Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Thanksgiving Day, as is well known, was an invented tradition arising from the Civil War, promoted by Abraham Lincoln and his successors as a myth to unite the divided country. It doesn’t actually go back to the Pilgrims. There had been many Thanksgiving Days in the nineteenth century, at a […]
Apple Sues Israeli gov’t-backed NSO Spyware Company: “Notorious Hackers – Amoral 21st C. Mercenaries”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Apple is suing the NSO group, which produced the spyware that Israel uses to keep under surveillance the 5 million Palestinians it holds in thrall to its Occupation. The NSO group is believed to be close to the Israeli state. They have sold their hacking tools to repressive governments around […]
For First Time, US joins Brazil and India as “Backsliding Democracy”: GOP is making US a Third World Country
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sweden’s International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance finds this year that the United States of America has joined the ranks of “backsliding democracies,” joining India, Brazil, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The IDEA institute notes, “Democratic backsliding, namely the sustained and deliberate process of subversion of basic democratic tenets by […]
On Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Juan Cole Video
I was honored to be asked to address a seminar of the AIME organization on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad on November 6, 2021. It was a wonderful audience and they were very kind to listen to me talking about how academics approach he sources for the Prophet’s life. Here is the video: “Mercy […]
In First for major Industrial State, South Australia generates more Electricity from Solar on Sunday than it Can Use
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Giles Parkinson at Renew Economy reports that for several hours on Sunday, November 21, the huge state of South Australia (which is has an area bigger than Texas) generated more electricity than it needed, mostly from rooftop solar. This is the first time we’ve seen a gigawatt-scale grid go upside […]
COVID-19 killed more Americans in 2021 than 2020, and the Republican Party Death Cult is mostly to Blame
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The number of dead from COVID-19 in the U.S. in 2021, as of yesterday, November 21, surpassed the deadly toll of 2020. Some 771,013 Americans have died of the novel coronavirus as of this writing, according to Johns Hopkins. The CDC estimates that 385,343 people died of COVID-19 in 2020. […]
The Climate Emergency Comes for Iran, as Thousands of Angry Farmers Protest in Dry Riverbed at Isfahan
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Friday, Kayhan London reports that thousands of farmers and other activists gathered in the dry riverbed of the historic Zayandeh Rud river at the major west-central city of Isfahan to protest the lack of water in the province. The crowd alleged that the Iranian administration of President Ibrahim Raisi […]
To Avoid another War Biden must get US Troops, caught in Israel-Iran Crossfire, out of Syria
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Eric Schmitt and Ronen Bergman at the New York Times report that a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria last month has been assessed by the Pentagon as retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Iranian bases in Syria. US troops abandoned the base before the strike, based on […]
Startling Transformation: California has 1 mn. EVs on road, as they become state’s No. 1 Export
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On, Monday, Juliet Eilperin, the environment editor at the Washington Post hosted a live event that included the Energy Commissioner of California, David Hochschild. Hochschild pointed out that electric cars are now California’s number one export. The state exports $156 billion of goods abroad annually, and is second only to […]
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