With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass

“ALL that is solid melts into air,” wrote Karl Marx. In the US today, all that was once solid is being smashed into pieces.
We are staring at the shattered remains of what was an already deeply imperfect democracy. Institutions are being dismantled, lives and livelihoods destroyed. The illusion once known as the American dream has melted into air along with the financial and psychological wellbeing of millions of working people.
The man wielding the axe is Elon Musk, the de facto US president. If there were any remaining doubts about that, they were dispelled at the first gathering of Trump’s full cabinet this week when he deferred to his billionaire puppet-master to open the meeting.

The Trump government is seizing overseas students from their homes and campuses and even off the streets, with no legal grounds and no due process, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER


