The easiest way to cope with the news is to shrivel it into an us-vs.-them abstraction and, thus, to extract as much humanity from it as possible.

I’m thinking about the recent protest death of Aaron Bushnell, who set himself on fire — doused himself in flammable liquid, lit a match and ignited himself — in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. this past Sunday, Feb. 24. The last words he shouted were “Free Palestine!”

No, this is not the first such death. Over the centuries — and particularly in recent decades, since the Vietnam war — a number of people, spiritually distraught over war or other social conditions, have killed themselves in protest by self-immolation . . . that is, in the most painful way imaginable. You might say they entered hell of their own accord. Why? The question tears at the soul.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Eighteen years after a military coup toppled one of Thailand's most politically powerful leaders, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra walked free on parole, finishing six months in a police hospital and sparking fears he now shares power with his party's pliant prime minister.

"There is only one prime minister under the constitution. That's me," their Pheu Thai party's less popular Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin insisted to reporters hours after Mr. Thaksin was freed on February 18.

Some warn that Mr. Thaksin, 74, is so influential and Machiavellian that this Southeast Asian, Buddhist-majority nation now has "double prime ministers".

"Thai society now knows that Thaksin is the shadow prime minister with real power," Wanwichit Boonprong, a Rangsit University political science lecturer, said in an interview.

Mr. Thaksin's six-month hospital incarceration and parole also sparked complaints.

"Even though he [was] a prisoner, he has received special medical treatment privileges in the police hospital without ever having been in prison for a single day," Mr. Wanwichit said.

Legendary voting rights activist RAY MCCLENDON dissects the furor over Fani Willis and the Georgia prosecution of Trump’s 2020 election theft attempt.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN, TATANKA BRICCA and JOHN STEINER jump in.

CYNTHIA PAPERMASTER tells us of her civil disobedience at the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi. 

ANDREA MILLER explains her upcoming national webinar on Get-Out-The-Vote work that has made a tangible difference in so many elections.,

RUTH STRAUSS, LYNN FEINERMAN and WENDI LEDERMAN add their perspectives to Andrea’s amazing work.

Just back from London, VINNIE DESTFANO gives us his first person accounts of this critical juncture on the Julian Assange case.

SUSAN PYNCHON introduces us to the upcoming election audit zoom with John Brakey, Ray Lutz, Ken Bennett, Bennie Smith; look for the link at 

Tuesday, February 27, 6pm, Columbus Metropolitan Library [Northside Branch], 1423 N. High St.

Join the PSL [Party for Socialism and Liberation] and friends for the launch of the Vote Socialist 2024 campaign right here in Columbus, Ohio. Meet our comrades, find out ways to volunteer and get involved in the struggle, learn more about the campaign and our Party, and join the fight for socialism and liberation! We don’t just want your vote; we want you to organize! See you there.

Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia are running for President and Vice-President as the candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Claudia De la Cruz is a mother, popular educator and theologian born in the South Bronx who has spent her life organizing for justice for working people at home and to end U.S. empire abroad. Karina Garcia is a Chicana organizer, popular educator, and mother who has spent her entire adult life fighting for the rights of immigrant workers, women, and the whole working class.