Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Jamal: Tea Parties and Fear
May 19, 2010
For every event in society, there are at least two sides; the side seen; and the side unseen.
Jamal: Time Bombs
Apr 28, 2010
For many, the very mention of 'Bombs' puts one in mind of attacks by terrorists -- although, in fact, the most well-known such attack, 9/11, wasn't a bombing at all, but a series of plane-hi-jackings which were used to target symbols of wealth and power.
Jamal: Not Since Bush v. Gore
Apr 18, 2010
Few Supreme Court cases have evoked the sentiments unleashed by the Citizens United decision. Not since Bush v. Gore, have we seen so clearly that politics decides cases — not law.
Jamal: A Glitch, Not a Hitch
Mar 29, 2010
Newscasters blare, with an air of gloom and doom, of serious threats to the U.S. - Israeli relationship.
Jensen: The Collapse of Journalism
Mar 27, 2010
There is considerable attention paid in the United States to the collapse of journalism -- both in terms of the demise of the business model for corporate commercial news media, and the evermore superficial, shallow, and senseless content that is inadequate for citizens concerned with self-governance. This collapse is part of larger crises in the political and economic spheres, crises rooted in the incompatibility of democracy and capitalism. New journalistic vehicles for storytelling are desperately needed.
Jamal: Corporate Supremacy
Mar 07, 2010
The recent Supreme Court decision on corporate personhood, The Citizen's United case, has evoked considerable comment, and even some indignation: "Corporations have the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on politicians?!" - "outrageous!"
Jensen: NYT Conflict of Interest?
Feb 13, 2010
The New York Times' public editor wrestled this week with conflict-of-interest charges sparked by the revelation that Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner's son had joined the Israeli army. The executive editor of the paper responded with a sensible defense of the paper's decision to keep Bronner in that position.
Jamal: Howard Zinn, Master Historian
Feb 04, 2010
It should surprise no one when a man, nearly 90, dies. It is as natural as moonlight, as regular as a rainbow after a summer shower.
Jamal: Haiti's Suffering
Jan 30, 2010
As we near two weeks after the devastating earthquake and terrifying aftershocks in Port-au-Prince and Zacmel, Haiti, we face the inevitable media wall, that closes up, unless a story emerges of such surprise and delight that it's able to shine through.
Jensen: Media Failures in Haiti
Jan 26, 2010
CNN's star anchor Anderson Cooper narrates a chaotic street scene in Port-au-Prince. A boy is struck in the head by a rock thrown by a looter from a roof. Cooper helps him to the side of the road, and then realizes the boy is disoriented and unable to get away. Laying down his digital camera (but still being filmed by another CNN camera), Cooper picks up the boy and lifts him over a barricade to safety, we hope.
Jamal: More 'Bad Intel'?
Jan 23, 2010
The recent near miss on Christmas Day in Detroit, has sparked a presidentially-mandated reappraisal of the failures of American intelligence which made this disaster so possible.
Jamal: Just War? Or Just War...
Jan 03, 2010
Politics, it is said, makes strange bedfellows -- but the Nobel Peace Prize may make even stranger ones.
Jamal: Wealth Care
Dec 27, 2009
As Congress wrestles over the parameters of a health care bill, amidst maddened catcalls of 'death panels' and 'socialism!', I am reminded of the experience of John Black, an old trade unionist, revolutionary activist and journalist.
Jamal: Children Behind Bars
Dec 08, 2009
Those familiar with my work will recall the corruption cases from Pennsylvania's Luzerne County where judges sent children to jail, so they could profit from kickbacks and fees from the builder.
Jensen: Afraid of Thanksgiving
Nov 21, 2009
Over the past few years a growing number of white people have joined the longstanding indigenous people's critique of the holocaust denial that is at the heart of the Thanksgiving holiday. In two recent essays I have examined the disturbing nature of a holiday rooted in a celebration of the European conquest of the Americas, which means the celebration of the Europeans' genocidal campaign against indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States. Many similar pieces have been published in predominantly white left/progressive media, while indigenous people continue to mark the holiday as a "National Day of Mourning".
Jamal: Fort Hood
Nov 16, 2009
Once again, an American soldier has gone on a rampage, shooting other American soldiers. What makes this news even more remarkable than usual is the fact that the shooter is more than a soldier -- he's a doctor -- and a psychiatrist!Oh -- and he's Muslim.
Jamal: Nobel Laureate
Oct 29, 2009
The award of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack H. Obama, evoked gasps of shock in Stockholm, Sweden, and both praise and catcalls in America.
Jamal: The Afghanistan Trap
Oct 16, 2009
The Afghanistan war is due for a recycling, but it may not go the way the U.S. has planned.
Jamal: Being Van Jones
Sep 22, 2009
A young Black man, a graduate of one of the best law schools in America (Yale), who, from a poor family, uses his gifts and energies not to make a buck for Wall St. or Dow Jones, but to make a difference in his neighborhood of Oakland, California, by community organizing around social problems: jobs, the environment, clean energy, police violence, and education.
Jun 08, 2010
Welcome to the world of "possibilian" neuroscientist-writer David Eagleman, to life in the space between what-is and what-if, between the facts we think we know and the fictions that illuminate what we don't know.