US politics

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Warning: dangers in the mirror are often closer than they may appear. In other words, the next few paragraphs may seem to be hyperbole but are, in fact, expressions of reality (animated by a cold fury). On September 8, 2025, the Supreme Court did its best to murder what’s left of […]

censorship

Kimmel Saga no Laughing Matter: Trump and the North Koreanization of America

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Jesters once had considerably more leeway than the average person to make fun of the king. If otherwise loyal subjects made light of their leader, they could lose their head. Jesters, however, could test the limits of the possible with relative impunity—until they crossed the line and lost […]

Donald Trump

“Real Estate Bonanza:” The Sordid U.S. Plan for the Post-Genocide Gaza

Dan Steinbock

When the bombing of Gaza will finally cease, the U.S. administration will push the post-genocide opportunity for property development. In this quest, Tony Blair is the public face; Jared Kushner, the commissioner; and the Trump White House, the architect. New York (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The jackals are back! In early September, Jared […]

Donald Trump

Riyadh-Islamabad “Islamic NATO” to Check Israel in Shadow of US Decline

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a dramatic signal that the Arab Gulf nations have completely lost faith in the American security umbrella, on Wednesday September 17, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan. Mirroring the language of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization charter, they announced that an attack on […]

Donald Trump

The “Defense” Department has always been about War

Tomdispatch

By Eric Ross ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The renaming of the Defense Department should have surprised no one. Donald Trump is an incipient fascist doing what such figures do. Surrounded by a coterie of illiberal ideologues and careerist sycophants, he and his top aides have dispensed with pretense and precedent, moving at breakneck speed to […]

Donald Trump

The Department of War is Back; But no Wars won in Decades

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – My fellow Americans, my critical voice has finally been heard inside the Oval Office. No, not my voice against the $1.7 trillion this country is planning to spend on new nuclear weapons. No, not my call to cut the Pentagon budget in half. No, not my imprecations against militarism in America. […]

Authoritarianism

Unhoused and Policed in the Age of Trump

Tomdispatch

By Mattea Kramer and Sean Fogler ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The federal takeover of Washington, D.C., rightfully attracted extensive media coverage, but an executive order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” quietly issued on July 24th, received remarkably little attention. Perhaps it didn’t make a splash because it wasn’t specifically about policing (or, […]

Donald Trump

Israeli Strike in Doha crosses a new Line from which Relations with Gulf may not Recover

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

By Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University (The Conversation) – The Israeli airstrike targeting senior Hamas political leaders in Qatar on Sept. 9, 2025, represents the crossing of a number of lines. Resulting in the deaths of six people but seemingly failing to kill any members of Hamas’ leadership, the strike was the first serious attack […]

Christianity

Is Trump Christian America’s Golden Calf?

Liz Theoharis

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was a moment somewhat like this, 30 years ago, that turned me into a biblical scholar. In the lead-up to the passage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, political and religious leaders quoted scripture to justify shutting down food programs and kicking mothers and their babies off public assistance. Those […]