Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Jul 10th, 2009

Comprehensive summary and documentation of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s extremist rhetoric, incendiary demagoguery, and misrepresentation since her 2008 reelection to the United States House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.


May 20th, 2009

Summary: Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared on talk radio with end-times pastor Jan Markell to discuss the “Criminalization of Christianity,” where in the past she held forth on topics ranging from homosexuality to the Second Coming; but this time, her topic was the labeling of Christians as terrorists.


May 3rd, 2009

Summary: The sheer weight and volume of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s assault on reason may have reached critical mass, crossing the tipping point beyond which Minnesota media could no longer tune out Bachmann’s insanity or avert their gaze from “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in embarrassed silence.


Feb 1st, 2009

Summary: Three recent U.S. Special Forces operations killed 50 people — the vast majority civilians, Afghan officials say — raising the ire of villagers and President Hamid Karzai. The problem, Afghan officials say, comes when ordinary villagers hear the commotion of Special Forces overnight raids and, fearing robbers or an attack from a hostile tribe, grab their guns and run outside or fire from their homes. U.S. forces then fire back and end up killing civilians.


Jan 27th, 2009

Summary: The message from Washington to Pakistan is clear: There is no change in U.S. policy when it comes to going after al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan’s lawless border areas. After all, Barack Obama warned during his presidential campaign that America must go after terrorist targets if Pakistan did not act first.


Jan 26th, 2009

Summary: Counterterrorism officials and the FBI are investigating whether al-Shabab or other Somali Islamic groups are actively recruiting in the United States. Officials say as many as 20 Somali-Americans between the ages of 17 and 27 have left their Minneapolis homes since 2007, apparently bound for Somalia.


Jan 7th, 2009

Summary: Like so many seemingly promising leads in the search for Jacob Wetterling’s abductor, the latest lead, too, appears to lead nowhere. Initial reporting on the strange case of Vernon Seitz from WTMJ television in Milwaukee, subsequent reporting from Twin Cities and Milwaukee media, and links to reports on the Jacob Wetterling and Joshua Guimond missing person cases in St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota.


Dec 31st, 2008

Summary: As Minnesota 6th Congressional District constituents ring in the New Year, they can look back on the historic election year of 2008 with some measure of pride in the knowledge that their representative in Congress made a strong showing (of sorts) in several “Year in Review” lists. That’s no easy feat, considering the U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members, each vying for attention.


Nov 22nd, 2008

Summary: In the summer of 2008, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed she had a plan to lower the price of gasoline to $2 a gallon by increased drilling, including offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, by fall, the price at the pump dropped to nearly $2 in a matter of weeks, simply as a result of reduced demand during the economic recession.


Nov 8th, 2008

Summary: Iraqi officials, who see President-elect Obama’s views on the timing of a U.S. withdrawal as consonant with their own, appear to be leveraging his election to pressure the Bush administration to make last-minute concessions in negotiations to reach a status-of-forces agreement with the United States. … Iraqi and U.S. officials are concerned about a surge in “sticky bombs.” In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to stop the killing of civilians in coalition operations, which undermines popular support for the Afghan government and the international mission.