Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia may succeed in preventing Congress from legislating the quick demise of coal and gas plants, but once President Biden has Manchin’s signature on his two big legislative packages, there are other ways to move against Big Carbon that Manchin can do nothing about. 1. […]
Israeli Government defies President Biden, announces 3K new Squatter Dwellings on Palestinian Land
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab48 reports that Israeli authorities are authorizing 3,144 new housing units for squatters on Palestinian-owned land in the Palestinian West Bank. The move is spearheaded by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his expansionist Yamina Party, and was greeted with outrage by some elements of the unwieldy 8-party […]
Is Trump one of Top Mass Murderers? Dr. Birx says he Killed 130K- 160K with Bad COVID Policy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In remarks this month to Congress, Dr. Deborah Birx, former member of Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, estimated that Trump’s COVID policies cost between 130,000 and 160,000 lives that need not have been lost. World leaders often are responsible for large numbers of deaths of soldiers in war, but […]
Israeli, UN, European Human Rights Experts Condemn Israel for Branding Palestinian Rights Groups “Terrorists”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday, Israeli, European and United Nations human rights experts condemned last Friday’s decision by Israeli Foreign Minister Benny Gantz to classify 6 prominent, nonviolent Palestinian human rights organizations “terrorist organizations.” The Israeli government had tried to peddle this line to the members of the European Union, presenting what it […]
“A Psychopath with Infinite Resources:” Al-Jabri accuses Saudi Crown Prince MBS
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scott Pelley at CBS’s “60 Minutes” interviewed Dr. Saad al-Jabri, the number 2 man in Saudi intelligence until 2014, when he fled for his life to Canada. Al-Jabri made a number of serious accusations against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, including alleging […]
At its heart, Dune is a Tragedy, and a Warning against Trumpism
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The protagonist of the new Denis Villeneuve film, Dune, Paul Atreides, is a complex character, but he should be seen as an antihero, as the protagonist of a Greek tragedy with a fatal tragic flaw. The author of the 1965 novel on which the film is based, Frank Herbert, was […]
Becoming Typical Mideast Dictatorship, Apartheid Israel Declares Palestinian Human Rights Groups “Terrorists”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera English reports that on Friday, the Israeli government declared six human rights organizations active in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank to be terrorist organizations. The government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Benny Gantz thus brought Israel into the grand tradition of modern Middle East dictatorships. […]
Bannon Vote: Republicans once Voted to Hold Hollywood 10 in Contempt for Making Leftist Movies but won’t act on Far-Right Plot to Overthrow Gov’t
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Anyone who knows the history of abuse in the Congress’s prerogative of subpoenaing witnesses and holding people in contempt for declining to testify is a little uneasy about the vote today to refer far-right gadfly Steve Bannon to the Department of Justice on charges of contempt of Congress. Mary Clare […]
BBC: Leaks Show Saudis Pressuring UN to Downplay Danger of Fossil Fuels as UN Warns G20 is putting $300 bn into Sector
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new United Nations-sponsored report finds that governments continue to sponsor the extraction of so much coal, oil and gas for human consumption that we cannot possibly, at this rate, hope to keep global heating to an extra 2.7° F. (1.5° C.) beyond per-industrial levels. At the same time, the […]
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