Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Avery Thompson Popular Mechanics reports that in the month of April for the first time in US history, the country produced more electricity with renewables than with coal. Part of the solution to this puzzle is economic. In much of the US, Thompson notes, you could actually make more money […]

Democratic Party

The Democrats can Crush unpopular Trump in 2020, but only if they Run to the Left

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new CNN/SSRS poll of about 1,000 people shows that among a random sample of registered voters, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden each crush Trump by 6 to 7 points, even at this very early point in the campaign. Kamala Harris also wins, but by a smaller margin. This poll […]

Featured

Super-Majority of Arab Youth in New Poll say Religion too Important in Public Life

Juan Cole

Fully 79%, almost 4 in 5, say that the Arab world desperately needs to reform its religious institutions

Constitution

Mueller thinks Trump Committed Obstruction: Why he Wrote to Barr and why Barr Lied

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment): Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky at WaPo broke the story that Special Counsel Bob Mueller wrote a sharp letter to Attorney General William Barr to protest the 4-page summary Barr put out before releasing the Mueller report to the public. The letter was private but someone just leaked it to WaPo. […]

Featured

In our National Interest? 250K Yemenis now Starving to Death, with 233K already dead in Trump-Backed War

Juan Cole

140,000 of the dead are children under 5

Climate Change

Scottish Gov’t Announces ‘Climate Emergency’ in response to Extinction Rebellion Call

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon of the social-democratic Scottish National Party has called a “climate emergency,” doing so in response to a call from “Extinction Rebellion Scotland.” The latter is a youth protest group that has staged walk-outs from high schools and engaged in civil disobedience in numerous cities around […]

Antisemitism

Hatred of One is Hatred of All: San Diego Synagogue Shooter had Attempted to Burn down Mosque

Juan Cole

Earnest is an object lesson in the intersection of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism

Featured

The American Tragedy: Veteran Rams Hindu Family, thinking they were Muslims, in Sunnyvale

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An Iraq War veteran, who had spent 5 years in that country, was arraigned Friday. On Tuesday, he had plowed into 8 people in an intersection in Sunnyvale, California, particularly aiming at a South Asian family who he assumed to be Muslims. They weren’t. The names indicate that they are […]