As political theatre, America’s party conventions have no parallel. Activists from right and left converge to choose their nominees and celebrate conservatism (Republicans) and progressivism (Democrats). But this year was different, and not just because Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party. The conventions highlighted a new political faultline: not between left and right, but between open and closed (see article). Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, summed up one side of this divide with his usual pithiness. “Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo,” he declared.

Haitians at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia took to the streets to protest Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation’s actions in the wake of the 2010 cataclysmic earthquake in Haiti. “The main message is that Hillary Clinton belongs in jail,” one protester said when asked what the overall message of the protest was. “We believe that the world should know about the crimes the Clinton family has committed against the country of Haiti–the money they have stolen from the earthquake victims. And we believe that were this to be anyone else, they’d be in jail right now,” he continued.

Hillary Clinton’s nominating convention has focused on domestic issues, but her foreign policy has many anti-war Democrats worried, as she surrounds herself with neocons and liberal hawks, writes James W Carden from Philadelphia.

“First things first. I want to apologize to the Sandernistas for any impolite things I may have written about you in the past 10 months. I especially want to apologize to those of you who rose up after your leader abandoned you, after Bernie wiped out your votes and muted your voices, after he turned you over to the DNC’s thuggish floor managers and security guards, after he sat passively as your brave chants of ‘No More Drones’ were drowned out by the fascist war-cry of ‘USA! USA!’”… By Jeffrey St. Clair

The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times local): 10:50 a.m. Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday morning to continue his criticisms of Khizr Khan (KY'-zer KAHN'), the father of a Muslim U.S. Army captain who was killed in 2004 by a suicide bomber in Iraq. "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" Trump tweeted.

A Melbourne street artist who was threatened with a council fine over a provocative mural he painted of US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has responded by covering her image with a niqab. Maribyrnong council took issue with the original mural, which depicted Clinton wearing a revealing swimsuit with $100 notes tucked into it. The council said residents complained about the piece, which was painted on to the side wall of a scooter shop in Footscray, 5km west of Melbourne.

The Democratic presidential nominee came off a successful convention week in Philadelphia and landed right back in hot water with another fabrication. By Ron Fournier.

The impression that this election cycle is unique is a common feature in American politics. By George Friedman.

The corporate media's adulatory coverage of the carefully choreographed pageantry at the Democratic convention couldn't be further from the truth. By Rania Khalek.

Meg Whitman, a major GOP donor and former California gubernatorial candidate, said Tuesday she would support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, making her one of the highest-profile Republican defections. "Donald Trump's demagoguery has undermined the fabric of our national character," Whitman said in a statement. "America needs the kind of stable and aspirational leadership Secretary Clinton can provide." Whitman, the president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, also said in an interview with...

From Haiti to Syria, the Democratic candidate’s long record suggests she’s looking forward to being a war president on day one. By Micah Zenko.

A grotesque power-fest at the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia left me feeling about Hillary Clinton the way P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster felt about his Aunt Agatha—“the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.” By Luciana Bohne.

Throughout her career she has displayed instincts on foreign policy that are more aggressive than those of President Obama — and most Democrats. By Mark Landler. (Apr. 21, 2016)

A new batch of State Department emails includes requests to help a job seeker and a billionaire donor. By Eric Lichtblau.

The folks at Cards Against Humanity know a thing or two about humor – last Black Friday, instead of doing a special sale for its hilarious card game, it asked people to basically hand them cash for no reason than to say they did, then followed up with a post on how they managed to waste everyone’s money. For election season, the team is back at it again with politics-inspired decks themed after US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

In August 2015, I wrote a column for The Hill titled "Is Trump a Clinton plant?" At the time, I wrote that I was not seriously suggesting that Donald Trump is running as a Hillary Clinton plant for the purpose of bringing a second Clinton to the White House, but noted some facts. For many years Trump, has heaped high praise on both Bill and Hillary Clinton throughout their tenures at every major office they have held since the 1992 campaign. I also noted that Trump has offered praise and campaign donations that continued for many years to prominent liberals and Democratic leaders such as...

Speaking this week at a rally in Warren, Michigan, Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton re-iterated that she wants to connect every American household to broadband internet by the year 2020. The goal was first revealed in the Clinton campaign's technology platform, which states that the plan "commits that by 2020, 100 percent of households in America will have the option of affordable broadband that delivers speeds sufficient to meet families’ needs." In Michigan Clinton repeated that promise. "You know, I happen to think we should be ambitious: while we’re at it, let’s connect every...

Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks, has claimed that fresh leaks are on the horizon and indicated that European politics may soon be rocked by fresh spying revelations. In a recent interview with Dutch television program Nieuwsuur he said: "We know it is the US National Security Agency that is the most aggressive [at spying] on other nations. We have obtained evidence, which we will publish in due course, about US intelligence agencies interfering in European elections."

In a speech in San Diego recently, Hillary Clinton asked: “Do we want his [Donald Trump’s] finger anywhere near the button?” She was doubtful that her Republican rival was really the guy you wanted to unleash America’s arsenal of nuclear warheads which has thousands of times the destructive force of the weapons that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki 71 years ago this month. Certainly, her opponent’s nuclear strategy, if that’s not too strong a word, is nothing if not maverick.

One of the more telling exchanges of the Democratic elections took place this past February, when Rachel Maddow, moderating the New Hampshire primary debate, asked Hillary Clinton to respond to Bernie Sanders’s charge that she was not a true progressive. Clinton answered that she was “a progressive who likes to get things done” — and accused Sanders of sitting out the past three decades of Democratic politics. “Every step along the way I have stood up and fought,” she said, “and have the scars to prove it.” By Namara Smith.