Photo of the Day: Was St. Nicholas “White”?
(By Juan Cole) Fox News’s Megyn Kelly maintained this week that Santa Claus and Jesus are…
(By Juan Cole) Fox News’s Megyn Kelly maintained this week that Santa Claus and Jesus are…
(By Juan Cole) The United States and the United Kingdom have suspended aid to the Syrian…
France Crashes the Geneva Party, Scuttles Iran Deal
The Iranian newspaper Tabnak printed a minute-by-minute account of Saturday’s dramatic on-again off-again push toward a diplomatic agreement on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. It contains little editorializing but by the key placement…
We’re Still in the Dark on Obama’s Drones Despite Washington’s Promises (Currier)
Cora Currier writes at ProPublica : This story has been updated to reflect new developments. Nearly six months ago, President Obama promised more transparency and tighter policies around targeted killings. In a…
“Off the Charts”: Deadliest Storm in History Kills 1200, Displaces Millions in Philippines
ABC News reports on Super-Typhoon Haiyan, which is now estimated to have killed at least 1200 in the Philippines, and which forced millions from their homes, with winds of 195 miles per…
US loses UNESCO Voting Rights: How Kow-Towing to Israeli Policy Weakens America
President Obama called America “the greatest country in the world” on Friday, but the same day the US lost basic voting rights on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).…
Top Reasons Israel’s Likud Really Opposes an Iran Nuclear Deal
Rightwing Israeli politicians like Binyamin Netanyahu are squawking furiously about the prospect that Sec. of State John Kerry might reach an agreement with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program. The US…
Arts of the Arab Uprisings at the Arab-American Museum, Dearborn
The Arab-American Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, has mounted an exhibition on the Arts of the Arab Uprisings. It includes art, photography and video by street artist Amr Nazeer and celebrated social justice…
How American Troops in Afghanistan became Unreal (Jones)
Ann Jones writes at Tomdispath.com The last time I saw American soldiers in Afghanistan, they were silent. Knocked out by gunfire and explosions that left them grievously injured, as well as drugs…
Record High Warming Gases in Atmosphere: Earth Losing Race Against Time (McCauley)
Lauren McCauley writes at Commondreams.org The amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere reached a record high in 2012, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), continuing an upward and accelerating…
It wasn’t Arafat who was Assassinated but the Palestinian People
Aljazeera America has the exclusive on the Swiss scientists’ findings that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned with polonium, after the fashion of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. That the Likud government of…
Ms. Marvel and the Rise of the Muslim Superhero in America
Umberto Eco argued that Superman, from the character’s inception in the 1940s through about 1970, was a politically conservative figure. The stories were about protecting property and combating petty crime, rather banal…
Dear Press: Stop Enthusing About Habitable Planets until People like Va.’s Cuccinelli Stop Destroying this One
The issue of habitable planets, earth’s own disastrous climate change, and Virginia politics don’t intersect every day. But today they do, and that does not reflect well on the human species or…
Israelis plan new Colonies, Oil Drilling, on Palestinian Land during “Peace Talks”
The current round of so-called peace talks between Israel and Palestine is marked by so much bad faith on the part of the Israelis that only the corruption and perfidy of the…
White Terrorist is “Gunman,” “Alleged Shooter,” no Mention of Wingnut ‘New World Order’ Beef
This Chicago Tribune story amalgamated from its sources and wire services on the LAX shooter is interesting for its language. Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, is charged with “murder” and called a “suspected…
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Kerry in Cairo
US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo on Sunday in his first trip to Egypt since last spring, when Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi was in power. Interim Egyptian Foreign…
CIA Drone Kills Pakistan Taliban Leader on Eve of Peace talks with Islamabad
The CIA drone strike in North Waziristan yesterday killed 25 persons and targeted a high-level meeting of the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan or TTP). It finally killed TTP leader Hakimu’llah Mahsoud…
“Disposition Matrix”: America’s Drone Wars and Civilian Casualties (Moyers)
Bill Moyers reports on America’s drone wars The blurb: “America’s Drone Wars November 1, 2013 This week, members of Congress heard testimony for the first time from victims of drone attacks, including…
Al Gore on the Oil, Gas and Coal Bubble: Investors Beware! (Queally)
John Queally writes at Commondreams.org Former U.S. Vice President turned climate campaigner Al Gore and his longtime business partner David Blood, a former Goldman Sachs executive, are out with a bit of…
Scrooge Republicans prefer Pentagon White Elephants to Food Stamps for Poor Children
As of today, Republican cuts in food stamp support present a challenged nearly 23 million American households in keeping their children from hunger. Some 76% of SNAP or food stamp-receiving households include…
Top Ten Reasons the US should Stay out of Iraq and put Conditions on Arms Sales
The US invasion and occupation of Iraq 2003-2011 threw that country into civil war and long-term guerrilla insurgency. Once an insurgency begins, it often lasts 15 years, so Iraq may well not…
Pakistani family testifies to empty room on Hill about US Drone that killed Granny
Congressman Alan Grayson held a hearing on the Hill on Tuesday on civilian deaths in US drone strikes. A Pakistani family, the Ur Rahmans, testified on the death by drone of their…