December 23, 2025 Americans celebrate holiday with recent migrants Have you heard the phrase Heritage American? At first I thought it meant furniture, like Colonial, Traditional Revival, Empire, and Postmod Pretentious (I made up the last one). Unfortunately, it's a loathsome idea that's gaining steam on the right: that descendants of white, pre-Civil War colonists… Continue reading Six degrees of fake patriotism
Tag: news
Take the badge. Leave the First Amendment alone.
October 16, 2025 Secretary Pete HegsethThe Department of War and Censorship Defense Mr. Secretary: In support of the journalists who gave up their press credentials rather than follow your undemocratic rules for covering the Pentagon, I am officially returning my pass. I know it expired long ago: in fact, it’s more out of date than… Continue reading Take the badge. Leave the First Amendment alone.
McCarthy’s ghost haunts the Voice of America
August 5, 2025 Senator Joseph McCarthy (l) with Trump’s future mentor Roy Cohn in the 1950s If you know about Trump’s campaign to destroy the Voice of America along with PBS/NPR, or you’re merely outraged at his assault on free speech everywhere, this article by the Columbia Journalism Review is a blockbuster: "Joseph McCarthy’s War… Continue reading McCarthy’s ghost haunts the Voice of America
Uncivil service
May 12, 2025 Photo by Anna Lowe on Pexels.com How would you feel about the VA treating your cancer with a horse drug? Or the IRS demanding you pay your taxes in Trump meme coin? Or maybe you'll visit a national park and find the rangers selling off the land to developers, while back at… Continue reading Uncivil service
Lost voices of democracy
March 17, 2025 In "Youngstown," Bruce Springsteen's searing elegy for America's industrial heartland, an ex-steelworker laments that by shutting the mills, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do." Trump and Musk have now accomplished what Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and several previous generations of dictators never could: silencing the Voice of America. The shutdown… Continue reading Lost voices of democracy
My life in the deep state
February 5, 2025 I recently learned of the passing of a colleague from my time at the Voice of America which, if you don't know, is a government-funded international broadcaster. It began with radio news in World War II and today appears all over the world on digital, TV, and radio platforms in nearly 50… Continue reading My life in the deep state