Congress

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

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 […]

Bill of Rights

Roll up your Sleeves: It will take more than an Election to Restore American Democracy

John Feffer

The Four-Year Rule?

Congress

If Biden-Harris win sans Senate, They Could still enact Green Energy by out-politicking McConnell

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Even if Joe Biden becomes president, he may well not have a Democratic majority in the Senate. The shape of the Senate may not even be known until January. This is a huge problem, because majority leader Mitch McConnell waged war on President Obama from the Senate, refusing to let […]

Congress

What if the outcome of the Presidential Election is Disputed? A Constitutional Scholar explains the Murk

The Conversation

By Richard Pildes | – As I’ve Zoom-traveled the country speaking about legal issues involving the election, I have found myself, as well as audiences, bewildered and frustrated by one underlying question: Why is there so much legal uncertainty about so many critical questions concerning the rules for resolving a disputed presidential election? If ever […]

Climate Crisis

Dems in Congress Craft Net Zero Carbon Climate Plan, aiming at Environmental Justice

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Misha Jones ( Cronkite News) | WASHINGTON – In the South Phoenix neighborhood of Lindo Park-Roesley Park, temperatures can be up to 13 degrees higher than locations just 2 miles away, according to the Nature Conservancy. Communities that are predominantly Hispanic and Black, like Lindo Park-Roesley Park, are part of the focus in a […]

Congress

We’ve been Sunk by Chickenhawks like Trump, but will the Veterans in Congress Save Us?

Tomdispatch

By Nan Levinson | ( Tomdispatch.com) – If you still follow the mainstream media, you’re probably part of the 38% of registered voters who knew something about the op-ed Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) published in the New York Times early in June, exhorting the president to use the Insurrection Act to “restore order to our […]

Congress

Supreme Court Slaps down Trump’s Claim of Immunity from Grand Jury Subpoena

The Conversation

By Stanley M. Brand | – In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump has no immunity, by virtue of being president, from a state grand jury subpoena for his business and tax records in a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney. “[N]o citizen, not even the president, is […]

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Tlaib Threaten to Cut Israeli Funding if Netanyahu Annexes 1/3 of Palestinian West Bank

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Progressive members of Congress will circulate a letter on Tuesday threatening US funding for Israel if the Netanyahu government proceeds with its plans to steal one third of the Palestinian West Bank in July. Hassan Abbas at The Arab-American saw an advance copy of the letter. The letter to secretary […]

Banking

Is Mitch McConnell Blocking further Congressional Aid to States on Behalf of Vulture Funds and Corporations with Impunity?

John Buell

Has the Senate Majority Leader lost his faith in the wisdom and predictability of markets? Crude partisanship may underlie his reluctance to enact further Covid Depression relief assistance, but the reason given was extraordinary. The Senator professed a desire to wait for the effects of the first relief package to become apparent. “I think we […]