Comedian Jack Black is known to many as a singer in the pseudo-serious metal project Tenacious D, but as he stood up to sing the national anthem before a Los Angeles Sparks WNBA game, many approached the performance with managed expectations. However, the “Tropic Thunder” actor quickly won over skeptics with an earnest and powerful a cappella performance that came as a shock to fans and the unfamiliar alike.  The performance has been resurrected as a counterpoint to Fergie’s recent performance at the NBA All-Star Game, which was maligned for its sultry spin on the symbolic song. Despite Black’s pedigree as a comedian both inside and outside the realm of music,…

Social change is rarely achieved quickly, and few know that better than Daryl Davis, a black man who says he has dedicated much of the past 30 years to patiently — and dangerously — reaching out to white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan in the hopes of converting them. His approach, which he says has successfully changed the minds of over 200 people since the 1980s, relies less on shame and anger and more on friendship and diplomacy, attributes that don’t come easily to either party given their outlooks on race.  His reported efforts have been an unmitigated success, serving as a unique and oft-overlooked approach in attempting to…

Egyptian security guards intervene and detain scores of Morsi supporters who gathered in Alexandria on November 4, 2013 to denounce Morsi's trial in Egypt. AA/ABACA/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The 2013 Egyptian coup, which overthrew the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, strengthened the anti-political Islam camp while hardening its attitudes. Besides advocating the complete exclusion and repression of Islamist groups, this camp also lumps jihadists and peaceful political parties together. The rigidity and anti-democratic hypocrisy of such attitudes recalls anti-communist sentiment in the US during the Cold War, when many ordinary Americans and their government could not grasp that the repression practiced by right-wing US-allied regimes was just…

Activists of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) protest the conflict between North Korea and the USA. Britta Pedersen/PA Images. All rights reserved.It is October 2019 and Trump is in serious trouble as his domestic support crumbles. He has failed conspicuously in foreign affairs, the core issue for “making America great again”. The mess in Afghanistan continues despite the United States military's free rein to run the war its way, and troops are also bogged down in Iraq and Syria where Iranian influence continues to expand. His attempt to derail the Iran nuclear agreement is failing thanks to opposition from other participants, even Britain and France. All this…

Click:Hyperbaric Chamber 1.5 ATA 25 June 2016, Solidarity with Egypt's LGBTs in Prison – A Man with a Message at London's LGBT Pride in the Square. Alisdare Hickson/flickr. Some rights reserved.During a Mashrou’ Leila concert in Cairo last September members of the audience raised a rainbow flag. A few days later, after images had gone viral, a campaign of repression by the Egyptian regime followed. At least 75 people were arrested under Egypt’s repressive and vague laws of promoting “debauchery.” Sixteen men were then sentenced to three years for “inciting debauchery” and “abnormal sexual relations.” The tactics the regime used were designed to humiliate and torture. The “suspects” had to…

A champion athlete, who is both white and not American, has the chance — at some personal cost — to protest racial injustice in the United States. Should he avoid taking a stand or lend support to a protest that doesn’t directly affect him? The question has been asked of Sidney Crosby. Crosby and the Stanley-Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins visited the White House, and his statement in advance of the visit that it was “a great honour” came amid a boycott of the White House by the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and Trump’s racist criticisms of NFL players’ taking a knee to protest police brutality against black Americans. Almost 50 years ago, the…

In her new memoir, “Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead,” Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards said that she was approached by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump with a proposal to have the organization stop funding abortions.  The offer, which Richards characterized as a “bribe,” was made during the transition prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration. In the days prior to Trump taking office, Richards claims that Jared and Ivanka approached her pledging to increase federal funding if the organization would cease providing abortions.  In her book, Richards states that Jared told her that Planned Parenthood “had made a big mistake by becoming ‘political.’” She continues…

A supporter of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Picture by Hani Al-Ansi/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved.It is often said that the troubles of the post-Arab Spring nations is their unfortunate metamorphosis into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In the case of Yemen, this takes the form of understanding the roots of the conflict as taking place between Saudi Arabia and the ‘pro-Iran Houthi rebels’. Such analysis, however, often presumes the disappearance of the original Arab Spring forces, and consequently the way regional status-quo powers such as Saudi Arabia reacted to their development. In the case of Yemen, a product of such approaches was the dangerous…

A government watchdog group has totaled the cost of Vice President Mike Pence’s brief bit of ham-fisted political theatre at an NFL game in October. Pence, who previously served as governor of Indiana and has always made a blustery show of his Colts fandom, schlepped across the country to attend a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. He didn’t stay very long, showily exiting in a huff after one or two players protested police brutality during the national anthem. Of course, all of this was by design. Pence had planned to bolt, telling reporters in advance to hang around just in case something newsworthy transpired. Further,…

Man carries a portable water reservoir in front of rubble in Gaza, August 11, 2014. Picture by Khader Ibrahim/ABACA/PA Images. All rights reserved.   Palestinian water crisis on track to worsen Following the Palestinian Authority’s April 26th announcement that it will immediately stop funding the Gaza Strip's electricity, purchased from Israel, Gaza’s already catastrophic humanitarian situation is poised to worsen. The move is seen by many as a shortsighted attempt by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to exert pressure on Hamas in an effort to show strength before his meeting with US President Donald Trump, which took place on May 3rd. Vital services dependent on emergency generators, such as dialysis for…