Far Right

Plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor grew from the militia movement’s toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths

By John E. Finn | – The U.S. militia movement has long been steeped in a peculiar – and unquestionably mistaken – interpretation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and civil liberties. This is true of an armed militia group that calls itself the Wolverine Watchmen, who were involved in the recently revealed plot […]

Donald Trump

Rightwing Populism Will Make You Sick—Really

Reese Erlich

(Foreign Correspondent) – The four countries with the most confirmed COVID-19 infections in the world are all led by rightwing populists: the US, India, Brazil, and Russia. Throw in the United Kingdom, which has the largest infection rate in Europe, and you have a common pattern. Leaders of these countries pose as men of the […]

Far Right

Who are the white Nationalist Wolverine Watchmen, who Plotted Kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer?

The Conversation

By Amy Cooter | – Details are still emerging about the men arrested on federal and state charges related to an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Federal prosecutions can take months and even years, so it will be quite some time before a full analysis of this situation becomes possible. But as […]

Donald Trump

How dangerous are the White Nationalists in the US Military?

The Conversation

By Jennifer Spindel, Matt Motta and Robert Ralston | – White nationalist groups, who make up some of the most serious terror threats in the country, find new members and support in the U.S. military. These groups believe that white people are under attack in America. In their effort to create an all-white country where […]

Far Right

For Insights into Michigan’s Toxic culture of Masculinity and Guns see Groundbreaking Director Arman Cole’s Short, “Small Arms” (4 mn Views)

Juan Cole

Arman Cole is a director and graduate of the University of Southern California film school. His dramatic short film, Small Arms stars Tyler Young and Dominic DeVere. Young later “starred as Philip Shea in the acclaimed USA Network limited series Eyewitness (2016), directed by Catherine Hardwicke and co-starring Julianne Nicholson. He also starred in the […]

Far Right

How a GOP 6-3 Court will Set Individual and Privacy Rights back 50 Years

The Conversation

By Morgan Marietta | – If the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is replaced this year, the Supreme Court will become something the country has not seen since the justices became a dominant force in American cultural life after World War II: a decidedly conservative court. A court with a 6-3 conservative majority would be […]

Donald Trump

Attacking even the Study of Slavery History, Trump is Running for President of White Nationalists

The Conversation

By Henry Giroux | – In what appears to be a blatant appeal to the white supremacists in his base, President Donald Trump has made clear his attempt to both defend and rewrite the history of racial injustice in the United States while eliminating the institutions that make visible its historical roots. As Peter Baker, […]

Far Right

19 years after 9/11, Americans continue to fear foreign extremists and underplay the dangers of domestic terrorism

The Conversation

By Jeff Gruenewald, Joshua D. Freilich, Steven Chermak, and William Parkin | – On a Tuesday morning in September 2001, the American experience with terrorism was fundamentally altered. Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six people were killed as the direct result of attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Thousands more, including many first […]

Democracy

Less than 8 Weeks to Save our Democracy from a Grotesque, Bigoted, illiterate Game Show Host and Real Estate Grifter

David Faris

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – In 2016, thanks largely to the antiquated, nonsensical design of its creaky electoral system, the U.S. presidency was awarded to a candidate who lost the election by nearly 3 million votes to his opponent. This elderly man, a functionally illiterate game show host and petty real estate grifter with […]