Constitution

By Joschka Fischer | (Project Syndicate) | – – BERLIN – Little more than a month after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, it has become clear that nothing good will come of his presidency. Unfortunately, the pessimists turned out to be realists: things really are as bad as they said they would be. Worst-case scenarios […]

Authoritarianism

Will Trump use the Next ISIL attack to sweep away our Liberties?

contributors

By Allison Beth Hodgkins | (Informed Comment) | – – You have to hand to the civil society groups pushing back on the Trump administration’s recent executive orders banning the entry of Syrian refugees and all other types of visa holders from Syria, Iran and five other majority Muslim countries in the Middle East and […]

Bill of Rights

Protesters Face Increasing Criminalization in Trump Era

contributors

TeleSur | – – Changes aim to hit protestors with criminal records and beefed up fines and impunity for police who accidentally kill them. Donald Trump was officially sworn in Friday as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents in recent history, sparking off widespread protests around the world. Resistance through protest and mass organization […]

Authoritarianism

Trump does Poor imitation of Tin-Pot Dictator at “Press Conference”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In his first news conference in months, president-elect Donald J. Trump engaged in a series of petulant tirades. For anyone like myself, who has lived under dictators in the global South, his performance was unpleasantly reminiscent of their authoritarian publicity techniques. Instead of letting a wide […]

Bill of Rights

A Living Wage & a Right to Live: Resisting a government of Generals and Billionaires

Rebecca Gordon

San Francisco ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they’re not wrong. Before we take up our three-point stance on the national line of scrimmage, however, maybe we should ask ourselves not only what we’re fighting against, but what we’re fighting for. […]

Constitution

Reflections by a Middle Easterner on the Electoral College as a Remnant of Elite Tribalism

Juan Cole

By Hsain Ilahiane | (Informed Comment) | – – The Founding Fathers wrote the electoral college in the United States Constitution. In late summer 2004, I became a naturalized United States citizen in Des Moines, Iowa. The following November election day, with my voting card in hand, sure-footed and full of excitement, I walked over […]

Bill of Rights

Bruited Trump pick for Nat’l Intel shreds 4th Amendment, wants Total Surveillance

contributors

TeleSur | – – On Thursday multiple mainstream media outlets reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Republican Senator Dan Coats, an outspoken advocate of illegal domestic surveillance programs, to be director of national intelligence. While yet to be formally announced, anonymous Trump transition team members told multiple outlets that the pick would […]

Bill of Rights

Top 5 Reasons Senate Dems should block all Trump Supreme Court Nominees, Forever

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – We don’t need a Trump-nominated supreme Court justice. We desperately don’t need such a person. And there is no reason to have one. The Democrats in the Senate should just filibuster any nomination for the next four years. Now, you may say that a president deserves […]

Bill of Rights

Can Trump be checked and balanced?

contributors

By Ulrike G. Theuerkauf | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The US Presidential system has been much heralded as a prime example of horizontal accountability, but there is no guarantee how Donald Trump will be kept in check. The US presidential system has been much heralded for its system of checks and balances. But Trump’s victory has given […]