Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The contrast between the unprecedented failure of the United States to deal successfully with the coronavirus pandemic, and the success of pharmaceutical companies in coming up with effective vaccines in record time is bittersweet. The reason for the difference is that no one could make any money on mitigating the […]
No, Joseph Epstein, Doctors aren’t only Physicians, and Jill Biden earned her Title: Use It
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Essayist and writer Joseph Epstein took a shot at incoming First Lady Jill Biden at the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. In his op ed, the former editor of The American Scholar urged her to stop having herself referred to as “Dr. Jill Biden” on the grounds, he said, that […]
Up to 90% of electricity from solar and wind the cheapest option by 2030: CSIRO analysis
By Paul Graham | – With the cost of energy generated from wind and solar now less than coal, the share of Australia’s electricity coming from renewables has reached 23%. The federal government projects the share will reach 50% by 2030. It is at this point that integrating renewables into the energy system becomes more […]
How Biden could save $437 Bn, create millions of Jobs, by Reversing Trump Tariffs on Solar Panels
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Michelle Lewis at Electrek discusses a new study that finds hundreds of billions of dollars in savings and millions of jobs created if the US can power a quarter of its households with rooftop solar. Australia already gets 5% of its electricity from rooftop solar, and some states, such as […]
The Marshall Islands could be wiped out by climate change – and their colonial history limits their ability to save themselves
By Autumn Bordner and Caroline E. Ferguson | – Along U.S. coastlines, from California to Florida, residents are getting increasingly accustomed to “king tides.” These extra-high tides cause flooding and wreak havoc on affected communities. As climate change raises sea levels, they are becoming more extreme. King tides are nothing new for the Marshall Islands, […]
How US Sanctions have Contributed to the 50K Dead of Coronavirus In Iran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US financial and trade blockade of Iran, which has strangled its economy, has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s coronavirus response. Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Ramin Mostaghim and Scott McWhinnie at CNN did a great story on this heartrending travesty. They write, ‘Retired teacher Khalif Farahani […]
Ritual Coup: Republicans hope that by Performing a One-Party State, they will one Day Achieve it
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Today’s Republican Party is one big denial of reality. If it were only that, however, it would merely be madness. Rather, the denial of reality is a form of ultimate power-seeking. In the bizarre mental world of Republicans, Joe Biden lost the presidential race. Some 75% of them tell pollsters […]
NZ’s Ardern: Mosque Massacre was Enabled by ignoring White Supremacist Terror Threat and by YouTube Radicalization
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques on 15 March 2019 looked into the background of the white nationalist Australian young man who flew to Dunedin in 2017, stayed there in a sparsely furnished little apartment for eighteen months, and then went on a killing […]
Biden Nominates first African-American Secretary of Defense, 250 Years after Crispus Attucks
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President-Elect Joe Biden will appoint retired four-star general Lloyd J. Austin III as his secretary of defense, according to the scoop by Lara Seligman, Tyler Pager, Connor O’Brien and Natasha Bertrand at Politico. Austin will be the first Black secretary of defense in our nation’s history. Austin has, they note, […]