BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Come gather round children wherever you roam, it’s that time again, when the high and the mighty get what they have comin’: poetic justice for all. Vladimir Putin – 20 years house arrest at 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA, USA Chris Christie – Placed in stocks between lanes at New Jersey entrance to George Washington Bridge until his BMI drops below 25. John Boehner – Until inauguration day, 2017, must exclaim loudly “Hell yes you can!” whenever questioned about any Democrat proposal. Mitch McConnell – From now on the ONLY utterance he’s allowed when […]

  BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Familiar with Common Core? Don’t fret. It’s not altogether necessary that you be acquainted with all of its intricacies and implications in order to appreciate this contrarian’s point of view, but for the sake of your children and grandchildren I HIGHLY recommend that you become so ASAP. And when you do, please keep in mind that regardless of all of Common Core’s promised furtherances and rewards, this purported “earthshaking advance” in education has in large part been promoted and designed by individuals and corporations that stand to reap considerable financial gain through its implementation. With […]

Illustration by BEN HEINE BY WILLIAM C. HENRY When did Republicans elect to delete the term “compromise” from their lexicon? When did they resolve to bar words like “cooperation” and “consensus” from discussion? When did they decide to excise words like “reasonable” and “equitable” from their collective mind-set? When did they engender such callousness toward sentiments like “compassion” and “empathy”? In fact, when was the last time you heard terms like “common good” or “shared sacrifice” roll from the tongue of a McConnell, a Boehner, or any other current member of America’s Right Wing elite? Have today’s Republicans become so […]

  BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Have you been following this latest push for “freer” markets and longer yachts for the prime beneficiaries? It’s been dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and it’s all the rage among the one- and two-percenters. Word has it that leaked details already have top yacht builders like Lurssen, Feadship, and Oceanco champing at the helm, and big-time PR firms like Edelman, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, and Ogilvy snapping up all available Indulgences (it’s rumored that demand for corporate reputation protection and enhancement services will rise like a Bay of Fundy tide once the truth about the TPP comes […]

Illustration by MARIO PIPERNI BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Senator Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz returned to Texas recently to pick up a clean white sheet and rummage for more dry timbers and kerosene. Having been run out of Washington with pointed hat in hand, it must have felt especially good to be welcomed home by some 600 of his crimson-naped faithful all decked out in their finest Sunday-go-to-meeting stars and bars.  Okay, I’ll come clean. I detest Ted Cruz, just as I detest all political deceivers, thieves, racists, bigots, hypocrites and phonies. But because Cruz has earned himself such a special […]

  BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Corporate mogul with a tax law you don’t like? Not to worry. What has been labeled the “holy grail of tax dodges” is at hand — and this one’s guaranteed to tickle the imagination of even the most quintessential corporate welfare queen. Here’s how it works: 1) Pump a hefty portion of that tax money you’re so otherwise reluctant to part with into the tanks of the corporate jet and take off in search of an overseas patsy on whom to lavish some more of it convincing him to sacrifice his corporation to the greater […]