Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sweden’s International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance finds this year that the United States of America has joined the ranks of “backsliding democracies,” joining India, Brazil, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The IDEA institute notes, “Democratic backsliding, namely the sustained and deliberate process of subversion of basic democratic tenets by […]
Archives for November 2021
On Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Juan Cole Video
I was honored to be asked to address a seminar of the AIME organization on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad on November 6, 2021. It was a wonderful audience and they were very kind to listen to me talking about how academics approach he sources for the Prophet’s life. Here is the video: “Mercy […]
Despite 5.1 bn Tons of deadly annual CO2 Emissions, 39% of Americans Think US is Doing a Good Job on Climate
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – We all think that climate change is somebody else’s problem. We have to be persuaded otherwise. There is an astonishing statistic in a Pew research study released in 2020 on perceptions of how different countries handled COVID-19. Only 15 percent of people in a dozen countries around the world […]
Forget the Hype about Cutting Methane — Carbon Dioxide is the Real Enemy
By Michelle Cain | – Leading an alliance of more than 100 countries, US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have launched the Global Methane Pledge – an agreement to cut methane emissions by 30% between 2020 and 2030. Methane is a greenhouse gas which has caused about 0.5°C of […]
In First for major Industrial State, South Australia generates more Electricity from Solar on Sunday than it Can Use
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Giles Parkinson at Renew Economy reports that for several hours on Sunday, November 21, the huge state of South Australia (which is has an area bigger than Texas) generated more electricity than it needed, mostly from rooftop solar. This is the first time we’ve seen a gigawatt-scale grid go upside […]
House censures defiant Rep. Gosar for Video in Which he Murders AOC, strips Committee Posts
By Ulysse Bex | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – The House censured Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, Wednesday and stripped him of his committee assignments as punishment for a violent cartoon he posted that appeared to show him killing a liberal Democratic member and threatening the president. Gosar, speaking to the full House, said […]
Palestinians have no Freedom or Independence under Israeli Occupation
By Adnan Hmidan | – On 15 November, the Palestinian Authority (PA) closed its official departments, closed schools and universities as is usual every year, to celebrate the Independence of the State of Palestine, which sparked criticism. This miserable independence, in which the Head of State—and I mean Mahmoud Abbas, in particular—does not move one […]
The Costs of War (to You): Where So Much of Our Money Really Went
By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – As a Navy spouse of 10 years and counting, my life offers an up-close view of our country’s priorities when it comes to infrastructure and government spending. Recently, my husband, a naval officer currently serving with the Department of Energy, spent a week with colleagues touring a […]
COVID-19 killed more Americans in 2021 than 2020, and the Republican Party Death Cult is mostly to Blame
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The number of dead from COVID-19 in the U.S. in 2021, as of yesterday, November 21, surpassed the deadly toll of 2020. Some 771,013 Americans have died of the novel coronavirus as of this writing, according to Johns Hopkins. The CDC estimates that 385,343 people died of COVID-19 in 2020. […]
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