Republican Party

By Kurt Braddock | – Senators, acting in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump that begins on Feb. 9, will soon have to decide whether to convict the former president for inciting a deadly, violent insurrection at the Capitol building on Jan. 6. A majority of House members, including 10 Republicans, took the […]

Authoritarianism

Trump’s Coup and Burma’s Coup: What they have in Common

Reese Erlich

The Asian country’s military overthrew its government over baseless claims of voter fraud. Sound familiar? ( 48hills.org) – This week, military officers in Myanmar (formerly Burma) overthrew that nation’s democratically elected government after the party it preferred lost the parliamentary elections. The military claimed voter fraud without presenting any proof. It tried to fill the […]

Featured

Republicans in Congress engage in hateful Islamophobia to defend their Islamophobe, Greene

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In attempting to defend Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Far Right (a.k.a. the Republican Party) has actually just taken her own as a role. They are performing Greene. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) introduced a bill to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) of her seat on the Foreign Affairs committee. Omar, […]

Congress

After Years of Outrage Politics, RepubliQans have surrendered to the Neo-Nazi Conspiracy Theorists

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – From Sarah Palin’s alarmist and mendacious charge of death panels in the Affordable Health Act to Benghazi, where the smarmy Mike Pompeo tried to hang a terrorist attack around the neck of secretary of state Hillary Clinton (who was not in charge of military or intelligence decisions), the brand of […]

Constitution

Conservatives worked for Decades to build an Imperial Presidency, and it Gave them Trump and now Biden

Juan Cole

By Tom Engelhardt | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Joe Biden’s got a problem — and so do I. And so, in fact, do we. At 76 years old, you’d think I’d experienced it all when it comes to this country and its presidencies. Or most of it, anyway. I’ve been around since Franklin D. Roosevelt […]

Donald Trump

“This Is War”: Inside the Secret Chat Where Far-Right Extremists Devised Their Post-Capitol Plans

ProPublica

by Logan Jaffe and Jack Gillum | – ( ProPublica ) – When the FBI arrested Edward “Jake” Lang on Jan. 16 for his alleged role in the U.S. Capitol attack, court documents show agents had followed a seemingly straightforward trail from his public social media to collect evidence. “THIS IS ME,” Lang wrote over […]

Antisemitism

The Republican Party’s Iran-Level Superstitious Anti-Semitism: Greene claimed Jewish Space Laser started Cali Wildfires

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Golnaz Esfandiari reports on controversies currently roiling Tehran over the belief in supernatural beings, genies (jinn or djinn), among the country’s ruling ayatollahs. Esfandiari writes, that Iran’s clerical Leader recently said, “There are enemies from among both genies and human beings, and they help one another. The security services of […]

Congress

Educator Shocked that GOP put Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke of Assassinating Nancy Pelosi and denied Parkland School Shootings, on House Education Committee

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader of the US House of Representatives, and his fellow Republican leaders, have assigned Marjorie Taylor Greene to the Education Committee. Greene has called the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Fl., a “false flag,” so her service on that committee should be reassuring to all American […]

Authoritarianism

Trump was forced out, but he left a Legacy of Threats and Intimidation toward Elected Public Servants

The Conversation

By Shelley Inglis | – As the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump approaches, federal officials are investigating threats to attack or kill members of Congress. This comes in the wake of the Capitol riot, when a mob stormed the building where members of the House and Senate were preparing to certify the presidential […]