US politics

By Andrew Bacevich | (Tomdispatch.com) |- – Introduction by Tom Engelhardt Let’s consider the two parties in Washington. I’m not referring to the Republican and Democratic ones, but our capital’s war parties (there being no peace party, of course). They might be labeled the More War Party and the Much (or Much, Much) More War […]

Featured

How the NRA is harming American Security: Mass Shootings as Serial Terrorism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As I write, the full story behind the heinous San Bernardino shootings, which left 14 dead and 17 wounded, is still not known. The names of the two shooters have been released, which may or may not be very pertinent to the incident. It may have […]

Featured

8,124 Murders by Firearm in US in 2014 vs. 29 (Equiv. 144) in UK

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised The United States continues to be peculiar in handing out powerful magazine-fed firearms to almost anyone who wants one and not requiring background checks on private purchases even if these are made at gun shows. 80% of civilian-owned firearms world-wide are in the US, and […]

Banking

After 2008 Wall Street Crash, did US White Working Class Drink itself to Death?

contributors

Barbara Ehrenreich | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – The white working class, which usually inspires liberal concern only for its paradoxical, Republican-leaning voting habits, has recently become newsworthy for something else: according to economist Anne Case and Angus Deaton, the winner of the latest Nobel Prize in economics, its members in the 45- to 54-year-old age group […]

Bill of Rights

Snowden restores 4th Amendment: NSA halts mass Warrantless spying on your Telephone Records

contributors

By David Greene and Nadia Kayyali | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The NSA’s collection en masse of the call detail records of millions of ordinary Americans ended quietly at midnight November 29. The bulk collection was phased out after a 180-day transition period provided for in the USA FREEDOM Act. The USA […]

Employment

The GOP Race as America’s Hunger Games

contributors

Nomi Prins | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Fact: too many Republican candidates are clogging the political scene. Perhaps what’s needed is an American Hunger Games to cut the field to size. Each candidate could enter the wilderness with one weapon and one undocumented worker and see who wins. Unlike in the fictional Hunger Games for […]

Featured

Abortion Clinics, White Christian Terrorism and GOP Candidates

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Americans are more at risk from violence by armed white Christian fanatics than they ever were from Muslims. Abortion clinics have been targeted for violence by fundamentalist Christians of a violent bent for decades. In 2009, Dr. George Tiller was relentlessly shot to death by Scott […]

Civil Rights

Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reprint edn. 1. White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.” 2. White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part […]

Arab Spring

Annual Informed Comment Fundraiser: Support Indie Journalism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It is that fundraising time of year again, folks. This year everyone who contributes $100 or more to Informed Comment by Paypal will receive a signed copy of the paperback version of my recent book, The New Arabs. Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor has kindly agreed […]