Charleston, W.V. (Special to Informed Comment) – Barely three months from now, the 2020 election may reveal whether America’s white evangelical “religious right” finally is losing political power. So far, early polls imply that obnoxious President Trump, the darling of born-again whites, may suffer a historic defeat. (Although I’m unreligious, I pray ardently for that […]
Archives for July 2020
Killing Democracy in America: The Military-Industrial Complex and Forever Wars as our other Pandemic
( Tomdispatch.com) – The phrase “thinking about the unthinkable” has always been associated with the unthinkable cataclysm of a nuclear war, and rightly so. Lately, though, I’ve been pondering another kind of unthinkable scenario, nearly as nightmarish (at least for a democracy) as a thermonuclear Armageddon, but one that’s been rolling out in far slower […]
The World War in Libya: Russo-Turkish, Turko-Egyptian Conflicts Recall Multi-Polar 19th Century
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Libya has become a multipolar battleground unusual in the era since 1946. The UN-recognized General National Assembly (GNA) government in Tripoli is ranged against the forces of Benghazi-based Gen. Khalifa Haftar. Haftar is supported by the Russian Federation, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and diplomatically, France. The GNA is supported […]
Understanding Trump’s game plan in Portland could be the key to preventing a coup in November
George Lakey | – (Waging Nonviolence ) – While outrage was still growing in Oregon over federal agents’ intervention in Portland, President Trump on July 20 named Chicago, New York, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland, California as possible next targets. Since then Albuquerque was added to the list. Although the agents’ mission was supposedly to protect […]
How to Fund the Green New Deal: With the money we spend on Immigration Enforcement, we could solar power nearly 35 million homes.
By Josue De Luna Navarro | ( Otherwords.org ) – The climate crisis is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity is facing. Yes, it threatens everyone’s existence. But in particular, it exacerbates the centuries-long systemic oppression plaguing so many communities. The scientific consensus tells us we have 10 years to transform our fossil-fueled, extractive economy into […]
Is the Coronavirus deflating the Far Right?
By Georgios Samaras | – In recent years, far-right political parties in Europe have capitalised on crises to build their support bases. Many have made it to positions of power as a result of these efforts. The financial crisis of 2008, the refugee crisis that began in 2014 and the ongoing debate around climate change […]
First the Nat’l Security State Surged Baghdad, now it is Surging Portland and Seattle
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – USA Today’s headline went, “Mayors see broken trust, political agenda in Trump’s surge of federal officers to US cities.” Surge? For those of us old enough to remember George W. Bush’s Iraq War, the use of the word “surge” to describe Federal agents sent into Democratic cities to break heads […]
The Worst Possible Leader in a Pandemic: Trump’s Authoritarianism is all about Him
( Otherwords.org ) – The Trump administration is apparently undertaking its latest effort to make 2020 more of a Kafkaesque nightmare than it already is. Yes, we’ve got murder hornets and a swarm of flying ants that can be seen from space over in Ireland, but maybe the scariest plague of the year is the […]
How US Immigration Policies Foreshadowed Violence Against Protesters
Trump Administration Planning to Send Federal Agents to Other Cities