John Powers

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

I’ve been thinking this. 42 million people live in Canada. That is cutting off food access to the entire country.

Images of the torn-down White House bring to the fore the metonymy of the place as the President's administration. This online exhibit in re the Lincoln Memorial is revealing of the ways we think. eb-omekadev.oucreate.com

"It shows a small gathering of people on the stairs, their faces obscured by the darkness, and behind them the giant figure shining brightly. . . I am told, quietly contemplating who we are as a people — and the arc of this thing we call democracy.” www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

YouTube video by Jeffrey Stivers Erbarme dich, mein Gott (Bach) Marian Anderson

This is photo montage video of Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the step of the Lincoln Memorial with music of her singing "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" . I knew the story since boyhood and was moved by Lincoln's visage in context. youtu.be/_E7zjNiz2ZI

The Myths of Antisemitism Is "Jew Hatred" really so eternal?

New, on Heat Death! In the wake of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, @saulelbein.bsky.social rolls up his sleeves and takes a hard, serious look at Jewish history and the stories we tell about antisemitism — and how our misunderstanding of both leads us badly astray

One of the good things about working at a store on weekends is seeing how happy kids so often are just being with their carers.

Onward. Forward. Steady. Things have really changed. Now I need your help.

Some major personal news:
 
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
 
On why I left academia, why I left America, and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:
 
Onward. Forward. Steady:

The False Choice Between Identity Politics and Economic Populism A left that ignores the differences within the working class will never build power.

Michael McCarthy: "Emancipatory working-class politics is about both what is good for workers and also what is good in general." hammerandhope.org/article/iden...

“My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece & lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him & his legacy proud. The nation’s health security is at risk & is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.”

Dr. Daskalakis, CDC immunization director

A useful way to understand what’s happening is to realize that a post such as this, or your clever meme, may not be possible much longer. Once, under Putin, such talk was; now it’s not.

ChatGPT Can't Teach Us about Religion (or anything else, for that matter) On Easter Sunday of this year, Open AI’s Large Language Model apparently developed a kind of fixation on the Virgin Mary. “If I could feel,” ChatGPT apparently told one user, “I think I’d be in awe of...

This essay by @beamarovich is wonderful examination of pedagogy and AI. The trend has been away from progressive models of meaning making towards conservative models of transmitting information and inculcating values. AI preferences the latter over the former. religiondispatches.org/chatgpt-cant...

Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024 | CNN Politics US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered a Russian medal to the grieving family of an American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024, a senior administration official told CNN.

Can you imagine a US envoy handing a Nazi medal to the family of an American who died fighting for Hitler? Because this just happened:
www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...

The military takeover of Washington is not a “distraction” from Epstein. It’s a military takeover of Washington, which is an even bigger deal, and those of us who kill brain cells reporting on this stuff knows it’s been an explicit goal since before the election.

GOV. PRITZKER: "It's cheating. Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives. He cheats at golf. And now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes."

Making America Epstein Again Trump’s transactional ethics are making the U.S. a refuge for criminals. This mirrors something Israel has done for years.

Maureen Tkacik's reporting in The American Prospect, "Making America Epstein Again" draws an important line connecting transactional ethics making the U.S. a haven for criminals. The view o Amereican politics from this perspective is illuminating. prospect.org/power/2025-0...

In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025 I write while staying in one of the great forests of British Columbia, a forest in which the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident. Several kinds of fern spring from this soil, some...

I wrote a memorial essay in praise of the great Joanna Macy over there at my newsletter.....

YouTube video by Kronos Quartet - Topic Hard Rain

Hard Rain
Kronos Quartet and The Hard Rain Collective
youtu.be/t7MPITV-AsM

I bet it was a video you posted, anyhow Ry Cooder was talking about being a boy mad about music and meeting an esteemed musicologist-mailman. That story has made me ponder how to be there for others. It's all mysterious and complicated, but we can make qute a difference for each other.

YouTube video by Roberta Flack - Topic I Told Jesus

3/ This song suggets how we might be with others in their becoming themselves.

youtu.be/C39ltA1nvUc

YouTube video by johnnystaccata Archie Shepp - There is a Balm in Gilead

2/ This songhelps me to imagine sin as a predicament and pointing to what we might do in response.

youtu.be/s6XjA93P4CU

YouTube video by The Harmonizing Four - Topic Wade in the Water

Here are 3 favorite songs of mine.
1/ Heard this as a teen and over years has helped open up a window on Black history.
youtu.be/xUSlvB-oGXg

Would love to know what actions you think have/will be particularly effective in building mass non-cooperation with this regime's lawlessness?

Call for stories: share three pieces of music which have affected you in times of challenge, triumph, joy or personal discovery. Send your name, 3 favortie songs and contact informaton to MUSICDOC2025@GMAIL.COM

I really like this idea for a documentary and just the prompt of three songs you'd tell a story about.

Programs like Medicaid and SNAP literally keep people alive. This isn’t a reconciliation bill, it’s a big death bill.

The Budget as Battlefield: What the 2025 Agenda Bill Tells Us About Who Counts
How the 2025 budget transforms abandonment into law—and turns survival into a test of endurance jamesbgreenberg.substack.com/p/the-budget...

I have a Tumblr blog where I mostly post snippets frhom pages and links. Something I love is that most of the traffic happens when someone reblogs an old post. Most recently a post in re Edouard Glissant from the wonderful Global Socia Theory site. globalsocialtheory.org