The Centers for Disease Control made big news by announcing that people who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 no longer have to socially distance or wear masks, even indoors.
Ted Rall’s Latest Books:
Niemoller.com
Liberals celebrated a decision by the Facebook review board to confirm the social media company’s decision to ban former president Donald Trump following the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection. But if they can do it to the President of the United States, they can definitely do it to you too.
FDR and Biden Are Exactly the Same
Democrats and their media allies are currently comparing the legislative agenda of Joe Biden to the sweeping ambition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the beginning of the Great Depression. But there’s really no comparison.
Refusing to Work for Low Wages Is a Serious Moral Failing
After surprisingly low new employment numbers came out for the month of April, commentators on the right blamed part of the problem on American workers who refuse to take low wage jobs. Why not pressure employers to pay what the market demand?
Paranoid but Fully Vaccinated
Many people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 yet continue to act as though they need to stay inside and socially distance. This behavior is every bit as irrational and unscientific as the red state conservatives who refused to wear masks last year.
Be the Lame Change You Seek
The corporate centrists who control the Democratic Party have a sneaky new tactic to keep progressives inside the tent: they pretend to propose radical change but don’t do anything to enact it.
Why Derek Chauvin Was Charged in the First Place
After a jury convicted Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd by choking him to death with his knee, many people said that the verdict would set a precedent that would hold police officers accountable in the future. But they are forgetting what it really took to lead to Chauvin getting charged in the first place.
They Looked like Protesters to Me
Incredibly, Republican state legislators in Iowa and Oklahoma half passed bills granting immunity to drivers who is vehicles hit protesters in public streets. Beware of the law of unintended consequences.
Abused Dogs Revel in Newfound Freedom
A few things are being handled somewhat the way that they should be, including the conviction of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after he was videotaped suffocating a man on video for over nine minutes. The fact that we are pleasantly surprised by the guilty verdict speaks volumes about our lack of faith in the justice system.
Cuz I Was Scared
Police who shoot unarmed civilians use incredibly lame arguments to justify their actions. They thought the wallet in the victim’s hands was a gun. They were distracted by onlookers. Most often, it comes down to being scared. A cop’s vague feeling that he or she might be in danger, without that danger being clearly evidenced, ought not to be cause to kill.
“The Stringer”
graphic novel
by Ted Rall & Pablo G. Callejo
“Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party”
by Ted Rall
“Bernie (Revised 2020 Edition)”
by Ted Rall
End Military Aid to Israel
•
Riding in the back of a truck into Afghanistan during the 2001 U.S. invasion, a journalist colleague from Russia who served in the Red Army during the 1980s asseverated that he was happy to be back in country. “Because this time,” he said, swinging his hands to indicate the swarms of refugees, bombed-out villages and nearby artillery fire, “all this shit belongs to you.” He pointed at me, the American. I looked around and immediately drew the obvious conclusion: we should get the hell out of Afghanistan. That was 20 years ago. We were just getting in. But us being us—trying to win hearts and minds with corrupt proxies—and the Afghans being the Afghans—only able to agree on one thing, their intolerance of foreign domination—humiliating defeat and withdrawal were inevitable from the start. It would be impossible to overstate the advantages of not doing something, of not playing any role, of standing aside and allowing a situation to…
Read MoreBurning a Police Station Led to Justice hi hi
•
As people of good will celebrate or merely breathe a sigh of relief in response to the conviction of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the videotaped torture and murder of George Floyd, it is worth noting that this victory would likely not have occurred had it not been for a spectacular act of property destruction. Yes, there was that damning video. True, the police chief testified for the prosecution. Those factors caused Chauvin’s rare conviction. But you can’t convict unless you indict first—and there was no move to indict Chauvin before city officials were scared into filing charges. Floyd was killed May 25, 2020. Three days later, demonstrators burned down the Minneapolis Third Precinct police headquarters, which had been abandoned by fleeing cops. On May 29, the next day after the conflagration, prosecutors announced charges against Chauvin. In October 2020 a right-wing “bugaloo boi” was charged with setting the building ablaze. But no one knew…
Read MoreBiden’s Left Feint
•
If you don’t dig deep Joe Biden appears to be governing as the most liberal president since LBJ. But conservatives needn’t worry. Biden is no progressive in centrist’s clothing. True, the president’s legislative agenda—after the coronavirus relief bill, which was undeniably progressive—would expand the social safety net, increase direct aid to citizens in trouble and pay for this expansion of the federal government with tax hikes the way we leftists like them, on corporations and rich individuals—if passed. Which it won’t. No one, Biden least of all, expects Congress to approve his big infrastructure or education packages. Recalcitrant Republicans and reluctant red-state Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will probably water the proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill down to virtual under-$1-trillion insignificance. The $1.8 trillion education proposal, which would be funded by a capital-gains tax increase the GOP hates, is an even more desperate Hail Mary pass. These bills aren’t serious attempts to legislate. Bidenism is a…
Read MoreAfghanistan Under the Taliban: It Won’t Be Like Last Time
•
We’ve been in Afghanistan 20 years, Joe Biden’s generals told him. All we need is a little more time. The president overruled them, ordering a complete withdrawal of American troops by September 11th. Madiha Afzal and Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution articulate the opposition to Biden’s decision to call it quits. Remove the U.S. occupation forces that have maintained stability, they worry, and civil war will soon follow, culminating in the overthrow of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and the return of the Taliban. They think it will be the late 1990s all over again: women back under burqas, stonings, 14th century Islam providing a safe haven for anti-Western terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. “The most likely outcome of any quick troop exit this year is very ugly, including ethnic cleansing, mass slaughter, and the ultimate dismemberment of the country,” Ms. Afzal and Mr. O’Hanlon write in USA Today. “No one can see the future, of course, but this type of outcome…
Read MoreDestroy the Police in Order to Rebuild It
•
The killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop is the latest in a long line of high-profile shootings to have sparked widespread protests. As often occurs after these terrible incidents, politicians and editorial boards are floating ways to turn Robocop into Officer Friendly. The trouble with mainstream proposals is that they would nip at the edges of a systemic problem, assuming that the cabal of powerful police unions were to allow their implementation. Nothing short of completely destroying existing police departments and their methods will fix policing that is authoritarian, predatory and violent to its core. We must radically reinvent the purpose, personnel and posture of police officers if Americans seriously want to free people of color (and everyone else) of the abject terror they feel each time flashing lights appear in their rearview mirror. Many recent killings of Blacks by police followed stops or detentions over trivial matters. Brooklyn…
Read More