Reading

Genaro García Luna was convicted on Tuesday of accepting millions in cartel bribes. But the information U.S. officials had went mostly unexplored.

The post Trial of Mexico’s Former Top Cop Neglected U.S. Role in War on Drugs appeared first on The Intercept.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has decided not to replace Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on the Australian $5 note with the features of King Charles III. read now...

The AP and the NY Times interviewed the Special Grand Jury forewoman in the Fulton County election interference case. She was surprisingly open, although she did say that she was following the guidelines laid out by the judge overseeing the case. Here are just a few tidbits from the AP article: During a lengthy recent interview, Kohrs complied with the judge’s instructions not to discuss details related to the jury’s deliberations. She also declined to talk about unpublished portions of the panel’s final report. But her general characterizations provided unusual insight into a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of Trump’s pressure campaign, was “a really geeky kind of funny,” she said. State House Speaker David Ralston, who died in November, was hilarious and had the room in stitches. And Gov. Brian Kemp, who succeeded in delaying his appearance until after his reelection in November, seemed unhappy to be there. Kohrs was fascinated by an explainer on Georgia’s voting machines offered by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Amanda Carpenter on DeSantis’ craven Fox and Friends pandering on Ukraine. I guess he knows he doesn’t have to show any leadership or sophistication when it comes to foreign policy in order to win the GOP nomination. It’s going to be a long campaign: Gross things can happen when you convince yourself that, no matter what, you must position yourself in complete opposition to your political opponents. Just look at what Ron DeSantis is doing. Before pursuing elected office, DeSantis was a Yale undergrad-turned-Harvard legal scholar, a history teacher, and a military officer. So, one would think his first reaction to President Biden’s surprise visit to war-torn Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would be, at a bare minimum, to show some respect for the Ukrainian resistance and maybe hold off on the self-serving commentary for a few hours. That is not the choice DeSantis made. Instead, the Florida governor, who aspires to be president himself, decided to position himself in front of the cameras of Fox & Friends to . . . wait for it . . . blame Biden for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

 Patreon  Substack      

Eric Anderson wrote an excellent post on how late-stage capitalism engenders mental illness. I thought I’d follow it up with a simple post on capitalism.

As the name implies, capitalism is the accumulation of capital. This doesn’t mean money, primarily, that’s not what the early theorists meant by capital: they meant the means of production: land, workers, resources and capital goods: machinery in particular.

Capital is the ability to make and grow items. Because of economy of scale, if you concentrate capital it is easy to increase how much you make: Adam Smith’s famous pin factory.

Highlights: What’s wrong with that? The speech was very strong and very dramatic. Good work, Joe. He gave a speech a year ago when everyone assumed that Russia would roll over Ukraine in a matter of weeks if not days, NATO could fall apart and everyone was far less optimistic. Today, he was able to say that NATO is actually stronger and the Ukrainians are fighting like hell to save themselves.

Last year I wrote a blog about gender equity and its significance in local government. It was a popular publication that generated significant interest, eliciting engaging discussions with community planners and gender equity officers...

Australia's NBN company has reported an increase in revenue for the end of 2022, despite years of problems caused by the Coalition Government. read now...

Pokies den operators Clubs NSW has warned both sides contesting the NSW election to be careful on any planned reforms of the industry as it will only hurt Nanna. ”We all know and love our Nanna,” said a Clubs NSW... Read More ›

Records show an all-out push to delay and repeal train safety regulations.

The post Years Before East Palestine Disaster, Congressional Allies of the Rail Industry Intervened to Block Safety Regulations appeared first on The Intercept.

Killing them would be a choice Paul Krugman sets the record straight: It’s exhausting having to set the record straight on this stuff over and over again. But they won’t stop trying to kill them so we have to defend them with the facts.

Amidst the tragedy of the devastating earthquake in Syria and Türkiye, the heroism of those who save lives and offer support amid unimaginable odds serves as a reminder of the abundant humanity so often overlooked in the region.

The post Amid Rubble and Tears, a Glimmer of Hope: The Real Heroes in Syria and Türkiye appeared first on MintPress News.

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

(You don’t need to see what she’s talking about,. It’s bullshit, of course.) For the record, I’m not entirely against it. But the Blue States will not be paying alimony or child support to the Red States. No trade and interstate travel either. Not for you. You’re on your own. I’m not going to pick this apart. I’m sure she thinks she’s being clever and satirical but she’s just a housewife who was reading QAnon posts on facebook three years ago and decided to run for congress. That she turns out to be the perfect avatar of the GOP base says everything about them, not her.

The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper
2023-02-21 11:12
The Vineyard of the Saker
Vineyard of the Saker White Paper: the China-Russia Double Helix
Larchmonter 445

When I bought a house last year, it came with many new responsibilities. Suddenly, I was the one who had to change the furnace filters, call the exterminator, and repeatedly suggest to my neighbor that her big tree might be dead. But the biggest change of all was “escrow,” a word that I definitely understand and did not just hear for the first time when my officemate Patty said it in passing.

Escrow definitely has something to do with houses and money, so you start by getting a mortgage. To get a mortgage, well, you probably know all about that, but a very important person is the notary. The notary is sort of like an attorney, but with the letters in “attorney” mixed up and some deleted. Notaries are identity experts—they can tell exactly who you are by looking at you and then at your driver’s license. Notaries have a special stamp they bought from Zazzle. You have to pay them in cash. That’s what I know about notaries, and with that knowledge, you can advance past that part of the home-buying process, and you’re one step closer to having escrow.

This is war protest month, with more to follow. Will efforts against the Iraq war, that failed twenty years ago this week, succeed in heading off the next one? On Sunday 19 February thousands protested at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC against US militarism, proxy warfare, and the threat of nuclear conflict. The ANSWER Continue reading »