US politics

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – While mainstream media celebrate the remarkable development in record time of vaccines spectacularly effective against the Covid virus, knowledge that might contribute to other medical breakthroughs is being steadily undermined. This decline is not the result of some dramatic lawsuit or corporate takeover. It is one of […]

Colonialism

Why ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day is Replacing ‘Columbus Day’

The Conversation

By Susan C. Faircloth | – Columbus Day celebrations in the United States – meant to honor the legacy of the man credited with “discovering” the New World – are almost as old as the nation itself. The earliest known Columbus Day celebration took place on Oct. 12, 1792, on the 300th anniversary of his […]

Anti-Vaccination

Wahhabi Saudi Arabia has a More Rational Vaccine Mandate than the US Republican Party

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republicans, among all Americans, are the most Islamophobic or Muslim-hating, with 72% holding that Muslims are more likely than members of other religions to encourage violence by their community. Republican TV idol Tucker Carlson called Iraqis “monkeys” and “illiterate” and maintains that “white men” invented civilization. That is, Muslims in […]

Bush

Iraq is seeking 10 Gigawatts of Solar Power; if World had gone Green in ’80s, Would the US have ever invaded Iraq?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a historic irony, Iraq is turning to solar energy, according to Dania Saadi at SPGlobal. Ali Jawad at the Anadolu Agency reports that the Baghdad government is seeking to generate 10 gigawatts of solar power for electricity by 2030, though it already has several projects in train that will […]

Immigration

Immigration Cruelty Goes Beyond the Border

OtherWords

By Josue De Luna Navarro | ( Otherwords.org ) – Images of Border Patrol officers on horseback whipping Black migrants shocked many Americans. President Biden called them “outrageous” and “wrong” and promised an investigation. Many members of Congress also spoke out. Given this reaction, you could be forgiven for thinking that abuse like this isn’t […]

China

Iran’s Hard Line gov’t Ebullient about higher Oil Prices, as China Defies US Sanctions on Tehran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran is a big beneficiary of the run-up in oil prices, with Brent crude hitting a multi-year high of $83 a barrel on Wednesday and the West Texas Intermediate price hitting about $79 a barrel. Analysts expect prices to remain high as we move into winter, when there is extra […]

Arms Sales

Why Do so many in Congress resist funding Childcare But swoon over F-35s?

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic Senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema. But the very week before the Dems’ $350 billion-per-year domestic package hit […]

Democratic Party

Arguing with Sen. Joe Manchin

John Buell

As I write this piece the so called moderate Democrats are locked in combat with the party’s progressives, but what issues besides numbers to be appropriated receive scant attention. Since Senator Manchin plays so pivotal a role in this conflict it is imperative that progressives understand from where he is coming and formulate careful responses. […]

Corruption

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Buddies Tried to Get the VA to Sell Access to Veterans’ Medical Records

ProPublica

by Isaac Arnsdorf | – ( ProPublica) – Former President Donald Trump empowered associates from his private club to pursue a plan for the Department of Veterans Affairs to monetize patient data, according to documents newly released by congressional investigators. As ProPublica first reported in 2018, a trio based at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort weighed in […]