US politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In mid-December, 2010 in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, a small drama unfolded that would change the world, and certainly would change Tunisia. Tareq Mohammed Bouazizi, a street peddler who had just bought $200 worth of produce to sell off a cart, was harassed by police for not […]

Authoritarianism

The rest of the world sees uprisings, not riots, in Trump’s US

Reese Erlich

(48hills.org) – One of Germany’s largest dailies ran the headline “This killer cop set America ablaze,” with a photo of the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd. Protests in the United States, the article reported, looked like “scenes out of a civil war.” Bettina Gaus, political correspondent for the Berlin daily Die Tagezeitung, tells […]

Authoritarianism

Trump’s use of religion follows playbook of authoritarian-leaning leaders the world over

The Conversation

By Laura R. Olson | – It was a striking moment: Donald Trump, Bible in hand, posing for photos in an apparent moment of political theater made possible by the dispersal of protesters through the use of tear gas. The president’s visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church, known as “the Church of the Presidents,” came […]

Dissent

Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On — Especially During the Coronavirus Pandemic

ProPublica

by Lisa Song (ProPublica) – When Amira Chowdhury joined a protest in Philadelphia against police violence on Monday, she wore a mask to protect herself and others against the coronavirus. But when officers launched tear gas into the crowd, Chowdhury pulled off her mask as she gasped for air. “I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I […]

African-Americans

Remembering Big Floyd the Artist and Dreams of Transcendence, Dreams of Breathing Free

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – George “Perry” Floyd had the misfortune to become a symbol when he was killed by a Minnesota policeman after having been arrested for allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit twenty dollar bill (not usually a capital crime, and it is not clear that Mr. Floyd was aware). No one can […]

African-Americans

No, Racism isn’t in the Past, and isn’t Rare or Aberrant: Stop Romanticizing

Michael Slager

This painting by by Winslow Homer (1836 – 1910) is entitled “The Veteran in a New Field.” He painted it in 1865, not long after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Lee’s capitulation marked the end of the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) and the death of the […]

Authoritarianism

Esper and Mattis try to put the Genie of Trump Militarism back in the Bottle, Years too Late

Juan Cole

Former SecDef Mattis calls Trump a Danger to the Constitution

Donald Trump

Can the president really order the military to occupy US cities and states?

The Conversation

By Jennifer Selin | – After a week of both peaceful protests and violent chaos in the wake of George Floyd’s death, President Donald Trump announced, “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States […]

Donald Trump

OK, Boomer: The Trump Administration’s Generational Lies Deepen America’s Fissures

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – These days, teaching graduating college seniors has me, as the Brits would say in the London Underground, “minding the gap.” In my case, however, it’s not the gap between the platform and the train I’m thinking of, but a couple of others: those between U.S. citizens and our government, as well […]