US politics

By Eva Galperin and Nadia Kayyali via EFF Imagine that you watched a police officer in your neighborhood stop ten completely ordinary people every day just to take a look inside their vehicle or backpack. Now imagine that nine of those people are never even accused of a crime. They just happened to be in […]

Central Intelligence Agency

American Torturers: We’re all Jack Bauer Now in The 25th Hour

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon Once upon a time, if a character on TV or in a movie tortured someone, it was a sure sign that he was a bad guy. Now, the torturers are the all-American heroes. From 24 to Zero Dark Thirty, it’s been the good guys who wielded the pliers and the waterboards. We’re not only living in […]

Featured

Stop Saying ‘If X fired Rockets at U.S.’: It’s Racist, & assumes we’re Colonial

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Is anyone else disgusted by the propaganda trick of trying to get Americans to sympathize with Israel’s massive attack on the civilian habitations of Gaza by saying “if the US was subjected to rocket fire by X [usually Mexicans], what would it do?” This hope that Americans are racists and that their […]

Climate Change

Kentucky Fried Brain Senator: No Global Warming b/c Mars’ temp. like Earth’s

contributors

By Anthony Elizondo via LiberalAmerica Image via Firebrand Progressives Last week the denial of climate change continued. This time in the form of Kentucky State Sen. Brandon Smith (R). In the continuing debate, or battle if you will, over climate change and new carbon emission regulations, the genius Kentucky Senator stated with complete […]

African-Americans

The Return of Jim Crow in North Carolina

contributors

By Lauren McCauley Rights Groups Call for Halt to 'Worst Since Jim Crow' Voting Law Hundreds of people were turned away outside of a packed courtroom in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Monday where inside voting rights activists demanded a halt to what they said was the most restrictive voter suppression legislation since the Jim Crow […]

Afghanistan

Bush Trifecta lands on Obama: Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan Imploding

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole President Barack Obama of Hawaii had fondly dreamed of bidding turbulent and unrewarding West Asia farewell and turning the attentions of American diplomacy to East and South East Asia. From his point of view, the Bush administration had unwisely entangled the US too deeply in the Middle East, where no good deed […]

Counter-Terrorism

Not Serious re: Terrorism: GOP House Cut out funding for al-Qaeda, Iraq Records & Research

Juan Cole

Representatives on the Hill talk a good game about going back into Iraq or pursuing a global war on terror, but they aren’t actually very interested in all that. Exhibit A: they’ve applied the same austerity to the Conflict Records Research Center as they did to the working poor and Veterans on food stamps. This […]

Economy

Highway Patrol Officer aims Knockout Punches at Woman along Freeway

contributors

CNN: “A highway patrol officer was caught on camera hitting a woman with what a witness says were “knockout punches.” Aviva Shen at Thinkprogress writes: “The officer said the woman was walking barefoot along the freeway on Tuesday and refused to stop when asked. The video shows the cop tackle her, pin her down, and […]

Algeria

Algerian Soccer/ Football and the Black Box of French History

contributors

By Francis Ghilès Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB When Algeria qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup by winning against Russia, the Algerian press celebrated their team’s qualification as the greatest victory ever. In France large street celebrations were accompanied by the usual firecrackers and Algerian flags and were followed by clashes between groups […]