Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Alarabiya reports from Dubai on the massive explosion on the deck of a ship that was coming in to dock at the Jebel Ali port there, which could be heard for miles and shook the city’s skyscrapers. Since the explosion was on the ship, it appears not to have done […]
Israel and the Racial Politics of Palestinian Family Separation
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett slammed opposition parties, led by former PM Binyamin Netanyahu, for having voted against renewal of the Family Separation Law for Palestinian-Israelis married to Palestinians. He said that the opposition had done direct damage to Israeli security. The […]
“Chaos” in Israeli Parliament over Apartheid-style Law against Family Unification for Palestinian-Israelis
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al-Quds Al-Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] reports “chaos” in the Israeli parliament as it debated into the wee hours of Tuesday morning the renewal of a 2003 law that places obstacles to family unification inside Israel of Palestinian-Israelis who marry Palestinians living in the Occupied West Bank or Gaza. Members of parliament […]
Kuwait is the Hottest Place on Earth; Lytton, Canada was Right Behind it, and then it Burned Down; This is not Normal
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mohammed Haddad at Al Jazeera English reports that in June, at least 23 countries experienced at least 122° F. (50° C.). Haddad’s article kindly provides several graphics under a Creative Commons licence, reproduced below. The earth is heating up because we burn gasoline in our cars and burn coal for […]
Top 5 Differences between the Fourth of July and the Capitol Insurrection
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. The Fourth of July celebrates a revolutionary event. January 6 was a counter-revolutionary event. Why do I say this? The chief feature of the Declaration of Independence was not that it announced an insurrection (or rather confirmed one already announced by some 90 councils and other local bodies). Insurrections […]
United Nations Accuses Israel of ‘Grave Violations’ against Palestinian Children
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This week, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres presented a report to the 75th General Assembly on the “Promotion and protection of the rights of children: promotion and protection of the rights of children: Children and Armed Conflict” It had a damning section on the situation in Israel […]
Donald Rumsfeld, Torturer, Serial Liar, Butcher of Baghdad, dies at 88
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s death at 88 is an occasion for me to recall some of my own writing on his sinister role in the Iraq War. Rumsfeld wanted to invade Iraq so badly he just made up shit to justify that action. In a Salon article I […]
Top 6 Things Trump should be Indicted for aside from Cheating on Taxes
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The Trump organization was indicted by a New York grand jury on Wednesday and the indictment is unsealed today, according to Shayna Jacobs, Josh Dawsey, David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O’Connell at WaPo. The Trump Org.’s CFO, Allen Weisselberg, was also indicted. Trump himself is not named, but the trial could […]
Israeli Forces Demolish Shop, Homes of Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Silwan, beginning Ethnic Cleansing Drive
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Tuesday evening, Israeli security forces cracked down on Palestinian protesters in Silwan just south of the Old City of Jerusalem when the latter engaged in protests against the demolition by Israel of a commercial complex, including a butcher shop, in the region. […]