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Georgia Courthouse is shot up by Sovereign Citizen after GOP backs Bundy, Open Carry
That didn’t take long. The Georgia GOP rushed into law an ‘open carry’ provision in April…
That didn’t take long. The Georgia GOP rushed into law an ‘open carry’ provision in April…
By Juan Cole One of the frustrations for a world historian is the unyieldingly parochial vision…
By Juan Cole Media Matters for America put together a collage of Fox Cable News commentators…
The following is an excerpt from Harvey J. Kaye’s The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (Simon & Schuster, 2014). On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan went to Normandy, France, to speak at events…
Harvard University scientists have confirmed that a 19th century French treatise in its libraries is bound in human skin, Harvard University said this week, after a bevvy of scientific testing. Arsene Houssaye’s “Des destinees de l’ame” (On the destiny…
That didn’t take long. The Georgia GOP rushed into law an ‘open carry’ provision in April allowing people to tote around guns in bars and churches (apparently these are felt to be…
In his new book, Ken Vogel claims that President Barack Obama told Democratic donors he believes he is in a good position to pass a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United. The book, entitled “Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious…
By William Espinosa President Obama’s proposal to modestly curb carbon emissions from power plants is – if carried out—a serious one. But opposition was immediate, so is there reason to think anything…
By Juan Cole Media Matters for America put together a collage of Fox Cable News commentators smearing the father of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl as having a Taliban-like beard and maybe even being…
By Jon Queally Both issues show clearly that ‘we have a rigged system, where a handful are able to reap benefits at the cost of everyone else.’ Sharing a stage with French…
By Peter van Buren via Tomdispatch Last year eight Americans — the four Waltons of Walmart fame, the two Koch brothers, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett — made more money than 3.6 million American…
By Juan Cole The United States has been continually at war since October of 2001. In many of the succeeding years, until Dec. 31 2011, The US was at war in both…
John Oliver: “Cable companies are trying to create an unequal playing field for internet speeds, but they’re doing it so boringly that most news outlets aren’t covering it. John Oliver explains the…
By Trevor Timm: The Supreme Court today rejected New York Times reporter James Risen’s appeal of a 4th Circuit decision that ruled the government can compel him to reveal his source under…
By Juan Cole President Obama’s decision to unleash the Environmental Protection Agency on US carbon dioxide emitters is a sea change in environmental policy and is extremely welcome to any who care…
By Rebecca Solnit via Tomdispatch.com It was a key match in the World Cup of Ideas. The teams vied furiously for the ball. The all-star feminist team tried repeatedly to kick it…
Republicans love waging wars, but they sure don’t seem to love America’s soldiers and veterans. Whether they’re getting our soldiers killed in Iraq or cutting their food stamps here at home, here are the 15 top ways the GOP screws those who serve…
By Juan Cole The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this serialized sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Fourteen 3. Yimak pushed…
By Harold R. Wanless, University of Miami It is amazing for me to see the very aggressive building boom underway in south Florida; on the beaches and barrier islands, throughout downtown and…
The negotiations that led to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl represent one thing to Republicans: another excuse to attack President Obama. “Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Berghdal’s release may have consequences…
Matthew Hagee, son of fire and brimstone preacher John Hagee, says don’t believe those climate scientists who say things that are against the Bible, and this against the word of God. What the changes in climate mean is that Jesus is coming. And soon…
Fox News ratings dropped 27% in May, and there were double-digit falls across many of their top shows. The ratings drop is year over year, with a 27% drop in total viewership, but a 25% drop among younger viewers. With the younger viewers, these are…
By Juan Cole As the price of solar panels drops, they increasingly are being spontaneously bought and installed by villagers throughout the world, who are often ill-served, or not served at all,…
Foreign Policy
Syria: Regime Resilience, Rise of al-Qaeda & the Need for Diplomacy
By Paul Rogers The Damascus regime is winning its war for survival; Syria’s conflict will continue and even escalate. In the morass, diplomacy remains vital to any progress. Bashar al-Assad reportedly won…
“In your Wild Dreams, what are you Looking for?” Rubaiyat of Jalalu’d-Din Rumi
Courtesy Anthony A. Lee, here are four poems from his and the late Amin Banani’s translation of the quatrains of the great Sufi mystic Mevlana Jalalu’d-Din Rumi: Jalalu’d-Din Rumi, 53 Secrets from…
Iran’s Rouhani pulls a Pope Francis: ‘Let People choose own path to Heaven’
By Golnaz Esfandiari Twenty-five years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's death, the clerical establishment ushered in by the Islamic republic's founding father is at odds over how far its influence on Iranians' lives…
On D-Day: Remembering the Muslim Troops who Fought the Axis
By Juan Cole One of the frustrations for a world historian is the unyieldingly parochial vision of the North Atlantic common among journalists and even many historians, and consequently among the public.…
Tiananmen still Under Lockdown after all These Years
By Philip Cunningham I approached the Square from Qianmen which back in the old days of the Qing Dynasty was the traditional gate into the Forbidden City; nowadays it’s the gate to…
US support for Palestinian Gov’t a ‘Knife in the Back’ says Israel, after Sabotaging Kerry Talks
Israel decries US ‘knife in back’ over Palestinian govt (via AFP) Washington’s support for a new Palestinian government backed by Israel’s Islamist foe Hamas, has left the Jewish state feeling betrayed, triggering…
Another Pivot: Can Obama’s New CO2 Rules Break Our Stalemate With China?
There’s going to be a long fight over the Obama administration’s new carbon emissions caps, and it’s just getting started. But today brings encouraging news from beyond our borders: As if on cue, the world’s biggest polluter, China, announced…
Turkey’s Erdogan Calls CNN Reporter arrested on air “Lackey,” “Agent of Chaos”
Turkey PM accuses international media of spying, singles out CNN (via AFP) Turkey’s embattled prime minister lashed out at international media on Tuesday, accusing news outlets of stirring unrest during the one-year…
Danish Energy Agency: 100% Renewable Denmark By 2050 Is Possible
Originally published on Renew Economy.By Sophie Vorrath A new report by the Danish Energy Agency has found it would be technically possible to construct a secure and reliable national energy system based on 100 per cent renewables by 2050. The report…
NSA Intercepting Millions of Personal Images for Facial Recognition Tech
By Sarah Lazare The National Security Agency is mass collecting facial images through its surveillance programs for use in facial recognition technology, journalists James Risen and Laura Poitras revealed Saturday in the…
No Regime? Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef Cancelled b/c “Enormous Pressure”
So, no regime then? Jon Stewart was on al-Barnamag ["The Program"] last year this time and remarked of the then Muslim Brotherhood government’s prosecution of his Egyptian counterpart, Bassem Youssef, for political…
Turkey: Lockdown of the Nat’l Security State on Gezi Anniversary
By Ipek Demirsu At the weekend police shot demonstrators in Istanbul, attempting to enter Taksim Square to mark the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests—another deadly battle in the struggle for rights…
Global warming and the vulnerability of Greenland’s ice sheet
Posted on 30 May 2014 by John Abraham News continues to emerge in the scientific literature on the future direction of the world’s largest ice sheets; they are undergoing major changes as the climate continues to warm. Among the latest, a new study…
Dear GOP: The US has negotiated with Terrorists and Amnestied Them all through History
By Juan Cole The GOP talking points in response to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in a trade for five former officials of the 1990s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) focused…
Now Palestinians must go to the Int’l Criminal Court, and US Should Back Them
By Bill Van Esveld via Human Rights Watch Secretary of State John Kerry called the collapse of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks “reality-check time” for the peace process. That reassessment…
US Drones hitting Civilian Homes, Killing non-Combatants
By Alice K Ross and Jack Serle Domestic buildings have been hit by drone strikes more than any other type of target in the CIA’s 10-year campaign in the tribal regions of…
What Does Sgt. Bergdahl’s Release tell us about Afghanistan, Pakistan & the Taliban today?
By Juan Cole The surprise announcement by President Obama on Saturday of the negotiated release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, captured in 2009, is wonderful news for him, his family, and America. But…
Is the US Mil. Training of African Special Ops a prelude to disaster?
By William R. Polk With everyone’s attention focused either on the European elections, President Obama’s speech at West Point or the Ukraine, a story by Eric Schmitt in The International New York…
European Wind Power: Denmark, Portugal, and Spain Leading the World
By J. Matthew Roney Denmark produced one third of its electricity from the wind in 2013. In no other country has wind’s share of annual electricity generation yet topped 30 percent. But the Danes are not stopping there—they are eyeing a goal of…
Reconciliation between Judaism and Islam is Possible
By Joseph Richard Preville via IslamiCommentary Israeli-American businessman, scholar, and activist Rabbi Shai Har-El’s new book — Where Islam and Judaism Join Together: A Perspective on Reconciliation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) — is…