Republican Party

Welcome to the theocracy! Monday morning was a dark day for America. The Supreme Court set a frightening precedent in its finding that beginning legislative sessions with prayers does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. As…

Featured

Jose Antonio Vargas’ “Documented” on Plight of Undocumented to air on CNN after Theatrical Release

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) I was privileged to see a special screening of Jose Antonio Vargas’s breathlessly awaited documentary, “Documented,” when I was in Los Angeles last week, and honored to meet Vargas himself along with executive producer Janet Wang (“The Joy Luck Club,” “The People vs Larry Flynt”). The film was shown in a class […]

Bush

Condoleezza Rice, Charged with War Crimes at Rutgers, withdraws as Commencement Speaker

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Condoleezza Rice on Saturday pulled out of giving the commencement address at Rutgers University after professor and student protests. Rutgers historian Professor Rudy Bell argued that while it would be appropriate to have Rice on campus as part of an academic debate, she is unsuitable as a commencement speaker because of her […]

Christians

Alabama’s chief justice: Muhammad didn’t create us so 1st Amendment only protects Christians

Juan Cole

Speaking at the Pastor for Life Luncheon, which was sponsored by Pro-Life Mississippi, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because “Buddha didn’t create us, Mohammed didn…

Featured

In Deep South where GOP Rejected Obamacare, tens of 1000s die Unnecessarily every Year

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The Center for Disease Control house found that 900,000 people a year die of five leading causes every year in the US, and that 20% to 40% of these deaths are preventable (i.e. 180,000 to 360,000 needn’t die). The five are heart disease, cancer, lung disease, stroke and unintentional injury. Smoking cigarettes […]

Bush

Top 10 Attacks on US Embassies in Republican Administrations that Lindsey Graham doesn’t Care about

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The Republicans in Congress keep beating the dead horse of Benghazi. Now they have sprung a briefing memo for Susan Rice, based on CIA talking points. I shows that the briefing hewed to the CIA line of the time, which was that the Benghazi disturbances were copy cats of those in Cairo, […]

Climate Change

Fox censors ‘Scientific American’ editor on Climate Change because, Future

Juan Cole

(By Scott Kaufman) ‘Scientific American’ editor: Fox censored my discussion of climate change as ‘future trend’ (via Raw Story ) Scientific American editor Michael Moyer went on Fox & Friends this morning to discuss “Tech trends for the next decade and beyond,” which producers told him did not, under any circumstances, involve certain issues: Fox […]

Bill of Rights

The Impunity of American Torture: From Abu Ghraib to Sen. Feinstein’s Brawl with the CIA

Juan Cole

(by Karen J. Greenberg via Tomdispatch.com) It’s mind-boggling. Torture is still up for grabs in America. No one questions anymore whether the CIA waterboarded one individual 83 times or another 186 times. The basic facts are no longer in dispute either by those who champion torture or those who, like myself, despise the very idea […]

media

Jon Stewart v. Hannity on Bundy & Law Enforcement: “Proportionality”

Juan Cole

Jon Stewart examines whether Sean Hannity really is concerned, as he says, only with the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement, in the Cliven Bundy case. Turns out, police can use all the force they like against minorities and the left, from right wing bully Hannity’s point of view. The Daily ShowGet More: Daily […]