US politics

Top 4 Reasons Sen. Manchin will Fail to Stop the Tsunami of Green Energy and Biden will get Climate Progress

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia may succeed in preventing Congress from legislating the quick demise of coal and gas plants, but once President Biden has Manchin’s signature on his two big legislative packages, there are other ways to move against Big Carbon that Manchin can do nothing about. 1. […]

African-Americans

Anti-Imperialism You Can Try at Home: Reparations May Be One Cure for What Ails Us

Tomdispatch

By Mattea Kramer | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Robin Rue Simmons had been very curious about the truth of American life as a young person. But it was only after she finished high school, left her native Evanston, Illinois, and returned as an adult — ready to buy a house in the historically Black […]

Featured

Israeli Government defies President Biden, announces 3K new Squatter Dwellings on Palestinian Land

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab48 reports that Israeli authorities are authorizing 3,144 new housing units for squatters on Palestinian-owned land in the Palestinian West Bank. The move is spearheaded by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his expansionist Yamina Party, and was greeted with outrage by some elements of the unwieldy 8-party […]

Climate Crisis

How to Truly ‘Build Back Better’ on Climate

Basav Sen

This commentary was jointly produced by In These Times and Foreign Policy In Focus. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills moving through Congress are a mixed bag when it comes to health care, income support programs, and the care economy. On climate and environmental issues, however, they are not […]

Donald Trump

Is Trump one of Top Mass Murderers? Dr. Birx says he Killed 130K- 160K with Bad COVID Policy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In remarks this month to Congress, Dr. Deborah Birx, former member of Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, estimated that Trump’s COVID policies cost between 130,000 and 160,000 lives that need not have been lost. World leaders often are responsible for large numbers of deaths of soldiers in war, but […]

Authoritarianism

Trump was aping Third World Dictators when he Tried to make his Coup

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com) – As an eyewitness, I can recall the events of January 6th in Washington as if they were yesterday. The crowds of angry loyalists storming the building while overwhelmed security guards gave way. The slavishly loyal vice-president who would, the president hoped, restore him to power. The crush of media that seemed confused, […]

Books

At its heart, Dune is a Tragedy, and a Warning against Trumpism

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The protagonist of the new Denis Villeneuve film, Dune, Paul Atreides, is a complex character, but he should be seen as an antihero, as the protagonist of a Greek tragedy with a fatal tragic flaw. The author of the 1965 novel on which the film is based, Frank Herbert, was […]

Congress

Why is Social Spending Controversial but Congress lavishes $7 trillion a Decade on Pentagon?

OtherWords

By Sister Karen M. Donahue | ( Otherwords.org) – Right now, the United States is locked in a contentious debate over the Build Back Better plan, which will make a significant difference in the lives of millions of individuals and families. Even though the provisions included in the plan — including universal child care, home […]

Far Right

Oath Keepers in the State House: How a Militia Movement Took Root in the Republican Mainstream

ProPublica

By Isaac Arnsdorf | – A membership roster for the Oath Keepers, a violent extremist group whose followers have been charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection, includes state lawmakers, congressional candidates, and local government and GOP officials. ( ProPublica) – North Carolina state representative Mike Clampitt swore an oath to uphold the Constitution after his […]