Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Jan 13th, 2011

Summary: Information about Tucson shooter Jared Loughner’s mental state, signs and symptoms of mental illness, and his likely diagnosis according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 13, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.



Summary: A spate of attacks against Afghanistan’s intelligence service and international forces killed at least nine people, including five NATO troops, on a bloody day during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the country. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 12, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that thousands of Somali boys and teenagers fleeing war and chaos at home are sailing to Yemen, where officials worry that the new arrivals could become the next generation of al-Qaida fighters. U.S. and Yemeni authorities also fear that Islamist fighters from Somalia could slip into the country among the throngs of refugees, deepening ties between al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen and the particularly hard-line al-Shabab militants of Somalia.



Summary: The writings of Jared Lee Loughner, would-be assassin of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, provide no evidence of a cognitively consistent set of political beliefs or even a coherent ideological orientation. However, his writings do reveal signs of thought disorder, pointing to the possibility of an undiagnosed mental illness of a psychotic nature. There is no direct evidence that Loughner thoughts or actions were specifically influenced by incendiary political rhetoric such as Sarah Palin’s “target list” or Michele Bachmann’s provocative “armed and dangerous” remarks or her paranoid conspiracies — for example, AmeriCorps youth brainwashing, “one-world currency,” or the U.S. census. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 10, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that CIA bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, in a videotape released posthumously by the Pakistani Taliban, called on Muslim jihadists worldwide to avenge the death of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in an August 2009 U.S. missile strike, by attacking U.S. targets. Immelman also featured new details about the sequence of events in the Dec. 30, 2009 suicide bombing that killed seven CIA personnel and contractors at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.



Summary: Addressing an adoring and frenzied crowd of thousands in his first speech after his triumphant return to Iraq after four years of self-imposed exile in Iran, radical Shi’ite fundamentalist Muqtada al-Sadr called the U.S., Israel, and Britain Iraq’s “common enemies,” saying “our aim is to expel the occupier by any means.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed that there were no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil under President George W. Bush.


Jan 7th, 2011

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 7, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that thousands of Afghans shouting “Death to America!” protested the killings of children, the latest in a string of controversial cases in which international forces have been blamed for civilian deaths.


Jan 6th, 2011

Summary: The United States is sending 1,400 more Marines to Afghanistan in an effort to hold on to fragile security gains in the nearly decade-long war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 6, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.



Summary: A U.S. military commander in southern Helmand province reportedly told Afghanistan’s TOLOnews that the Afghan war is like a “Tom and Jerry” cartoon that never ends, the only difference being that the cartoon, unlike the war, does not claim actual lives. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 4, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan was carried out by a Jordanian doctor, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who was an al-Qaida double agent.


Jan 3rd, 2011

Summary: The body of John Wheeler III, a military expert who served in three Republican administrations, was found dumped in a Delaware landfill on New Year’s Eve. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 3, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that White House aide John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, said U.S. intelligence agencies did not miss a “smoking gun” that could have prevented the attempt by radical Islamic fundamentalist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.


Dec 31st, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 31, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Afghans took to the streets to protest civilian casualties, chanting “Death to Obama, Down with Karzai!” at the same time as attacks in Afghanistan killed eight American civilians including CIA officers, four Canadian soldiers, and a Canadian journalist. Meanwhile, coordinated explosions in Iraq killed 23 people and wounded an Iraqi provincial governor in the worst violence there in months.


Dec 30th, 2010

Summary: In an intensifying wave of sectarian violence against Christians in Iraq, militants attacked at least four Christian homes with a combination of grenades and bombs, killing two people and sending fear into the already terrified Christian community. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.