US politics

MAGA GOP Complains about Biden’s “Semi-Fascism” Jibe; Also MAGA GOP: There will be Blood in the Streets

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden told donors at a fundraising dinner a few days ago, “”The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security. They’re a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace … political violence. They don’t believe in […]

Climate Crisis

The White House Meets the Creature from the Black Lagoon: How Trump turned the American Dream into the American Scream

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) – Honestly, if you had described this America to me more than half a century ago, I would have laughed in your face. Donald Trump becoming president? You must be kidding! If you want a bizarre image, just imagine him in the company of Abraham Lincoln. I mean, really, what’s happened to us? […]

Bill of Rights

The Real Cancel Culture: Anti-Palestinianism and the Crisis of American Free Speech

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The firing of Palestinian American woman, Natalie Abulhawa, has sparked a debate over free-speech, “cancel-culture” and the ever-growing crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism. The 25-year-old athletic trainer was fired by a private girls school in Bryn Mawr over years-old social media posts criticising Israel. In […]

Climate Crisis

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

The Conversation

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 […]

Afghanistan

Pact Act is Vindication for Vets after US Denied for Years that Burn Pits in Afghanistan and Iraq made them Ill

The Conversation

By Jason A. Higgins, Virginia Tech | – During a 13-month stint in Iraq that began in 2006, Heath Robinson served as a medic with the Ohio National Guard. Like thousands of others soldiers stationed there, he was routinely exposed to toxic smoke emanating from what are known as burn pits. Located near military bases, […]

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 […]

Donald Trump

Is Moral Clarity even Possible anymore in Donald Trump’s America?

Tomdispatch

By Kelly Denton-Borhaug | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Recent episodes of purposeful and accidental truth-telling brought to my mind the latest verbal lapse by George W. Bush, the president who hustled this country into war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. He clearly hadn’t planned to make a public confession about his own warmongering […]

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 […]