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“Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. took issue with questions raised by the investigative journalism outlet ProPublica about his travel with a politically active billionaire, and on Tuesday evening, he outlined his defense in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal.” — Washington Post

As readers are surely aware, ProPublica has leveled a new pair of charges against me: first, that I should have recused in matters in which an entity connected with Ernst Stavro Blofeld was a party and, second, that I was obligated to list certain items as gifts on my 2009 Financial Disclose Report. Neither charge is valid.

A heavily-staged 'PM Connect' event did little to dispel impressions that Britain's PM is deeply out of touch with voters

A  sensitive speaker of English could consider removing the phrase “rule of thumb” from their vocabulary. The term has its roots in domestic violence: a…

Dan Pfeiffer has some ideas: Eight months ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was the great hope of the establishment Republicans who never liked Trump but supported him nonetheless. After a huge reelection victory in previously purple Florida, DeSantis was the hottest ticket in Republican politics. Billionaire Super PAC donors and highly sought-after political operatives flocked to Florida to sign up with DeSantis’s campaign in waiting. By almost every measure, the DeSantis campaign has been a resounding flop. His announcement was a technological and political disaster. His awkward and cold interactions with voters became an Internet meme. DeSantis trails Trump in every poll and looks smaller and weaker than his chief rival. Now, this could all change – and quickly. Joe Biden was written off in the 2020 Democratic primaries, as were previous nominees like John McCain and John Kerry. Obama was left for dead by the pundits more times than I care to count. A new CNN poll conducted after the second indictment week showed Trump losing some of his standing with Republican voters (although still leading DeSantis by 21 points).

Cormac McCarthy is provoking us more than we may realize.

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies had some interesting three-word teases as well as updates on Series 14 & 15 to pass along.

by Brian Czech

Limits to growth are all around us. Global heating, resource shortages, and biodiversity collapse are linked at the hip with stagnating productivity, inflation, and crippling debt. Little by little, citizens and politicians are waking up to ecological limits and the economic linkages.

The awakening is painfully slow for those who have long lamented society’s obsession with growth. After all, economic growth entails a growing human population and ecological footprint,

The post Steady-State Talking Points for Democrats and Republicans appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

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“Unliveable in 20 years”? A tweet from Austin, Texas got my attention the first thing this morning. “It’s been hotter before, but this is the most miserable I can ever remember Texas weather feeling. First day of summer and the heat index is 120 at 5pm. The state is going to be unlivable in 20 years,” said freelance journalist Christopher Hooks. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes replied, “I really think people vastly underestimate the effect that climate change is going to have on the livability of the Sun Belt.” Saul Elbein, a staff writer for The Hill from Austin, cites the media for decades of failure to properly warn the public of the risks posed by climate change. Scientists themselves have too long “soft-pedaled” climate change, allowing motivated doubters to write them off as acceptable long-term risks: The findings published Monday in Nature Climate Change suggest a fundamental weakness in the past 30 years of communication by climate scientists: a profound difficulty in assessing the possible impacts of breakdowns in the Earth’s biggest and most complex systems.

It’s not a surprise the Irish government isn’t particularly fond of Michael D Higgins. In a career that included stints as a Senator, a Teachta Dála (TD), and Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Higgins scrapped restrictions that prevented Republicans speaking on the Irish airwaves; founded an Irish language free-to-air public service television network; […]

For most of my life I was pretty miserable. There were good reasons for that: alcoholic parents, serious illness and rather a lot of poverty, among other things.

So I started meditating. That helped, after a while (quite a while, though many people get faster results.)

One of the things that came up is that bad emotions are, well, bad. By “bad” I mean, emotions that are unpleasant. There’s a lot of advice around emotions, and negative emotions aren’t 100% evil or anything. Anger tells you something is unacceptable; hatred that someone is a long term threat and so on. Now emotions aren’t always right, you can be angry inappropriately. You can hate people who aren’t a threat (Nazis hating Jews) or who are only a threat because of how you treat them (Israeli Zionists and Palestinians), and so on.

Jim Brown was a monster, not only as a wrecking-ball running back on the football field but also as a prime example of an ever more popular obsession with people (mostly men) whose admirable achievements are shaded by despicable behavior (mostly directed at women). He died last month at 87 and his obituaries, along with various appraisals of his life, tended to treat the bad stuff as an inevitable, if unfortunate, expression of the same fierce intensity that made him such a formidable football player and civil rights activist. Often missed, however, was something no less important: what a significant figure he was in the progress of the Black athlete from exploited gladiator — enslaved men were the first pro... Read more

Source: Life on the Run appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Trumpism has come to this “When Democrats control the House we pass the laws—when Republicans control, what do we get? We get stupid stuff like this dumb hearing,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). Lieu appeared with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes after Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on special counsel John Durham’ report on his investigation into the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. (If you have to read that again, I’ll wait.) And what did Durham find after four years? CNN summarizes, “that the FBI should have only launched a preliminary, but not full, investigation into connections between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.” A New York Post editorial considers that “gross FBI and Justice Department malfeasance.” Democrats on the committee consider the Durham report, which did not dispute Robert Mueller’s conclusions (and multiple convictions) surrounding 2016 Russian interference, a frivolous waste of time.

Sure, Benihana has over 110 locations worldwide, but I know most are not in the basement of a two-thousand-square-foot single-family suburban home. I’ve personally visited Benihana in the past—on a DATE, Brian, because I had other romantic partners before we met—but that particular location did not have a two-car garage or a novelty mailbox in the shape of a fish, although I suppose it would reflect the restaurant’s delicious sushi menu. That’s just sensible branding, Brian. Benihana is more than great teppanyaki.

I remember walking through this house with the real estate agent three years ago. We definitely discussed the UNFINISHED basement. I even walked into a cobweb, Brian. You laughed affectionately and called me your “little mummy.” I also remember later that night when I playfully chased you, going, “Currrse, CURRRSE.”

I’ll tell you what I don’t remember: A discussion about a basement restaurant featuring ten teppan-style griddle tables, each with comfortable seating for eight people.

There are fears that foreign powers can use proxies to channel cash into UK political parties

Far right groups have infiltrated anti-LGBTQ+ protests, and are influencing government policy a new report reveals

For World Refugee Day to matter, it must address the root causes of such complex and ongoing problems. Only an honest and deep understanding can serve as a starting point for a meaningful conversation and, hopefully, meaningful actions.

The post The Irony of World Refugee Day: Celebrating, then Blaming the Victims appeared first on MintPress News.

The political and media firestorm over a school girl claiming to identify as a cat, turns out to be a story 'too good to check'. Byline Times has spoken to a witness

David interviews the director, musician, and activist Boots Riley about social justice and his new show “I’m A Virgo.”

The perilous journey of one ‘freedom swimmer’ – along a route traversed by 2 million others – from China to Hong Kong

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

“It’s wild how little of what’s happening is being chronicled.”

The post Ukraine Blocks Journalists From Front Lines With Escalating Censorship appeared first on The Intercept.

What strikes someone with BDD as a glaring physical problem actually calls for a psychological solution

- by Toni Pikoos

Read at Psyche