Donald Trump

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The NYT’s Thomas Friedman reports on a recent telephone conversation he had with Joe Biden, and the interview contains good news. Biden made it clear that he will attempt to re-institute the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal, admitting, “It’s going to be hard, but […]

Donald Trump

Why America’s Lame Duck 7 Weeks is Palestine’s Nightmare

Harry Blain

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Before Obama took office, Israel viciously assaulted the Gaza Strip. As Trump gets the boot, could another gambit be in the works? The political scientist William Adler recently argued that the main risk of our current lame duck period is inaction, rather than action. So far as the United […]

Conspiracy Theories

“Stop the Stupid”: Even GOP Stalwarts Are Turning on Trump’s Coup Attempt

Sandy Milne

(Special to Informed Comment) – Trump’s coup may have failed, but the scars to democracy won’t heal for generations. In a fitting end to his four years in power, he took to Twitter to reject the election’s results. “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” he exclaimed, casting doubt over […]

Democratic Party

Lesson of Biden victory for Republicans: There aren’t enough poorly educated White People to win with a Politics of Racial Grievance Any More

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Now that the judges have laughed Trump’s challenges and conspiracy theories out of court, it is time to consider further why Biden won. The long and the short of it is that educated whites, including white men, joined African-Americans, a majority of Hispanics and urban people in general against Trump. […]

Donald Trump

From Salmonella to Workers’ Injuries: Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections on Way Out

ProPublica

By Isaac Arnsdorf ( ProPublica) – Six days after President Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture notified food safety groups that it was proposing a regulatory change to speed up chicken factory processing lines, a change that would allow companies to sell more birds. An earlier USDA effort had […]

Donald Trump

In Bid to Kill a Biden return to Iran nuclear Deal, Israel Assassinates Leading Nuclear Scientist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iranian newspaper Ettela’at reports that on Friday, what it called “armed terrorist elements” mounted an assault on the automobile carrying Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was badly wounded in the midst of the clash between his security team and the assailants and was transported to hospital, where he died of […]

Corruption

What Trump’s claim of a ‘stolen election’ means for activists today

Waging Nonviolence

By George Lakey | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – I’m encountering a great deal of alarm among progressive activists regarding continued Republican claims of a stolen election. Do these anti-democratic efforts mean a coup attempt is under way? Despite being among the first to write about the possibilities of a coup, I have to […]

Donald Trump

Drinking the Kool-Aid: The Rise and Collapse of Trump’s Coronavirus Death Cult

Brian Glyn Williams

Dartmouth, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – In 1978 cult leader Jim Jones convinced 909 of his brainwashed followers in Jonestown, Guyana to drink cyanide-laced Kool Aid and kill themselves. Since that shocking collective suicide, the term “drinking the Kool Aid” has become a metaphor for anyone who has been brainwashed by someone else into […]

Afghanistan

Time to bring the Troops home from Afghanistan, no Matter who Does it

Andrew J. Bacevich

Let’s open up and sing, and ring the bells out Ding-dong! the merry-oh sing it high, sing it low Let them know the wicked witch is dead! ( Tomdispatch.com) – Within establishment circles, Donald Trump’s failure to win re-election has prompted merry singing and bell-ringing galore. If you read the New York Times or watch […]