Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Carol Morello and Steve Hendrix at the Washington Post report that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israeli squatters on Palestinian land in the West Bank on Thursday (well, that is my characterization, they didn’t put it that way). In a bid to please his evangelical constituency and potential Jewish […]
Is it the Trump-Monster or capitalist Plutocracy? With 250,000 Dead, why is the US Virus Response so Particularly Bad?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Holly Yan, Christina Maxouris and Theresa Waldrop at CNN report that the United States has passed the grim milestone of 250,000 deaths. Trump had predicted a worst case of 50,000 deaths last spring, but then Donald Trump could not find his ass with both hands. Nor is the worrisome death […]
Is Trump leaving 2500 Troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan as a Poison Pill for Biden?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dustin Jones at NPR reports that Trump has instructed the Pentagon to bring most US troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by January 15, 2021. Some 2,500 would remain in each country. The announcement was made, WaPo reports, by acting secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller. Miller was apparently brought […]
Trump Bruited Strike on Iran Civilian Nuclear Facilities, which may kill as many as did Nuclear Bombing of Hiroshima
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Eric Schmitt, Maggie Haberman, David E. Sanger, Helene Cooper and Lara Jakes at the New York Times get the scoop. Their sources in the White House tell them that last Thursday, in a meeting with his senior advisers, Trump abruptly asked them if there were options for a US strike […]
In Slight to Biden, Israel sends Squatters to cut Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Palestinian Bethelehem, West Bank
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Alarabiya reports that the government of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has let bids for 1257 new segregated Israeli-only housing units on stolen West Bank Palestinian land, with the bidding to end on January 18, two days before Joe Biden is sworn in. Netanyahu is clearly milking the last two […]
Importance of Middle East Plummets as Britain, Ireland, Denmark announce 2030 Funeral for New Gasoline Cars
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Middle East is likely to plummet in significance for the United States over the next two decades. Let’s face it, the main reason we hear so much about Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (as opposed to Senegal and Uruguay) is that they produce petroleum, and the world transportation […]
Climate Change Will Make Parts of the U.S. Uninhabitable; but Americans Are Still Moving There (ProPublica Video)
( ProPublica) – Over the past year, the advent of a professional economy powered by people working from home has quickened the conversation about where to live, particularly among millennials. “Is now the right time to buy property in Minnesota?” “Is Buffalo the new place to be?” How important is proximity to fresh water? Should […]
As Wind, Solar, surge, Renewables to be Globe’s largest Source of Electricity by 2025
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The International Energy Agency just issued a report concluding that wind and solar are growing rapidly, unlike beleaguered fossil fuels, and that in only five years they will be generating a third of the world’s electricity, overtaking coal. They will overtake natural gas sooner, in 2023. Coal is the dirtiest […]
Georgia’s Embattled Sen. Perdue Protects own Beach-Front Mansion from Climate Emergency, while voting to Burn more Fossil Fuels
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republican Senator David Perdue of Georgia, facing a run-off against Jon Ossof, has an opulent six-room beach-front mansion that has been protected with newly built, pricey jetties and sea walls against sea level rise, storm surges and coastal erosion. Why, it is as if Perdue thinks the climate emergency is […]