Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US is heading for having the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world next week. Admittedly the US is a big country and it still won’t have the highest number of cases per capita. But it won’t even be in the running for the country with the fewest […]
To Save America, Top 3 Planks Bernie Supporters Must try to Get into the Democratic Platform
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bernie Sanders bowed out of the race for president on Wednesday, but he made it clear that he still leads a national movement. Sanders has a substantial delegate count, of 914 as I write. Although he has concluded that he won’t reach the 1,991 needed to win the nomination, his […]
African-Americans, Victimized by U.S. Racism and Classism, are now preyed on by Coronavirus
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The coronavirus appears to be striking African-Americans at far higher rates than white Americans, write Reis Thebault, Andrew Ba Tran and Vanessa Williams at WaPo. Given that African-Americans are on average younger than whites, they should have fewer cases. But other causes are overriding the youth advantage. The median age […]
After Trump picked Feud with Shiite Nat’l Guard, Iraqi PM-designate says 1/2 US Troops will Leave Iraq this year, the Rest in ’21
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The current nominee to be the next prime minister of Iraq, Adnan al-Zurfi, says that He has asked the US ambassador in Iraq for a timeline for a withdrawal of the some 5,000 US troops from his country. His statement came just a couple days before the US Halliburton oil […]
Why America’s anti-Science and Anti-Intellectual Attitudes doom it to Coronavirus “Pearl Harbor”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The surgeon general, Jerome Adams, has announced that the coming week will see enormous numbers of coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations, calling it this generation’s “Pearl Harbor.” But while Pearl Harbor was a plot of far right wing Japanese generals to get the US fleet out of the way so they […]
At Last, Someone is Suing Fox “News” for Journalistic Malpractice in Misguiding People over Seriousness of Coronavirus
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I have long thought that Fox Cable “News” was open to lawsuits for its persistent purveying of falsehoods to viewers, some of which will cost lives. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets sued over it climate change denialism, for instance. All you need is for a viewer to maintain […]
Modly and Esper Should have followed Capt. Crozier’s Lead in Blowing Whistle on Trump Coronavirus inaction rather than Firing Him
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Capt. Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is a national hero, as his crew recognized when they cheered uproariously as he left his ship for the last time. Crozier had provoked the Navy to let the crew of 5,000 debark at Guam. Some 100 of them tested positive for […]
Witness to History: Early Muslim Rock Inscriptions Speak of 769 A.D. Epidemic in Medina
Saudi epigraphist Mohammed Almaghthawi (@mohammed93athar) has published some rock inscriptions from around Medina in western Arabia that are dated to 769, which speak of an epidemic outbreak in that year. This outbreak is otherwise unknown to historians. The inscriptions ask God to deliver them from this calamity, and clearly take pride in the city of […]
Coronavirus and Georgia’s Kemp: How the GOP Stupidocracy will Kill us All
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, whose only advantage in life appears to be being a white male who has failed upward all his life, announced on Thursday that he was finally implementing a shelter-in-place order for his state of 10.5 million people. He said the reason for his about-face after two […]