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Death From Above

September 1, 2026•

If you think the Langtang Lirung glacier disaster on the Tibet-Nepal border was bad, wait for Lake Sarez. There is no reason to downplay the August 26th catastrophe, when a large section of glacier and underlying rock at 17,000 feet of elevation failed and plunged almost 4,000 feet into the valley below. The impact registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event. Thousands of people died. Himalayan glaciers have been melting at an accelerating rate due to climate change, causing ice avalanches, rockfalls and glacial-lake outburst floods. And the worst is yet to come. A thousand miles northwest across the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt from Langtang Lirung in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan is Lake Sarez, 10,700 feet above sea level. Experts call it Central Asia’s Sword of Damocles. Lake Sarez formed in 1911 when a massive earthquake (estimated at 7.7) triggered a massive rockslide that blocked the Murgab River, creating the Usoi Dam—at over 1,500 feet high, the world’s tallest natural…

Better to Lose as Leftists Than Lose as Corporatists

August 18, 2026•

Ted Rall

People who follow the news are familiar by now with the general dynamic of the civil war within the Democratic Party that has been raging with greater intensity since 2016. Most of the party’s voters lean progressive, which is to say significantly to the left of its ruling elites, members of the Democratic National Committee, and the most powerful Democratic members of Congress. The battle between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential nomination has largely defined this struggle. Tracking polls consistently found that Sanders would have defeated Trump in the general election. Trump himself, and his internal pollsters, believed Sanders, who had pushed for change within his party for decades, would have beaten him. Party elites ignored and denied the evidence, cheated to make sure Sanders was unable to overcome the institutional barriers the party had created through its anti-democratic superdelegate scheme, and we all know what happened that November. The DNC got its way. We got…

Why Socialism Now?

August 10, 2026•

Ted Rall

Why is socialism a growing force in American politics for the first time in over a century? It’s not happenstance. Socialism meets the historical moment. The Socialist Party of America founded in 1901 reached its apex of organizational strength, membership, electoral success and national visibility just before World War I, during the 1912 election. The SPA had well over 100,000 dues-paying members, but perennial socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs received about 900,000 votes (6% of the popular vote) in 1912, indicating significant penetration into the broader electorate. Socialist candidates were elected to over a thousand local and state offices, including dozens of mayors, in more than 300 cities—and two U.S. House seats. Why then? The Gilded Age was American capitalism at its worst. Underpaid workers and exploited immigrants joined a socialist movement that drove a wedge through a civil war in the Republican Party caused by Teddy Roosevelt’s third-party run against his protégé, incumbent President William Howard Taft. Child…

We’re Screwed

July 28, 2026•

Ted Rall

I’m screwed. You’ve had that thought. You’ve had that feeling: short breaths, panic, hollow chest. This is big. I may not ever be able to get out of this. No one can or will help me. The doctor closes the door. I don’t like what I see in these lab results. Firetrucks blocking my street. What’s going on? Ohhhh. Many events that leave you with that “I’m screwed” feeling are nobody’s fault. Diseases happen. Many can’t be helped. Some diseases are incurable. There are, however, crises that society can come together either to avoid, mitigate, or even solve. In a high-functioning society with responsive politics, humans marshal their collective resources in order to help individuals who suffer misfortune. Some cultures respond to those among them who are in trouble out of ethical or legal duty. There but for the grace of God go I. If I ignore her cries, I might be arrested for negligence. Others come together as a…

New Red Scare. Why?

July 21, 2026•

Ted Rall

If Republicans get their way, McCarthyism will be back—and here to stay. Leading the race to the soggiest pits of ethical crud, as usual, President Trump repeatedly calls Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated primary winners “hardcore, godless communists” after DSAers swept the New York elections last month. Ideologically, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his fellow “democratic socialists” are barely distinguishable from such mainstream liberals as Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and Senator George McGovern in 1972. Republicans, apparently, are counting on Americans’ ignorance of history and the dwindling number of people over age 75 who remember the Cold War yet have forgotten its principal lesson: the Russians really were not coming. Never wanting to be left out of whatever moral depravity Trump comes up with, Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders, including Steve Scalise, warn darkly that “radical communists” and “barbarians inside the gate” are taking over the Democratic Party. Right-wingers want to revive a 1954 law that…

Can Iran Replace Israel?

July 7, 2026•

Ted Rall

Under the dictatorship of the Shah, Iran was a close U.S. ally. There are tantalizing indications that American policymakers are looking to recreate that Cold War-era partnership and kick Israel to the curb. This seems crazy. Just a few months ago, the Trump administration and Israel went to war together against Iran, assassinated its Supreme Leader and other top officials and attempted to decimate its military and spark a popular uprising against the government. Against the odds, Iran prevailed by leveraging its control of the Strait of Hormuz—through which 20% of the world’s oil (and thus much of its economy) flows. Iran flipped the script, transforming U.S. bases in the Gulf from encircling threats to convenient targets. Lest there be any doubt, 92% of Israelis—in a right-wing apartheid state whose Left has been hollowed out and radicalized by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack—say they believe that Iran has won. The Islamic Republic has emerged with newfound respect not only from…

Is This Column Real?

June 23, 2026•

Ted Rall

During the pandemic, I did something stupid: I published a book. Bookstores were closed, so authors obviously could not promote their books by going on tour. Like a lot of other titles that came out in 2021, “The Stringer”—a graphic novel written by me and drawn by Pablo Callejo—got lost in the shuffle. Too bad, and not just for my bottom line. It was a good read about an important topic: deepfakes. What would happen, I wondered after considering the intersection of underemployed reporters in an age of decline with their deep connections to the dangerous places some of them cover, if a rogue journalist were to manipulate global politics—and even start wars—by creating fake imagery and audio of world leaders insulting one another? Behind that question lies a deeper philosophical and psychological concern. What do human beings do after they come to accept that they cannot believe anything they read, hear, or see? What if there is no reliable…

Proportionality Matters

June 17, 2026•

Ted Rall

Every person who has either participated in or witnessed a fight understands the doctrine of “he started it.” The fight begins with a provocation followed by a response. That same reasoning extends to politics and war. What has gotten lost between third grade and the septuagenarians who determine our fates however is an equally common-sense ethical norm: proportionality. A verbal insult rarely justifies a physical attack. Even when the provocation takes the form of violence, retaliation must be proportional. Getting punched in the face once certainly justifies punching your assailant once in the face—maybe twice or three times—but not fifteen times nor stabbing or shooting them. Victimhood is not a blank check. Being wronged does not give you license to do anything you want in response. Action provokes reaction; action never justifies overreaction. This doctrine is codified in the laws of all 50 states. If you are assaulted, you can only use the amount of force that a reasonable person…

Hey, Women: A Little Help, Please?

June 8, 2026•

Ted Rall

Even if you haven’t geeked out over the “boy problem,” you’re probably aware of the well-documented evidence that boys and men are struggling. Boys lag behind girls in school and graduate at lower rates. Women now comprise the overwhelming majority of college students and graduates. Boys are far more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, get into administrative and legal trouble, and drop out. Three to five times as many men as women commit suicide. Men and boys abuse drugs more and OD more. And no wonder: dudes don’t have much to look forward to. Traditionally male jobs in manufacturing, construction, and physical labor are disappearing. Male workforce participation is plunging. Real wages for many guys have been falling since the late 1970s. Proponents of equity deny reality: jobs, money, and social status are zero-sum games. Every gig, prize, and pay raise that goes to a woman—fixing the systemic injustice of sexism—is one for which a guy has been passed…

America’s Bleak 250th

June 1, 2026•

Ted Rall

Not least because I was 12 years old, the Bicentennial festivities felt very different from this year’s 250th birthday celebrations for the United States. This being America, commercialization was inevitable—everything was red, white and blue and was official whatever of the shindig. Overall, though, 1976 was a non-partisan affair despite being an election year following a major scandal. No one seemed to think it should be otherwise. Aside from the flood of Bicentennial quarters that began turning up in our change, my main interaction with the event was a junior high school field trip to Cincinnati to visit the Freedom Train, which carried notable historical artifacts but not the blockbusters I was hoping for. The Louisiana Purchase is no Declaration of Independence! Decline was baked into the event. The train barely made it to my hometown of Dayton, whose passenger rail lines were shutting down and beginning to rust away alongside the factories that used to employ my neighbors. America…

Death From Above

Better to Lose as Leftists Than Lose as Corporatists

Why Socialism Now?

New Red Scare. Why?

Can Iran Replace Israel?

Is This Column Real?

Proportionality Matters

Hey, Women: A Little Help, Please?

America’s Bleak 250th

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Death From Above

Better to Lose as Leftists Than Lose as Corporatists

Why Socialism Now?

New Red Scare. Why?

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