Monday, May 2, 2011 Emmanuel Goldstein’s Dark Victory In related news, Francisco Franco is still dead, too. Whether Osama bin Laden departed the mortal realm for an unpleasant eternity years ago — as sober and serious people have reported — or last week in a firefight suitable for a sweeps week episode of NCIS, this […]

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 The Lethal Illusion Called “Authority” Killer on the loose: Ian Birk, seconds before he gunned down John T. Williams. “Why did you shoot that man? He didn’t do anything!” The question was wrenched from a woman who had watched in horror as Police Officer Ian Birk pumped four shots into the […]

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 The World’s Largest Street Gang   Sure, the “3,000 Boys” are a group of tattooed thugs from Los Angeles who spend a lot of time in jail, share cryptic hand signs, have a cultivated sensitivity to being “dissed,” routinely beat up people at parties and instigate fights in bars — but […]

Thursday, May 19, 2011 The Authentic Cruelty of a Synthetic Man Yes, I’m willing to see you suffer, and throw you in prison — but don’t expect me to admit it. Mitt Romney, a polymer-based life form of nearly limitless pliability, is as long on cash as he is short on genuine convictions. For the […]

Friday, May 13, 2011 “Why Did Police Kill My Dad?” Jose Guerena’s murders lock down the scene of their crime. “Mom, was my dad a bad guy?” four-year-old Joel Guerena plaintively asked his mother Vanessa after her husband, 26-year-old Jose, was killed in a withering barrage of gunfire during a SWAT invasion of their home. […]

Monday, May 23, 2011 Death Squad Damage Control in Tucson (UPDATED with video, May 26) Victims of an American death squad: Ex-Marine murder victim Jose Guerena with his wife and sons. …no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons […]

Friday, May 27, 2011 “What Were You Guys Thinking? Why Did You Kill Him?” “Why, why did you kill him?” a traumatized Vanessa Guerena begged to know as she was interrogated in a makeshift “command center” by detectives from the same Sheriff’s Office that had just slaughtered her husband Jose. Her questioners, eager to exploit […]

Thursday, June 2, 2011 He Didn’t Say “Infidels”: Homeland Security Theater, Continued The word has a very distinct connotation. There’s nothing else that quite captures it…. Give me one word that captures the same image. One word. You name it, and I will use it. — Defense attorney Robin Weathers arguing for the admissibility of […]

Monday, June 13, 2011 “You Can No Longer Think of Yourselves as Peace Officers”: Militarizing “Lockdown High”  It was Friday the 13th, and Skylar Walters thought he was going to die.  The 16-year-old inmate of Orangeville Jr.-Sr. High in Illinois was in gym class when a deranged-looking man barged into the school and began firing […]

Sunday, June 19, 2011 When the State Breaks a Man “How much does the State weigh?” Josef Stalin asked an underling who had been ordered to extract a confession from an enemy of his regime. Stalin understood that, given enough time, agents of State-sanctioned cruelty can break any man. Thomas J. Ball, who committed suicide […]