Bill of Rights

The Atlantic | (Video Report) | – – “Liberty requires vigilance and sacrifice so we remain standing in defense of our Constitution and its values,” says Khizr Khan. The lawyer and Gold Star father of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq, spoke out against President Trump at the Democratic National Committee Convention […]

Authoritarianism

Cop Arrests Nurse For Doing Her Job (TYT Video)

contributors

Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian and Maytha Alhassen | (The Young Turks Video Report) | – – “A police officer in Salt Lake City arrested a nurse because she refused to break the law. Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian and Maytha Alhassen of The Young Turks, break it down.” TYT: “Cop Arrests Nurse For Doing Her Job […]

Bill of Rights

Shadowy US Covert Ops & Surveillance Abroad always Come Home

contributors

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – [This piece has been adapted and expanded from the introduction to Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.] In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington pursued its elusive enemies across the […]

Bill of Rights

Leaking in the Age of Trump: Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers (VICE Video)

contributors

VICE News | (Video News Report) | – – “VICE News examines the Trump administration’s war on leakers, with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. “We’re really seeing leaks that are dangerous to the president, embarrassing to the president, by agencies that feel themselves endangered by the president.” VICE News: “Daniel Ellsberg On Leaking In The […]

Bill of Rights

Mideast’s ‘Only Democracy’ joins push to Silence Al Jazeera: Netanyahu

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump has his Twitter. Apparently far right wing Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has his Facebook. In a Facebook posting, Netanyahu vowed to close the Jerusalem office of the Qatar-backed Al Jazeera satellite news station. Failing that, he said, he would introduce legislation to ban Al […]

Authoritarianism

Priebus: Trump Could Amend Constitution to Abolish 1st Amendment

contributors

TeleSur | – – A constitutional amendment to stem negative coverage of any administration would require a supermajority in both houses of Congress. U.S. President Donald Trumps’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, announced Sunday that the administration is reviewing the country’s libel laws in a bid to prosecute journalists. Priebus told ABC News’ This Week […]

Bill of Rights

Trump Straining to bring back Torture, Indefinite Detention?

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – When George W. Bush and Dick Cheney launched their forever wars — under the banner of a “Global War on Terror” — they unleashed an unholy trinity of tactics. Torture, rendition, and indefinite detention became the order of the day. After a partial suspension of these […]

Bill of Rights

As Trump Breaks it, Top Ten Things we need to do to Fix America

contributors

By William R. Polk | (Informed Comment) | – – Let me suggest what seem to me to be the major categories of challenges men who care about the country face, but before I do, let me frankly state my position: I think the Democratic Party leaders had it coming to them. Obama’s rhetoric raised […]

Bill of Rights

Given Trump’s Betrayal, Can we Crowdfund American Aid and Soft Power Abroad?

contributors

David Holdridge | (Informed Comment) | – – The current debate between liberals and the Trump Administration on American soft power abroad is not being framed correctly. Liberals should be arguing for more American citizen engagement overseas rather than for maintaining and extending into the future a dependency on USAID and the State Department. Since […]