( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was a moment somewhat like this, 30 years ago, that turned me into a biblical scholar. In the lead-up to the passage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, political and religious leaders quoted scripture to justify shutting down food programs and kicking mothers and their babies off public assistance. Those […]
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Archives for 2025
How the Heartbreaking Story of 5-Year-Old Hind Rajab begot an Effective Human Rights Foundation
As The Voice of Hind Rajab is winning over Hollywood, the real-life story is fostering complicity allegations against the Israeli military and Western complicity. New York (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – Recently, The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize in Venice after a 23-minute standing ovation. The docudrama is […]
“A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse, and Thou:” Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:11
The eleventh quatrain in the first edition Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám became one of the more famed poems in the English language. It epitomized romance for people in the late 19th and through the 20 century. Nervous young men brought it along on dates to read out as an ice […]
Gaza Diary: How I risk Death to feed my Family
Hassan Herzallah Before the war, Hassan was a university student chasing his dreams. Now he risks his life every day to feed his family (OpenDemocracy.net ) – It’s 7am. My alarm rings and I get myself ready, just as I used to in the days when I would drink a cup of mint tea and […]
Celebrating Court Ruling Striking down Trump’s $2 Billion Funding Freeze on Harvard
Middle East Studies Association of North America Court rules on Harvard College v. HHS Lawsuit in Favor of Harvard The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) welcomes a court decision striking down the Trump administration’s freezing of over $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard University. MESA filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Harvard […]
Plagues in the Making: RFK Jr. guts CDC, comes for your Children’s Health
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – With a Cabinet full of fascists, fools, drunks, and sycophants, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands out as a dangerous quack and sociopathic liar. A vaccine opponent and an anti-science conspiracy proponent with no experience in public health, Kennedy is blatantly unfit to be director of Health and Human […]
“With me along some Strip of Herbage Strown:” Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:10
The tenth quatrain in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues the theme of the irrelevance of political power to happiness, which lies instead in love. The Persian originals make clear the meaning here, which is a little cryptic in FitzGerald’s rendering. X. With me along some Strip of Herbage strown […]
Trump threatens UN Visa Ban for Brazil over Pro-Palestine Stance
By Eman Abusidu ( Middle East Monitor ) – US President Donald Trump escalated tensions with Brazil on Friday (5), labeling the South American country’s current government as “radical left” and suggesting that Brazilian officials could be barred from attending the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York. The statement came during a White […]
Trump as a Slow-Motion Apocalypse
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Imagine for a moment a nuclear weapon exploding over… well, you name it: Pakistan, India or, for that matter, Ukraine, Russia, or the United States. I guarantee you one thing: the news headlines would be (and I use the word advisedly) explosive for days (weeks, months?) on end, assuming of course […]