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Is a core of right ring conspiracy theories.

But here’s the thing, while they’re clearly wrong about the details, that a significant chunk of elites are involved in statutory rape is almost certainly true.

More true is that violation of laws and strong social more is common in elite circles.

The main thing to understand is that violating social norms is a thrill. It heightens experiences. When people become powerful, the opportunity to violate norms that as someone weak they had to obey opens up and the experience can be thrilling.

If you were raised in a very Christian society, pissing on a crucifix or homosexuality or the black mass (which is essentially just an inversion of a normal mass). Pedophilia is a massive taboo in our society, and so on. Same reason some people get off on sex where there’s risk of being discovered.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

You’ve already heard about the head of the Republican Party down in Florida who is accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife, a founding member of the far right, anti-LGBTQ “parental rights” group Moms for Liberty, had previously had a three way sexual affair. It turns out that they aren’t the only hypocrites in the GOP. (Ya think????) Here’s another lovely mom for liberty: A former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor candidate and outspoken voice in the conservative “parental rights” school movement has been charged with punching a teenager while hosting an underage drinking party at her Bucks County home in September.  Clarice Schillinger, 36, is facing criminal charges of assault, harassment and furnishing minors with alcohol during her daughter’s birthday party, according to the case filed in late October. Her attorney has denied all charges and said she will fight them in court.

Why does this keep coming up? That guy’s a bit of a nut. On the other hand, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this sort of thing. Remember this?  A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

My "novel" reading in 2023 focusing on the monstrosity of capitalism and the monster-stories in the making of capital, combining political economy and literary theory.

The post Novel Reading in 2023 appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

He can’t win but if he dirties up Trump it’s fine with me. I can’t argue with a thing he says there. Stay in Chris! You’ve already burned your bridges with MAGA. You have nothing to lose.

A poet invited people to share their climate fears. What she found surprised her.

The post Tame Your Climate Anxiety in 2024 appeared first on Nautilus.

When our sun expands into a giant red star, it might not devour its third planet, after all.

The post Earth May Not Be Toast appeared first on Nautilus.

Trump and Fox Nina Burleigh has written a great piece for TNR about Joe Biden’s other opponent in the 2024 election: Fox News. I urge you to read the whole thing if you can. It will be worth your while. It opens with this: On October 6, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report for September. The numbers were extremely positive, with 336,000 jobs added, almost double the forecast. Most media outlets were reporting the numbers as a sign of improvement in the economy—which they are. But Fox reported otherwise. On his prime-time show that night, host Jesse Watters called the report “a straight-up scandal.” He accused the Biden administration of “cherry-picking and double counting the numbers.” As he babbled, chyrons drove home the point in capital letters, for anyone watching with the sound down, in, say, a bar or a gym: “Biden’s Jobs Numbers Scandal” and “Biden’s Economy Is Smoke & Mirrors.” That day, the network flooded all its zones with the same shade.

Our 15th most-read article of 2023.

Originally published April 13, 2023.

My heart breaks for would-be homeowners priced out of housing markets across the country. We need to do something to bring the price of all houses down, except the house I own and plan to sell for one (or many) million dollars.

People deserve to buy a home at a price they can afford, a price that will somehow also cover my entire initial investment, three decades’ worth of repairs and home improvements, allow me to purchase a new condo in an expensive coastal city, and fund the next two decades of my retirement. It’s that simple.

Take a look on Zillow and you’ll see how wildly expensive housing has become out there, and by “out there,” I mean “on my property.” Just look at my asking price; sort the list from “Most Expensive.”

Let it be clear friends: silence is complicity. And empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and an end to the occupation, and the shallow words of empathy without direct action: all under the banner of complicity. So here is my message: Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. If you are Continue reading »

The AJA is seeking to suppress Palestinian identification with the country … for political purposes from an exhibition entitled Ramses and the Gold of the Pharoahs. The Australian Museum, Sydney, is currently hosting an exhibition entitled Ramses and the Gold of the Pharoahs. A controversy – in one sense a little controversy, but in another Continue reading »

China will need Australian iron ore and coking coal for its booming EV industry. In 2023, the projected revenue in China’s Electric Vehicles market is expected to reach a staggering US$292.1bn. This forecast indicates a promising future for the industry. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the market will experience a steady annual growth rate of Continue reading »

The American republic today and the Roman republic in the years following Cicero’s consulship (63 BCE) have enough similarities to entertain an interesting comparison. They are also different enough as to make the drawing of firm predictions specious. Nevertheless, there are shared factors that offer warning signs for today from the fall of the ancient Continue reading »

From China’s perspective, Australia will always follow the US no matter what. And the US is out to contain China – there is nothing that China could do to change that. Australia has made relatively little effort to change this perception. This means for China, there is little point in putting much effort into dealing Continue reading »

In these sad, anxious times, pearls of hope are rare and truly valuable. Thankfully, here are a couple to contemplate… In 1988 a group of Israeli and Palestinian women got together and did something extravagantly unlikely: they founded a peace movement. Women In Black. Regularly standing together in sombre clothes, their silent vigil sent out Continue reading »

The fear that the world is falling apart is not new. It stretches back into antiquity. End of the world fears have manifested over thousands of years. For almost all recorded history, and no doubt beforehand, there have been wars, violence, greed, and cruelty committed in the name of some collective cause. For most of Continue reading »

The recent Senate Interim Report on ‘The issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms’ has attracted the usual short-term media indignation followed by the ever-present indifference from our education leaders and politicians. This is not the first time there is an acknowledgement that severely disruptive kids exist. Statistics such as: almost a quarter of Continue reading »