Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Solar panels have plummeted 80% in price during the past decade, but they are still relatively expensive and depend on mined silicon. They are also a big waste challenge, since they aren’t recyclable and they have toxic chemicals in them. Silicon panels last up to 30 years, but gradually lose […]
Israeli Archeologists find 7th Century Mosque and Evidence of Tolerance in Early Islam at Tiberias
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli archeologists have made two extremely important finds recently that have implications for our image of early Islam. Katia Cytryn-Silverman, an Israeli archeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has concluded that the remains of a mosque in Tiberias, on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee, is seventh […]
The Republican Party’s Iran-Level Superstitious Anti-Semitism: Greene claimed Jewish Space Laser started Cali Wildfires
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Golnaz Esfandiari reports on controversies currently roiling Tehran over the belief in supernatural beings, genies (jinn or djinn), among the country’s ruling ayatollahs. Esfandiari writes, that Iran’s clerical Leader recently said, “There are enemies from among both genies and human beings, and they help one another. The security services of […]
Educator Shocked that GOP put Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke of Assassinating Nancy Pelosi and denied Parkland School Shootings, on House Education Committee
This is who the Republican Party is, now
Biden to have Feds buy 650K Electric Vehicles, Promising rapid Fall in EV Prices
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden plans to create a million auto-worker jobs by replacing the enormous fleet of some 650,000 vehicles owned by the federal government with electric cars. He specified EVs that emit no carbon dioxide, which suggests he wants the government to buy pure EVs like General Motors’ Chevy Bolt […]
President Biden, We can do this too: Europe generates more electricity with Renewables than Fossil Fuels for First Time
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new report from Ember and Agora Energiewende finds that in 2020, the 27 countries of the European Union generated more electricity with renewables (wind, solar, hydro) than with fossil fuels (coal and natural gas). The growth in renewables has all come from wind and solar. These two increased by […]
Failures of Democracy in America and the Arab Spring
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Today is ten years since Egyptian youth gathered in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo demanding the resignation of Egypt’s brutal and corrupt Interior Minister, Habib Adly. Even those who called for the rally were surprised by the thousands of youth and workers that showed up, on Egypt’s Police Day, and […]
Why is False News about Iran All Right? No, Khamenei didn’t Threaten Trump on Golf Course, and no, his Twitter account wasn’t Banned
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – No, Ayatollah Ali Khameni’s twitter account did not carry an image of Donald Trump being droned on a golf course, and no, his twitter account was not canceled. A small twitter account run by unknown persons with only 8,000 followers posted the image of someone (it wasn’t a picture of […]
Biden’s own Moderates and Hardliners Battle it Out on reviving Iran Nuclear Deal
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Two and a half days into the Biden administration, it is already clear that the Problem of Iran is going to loom large over its foreign policy. There are already hard liners and moderates in the Biden team, just as there are in Iran. The first few Biden appointments, Antony […]
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