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David Masciotra

David Masciotra is the author of "Mellencamp: American Troubadour" (University Press of Kentucky) and the forthcoming "Barack Obama: Invisible Man" (Eyewear Publishing).

Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Donald Trump has poisoned American culture — but the toxin was here all along

David Masciotra
The Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives for the funeral service for Ethel Lance, 70, one of the nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

“The Civil War never ended”: Jesse Jackson on the racist agenda that must come down with the Confederate flag

David Masciotra
(<a href='http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2222733'>mjbs</a> via <a href='http://www.istockphoto.com/'>iStock</a>)

College is a con: The savage truth about your bachelor’s degree

David Masciotra
Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

“America floats between modernity & collapse”: What Japan can teach the U.S. about averting disaster

David Masciotra
(AP/Eric Gay)

The military is buying patriotism: A Memorial Day nightmare about Pentagon budgets — and veterans used as a sideshow

David Masciotra
John Mellencamp (AP/Matt Rourke)

Mellencamp “doesn’t play to his base”: Why this lefty populist is at home among conservatives

David Masciotra
Crowds gather before a symbolic walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Sunday, March 8, 2015, in Selma, Ala. (AP/Mike Stewart)

“America’s Third World”: The marchers have gone, but Selma is still mired in poverty

David Masciotra
(Wikimedia/AP/Jose Luis Magana)

Libertarianism is for petulant children: Ayn Rand, Rand Paul and the movement’s sad “rebellion”

David Masciotra
Lou Reed, Kirk Hammett (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi/AP/Abraham Caro Marin)

“People enjoy talking sh*t”: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett defends “Lulu,” the band’s daring and notorious Lou Reed album

David Masciotra
Bradley Cooper in "American Sniper"

Civil war at the cineplex: “American Sniper,” “Selma” and the battle over American masculinity

David Masciotra
(Reuters/Richard Rowe)

“No civilization would tolerate what America has done”

David Masciotra
Clockwise from top left: Cast of "Fox & Friends," Michelle Malkin, Montel Williams, Kennedy. (Fox News/Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Salon)

My week in the right-wing lie machine: When Fox News, Twitchy and Montel Williams declared war on me

David Masciotra
Graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, May 28, 2014. (AP/Brennan Linsley)

You don’t protect my freedom: Our childish insistence on calling soldiers heroes deadens real democracy

David Masciotra
Megyn Kelly (AP/Alex Kroke/Salon)

“Megyn Kelly’s eyes are very cold”: Bill Ayers on his Fox News appearance, education “reform” and the problem with the Ivy League

David Masciotra