We Commemorate these Losses but Where are they Leading us?
With Iraq teetering again and threatening to unspool, and with the Taliban in Afghanistan reasserting itself in our wake, what’s there to make of these treks?
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Seeing the End of America's Homeland Paramilitary Highlight Reel?
On April 21st of last year, the media offered us at least three police assault missions, two in Ferguson and the other in Denver. And not one required calling out the army.
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Eye on Police Violence: NYPD Officer Shoots Crazy Man with Hammer
After all the highly-publicized incidents of police brutality and racial profiling in New York and around the country, what's as much under the microscope here are these militarized police departments.
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Militarism and Race as Martin Parr Does the Derby
Beyond the jesting and the field day with hats, these two Parr photos from the Kentucky Derby feel a bit more political than usual.
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On the Viral Photo of the Baltimore Girl and the National Guardsman (and the Portland "Ferguson Hug")
It’s not just cozying up to the man.
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Waiting for Peace to Arrive at the Syrian Bus Stop
Whatever the back story, the moral is the same: warfare demands exceptional resilience and inventiveness to survive, and people respond in kind. ...Which is why the scene is heartbreaking.
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Loaves and Fishes
It's not that this photograph or this scene from Gaza is unique at all. What so impactful is its resonance this Holy Week, today being Good Friday.
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Military Photo Awards: Taking Some Ownership on Domestic Violence
One glance is enough to appreciate the photo as tacit acknowledgement of the military’s rampant sexual harassment and abuse problems.
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The Problem With War is Not That it's Eternal, but That it's Persistent
There always has been war, there always will be war, and only fools think otherwise. Thus, the full honor due to those in battle today can be paid only by placing their memorial within the unbroken continuity and epic scale of myth.
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ISIS Attacks Iraqi Base Full of US Trainers, Ho Hum
Whatever the reasons for the quiet, America's reengagement in Iraq is primarily significant for the lack of attention.
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USA(ID)! USA(ID)!: Full Salute to a Military Photo
And when in our lifetimes have we been made aware the military has been deployed to save lives?
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The Masking of Damaged Vets (With an Appearance by Hannibal Lecter). Photo by Lynn Johnson.
While the mask purports to give voice to his inner pain, it also makes it possible for us to observe him (from a distance) without actually seeing him.
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Robert Hariman On ISIS and the Choice Not To Look
So look. Then turn away. If you don’t need to look, I’m with you. Whatever you do, realize that the stakes are higher than had been imagined.
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After Brooklyn Execution, Has Media Sympathy Shifted Pro-Police?
With the exoneration of Officer Morrison overlapping the backlash by the NYPD, we have a poster example of a serious problem with video and police accountability. It's called over-sharing.
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Turning Backs On Turned Backs: The Second Funeral of Gunned Down NYPD Officers
If the NYPD compromised a second funeral of its gunned down colleagues, the media enabled them.
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America in the Age of Ferguson: A Child's Letter to Troops in Afghanistan
If the collection captures the day-to-day life of the war machine at holiday time, what it more inadvertently offers is food-for-thought about the country's social priorities and racial character.
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Our Person of the Year: The Rebel Fighter
More in the realm of coolness, so much for hearts and minds.
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