David S. D’Amato

4 weeks ago | counterpunch.org | David S. D’Amato

In his essay, The Inevitable Revolution, the literary titan Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Land, suitable for cultivation and accessible to people, is so plentiful that all men could, with a surplus left over, use it for a prosperous life for everyone.” This is as true in the twenty-first century as it was when Tolstoy wrote these words over a century ago in the first decade of the twentieth.

1 month ago | counterpunch.org | David S. D’Amato

With his new book Race, Time, and Utopia: Critical Theory and the Process of Emancipation, philosopher William M. Paris makes an important contribution to several related conversations. Paris’s book offers one of the richest and most well-grounded recent accounts of utopia, firmly centering the question of class struggle and his distinctive understanding of race.

1 month ago | counterpunch.org | David S. D’Amato

Today, it would be nearly impossible to overstate the extent to which justice for the criminal defendant in the U.S. has been compromised by prosecutorial misconduct of the most serious kinds. A growing body of evidence from journalistic investigations, scholarly studies, and reports from civil liberties groups reveals a startling pattern of serious misconduct, lack of transparency and accountability, and politicized and racialized enforcement.

1 month ago | counterpunch.org | David S. D’Amato

The question of whether the United States is an oligarchy has come to the fore, as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez draw major crowds around the country to their Fighting Oligarchy Tour. Their message of combatting the outsized influence of rich and powerful corporate interests has resonated with thousands of Americans. But even as it is clear to so many that something is amiss, the idea of oligarchy can seem ill-defined and opaque.

2 months ago | counterpunch.org | David S. D’Amato

Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has been hard at work rounding up innocent people for deportation, citing bogus, pretextual reasons related to alleged ties to drug cartels and terrorist organizations. Naturally, Trump does not want these claims tested in the courts—his Department of Justice has brushed off federal judges’ orders and fired lawyers […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here.