US politics

By Russell Frank | (The Conversation) | – – Roger Ailes’ 20-year reign as the chairman of Fox News ended this week, the result of a sexual harassment scandal. He will be remembered by journalism ethicists as the poster boy for conflict of interest. But of Ailes’ many departures from journalistic norms of impartiality, the […]

Entertainment

GOP Convention Roundup: Jon Stewart Resurfaces on Colbert’s Late Show

contributors

Jon Stewart/ Stephen Colbert | (The Late Show video Clip) | – – “Some stories, like the ouster of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, are too big for one late night host to tackle alone.” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: ” Jon Stewart Takes Over Colbert’s Late Show Desk”

Featured

Top 6 Graphs that Refute Donald Trump’s Lies about the United States

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – AP’s Fact Check found that as usual Donald Trump’s statistics in his GOP acceptance speech are way beyond the ‘damned lies’ level. So here are some illustrative graphs to suggest the level of his duplicity: “Homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America’s 50 largest […]

Israel Lobbies

Mike Pence on the “American Heartland” and the Holy Land

contributors

By Shalom Goldman | ( Patheos ) The Republican Party platform, posted last week, gives the American-Israeli relationship considerable space. Pundits in the U.S. and Israel have duly noted the absence in the platform of any reference to a “two-state solution”—a phrase that appeared in the 2012 Republican platform but has now become identified with […]

Far Right

Secret Service Investigating Trump Advisor who Wants Hillary Clinton Shot for Treason

contributors

Wochit News | (Video News Report) | – – “During a radio interview this week. New Hampshire Representative Al Baldasaro, a Trump delegate who reportedly advises the candidate on veterans issues, said that Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason. When contacted by The Boston Globe, Baldasaro stood by […]

Featured

Top 4 Republican Plagiarisms of the Democrats

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The scandal over Melania Trump’s stealing Michelle Obama’s lines for her convention speech should make us recall the ways in which GOP strategists have on many occasions stolen a Democratic line but put it to the opposite purpose. But first, it is worth noting that the […]

Plutocracy

GOP Convention Opens in City Pillaged by Its Policies

contributors

TeleSur | – – Cleveland, once called the Mistake on the Lake, hosts nominating convention of the political party that authored its downfall Just a few miles from downtown Cleveland’s preoccupied hum and gleaming skyscrapers, in the hollowed-out slums that resemble deserted ghost-towns, the notion of this city hosting the Republican National Convention that begins […]

Drones

Assassination by Robot is now US Policy

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Think of it as the Trojan Drone, the ultimate techno-weapon of American warfare in these years, a single remotely operated plane sent to take out a single key figure. It’s a shiny video game for grown ups — a Mortal Kombat or Call of Duty […]

Bill of Rights

Can Americans get back their Democracy from the Oligarchy?

contributors

By John Scales Avery | (Inter Press Service) | – – COPENHAGEN, (IPS) – As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy. It is an oligarchy. The US government ignores the safety, wishes and needs of the majority of its citizens, and instead makes decisions […]