US politics

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Here’s my twenty-first-century rule of thumb about this country: if you have to say it over and over, it probably ain’t so. Which is why I’d think twice every time we’re told how “exceptional” or “indispensable” the United States is. For someone like me who can still […]

Republican Party

Parable of the Elephant (GOP Pathologies)

contributors

Paul Jamiol | ( Jamiol’s World Cartoon ) | – – Via Jamiol’s World . Wikipedia notes: “Rumi, the 13th Century Persian poet and teacher of Sufism, included it in his Masnavi. In his retelling, “The Elephant in the Dark”, some Hindus bring an elephant to be exhibited in a dark room. A number of […]

Featured

5 Worst Foreign Policy Moments of GOP New Hampshire Debate

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The New Hampshire GOP debate’s most charged moments were probably more domestic, as with Chris Christie putting Marco Rubio in his place as not having actually done anything and as overly reliant on his single script. But inevitably with this gang, war, torture and sundry mayhem […]

Torture

As GOP Candidates pledge return of Torture, Pentagon forced to release Bush-era Abuse Photos

contributors

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) ‘What the photos that the government has suppressed would show is that abuse was so widespread that it could only have resulted from policy or a climate calculated to foster abuse.’ The record-dump was the result of a Freedom of Information Act request and nearly 12 years of […]

Bernie Sanders

Who Won the 2/4 Democratic Debate, Sanders or Clinton?

contributors

Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola & Jimmy Dore | (The Young Turks Video) | – – “Between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton who was the biggest winner of the Democratic Debate on MSNBC? The Young Turks panel of Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola (ThinkTank), and Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show) break it down.” The Young Turks: […]

Plutocracy

Rubio wants to give each millionaire $220K by Eliminating Taxes on Stock Earnings

contributors

Chuck Collins | Inequality.org | – – Bad tax policy ideas never die, they just get recycled. The latest retread is GOP candidate Marco Rubio’s proposal to entirely eliminate taxes on capital gains income. A preferential tax rate on capital gains has always been a staple of GOP tax policy. But only the brazen few […]

Barack Obama

Obama Condemns hatred of Muslim-Americans, Affirms their Importance to Nation

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama spoke Wednesday at a Baltimore mosque in an explicit pushback against the hatred for Muslims being promoted by billionaire real estate developer Donald J. Trump and others among the Republican presidential candidates. Trump has scapegoated all Muslim-Americans for the violence committed by a tiny […]

Bernie Sanders

Let’s Talk About Bernie Sanders and the Middle East

contributors

By Derek Davison | Lobelog | Foreign Politicy in Focus | – – On foreign policy, the Vermont independent’s “political revolution” hasn’t done much to distinguish itself from Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Foreign policy has taken a backseat to domestic issues in the Democratic primary thus far. There are two explanations for this. One […]

Foreign Policy

Pentagon, running out of Smart Bombs, will Double anti-ISIL Budget

contributors

TeleSur | – – Despite the deep social and economic issues President Barack Obama is confronted with, military expenditure was conceived as a priority. The Pentagon plans to spend four more times in [Europe] defense in 2017 than in 2016 in order to have sufficient military capability to support to its European NATO allies, the […]