John Atcheson
John Atcheson, 1948-2020, was a long-time Common Dreams contributor, climate activist and author of, "A Being Darkly Wise, and a book on our fractured political landscape entitled, "WTF, America? How the US Went Off the Rails and How to Get It Back On Track". Follow him on Twitter @john_atcheson. John was tragically killed in a CA car accident in January 2020.
Articles by this author
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Views Thursday, December 19, 2019 Just Because Republicans Are Spewing Nonsense on Impeachment Doesn't Mean the "Big Lie" Won't Work Republicans are mounting an effective defense against impeachment that is without foundation, but is likely to prove effective. Essentially, they are all repeating the same lies in unison, over and over again, taking advantage of something called the “ illusory truth effect ,” which causes people... Read more |
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Views Friday, December 13, 2019 The Influence of Liars and the Failure of Corporate Media If Democrats say one thing, and Republicans say another, and it’s obvious one of them is intentionally lying, what is the “big story?” For most of the mainstream media, it’s not the lying. Their big story is the conflict. This is, literally, a complete failure of the press’s obligations to a free... Read more |
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Views Sunday, December 08, 2019 The Missing Stories: Three Big Issues the Media Is Missing If journalism is the first draft of history, the press is missing three of the biggest stories of our time. Of course, the Democrats’ inability to articulate anything like a coherent message doesn’t help. Let’s take a look at what they’re missing. Republicans ’ blockade of legislation Mitch... Read more |
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Views Sunday, December 01, 2019 Why We Need a Green New Deal and Half Measures Won't Work Last week there were two reports released on climate change. The first warned that most nations were falling short of their commitments under the Paris agreement and that time was running out to avoid going above a 1.5°C increase in temperature. The second warned of impending tipping points and... Read more |
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Views Thursday, November 21, 2019 Sorry, President Obama—But We Do Need To Tear Down The System There are two ways to practice politics: you can either follow polls or shape them. For four decades now, Democrats have been poll followers, and Republicans have been poll shapers. Recently, President Obama urged the Democrats to continue being poll followers, saying, "The average American doesn't... Read more |
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Views Monday, November 11, 2019 Trump Is Controlling the Narrative On Impeachment Remember “no collusion,” Trump’s go-to line on the Mueller investigation? It was brilliant in its own way. Trump’s crimes were pretty clear: soliciting aid from a foreign government and obstructing justice—and there was ample evidence that he’d done both. But “no collusion” avoided mentioning... Read more |
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Views Saturday, November 09, 2019 The Neoliberal Assault on Warren's Plan to Pay for Medicare for All Both Sanders and Warren have come up with viable plans for funding Medicare for all. The neoliberal establishment and the conservatives have been going after Sanders’ approach by raising the specter of-middle class tax increases. Sanders seems to trust that people will understand that if the tax... Read more |
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Views Sunday, November 03, 2019 Politics as a Food Fight: The Media Is Feeding the Political Divide The other day, while listening to that liberal bastion, NPR, the newscaster mentioned that another witness had given testimony that would be damaging to Trump in the House’s impeachment inquiry. In a transition so seamless it was an integral part of the story, the anchor immediately went on to say... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 29, 2019 The Revolution Is Here: Democrats Ignore It at Their Peril Despite the yammering by the mainstream media and the neoliberals running the Democratic Party—not to mention Republicans and Fox News—the overwhelming majority of voters support progressive issues on a case-by-case basis, and the majority support the candidates who espouse them. Doubt that? See... Read more |
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Views Friday, October 25, 2019 Centrists—Or Neoliberals–Control the Party and the Media and They're Risking Losing to Trump Again in 2020 Neoliberal centrists either don’t understand why Trump won, or they’re so desperate to stay in control of the Party they’re willing to risk four more years of Trump. So let’s look at the arguments they’re mounting against the progressive candidates and policies. Let’s get one thing clear: the... Read more |