First-term Congresswoman Ilhan Omar refuses to back down on her criticism of the Washington Establishment for demanding that representatives “pledge allegiance” to Israel or risk being smeared as un-American. But she is right. The Israel lobbies that direct campaign money to representatives and senators insist that Israeli policy of imposing Jim Crow discrimination on Palestinians […]
Is Costa Rica’s ambitious Decarbonization Program a Model for the US Green New Deal?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week, Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado, announced one of the more ambitious plans for a transition of a country to Net Carbon Zero proposed anywhere in the world. While many countries have made strides toward reducing their carbon dioxide production from electricity generation, Costa Rica is now addressing transportation, […]
Vile Racism in W. Va. GOP: Rep. Ilhan Omar likened to al-Qaeda & LGBTQ Folks to KKK
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republicans in the West Virginia state legislature held a “GOP takes the Rotunda” event at the state capitol on Friday. As part of this event they hung a poster of the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers, labeled “Never Forget– You said.” Below it they placed a picture of […]
Netanyahu to be Indicted on Bribery, Fraud, Press Tampering: Israeli AG
Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has announced that he will indict Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on bribery and fraud charges. I think it should be underlined that two of the charges have to do with tampering with press coverage of the prime minister, which is to say, tampering with the Fourth Estate, one of […]
Israel Broke Int’l Law, Likely Committed War Crimes, Shooting 6,000 Gaza Protesters: UN
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A United Nations (UN) probe said, on Thursday, that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes killing scores of Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 suppressing weekly protests in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past year. Santiago Canton, Chairman of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said, in a statement, […]
Racism v. Racist: Why Brenda Lawrence and Rashida Tlaib are Right
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As I noted yesterday, in Michael Cohen’s opening statement during his public testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, he alleged that Donald Trump is a racist, saying: ‘ He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a “shithole . […]
Top Six Pieces of Dirt Cohen Dished on Trump in his Opening Statement
Michael Dean Cohen’s prepared remarks for his public congressional testimony on Wednesday were obtained by Politico. Here are what struck me as the top 6 most egregious revelations about Trump’s venality: 1. Trump running for president was just a public relations stunt. He expected to benefit financially “Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was […]
In Middle East, Impunity for Human Rights Abuses reigned in 2018: Amnesty
Beirut (AFP) – “The crackdown on civil society actors and political opponents increased significantly in Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” the rights watchdog said in its annual regional report. “Is it acceptable for activists to undergo arbitrary detention, torture, sexual harassment … and even enforced disappearances simply for expressing their opinions in a peaceful way,” […]
New Archeological Evidence for the Kaaba, Sanctuary of Peace, in Early Islam
During the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, believers circumambulate the square ‘House of God’ called the Kaaba. It is said to have predated Islam, and to have been cleansed of idols by the Prophet Muhammad in January of 630, when the town of Mecca swung to his leadership by acclamation. There is some new archeological evidence […]
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