Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Aljazeera reports that its correspondent in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, Andrew Simmons, confirms that a tanker carrying $140 million worth of Iranian petroleum has now left the island at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The tanker was seized by Gibraltar authorities on July 4 on the grounds that […]
America as a Company Town: Royal Dutch Shell Workers in Penna. Coerced to Show up for Trump
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Anya Litvak at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a contractor handling the Trump appearance at the Royal Dutch Shell plant instructed the workers not to yell or protest and informed them that they would not to be paid that day unless they came to the Trump event. Their attendance was […]
After Tlaib & Omar are Barred by Netanyahu, why would any Self-Respecting Dem Congressman do the AIPAC Tour Again??
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has barred Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from visiting Israel. This is an about-face of enormous proportions, since Israel has been inveigling US politicians to come to Israel for decades, in hopes of propagandizing on the Israeli point of view. The US is thought […]
Trump wrong Again: Offshore Wind a “New Industrial Revolution”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Donald Trump is both an ignoramus and a loudmouth, and has used his vast fund of cluelessness to talk down wind power. He says that if you depend on wind power, your t.v. won’t work when the wind abruptly stops blowing. This is not true. He says that wind power […]
“World-Wide Welcome:” No, Cuccinelli, the Statue of Liberty and Lazarus Poem are not about Whiteness
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Chris Cillizza at CNN quotes the interchange between Erin Burnett and Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, over a new policy that might prevent immigrants who accepted public assistance from ever getting a Green Card and beginning the process of becoming citizens. “BURNETT: I just played […]
Saudi Woman dissident Refuses to Make Video exonerating Saudi State from Torture Charges
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The family of jailed Saudi dissident and women’s rights activist Loujain Hathloul has announced that the Saudi authorities offered to release her if she would record a video statement saying that she had not been tortured while in government custody. Her sisters say that she refused the offer, and they […]
Trump’s Conspiracy Theories Hide the Real Plot, of Corporations against our Health
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump came to power in part because of weird conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, and he is still at it. This pollution of our information system with ridiculous charges against the Clintons, or the Obamas, or any number of other bêtes noires, is a form of misdirection, a technique used […]
Trump-Saudi War on Yemen Collapsing as Southern Separatists Take Aden
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Yemen, a country of 28 million and one of the poorest in the world, had already become a byword for misery over the course of the last four years of war. Now, believe it or not, things have abruptly worsened. The strategic port of Aden has fallen to southern separatists, […]
Valhalla Awaits! After White Terrorism at Oslo Mosque, what if Trump spoke about Supremacists the Way he does Islam?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A young Norwegian man wearing body armor and carrying two shotguns and a handgun attacked the Al-Noor Mosque in a tony suburb of Oslo on Saturday. Only 3 people were in the building for afternoon prayers. On Monday, 1,000 congregants are expected, to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice […]