US politics

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Seven African-American churches have burned down in the past week and at least four of these southern Black churches were victims of deliberate arson, and possibly six were. This news is being reported tentatively and in the passive mood. The churches burned or were burned. But […]

Barack Obama

Demonizing as Policy: Washington Elites divided over which state to declare Enemy No. 1

contributors

By Michael T. Klare | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – America’s grand strategy, its long-term blueprint for advancing national interests and countering major adversaries, is in total disarray. Top officials lurch from crisis to crisis, improvising strategies as they go, but rarely pursuing a consistent set of policies. Some blame this indecisiveness on a lack of […]

Entertainment

After NBC says “You’re fired!” for bigotry, crybaby Donald Trump brandishes Lawsuit

contributors

Associated Press | (Video Report) | – – “Donald Trump says he may sue NBC after the network announced it’s ending its business relationship with the mogul and presidential candidate over Trump’s remarks about Mexican immigrants.”

Militarization

America’s “Wars on . . .” have become an unhealthy Addiction

contributors

By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – War on drugs. War on poverty. War in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. War on terror. The biggest mistake in American policy, foreign and domestic, is looking at everything as war. When a war mentality takes over, it chooses the weapons and tactics for you. It limits the terms […]

Archaeology

No, GOP, biblical Marriage was not between one man and one woman

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The freak-out by the Republican presidential candidates over the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage provokes me to revise and reprise the points below. Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have formally pledged: “We will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us […]

Constitution

As Love wins out at Supreme Court, did Justices in Minority encourage States, Fundamentalists to Defy Ruling?

contributors

By Danielle Weatherby, Timothy Holbrook and Robert A. Schapiro | (The Conversation) | – – Editor’s note: Today the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that marriage is a legal right – striking down same-sex marriage bans in 14 states and ordering states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Marriage is a fundamental right Today’s […]

African-Americans

A Black President Eulogizes a Black Reverend and State Senator Slain for Being Black

contributors

Barack Obama | (PBS NewsHour Video) | – – “President Barack Obama delievered the eulogy at the funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of deadly shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.” PBS NewsHour: “Watch President Obama deliver eulogy at Rev. Pinckney’s funeral”

Barack Obama

Top 6 Achievements of Obamacare: (Hint, millions more insured)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) has beaten back all judicial challenges, it is worth revisiting its vast success. A single-payer system would have been far preferable. But the present system is substantially better than nothing. As Jay Bookman pointed out in early May […]

Barack Obama

Top Five ways for Washington to Fail in Iraq

contributors

By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – In one form or another, the U.S. has been at war with Iraq since 1990, including a sort-of invasion in 1991 and a full-scale one in 2003. During that quarter-century, Washington imposed several changes of government, spent trillions of dollars, and was involved in the deaths […]