AltWeeklies Wire
We Are All Soviets Now
Sure, all rules are arbitrary. But once you start breaking your own rules, you undermine the basis of legitimacy for the system you’ve created and hope to perpetuate. If we go back to the basis of nationhood – you have a right to exist if you can carve out borders, defend them, and repel invaders – we unwind the world order that has been in place for nearly half a millennium.
Complicated? Nah. Closing Guantánamo Is Easy
There's nothing complicated about it. Guantánamo should be closed.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
05-03-2013 |
Commentary
Children of Mass Murderers Support Groupnew

It’s got to be tough to be the son or daughter of an infamous mass murderer. In every group, however, there’s always a star.
If We Learn Geography, the Terrorists Winnew

Lots of coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings, but the media can’t provide the context or analysis to give it meaning or relevance other than as a random act of cruelty and tragedy.
If We Learn Geography, the Terrorists Have Won
Why do people blow up our embassies, bomb our ships, fly planes into our buildings, (try to) blow up their shoes and their underwear? They do it (partly) because we can't imagine why anyone would do such a thing.
The Chechen Connection
Why might a Chechen resent the United States?
What Makes a Good Editorial Cartoon
A good editorial cartoon should never be fair, balanced, moderate or so evenhanded that it is impossible to tell what the political orientation of the cartoonist is from that cartoon. This rules out a lot of them.
A Twisted Path to Citizenshipnew

Immigration reform: it’s not amnesty, it’s “path to citizenship” – in other words, amnesty plus a lot of bureaucratic BS.
Why Does the Pulitzer Prize Committee Hate “Alternative” Editorial Cartooning?
hese are the kinds of choices that I have seen over the last two decades as a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist. These choices were no worse or better than any other year that I can remember. Just same old, same old. And that’s the problem. And that’s the point.
Death to the Pulitzers
The top award in journalism makes journalists miserable.
Lose Your House, Collect $300
How much will the banks have to pay for the foreclosure scandal? What will people whose homes were stolen — there is no other word — receive? Now we know the details...and they're not pretty.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
04-15-2013 |
Housing & Development
Presidential Tokenism, Part 2
Obama fooled progressives into thinking that an African-American president would be inherently liberal. Now supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton are trying to convince them that a woman president would guarantee hope and change. This time, however, there's a record to look at.
Roger Ebert's Pernicious Influence on American Culturenew

Yes, Virginia, it is possible to draw an intelligent obituary cartoon. But is it possible for it to be printed in a newspaper?
Tags: Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert RIPnew

As usual when a celebrity dies, the passing of Roger Ebert spawned a passel of cheesy obituary cartoons by editorial cartoonists who depict the departed at the pearly gates, enjoying the afterlife. I hate the format and I usually only do them to mock the form or take a really contrarian position on the subject. This time, I've decided to show what the form could be: an opportunity for assessing a life, and its social and political meaning in our culture. Yes, Virginia, it is possible to draw an intelligent obituary cartoon. But is it possible for it to be printed in a newspaper?