US politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Since about 2000, Americans have begun abandoning religion in droves, especially but not only the younger generations (Millennials and younger). Now a Gallup poll finds that for the first time in seven decades, only 47% of Americans say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. That figure was 70% […]

Immigration

Is the Biden Administration outsourcing the Border?

Aviva Chomsky

By Aviva Chomsky | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Joe Biden entered the White House with some inspiring yet contradictory positions on immigration and Central America. He promised to reverse Donald Trump’s draconian anti-immigrant policies while, through his “Plan to Build Security and Prosperity in Partnership with the People of Central America,” restoring “U.S. leadership […]

Climate Crisis

As Biden seeks 30 gigawatts in Offshore Wind, Report shows this source could Generate all US Electricity

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden has announced an enormous offshore wind corridor. So report Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis at WaPo. I wrote earlier this month about the 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts, which has just been permitted, which will generate 800 megawatts. Biden wants to generate nearly 40 times as much […]

Asia

Yes, Anti-China invective in Foreign Policy puts a Target on Asian-Americans’ Backs

Martin Powers

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Chrissy Teigen is right. Anti-China invectives “put a target on Asian people’s backs,” yet the rhetoric gets more hysterical by the day, spanning the full spectrum from QAnon to the Democratic Party, and from city streets to the halls of state. What’s going on? The earliest Asia-bashing in the West […]

Afghanistan

Our Longest War is Ending without Victory, but will we Even Notice?

Andrew J. Bacevich

“Ours is the cause of freedom. We’ve defeated freedom’s enemies before, and we will defeat them again… [W]e know our cause is just and our ultimate victory is assured… My fellow Americans, let’s roll.” — George W. Bush, November 8, 2001 ( Tomdispatch.com) – In the immediate wake of 9/11, it fell to President George […]

Donald Trump

University of Michigan Women Deans Decry Regent Weiser’s urging that ‘witch’ Gov. Whitmer be ‘burned at stake’

Juan Cole

Ron Weiser, a real estate billionaire, is the head of the Michigan Republican Party. In videotaped remarks last Thursday, he referred to Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and two other top state women leaders (Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel [D] and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson [D]) as the “three witches” and spoke of burning […]

African-Americans

The Worst Attack on Voting Rights Since Jim Crow

OtherWords

By Phyllis Richardson | – ( Otherwords.org ) – Last November, despite a global pandemic, voter intimidation, and an unprecedented disinformation campaign, a record number of Americans cast a ballot in the 2020 election. Expanded voting by mail, no-excuse absentee voting, curbside voting, and early voting made the ballot box more accessible. But now, Republican […]

Iran

Trump put the US on a War footing Iran: Biden must Reverse that Immediately

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Manon Dark | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The current controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is one of Trump’s lingering foreign policy legacies that has proved particularly difficult for President Joe Biden to resolve. The U.S. withdrawal in May 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear […]

Afghanistan

Two Decades on, can Biden End the War on Terror?

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomidispatch.com ) – In the first two months of Joe Biden’s presidency, you could feel the country holding its breath. Sheltered in place, hidden behind masks, unsure about whether to trust in a safe-from-pandemic future, we are nonetheless beginning to open our eyes collectively. As part of this reemergence, a wider array of issues […]