Longreads

While beatings in police custody have been common in Kandahar for as long as there have been police, a number of Afghan and international officials familiar with the situation there told me that Raziq has brought with him a new level of brutality. Since his arrival, Raziq has launched a wave of arrests across the city in coordination with the government intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security. One human-rights official who has conducted prison visits in Kandahar told me that the number of prisoners is up more than 50 percent since Raziq’s arrival.

I don't believe you. I've watched you for years and I've never believed you. You want the same 5 million+/year deals you see the other purveyors of outrage making. You're a one-note pony. You deal in anger and will brook no countering arguments because to do so might imperil your personal aspirations. I've seen you sitting across the table from economists who flat out claim that TARP was critical and necessary and stopped us from going off the cliff, to which you shrug and say, "Well, I don't agree with that."

On April 20, 2005, George W. Bush signed into law a bankruptcy bill that had been pending in Congress for eight years. The bill was written by credit-industry lobbyists, shopped to their friends in Congress, and supported by tens of millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions. It might be dismissed as just one more piece of highly focused special-interest legislation except for the damaging vision of middle-class America that it reinforced: irresponsible people consumed by appetites for goods they don’t need, who think little of cost, and who would rather file for bankruptcy than repay their lawful debts.

Research support for this article was provided by The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute and by an Alfred Knobler Fellowship. Sam Black woke up one morning not long after retiring to…