By Jason A. Higgins, Virginia Tech | – During a 13-month stint in Iraq that began in 2006, Heath Robinson served as a medic with the Ohio National Guard. Like thousands of others soldiers stationed there, he was routinely exposed to toxic smoke emanating from what are known as burn pits. Located near military bases, […]
Archives for August 2022
Turkey/Syria: Civilians at Risk in Northern Syria
Human Rights Watch ) – (Beirut) – All parties to the conflict in northern Syria should minimize civilian harm during ongoing and future military operations there, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued a question-and-answer document that focuses on Turkey’s threatened military incursion to parts of northern Syria held by Kurdish-led forces. The […]
You know you want an Electric Car. What does the IRA mean for Consumers this Year?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Thinking of buying an electric car? With the signing by President Biden yesterday of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is a great time to make the move from expensive and destructive gasoline to a much cleaner electric vehicle. But the rules on the $7,500 federal tax break for buying a […]
The volunteers risking their lives to secretly educate Afghanistan’s girls
By Deepa Parent | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – In 2002, when Matiullah Wesa was a teenager, armed gunmen burned his school. It was this, he told openDemocracy, that led him to dedicate his life to ensuring other children in Afghanistan can get an education. Wesa is the co-founder and president of PenPath, an NGO that […]
Next US energy boom could be wind power in the Gulf of Mexico
By Michael E. Webber, University of Texas at Austin and Hugh Daigle, University of Texas at Austin | – With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind […]
Is Moral Clarity even Possible anymore in Donald Trump’s America?
By Kelly Denton-Borhaug | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Recent episodes of purposeful and accidental truth-telling brought to my mind the latest verbal lapse by George W. Bush, the president who hustled this country into war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. He clearly hadn’t planned to make a public confession about his own warmongering […]
As Last Coal Plant closes, Cheap Solar Power Rescues Hawaii, which has reached ~40% Renewables
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Veteran green energy journalist Julian Spector at Canary Media tells the story of how the last-minute opening this July of the 39-megawatt (MW) Mililani 1 solar farm out near Pearl Harbor — which is hooked up to a 156 MW battery — saved Hawaii from brownouts when its last coal […]
Biden Calls on Syria to Return Journalist ‘Disappeared’ a Decade Ago
( Human Rights Watch ) – Last week, US President Joe Biden declared that the US knows “with certainty” that Tice has been held by the Syrian government. “I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home,” Biden said in a statement. Tice, who was covering the conflict in Syria […]
Digital Authoritarianism in Turkey
Written by Arzu Geybullayeva< | - Authoritarian regimes have long had a complicated relationship with media and communications technologies. The Unfreedom Monitor is a Global Voices Advox research initiative examining the growing phenomenon of networked or digital authoritarianism. This extract, about Turkey’s control and censorship of the internet, is from the series of reports to […]
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