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Recently French troops have had to leave Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Now it’s Chad booting them.
The first three countries have Russian troops in them now. Wonder how long it’ll be before Chad joins the crowd?
France has been the most important country in a lot of its ex-colonies in Africa, but it’s losing its place, not just militarily but economically. Countries are turning to China for imported goods and development at the same time as they turn to Russia for security. Chinese goods, development and loans are cheaper, and neither Russia nor China interfere nearly as much in domestic politics.
It’s just a better deal. For a long time you HAD to go to the West, but now Russia and China can supply pretty much everything you need.
Climate Justice Alliance was the only program grantee to speak out on Palestine — and the only one whose funding is delayed.
The post Biden Makes His Own Attack on Nonprofit Over Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
A rotating guest column in which writers reexamine critically unacclaimed works of art
We didn’t often go to the movies as a whole family, but in 2002 we all saw Signs. This was back when we could be convinced to hit the theater en masse simply because a guy named Manoj—better known as “M. Night”—was making it big in Hollywood. This was a post-9/11, pre-representation time, before streaming services could serve us bespoke categories like “supernatural tearjerker Indian American mockumentaries.” I imagine that Indian American families like ours no longer feel that numinous sense of duty to turn out for films made by brown people. Now we can sit back and let a mediocre movie be, flapping in the wind, without pledging tribal fealty. It’s a kind of progress.
My daughter and I have three cats—all rescues: There’s Snow White, our 16-year-old queen and my daughter’s consigliere, who, despite requiring thrice-a-week medication injections to keep her kidneys functioning, rules this place absolutely. There’s subtle Mango, whose first year of life involved struggling to survive—and avoid human contact—in a weedy vacant lot adjoining the United Nations […]
The post Lessons from Cats: Jasper’s Clever Cleanup Routine appeared first on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents.
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am excited to apply for a seasonal position at Hobby Lobby. The holidays are a time of joy, and I look forward to creating a timeless masterpiece in big-box retail.
References (attached) say I’m a “Renaissance Man,” an unsurpassed polymath, the most curious man who ever lived. But the title I covet most is customer service associate.
Working the Christmas rush at Hobby Lobby would be my grandest vision fulfilled. No disrespect to your brand name, but crafts are no hobby to me. My whole life, my being, my soul, is DIY. Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. Or crocheted bobble beards.
I’m a dreamer, but more importantly, I’m a doer. Even a talent-free hack like Michelangelo had to admit, “Give Leo a glue gun and some balsa wood, and he’ll come back with an ornithopter.”