Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Saudi commission for the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that it was making new high resolution pictures of the Black Stone of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca available. The stone has for over 1,400 years had an important place in Muslim […]
‘Apartheid’, Israel and the verdict of international law: The Problem is Occupation
Leonie Fleischmann | – Discrimination against Palestinians by Israeli laws and policies amount to the crime of apartheid, according to a recent report from Human Rights Watch. The 213-page report, released on April 27, accuses Israel of operating a system of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It concludes that “in certain areas … they […]
The Republican Party is the new American Communist Party: Pogo’s Revenge
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republican Party has positioned itself to run against the Communist Party ever since the Russian Revolution in October, 1917. Never mind that there were never any American Communists to speak of– party membership peaked at 75,000 in the late 1940s. Republicans managed to find “Reds” everywhere, maybe even hiding […]
The Real Morning in America: ~2/3s are Optimistic under Biden: majorities want Gov’t to fix the Economy and blame GOP for Obstruction
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new ABC News/ Ipsos poll finds that 64% of Americans are optimistic about the next twelve months. It is the first time we have felt that way about ourselves since before George W. Bush crashed the economy by deregulating everything. “Morning in America” was the slogan of the minor […]
Biden Plans for US to Jump into Electric Vehicles with Both Feet, in a Hurry
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The White House issued a fact sheet Thursday on how President Biden intends to move the US vehicle fleet to electric in short order, using money already appropriated for his jobs plan. Biden is ahead of world trends in his ambitions. The UN’s International Energy Agency predicts that the current […]
Were Humanity’s Oldest Monumental Religious Sites Erected in NW Saudi Arabia? 1,000 ‘Rectangles’ Older than Stonehenge
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hugh Thomas and a team of Australian researchers have just published a groundbreaking article in the journal Antiquity describing their research into the mysterious “Rectangles” (mustatīl) dotting Northwest Arabia. This region lies due south of Israel-Palestine and Jordan. Rectangles. h/t ‘Antiquity.’ The Rectangles date from roughly 7,500 years before present, […]
It Can be Done: California Briefly reaches 94.5% Renewable Electricity
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sammy Roth at the LA Times/ Boiling Point Newsletter reports that California’s main power grid was powered for several hours last Saturday by 90% renewables. For just four seconds that day, the grid, which covers 4/5s of the state, reached 94.5% generation by green energy. California is the world’s fifth […]
Why Jerusalem is Sacred to Muslims, and why even the Emirates are Rebuking Israel for Persecuting Palestinians There
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began Monday, April 12, and for the succeeding week and a half there was trouble at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Muslim youth were used to gathering in the square in front of the the gate, which had been built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman […]
Israel is an Apartheid State seeking Systemic Domination of Palestinians: Human Rights Watch
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human Rights Watch has issued a 214-page report concluding that between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean there are 6.8 million Jews and 6.8 million Palestinians, and that the Israeli state systematically privileges the Jews, wherever they are, and disprivileges the Palestinians, on the basis of race. HRW, like other […]
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