Reading

Researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of a pioneering Black scientist who conducted trailblazing research on the cognitive traits of bees, spiders, and more.

The post Charles Henry Turner’s Insights Into Animal Behavior Were a Century Ahead of Their Time appeared first on Nautilus.

The dystopian future of modern America Does Elon Musk know that his precious Republicans are waging a war against electric cars? They are… Electric vehicle drivers in Texas have started to get some bad news in the mail. Starting in September, they’ll have to pay the state an extra $200 each year to register their climate-friendly cars and trucks. And if they want to buy a new EV, that will cost $400 upfront. State lawmakers imposed the new fee on EVs this spring to replace gasoline taxes lost to the switch to battery-powered vehicles. Supporters say it ensures every driver pays their fair share. But the fee is nearly double what an average driver would pay in taxes at the pump, according to consumer advocates. Those moves have some EV advocates fuming — and will create new barriers to one of President Joe Biden’s signature climate policies. Unchanged since 1991, Texas’ gas tax is one of the cheapest in the country. Now, its new EV fees are among the most expensive. That’s no accident, experts and advocates say.

Official documents reviewed by MintPress show that the government of Taiwan is attempting to drum up anti-China hostility, intimidate American politicians and is even working with the FBI to spy on Chinese Americans.

The post Documents Show Taiwan Working With FBI to Prosecute Chinese Americans, Intimidate US Politicians appeared first on MintPress News.

Matt Gaetz puts it right out there Impeachment is on the way because it’s an election year and Republicans want to harm Joe Biden with a massive smear. They aren’t trying to hide it. Representative Matt Gaetz has finally said the quiet part out loud: Republicans don’t have enough evidence to impeach and convict Joe Biden. They just want to make him look bad enough that he loses the 2024 election. Republicans have insisted for months that Biden is guilty of corruption and influence peddling overseas, despite producing no actual evidence. Many in the GOP, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are starting to suggest opening an impeachment inquiry into Biden so that they can access more information and witnesses that will supposedly lead them to the truth. But Gaetz said that Republicans should go straight to impeachment proceedings, not just an inquiry. “The purpose of that impeachment, from my standpoint, is not to force a vote that loses,” he said during a Twitter Space on Monday night.

Since the Labor government endorsed Scott Morrison’s AUKUS Defence Policy, many former Labor leaders, diplomats and academics have questioned whether there has been adequate assessment of the many risks associated with this secret deal that has not been formally assessed for its impact on Australians. Open Letter to all ALP members at the ALP National Continue reading »

By entering the AUKUS Partnership in 2021, Australia has undertaken to co-operate with the United States and the United Kingdom, two nuclear-weapon states, with objectives that include acquiring nuclear-powered submarines that would be armed with conventional weapons. This has the potential to weaken both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), by setting a Continue reading »

For the first time since the US achieved global domination economically and militarily after WWII, the military industrial complex and Biden administration fear the rise of China. They have decided that it must be crushed. The US, NATO and its compliant states have whipped up a frenzy of fear and loathing for the Chinese. This Continue reading »

Pearls and Irritations is a unique source of independent comment and analysis. Readers know that they will learn more and have a better and different understanding of important policy issues than is available from the mass media. It is therefore gratifying that readership has grown tenfold over the last six years, with monthly ‘views’ now Continue reading »

Along with a new scheme for first home buyer assistance, Federally-led rental reform is now on the PM’s agenda. But this week’s National Cabinet and Party Conference housing announcements need to be integrated into a coherent and ambitious long-term strategy. Anthony Albanese has signalled backing for ‘harmonising’ tenants’ rights, country-wide, importantly including enhanced security of Continue reading »

Beyond rent controls: can we have a market where tenants are treated with respect?; Reconstructing Australia’s economy from the wreckage left by the Coalition; and, Vale Mary-Louise McLaws, a voice of reason when reason was in short supply. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current Continue reading »

There’s a lot of controversy over what China is doing in the South China Sea, but there seems to be very little in the way of perspective. The recent “water attack” on Philippines vessels was not a hostile act by a military nation, it was a Chinese Coastguard ship deterring another nation from building on Continue reading »

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken tweeted in celebration of Pakistan’s preparations for “free and fair elections” on Wednesday, a week after it was revealed that the US pressured Pakistan to oust its popular democratically elected prime minister Imran Khan last year. “Congratulations to new Pakistan Interim Prime Minister @anwaar_kakar,” tweeted Blinken. “As Pakistan prepares Continue reading »

In the six months since the East Palestine derailment, the railway giant has activated its lobbyists and spread money around Congress.

The post Norfolk Southern Spent $1.9 Million in Washington as Congress Weakened Rail Safety Bill appeared first on The Intercept.

Ron DeSantis comes from a long line of failed Great Whitebread Hopes I should probably be ashamed to admit this but my favorite part of any presidential election season is the Republican primaries, especially the debates. Since they rarely have an incumbent president running (because they have only had three Republican presidents in the last 35 years) it’s usually a free for all that features some very eccentric fringe characters as well as the precipitous fall of at least one highly touted conservative hero that everyone in the political establishment assumed was a shoo-in just months before. I think back to 1992 which featured what we all thought was a completely beyond-the-pale Pat Buchanan speech at the RNC that the late great Molly Ivins famously quipped “sounded better in the original German.”(That speech now sounds like virtually every GOP candidate running for any office.) In 2008 the open primary swoon offered up the excitement of yet another Hollywood actor/Republican politician in Senator Fred Thompson who had the entire political press corps in a swoon, convinced that he was the next Ronald Reagan.

I awake to my wife hovering over me in bed. She says she loves to watch her prince in slumber, especially when I stop breathing and then gasp like an injured goose. She purrs that she could spend all night adoring my smacking mouth, the drool escaping my slack jaw, and the way my neck turns like I’m trying not to get splashed by something. She’s never sounded so horny.

A huge bang jolts me from sleep as my bedroom door flies open. My wife is in crotchless panties and says she couldn’t enjoy her wine downstairs watching The Crown because my chainsaw snoring pierced her like Cupid’s shaft.

I’m staying overnight in the sleep lab. I text my wife a picture of myself in a medical tunic with a nasal cannula and electrodes wired to my face and head, with the caption “Feeling sexy haha.”

She replies with a juicy peach emoji and photos of duck lips, tongue, and a full nip. “Show me what you’re really hooked up to.”

I text back, “They aren’t studying my dick?”

I was asked to participate on a faculty panel about AI in the classroom for the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s annual faculty retreat, which I was incredibly happy to do. I presented both my experiences in the classroom as well as some updates on conversations from around the institution. Much of what […]

David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor is either leaping into action or playing crossing guard in an image for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary.

Forensic genetic genealogists skirted GEDmatch privacy rules by searching users who explicitly opted out of sharing DNA with law enforcement.

The post Police Are Getting DNA Data From People Who Think They Opted Out appeared first on The Intercept.

No public comment from Kenneth Chesebro at this time “The underrated player” in the January 6 conspiracy. “He’s the driving force.” The heat is on. Update: This thread has more.

Award-winning journalist Ollie Vargas delves into Latin America's pushback against American dominance, shedding light on the changing global order – a must-listen episode for those intrigued by Latin America, the Global South, and evolving geopolitics.

The post Latin America Rising, with Ollie Vargas appeared first on MintPress News.

Journalists Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain discuss their reporting on a leaked cable showing how the U.S. contributed to Pakistan’s political crisis.

The post How a Leaked Cable Upended Pakistani Politics — And Exposed U.S. Meddling appeared first on The Intercept.

And you are not Neighbors shared champaign* out in the street when after several day news outlets finally called the 2020 election for Joe Biden. They weren’t celebrating Biden’s victory. It was a “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” moment. America was done with Donald Trump. The problem was Donald Trump was not done with America. Nearly three years later, the country is still attempting to clean up behind Trump even as he continues to trash the place. And getting special treatment while doing it. Fred and Mary Anne never gave little Donny a time out. They farmed out disciplining Little Lord Flauntleroy at 13 to a military academy. Too late, of course. Never in the field of bad parenting was such political carnage foisted on so many by so few. The 77-year-old brat continues to receive special treatment to this day, explains Dahlia Lithwick: The irony is lost on nobody that most of the conspiracies of which Trump now stands accused involve variations on speech acts that included threats and intimidation, lies, and bullying—the same actions he takes up with increasingly reckless zeal on social media against the machinery of the justice system itself.