US politics

Strasbourg, France (Special to Informed Comment) – I am not quite able to remember the first time I met President Carter, but I do remember when I first went to see him at his home in Plains. It was the fall of 2016 and I was thirty-six. I had been a mid-level staffer at The […]

Bill of Rights

Why Tennessee’s Law limiting Drag Performances likely violates the First Amendment

The Conversation

By Mark Satta, Wayne State University | – (The Conversation) – On March 2, 2023, Tennessee became the first state to enact a law restricting drag performances. This law is part of a larger push by Republican lawmakers in numerous states to restrict or eliminate events like drag shows and drag story hours. These legislative […]

Donald Trump

Can a Republican Politician Succeed at being MAGA-Lite? Nikki Haley’s Dilemma

Tomdispatch

By Clarence Lusane | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – In 2015, according to the talking points being floated by former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and her team, she alone heroically removed the Confederate flag that flew on the grounds of the state capitol and so healed racial wounds. She implied […]

Antisemitism

All Communities Must Speak Out Against bigotry toward Jews

OtherWords

As far-right violence against Jewish people rises, the Jewish idea of an “eruv” can teach us all to enlarge our humanity. By Svante Myrick | ( Otherwords.org ) – Jewish communities across the country have been targeted with violence or harassment as anti-semitic hate crimes reach record levels. In late January, a man tossed […]

China

At the Brink of War in the Pacific? The Nightmare of Great Power Rivalry Over Taiwan

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – While the world has been distracted, even amused, by the diplomatic tussle around China’s recent high-altitude balloon flights across North America, there are signs that Beijing and Washington are preparing for something so much more serious: armed conflict over Taiwan. Reviewing recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region raises a tried-and-true historical […]

Authoritarianism

End the “Citizens United” Ruling with a “Democracy for All Amendment”

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Fl. (Special to Informed Comment) – In the United States government has been privatized by the Citizens United ruling of the SCOTUS. Government is now really up for sale and auctioned off to the highest campaign contributors.The Supreme Court ‘Citizen’s United’ decision opened the floodgates for big money in our politics, allowing giant corporations […]

military

How a Nuclear Power Plant Became a Tool of War: Nuclear Armageddon Games in Ukraine

Tomdispatch

By Joshua Frank | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – In 1946, Albert Einstein shot off a telegram to several hundred American leaders and politicians warning that the “unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Einstein’s forecast remains prescient. Nuclear calamity still knocks. Even […]

Christianity

America is Finally Secularizing, as Young People abandon Organized Religion in Droves

The Conversation

By Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College | – (The Conversation) – About six months ago, Americans’ belief in God hit an all-time low. According to a 2022 Gallup survey, the percentage of people who believe in God has dropped from 98% in the 1950s to 81% today; among Americans under 30, it is down to an […]

Climate Crisis

The EV Transition isn’t just about Cars – the broader Goal should be Access to clean Mobility for Everyone

The Conversation

By Sita M. Syal, University of Michigan | (The Conversation) – The race to decarbonize passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. is accelerating. Battery electric vehicles accounted for almost 6% of all new vehicle sales in 2022, up from close to 3% in 2021, and demand is outstripping supply, even as manufacturers roll […]