Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Three Surprisingly Good News Stories on Tackling Climate Change
by Nomad
For good reason, climate change has been called “challenge of our generation.” Experts have been warning us that the possibility that a runaway warming of the planet will make vast areas of the planet uninhabitable is real. And the window of opportunity is slowly closing. The world needs US leadership on the issue. Unfortunately, the only thing America seems to have to offer is Donald Trump.
In the midst of this glum forecast, we can still find some positive signs.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Paying the Price: Why American Farmers Have Become Trump's Trade War Casualties
by Nomad
There are always casualties in war, even in trade wars. As tit-for-tat tariff hikes between Trump and China begin to spin out of control, US farmers are already starting to feel the pinch. And it is likely to get much much worse.
Friday, May 10, 2019
Looking back at Alistair Cooke's "Letters from America"
by Nomad
A Letter from Home
Many many years ago, when I first came to Turkey, I lived in
a small and very conservative town. Those first two years were not easy ones
and I often felt as isolated and lonely as a space explorer. I was very likely
not only the sole American in town, but the only foreigner.
Even though I never mentioned it to my kind hosts, I often craved the sound of a speaker without a Turkish accent. I had to travel two hours by train to Istanbul just to purchase an English book or a cassette of American music. Letters from my parent took two weeks - or more- to arrive.
As far as official news from home, a civil war could have broken out in the states and I would have been none the wiser.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Why Trump's Evocation of Executive Privilege is a Doomed Act of Desperation
by Nomad
Trump's decision to use executive privilege to defy Congress is a last ditch effort to escape accountability. If history is any guide, it is unlikely to succeed.
Contempt
This week, Attorney General William Barr joined the list of Trump administration officials who have thumbed their noses at Congress by threatening to stonewall House committee oversight.After a disastrous testimony before Congress, the House Judiciary Committee threatened to hold Barr in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted report. Said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the committee.
“Yes, we will continue to negotiate for access to the full report. And yes, we will have no choice but to move quickly to hold the attorney general in contempt if he stalls or fails to negotiate in good faith."
Good faith was clearly in short supply.
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