When you name a bill after James Mountain Inhofe… The 2023 NDAA

So what’s in this 787-page compilation? Most famously, a reversal on the mandate for the COVID vaccine, though none of the other dozens of vaccines required by the military are mentioned, and a pay bump for military personnel of 4.6. Also making  headlines was this, 150+ years too late: “The President is authorized to appoint Ulysses S. Grant posthumously to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States.”

The U.S. Military and White Supremacy: A History

For MLTF and the communities we serve, we need to contend with an institution suffused in the rhetoric of “diversity and inclusion,” but struggling to honestly confront what that might mean.

As Russia Invades Ukraine, Let’s Follow Our Best Instincts, Not Our Worst

As European war begins, Chris Lombardi reflects on the role and power of regional and global anti-war movements By Chris Lombardi Over the past few weeks, with clouds of a Russian invasion of Ukraine gathering on the horizon, thw world’s anti-war organizations settled firmly in their ongoing positions; World Beyond War and Code Pink warnedContinue reading “As Russia Invades Ukraine, Let’s Follow Our Best Instincts, Not Our Worst”

“Make the treaty, Sir! . . . I know your country. I know all classes of people there. They want peace, Sir. They pant for it.”

Make the treaty, Sir! . . . I know your country. I know all classes of people there. They want peace, Sir. They pant for it. … Instructions or no instructions, you are bound to do it.”

On Reality Winner

Last night’s 60 Minutes segment hit all the notes: Winner’s service, her awards, even her moral injury; ” I was starting to see in the news that our mission had a very high civilian casualty rating,” she told Scott Pelley. Winner was honest about what imprisonment did to her and clear about why she brokeContinue reading “On Reality Winner”

So many books, making amends

When I ask a publisher for a book, I always intend to write about it soon, and/or interview its author. And sometimes I do; authors from John Sayles to Joshua Phillips have given me the opportunity write about and promote their books. The moment that book comes in the mail is still exciting for theContinue reading “So many books, making amends”

“The delicacy and fragility of life hit me”: Kyle Toon’s Journey to Conscientious Objection

It was the police murder of George Floyd, in mid-2020, that got Toon to identify as a conscientious objector.  “The delicacy and fragility of life hit me” after that May 25, he told me. With the national uprising all around him, he realized “I have to create change in myself.”