By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As far as I can figure, the US presently has about 6,800 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down to 4018 once it dismantles those scheduled to be decommissioned, by 2023. The Russian Federation has about 7,000 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down […]
Corporations Shouldn’t Get to Have ‘Religious’ Objections to Your Health Care
By Martha Burk | (Otherwords.org) | – – Expanding “corporate citizen” rights into health care could ultimately affect everybody, not just women. When Obamacare — aka, the Affordable Care Act — became law in 2010, it mandated coverage of birth control without co-payments. Some employers didn’t like the rule, and Hobby Lobby hated it so […]
As Trump & Pruitt unleash Climate Demons, Scientists dream of Atlantic Wind Farm
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The debate over whether Donald Trump or Rex Tillerson has the higher IQ, provoked by a Trump tweet that he now says was a joke, actually raises a serious question. Why would someone deliberately sabotage our air, water and climate? The science needed for understanding that […]
Trump and the Faustian Bargain of Corker and the GOP
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Republican Establishment doesn’t want much in life, just for the wealthy to have ever lower taxes, for polluting industries to have ever less regulation, and for the health and welfare of the nation’s poor and workers to be someone else’s responsibility, preferably that of the […]
Gerrymandering is about Race even when it seems just “Partisan”
By Olga Pierce and Kate Rabinowitz | ( ProPublica) | – – The Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court claims to be about partisanship. But race is a factor in this case and many others nationwide. The Wisconsin voting rights case before the Supreme Court has been cast as the definitive test of whether partisan […]
Former US Allies peeling off under Trump: Turkey halts US Visas
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US and Turkey have ceased processing non-immigrant visas for one another’s citizens. That’s right. If you’re an American and were planning to visit Istanbul this fall, unpack your bags. In a world of abnormal goings-on, this one is really weird. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has […]
Top Ten Renewable Energy surprises in New IEA Report
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A new International Energy Agency report contains some startling findings about solar energy dominance and its future. !. Renewables comprised 66% of all new net electricity capacity additions in 2016. Two-thirds of added capacity, in other words, consisted of photovoltaic solar cells, wind turbines and biofuels. […]
Plummeting in Polls, will Trump ‘Wag the Dog’ with Iran, N. Korea?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Voice of America reports that on Thursday, Trump met with US military leaders to discuss Iran and North Korea, then staged a photo opportunity with them. He asked the journalists, “You guys know what this represents? . . . Maybe it’s the calm before the […]
Was Ayatollah Khamenei right about Washington? Trump Reneges
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump appears likely to attempt to derail the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA]), next week. The deal curbs Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and prevents it from using the program to do more than create fuel for power plants. Trump will argue […]
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