US politics

Americans may think they have nothing to learn about Justice from the old Empires like China’s: They’re Wrong

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – A year ago, last September Jennifer Rubin wrote in the Washington Post: “The wanton disregard for the lives of helpless citizens, for the fair application of the law and for our democracy is what we would expect in dictatorships around the world where might makes right.” She was […]

Authoritarianism

Selling Out Democracy: Corporations are again Backing Pols who Tried to Overthrow President Biden

OtherWords

By Kyle Herrig | – ( Otherwords.org) – One year ago, the foundation of our democracy was jeopardized in a full-blown coup attempt by seditionists egged on by former president Donald Trump. People died. Confederate flags were waved inside the Capitol. People with zip ties and weapons were ready to do harm or even kill […]

Afghanistan

Afghans face Harsh Winter, Hunger, lack of Health Clinics: How much of it is our Fault?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The ancient Greek philosopher Bion of Borysthenes said that boys throw stones at frogs in jest, but the frogs die in earnest. The United States government hasn’t placed sanctions on Afghanistan as a joke, but it certainly has done so in a blunt way, and Afghans are on the verge […]

Donald Trump

Jan. 6 Coup attempt became Republican Road Map: Whether democracy survives is up to us

John Feffer

( Otherwords.org ) – The defeat of Donald Trump in 2020 was supposed to put an end to America’s delusional national politics. The quashing of the January 6 insurrection — and the brief, near-unanimous revulsion among members of Trump’s party for that violence — provided some hope that the fever dream had passed. But the […]

African-Americans

Sidney Poitier – Hollywood’s first Black leading man reflected the civil rights movement on screen

The Conversation

By Aram Goudsouzian | – In the summer of 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. introduced the keynote speaker for the 10th-anniversary convention banquet of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Their guest, he said, was his “soul brother.” “He has carved for himself an imperishable niche in the annals of our nation’s history,” King told the […]

Donald Trump

Capitol assault: the real reason Trump and the crowd almost killed US democracy

The Conversation

By Stephen Reicher, Alex Haslam, Evangelos Ntontis, and Klara Jurstakova | – It was the moment that could have brought US democracy to its knees. One year ago, around noon on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump gave the concluding speech to a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC. Within an hour, protesters attacked and […]

Authoritarianism

Dick Cheney says he doesn’t Recognize current GOP, but he Helped pave way for Insurrection

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Vice President Dick Cheney accompanied his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), to the Capitol on Thursday to join the moment of silence in commemoration of the Jan. 6 insurrection. They were the only Republicans to attend. The elder Cheney was quoted as saying of the Republican House leadership, “It’s […]

Antisemitism

The Capitol Insurrectionists came for America with Bibles, Guns and a Messianic Trumpism

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – At Christian Nationalist conferences , “ . . . resistance to Mr. Trump is tantamount to resistance to God,” according to New York Times writer Katherine Stewart. That accounts for the heavy presence of Christian symbols, crosses and Bibles, AND guns carried by rioters during the January 6 […]

Authoritarianism

How democracy gets eroded – lessons from a Nixon expert

The Conversation

By Ken Hughes | – Now that a full year has passed since the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, the 2020 election and the republic, it’s evident that the attack never really ended. Instead, it spread out to other, less visible, more vulnerable targets. Donald Trump had hoped to reverse his election loss […]