Making Sense of a Vexing and Perplexing World
The Most Terrifyingly Honest Sentence Written by a U.S. President BILL ASTORE AUG 13, 2026 Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, often described as a prose-poem for its surprising brevity and deep meaning, is the most moving work of political discourse I’ve ever read. In that short speech, Lincoln captured the horrific nature of war and Continue reading This Mighty Scourge of War
Trump Is the Real Victim of Gaza and the Iran War? BILL ASTORE AUG 11, 2026 Caught this headline at the New York Times this morning (8/11): Top News Trump Wants to Move On From the Middle East. It’s Not Letting Him. President Trump is eager to declare success in Iran and Gaza, but he is struggling Continue reading Telling Headline at the New York Times
Of Presidential Betrayal BILL ASTORE AUG 10, 2026 U.S. presidents since Lyndon B. Johnson, if not before then (think here of Woodrow Wilson’s false promises in 1916 to keep America out of the Great War, known now as World War I), always promise peace, especially while running for office. Trump is the most recent example Continue reading Promise Peace, Deliver War
On Long Wars, the DSA, Aborigines, and Democracy in America BILL ASTORE AUG 09, 2026 On a very warm and humid Sunday morning, here are a few random thoughts for today: 1. It’s rather amazing that the U.S./Israel War against Iran has entered its six month with no end in sight. Remember when the Trump Continue reading Random Sunday Thoughts
A Top Ten List BILL ASTORE AUG 04, 2026 There’s so much militarized crazy in America today that it’s entirely overwhelming. Here’s a “top ten” list: 1. The illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran. Remember when Trump told us he wouldn’t start wars? Remember when attacks on Iran began, the Trump administration told us they’d Continue reading The Militarized Insanity of this American Moment
Gusher Up, Trickle Down, Leads Me to a Sinking Feeling BILL ASTORE AUG 02, 2026 Extractive capitalism is the economic model for the United States. We’ve been living through a brutal experiment of how much work and wealth can be extracted from the working- and middle classes and funneled upward before the former are exhausted. Continue reading Extractive Capitalism
Of General ChatGPT and Admiral Claude BILL ASTORE JUL 31, 2026 If you’ve been in or near the military, you’ve heard quips about military intelligence being the ultimate oxymoron or that it’s akin to military music, i.e. not very musical, unless you love pompous marches. But increasingly military intelligence isn’t even human anymore (some troops Continue reading Military Intelligence Is…
And Perhaps a Golden Ticket to Nuclear War BILL ASTORE JUL 29, 2026 Golden Dome, President Trump’s ambitious dangerously escalatory missile defense shield, may cost Americans as much as $18 billion in the next fiscal year. According to my AI friends (perhaps soon to be running Golden Dome under the name of Skynet), here’s where the bulk Continue reading Golden Dome as a Golden Boondoggle
Ministry of Truth Strikes Again BILL ASTORE JUL 27, 2026 An article at the New York Times today cites the creative accounting of the Trump administration on U.S. casualties in the Iran War. That count now exceeds 600 wounded, with eighteen service members killed. And for what, exactly? President Trump claims America’s service members are being killed Continue reading More than 600 U.S. Casualties…
And An Unconditional Congressional Surrender BILL ASTORE JUL 22, 2026 Odds and ends from my notebook:
1.5 Trillion Reasons to Focus on the MICC the Blob that Ate Washington BILL ASTORE JUL 20, 2026 Last week, I was chatting with an old friend, fellow veteran, and loyal reader when he suggested I should write less about the military-industrial complex. I laughed. I wish I could, I replied, but I’ve got 1.5 trillion Continue reading Not Another Article about the Military-Industrial Complex
We ll End the War by Escalating It? BILL ASTORE JUL 18, 2026 War is too easy in America today. We’ve come to accept it as normal. Peace is now aberrant. As war grows ever easier, peace becomes ever harder. “Escalation,” not diplomacy, is touted as the smart way to end wars. Logic doesn’t seem to Continue reading War Is Too Easy