US politics

By Frida Berrigan | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Guns. In a country with more than 300 million of them, a country that’s recently been swept up in a round of protests over the endless killing sprees they permit, you’d think I might have had more experience with them. As it happens, I’ve held a […]

Domestic Surveillance

Comey did it to himself & Us, by gutting Privacy, Encryption, & 4th Amendment

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In former FBI director James Comey’s interview with ABC News, he attempted to position himself as an upholder of the rule of law, of the constitution, and even of the truth. Human beings are very good at forgetting their own misdeeds and building narratives that justify […]

Corruption

Behind the Struggle with Mueller & Comey: Trump is the Triumph of Privilege over Law

contributors

By Martin Powers | (Informed Comment) | – – Frustration and bewilderment are common in media accounts of this administration’s expansive chaos. Even well educated writers turn to expletives, as if proper language were inadequate to convey the shock and dismay. Still, it is not that difficult to identify the source of puzzlement: neither Trump […]

Bush

Will Bolton and MEK pull an Iraq War-like Chalabi-type Scam on Iran?

contributors

By Nadejda K. Marinova (Author of Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country: How Host States Use Diasporas (Oxford University Press, 2017).[1] Informed Comment | – – On the fifteenth year anniversary of the Iraq war, several things are evident. One is the carnage that the war inflicted, with over 500,000 and by […]

Immigration

Trump can’t Actually care much about Syrians if he only let in 11 Refugees this Year

contributors

TeleSur | – – “We are seeing the impact of the Trump administration’s words and policy and actions that slams the door on refugees,” says Oxfam America. The United States has accepted only 11 Syrian refugees so far this year, human rights organizations announced Saturday, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against strategic […]

Donald Trump

The Tragedy of American Great Power Moves on the Middle East: Trump Can, so he Will

contributors

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – As assumed, the US, the UK and France launched their coordinated airstrikes on Syria in the early hours of Saturday, April 14 to punish the Bashar Al-Assad government’s alleged chemical attacks on the rebel fighters in Douma, a city close to Damascus. Russia’s counter-threats to shoot […]

Central Intelligence Agency

How the CIA’s secret torture program sparked a citizen-led public reckoning in North Carolina

contributors

By Alexandra Moore | (The Conversation) | – – President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, is reported to have overseen a U.S. site in Thailand where torture of a suspected terrorist took place. Later she allegedly helped destroy evidence of torture. Her nomination, pending congressional approval, is viewed by many as further […]

Pentagon

Top 5 Lessons from the History of America’s Defeats

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – The lessons of history? Who needs them? Certainly not Washington’s present cast of characters, a crew in flight from history, the past, or knowledge of more or less any sort. Still, just for the hell of it, let’s take a few moments to think about […]

Plutocracy

Ryan steps down, with Lifetime dream of transferring Trillions from People to Super-Rich Fulfilled

contributors

By Jake Johnson, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | – – Having successfully rammed through tax legislation that massively rewards America’s billionaires—including his long-time patrons Charles and David Koch—and sets the stage for his ultimate goal of obliterating the safety net, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is reportedly set to tell his staff on […]