‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public

‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ has some lessons for 2025. NurPhoto/Corbis via Getty Images By Laura Beers, American University When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign. It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power. It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both the future and the past. In his second…

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Open door to discrimination: New rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans

Open door to discrimination: New rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans

The Guardian reports: Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump. The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers. Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all…

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Ocean acidity has reached critical levels and the impacts could be far worse than we thought

Ocean acidity has reached critical levels and the impacts could be far worse than we thought

Science Alert reports: Ocean acidity is one of the key markers of Earth’s health, because if it tips too far towards acidic then the results can be catastrophic – and a new study suggests the world’s waters are now entering this danger zone. A team of scientists from the US and UK looked at what’s known as the planetary boundary for ocean acidification, defined as a 20 percent drop in average surface aragonite saturation – that’s the calcium carbonate material…

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We the people

We the people

  18-year-old Atlanta resident Lavora Vincent delivers a fiery speech at an anti-Trump protest, slamming the U.S. military parade on Trump’s birthday as “North Korea-style propaganda.” Speaking out against injustice, Lavora says America was built on oppression and pledges to represent herself when Congress won’t. “If you’re not angry, you’re not listening,” she declares.     Trump looking absolutely inconsolable at his fascist-themed 79th birthday party which no one turned up to other than those who had to because he's…

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Will Netanyahu drag the U.S. directly into his war against Iran?

Will Netanyahu drag the U.S. directly into his war against Iran?

David Hearst writes: When a delegation from Hamas arrived in Moscow after the 7 October attacks, Putin passed a message of thanks for this “birthday gift”, my sources tell me. Putin was born on the same day in 1952. Would Russia allow Israel, supplied by the US, to topple Iran after the loss of Bashar al-Assad in Syria? It’s a question that Netanyahu and Trump should consider. Trump had a 50-minute talk with Putin over the weekend. Netanyahu should also…

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Political violence is impossible to predict but the factors that elevate the risks are already in clear view

Political violence is impossible to predict but the factors that elevate the risks are already in clear view

The Daily Beast reports: The wife of a man suspected of killing a Democratic lawmaker and her husband was detained in a traffic stop after police discovered a weapon, ammunition, cash, and passports in the trunk of her car. Jenny Boelter was stopped by officers in Onamia, Minnesota, around 10 a.m. on Saturday, local news KTSP reported, though it was not clear whether the check was a routine stop or a planned raid by law enforcement as part of efforts…

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Trump and the climate of violence

Trump and the climate of violence

Barbara McQuade writes: Political violence has existed in the United States since its founding. But in recent years, we have seen an increase in the incidence of threats and harassment against public officials. The Minnesota killings were reminiscent of the 2022 attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their home by a hammer-wielding intruder. Last year the U.S. Capitol Police documented a surge in threats against members of Congress, with more than 9,000 incidents. Threats against judges are also on the…

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Budget bill would make courts powerless to protect constitutional rights

Budget bill would make courts powerless to protect constitutional rights

Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick writes: Like a well-armed drone flying beneath the radar, the latest assault on the independent judiciary is dangerous and stealthy. A short and easily overlooked passage in Section 70302 of the behemoth budget reconciliation bill, it created hardly a ripple of attention as it passed in the House of Representatives and awaited action in the Senate. In the past few days, however, the Senate rewrote the provision in a way that arguably makes it…

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Racism hidden behind ‘crime’: Most ICE arrests are of immigrants with no criminal convictions

Racism hidden behind ‘crime’: Most ICE arrests are of immigrants with no criminal convictions

Reuters reports: The number of people booked into immigration detention who have been charged only with immigration violations has jumped eight-fold since President Donald Trump took office, government data shows, undercutting his anti-crime message. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention statistics show the number of detainees arrested by ICE with no other criminal charges or convictions rose from about 860 in January to 7,800 this month – a more than 800% increase. Those arrested and detained with criminal charges or…

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Saudi Arabia executes a journalist for committing the ‘crime’ of journalism

Saudi Arabia executes a journalist for committing the ‘crime’ of journalism

The Associated Press reports: A prominent Saudi journalist who was arrested in 2018 and convicted on terrorism and treason charges has been executed, the kingdom said. Activist groups maintain that the charges against him were trumped up. Turki Al-Jasser, who was in his late 40s, was put to death on Saturday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency, after the death penalty was upheld by the nation’s top court. Authorities had raided Al-Jasser’s home in 2018, arresting him and seizing…

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The ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization debunks Trump’s biggest myth

The ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization debunks Trump’s biggest myth

Ezra Levin, Martin Luther King, III, and Arndrea Waters King write: President Donald Trump wants to celebrate his birthday like a king: not with cake or candles, but with a $45 million military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. Officially, the parade is only to mark the U.S. Army’s birthday, not the president’s the same day; in reality, the military’s celebration, though long planned, did not include a parade until his administration got involved. On the day the Army…

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Trump backtracks as broad immigration crackdown backfires

Trump backtracks as broad immigration crackdown backfires

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has abruptly shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry, hotels and restaurants, according to an internal email and three U.S. officials with knowledge of the guidance. The decision suggested that the scale of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign — an issue that is at the heart of his presidency — is hurting industries and constituencies…

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Tucker Carlson blasts Trump for being ‘complicit’ in Israel’s attack on Iran. ‘We knew everything,’ Trump confirms

Tucker Carlson blasts Trump for being ‘complicit’ in Israel’s attack on Iran. ‘We knew everything,’ Trump confirms

The Daily Beast reports: Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made waves on Friday when he criticized not only President Donald Trump, whom he described as being “complicit” in Israel’s attack on Iran, but also former Fox News pals like Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch for acting as “warmongers.” In his Friday morning newsletter, Carlson wrote of Trump’s prior knowledge of the attack on Iran, “While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons…

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Trump regime quietly sent hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before Iran attack

Trump regime quietly sent hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before Iran attack

Middle East Eye reports: The US quietly delivered hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before its unprecedented attack on Iran on Friday, Middle East Eye can reveal. The US sent around 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel on Tuesday in a large-scale stock-up of supplies before its attack, and as the Trump administration was saying it was ready to continue engaging Iran in nuclear talks. The transfer of such a large quantity of Hellfires suggests that the Trump administration was well-informed…

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