The Guardian: “Aretha Franklin, who has died at the age of 76, reflects on her 1967 cover hit Respect in a collection of archive clips. The queen of soul discusses how she and her sister injected Otis Redding’s song with their own twist and its subsequent use as a ‘battle cry’ and ‘women’s anthem’ 1. […]
Archives for August 2018
Author Reza Aslan threatened by Israeli Border Authorities with Family Separation
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, detained Iranian-American writer, Reza Aslan, as he was entering Israel through Jordan, with his family. Reza Aslan, 46, took to his Twitter account, where he said that the Shin Bet used police state tactics against him and his family. Aslan arrived in Israel with his wife, […]
Our Thirty Years War of the 21st Century
New York (Tomdispatch.com) – Fair warning. Stop reading right now if you want, because I’m going to repeat myself. What choice do I have, since my subject is the Afghan War (America’s second Afghan War, no less)? I began writing about that war in October 2001, almost 17 years ago, just after the U.S. invasion […]
#NottheEnemy: Ben Franklin warned that attack on Free Press Turns Liberty to Tyranny
“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.”
As Trump Expands Failed War in Afghanistan, he Stops Boasting about It
(San Francisco ( 48hills.org) – President Donald Trump is back on the stump, trumpeting his alleged triumphs since the 2016 elections. Somehow, he never mentions Afghanistan. For years, Trump has denounced endless foreign wars, including Afghanistan. He tweeted in 2012, for example, that Afghanistan is “a complete waste….Time to come home!” Once in power, however, […]
Devastating Dolphin Loss in Florida Red Tide Industrial Farming Pollution Crime
More than 100 tons of dead sea creatures have been shoveled up from smelly, deserted beaches in tourist areas along Florida’s southwest coast as a result of the harmful algal bloom this month alone. A state of emergency has been declared in Florida, United States, as the worst red tide in a decade blackens the […]
Qatar Emir Supports Crisis-Hit Turkey with Visit, Pledges $15 bn in New Investment
Doha (AFP) – The emir of wealthy Qatar flew to Turkey Wednesday to meet close ally President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an apparent show of support as Ankara grapples with a currency crisis. State media in Doha said Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was travelling to Turkey for a “working visit”. The emir “will discuss […]
Trump wouldn’t have let her in the Country, but Ilhan Omar is Likely joining Congress
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ilhan Omar, a refugee and a Somali-heritage Muslim woman who veils, has won the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s Fifth District congressional seat, hoping to succeed Keith Ellison. The district, which includes Minneapolis, typically votes heavily Democratic, so she has a good shot at winning the seat. Somalia is one of […]
Turkey’s Pres. Erdogan announces Boycott of US Electronic Goods
Istanbul (AFP) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Turkey would boycott US electronic goods in retaliation for punitive sanctions by Washington against Ankara over the detention of an American pastor. “We will boycott US electronic goods,” Erdogan said in a televised speech, raising the stakes in a spat that has seen the Turkish […]