Constitution

Danielle K. Kilgo | – A teenager held her phone steady enough to capture the final moments of George Perry Floyd’s life as he apparently suffocated under the weight of a Minneapolis police officer’s knee on his neck. The video went viral. What happened next has played out time and again in American cities after […]

Constitution

DOJ is Dropping charges against Trump Buddy Flynn even though he was a Turkish Agent while at NSC

Reese Erlich

(48hills.org) – Trump’s Justice Department wants to drop all charges against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn despite his having admitted to being guilty. Twice. The judge in his case has so far refused to knuckle under and is investigating whether Flynn’s conviction should stand. In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI […]

Arms Sales

Did Trump fire State Dept. Inspector to Protect Shady Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The mystery deepens. Late last Friday, Trump summarily fired the State Department Inspector General, Steve Linick. While in US law as it now stands, the president has the power to fire pretty much anyone in the executive, if he fired Linick as an act of retaliation for one of Linick’s […]

Constitution

Pence, who urged Impeachment of Bill Clinton for Lying, Would join Trump in Welcoming Confessed Liar Michael Flynn back to White House

Juan Cole

Vice President Mike Pence says he would be happy to have disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back in the White House. The statement came after Bill Barr’s Department of Justice said it did not want to prosecute Flynn for lying to the FBI. Note, Barr does not deny that Flynn committed this crime. […]

Authoritarianism

Ayatollah Trump Declares “Total Authority:” Top 5 Ways he is Becoming American Version of Iran’s Supreme Leader

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – At the embarrassing public meltdown that passed for his news conference on Monday, Trump addressed the question of opening back up the economy. Most epidemiologists warn that if social distancing measures end too soon, it could provoke a massive “second wave” of the pandemic, as happened with the Spanish Flu […]

Bill of Rights

From Stoning Gays to Endorsing Slavery: The Problem with Bible Classes in State Schools

James A. Haught

(Syndicated to Informed Comment) – Here in Appalachia’s Bible Belt, conservatives in the Legislature want to force all West Virginia public high schools to teach Bible classes, as occurs in several other Republican-controlled states. I wonder how such classes handle Bible topics like these: First, the Bible decrees that gay males must be killed. Leviticus […]

Congress

The Age of Trump and Pseudo America: Phonying Up our Key Institutions

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com) – The impeachment of the president of the United States! Surely such a mega-historic event would reverberate for weeks or months, leaving in its wake no end of consequences, large and small. Wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t it? Truth to tell, the word historic does get tossed around rather loosely these days. Just about anything […]

Congress

Engel: Trump gave out False Justification for Whacking Soleimani, Nearly starting a war with Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan Mangan at CNBC reports that Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is attacking Trump over his justification for assassinating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani on January 3. The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee pointed to the Trump administration’s report to Congress on the drone strike at Baghdad International Airport, which […]

Congress

Rattled by Trump’s Erratic Violence, Senate to vote on Forbidding War on Iran without its Approval

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Senate will take up a measure to forbid Trump to go to war with Iran without Congressional approval, writes Daniel Flatley at Bloomberg. Republican senators Mike Lee, Susan Collins and Rand Paul are joining with Democratic senator Tim Kaine in sponsoring the bill. With the support of those Republicans, […]