The climate crisis is here. It is real and it is hurting our health. As physicians in Northern California, my colleagues and I see how climate change is making our patients sicker every day. We see infants and children with worsening asthma due to wildfire smoke exposure. We see adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease […]
Archives for February 2020
Will Trump Ride Pentagon Spending to Reelection? The President Bets on Arms Sales Big Time
(Tomdispatch.com) – Donald Trump likes to posture as a tough guy and part of that tough-guy persona involves bragging about how much he’s spent on the U.S. military. This tendency was on full display in a tweet he posted three days after an American drone killed Iranian Major General Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad: “The United […]
Rattled by Trump’s Erratic Violence, Senate to vote on Forbidding War on Iran without its Approval
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Senate will take up a measure to forbid Trump to go to war with Iran without Congressional approval, writes Daniel Flatley at Bloomberg. Republican senators Mike Lee, Susan Collins and Rand Paul are joining with Democratic senator Tim Kaine in sponsoring the bill. With the support of those Republicans, […]
On 41st Anniversary, has Trump’s Belligerence Strengthened the Iranian Government?
Oxford, UK (Special to Informed Comment) – On February 11, 2020, the Islamic Republic of Iran marks the 41st anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Thus, it has defied the Trump administration’s prediction of its demise for two years beyond its allotted time. In his speech at a conference of the MEK (Mojahedin-e […]
How Iran’s millennials are grappling with Trump’s crippling sanctions
By Manata Hashemi | – In early January, after tensions between Iran and the United States escalated to the brink of war, President Donald Trump announced a detente of sorts, stating, “The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.” It may have sounded like a conciliatory gesture, but the Trump […]
No Trump ‘Blue Collar Boom’: 1/2 of Americans work Low-Wage Jobs and Manufacturing is in Decline
(Otherwords.org) – Trump is counting on the working class he’s betraying most aggressively. Can the left get out of affluent suburbia and back to its roots? By Peter Certo | February 5, 2020 There’s an image burned into my brain from childhood: the graffitied train tracks along the intersection of Fifth and Patterson in downtown […]
Israeli Blocking of Palestinian Exports to Jordan Shows reality of Apartheid that the Kushner Plan would only Cement
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli government blockade on Palestinian agricultural exports through Jordan on Sunday illustrates the Apartheid character of Israeli rule over the Palestinians. Palestinian trucks loaded with produce were stopped by quickly-erected Israeli blast walls and forbidden to head into Jordan. The Palestine-Jordan trade in commodities such as vegetables, fruits, olives, […]
As Fossil Fuels Melt Arctic, Pentagon Dreams of North Pole War
(Tomdispatch.com) – In early March, an estimated 7,500 American combat troops will travel to Norway to join thousands of soldiers from other NATO countries in a massive mock battle with imagined invading forces from Russia. In this futuristic simulated engagement — it goes by the name of Exercise Cold Response 2020 — allied forces will […]
The Dark Side of the Trump Economy: Dems Must Stand up for Workers facing Gig Economy, Forced Overtime, Denial of Unionization
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Common wisdom among the pundit class is that President Trump may be able to coast to victory this November on the back of a strong economy. It’s the economy, stupid. Democrats’ best hope is to change the subject, going perhaps for racism, sexism, and climate crisis. I […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved