The Billionaire Oligarchs Don’t Give Out Bread Anymore, but They Gleefully Supply Circuses

By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Oct 17, 2016 The phrase "bread and circuses," coined by a Roman satirist who said the commoners had to be provided food to prevent their rioting and public spectacles to distract them from Augustus' tyranny, rings true today—with a key difference. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Donald Trump’s Triumph Forces GOP Party Leaders to Make a Decision

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig May 7, 2016 So far, most Republican luminaries are choosing collaboration over resistance — although many have declined comment and seem to still be pondering what to do with the party's presumptive nominee for president. So far, most Republican luminaries are choosing collaboration over resistance — although many have declined comment and seem to still be pondering what to do with the party's presumptive nominee for president. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Wages of Sin

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Apr 11, 2016 Huge segments of working-class whites—victims paying for the sins of American empire—are desperately seeking to halt change and re-create a mythical past. This is always the last, desperate gasp of a dying culture. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

VIDEO: Pope Met Gay Student in Washington; Kim Davis Meeting Was Arranged by Anti-Gay Cleric

BLANK Oct 3, 2015 Pope Francis' meeting with the anti-gay-marriage Kentucky county clerk was arranged by an archbishop with known anti-gay sentiments, the Vatican said, and occurred one day after the pontiff met with a gay former student and his boyfriend. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

‘The Bells of Easter Sunday Are Actually a Call to War’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Apr 5, 2015 A careful look at the Gospels may offer a picture of the original Easter message that is more startling than the theme of lilies, chocolate and eternal salvation that prevails today, writes Brandon Ambrosino in The Boston Globe. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Were Roman Slave Owners the First Management Theorists?

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 16, 2015 “Managing others always involves finding solutions to the age-old problems of assessing people from limited information, then incentivising, disciplining and rewarding them, to finally being rid of them,” Jerry Toner, author of “The Roman Guide to Slave Management,” writes in a piece for Aeon magazine. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Wait a Second, Did Venice Just Vote to Secede From Italy?

Natasha Hakimi Zapata / Truthdig Mar 25, 2014 While the whole world was busy talking about Crimea, something remarkable happened in Venice. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Debt Is a Weapon for Taking Your Things Away

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jan 20, 2014 The treasured University of Missouri, Kansas City economics professor Michael Hudson explains to RT how debt is used "as a means of foreclosing on property and transferring" it "from the debtor to the creditor." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Pope Francis: A New Center of Gravity

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Mar 15, 2013 In winning election as Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio defied the papal pundits, even though they should have seen him coming. His rise marks the decisive shift within Roman Catholicism toward Latin America and the developing world. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Paradoxes of Pope Benedict XVI

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Feb 12, 2013 Pope Benedict's resignation shouldn't have surprised us as much as it did. As an institutionalist who believes in the Roman Catholic Church as the carrier of truth in a sinful world, he would worry a great deal about the impact of his own infirmities on the institution's capacity to thrive. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Pope Benedict XVI to Resign From Scandal-Plagued Church

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Feb 11, 2013 Whatever messages Pope Benedict tried to convey during his tenure were "drowned out" by the child abuse scandal and other controversies that rocked the Vatican during his reign, John Hooper writes at The Guardian. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Hail and Farewell: The End of the American Empire

Gore Vidal Aug 3, 2012 Gore Vidal reads an essay first published in 2007, in which the author and iconoclast suggested that perhaps there was a more sinister explanation for President Bush's fiascoes than mere incompetence: He was out to destroy the American empire. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )