Republican Party

By Klaus W. Larres | – At the Republican National Convention, supporters of President Trump’s reelection bid have celebrated his attempts to build a Mexico border wall, his promise to “bring our troops home” and his pledge to end U.S. “reliance on China.” All are components of the “America First” agenda Trump ran on in […]

Donald Trump

How our TV News is letting Trump get away with Claiming the Pandemic is Behind Us when we have a 9/11 every 3 Days

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republican National Convention wants the pandemic to be in the past. It isn’t. Cases are up almost 1 percent this week. We still have over 40,000 new cases daily, down from a peak of 70,000 in mid-July. Some of the decline is a result of less testing, connived at […]

African-Americans

Presidents have a long history of condescension, indifference and outright racism towards Black Americans

The Conversation

By Stephen A. Jones qnd Eric Freedman | – The fury over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history. That’s unfamiliar territory for most Americans, whose historical knowledge amounts to a vague blend of fact and myth that was only half-learned in high school […]

Donald Trump

Top 3 Humiliating Failures of Pompeo as Secretary of State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When he was in the House of Representatives, Mike Pompeo bothered Hillary Clinton half to death over the deaths of the US ambassador to Libya and three colleagues in 2012. Since Clinton was not in charge of military operations, nothing that happened there was attributable to her and almost everything […]

Climate Crisis

As Party of Climate Denial Meets, Wildfires Rage and Hurricanes Target Gulf Coast

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – One of the speakers at the Republican National Convention on Monday evening was Nikki Haley, formerly Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, who helped usher the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords and who slammed Bernie Sanders’ Green New Deal. Haley when pressed will admit that the climate is […]

Far Right

Explaining Nikki Haley’s Racism toward Palestinians

Juan Cole

Reprinted from 05/16/2018 when Haley was US ambassador to the UN and was regularly bashing Palestinians US Ambassador to the United Nations Nimrata “Nikki” Singh Randhawa Haley on Tuesday walked out of the chamber when the Palestinian ambassador began to speak. Palestine, like the Vatican, has non-member observer state status at the UN. You’re not […]

Christianity

Why does Donald Trump appeal to so many Evangelical Christians?

The Conversation

By Emma Long | – “He’s following the radical left agenda, take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God … He’s against God,” President Donald Trump told supporters during a recent trip to Ohio. Trump was speaking about Joe Biden, the Democrat challenger for the White […]

Democratic Party

How in the World did Americans make even a Pandemic Partisan? The Virus doesn’t Care

The Conversation

By Andrea Robbett and Peter Hans Matthews | – Politics can divide even friends and families. When this happens, we like to tell ourselves that the explanation lies in honest differences in values and preferences. From this standpoint, friends from different political parties won’t really disagree, for example, about the number of workers displaced in […]

Donald Trump

Trump admits War Crime in Syria as Damascus Slams US ‘Oil Theft’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last Monday, CNN reports US troops on patrol in eastern Syria were allowed to move through Syrian territory by the Syrian Arab Army, but then abruptly a small unit of Syrian troops fired on them. The US soldiers fired back, and took no casualties, but killed a Syrian soldier. There […]