Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts. (No election or Trump related comments.)
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Oh great: Just hours after Donald Trump won the election, Elon Musk was already flexing his power over the new administration, joining a phone call with the man he helped elect to office and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Axios reported that the world’s richest man made a guest appearance on a phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy on Wednesday, even chiming in at several points during the discussion… Musk’s surprise addition to the call is a troubling sign, to say the least. Like Trump, the billionaire has a close relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A bombshell report last month revealed that Musk is in regular contact with Putin, and the Kremlin may have even implicitly threatened him. That could explain his past refusal to let Ukraine use his Starlink internet network to carry out a surprise attack on Russian forces, or his public ridicule of Zelenskiy’s requests for aid. They report that Trump and Musk didn’t tell Zelensky to get ready to capitulate but it’s just a matter of time.
We spoke with Pennsylvania officials and experts to understand how the pivotal swing state went to Trump.
Are you OK? It seems an important question as the unhinged and unrestrained president Donald Trump is swept back into power and the world contemplates the implications for the climate, for civil discourse, for women, for minorities, for society as a whole, and for our children and their children. We have, of course, been here Continue reading »
I keep thinking Thinking about Palestinians People who have lost their lives Now tens if not hundreds of thousands In Gaza, in the West Bank Most simply ordinary people And the poets Writers, journalists Doctors, nurses, teachers Philosophers, Historians Children, wives, husbands Lives ended The loss, the loss The infinite loss The gifts, unknown infinite Continue reading »
Western media never tire of siting the atrocities of Hamas while diminishing and justifying the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank even when the majority of them are women and children. But how accurate is this portrayal of events? Continue reading »
Forty (40) years ago, the ALP ran its national conference at what was then called Noah’s Lakeside Hotel, with uranium, Timor, taxation, David Combe and south-west Tasmania prominent in discussions. But, who is this meeting up on the dancefloor after the day’s debates and double-crossings? It’s Albo, the louche Sydneysider chatting up the pink-painted Julia, Continue reading »
A new report contained “the bleakest news possible, especially with a climate denier U.S. president in office for the next four years,” said one climate scientist. A day after U.S. voters elected climate-denying Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race, soon ushering in an administration that is sure to expand fossil fuel drilling, the European Union’s Earth Continue reading »
Check out a very "timely" deleted scene from "73 Yards," with more deleted scenes being teased for Doctor Who Day later this month.
From Benjy Sarlin at Semafor: We’re deep in the “bargaining” phase now, as Democrats look for coalition members to blame, positions to dump, and language to police that will win them back the millions of voters they lost across the country on Tuesday. That’s a healthy part of any electoral loss, and it’s why we have free and fair elections — politicians only know when they touched the hot stove when voters tell them. But I’m also skeptical of almost every early explanation for Harris’ defeat I’ve seen so far that hinges on Democrats making a tweak or two and fixing their problems. It’s not that they aren’t smart recommendations in the mix, it’s that they’re far less relevant than the likeliest factor in any Democratic turnaround: Time. Democrats are smart to listen to the voters who rejected them and stay humble about what they might learn. But the emphasis here is “listen” — the actual answers as to what to do next will likely only reveal themselves once they see how Trump governs and how the public responds.
Together with many other academics in the Netherlands, I have been very busy in organizing a nation-wide demonstration next Thursday against the 1 billion budget cuts to higher education that our very-right-wing government has announced. (For background explanation, see this earlier post). Today, I have a long opinion piece in the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad […]
Planting a flag in red America If you don’t show up to play, you forfeit. Step into many fast food joints in rural America and the TV is likely tuned to Fox News. Drive across rural America east and west and radio is dominated by RW talk. Democrats have let this situation stand for years without responding. Will they this time? Ryan Cooper argues that so-called “liberal media” was in the tank for Donald Trump. A lot of factors contributed to Donald Trump’s win, he writes: But the information environment—the combination of traditional journalism, social media, party propaganda, and so on—is preposterously biased and inadequate. Trump brushed aside any of about a thousand scandals that would have sunk any previous politician. Democrats need to take a long, hard look at what their information strategy should be, and more importantly, how their messaging can be reliably and consistently put in front of voters. Cooper recommends that “Democrats need a party publication—something to bypass the traditional media and deliver progressive messaging directly.” Fine idea. Not going to happen.
Voters protected abortion rights, struck back at oligarchs, delivered public school funding, and ensured workers get their payday.
A Public Service Pronouncement Please don’t spread conspiracy fantasies about the election, okay? TikTok and X are rocking with these two videos below (at least). They are — let’s not be polite about it — bullshit. Before I even debunk them, let’s be clear again: This is bullshit, a live-fire exercise in a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing. The TikToks allege that these people looked up their ballot status on Vote dor org and found nothing: “Please go check your ballot status. I just checked mine and my vote did not count! ” Look, I’ve been doing election work a long time. What typical voters don’t know about the election process could fill libraries. Item #1: The video above has (of now) 1.2M engagements and 2k comments on TikTok, and 206k views on X. Her followup video notes that she’s in Washington state (voting there is virtually all by mail). She reports that her ballot status shows only “ballot mailed” and “ballot received, but not that it’s reviewed and accepted. “As far as I am concerned, no. It doesn’t mean that it’s accepted,” says thewindwitch.
Does some new pre-release Doctor Who merchandise hint at a major villain for the upcoming second season - and who Mrs. Flood REALLY is?
Riksbanken har en nästintill oinskränkt makt över penning-politiken, en politik som i hög grad styr inflation, sysselsättning och ekonomisk stabilitet. Denna makt bör vara föremål för större demokratisk övervakning för att säkerställa att den överensstämmer med vad vi som samhällsmedborgare har för intressen. Riksbanken verkar över tid ha utvecklat en slags ‘policybias’ där inflationskontroll prioriteras […]
Photo by barnilsson During my first ten years travelling back and forth between Lund and Berlin, it was still there, even when this photo of yours truly — leisurely reading taz — was taken at Café Einstein back in the summer of 1988. Had anyone told me then that the wall would soon come tumbling down, […]
California just voted in harsher penalties despite low crime rates, thanks to TV news, a $16 million campaign, and a slow defense by criminal justice advocates.
The post How California Got Convinced to Lock More People Up appeared first on The Intercept.
In the wake of Trump’s second victory, we could have expected the usual triumphalism from America’s growing contingent of right-wing extremists, and the usual handwringing from liberal commentators. These two groups have set about attacking one another online, with American liberals lamenting the fact that half of their country is either evil or stupid, and […]
After a few days of emotions running wild—some feeling like shattered glass and others bubbling with joy—the time has come to pull oneself together and look for sound analyses to understand what happened and why. The point is that there was really no need to search… The reasons for Trump’s victory are well known, especially […]
For all the childless cat ladies a little ray of sunshine. It’s from last January but it illustrates that humans aren’t all bad: BLASDELL, N.Y. — Ten Lives Club has now received over $270,000 in donations in support of Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass, and the organization shared that every dollar will be going right back to saving more cats. “I was crying on the phone today, I just can’t believe it,” said Ten Lives Club Public Relations Manager, Kimberly LaRussa. “I’m just so happy for the cats.” These kittens were born the day before the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills playoff game and have never known a day without Tyler Bass helping them out. These three kittens have now watched over $270,000 in donations come in since Monday night. “We are all speechless at Ten Lives Club and can’t believe this is happening,” Kimberly said. “I hope it brings him a smile to know how many cats he is saving right now,” Kimberly said. Kimberly shared this has been their largest amount ever received by far, topping even their largest fundraiser ten times over.
