Book Review

The Political Poverty of “Abundance” Liberalism

David Sirota, Aaron Regunberg / The Lever Apr 7, 2025 Ezra Klein’s new book is supercharging elites’ campaign to deter Democrats from challenging billionaires and corporate power. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

TD Column

The Purge

Conor Lynch / Truthdig Feb 5, 2025 The imminent government-wide implementation of Schedule F will go far toward transforming the federal bureaucracy into an extension of presidential power. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Not Just a Bunch of Killers, Islamic State Is Also a Methodical, Public-Minded Bureaucracy

Staff / Truthdig Dec 7, 2015 About 340 official documents, notices, receipts and internal memos obtained by The Guardian show that Islamic State is also made up of bureaucrats and civil servants that have “set themselves to work creating rules and regulations on everything from fishing and dress codes to the sale of counterfeit brands and university admission systems.” Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘I Found Myself Turning Into an Idiot!’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Mar 6, 2015 Salon contributor Elias Isquith asked former university academic, author and activist David Graeber what made him want to write a book about bureaucracy. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

IRS Seizes Money From Guiltless Americans on Mere Suspicion

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Oct 26, 2014 A controversial area of law empowers the IRS to confiscate significant sums of money from "run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation" and "without ever filing a criminal complaint," leaving the owners "to prove they are innocent," The New York Times reports. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Jon Stewart Ridicules Iran Sanctions and Interviews Robert Gates

Staff / Truthdig Jan 16, 2014 Jon Stewart takes us through the new sanctions against Iran that many in our dysfunctional Congress are considering. He also interviews former Defense Secretary Robert Gates about his new book "Duty." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

How Kafkaesque Bureaucrats Are Ruining Education

Wellford Wilms / Truthdig Aug 19, 2013 Last week the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the nation, opened its doors for the new school year. The following story is a sobering tale of bureaucracy run amok, to the detriment of its schoolchildren.The following story is a sobering tale of bureaucracy run amok, to the detriment of schoolchildren. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Justice

Pavel Constantin, Cagle Cartoons, Romania Feb 18, 2013 Dig deeper

For Whom the City of Bell Tolls

Staff / Truthdig Sep 21, 2010 Police have arrested current and former city officials who are accused of pilfering millions from the taxpayers of Bell. The small Los Angeles suburb gained national notoriety as a poster town for bureaucratic corruption, and authorities wasted no time investigating and arresting the alleged nest featherers. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

South Carolina Charges Fee to Overthrow the Government

Staff / Truthdig Mar 4, 2010 A South Carolina lawmaker is trying to repeal the state's Subversive Activities Registration Act, which charges locals who want to overthrow the government a $5 fee and requires that they register -- with the government. You have to see the paperwork (after the jump) to fully appreciate its comic value. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Environmentalists Assail French ‘Green Tax’

Staff / Truthdig Sep 13, 2009 A plan by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to slap a "carbon tax" on all forms of energy except electricity has met both popular resistance and activist snubbing. Two-thirds of French voters oppose such a tax, and environmentalists have chimed in to condemn it as halfhearted and wimpy. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Leading Iraqis Get Practical

Staff / Truthdig Oct 8, 2007 If one were to ask President Bush to make sense of his strategy in Iraq, he would likely suggest that by providing stability, the Iraqi government could work toward reconciliation and an end to sectarian bloodletting, but according to several key Iraqi leaders, that just isn't going to happen. Better, they argue, to focus on the basics of governing and providing services that Iraqis continue to suffer without. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )