Joel Bleifuss, a former director of the Peace Studies Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is the editor & publisher of In These Times, where he has worked since October 1986.

Bleifuss has worked at In These Times for 34 years, including as managing editor and senior editor. He tackles the state of national and international events with a blend of critical insight and humor, and over the years has developed a niche for investigative reporting. His reporting on environmental health issues, national security scandals and the Iran Contra affair has landed in newspapers and magazines around the country, including the New York Times, the Utne Reader, the Capital Eye and many others. He is the co-author of the book “Was The 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?,” with Steven F. Freeman. Before joining In These Times, Bleifuss was director of the Peace Studies Program for the University of Missouri, a features writer for the Fulton Sun in Fulton, Missouri, and a freelance journalist in Spain. Bleifuss currently serves on the advisory board of The Public Square, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council.
Dear Reader
A farewell message from longtime Editor & Publisher Joel Bleifuss
Joel Bleifuss
A Progressive Response to Ukraine
We ought to be able to criticize U.S. empire without denying other bad state actors exist, each with their own objectives.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Lost Jobs, Lost Democrats
Neoliberal Democrats are struggling to connect with working-class voters whose communities have lost manufacturing jobs.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Empires Don't Last, But Their Scars Do
The Afghanistan withdrawal reteaches an old lesson about blowback to American intervention.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
What's Really Behind the Opposition to a $15 Minimum Wage
Fifty-seven senators from both parties are determined to preserve an economic system that rewards the rich and punishes the poor.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Armies of the Right
We all know who the real thieves of the election are.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
For the First Time, the Progressive Caucus Will Have Real Power
New rules will help Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) turn the caucus into a force to be reckoned with.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The Message from this Election? Bring the “Ruckus on the Democratic Party.”
Don't believe the establishment: The 2020 election results are a vindication of the Left’s inside-outside strategy.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The Electoral College is a Dangerous Relic That Threatens the Future of Our Democracy
This 18th-century artifact provided constitutional protections for slaveholders and allowed for the corruption of our electoral system. It's time to abolish it.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Sorry Joe, Countries Don't Have Souls
Joe Biden has framed the election as a battle for “America’s soul.” But what we need are politicians who will fight for the material needs of the people.
Joel Bleifuss
Culture
Trump’s False Claims of Rampant Voter Fraud Draw From a Well-worn Racist Playbook
Republicans have tried to suppress turnout among voters who are poor, disabled or people of color for many years.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Stop Blaming Individuals for the Spread of Covid and Start Blaming the Government Response
By presenting collective, structural crises as separate, individual problems with separate, individualized solutions, the government abdicates its responsibility to meaningfully intervene.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
15 Years After Hurricane Katrina, Another Perfect Storm Is Upon Us
When Katrina hit, the mainstream media and Congress both reacted shamefully. Their response to the pandemic is no different.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Defund the Police? Why Not?
We should not confuse public safety with investments in systems of punishment.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Former Leaders of SDS, Meet the Current Members of DSA
The authors of "An Open Letter to the New New Left From the Old New Left" failed to grasp several things about the Democratic Socialists of America.
Joel Bleifuss
Feature
Perry Rosenstein: Building a Foundation for Art and Social Justice
As president and founder of the Puffin Foundation, Rosenstein nourished independent journalism.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
This Is a Health Crisis—Stop Treating It Like a War
Even by his standards, Trump is a terrible wartime president
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The Future Socialists Want, And Centrists Fear
Are reds and red-scarers even talking about the same thing?
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Young People Don’t Support Biden. Why Does the Establishment Still Think He’s the Most “Electable”?
Don't believe arguments about "electability" coming from the corporate wing of the Democratic Party.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
James Thindwa, a Man Who Did What Needed to Be Done—And Said What Needed to Be Said
In These Times lost a friend. But his words live on.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Fox News, Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda
For nearly a quarter of American adults, Fox News is their only cable news source. It tells them what Trump wants them to hear.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Trolls Are Sowing Discord Between Sanders and Warren Supporters
Is someone yanking your chain?
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The “Democratic” in DSA
The Democratic Socialists of America recommitted itself to using “elections, public offices and legislation” to build support for democratic socialist ideas.
Joel Bleifuss
Culture
A Worker’s Place Is in the Museum
A new exhibit in New York honors the state's labor history.
Joel Bleifuss
Culture
We Can’t Settle for Less Than Single Payer
25 years ago, ITT's staff was divided about Clinton's healthcare plan. This time around there's no question.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Trump’s EPA Has a Monsanto Problem
The EPA is meant to protect us. Instead, it's been captured by industry.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Donald Trump’s Path to Victory
This is how the GOP plans to re-elect Trump in 2020.
Joel Bleifuss
Culture
This Isn’t The First Time William Barr Has Sought to Hide Information From the Public
We’ve been on to Barr since 1992.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Trump Wants To Make the 2020 Election All About Socialism. Yes, Let’s.
The Right is trying to redbait—but it will backfire.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
How Third Way Democrats Could Get Trump Re-elected
The New Democracy PAC and other centrist groups want you to learn all the wrong lessons from 2016.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
We Got a Blue Wave, But We Can Win So Much More—If We Mobilize Now
This fight is for civilization’s survival—one that will require the mobilization not seen since the civil rights movement.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Yes, Voter Suppression Is Real. But Young Voters May Bridge the Gap.
The midterms are rigged against people of color and the poor.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
We Believed Anita Hill
In 1991, an alleged sexual harasser was appointed to the Supreme Court. Let’s not repeat history.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
From Italy to Hungary, the Trumps of Europe Are Rising to Power
The leader of Italy’s far right, an admirer of Trump, has suggested a “mass cleansing” of Roma.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Oliver North Is Still Running Arms
North, the NRA’s new president, seems to always turn up when dictatorship looms.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The GOP Wants To Open the American Dream to the Poor, By Taking Away Their Food
By cutting food stamps and instituting work-for-food requirements, Republicans say they are creating a land of opportunity.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
It’s Time to Put Israel on Trial
The court of public opinion isn't enough. Israel's leaders should face charges in The Hague.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Say It Ain’t Joe: Why Anointing Biden for 2020 Is a Terrible Idea
When will the Democrats learn that Americans don’t want centrism?
Joel Bleifuss
Culture
And the Oscar for Best Protest Goes To…
Awards show activism, then and now.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
The Arc of History Doesn’t Bend Toward Justice On Its Own.
It’s been 50 years since the Kerner Commission report was released, and institutional racism still pervades our society.
Joel Bleifuss
Feature
The Specter of Reagan Haunts the GOP’s New Tax Plan
A brief history of how the GOP taxes the poor to reward the rich.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Establishment Democrats Lack the Will to Fight the GOP Tax Plan. It’s Time for an Alternative.
To fend off the Republicans' one-sided class war, we must break the corporate hold on the Democratic Party.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Trump Must Go
We can’t have an out-of-control president with a finger on the button.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
Heed the Lesson of 1932: Only Left Unity Can Defeat the Racist Right
We have our differences, but we also have the numbers.
Joel Bleifuss
Feature
Not My First Democratic Socialist Convention
In DSA's resurgence, a flashback to 1979.
Joel Bleifuss
Introducing the New In These Times
A new magazine for new times.
Joel Bleifuss
Viewpoint
We Have an Existential Imperative to Resist GOP Death Panels
The casualties of the war on health are real and imminent, not a hyperbolic exaggeration.
Joel Bleifuss
Feature
The Political Revolution Is Alive and Well in Nebraska
Climate campaigner and Democratic Party activist Jane Kleeb is lighting a fire on the prairie.
Joel Bleifuss
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