Volume 267 | No. 10

Mon, Jan 30

2005—A U.S. official reports that $9,000,000,000 is … well … sort of … missing in Iraq. 1981—An FB-111A “Aardvark” based at Pease AFB crashes near homes at Mariner’s Village, about 1.25 miles northwest of Market Square. One apartment building is destroyed; no one is injured. 1976—The Supreme Court decides that limiting campaign contributions would unfairly restrict the speech of a privileged minority group: people with unlimited amounts of money. 1972—“Bloody Sunday” in Northern Ireland: British soldiers gun down 14 Catholic civil-rights marchers. 1968—Two hundred colonels in the U.S. MACV staff attend a pool party in Saigon. “Not one … knew Tet was coming” the next …

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We Must Fight For Reproductive Justice

To the Editor: This month Roe, the landmark Supreme Court case which ruled that the right to choose an abortion was protected by the Constitution, would have turned 50. We should have been celebrating 50 years of legal abortion, but unfortunately, this past June a conservative Supreme Court struck down this critical precedent. As a result, more than half of our states have imposed harmful abortion bans and restrictions, leaving millions of people without access. It’s important to note that as reproductive justice advocates, we have always believed that Roe should be the floor not the ceiling. Even during the Roe era, abortion was not …

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In Dreams Begin Responsibilities

by W.D. Ehrhart I had a particularly weird dream last night in which I was giving the commencement address at a school where I’d taught for many years. For reasons known only in dreams, I ended up talking about post-traumatic stress disorder and how PTSD is the inevitable result of subjecting a healthy human brain to traumatic stress. The consequences are unavoidable. If you are subjected to traumatic stress and it doesn’t screw you up, you were screwed up before you encountered the traumatic stress. You will not make the scarring go away with counselling or group solidarity (in the case of soldiers) or anything …

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BlackRock says we’re all doomed. It’s being optimistic.

by James Meadway The working assumption, for governments and central banks across the world, is that at some point soon everything will get back to ‘normal’—our economies will return to either pre-pandemic or, sometimes, even pre-2008 crash levels. These beliefs are reinforced by media economics commentary and across political parties. But what if they’re wrong? The world’s largest asset manager, overseeing $10trn in assets across the globe, thinks we are, instead, entering a period of increased risk and uncertainty, defined by unavoidable recession and much higher inflation. BlackRock—a well-connected, influential and hugely profitable pillar of global capitalism—made the predictions in its ‘2023 Global Investment Outlook’ …

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The Original Was So Much Better

When you run a newspaper that’s two decades older than the nation in which it’s published, nostalgia is an occupational hazard. Out of respect for our readers, we try not to let it get out of hand. That has recently become more and more difficult. We’ll stop short of yelling “Get off our lawn,” but some other things simply must be said. The phrase “disappointing sequel” has bordered on redundant ever since comics took over the movie business. Now that term has become relevant once again. Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland drew mixed reviews. Today’s Republican party considered that lackluster …

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Sun, Jan 29

2002—Qassem Suleimani, Commander of the Quds Force—who had been considering a rapprochement between Iran and the U.S.—goes ballistic after George W.[MD] Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech. Also: Bush asks Senate Majority Leader Daschle to limit investigations into 9/11. 1991—“Our forces in the Gulf will not stay there one day longer than is necessary,” says George Herbert [Hoover] Walker Bush. 1979—“I don’t like Mondays,” replies Brenda Spencer, 16, when asked why she shot eleven people, killing two, at a San Diego elementary school. 1976—The House, under Speaker Carl Albert [D–Okla.], votes to cover up the Pike Committee’s report on the crimes of U.S. intelligence agencies. 1925—The …

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