Congress

By Peter Certo | ( Otherwords.org) – The American political system is complicated, but fixing it doesn’t have to be. Voters of all stripes broadly agree on the kinds of changes they’d like to see. We need less money in politics. It should be easier to vote — early, in person, or by mail. And […]

Congress

Mitch McConnell, Shepherd of Shame: Taking Names for a New, Deeper Circle of Hades

H. Scott Prosterman

Mitch McConnell will go down in history as one of the most destructive men in American History. If obstructing all the positive legislation and court nominations of President Barack Obama wasn’t enough; if enabling all the horrors and cruelties of President Donald Trump wasn’t enough; if brazenly changing Senate rules to undermine . . . […]

Congress

After Years of Outrage Politics, RepubliQans have surrendered to the Neo-Nazi Conspiracy Theorists

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – From Sarah Palin’s alarmist and mendacious charge of death panels in the Affordable Health Act to Benghazi, where the smarmy Mike Pompeo tried to hang a terrorist attack around the neck of secretary of state Hillary Clinton (who was not in charge of military or intelligence decisions), the brand of […]

Congress

Educator Shocked that GOP put Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke of Assassinating Nancy Pelosi and denied Parkland School Shootings, on House Education Committee

Juan Cole

This is who the Republican Party is, now

Congress

McConnell Cynically used the Trump-Monster to get Tax Cuts and SCOTUS, Now Dropping him like a Squeezed Orange

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In Chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the enormously wealthy Jay Gatsby becomes concerned about word getting out that he is having an affair with Daisy, who is married to Tom, and abruptly stops having the big parties he had been throwing, to which assorted society flotsam […]

Congress

Yes, it Was a Coup Attempt, but one Just as Looney as Trump and his Wingnuts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Wednesday 1/6 was clearly an attempted coup on Trump’s part. There is some controversy about this, depending on how analysts define a “coup.” It was of course not a successful coup d’état inasmuch as it failed to overturn the government or even to permanently install an elected president as an […]

Congress

Cairo on the Potomac: The siege on US Capitol was the election violence of a fragile democracy

The Conversation

By Clayton Besaw and Matthew Frank | – Did the United States just have a coup attempt? Supporters of President Donald Trump, following his encouragement, stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Waving Trump banners, hundreds of people broke through barricades and smashed windows to enter […]

African-Americans

“The Stone of Help:” Rev. Raphael Warnock ran for the Senate from Ebenezer Baptist Church: What that means to American History

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Rev. Raphael Warnock, the new senator from Georgia, grew up in Savannah. His commitment to the Black Baptist tradition was deepened during his undergraduate years at Morehouse College. He told Vicky Eckenrode of the Savannah Morning News on 24 Oct 2005 of Morehouse, “It has deep Baptist roots so […]

Bill of Rights

Presidents are Paid Public Servants, Not Aristocrats above the Law: Lessons from Rousseau, Jefferson and Tang China

Martin Powers

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – “Let the constitution of a government be what it will, if there is but one man in it exempt from the laws, all the other members must necessarily be at his discretion.” Perhaps we should thank Donald Trump for demonstrating the truth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s insight. No sooner […]