US politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is time to look back at 2021 and consider the most consequential developments, as covered here at Informed Comment. 1. The most important change was that the Republican Party has abandoned democracy, as witnessed by its reaction to the attempted Trump coup of January 6, 2021. The GOP has […]

Authoritarianism

When Lawyers spin Lies for Presidents on behalf of Torture and Insurrection

Jerry Elsea

By Jerry Elsea | – ( The Gazette ) – I like attorneys. Some of my best friends are attorneys. I love an attorney who is my daughter. But I can’t stand attorneys who bend themselves pretzel-shaped telling U.S. presidents what they want to hear — especially when their “legal” advice shreds the Constitution and […]

Donald Trump

America’s Foreign Policy Death Spiral

Walter L. Hixson

(Counterpunch) – American foreign policy today is in a reactionary death spiral. Never has a new “national security” policy paradigm been more desperately needed, yet there is not even a glimpse of salvation on the horizon—wherever you look you will find policies that speak to the past and offer little hope for a viable global […]

Democratic Party

Three Reasons to be Hopeful Democrats will Still Pass Key Parts of Build Back Better

OtherWords

By Karen Dolan | – ( Otherwords.org ) – There’s no getting around it: 2021 has been a tough year. As with 2020, many of us are glad to see its back end. Do let the door hit you on the way out. Yet, there is more than just Senator Joe Manchin’s coal and Omicron […]

Bill of Rights

Will the US ‘Combating Islamophobia Act’ signal a Change towards hate Crime in America?

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor) – The result of a vote in the US House of Representatives on 14 December may signal a change in Washington’s approach to the social-political evil that is Islamophobia. However, we should not jump to hasty conclusions. Amazingly, Congress was nearly split on the vote. While 219 representatives voted in favour […]

Conspiracy Theories

Why our Democracy is Ailing: Another Grim winter for our Unmasked, Unvaccinated, Disputatious, Confrontational, Conspiratorial, and disturbed Country

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) – Whether the pandemic that’s swept the world started from a bat or not, as 2021 ends, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all far battier than we were when it began. In my neighborhood at least, as this year draws to a close, that old Lone Ranger line, “Who was […]

Pentagon

Congress Keeps Spending Nearly 1/4 of our Budget on the Pentagon, but it Hasn’t won any Wars for Decades

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Professional sports is a cutthroat business. Succeed and the people running the show reap rich rewards. Fail to meet expectations and you get handed your walking papers. American-style war in the twenty-first century is quite a different matter. Of course, war is not a game. The stakes on the battlefield are […]

Anti-Vaccination

Without Biden’s Vaccination Program, a Million and a Half Americans would have died in 2021 and 12 mn would have been Hospitalized

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden made a major pandemic policy speech on Tuesday, pleading with Americans to get vaccinated, and, indeed, to get the three-shot course that is now standard. He notes that 400,000 people died from COVID-19 in 2021, almost all of them unvaccinated. He is backed up by medical professionals. Augusta […]

Climate Crisis

2021’s US Climate Disasters revealed an East-West Divide, with one side of the Country too Wet, the other dangerously Dry

The Conversation

By Shuang-Ye Wu | – Alongside a lingering global pandemic, the year 2021 was filled with climate disasters, some so intense they surprised even the scientists who study them. Extreme rainstorms turned to raging flash floods that swept through mountain towns in Europe, killing over 200 people. Across Asia, excessive rainfall inundated wide areas and […]