – they nevertheless shared certain common features aside from their Anglo-Irish ancestry: formidable erudition, superb writing, acerbic wit and a wonderful sense of humor. These last two qualities in particular were what made them a joy to read, to see on television or hear on the radio and to encounter in person. I should begin by describing what I mean by…
Ruins of an apartment building in Beirut after a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, backed by the US in early April. Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0 “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” – 1 Samuel 15:3 “’Remember what Amalek did to you’ (Deuteronomy 25:17). We remember and we fight.” – Benjamin Netanyahu “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” – Donald J. Trump On his 80th birthday, as if it…