Mass Murder: Our Wounded Humanity, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
April 15, 2023

Once again… once again… once again….

I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. Yeah, another — the latest (?) — mass shooting in the United States, this one at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 10, two days ago as I write. Five killed, eight injured. The shooter, an employee of the bank, was killed in a shootout with police. Three officers were injured, including a rookie officer (ten days on the job), who was shot in the head and is struggling to survive. The gunman’s weapon was a nice, reliable AR-15-style rifle, legally purchased at a local gun shop a week earlier.

Uh Oh, Here Comes the Occupying Army, by Robert C. Koehler + Goodbye, Tyre, by Leslie D. Gregory

Image by Tony Webster via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
February 2, 2023

America, America … God kicks thee in the head.

The twisted irony here — the irony of the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee last month — is that his killers were the ones hired and trained to keep the city safe. Instead, they created half an hour of hell for the young man, kicking and beating and tasing him to death a short distance away from his mother’s house, after a random, and perhaps unjustified, traffic stop.

Before the Bombs Come the Platitudes, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 10, 2023

What is democracy but platitudes and dog whistles? The national direction is quietly predetermined — it’s not up for debate. The president’s role is to sell it to the public; you might say he’s the public-relations director in chief:

Beyond Razor Wire: A Connected Planet, by Robert C. Koehler + American Scar: The Environmental Tragedy of the Border Wall

Image by Ignatian Solidarity Network via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 17, 2022

“Ducey insists Arizona holds sole or shared jurisdiction over the 60-foot strip the containers rest on and has a constitutional right to protect residents from ‘imminent danger of criminal and humanitarian crises.’”

Dancing on the Edge of Hell, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by Chad J. McNeeley via U.S. Secretary of Defense via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 8, 2022

Two dogs walking. One of them says to the other: “I bark and I bark, but I never feel like I effect real change.”

The Racists Return to Kindergarten, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by college.library via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 1, 2022

Damn those Marxists!

You know their game, right? They want to spew truth and real history at our kids. No doubt they’re also in favor of dropping charges against Julian Assange, who (as all real Americans know) deserves 175 years in prison for exposing — with the help of the New York Times, The Guardian. Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País — embarrassing realities about U.S. foreign policy.

Loving Nature Or Profiting From It: Take Your Pick, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by Geoff Livingston via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 30, 2022

It’s fascinating how “interests” interfere with survival. We prepare for — and, of course, wage — war with an overwhelming percentage of our resources (to the benefit of the profiteers), but we plead poverty when it comes to helping people or, you know, saving the planet.

Fifteen Seconds Till Armageddon, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by The Official CTBTO Photostream via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 22, 2022

“When militarism is addressed as a psychosocial disease, the absurd irrationality of its symptoms is clearly exposed.”

Death by Nationalism? by Robert C. Koehler

Image by r2hox via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 15, 2022

The game may be almost over.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies put it this way:

Playing Games with Armageddon, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by Daniel Arrhakis via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 2, 2022

What does surrender look like in the world of geopolitics? To my mind, this gets pretty close:

“President Biden’s national security adviser said on Sunday that the United States had warned Russia that there would be ‘catastrophic consequences’ for the country if Moscow used nuclear weapons in its increasing desperation to hold on to territory in Ukraine.”

The Military to American Youth: You Belong to Me, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by borderhacker via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 26, 2022

Ah, the children!

They belong to us, sayeth the Department of Defense. At least some of them do.

Bob Koehler: Abolish the CIA, interviewed by Cindy Sheehan

Image by cool revolution via Flickr

by Cindy Sheehan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Jan. 4, 2015

Welcome to 2015 and to the beginning of the 7th year of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox!

[…]

Guest: “Peace Journalist” Bob Koehler