US politics

( 48hills.org ) – During the past month, Iran has suffered a half-dozen explosions and fires at military and civilian sites. A bomb blew up near the Parchin missile base outside Tehran, Iran’s capital. Fires broke out at an electric power station and aboard seven ships in a southern port city. Iranian government authorities say […]

Donald Trump

How Trump broke America: Economy plummets historic 33%, Covid Deaths at 1500/ day, and 40 mn could lose Homes

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s refusal last winter to pull out all the stops to mount an effective national coronavirus response has broken the legs of America. On Wednesday, over 1500 coronavirus deaths were reported nationwide, a tally not seen since May. Over 150,000 Americans have died of the disease, and the prospect is […]

Democratic Party

Can the Israel Lobbies succeed in unseating Ilhan Omar?

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Pro-Israel lobby groups in the US have come out in force to unseat Ilhan Omar in the August Democratic primary elections. The freshman lawmaker is locked in a bitter race with Antone Melton-Meaux, who is said to be a “moderate” candidate backed by lobbyists. […]

African-Americans

How the Black Lives Matter movement uses creative tactics to confront systemic racism

The Conversation

By Nimalan Yoganathan | – The police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have galvanized anti-racism protests throughout the United States, Canada and elsewhere. As a result, lawmakers have made pledges to divest from police and school districts have cut ties with law enforcement. The organizing of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and […]

Donald Trump

US Bases in Qatar, UAE go on Alert as Iran Fires Ballistic Missiles at Mock-up of US Aircraft Carrier

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sepahnews quotes Brigadier Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as saying that his unit was able to launch ballistic missiles from bunkers the depths of the earth for the first time in world history. (He did not explain what he meant […]

Bill of Rights

“Defendant Shall Not Attend Protests”: In Portland, Getting Out of Jail Requires Relinquishing Constitutional Rights

ProPublica

By Dara Lind | – ( ProPublica ) – Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a […]

Authoritarianism

Colonizing Portland: How Trump’s tactics Recall Worst Excesses of British Empire in places like Hong Kong

Martin Powers

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – When Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in1997, the Western press loudly bemoaned the death of Democracy, but those of us who had lived there knew better. In times of stress colonial rule more closely resembled Trump’s Portland than a citadel of law, with the use of militarized […]

African-Americans

John Lewis knew that Democrats must build a Cross-Race Coalition against Plutocrats that Honors the Victimization of Minorities

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Rep. John Lewis lay in state at the Capitol on Monday, after a lifetime devoted to racial justice issues. With racial injustice now more obvious than ever, steps both by business and government to redress the systemic failings may be possible. Nonetheless some of the best current […]

Donald Trump

The Beginning of the U.S.-Iran Hot War?

Sina Toossi

Washington, DC (Special to Informed Comment) – “Americans should not blame others in vain,” Iranian general Esmail Gha’ani has declared, “this is a fire they have lit and today has engulfed them.” Gha’ani, a veteran military commander who heads the Quds Force, the branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for extraterritorial operations, […]