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 TED RALL

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TED RALL
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2015
America's political system is broken
The fact that U.S. presidential candidates must adjust their positions to conform to the banal, the uninspired, the illegal, with total disregard for the will or the greater good of the people, demonstrates that the American political system is broken.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2015
High price of cold-hearted capitalism
At the root of Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz's likely decision to kill himself is that he lived, as we all do in the Western world, in a disposable society.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2015
Public goofus Hillary vs. private gallant Hillary
If you're an American voter who evaluates presidential candidates based on how much fun they'd be to share a drink with, Hillary Clinton presents a dilemma as the news media try to dissect her private vs. public persona.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2015
Joining Islamic State is stupid, but why is it illegal?
As with so many other basic legal precepts, the right of Americans to serve in a foreign army has been eroded since 9/11.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2015
Blame Obama for Libya's descent into chaos
U.S. President Barack Obama destroyed Libya, just as George W. Bush destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan earlier. Obama doesn't deserve a historical pass.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015
Grand theft, by U.S. law enforcement agencies
Dubious asset foreiture programs have become big business for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015
Presidential politics: all personality, no platform
Hillary Clinton may have everything she needs to run for U.S. president in 2016: money, name recognition, staff, organization — everything except ideas at the moment.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2015
Why is America at war with the Islamic State?
The Islamic State group doesn't pose a threat to the United States, so why is the U.S. waging a war against it?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015
'Selma' and the biopic perversion of history
The Ava DuVernay-directed film 'Selma' is at the center of controversy due to its semi-snubbing by the Oscars and correct observations that it plays loose with history.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2015
Editors are killing U.S. political cartooning
The Charlie Hebdo massacre couldn't have happened in the U.S. because no American newspaper employs more than one political cartoonist, and most have none.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2015
If Obama won't bring U.S. torturers to justice, why not compensate torture victims for life?
If President Barack Obama won't bring U.S. torturers to justice, why not compensate torture victims for lost wages, medical expenses, counseling and other costs of their detention?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2015
Still no insurance for mental illness
The U.S. remains a country in its infancy when it comes to mental health care, despite the undeniable turning point marked by the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014
No excuse for tolerating torture
Already 'torture' is fading from the headlines. Anti-torture Americans have been way too polite the past 12 years. They should have shouted down the torturers and apologists, ridiculed them, locked them away.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2014
Why are Americans such cowards?
From the outside, the U.S. looks like a nation happy to inflict all manner of mayhem on people all over the world via aerial killer robot warfare, yet unwilling to put its own precious skins in the game.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2014
U.S. drones kill 28 innocents for every 'bad guy'
Every single day, U.S. drone aircraft are stalking and killing innocent people in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere — all in the name of every American.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2014
Praise for killer exposes Americans as barbarians
In praising the killing of Osama bin Laden, Americans are celebrating summary execution.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2014
Media plays down Ebola's spread by 'droplets'
Refusing to succumb to panic is laudable and rational, and when the infection rate numbers in the single digits here in the United States, there's no reason to freak out.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2014
Moderate defense of what they call extremism
Few words are less meaningless in political discourse than 'extremism,' as people are extremists only in comparison to what is mainstream at the moment. Today's extremism becomes tomorrow's moderation under a different system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014
Obama is no 'reluctant warrior'
When it comes to killing members of the Islamic State, U.S. President Barack Obama is anything but a reluctant warrrior. To the contrary, he makes former President George W. Bush look like a dirty peace hippie.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2014
Emergency rooms live for gunshot wounds
It was clear from the tone of the coverage in the U.S. that media gatekeepers expected people to be surprised by a Dallas hospital's decision to turn away the nation's first Ebola patient from the emergency room.

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