Democratic Party

The Inflation Reduction Act’s Incentives are a Start to a Green Energy Revolution, but Now comes the Hard Work

By Daniel Cohan, Rice University | – The new Inflation Reduction Act is stuffed with subsidies for everything from electric vehicles to heat pumps, and incentives for just about every form of clean energy. But pouring money into technology is just one step toward solving the climate change problem. Wind and solar farms won’t be […]

Climate Crisis

You know you want an Electric Car. What does the IRA mean for Consumers this Year?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Thinking of buying an electric car? With the signing by President Biden yesterday of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is a great time to make the move from expensive and destructive gasoline to a much cleaner electric vehicle. But the rules on the $7,500 federal tax break for buying a […]

Climate Crisis

Next US energy boom could be wind power in the Gulf of Mexico

The Conversation

By Michael E. Webber, University of Texas at Austin and Hugh Daigle, University of Texas at Austin | – With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind […]

Bashar al-Assad

Biden Calls on Syria to Return Journalist ‘Disappeared’ a Decade Ago

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch ) – Last week, US President Joe Biden declared that the US knows “with certainty” that Tice has been held by the Syrian government. “I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home,” Biden said in a statement. Tice, who was covering the conflict in Syria […]

Climate Crisis

Why Fightin’ Joe Biden may be the most Consequential President in Forty Years

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden has been easy for the pundit class to write off. He isn’t, unlike Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, a great speechifier. He overcame his childhood stutter, but he still sometimes hesitates just as he gets to an applause line. He is still the little guy who got picked […]

Climate Crisis

Why Climate Activists Need to Celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act, a major Turning Point despite its Warts

Waging Nonviolence

By Daniel Hunter | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Congress just passed a major $375 billion climate bill, and it will be signed by the president. Yet, when I texted long-standing colleagues in Sunrise Movement, climate justice groups, Sierra Club, local pipeline fights and elsewhere, I found the mood to be… ambivalent, cautious, and non-celebratory. […]

Featured

Irony Alert: Amateurish Iranian attempt to hit John Bolton may derail Nuclear Negotiations Bolton wanted Derailed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An attempt to hire a hit man to kill former National Security Adviser John Bolton by an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was revealed by the Department of Justice at a delicate time in the negotiations to bring both the US and Iran back into compliance with […]

Batteries

The Great Pivot: Why Dem Green Energy IRA Will Steamroll Fossil Fuels and Help Save the Planet, Despite Manchin

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Democrats in the Senate Passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, with its nearly $370 billion in new spending on the green energy transition. The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is such that the bill will certainly be passed into law at the end of this month […]

Climate Crisis

Sinema goes for Inflation Reduction Act as Princeton’s ZERO Labs deems it will boost Solar Energy 5-Fold

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) is reported to have signed on to the Schumer-Manchin energy bill, accurately termed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), on Thursday, after tinkering with a few of its revenue-raising features, writes Tony Romm at WaPo. A key piece of information in Romm’s report is that Sinema wants […]