Comments of the Week: Everybody Likes a Comeback

This edition features reader feedback about two big comebacks to the site: Chris Hedges, who resumed his weekly column after a summer break, and Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, who paid her second visit to our headquarters for another episode of “Live at Truthdig.”

Let’s get right to it. The first and second featured comments come from our item posted following Stein’s visit, as clearly our readers were keyed up to voice their thoughts about her candidacy and her platform. There were 626 comments as of this posting, and the thread was still growing.

First up is Nelson Betancourt’s feedback about and for Jill Stein:

There you have it, Nelson — we’ll be curious to see how her Orlando event goes.

Also weighing in on the Jill Stein story thread was Cole Epstein, who made a useful argument about that whole “spoiler” thing, which Stein has addressed on many occasions:

Succinct and effective.

Now for the equally thought-provoking commentary that appeared under Hedges’ newest piece, “The Intellectuals We Abandon.” Here, Will Cooper points out an aspect of Hedges’ profile as an educator and as an activist that has informed many of his columns:

The protest against the Dakota Access Pipelina (DAPL) was a big story last week and continues to make headlines as protesters and developers clash. On Saturday, news spread that protesters had been hit with pepper spray and bitten by dogs commanded by private security forces.

The footage, aired on “Democracy Now!”, caught il corvo’s attention:

Good questions and sentiments on another thread that continues to grow.

For our last pick, we’ll touch on a topic that provided days of debate in both mainstream and independent journalistic circles: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s controversial refusal to stand for the American national anthem before football games. We tapped Kaepernick to be Truthdigger of the Week in part, as Natasha Hakimi Zapata put it in her writeup, because of his “thoughtful explanations regarding his decision to peacefully protest racial injustice, show his willingness to back up his actions with his words, and vice versa.”

Here’s what Kristin Bantle, a self-described former police officer, had to say in response to Kaepernick’s gesture of resistance:

Useful perspectives from all sources. We’ll keep reading for new ones to bring to the fore next week. Meanwhile, here’s hoping we have some good news to discuss.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson