Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump and his cronies in the GOP got high-level, frantic briefings from US intelligence in January and February that the coronavirus would produce a major pandemic and send the US economy into a tailspin. That would have been the time to order test kits (rather than having Jared Kushner futz […]
Nicola’s Books Staff Picks for Best New Reads – Support our Indie Bookstores, Stay Sane by Reading
Nicola’s Books | Ann Arbor’s Premier Independent Book Store | 734-662-0600 | info@nicolasbooks.com You need to read some books while sheltering in place to keep sane. Independent bookstores need to sell books to stay in business while their stores are shuttered. It is a match made in heaven. It may seem convenient to order books […]
As US Pulls Military Trainers from Iraq, will the Coronavirus Finally End America’s Forever Wars?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Will the coronavirus result in the second withdrawal of US troops from Iraq? There is an increasing question of whether the some 5,000 US military personnel there can be protected from the outbreak if they remain in that country. In any case, many of those servicemen are involved in training […]
For World Poetry Day: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Translated by Juan Cole From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Tonight, who brought you, tipsy, here to me? From there beneath the veil, whose hand brought you? –to one on fire because of your absence– one like a sirocco; who brought you here? (Whinfield 2) ( revised) N.B.: In April of 2020, Bloomsbury/ I. B. […]
California releasing inmates for fear of Coronavirus, but Israelis Keep Vulnerable Gaza as Largest Open Air Prison
Update: On Sunday morning March 22, Gaza health authorities reported two Covid-19 cases in the Strip. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – California prisons are releasing prisoners for fear that the crowded conditions in penitentiaries could prove deadly breeding grounds for the novel coronavirus. There are 2 million prisoners, most of them not adults, however, who […]
Trump Spared Iran from Bombing, but his Sanctions Fed Pandemic in which 1 dies every 10 Minutes
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee and Kristen Welker at NBC News report that Trump refused to bomb Iran last weekend for fear it would be a public relations disaster given international sympathy for that country’s coronavirus plight. It appears that some officials had considered bombing Iran in response to Shiite […]
Not Giving up on Happiness: Care of the Self and Well-Being in a Plague Year
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The specter of plague haunts our world, and it brings with it not only the ghouls of disease and death but vast economic and social uncertainty of a sort only the most elderly among us remembers (the Great Depression and World War II). My father is 90 and when I […]
Trump Admin. in “Historic” withdrawal of Troops from 3 Iraq Bases amid Ongoing Rocket Attacks
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – AFP is reporting that the US military is withdrawing US troops from 3 Iraqi bases. They are al-Qa’im in the far north on the Syrian border, Qayyarah near Mosul, and Kirkuk. AFP quotes Coalition Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III as saying “A transfer ceremony is taking […]
“A Seller’s Market for Bankruptcy Talent:” The Beginning of the End of Methane-Producing Fracking?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday, the price of West Texas Intermediate petroleum fell below $30 a barrel for the first time in four years. Elliot Smith at CNBC reports that BP CFO Brian Gilvary is braced for petroleum demand actually to contract in 2020. This prediction is very bad news for US fracking […]
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