Reading

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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:20

Since at least as far back as Theodor Adorno famously denounced the ‘mechanical soullessness’ of interwar jazz, the relationship between Marxism and pop music has been rather vexed. While plenty of card-carrying Marxists have dabbled in music writing over the last few decades (see especially Perry Anderson’s exquisitely over-written Sixties critiques of the Beatles and […]

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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:10
23 November 2024 This book tells three stories about the impact of machines on the human condition: on the way  we work, on our freedom, and on our physical survival. Each story contains within it a vision of heaven and hell: the promise of relief from work, freedom to think our own thoughts, and almost … Continue reading Presentation for the Miami Book Fair – Mindless
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:04
19 November 2024 Introduction As we all know  Frankenstein was the  scientist in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of that name, who invented a human machine, which he intended   to be a benefactor,  but  which  turned out to be a monster. The question I want to address this evening is: can we avoid  our technology … Continue reading A Tale of Frankenstein – Lecture at Bard College
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 21:58
November 22nd, 2024 There are many reasons for regretting the resurrection of Donald Trump, but one overwhelming reason for welcoming it is that he is a peacemaker, not a war maker, and will actively leverage America’s power to pacify an increasingly dangerous world. Western leaders do not actively seek war with Russia, China, or Iran. But they … Continue reading In Just Proportion – Counterpunch
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 21:50

Students at the London School of Economics (LSE) recently launched a public campaign to challenge the suspensions of 7 students for participating in a protest opposing the university’s financial complicity in Israel’s genocide. Since July, the LSE 7 have been forced into an Islamophobic, management-driven disciplinary process for demonstrating with a megaphone at a summer […]

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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 20:39
Replikerna på debattartikeln har dels tagit upp allvarliga problem, dels olika tågtypers för- och nackdelar. Men replikerna har inte diskuterat systemfelen som måste åtgärdas så här: 1. En krisgrupp måste sättas ihop med fackexperter från främst Schweiz som får i uppdrag att omedelbart omorganisera järnvägssektorn så att alla produktionsdelar förs ihop till integrerade järnvägs-bolag. Lagar och […]
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 15:59

Introducing SSPS6008 – Universal Basic Income

In 2025, the the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney will offer the first unit of study focused on Universal Basic Income (UBI) to be taught at a university in Australasia.

This interdisciplinary unit critically examines UBI’s potential to tackle 21st-century challenges like inequality, economic insecurity, technological disruption and more frequent extreme weather events. It traces the historical, ethical, and political economic foundations of UBI from its origins in the French and American revolutions to contemporary trials, political campaigns and policy exemplars. Students will engage with a variety of research methods, including historical analysis, ethical argument, social scientific experiments, and computer-based microsimulations, to evaluate UBI’s potential merits and limitations.

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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 14:16

Sebastian Gorka’s involvement with British intelligence cost him a security clearance in Hungary. His longtime mentor is a UK spook currently engaged in covert operations against Russia. Is the Ukraine hawk and Trump counter-terror appointee operating on London time? After years in the wilderness of right-wing radio, where he flamboyantly proclaimed his loyalty to president-elect Donald Trump for years, Sebastian Gorka has finally found his way back into Trump’s inner circle, earning an appointment as incoming White House counter-terror advisor.  […]

The post Sebastian Gorka: British intelligence asset? first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Sebastian Gorka: British intelligence asset? appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Tue, 26/11/2024 - 12:29
Jeffrey Sachs explains his position on US wars to Piers Morgan. Penny Wong advises Australia’s approach to the ICC will be guided by international law, not politics. Bisan Owda takes us into the realities of winter for 1.9 million displaced citizens in Gaza and injured doctor Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya speaks of his commitment to Continue reading »
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 11:30
Brian Stelter has the story: Elon Musk has called MSNBC “the utter scum of the Earth.” He has said the channel “peddles puerile propaganda.” Just a few days ago he said, “MSNBC is going down.” And now he is posting memes about buying the channel. Conventional wisdom holds that Musk — the world’s richest man and key Donald Trump ally — and his friends are just joking. But Musk’s posts are adding to the anxiety that MSNBC staffers are feeling about the reelection of Donald Trump and the recently announced spinoff of Comcast’s cable channels. I spent Sunday on the phone with sources to gauge what might be going on. I learned that more than one benevolent billionaire with liberal bonafides has already reached out to acquaintances at MSNBC to express interest in buying the cable channel. The inbound interest was reassuring, one of the sources said, since it showed that oppositional figures like Musk (who famously bought Twitter to blow it up) would not be the only potential suitors.
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 10:00
Via CNN: “Tariffs can’t be inflationary because if the price of one thing goes up, unless you give people more money, then they have less money to spend on the other thing, so there is no inflation.” As James Fallows explained: This is from the guy who is supposedly “the smart one” in the new Trump lineup. To spell this out: By the “logic” of future Treasury Secretary, by definition NOTHING can ever be inflationary. Gas goes to $15, you just spend less on … eggs. So it’s no biggie? It appears that Besset believes in the creed of Milton Friedman that “inflation” can only happen because of increases in the money supply. Ok. But that assumes that when prices go up from these tariffs, people will understand that it isn’t inflation so they will happily stop spending money on the things they want and simply substitute for things they don’t want. Good luck with that. If there’s one thing we have learned over the past couple of years it’s that people are freaked out by price hikes, period. I don’t think anyone’s going to care whether that fits the academic definition of inflation.