Volume 268 | No. 24

Mon, Aug 12

2004—N.J. Gov. Jim McGreevey resigns after admitting he’s been sleeping with a man who is not his wife. 1985—A 747 with 524 on board, enroute to Osaka, crashes after the tail falls off. Many survive but, due to delays, only four are rescued alive. 1977—CBS reports that the state won’t replace a washed-out bridge in Vulcan, W. Va., so the town has asked the U.S.S.R. for foreign aid. 1958—Art Kane takes the photo known as “A Great Day in Harlem:” 57 jazz greats on a brownstone stoop. 1955—Ike raises the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 per hour. 1953—Russia tests its first hydrogen bomb. …

Read more

Sun, Aug 11

2017—A “good person” rallying for White Supremacy in Charlottesville, Va. commits vehicular homicide. 2009—President Obama speaks inside Portsmouth, N.H. High School. Outside a Libertarian packs a 9-mm pistol and totes a sign calling for the “blood of patriots and tyrants.” 1980—Ex-Gov. John Connally lands in Houston after weeks in the Middle East, lobbying Iran, via foreign leaders, not to release its U.S. hostages. 1972—Delta Co., 3/21st Infantry, conduct the last U.S. combat patrol in Vietnam; booby traps wound two. 1966—The first Coast Guardsmen (2) are killed in Vietnam when B-57s and F-4s attack the cutter Point Welcome. 1965—A white L.A. cop pulls over a Black …

Read more

The Undemocratic Reality of Capitalism

by Richard D. Wolff Fans of capitalism like to say it is democratic or that it supports democracy. Some have stretched language so far as to literally equate capitalism with democracy, using the terms interchangeably. No matter how many times that is repeated, it is simply not true and never was. Indeed, it is much more accurate to say that capitalism and democracy are opposites. To see why, you have only to look at capitalism as a production system where employees enter into a relationship with employers, where a few people are the boss, and most people simply work doing what they are told to …

Read more

Two Russians Walk Into a Bar…

To the Editor: Having blogged often about the Russian mafiocracy’s expert use of troll (or bot) farming techniques, I was surprised to happen upon an entry in the Gazette’s May 14 edition’s this-day-in-history section. Under the heading “Tuesday, May 21” for 2016 it noted that, “In Houston, hundreds rally to support Islam. Hundreds more rally, armed, to oppose it. All have been duped by a Russian troll farm.” A quick search revealed many accounts of the incident. How on Earth did I miss that? I thought I was on top of all the nefarious activities of the Russian trolls to get us to believe whatever …

Read more

Once More Unto the Breach

by W.D. Ehrhart I have just returned from the most relaxing, refreshing, rejuvenating, restorative, happy, stress-free four days I’ve experienced in many years. Decades even. Maybe in my entire life. There are not enough superlatives to describe it. My wife and I had driven up to the Adirondacks to visit old college friends of mine. They live on top of a hill in the midst of 134 acres of forested land surrounded by mountains. You can’t see it from their porch, but there’s a beaver pond down below them in the valley. You can see the hummingbirds that come to their feeders. And the blue …

Read more