Gainesville, Fl. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Sixty years ago, July 30, 1965, at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry S. Truman and his wife, former First Lady Bess Truman, became the first recipients of the new Medicare health insurance program. President Lyndon Johnson and the U.S. Congress […]
Archives for August 2025
FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:1
British man of letters Edward FitzGerald translated the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám from two Persian manuscripts and published it in 1859. He had substantial help from young Orientalist Edward Cowell, who discovered a manuscript of the Rubáiyát dated 1460 CE in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Rubáiyát means “quatrains,” and in Persian poetry they consist […]
Protesting Harvard’s Cancellation of a Journal issue on Education in Palestine
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America | – Letter to Harvard University concerning the cancellation of a special issue of Harvard Educational Review on education and Palestine Alan Garber President, Harvard University president@harvard.edu . . . Dear President Garber and colleagues: We write on behalf of the Middle East […]
An Ailing Old American Empire Lashes Out
( Tomdispatch.com ) – As a retired U.S. Air Force officer, I firmly believe in civilian control of our military. This country should be a nation of laws — not of special interests, oligarchs, or kings. Before committing our forces to battle, Congress should always declare war in the name of the people. Our military […]
Christian Nationalism’s Plot on Civil Society: The Seven Mountains Mandate
Oakwood, Ga. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – A concerning story out of Georgia offers a window into the rise and possible demise of an all-encompassing strategy of Christian Nationalism finding unheralded success in the Trump era. On July 10th federal regulators filed a complaint “seeking the seizure of Georgia lender First Liberty Building & […]
New Peace Plan increases Pressure on Israel and US as Momentum grows for Palestinian Statehood
By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin (The Conversation) – A new vision for Middle East peace emerged this week which proposes the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza and the West Bank, the disarming and disbanding of Hamas and the creation of a unified Palestinian state. The plan emerged from a “high-level conference” in New York […]
Protesting CUNY for Letting 4 Adjunct Faculty Go over Palestinian Rights and Suspending a Student
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the City University of New York protesting the non-reappointment of four adjunct faculty members and the suspension of a student Félix V. Matos Rodríguez Chancellor, City University of New York felo@cuny.edu . . . Dear Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and […]
Corrupt DoJ Shields Trump on Epstein, Extorts CBS and Columbia U. in Protection Racket
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Gangster president Trump and his Justice Department lackeys are engaged in a coordinated cover-up of his entanglements with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein by unleashing a blizzard of insults, lies, and worn-out conspiracy accusations to deflect criticism. So far this hasn’t worked. But the same authoritarian tactics that have failed […]
In Syria, Women are Bearing the Brunt of Climate Breakdown
by Zahra Zaman ( Middle East Monitor ) – Syria had been embroiled in a protracted conflict and plagued by authoritarianism for decades. While the brutal regime of Bashar al Asad has collapsed, the ordeal is far from over for Syrians as they are now confronted with the rapidly accelerating threat of climate change looming […]
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