In the mid-1960s, a young man from a well-to-do New York family began attending the Little Red School House, a private high school that practiced progressive educational policies and was in favor with some of the city’s most artistic and left-leaning luminaries. It championed humanitarian values, cooperation, internationalism, and a …
So, he’s running. Bernie Sanders, who will be 79 years old when the 2020 election takes place, has announced his decision to run for President of the United States again. To say I am extremely conflicted about this announcement would be an understatement on the level of saying I have …
Ever since America, or at least as many Americans as it takes to determine the fate of the world under our flawless electoral system, ate the big one and decided that Queens-based self-publicist/casino swindler Donald Trump should be President, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about how he’s the …
Oh, hello! You’ve probably noticed that Leonard Pierce Dot Com is back. You’ve probably also noticed that it’s gotten a whole new look, which is very exciting, and that some of the functionality is broken and a lot of the image links don’t work and a lot of the posts …
Capitalism is designed to make you give up. The very nature of class struggle, the very structures capitalism sets up, are made by intent or by accident to exhaust you, confuse you, make you miserable. Even the most dedicated people who organize against it are vulnerable to burnout; for every …
Aretha Franklin died today. All our idols are dead and our enemies are in power, as it’s said in the memes that seem to be our only shared language anymore; and as always happens when someone of such greatness and depth goes away for good, we find ourselves struggling over …
As monotonous and familiar as the movie scene has gotten of late, films can still surprise you. There are films that are shocking because they’re so good; there are films that are stunning because they’re so misbegotten and awful. There are great moments inside mediocre movies, and there are long …
Let us, for the moment, forget about whether there is anything to the so-called ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy theories. Let us leave aside whether there is any proof that President Donald Trump or his hangers-on knowingly collaborated with Russian operatives to alter the outcome of the 2016 election. Let us forego the …
Please repeat, as you do every year, the words (written by Paul Fussell) you try to live by on America’s Independence Day. “There is one day of the year when America should receive nothing but praise. That’s July Fourth. On all other occasions, those who wish the United States well …
As I write this, the country is reeling with the news that a right-wing maniac, armed with a shotgun and bearing a grudge, burst into the offices of a small newspaper in Maryland and murdered five people in cold blood. Normally, this sort of mass killing would barely raise an …
It’s not often that I revisit a television show I’ve already written about in this space, particularly when I’m as busy as I have been lately. But then again, it’s not often that a television show goes so completely and wonderfully off the rails as Riverdale did. The teen-angst TV version …
People used to talk about a “third rail of American politics” — a topic so volatile, so controversial, so untouchable that even to discuss it publicly was career suicide. The third rail was simply a settled matter, and no matter where you stood on it, no matter where your party’s …
Hello, and welcome to Season 31 of Top Chef! This year, we’ve reached out to some of the best chefs in the country, from veterans of the Gulf Coast’s finest bayou sushi restaurants to veterans of the California-Nevada water wars. They’ve strapped on their knives, bid a final farewell to their …
Hi there! Welcome to my annual May Day sermon. Let’s keep it simple this time: the rich are the scum of the Earth in every country, as G.K. Chesterton correctly said even though he didn’t mean it, and the guillotine is too good for them. Every single billionaire on Earth …
This last month saw two significant items come up on the primary ballot in my home state of Illinois. One was a non-binding ballot question concerning whether or not the state should develop a plan to legalize marijuana for recreational use; the other asked whether or not the governor should …
