Light Against Empire

Light Against Empire

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Start Here: Why I Write and Who I Write For
Why I write, who I write for, and how faith, doubt, reason, and moral courage shape a life of attention, service, and resistance in uncertain times.
 • Dino Alonso
The Brakes Were Cut Long Before Anyone Checked the Engine
The dementia frame is clinically wrong and morally convenient. The thirty-year record describes character, not decline. It's time to reckon with that.
 • Dino Alonso
Nobody's Walking Out. They're Changing the Locks.
American military dominance isn't collapsing — it's being renegotiated by host nations without Washington at the table. Qatar and Korea prove it.
 • Dino Alonso
Democratic Perimeter Update - March 23 - 27
A weekly civic watch on federal power, the Iran war, a 41-day DHS shutdown, Minnesota's legislative fight, and Europe's quiet reckoning with American…
 • Dino Alonso
A Note to My Readers
Light Against Empire goes fully free. Here's why a paywall was always the wrong door for writing meant to cross the divides that are breaking us.
 • Dino Alonso
Subscribe to Fight Fascism and Save Your America
Light Against Empire
Light Against Empire
Essays and dispatches on conscience, democracy, and the work of staying human.
Podcasts
Logo for Light Against Empire - The Podcast
Light Against Empire - The Podcast
The Elastic Presidency - The American System Under Pressure - A New Series
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The Compass of Faith and Reason
Lessons of Leaving

Recent posts

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7:15
Lessons of Leaving
A humanist's departures from church, spirituality, and the American Legion reveal why belonging is one need that never betrays us, even when every…
 • Dino Alonso
The Lessons of Leaving
A humanist's four departures from church, spirituality, and the American Legion reveal why belonging is the one need that never betrays us, even when…
 • Dino Alonso
You Were Promised the Files
Trump promised to release the Epstein files. His Justice Department withheld the 53 pages that matter most. The serial numbers prove it. Here's what…
 • Dino Alonso
Two Men, One War, Whose Dead?
Netanyahu needed his trial buried. Trump needed Epstein gone. Fifty thousand Palestinians died while two men solved their legal problems with one war.
 • Dino Alonso
Life After Leaving Church (10)
The final essay in the series. What does life look like years after leaving church? Not the leaving. The life that came after. It was worth it.
 • Dino Alonso
11:08
Life After Leaving Church (10)
How to Live Well in the Life You Built
 • Dino Alonso
Relax. It’s Just Another War.
From Korea to Tehran, America keeps fighting the same war for the same reasons. Here's the pattern they're counting on you to forget. Again.
 • Dino Alonso
THE DEMOCRATIC PERIMETER - 7-13 March 2026
Day 27 of the DHS shutdown, ICE withdrawals in Minnesota and Maine, Arctic sovereignty, and a fracturing NATO alliance. The perimeter holds, but…
 • Dino Alonso
11:06
Pandora’s Ballot Box
Pandoras Box meets the ballot box. Darkly satirical reflection on elections civic exhaustion & the quiet danger of citizens deciding democracy isnt…
 • Dino Alonso
Pandora’s Ballot Box
Pandora’s Box meets the ballot box. A darkly satirical reflection on elections, civic exhaustion, and the quiet danger of citizens deciding democracy…
 • Dino Alonso
9:26
Life After Leaving Church (9)
Listen now | What gives life meaning after leaving church? A thoughtful reflection on purpose, morality, & building a meaningful life w/o religious…
 • Dino Alonso
Life After Leaving Church (9)
What gives life meaning after leaving church? A thoughtful reflection on purpose, morality, and building a meaningful life without religious certainty.
 • Dino Alonso
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