Republican Party

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday, Kim Jong Un insists on having a huge parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, and Trump insists on having a crowd on the grounds of the White House. Then on Monday, Trump will hold a rally north of Orlando, Florida. Trump’s rallies […]

Donald Trump

With Crushing sanctions on 18 Iranian Banks, is Trump trying to leave a War behind for Biden?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the dying Trump administration, literally on a sickbed, contemplates losing power, its hawks are lashing out at Iran in an attempt to ensure that the 2015 international nuclear deal is dead and buried, and that the US and Iran remain on a war footing. Trump’s two main allies in […]

Donald Trump

How dangerous are the White Nationalists in the US Military?

The Conversation

By Jennifer Spindel, Matt Motta and Robert Ralston | – White nationalist groups, who make up some of the most serious terror threats in the country, find new members and support in the U.S. military. These groups believe that white people are under attack in America. In their effort to create an all-white country where […]

Donald Trump

Amy Coney Barrett Has No Business Ruling on This Election

OtherWords

By Rev. Susan K. Smith ( Otherwords.org ) – Well before Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to the United States Supreme Court, every step in the frenzied process had seemed terribly amiss. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his party are playing by two sets of rules, ramming through Donald Trump’s nomination to fill a […]

Climate Crisis

Kamala Harris’s best Zingers and Pence’s worst Lies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Pence-Harris debate was what disagreements among normal people might look like, as opposed to the weird behavior of Trump in the first presidential debate. While pundits are saying that it lacked fireworks, that is not true if you define fireworks as policy disagreement as opposed to mud wrestling. The […]

Donald Trump

When America Sneezes, does the whole World catch Cold? Foes and Allies eye a Sick White House

The Conversation

By Monti Datta | – America’s national security officials are on alert and global markets shook – at least briefly – following the announcement that President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. As someone who studies the U.S.‘s image, I am curious about the geopolitical implications of the leader of the […]

Cults

Fundamentalist Pastor and Trumpie John Hagee, who sued over Pandemic Shutdown, Contracts COVID-19

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last summer, the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, ordered all schools closed until September 7 as a mitigation measure against the spread of the coronavirus. Texas had a major outbreak this summer, one of the country’s worst hot spots. Texas has had over 800,000 cases and 16,444 deaths. Fundamentalist […]

Authoritarianism

Surviving the long Trump Pandemic+ or, 210,000 didn’t Have to Die

Frida Berrigan

(Tomdispatch.com ) – After all these months and 210,000 deaths, you’d think I’d be used to it all, but I’m not. It doesn’t seem even a little normal yet. I’m still full of absences, missing so much I used to take for granted: hugs and handshakes, rooms crowded for funerals and weddings, potluck dinners and […]

Climate Crisis

How ExxonMobil’s plan to Surge its CO2 output is Like Trump’s plan to Deal with the Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump made a mad dash to escape his hospital room at Walter Reed, browbeating his military physicians into letting him go while he was pumped full of a cocktail of potions that included euphoria- and delusion-inducing steroids. His lungs laboring with broken glass syndrome, he vaulted up the stairs to […]