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Americans are terrified of other Americans. How to stop the polarization
Americans are terrified of other Americans. How to stop the polarization, Jean Guerrero, Los Angeles Times
It has become an article of faith in left-wing and right-wing activist circles that a crucial way to counter the threat is by naming it. Republicans are no longer Republicans and Democrats are no longer Democrats. Instead, we’re all called fascists.

But what if the threats we represent are rooted in this way we demonize one another? What if our perception of adversaries as mortal enemies is a delusion that creates its own reality and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy?

The two sides are not equally situated. Studies show Republicans have moved farther to the right than Democrats have to the left, and right-wing extremists are the most likely to embrace violence. The GOP is engaged in an assault on the bodily autonomy of women, people of color and transgender people. There is no comparable assault on people’s rights from Democrats, although many Republicans would disagree.

But how can I hope to persuade Republicans to change their minds if I’m convinced they’re all extremists? Where I see fascists and neo-Nazis, I see no possibility for dialogue. Accurate as those labels may be, they also limit my ability to see an opponent’s potential for change. As Mónica Guzmán wrote in her book, “I Never Thought Of It That Way,” a guide for talking with our opponents, polarization is “the problem that eats other problems, the monster who convinces us that the monsters are us.”
Nearly 300,000 women served during the Iraq War. Two decades later, they remain ‘the invisible veterans.’
Nearly 300,000 women served during the Iraq War. Two decades later, they remain ‘the invisible veterans.’, Mariel Padilla, The19thNews
In the 20 years since the United States invaded Iraq, over a quarter of a million women have served there, the largest-scale and most visible deployment of women in U.S. history. More than 1,000 women had been injured in combat and 166 killed as of 2017, according to the Service Women’s Action Network. The capture and rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch made headlines early in the war, and women were among the service members named in the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. The United States formally withdrew its combat forces in 2011, but maintains a military presence.

The increase in women soldiers, and the visibility of their service, was integral to the military’s mission and ultimately led to major policy changes like the removal of ground combat restrictions for women. Still, according to experts, many women veterans of the Iraq War remain invisible and unrecognized among the larger American public.
Bush Doesn’t Second-Guess Himself on Iraq. Even if Everyone Else Does.
Bush Doesn’t Second-Guess Himself on Iraq. Even if Everyone Else Does., Peter Baker, The New York Times
In the two decades since he ordered the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Bush has been indelibly associated with the war that will define his place in history even as he has left the judgments to others. Living here in Dallas, he is most energized by his post-presidential interest in painting and his public policy institute. For years, he sponsored a 100-kilometer bicycle race with injured veterans, or “wounded warriors,” as they are called, and even published a book of paintings of some of his favorites who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If he is exorcising demons or working through his own emotions about the war through his painting or his work with veterans, he would never say so and would surely scoff at the idea. Even as president, he always resisted efforts to “put me on a couch,” as he would put it to journalists. But lately his artistic ambitions have turned to paintings of birds and flowers — dozens of them are mounted on the walls of his Dallas office — and it seems fair to observe that scenes of nature are far removed from memories of war. [...] Mr. Bush’s silence at this anniversary, in the view of his critics, has hardly erased the stain of the decision he made. Opponents of the war argue that he and his administration did not simply make a good-faith error in believing faulty intelligence but distorted the case to sell a war they were predisposed to wage. A death toll that reached hundreds of thousands and the shame of the American abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, they said, have not been forgotten by history.

“Bush will never wash the blood off his hands,” said Gary J. Bass, a scholar of human rights at Princeton. “Twenty years after his disastrous aggression, it only looks worse. He can’t escape this.”
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The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush is still not ready to forgive
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush is still not ready to forgive, Richard Hall, The Independent
“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!” Mr al Zaidi shouted, before launching his shoe at the American president. Within a second, his second shoe came flying, followed by the words: “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Mr Bush was able to dodge the leather projectiles, but the size 10 shoes still left a mark. Mr al Zaidi became a local hero and global celebrity — a symbol of the anger felt by many Iraqis after their country was left devastated by the US invasion. Americans back home got a small glimpse of that anger.

This month marks twenty years from the start of the war, and yet Mr al Zaidi is not ready to forgive. [...]

“The occupation has gone, but they left behind more corruption, more problems, many militias. Now we have more problems every day. Iran controls Iraq because of the occupation of the US. There is no service for people, there is not any government support. No hospitals, no schools,” he tells The Independent by phone.
Right-wing host calls for military to execute Obama if Trump is indicted
Right-wing host calls for military to execute Obama if Trump is indicted, Gabriella Ferrigine, Salon
Far-right broadcaster Pete Santilli called on members of the military to execute former President Barack Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice if former President Donald Trump is arrested.

Trump in a lengthy rant on Truth Social over the weekend claimed he would be arrested in connection to the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Santilli responded on his show by calling for Trump's supporters in the military to rise up and round up Obama and his former administration officials and shoot them against a "concrete wall."

"Get the military, whatever few are left that are gonna side with the people. You military personnel and you people with guns and badges and law enforcement will succumb to the will of the people," Santilli said in a clip flagged by Right Wing Watch.
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The state takeover of Houston public schools is about more than school improvement
The state takeover of Houston public schools is about more than school improvement, Domingo Morel, The Conversation
State governments have used takeovers since the late 1980s to intervene in school districts they have identified as in need of improvement. While state administrations promise that takeovers will improve school systems, 30 years of evidence shows that state takeovers do not meet the states’ promised expectations. For instance, a recent report called Michigan’s 15-year management of the Detroit schools a “costly mistake” because the takeover was not able to address the school system’s major challenges, which included adequately funding the school district.

But while the takeovers don’t deliver promised results, as I show in my book, they do have significant negative political and economic consequences for communities, which overwhelmingly are communities of color. These negative consequences often include the removal of locally elected school boards. They also involve decreases in teachers and staff and the loss of local control of schools. […]

Although the state has given the Houston Independent School District a B rating, it plans to take over the Houston schools because one school, Wheatley High School, has not made sufficient progress since 2017. According to state law, the state can take over a school district or close a school if it fails to meet standards for five years.

The Houston Independent School District has 280 schools. The district serves over 200,000 students. It employs roughly 12,000 teachers. Wheatley High School serves roughly 800 students and has roughly 50 teachers.

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