Here’s a dramatic example of the growing power of Americans who say their religion is “none”: Last spring, progressives in the Washington state legislature, backed by Planned Parenthood, mandated that all public schools must teach sensible, practical sex education. The goal: to prevent teen pregnancy, reduce sexual disease, save girls from “date rape,” caution grade-schoolers […]
Archives for December 2020
It’s almost 20 Years since 9/11; Can we finally End our Constant, Disastrous Wars?
( Tomdispatch.com) – It was the end of October 2001. Two friends, Max Elbaum and Bob Wing, had just dropped by. (Yes, children, believe it or not, people used to drop in on each other, maskless, once upon a time.) They had come to hang out with my partner Jan Adams and me. Among other […]
Solar just made Banks write off a $1 bn. Australian Coal Plant as Worthless; What’s in Your Retirement Portfolio?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Daniel Mercer at the Australian Broadcasting Company reports that the newest coal-fired power plant in the country, the 10-year-old, nearly $1 bn. USD Bluewater facility, has been written off as worthless by its investors. Southwestern Australia has so much cheap solar energy that the coal plant’s prospects cratered, especially once […]
Saudi: Terrorism Court Rushes Activist’s Unfair Trial; Charges Relate Solely to Peaceful Women’s Rights Activism
( Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities are rushing through the closed trial of the prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, Human Rights Watch said today. Prosecutors originally charged al-Hathloul, 31, in March 2019 with offenses related solely to her human rights advocacy, but the authorities informally suspended her trial at the regular […]
Israel’s isolation of Palestinian Child Detainees amounts to Torture: Defence for Children In’tl
( Middle East Monitor) – . . . A a new report by Defence for Children International – Palestine provides detailed new evidence in exhaustive detail. The report concludes “overwhelmingly” that Israel’s practice of isolating Palestinian child detainees “amounts to torture under international law.” The 73-page report — “Isolated and Alone: Palestinian children held in […]
Mitch McConnell Wants to Let Corporations Kill You
( Otherwords.org ) – The Senate GOP leader’s refusal to pass COVID-19 aid without corporate immunity should be the scandal of the year. By Thom Hartmann | December 16, 2020 Probably the most under-reported story of the year has been how Mitch McConnell is holding Americans hostage in exchange for letting big corporations kill Americans […]
Greening America: Can Biden’s new Team of Buttigieg and Granholm save us from the Climate Crisis?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Washington Post is reporting that Joe Biden will make Pete Buttigieg his secretary of transportation and Jennifer Granholm his secretary of energy. This is very good news for climate policy. Energy is perhaps the most important portfolio in the Biden cabinet, since it is key to greening America and […]
Israeli infrastructure projects aid the de facto annexation of Palestinian land
( Middle East Monitor ) – If we were to listen only to the international community’s rhetoric about the impending Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, the impression would be that the plans are more obsolete than the two-state compromise. It is impossible to forget how, at the first inkling of Arab leaders’ capitulation to Israel […]
These are the plastic items that most kill whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds
By Lauren Roman, Britta Denise Hardesty,Chris Wilcox, and Qamar Schuyler | – How do we save whales and other marine animals from plastic in the ocean? Our new review shows reducing plastic pollution can prevent the deaths of beloved marine species. Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and […]