Constitution

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Trump’s war on the law extends beyond flouting Congress and packing courts — overseas, it extends to arguable crimes against humanity. It’s a cliché in Westerns. The bad guys ride into town only to be met by a sheriff who stands tall. “I am the law,” the sheriff says, […]

Congress

Trump’s War on our Language: Fudging, Waffling and Lying weave Alternative Universe

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – These days, witnessing the administration’s never-ending cruelty at the border, the shenanigans of a White House caught red-handed in attempted bribery in Ukraine, and the disarray of this country’s foreign policy, I feel like I’m seeing a much-scarier remake of a familiar old movie. The cast of characters and the headlines […]

Congress

Quid Pro Quo: 4 GOP Defenses of Trump that Sondland and others have Shot Down

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. No quid pro quo (“this for that”). The Republicans, and Trump himself, kept asserting that the president didn’t offer a bribe. That is, he didn’t ask Ukraine for a thing of value in return for his bestowal of some favor on Kyiv. It isn’t necessary for Trump to have […]

Constitution

Fitting: Trump will be Impeached for Chasing a Fantastical Conspiracy Theory about Ukraine

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – When it comes to Ukraine, Trump has been manipulated as deftly as a mindless marionette. It’s going to cost him. In fantasy sports, participants draft their own dream teams out of the rosters of existing players. That’s what Donald Trump has done with Ukraine. He and his advisors have created […]

Assyrians

Unconstitutional: VP Pence Directed USAID Help for Iraqis to tiny Christian Minority

ProPublica

by Yeganeh Torbati | (ProPublica) | – Officials at USAID warned that favoring Christian groups in Iraq could be unconstitutional and inflame religious tensions. When one colleague lost her job, they said she had been “Penced.” Last November, a top Trump appointee at the U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a candid email to colleagues […]

Constitution

Amb. Sondland, who Reversed himself on Ukraine Quid Pro Quo, once Stood up for Khizr Khan against Trump

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, potentially facing perjury charges owing to his earlier testimony that conflicted with that of other State Department personnel on the Ukraine quid pro quo, “refreshed his recollection” on Tuesday. In testimony to the impeachment inquiry, he said, “I now recall speaking individually […]

Congress

Impeachment was only Made Possible by a Grassroots Mass Movement

Waging Nonviolence

By Anthony Torres (1st Published at Waging Nonviolence) – The last few weeks have been a turning point for impeachment. Suddenly, dozens of members of Congress dashed at once to announce their support until the pro-impeachment faction had grown to a majority of the House of Representatives. And today the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution […]

Arab World

Looming Trump Impeachment puts him in Company of Challenged Corrupt Mideast Leaders

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – If we think about mass politics in the Middle East during the past 8 years as anti-corruption drives, it is easier to see the ways in which Trump resembles a typical Middle Eastern dictator. Americans are prosecuting him in the House of Representatives rather than in the streets, but then […]

Constitution

Extorting Ukraine is Bad Enough: But Trump Has Done Much Worse

Rebecca Gordon

By Rebecca Gordon | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently a friend who follows the news a bit less obsessively than I do said, “I thought George W. Bush was bad, but it seems like Donald Trump is even worse. What do you think?” “Well,” I replied, “in terms of causing death and destruction, I suspect […]